USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Sterling > One hundredth fiftieth anniversary of the incorporation of the town of Sterling, Massachusetts; exercises in the First parish church > Part 1
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ONE HUNDRED FIFTIETH
ANNIVERSARY TOWN of
STERLING, MASSACHUSETTS
JUNE 17, 1931
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Ge 974.402 St40
Gc 974.402 St40 1158879
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M. L
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 00084 5518
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ONE HUNDRED FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY of the INCORPORATION of the TOWN of STERLING, MASSACHUSETTS
STERLING 1900
ONE HUNDRED FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY
of the INCORPORATION of the
TOWN of STERLING, MASSACHUSETTS
EXERCISES in the First Parish Church
JUNE SEVENTEEN, NINETEEN THIRTY-ONE AT TEN FORTY-FIVE A. M.
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Printed privately by Miss Mary E. Butterick
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Town of Sterling, Massachusetts
Organ
GRAND CHOEUR IN C Rollo Maitland
1158879
A Word of Welcome MR. ALBERT WILLARD FARWELL
Friends:
As we gather here today to celebrate the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the incor- poration of the Town of Sterling, it seems fitting that we should begin the day by meeting in the building which stands on the spot where the first meetinghouse was built, forty years before the town was incorporated. And, in behalf of the committee, it gives me pleasure to welcome you to this building and the plot of ground which has been the meeting place of Sterling people for so many years. We hope that the most far-reaching result of this cele- bration will be the awakening and keeping alive in the minds of our young people a keener appreciation of the conscientious spirit and sturdy character of our ancestors.
P d spec
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One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary
Hymn
O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast, And our eternal home.
Before the hills in order stood, Or earth received her frame, From everlasting thou art God, To endless years the same.
Time like an ever-rolling stream, Bears all its sons away : They fly forgotten, as a dream Dies at the opening day.
O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Be thou our guard while troubles last, And our eternal home.
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Town of Sterling, Massachusetts
Prayer REV. K. C. MACARTHUR
God of our fathers, known of old, who wert and art and evermore shalt be, we, the creatures of a brief day, whose life is as a span, or as a tale that is told, we lift our hearts to thee, with whom are the eternal years.
For the past, we praise thy name. For those who first came here, who subdued the wilder- ness, who wrought from the obstacles to agriculture the stone walls which defended their craft, who brought forth bread for the eater and seed for the sower, who founded homes, who established the church, the school and the instruments of civil government, we offer our grateful praise. For those who, in their coun- try's hour of great need, hazarded their lives on the field of battle, we thank thee.
And now we seek thy blessing on the present. Be with us this day of celebration. Speak to us through thy servant and grant that we may have the attentive mind and the responsive heart to put into effect the lessons he teaches, may our
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One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary
lives express those high principles which our lips profess, may we realize that a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth and that man doth not live by bread alone but by every word that pro- ceedeth out of the mouth of God. Bless this community with useful industry, with happy homes, with public spirit, with the institutions that minister to a higher life.
O God, we pray for the future. May we serve this community, this Commonwealth, the nation and the world. May we live in the spirit of him who went about doing good.
And now, unto him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.
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Town of Sterling, Massachusetts
Vocal Solo MISS PRISCILLA THURSTON
MAKE NEW FRIENDS BUT KEEP THE OLD JOSEPH PARRY
Make new friends, but keep the old,
Those are silver, these are gold;
New made friendship like new wine, Age will mellow and refine;
Friendship that has stood the test-
Time and change are surely best, Brows may wrinkle, hair grow gray;
Friendship never knows decay- Friendship never knows decay.
Chorus
Make new friends but keep the old; Those are silver, these are gold; Brows may wrinkle, hair grow gray, But friendship never knows decay.
For 'mid old friends tried and true, Once more we our youth renew; But old friends alas may die! And new friends their place supply. Cherish friendship in your breast, New is good, but old is best; Make new friends but keep the old, Those are silver, these are gold- Those are silver, these are gold.
