USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Boxborough > Boxborough: a New England town and its people > Part 13
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The late Deacon Silas Hosmer, of Acton, was a brother of Mr. Moore's mother. Mr. Samuel Hosmer had a family of ten
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children, of whom one, Abner Hosmer, of Lawrence, is still living at the advanced age of eighty-two years. Mr. Moore was associated with Mr. Simon Hartwell and Dea. M. E. Wood, on the board of assessors, for six or seven years, from '80 to '88.
JOSEPH H. ORENDORFF.
Mr. Joseph H. Orendorff has been a resident of this town about twelve years. He was born Jan. 26, 1845, in the south- ern part of Pennsylvania, in Adams County,- named in honor of John Adams, second President of the United States, -- only a few miles from its capital, Gettysburg, and within view of that town become so famous in American history. His early years were passed on the farm, varied by attendance at the district school only during the winter season. At the age of seventeen he enlisted in the Federal army, where he served nine months in the 165th Reg't. P. V. M., receiving an honorable discharge, July 28, 1863, at Gettysburg. In November of that year, he entered as teacher the school where he had formerly been a pupil, and, at the close of the four months' term, began attendance at the Normal school in Gettysburg ; thus, as teacher in winter, and pupil in summer, the educa- tional processes alternated for the next two years. In 1866, failing health,-an effect of the hardships and privations endured while in the army,- warned him that a change of occupation was desirable, and so the life of study was put away from him, and the summer seasons given to out-door employ- ments, although the winters as before were devoted to teaching, until April 1, 1870. At that time he accepted a position as book-keeper and collector for the firm of Goodwin Brothers, Hardware Manufacturers, Philadelphia, which he held until March, 1873, when once more realizing that he must turn his attention to a more active business life, in July of the same year he entered into an agreement to solicit subscribers for the Daily Advertiser and various other periodicals. A year later, or in June, 1874, this engagement terminated, and on account of the hard times arising from the panic of 1873, no permanent occupation was undertaken for nearly five years ;
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Christopher Page.
then, Apr. 15, 1879, he took charge of the old Williston farm in Boxborough,- the property at that time of Dr. JJames McDonald, of Boston,- which he afterwards purchased, and where he now resides.
August 18, 1880, Mr. Orendorff married Miss Lucy Ellis Allen, daughter of Samuel F. and Hannah (Ellis) Allen, of Dedham, Mass. Mrs. Orendorff was born in that town, June 7, 1857, attended the district school until thirteen years of age, and afterwards, Rev. C. S. Locke's private school for four years. She began teaching while a pupil in Mr. Locke's school, having charge of certain classes, while still continuing her own studies. After completing her course there, she returned a year later and taught through the fall term, then, in April, 1876, went to Dover to take charge of a school, after which she returned to Dedham and taught four years until the time of her marriage.
Mr. and Mrs. Orendorff have two children, Jennie A., and Harold E. They have always taken an interest in the affairs of the town. Mr. Orendorff was chosen President of the centennial celebration in 1883, was elected a member of the board of selectmen for three consecutive years, and has served in other town offices.
CHRISTOPHER PAGE.
Capt. Christopher Page came to Boxborough from Bedford, where he formerly resided. He married Lydia Wetherbee (daughter of Simeon Wetherbee, Mrs. Silas Hoar's grand- father), and they were the parents of seven children : Mary, Lydia, Christopher, Dio Oratio, Sylvanus, Ann Maria and Mary Foster. The oldest daughter died Nov. 24, 1826, when eighteen years of age. The wife, Lydia, and the remaining three daughters all died in 1829, of dysentery, within a period of twelve days. Mary Foster died July 29, when four years of age; the mother, July 31; Lydia, Aug. 8, at the age of eighteen ; and Ann Maria, Aug, 9, at the age of eight years,- a singularly sad record. Only two of the family are now living, Christopher and Dio Oratio.
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Mr. Christopher Page, born Dec. 16, 1815, is married and has two children. He resides in New York at the present time. He still visits his native town in summer, making his stay with Mr. and Mrs. Priest.
Dio Oratio, born Dec. 29, 1817, married Susan L. Barnard of Harvard. The Page family once occupied the house where Mr. Jerome Priest now lives, and Dio Oratio's sons were born there. Albert Horatio, the eldest, born Feb. 21, 1840, is proprietor of a paper-mill in Holyoke, and carries on an extensive business. His income is said to be $100 a day. He married the daughter of the former mill-owner, and has three children, two young lady daughters and one son, twelve years of age. He is a very important and influential man in church affairs in Holyoke, and recently, generously gave several thousand dollars toward the erection of a Congrega- tional church in that place. Dio Oratio Page and his son have always expressed a deep interest in their native town, and often visit the old homestead on the hill, and among the hills of Boxborough. The father has many times expressed the desire to be laid to rest at last in the little cemetery near his former home.
