USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Groton > Groton historical series. A collection of papers relating to the history of the town of Groton, Massachusetts, Vol IV > Part 27
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ABIJAH L. WRIGHT.
ABIJAH LAWRENCE WRIGHT, who kept a tavern in Groton more than fifty years ago, died in Pepperell on January 6, 1897. He was a son of Washington and Eunice (Lawrence) Wright, of Brookline, New Hampshire, where he was born on October 20, 1813. For a long period he had lived in Boston, where he kept a livery stable. Three sons and a daughter survived him, as well as a second wife. His name is mentioned among the landlords of Groton in the first volume (Number VIII., page 8) of this Historical Series. On December 22, 1834, Mr. Wright was married to Betsey Baker, daughter of Abraham and Milly (Lakin) Simonds, of Pepperell; and on December 19, 1891, secondly, to Mrs. Mehetable G. (Rideout) HIale, of Pepperell. The second wife was a daughter of Jonathan and Rebecca Rideout, and a native of Nashua, New Hampshire.
LEACH-TUBS.
DURING my boyhood nearly every family in town had a "leach " standing within easy distance of the kitchen, which was looked after by the women of the household. It was used for draining water through wood-ashes in order to get lye, a needed ingredient in making soft soap. Sometimes a barrel or hogshead was called into requisition for holding the ashes, but these receptacles were rather temporary, as the lye would soon rot the staves; and I have seen a section of a hollow tree used for the purpose. The best leach-tubs were made of plank, and in the form of an inverted truncated cone
364
TALLOW DIPS.
or pyramid, with a perforated bottom covered with straw or twigs, letting the liquid percolate into grooves cut in the supporting base in order to conduct it to a pot under the edge. From time to time this receiving vessel was emptied into the soap-fat barrel, which often stood in the woodshed near by; and occasionally a small piece of potash was added to supplement the lye. With some other details not neces- sary to mention here, the product of the mixture was the saponaceous article. Within the last forty years these leach- ing vats have about disappeared from this neighborhood, and ready-made soap is brought from the factory to the door of the house, where it is sold for cash or bartered for grease or ashes. The change in such matters is a phase of domestic evolution which is continually going on around us, and yet so gradually that it makes but little impression at the time, and is soon forgotten.
TALLOW DIPS.
IN early times, throughout New England, tallow dips were commonly used for purposes of domestic lighting, as their cost was so small. Beef tallow was tried out in a big iron kettle hanging on a crane in the fireplace; and, while the fat was still hot, a piece of wick-yarn about ten inches long when doubled, was held by the loop in the middle, and dipped in the tallow. It was then hung over a stick and allowed to cool and harden. When ready it was dipped again, and so on, until it had grown to the proper size. Often a rude frame was used, holding a number of wicks, which were dipped in rotation, the first candle being ready for a second dip by the time that the others had passed through the same process. In order to make the tallow firmer and harder, sometimes bayberry wax was put into the kettle and melted with the fat. Owing to better methods of lighting, and to the cheap- ness of kerosene, the use of tallow dips has now entirely dis- appeared from the economy of house-keeping.
.
365
WILLIAM SWAN.
THE SHAYS REBELLION.
I AM indebted to the courtesy of Mr. Appleton P. C. Griffin for the following copy of a bill among the Emmet Manuscripts belonging to the Lenox Library, New York. Perhaps the "42 days," mentioned therein, was intended for 24 days, as this period of time would make the amount of the charge (£5.10) correct, according to the price per diem. For other references to the Shays Rebellion, see pages 283 and 327 of this volume.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO THE TOWN OF GROTON, D!
