USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Athol > Athol, Massachusetts, past and present > Part 12
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James McManamy, one of the district chiefs, was born in Athol, Feb. 6, 1860. He attended the public schools of the town, and commenced working in the mills when
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only ten years of age. Among the first places in which he was employed were the saw mill of J. M. Cheney, W. A. Fisher's cotton mill, and Leander Cheney's cotton bat- ting mill. For more than fifteen years he has been em- ployed in the sash and blind factory of A. F. Tyler. He was one of the constables for three years, commencing with 1892, and was appointed one of the engineers of the fire department in 1895, which position he now holds. He was one of the organizers of the Highland Association of Firemen, and a member of the committee under whose di- rection the Highland Engine House has been erected.
Charles F. Smith, one of the district chiefs for 1896, was born in Townsend, Mass., Dec. 5, 1855. He learned the cooper's trade, and has been employed in that business most of the time since coming to Athol, in March, 1882. He has been connected with the fire department thirteen years, and has been one of the Engineers six years. He has also served as constable eight years. He married Mary E. Newton, May 23, 1874.
Harry F. Boutell, son of James and Martha H. Boutell, was born in Athol, Sept. 28, 1855. He attended the pub- lic schools of the town until thirteen years of age, when he entered the store of Thorpe & Thomas as clerk, and re- mained in their employ five years. In 1875, he purchased the interest of Geo. Ward, in the firm of Ward Brothers, and the firm of Ward & Boutell was formed, which did a milling and retail hay and grain business at Athol Center. He was also associated with Dexter Aldrich in the same business for a short time, and for quite a number of years carried on the business in his own name until April 1,
FRED A. HASKINS.
JAMES McMANAMY.
CHARLES F. SMITH.
HARRY F. BOUTELL.
,
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1895, when he sold it to his brother, Geo. W. Boutell, and removed to Barre, where he now resides. He mar- ried Eliza W. Upton of Barre, Aug. 1, 1877. There is probably no person that has been connected with the fire department during the last thirty years for so long a time as Mr. Boutell. He joined the Despatch Hand Engine Co. in 1871, when sixteen years of age, and served con- tinuously in some position of the department for twenty- four years, during which time he never missed but one fire when in town, and he had seen every member who was on the rolls when he joined go out of the department. He served for several years on the Athol Steamer Co., and was appointed foreman of Hook & Ladder Co. No. 1, May Ist. 1879, which position he held for eight years, when he was appointed as one of the board of Engineers, May 1, 1887, and served as such until Feb. 1. 1895. He was one of the organizers of the Highland Association of Athol Firemen. and its president in 1895. He is a charter member of Tully Lodge of Odd Fellows and Banner Lodge Daughters of Rebekah, and is a member of various other organizations. He was elected one of the constables of the town in 1887, and served until March, 1895.
Among the great fires of Athol, we have space to men -. tion only three : The burning of Music Hall at the Up- per Village, April 8, 1876, when the citizens of that sec- tion saw swept out of existence in a few minutes what had been the pride of their village, for it was the most elegant and perfectly equipped, as well as the largest hall in north- western Massachusetts. The loss amounted to nearly sixty thousand dollars, and was a severe blow to the busi-
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ness of that village. Another was the destruction of the large shoe shop of C. M. Lee, when upwards of two hund- red and fifty hands were thrown out of employment, and the loss was estimated at nearly seventy thousand dollars. This occurred Dec, 26, 1883.
Athol's greatest conflagration was that of Dec. 21, 1890, when Masonic block and Central block, two of the largest business blocks of the town, with their contents were de- stroyed by fire, causing a loss of one hundred thousand dollars worth of property. It was a memorable day, and thousands of people lined the streets, while the Athol fire- men, and a large delegation of the ablest fire fighters of Orange did heroic work, and achieved victory by the most magnificent fire fighting ever witnessed in this section. The saddest event of the day was the accidents to the fire- men, in which four of the Athol firemen, and two from Orange were seriously injured, and which resulted a few days after in the death of Alexander McLeod, from in- juries received while in the discharge of his duty as fore- man of Star Hose Company. This was the first time in the history of Athol that one of her firemen had met with death resulting from injuries received while in the dis- charge of duty, and a sadness rested upon the entire com- munity.