Henry Augustine Page, the second son, born Mar. 20, 1841, is a physician of note in the State of Pennsylvania. Seven or eight years ago, the newspapers spoke in the highest terms of the valuable services rendered by Dr. Henry A. Page upon the occasion of a terrible railway accident. His untiring efforts to relieve and save the sufferers were rewarded by the gift of a gold-headed cane.
Emory Barnard, the youngest son, born Dec. 11, 1844, is a resident of Leominster, Mass.
Capt. Christopher Page was chairman of the board of select- men in 1830 and 1831.
THE PATCH FAMILY.
The farm where Mr. and Mrs. O. Ewings now reside has been in possession of the Patch family for at least five gen- erations. Dea. Abram Patch, who married Hannah Herrick,
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The Patch Family.
owned it in " Ye olden time." Afterward it came into pos- session of his son, Jonathan. Isaac Patch, son of Jonathan, next occupied it. He married Jane Butler and they were the parents of three children, Nathan, Benjamin. who died in Cincinnati, O., and Lucy, who is buried beside her mother in the old cemetery in Littleton. Nathan Patch married Lucretia Hartwell, a cousin of Squire Cephas Hartwell, of Boxborough, and lived and died upon the Wright place, adjoining the Patch farm. Nathan and Lucretia (Hartwell) Patch were the parents of five children: Nathan Hartwell. Lucretia Ann, Benjamin Henry, who died in infancy. Obadiah Kendall and Benjamin Henry. The two last named are the only surviving members of the family, and at the present time are residents of South Acton. Nathan Patch was school committee, selectman, assessor and overseer of poor, during the years 1835 to 1838.
Isaac Patch married for his second wife, Hannah (Wether- bee) Cobleigh, widow of John Cobleigh and a sister of Oliver Wetherbee's father. Their two children were Jonathan W. and Cynthia. Jonathan W. married Roselma J. Tarbell, born March 23, 1819,-a native of Vermont but a resident of Lowell at the time of her marriage,- and made his home upon the farm of his ancestors. Of their five children,-Charles Henry, Francis Abbot, Lucy Ann, George Albert and Ellen Loretta,-four died in early years. Francis Abbot, born 1844, married Miss Sarah S. Lawrence, a teacher of Harvard, Feb. 25. 1869, and they reside upon the old homestead farm, but in a new and beautiful residence which he has recently erected thereon.
Mr. Patch was a teacher for several years. In 1865, he taught his last school in Harvard, Mass., assisted by Miss Sarah S. Lawrence, whom he afterward married. Immediately after the close of this school, he determined to make a mercan- tile business his life work and in the spring of this same year started for Boston, alone and among strangers, to seek a posi- tion. After travelling through the principal streets for three days, soliciting a position, he happened to call upon a firm by name of Metcalf and Papendick, dealers in upholstery goods, who hired him at a salary of three dollars per week. He
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managed to live on this amount and pay his board till the fall of the same year, when he was sent to New York to work at an advanced salary in a branch store owned by the same con- cern. Here he remained till the firm retired from business in 1870, when he was recommended to F. M. Holmes and Co., of Boston, manufacturers of furniture, with whom he remained as salesman until 1878, serving both in their Boston and New York stores. In 1878, Mr. Holmes retired and Mr. L. S. Gould and Mr. Patch succeeded to the business, which they continued until 1888, when Mr. Patch bought out his partner and con- tinned alone until June 1, 1890, when in consequence of poor health he sold out and retired to the farm on which he was born, where he and his wife are enjoying the quiet of country life. He was chosen superintendent of schools in Boxborough the present year (1891).
Jonathan W. Patch died Jan. 30, 1853, and is buried with the Patch families in Littleton. After his death, his widow married Orman Ewings, a native of Vermont, and with her husband continued to live upon the Patch farm, where they now reside. Mr. Ewings had two children by a former mar- riage, Luther H. and Almeda. Luther H. served in the War of the Rebellion three years, was wounded in the service, and since that time has resided in Texas. He is married and has two children, Robert and Minnie. Almeda married Nathaniel P. Prue and settled on the John Cobleigh farm-now the residence of Willis H. Gooch. She died Aug. 27, 1874. Mr. Prue died Apr. 9, 1877, and their daughter, Grace M., lives with her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Ewings, who have had the care of her from infancy.