To sundry Provisions furnish'd for the Troops in the service of the Commonwealth, as follows - viz. -
1787
Jan! 27" To 65" Beef at 23 per lb 54" Bread at 2! Lo. 13. 61%
0. 9. 0. 29 To 241" Bread at 24 2. 0. 2. 362 !! ' Beef at 216ª 3. 15- 5
380 Gills rum at Id I. II. 8
To Transporting the above to Springfield 2. 6. 8
To a Horse & Slay & Driver for transport- ing the Baggage of the Troops during the Whole Expedition under Gen" Lincoln 42 [24?] days a 4/8
5. 12.
ISAAC FARNSWORTH
JOSEPH MOORS
JOSEPH ROCKWOOD
Errors Excepted.
GROTON, April 3rd 1787.
AARON BROWN
16. & 5. -
Selectmen for Groton.
WILLIAM SWAN.
WILLIAM SWAN, of Groton, was Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas from the year 1783 to 1789. On Decem- ber 2, 1789, he was commissioned Justice of the Peace, with authority to act as Trial Justice ; and within a short time there has come into my possession the docket of cases
366
DEANE WINTHROP.
brought before him during the years 1790-1793. It contains some items of local interest, and shows clearly that there was then much more litigation in town than there is at the present day. At the end of the volume is a record of various papers acknowledged before him as Justice of the Peace, as well as a list of cases tried before him. There is also the record of four marriages solemnized by him, which are printed on page 329 of the present volume, as taken from the town-book. This docket has now been placed permanently in the library of the Massachusetts Historical Society.
For a sketch of Mr. Swan, see the third volume (pages 253, 254) of this Ilistorical Series.
ANNAPOLIS COUNTY, NOVA SCOTIA.
IN the " History of the County of Annapolis" (pages 195, 196), recently published, there is a list of persons from Massachusetts who applied to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly for a grant of 100,000 acres of land lying in the Annapolis Valley, which was subsequently made to them on June 27, 1758. In this list are found the names of John Blair (see page 227), Paul Fletcher, and Elijah Harding, all of Groton; Asa Holden and Ebenezer Gowing, Jr., of Shirley, Samuel Harper and Isaac Stone of llarvard, and Andrew Harding, of Littleton, besides the names of seven persons from Townsend, nine from Hollis, and seventy-five from Lunenburg. The name of Gowing, in the list printed in the History, is there erroneously spelled "Sowing."
DEANE WINTHROP.
MR. ROBERT C. WINTHROP, JR., of Boston, has recently given to the Groton Public Library an autograph letter of Deane Winthrop, a younger son of Governor John Winthrop, and one of the founders of Groton. It had been suitably framed and is now hung in the Trustees' room, where it can
367
A LOCAL SCANDAL.
be conveniently seen. The name of Deane Winthrop stands at the head of the earliest list of selectmen appointed by the General Court in May, 1655; and in compliment to him and his family the town was named after their English home. The letter, of which a copy is given below, is supposed to have been written at our Groton, and is addressed to his elder brother, John Winthrop, Jr., Governor of the Colony . of Connecticut, then in England on public business. See " Col- lections of the Massachusetts Historical Society " (fifth series, VIII. 232, 233), for another printed copy.
honored
Brother hauing an oppertunyty I doe present my seruis to you with my thankfullnes to you for your many fauers leting you under- stand tha I am in health my wife and Chilldren, I resaed your leter for which I returne you thanks, I was in hopes to haue sin you here be fore this time, my sister your wife ded staye here in the bay som part of this somer hoping to haue met with you but now she is gone home : I hope she is well I haue not herd letly from her, I haue som thoughts of remoning from the place that I nowe liue in into your Coloni if i cold lit of a conuant pleace : the please that I nowe liue in is to litel for me mi chilldren nowe groueing up haueing nothing elce at present to troble you with I reste
the 16 of Desember : 1662 : my wife presents her seruis to you and thanke you for your olifes
your Louing Brother Deane Winthrop
1
[Addressed] for his honored Brother m' John Winthrop this Present London
A LOCAL SCANDAL.
