USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Sutton > History of the town of Sutton, Massachusetts, from 1704 to 1876, including Grafton until 1735, Millbury until 1813 and parts of Northbridge, Upton and Auburn > Part 1
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70
HISTORY
OF
SUTTON
1704-1876
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Ileliotype Printing Co., Boston.
4. 7. Stiles - 4
HISTORY
OF THE
Town of Sutton,
MASSACHUSETTS,
From 1704 to 1876;
INCLUDING
' GRAFTON UNTIL 1735; MILLBURY UNTIL 1813; AND PARTS OF NORTHBRIDGE, UPTON AND AUBURN. .
COMPILED BY REV. WILLIAM A. BENEDICT, A. M. AND REV. HIRAM A. TRACY.
WORCESTER : PUBLISHED FOR THE TOWN, BY SANFORD & COMPANY, 364 MAIN STREET. 1878.
PRESS OF LUCIUS P. GODDARD, WORCESTER.
ACTION OF THE TOWN OF SUTTON
IN REFERENCE TO THE PUBLICATION OF THIS HISTORY.
.
At an informal meeting of citizens interested in the publication of a history of the town, a committee was appointed to take the matter under advisement, and, if found practicable, proceed to make arrangements for such publication. " The committee feeling that the town ought to assume responsibility in the matter, and believing there would be a willingness so to do, secured the inser- tion of the following article in the warrant for a meeting to be held June 13, 1876 :
"To see what action the town will take in regard to publishing a history of the town, from its organization in 1704 to 1876, or act or do anything relative to the same."
Upon consideration of this article, on motion of Amos Batcheller, it was voted to choose a committee of five to procure the publication of a history of the town from 1704 to 1876, and that the selectmen are instructed to advance to said committee, on their application, sur sum or sums of money as may be necessary to defray the incidental expenses attending its publication, not to exceed for the above the sum of three hundred dollars, with the under- standing that the edition shall be the property of the town, and that the money received from subscriptions and sales shall be, after defraying expenses, the property of the town, and said committee shall make a full and detailed report of their doings to the town. The committee elected were as follows :
B. L. BATCHELLER, .
CHARLES H. CHASE,
EDWIN H. HUTCHINSON, AMOS BATCHELLER,
SOLOMON D. KING.
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2076436
·
PREFACE.
In a Prospectus issued April 27, 1876, it was stated that this history, which " will be a volume of not less than four hundred pages," will probably be ready for delivery by the first of November.
It was then supposed that Deacon Jonathan Leland, and after him Christo- pher C. Baldwin, Esq., both of whom had been gathering materials for a history of the town, had collected nearly everything of interest for such a work from the year 1704 to 1835. The papers of the above named were found in the Antiquarian Hall, in Worcester, where Mr. Baldwin was librarian at the time of his death. Copies of all these papers were obtained, when it was seen that very little comparatively had been done in the preparation of a history. Deacon Leland's papers were largely genealogical, and contained much that was valuable pertaining to the history of the old families, but everything was incomplete. Mr. Baldwin's papers were filled with matter taken mostly from the town records, and arranged under the heads "Public Worship," "Schools," " Revolutionary period," etc. As his plan and ours were very different, these papers were at once laid aside, and recourse was had to the original sources of his information.
When all that had been collected was in our hands, the work of getting together additional material was begun in earnest, and has been prosecuted until the present time. The "oldest inhabitants" have been interviewed until all the information they had to impart was obtained - the records of the proprietors of the town, of the proprietors of the four thousand acres, of the town, of the ecclesiastical societies and churches, have been carefully searched, a file of the Massachusetts Spy for more than one hundred years, Dr. David Hall's Diary, kept for a period of forty years, the "New England Historical and Genealogical Register," the published histories of the families of the same name with old families of the town, have been examined; in short, every book or pamphlet from which we could hope to secure corroboration of oral testi- mony, or additional facts, has been sought, and the result of our researches is now given to those who have patiently waited for two full years beyond the promised time for the delivery of the work.
The accumulation of material has been such, that, instead of a book of about four hundred pages, as first proposed, they have one of something more than eight hundred.
We have arranged the history in parts rather than chapters.
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In Part I. - the Annals - what we have taken from the records we have given verbatim et literatim, and we have done so for the purpose of showing how the fathers embodied their thought and action in words, and the progress of the children in intelligence.