Orman and Roselma J. Ewings were the parents of two children : Emma C., who died in infancy, and Henrietta A., who resides at home. Nov. 19, 1884, Miss Ella Abbott, daughter of a sister of Mrs. Ewings and who has been an inmate of the family from childhood, married Arthur C. Whitney, of West Acton, where his family now reside, and went to St. Louis to live. They have one daughter, Louise Whitney.
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Amasa A. Richardson.
Cynthia Patch, born June 26, 1811, married John Chaffin, Apr. 21, 1833, and after a three years' residence on the Patch farm removed to the Chaffin place in Acton, where three gene- rations of Chaffins have lived and died, and the fourth is now living. They had two children, Hannah, and John Francis, who died in 1848 at the age of two years. Hannah, born Mar. 16, 1834, married Antoine Bulette and resides with her husband upon the Chaffin place in Acton. They have no children of their own, but two foster children gladden the household : Caroline A. Jewett, who has lived in the family thirty-five years, having been taken by them when five or six years of age, and Frank L. Wyman, the son of a cousin of Mrs. Bulette, who was born on the farm and has always lived with the family.
AMASA A. RICHARDSON.
Mr. Amasa Allen Richardson is the son of Allen and Ruth (Wheeler) Richardson, of Acton, Mass., who were the parents of five daughters and two sons. At the age of ten years, he went to Vermont to live and remained there about twenty-six years. He has been in possession of the farm where he now resides since 1847, a period of nearly forty-four years. He purchased the land, which was a part of the old Taylor place, of Mr. Stevens Hayward, son of Paul and Lucy, and brother of the late Dea. Joseph Hayward. He married Miss Huldah Woodward, daughter of Elijah and Rhoda (Austin) Wood- ward, of Landsgrove, Vt., Nov. 1842, and came to Boxborough, with his wife and oldest son, then two and one-half years old, in 1847; but as there were no buildings on his farm at that time, he made his home for the first three years upon the Burroughs place. In the mean time, having erected the build- ings which he now occupies, he removed in 1850 to his new possession with his family. One of the barns upon the premises is the most ancient of any in town. having been built by Major Taylor over a hundred years ago.
Mr. and Mrs. Amasa A. Richardson were the parents of five children, Austin A., Lewis W .. Moses F., who died at the
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age of two years and five months, Oren A., and Ada L., the youngest child and only daughter, who died when ten months of age.
Mr. Austin A. Richardson, born March 18, 1844, married Miss Mary Withington, daughter of Josiah Withington, of Harvard, and settled in Acton in 1866. They have three children, Alfred L., Ida L.,- who married David Millet, Oct. 18, 1890, and settled in Athol,-and Clara. Mr. Austin A. Richardson has been section hand upon the Fitchburg railroad for seventeen years, where he is still employed. He served in the late War of the Rebellion for nine months, nearly sacrific- ing his life there, but was finally discharged in the winter of 1862, and sent home to recover from an illness to which the deprivations and exposures of a soldier's life had reduced him.
Mr. Lewis W. Richardson married Miss Augusta S. Howard of Windham, Vt., May, 1877, settled upon the home farm, and with his father is engaged in farming upon a large scale. Their oldest child, Luella Abbie, died when two years and ten months of age, and they have five children living : Harlan L., Charles H., Sarah A., Alvin W. and George A. Mr. Lewis W. Rich- ardson has been a member of the School Board, at different times, eight years.
Mr. Oren A. Richardson married Miss Nellie M. Willard, daughter of Rev. W. A. P. Willard of Stow, Mass., Dec. 11, 1881, and settled in Hudson, Mass., where he follows the oc- cupation of a carpenter. They are the parents of two children, Earle A. and Edith M.
Mr. Amasa A. Richardson's father, Allen Richardson, of Acton, was one of the men who marched to Boston in the beginning of the war of 1812, at the call of his country, and remained there several months. He was in no engagement.
Mr. Amasa A. Richardson, accompanied by Mr. Chas. H. Burroughs, went to California in 1853, and remained there four years, which time was passed in many and varied fortunes. Mr. Richardson once related a little incident which occurred on the way out, while waiting for the transfer of baggage at the Isthmus. "We were very thirsty," said he, "but upon look-
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Dr. Daniel Robins.
ing about us for water, found we could obtain it only by paying ten cents a drink, which we did." In the recent moist New England seasons wherein water has been so abundant and free, it would seem almost like criminal extortion to exact ten cents for a draught of the liquid element. I recall the remark with which he closed a recital of anecdotes of that period so fruitful in experiences. "The story of those four years in California would make a book of itself. I was often in danger, yet as often escaped, and I believe a kind Providence kept me."
