Groton historical series. A collection of papers relating to the history of the town of Groton, Massachusetts, Vol III, Part 13

Author: Green, Samuel A. (Samuel Abbott), 1830-1918
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Groton
Number of Pages: 1026


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 13


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39



143


MY VISITS TO SEVERAL TOWNS CALLED GROTON.


very near the Groton Ferry, by which I was at once carried across the Thames River and landed at Groton. In popula- tion this is the largest of the various towns bearing the name, and contains several thriving villages. It will ever be mem- orable as the scene of the heroic defence made by Lieutenant- Colonel William Ledyard, on September 6, 1781, when eighty-five men fell in the massacre at Fort Griswold. To commemorate the valor of these patriots, in the year 1830 a monument was erected under the patronage of the State, which is placed on a foundation one hundred and thirty feet above tide-water, and stands one hundred and twenty-seven feet in height above the foundation. It is built of granite, .and from the top a fine view of the surrounding scaboard and country is obtained. The town was named in the year 1705, during the Governorship of Fitz-John Winthrop, in honor of the English home of his family.


During the summer of 1890 I took a delightful carriage drive through parts of New Hampshire and Vermont in com- pany with the Honorable George Lewis Balcom, of Claremont, New Hampshire. Among the places then visited was Groton, Vermont, - where we went on July 26, - a pretty village lying in the Wells River valley, and chartered on October 20, 1789, though the earliest settlers were living there a few years previously. The first child born in the town was Sally, daughter of Captain Edmund and Sally (Wesson) Morse, who began her earthly pilgrimage on September 2, 1787. The father was a native of Groton, Massachusetts, and principally through his influence that name was given to the home of his adoption among the foot-hills of the Green Mountains. Wells River runs through the township in a southeasterly direction, and with its tributaries affords some excellent water-power along its course. This stream rises in Groton Pond, a beautiful sheet of water, and empties into the Con- nectient at Wells River Junction, - a railway centre of some importance. While in the town I called on the Honorable Isaac Newton Hall, one of the oldest and most prominent inhabitants of the place, who kindly took me in his buggy through the village, pointing out by the way the various


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144


MY VISITS TO SEVERAL TOWNS CALLED GROTON.


objects of interest. He also carried me to a neighboring height, about two miles northeast of the village, from which excellent views could be obtained of the surrounding country, including those of the White Mountain Range and of Mount Moosilauke at the south of the Franconia Notch. Near that height the first trading-store in the town was built. I was particularly interested in the Methodist Episcopal Church, at one end of the village street, with memorial windows, of which two had inscriptions, as follows : -


Capt . Edmund ยท Morse Born . Groton . Mass . 1764 Died . Groton . Vt . 1843


By . his . Grandson Gen . Albert . Harleigh . Hill


Sally . Morse . Hill Born . 1787 - Died . 1864 The . First . Person . Born . in . Groton


By . her . Son Gen . Albert . Harleigh . Hill


A sketch of "The Early Settlers of Groton," written by General Hill, and containing many interesting facts concerning the history of the town, is given in Miss Hemenway's " Ver- mont Historical Gazetteer " (IV. 1145-1168). A small edition of the sketch was also published separately. Before leaving the place I walked through the Burying-ground and exam- ined some of the epitaphs, but none of the names reminded me particularly of the parent town.


Four days later, on July 30, one of the hottest of the season, Mr. Balcom and myself left The Moosilauke, a pub- lic house near the foot of the mountain of that name in New Hampshire, and drove through Warren and Wentworth


MY VISITS TO SEVERAL TOWNS CALLED GROTON. 145


to Rumney, where we turned from the valley road and began a long and steep ascent over Groton Ilill. The road was rocky, and followed the course of a dashing and splashing stream. After many a stop to rest the horses, we found ourselves at North Groton, a small village, though more important than the one near the southerly border of the township, which is called Groton. Between these two villages, in the centre of the territory, is the town house, and an old burying-ground, where I examined many of the inscriptions, and found a few family names common in our Groton. The town was granted as Cockermouth as early as July 8, 1761, by the Legislature of New Hampshire, and re-granted on November 22, 1766; but the present name was not given until December 7, 1796, when it was chosen by certain inhabitants of the place, who were connected either by birth or through kindred with Groton, Massachusetts. The population is small, and the principal pursuit farming, though there are eight or ten saw-mills within its limits. Mica is found in great abundance, and furnishes the basis of an important industry. There is a Spectacle Pond, lying partly within the town, of which the name may have gone from this neighborhood.


