USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Westminster > Celebration of the one hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of Westminster, Mass. > Part 2
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* Stephen Greenleaf, Esq., of Brattleborough, Vermont, in answer to a letter addressed to him on this subject in 1831, says : " In my early days I lived two years on a farm then called ' Arm's Meadows,' where the remains of Fairbanks Moore lie interred in the barn-yard. I have in recollection what Colonel Jolm Sargeant (the first white person born in Vermont) many times repeated in my hearing, that Fairbanks Moore was on a visit at his son's house (something more than two miles from the then Fort Dummer ); that while he was there, the house was beset by the Indians, and a bloody scene ensued ; that Moore and his son fought bravely, were overpowered and killed in the conflict, and eventually
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Deacon JOSEPH HOLDEN was the second settler in the town. He came to the place in March, 1737, and commenced clearing his land. He soon returned to Watertown, and, on the 13th of June, he left that place for the wilds of Narraganset. He arrived at Lancaster the next day, where he left his wife and two young daughters, together with his son Abner, a lad fourteen years of age, while he and his son Joseph, then just of age, came on to the town- ship, where they arrived, June 15th. His son Stephen, a young man of twenty, soon joined them, and they commenced erecting a house. We have already said that Captain Moore built him a house that season. The houses of Deacon Holden and of Captain Moore were both raised the same day, and were the first framed houses in the place. Deacon Holden's house was situated on or near the spot where Deacon Joel Merriam now resides, a few rods west of the Baptist meeting-house.
Having put his house in a comfortable condition, his wife and children came from Lancaster during the autumn, and took up their abode in this howling wilderness. On this lot Deacon Holden resided till his death, which occurred November 30, 1768, in the eighty-sixth year of his age. During his thirty-one years' residence in Narraganset, he enjoyed the confidence and esteem of his fellow- citizens. He was elected the first Deacon of the Church which was gathered in 1742, and filled various offices of honor and trust.
His son Abner, of whom we have already spoken, became one of the most popular and influential citizens in the town. Called early to public life, he became acquainted with public business, and, for a long series of years, sustained some of the most important offices in the gift of the people of the place. He filled the office of Dis- trict and Town Clerk, served in the capacity of Selectman, and Delegate to the Provincial Congress, and was for years the prin- cipal Magistrate in the place. Some of these offices he sustained till the close of his life.
He married Elizabeth Darby, February 25, 1752. His children were, Joseph, born August 2, 1753 ; Ruth, born December 10, 1754 ; Elizabeth, born January 17, 1757 ; Relief, born October 18, 1758 ; Abner, born June 29, 1760 ; Phebe, born July 30, 1762 ;
buried in said barn-yard. The grave is monumented only with a solitary stone, placed horizontally upon it, unhewn and uninscribed, and is passed over as heedlessly by the trampling of feet and the rattling of wheels, as any other ma- terial in the cart's way."
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Ezra, born December 5, 1764 ; Abigail, born April 25, 1767; and Lucy, born February 25, 1770.
It was the fortune of Abner Holden, Esq., to witness all the difficulties and dangers through which the infant settlement had to pass ; and to behold it at last permanently established, enjoying peace and prosperity. He died October 22, 1805, aged eighty- three, after a residence in the place fifty-eight years.
Joseph Holden, the oldest son of Deacon Joseph, came into the place with his father in 1737. He died unmarried, September 14, 1774. He filled almost every office of honor and trust in the Dis- trict, the duties of which he fulfilled with fidelity, and died sud- denly, greatly lamented, in the fifty-eighth year of his age.
Stephen Holden, the second son of the Deacon, and who came into the place the same season, settled on the lot where Mr. Jonas Cutler now resides. His wife's name was Abigail, by whom he had Samuel, born January 1, 1752, died June 8, 1788 ; Stephen, born May 16, 1755 ; Abigail, born March 23, 1757 ; Elias, born May 28, 1758 ; Levi, born December 2, 1762; Elizabeth, born October 30, 1766. Stephen Holden died September 15, 1794, aged seventy-six.