Mr. and Mrs. Richardson have been indefatigable workers ; very few have seen their days and months and years as closely occupied as have these two. They have been active members of the Congregational church in Boxborough for over forty years, and Mr. Lewis W. Richardson and his wife are also members of that church. Mrs. Richardson is a member of the Ladies' Circle and Woman's Missionary Society connected with the church, and is ever ready and willing to labor for the advancement of their interests.
DR. DANIEL ROBINS.
The name of Dr. Daniel Robins will doubtless arouse pleasant memories in the hearts of many of the older resi- dents of the town. Here among these quiet hills he followed the calling of a country doctor for many years, and made his home upon the place now owned and occupied by Mr. J. H. Orendorff. Dr. Robins was he of whom, in 1792, the records said, " Voted that the doctor sit in the fore-seat of the front." He was selectman and town clerk for several years. Descend- ants of this worthy man are about us still.
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Boxborough : a New England Town and its People.
CHAPTER XIII.
THE STONE FAMILY-TAYLOR FAMILY.
PHINEHAS STONE.
(From " History of Weare, N. H.")
SAMUEL STONE, born in Hartford, England, came to America in 1633 ; settled in Cambridge, Mass., as one of its first clergy- men, and soon went with others and founded Hartford, Conn. Simon, brother of Samuel, came to America in ship Increase in 1633; settled in Groton, Mass. Gregory, brother of Samuel and Simon, came to America in 1633, in ship Increase ; born in Hartford, England, 1590 ; settled first in Watertown, moved to Cambridge in 1638, and built his homestead on five acres of land on westerly side of Garden Street, between Botanic garden and Concord Avenue. He died Nov. 30, 1672. John, first child of Gregory, born in Hartford, England, 1619, came to America with his father in 1633; settled in Sudbury, after- wards Framingham. In 1656, he purchased from the Indians land at falls of Sudbury River, and owned the larger part of Saxonville. He was a free man at Cambridge in 1665, and representative in 1682-3. He died at homestead in Cambridge, May 5, 1683.
Simon Stone, Jr., born in Groton, 1665, married Miss Sarah Stone, 1687. Their children were Simon, born 1689, and Joseph, born 1691. Joseph Stone married Mary Prescott, of Westford, May 9, 1728, whose father owned and worked an iron forge. Mr. Stone died Sept. 10, 1767. Of their fifteen children, Thankful, the youngest daughter, born 1754, married Mr. Harwood, grandfather of J. A. Harwood, of Littleton. Silas, the ninth child, married Eunice Fairbanks, of Harvard, Jan. 20, 1767, and to them were born ten children: Lucy,
Phinchas Stone
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The Stone Family.
born 1768. Eunice, born 1770, Sally (1771-1804). Silas, born 1773. Phinehas (1775-1852), Betsy Fairbanks (1777-1852), Hannah, born 1779, Jasper (1781-1858), Joseph (1783-1822), and Lois, born 1786. Phinehas, born in Templeton, Mass., July 3, 1775, moved with his father's family in 1779 to Harvard, where they remained five years, afterward making their home in Boxborough, where they resided sixteen years. He moved to Weare, N. H., in 1803, where he built an oil- mill * for the manufacture of linseed oil. A village in the immediate vicinity took the name of Oil Mill village, and retains that name to the present time. He kept store north of Emerson bridge and at East Weare. May 3, 1808, he
* Oil-mills were plenty in New England about the beginning of the present century. Linseed and pumpkin-seed oils were manufactured in them. Phinehas Stone came from Massachusetts, where he had owned one, to Weare in 1803. July 12, in company with Simon Houghton, he leased from Benjamin Gale a water-power to run an oil-mill for twenty years, and soon built our oil-mill. Colonel Stone operated it but a short time, when it passed into the hands of other parties, and eventually was owned by Christopher Simons.
It was situated on the south-west side of the highway, south of the bridge, a two-story building thirty by forty feet, the flume on the east side extending half the length. There were two entrances, one to the second story at the north-east corner by a flight of steps over the flume, the other to the lower story near the south-east corner. There were stairs inside from the south-west corner to the second story.
