USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Groton > Groton historical series. A collection of papers relating to the history of the town of Groton, Massachusetts, Vol III > Part 12
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Had Returned to Groton
to live. Delighted with Lydia, and especially with her surround- ings, little Sarah at her own fervent request was placed in the same institution, and after faithfully serving her novitiate, was admitted to full membership in the order to which the sisters in charge be-
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A EATED FAMILY.
longed. At the congregation of Notre Dame at Montreal a record in French reads as follows :
. (On Monday, July 23, 1708, the ceremony of baptism was per- formed on Sarah Tatbell, who was born at Groton in New England, (Ot: 9, 1693. Her parents were Thomas Tarbell and Elizabeth Wood, both Protestants, and she was baptized by the minister shortly after her birth. Having been taken by the savages on Monday, June 20, 1707, she was brought to Canada; she has since been sold and has lived with the sisters of the congregation of Notte Dame established at Lachine, where she abjured her religion on May 1. Her godfather was M. Jacques Orbain Robert de Lamo- andiere, secretary of M. I'Intendand, and ber godmother w.is Madame Marguerite Boul, wife of M. Etienne Pascaud, the dep- uty-treasurer of the king in this country. Her name Sarah has been changed to M.az qcite.
MOUTE BOUNT. PASCARD. LAMORANDI RE. MERInd., PRETRE."
The kind and considerade treatment which the girls received at the hands of the French people in a measure explains their
Cuwillingness to Leave Moulreal,
and this feeling was donbtless reinforced by the sacred vows they bad taken, and their devotion to the faith in which they had giown up. They never came back to the scenes of their childhood, but grew up in the convent, and there passed their lives engaged in the pious duties and labors of the order. Lydia died on the 20th of July, 1758, at the age of Sy years. The date of Marguerite's death is not known. Their remains lie buried in the little cemetery con- nected with the convent. We will now follow the fortunes of the two Tarbell boys, John and Zechariah, whose adventures were, if anything, more thrilling than those of the two girls. At Cough- nawaga the boys learned that their capture had been planned by Villicu, a French officer al Montieal. Taxous was selected by him as the chief who would be most litely to accomplish it, and upon his return Villieu was so much pleased with the result that he pie- sented Tavous to Frontenac, the Govermor-General of Canada, who complanented him upon the skill and adiwitness with which he had accompli hed his mission. As a pieliminuy step to their adoption
132
A FATED FAMILY.
by the tribe, the boys were compelled to run the gauntlet, and after their recovery from its effects they were placed in the hands of an old squaw, who pulled their hair out until only a small knot re- mained on top of the crown. This knot was then adorned with feathers and dressed in the Indian fashion, while their noses and- ears were bored and jewelled, and they were attired in garments
Made of the Skins of Wild Beasts.
Paint was then smeared upon their bodies, a belt of wampum' was hung around their necks, and they were led to the river and were washed by two young squaws, who told them that this custom signified that they had ceased to be white men, and would there- after be Indians. Regaining the bank they donned their Indian garments, their heads were again painted, and they were conducted in silence to the Council House of the tribe by Taxous. Entering, they were seated, and a pipe, tomahawk and a flint and steel were placed in their hands. The members of the tribe in full war paint, and with weapons in hand, then entered, and forming in a circle around them, were also seated. Then the council fires of the tribe were started, and the Indians remained for a long time silent. At last a pipe was lighted, passed to Taxous, by him to the boys, and then to each member of the tribe in turn. Taxous then told the boys that they had been adopted by the tribe, and would be their own flesh and blood. A feast of boiled venison and corn followed, and ended in a debauch which was continued for several days, and nearly resulted in an outbreak. As the boys grew older guns were placed in their hands, and they were taught how to track and shoot the bear, the deer, and the raccoon, how to hunt with the bow and arrow, how to snare their game and how to fish. Later they were taught to fight, and proving apt scholars, soon not only mastered, but became expert in all the branches of woodcraft. Upon their adoption by the tribe
The Boys Assumed Indian Names,
but also retained their English name Tarbell. As they reached manhood they married daughters of Sakonentsiask and Atawenta, chiefs of the tribe, and became themselves chiefs. More intelligent, more enterprising, and more successful in their undertakings than the other chiefs who became envious of them, it was foreseen that the rivalry would eventually lead to trouble, and acting upon the advice of a priest the Tarbells in the year 1760 took their wives,
133
A FATED FAMILY.
