USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Petersham > An address delivered in Petersham, Massachusetts, July 4, 1854, in commemoration of the one hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of that town > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9
* Nichawogg, Nichewoag, Nichewagg, Nicherwagg, Niehawoge, Nitehewoage, and Nitchawog may all be recognized as variations of one name; but it is not so easy to see how Nepesehoge, or Nepeschoage, as the name was sometimes written, could have been so pronouneed that its kinship to the family above described would be recognized.
4
3
18
been an Indian hamlet or settlement here before the English came, of which traces remained at the period of their coming. According to tradition, this Indian settlement was mostly about the hill on which now stands the dwelling-house of Mr. Thomas How, which hill also bore the name of Nichewaug Hill. To con- ciliate and satisfy such Indians as claimed that they had rights and interests in these lands, the settlers paid them for the relinquishment of their claims; a prudent measure, which afterwards saved them from serious annoyance, if not from positive danger.
Let us now suppose the settlement fairly begun. Let us take our stand here in the spring of 1734. The sons, and the husbands of the daughters, and those hoping to be husbands to the daughters, of the proprietors, have come, as carly as the opening of the spring would permit, to begin their labors, or to resume labors begun the autumn past. A portion have come from the more northern towns, along the northern side of the Wachusett, following a mere bridle-path through the woods, and doubtless bad enough at that. Another portion, from the more southern towns, have travelled up along another path, not much better, though a cart-path, leading through the woods, from Rutland. From Lancaster, the place. at which the emigrants would chiefly rendezvous, as the last point of departure for the new settlement, there are two paths, - that first mentioned, as skirt- ing the Wachusett on the north, and another wind- ing around its southern base, - the two uniting about
19
five miles east of here, near what is known as Burnt Shirt River. Some have come by one, some by the other route; the length and practicability of the two ways being about the same. With the exception of a handful of settlers, just beginning a plantation at Lambstown (whose present name is Hardwick), these of Nichewaug have no nearer neighbors than the inhabitants of Rutland; and, after them, none within shorter distance than Brookfield at the south, and Lancaster and Lunenburgh on the east. On the west side, they scarcely calculate distances, as their com- munication is to be almost wholly with the towns lying to the east. Between them and the towns west of them, their intercourse will be for years quite infre- quent .*
Some idea of the state of the roads, or rather paths, which the pioneers in this settlement had to travel, as they came and went, at first, between their new clear- ings here in the wilderness, and the old homesteads'
* About this time, a road was laid out through this township, from Laneaster to Sunderland, on the Connecticut River, which was said to open a shorter way than any other between Boston and the Connecticut. Being very hilly, however, it does not : appear to have become much of a thoroughfare till its location was changed in part. The plan of this road was reported to the Legislature in 1733. It was to run from Laneaster, across Nashua River, to Wachusett Pond, a little north of Wachusett Hill, eleven miles; thenee through the northern part of Rutland (now Hubbardston), to the centre of the " Volunteers' Township," fourteen miles; thenee to Sunderland, twenty-three miles, passing through no township ; making the distance from Lan- easter to Sunderland forty-eight miles. The town of Shutesbury, for a time ealled " Roadtown," was a grant to the makers of this road, as a consideration for their service. A lot of land laid out to Samuel Sawyer, lying in the south-westerly part of . Nicherwagg, is represented as being on the road to Roadtown.
At a later period, there was much travel through this town, from south-east to north-west; it being situated on one principal line of communication between the forts on Lake Champlain, " No. 4 " in New Hampshire (Charlestown), and other towns in that direction, on the one side, and south-eastern New England on the other.
J
20
which they had left in Lancaster, Groton, and other . places, - may be given, by quoting an extract from a vote of the proprietors relating to the improvement of one of these ways.