By Hon. SAMUEL A. GREEN, L.L.D., of Boston, Mas
The two following papers are found among the Shattuck mann- scripts belonging to the New-England Historic Genealogical
368
AN OLD CLOCK.
Society, and refer probably to some local gossip or scandal at Watertown. All the persons therein mentioned had previously lived there, but at the date of the writing Lawrence, Ong, Shattuck and Whitney were residents of Groton, and among the earliest settlers of the town. Jonathan Phillips was son of the first minister of Watertown, and John Sherman was the third minister of the same town.
we whose names are under writen doe testyfy that wharas John shadwick [Shattuck ] hath reported that Jacob Ong did see & could testyfy that Jonathan philips hath acted unsiuely with mary dauis we disiscorsing with him the sayd Jacob Ong consarning it he sayd he could say nothing [that] could hurt the sayd Jonathan nor never saw any unsiuel caridg by him the sayd Jonathan witnes our hand this
I October 66
from groten
nathannil Lawranc Joshua whitney mary whitneys X marke .
Honoured S'
M' Danforth
The bearer hereof desiring it with such importunity as her present exercize hath pressed her to ye use of, I am con- streyned to signify y' Jo: Shathock (as I have been by knowing psons & of credit informed) carryed it soe at Groton in y" short time of his abode there, that, if ye charac- ter given of him be true, little credit is to be given to any thing which hath noe other & better evidence then his testimony.
S' I am yo' humble Servant Joh : Sherman
" The New-England Historical and Genealogical Register " (LI. 68, 69) for January, 1897.
AN OLD CLOCK.
THE following query was raised in the " Notes and Queries " department of the " Boston Evening Transcript,". September 5, 1896, and the answer given in the issue of October 10, 1 896.
1
4
369
A WILD DEER IN GROTON.
(6662.) I have a tall eight-day clock. It bears the name of Jonas Fitch. The date, 1772, is painted inside the case. Can anyone give me information about the maker ?
7. Y. X.
(6662.) Jonas Fitch lived, I think, at the date mentioned (1772), in Groton, Mass. He was not a professional clockmaker, but an ingenious farmer, who made a few clocks and sold them in the vicinity. I imagine the examples of his work in this line must now be exceedingly rare.
H. H. H.
Jonas Fitch was the youngest child of Zechariah and Elizabeth (Grimes) Fitch, and was born at Bedford, on February 5, 1740-1. He was a man of marked ingenuity, and with his own hands made all the works of his clocks. . He was the grandfather of the late Jonas Fitch, of Boston.
A WILD DEER IN GROTON.
ON June 8, 1897, rather early in the morning, Wheeler Wilson Ames, who lives in the Rocky Hill School District of Groton, saw a deer feeding in the meadow in front of the Shattuck homestead, a short distance southeasterly from Martin's Pond. On being discovered the deer ran and dis- appeared over the northern slope of Gibbet Hill, and soon afterward was seen in the outskirts of the village heading for the Four Corners below the soapstone quarry.
See Historical Series ( III. 340, 341 ; IV. 208) for other instances of deer seen in Groton within very recent times.
The following item is taken from " The Pepperell Adver- tiser," May 22, 1897, and bears upon the subject : -
A deer was seen by six persons crossing the road in front of Mr. Walter B. Page's place on Townsend Street Tuesday morning, the 18th. It was apparently not afraid, as it leisurely walked from the south side to the woods on the north of the road. It is reported to have been seen again in the afternoon.
370
GROTON WATER COMPANY.
According to " The Groton Landmark," June 26, 1897, a large buck was seen in Harvard during the previous week, feeding in a cornfield belonging to Dr. Herbert B. Royal of that town. Possibly the animal seen in these three differ- ent places was one and the same.
GROTON WATER COMPANY.
