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GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01104 8995
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2019
https://archive.org/details/storyoftempleton00lord
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NARRAGANSETT HISTORICAL SOCIETY BUILDING
The Story of Templeton
Massachusetts
Compiled by Elizabeth Wellington Lord
Edited by Ethel M. Eaton
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COMMONY
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Incorp
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SPONSORED BY NARRAGANSETT HISTORICAL SOCIETY, INC.
CONTENTS
THE STORY OF TEMPLETON By Elizabeth Wellington Lord
Page
Chapter 1. First Settlements-1786
1
The Legend of Princess Rock
Work in Colonial Days
Chapter 2. Interests and Industries of the Early Days, 1786-1832 13
The Great Load of Wood Memories of Myra Paine The Witch Story Making Hats The Tin Business Bourn and Hadley
Chapter 3. Industrial Development and the Coming of
the Railroads, 1832-1882
32
The Stage Coach Days The First Railroad Military Musters Orville Winch's Shoe Shop
Chapter 4. The Coming of Electricity and World
War I, 1882-1924
50
Templeton Grange The Snow Storm of 1888 Templeton Inn World War I.
Chapter 5. The Reorganization of the Historical Society
and Hopes for Tomorrow, 1924-1946
.
66
The Hurricane of 1938
New Business in Templeton Center
People of Influence
BROOKSVILLAGE. By Lizzie E. Hadley
89
EAST TEMPLETON. By Ruth M. Bishop 103
OLD HOUSES. By Edith Gray Hinds .
137
OTTER RIVER, By Mary Leland Stone
151
1254264 CONTENTS CONTINUED
Page
BALDWINVILLE
161
The Yankee Village. By L. Clifford Day
The River
Main Street Fire
Village Smithy
Awheel and Afoot
Trees and Roof Tree
Steeples Prescription
Stories of the Early Days. By Mary Bradish Putnam
The Hospital Cottages. By Charlotte Ward
The Birch Hill Dam Project. By Lorey A. Tourtellot and Urban Oliver
The Business of Baldwinville. By Lorey A. Tourtellot
CHURCHES OF TEMPLETON
. 215
By Florence Parkhurst White
The First Parish (Unitarian)
Baptist Church
Trinitarian Congregational Church
The First Federated Church
Phillipston Church
Methodist Church
Memorial Church
Catholic Church
EDUCATION IN TEMPLETON
. 253
By Carrie Bishop Paine
TEMPLETON IN THE WARS
.
273
By Ira B. Knight
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Old Templeton
Mightily heave thy hills; the breasts of the sacred Earth mother: Silent and dark thy vales; where the thrush will resound in the twilight. Dear are the upland farms; the hallowed abodes of the fathers: Homely the pasture brown, with only the hardhack for heather. Sweet was the woodland tarn; fair crown of thy daughter departed: Merry thy sparkling brook; and placid the course of the trout stream. Peerless were erst thy pines; but now they are sailing the ocean: Swiftly their sisters rise; for the pine on her hills is eternal. Wild is the western light that streams from the crest of the church hill: Weird is the waning moon, as she sleeps on the mist of the valley: Dark and defiant the storms that sweep from Vermont o'er the midland. Noble and strong on Thee looks Monadnock, the prince of the mountains:
Many thy suitors bold, from him to the shapely Watatic. Lovely and grand art thou, fair Templeton, queen of the highland.
- CHARLES WELLINGTON STONE
Templeton, Mass. 1886
The Story of Templeton By
ELIZABETH WELLINGTON LORD
Acknowledgments
For material of historical interest, I am in- debted to Hosea F. Lane who wrote the "History of Templeton to 1888" and to Rev. Edwin G. Adams, author of "An Historical Discourse," which contains information concerning the town and the First Church; to J. Francis Winch, author of "Memories of Templeton," for stories, anec- dotes and reminiscences, to friends, neighbors and many townspeople whose help and co- operation have made possible the compilation of this story of Templeton.
E. W. L.
Foreword
This story does not pretend to be a detailed account of the history of Templeton but simply a narrative of events woven in with stories and folklore. It is written for the pleasure of all people, young and old, who are interested in the development of this section of New England. A more extensive history will be found in special chapters written by members of the Narragansett Historical Society.
CHAPTER I.
