Historic homes and institutions and genealogical and personal memoirs of Worcester county, Massachusetts, with a history of Worcester society of antiquity, Vol. IV, Part 106

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 710

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. IV > Part 106

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Since 1884 he has made his home in Oxford, Massachusetts, and has been active in town affairs. He was for several years a director of the Oxford National Bank. He was chairman of the board of seleetmen in 1886-89-97-98. For twelve years he served the town as moderator of the annual town meeting. He was formerly chairman of the school committee and is a trustee of the Free Public Library. The library at Oxford was founded by Ilon. Ira M. Barton, who gave a thousand dollars for the purpose in 1868. It has had gifts or be- quests also from Hon. George I. Davis, General Nelson H. Davis, Mrs. Mary S. T. Wallace, Jere- miah Learned, Esq., Orrin F. Joslin, Mattie E. Saw- telle, the Hon. Richard Olney, and lastly the munifi- eent Charles Larned Memorial Building. Mr. Kim- ball compiled a memorial pamphlet after the dedi- cation of the library building, giving the history of the library and the details of the Larned gift. He was chairman of the building committee. Oxford owes Mr. Kimball a great debt for his arduous work for the library in which the townspeople take an honest pride and satisfaction. Mr. Kimball is a justiee of the peace. For three years he was a men- ber of the Massachusetts board of agriculture and served upon the committee having charge of the State Agricultural College at Amherst, Massachu- setts. In 1871 he visited Europe and while there was made associate member of the Philosophical Society of Great Britain. He is a member of the Appalachian Mountain Club of Boston. His alma mater conferred upon him the degree of Master of Arts in 1861. He is an active member of the First Congregational Church and since 1888 has been deacon. He is also chairman of the standing committee. Mr. Kimball has never married.

MILLS FAMILY. Thomas Mills (1) was the immigrant ancestor of Joseph Mills, of Douglas, Massachusetts. Thomas Mills may have been the son of James Mills, who had four other sons, Reuben, Caleb, William and John. Some of the descendants of Reuben live in Dunbarton, or did live there lately. In Dunbarton Thomas Mills was an early settler. Thomas Mills was born in Scot- land in 1720, removed to the north of Ireland,

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donderry, New Hampshire, then at Hampstead, New Hampshire, finally making his home in Dun- barton about 1751.

The date and birthplace of Thomas Mills are given on the authority of Ella Mills (Genealogy of the Descendants of Thomas Mills), but Mills is an English name and not Scotch. A family of this name is found among the Presbyterians of the north of Ireland, who were mostly Scotch, but partly Englishı. We find Robert Mills, ensign, designated among others who were ordered to remove from Ulster May 23, 1653, to certain districts of Mun- ster. These names represent the ancestors of many of the settlers at Londonderry some fifty years later. The name of Mills is common in Antrim, Ireland, at present. Thirty-four of the name were born in the year 1890 in Antrim. It seems likely therefore that Thomas Mills came from an English family of Mills, doubtless intermarried with Scotch families after settling in Ireland. The family prob- ably went to Ireland after 1620, and Ensign Robert Mills is really the first of the name found by the writer in Irish records. There was much English stock and some Irish among what was known as Scotch-Irish to indicate that the people were Scotch in religion (Presbyterian), customs, accent, etc. Thomas Mills came over with the Scotch-Irish. Ensign Robert Mills lived in Coleraine, county of Antrim, and many of the New Hampshire settlers came from Antrim.

Thomas Mills married Elizabeth Hogg or Hoag, of a prominent family among the early settlers. Some of the immigrants of this name changed it to Moore. She was probably the daughter of John Hogg, one of the first settlers of Dunbarton. He died January 27, 1790, and she died August 30, 1800, aged sixty-eight years. Four of his sons were farmers in Dunbarton and are buried in the grave- yard at Dunbarton Centre, and two of the daughters are also buried there. Children of Thomas and Elizabeth Mills: Sarah, born February II, 1755, the first girl baby born in Dunbarton; John, Jan- uary 7, 1756; Agnes, January 27, 1758; Thomas, January 7, 1761 ; Caleb, June 8, 1765, of whom later ; Elizabeth, September 26, 1767; Peter, September 25. 1769: James, August 24, 1771; Samuel, Decem- ber 25, 1773.