ON May 5, 1897, Messrs. George S. Boutwell, Milo H. Shattuck, Henry W. Whiting, William A. Lawrence, Michael Sheedy, Jr., James Lawrence, F. Lawrence Blood, John Law- rence, Charles H. Dodge, John G. Park, William B. Warren, William A. Moore, Grafton D. Cushing, Frank F. Woods, John H. Robbins, H. K. Richards, and William P. Lawrence, their associates and successors, were made a corporation under the name of the Groton Water Company, for the purpose of supplying the town of Groton and its inhabitants with water for the extinguishment of fires and for domestic, manufacturing, and all other purposes; with all the powers and privileges, and subject to all the duties, restrictions, and liabilities set forth in the laws of the Commonwealth.
On Friday evening, May 14, the several persons named in the Act to incorporate the Water Company met in the Town Hall, and organized by the choice of the following officers : Amory A. Lawrence, Treasurer ; William A. Moore, Clerk ; George S. Boutwell, William F. Wharton, William A. Lawrence, Henry W. Whiting, John H. Robbins, Grafton D. Cushing, and Michael Sheedy, Jr., Directors. Immediately after the meeting the Directors chose the Honorable George S. Boutwell President of the Board.
At a later day the contract for digging the well near Baddacook Pond, building the reservoir on the eastern crest of Gibbet Hill, and laying the iron pipe through the streets, was awarded to Messrs. Joseph Long and Michael Little, of Leominster. Work was begun on Tuesday, June 1, and is now progressing in a satisfactory manner ; and it is expected
371
THREE SILVER MEDALS.
that the undertaking will be completed during the autumn of the present year ( 1897).
At a town meeting held on Monday evening, June 21, it was voted to place forty hydrants throughout the village for fire purposes, and to accept the offer of a drinking fountain and watering trough to be given by James Lawrence and maintained by him for three years.
The Groton Water Company has secured one of the finest water supplies in the State. It is estimated by the engineers in charge of the work that the amount of water flowing into the well is from 500 to Go0 gallons a minute.
" Boston Evening Journal," August 3, 1897.
The laborers engaged on the work are Italians ; and they are provided with temporary quarters on the southern slope of Gibbet Hill. They began to dig in Main Street, near the Baptist Meeting-house, on Monday, August 9, and worked to the southward, though at this time a large part of the pipe had been laid between the well and the reservoir. The iron pipe is furnished by the McNeal Pipe and Foundry Company, Burlington, New Jersey.
Charles Henry Dodge, of Groton and Boston, will build the pumping station, which is to have a chimney So feet in height; and Charles Edwin Bigelow, of Groton and New York, has given the pumps to be used for forcing the water to the reservoir.
THREE SILVER MEDALS.
THE Groton Historical Society has among its possessions three silver medals or badges which are closely associated with institutions of learning, and are worthy of description.
I. A lozenge-shaped medal bearing on one side the initials " D P" over the date "1804," and on the other side the letters "S F" separated by a spread eagle. The medal , is about an inch and a half long and an inch wide, and has a small ring through the upper end of it, by means of which
372
THREE SILVER MEDALS.
it may be suspended by a ribbon. The letters "S F" stand for Social Fraternity, a literary and debating society com- posed of young men at Groton Academy, which started in the early days of that institution, and was kept up for nearly half a century. The initials "D P" are those of David Perham, of the town of Harvard, who began to attend school here in the year 1801. It was given to the Historical Society on August 14, 1895, by his daughter, Miss Rebecca H. Perham, of Plymouth.
II. The second medal is square in shape, a trifle more than an inch and a half across, with a curved handle passing round from one corner to the opposite one, and on the top of the handle is soldered a short tube, through which it may be hung by a ribbon. On the obverse are three Greek letters arranged thus : 'ת underneath which are the ini- tials " H A" ; and on the reverse are " U B " placed over the date " 1806," and separated from it by clasped hands. The initials on the obverse stand for Horace Adams, a graduate of Brown University in the Class of 1813 ; and those on the reverse for United Brothers. He was the youngest son of Joseph Adams, of Killingly, Connecticut, where he was born, on March 25, 1787, and a brother of Mrs. Eliza (Adams) Eaton, wife of the late Jonas Eaton, of Groton. A few months after his graduation Mr. Adams died very sud- denly on December 25, 1813. He was one of seven sons, who all died in a similar sudden way ; and Mrs. Eaton was the only daughter in the family. This medal was given to the Historical Society, on November 6, 1894, by a niece of the original owner, Mrs. Helen (Eaton) Blitz, of New York, who is a native of Groton.