Alexander McLeod was native of the Province of Quebec. He had been a resident of Athol for more than fifteen years, and was employed in the shoe shops. He had been for more than thirteen years a member of the Fire Department, and was considered one of the most faith- ful and able firemen of the department. His ability had
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been recognized by his appointment as one of the en- gineers of the Department in 1889. At the time of the fire he was foreman of Star Hose Company. The funeral was held at the Methodist church and was largely attend-
The
F. 1
THE RUINS
ed, every member of the Fire Department in town, with the exception of the injured men, being present, while a large number of the citizens by their presence attested their respect and esteem for the deceased fireman. The
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remains were conveyed to Windsor Mills, Quebec, where the burial took place.
WATER WORKS. In 1876, Robert Wiley and Solon L. Wiley, co-partners under the firm name of the Athol Aqueduct Company, "agreed, under seal, with the inhabi- tants of Athol, to furnish them with pure water for fire and domestic purposes, and to provide fifty hydrants at fifty dollars each per year, and others needed at the same rate. This agreement was signed by Robert and Solon L. Wiley, and the selectmen of Athol, June 7, 1876, and ap- proved by the town June 13, 1876. During the summer and fall of that year, the street mains were laid and the reservoirs constructed. The source of supply selected was
among the Phillipston hills, just over the Athol line, where the Wellington and Cutting brooks, and numerous springs furnished water of purest quality. The main res- . ervoir was located partly in Phillipston and partly in Athol. a short distance east of the buildings of the Atliol town farm, contains nineteen acres, with a storage capacity of nearly sixty million gallons, and is five hundred and eight feet above the Pequoig House in the Lower Village. The water shed of this reservoir has an area of four hund- red and twenty-one acres. Two distributing reservoirs were also built, one known as the Summer street reservoir, situated north of the Highland cemetery, and the second, of about an acre in area, known as Pleasant street reser- voir, located north of the farm of C. K. Wood. Water was first introduced into town in November, 1876. About this time the Athol Water Company was organized, with a capital of eighty thousand dollars, its act of incorporation
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being dated April 10, 1877. The officers of the company were: Robert Wiley, president; Solon L. Wiley, treas- urer ; Joseph B. Cardany, superintendent. In 1886, an additional source of supply was made available by the con- struction of the Buckman brook line, around the Bears Den hills, which brings water from the "Newton" reser- voir to Summer street reservoir, a distance of over four miles. The "Newton " reservoir has a storage capacity of eight million gallons, and a water shed area of five hund- red and twenty-two acres. A Water Committee were chosen by the town in March, 1876, consisting of the board of selectmen, W. H. Amsden, Wm. W. Fish and Gilbert Southard, together with Jonathan Drury, James M. Lee, A. H. Smith, Edwin Ellis, J. W. Hunt and J. S. Parmenter.
A controversy between the town and the Athol Water Co. regarding the efficiency of the hydrant service, and the refusal of the town to pay the rental due for hydrants, re- sulted in a law suit in 1888, which was the most extensive law case, in which the town was ever engaged, and which was decided in favor of the Water Company.
The management of the Water Works changed hands January 1, 1892, gentlemen from Portland, Me., being the purchasers. The officers of the new management are : Arthur W. Merrill, president ; George F. West, treasurer ; Warren G. West, superintendent. There are at the pres- ent time seventy-one public hydrants and four private, and about twenty-four miles of water pipe laid. The ac- companying diagram gives the elevations of the several reservoirs and other localities in town, with distance above or below Main street at the Pequoig House.
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WATER WORKS ELEVATIONS 508 FIE LINE OF OVERFLOW-
The return of the Athol MAIN RESERVOIR PHILLIPSTON Water Company filed in the 406 F .- Tax Commissioner's office, PLEASANT ST. RESERVOIR 378 F. and dated May 1, 1895. NEWTON' RESERVOIR BUCKMAN BROOK states that the capital stock 325 F .. ENTRANCE TO. W. N .V. FAIR GROUNDS 322 F. SUMMER ST. RESERVOIR of the Company is eighty thousand dollars, the num- 2.2.4 F. CURBSTONE AT SUMMIT HD. HIGH LANDS ber of shares eight hundred, 187 F. GREEN ST. NEAR RESIDENCE DF: MRS. W.H.AMSDEN and the par value of each share one hundred dollars. 127 F PARK AVENUE OPPOSITE ST. JOHN'S CHURCH The certificate of condition TRACK AT SCHOOL STREET 25 F. (FITCHBURG) RR CROSSING filed by the Company with the Secretary of State dated, ABOVE MITTAG CENTER OF MAIN ST. BELOW OPPOSITE PEQUOIG HOUSE F. I OPPOSITE LOWER VILLAGE SC. HO! 13 July 16, 1895, gives the value of land, water power and buildings as upwards of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and the total as- sets at nearly two hundred and fifty-four thousand dollars. In February, 1895, the Company made two proposals to the town of Athol, one of which was an offer of sale. A committee was appointed by the town, and an investiga- tion of the water supply has been made.
