USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Eastern Worcester : its first settlers and their locations : historical and genealogical, in three chapters > Part 5
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THE WHEELER FAMILY.
Abraham Wheeler, whose farm originally included the spot where we now are, was born in Medfield in 1700, son of Isaac Wheeler, who had a grant of 40 acres of land given him here in 1714, and 55 acres more in 1718, to all of which son, his Abra, ham, who added more to it, succeeded. Among the tomb stones- buried beneath the surface of the ground on the old Common, is one inscribed, "Abraham Wheeler, died October 20, 1780, aged 80." His wife was Hannah, born June 3, 1702, daughter of Thomas and Hannah (Woods) Witherbee of Marlborough, by whom Abraham Wheeler had in Worcester: 1st, Thomas, born Sept. 23, 1728, deacon of the Old South Church from 1783 till his death, January 12, 1795, who succeeded to the paternal estate ; 2d, Jabez, born July 24, 1731; 3d, Abraham, born July 3, 1735, died February 25, 1746; 4th, Mary, born April 15, 1743, married Ebenezer Millet of Holden, and had in Worcester, Thomas W., Elizabeth and Susan Millet, adopted by their uncle, Dea. Thomas Wheeler, as his children, and he, having no chil- dren of his own, left them his farm at his decease in 1795. Of these three children, Elizabeth Millet, born in 1764, married Ebenezer Williams, born in Newton, November 28, 1758, son of Isaac and Sarah (Stratton) Williams, and of Ebenezer and Elizabeth (Millet's) children, one daughter was wife of Aaron Earle of Leicester, and another daughter, Abigail, born Novem-
* See "Reminiscences," p. 50.
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ITS FIRST SETTLERS AND THEIR LOCATIONS.
ber 1, 1799, was wife of Clark Whittemore, the well remembered old bookbinder of Worcester, and she died, his widow, a few days ago. August 1, 1890, at the ripe age of nearly 91 years. She related to me many interesting facts and incidents regarding the time of her childhood in this section, and elsewhere. She said that after the sale of the old homestead on Putnam lane, her father and mother lived on the place where we now are, which they hired of the Patches, for awhile, and then removed to Tatnuck, where her father died in 1831. She said the death of her great uncle, Dea. Thomas Wheeler, whose memory she revered, was caused by accident while sledding wood down Millstone hill, January 12, 1795.
Dea. Thomas Wheeler's* first wife was Bridget Taylor, sister of Othniel Taylor, whose farm was towards the north end of Plantation street, where Samuel G. Curtis lives, and after her death, Dea. Wheeler married Mary, widow of Samuel Graves, senior.
The residence of Abraham Wheeler and his son Thomas, was on what is now called Putnam lane, just south of Shrewsbury street, the central portion of this ancient estate, including the old house, having for several years past been owned by White, Pevey & Dexter, and occupied for their pork packing establish- ment, the old house, which has undergone many alterations, being used for a residence for some of their workmen. After Dea. Wheeler's death, the old estate, then comprising about one hundred acres, was sold in 1797 by his heirs, his adopted children before mentioned, to Daniel Rand, from Grafton, who resided there till 1824, when he sold the farm to Hon. William Eaton, (grandfather of the present Wm. Eaton, ) who sold in sections at different times to different parties, a considerable portion of it to the old Boston & Worcester Railroad Company, who built their road through it, another large portion to the town for the building of the road to Shrewsbury through Pine Meadows, now called Shrewsbury street, which was built about 1828 ; and the more central portion, including the old house, he sold to the late Samuel Putnam. After Samuel Putnam's death in 1861, this portion of his estate fell to his son, the present William Putnam, who had then been living there several years, and William Putnam occupied it about twenty-five years, till he built his present residence eighteen years ago, on the corner of Bloomingdale road and Plantation street, at which time he sold his Putnam lane estate to White, Pevey & Dexter.
* This Thomas Wheeler must not be confounded with another Thomas Wheeler, who came to Worcester in 1739, from Acton, and was deacon of the Old South Church from 1748 to 1769, as he was of another family, and went from here to Hardwick in 1764, where his great grandson, the late Wm. A. Wheeler of Worcester, was born in 1798, and came to Wor- cester in 1823, and founded the well-remembered old Wheeler foundry and machine shop.