and their wives' parents, and set out to establish a new home for themselves in the trackless forest. Coasting along up the St. Lawrence in canoes, they finally reached the lovely spot where St. Regis now stands, and there established their home, founding what is now the village of St. Regis. The record is by no means coni- plete, but from what has been preservedwit is known that in 1713 Thomas Tarbell, who was probably an older brother of the cap- tives, accompanied John Stoddard and John Williams, who were commissioned by Governor Joseph Dudley to go to Quebec and treat with the governor general of Canada for the release and re- turn of the New England captives. Nothing came of the attempt, however, and so far as is known there is nothing on record concern- ing the boys until the winter of 1739 when they came back, saw their relatives, and visited their native place. They were dressed as Indian chiefs, were in full war paint, had only an indistinct recollec -. tion of the people and the place, and to all intents and purposes
Were as Utter Strangers
as though they had never been there before. They expressed no desire to come back, but that year Governor Belcher brought their · case to the attention of the Legislature in these words : " There are lately come from Canada some persons that were taken by the Indians from Groton above 30 years ago, who (it's believed), may be induced to return into this province on your giving them some proper encouragement." The House rejected a favorable report of a committee upon that portion of his excellency's address, other efforts to reclaim the boys proved unavailing, and they returned and re- mained with the Indians, each of them living to a ripe old age. Their descendants also retained their name of Tarbell, as the name frequently appears in official records. On Feb. 20, 1818, a treaty was signed in behalf of the tribe by Loran Tarbell and Thomas Tarbell, and another one was signed Sept. 23, 1825, by eleven chiefs of the tribe, among whom were Peter, Thomas, Mitchel, Louis and Battice Tarbell. Lesor Tarbell, a son of one of the captives, was greatly esteemed among the Indians and whites for his prudence, candor and worth, and his son, a half-breed known as " Peter the Big Speak," was a man of unusual address and ability, and was always commissioned to represent the tribe on important occasions. In the year 1772 a descendant of one of the Tarbells accompanied Rev. Mr. Ripley to Hanover, N. II., and entered the charity school at that place, which subsequently
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A FATED FAMILY.
Became Dartmouth College,
the old chief of the tribe at that time, a Tarbell, expressing great affection for his relatives in New England, to whom he sent his love, with a request that they should be informed that he had a grandson at this school. In 1826 Fovel, a French adventurer, visited St. Regis, and induced one of the descendants of the Tarbells, a chief whose Indian name was Torokaron, to visit Europe in the character of an Indian chief, Fovel to act as agent and interpreter. In France Torokaron was received by the reigning monarch Charles X. who gave him many valuable presents, including portraits of St. Regis, the patron saint of the tribe, and St. Francois Xavier. Marseilles and Rome were then visited, and Torokaron was granted two in- terviews with the pope, who gave him a set of books, a silver ser- vice for the church, a rosary of jewels and gold, a considerable amount of money, and many other gifts. Fovel absconded when they reached New York upon their return, leaving Torokaron abso- lutely penniless. By the assistance of friends he was enabled to reach St. Regis, and as Fovel was good enough not to steal the paintings and the rosary, they were deposited in the church at St. Regis, where they are now to be seen.
In 1877 Dr. Samuel A. Green, ex-mayor of Boston, and a noted antiquarian, who had become interested in the history of the Tar- bell children while engaged in writing the history of Groton, his native place, saw a grandson of one of the Tarbell boys at St. Regis, who was then
More than 80 Years of Age,
and describes him as living with one of his sons in a small house, where, surrounded by his grandchildren, he was comfortably pass- ing his declining years. He could speak only in the Indian tongue, and said that he was aware that his grandfather, when a boy, was taken from a town near Boston, and that he had relatives who were still living there. At that time the Tarbells were among the most prominent families in St. Regis, some 40 persons of that name residing in the place.
I35
THE USE OF A PILLION.
THE SHIP "GROTON."
THE A I ship " Groton," Brown master, arrived in Boston from Havana, Cuba, on July 4, 1838, consigned to P. S. Shel- ton and Company, and cleared a week later, on July 11, for Cronstadt, Russia.
When and where was she built, and why was she so named ? Perhaps she was built in Connecticut, and named after the town in that State.
THE USE OF A PILLION.