CHAPTER XII.
THE LEGAL PROFESSION.
"The time shall come when his more solid sense With nod important shall the laws dispense ; A justice with grave justices shall sit ; He praise their wisdom, they admire his wit."
HE FIRST lawyer of Athol, whom we have any record of, is Solomon Strong. He was a native of Amherst, the son of Hon. Simeon Strong, Judge of the Supreme Court, and was born in 1780. Graduated at Williams College in 1798, was admitted to the bar in 1803, and soon after com- menced the practice of law in Athol. He remained in town three or four years, during which time he was prom- inent in town affairs, serving as moderator at town meet- ings, on various committees, and was one of the first post- masters after the establishment of the post office. The records show that he was the agent of the town in vari- ous cases that came before the courts. He removed to Westminster, became distinguished in politics, and reached the most elevated position in the legal profession. From 1812 to 1814, he was a member of the State Senate, and again in 1844. Served two terms in Congress, and was
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appointed Judge of the Court of Common Pleas in 1818, which office he retained until 1843. He removed to Leominster after his appointment to the bench, and resid- ed therc until his death in 1850, at the age of seventy years.
Hon. Emory Washburn in an address, referred to him as follows: " A few of us remember him before he had been elevated to that place, when he honorably filled a seat in Congress, and was called thence to a vacancy upon the bench. With a good legal mind, and respectable at- tainments in his profession, he brought much experience in the practical affairs of life, to the business of the court, and did much to elevate and sustain its character. Hc won the confidence of all, by his uprightness as a Judge, and the diligence and fidelity with which he performed his duties."
Another lawyer who commenced practice in Athol early in the century, was Joseph Proctor. He was born in Lit- tleton, Mass., Feb. 11, 1766, and graduated at Dartmouth College in 1791. In 1811, he married Mary Orcutt of Templeton. His house stood in the corner of the roads at the junction, of what is now Main and School streets, near the lot now owned by Mrs. F. C. Parmenter, and his office was a small building located on what is now the Music hall lot at the Highlands. About 1812, there seemed to be more enterprise starting in town, and the town offered to give Mr. Proctor that spot of land where his office was located, and which was then a ledge of rocks, if he would build a residence upon it. Accordingly, he began the task of clearing this lodge away, at a great expense, and
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built a substantial, square, brick house, which was re- moved to make room for the erection of Music Hall. Mr. Proctor was a man of strict integrity, of few words, but sound judgment, and his counsel was considered of great worth in his profession, and was sought by the people from all the surrounding towns. He was prominent in town and political affairs ; was one of the committee chosen by the town in 1808, to draw up a petition to the President of the United States for the repealing of the laws laying an embargo, served as moderator at town meetings, was one of the selectmen. Representative to the Legislature in 1819, and postmaster from 1809 to 1822. He died in August, 1822. of paralysis.
CLOUGH R. MILES, who succeeded Mr. Proctor as the lawyer of the town. was born in Westminster, May 31, 1796. Graduated at Harvard College in 1817, and was admitted to the bar in 1820. He commenced the practice of his profession in Athol, where he resided until 1835, when he removed to Millbury, Mass. In 1865, he relin- quished the practice of law and moved to Graniteville, then a part of Needham, now Wellesley Hills, where he died in 1879. He was one of the postmasters of the Athol office, and prominent in town affairs.
ISAAC STEVENS, who succeeded Mr. Miles, was born in Wareham, Mass., April 12, 1792. He was admitted to the Bar in 1821, and commenced the practice of the law immediately after that, in Middleborough, which town he represented in the Legislature. In 1836, he removed to Athol, and continued in the practice of his profession, un- til within a few months of his death, which took place
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Sept. 6, 1866. He enjoyed in a large degree the respect and esteem of his associates at the Bar, and the community at large. He was an honest man, and a safe and judicious counsellor. Was honored by his fellow citizens with posi- tions of honor and responsibility, serving as Representative to the Legislature in 1858, was several years on the Board of Selectmen, and was postmaster from July 13, 1841, to Sept. 5, 1842, and again from June 10, 1850, to May 13, 1854. He was an honored member of the Masonic frater- nity. His sense of justice was very acute, and of his life as a christian, a citizen and a lawyer, too much cannot be said.