In all these visits to the several towns of the same name, I have interested myself to learn the local pronunciation of the word. I have asked many persons in all ranks and grades of society in regard to the matter, and without exception they have given it " Graw-ton," which every native knows so well how to pronounce. It has never been Grow-ton or Grot-ton even, but always with a broad sound on the first and accented syllable. Such was the old pronunciation in England, and by the continuity of tradition the same has been kept up throughout the several settlements in this country bearing the name.


At some future day, if my life is spared, I may pay my re- spects to the town of Groton in South Dakota, when I will give the readers of this Historical Series an account of the visit.


146


THE PARK FAMILY.


THE PARK FAMILY.


ABOUT a year before his death, which took place at Groton, on August 14, 1859, the Honorable Stuart J. Park dictated the following account of his family, which was written down at the time by the Honorable Asa F. Lawrence. The manu- script is now in the possession of a grandson, Dr. John G. Park, through whose courtesy I am enabled to print it.


MEMORANDA OF STUART JAMES PARK AND HIS ANCESTORS.


My grandfather, William Park, was born in Scotland, and lived there until 1756, and some time in that year he came over to Amer- ica. He landed in Boston, and immediately settled in Groton, Mass., where he continued to reside during the remainder of his life. He was by occupation a worker in stone. He was a maker of gravestones. He both hammered and lettered stone. He was a stanch Presbyterian. He was a man well endowed by nature. In body he was tall, vigorous, and athletic. His mind was sound and discriminating, and well disciplined and educated. He died June 17, 1788, in the eighty-fourth year of his age, leaving two sons and two daughters. John and Thomas were the names of the sons ; the daughters' names I do not remember, for they never came to this country, but were married and continued to reside in Scotland. Their husbands' names were Fisher; they were tobacconists in Glasgow. One of them acquired an independent fortune, and about seventy years ago he wrote that he was intending to come to America ; but soon after his wife died, and he never came.


'The name of my grandmother, the wife of the said William, was Anna, and she came over to this country with her three sons, John and Thomas and James, in June, 1767. James, the youngest son, was lame, and a man of feeble health, and died in 1 778. My grand- mother, the said Anna, was an industrious, intelligent, and good woman, and retained in a wonderful degree her faculties, both physical and mental, to the last of her life, which terminated Oc- tober 2, 1789, in the eighty-fifth year of her age.


My father, John Park, was the oldest of my grandfather William's children, and was a stone-mason by trade, and married soon after attaining his majority to Jane Stuart, by whom he had six children, three sons and three daughters, - John, William, Anna, Jane,


147


THE PARK FAMILY.


Betsey, and Stuart-James. The first three were born in Scotland, in the Barony of Glasgow, and came over to this country with their parents and their uncles William and James and their grandmother in June, 1767, my father being at that time thirty-six years old. He settled in said Groton, and soon after purchased of Henry Farwell three hundred or four hundred acres of land. He was an intelligent and judicious man, and a very ingenious mechanic. Be- fore coming to this country he was for seven years in the employ- ment of the Duke of Argyle in building his castle and laying out his grounds ; he was a good draughtsman. Soon after he came to this country he received repeated letters, - liberal offers to induce him to return to Scotland and take charge of the Duke's establish- ment, and see that the same was kept in order and good repair. He finally concluded to go, and made his arrangements accordingly, and went to Boston to engage his passage. When he reached there he found that the harbor had just been blockaded by the British fleet, and consequently he never returned to Scotland. He was a Whig. My father was the first person in this country who intro- duced the practice of splitting stones with flat steel wedges, and the result of his operations was witnessed with perfect astonish- ment. A short time before the Shays Rebellion he began building the gaol in Worcester, but that rebellion interrupted the progress of the work ; it was, however, resumed in 1787, and completed the next year. He then in 1789 built the gaol in Concord, Mass. ; after that he was employed at home a year or two in making the neces- sary preparations and in erecting a large brick dwelling-house for himself, which was the first brick building ever erected in Groton. In 1793 he went to Amherst, N. H., and undertook the building of a gaol in that place, and while engaged in building said Amherst gaol, and while attempting to move a very large stone with four oxen and large levers, the chain around the stone and to which the oxen were attached slipped upon the stone, and the stone tipped on one end of a very heavy oak beam, and the other end struck my father under the chin with such force as to destroy his consciousness, and shattered the whole bony structure of his head, causing his death in about twenty-four hours after the accident occurred.1 His death


1 At Amherst, N. HI. Mr. John Parks, of Groton, (Mass.). He, as master workman in building the stone gaol in Amherst, was unfortunately wounded by a large stone falling on the end of a pry, which struck him on the head and stomach, and occasioned his death the third day after. He was the master workman in building the gaols in this town and Concord.


