Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. II, Part 47

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 732

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. II > Part 47

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).

John Roper, the emigrant, came from New Buck- ingham, Norfolk county, England. John Roper, of Banham, gave twelve shillings to the church in 1437. This church is only two miles and a half from New Buckingham. Thomas Roper was a tenant of the New Buckingham Manor in 1621. He may have been the father of the emigrant. John Roper, Sr., and John Roper, Jr., both settled in Dedham. Both had wives named Alice, and it remained for the family historian to discover that there were two of the same name. John Roper, Sr., was born about 1588, and sailed with his wife to New Eng- land. John Roper, Sr., signed the famous Dedham Covenant, and settled in Lancaster in August, 1637. He died in Dedham soon after 1664. His widow was living at the time of the Lancaster massacre in 1676. The children of John Roper, Sr., were: I. John, Jr., see forward. 2. Walter, born about 1614, married Susan -, settled in Ipswich and Topsfield, Massachusetts.

(11) John Roper, Jr., son of John Roper (I), born in New Buckingham, England, 1611. He mar- ried in England, Alice -, and had two daughters born in England-Alice and Elizabeth. His wife was born in 1614. They passed an examination April 13, 1637, to go to New England, and probably sailed on the "Rose," of Yarmouth, John Andrews, master. He was a carpenter by trade. He settled in

Dedham with his father, and was admitted a freeman there June 2, 1641. His wife was admitted to the Dedham church September 13, 1639. He removed to Charlestown before 1649, and later settled in Lancaster, where he served as selectman in 1664 to succeed Roger Sumner. Roper was in Charlestown from 1647 to 1658. He was killed by the Indians March 26, 1676. The family returned to Charles- town. His widow Alice married (second) at Charlestown, April 14, 1681, John Dickinson. They resided in Salisbury. She married (third), at Salis- bury, 1684, William Allen. She died in Salisbury April 1, 1687. The children of John and Alice Roper were: Alice, born in England, married Thomas Adams. Elizabeth. Mary, baptized September 22, 1639. Rachel, born in Dedham, March 18, 1639, married Archelaus Courser. Hannah, April 2, 1642. Ephraim, see forward. Benjamin (twin of Ephraim ), born February 23, 1644-45. Nathaniel. Ruth, married Deacon John Haynes. Sarah, married James Mackinab, or McNabb.

(111) Ephraim Roper, son of John Roper (2), born Dedham, Massachusetts, February 23, 1644-45- He married Priscilla - . He was a farmer, and set- tled in Lancaster at some time after the death of John Roper, Sr. He was in Dedham in 1672, when his first child Priscilla was born, November 26, 1672. The two Priscillas, mother and daughter, perished in the first Lancaster massacre by the Indians in King Philip's war, February 10, 1676. Ephraim re- moved to Concord, Massachusetts. He married (sec- ond), November 20, 1677, Hannah Goble, of Concord. Both were killed in the second Lancaster massacre, September II, 1697. Elizabeth, their third child, was killed at the same time. The first husband of Ephraim's second wife, Stephen Goble, was hanged September 26, 1676, for murdering three squaws and three Indian children, Angust 7, 1676. He and the three other soldiers involved confessed, and one other, Daniel Goble, the ringleader, was also exe- cuted. When Ephraim and his wife were killed, their son Ephraim, then about ten years old, and one of the daughters Ruth or Bathsheba who es- caped, was wounded. Children of Ephraim and Hannah Roper: I. (not recorded). 2. Ruth, born August 2, 1679. 3. Elizabeth, born September 1, 1681. 4. Bathsheba. 5. Ephraim, born 1687.