First Settlements-To 1786
H IGH on a ridge of land, running from Mount Wachusett to Mount Monadnock, twelve hundred feet above the sea, Templeton was born.
Like many New England towns, settlements were made on an elevation for the purpose of being able to see the approach of the Indians.
There is little indication that the Indians lived in this local- ity; though there are signs that they wandered through. Ar- rowheads, stone mortars, pestles and pot-holes, were found by the early settlers. We are told that the villages south of Tem- pleton were evacuated and that tribes of Indians moved north establishing camps in the town. It is quite possible that Mary Rowlandson (the wife of the Lancaster minister) who was captured by the Indians in one of her twenty removals, might have made a temporary camp in this vicinity.
It has been stated that once there was a settlement of Nar- ragansett Indians around Princess Rock, located just back of the Petersham Road, on the left side, not far from the old Poor Farm ... This is the story: In this village lived Prin- cess "Star Fire", daughter of the chief. She was known throughout the land as the fairest of maidens.
Chief "Big Wolf", the most powerful chieftain of the Narragansett Indians, demanded her for his wife, but the
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Princess loved one of her own tribe, brave "Young Eagle". Her father, "Long Arrow", dared not deny the request of the chieftain fearing for the safety of his people. When the Princess saw "Big Wolf" she decided that she preferred death to marriage with this chieftain. The night before the day appointed for her marriage, she and her lover met upon the Princess Rock. When her father came in search of her, he found her dead, locked in the arms of her lover at the foot of the rock.
For many years afterward, no Indian or paleface dared linger near the spot, but in the evening as twilight descended, it was said that the death song of the maiden and her lover could be faintly heard near Princess Rock.
This perhaps is the most romantic story in the town's early history.
In our life today we are indebted to the Indian for certain foods. The canoe and snowshoe are survivals of the Red Man, and we are following his way of living by adopting the free out-of-door life.
In 1620, The Pilgrims landed on our shores at Plymouth.
"The breaking waves dashed high On a stern and rock bound coast, And the woods against the stormy sky Their giant branches tossed; And the heavy night hung dark, The hills and waters o'er When a band of exiles moored their bark
On the wild New England shore."
-Felicia Hemans
They were Christian people who came to find freedom to worship God, and in due time the descendants of these brave men and women came to live in our town.
The General Court of the Province of Massachusetts was glad to give away the land in the hill country for the sake of opening up new townships. To those who had done service
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in the King Philip's War against the Narragansett Indians and had made claim for compensation, land was given and a proprietary system was established, each township being required to have at least one hundred and twenty Proprietors. These Proprietors came from towns below, which previously had been settled.
It was at a meeting in Concord, Massachusetts, December 3, 1733 that the township laid out was accepted and given the name of Narragansett, No. 6. The neighboring town of Westminster was known as Narragansett No. 2; Buxton, Maine No. 1; Amherst, New Hampshire No. 3; Enfield, Massachusetts No. 4; Bedford, Massachusetts No. 5; and Gorham, Maine No. 7.
A committee was chosen "to finish the line and burn the wood" but because of the French and Indian hostilities, there was no actual settlement for several years.
On October 6, 1742, a meeting was held on Ridge Hill in Partridgeville where grants of land were given out. The site where the Bay State Metal Wheel Company was located was one of the first. A saw-mill was erected, twice being burned by the Indians and rebuilt.
The first log-house is supposed to have been built in East Templeton and that, too, was burned by the Indians.
You will find in the Narragansett Historical Society Build- ing a sheepskin parchment marking the location of these grants of land given to the first settlers.
Let us visualize this location in these early times. It could well have been said:
"This is the forest primeval: The Murmuring pines and the hemlocks, Bearded with moss, and in garments green, Indistinct in the twilight, Stand like Druids of eld."
-Longfellow
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Just one stretch of wild growth of tall and stately trees, and the wild animals roamed at will, the fox, the bear and the wolf. "Keeping the wolf from the door" was literally one of the problems of those days.
These were sturdy young men who came to stake out their claims. They wore the short jacket coat, knee breeches and broad-brimmed high pointed hats.