(I]) Caleb Mills, son of Thomas Mills (1), was born at Dunbarton, Massachusetts, June 8, 1765. He lived on the farm lately owned by Justus Lord, and was called a wealthy farmer by the history of Dunbarton. He married Tamar Cheney, who died February 20, 1850. He died at Dunbar- ton, January 17, 1834. Their children, all born at Dunbarton, were: John, December 30, 1786; Sarah, October 20, 1793, died October 1, 1795; Joseph, November 25, 1795, of whom later; Nancy, May 4, 1799; Polly, March 14, 1800, died December 26, IS17; Elizabeth, January 15, 1803, died November II, 1804; Caleb, July 28, 1806; Tamar, born July 28, 1806, died January, 1808.

(III) Joseph Mills, son of Caleb Mills (2), was born at Dunbarton, New Hampshire, November 25, 1795. He settled in Hopkinton, New Hamp- shire, and died there, September 15, 1874. He married, January, 1832, Celinda Clough, of Dun- barton. She was born February 4, 1813, and died February 4, 1880. Their children were: Joseph, born March 5, 1833, of whom later; Charles H. M., February 4, 1835. married Olive Towns, of Weare, November 25. 1860, and has four sons and three daughters. Elizabeth A., March 8, 1837, married,

at Worcester, October 30, 1860, Oliver Pierce ; George W., December 14, 1839, married, May 10, 1870, Eunice Brown, of Concord and has four sons; James F., February 12, 1841, died July 20, 1863, unmarried; Sarah L., December 17, 1843, married, December, 1868, Harvey Phippen and they have one son; Mary F., November 25, 1846, married, December 14, 1866, Hanson D. Emerson, of Hop- kinton; John C., April 15, 1849, married, October 12, 1867, Lizzie C. Richards, of Worcester, Massa- chusetts, and they have one son; Frank C., Jan- uary 12, 1851, married, November 11, 1889, Mary A. Howard, of Hopkinton, New Hampshire; Ce- linda, November 22, 1855, died November 25, 1857. (IV) Joseph Mills, Jr., son of Joseph Mills (3), was born in Dunbarton, New Hampshire, March 5, 1833. He worked on his father's farm and attended the district schools of Hopkinton in his boyhood. Then he worked from the age of fifteen till he reached his majority on a farm at Forge Village. He learned the trade of stone cutter and followed it for some years in various places. After the civil war broke out he returned to Hop- kinton and enlisted in Company F, Second Regi- ment, April 19, 1861, at Concord, New Hampshire. He was fond of hunting and being an unusually good shot was assigned to duty in Burden's squad of sharp-shooters. He enlisted first with the three months volunteers, but when his time was up he re-enlisted September 30, 1861, in the same com- pany. While he did not take part in any of the famous battles of the war he was in many sharp skirmishes and minor engagements, especially with the Black Horse Cavalry, as the guerrillas were known. He received an honorable discharge March 30, 1862, on account of illness. After the war Mr. Mills went to Westford, Massachusetts, and worked in a glass factory for two years. He also worked in Worcester for J. A. & L. F. Bancroft for a few years. Then he settled in Windham county, Con- necticut, where for many years he followed the occupation of hunting and the training of hunting dogs. He has dealt in furs and at the present time has a large business in furs. He sends a large con- singment of furs and skins to the markets of Bos- ton and New York city every season. Ile settled in Douglas in 1897 and has carried on his business there. Much of his leisure time is spent in the woods with dog and gun. He is popular among his neighbors, a genial companion, blunt, straight- forward and positive. He is a leading member of the Douglas Grand Army Post, of which he has been the commander for the past eight years. He is a Republican in politics and a Congregationalist in religion.

