Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I, Part 2

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 824

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I > Part 2

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WORCESTER SOCIETY OF ANTIQUITY

But the institution was growing, and June 19, 1877, steps were taken toward secur- ing a room in which to hold business meetings and deposit the Society's treasures, and on the fourth of September a vote was passed instructing the Treasurer to hire a room in the Bank Block, Foster street, and the first meeting of the Society was held there in room Number Six, up one flight of stairs, on Tuesday evening, October 2, 1877, twenty-one members being present. This was a notable meeting in the life of the young organization. More than two hundred and forty gifts of books and pamphlets with a few pictures were presented that evening, many of them being of special value. Honorable Clark Jillson's contribution included a large folio volume of Cicero's Orations, printed in the year 1472, a fine specimen of early printing. Four honorary members and three active members were voted in at that meeting, and Elihu Burritt, "the learned blacksmith," was proposed for honorary membership, and notice of the death of Harvey Dwight Jillson, M. D., of Fitch- burg, was given, it being the first death within the Society.

For more than thirteen years the designation painted on the door of room Number Six announced to the visitor or the passer-by that it was the home of the Worcester Society of Antiquity, and many pleasant hours were passed within those walls by the little band of faithful and constant workers who, by common consent, met there not only on the first Tuesday evening in each month, but on every Tuesday evening, unless absent from the city or detained by sickness, for all Tuesday evenings were consecrated to the interest of this Society. Not all who met there then are now within the sound of the human voice. But their influence and their works abide, and the memories of those pleasant, fascinating, edifying social gatherings linger in the minds of those living today, who can, perhaps, more fully appreciate the value of those social conclaves in bringing together and centralizing the forces out of which this Society has been evolved, and also the words uttered by a mem- ber of that circle who has gone hence, one who in those days was a tower of strength, a giant among the weaklings, and possibly did more at the critical moment to put this Society in a condition to stand alone, than any other man. These are his prophetic words: "Our mission is not one that changes with the seasons. When we become weary with the labor it imposes and seek other employments, the places we leave will be filled by zealous laborers from a new generation, but the corner stone laid by our hands will continue to support the superstructure, though the sound of the builders' hammer may ring through its arches for centuries to come."

Before the close of the year 1877, members of the Society were greatly encouraged in their work, as well as in the future prospects of the organization, by the kindly, stimu- lating words received from certain gentlemen prominent in historical and literary circles, in reply to notices sent them by the secretary, informing them of their having been elected to honorary membership in the young Society. Among those who responded with special reference to what had been accomplished, and the future outlook, were Benjamin J .. Loss- ing, Rev. Adin Ballou, Rev. Abijah Marvin, John G. Metcalf, M. D., Holmes Ammidown, Elihu Burritt, William S. Barton, Esq., Dr. Guilermo Rawson, and Rev. Carlton A. Staples. Of these, at this writing, not one remains.

During the life of the Society, there has been no step taken that apparently pro- duced more beneficial results, and brought the Society into more popular favor, than print- ing and disseminating its transactions and literature. Thus was attention called to the valuable work being performed, and the publications of the Society soon found a demand which to this moment has continued to increase. Among the early tasks assumed was copy- ing and printing the inscriptions upon the tombstones in the ancient cemetery in Worces-

WORCESTER SOCIETY OF ANTIQUITY

ter, known as the Mechanic Street .Burial Ground. And, before the summer of 1877 was ended, much had been done in securing inscriptions from burial grounds in Lancaster, · Lunenburg, Mendon, Shrewsbury and three of the ancient cemeteries in Worcester, while some progress had been made in copying those from the burial grounds in Brookfield, Leicester, Rutland, Southbridge and Sturbridge. This initial effort awakened fresh inter- est throughout the community in the preservation of both public and private records, and, through persistent exertions of members of this Society, and the co-operation of friends, the early records of Worcester were published, from the earliest date down to the adoption of the city charter in 1848, including the vital records, all of which have been assembled within the covers of the Society's publications, and constitute a part of the historical work accomplished through its members.