FEW persons of the present day in this neighborhood have ever seen a pillion, and fewer still have ever seen one in actual use. It was a leather pad or cushion, put on behind and attached to a man's saddle by straps, on which a woman might ride. In early times pillions were common throughout the country towns of New England, and particularly the hill towns, but they have long since disappeared. Every farmer that owned a saddle also possessed a pillion ; and, in going on horseback for any considerable distance to the store or meet- ing-house, he often took his wife to ride along with him, she holding on by clasping his waist. In the same way the young men, following the example thus set them, frequently took their sisters or somebody else's sisters to the singing-school or other gathering ; and the tradition has come down that the girls liked this kind of travelling quite as much as their brothers or somebody else's brothers.
During the last ten years I have asked many aged persons in different parts of Middlesex County, if they had ever wit- nessed this style of riding ; and, almost invariably, they have replied, never more than once or twice, and then only when they were children. From these facts, I draw the conclusion that the custom of riding double disappeared in this part of Massachusetts more than a century ago, though in some other places it may have lingered till a later period.
136
A GROTON LOTTERY.
A GROTON LOTTERY.
AMONG the Massachusetts Archives at the State House is an interesting plan or view of a proposed bridge, to be built of stone, over the Nashua River in Groton. It is found in - the volume marked " Maps and Plans" (XXXIX. 23), and bears the following endorsement : --
In the House of Representatives Jan'y 22ª 1790
.
Read and committed to the Committee of both Houses on the subject of Lotteries to consider & report Sent up for concurrence DAVID COBB Spk.
In Senate Jany 25th 1790 - Read & Concurred SAM !. PHILLIPS JE Prsd'
The petition, accompanying the Plan and given below, is found among the Senate Files of 1790, numbered 1234. The bridge, over which the first County road ran, therein men- tioned, stood near the present one at Hollingsworth's Paper- mills ; and the other near Page's Bridge, leading from Ayer to Shirley ; and the " large brook " referred to is James's Brook, at that time a much larger stream than it now is. The peti- tion appears to have been granted by the General Court, though I do not find that any subsequent action was ever taken by the town in regard to the matter. In former years lotteries were considered respectable, and recognized by the State as legitimate means for helping schools and colleges, building bridges, or promoting other public works.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts - - >
To the Honk the Senate & House of Representatives for said Commonwealth in General Court assembled at Boston, January 1 790
The Town of Groton in the County of Middlesex, by their Com- · mittee would most respectfully represent; That the river called
137
A GROTON LOTTERY.
Nashua river, runs through a part of the Town, which is a very large & rapid stream, & subject to sudden & high freshets ; over which there are six Bridges erected & by compact Pepperrell main- tains one & Shirley the half of another ; so that the Town have four and an half of long Wooden Bridges to maintain, all very subject to be, & frequently have been, swept away in high floods ; two of which would cost more than one hundred pounds each to new build, & each of the other nearly as much. That the annual Repairs are very chargeable. The County road is laid over one called the stony wading place Bridge, & Commands by far the greatest part of the Travail from Boston to Charlestown in New Hampshire the State of Vermont & so on to Canada, & is the shortest & best road for teams, as well as horses. this Bridge is Ten rods in length & re- quires two setts of large Timber, fifty feet in length, besides two setts of shorter work. all the other Bridges are nearly of the same length & all require fifty feet Timbers & are of such Importance that they must be kept in good repair. The County road from Boston to Luningburgh & so on to Crown point, is laid over another of the aforesaid Bridges, & no one that is now built can possibly be thrown up without great prejudice to the publick at large, as well as individuals. The Circumstances attending are such, that the necessary Timbers cannot be shortned by adding more supporters, & the Timber of that length and size is almost wholly cutt off for such a distance from the Town, that we know not how to be supplyed for future repairs & much less for new building : so that it appears necessary that the two Bridges on the County roads should be built with Stone & Lime & turn large Arches, which will amount to a much larger sum than is possible for the Inhabitants to advance, as may appear by the annexed schedule. The Town is also obliged to maintain the half part of another Bridge over Squanacook river joining to the Town of Shir- ley, which requires one sett of Timber fifty feet in length, besides several other bridges of Considerable length, over rapid streams, attended with long Causeways ; & add to this a large brook, suffi- cient for Mills, runs through the Town in a Serpentine form, from northeast to southwest, crossing the roads so often that there are twelve Bridges supported over the same of absolute necessity : And as the Town is the Center for so much Travailling from all quarters, which annually increaseth in a surprizing manner ; We are constrained to request your Honors to take the premises into
138
A GROTON LOTTERY.
your wise consideration & permit the Town of Groton to raise a sum of money by Lottery, to the amount of Eight Thousand dollars, for the sole purpose of enabling of them to erect two stone Bridges as aforesaid, & keep the other in repair, under such restrictions and limitations & the Inspection of such Managers, as your Honors shall think proper ; and as in duty bound shall ever pray.