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AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS-EASTERN WORCESTER :
This Dea. Thomas Wheeler's name does not appear among those recorded as buried in the ancient cemetery on the old Common, where his father's burial is recorded, and this fact may justify a reference to him, as interred in accordance with an old custom in many localities, on a portion of his own grounds, through which formerly meandered an ancient stream or brook, called Pine Meadow brook, now merged in the city's. system of sewage.
In tribute to him, as a model farmer and good deacon of the ancient time, the following lines written many years ago, may be appropriately quoted :
On a green grassy knoll, by the banks of the brook That so long and so often has watered his flock, The old farmer rests in his long and last sleep, While the waters a low, lisping lullaby keep.
The blue bird sings sweet on the gay maple bougb, Its warbling oft cheered him while holding the plow; And the robins above him hop light on the mould. For he fed them with crumbs when the season was cold.
Yon tree that with fragrance is filling the air, So rich with its blossoms, so thrifty and fair, By his own hand was planted, and well did he say, It would live when its planter had mouldered away.
There's the well that he dug with the water so cold, With its wet dripping bucket so mossy and old, No more from its depths by the patriarch drawn, For "the pitcher is broken," the old man is gone !
'Twas a gloom-giving day when the old farmer died ; The stout-hearted mourned, the affectionate cried ; And the prayers of the just for his rest did ascend, For they all lost a Brother, a Father, and Friend.
For upright and honest the old farmer was; His God he revered, he respected his laws; Though fameless he lived, he has gone where his worth Will outshine, like pure gold, all the dross of this earth.
THE MOORE FAMILY.
Among the carliest proprietors of Worcester, at the begin- ning of the permanent settlement were five persons by the name of Moore, relatives, Dea. Nathaniel, Jonathan, James, Isaac, and Collins Moore, two or more of them brothers, grand- sons of the emigrant ancestor, John Moore of Sudbury. Of these five Moores, one, Jonathan, had extensive grants of land given to him, as far back as 1719, one of them over 100 acres, south of and adjoining the original Gates and Goulding estates, on which 100 acres this Jonathan Moore then settled, his location including that on Harrington court, which five generations of the Har. rington family have owned and occupied during the last one hundred and fifty years.
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ITS FIRST SETTLERS AND THEIR LOCATIONS.
. This Jonathan Moore, who married Mary Fullam, daughter of Hon. Francis Fullam of Weston. died in Worcester, in 1730. leaving his wife with several small children. Joseph Dana, from Oxford, married the widow and succeeded to the estate, which he sold in 1740, to Francis Harrington, whose descend- ants for five generations have since owned and occupied that estate.
The youngest of the children of this Jonathan Moore, was Judah, born in Worcester, May 24, 1730, who married Mary, daughter of Zephaniah Swift of Sandwich, and Judah and Mary were parents of Rev. Zephaniah Swift Moore, D. D., born in Palmer, November 20, 1770, who was the predecessor of Rev. Dr. John Nelson, as pastor of the First Congregational Church in Leices- ter, from 1798 to 1812, afterwards Professor of Languages in Dartmouth College, and President in succession of Williams and Amherst Colleges.
Rev. Dr. Moore's wife was sister of Rev. Edmund Mills, pastor of the old church in Sutton, from 1790 to 1825, and the. latter's son, Edmund J. Mills, born 1791, related to me inter- esting incidents about his going, when a boy of six years, with his father to attend the ordination of his uncle, Rev. Dr. Moore, on Leicester hill, January 7, 1798, amid a driving snow storm.
The other branches of the Moore family will be noticed at length when speaking of the sections of the town in which they respectively settled, in Tatnuck, on Sagatabscot hill, and else- where.
THE HARRINGTON FAMILY.