At the close of the year, 1879, the librarian, Albert Lovell, reported that the Socie- ty's library contained thirteen hundred and twenty-five bound volumes and four thousand three hundred and forty-two pamphlets and in the spring of 1881 it became necessary to add another room to Number Six, the latter being used for meetings, while the second room was for the accommodation of the rapidly increasing library and a small collection of rel- ics. It was thought, with this addition, ample room had been provided for some time to come. But in June, 1885, came a substantial increase to the library, of a gift from Mrs. Charlotte Downes, of a collection of books and pamphlets, once the property of her late husband, John Downes, Esq., of Washington, D. C. It was a pleasant surprise, and caused no slight enthusiasm throughout the membership of the Society, for they fully ap- preciated the value of the gift.

On the thirty-first day of March, 1883, occurred the death of Rev. George Allen. He had been a frequent visitor at the meetings, and much interested in the work of the Society. During his lifetime he had accumulated a large library. A short time before his death, a considerable portion, however, had been sold at public auction in Boston, but there still remained at the time of his decease about three thousand volumes, and, through contributions of money from members. and their friends, this collection of books and pamphlets was added to the Society's library.

The next red-letter day was the observance of the tenth anniversary of the organ- ization. The exercises were held in the Old South meeting-house, then standing on the common on the site of the present City Hall. It was held on the twenty-seventh day of January, 1885. Rev. Carlton A. Staples delivered the principal address. The proper date came the twenty-fourth, but as that fell on Saturday, it was decided to celebrate on the following Tuesday. There was a large attendance at the meeting in the church, after which there was a banquet served at the Bay State House. Alfred S. Roe was toastmaster, and it was after midnight when the end came to the good things that were said there. Not long after this event, Honorable Stephen Salisbury, one of Worcester's prominent philan- thropists, who had been watching the growth and conduct of this institution, offered to assist in providing a home for it by contributing a lot of land on which to erect a building, and also to give a certain sum of money toward a building fund. His offer was accepted with most grateful acknowledgments, committees were chosen for carrying the work for- ward, and in due time the Society came into possession of a substantial, commodious, brick building, well adapted to the needs of the Society, and through the exertion of its members and their friends, chief among them the late Stephen Salisbury, it is the posses- sor of a property valued at fifty thousand dollars, not including its valuable library of twenty thousand bound volumes, thirty-five thousand pamphlets, and an interesting mus-

WORCESTER SOCIETY OF ANTIQUITY

eum containing over six thousand relics of Indian, Colonial, Revolutionary, Civil and Domestic life, many articles of which it would be exceedingly difficult to duplicate, all debts paid, and eleven thousand dollars of invested funds. Truly a remarkable showing.

The home of this Worcester Society of Antiquity is located at Number Thirty-nine Salisbury street, Worcester, Massachusetts, and was dedicated on the afternoon of November 24, 1891.

WORCESTER COUNTY

HON. GEORGE FRISBIE HOAR. No more popular and truly meritorious family name comes to the mind in writing of the many celebrated family circles of Worcester county than that to which the late lamented United States senator, George F. Hoar, belonged. Others have attained to high eminence in local, state and national fame, but to recite the history of their accomplishments is an easier task than to pick from a vast collection of important data the facts from which a sketch suitable in length for a work of this character can be compiled and do justice to the memory of him for whom it is written. Senator Hoar was born at Concord, Massa- chusetts, August 29, 1826, and passed from earthly scenes September 30, 1904-seventy-eight eventful, well spent years.

His ancestors from the early day "Massachusetts Bay Colony," were men of great courage and activity. One writer says "They were in advance of the times in which they lived and were leaders to a higher and better sphere, both in social and political sense." The earliest of his male ancestors in this country was John Hoar, one of three brothers who came with their sister and mother from Gloucester, Eng- land. The husband and father, Charles Hoar, was sheriff of Gloucester and died before his family came to America. His wife, Joanna, died at Braintree, 1661. They had three sons and two daughters. The sons were Daniel, who returned to Eng- land in 1653; Leonard, who graduated at Har- vard College, 1650, and was president of that insti- tution from 1672 to 1675, when he died, and John. (See Hudson's "History of Lexington," page 104, Genealogical Register.)