CHARLES FIELD, is one of the senior members of the Worcester County Bar, and one of the vice presidents of Bar Association. He was born in Athol, June 9, 1815, where he lived until his father moved to Greenfield, in 1826. He was educated in the public schools and Fellen- berg Academy, and fitted for college by Professor Coffin, but was obliged to relinquish a collegiate course on ac- count of an affection of the eyes, threatening blindness, caused by over study. On the removal of his father to Troy, N. Y., in 1830, he became an inmate of the family of Hon. Daniel Wells, the leader of the Franklin County Bar, and afterwards Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, in whose office he studied law, and with whom he remained until he was twenty-two years of age. After his admission to the bar he spent four years in the West and Southwest, returning thence to Massachusetts and to his native town, where he has since resided and practiced his profession. In 1856, he was elected to the House of Rep-
HON. CHARLES FIELD.
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resentatives, and in the two years following to the State Senate. in which he rendered creditable and faithful ser- vice. In the fall of 1860, a few months before the Civil War, when politics were literally seething, he was chosen a Republican Presidential Elector, and with Chief Justice Chapman, John G. Whittier and others, few of whom sur- vive. cast the electoral vote of Massachusetts for Abraham Lincoln and Hanibal Hamlin. Great interest attached to this vote in the Electoral College and in the country gen- erally, for strong and impassioned appeals had been made to the electors, in view of the excited state of public feel- ing at the time touching the slavery question, to do noth- ing that would drive the southern states out of the Union, or to arms, which seemed probable if they voted for Lin- coln and Hamlin. But the electors were unmoved by these appeals, and discharged the plain and patriotic duty for which they were chosen.
In 1862, Mr. Field was appointed an assistant assessor of the U. S. Internal Revenue, and held the office until the great majority of taxes under that system were abolished by Congress. Since then he has confined himself to the duties of his profession. On the establishment of the First District Court of Northern Worcester in 1884, he was ap- pointed Justice of the same, and still holds that office. In 1856, he married Caroline C. Alden, a native of Green- wich, and a lineal descendant of John Alden, of Pilgrim memory, and has one son, Charles Field, Jr., who gradua- ted at Williams College in the class of 1881, and follows his father's profession. In religious belief, Judge Field is a Unitarian of the conservative type. Prominently identi-
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fied in the organization of the Second Unitarian Society in 1877, he has been for many years a member of its execu- tive committee, and is now one of its most interested and attached members. He was president of the Worcester County Conference of Unitarian and other Christian churches, comprising thirty-three societies, for two success- ive terms, 1885-1887, declining a re-election.
Mr. Field is a charter member and President of the Po- quaig Club, a social club embracing many of the business and professional men of the town, incorporated in 1891, which has become a popular and permanent institution.
GEORGE W. HORR, the senior member of the bar of Northwestern Worcester, was born in New Salem, June 22, 1829, and is descended from good old New England stock, his great grandfather, Robert Horr, having held an official position in the war of the Revolution, his duties be- ing to collect forage for the army. His father was Major Warren Horr, and mother Sally Peirce ( Sloan ) Horr. He attended the district schools of his native town, and at thirteen years of age entered New Salem Academy, and when fifteen years old was teaching school, which he con- tinued for three successive winters. Few young men of his day had the educational opportunities with which he was favored, for in addition to the training received at New Salem Academy, he was also a student at Quaboag Seminary, Warren, and Phillips Academy, Andover, and graduated from Williston Seminary, Easthampton, in 1848, as the Salutatorian in a class of twenty-eight. He entered Harvard College, Aug. 26, 1848, and received his certificate of matriculation from President Edward Everett,
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GEORGE W. HORR.