Francis8 Harrington, born in that part of Watertown, afterwards Waltham, June 11, 1709, who died in Worcester, July 18, 1793, aged 84 years, was son of Edward2 and Mary '(Ocington) Harrington, and grandson of the original emigrants, Robert and Susanna (George) Harrington of Watertown. Fran- cis' two cousins, Joshua8 and Josiah8 Harrington, born in Waltham, June 12, 1709, one day later than Francis8, also came to Worcester, Josiah8 in 1754, and Joshua8 in 1773. Josiah& settled on Grafton street, on the estate where Gershom Rice first settled, next east of the farm of Jacob Holmes, where Josiah's son Silas,4 and grandson Jeremiah® Harrington after- wards lived, and Josiah's twin brother, Joshuaª Harrington, settled on what is now Blithewood avenue, where his son, Joshua Harrington, Jr., and Samuel Sturtevant, afterwards lived .*
* Joshua3 Harrington, senior, also had a son Samuel4, hotel keeper, who settled on the old hotel estate which he purchased of Wm. Jennison, on what is now Harrington street, north of Blithwood avenue, between "Allbury avenue and Grafton street, and formerly a part of the old Graf- con road, who had a son Samuel' Harrington, Jr., formerly town sexton and funeral undertaker; another son of Joshua3, senior, was Noah Har- rington, who settled near his brothers on Grafton street, near the junction with Harrington street, Noah' being father of the late Williams, Luke5 and Thomas& J. Harrington.
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Francis& Harrington married November 16, 1736, Prudence Stearns, born April 27, 1713, daughter of Lieut. Samuel8, Jr., and Mary (Hawkins) Stearns of Watertown, and removed first to Grafton, and about 1740 to Worcester, where Prudence died in 1752, aged 38 years. Francis& then married November 14, 1752, Deborah Brigham of Westboro, who died April 20, 1799, aged 84 years, six years after her husband. Francis® Harring- ton had bat two children, both by his first wife: Francis4, Jr., born in Grafton in 1737, who died in Worcester, April 26, 1768, unmarried, and Nathaniel4, born in Worcester in 1742, who succeeded to his father's estate on Harrington court, and died there February 28, 1831, aged 89 years.
Nathaniel Harrington married Ruth Stone, (born in 1748, and died in 1817, ) daughter of the first Jonathan Stone of Auburn, and their oldest son, Francis" Harrington, born May 3, 1777, who died October 17, 1841, on the paternal homestead, married May 13, 1801, Lydia Perry, born February 20, 1778, who died October 27, 1808, daughter of Josiah, and grand-daughter of the first Nathan Perry of Vernon street, Worcester, who was deacon of the old South Church from 1783 to 1806 .*
Francis5 and Lydia (Perry) Harrington, had these six chil- dren born on the old homestead : 1st, Daniel®, born October 4, 1802, died September 11, 1863, married March 27, 1828, Clarissa Gray, born August 23, 1809, who died June 6, 1884, daughter of Nathaniel and Patty (Dickman) Gray, and succeeded to the estate of his father, Francis5; 2d, Mary®, born March 20, 1804, died February 18, 1869,, married December 8, 1823, Capt. and Dea. Samuel Perry, born November 26, 1796, died February 12, 1878, and had ten children on the old Perry homestead on Vernon street ; t 3d, Hannah6, born February 12, 1806, died July 14, 1823; 4th, Joseph®, born February 27, 1808, died April 13, 1812 ; 5th, Francis®, Jr., born August 11, 1811, died July 2, 1881, married April 6, 1841, Harriet W. Robbins of Littleton, born April 19, 1818, who died September 26, 1842, and he then married Frances J. Moore, born August 12, 1813, daughter of Col. Henry Moore of Newport, R. I., this Francis® and Harriet W. Robbins7, daughter of Harriet7 A., born February 5, 1842, being wife of her second cousin, Benjamin F. Harrington, son of Benjamin ; 6th, Lydia® F., born December 12, 1814, married April 13, 1842, Nahum Flagg, born April 27, 1812, son of John and Sarah (Ward) Flagg, and had Albert D., born August 22, 1844, and Ellen M., born October 4, 1847, residing with their parents on the estate on Grafton street, next east of George H. Rice's.
Jonathan5 Harrington, born October 31, 1779, who died May 4,
* See " Reminiscences," p. 110.
t See "Reminiscences," p. 111.
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ITS FIRST SETTLERS AND THEIR LOCATIONS.
