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

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 64

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Politically Mr. Hogg has ever been a believer in the chief principles of the national Republican party. He has been identified as director of the Quinsiga- mond National Bank; the Worcester Board of Trade; trustee of the Worcester Five Cent Savings Bank, and other strong financial institutions. Be- sides his extensive carpet business in Worcester, he in company with H. C. Stockwell, bought in 1887, the Stoneville Mills at Auburn, which were refitted with modern machinery, for the making of worsted and woolen yarns. It is known as the Stoneville WVorsted Company. The product of this mill, where hundreds are given steady employment, goes to carpet manufacturers. The operatives for the most part live in neat, modern cottages, owned by the company. While Mr. Hogg is a man of great busi- ness capabilities and affairs of finance in many di- rections, he is not forgetful of the duty he personally owes to society and good government. He is largely interested in all local and many state and foreign charitable institutions, to which he has freely given. He ranks high in Freemasonry. He has wrought his own way to his present enviable position by his own industry and integrity in business lines. He was united in marriage in 1871, to Frances Happoldt, by whom he has two daughters and three sons living.

William F. Hogg, son of William James (4). was educated in the common public schools and later graduated from Philips, Exeter, Academy, sub- sequently taking a course at Harvard College, leav- ing the last named institution to engage in business, becoming a partner with his father, January 1, 1897. He has been at one time and another employed 111 every department, with a view of thoroughly learn- ing the routine and detail of every branch. He rep- resents the fourth generation of carpet weavers in the family in this country. He is a hearty supporter of the Republican party.

NATHAN HENRY RICHARDSON, a retired manufacturer and venerable octogenarian residing in Athol, is a son of Wyman Richardson, Jr., of Swanzey, New Hampshire, and a grandson of Wy- man Richardson, Sr. His original ancestor in Amer- ica was Samuel Richardson, an Englishman, who was among the early arrivals in Boston and one of "the first settlers in Woburn. From Samuel the line of descent is as follows: Stephen, son of Samuel ; William, son of Stephen; John, son of William; Wyman, son of John ; and Wyman, son of Wyman. Samuel Richardson was born about the year 1610 and immigrated shortly after his majority. He was made a freeman at Charlestown in 1638; was admitted to the church there about the same time, and in company with his brothers, Ezekiel and

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Thomas, served upon a commission appointed to settle what is now Woburn. He was the highest taxpayer there in 1645, and served as a selectman for a number of terms. The Christian name of his wife was Joanna and his children were: Mary, John, Hannah, Joseph, Samuel, Stephen, Thomas and Elizabeth.

Stephen Richardson, son of Samuel Richardson, was born in Woburn, August 15, 1649, and died there March 22, 1717-18. He was married in Biller- ica, January 2, 1674, to Abigail, daughter of Francis and Abigail (Read) Wyman, of Woburn. She died September 17, 1720. Their children were: Stephen, Francis, William, Francis (2d), Timothy, Abigail, Prudence, Timothy (2d), Seth, Daniel, Mary, Re- becca and Solomon.

William Richardson, third son of Stephen Rich- ardson, was born in Woburn, December 14, 1678. In 1709-10 he went to Charlestown End (now Stoneham), and about the year 1718 he settled upon land in Attleboro, Massachusetts, which he had pre- viously purchased. The date of his death cannot be ascertained. September 15, 1703, he married Rebecca Vinton, born in Woburn, March 26, 1683, daughter of John and Hannah (Greene) Vinton. She became the mother of eight children, namely : Rebecca, Hannah, Abigail, William, Stephen, Mary, John and Joanna.

John Richardson, son of William Richardson, was born in Attleboro, November 27, 1719. He mar- ried Elizabeth Wilmarth, April 19, 1742, and was the father of Lucy, Jolin, Wyman, Betsey, Joel and Henry.

Wyman Richardson, son of John Richardson, was born in Attleboro, May 13, 1746. He went from Attleboro to Swanzey, New Hampshire, where he resided for many years, and his death occurred in Acworth, same state, October 14, 1839, at the ad- vanced age of ninety-three years. October 31. 1771, he married Ruth Lane, born in Norton, Massachu- setts, December 1, 1752, and she died in Acworth, January 2, 1835. Wyman and Ruth were the parents of Ruth and Orra (twins), who died shortly after birth; Azuba, Wyman, Elkanah, Stephen, Luna, Ruth. Calvin, Lucy, Sophia and Esther.

