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 34
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MILESTONES.
tain conditions, to erect Guide-posts at the corners and angles of all roads in such towns and districts; and imposing penal- ties for non-compliance with the law. Before that time, in a few towns, individuals had set up stones by the roadside, marking the distance and direction to some important town ; and these persons frequently added their own initials, as well as the date when the stones were placed. Governor Belcher set up several such milestones between the Town House in Boston and his estate at Milton; and one of these still re- maining is dated 1734. There are two milestones now stand- ing in Quincy, which are dated respectively 1720 and 1727, and bear certain initials. Paul Dudley, a resident of Rox- bury, and Chief Justice of the Province, also placed similar stones in that town.
At the present time there are several milestones in Groton, which were set up more than a century ago. Certainly two of them were placed by Dr. Oliver Prescott, younger brother of Colonel William Prescott, who commanded the American Forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill ; and two others were set up, probably either by him or at his suggestion, during the same period. They all are of slate; and the largest stands by the roadside, at the southerly end of the village street, on the easterly side of the way, near the fork of the roads and close by the Prescott homestead. This stone is between five and six feet in height, and is shaped somewhat like a capital letter P of colossal size, the upper part being considerably broader than the lower part, though the resem- blance is not very close. The inscription reads : -
O. P. Efq. 1 36 Miles to Charles-R! Bridge 1787
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MILESTONES.
The Charles-River Bridge, leading from Boston to Charles- town, was opened on June 17, 1786, and soon became a prominent point to people living in Middlesex County. Some vandal has tried to chip off " Efq." after the initials, but the letters can still be made out. Another stone, about three feet high, stands in close proximity, just beyond the crotch, on the westerly side of the road. On this stone, also, an attempt has been made to chisel off the same word. The inscription reads : -
O. P. Efq. 30 Miles to Worcester 1783
A third stone, about three feet in height, stands near the Groton School, on the easterly side of Farmers' Row, at the corner of Peabody Street. The top has been broken off, but the inscription remains, as follows : -
29 Miles to Worcester.
In front of the old tavern in the village is a fourth stone, standing out of the ground about a foot and a half, which bears these words : -
To Boston 35
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REV. CRAWFORD NIGHTINGALE.
GROTON ACADEMY.
THE following advertisement from the " Columbian Cen- tinel " (Boston ), July 22, 1797, will interest some of the older scholars of Lawrence Academy, and remind the younger ones that the institution was originally known as Groton Academy. The name was changed by an Act of the Legislature, passed on February 28, 1846. The use of the word "vacancy " in the advertisement sounds odd to modern ears, but it is upheld both by Shakespeare and Milton, as applied to schools.
ACADEMICAL.
N TOTICE is hereby given, That the Summer Vacancy in Groton Academy, will expire the 8th day of August next, at which time those who wish to attend the ensuing Quarter, are requested to enter, or as soon after as may be convenient for them. Board and accommodations for both sexes, in good families, and near the school, may easily be obtained on moderate terms; and all due attention is paid to the Manners, Morals and literary improvement of the children and youth who belong to the society.
DANIEL CHAPLIN, per order of Trustees.
Groton, July 22.
REV. CRAWFORD NIGHTINGALE.
CRAWFORD NIGHTINGALE was a son of Samuel and Eliza- beth Kinnicut (Thompson) Nightingale, and born in Provi- dence, Rhode Island, on November 3, 1816. Receiving his preparatory education at the public schools, he graduated at Brown University in the Class of 1834, and at the Harvard Divinity School in 1838. After leaving college, he passed a year at Cambridge as a University student before entering the Divinity School. On November 7, 1838, he was ordained in Providence as an Evangelist. On May 13, 1346, he was married to Mary Hoyt, daughter of William Henry and Frances Wiswall ( Humphrey ) Williams, of Atho !.
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REV. CRAWFORD NIGHTINGALE.