(II) John Hoar, son of the first family who located in New England by this name, was a lawyer, distinguished for bold, manly independence. He resided in Scituate, Massachusetts, from 1643 to 1655. It was about 1660 when he settled in Con- cord and died April 2, 1704. His wife Alice died June 5, 1697. Their children included Elizabeth, who in December, 1675, married Jonathan Prescott; Mary, married Benjamin Graves, October 21, 1668; and Daniel, who married (first) Mary Stratton, (sec- ond) Mary Lee. The Hoar family were among the early bay colonists and some true conception of their character may be had by referring to a matter of New England history, wherein it is recorded that after the Indian massacre at Lancaster at the time of King Philip's war, John Hoar, at the request of the colonial authorities, followed the Indian band far into the wilderness, and after great hardship and the exercise of great ingenuity, recovered by ransom Mrs. Rowlandson, a lady captive from Lancaster. Her account of her ransom is published. The rock where she was redeemed is situated in close by the base of Wachusett Mountain, and has

been marked by the senator with a suitable inscrip- tion.

(III) Daniel Hoar, son of John, born about 1655, married, July 19, 1677, Mary Stratton, and October 16, 1717, Mary Lee. By these marriages the following children were born: John, October 24, 1678; Leonard, a captain, died April, 1771, aged eighty-seven years, in Brainfield, where a part of the descendants now reside-some having taken the name of Homer; Daniel, 1680, married Sarah Jones; Jonathan, died at the Castle, October 26, 1702; Joseph died at sea, 1707; Benjamin; Mary, March 14, 1689, died June 10, 1702; Samuel, April 6, 1691; David, November 14, 1698; Isaac, May 18, 1695: Elizabeth, February 22, 1701.

(IV) Daniel Hoar, son of Daniel (3) and great- grandson of the ancestor, born 1680, married Sarah Jones, daughter of John and Sarah Jones, December 20, 1705, lived in southeastern part of Concord, where he died February 8, 1773, aged ninety-three years. Their children were: John, born January 6, 1707; he was twice married. Jonathan, born January 6, 1707 (twin brother of John), graduated at Harvard College, 1740; was an officer in the provincial service during the war of 1744 to 1763. In 1755 he went as a major to Fort Edward; the next year was a lieutenant-colonel in Nova Scotia, and an aide to Major-General Winslow at Crown Point. After the peace of 1763 he went to England and was appointed governor of Newfoundland and neighboring provinces, but unfortunately died on his passage thither, aged fifty-two years. Daniel, en- tered Harvard College, 1730, but did not graduate; he married Rebecca Brooks, November 2, 1743, and removed to Westminster, where he died, leaving two sons and two daughters. Lucy, married John Brooks. Elizabeth, married a Mr. Whittemore of West Cambridge. Mary, married Zachariah Whitte- more.

(V) John Hoar, born January 6, 1707, married in Lexington, June 13, 1734, Esther Pierce, by whom he had two children. She died and he married, August 21, 1740, in Watertown, Elizabeth Cooledge. He died in Lincoln, Massachusetts, May 16, 1786, and his widow died March 20, 1791. He lived suc- cessively in Lexington, Watertown and again in Lexington and Lincoln. It is not quite clear when he first came to Lexington. He was taxed for a"per- sonal and realty in 1729, and had a seat assigned him in the meeting house in 1731, when they reseated the house. He was a member of the school committee in 1743. He subsequently filled the offices of con- stable, assessor and selectman. His home was in that part of Lexington set off to Lincoln in 1754. His children were: Rebecca, born in Lexington, July I, 1735, married, May 6, 1755, Joseph Cutler; Esther, born in Watertown, January 28, 1739, married Ed-

WORCESTER COUNTY

mond Bowman, 1760; John, born in Lexington, July 14, 1741, died young; Samuel, born at Lexington, August 23, 1743; Elizabeth, born in Lexington, October 14, 1746; Mary, born in Lexington, October 5, 1750, died young; Sarah, born in Lincoln, June 9, 1755 married Nehemiah Abbot; Leonard, born in . Lincoln, June 29, 1758, was twice married; Re- becca, born in Lincoln, October 18, 1761, married Joseph White, Lancaster; Mary, born June 17, 1764, married Thomas Wheeler, March 27, 1788; Joseph, born July 30, 1767.

(VI) Samuel Hoar, son of John (5), born in Lexington, Massachusetts, August 23, 1743, was an important man in Lincoln ; he frequently represented his town in the house of representatives, and was a state senator from Middlesex county, Massachu- setts, from 1813 to 1816. He married Susanna Pierce, by whom he had ten children-five of cach sex.

