Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I, Part 64

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 64

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).

(VIII) Bessie F. Atherton, daughter of Frank A. Atherton (7), born September 17. 1885, graduated from the Worcester high school in 1903.

GEORGE HENRY CLEMENCE. Richard Clemence (I), from whom George Henry Clemence is descended, emigrated from England about 1782. He was born November 12, 1757, and died in Brook- field, Massachusetts, March 5, 1813. He married Anne Ainsworth November 22, 1781. She was born in England May 4, 1762, and died April 20, 1832. Eight children were born to them.

(II) Henry Clemence, son of Richard Clemence (I), born October 14, 1795 ; was a hatter by trade, and located in Brookfield, Massachusetts. He settled in Hubbardston, Massachusetts, about 1814, and was made a Master Mason April 27, 1830, in the Temple- ton Lodge, of Templeton, Massachusetts.

He married, November 27, 1820, Harriet W. Waite, of Hubbardston, Massachusetts, born Febru- ary 26, 1802, at Hubbardston ; died there December II, 1824. He died in Hubbardston, January 30, 1863. Two children were born to them.

(III) Richard Henry Clemence, son of Henry Clemence (2), born at Hubbardston, September 28, 1821; died September 17, 1868, in Worcester, Massa- chusetts. He was a carpenter by trade, and lived in Fitchburg a number of years. He came to Wor- cester where he entered the employ of the Wash- burn & Moen Manufacturing Company, and in 1863 went to New York city for the company. Before the close of the civil war he returned to Worcester

and opened there a grocery and provision store. He was a member of Masonic bodies. He married Mrs. Eva L. Kendall (born Osgood), November 27, 1862. She was born January 9, 1831, at Hartland, Vermont, and died December 21, 1904, at Worcester, Massachusetts.

(IV) George Henry Clemence, son of Richard Henry Clemence (3), was born at Worcester, Massa- chusetts, January 13, 1865. He attended the Wor- cester public schools, afterward preparing under private tutors for entrance to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which he entered in the year 1886, taking the special course in architecture. He entered the employ of Stephen C. Earle, architect, of Worcester, in 1882; severing his connections with him in 1890, he entered the employ of Darling Broth- ers, general building contractors, of Worcester, and remained with them two years. In 1892 he began the practice of his profession, taking offices in the Walker building, Worcester, Massachusetts, where he has remained to date. His practice has steadily increased, resulting in placing his reputation with those of the leaders of the profession in Worcester. A large number of residences, public buildings, busi- ness premises, etc., attest his capacity and industry in his profession.

He married at Worcester, Massachusetts, Octo- ber 9, 1889, Anna Eliza McDonald. She was born in Worcester November 27, 1865, and is a grad- uate of the Classical high school; class of 1883. They have one child, Hazel, born at Worcester, Massachusetts, August 28, 1890. Mr. Clemence is a member of local Masonic bodies, and of the order of Odd Fellows; also a member of Hancock Club. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Archi- tects, and of Worcester Chapter, American Institute of Architects.

LYMAN JOSIAH TAFT. Robert Taft (1), the first emigrant of this surname, who is the progenitor of so many of the Taft families of Worcester county where the name is more common than in any other section of the country, was the ancestor of Lyman Josiah Taft, late of Worcester. Under the heading of other Taft families a pretty complete record of the life of Robert Taft in New England. gathered largely from the researches of the late Judge Al- phonso Taft, father of the Secretary of War, may be found in this work.

