USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Athol > Athol, Massachusetts, past and present > Part 22
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Lord, eldest daughter of Ethan Lord, and they have one child, Lucien Edward Taylor, born June 24, 1872. In 1874 he removed to Lowell, Mass., to accept a position with the firm of Dr. J. C. Aver & Co., and in 1882 went to Providence, R. I., where he took the position of foreign correspondent, and had charge of the advertising depart- ment of the Rumford Chemical works. He resigned this position in July, 1889, to accept the special agency of the Winner Investment Co., of Kansas City, Mo. While in Athol Mr. Taylor was appointed a Justice of the Peace by Gov. Wm. B. Washburn. was regular correspondent of the Massachusetts State Board of Health, and also United States Examining Surgeon for Pensions. He took a great interest in Masonry, was Master of Star Lodge, and was active in securing the dispensation and charter for Athol Commandery of Knights Templars, of which he was the first Eminent Commander.
WELLS LOUET HILL, editor and part proprietor of the Athol Transcript, was born in Athol, July 25, 1850, the youngest child of the late John C. and Dolly (Smith) Hill. He is descended, on his mother's side, from Aaron Smith, one of the early settlers of the town, and a member of Athol's first board of selectmen. He was educated in the common schools of the town, until a severe attack of scarlet fever deprived him wholly of his hearing, at the age of twelve years. He then attended for four years the American School for the education of deaf people at Hartford, Conn., and entered the college at Washington, D. C., in 1868, from which he graduated with high honors
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ATHOL, PAST AND PRESENT.
in 1872. A few years after he was honored by his alma mater with the degree of Master of Arts. His first newspaper work was done while in Washington, as correspondent, first for the Worcester West Chronicle, and later for the Athol Transcript. In June, 1873, Mr. Hill, in connection with Edgar A. Smith, purchased an interest in the Transcript, forming a partnership with Lucien Lord, one of the founders of the paper. Mr. Hill became the editor at that time, and has held the position ever since. In 1889, he was chosen by the directors of the American School for the deaf at Hartford, Conn., to represent that institution at a grand international congress of the deaf, held in Paris, France, called for the purpose of considering methods of educating the deaf. He was absent abroad about two months, and on his return made a lengthy report of his doings, which was printed and widely dis- tributed at the instance of the directors of the Hartford school. Mr. Hill has frequently been called upon by his friends among the deaf to make addresses in their behalf, and he has officiated in this way in Boston, Hartford, Conn., Washington, D. C., New York, Worcester and other places. In May, 1875, he married Abbie M. Earle, a member of the well-known Hunt family. Four children have blessed this union, the oldest son, J. Clarence Hill, being local editor of the Transcript.
EDGAR A. SMITH, son of Abner Smith, was born in New Salem, Sept. 2, 1849. In 1865, he entered the employ of the Vermont & Massachusetts R. R. Co., as the first tele- graph operator at the Athol station. He was afterwards
WELLS L. HILL.
DR. VERNON O. TAYLOR.
EDGAR A. SMITH.
FRANK W. GOURLAY.
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operator at Fitchburg, and in 1869 was appointed time- keeper and clerk in the master mechanics' office at Fitchburg, then general utility man on the trains, and private secretary to Otis T. Ruggles, superintendent of the Vermont and Massachusetts R. R. He then became train dispatcher on the Fitchburg road from Boston to North Adams, and in 1890 was made General Superintendent of Telegraph from Boston to Troy, and was empowered to organize and put in operating condition the entire tele- graph system of the Fitchburg railroad between those places. In 1897, he was appointed Passenger Train Master, having general direction of the whole passenger equipment. Mr. Smith was for nearly eight years one of the owners of the Athol Transcript, having in June, 1873, with Lucien Lord and W. L. Hill, purchased the business and plant, the firm name being Smith, Hill & Co., Mr. Smith being the business manager. This partnership continued until April, 1881, when Mr. Smith sold out his interest. He was married May 3, 1875, to Josie M. Chapin, of Hartford, Conn.
FRANK W. GOURLAY was born in Boston, Jan. 17, 1859. He attended the public schools of that city, which was his home, with the exception of four years spent in New Haven, Conn., until he came to Athol in 1876. He immediately entered the Transcript office, where he has been employed to the present time, and has for the last nine years held the position of foreman. He is a member of all the local Masonic and Odd Fellow organi- zations, is a charter member of Tully Lodge, Mount
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Pleasant Encampment and Canton Athol, and is Past Commandant of Canton Athol. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He was married June 20, 1889, to Miss Mary E. Stowell, of North Orange.