1854, (son of Nathaniel4, ) divided with his brother Francis5, the estate of their father and grandfather, on different portions of which they and their children settled, Francis' taking the south- western, and Jonathan" the north-eastern section. Jonathan5 Harrington married in 1804, Mary Flagg, born January 9, 1780, died September 11, 1868, daughter of Benjamin and Hannah (Stearns) Flagg, and grand-daughter of Col. Benjamin and Abigail (Chadwick) Flagg. Jonathan5 and Mary (Flagg) Har- rington had but one child, Benjamin®, who was born April 8, 1805, and died August 15, 1873, his residence being side by side of that of his cousin, Daniele, on Harrington court. Ben- jamin® Harrington married in 1834, Lucretia, born July 15, 1805, died November 4, 1889, daughter of Abel and Susannah (Harrington) Flagg, and had these four children: 1st, Mary7 E., born January 25, 1836, married April 15, 1873, Samuel G. Curtis, son of Benjamin F. Curtis, and resided on the original Taylor estate on Plantation street, elsewhere spoken of; 2d, Benjamin F., born September 7, 1838, married November 18, 1875, his second cousin, Harriet W., daughter of Francis Har- rington, Jr., and reside on the paternal estate with his brother, Henry A .; 3d, Henry Augustus, born September 8, 1846, married October 17, 1842, Delia M. daughter of Salem Griggs, and divided with his brother, Benjamin F., their father's estate; 4th, Sarah Amelia, born April 6, 1850, married January 10, 1878, Gonsalo Buxton, and resides in Kansas City, Mo.
Daniel® and Clarissa (Gray) Harrington had these nine child- ren : 1st, Joseph, born October 6, 1829, died December 4, 1875; 2d, Emily6, born October 23, 1831, died in 1883, married in 1873, George Sumner Battelle, his second wife; 3d, Charles® A., born May 20, 1834, (of the firm of Garfield & Harrington, coal and ice dealers, on School street, Worcester,) married Lucy Goulding, daughter of Lewis and Lucy ( Adams) Goulding, and had Elenor W. and Herbert H. Harrington, in the employ of Garfield & Harrington; 4th, Henry® M., born March 20, 1836, died August 6, 1837; 5th, Delia® A., born March 21, 1841, married in 1863, George B. Andrews, stable keeper, Clinton; 6th, Maria® A., born September 2, 1843, married the late Edward W. Wellington, brother of Col. Fred W. Wellington, and had three children ; 7th, Francis® A., born November 17, 1846, Mayor of Worcester, (with his brother Daniel A., in the firm of Harring- ton & Brothers, Metropolitan stables, Central street, ) married in 1871, Anna M. Grout, daughter of Silas and Eliza (Draper) Grout of Spencer, and have three children, Charles A., Frank C., and Mary E. Harrington ; 8th, George® A., born July 8, 1849, died in 1885 ; 9th, Daniel® A., born May 8, 1851, in company with his brother, Francis A., in the Metropolitan stables, Central street, married in 1873, Jennie A. Spiers, daughter of John Spiers of Worcester, and have Clara A., Josie A., John S. and Daniel A., Jr., born between 1874 and 1882.
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AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS-EASTERN WORCESTER :
THE OLD FLAGG ESTATE.
The next ancient estate on Plantation street, south or south- west of that now owned and occupied by George Dana, on which the first settler was Capt. Benjamin Gates, above mentioned, was that of the first Benjamin Flagg of Worcester, on which he was the first settler as far back as 1717, and which his grand- son, Col. Benjamin Flagg, of revolutionary fame, afterwards owned and occupied, and after him his son, Aaron Flagg. After the latter's decease in 1836, his heirs occupied and leased the farm for awhile, till they sold it about 1850 to George S. Howe, the present owner. Considering that Col. Benjamin Flagg, at his decease October 8, 1818, aged 95 years, left four children, forty-two grand-children, and eighty-three great grand-children, any one would naturally have supposed that the descendants of this old revolutionary veteran would have longer continued this ancient estate in the family, after it had thus been there one hundred and thirty-one years. Other branches of the family will be noticed when speaking of the sections of the old town in which they settled .*
THE STEARNS FAMILY.