Before the log-houses could be built, they lived in dugouts on the side of a hill or in natural caves formed in the rocks. A large cave, we know, was lived in by one of the early settlers, located on the Petersham Road, on White Hill. The log- houses were carefully, though crudely made. There were then no planks, no nails, no glass for windows. Tall trees were cut and logs were hauled on hand-made sleds and placed on solid ground. The joints were bound with wet rawhide and the space between the logs was chinked in with moss and clay. Oiled paper was used for the windows and the roof covered with bark from the chestnut trees. Many had no chimneys; others had crude ones, laid with cobblestone, or sticks mor- tared with clay and grass. The doors were made of leather or strips of bark with leather hinges.
They had no stores so everything needed had to be fashion- ed by hand. They made wooden spoons and plates. They trapped for fur. The deer, the rabbit and the porcupine gave them meat, and they found trout and pickerel in the near-by ponds and streams. It took courage to open up settlements in that wilderness. In due time saw-and grist-mills were provided, more substantial houses were built, and an active community life was established. Thomas Sawyer built the first grist-mill at Goulding Village. It was voted that the sixty families who would settle on their lots should secure a certain sum and, the new settlers were required to pay into the Pro- prietors' treasury. The earliest payment made to any person
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for building a house on his lot and living in it with his family was made in September, 1751, to Elias Wilder. It was on the site of the house which is now occupied by Charles Henshaw.
These early inhabitants were liberal and righteous men. The Sabbath was respected, and before a meeting-house could be built, they assembled for worship in private houses. In the autumn of 1752, the town Proprietors levied a tax of four shillings on each right of land to provide preaching.
Dr. Joseph Lord, a physician and preacher from the neigh- boring town of Pequog, now Athol, was engaged to conduct the services. He came each Sunday with a gun over his shoulder, as a protection from the Indians, to preach to these first settlers.
The first meeting-house was built in 1775. It was made of chestnut trees which grew where the common is now located. Rev. Daniel Pond was ordained as the first minister. He re- mained four years.
In 1760, the first frame house was built by Zaccheus Barrett, one of the twelve founders of the church. This house was erected on the South Road and known in later years as the Dolbear House. In 1761, Ebenezer Sparhawk was ordained in Mr. Zaccheus Barrett's house as the second minister of the First Church. He remained forty-four years.
Then in 1762, Narragansett No. 6 was incorporated under the name of Templetown, later Templeton. There were then about four hundred inhabitants. Why this name was given to the town, history does not reveal; but tradition says it was named for Sir John Temple, who at one time was Lieu- tenant Governor of New Hampshire. His picture hangs in our Public Library.
The second frame house to be built was "Ye Old Tavern". This was in the year 1763, and it was owned by Joshua Wright. He was chosen selectman eight different times and served as
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town clerk and treasurer for many years. In this Tavern, were held the town meetings. The house was very carefully restored in 1935 by the late Charles Flood of Brookline. It is now owned by Charles Dewey.
The third frame house was built in 1764 by Ebenezer Spar- hawk, the second settled minister. He occupied it as long as he lived, and afterward it was bought by his successor, Dr. Well- ington, who lived there during his pastorate. It is located on the Wellington Road and is now owned by Herbert Maynard.
One of the largest kitchens was in the house built by Jonathan Cutting, now owned by Dr. Edwin St. John Ward. It had a huge fireplace, tall andirons and crane, spinning wheel and flax wheel. Like all the houses in the early days, the kitchen was the center for all work and social gatherings.
The women occupied their time in spinning, weaving, dip- ping candles, making soap and in other useful occupations. These women dressed in short-waisted bodices, long skirts, long sleeves, white kerchiefs and plain caps. It has been said they learned graceful movements by spinning and weaving. When we stop to think of the inventions which have been made to give us aid in our home work, the many electrical appliances, oil burners, the telephone and other devices, it is well for us to consider how our ancestors worked without these improvements.
Several years ago, two broadcasts were given by the writer, one entitled, "Women's Work in Colonial Days" and one, "Men's Work in Colonial Days." The one concerning the work of the men was written by Kenneth Bourn, and to make our story complete, we will quote from these two programs. "In the Colonial days, work meant occupation to produce the necessities of life, clothing, food and all home com- forts. Flax and linen thread for weaving had to be prepared by the women as well as the yarn for knitting. "Home-made"
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was an adjective that might be applied to nearly every article in the house.
The kitchen was the place where most of the work was done, though some of the occupations were accomplished out-of-doors. There was no running water in those days, not even a pump at the kitchen sink. All water was drawn in buckets, and this was not always done by the men of the family.