No :sketch of the newspaper enterprises of the town would be complete that overlooked the unique and successful undertakings of the Cottager Company and W. H. Brock & Co. These are "The Cottager," The Healthy Home," "Progress" and "Our Church Record." The "Cot- tager" was established in 1881, and is an eight-page family monthly devoted to "good literature and a concise record of current events." It has gained a phenomenal circulation, and was long ago ranked by Pettingill's agency as having the largest subscription circulation of any paper in the state outside of Boston, with but one exception. "The Healthy Home" is a hygienic publication, also a monthly. It is published by W. H. Brock & Co., and the mechanical work is done by the Cottager Company. It was founded in 1890, and is known all over the country as the leading paper of its class. The "Progress" is the weekly edition of the "Cottager," and contains numerous local features. "Our Church Record" is a successful and unique weekly, devoted to the interests of the local churches. All these papers, except "The Healthy Home," are published by the Cottager Company, an organization incorporated in 1896, under Massachusetts law, to carry on the printing and publishing business previously owned by W. H. Brock & Co. It has a paid-up capital of fifteen thousand dollars,
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WINFIELD H. BROCK.
WILL K. BRIGGS.
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with these officers: President, W. K. Briggs; clerk, Ernest Shriver : treasurer, Winfield H. Brock.
WINFIELD H. BROCK is well known as the stirring and successful moving and managing spirit in this large print- ing and publishing house. He was born Oct. 24, 1861, and is a descendant of one of the oldest families in town, and lives in the ancestral homestead on Pleasant Street. He graduated from the Athol High School in 1878, and after teaching school and pursuing further studies in other institutions, began newspaper work as local man for the .Springfield Republican." He bought an interest in "The Cottager" in 1885, and has since been at the head of the business department of that paper, and its associated un- dertakings. No small part of their growth and success has been due to his tact and enterprise. In 1893, he bought a half interest in the "Athol Transcript," though never taking an active part in its management. He was married September 22, 1889, to Angela B. Ford, of Han- over, Mass. They have one son, Roland Humphrey.
WILL K. BRIGGS has been associated in the ownership and management of the Cottager Company's various undertakings since 1890, having sole charge of the me- chanical part, and is now president of the corporation. He was born in Athol, Feb. 9, 1856, and has been connected with the printing business since early boy- hood. He is one of the stewards of the Methodist church, and has been connected with the choir for many years. He is a member of Tully lodge of Odd Fellows. He was married March 30, 1878. to Miss Jennie L. Gage, and has one son, Merton L., a graduate of the Athol High School, and now a student at Boston University.
CHAPTER XVIII.
POST OFFICES AND BANKS.
"The post is the grand connecting link of all transactions, of all negotiations. Those who are absent, by its means become present; it is the consolation of life."
EFORE the establishment of a post office in Athol, those having mail probably received it, as did the peo- ple of most of the other towns in the state, either by some post rider passing through the village or by the service of private parties. In 1769, the only post office in Massachusetts was in Boston, and in 1793 the nearest offices to Athol were those of Worcester and Greenfield. A post office was established in Athol in 1802, and the first record we find of mail coaches passing through the town is in 1803, when a line of mail coaches from Leominster to Greenfield was established, connecting at Leominster with mail stages for Boston. These coaches left Leominster at 6 A. M., on Thursdays, via. Westminster, Templeton and Athol, arriving at Greenfield at 7 P. M.,
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and returning on Saturdays. The first postmaster of the Athol office was Joseph Estabrook, appointed Oct. 1, 1802. He held the office only six months, and was succeeded by Solomon Strong, a young lawyer who had just located in Athol. He was appointed April 1, 1803, and held the office two years. The postmasters of the Athol office since that time, including those who have served since the name of the office was changed to Athol Centre, with the date of their appointment, have been as follows:
James Humphreys, April 1, 1805; Joseph Proctor, Feb. 11. 1809; Nathaniel C. Esterbrook, Sept. 13, 1822; Clough R. Miles, March 24, 1823 ; Lincoln B. Knowlton, Feb. 25. 1835 ; Wm. H. Williams, Aug. 24, 1837; Isaac Stevens, July 13, 1841 ; Wm. H. Williams, Sept. 5, 1842 ; Benjamin Esterbrook, Dec. 30, 1847; Stillman Simonds, Aug. 25, 1849; Isaac Stevens, June 10, 1850; John H. Williams, May 13, 1854; Samuel Lee, March 27, 1858; Thomas H. Goodspeed, June 25, 1862; Frank H. Ray- mond, July. 1885; James F. Whitcomb, Dec. 20, 1889 ; Edwin B. Horton, March 28, 1894.