" Thomas's Massachusetts Spy, or, The Worcester Gazette," August 29, 1793.


148


THE PARK FAMILY.


took place August 15, 1793, aged sixty-two years. My father was a Presbyterian in his religious views, and somewhat rigid in the prac- tical observance of them, but liberal towards those whose religious opinions differed from his own. He was an honest and upright man, and was always ready to concede to others the same rights - that he claimed for himself. My uncle Thomas Park when he came to this country settled in Groton, where he resided till about the close of the Revolutionary War, and, as well as my father, sympa- thized with the friends of liberty, and felt a deep interest in the independence of the country. At the close of the war he removed with his family to Shirley, and after residing there a few years he removed to Harvard, where he continued to reside till his death, which took place, I think, in 1804. He was an ingenious mechanic and an intelligent and judicious man, and much respected by those who knew him and by his fellow-townsmen. He was frequently consulted by his neighbors, and appealed to in order to settle and adjust their differences and disputes. He was frequently chosen to town offices, and the last two years of his life he was elected to represent the town of Harvard in the Legislature.


I, Stuart J. Park, the youngest child of John and Jane Park, was born, February 7, 1773, in Groton, and remained with my father till his death, and was at work with him on the Amherst gaol at the time he was killed, at which time I was in the twenty-first year of my age. I learned my trade of my father, who gave me the ordi- nary advantages of the district school, which, however, were small as my early boyhood was in the stirring and perilous times of the Revolution. After my father's death I commenced business at my trade as a stone-mason in Concord on my own account. I went from there to Worcester. In my twenty-fifth year I went to Port- land, then in the district of Maine, and built the gaol 1 there, which is the old one now standing. Soon after I became of age I pur- chased a farm in Pelham, Mass., where I used to spend my winters when not employed at my trade ; and there I became acquainted with Miss Nancy Gray, whom in 1798, May 17, I married, and by whom I had three children, - Jane and John G., and the third died


' The jail, which stood in the rear of the present court-house, was erected in 1799, under the superintendence of John Park of Groton, Massachusetts ; it was of substantial stone work, fifty feet by thirty-four, two stories high, with rooms in the attic, and cost about eight thousand dollars (pages 611, 612).


William Willis's " History of Portland," second edition, 1865.


149


THE PARK FAMILY.


on the day of its birth, as did also the mother, on the 22d of De- cember, 1803, my wife at the time of her death being in the twenty- fifth year of her age. My said son John G. was born [at Pelham, ] August 31, 1801, and is now in his fifty-eighth year, and lives beside me, and is my only surviving child. Jane died in the third year of her age, February 2, 1802. My wife was an excellent woman, wife, and mother, and of a very respectable family. In 1801, I think, I went to Northampton and built the gaol there. In 1803 my brother John and I contracted to build the Massachusetts State Prison [in Charlestown], and at once began preparing for the work, and we finished it in the spring of 1806. After completing the State Prison, in consequence of the embargo, there was a prostration of all enterprise, particularly of business in my line, and I spent the remainder of that year in travelling on horseback about New England and in western New York, partly for pleasure but prin- cipally on a tour of observation, examining the old forts and whatever of interest attracted my notice.


September 10, 1804, I married for my second wife Catherine Taylor, of Pelham, by whom I had two children : the first died in infancy ; the second, my daughter Jane, was born August 7, 1806, who afterwards married, in 1827, the Rev. Charles Robinson, the first Unitarian minister settled in Groton in 1826. His wife Jane died March 23. 1828, beloved in life by all who knew her, and much lamented in her death. In 1808 I contracted to build the Vermont State Prison at Windsor, and entered at once upon the work, and after I had finished the keeper's house and some of the cell doors of the prison hung, the judges of the Supreme Court wanted me to receive the persons, sixteen in number, who had been sentenced, and take care of them and keep them at work, and I did so, and finished it early in 1810; and in August of the same year I con- tracted to build the New Hampshire State Prison at Concord, which I finished in the fall of 1812, and then I moved back to Groton, where I have had my residence till this time. In the years 1813 and 1814 1 was employed by a boating company in build- ing locks in the Merrimack River, between the head of the Middle- sex Canal at Lowell and Manchester, and in clearing out the channel of the river. In August or September, 1816, commenced building the State House at Concord, N. II., having been em- ployed by the State to superintend the construction of it, and finished the same - that is, the stone-work -. in the summer of 1818. In 1820 1 was employed by the Mill-dam Corporation


150


THE PARK FAMILY.