(1V) Ephraim Roper, youngest child of Ephraim Roper (3), born 1687, in Concord, Massachusetts, married about 1714, Sybillah, daughter of Richard and Mary (Collins) Moore, born in Sudbury, Sep- tember 2, 1694. Ephraim was taken prisoner by the Indians when his parents and sister were slain and was returned after two years to his family. He lived with relatives in Sudbury until 1720. His first four children were born in Sudbury. Then he removed to Worcester, where the remainder of the family was born. He was a farmer, his place being on Tatnuck Hill. From October 14 to November 28, 1722, during his first year in Worcester, he was employed by the government "as a sentinel to keep garrison or range the wood." A highway to connect the farms in the vicinity of Roper's with the meeting house on the common was laid out March 24, 1724, and very nearly corresponds to the present Pleasant street. He was accidentally killed in the woods, February 16, 1730. He is huried on the common, and his gravestone is preserved under the

sod in its original location. The number of the grave on the chart made at the time the stones were buried is 158, from which its location may be determined at any time. He left a widow aged thirty-six, with nine children and one unborn. She removed to Marlboro. Children of Ephraim and Syllibah (Moore) Roper : I. Mary, born May 20,

BU- ivey PUP !!

MRS. CHARLES ROPER

PULLIC

b.F. Roper

167

WORCESTER COUNTY

1715. 2. Ephraim, October 21, 1716, see forward. 3. Priscilla, May 20. 1718. 4. Sybilla, March 6, 1720. 5. Abigail, March 11, 1722. 6. Ruth, January 14, 1724; 7. John, October 27, 1725. 8. Nathaniel, March 2, 1727. 9. Hannah, March 3, 1729. IO. Daniel, born October 2, 1730, founder of the Rut- land Line.

(V) Ephraim Roper, second child of Ephraim Roper (4), was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, October 21, 1716. At the time of his father's death, when he was sixteen years old, Richard Moore was appointed his guardian. May 20, 1740, he enlisted for the expedition against the Spanish in the West Indies, but no record of service has been found. March 6, 1748, the intentions of marriage of Ephraim Roper and Michal, third daughter of Benjamin and Zerviah Houghton, were published. The father had settled in Lancaster in the part formerly Chocksett, now Sterling. The marriage of Ephraim was April 8, 1748, when at the same time and place Keziah, her sister, married Ebenezer Buss. Ephraim be- came a large owner of land in Lancaster and vi- cinity. His first house was on Rowley Hill, above the place now known as the homestead. It was built strong to defend the occupants against Indian attacks. It seems probable that the ten sons and the daughter were born in the log liouse. Ephraim died December 5, 1793, and is buried in the Sterl- ing graveyard. His wife died December 31, 1816, at the age of ninety-one. His grave has a stone ; hers has not. Children of Ephraim and Michal (Houghton) Roper: 1. Benjamin, born January 7, 1750, married Azubah Willard. 2. Manasseh, born May 26, 1752, married Lucy Livermore. 3. Silas, see forward. 4. Asa, born August 16, 1756, mar- ried Polly King. 5. Nathaniel, born February 23, 1758, married Naomi Gibbs. 6. Enoch, born De- cember 7, 1758. 7. Ephraim. 8. John, married Dor- cas Killburn. 9. Sylvester, born July 22, 1762, mar- ried Catherine Pierce. 10. Joseph, born December 29, 1763. 11. Lucy, born February 10, 1767, married Joshua Everett. Seven of the ten sons did service in the revolution.

(VI) Silas Roper, third child of Ephraim Roper (5), was born in Chocksett, Lancaster, now Sterling, Massachusetts, January 20, 1754. He was a soldier in the revolution, and was commissioned lieutenant in the Seventh Company of the Second Worcester Regiment. The old house was built by his father during the revolution. It is related that the huge door stone required seventy-five yoke of oxen to haul it into place. The floor of the great kitchen was laid on the famous Dark Day, May 19, 1780. Silas married, December 31, 1782, Elizabeth Burpee. He was a farmer and lived in Sterling, in the Rowley Hill district. The farm is still known as the Captain Roper place for his son, Captain Silas. In personal appearance Silas was tall and inclined to be slender. He was at one time severely stung by bees and was always tremulous afterward. He disposed of his real estate to his son Silas before his death. He died October 27, 1827. His wife lived until December 2, 1850. Children of Silas and Elizabeth (Burpee) Roper: 1. Silas, born May 21, 1783, married Lucy Kendall. 2. Azubah, born De- cember 9, 1784, married Samuel Sawyer. 3. Betsy, born May 19, 1786, married Jonathan Wilder. 4. Patty, May 22, 1790. 5. Merrick, see forward. 6. Sylvia, born March 10, 1797, died April 12, 1799. 7. Sydney, born September 3, 1801, married Polly Jewett.