Deacon Holden's family consisted of himself and wife, three sons, and two daughters ; Captain Moore's, of himself and wife, and six children. These two families, consisting of fifteen persons, were the first to take up their abode in this desert. Here they spent their first winter, without any other family in the township. It is impossible for us to enter into the feelings which must have actuated the first settlers. The prospect of converting a wilderness into a fruitful field, and making the desert rejoice and blossom as the rose, must have cheered and gladdened their hearts. But, on the other hand, dangers were to be encountered, and hardships were to be endured. Exiled from the abodes of civilized men, they found themselves joint-tenants of the forest with savages and wild beasts. When the settlement first commenced, there were no inhabitants within twelve or fifteen miles. Rutland and Lunenburg were the nearest settlements, and these were about twelve miles distant, through a trackless wilderness. Lancaster, though fifteen or sixteen miles distant from Narraganset, may be considered the nearest settlement ; for it was through this place that all the early settlers came, and to Lancaster they resorted for those necessaries of life which the wilderness did not afford them. One of the carly
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settlers * thus describes the condition of the place, and its first inhabitants :
" A howling wilderness it was, where no man dwelt ; the hid- eous yells of wolves, the shrieks of owls, the gobbling of turkeys, and the barking of foxes, was all the music we enjoyed ; no friend to visit, no soul in the adjoining towns-all a dreary waste, exposed to a thousand difficulties."
In addition to the privations and hardships mentioned above, the winter of 1738-9 was unusually severe, but less so than the one that followed. The snow, during both of these winters, was at least four feet deep, for months in succession. No winters, during the past century, save the memorable winter of 1779-80, can compare with them for depth of snow and severity of cold. Thus cut off from the mill at Lancaster, to which place they usually carried their grain, the inhabitants were reduced to the necessity of adopting the Indian custom of pounding their grain in a mortar. Bread prepared in this manner, and game from the forest, constituted their principal food during the long, inclement season ; and of this the quantity was small, and the supply scanty. Such, and many other privations, difficulties and dangers, beset the early settlers of the place-privations and difficulties from which the poorest and most destitute at this day are exempt.
Deacon Joseph Holden being the first permanent resident in Narraganset, and his family the most controlling and influential for half a century, it seems proper to give a more detailed account of the family.
JUSTINIAN HOLDEN embarked at Ipswich, England, for America, in April, 1634. He was one of the Proprietors of Watertown, in 1642, and was made a freeman, May 6, 1657. In 1653, then of Watertown, he purchased a farm in Cambridge, consisting of two hundred and ninety-four acres, with a dwelling-house and barn upon the same, bounded by Fresh Pond and the Watertown line. His wife died 1672, without issue, and he married Mary, daughter of John Rutter, of Sudbury, who was born in 1647, and was thirty-four years younger than himself. By his second wife he had four sons and three daughters. .
Joseph, his youngest son, was born September 6, 1683, when his father was seventy years of age. Joseph, the early settler in Westminster, was consequently of the first generation of Holdens,
* Abner Holden, Esq.
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born in this country. He married, February 17, 1714, Abigail Shattuck, and had Joseph, born June 30, 1716 ; Stephen, born October 21, 1717 ; Abigail, born October 19, 1719; Abner, born November 2, 1722 ; Jonathan, born June 6, 1725 ; and Elizabeth, baptized April 26, 1730. He resided in Watertown, where he was a Constable, in 1732, and from this place came to Narraganset, as before stated.
The Holdens were not only a prominent and numerous family, but by intermarriages became connected with most of the other families in the place.
When the settlement was commenced, there was not even a " marked road " to the township. The first families wended their way from Lancaster, through the trackless desert, to Narraganset No. 2, as best they could. But in November of 1737, the Pro- prietors, at their meeting in Cambridge, chose a Committee, of which Joseph Holden was one, to look out and mark a road from Lancaster to Narraganset No. 2, and throughi said township to the Meeting-house Lot ; the said road to be laid out and mended, where it will best accommodate the whole town. This road was located over Gerry Hill, in the northerly part of Sterling, and con- tinued to be the main traveled road to Lancaster and Boston for a great number of years. At the same meeting, it was agreed that a meeting-house in the township should be commenced the next season.
In 1738, PHILIP BEMIS, of Cambridge, removed his family to the township. He was the third settler in the plantation. He located himself on what is now known as the old Turnpike, below the burying-yard, near where Mr. Benjamin F. Battles now resides. His family consisted of six or seven persons, among which was an infant, by the name of Daniel Muntjoy, who died in 1835, in the one hundredth year of his age. We find no record of Philip Bemis's family. It is supposed, however, that William Bemis, who married first, Rosiner, and second, Abigail Annis, and who died November 8, 1801, aged seventy-five, was one of his sons who came with him to No. 2; and that Captain Edmund Bemis, who commanded a Company in the Revolutionary service, was another son of Philip. Captain Edmund married, 1760, Elizabeth Rand, and had Elijah, Edmund, Samuel, Ebenezer, and three daughters. He died December 1, 1807, aged seventy-five years. David Bemis was also a son of Philip.