Robert Taft was a native of Scotland. He ap- pears to have come to New England in 1677 or 1678 and settled in Braintree, now Quincy, Massachu- setts, near Boston. It was just after the disastrous King Philip's war. In 1678 and 1679 the colonists who had been driven away from the frontier towns by the Indians, were making plans for re-settling their farms. Robert Taft and Savill Simpson joined in the purchase of Colonel William Crowne's farm at Mendon for which they paid ninety pounds Au- gust 15, 1679. They sold their place in Braintree, November 18. 1679, and doubtless moved to Mendon with others from Braintree in the spring of 1680. The land was divided by deed dated July 29, 1680. Half the property which was on one side the road was known as Pondfield and that went to Simpson; while the land on the opposite side of the road known as Fortfield from an old fort built long before the days of King Philip, as shown by the name in earlier deeds, went to Robert Taft and became the nucleus of the Taft homestead. Taft was acquisitive. He got land in one way and another until he owned all about the pond which was in the earlier days known as Faft Pond. Alanson Taft, of Mendon. lately owned the original home site, besides owning for two miles and a half from his home a tenth

1- 6

223

WORCESTER COUNTY

interest in what became the town of Sutton. Massa- chusetts, in 1703. In rebuilding the town of Mendon. Taft was an important factor. He was on the first board of selectmen. He and his sons built the first bridge over the Blackstone river. He served during all his active life on important town com- mittees and in other offices of trust and honor. He was for his day a citizen of wealth and distinction, and he founded a family than which there is none in Worcester county with a more honorable record or with a greater number of distinguished men. The children of Robert and Sarah Taft were: Thomas, born 1671; Robert, Jr., 1674; Daniel, 1677; Joseph, 1680 ; and Benjamin.

(II) Daniel Taft, third son of Robert Taft (I), was born probably in Braintree, Massachusetts, but possibly in England in 1677. He died August 24, 1761, as stated on his gravestone in the Mendon burying ground at the age of eighty-four years. He settled on part of the Fortfield farm given him at the time of his marriage by his father. It is the farm occupied some years ago by Samuel H. Taft. He had five sons who became enterprising farmers in the vicinity. After his wife Lydia died in 1758 he went to live with his son Daniel on what is now known as the Southwick farm in Mendon where he died in 1761. He was a lawyer as well as farmer. He was legal adviser to his brothers and to the town. He was town treasurer many years and moderator of the town meetings. He was the lead- ing citizen for some years. He was a delegate to negotiate for a new county and Mendon and Ux- bridge were transferred from Suffolk county to the new county of Worcester. He gave the town the site for a burying ground in Mendon. He represented the town in the general court in 1728 and other years, and was justice of the peace and conveyancer for his section. Mr. Taft married (first), 1702-03, Hannah -, who died August 8, 1704, leaving an infant son Daniel, who died soon afterward. He married (second), December 5, 1706, Lydia Chapin, daughter of Captain Josiah Chapin. The child of Daniel and Hannah Taft was: I. Daniel, born August 4, 1704. The children of Daniel and Lydia (Chapin) were: 2. Abigail. born September 24, 1707. 3. Josiah. see forward. 4. Lydia, April 13. 1713. 5. Daniel, April 29, 1715. 6. Ephraim, May 25, 1718. 7. Japhet, March 3. 1721-22. 8. Caleb. 172.4.

(III) Josiah Taft, third child of Daniel Taft (2), was born April 2, 1709, and died 1756, aged forty-seven years. His father gave him his farm by deed. It was on the west side of the Blackstone and passed to his son Bazaleel. He was captain of the militia. In 1732 he became a resident of the town of Uxbridge where he became as prominent as his father had been in Mendon. He held the various town offices. Among his children were: Caleb, died at Harvard College in 1756; Bazaleel, a prominent citizen, soldier in the revolution ; Joel, born 1747-48, see forward.

(IV) Joel Taft, son of Captain Josiah Taft (3), was born in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, in 1747-48, and settled there. Among his children was Joel.

(V) Joel Taft, son of Joel Taft (4). was born on the old homestead at Uxbridge, Massachusetts, in 1766. He married Chloe Fisher in 1789, and they had among others a son John, horn June 22, 1797.