(VII) Samuel Hoar, eldest son of Samuel (6), born May 18, 1778, graduated at Harvard College, 1802, received the degree of LL. D., 1838. He taught school in Virginia two years, and was admitted to the Massachusetts bar in 1805. He was an eminent lawyer, contemporary with Choate, Mason and Daniel Webster. He frequently represented the town of Lincoln in the Massachusetts legislature, was a senator from the county of Middlesex from 1813 to ISI6, and was elected to congress for the years 1835-37-44. The legislature of Massachusetts sent him to South Carolina to test the constitutionality of certain acts authorizing the imprisonment of free colored persons held as prisoners in that statc. By order of the governor of South Carolina, he was forcibly ejected from the state and compelled to leave before fulfilling his mission, but acquitted him- self manfully throughout the entire case. He was a man of marked character and standing. He died at Concord, Massachusetts, November 2, 1856. He married Sarah, youngest daughter of Roger Sher- man, of Connecticut, who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence; one of the framers of the United States Constitution; judge, and later United States senator, and mayor of New Haven until his death. The children of Samuel and Saralı (Sherman) Hoar were: Elizabeth, born July 14, 1814; Ebenezer Rockwood, February 21, 1816; Sarah . .Sherman, November 9, 1817; Samuel Johnson, Feb- ruary 4, 1820, died 1821; Edward Sherman, Decem- ber 22, 1823, graduate of Harvard College, 1844; George Frisbie, August 29, 1826.

(VIII) Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, eldest son of Samuel and Sarah (Sherman) Hoar, born February 21, 1816, graduated at Harvard College, 1835, and in 1839 began the practice of law in Concord, Massachu- setts, and aside from representing his native county in the state senate was, in 1849, made judge of the court of common pleas. In 1859 he was appointed a justice of the supreme court of Massachusetts, and in Gen- eral U. S. Grant's administration was appointed attorney general of the United States in March, 1869. In 1871 he was high commissioner of the Washington treaty, and a member of congress from Massachusetts from 1873 to 1875.

(VIII) George Frisbie Hoar, son of Samuel and Sarah (Sherman) Hoar, born in Concord, Massa- chusetts, August 29, 1826. The scenes of his boy- hood were cast in pleasant places, midst fine influ- ences, all calculated to unfold the germ of the true life to be enacted. After his common school days at Concord he entered Harvard College, graduating in 1846. He chose the honorable profession of law for his calling in life, fitting himself in Harvard Law School and in the law office of Judge Thomas in Worcester. He was admitted to the bar in 1849 and at once began the practice of his profession in

Worcester, which city has ever since claimed him as one of her most honored citizens. Among his legal associates were Hon. Emery Washburn and later with Hon. Charles Devens and J. Henry Hill, Esq. Mr. Hoar rapidly rose to a very eminent rank in his profession. The native genius of his mind, well disciplined by a thorough educational training, and augmented by an uncommon energy, he steadily moved forward and became a recognized leader. In 1869, when he entered congress, after twenty years at the bar, his legal practice was the largest of any west of Middlesex county and the most valuable in a financial point of view.

It was in 1849 when George F. Hoar first en- tered the political arena as the chairman of the Free- Soil party for Worcester county, where the party was the best organized of any county in the United States. When he was twenty-five years of age, in I851, he was elected as a representative to the gen- eral court of Massachusetts. He was the youngest member in that body, but became the leader of the constitution in law matters and to him was given the task of drawing resolutions protesting against the compromise measures of the National govern- ment in 1850. He had so far advanced in political life that he could have succeeded Hon. Charles Allen in congress, but he would not listen to the call made by his friends to enter congress as it would be to put politics ahead of law-his chosen pro- fession. Had he at that time entered the con- gressional field, he would no doubt have been among the foremost in civil war and reconstruction periods. He would not go to congress, but did not refuse to serve in the state legislature, which was pressed upon him. In 1857 he was a member of the senate and chairman of the judiciary committee. In that body he made a masterly report. He was always ready to make campaign speeches, and but few ad- vanced more thorough, extended and logical ar- guments.