In Part II. - The Homes of Sutton -an attempt has been made to give a brief history of every home, making mention of the occupants as far as it wa s possible to learn their names.
All who have contributed by the payment of taxes, and in other ways to the support of government, churches and schools, have borne some part in making the town what it has been, and is to-day, and are deserving of record.
We trust the sketches we give in connection with these homes of some who . have attained to honorable and prominent positions, may be found of special interest, and prove,a stimulus to our young men to emulate their virtue, earn- est purpose and industry.
In Part III. - Ecclesiastical and Educational - we have given a brief history of the churches, and traced the progress of the town in the establishment of schools, as far as we were able to do so from the meagre data at hand.
In Part IV. - Manufacturing - brief mention has been made of the early efforts of the fathers in mechanical industry when everything was made by hand, and we have endeavored to show the gradual development of the man- ufacturing interests of the town to their present proportions.
In Part V. - Genealogical - we have given the history of the old families. One hundred and four family names will be found in this part, and under these names more than one thousand families have mention. A few of these family histories, as will be seen, have been written by some connection suffi- ciently interested to undertake the labor, but we have been obliged to prepare . the record of most of them from the best data we could obtain.
Notwithstanding the valuable material left by Deacon Leland, no portion of this history has required so much research, taken so much time, and been attended with so much perplexity, and no part is to us so unsatisfactory, in consequence of our inability in many instances to supply dates and names.
In Part VI. we give something more of the war record of the town than was furnished in the "Annals"-the names of those whom the town has hon- ored with the principal offices- and statistical tables.
In the compilation of this history valuable aid has been rendered by many persons. The histories of the "Homes" have been almost wholly furnished by others. Mr. Gardner Hall prepared those of Districts Nos. one and two; Mr. Solomon Severy, those of District No. three; Mr. Alvan W. Putnam and Mr. G. Hall, those of District No. four; Mr. A. W. Putnam, those of District No. six; Mr. Milton E. Crossman, those of Districts Nos. five, seven and eight; Mr. Reuben R. Dodge and Mr. G. Hall, those of Districts Nos. nine, ten and twelve; Mr. William E. Cole, those of a few in District No. eleven, and Mr. G. Hall the remainder.
We have abridged the matter pertaining to these homes, but have endeav- ored, as far as possible, to retain essential facts, and to let the persons who have furnished these facts state them in their own words.
In addition to those above mentioned, we are indebted to many who have aided us in our work. Among these is Reuben R. Dodge, Esq., who had him-
7
self projected a history of the town and accumulated considerable material for his purpose, all of which he freely placed at our disposal, and his encouraging words and unselfish co-operation can never be forgotten.
We would also express our obligations to Samuel F. Haven, Esq., the Libra- rian of the American Antiquarian Society, and to Mr. Edmund M. Barton, his gentlemanly assistant, who afforded every possible facility for research in the society's treasure house of knowledge.
To all who have furnished matter to enrich the pages of this work we tender our grateful thanks. Nor would we fail to mention in this connection, Miss Sarah J. King, who, for fourteen months, has been engaged upon this history, patiently transcribing our hieroglyphical scrawls, which no printer could read, and rendering us much help in deciphering old and almost illegible records. She has written for us more than two thousand legal-cap pages of manuscript.
Of those named as compilers of this history, the chief labor has fallen upon the first. Mr. Tracy has written the history of the first and second Congrega- tional churches, and the sketch of Dr. David March.
The labor expended upon such a work, in collecting the mass of material, selecting from this mass, sifting the selections, separating fact from fiction, arranging in order and correcting the proof-sheets as they issue from the press, indexing, etc., can be known only to those who have had experience in kind. But though the labor has been great, we have taken much pleasure in our work, which we have prepared not so much for the general reader as for our towns- men, and those who have gone out from us, and think of old Sutton as once their home, or that of their fathers or grandfathers. If these are satisfied with a work, the imperfection of which none can feel more keenly than our- selves, we shall care little for the criticism of those to whom we claim no family relationship.
For the attractive mechanical and typographical appearance of the book, much commendation is due to. the publishers, Messrs. Sanford and Company, and the printer, Mr. Lucius P. Goddard.