It was on the 12th of September, 1734, that the proprietors voted to give to Captain Jonas Houghton, both valuable privileges as a proprietor, and a sum of money out of the treasury, "for making the road "so feasible, - from Lancaster, along on the north side Wachusett, to the meeting of the other path, that goes from [the] aforesaid Lancaster, along on the south side Wachusett, - as to carry comfortably, with four oxen, four barrels of cider at once." This vote not only gives us an idea of what was then con- sidered a " feasible" road, but, in the standard adopted by which to determine its feasibility, indicates with what product of the older settlements the carts which travelled thence to the new went chiefly laden. The forests of Nichewaug could furnish shelter and fuel to the new-comer, and her generous fields could give him bread. But, with all, there was one deficiency, as our fathers deemed, without which the winter hearth must remain cheerless, and the arm of out-door labor lose its nerve and vigor. That deficiency they looked to the old orchards of Lancaster and Middle- sex to supply.
Grist and saw-mills the settlers would need at once. No time was lost in constructing both. Mr. Jona- than Prescott, of Littleton, built the grist-mill, receiv- ing one hundred acres of land, on the east side of Sherman Hill, as a compensation. Messrs. Joseph
21
Whitcomb, Jonathan Houghton, and Daniel Hough- ton, built, or caused to be built, the saw-mill, binding themselves to keep it in repair for ten years ; and, for the same length of time, to sell good pitch-pine boards for forty shillings a thousand, or to saw "to the halves " for all persons who should bring logs to their mill. They received, as a consideration, eighty acres of land adjoining the mill-privilege, and lying between that and Prescott's. As both pieces of land were in Prescott's possession at the time they were surveyed, in 1738, it is likely that he was employed to build the saw-mill as well as the grist-mill. These first mills were probably at or near the place more recently known as that of the Reed Mills. There were other mills in town, however, at a very early period in the town's history .*
No event of much importance occurred in the civil affairs of the new plantation between the time of its settlement and that of its incorporation, with . the exception of those growing out of the war between France and England, known in this country as King George's War. Previously to the war, it had only those difficulties and discouragements to struggle with which are common to all new settlements; the most
* Proprietors' Records. Mill-building would scem to have run in the Prescott family. Butfer's Ilistory of Groton gives an account of John, the first of the name in America, who came to Massachusetts about the year 1640, and soon after settled at Nashua [Lancaster ]. " He was a blacksmith by occupation, and was also a builder of mills." His sons were John, Jonathan, and Jonas. "Jonas, or his father for himn, built the mill in the south part of Lancaster, now within the limits of Harvard." . . .. " He also built mills at Forge village, now in Westford, but then in Groton." It is not in my power to connect our Jonathan Prescott, of Littleton, with the John and Jonas above; but he was undoubtedly of them.
1
22
1
dangerous enemies being found in rattlesnakes and wolves, of which the tails of the former, and the heads of the latter, became trophies, and sometimes the sources of profit, to the hunter. But, upon the break- ing out of hostilities in 1744, all the horrors of Indian warfare arose again in prospect; and this, as one of the outposts, and therefore one of the most exposed stations held by the English, was obliged to protect . itself by such defences as it could. Many of the houses were fortified .* The inhabitants took down their guns again, and carried them with them wher- ever they went, - to their work-fields, to mill, and to church. Scouting parties were kept scouring the.
woods. Mothers put their babes to bed in fear ; and men went their ways, not with the easy unconcern of conscious security, but with the careful step and the circumspect air of men who think that danger may be lurking by their path.
A MS. letter of Colonel Samuel Willard to Gover- nor Phipps and his Council, written in the early part of the summer of 1748,; represents that Nichewog, New Rutland [Barre ?], Narragansett No. 2 [West- minster], Leominster, Luninburgh, and Groton West Precinct [Pepperell], were in a state of much distress on account of the Indians. These towns, he says,
* Whitney. There are traditions of some of these fortified houses. One was the tavern, kept first by Jonas Farnsworth, and afterwards by Kenelm Winslow and oth- ers, at the place beneath the great elm where Silas Foster's public-house stood, and was burnt. Another was in the east part of the town, at the Charles Wilder Place; another, at what is called the Willis Place, a little to the south or south-east of the . dwelling of David Wheeler. And there were others. .
t Preserved in the State archives.
2
23
" will not be able to do their harvest, and to get their hay, without some relief; there being but sixty-two soldiers allowed, and nineteen men for town-scouts, to the towns above mentioned, which is by no means sufficient to guard them." The towns named by Colonel Willard were six in number; consequently, the average number of soldiers to each was only ten and a fraction. Ten men appear to have been assigned to Nichewaug in March of the preceding year, how- ever, by the Governor and Council.