(VI) John Taft, son of Joel Taft (5), was born in Uxbridge, Massachusetts, June 22, 1797. He re- ceived a good education in the public schools and in New Salem Academy. He married, April 18, 1826, Lurenza Newton. daughter of Josiah New- ton, a resident of Hubbardston. Massachusetts. John Taft died at Petersham in 1834. leaving a widow and two sons. Mrs. Taft married (second) Captain

Sewall Moulton, of Hubbardston. The children of John and Lurenza (Newton) Taft were: Alonzo; and Lyman Josiah, see forward.

(VII) Lyman Josiah Taft, son of John Taft (6), was born in Petersham, Massachusetts, Octo- ber 10. 1829, and died in Worcester, February 24. 1878. His father died when he was very young and after his mother married again his stepfather and he did not get along well together. The boy had a taste for books and study; the stepfather expected him to be content with a single term in the dis- trict school of Hubbardston, and when the boy studied at home by candle light the stepfather interfered and forbade him the use of candles. He then re- sorted to pine knots for light and the woods for his school room. Here he was not molested, but the strain on his eyes weakened them and later prob- ably caused them to fail him. He went to the Westminster Academy and offered to work for his tuition. He made the arrangement and then his mother saw to it that each week when he came home he should take a week's supply of provisions back with him. He made rapid progress in his studies, especially in the classics, but after two years his eyes failed him and were so bad that he had to stay in a darkened room to save them. He gave up further study and was never able to read much afterward. This misfortune made a prosperous business man out of a promising scholar.

First Mr. Taft decided to follow the example of Richard H. Dana, who was a common sailor for two years when a young man, and who detailed his adventures in a fascinating book "Two Years be- fore the Mast." Mr. Taft went to sea. He made voyages to South America and the Pacific and ac- cepted every chance to study navigation. His progress was so rapid that when at the end of two years the ship's captain and mate both died in New Orleans, he was able to assume command and he brought the ship to its home port in safety. He visited his mother at Hubbardston and then came on foot to Worcester to look for work. He got a position in a railroad restaurant, not being able to take employ- ment requiring much strain on the eyes. He found the work congenial, and made many friends among the traveling public as well as in Worcester. He decided to follow this business on his own account. He established a restaurant and became a prosperous business man in Worcester. He soon acquired a competence. His partners were Charles H. Rice and Frank Harrington, and their store at 233 Main street was rutn under the name of Taft, Rice & Harrington. He extended his business to include the railroad restaurant in the Union station. He built a five-story building in which he located his busi- ness; he purchased other real estate in Worcester and invested his money to advantage. In 1868 he was able to retire from active business, leaving his business interests in the hands of partners. At that time he was one of the foremost citizens of Worcester. He traveled extensively in the South and elsewhere. In 1876 he sold out all his business interests and two years later died as universally re- gretted as any man of his day in Worcester. He was still in the prime of life and had reason to expect many more years of life. Although his career would probably have been professional if his eyes had been stronger, he found much to occupy his mental gifts in his business career. The purity of his life and the nobility of his character were an example to all about him. The following resolu- tion passed by some of his associates expresses the esteem and appreciation for him: "To an unusual degree Mr. Taft mingled devoutness of spirit with strong, practical good sense. Modest and retiring

224

WORCESTER COUNTY

to a fault. yet he was never afraid nor ashamed to speak out the faith that was in him when occasion called. As a Christian man he merited and re- ceived the respect of all who knew him. Kind to the poor. a helper of the needy in their distress, ever ready to respond according to the measure of his ability to calls for help. he failed not to adorn the doctrines of Christ in all things. He rests from his labors and his works do follow him." He was brought up in the Congregational church, but later joined the Episcopal church when it was located in Pearl street. He was a vestryman and helped build the present edifice of All Saints Church. He mar- ried Mary Augusta Roper, daughter of Ephraim and Eunice ( Richardson) Roper, of Templeton, Massa- chusetts. She was born at Templeton October 21, 1832. married December 12, 1854.