Wyman Richardson, son of Wyman Richardson, was born in Attleboro, June 10, 1777, and went to Swanzey when two years old. He began the activ- ities of life as a blacksmith and became a mechanic of unusual ability. He was remarkably resourceful in devising ways and means at a time when imple- ments were for the most part made by hand. At the breaking-out of the war of 1812-15, when the nation was forced to depend almost wholly upon its own meagre facilities for a supply of firearms, he engaged in the manufacture of guns and pistols, and although greatly handicapped by a dearth of proper machinery and tools, he succeeded in producing weapons of superior workmanship which proved ex- ceedingly serviceable to the government. Consider- ing the fact that at the beginning he possessed little or no knowledge of metal-working beyond the sim- ple forging of iron, his powers of perseverance and final success in the face of almost insurmountable ' difficulties certainly deserve an honorable place in the category of extraordinary achievements. Speci- mens of his handiwork now in the possession of his son, Nathan II., are among the latter's most highly prized treasures. Wyman Richardson was one of the most prominent residents of Swanzey in his day. serving with ability as a member of its board of

selectmen and representing it in the lower branch of the state legislature. His death occurred Feb- ruary 20, 1868, but the family has ever since con- tinued to be identified with the manufacture of fire- arms, the present Harrington and Richardson Arms Company being the outcome of his remarkable though primitive attempts at gun-making. Wyman Richardson married in Richmond, New Hampshire, October 22, 1802, Deliverance Bolles, born in that town July 23, 1782, a daughter of Elder Bolles, who officiated at the ceremony. She became the mother of eight children, namely: Wyman, Nathaniel, Delia, Luna Bolles, Thankful, Almira, Nathan Henry and Phebe Sophia.

Nathan Henry Richardson, youngest son of Wy- man and Deliverance Richardson, was born in Swan- zey, May 31, 1823. While attending the common schools he spent his leisure time in working with iron and steel in his father's shop, and at an age when the majority of his young contemporaries were still pursuing their studies, he was an ex- pert blacksmith, gun-maker, and general metal- worker. In the machine shop of Charles Richardson at Athol he acquired a practical knowledge of ma- chinery and mechanics, and when a young man en- tered the shops of the Vermont and Massachusetts Railway in Fitchburg, but subsequently withdrew from that establishment in order to engage in the manufacture of rattan goods. He was one of the original promoters of that industry in the United States, having been the leading spirit in establish- ing the American Rattan Company, and for a period of eleven years has held the responsible position of manager of the Union Rattan Company, Brooklyn, New York. After the consolidation of the various rattan interests, he retired from active business pur- suits, and returning to Athol has ever since resided there, occupying a handsome residence on Chestnut Hill avenue, overlooking both villages and the sur- rounding country. He was at one time a director of the Savage Manufacturing Company. In politics he acts with the Republican party. His religious opinions are optimistic and he is a member of the Unitarian Church.

On May 3, 1849, Mr. Richardson was united in marriage with Martha A. Barber, of West North- field, this state. Their children are I. Myra Bolles, wife of Dr. Ernest C. Mills, a well-known physician of Fitchburg. 2. Professor Maurice H., see forward. 3. Mark Wyman, M. D., married Josephine Lord, of Athol. 4. Charles F., an able Boston lawyer and a successful solicitor of patents.

Professor Maurice H. Richardson, whose birth took place December 31, 1851, was prepared for col- lege at the Fitchburg high school, from which he entered the academic department of Ilarvard U'ni- versity and took his bachelor's degree with the class of 1873. Having studied preliminarily for a year under the direction of Dr. Pierson, of Salem, he returned to Harvard as a medical student and was graduated a Doctor of Medicine in 1877. His pro- fessional training was still further perfected by practical experience and observation as surgical interne at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Bos- ton, and locating for practice in that city he rapidly attained prominence in the medical profession, giving his special attention to surgery. For more than a quarter of a century he has been identified with the Harvard Medical School, entering that faculty as assistant demonstrator of anatomy, in which ca- pacity he dissected for the lectures of Dr. Oliver

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Wendell Holmes. He was subsequently appointed demonstrator of anatomy, and in 1889 was made as- sistant professor of that subject. For many years he has served as surgeon to the Massachusetts Gen- eral Hospital, and as both practitioner and instructor has acquired a national reputation. In addition to the above mentioned duties he acts as consulting sur- geon to the Carney Ilospital, New England llos- pital for Women and Children, Women's Free Hos- pital and the public institutions on Deer Island, all of Boston, the State Hospital at Tewksbury, the State Farm at Bridgewater, the hospital at Melrose and Fitchburg, and he also attends to an unusually large private practice. Dr. Richardson is a member of several organizations of prominence, including some of the leading professional bodies and at the present time is serving as secretary of the American Surgical Association.