Chorus
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One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary
Introduction of Speaker MR. ALBERT WILLARD FARWELL
Recently I overheard a group of our students discussing the coming celebration. One ex- pressed a wish to see Mary and the lamb; another, Sholan and the Indians; while a third was extremely anxious to hear Chief Justice Rugg's address. Accordingly, at this time it gives me exceptional pleasure to present our beloved townsman, Arthur P. Rugg, Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Chief Justice Rugg.
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Town of Sterling, Massachusetts
Address by ARTHUR PRENTICE RUGG
Last year was made notable by celebrations of the tercentenary of the Puritan immigration from old England to the shores of Massachusetts Bay. That Puritan influx was a turning point in the annals of this Commonwealth and of our country, if not one of the decisive events of recorded time. Today we commemorate a less dramatic but a more intimate occurrence. The family is closer to us than the State. The old homestead stirs emotions unmoved by contem- plation of great historic events. Tender and cherished memories arising from birth and kinship and residence beckon us to the observ- ance of this anniversary. Details of the settle- ment and growth, of the trials and triumphs, of the strong personalities and the fine char- acters of the inhabitants constitute the precious treasures of every community. It is the part of wisdom never to suffer the remembrance of these matters to fall into neglect and oblivion. To recount them stimulates and cultivates public spirit. Patriotism has its roots deep in
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One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary
local pride and in attachment to the neighbor- hood. Love of country depends upon love of home. Where the soil of the native town is dear to everybody, there lies the strength of the nation. It is a happy augury that this assembly was timed to gather on Bunker Hill day-a day always memorable in our Revolutionary history and itself an incentive to sacrifice for freedom and high endeavor in the cause of independence and good government. It would be vain to attempt to narrate in the hour before us a completed story of all the events of general or special interest which have come to pass since men first trod our native hills, enjoyed the extraordinary variety and beauty of its land- scapes, established permanent homes here, and bore their full share in building and maintaining a town worthy of fellowship among the com- munities which have made our beloved Com- monwealth. Only a few incidents can be selected to indicate the general course of prog- ress and to form the basis of aspiration for the future.
Although she has never been able to boast a separate volume devoted to her history, Sterling has been fortunate in those who have written
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Town of Sterling, Massachusetts
from time to time of her chronicles. First and most important of these was Isaac Goodwin, a native of Plymouth, a member of the bar, an honored resident of this town from 1809 to 1826, and the chairman of the selectmen who, on our common in 1824, voiced the welcome of the town to Lafayette. He was the author of a book entitled "Town Officer," which went through several editions and enjoyed a consider- able popularity. It was doubtless based upon and inspired by his experiences in Sterling, for it was first published while he lived here. Perhaps he is most famous as the father of Jane Goodwin Austin, who through her remarkable stories has made the Plymouth of the Pilgrim days alive again for modern readers. Isaac Goodwin wrote several articles under the caption "History of Sterling" which were printed in the Worcester Magazine of 1825-26. No doubt he had talked with those acquainted with the first settlers, who heard from the actors the narrative of their hardships and accomplishments. He had seen some of their houses. He well may be termed the Tacitus of Sterling. To him and to numerous others who have written
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One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary
of our town great indebtedness is here gladly acknowledged.
Sterling is a daughter of Lancaster, the oldest town in the county, and her early history is a part of that of the mother town, although the main part of her territory was not joined to Lancaster until shortly before the first settlers came from the intervales of the Nashua. The area of Sterling is derived from three original grants. The "mile" is a strip extending the entire length of the eastern side of the town. It was a part of the first purchase from the Indians about 1643, which shortly afterward, in 1652, became Lancaster. It was annexed by name to the West Precinct when it was created, and has since always been a part of this town. The chief portion is derived from a purchase made in 1701, but not confirmed by the General Court until 1713. This purchase included also parts of what are now Leominster, Boylston, and West Boylston. The third grant was originally a part of Shrewsbury and from its shape called "the Leg." It was set off to Lancaster in 1768 and subsequently about one third of it was transferred to West Boylston on the incorporation of that town in 1808.