Ephraim Roper was the son of Manasseh and Lucy ( Livermore ) Roper, born at Sterling. Massa- chusetts. September 17. 1799, married at Sterling, July 10, 1821, Eunice Swan Richardson, born Barre, vermont. May 30, 1799. daughter of Asa and Mary ( Stuart ) Richardson, and granddaughter of Captain Penjamin Richardson. Ephraim Roper settled in Templeton. He was the first overseer of the town farm. He had eight children. Manasseh Roper, father of Ephraim, was born in Sterling May 26, 1752. He married at Princeton, November 25, 1790, Lucy Livermore, born Weston. November 25, 1760. He was a soldier in the revolution. He lived on the homestead in Sterling. He had seven children. Ephraim Roper, father of Manasseh Roper, was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, October 21. 1716. He married. April 8, 1748. Michal, daughter of Ben- jamin and Zerviah Houghton. She was born June 22, 1725, and died December 31, 1816. He died De- cember 5. 1793. They had eleven children. Mr. Roper was the founder of the Sterling branch of the Roper family.

Ephraim Roper, father of the preceding Ephraim Roper, was born in Sudbury, Massachusetts, about 1714. He married Sybilla Moore. who was born in Sudbury September 2, 1694. He was captive among the Indians 1697-9. He lived in Sudbury and Wor- cester. Massachusetts, where he was a farmer. He was accidentally killed in the woods February 16, 1730. He had ten children, the records of only two being known-Ephraim and Daniel, who founded the Rutland family of his name.

Ephraim Roper, father of the preceding Ephraim Roper, was born in Dedham, Massachusetts, Decem- ber 23. 1644. He married (first) Priscilla - -.

He was a farmer, and settled in Lancaster. His eldest daughter. Priscilla, the only child born in Dedham, and his wife Priscilla were killed by the Indians February 10. 1676. He married (second) at Concord, November 20. 1677, Mrs. Hannalı Goble, of Con- cord. Both husband and wife were killed in the second massacre at Lancaster. September 11. 1697. and also the third daughter. He was the father of six children, the last five being born in Concord.

John Roper. father of the preceding Ephraim Roper, was born probably in Buckingham, England, 1611. He married Alice - ,born 1614. They prob- ably came on the ship "Rose" of Yarmouth. He was admitted a freeman at Dedham, Massachusetts, June 2, 1641. He resided in Charlestown and Lan- caster, and was selectman in the latter place. He was massacred by the Indians March 26, 1676. Alice. his widow, married (second) at Charlestown. April 11. 1681, John Dickinson, and resided at Salisbury, Massachusetts. She married ( third) 1684. William Allen. She died there April 1. 1687. John and Alice Roper had eight children.

John Roper, father of the preceding John Roper,

lived in New Buckingham, Norfolk county, England, born about 1588. He sailed with his family to New England in 1637, and settled in August of that year in Dedham, Massachusetts. Two of the children are known : John, Jr., mentioned above, and Walter, born 1614, married Susan

Mrs. Taft came from a sturdy race. Her an- cestors fought in the early wars and many of them lost their lives. Mrs. Taft lives at 2 Congress street, where she has lived for over forty years.

The children of Lyman Josiah and Mary Au- gusta (Roper) Taft were: Marion Lurenza, born October 23. 1855. died May 4, 1879; Ella Lillie, Jan- mary 17. 1858, married in 1900. Archibald Blinn; they reside in Mavilette, Nova Scotia; Frank Wil- fred. January II, 1862, died April 6, 1864; Walter Stuart, November 17. 1863, died April 9. 1864; Georgia Frances, February 1, 1867, died August 28, 1867; Charles Lyman, January 9. 1870, died July 25. 1888, at Pigeon Cove, Massachusetts.