The next estate south or south-west, bordering on the latter, was that of old Daniel Stearns, now owned and occupied by George H. Rice, which the latter's father, the late Darius Rice, purchased of the mortagees of Daniel Stearns in 1831. Daniel Stearns, who died at the poor farm in 1835, aged over four score years, was son of John Stearns, Jr., whose father, John Stearns, was an original proprietor of various lands in difierent sections of the town, including the estate on which his descendants here lived, who inherited it from him. This Daniel Stearns married in 1780, Mary Wheelock, daughter of Paul Wheelock, who lived just this side of the Millbury Branch Railroad, on the road to Grafton. Among Daniel Stearns' children, he had a son, Daniel, who went west, and a daughter, Mary, or Polly, who married a Tucker, and resided last in the small old house which stood on the north-east corner of Plan- tation and Belmont streets, and was torn down after her death a few years ago by the State Lunatic Hospital Trustees, who purchased the estate. Other children of the first John Stearns of Worcester, formerly occupied several estates in the south- east section of the town, but their descendants, in the male line at least, are not now to be found there. This first John Stearns of Worcester, was brother of Capt. Thomas Stearns of the old King's Arms tavern, where the Lincoln House now is, and they were grandsons of the emigrant ancestor, Charles Stearns, who came from England and settled in Watertown before 1646.
* See " Reminiscences," p. 106.
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ITS FIRST SETTLERS AND THEIR LOCATIONS.
THE GRAY FAMILIES.
Among the earliest settlers in Worcester, were many families of Scotch-Irish Presbyterian emigrants of 1718,* including several of the name of Gray,-John, Matthew, Robert, William and James,-brothers or near relatives, with their families. Of these, John Gray first settled southerly or rather south. westerly of Adams Square, on an estate that he sold to his son John, and which the latter sold in 1739 to John Chadwick, ancestor of the Worcester Chadwicks. John Gray, senior, after selling that estate to his son John, Jr., settled on the estate west of Lake Quinsigamond, which he purchased of Isaac Leonard and John Kellogg, t and which he afterwards, in 1730, sold to his son, Samuel Gray, and the latter, in 1739, to Samuel Andrews, father-in-law of Col. Timothy Bigelow, as before related.
Matthew Gray settled early as 1729, on the estate south of the Harrington and west of the original Benjamin Flagg estate, where the late Edward E. Bliss lived, east of Nahum Flagg's, on a Court now called Woodland place, leading east from Graf- ton street. This estate of 55 acres, Matthew Gray purchased in 1729 of the original proprietor, Jonathan Moore, who settled north of it, on the estate which his widow sold in 1732 to Joseph Dana, afterwards her husband, and the latter to Francis Harrington, as before stated.
This estate Matthew Gray deeded in 1735 to his son, Matthew Gray, Jr., and the latter in 1772 to his son Reuben, and the latter, in turn, to his son Matthew, the sons in succession by written agreement taking care of their parents on the old home- stead till their decease. About 1829, the estate passed out of the family under mortgages, after four generations had owned and occupied it, the last Matthew Gray mentioned above re- moving from the place to the north side of Shrewsbury street, near Belmont street, and thence to the house of the late Dea. Alpheus Merrifield, opposite the jail on Summer street, where he died September 20, 1858, and his son, William Gray, who married Mercy Slade of Paxton, died there February 21, 1857, the latter being parents of Arthur E., George A., and Miss Sybil M. Gray of Worcester.
Reuben Gray was killed by a stroke of lightning, on his farm, May 23, 1814. By his wife, Lydia Millet, a daughter of the Ebenezer Millet, elsewhere mentioned, he had these eleven children: 1st, Reuben, Jr., born in 1787, who was drowned July 12, 1807, aged 20 years; 2d, Moses born in 1790, killed
* See "Reminiscences," pp. 127 and 128.
t This John Kellogg was probably another of the Scotch-Irish Presby- terian emigrants, and his daughter Rachel, who died soon after he came here, is the first white person on record as buried in Worcester after the beginning of the permanent settlement. See "Reminiscences," p. 199.