SUTTON, November 4, 1878.
W. A. B.
HISTORY OF SUTTON.
Part I.
ANNALS.
HE township of Sutton* was purchased by certain personst residing in Boston, of John Wampus, alias White, and Company, Nipmug Indians.
It is described as "a tract of waste land eight miles square, lying between the Towns of Mendon, Worcester, New Oxford, Sherburne and Marlborough, embracing with- ing its limits an Indian reservation of four miles square called Hassanimisco."
The original deed from John Wampus and Company seems to have been lost, from the fact that the " Proprietors of Sutton," at a meeting held Feb. 22, 1731-2, ordered
* The origin of the name of the Town is unknown. Dea. Leland in his papers gives an old tradition concerning it which he regards as well estab- lished. It is this :
John Wampus crossed the Atlantic ocean and visited England. While on his return voyage to New England his health failed him, and he received particular attention from one of his fellow-passengers, a Dr. Sutton ; and front gratitude to him for his kindness suggested his name for the Township when he gave the deed conveying it to the Proprietors.
t These persons, and others who were subsequently admitted as members of the Company, were called "Proprietors of Sutton." These Proprietors kept a careful record of their proceedings.
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ANNALS OF THE
" That the Clerk shall provide a new book, and transfer this regularly, and that on the first pages of it, the original deed of John Wampus, alias White, together with the Grant of the General Court be first placed "- and though a new book was procured, and the transfer made, no deed appears. The grant referred to was recorded on the first pages, and is as follows :
Joseph Dudley, Esqr., Captain General and Governor In Chief In and over her Majesties Province of the Massachu- setts Bay in New England in America - To all to whom these presents shall come
Greeting.
Whereas John Conner, Pewterer, James Smith, Shop- keeper, William Mumford, Stone-cutter, and Joshua Hewes, Innkeeper, all of Boston In the County of Suffolk, within the Province aforesaid by their petition presented to the said Joseph Dudley, Esqr., Govenor, and the General Assembly of the aforesaid Province, at their last Session begun the Eighth day of March last passt before the sale hereof, Have humbly prayed in behalf of themselves and company, a confirmation by a grant of this Court of their right and title to a certain tract of land purchased of John Wampus, alias White, and Company, Indians, situate in the Nipmug Country between the towns of Mendon, Worces- ter, New Oxford, Sherburne and Marlborough, of eight miles square, in which is included a tract of land four miles square called Hassanamisco, and possessed by the Indians. And Whereas the said Govenor and General Assembly have ordered that the prayer of said petition be granted, saving the lands purchased by the Haynes's, and reserving the Indian property of Hassanamisco-Provided also that they intrench upon no former grant of the General Court, and they be obliged to settle a town of thirty families, and a minister upon said lands, within seven yeares after the end of the present war with the Indians. And that they reserve three hundred acres of the said lands for the first settled minister, four hundred acres for the ministry, and two hundred acres for the use of a school, all to be laid out conveniently. The said tract to begin upon the line of Marlborough next Hassanamisco, a platt thereof to be
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TOWN OF SUTTON.
returned and approved by this Court, as in and by the record of said General Assembly, relation being thereunto had, doth and may appear.