Mr. Nightingale was installed over the First Parish in Groton, on January 26, 1853, being the twelfth minister in the order of settlement, and received his dismissal on Sep- tember 1, 1866, though he continued to be a resident of the town until the year 1875. 1Ie built the house on High Street where he lived, which is now occupied by Colonel Thomas Lawrence Motley. When first erected, it was con- sidered, partly from the situation, to be one of the finest dwellings in the place.
For six years ( 1845 to 1851) Mr. Nightingale held a pas- torate at Chicopee, - which was incorporated as a town on April 29, 1848, having previously been known as Cabotville, a village in Springfield, - and immediately afterward for two years at Bridgeport, Connecticut. At one time he acted as a missionary in Toledo, Ohio, and in Chicago. After giving up his parish at Groton he preached occasionally in various places, and was settled for some years over a church at Groton Junction, now known as Ayer. During the last fifteen years of his life he lived at Dorchester, though at this period he had retired from the more active duties of his profession.
On Friday, August 19, 1892, by a most distressing acci- dent, Mr. Nightingale was run over by a cable car, and in- stantly killed, in his native city of Providence. For a long time he had been afflicted with deafness, which increased with his advancing years. Not hearing the approaching car, he stepped from the sidewalk directly in front of its course, and received the fatal injury. Ile left a widow with a son and daughter to mourn his untimely end ; and his remains were buried at Swan Point Cemetery in Providence.
Only four days before Mr. Nightingale's death, the writer of these lines met him in that part of Washington Street, Boston, near the head of Water Street, which is known as Newspaper Row, and stopped to have a short chat with him through an ear-trumpet, which he always carried. At that time, owing to the re-paving of the street and re-laying of the railroad track, that great thoroughfare was impassable for vehicles and nearly so for pedestrians; and the news-
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REV. CRAWFORD NIGHTINGALE.
papers had been finding much fault over the delay and con- fusion in the matter. I remember that he alluded to this fact as well as to his deafness, saying at the same time that the going in that neighborhood for him was never so easy, as he was not obliged to look up and down the street to see what was coming. Little did either of us then think that in so short a time he would lose his own life through this infirmity.
Since Mr. Nightingale's death, some of his reminiscences of Emerson have appeared in " Book Notes" (September 24, 1892), - a fortnightly periodical published in Providence by Mr. Sidney Smith Rider of that city, - as follows : -
Recollections of Ralph Waldo Emerson.
The following paper, aside from its intrinsic interest, has to the writer of BOOK NOTES an interest almost pathetic ; the author's name is attached to it. Ile brought the paper to me not long since, and said, " There, do with it what you please." His tragic death (almost a murder) took place soon after on College street by means of the cable cars, his deafness being contributory :
About thirty years ago Mr. Emerson went to Groton, Mass., to lecture. Ile stayed at my house. My little girl had a new baby- house in which she was much interested. Mr. Emerson soon found out what topic of conversation was most interesting to the little girl, and after tea he took her by the hand and they went together to visit the baby-house. He inquired about all the dolls, their history and their names. The next morning at breakfast table he inquired after every one of those dolls by name. I have heard of the wonderful memory of Daniel Webster. He would go into a town where he was to make a political speech, be introduced to a large number of the citizens, and on meeting them afterwards call them all by their right names. Mr. Emerson's feat of memory was quite equal to Mr. Webster's. And what a tender and beautiful sympathy with childhood and thus with all humanity it manifested. However great Mr. Emerson was in his philosophy he was greater in his humanity.
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REV. CRAWFORD NIGHTINGALE.
Mr. Emerson has always had the respect and love of the farmers, the mechanics, of all the people of Concord. One of them told me this. His brother is a mason. Mr. Emerson employed him to plaster a room in his house. He was at work upon the ceiling when Mr. E. entered the room, watched the worker awhile, and said he thought he could do that. He mounted the platform, took the square mortar board with the handle underneath, and well supplied with mortar, and with trowel in hand began work. But presently, while his eye was on the ceiling, the mortar-board tipped and the mortar slid down upon his vest and shirt-bosom. He gave it up.