Cooking over the fireplace was an art in itself. Apples were preserved in several ways. There were no glass jars for canning, so apples were cut in slices and strung on linen thread and hung in the attic to dry. Apples, sweet and sour, were cooked in brass kettles with molasses used for sweetening, and placed in barrels and allowed to freeze.
Candle-dipping was an occupation on a large scale, enough being made in the fall to last a year. The art of making soft soap still continues today though not made in barrels as in those early times.
Perhaps the leading occupation was spinning, and those so occupied were called spinsters. Consequently there were then many married spinsters doing their needful work. The wheel- wright then was not making wagon wheels but spinning wheels. "All wool and a yard wide" meant hard work from the shearing of the sheep to the finished product.
Linen thread was made into table cloths, sheets, pillow cases, aprons, bed-hangings, as testers for the four-posters. Knitting, then as now, was a useful art. Girls when four years old began to knit, and even boys knitted their own suspenders.
These were the outstanding occupations of the women dur- ing the Colonial period. There were in those days no clubs and few outside pleasures. The church and the home were the centers of interest.
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We must not forget the patience, perseverance, hope and trust of these patriotic women.
The men occupied their time in making roads and cultivat- ing the soil. They were paid only fifty cents a day and charged only 25 cents for the use of their oxen.
Kenneth Bourn relates that in the early days "The tough roots of the trees and the tangled sod of the meadow were plowed by sheer man-power, pulling in gangs with a wooden plow." But in Templeton's beginning the patient, strong ox was available, which became the standard draft animal throughout this section, partly because of his great strength and ability to thrive on poor forage and little care, but even more important, the ox would feed his master when his usefulness was gone. This was an important matter when a man must raise his own food or perish. The country was heavily wooded, hence the crops were planted the first year in patches between leafless trunks of girded trees. The crops raised were chiefly native products: corn, pumpkins, potatoes and beans for baking. Gradually the fields were adapted to the grains of England, wheat, rye and barley.
Flax for linen was seen on every farm, together with the sheep that supplied the clothing for the family. Every farm had its swine, milch cattle, oxen, and many had chickens and domesticated ducks and turkeys raised from the native wild species.
With the road-building and the advent of the saw-mills, the perfect Colonial houses were built. They were neces- sarily large, as families of a dozen children were common. The first of these houses were built by artisans imported from England.
As the land came under cultivation and villages sprang up, many men were released from farming to work as mechanics. England tried to prevent manufacturing in the Colonies, but
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England was as helpless as the Indians had been in striving to preserve their lands. Small shops and mills sprang up, as the Colonists made more and more of their own shoes and cloth- ing, nails, tools and weapons, becoming increasingly indepen- dent of the products of the mother country. As time passed, the town took on a more settled aspect.
The farms grew fat. The fields lost their stumps, and land was fenced in by stone walls. Increasing travel kept the trails clear and with the road-building it was possible to carry the produce of the fields to market. The barns and cellars were full, and the woodsheds were filled with beech, maple and oak, the finest fuel in the world for the fireplaces. Those brave an- cestors of ours were paving the way toward our country's freedom. They could truly say, "Life is real, life is earnest", and little time was given to recreation or pleasure.
Note the substantial names of these first settlers, Zaccheus Barrett, Elias Wilder, Ebenezer Sparhawk, Phineas Byam, Jonathan Cutting, Joshua Hyde, Charles Baker. Captain Baker was one of the most prominent figures in the early his- tory. Nothing of importance occurred in which he did not figure. He was a licensed Inn holder and surveyor of many plots of land and roads. In 1759, he laid out the first burying place. He was quite the Squire of the town.
In 1764, the town was divided into squadrons for schooling, one on the westerly side and one on the easterly side. This was the beginning of the public schools.
In 1770, the first doctor was settled in the town, Dr. Ben- jamin Shattuck. He was born in Littleton, November 11, 1742.
In 1775, came the Revolutionary War. "The town acted with great spirit and self sacrifice in behalf of the American cause during the war". A tablet was placed in the old town hall commemorating the service of thirty-six soldiers, minute-
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men who promptly responded to the alarm sounded through- out the province on the morning of April 19, 1775.
The town meeting warrant, after the battle of Lexington, was issued not in "His Majesty's name", as previously, but simply "by order of the selectmen". In 1777, the warrant read "in the name of the government and people of the state of Massachusetts Bay".