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AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS-EASTERN WORCESTER :
by fall from a tree, March 26, 1808, aged 18; 3d, Nathaniel, died July 29, 1823, married Patty Dickman of Hopkinton, their daughter Clarissa being wife of the late Daniel Harrington, and mother of our present mayor, Hon. Francis A. Harrington, and Charles A. and Daniel A. Harrington, all present here to- day; 4th, Mary, born June 12, 1777, married in 1806, Samuel Sturtevant, they being parents of Leonard W. Sturtevant, just deceased, and Mrs. Estes Smith of Worcester, Levi Sturtevant of West Boylston, Luke G. Sturtevant of Norwich, Ct., formerly of Leicester, and the late Estes and Harvey Sturtevant of Wor- cester; 5th, Luke, one of whose daughters was wife of Daniel Chadwick, Jr., and another was wife of his cousin, Leonard W. Sturtevant; 6th, Matthew, married Millicent Dickman, and succeeded to the paternal homestead, as before stated; 7th, Lydia, married Rev. Baxter Perry, brother of the late Capt. Sam- uel Perry of Worcester, one of their children being Prof. Arthur L. Perry of Williams College, and another, Baxter Perry, Jr., a lawyer in Boston; 8th, John, went to New York after the death of the father, and has descendants there; 9th, William, died out west about 1872, and has descendants there; 10th, Samuel, resided in Providence, R. I., by wife Lucy, had a daughter Sally, who married in 1837, Andrew Jackson Sumner of Milford, whose son, Arthur E. Jackson, was partner in business there with the father; 11th, Betsy, married Moses Cutler of Grafton.
I must relate in this connection an incident related to me by some of the descendants of Reuben Gray, of an occurrence at his funeral at the Old South Church. Taking those three sudden deaths in the family as not merely accidental, but Providential, for some cause, the then pastor of that church, Rev. Dr. Austin, at the funeral made a very peculiar allusion, for these days, to the deceased. Leaning over the pulpit, in front of which were the remains of the unfortunate man, while the widow, children, and other mourning relatives were around the coffin, the minis- ter said, " In all probability, my hearers, our friend whose body lies before us, is at this moment suffering the torments of the damned."
The sensation among the mourning relatives may be better imagined than described.
Of the others mentioned of the name of Gray, who came to Worcester about the same time, and had large families here, Robert Gray was the first settler on the estate on Hadwen lane, afterwards owned and occupied by his son, Robert, Jr., and the latter's son, Thomas Gray, who sold it in 1803 to Rufus Paine. The heirs of the latter sold to Wing Kelley, and the latter or his assignees in 1835 to the late Charles Hadwen, who owned and occupied the estate from that time until his decease, Feb. 8, 1881, aged84 years, and the main part of it is still in the family, occupied by Mr. Hadwen's grandson, Wm. E. Hadwen.
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ITS FIRST SETTLERS AND THEIR LOCATIONS.
Of the nine children of the first Robert Gray, who died on the old Hadwen farm, on Hadwen lane, January 16, 1766, aged 69 years, the oldest, Experience, born in 1730, was wife of Capt. Thomas Cowden, whose daughter, Experience, born in 1757, was wife of Dr. Thaddeus Maccarty, Jr., son of the long time pastor of the Old South Church ; and another daughter of Robert Gray, senior, Sarah, born in 1742, was wife of Moses Miller, son of Dea. Samuel Miller, of the Old South Church.
Wm. Gray and his son William lived on what is now Lincoln street, where the late Timothy Bancroft and his son, Enoch Bancroft lived, and Wm. Gray, senior, settled his son, Hugh Gray, on the east part of his original estate, which Hugh Gray sold in 1740 to the first Ebenezer Wellington of Worcester, which the latter left to his son, Daniel Wellington, where the late Jason Duncan and his son, Andrew J. Duncan lived and died, westerly and north-westerly of the ancient Curtis estate. There was a large number of successive owners and occupants of the Bancroft estate from the time Wm. Gray, Jr., sold out to Joshua Child in 1746 and went to Pelham, a few years after his father went there, to the time that Timothy Bancroft bought it about fifty years ago, an interesting account of whom will be given when the writer comes to speak more particularly of that section. Joseph Waite, from Marlborough, bought it of Joshua Child in 1746, and Capt. John Curtis bought it of Waite for his son, John Curtis, Jr., who owned and occupied this estate from his marriage in 1755 to his death in 1768, aged 37 years, and all of his five children were born here, of whom the oldest, David, who married Susannah Stone, elsewhere spoken of, was grandfather of George William Curtis of New York.