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Town of Sterling, Massachusetts
The earliest inhabitant of the territory now comprised within the boundaries of Sterling, so far as definitely known, was Sholan, the sagamore of the "Nashawogs." The name of his tribe signifies the place between or in the angle made by two rivers. Doubtless this refers to the tract lying between the north and south branches of the Nashua River, which meet just above the Atherton or Center Bridge in Lancaster. How much of this somewhat extensive tract, embracing a substantial part of the northern half of Worcester County, belonged to the tribe over which Sholan ruled
is not accurately determined. His capital was located in the space between the two Washacum Lakes. We can well imagine that he entertained his visitors on the hillside just to the south commanding a view of surpassing beauty, including the two lakes and Kendall Hill to the north, Wachusett and what is now Prince- ton to the west, and the range of hills to the eastward of the Nashua Valley ever known as Wataquadock. The fertile imagination of our late fellow townsman, Samuel Osgood, chris- tening anew with the name Sholan the pictur- esque isle which breaks the surface of the West
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One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary
Washacum, suggested the epitome of Sterling history embodied in our town seal: Sholan, standing on the island and viewing the ample portion of his domain within his ken, the date of settlement by the white man, and the date of incorporation as a town. Sholan died in October, 1654. He was succeeded as saga- more by a nephew, Matthas, whose name long was attached to a fish weir near the beginning of the stream through which the waters of the east flow into the west Washacum. During King Philip's War the tribe appears to have been scattered, although some may have re- mained in the neighborhood. Its chief, Sho- shaim, otherwise known as Sagamore Sam and a nephew of Sholan, who participated in that attempt to exterminate the English, was captured and executed about 1786. It is said that friendly Indians were living here after 1720, when the first permanent settlement by the whites was made in the town. The deed (constituting the second grant to which refer- ence has been made) of a large part of what is now Sterling bears date June 26, 1701, and was executed by another nephew of Sholan, reciting that a large part of the consideration had been
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Town of Sterling, Massachusetts
paid to his uncle. The signatures appended by their marks to that deed as grantors are George Tahanto and Mary Aunsocamug. The meaning of Indian proper names is puzzling and deceptive. I have been unable to ascertain that anyone has ever attempted to give the significa- tion in English of Sholan or Tahanto. The dusky mate of the latter fares better, however. The late Lincoln N. Kinnicutt, an Indian scholar of distinction, in a personal letter of some years ago, put forward the intepretation, based upon a learned and ingenious chain of reasoning, that her name is the equivalent of "Mary of the Cornfields." Thus she is a poetical prophesy of the agricultural future of the town- ship of which she was one of the two original grantors. The Indian word used to designate this region, commonly called Chocksett in these days and variously spelled otherwise as Woonksechockett, Wonsacoxet, Ossechoxit, and Choxett, is thought to mean "the fox country" or "near the place of foxes." The name Washacum, which gives added attraction to the beautiful east and west lakes, is said to signify the great waters or springs. Wickapicket, as applied to the brook, denotes "the place
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One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary
where lindens are," and as applied to the two hills, each guarding a meridian end of the valley to the north of the village, a sharp pointed hill.
There is no record of explorations of the territory of Sterling before the first settlement. It is fair to assume, however, that there were early journeys to this vicinity. The friendliness of Sholan well may have attracted visits to his wigwam. It is reasonably certain that Mary Rowlandson in her famous "removes" traveled from George Hill in Lancaster, where the first night was spent, through this town by a trail following somewhat roughly the present road from Lancaster to Princeton through the village of Sterling and to the south of Wachusett on the way to the Connecticut valley. And the route of her return to Lancaster, after being turned over to Mr. Hoar and the others of her rescuers, was from Redemption Rock through North Row and Pratts Junction to Lancaster. Doubtless these were trails more or less familiar to the early settlers.