Loammi B Idwin, Esq., being the engineer, to superintend the con- struction of the Mill-dam, so called, which leads from the foot of Beacon Street, in Boston, across the Back Bay to Brighton. After I began I remained superintending its construction until it was completed, which, I think, was in the summer of 1822. After that - I went and built a jail in Dover, N. HI. By the old Court of Ses- sions in 1824, I think, I was appointed County Agent of the County of Essex to superintend the building of the county buildings; to wit, gaol and yard and house and barn, and all of stone, at New- buryport. While I was employed on these buildings at Newbury- port I received a letter from L. Baldwin, in which he stated that on that day the Committee on the Bunker Hill Monument would meet at twelve o'clock M. to decide upon the model of the monument, with an earnest request that I would be present. . The letter was handed to me at half-past eight o'clock A. M. on the day of the meet- ing. I at once decided to comply with his request if possible, which I did by relays of horses at Ipswich and Salem, and reached Boston at twelve o'clock, the hour of meeting of said committee.


In 1827 I was employed by said Baldwin, who was the chief en- gineer under the Secretary of the Navy to construct the dry dock at the Charlestown Navy Yard in Massachusetts, to superintend the construction and building of the dry dock, where I was employed about four years ; and after leaving the dry dock I was employed three years in superintending the building of the Boston and Lowell Railroad, building the bridges, laying the tracks, etc., etc. I then retired from the business of my trade, and since then I have given my attention chiefly to farming. In all the small jobs which I have undertaken in addition to the public works above enu- merated, and including them, I never had any quarrel with the hands under me or in my employment. It was my uniform prac- tice, if I found a man on the work who was unfaithful, or for any other reason was such a one as I did not want, to call him in at night and remind him of the contract I had made with him, and pay him off and discharge him at once. Before I moved to Groton in 1812, as before mentioned, I purchased the farm in said Groton which was formerly owned and occupied by old Dr. Oliver Pres- cott. I built me a house and other buildings on said farm, my house standing on the very spot where Dr. Prescott's house for- merly stood ; and where my garden now is, formerly stood the house of Jonas Prescott, who was a blacksmith by trade, and from whom descended Colonel William Prescott, the hero of Bunker Hill, and


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151


DISTRICT SCHOOL NO. I.


the late distinguished jurist and judge, William Prescott, and the accomplished scholar and most excellent and truthful historian, William H. Prescott, and many other distinguished men of the name of Prescott. In November, 1837, I was elected by the County of Middlesex a member of the Massachusetts Senate for the ensuing year, and was re-elected to the same office again in 1838, and served in that capacity two years. I have held a justice's commission since [May 26,] 1817.


DISTRICT SCHOOL NO. I.


AT my request Deacon Torrey has kindly furnished me with a list of scholars attending public school in District No. I during the winter of 1839-40. The school-house then stood opposite to the Academy grounds, and very near Mr. Butler's house. Mr. Bancroft, the teacher, still lives, but I do not know how many of the old scholars are yet alive.


GROTON, Oct. 20, 1890.


HON. SAMUEL A. GREEN :


DEAR SIR, - While looking over some old papers recently I came across the School-Register of District No. I for the winter term of 1839-40, Edmund Dana Bancroft, teacher, which contains the following list of scholars attending school at that time : -


George Nutting. Charles Mills.


George Lewis Lawrence. Henry Prentiss De Luce.


James Kendall Taylor.


George Edwin Woods.


Benj. Ward Dix.


Silas Hastings Loring.


Luther Gilman Osburn, Jr.


Solomon Gilman Frost. George Spaulding.


William Henry Gragg.


William Rufus Woods.


Merric L. Gilson.


Charles Sumner Brigham. Edward Granville Russell.


George Whiton.


Silas Sylvanus Brooks.


William Bradford Russell. William Henry Lawrence. Joshua Green. Charles Jacobs.


John Doldt. Alfred Gilson.


Geo. B. Gilson.


Mosely Gilson.


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DISTRICT SCHOOL NO. I.


Henry Thayer Woods.


Francis Wilder.


Reuben Mussey Butler.


Isaiah Hutchins.


Amasa Edwin Sanderson.


Joseph Bradley Jewett.


Henry Thomas Hartwell.


Samuel Adams Souther. William Rogers Hoar. John William Loring.


John Doane Wells.


William Peabody. Samuel Abbott Green. Walter Bathrick.


Sarah Louisa Blanchard.


Sarah Elizabeth Loring. Maria Elizabeth Woods.


Frances Charlotte Blanchard. Jane Laura Brigham.