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THOMAS BEMIS came to Narraganset soon after his brother Philip, and settled on or near the spot where Mr. Timothy Brown now resides. His family consisted only of himself and wife, who died 1798, aged one hundred years. Anna, their first child, born April 22, 1741, if we may believe tradition, was the first female child born in No. 2. She married John Estabrook, at the age of fifteen, was the mother of fourteen children, and died February 26, 1832, aged ninety-two. The Bemises were probably the de- scendants of Joseph Bemis, of Cambridge, who served in the Nar- raganset war. The Bemises in Westminster were at one time quite numerous, and by marriage became connected with many other families.
During the same year, the Proprietors were taking measures to settle the township. At a meeting held January, 1738, they agreed to divide their meadow lands, which were omitted in the first division. The Proprietors met again in September. At this time four families had settled on the plantation, and the building of the Meeting-house would naturally call people to the place, temporarily at least. To meet their wants, and to induce others to settle, the Proprietors, at this meeting, granted one hundred dollars for the support of the Gospel in the township. In December, of the same year, another hundred dollars was added; and the sum of two hundred dollars a year was continued, till a clergyman was settled among them.
June 6, 1739, the Proprietors met for the first time in the town- ship. The Meeting-house being completed on the outside, it was that day publicly dedicated. The sermon was preached by Rev. Isaac Richardson, of Woburn, from Haggai ii. 9. This house was forty-five feet long and thirty-five feet wide, with twenty feet posts. It was situated on the Meeting-house Lot on the Hill, which is still kept open as a Public Common. This lot was at first laid out in a square form, and contained about six acres. It has since been reduced to nearly three acres. This house stood a few feet in front of the house which succeeded it, and remained till the erection of the new house in 1788, when it was moved off, and converted into a barn, by Mr. Rice, then the pastor of the Parish. In this humble capacity, the old church stood till about 1837, when Mr. Abraham Wood, who had succeeded to the estate, being desirous of a more commodious barn, demolished the old Meeting- house. But even then, out of respect to its past services, and the
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soundness of the frame, a portion of the large timbers were used in the new frame, where they bid fair to remain another generation, and will perhaps complete their second century.
In 1740, THOMAS STEARNS, from Watertown, came to the town- ship, and located himself at or near where Mr. Job Seaver now resides. He was a descendant of the second generation from Isaac Stearns, who came to America in 1630, in the same ship with Gov- ernor Winthrop and Sir Richard Saltonstall, and settled in Water- town. Thomas was a son of John Stearns, of Watertown, and was born October 8, 1711. He married after he came to Narra- ganset, August 9, 1744, Hannah Clarke, of Newton. He died April 29, 1785, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. He was a man of character and standing in the town and church, being a Deacon in the church, and filling important offices in the town. He was a brother of Rev. David Stearns, of Lunenburg.
The Proprietors, at a meeting in September, 1740, granted thirty-three dollars to make and mend the roads in the township. At the same meeting they contracted with Mr. Seth Walker, to build a Grist Mill. This mill was situated at the outlet of West- minster Pond, where Mr. Walker fixed his residence.
The subject of a Corn Mill had been agitated by the Proprietors, for two or three years, but not till this time was any efficient meas- ure adopted to create this necessary appendage to every settlement. This mill was erected the following year, and of course was the first building of the kind in the township. The erection of this mill would obviate one great objection to settling in the place, as it furnished the means of preparing food, both for man and beast.