He married (first) Emily F. Corbin. He married (second), December II, 1888, Celia A. (Chase) Woodward, daughter of Moses Chase and widow of Edward Woodward. Children of Joseph and Emily F. Mills were: James Franklin, born August 27, 1865, of whom later; Albert Lerman, April 16, 1867, resides in Hampton, Connecticut : Carrie Marilla, April 3, 1869, married Henry Beckford, re- sides in Elliott, Connecticut ; Calvin Rawson, Octo- ber 5, 1870, of whom later; George Washington, June 25. 1872, resides at Medfield, Massachusetts ; Jennie Frances, January 31, 1874, resides at Hop- kinton, New Hampshire; Hattie Emeline, March 3, 1876, married Pike, of Elliott, Connecti- cut ; Fanny Edna, March 13, 1879, married Lyon, of North Windham, Connecticut : Bessie, De- cember 24, 1880, died February 7, 1881; Horace

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Chase, March 10, 1882, now of Greenwich, Con- necticut.

(V) James Franklin Mills, son of Joseph Mills, Jr. (4), was born in Westford, Connecticut, Au- gust 27, 1865. He attended the public schools of Pomfret and Putnam, Connecticut. At the age of seventeen he left school to take charge of the large farm of Chandler Spaulding in Putnam, where he worked three years. Then he had charge of the farm of Charles Smith at Pomfret for five years. He came to East Douglas to work as a carpenter for Mr. Paine, a contractor, then building the large tabernacle on the camp meeting grounds. He was the first to begin work and the last to leave the job. In 1893 he formed a partnership with his brother, C. R. Mills, and opened a general store in East Douglas. At the end of six months he sold out to his brother and took charge of the bakery of Mr. Ritchie in East Douglas. He bought the bakery of David White at Uxbridge, December IS, 1895, and he has built up a large and constantly growing business. He built a large and commodious house, the lower story of which he occupies for his business, now one of the largest in its line in the Blackstone Valley. He keeps four bakers em- ployed day and night and has three delivery wagons on the road every day. He does an extensive busi- ness also in catering.

He is well known in several of the leading social and fraternal organizations of the town of Ux- bridge. He is an active member and has held all the offices in succession in the Uxbridge Grange, Patrons of Husbandry. He is a seventh degree member; is assistant steward of the Central Pomona and has often been delegate to county and state conventions of the organization. He is a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen ; of Ux- bridge Lodge, No. 120, Odd Fellows; charter mem- ber of the East Douglas Camp, Sons of Veterans. In politics he is a Republican and a leader of the party. He has been a member of the Republican town committee for six years, three of which he was chairman. He served five years in the state militia in Putnam, Connecticut.

He married, November 7, 1891, in Douglas, Juliet E. Brown, daughter of William W. Brown, harness maker. Their children are: Raymond, born December 13, 1892, in Douglas; Robert Leslie, De- cember 21, 1894, in Douglas; Emma Adeline, Feb- ruary 20, 1897, in Uxbridge.

(V) Calvin Rawson Mills, son of Joseph Mills, Jr. (4), was born October 5, 1870. He was edu- eated in the public schools. At present he is as- sistant superintendent of the Prudential Life In- surance Company with headquarters at Mansfield, Connecticut, where he resides. He is a Republican in politics and a Baptist in religion. He is a mem- ber of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. Ile married, October 3, 1894, Stella Emeline Johnson, daughter of M. M. Johnson, thread manufacturer, of Mansfield, Connecticut. They have one child- Grace Evelyn, born January 5. 1898.

HARRIS FAMILY. George Harris (1). the immigrant ancestor of the Harris family of Clin- ton, Massachusetts. was born in England. and came of an ancient family of England and Wales. The origin of the name is Welsh, meaning simply son of Henry or Harry. The coat of arms of the family is: Ar. a lion rampant, sa. over all a chevron ermine. Crest, a falcon with wings ex- panded, or. George Harris was a proprietor of

Salem, Massachusetts, in 1636, and in 1638 he had a family of six children. He died before March, 1644, leaving a son Joseph and a son George, who was bound out at the age of eight years. His house was by the cove, the common landing place of the North river.