The office at the Centre has been known as the Athol Centre office since July 1, 1875. The business of this office for the year 1897 is shown by the following figures : Gross receipts for the year, $3,213.65; domestic orders issued, 1,075, amounting to $6,316.57; domestic orders paid 253, amounting to $1,945.04 ; pouches received daily, ten, despatched daily, nine.
JAMES F. WHITCOMB, who succeeded F. H. Raymond as postmaster of the Athol Centre office, was born in
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1835, at Claremont, N. H. At the age of five years he had lost both of his parents, and was taken to the home of a relative in Templeton, Mass., where his childhood was passed. When twelve years of age he was appren- ticed to learn the boot business in Brooks village, where lie worked at boot making until twenty-five years of age. After two years spent on a farm in Phillipston, he came to Athol about 1863, and was employed at the shop of Jones & Baker until that firm closed up business here, when he went to work for M. L. Lee & Co., where he was engaged for six or seven years. Since that time he has been engaged in the tin and stove business in the firm of Frost & Whitcomb. Mr. Whitcomb was appointed postmaster by President Harrison, Dec. 20, 1889. He was secretary of the Worcester Northwest Agricultural Society about fifteen years, first taking that position in 1874, has served as assessor of the town for several years, been one of the engineers of the fire department, Master of Athol Grange, and prominent in the various Masonic organizations of the town.
EDWIN B. HORTON, the present postmaster of the Athol Centre office, was born in New Salem, Jan. 28, 1839. His parents moved to Athol when lie was about twelve years of age, and this town has been his home ever since, with the exception of about a year and a half, when he was employed in the United States Armory at Spring- field. He was an employee in the Edwin Ellis sash and blind shop for eighteen years, and has also been employed in the C. M. Lee shoe shops and the Kennebunk mill.
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He was also in the stove and tin ware business with E. W. Train, at the lower village, for five years. He has been prominent in the Masonic fraternity, having been Master of Athol lodge. He was married in 1860 to Martha M. Drake of Warwick, and has two children. He was ap- pointed postmaster by President Cleveland, March 28, 1894. and took charge of the office April 7 of that year.
The residents of the "factory village," as it was formerly called, used to have their mail brought to them by the school children in their dinner pails, and about fifty years ago a boy was hired to go to the post office at the Centre every day, who brought the mail to the village in his hat except on Fridays, when the papers came, and he then carried a small bag.
A post office was first established in the village in 1849. and was called Athol Depot. The first postmaster was Joseph W. Hammond, who was appointed Aug. 4, 1849. He was a tailor, and opened the office in his shop, situated where C. F. Gage's store now is. Sylvanus Twichell, landlord of the Pequoig House, was appointed postmaster Aug. 7, 1851, and moved the office to the hotel, where it remained for thirteen years. The postmasters since that time with the date of their appointments are ; Howard B. Hunt, Nov. 1, 1864 ; Lucien Lord, April 21, 1869; William W. Fish, Jan. 16, 1888; Arthur C. Long- ley, Feb. 14, 1891; Justin W. Clayton, March 12, 1895. Some time in 1873 the citizens of the Lower Village petitioned the Post Office Department to change the name of their post office from Athol Depot to Athol. This
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petition did not succeed, but another and more determined effort was made in the spring of 1875, when W. H. Bigelow, a special agent of the Post Office Department, was sent to Athol to investigate the case. He spent sev- eral days in town, during which time public hearings, which were largely attended and of a most exciting nature, were held in Starr and Music halls on the twelfth and thirteenth of March. Hon. Charles Field represented the petitioners and Col. George H. Hoyt appeared for the remonstrants, who were the citizens of the Upper Village, with a few residents of the Lower Village, and who objected most strenuously to any change in the name of their office. As a result of these hearings, Postmaster General Jewell issued the following order in April : "Ordered that the name of the post office at Athol Depot be changed to Athol; the post office now called Athol may be called Athol Centre, or it may be made a station of Athol post office, or may be given another name than Athol which the people interested may desire. The change of name is to take effect July 1st." In 1854, the business of this office for the quarter from April 1 to July 1 amounted to only $79.98, and for the same quarter in 1874 the full business amounted to $1,078.70. The busi- ness for the year 1897 was as follows: Gross receipts for the year, $12,210.61 ; total expenditures, $6,257.20; domestic orders issned, 4,007, amounting to $22,128.12; domestic orders paid, 2,454, amounting to $16,730.07; pouches received daily, twenty, despatched daily, eighteen. This office handles more newspapers than any office of its
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size in this part of the country, there being twelve publi- cations entered at the second class rate, the total weight of which, for the year 1897, amounted to 48,514 pounds. The free delivery system went into effect Nov. 1, 1897. when Charles A. Perry, Josiah P. Bigelow, Irwin L. Knowlton and Harry L. Doane were appointed as the first letter carriers, with Charles S. King and Charles E. Tandy as substitutes. There are twenty-eight street letter boxes, and one package box. Miss Minnie E. Slate, assistant post master, was first appointed as clerk in February, 1888, and has served as assistant to postmasters Longley and Clayton.