I had been told that Mr. Emerson cared nothing about houses and such things. On his visit at my house at Groton he inquired about my house, which had lately been built with Mr. Elliot Cabot as architect. By his request I took him up all over the house. He took an interest in everything, and he told me that he thought I was very fortunate in having Mr. Cabot as an architect. Mr. J. Elliot Cabot is now by his choice his literary executor.
Perhaps some may think that Mr. Emerson was talking with me about my house as he talked with my daughter about her baby- house, to please us, not himself. Not so. Miss Ellen Emerson told me that her father always knew all about her dolls, in all their relations and generations. Indeed, I am persuaded that Mr. Emerson was better acquainted with his daughter's dolls, and their children and grand-children, than some practical business men in our cities are with their own children and their children's children. Yet no doubt the root of all this interest was in his great human heart.
Written for Mr. Sidney Rider as a token of the regard of
CRAWFORD NIGHTINGALE.
NEAR the end of the last century, according to " Willard's History of Greenfield " (page 145), Benjamin Swan, David Wait, and William Wait, of Groton, established themselves in business at Greenfield as coopers.
The two persons last mentioned were sons of Phinchas, Jr., and Sarah ( Pierce) Wait, and born at Groton.
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JONATHAN MORSE.
JONATHAN MORSE.
JONATHAN MORSE was a son of Joseph and Hester (Peirce) Morse, and born at Watertown, on November 7, 1643. He was married, on October 17, 1678, to Abigail, youngest daughter of William and Susanna Shattuck; and they had one son and three daughters, all born at Groton. The boy was a posthumous child, born on January 23, 1686-7, and named for the father. Mr. Morse's eldest brother, Joseph, was married on February 11, 1660-1, to Susanna Shattuck, a sister of Abigail ; and his youngest sister Sarah was married on June 2, 1669, to Timothy Cooper, of Groton, who was killed in the first Indian assault on the town, March 2, 1675-6. Mr. Morse was admitted freeman, on May 15, 1672, and was town-clerk from the year 1682 inclusive until the time of his death, which took place on July 31, 1686. He was the first town-clerk of Groton who signed the records with his name, though the practice was not constant with him. On Septem- ber 22, 1690, his widow was married to Joshua Parker, son of Captain James Parker who had previously acted as one of the appraisers of the estate.
The inventory of Mr. Morse's property is found in the Probate Office of Suffolk County, where among the files it is numbered 1506. In early times it was not unusual to have estates in any part of the Colony, or even be- yond the limits of the Colony, administered in Suffolk County, probably for the convenience of the various per- sons interested. At that period Mr. Morse was accounted a man of means, as an estate valued at £200 was a large one for a country town. The inventory of his property is as follows : -
The true Enuente off Johnnathans Moss off Grotonne who deceased the last of July 1686 his Esteat being prysed by Captane James Parker and Corprall John Page it being prysed the last of agust 1686 at Countrie pryce
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JONATHAN MORSE.
ine
prysed the hous and home lot is 24 Acceres : 080~ 00-00
2 prysed 42 Acceres three quarters mor or les upon pyne plaine
-
005 -00-00
out
3 prysed ten Acceres of land
4 prysed Six Acceres off inter Vaill on the west syde of the river
5 prysed four Acceres of upland joyning to the hous lot : -
6 prysed Sixtie Acceres of upland on the west syd of the river - -
7 prysed fourtine Acceres of Meadow
8 prysed wearing Cloathes Shooes Stocking and hatt :
9 prysed beding one flock bed and furnito'
002-10-00
10 prysed one trunell bed and furnito' 000 - 15-00 001 - 00-00
11 [p]rysed one bed in the Chamber
12 [p]rysed Sheittes and other Linings 001 - 10-00
13 [pr]ysed brase and Irone
001 - 00 - 00
14 [p]rysed pewther and woodine dishes - - 001 - 00-00
15 [p]rysed buter Chess and meat - 002 - 00-00 16 prysed Lumber in the Seller and above Stairs 002 -00-00 001 -00-00
17 prysed one Gune one Sword
18 prysed Carte Chaine plow one wagone ax tramell and frying pane -
20 prysed 20 busheles of Indiane Corne - - 2I prysed Corne in the feild barne and hye [hay]
22 prysed one mear -
23 prysed one pair of oxen
- 009 -00-00 003-00-00
24 prysed one Steer
25 prysed 5 Cowes - -
26
prysed two heifferes
-
003-00-00
002 - 00-00
28 prysed two Calves -
-
001 -00-00
- 002 - 10-00
- 004-00-00 000- 14
[Total -
- £212 s.14]
JAMES PARKER
001-05-00 001 - 10-00
000 - 10-00
003 - 00-00
028-00-00 002- 10-00
003-00~ 00 - 19 prysed Loume and tackline
- 001 - 10-00 003 - 00-00 010-00-00 020-10-00
015~00-00
27 prysed two yearlinges
29 prysed ten Sheep -
30 prysed 11 Swyne -
31 fourtine Shilinges
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DR. SAMUEL GELSTON.