OLIVER PRESCOTT
JOHN PARK Committee
JOSEPH SHEPLE for the Town MOSES CHILD of Groton
OLIVER PRESCOTT JUE
An Estimate of the Expence of the Bridge agreeable to the annexed draught -
3000 T'uns of Stone at 3' .. £450 -
Master Workman 6 months at 9' p' day 70. 4
8 masons d' at 5' & Board . 312 -
12 Labourers at 7 dollars p' mº £156. 4/ Carpenter 3 mº £19 . 175. 4
Master Workman & 6 men at the Quarey 3 m. & Board 86 -
To Boarding 12 Labourers {20 - 2000 feet of plank £6 . 26 -
Timber Nails &c £25 -digging the foundation £60 85 -
60 Hogsheads of Lime £60 - 300 loads of sand £45 105 -
exclusive of extra Charges &c £1309. 8
George H. Whitney's farm buildings at Groton, known as the old Swan place, were burned about eleven o'clock last night. Loss about $1500 ; insurance $1000 ; cause, defective chimney.
" Boston Evening Transcript," March 31, 1890.
This was the place occupied more than thirty-five years ago by Joseph Richards and Company, who carried on the business of making dry hop yeast. For a reference to that firm, see the second volume (pages 377, 378) of this Historical Series.
GROTON, MASSACHUSETTS, 1891.
HISTORICAL SERIES, VOL. III., No. IV.
MY VISITS TO SEVERAL TOWNS CALLED GROTON.
DURING my boyhood I always had a strong desire to visit the town of Groton in England, which gave its name to the place of my birth in Massachusetts, as well as to several other places in the United States ; and many years ago I was enabled to gratify the wish. In the autumn of 1854 I was staying in London, and, as a stranger in that great metropo- lis, even after numerous inquiries I found much difficulty in learning the best way to reach the little village. All my pre- vious knowledge in regard to the place was limited to the fact that it lay in the County of Suffolk, near the southern con- fines. After a somewhat close consultation of a Railway Guide, I started on November 1, by the train for Sudbury, which is the only town of considerable size in the immediate neighborhood of Groton. After changing trains at a railway junction, of which the name has long since faded from my memory, I found myself in a carriage, alone with a fellow- passenger, who was both courteous and communicative, and thoroughly acquainted with the country through which we were then passing. On telling him the purpose of my visit, he appeared to be much interested, and told me in return that he was very familiar with the parish of Groton ; and he had many questions to ask about the town in Massachusetts. It soon turned out that my unknown friend was Sir Henry E. Austen, of Chelsworth, Hadleigh, who gave me, on reaching Sudbury, a note of introduction to Richard Almack, Esq., of
140 MY VISITS TO SEVERAL TOWNS CALLED GROTON.
Long Melford, which I used a day or two afterward with ex- cellent results. From Sudbury I drove in a dog-cart to Box- ford, where I tarried over night at the White Horse Inn, and in the morning walked to Groton, less than a mile dis- tant. This place - the object of my pilgrimage - I found to " be a typical English village of the olden time, very small both in territory and population, and utterly unlike any of its American namesakes. Its history goes back many centuries, even to a period before the Domesday Book, where it is men- tioned somewhat in detail. I called at once on the rector, who received me courteously, and offered to go with me to the church, which invitation I readily accepted. He expressed much interest in the New England towns bearing the name of Groton, and spoke of a visit made to the English town, a few years previously, by the Honorable Robert C. Winthrop, of Boston, which gave him great pleasure. We walked over the grounds of the old manor, once belonging to John Win- throp, first Governor of Massachusetts ; and Groton P'lace, the residence of the present lord of the manor, was pointed out, as well as a solitary mulberry-tree, which stood in Win- throp's garden, and is now the last vestige of that spot. In strolling over the grounds I picked up some acorns under an oak, which were afterward sent home to Massachusetts and planted, but unhappily they did not come up. I remember with special pleasure the attentions of Mr. R. F. Swan, who took me to a small school of little children, where the teacher told the scholars that I had come from another Groton across the broad ocean. He also kindly made for me a rough tra- cing of the part of the parish of Groton in which I was more particularly interested ; and as I had left the inn at Boxford when he called, he sent it by private hands to me at the Sudbury railway-station. All these little courtesies and many more I recollect with great distinctness, and they add much to the pleasant memories of my visit to the ancestral town, which has a numerous progeny of municipal descendants in the United States.