(HI) George Harris, son of George Harris (1), was born probably in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1635. He was apprenticed January, 1644, for the term of eight years or until he was twenty-one to Thomas Goldsmith to learn his trade. He settled in Concord, where he appears on the records in 1660 He married, November 21, 1671, Lydia Grosse. He married (second), December 5, 1688, Sarah Vinton. Most of his children settled in Lancaster and vicinity. The children of George and Lydia Harris, all born at Concord, were: Edmund, born October 26, 1672, died at Lancaster, December 10, 1726; his wife Elizabeth died Janu- ary 3, 1755, aged seventy-three years; Lydia, born April 18, 1675: John, born January 19, 1676-7, died 1739, see forward; Hannah, born March 27, 1679; Lydia, born September 8, 1681; Ebenezer, born July, 1684. settled in Lancaster. The children of George and Sarah Harris: George, born February 20, 1690-1, settled at Lancaster; Joseph, born Sep- tember 23, 1603: Jonathan, born September 22, 1696, settled in Lancaster.

(111) Ebenezer Harris, son of George Harris (2), was born at Concord, Massachusetts, July, 1684. lle died at Lancaster, 1760. He married (first) He married (second) (intentions February II, 1748-9), Lydia Warrensford, widow. His children: Ebenezer, Jonathan, see forward ; David, John, Deborah Butler, Hannah.

(IV) Jonathan Harris, son of Ebenezer Harris (3), was born in Lancaster, Massachusetts, about 1720, and was baptized August 14, 1720. He mar- ried at Lancaster, May 26, 1749, Annis Houghton, who died April 3, 1759. They resided it is believed at Bolton, formerly Lancaster, and were probably the parents of Daniel, see forward.

(V) Daniel Harris, descendant of George Har- ris (1), of Concord, Massachusetts, and perhaps son of Jonathan Harris (4), was born in Bolton, Massachusetts. 1758. He was a soldier in the revolution. He was corporal in Captain Ephraim Stearns's company, Colonel Ezra Wood's regiment, from May to December at Ticonderoga. He an- swered the call for troops to defend Rhode Island from Sir Henry Clinton in July. 1781. He was a sergeant at West Point in Captain Nathaniel Wright's company, Colonel Luke Drury's regiment in 1781. engaged for the town of Bolton. Accord- ing to the history of Shrewsbury he was born in the same year as Daniel Harris, Jr., of that town. That Daniel went to Wardsboro, Vermont, and died there. But the records of deeds seem to indi- cate that the younger Daniel Harris, of Shrewsbury, was son of Daniel and Resigner Harris. of Wor- cester, born there June 15, 1761, grandson of Will- inm llarris and great-grandson of George Harris (2). He settled at the time of his marriage in Boylston. though the elder children were baptized in Northborough, where doubtless their mother was a member of the church. In 1805, after all their children were born, he removed from Boyls- ton to South Lancaster and bought of John Hunt's widow her rights in the estate. The farm was of large area. It extended from the river near the present site of the "highbridge" of the New York, New llaven & Hartford Railroad and extended

PUBLIC

Harris

Emory

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along the west bank of the river nearly to Elias Sawyer's dam. If Prescott street were extended to the river at the Lancaster mills it would mark the western boundary very nearly. It was the farm owned by John Prescott (5), and it included also some land east of the river. James Pitts in his Reminiscences says: "From my earliest recol- lection, Daniel Harris always had a fine stock of cattle, with spacious barns and all suitable out- buildings, with the best horses and carriages in this part of the town-and what was better still, al- ways plenty of money." He was a leader in his section. The town bad refused to accept the bridge over the Nashua river at South Lancaster. In 1814, when the other sections of the town wished to build a new church, South Lancaster citizens, led by Harris, threatened to join the Baptist Church and thus defeat the project by weakening the church. The south end carried its point and the bridge was accepted. Districts ten and eleven, in South Lancaster, were represented by Daniel Har- ris and Titus Wilder, respectively, upon the com- mittee to choose a site for the new church and estimate its cost. The bridge is known as the Harris Bridge. In 1822 it was rebuilt with Daniel Harris as a member of the building committee at a cost of one hundred and forty-six dollars and eighty-seven cents. In 1837 it was replaced by a new bridge. Mr. Harris was interested in the schools and served three years on the school com- mittee of his district, No. 10. He was pensioned, eighty-five dollars per annum, under the law passed June 7, 1832, and at his death, October 22, 1838, his widow Abigail applied for his pension and enjoyed it the remainder of her days. She died March 26, 1842. at the age of seventy-eight.