Frances Jane Kilburn. Mary Mehetable Stickney. Lucinda Maria Torrey.


Susan Dorcas Woods.


Elizabeth Adams Gates.


Susan Abigail Peabody. Mary Brazer Woods.


Length of School, 15 weeks, nearly.


Whole No. of different Scholars attending the School 74.


Average attendance 38, nearly.


Wages of teacher per month


$22.00.


Value of teacher's board per month 8.00.


The School was visited December to, by Mr. J. K. Bennett, Com- mittee ; also by Mr. Bennett, January 18.


Bradford Russell, Esq., visited it February 12, and at the close of the School, March 9, Mr. Charles Dickson and B. Russell, Esq., Committee, were present.


Hoping this may be of interest to you, Sir, I subscribe myself,


Yours most truly,


WILLARD TORREY.


Eliza Jane Reed. Sarah Ann Taylor.


Lucretia Maria Taylor. Caroline Frances Adams. Georgiana Hartwell.


Sarah Elizabeth Dix. Hannah Priscilla Whitney. Georgiana Hunt. Mary Jane Burgess.


Helen Josephine Smith.


Abiel Bathrick. Charles W. Houghton.


Charles Stuart Park. Henry Lawrence Smith. Charles Hazen.


Samuel Lawrence Stone. Francis Newton Hildreth. Albert Atherton. Geo. Edward Hartwell.


Lewis B. Atherton.


John Proctor Hildreth.


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153


GROTON DURING THE INDIAN WARS.


A LIST OF CIVIL OFFICERS,


RESIDENTS OF GROTON, HOLDING COMMISSIONS, ETC.


To be appended to the list in the second volume (page 28) of this Historical Series.


January 1, 1889 Daniel Needham, Trustee of Mas- sachusetts Agricultural College.


December 3, 1890 . Daniel Needham, Notary Public.


A LIST OF JUSTICES OF THE PEACE.


To be appended to the one in the second volume (page 33) of this Historical Series.


January 4, 1888


George Samuel Gates.


February 15, 1888


Charles Jacobs.


February 29, 1888


Frank Lawrence Blood.


March 28, 1888 Moses Poor Palmer.


March 28, 1888 Francis Marion Boutwell.


July 24, 1890


James Lawrence.


October 22, 1890 Appleton Howe Torrey.


January 15, 1891


Charles Woolley.


GROTON DURING THE INDIAN WARS.


THE following items are copied from a file of " The Boston News-Letter," belonging to the New York Historical So- ciety. The dates of the respective numbers are given after each extract; and I am not aware that these particular issues of that newspaper are to be found in Boston. They supple- ment somewhat the items given in " Groton during the Indian Wars," in which book (page 92) is printed a fuller account of the affair mentioned in the last extract.


154


GROTON DURING THE INDIAN WARS.


Lancaster, June 18th, On Thursday last, Mr. John Willard senior being hooing in his Field of Corn about a mile from the Garison, he espied an Indian between him and the Garison about 7 rod off him, and not knowing but there might be more, he ran another way to the Garison, and got safe into it and mist the Indian. 'Tis also said there was some seen at Groton and Marlborough.


June 25, 1705.


Last Week one of the Sculking Indian Enemy was kill'd at Groton, and another at Kingston [New Hampshire].


July 15, 1706.


Boston, At Groton on the Lord's-Day the 21st Currant, 3 Soul- diers going to the place of Publick Worship, passing over a Fence through a Field of Corn, some of the Sculking Indian Enemy being hid in the Field, shot at them, kill'd two and Captivated the third.


July 29, 1706.


GROTON AND LUNENBURG.


RUFUS CAMPBELL TORREY, Esq., the author of a " History of the Town of Fitchburg, Massachusetts ; comprising also a History of Lunenburg," on pages 46-50 (1865 edition), gives an account of the assault by the Indians on John Fitch's house, then situated in Lunenburg, and says that it occurred " in the summer of 1747." Furthermore, in a long note on page 50, he calls attention to a previous error made by the Reverend Peter Whitney, in his " History of Worcester County," who says that it took place in the summer of 1749. In the note Mr. Torrey gives his reasons for thinking that Mr. Whitney is mistaken as to the date, and shows to his own satisfaction that it must have been in 1747. Now, as a matter of history it was during neither of these years that the attack was made, but during the summer of the intermediate year. A contem- porary account of the affair is found in " The Boston Weekly News-Letter," July 144, 1748; and the date there given is confirmed by " The Boston Evening-Post," and "The Boston Gazette," July 11 and 12, respectively, which also refer to the same assault. The account in the News-Letter is as follows : -




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