Captain DANIEL HOAR may be considered as the next settler. We find him in the place as early as 1739, employed on a Commit- tee for building a Grist Mill. But it is probable it was not till the latter end of the next year, or the commencement of 1741, that he became a permanent resident in No. 2. He first commenced on a lot in the southerly part of the town, and built him a cabin on the margin of " Beaver Swamp," so called, about one hundred rods southerly of the present residence of Mr. Jonas Miller. But being dissatisfied with the location, lie left that lot, and commenced per- manently on the lot where Allen's tavern-house now stands. He erected a house on the north-westerly part of the lot, near the present burial ground. Here he remained till his death, which occurred December 4, 1782. The Hoar family of Massachusetts,
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dates back to the early settlement of the Colony. According to tradition, the ancestor of this family came over early, and died at Boston, soon after his arrival, leaving among other children, John, who resided first at Scituate, and afterward at Concord, where he died, 1704, leaving two daughters and a son, Daniel, born 1650. Daniel married and reared a numerous family, among whom was a son bearing his own name. This latter Daniel, born 1680, mar- ried Sarah Jones, December 20, 1705. He resided in Concord, where he died February 8, 1773. His second son, Jonathan, was graduated at Harvard College, 1740, was an officer in the French and Indian wars, and after the peace of 1763, went to England, and was appointed Governor of Newfoundland and the neighboring Province, but died on his passage thither. Daniel, his third son, entered Harvard College, 1730, but did not graduate. He came to Narraganset, as we have already said, in 1740 or '41. He mar- ried, November 2, 1743, Rebecca Brooks, of Concord, and had Daniel, born October 19, 1744, and died in his twentieth year ; Sarah, born January 5, 1749; Rebecca, born June 23, 1754; Stephen Brooks, born July 15, 1758; Charles, born September 5, 1761, died young ; Samuel, born August 24, 1763, married Deborah Bigelow, and had Daniel, George A., Samuel, Francis A., and Charles B. Charles B., who has taken the name of Hoard, resides at Watertown, New York, and represents that District in Congress. As Daniel Hoar was one of the first settlers, so he became one of the first citizens, of Westminster. He was one of the Selectmen on the incorporation of the District, to which office he was often re-elected. He filled other civil offices, and was honored with the command of a Company of Militia, when that post implied more than it does at present.
SETH WALKER became an inhabitant of the place in 1741. He had been in the township the preceding year, and had contracted to build the mill of which we have before spoken. Mr. Walker's dwelling was near the present residence of Mr. John K. Larnard. He was from Sudbury.
If we place Deacon JOSEPH MILLER, next in order of time among the settlers, it cannot be far from the truth. He came from Newton. He was a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Child) Miller, aud was born July 29, 1716. His father was Selectman in Newton, 1743, and died in Worcester, 1759, aged eighty-one. In 1740, Joseph Miller purchased his land, and the same year we find him
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in the township. He probably married about the time he came to Narraganset. By his wife Mary, he had eleven children : viz. Joseph, born July 27, 1741; Mary, born March 16, 1743 ; Ephraim, born September 16, 1744 ; Martha, born September 11, 1746 ; David, born August 8, 1748; John, born August, and died August 8, 1750; Samuel, born July 20, 1751; Isaac, born March 31, 1754 ; Esther, born March 9, 1756; Elizabeth, born March 16, 1758; John, born September 22, 1762. Esther died October 17, 1850, at the advanced age of ninety-four years, four months and three days.
He fixed his residence a little in the rear of the present resi- dence of Mr. Jonas Miller, his great-grandson. He was chosen one of the Deacons, at the first organization of the church in 1742, and became one of the most prominent citizens, both in the district and in the town. He performed a good deal of public business, and his papers, many of which were preserved, show that he did business carefully and correctly. Under the district organization, he was chosen Clerk, Assessor and Treasurer, and for many years, both under the district and town organizations, he served on the board of Selectmen. In the trying days of the Revolution, when the people would naturally fall back upon their most reliable men, Deacon Miller was called to act as Selectman, Treasurer, and Representative. Deacon Miller's descendants in Westminster, have been numerous. His son Joseph, married Lucy Walker, and had James, John, Isaac, Joseph, and four daughters. Ephraim married Beulah Wheeler, and had Asa, Ezra, John, and three daughters. Samuel married Lydia Cutting, and had Joseph, Samuel, John C., David, Aumas, and two daughters. Isaac mar- ried Sarah Bennett, and had Joseph, Isaac, Benjamin, and three daughters.
JOSEPH LYNDE, from Malden, was another of the early settlers. He came to the place in 1741, and fixed his residence about one hundred rods from the Common. The remains of the cellar are still to be seen, on the north side of the road, half way from the Common to the residence of Mr. Horatio Eagar.