Octo' 28 1686
Abigall Moss Administrator made Oath that the account on the Other Side Conteines a Just and true Inventory of Jonathan Moss his Estate to the best of her Knowledge and that when more appears She will Cause it to be added
JURAT CORAM Presid Att' THO DUDLEY Cler.
This inventory gives a new mode of spelling the word " Groton," and adds another form to the list printed in the first volume (No. XX., pages 13 and 14) of the Historical Series. To those there mentioned may now be added the following : Grotonne, Grouten, and Grautten, making twenty- three different ways of writing the name of the town, which I have found in various places.
DR. SAMUEL GELSTON.
BEFORE the Revolutionary period Dr. Samuel Gelston was a well-known physician in the Province of Massachusetts. At one time, in connection with Dr. John Warren, he had a hospital at the barracks in Castle William, Boston Harbor, for the treatment of patients who had been inoculated for small-pox. An advertisement, setting forth the general details of the establishment, appears in "The Boston Post- Boy & Advertiser," March 5, 1764. At another time he lived at Nantucket, having previously managed a small-pox hospital on Martha's Vineyard. In the early part of the Revolutionary War he was a tory of a pronounced type, and both by word and deed excited the bitter hatred of the patriots. The feeling was so strong that the attention of the General Court, then sitting at Watertown, was called to his case, and by their order he was arrested at Falmouth. On January 17, 1776, the Council passed a Resolution con- cerning Dr. Gelston as a person " unfriendly to the Liberties of this Country," and putting him under bonds of One thou- sand Pounds for his future behavior and appearance before
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DR. SAMUEL GELSTON.
the Court, whenever wanted ; but the House of Representa- tives non-concurred, and passed another Resolution much more stringent. Six days later it is recorded in the printed Journal of January 23 :-
Joseph Palmer, Esq ; brought down the Resolve of the House for confining Doct. Gelston, with the following Vote of Council thereon, vis.
In Council, January 22d, 1776.
Read and concurr'd, and the Board having reconsiderd their former Vote, passed the following Resolve, vis.
That the said Samuel Gelston, be sent to the Town of Groton in the County of Middlesex, and that he give Bond with two good Sureties to the Treasurer of this Colony in the Penal Sum of One Thousand Pounds, the Condition whereof shall be, that he the said Samuel will not depart out of the Limits of the said Town of Groton, until the further Order of this Court, and that he will not in any wise assist or correspond with any of the Enemies of this Country, and that he will be of good and peaceable Behaviour towards all Persons who are friendly to American Liberty, and that he will at any Time appear and answer to any Complaint which may be made against him, when he shall be thereto required by Order of this Court, and that he will abide their Order thereon :
And on failure of the said Samuel's giving Bond as aforesaid, Resolved, That he be committed to the Goal in Newbury Port, until the further Order of this Court.
Sent down for Concurrence.
Read and non-concurred, and the House adhere to their own Vote (pages 194, 195).