Two grim incidents of war, antedating by a number of years the first permanent settlement in town, throw a vivid light on the hardships
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Town of Sterling, Massachusetts
and dangers of our earliest predecessors in this region while it was yet an unbroken wilderness. In May, 1676, during the King Philip War, Captain Henchman of Boston, while on a march with a force for the defense of the plantation on the Connecticut River, was informed by a Natick Indian that his enemy was at Washacum. Acting on this information he varied his course and surprised a party of Indians in their canoes taking fish. An instant attack and a stubborn defense resulted in the death of seven and the capture as prisoners of twenty-nine Indians. Thus Washacum is signal- ized as the scene of the only naval victory in Worcester County. Another battle was fought on this territory in 1707. A party of twenty-four Indians had ventured as far as Marlborough and there captured a certain Jonathan Wilder, formerly of Lancaster. On the next day a party set out in pursuit. The savages were overtaken in this town and thrown into considerable consternation. First they dispatched their pris- oner by placing him against a rock and wound- ing his head. Then they began an obstinate fight, which was continued until nine of them were dead. The mortality among the Marl-
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One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary
borough men was two killed and two wounded. The place where this sanguinary encounter took place is about three miles from this meeting- house, a little way beyond the Rowley Hill schoolhouse and on the opposite side of the road. The lot is still called "Indian Fight." Doubtless every boy and girl on Rowley Hill can point out the rock where the unfortunate Jonathan Wilder came to his end.
The first settlement in the town was in 1720. The early settlers appear to have had no thought of setting up a town. They did not group their homes close together for mutual protec- tion or for intimate social communication. They followed the course natural for those theretofore dwelling in the vicinity of a village by spreading out to cultivate wild land within the broad limits of an established municipality. When those five first families made their settle- ments in 1720, only one, Jonathan Osgood, took up land near what is now the village, on the place long known as that of George F. Davidson and now occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Herman Bock. David Osgood went half way up Fitch Hill and settled on the farm occupied successively by Charles B. Fitch, George F.
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Town of Sterling, Massachusetts
Butterick, and now Joseph Gargulinski. Gam- aliel Beaman was reputed to be the first to make his home here, which was on the William S. Walker place, where at present lives the Cork family. Benjamin Houghton located on what has been for many years the Asa Spencer place. Samuel Sawyer went a little farther north and built his house on the very top of the hill which has been owned a good deal of the time since by a family of the same surname, the present proprietor being Bertice F. Sawyer. The mo- tives which actuated this removal from the Lancaster valley to the hills to the westward are not known. These pioneers took up good land. It may be that the advantages of hill over intervale appealed to them. Others soon fol- lowed, both from the settlement on the Nashua and from Rowley, Woburn and per- haps other towns in the easterly part of the Province. The place grew apace and within seventeen years after the first house was built its inhabitants were petitioning to be "erected into a township" "because of the great incon- veniences they are under by reason of their remote situation and the difficulties of the way from attending the publick Worship of God
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One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary
in said Town" of Lancaster. (Chapter 104, Province Laws, 1737-1738.) The justness of this desire was recognized when the General Court by chapter 93 of Province Laws, 1742- 43, passed on November 23, 1742, set off by metes and bounds "the South Westerly part of the Additional Grant and the Mile, so called, in the Town of Lancaster with the Inhabitants thereon" as a distinct and separate precinct. The Church was established directly and the first meetinghouse was erected on the spot where we now are. The first schoolhouse was built close by at substantially the same time. It is singular that even so late as that year there was no village and no nearby dwelling. In- deed, the first house in the village was built about forty years after the first settlement and about eighteen years later than the meeting- house, in 1759 or 1760, on the site now occupied by the residence of William R. Mitchell. In 1744, Rev. John Mellen was called as the first pastor of the Church. This community owes much to the energy, learning, industry, and wisdom of this first minister. There is no record of complaint that he did not preach acceptably to the people. Few, if any,
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Town of Sterling, Massachusetts