The response to Colonel Willard's letter was thie appointment of fifty-eight men, to be apportioned among the six towns whose necessitous condition he had represented, Townshend being added ; eight, that. · is, to each. These men, says the Governor, are " prin- cipally for guarding those inhabitants that may be exposed to the enemy in getting in their harvest of hay and English grain." And he adds these instruc- tions: " You must take especial care that the inhabi- tants that shall have the benefit of these men work and assist one another in getting in their harvest, --- one day in one man's field, and another day in another, till their harvest be got in; the soldiers to be wholly employed in guarding, and not allowed to be taken off from guarding, by working with the inhabitants. And you must give the command of cach party to some solid man; and they must be so quartered as that they may without danger, and without loss of time, get together for guarding the inhabitants upon their first going out to their work." So the haying and harvesting were done in these fields, during that
السنة
24
summer, a hundred and six years ago, under a mili- tary guard of twenty men.
It was perhaps owing quite as much to the pru- dence that dictated the purchase of this tract from the Indians, as to the measures taken to protect it by garri- sons and soldiers, that this plantation did not actually suffer from any attack or depredations during the war. Other places in the vicinity did not wholly escape. In Payquage [Athol], which was not without its defences, one man was killed, and another was taken and carried into captivity .*
After the close of the war in 1748, the settlement went on prosperously till 1754, when it had grown to a size and attained a position entitling it to incorpo- ration. The interval between the beginning of the settlement and the incorporation, we thus see, had been about twenty years.
I have made no reference yet to the ecclesiastical affairs of the town ; not, however, for the reason that the founders of this town did not think of such mat- ters, or that they neglected to make provision for
* It is supposed that no record was made of the transfer of this land from the aboriginal possessors to the English. At least, none such has been found. There can be no doubt, however, that the Indians were in this manner satisfied, and that they voluntarily relinquished all elaim to proprietorship in this tract of country .. Tradition tells that a scouting party, of whom Captain Joseph Stevens was one, found themselves one day, after a long march, in the neighborhood of Payquage. They had seen no Indians, and were resting without a suspicion that any were in the neighborhood. During their halt, they amused themselves by shooting at a mark, the "mark " being an old hat of Mr. Stevens. It was afterwards ascertained that thero were Indians lying near them at the time, who were spectators of the whole sport, though unseen themselves. The tradition adds, that the same party of Indians made an attack on Payquage. When asked why they did not molest the scouting party from Nichewaug, they said, because the settlers at Nichewaug had paid for their land.
-
25
worship and religious instruction. The children of the Pilgrims would as soon have thought of living in houses of pasteboard themselves, as of constructing a State, or gathering the smallest community, without founding it on the faith and worship of their fathers. They only waited for the report of their Surveying Committee, to learn what lands had been reserved for a meeting-house lot and common, before proceed- ing to erect a house of worship. It was at the second meeting of the proprietors, held at Groton in the fall of 1733, that the vote to build was passed.
In connection with this vote, the proprietors in- structed the Building Committee " to take care that the mecting-house aforesaid be, as soon as [it] can with convenience, built; viz., so far as to finish the. outside, and lay the lower floor, workmanlike." When so far finished, it would do, I suppose, for pro- prietors' meetings, and as a place of worship. It is impossible to say whether this house was ever con- sidered finished.
In December, 1735, an appropriation was made by the proprietors to meet the charges the Committee had been at in raising and shingling the meeting- house ; and, at the same time, a vote was passed " to proceed further in finishing the meeting-house; and that the former Committee about the meeting-house do build the pulpit and deacon(s) seat and the minis- S". ter's pew in said meeting-house, as soon as can be conveniently." The next spring, the house was pro- bably so far advanced that it could be used for Sunday worship, as we find that they began to have preaching
4
-
E
26
1
at that time. But, two years later than this, the vote S'to build pulpit, deacon's seat, and pew for the minis- ter, had not been carried into effect; for, on the 21st of June, 1738, it was again voted to build these, and, . besides, "to ceil said meeting-house as high as the lower windows, and to case the lower windows, and build the body of seats." At this time also, £3. 10s. were voted to Thomas Dick " for coloring the meet- ing-house." This coloring, if it extended to any part of the outside, was probably a mere striping of the corner-boards, and door and window-casings, with a line running just beneath the eaves, and another just above the sill, lengthwise the house. In September of the same year, the Committee who had been directed to ceil the meeting-house up to the window-casings, by an extension of power, were authorized to carry the ceiling " as high as the gurts." And, on the 2d of March, '39, the deacons were instructed to buy a " decent cushion for the pulpit."