In 1868 Mr. Hoar was elected a representative in congress (Republican) as the successor of the Iate Hon. John D. Baldwin. In this, the forty-first congress, he was a member of the committee on education and labor and his chief work was the preparation and advocacy of the bill for national education. The bill did not pass in that session, and Mr. Hoar reported it in the next, and finally in the forty-third congress it passed by the bouse but failed in the senate. In the same congress he vindicated General Howard and supported Sumner in his opposition to General Evarts' scheme of an- nexation of Santo Domingo. As a member of the election committee in the forty-second congress, he drew the bill and had much to do along this line. In the following congress he made liis famous eulogy on Senator Sumner. He was instrumental in passing the Ead's jetty bill, and thus was opened up the New Orleans ocean commerce line. But perhaps of more importance than all was his con- nection with the electorial commission bill, he be- ing associated with General Earfield, Judge Abbott, of Massachusetts, and Payne, of Ohio. In 1872 and again in 1874 Mr. Hoar had made known his desire to retire to private life, but each time felt his duty was in serving, because his state de- manded it.

In 1876 his resolve to not be a candidate again for re-election was announced as final, and the people elected liis successor ; but the next Massa- chusetts legislature chose Mr. Hoar to succeed Mr. Boutwell as United States senator, and he took his seat March 4, 1877, at the beginning of President Hayes' administration. Here he rapidly rose in the scale and dignity of a true American diplomat and statesman. He became chairman of many important

WORCESTER COUNTY

committees, including that of privileges and claims and on judiciary. He was author of the bill for distributing the balance of the Geneva Award; the Lawell bankruptcy bill; the presidential succession bill. tenure of office act, bureau of labor statistics and many others. The most of his time in the house and United States senate was spent in work- ing for bills, laws and measures of large scope and wide range, leaving others less competent than him- self to discharge their duties in matters of not so much real importance to the great and growing nation.

In 1883 and ISS9, he was re-elected to his seat in the senate. To have been elected by the legislature so many times by a unanimous vote of its members was a new record for Massachusetts, and only be- spoke of merit for him of whom this brief memoir is compiled, giving him a rank along with Charles Sumner and Daniel Webster, who were in the same office, and as a cotemporary with Samuel Hoar, his father. His voice has been heard in the national halls of legislation for thirty-five years, and he served as United States senator twenty-seven years of this period, his service being as long if not longer than any American of our time.

Mr. Hoar has four times served as the chairman of the Massachusetts Republican State Convention. In 1880 lie was president of the National Convention at Chicago, by which General Garfield was made presidential nominee. In his deliberations upon that occasion he proved his masterly fitness as a leader of great bodies of great men in exciting, eventful history-making times. In 1898 President Mckinley tendered him the ambassadorship to Lon- don, but on account of his extreme age and desiring to further serve in the senate, he respectfully de- clined. He enjoyed travel, especially in Europe. From his first visit to England in 1860, he has made trips as follows : 1860-68-71-92-96-99. He was a member of the Worcester Fire Society for fifty years. This society was formed in 1793, and was limited to a membership of thirty persons; it has come to be a social and historical body of much interest.

In 1903 Senator Hoar wrote and had published what is known by its title, "Autobiography of Sev- enty Years." It is a neat and well written detailed account of his own life. It embraces two volumes, and is dedicated to his wife and children-"a record of a life which they made happy," he says in its dedication. One paragraph in his introduction of this work reads: "The lesson I have learned in life, which is impressed more deeply as I grow old, is the lesson of Good Will and Good Hope. I be- lieve that to-day is better than yesterday and that tomorrow will be better than to-day. I believe that in' spite of so many errors and wrongs and even crimes, my countrymen of all classes desire what is good and not what is evil."

While much of his time for more than one-third of a century has been in Washington, yet has Wor- cester felt the touch of his influence and life. He was the prime mover in establishing a free public library in this city. He materially aided in placing the Polytechnic Institute on solid foundation. He was a great friend and help to Clark University. He was trustee of the Leicester Academy and first president of St. Wulstan Society, at Worcester. He also was instrumental in founding the Worcester Art Society and Worcester Club. He was an hon- orary member of the Worcester Mechanics' Asso- ciation. He was the oldest member at the time of his decease of any save two of the American Anti- quarian Society, and was an honorary member of the Worcester Society of Antiquity, as well as active in the Massachusetts Historical Society. He

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Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I, Part 2

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed Publication date: 1907 Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 824

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 824