He married, January 1. 1783, at Northborough, Massachusetts (by Rev. Peter Whitney), Abigail Reed. He was then of Bolton, according to the records. When Daniel was too old to carry on his farm he deeded a half interest to his son Asahel, who carried on the farm during the last years of his father's life. This deed of the farm was on condition of Asahel caring for his parents, etc. It was dated 1824. Their children, all born at Boylston, were : Betsey, born July 19, 1783. bap- tized at Northboro, July 1, 1787; married, March 25, 1806, Jonathan Plympton, Jr., and her daughter, Eliza Plympton, married Levi Harris, see forward. Polly, born August 13, 1785, died March 25, 1806; baptized at Northborough, July 1. 1787. Emory, born August 13, 1788. baptized September 28. 1788, see forward. Reed, born April 23, 1791, died Sep- tember 18, 1794; Asahel, born October 15, 1793, see forward. Reed, born September 22, 1795. died February 25, 1805. Maria, born January 28, 1798, married Alanson Chace and her children still re- tain a portion of the real estate which their mother inherited from her father. (See Chace family sketch of Mrs. Haskell). Sidney, born September 23. 1800, died October 3. 1802. Sidney, born Oc- tober 8, 1804, see forward.

(VI) Emory Harris, son of Daniel Harris (5), was born in Boylston. Massachusetts, August 13, 1788. He was educated in the district school and learned the trade of comb making of Nathan Bur- dett, but farming always took the larger share of his time. He lived in the house formerly occu- pied by Richard Sargent, bought in 1812 with seventy-eight acres of land. This was the old Allen farm. The preceding year Lyon had bought

the house and about forty acres of land of Ebenezer Allen, who had bought it of Ephraim Bigelow in 1808. On the same side of the road was the shop of llarris. which in later years was made over into a house for Edmund Harris. The barns were op- posite. In 1829 the estate was greatly enlarged by the addition by purchase of the Nat. Lowe farm. He was on the school committee in 1824. Emory Harris was a very "hard-working" man and at the time of his death, December 31, 1838, at the age of fifty, was worth from fifteen to twenty thon- sand dollars and at that time was one of the rich- . est men of the town. A very apt inscription on his gravestone summarizes his character: "In him the poor and fatherless ever found a friend."

He married ( intentions dated October 12), 1813, Hezediah Larkin, who was born in 1787 and died at Lancaster. January II, 1820, aged twenty-six years. He married (second), 1821, Sally Wilder. On her tomb is the following inscription: "And they rest not, day and night, saying Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord, God Almighty which was and is and is to come." The children of Emory and Hezediah were: 1. George, born at Clintonville, May 20, 1815, graduate of Brown University, 1827; was a scholar of rare ability and gave promise of a life of great usefulness, but after teaching school about a year in the academy at Wrentham he had an attack of typhoid and died there October 12, 1838, aged twenty-three. Harriet, born April 5. 1817. married Charles L. Wilder. of Lancaster. The children of Emory and Sally: Frederick W., born May 6, 1823, graduate of Harvard College in 1843, in partnership with Hiram W. Pitts in cotton manufacturing in Middleborough, later in Montreal in same line and prosperous, when he died in 1863. aged forty years. Emory, Jr., see forward.