In a warrant for a proprietors' meeting, to be held in October, 1740, was an article "to see if the pro- prietors will proceed to finish the meeting-house." The proprietors refused to act on the article. In March of the following year, they did, however, vote to proceed to finish the meeting-house; and, six months after, Reuben Stone was paid " in full, for building one pew and a body of seats, and for setting up two pillars in the meeting-house."
March 10, 1743, Mr. Bennet was released from service as one of the Committee "for finishing part of the meeting-house, by reason of his being at a dis-
1
27
tance; and Mr. James Clemence was made his substi- tute."
December 13, '43, " voted to proceed in finishing the meeting-house, and to choose a Committee for the same." This Committee was soon after directed " to lath and plaster said meeting-house overhead, and also to whitewash the same."
On the 16th of March, '47 (about thirteen years after it was begun), a vote was passed to discharge the Committee chosen " for finishing the meeting- house ; " and, at the end of that year, it was " voted to buy a plush cushing for the meeting-house," and " that Samuel Willard, Esq., do provide the cushing aforesaid." The purchase of this plush cushion may perhaps be taken as the last act of that somewhat pro- longed and arduous enterprise, - the finishing of the meeting-house ; though we find, within three months, that repairs had become necessary, and Lieutenant Stone was set to provide latches for the doors, as well as to repair the outside of the building.
This first meeting-house is still remembered by a few of your oldest citizens. It stood immediately opposite to the gateway of the burying-ground, leaving a passage of perhaps twenty feet in width between its eastern end and the front line of that yard. It was fifty feet long from east to west, forty feet wide, and " twenty-one feet stud." Its front door was on the southern side; the pulpit, on the northern. It was without spire, and unpainted, with windows of small, diamond-shaped glass, set in lead. The stairs leading
28
to the gallery were within the house, ascending from the south-east and south-west corners.
When built, there appears to have been, at first, but one pew, set up at the expense of the proprietors, in the whole house; viz., that for the minister, which stood close to the front door, on the wall, at the right hand as you entered. About the year 1745, a tier of pews was erected quite around the wall of the house, consisting of eighteen in all. These were built and occupied by persons of largest estate and principal consideration in the place. The space within this circling range of pews on the outside was filled up with ranges of long and common seats, on which the inhabitants generally had permanent places assigned to them; the more eligible seats being accorded to the more wealthy and influential, with the sole excep- tion that " some regard " was had to age. Men and women sat on opposite sides of the house. This assignment of seats was called "seating the meeting- house ; " a delicate and important duty, to be repeated every few years, and which could seldom be done without creating some jealousies. The seats first appropriated exclusively to a choir were the two hind · body seats, on the lower floor, on the men's side of the house, - that was the west side. But earlier than that, before there was choir or chorister, one of the deacons, from his seat in front of the pulpit, " dea- coned " the hymn, and then led the congregation in singing it. An old gentleman, recently deceased, told me that he could well remember when Deacon San- derson used thus to recite a line first, and then sing
29
it, and so on; conducting the congregation, line by line, through the hymn. This, however, could have happened only occasionally, I think, within his recol- lection, - as perhaps at ante-communion lectures, - since the habit of choosing choristers began as early as 1767.