III. The third medal is circular, an inch and three-quarters in diameter, bearing on one side the inscription : " Awarded | to | C. Stuart | for | Tran' of Cicero;" and on the other " Schola Latina | Bostoniensis | 1824." Charles Stuart, the recipient, was the son of John and Sarah Taylor ( Brazer) Stuart, who attended school at Groton Academy as well as at the Boston Latin School. He graduated at Harvard
373
INSCRIBED POWDER-HORNS.
College in the Class of 1830 and died unmarried, in Washing- ton, D. C., on December 19, ISSO. For a notice of his family, see the second volume (page 315) of this Historical Series. Through the upper edge of the medal a small ring passes, by means of which it may be suspended by a ribbon. It was given to the Historical Society, on November 10, 1894, by Mrs. Annie (Varnum) Eaton, wife of Commander Joseph Giles Eaton, United States Navy, whose mother, Mrs. Sarah Farwell (Brazer) Eaton, was a native of Groton.
INSCRIBED POWDER-HORNS.
THE Groton Historical Society has recently received an old powder-horn as an accession to its cabinet. It bears the name of " John Pars " as the original owner, and the date of 1747; and it was given to the Society by Miss Ellen Adelia Stone, of East Lexington. The horn is nineteen inches in length, and more than eleven in circumference at the base, and has cut upon it rude drawings of various animals, of which some are deer, foxes, and a peacock, besides others not easily recognized. It has also the usual amount of ornamen- tation, all made probably with a jack-knife.
On page 2.49 of this volume, under the heading given above, is described another horn in the possession of the Society, which ance belonged to " Samuel Parce," and bears the same date of 1747. There is a strong probability that " John Pars " and " Samuel Parce" were brothers, and that they were sons of Daniel and Eleanor (Boynton) Pierce, of Groton, of whom John was born on October 4, 1720, and Samuel, on June 14, 1729. If this be true, it seems some- what strange that these two horns should come together again after a separation of perhaps a century.
1
374
CULTIVATION OF HOPS.
CULTIVATION OF HOPS.
GROTON, July 13, 1897.
Dr. SAMUEL A. GREEN, Boston :
DEAR SIR, - My reply to your inquiry as to the culture of hops in the northwestern part of Middlesex County and the northeastern part of Worcester County during the first half of this century, must, in the nature of the case, be brief and imperfect. I can only conjecture the time when the cultivation of hops there began, but the probability is very strong that it was during the last decade of the last century. My grandfather, Jacob Marshall, who lived in Lunenburg, was a hop raiser, and his experience in that business must have been as early as the first part of the present century. He was the inventor of the press for pressing hops, which was after- ward and almost immediately used for pressing cotton also.
The power for pressing hops, used by him and used in that dis- trict as long as hops were raised, was the screw as applied in a common cider mill. The hop vine was trained, or trained itself, perhaps, on poles, which in the culture were from two to four inches in diameter at the base and fourteen to fifteen feet in length. The hills in the field were set at a distance of perhaps five feet apart, and averaged about one thousand to an acre.
The picking commenced usually in the last week of August, and continued often until far into the first half of September. The vines were cut and the poles taken out of the ground by men and laid upon long bins sufficient to receive the entire length of the vine, which was usually not less than twelve feet. The picking was done by young people, boys and girls, who stood on each side of the bin.