SOUTHARD FAMILY. Gilbert Southard (1), father of Henry Southard, of Athol, Massachusetts, was born in Swanzey, New Hampshire, December 7. 1820. He was left an orphan at the age of eight years, and his boyhood was one of constant labor and hardships. When a young man he engaged in the manufacture of pails in his native town and established a prosperous business there. He decided after a few years to move to a larger place and came to Athol, Massachusetts, and located near South Athol, where the village which was built up by his business became known as Southardville. He continued the manufacture of pails in that village from 1848 to 1858, when he sold out and removed to Athol Centre, buying the residence on Chestnut street where he lived until his death. He engaged in the grocery business in Athol, in the store now occupied by Newton & Call. After a few years he sold his store to S. E. & O. A. Fay. He then en- gaged in the stove and tinware business in the store where Samuel Lee located afterward, but in a few years he also sold that store and devoted his attention to lumbering and his other interests. He was very successful in his business affairs and was accounted a man of unusual ability and foresight.

He was prominent in town affairs for many years. Fle was selectman for nine years, from 1875 to 1884, serving also during that period for most of the time as overseer of the poor and as road commissioner. In 1891 he was again chosen overseer of the poor and served three years. He was for a number of years elected to defend the town in law suits and served on important committees of the town. He possessed to an unusual degree the confidence of his townsmen. He was for many years the leader of the choir in the Congregational Church of which he was a member. He died February 1, 1898. He married, 1842, Lucy A. Ellenwood, who bore him five children, of whom the only survivor is Henry, see forward.

Henry Southard, son of Gilbert Southard, was educated in the public schools of Athol, Massachu- setts, and has lived there all his life. He resides on the homestead which his father bought at Athol and has succeeded to his father's large business in- terests. He attends the Congregational Church. He is a Republican in politics.

CROCKER FAMILY. Captain John Crocker (I), of Newburyport, was the progenitor of the Crocker family of Fitchburg in America. While there is a tradition in the family that he is related

to the Crocker families of Barnstable, Massachu- setts, research shows that he was not a direct de- scendant of either of the three pioneer brothers who settled in Plymouth county and lived at Barnstable. Francis, John and William Crocker, of Barnstable, were men of prominence, and their descendants have been distinguished in every generation since.

Benjamin Crocker, a son of Josiah and grand- son of William Crocker, of Barnstable, settled at Ipswich, quite near Newburyport. Benjamin was a Harvard graduate, school teacher and prominent citi- zen of Ipswich; he lived in the Whipple house, now the home of the Ipswich Historical Society, built in the early days of the colony about 1640. Benja- inin Crocker, of Ipswich, had a son, Deacon John Crocker, also of Ipswich, while Captain John Crocker, of Newburyport, had a son Benjamin, also of Newburyport. The similarity of names may in- dicate relationship.

Captain John Crocker, of Newburyport, followed the sea and was not only a skipper himself but a ship owner. John Crocker and Benjamin Crocker, his son, of Newburyport, owned the brig "Ranger," which sailed July 4, 1758, bound for the Barbadoes, Cap- tain Joshua Moody. In 1748 Captain Crocker re- ceived permission from the town of Newburyport to erect a rope-walk along the wind mill and to improve the place for ten years. The wind mill in question was built in 1703 near Frog pond. That was the first rope walk built in Newbury, the old name of the townl.

Captain Crocker was born, presumably in Eng- land, in 1692, and died in Newburyport, March 19, 1763. He married, April 12, 1727, Mary Savage, daughter of Thomas Savage. Both died in New- buryport and they are buried in St. Ann's church- yard there. Their graves are marked by head- stones. Their children were: Sarah, born August 23, 1728; John, January 15, 1730; Benjamin, Febru- ary 6, 1732; Mary June 4, 1734; Thomas, July 8, 1736; Elizabeth, August 8, 1737; Mehitable, Decem- ber 14, 1740; Andrew Savage, May 28, 1743.