CLARENCE WHITMAN HOBBS. Jeremiah Hobbs (1), born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, June 14. 1747, removed to Norway. Maine, with the first settlers. Eight children and his wife came also soon afterward. Part of the town of Norway was formerly called Rustfield from the fact that the land was owned by Henry Rust, of Salem, Massachusetts. In 1786 five settlers came to form a colony at Nor- way. They were Jeremiah Hobbs, Amos Hobbs, his brother, Joseph Stevens, Jonas Stevens and George Lessley (Leslie), all from the town of Gray, Maine. The records do not show that they stayed at Gray for any length of time. They felled trees and cleared land in what they supposed was the Rust land. By mistake Jeremiah Hobbs cleared a lot in the Cummings purchase, which was later incor- porated in the town of Norway, however. His lot is east of the present location of the Congregational Church. The five pioneers built their little houses next spring ; each of these houses were of the same style. sixteen by twenty-seven feet. They were clap- boarded with pine rift clap-boards, nailed on the stud- ding, and the roofs were covered with long shingles similar to those still used in some remote places in New England and the provinces. The chimneys were looped out with what was called "Catting"-laying up split sticks cob-house fashion, in clay mortar mixed with straw chopped fine to make it adhere. The floors were of bass wood planks, hewed out with axes. Each of the five had a board sawed at Jack- son's saw mill in Paris. Maine, out of which to make a door. Most of the window panes were made of paper oiled to make it weather-proof and translucent. The houses were occupied in the spring of 1787. as soon as they were ready. The families stayed that winter at Shepardsfield, now Hebron, and Oxford. to be nearer their new homes where the men were preparing the land and houses.

Jeremiah Hobbs moved his wife and eight chil- dren to Norway about September 1. 1787. Amos Hobbs had moved June I, in the same year. The first marriage in the town of Norway. Maine, was that of Miriam Hobbs, daughter of Jeremiah Hobbs. to Nathan Foster, May 17. 1791, and the third was another daughter. Olive Hobbs. to Joel Stevens, one of the pioneers. Lydia Hobbs, the only child of Jeremiah Hobbs, the pioneer, to be born in Nor- way, was one of the first children born in the town.

Jeremiah Hobbs married about 1770, Anna Fow- ler, who was born in Kittery, Maine. October 20, 1746. died June 18, 1824. He died June 17, 1814. Their children were: Olive, born May 30, 1771. married Joel Stevens, third wife ; Miriam, July 17, 1772, married. May 17, 1791, Nathan Foster;

225

WORCESTER COUNTY

Wealthy, February 10, 1774, died April, 1845; mar- ried John Daniels, Jr .. of Paris, Maine; Anna, March 15, 1776, died 1849; married Deacon John Horr: Daniel, September 17, 1778, was on list of those coming to Norway in 1797, probably had lived there most of the time; married Sarah Noyes, daugh- ter of Bela Noyes; William, April 2, 1780, died Feb- ruary 19, 1845; settled in Norway in 1802, married Catherine Wetherby, kept a general store at Nor- way: Sally, January 8, 1782, died February 15, 1850; married Nathan Foster ; Jeremiah, January 17, 1785, died February 15, 1850; married Anna Frost; Lydia, born in Norway, Maine, August 20, 1789, died April 25, 1813. (In 1807 Jeremiah Hobbs, Jr., and Jeremiah Hobbs, 3d, are mentioned as coming to Norway. They were probably Jeremiah, Jr., here mentioned and a son of Amos Hobbs, named Jere- miah, about the same age.)

Amos Hobbs, mentioned above, the brother of Jeremiah, was born in Hopkinton, Massachusetts, in 1761, and came to Norway, Maine, with the first settlers. He married Lucy Robinson, who died in Norway, September 7, 1848, aged eighty-nine years. They had eight children and have many descendants.

(II) William Hobbs, son of Jeremiah Hobbs (1), was born probably in Maine, April 2, 1780, died February 19, 1845. He married, June 7, 1808, Cath- erine Wetherbee or Weterby. He settled in Nor- way and kept one of the first general stores in that town; his place was near what is now the centre of the village. He was a prominent man in the vicinity, and active in town affairs. His children were: Charlotte Sophronia, born October 29, 1808, married Dr. Nathaniel Grant, removed to Ossipee, New Hampshire; William Whitman, May 20, 1810, married Sarah Farrington Merrill, daughter of Ezekiel Merrill, first settler of Andover, Maine, said to be from Andover, Massachusetts; Jeremiah Wellington, June 8. 1814, married Fanny O. Green- leaf : Charles Leslie, June 10, 1816, died May 16, IS34: Henry Hill, March 13, 1821, married Sarah Moulton : Milton Wilkins, April 30, 1823. married Mrs. Louisa Mudgett, resided in Boston; Cornelius' Washington, June 5, 1826, married Lucy J. Hobbs, daughter of Robinson Hobbs.