The product from one acre was about 1,000 pounds, or a pound to a hill, of dry hops. The drying was carried on in a building erected for the purpose, the hops being laid over lattice-work on the floor ; and a fire of charcoal underneath furnished the heat for drying. . This process was a delicate one, as it was necessary to extract all the moisture from the hops and to avoid scorching, as that injured the value in the market.
In the period of time when I had some knowledge of the trade in hops, say from 1836 to 1846, the price varied from Sto or $12 to $50 per bale, of about 200 pounds. The product of an acre in money, therefore, never exceeded about $250, and more frequently
375
VIEWS OF BUILDINGS ON PORCELAIN.
the price was about 10 cents a pound or $20 a bale, which gave to the grower about $too as the gross return per acre. This extreme variation in prices led to speculation in hops both by the growers and the traders. Sometimes a farmer would hold his crop, when it could have been sold at 12 to 15 cents per pound, with the idea that some time in the future he might realize 25 cents, and not infre- quently he was doomed to sell his crop for 8 to ro cents per pound, or even, occasionally, as low as 6 cents. For the purpose of the trade in hops, Groton was the center for the product of the towns of Pepperell, Townsend, Ashby, Dunstable, Tyngsborough, West- ford, Littleton, Boxboro, Harvard, Shirley, and Lunenburg.
The product of all these towns in the years when the culture was largest may have amounted to 500 bales, equal to about 50 tons. Mr. Ilenry Woods at Groton, who was a dealer in hops, in one year bought and sold, either on his own account or on commission, about 350 bales, which may have been about seven-tenths of the entire product of the towns named.
Between the years 1840 and 1850 the growing of hops was trans- ferred to the State of New York, where the crop could be produced at less cost ; and more recently it has passed to the extreme north- west, largely to the State of Wisconsin. It is very doubtful whether a bale of hops has been raised in the towns named since the year 1855.
Yours truly, Gro. S. BOUTWELL.
VIEWS OF BUILDINGS ON PORCELAIN.
As a supplementary paragraph to the article (pages 211, 212) with the heading given above, I wish to place on record the fact that in December, 1896, Messrs. John H. Sheedy & Co. received a second collection of china ware made in Germany, bearing views of Groton buildings. It consisted of 1481 pieces, and comprised coffee pots, pitchers, cups and saucers, tea-pot stands, trays, and plates, all in various sizes, besides other articles of different kinds.
376
REMARKS ON NONACOICUS.
REMARKS ON NONACOICUS,
THE INDIAN NAME OF MAJOR WILLARD'S FARM AT GROTON, MASS.
AT a meeting of the MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SO- CIETY, held on May 11, 1893, Dr. SAMUEL A. GREEN spoke as follows : -
In the library of the Historical Society there is a copy of a book, written in Latin, by Joseph Acosta, and published at Cologne in the year 1596, which once belonged to Chief Justice Samuel Sewall, and bears his autograph signature, dated March 9, 1698-9. The volume is entitled " De Natvra Novi Orbis," etc., and has been in the possession of the Society for more than a century. On a fly-leaf, at the begin- ning of the book, is the following note in Judge Sewall's handwriting : "Nunnacoquis signifies an Indian Earthen Pot as Hanah Hahatan's Squaw tells me March, 24. 1693:", - which throws some light on the meaning of an Indian word. I mention the fact, as I am inclined to think that the term is identical with or closely allied to Nonacoicus, the Indian name of Major Simon Willard's farm at Groton. William Hahatan, Hannah's husband, belonged to the Ponkapoag tribe. His name is sometimes written Ahauton, Nahatan, and even Nahaughton.
As the spelling of all such words by the early settlers was phonetic, Nonacoicus has several different forms; and it is easy to see how the one may have been taken from the other, or from a similar form. Another variation of the word, as given in Sewall's Letter Book (I. 98), is "Nonna Coyacas " ; and Nonajcoyicus, Nonecoicus, and Nonacoiacus are also found in old manuscripts.
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