During the twenty-five years after the incorporation of the town, as already stated, some progress was made in the devel- opment of roads. Previous to that time, horseback riding and in ox carts through paths were the only means of transporta- tion. And over these bridle paths, on horseback, Moses Le- land of Sherborn, brought his bride, Patience Babcock, to what was later known as the Leland Farm, located in the western part of the town.
In those early days, many people went about on rackets. They were like snowshoes, but not so long, and were some- times used on horses in the meadows when getting in the hay.
Two bridges were constructed over the Otter River which flows through the northern section of the town. Later on, this river furnished the water power for many industries. Through the construction of roads and bridges the way was opened up for the making of various settlements.
The town spread out its interests, and many and various names were given to these locations, generally named for some person who lived in a special section, as Baldwinville, Jonesville, Dadmanville, Partridgeville, Brooksvillage, Pitcher- ville, Wilkieville, Goulding Village. Then there was Happy Hollow. One section, though having no settlement, was known as "Skunks Misery". There must have been some legend or story about it, but we know it not. It is the location for rare wild plants, making an interesting place for those who like to explore on foot. It extends over quite a large area in
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the form of a bowl surrounded by a high ridge. In the center of this bowl is a bottomless pool. The land around it is moist and soggy, almost like quick-sand and when the men go fish- ing in the pool, they have to walk out on planks or else go beyond their depth in mire.
This may be the reason for its unusual name, for skunks like to burrow in moist land and they might have gone beyond their depth and found themselves in a miserable and unhappy condition.
Harvard men exploring this section gave as their theory that in the early days a meteor must have dropped there and caused the depression and upheaval of land.
In the autumn it is especially beautiful there, the colorful foliage mingled with the fir trees, and around the pool, the tall white grasses waving in the breeze and beyond, the corduroy road, no longer used.
One of the first roads built through the town ran from Worcester, through Hubbardston and Skunks Misery over this corduroy road through Brooksvillage to Greenfield. John Brooks's grandfather brought his bride in the first chaise used in New England over this road to his home in Brooksvillage.
In 1785, twenty-three years after our town was incorporated, Gardner was set off as a township. It was made up of por- tions of land taken from Winchendon, Westminster, Ashburn- ham and Templeton.
In 1786, the common was laid out, setting apart the land by the meeting-house for public use and pleasure. At that time, the town meetings were held in that house of worship. In the same year that the common was laid out, the manage- ment of public affairs was passed over by the Proprietors to the town.
And so around the common and along the main street appeared, one by one, the houses, shops and places of industry.
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For the present, the wars were over, new hope, courage and incentive came into the lives of these brave settlers. In the next chapter we will tell something of the industries and activities following this early period.
IMPORTANT DATES
1733
Township laid out Narragansett No. 6
1752 Preaching in houses Dr. Joseph Lord
1755 First Meeting House built Rev. Daniel Pond
1760 First frame house built Zaccheus Barrett
1761 Second Minister Rev. Ebenezer Sparhawk
1762 Town incorporated, named Templeton
1763
"Ye Old Tavern" built
1764
Schools started
1770 First doctor settled. Dr. Shattuck.
1775
Revolutionary War
1785
Gardner incorporated
1786
Common laid out
1786
Proprietors turn over management of affairs to the town.
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CHAPTER II.
Interests and Industries of the Early Days 1786-1832
I N the year 1786, not only was the Common laid out and the public affairs turned over by the Proprietors to the town, but the section in the west end was made into a township and incorporated under the name of Gerry, (the town now known as Phillipston) for Elbridge Gerry, a signer of the Declara- tion of Independence and former Governor of Massachusetts. Because of political differences between Elbridge Gerry and the inhabitants of the town and also, we are told, because he did not keep his promise to furnish the glass windows for the church, it was the desire of the townspeople to change the name. On February 5, 1814, it was renamed Phillipston, in honor of Lieutenant Governor William Phillips.
During this period, in 1805, Ebenezer Sparhawk, the second minister, died. In 1807, Charles Wellington was ordained. He was the minister who received the great load of wood as a present from one of his parishioners. This is the story, as written by Dr. Wellington's grandson, Charles Wellington Stone, "It was the custom to supplement the minister's moder- ate salary with presents from the products of the farms, and
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