After a while, the space occupied by the common long seats began to be divided up, piece by piece, into pew-ground, on which individuals were allowed the privilege of setting up pews for themselves, at their own expense .*
The first preaching in this place was probably in the month of May, 1736. On the 16th of June of that year, Mr. Ephraim Keith was paid " fifty shil- lings a day for three days preaching past," and a Committee was chosen to hire a minister for one year. Ministers continued to be employed, for short periods, till the summer of 1738, when the Committee was instructed to " treet with a minister in order for a settlement; " and, on the 6th of September of that year, it was voted, at a proprietors' meeting, first, " to settle an Orthodox minister in this place ; and, secondly, " to choose Mr. Aaron Whitney to settle as minister of the gospel in this place." A proprietors lot (intended to be of equal value with the lots of other proprietors) } was offered to Mr. Whitney, together with £200 in money, as a settlement; and
* See Appendix D.
t The first minister drew, or had assigned to him, one proprietor's share, as if he had been one of the original grantees. The division assigned to the minister, in the first allotment, was the place at present owned and occupied by George White, Esq., together with considerable tracts bordering upon it, since sold off to other estates ..
'S.
30
£150 as an annual salary. This invitation, Mr. Whit- ney accepted, and he was ordained in December of the same year.
The church appears to have been gathered in Octo- ber, 1738, though no record is made of the precise date. It consisted, at its organization, of fifteen male members .* Isaac Ward and Thomas Adams were chosen the first deacons of the church, in the Decem- ber following.
The event which we particularly celebrate to-day, the incorporation of this town, took place on the 20th of April, 1754. As we are not keeping the precise anniversary of that event, it may be worth while to mention, that it is somewhat doubtful whether the act of incorporation, which bears date of April 20, was actually signed by the Governor on that day. On the 22d of April, the House of Representatives sent for the Secretary " to attend the House, in order to inquire of him whether the Governor had signed the two engrossed bills, erecting Nichewoag and Quabin [Greenwich] into townships ; who accordingly attended, and informed the House that they were not. signed." This was two days after the date which the act itself bears. Another record of the Council appears as if the Governor's signature might have been affixed on the 23d of April, which was the day of adjourn- ment. It is not important to discuss the question
Aaron Whitney, Nathaniel Wilder, Joseph Willson, Isaac Ward, John Oaks, Reuben Farnsworth, Samuel Willson, Thomas Adams, Zedekiah Stone, George Rob- bins, Silas Walker, Nathaniel Stevens, James Clemence, Jonas Farnsworth, Isaiah Glazier.
31
here. If any mind has been exercised by a scruple in regard to the propriety of celebrating on the 4th of July an event which took place on the 20th of April, it can have the benefit of a doubt, whether the Governor did actually put pen to paper on the day last named .*
By some error, about twelve hundred acres of land, at the north-west of the town, and belonging to it, were not included in the act of incorporation. At the session of 1756, however, the mistake was rectified by the General Court; Abel Willard, Esq., of Lancaster, being employed by the town to bring the case before the Legislature.
I have not been able to find a satisfactory answer to the question, how this town came by its name. There are traditions enough about it; but, unfortu- nately, of those I have heard, none is entitled to any credit. The probability is, that the name was taken from the English Petersham, or from him to whom that place gave the title of Viscount of Petersham. But the question is, How came the English Peters- ham, or its Lord, to give a name to this Nichewaug of ours ? Was it a mere fancy that selected the name ? or does some fact of historic interest account for the association of that name with this place ? t
John Murray, Esq., of Rutland, issued the warrant for the first town-meeting in Petersham, which was held on the 19th of August, 1754. The meeting was for the choice of officers, and for putting the town
* Journals of the House of Representatives (printed) and of the Council, 1754. .
t Appendix E.
1
32
/ upon the usual municipal footing. The following persons constituted the first board of selectmen, - Deacon Isaac Ward, Joshua Willard, John Wilder, James Clemence, and Joseph Willson. Joshua Wil- lard was chosen town-clerk ; and Jonas Farnsworth, treasurer.
The town now enters upon that uniform and uneventful course which furnishes but little of the material which usually constitutes the staple of the historian's narrative. Not that no events of impor- tance really transpired here from year to year. There was no year, - no, not one, - of all the least event- ful in the history of this town, in which those pro- cesses of thought and education were not silently going on, out of which peaceful progress or violent revolutions grow, and nations rise or sink. History has too often supposed its story told, and all told, when it has chronicled the march of armies, the intrigues of diplomatists, and the installation or dis- solution of cabinets. But history, to include all that belongs to it, should describe more faithfully the life of peoples in their homes and hamlets, and devote less space, comparatively, to the doings and goings of governors and governments.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.