The simple machinery, strongly constructed, was, first, to crack the seed, second, to grind it- third, to warm the meal, and fourth, to press it. The machinery for cracking the seed consisted of two iron rollers, ten inches long and eight inches in diameter, fitted to iron shafting placed horizontally; the rolls, smoothly finished, ran so nearly together that only a sheet of the thinnest paper could pass between them. A spout so closely fitted to the rolls that not a seed could escape conducted the seed to them, from the room above, where it was broken passing between them. It was then shovelled on to a bed-stone close by, about nine feet square. Through the centre of this stone stood a perpendicular oaken shaft about twenty inches in diameter, securely fastened to a heavy timber at the top and revolved by a water-wheel below. Through this shaft above the bed-stone was a wooden axle about seven feet long, and at each end was a mill-stone about five feet in diameter, fourteen inches thick. Behind each stone wheel was a follower to keep the meal in place, and they, going round and round about twenty times a minute, soon ground out a pressing. The meal was then put into a thick sheet- iron cylinder, which was made to revolve several times a minute over a slow fire. When properly warmed, it was put into canvas bags, and these placed in the press box, and power applied by an iron screw about four inches in diameter, turned by strong machinery connected with the water-wheel. The oil, like cider, ran down into a tub from which it was dipped into barrels. The flax-cake was taken out of the press, chopped into small pieces with an axe. again placed under the great stone wheels, ground into meal and sold to be fed to the farmers' stock. The oil was sold for about $1.50 a gallon, and hundreds of barrels were made each year.
The raising of flax was a great industry before the time of cotton-factories, and flaxseed used to be taken at all the stores as barter and sold in turn to the oil-mills. Stone, and after him Simons, used to have great bins of it, more than five hundred bushels, stored in the second story of their oil-mill at a time. Then the mill ran more than two-thirds of the year. In 1835, but a few bushels of seed could be obtained, the mill ran only two or three weeks, and in 1836 the business ceased. Linseed as well as pumpkin-seed oil found a ready market in those days, and the business was profitable.
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married Hannah Jones, a native of Londonderry, who was born April 27, 1783, and taught school at Oil Mill village. Their eight children were all born at Weare; viz., Sarah, Phinehas J., Silas, Josiah, who died when an infant, Amos, Jasper, Joseph, and Jonathan. In 1824, he removed with his family to Charlestown, Mass .; there he kept a grocery store ; died at Charlestown, Jan. 9, 1852, aged seventy-seven years, and was buried in the tomb which he had built the year before at Boxborough. His wife died in Charlestown, Dec. 17, 1867, aged eighty-four years seven months twenty days, and is laid beside him. Phinehas Stone was captain of a company of New Hampshire detatched militia of the first regiment under Lieut .- Col. N. Fisk, in the war of 1812, went from Weare on or about Sept, 12, 1814, did actual service at Portsmouth, N. H., and was honorably discharged. He was drafted at Goffstown for three months, continued to be captain for some time and was subsequently chosen colonel of the regiment. (1818.)
The daughter, Sarah, was born Mar. 18, 1809, married Seth W. Lewis, of Claremont, N. H., in 1834, and died in Charles- town, Mass., Apr. 27, 1872, aged sixty-three years. Her husband, Seth W. Lewis, died July 1, 1872, aged sixty-six years. They were buried in Woodlawn cemetery.
PHINEHAS J. STONE.
Phinehas Jones, second child and eldest son of Hannah (Jones) and Col. Phinehas Stone, was born in Weare, N. H., May 23, 1810, where he lived until November, 1824, when he removed with his family to Charlestown, Mass., which has ever since been his adopted home. He married Ann Maria Lind- sey, June 20, 1841. She died Sept. 6, 1851. Joseph Stone, fourth child of Phinehas J. and Ann M. (Lindsey) Stone, was born at Charlestown, Mass., Jan. 4, 1848, graduated from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1868 as Civil Engi- neer, and took the degree of S. B., entered the office of William H. Thompson, Boston, July, 1868, as mill engineer, became mill engineer for the Manchester Print Works, Man-
D. gas tour 3
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Phinehus J. Stone
chester, N. H., in 1870, and was appointed agent, Feb. 1, 1874. On the reorganization of the company as the Manchester Mills, in April, 1874, he was continued as agent until Sept. 30, 1880. Oct. 1, 1880, he was appointed superintendent of the Lower Pacific Mills, Lawrence, Mass., devoted to the manufacture of worsted goods. He was married Jan. 12, 1870, to Lillias Blaikie, only daughter of Rev. Alexander Blaikie, D.D., of Boston, who died, without children, in Dedham, Mass., Dec. 26. 1873. He was again married, Feb. 10, 1880, to Minnie Harris, eldest daughter of Horatio Harris, Esq., of Roxbury, by whom he had a son, Harris Stone, who was born Dec. 4, 1880, and died Aug. 12, 1881, also a daughter, Marion Stone, born Oct. 14, 1882. He lived at home with his father until 1870, when, after marriage, he moved to Dedham, where he lived until Feb. 1, 1874, when he moved to Man- chester, N. H.
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