(III) William Whitman Hobbs, son of William Hobbs (2), was born at Norway, Maine, May 20, ISIO. He received a good education at first class schools and an academy, and for several years de- voted himself to teaching, for which he had a special aptitude. He taught schools at Paris Hill, Augusta, Andover and others places in Maine, and with in- variable success. While teaching at Andover, Maine, he first met Sarah Farrington Merrill, whom he married June 17, 1840. She was the daughter of Deacon Ezekiel Merrill, who was the oldest son of the first settler of the town of Andover, Maine. Mr. Hobbs settled at Norway after his marriage and conducted a farm there. In 1849 Mr. Hobbs caught the gold fever and was captain of a com- pany which crossed the continent. He remained in the gold fields of California about two years. When he returned he settled on the old homestead in Norway and greatly improved it. He was select- man in 1850 and representative in the legislature in 1865. For many years he was deputy sheriff in his county, and he was well known to all the lawyers, jurors and others attending the courts at Paris, the county seat. He was appointed to a department position in Washington, but after two years resigned on account of his dislike for Wash- ington life. He moved to Minnesota and engaged in business there. He was liberally endowed phy- sically and mentally, and had great energy and pub- lic spirit. He died in Minnesota in 1876.

The children of William Whitman and Sarah F. (Merrill) Hobbs were : Adela Sophronia, born July 12, 1842, married, April 18, 1867, John Milton Adams, of Portland, Maine, and settled at Deering, Maine; their children are: Susan Merrill, Sarah Whit- man, John Milton, Adele, Charles; Martha Ellen, born July 4, 1844, married, December 2, 1872, Alvin S. Wilcox, and have one son: Roger Merrill Wil- cox ; Sarah Frances, born June II, 1847, died Sep- tember 10, 1851: Clarence Whitman, born June 27, 1852.

(IV) Clarence Whitman Hobbs, son of William Whitman Hobbs (3), was born in Norway, Maine, January 27, 1852. He was educated in the schools of his native town. He began his business life in the office of the Daily Eastern Argus of Portland, Maine, in 1870. He soon afterward entered the First National Bank as clerk, and filled various positions there for two years. This experience has been ex- tremely valuable to him in his subsequent career as a manufacturer and man of business. He started in business at Lynn, Massachusetts, manufacturing paper boxes in 1883. The business was run under the name of the New England Paper Box Co. and proved successful. He sold his interests in 1888 and removed to Boston. In 1891 he went to Wor- cester and organized the Hobbs Manufacturing Com- pany with Richard Sugden and Harry W. Goddard, of the Spencer Wire Company. In 1894 Mr. Sugden died. The Hobbs Manufacturing Company started on Union street to make paper box machinery, the value of which Mr. Hobbs had seen in his busi- ness in Lynn. In 1895 the Ilobbs Manufacturing Company was incorporated, and in 1903 bought the business of Wintherby, Rugg & Richardson and their factory at 26 Salisbury street. (See sketches in this work of Seneca M. Richardson and Gilbert J. Rugg for history of the firm.) Another large brick build- ing was constructed. The president of the corpora- tion is Mr. Hobbs, the treasurer Harry W. Goddard and the other director is J. Philip Bird. Besides the paper box machinery and the wood working ma- chinery made by the company. some envelope making machinery is built. With the four story addition on Prescott street the company now has sixty-five thousand feet of floor space. The new building is one hundred and twenty-five by sixty feet, four stories high and adjoins the old building.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. I, Part 64

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