(VII) Merrick Roper, fifth child of Silas Roper (6), was born in Sterling, Massachusetts, March 15, 1792. He came to Francestown with Joseph Willard, son of Ephraim Willard, of Lancaster, Massachu-

setts, and brother of his aunt Azubah (Mrs. Benja- min Roper ). Willard was a cabinet maker by trade, and Merrick Roper was his apprentice. Together they went to Francestown, New Hampshire, in 1807. Roper married there, November 18, 1817, Susan Fairbanks of Francestown, descendant of a Lan- caster family also. The house that he occupied for many years is now or was lately occupied by Daniel S. Henderson. His shop where he did cabinet mak- ing is now part of the house of Frank Crosby. Merrick Roper died in Francestown, February 19, 1861. All his children were born there, viz .: I. Charles, born February 7, 1819, married Amelia Nussbaum, of Zanesville, Ohio, December 25, 1851. He served in an Ohio regiment during the civil war, and was in Gen. Lew Wallace's brigade at the Battle of Shiloh; he was a house painter by trade ; he lived in his later years at Zanesville. 2. Syl- vester H., see forward. 3. Lucy Ann, born Febru- ary 5, 1828, married George C. Patten, of Deering, New Hampshire, November 11, 1881, and there re- sides. 4. Edward F., born December 17, 1831, mar- ried first Henrietta M. Green, of Revere, Massachu- setts, September 16, 1857; married (second) Eliza Beals, of Cohasset, Massachusetts, June 7, 1867 ; (third) Mary D. Dailey, of Francestown, December 14, 1893; was a machinist in early life and worked for a sewing machine company; is a jeweler at Francestown. 5. Susan Elizabeth, born September 25, 1836, married Ephraim W. Colburn of New Boston, June 4, 1857; resides in Francestown; he is a carpenter and builder ; was deputy sheriff 1874- 76; they have seven children.

(VIII) Sylvester H. Roper, second child of Merrick Roper (7), was born in Francestown, Ver- mont, November 24, 1823. He married first Almira D. Hill, of Peterboro, Vermont, April 23, 1845, and (second) Ellen F. Robinson, of Lynn, Massachusetts, October 28, 1873. When a boy he displayed a re- markable degree of precocity in mechanics, and his career as an inventor proved him to be without a rival in mechanical genius among those who have gone ont from Francestown. At twelve years of age, although he had not seen a steam engine, he con- structed a small stationary engine which is now pre- served in the laboratory of the Francestown Academy. Two years later he made a locomotive, and shortly afterward saw at Nashua for the first time in his life a railroad locomotive.

He left his home early in life and followed the trade of machinist in Nashua, Manchester and Wor- cester. In 1854 he became a resident of Hopedale and there spent the remainder of his life. He in- vented the handstitch sewing machine which was in many respects an improvement on the earlier machines. He invented a hot air engine in 1861, which was found useful until the day of gas and gasoline engines arrived. He made improvements on steam engines and invented breech loading guns of various patterns. He was most successful in a financial way with his hot air engines. During the war there was a large demand for his ammuni- tion for field guns, of which he was the inventor. He invented a steam carriage, a · steam velocipede and a steam bicycle, propelled by an engine fastened to the frame work not unlike the modern motor cycle, except that it was larger and the fuel was coal instead of gasoline. He invented a successful pocket fire escape, designed for the use of traveling men. He made several patterns of rotary engines. He designed a hot air furnace.