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Jan. 11. 1849. He was a member of the Lawrence Scien- tific School, and the Harvard Law School, from the latter of which he received the degree of L. L. B. in 1860. Soon after graduating he entered the law office of George T. Davis and Charles Allen of Greenfield, and later was student and clerk in the law office of Lincoln, Maynard & Chatfield of New York City, the latter being Attorney- General of the State. He was admitted to the Massachu- setts bar at Greenfield in 1860, and was admitted to prac- tice in the United States Courts in 1870. He first opened an office in New Salem, but attracted by the enterprise of Athol. came to this town in 1863, where he has been in continuous and successful practice for more than a third of a century. His practice in the department of the Inte- rior at Washington is extensive, his thorough knowledge of and success in pension claims having gained for him an extended reputation. Always interested in the cause of education, he was chairman of the School Committee of New Salem in 1859 and 1860, and was also chairman of the School Committee of Athol in 1874. While a resi- dent of New Salem, he also frequently served as mod- erator at town meetings, and was chosen for two terms as Commissioner of Insolvency of Franklin County. He has also served frequently as moderator at some of the most important and exciting town meetings of Athol.
Notwithstanding his extensive professional business, Mr. Horr has always been engaged to quite an extent in literary work from 1854, when in company with the late Charles G. Colby, he organized a literary bureau in Brooklyn, N. Y. In 1876, he prepared interesting his-
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torical articles on Athol for the Worcester West Chronicle, was author and compiler of the histories of Athol, Peters- ham, Royalston, Phillipstou and Dana, for Jewett's History of Worcester County, published in 1879, and was also a contributor to Lewis History of the same County in 1889. He was the author of the sketch of his native town of New Salem, that appeared in the Centennial Souvenir of the Greenfield Gazette and Courier, and the Flora of North- ern Worcester published in Picturesque Worcester, and is now engaged on an extended history of New Salem Academy.
He is always a welcome speaker on public occasions. and his eloquence has stirred the people to hearty applause and deep feeling, as he has presented to them the political, educational and social questions of the day. Among the addresses delivered by him are: Addresses at the dedica- tion of the town hall in Erving in 1875, at the dedication of the town hall of Warwick in 1895, the Centennial Fourth of July address in Athol in 1876, also a Fourth of July oration at a large gathering on the Worcester North- west Fair Grounds in 1887, the first address delivered be- fore the Worcester Northwest Agricultural & Mechanical Society, after its incorporation in 1867, the Memorial Day address at Hatfield in 1890, one at the annual meeting of . the Pocumtuck Valley Memorial Association, of which he is a life member, in 1893, on " Academic System of Schools in Massachusetts," was the orator of the Alumni Association of New Salem Academy in 1890, elected the president of the Association in 1892, and gave an address at the Centennial of the Academy in 1895. He was one
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RESIDENCE OF GEORGE W. HORR, ESQ.
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LEGAL PROFESSION.
of the invited guests at the unveiling of the statue of Josiah Bartlett, the first signer of the Declaration of In- dependence. at Amesbury, Mass., July 4, 1888, and was one of the speakers on that occasion. For more than thirty years consecutively, he lectured before public schools, academies, lyceums, and other popular assemblies upon the subject of astronomy, illustrated by maps, charts and diagrams.
During the great civil war he enlisted in the 33d Regi- ment of Massachusetts Volunteers, but after three exami- nations was refused enrollment on account of severe in- juries received before the war. He was an ardent sup- porter of the government through the war, and is a warm friend of the old soldiers, who always welcome him to their gatherings and listen to him with pleasure. He is an As- sociate member of the Hubbard V. Smith Post. G. A. R. In politics he has been a consistent democrat, and cast in 1865. for General Darius N. Couch, the democratic can- didate for Governor, the only democratic vote polled in town that year. He is a member of the Harvard Law School Association and the Worcester County Bar Associa- tion.
SIDNEY P. SMITH was born in Princeton, Ill., July 13, 1850. His father was from Massachusetts, being a native of Hampshire County. He was educated in the common and High schools of his native town, and entered Amherst College in 1870, and graduated in 1874. After graduat- ing, he taught school for two years in the West, and came to Athol in 1876, as principal of the Athol High school, which position he held until 1880, when he resigned to
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pursue his law studies, which he did at the Union College of Law in Chicago, graduating in 1882, and was the same year admitted to the bar in Illinois. In the spring of 1883, he returned to Athol, was admitted to the Massachu- setts bar, and commenced the practice of law in July, 1883. In 1884 he was elected a member of the School Committee and served three years. On the establishment of the First District Court of Northern Worcester in 1884, he was appointed one of the Special Justices, and was twice re-appointed after vacating the office while a mem- ber of the House of Representatives.
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