(VI) Asahel Harris, son of Daniel Harris (5), was born in Boylston, Massachusetts, October 15. 1793. died January 14, 1844. He also learned the comb making business and devoted more attention to manufacturing than his elder brother. Through his ingenuity and enterprise the business was ex- tended materially. He purchased of Samuel Dor- rison in 1817 some of the land east of the river, land now occupied by Mrs. E. A. Harris. A house had been begun there about three years before by the then owner, one Dorrison, on a lot of ten acres purchased of Gardner Pollard. The house was completed by Mr. Harris and practically re-built. In buildings constructed near his house he manu- factured combs. In 1826 he rented house and shops to Jonas B. White, who made combs there two years. At this time Asahel put up the brick building between his father's house and that of his brother, Emory. The house is still standing northwest of the point where Prescott street joins Water. The long row of wooden buildings at- tached to the house and now used for tenements were his shops. Here he used water power. In 1828 the lands and dwelling house on the east side of the river were sold to the younger brother, Sid- ney. In 1830 and 1831 the dam was built by Asa- hel Harris, in company with Sidney, each having half the water power, Sidney on the east side, Asahel on the west.

In 1834 Asahel Harris met with great business losses and the shops on the river, if indeed he possessed any, together with the right to half the water power, passed into the hands of Sidney for

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four hundred dollars. After his father's death and that of his elder brother, Emory, both of which occurred in 1838. he took charge of his father's estate, but he transferred it to Levi Harris, who had married his sister's daughter. Asahel died in 1844 at the age of fifty years, of consumption, the disease which swept away so many of his family. He was commonly known as Captain Harris, after 1823, when he had command of the Lancaster Light Infantry at the time of its organization. He was said to be a remarkably fine looking officer and he was a distinguished figure of the musters of his time.

He married Abigail Phelps in 1820 and they had five children, four of whom were sons. All of them died or moved away from Clinton before taking any prominent part in its affairs. One was a painter in Westboro, another was a comb manu- facturer in Leominster.

(VI) Sidney Harris, son of Daniel Harris (5), was born in Boylston, Massachusetts, October 8, 1804. He attended district school, No. 10. From boyhood he was accustomed to work in the comb factories of his elder brothers, Emory and Asahel Harris, as well as upon his father's farm. One of his old account books, which has been pre- served, shows that he began business on his own account in a small way when he came of age. The first entries in Book I, as it is endorsed, shows that he began in 1825 "cutting out combs" for his brothers, Asahel and Emory, and then for various other manufacturers. He hired the machine with which he worked from Gardner Pollard. His busi- ness gradually increased, and he began to make complete combs. He was not in partnership with either brother ; sometimes he made combs for each of them, and sometimes they made combs for him. Perhaps they all worked together on large orders. Before Book I was closed in 1828 Sidney Harris had evidently as large a business as either brother. He had lived at home until 1828, when he bought of his brother Asahel and his father the homestead east of the river. This property became the nucleus around which grew that great aggregation of lands and houses, and he became the largest individual taxpayer of the town of Clinton. From 1828 to 1830 or later his manufacturing was done in a shop near his new house, and there is no reason to sup- pose that up to that time the water privilege had been improved. In 1833 Asahel and Sidney had completed the dam and agreed to share the power equally, Sidney taking the eastern side. It was the same height then as in later years, four and two-tenths feet; it was swept away once but re- stored to its previous form. In later times two wheels were used and about fifty horse power de- veloped there. Sidney probably had a small shop here for the manufacture of combs soon after the dam was completed, and in 1835 he bought the rights of his brother and became sole owner. The buildings about the dam increased in number and size as the husiness developed. Mr. Harris built another large shop on the western hank, and the road was changed from its location at the side of the river to the present location of Branch street to accommodate the new factory. During his last years Mr. Ilarris was an invalid and gave up to his sons, Edwin A. and George S., the management of the comb business. His shops at the time of his retirement employed regularly about thirty hands and the product amounted to twenty thou- sand dollars worth annually. Early in his career

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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. IV, Part 106

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed Publication date: 1907 Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company Number of Pages: 710

Author: Crane, Ellery Bicknell, 1836-1925, ed
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: New York, Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company
Number of Pages: 710