HOWARD B. HUNT, who succeeded Sylvanus Twichell as postmaster, was born in New Salem, Nov. 22, 1834. His education was obtained in the schools of New Salem and Orange, and at Monson Academy. He taught school several years, and came to Athol about 1862, when he entered the employ of J. S. Parmenter as clerk. In 1864. on the death of Postmaster Twichell, Mr. Hunt was ap- pointed to the office by President Lincoln. In 1868, he resigned in favor of Lucien Lord, and engaged in the music and insurance business with his brother, Nelson H. Hunt. From small beginnings this business became one of the most important and extensive in this vicinity, and increased to such an extent as to necessitate the removal to a larger field, and in 1875 the firm removed to Spring- field and, in 1878, to Boston, where as the New England agents for the Estey Organ Manufacturing Co., of Brattleboro, Vt., they did an extensive business. While
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a student at Monson Academy Mr. Hunt was converted, and joined the Baptist church at North Prescott and, soon after coming to Athol, connected himself with the Baptist church of this town, in which he was deeply interested, and took an active part during his residence in town. In 1862, he married Miss Jennie Scott, who died a few years after. Mr. Hunt died suddenly of apoplexy, April 4, 1880, at the home of his brother in Newton. The remains were brought to Athol, where they were received by a committee of the citizens and escorted to the Baptist church, where a large number had assembled to pay the last tribute of love and respect to one who had been deeply loved and honored. The burial took place at Silver Lake cemetery. He was a man of the kindliest impulses, who brightened his own pathway through life by lessening the burdens of others.
ARTHUR E. LONGLEY, who succeeded William W. Fish as postmaster of the Athol office, was born in Peterboro, N. H., Aug. 20, 1861. When he was eight years old his parents moved to New Ipswich, N. H., and after a residence there of six years removed to Royalston, which was his home until he came to Athol as assistant postmaster, June 6, 1881. He served as assistant under the administrations of Lucien Lord and William W. Fish, and performed the duties of his position in such a satisfactory manner that at the expiration of Mr. Fish's term of office a petition for the appointment of Mr. Longley as postmaster was circu- lated, and largely signed by the patrons of the office. He was appointed by President Harrison, Feb. 14, 1891, and
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HOWARD B. HUNT.
ARTHUR C. LONGLEY.
JUSTIN W. CLAYTON.
JAMES F. WHITCOMB.
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served until April 1, 1895. After retiring from the post office, Mr. Longley was employed as clerk in various stores until the fall of 1897 when, in company with Fred B. Oliver, he purchased the stationery and paper business of E. E. Cleveland.
JUSTIN W. CLAYTON, the present postmaster of the Athol office, was born in Windham, Vt., April 20, 1867, His father, Rev. A. W. Clayton, was an Adventist minis- ter, and a veteran of the war of the rebellion. Justin was graduated at Glenwood Seminary, in Brattleboro, Vt., in 1887, and pursued his studies at the University of Vermont for a year. He came to Athol in September, 1888, to enter the employ of Goddard & Manning, then starting the manufacture of piano cases. He was for six years foreman of the veneer department of that industry, and was appointed postmaster March 12, 1895, and took charge of the office April 1. He is a prominent member of the Baptist church and has been active in the work of the church and Sunday School. He is one of the direc- tors of the Young Men's Christian Association, and also of the Massachusetts Baptist Sunday School Association. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and of the Poquaig Club, and in 1892 was the candidate of the democratic party for representative to the Legislature. A short time before coming to Athol he married Miss Claudia M. Campbell, daughter of C. C. Campbell of Westminster, Vt. During his administration of the post office the free mail delivery system has been established, and other improvements made.