More than four years ago I found myself at Cortland, Cortland County, New York, where I had gone in order to
MY VISITS TO SEVERAL TOWNS CALLED GROTON. 141
see the venerable Mrs. Sarah C. Rockwood, a native of Groton, Massachusetts, and at that time almost one hundred and two years old. By a coincidence she was then living on Groton Avenue, a thoroughfare which leads to Groton, Tomp- kins County, a town ten miles distant. Taking advantage of . my nearness to that place, on May 4, 1887, I drove there, and was set down at the Groton Hotel, where I passed the night. Soon after my arrival I took a stroll through the village, and then called on Marvin Morse Baldwin, Esq., a lawyer of prominence in the village, who was attending lectures at the Harvard Law School as far back as the year 1842. He is a graduate of Hobart College, and the author of an historical sketch of the town, published in 1868. At one time he was the Principal of Groton Academy, the name of which insti- tution certainly seems very familiar in Massachusetts. The town was formed originally, on April 7, 1817, from Locke, Cayuga County, under the name of Division; but during the next year this was changed to Groton, on the petition of the inhabitants, some of whom were from Groton, Massachusetts, and others from Groton, Connecticut. The principal village is situated on Owasco Inlet, a small stream, and is sur- rounded by a rolling country of great beauty. The population is small, and the business chiefly confined to a machine-shop and foundry, several carriage-shops, and the making of agri- cultural implements. The town supports a National Bank and also a weekly newspaper, and has railway communication with other places.
Late in the autumn of 1889 I happened to be in Nashville, Tennessee, as a member of a committee on business con- nected with the Peabody Normal College in that city, of which ex-President Hayes was chairman. On telling him in- cidentally that I purposed on my return homeward to stop for a short time at Groton, Erie County, Ohio, he kindly invited me to make him a visit at his home in Fremont, which was very near my objective point ; and he said furthermore that he would accompany me on my trip to that town, which offer I read- ily accepted. On the morning of November 27, we left Fre- mont by rail for Norwalk, the shire town of Huron County, -
142 MY VISITS TO SEVERAL TOWNS CALLED GROTON.
a county in which the township of Groton formerly came, - where we alighted, and at once repaired to the rooms of the Firelands Historical Society. Here we were met by several gentlemen, prominent in the city as well as in the Historical .Society, who showed us many attentions. We had an oppor- tunity there to examine various objects of interest connected with the early history of that part of the State. Then taking the cars again on our return, we proceeded as far as Bellevue, where we left the train. Here at a livery-stable we engaged a buggy and a pair of horses, without knowing exactly to what part of the township I wished to go, as I was then told that there was no village of Groton, but only scattered farms throughout the town. One man, however, said that there was a place called Groton Centre, which seemed to me both very natural and familiar, and so thither we directed our course. After driving over very muddy roads for five or six miles, we inquired at a farm-house the way to Groton Centre, when we were told that a school-house in sight, half a mile off, was the desired place. There was no village whatever to be seen in any direction ; and the building was the public voting-place, on which account the neighborhood received the name. The town is entirely agricultural in its character, and the land is largely prairie with a rich soil. It is small in population, and does not even contain a post-office. The in- habitants depend for their postal accommodations on the adjoining municipalities of Bellevue and Sandusky. The town comes in what is known as the Fire Lands of Ohio, and it took its name from Groton, Connecticut.
Last year, on April 3, in order to utilize the Annual Fast, which is a legal holiday in Massachusetts, when the shops are shut and general business is stopped, I made arrangements to pass a part of the day in Providence, Rhode Island, where the custom of observing Fast does not prevail. Having fin- ished my business in that city, and finding that there was time enough during the day to visit Groton, Connecticut, I extended my trip to that town. As Fast Day in that State falls on Good Friday, this oldl anniversary did not interfere with my plans. I left the train at New London, and found myself
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