Mr. Roper's death was dramatic. After making a phenomenal mile on a steam bicycle of his in- vention he was stricken with heart disease and actually died while riding. The Boston Globe in .

168

WORCESTER COUNTY

describing the incident said: "The dramatic fatality occurred (June 1, 1896) yesterday morning at the new Charles river bicycle track, just across the Harvard Bridge on the Cambridge side. The de- ceased had for years enjoyed a reputation as an able mechanical engineer, who had perhaps been more identified with steam propulsion as applied to carriages and for general road use than any other man in New England. Ever since 1859 he has been at work on various contrivances for con- veyances with steam as a motive power. He was exhibiting his engine applied to a modern safety bicycle with a view of ascertaining its qualities as a pace maker for bicycle racing. He demonstrated

its utility, but did not live to receive the con- gratulations on his achievement. Away back in 1869 Mr. Roper equipped a heavy two-wheeled velocipede with a steam engine, and for thirteen years used it with great success. No great speed was developed on it, but the inventor proved that it was a practical machine. Recently, however, he again turned his attention to an attachment for a modern racing cycle, and interested a large local bicycle manufacturer in his invention. His bicycle was taken out first a week ago last Sunday for a speed trial on Dorchester avenue. That it was capable of being run forty miles an hour was demonstrated, and then Mr. Roper was anxious to try it on a smooth track. With his inachine the inventor appeared yesterday. When he arrived there were a number of cyclers on the track in training. As he was to make a few exhibition trips around the track, it was suggested that the wheelmen try to follow him. Mr. Roper mounted his machine just back of the start and, turning on the steam, was under full headway in a remarkable short time. The trained racing men could not keep up with him, and he made the mile in two minutes one and two- fifth seconds. After crossing the line Mr. Roper apparently was so elated that he proposed making even better time, and continued to scorch around the track. The machine was cutting out a lively pace on the back stretch when the inen seated near the training quarters noticed that the bicycle was unsteady. The forward wheel wobbled badly, and then suddenly the cycle was deflected from its course and plunged off the track into the sand, throwing the rider and overturning. All rushed to the assistance of the inventor, who lay motion- less beneath his wheel, but as soon as they touched him they perceived that life was extinct. The only wound was a slight cut over the left temple. Dr. Wolcott, who was called, gave his opinion that Mr. Roper died before the machine left the track. His bicycle weighed with the engine one hundred and fifty pounds, and carried from one hundred to one hundred and eighty-five pounds of steam. The rider could carry enough coal to carry him twenty- five miles or more."

Mr. Roper was a member of no fraternal orders. He was liberal in his religious views. He resided for many years at 299 Eustis street, Roxbury, Bos- ton. His first wife, Almira, died October 6, 1898, aged sixty-eight years. His widow survives him (1905). She resides in Dorchester. The children of Sylvester H. and Almira D. (Hill) Roper were: I. Charles Fredrick, see forward. 2. Ada Frances, died when four years old.

(IX) Charles Fredrick Roper, only son of Sylvester H. Roper (8), was born in Manchester, New Hampshire, December 10, 1847. When a young boy he went to live with his grandmother, Caro- line Hill, who married (second) Samuel Smith, at Dublin. New Hampshire, and he went to school in Dublin. Later he attended Francestown Acad-

emy, at Francestown, New Hampshire, and French's Business College in Boston. He developed early an aptitude for mechanics, and worked with his father in making steam carriages before he was through school. His father had a shop in Rox- bury in the sixties, and employed at times thirty men in manufacturing his engines. The son worked in this shop with his father, and developed his mechanical skill.