James Gray settled just north of the Worcester line in Holden, where his son Jonas afterwards lived, the father spending his last days with his son-in-law, John Barber, in Westfield.
John Gray had sons, Samuel, John, Jr., and Matthew, who went with the father to Pelham. This Matthew Gray must not be confounded with his relative and probably uncle, Matthew Gray, who settled south of the ancient Francis Harrington estate. The above mentioned John Gray, Jr., had a son Daniel, born in Worcester in 1728, who went to Pelham with his father and grandfather in 1739, and Daniel's daughter, Margaret, married Amos Blackmer and settled in Greenwich, where his son, the late Wm. H. Blackmer of Worcester, was born, the latter being father of the late district deputy attorney, Francis T. Blackmer, and the present Frederick W. Blackmer, Esq., of Worcester. Amos H. Blackmer, a brother of Wm. H., is still living in Greenwich.
These early Gray families that came to Worcester at the beginning of the town, were among the emigrants of 140 families wio came from the north of Ireland to Boston in the early
4
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AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS-EASTERN WORCESTER :
part of the year 1718, and settled in Worcester the same year, or soon after. They were Scotch-Irish, whose ancestors in the early part of the seventeenth century went from Argyle- shire, in Scotland, and settled in Londonderry, in the north part of Ireland, the cause of their leaving their country, being reli- gious persecutions, but they suffered still more in the place to which they went. Londonderry is famous for the memorable siege it sustained in 1689 against the forces of James II, sent to compel them to submit to that arbitrary tyrant, who was de- throned to make way for William III, of Orange. Londonderry continued for a long period after that to be headquarters of Protestantism in the North of Ireland. It is a shame that the descendants of such persons, when they came to Worcester were not allowed to organize a church and build a separat‹ edifice of their own Presbyterian faith. As a consequence, & large number of these Scotch-Irish Presbyterian families, includ- ing most of the Grays, except Robert, Matthew, and James, above mentioned, left Worcester about 1740, and settled in Pelham, where they had purchased and organized a township. The contract for the purchase was made September 26, 1738, after which arrangements were immediately made to organize the proprietors, most of whom, comprising about thirty-eight families, were from Worcester. The deed was given January 1, 1739, to them, naming each person or head of a family, and the proportion of land each should hold. The first meeting of the proprietors was held February 26, 1739, at the hotel of Daniel Heywood, which stood where the Bay State House now is,* when a committee, consisting of Robert Peebles, alluded to in my address at North Worcester, and James Thornton, whose location in Worcester was south of Matthew Gray, were chosen to survey the territory and lay out the lots for the settlers, which each one drew. All subsequent meetings of the proprie- tors were held in Worcester till August 6, 1740, when a meeting was held at the house of John Ferguson, in the new township, named by the proprietors "Lisbon," or "New Lisbourne." By this name, with its variations and various spelling, it was known until the incorporation of the town, January 15, 1743, with its present name, Pelham. The first minister they called was Rev. Wm. Johnston, one of the Worcester Presbyterians from Londonderry, Ireland, who was their pastor here, whom the Old South Church refused to fellowship or admit into their pulpit. For some reason, he declined the pastorate at Pelham, and another of the Presbyterian emigrants, Rev. Robert Aber- crombie, was then called and settled. At his installation the . sermon was preached by the celebrated Rev. Jonathan Edwards of Northampton, who exhibited a different feeling towards these
* See " Reminiscences," p. 30.
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ITS FIRST SETTLERS AND THEIR LOCATIONS.
Presbyterians than that shown towards them by his brother orthodox pastor of that time in Worcester, Rev. Isaac Burr, and his people here, who not only declined any recognition of them as fellow Christians, but so persecuted them as to lead to the tear- ing down of the house of worship which they were building for themselves to meet in, after being denied the use of the one on the Common, alternately with, or when not occupied by the regular church.