From the tenor of the Resolve passed by the House, it is evident that that body thought that Dr. Gelston should not have his freedom under any contingency, and that he should be securely guarded in jail. While the Council and the House were at variance, Dr. Gelston escaped from the messenger of the General Court and ran off, though he was subsequently retaken at Newport, Rhode Island, and brought back to Watertown. John Brown, another tory, who was bribed to aid Gelston in this attempt, was captured at the same time with him; and they both were brought back to-
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DR. SAMUEL GELSTON.
gether. After this episode the two legislative bodies soon came to an agreement, when they ordered the men to be confined in some jail, until they should be set free by the Council, though no particular jail was specified.
At the time of his capture Brown had in his possession about ten pounds of India tea, which was ordered by the General Court to be burned publicly, at five o'clock in the afternoon of Saturday, February 3. "The Boston-Gazette, and Country Journal " (Watertown), February 5, 1776, gives the following account of the affair : --
Saturday last was burnt in this town, pursuant to an order of the General Court, by the door-keeper, a quantity of Bohea Tea, taken from one John Brown, a person who for Fifty Dollars, rescued and convey'd away, from the custody of the Court's Messenger, Dr. Samuel Gelston, who had been apprehended by the Court, for supplying the Enemy with Provisions ; he was retaken with the said Brown at Rhode-Island and bro't back to this Town, where they now are under close Guard.
For an account of the Gelston Family, sec "The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record " (II. 131-138) for July, 1871.
There is in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society a small hand-bill, which reads as follows : -
ADVERTISEMENT.
Watertown, January 26, 1776.
R AN AWAY from the custody of the Messenger of the General. Court, a certain Dr. Samuel Gelston, belonging to Nantucket, a short well set man ; had on when he went away a reddish Sheepskin coat, dress'd with the wool inside, and a scarlet waistcoat ; he was apprehended as an enemy to this country, 'tis suppos'd he will attempt escaping to the enemy, by the way of Nantucket, Rhode-Island, or New-York. Whoever will take up said Gelston and deliver him to the messenger of the House of Representatives, shall be well rewarded for his time and expence.
William Story, Committee of Nathaniel Freeman, the House of Ebeneser White, Representatives
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THE POOR OF BOSTON.
BROOKLINE AND PEPPERELL RAILROAD.
THE Brookline and Pepperell Railroad, extending from West Groton to Brookline, New Hampshire, was formally opened to public travel, on September 8, 1892. The road con- stitutes a branch of the Fitchburg Railroad, and is operated by that corporation. Trains for the transportation of ice began to run as early as Junc 13. The formal opening was duly celebrated at Brookline by a large assemblage of per- sons, when an historical address was delivered by Judge Edward Everett Parker, of Nashua, which is printed in the " New Hampshire Republican " of that city, September 9, 1892.
THE POOR OF BOSTON.
DURING the siege of Boston many of the inhabitants re- tired to other places in the State; and certain families, unable to do likewise for want of means, were sent at the public expense and assigned to particular towns. The following extract from the printed Journal of the House of Representa- tives, November 3, 1775, seems to indicate that the Selectmen of Newburyport had asked to be relieved from the care of certain families sent to that town ; and at the same time it gives the names of some who came to this neighborhood : -
The Committee on the Memorial of the Selectmen of Newbury- Port, reported.
Read and accepted, and Resolved, that the Poor of the Town of Boston, that are now in the Town of Newbury-Port, be destined in the Manner following, vis.
To the Town of Groton, Capt. Phillip Bass, Wife and three Chil- dren ; the Widow Bounds and two Children, and Peter Mers and Wife.
Andover. - Christopher Brasen and Wife, and five Children ; Christopher Brasen, jun, Wife and one Chill ; James Henckes, Wife and two Children ; Lewis Follings and Wife.
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REV. HORACE HERRICK.
Leominster, - Mrs. Joanna Trovoy & three Children ; Ambross Colby, Wife and three Children ; Mrs. Patterson and two Children ; Mrs. Mary Calf and Daughter in Law, and two Children.