Know ye therefore that I, the said Joseph Dudley, Esqr., Governor, agreeable to the above recieved order passed by the Council and Assembly respectively, and pursuant to the power and authority contained and granted in and by her Majesties Royal Charter the Governor and General Assem- bly of the aforesaid Province of Massachusetts Bay, have granted, ratified and confirmed and by these presents do freely, fully and absolutely grant, ratify and confirm unto the above named John Conner, James Smith, William Mumford, Joshua Hewes, and others, their Partners, viz : Paul Dudley of Boston aforesaid Esqr., John Jackson of said Boston, housewright, Mary Conner and Elizabeth Pittom, daughters and co-heirs of John Pittom Plummer, deceased, Edward Pratt of Newtown within the County of Middlesex, Physician, and Elizabeth Wilson of Hartford in the County of Connecticut, Widows, their heires and assignes forever, all the aforesaid certain tract of waste land purchased of the Indians, Native Proprietors, as above men- tioned, scituate and described as aforesaid, and to be sur- veyed, platted and approved as above directed, with and under the severall savings, reservations, Provisos and conditions above expressed, and all the estate, right, Title, Inheritance, use, property, and Interest of the said several persons therein and thereto - Together with all and singular the fields, feeding, herbage, pastures, soils, swamps, Mead- ows, Rivers, Rivulets, Ponds, Pools, Woods, underwoods, trees, timber, stones, fishing, fowling and hunting Rights, Members, Heraditaments, Emoluments, Profits, Privileges and Appurtenances thereto belonging or in any way apper- taining. The said tract of land being hereby granted for a township, the same to be called Sutton. And to have, use, exercise, and enjoy the same powers, immunities, and privi- leges by Law granted to towns. To have and to hold all the said tract of land by the name of the town of Sutton, with all the aforesaid premises. Emoluments, Profits, Privi- leges and appurtenances thereto belonging, with and under
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ANNALS OF THE
the severall savings, reservations Provisos and conditions herein before expressed. And to be surveyed, platted, returned and approved as above said unto the said JJohn Conner, James Smith, William Mumford, Joshua Hewes, Paul Dudley, John Jackson, Mary Conner, Elizabeth Pittom, Edward Pratt, and Elizabeth Wilson, their heires and assignes to their proper use and behoofe forever. Yielding, Rendering and Paying therefore unto our Sovereign Lady Queen Anne her kings and Successors one fifth , part of all the Gold and Silver Oar and Precious stones, which from time to time and at all times forever hereafter shall happen to be found, gotten had or obtained in any of the said lands and Premises, or within any part or parcel thereof - In lieu and stead of all Rents, Services, Dues, Dutys, and demands whatsoever from the said lands and premises, and for every part and parcel thereof. In Testimony Whereof I the said Joseph Dudley, Esqr., Governor have signed these presents and caused the Publick seal of the Province of Massachusetts Bay aforesaid to be hereunto affixed.
Dated at Boston aforesaid the fifteenth day of May in the third year of her Majesties Reign Anno Domini 1704.
S ' The publick seal on a label appending
J. DUDLEY.
Copy of Records Examined.
H. ADDINGTON, Sec.
The tract of land included in the above grant was with the exception of here and there a cleared space, on which the Indians raised their corn, and a few marshes, called meadows. an unbroken forest, heavily wooded with pine, oak, hickory. chestnut, birch and maple. In its physical aspect it presented many attractive features, and was a favorite resort of its native owners, who reserved a home within its limits. Its surface is uneven and hilly, and, though none of its hills rise to a great height, yet many of them are of sufficient eleva- tion to reveal from their summits scenes of quiet beauty un- surpassed in any other portion of New England. The soil is varied, in the southern and eastern part being of a sandy and gravelly nature, while in the northern and western parts
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TOWN OF SUTTON.
much of it is a clayey loam. In the main it is well adapted to agriculture, though some portions, particularly in the southern part, are too rocky to be brought under cultivation, and none of it was subdued and made productive without much patient toil. The fine farms of to-day which embellish hill-side, hill-top and valley, are the result of the muscle and money the several generations that have occupied them have contributed. This township furnishes great facilities for manufacturing purposes, as well as for agriculture. There are within its limits several natural ponds fed largely by hidden springs, whose outlets afford fine water privileges. The principal of these are Dorothy Pond in the north part of the town, Ramshorn in the northwest, Crooked Pond near the centre, and Manchang Pond in the southwest. Blackstone River-called by the Indians Kittatuck - has its rise in Ramshorn Pond, and passes through the the town from northwest to southeast. This river furnishes valuable water power. So also does Mumford river, the outlet of Manchaug Pond. Mill Brook, the outlet of Crooked Pond (now called Singletary Lake), has in the distance of a mile a fall of 175 feet, and affords seven water privileges. There are several other streams in town which the early settlers utilized by the erection of saw-mills, grist-mills and fulling-mills, and which in later days have been employed in manufacturing of various kinds, as will appear under its appropriate head in this History.
In its Geological features the town presents nothing of a peculiar nature. Like many other towns in eastern Massa- chusetts, the rocky formation is chiefly granite, quartz rock, and gneiss. Gneiss predominates, and the quarries which have been opened furnish most excellent stone for building purposes. This rock often contains iron pyrites, mica, lead, tin and some other mineral substances in small quantities. The glitter of the little particles has led to the belief that gold and silver might be found, and this town, in common with many others in the State, has had its excitements over wild and fruitless search for the precious metals.