It is a very pleasant reminder of the progress of religious toleration and Christian unity during the last century and a half, to note with what avidity the present orthodox Congrega- tional churches of Worcester seek the ministrations of Presby- terian pastors by extending calls to them, including the Old South Church itself, which has just settled Rev. Arcturus Z. Con- rad, from the Ainslie St. Presbyterian church of Brooklyn, N. Y., as its pastor, and Plymouth church has also just settled Rev. Archibald McCullagh, from Ross Street Presbyterian church in the same city, as its pastor. Whatever may have been the technical differences in belief between New England Puritanism and the old fashioned Presbyterian faith, Worcester is to be congratulated on the accession of such men to its pulpits, as ar evidence that the Christianity of to-day is broader than the denominational limitations of the past, when Puritanical Mas. sachusetts banished the Quakers and Baptists from her territory and a Presbyterian church was not tolerated in Worcester.
Remarks full of reminiscences suggested by the address and the occasion, followed by the venerable Albert Curtis, who was born 83 years ago in that vicinity, on the Dana estate ; Joseph Lovell, who built in 1830 the chimney for the north addition then made to Mr. Draper's house when owned and occupied by the Patches; President E. B. Crane of the Society of Antiquity, who spoke of his interest in the investigations being made by Mr. Wall into the history of the old families and their estates ; Ex-Mayor Samuel Winslow, who made inter- esting reference to his recent tour among the farmers in the old world, contrasting their condition, as mere tenants of the lands they cultivate with the farmers in New England. They, as well as Col. E. B. Glasgow, Wm. H. Earle, O. B. Hadwen, and Librarian Thomas A. Dickinson of the Society of Antiquity, spoke of the importance of a collection and publication of the historical facts presented by Mr. Wall. Mr. Draper extended his hearty thanks to the visitors for their attendance on this occasion, and invited all present to view his grounds, which they did, rambling over the fine estate and stopping at the
52
AN HISTORICAL ADDRESS-EASTERN WORCESTER :
pavilion, where refreshments were served. Among the old citizens present were: Charles Munroe, now in his 91st year; Wm. T. Merrifield and Albert Curtis, each 83; Wm. Eames, 81; Joseph Lovell, 79; Nahum Flagg, 78; and many others ap- proaching, if not exceeding the latter limit. Among 100 others were: Alderman L. A. Ely, Ex-Alderman Wm. H. Sawyer and Warren Williams, B. W. Potter and wife, S. A. Burgess and wife, G. K. Mellor and wife, Joseph E. Bond and wife, Samuel A. Pratt, Daniel Seagrave, James L. Estey, Daniel Logan of Cherry Valley, H. H. Bigelow, Dea. Alfred Holden, Charles Belcher, F. M. Marble, Pardon A. Lee, Henry M. Wheeler, A. G. Mann, Henry H. Mecorney, John B. Harrington of Shrews- bury, and James A. Colvin.
CONCLUSION.
In a future number, will be included an outline map of the oldest roads, with the locations of the first settlers denoted thereon, in the different sections of the old town. In the dis- trict included in the present publication, the oldest roads were, Plantation street from Lincoln street, near the head of Long Pond, to and across Grafton street, to the settlement of Jonas Rice and others on Sagatabscot hill and beyond ; the old Pine Meadow road, from what is now Washington Square, to Planta- tion street, and beyond, to Harrington court, and the Lake; and the route over what are now Putnam lane and Adams street, from the old Pine Meadow road north to what is now Belmont street. Also, Grafton street, from Washington square south- east to the old town line near the south end of the Lake, where it connected with the extension of the old road from the Harring- ton and Joshua Bigelow estates south.
WORCESTER, January 1, 1891.
Copyright, 1801, by CALEB A. WALL.
This book is a preservation facsimile. It is made in compliance with copyright law and produced on acid-free archival 60# book weight paper which meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (permanence of paper)
Preservation facsimile printing and binding by Acme Bookbinding Charlestown, Massachusetts
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2007
BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 9999 05266 955 1
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