Lunenburg. - Walter Piper, Wife and five Children ; Walter Piper, jun. Wife and Mother, and seven Children ; Joseph Grant and Wife, and Mother and four Children.
Littleton - The Widow Elizabeth Bascom ; the Widow Johnson ; the Widow Mary York.
And the Selectmen of the Towns of Groton, Andover, Leominster, Lunenburg and Littleton, are directed to apply to the Selectmen of Newbury-Port for their Proportion of said Poor, and by receiving a Certificate that they are of the Poor of Boston, and their Names, Age, and the Time when they came out of Boston ; and they are to transport them to their several Towns, according to their Destina- tion, and to be paid out of the public Treasury for the Cost in procuring and Transporting said Poor of Boston to their respective Towns; and the Secretary is hereby directed to furnish each of the Towns of Groton, Andover, Leominster, Lunenburg and Littleton, with an attested Copy of this Resolve, as soon as may be.
Sent up for Concurrence.
(Pages 227, 228.)
REV. HORACE HERRICK.
HORACE HERRICK, for some years the senior surviving principal of Groton Academy, died at Felchville, Vermont, on January 31, 1891. He was a graduate of Dartmouth College in the Class of 1834; and the Necrology of that institution for 1890-91 gives the following facts concerning him : -
HORACE HERRICK, son of David and Mary (Buswell) Herrick, b. Peacham, Vt., May 11, 1807. Fitted at Kimball Union Acad. Prin. Jaffrey (N. II.) Acad., 1834-6; Lawrence Acad., Groton, Mass., 1836-40 ; Pepperell ( Mass.) Acad. 1840-1; Francestown (N. H.) Acad., 1841-4. Studied theology meanwhile with Rev. Dr. J. M. Whiton of Antrim, N. H. ; pastor Cong. ch., Fitzwilliam, N. H., Sept. 4, 1844, to Sept. 15, 1847. Taught at Richmond, Va., 1847-8; prin. Washington Co. Gram. Sch., Montpelier, Vt., four
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REV. E. HALE BARSTOW.
and a half years from Aug., 1849 ; agent of Vt. Bib. Soc. for a year, and then for several years in poor health. Acting pastor, Plain- field, Vt., May 1857 to 1859 ; Wolcott, Vt., Feb. 1860 to Apr. 1874 ; York, Neb., 1875-6; South Woodbury, Vt., 1877-9; res. thereafter at Felchville, Vt., till decease. Supt. Schools at Wolcott, 1863-9, 1870-4; memb. Leg., 1861 and '2 ; trustee Univ. Vt. and State Agr. Coll., some years from 1865. M. in Boston, Mass., Dec. 1, 1836, Aurelia, dau. William and Susannah (Smith) Townsend of Reading, Vt., who survives him, without children. D. Felchville, Vt., Jan. 31, 1891, of pneumonia (page 8).
REV. E. HALE BARSTOW.
EZEKIEL HALE BARSTOW was the youngest child of Ezekiel and Mary Jewett (Conner) Barstow, and born at Hanover, Massachusetts, on May 17, 1815. The father died on January 10, 1815, four months before his birth. The son pursued his preparatory studies at Hampton, New Hampshire, and West Brattleborough, Vermont, and at Pembroke, New Hampshire, remaining about a year in each place; and he graduated at Dartmouth College in the Class of 1839. Immediately after graduation, - from September, 1839, till March, 1840, - he kept school at West Brattleborough, and in the summer of 1840 was chosen P'receptor of Groton Academy, where he remained for four years. He then studied divinity, and on August 6, 1845, was ordained in the ministry at Walpole, New Hampshire, from which church he was dismissed on December 30, 1851. Hle next went to Fitchburg, where he taught the High School, and afterward to Camden, Alabama, remaining at each place about two years. In the spring of 1855 he established a family school at Newton Centre - though preaching from time to time as a temporary supply in various churches - and here he lived until the autumn of 1861, when, for the benefit of his health, he removed to Haverhill, New Hampshire. The change, however, availed him but little, as he died on April 10, 1862. At one time he
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