of his contemporaries have left in print a larger number of sermons. Twelve publications are accredited to him, seven of which belong to the period of his pastorate here. One of them is a volume of fifteen sermons. The theological features of his discourses possess little present general interest. But John Mellen had the faculty of embodying in his sermons discussion of current events of permanent value, of which very likely all trace would now be lost but for his attention. The only description of the effects in this vicinity of the earthquake of 1755 is in a sermon at the General Muster and Inspection of Arms, and preached here one hundred seventy- five years ago yesterday, on June 16, 1756. It is peculiarly minute and interesting, and possesses both historic and scientific importance. In another sermon there is an account of the epidemic of disease which produced great mortality in this and neighboring parishes in 1756. A sermon preached at the close of the French and Indian War of 1755-1760, not only gives an account of the campaigns cul- minating in the capture of Quebec and Montreal and the acquisition of Canada by Great Britain, but also contains a descriptive list of the nine-
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One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary
teen members of this parish who laid down their lives to protect the Province from invasion from the north and to secure future peace in that quarter. He does not state the names or the number of his parish who served in. that war. The magnitude of that sacrifice can best be appreciated by recalling that the names of twenty-six are on the monument in the park as having given their lives "in defense of Liberty and Union during the Great Rebellion." Mr. Mellen had ceased to be pastor before the end of the Revolution and we have no similar list of those from this parish who made the supreme sacrifice in that struggle for independence. In the military records they were all accredited to the town of Lancaster. The memory of the Spaniard, Sebastian Smith, a devoted adherent of this first Church and the earliest of the numerous financial benefactors of the Church and town, has been kept green for a century and two-thirds by the funeral sermon preached on March 31, 1765, on the "Merit of Doing Good," wherein the life and virtues of this singular but exemplary character were depicted with genuine appreciation. Differences arose in the parish toward the close of his pastorate,
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Town of Sterling, Massachusetts
chiefly concerning matters of Church govern- ment and ministerial authority, and he was separated from his pulpit in 1774. But he maintained his convictions with courage and had a highly creditable subsequent career in Hanover and Reading in this Commonwealth. There is every reason on this day to render homage to the memory of Rev. John Mellen and to be thankful for his service to this com- munity. His portrait, together with that of his remarkable wife, looks down upon the cele- bration of this day from the walls of this meetinghouse. That ancient canvas by an un- known artist shows features of moral strength and intellectual power of no mean order.
The establishment of the second precinct secured to the inhabitants religious autonomy. But there was agitation from time to time in favor of a separate township. The attitude of the inhabitants of Chocksett on these subjects does not appear to have had any basis in the conduct of the people of Lancaster or the first precinct. There is no record of lack of fair treatment, either in Church or in town affairs. It was simply the natural aggressiveness of a resolute, resourceful, energetic and liberty-
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One Hundred Fiftieth Anniversary
loving group living together under similar conditions and constantly gathering at stated weekly meetings for public worship and instruc- tion in religion, which all regarded as their most important interest. The intimacy of association for instruction in religion and for its support at the common expense could not fail to nourish and stimulate a feeling of community of interest touching civic affairs. Religion was the supreme concern of their lives. It was supported by general taxation. Officers were required to levy and collect the revenue for the maintenance of the Church. It was inevitable that there should arise a common desire for the establishment of a township in which the precinct might be merged. A peti- tion dated June 7, 1779, signed by "Thomas Sawyer, Thomas fairbank, David Osgood, Samuel Sawyer, Thomas Sawyer, Junior," as a "Committee in Behalf of the Precinct" was presented on June 11, 1779, to the General Court. It was therein recited in substance that, in March, 1740, at a legal meeting of the town of Lancaster, it was voted that the petitioners be set off as a separate township, and that petition to that end was presented to the Great and
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Town of Sterling, Massachusetts
General Court in 1742, and, although the township was not obtained, they were set off as a distinct precinct; that in March, 1766, the above precinct was again voted off by the town of Lancaster to be a separate town, but petition was not granted by reason of the Governor's unwillingness to sign the act; and that in October, 1778, the town of Lancaster again voted that the second precinct be set off as a separate town, and as they were now increased to upwards of two hundred families and labored under several and considerable incon- veniences arising from connection with the first precinct of the town in attending town- meetings at so great a distance and also in being obliged to have precinct meetings and affairs over and above what was necessary in a town, wherefore, they prayed that they be incor- porated as a separate town. A remonstrance of the same date signed by John Prescott and Benja Houghton was presented on September 24, 1779. The entry was made, "Lancaster Petitions Ordered to lie until the End of the War." In November, 1780, another numerously signed remonstrance against the proposed di- vision of Lancaster was presented. The facts
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