BENJAMIN GARFIELD, from Waltham, came to No. 2, in 1741, and commenced on the lot where widow Maria Baker now lives. He cleared the land in some degree, and erected a house and barn. In January, 1743, he sold his lot, with the buildings thereon, to RICHARD GRAVES, then of Sudbury. Mr. Graves moved to the
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township in the spring of that year, and was of course one of the early settlers .. He married and had one child, before he came to Narraganset. His wife's name was Patience. His children were Patience, born in Sudbury, June 9, 1742; Lucy, born September 7, 1743 ; Peter, born November 25, 1745 ; Priscilla, born March 9, 1748 ; Richard, born April 17, 1750 ; Jonathan, born July 2, 1752; Levi, born July 11, 1754; and Abigail, born November 17, 1756. Richard Graves became an influential citizen, filled several important town offices, and was dignified with the title of Ensign. He died March 28, 1798, aged eighty-eight ; and his wife died February 1, 1800, aged eighty-seven. Benjamin Garfield, the first owner of the lot, remained in the place, and filled many subordinate town offices.
. We cannot arrange the families in the exact order in which they settled, but will do it as far as it is practicable. In June, 1742, ELIEZER BIGELOW moved his family to Narraganset, and settled on the lot, on which the late John Bigelow resided,-though his house was sixty or seventy rods westerly of the residence of John, his grandson. He was a son of Joshua Bigelow, of Watertown, who was wounded in King Philip's war. Joshua was a son of John Bigelow, of Watertown, who was early in that place, and was the ancestor of most of the name in New England. Joshua Bigelow was the only soldier who served in the Narraganset war, that ever settled on the grant. He died February 21, 1745, and is said to have been .the first adult person who died in the township.
Eliezer Bigelow married, November 24, 1724, Mary Fiske, of Watertown, by whom he had seven children, all born before he came to Narraganset. His sons were Benjamin, born October 13, 1726, who moved to Portsmouth ; Elisha, born January 11, 1728, married, 1757, Sarah Cooledge, and had Ephraim, Elisha, and Abijah, and three daughters ; Abijah graduated at Dartmouth College, 1795, studied law, settled in Worcester, was Clerk of the Court, and represented the District' in Congress ; he is still living, in his eighty-fifth year. Joshua, born April 12, 1733, moved to Genesee; and Jabez, born December 19, 1736, mar- ried 1761, Deborah Knowlton, of Shrewsbury, and had eight sons-John, born June 27, 1762; Jabez, born March 26, 1764; Benjamin, born August 6, 1765 ; Abraham, born December 21, 1768 ; Ezekiel, born April 4, 1772; Luke, born April 26, 1774,
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still living ; Reuben, born November 22, 1775 .; and Asa, born August 19, 1779.
Eliezer Bigelow, the first settler, died February 24, 1762, aged fifty-seven years. His descendants became numerous and influen- tial in Westminster.
The Bigelows, or Baguleys, as they were originally called, (taking the name of the place where they resided,) were an ancient family in England, and have been traced back to the reign of Henry III., when Richard was lord of Baguley. In the reign of Henry VII., Ralph de Baguley was lord of Ollerton Hall, and died 1540, leaving Randall and Nicholas. Randall died 1556, and his sons, Philip and Robert, divided his estate. Robert died 1582, leaving Randall and John, both of whom moved to Suffolk. Randall died 1626, leaving two sons, Francis and John. Francis died 1657, and gave by will a portion of his property to his brother John, then in New England. John was baptized in England, February 16, 1617 ; he came early to Watertown, where he married, October 30, 1642, Mary Warren, also born in England. He was father of Joshua, who was born November 5, 1655. The name in Watertown Records, is variously written, Bigulah, Biglo, and Biglow.
In 1741, or '42, SAMUEL WHITNEY, from Weston, came to the place and located himself near the present residence of Mr. Hart- well,-the old cellar is still visible. He was a son of William Whitney, of Weston, and descended from John Whitney, who came from England to this country in 1635, and settled in Water- town. Samuel Whitney, the early settler in Narraganset, was born May 23, 1719, and married, October 20, 1741, Abigail Fletcher. He came to this place about the time of his marriage, and like most of the carly settlers, had a large family of children. His children numbered thirteen : Abigail, born August 27, 1742; Mary, born May 29, 1744; Samuel, born February 11, 1746, married 1783 to Mrs. Thankful Wilder, and had Plyney, Smyrna, and Moses ; Abner, born May 18, 1748, married first, May 14, 1770, Elizabeth Glazier, and had Oliver, John and Levi ; married second, Lovina Ward, and had Jonas, Joseph, Abel, and two daughters ; Achsa, born September 30, 1750 ; Silas, born October 20, 1752 ; Martha, born November 26, 1755 ; Elisha, born July 2, 1757, married, 1781, Eunice Seaver, and had Joseph and Norman S., and four daughters ; Alpheus, born February 25, 1759; Phinehas, born
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