His father's repeating rifle was at that time manufactured in Amherst, Massachusetts, by the Roper Repeating Rifle Company, and his father was a stockholder and director. Charles Roper went to Amherst as bookkeeper, but his knowledge and skill made him more useful in the shop, and he worked at his trade there for two years. He returned to his father's shop and helped him make knitting machines and guns for two years at Roxbury. He returned to Amherst and married an Amherst girl. Soon afterward the Roper Repeating Rifle Company was reorganized under the name of the Billings & Spencer Company, and removed to Hartford. Mr. Roper went with the company. The Billings & Spencer Company gradually abandoned the making of rifles and built up a business in drop forgings. According to an arrangement made with his em- plovers he worked in. Hartford for a year for Pratt & Whitney, makers of machine tools and lathes. The junior member of the firm of Billings & Spen- cer, Christopher, was the inventor of the famous Spencer rifle, used in the civil war. He is living at present in Windsor, Connecticut. Mr. Roper had been in Hartford about three years when Mr. Spencer invented the first successful automatic screw machine. and organized the Hartford Machine Screw Company to manufacture it, after manufac- turing it under his own name for a year or two. Mr. Roper was his general manager, and had charge of his first shop at Hartford. When the corpora- tion was organized he had full charge of the shop. Mr. Spencer was superintendent, but he spent his time experimenting. After five or six years Mr. Roper went back to Boston to perfect a screw ma- chine he had designed. He lived at Forest Hills and worked out his patterns in his father's shop at Roxbury. He successfully completed his auto- matic screw machine and applied for a pete t, but abandoned the design and went to Amherst. Massa- chusetts, where he designed, built and patented the machine in 1883 that was the foundation of the Hopedale Machine Screw Company of Hopedale, and has been used at the Draper Works ever since. He sold the patent to the Drapers and went to Hopedale as superintendent of their screw depart- ment, conducted under the name of the Hopedale Machine Company until 1888, when it became the Hopedale Machine Screw Company, with Mr. Roper as agent, or general manager. He was also a director of the company.

When the Draper Company was organized, Janu- ary 1, 1897, Mr. Roper became the mechanical en- gineer of the consolidated concern, of which he is a stockholder. He has devoted his time ex- clusively to the improvement of machinery built by the Draper Company, to designing new ma- chinery, and in experimenting. He has worked for the past seven years mainly on cotton machinery. looms and spindles. He is at the head of one of the experimental departments. Mr. Roper has in- vented in the neighborhood of one hundred patent designs. devices and machines, all except one of which he has sold to Drapers or the Draper Com- pany. He made his first money from a patented oil saving machine. The only patent he has taken out in his own name was in 1905 for a boat

PUBLIC

LIBRA 1

Samuel Etfull

169

WORCESTER COUNTY

propeller. All the others were sold before the patents were issued, except the oil saving machine. His most valuable and important invention is the warp stop motion on automatic looms. Hundreds of thousands of them have been put on the Draper looms in the past twelve years. Mr. Roper in- vented a successful voting machine. Most of his inventions have been in special improvements and labor saving devices on cotton machinery.

Mr. Roper is a Republican in politics. He has held several minor town offices, but has had no time for office calling for much attention. He has been trustee of the library, park commissioner and street commissioner of the town of Hopedale. He is a member of no fraternal organizations. He is a member of the First Congregational Church of Milford. He was one of the founders of the Union church, an undenominational and evangelical church established at Hopedale. He was for many years the president and treasurer of the society. He mar- ried, October 11, 1870, Abbie F. Taylor, daughter of Dr. Israel and Levina (Crossett) Taylor, of Amherst, Massachusetts. She was born March 13, 1850. Their children are: I. Bessie Taylor, born February 12, 1876, educated in the Hopedale schools and at Lasalle Seminary, Auburndale. 2. Walter Fredrick (sic), sce forward. 3. Arthur Edward, born December 26, 1884, attended Worcester Acad- emy and is now a student at Brown University, class of 1909.