There are natural curiosities in the town, some of which are thus referred to in " Whitney's History of Worcester
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ANNALS OF THE
County": As first, In the west part of Sutton within sixty rods of the rise of the inlet of Ramshorn Pond, which is the head of Blackstone River running to Providence and falling into the sea at Bristol, is a brook as large as to carry a saw-mill in Sutton, then bears away into Oxford, joins French River which unites with the river Quinebang, and enters the sea at New London.
Secondly. A few rods west of the second parish meeting house, there is a swamp having two outlets, one at the southwest, the other at the southeast. Both these outlets enter Blackstone River above described, at about one mile's distance from each other. But the river is estimated to run ten or twelve miles after the entrance of that on the westerly side before it returns and takes in that on the east.
Thirdly. In the southeastern part of the town is a cavern in the earth or rocks, commonly called Purgatory. The rocks on each side of the chasm evidently appear to have been rent asunder.
People may enter some rods under the ground or rocks, and there are cracks down which they drop pebbles, and. after these strike the sides alternately several times they are heard to fall into the water; and a brook issues out at the bottom of the hill.
It may be acceptable to give a more particular description of this place called Purgatory.
It is the side of a hill which consists of vast ledges of roeks. Where the natural descent begins, a chasm has been formed of perhaps thirty, and in some places, forty feet in width, in these ledges by some violent concussion which left this body of stones of all shapes and sizes to fall in. Above it is open to the heavens, and the ledges, on either side, are from five to ten, and so on to twenty, and even forty feet in height. This chasm is, perhaps, near eighty rods in length, and the descent is gradual and not very difficult. Where the greatest depth is, water issues from crevices in the rocks and hangs in icicles, and even in solid bodies of ice, not only in May, as I have seen, but in June, although the descent is to the south. Some small caverns were formed by the falling of these rocks, through which persons have
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TOWN OF SUTTON.
descended and come out several rods below. This is a most stupendous place, and fills the mind of the beholder with exalted ideas of the infinite power of the great Creator of all things, " who removeth the mountains and they know it not ; who shaketh the earth out of its place, and the pillars . thereof tremble."
After all, no description given of this place by another, will enable persons to form just and adequate conceptions of it .*
The ledges which Mr. Whitney says are " from five to ten and so on to twenty, and even forty feet in height ; " are found by actual measurement to be in some places between fifty and sixty feet in height. Dr. Hitchcock in speaking of Purgatory puts the extreme height of the sides of the fissure at seventy feet. t
The settlement of the town was much delayed by the war mentioned in the grant by the Governor and General Court.
This war is known as Queen Anne's war. It began in 1702 and was not ended until 1713.
November 17, 1714, the Proprietors held the first meet- ing of which there is any record. At this meeting (held in Boston) it was voted, " That three men should be chosen for a committee to order the affairs of that place "- Sutton. Nathaniel Brewer, Jonathan Draper, and Eliezer Daniels were chosen such committee, and " were to stand until others were chosen."
" It was the same day voted that all the charges that has been and shall arise, till the next meeting should be payed by the Proprietors equally according to their several pro- portions at twenty shillings for every 500 acre right." .
The next meeting was held in Boston, March 2, 1714-5.±
* See Whitney's History of Worcester County, pp. 96-98.
i See Hitchcock's report on the Geology of Mass, page 295.
# Before the adoption of the "New Style" in England, in 1752, the year was considered as beginning the 25th of March. Any date therefore between the 1st of January and the 24th of March would be a year too little, so to avoid mistakes it had become customary to give both years as above. March 2d would occur in the year 1714 should the year begin the 25th of March, in 1715 should it begin the 1st of January.
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ANNALS OF THE
At this meeting it was voted " That Jonathan Draper. Eliezer Daniels, and Nathaniel Brewer should be a commit- tee to go and lay out sixty lots at Sutton, for the Proprie- tors, of thirty acres a lot, thirty rods wide and one hundred and sixty long."
" Voted the same day that all such as had one five hun- . dred acre right should have a thirty acre lott, and they who .had more according to their proportion."
It was also " Voted that there should be a rate of sixty pounds, one pound on every five hundred acre right."
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