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BANKS.
MILLERS RIVER BANK. In 1854 Charles C. Bassett, . Isaac Stevens and Lewis Thorpe, their associates and suc- cessors, were made a corporation by the name of the Millers River Bank, and September 12th, of that year, commenced business with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars. The first president was John Boynton, a successful tinware manufacturer of Templeton, who was the founder of the Free Institute of Industrial Science at Worcester. The first cashier was also a Templeton man- ufacturer, Merrick E. Ainsworth. In 1856, Seth Hapgood of Petersham succeeded Mr. Boynton as president, and Alpheus Harding, Jr., was appointed cashier in August of the same year. On the death of Mr. Hapgood, Isaac Stevens was chosen president in 1864, and in January, 1866, Alpheus Harding succeeded Mr. Stevens as presi- dent, which position he still holds. On the promotion of Mr. Harding to the presidency, Albert L. Newman became cashier and held the position until May, 1881, when he was succeeded by Wm. D. Luey, who still holds the posi- tion. In August, 1857, the capital was increased to one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and March 1, 1865, the name was changed to the Millers River National Bank. In 1889 the present fine banking house which it now occupies was built at a cost of upwards of seventy thousand dollars.
ATHOL SAVINGS BANK. The Athol Savings Bank was chartered Feb. 12, 1867, and commenced business in March of that year. Charles C. Bassett was its first pres-
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ident, which position he held until 1882, when he was succeeded by John G. Mudge of Petersham, who held that office until his death in 1891. Alpheus Harding was the treasurer from the organization of the bank until he be came president in Jan. 1, 1892, when Wm. D. Luey was elected as treasurer. The deposits Jan. 1, 1898, amount- ed to $2,019,786.95.
ATHOL NATIONAL BANK began business Sept. 15, 1874, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars. Its first board of directors were Thomas H. Goodspeed, Solon W. Lee, Lyman W. Hapgood, Edwin Ellis, James M. Lee, Washington H. Amsden and Gilbert Southard, Athol; S. S. Farrar, South Royalston ; Edward Powers, Phillipston ; D. C. Paige. Petersham ; Isaac Bourn, Templeton. Thomas H. Goodspeed has been president of the bank since its organization, and Charles A. Chapman, cashier.
ATHOL CO-OPERATIVE BANK was organized in July, 1889, with George D. Bates as president, T. H. Goodspeed, vice president and C. F. Richardson, secretary and treas- urer. Eighteen series of shares have been issued, and it now has loans on real estate amounting to $77,205, and on shares of $4,990.
HON. ALPHEUS HARDING, son of Rev. Alpheus and Sarah (Bridge) Harding, was born in New Salem, Jan. 12, 1818, and was the fifth in a family of seven children. His father was a settled minister in New Salem for more than forty years, and especially prominent in connection with New Salem Academy, the public schools, and the general educational interests of his time. Alpheus, Jr.,
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was fitted for college in the Academy at New Salem, and entered Amherst College in 1833, leaving, on account of ill health, the following year. In 1835, he entered the store of Jonathan Haskell & Co., and was engaged in mercantile life in Petersham and New Salem for twenty- one years .; During ten years of that time he was postmaster of New Salem, and served the town about the same length of time as town clerk and treasurer. He was also at various times chairman of the board of select- men, assessors and overseers of the poor, and has been one of the trustees of New Salem Academy since 1856. He was a member of the House of Representatives from New Salem in 1851, and took part in the long and memorable struggle which resulted in the election of Charles Sumner to the United States Senate for the first time, and was again a member representing the same town in 1853. His first political affiliation was with the democratic party, and he was elected to the Legislature as a democrat, but the slavery question took him out of that party, and he assisted in the formation of the free soil party, with which he acted until the formation of the republican party, of which he has always been an ardent supporter. . In 1856, he received the appointment of cashier of the Millers River Bank, and removed to Athol. He held that position eleven years and was then elected president, which office he has held to the present time. In the years 1863 and 1867, he represented Athol and Royalston in the Legisla- ture. serving both years on the committee on railroads, and was instrumental in the latter year in obtaining a charter
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