(X) Walter Fredrick Roper, eldest child of Charles Fredrick Roper (9), was born February 9, 1881. He was educated at the Worcester Acad- emy and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technol- "ogy. He became connected with the Draper Com- pany in his father's department and is in the ex- perimenting department. He has already secured two valuable inventions and has others in progress. At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology he was a member of the Mechanical Engineering So- ciety and of the Phi Beta Epsilon fraternity. He is a Republican in politics. He married, June 3, 1905, Harriette Frances Nichols, of Boston. She was born December 10, 1882.

BENJAMIN L. M. SMITH. Jude Smith, grandfather of Benjamin Lloyd Mason Smith, of Whitinsville, Massachusetts, was of an old family of New England, whose progenitor settled early in the Bristol colony. He lived on the old home- stead at Somerset, Massachusetts. He married Lydia Shove, of a well known Rhode Island family. Their children, all born in Somerset, were: George; Thomas. David, Joseph, see forward.

(II) Joseph Smith, son of Jude Smith (1), was born in Somerset, Massachusetts, about 1800. He also settled in his native town. He married Phebe Chase. He died at the age of forty-seven, in the gold mines of California. In early life, like most of the residents of his town, he was a sea- faring man, but was later employed in a pottery. Children of Joseph and Phebe (Chase) Smith, all born in Somerset, were: Nathaniel, Leander, David, Lydia and Benjamin L. M.

(III) Benjamin Lloyd Mason Smith, son of Jo- seph Smith (2), was born in Somerset, Massachu- setts, November 28, 1836. He attended the public schools, and lived there until he was seventeen years old, when he removed to Whitinsville, Massa- chusetts, and learned the trade of machinist in the Whitin Machine Works. He has for forty years been foreman of the department where he began as a boy. in charge of the manufacture of spinning rolls. He has ninety men in his department. Mr. Smith has been active in town affairs. In politics

he is a Republican. He has been for eight years a member of the board of selectmen of the town of Northbridge, and for twenty-three years chair- man of the board of assessors. In 1885 he repre- sented his district in the general court and served on the water supply committee. He has taken an active interest in the Whitinsville public library. He is a member of Granite Lodge, Free Masons, and of St. Elmo Chapter, Royal Arch Masons. He is also a member of the Uxbridge Lodge of Odd Fellow's, in which he has held all the offices.

Mr. Smith is best known in Worcester county for his musical ability. He is one of the few orig- inal members of the Worcester County Musical Association, of which he was a member of the board of directors twelve years, and has been a member of the chorus at every festival since its organization. He was for many years a leader of the choir of either the Methodist or Congregational church at Whitinsville. For many years he taught vocal music and also the organ. He assisted in organizing and conducting the Whitinsville Choral Union of seventy-five voices, which participated in the great Peace Jubilee in Boston in 1869 and in 1872. He was also one of the organizers of the Whitinsville Musical Association, of which he was for several years the president. He was for many years organist of the Masonic Chapter, until some ten years ago. when he lost an arm from blood poisoning. He is trustee and auditor of the Whitins- ville Savings Bank and a trustee of the Pine Grove Cemetery Association.

He married Elmira II. B. Keech, daughter of Olney and Jemima Keech, of Gloucester, Rhode Island, and Northbridge, Massachusetts. They have no children. They have a handsome residence on Railroad avenue, Whitinsville.

HON. SAMUEL E. HULL. The Hull family is of English origin. Among the first settlers of New England were several of this surname who were prominent men and who have left numerous descendants, especially in Massachusetts and Con- necticut. George Hull was one of the first com- pany which settled Dorchester in 1630; he was a town officer and deputy to the general court. and removed to Windsor, Connecticut, where he was prominent also. John Hull was of Dorchester, Au- gust 7, 1632. Robert Hull, blacksmith and chandler, of Boston, was there before 1636; he gave to his son John a house and lot in Boston, and this son became the celebrated mint master of the colony; his son Edward was commander of the Rhode Island forces that were sent against the Dutch in 1653.

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. II, Part 47

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed Publication date: 1907 Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 732

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 732