(Il) Benjamin Crocker, third child of Captain John Crocker (1), was born in Boston, February 6, " 1732. He lived in Newburyport where his father settled and died there October 5, 1777. He married in Hampton, New Hampshire, September 9, 1761, Sarah Somerby, daughter of Samuel Somerby. Their children, all born in Newburyport, were: Mary, born April 7, 1762; Elizabeth, baptized June 12, 1763; John, baptized October 7, 1764; Sarah, baptized March 2, 1766; Benjamin, baptized August 16, 1767, grandfather of Ephraim -Crocker, of Fitchburg; Jane, baptized October 8, 1770; Mehitable, baptized September 6, 1772; Samuel, of whom later; Thomas Savage, born February 1, 1776.

(111) Deacon Samuel Crocker, eighth child of Benjamin Crocker (2), was born ot Newburyport, Massachusetts, March 22, 1774. Ile was brought up in his native town and attended school there. When a young man he learned the paper making business, a trade requiring at that time great manual skill, and he became an expert workman. He came to Leominster, Massachusetts, about 1796, when Nich- ols & Kendall built the first paper mill there. This mill was situated on the Nashua river a few rods below the present mill of the George W. Wheel- wright Paper Company in Leominster. The mill was forty by seventy-five feet, two stories high, and in its palmy days the firm employed as many as twenty-five hands. Nichols & Kendall built a sec-

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ond mill in 1801, a short distance below the first. In 1804 the firm dissolved partnership and the busi- ness was continued by the junior partner, Jonas Kendall, for whom Deacon Crocker and his sons, as soon as they were old enough, worked for many years. After Alvah Crocker had built his mill and became established in Fitchburg in 1831, Deacon Crocker also moved there and became in various ways associated with his sons in business. He died at Fitchburg, August 20, 1850, at the age of eighty- two years.

Deacon Crocker was intensely religious by na- ture. He was stern, uncompromising and conscien- tious. Rev. Rufus P. Stebbins in his centennial di -- course at Leominster referred to the organization of the Baptist church and the conversion of Deacon Crocker from Orthodox views, as follows: "As carly as the ministry of Mr. Bascom we find in the church records (of the old parish) some intima- tions of the existence of Baptist views in the church. At a meeting of the church in 1817 a brother stated his scruples about the validity of his infant baptism, expressing his doubts of his privilege to sit at the communion table under such circumstances, and de- sired to be excused for so doing for a short time. His request was cordially granted. About a month afterwards the same brother desired to receive a dismission from the church and recommendation. The church took the subject into consideration and two months after that voted that as the brother had, as they believed, conscientiously connected him- self with another denomination of Christians ( Bap- tists ) they should consider him no longer under the special watch and care of this church.' The refer- ence in this extract is to Deacon Crocker. The story of his conversion to Baptist views is. thus told. While reading the Bible at family worship he came to one of the accounts of baptism in the New Testament. His wife interrupted him with: 'There, husband. the Baptists are right !' This led to a careful consideration of the subject and a change in belief. He walked to Harvard, applied for admis- , sion to the Baptist church of that town, and was received after a short delay." In November, 1818, there were more converts and the pastor of the Bap- tist church at Holden visited Leominster and ad- ministered the rite of baptism. In the following year seven more were baptized and these, ten in all, remained members of the Holden Church until June 30, 1822, when, with others to the number of sixty- five, they formed a church of their own at Prince- ton, Massachusetts. This is the historical begin- ning of the Baptist Church of Leominster with which Deaeon Samuel Crocker and his son, Deacon Sam- tel S. Crocker, were so long identified.

Sometimes the church had no pastor and then Deacon Crocker "demonstrated." The parish history began in 1824, when the Leominster Baptists met at the house of widow Eunice Richardson on Main street and organized a society. Deacon Crocker continued in the Leominster church as the leading spirit until he removed to Fitchburg in 1831. IIc was therefore the first Baptist and the first Bap- tist deacon of Leominster. Deacon Crocker became the founder also of the First Baptist Society of Fitchburg. He and nine other men organized the Fitchburg Village Baptist Society, March 2, 1831. The church was organized as a branch of the Prince- ton church June 8, 1831. on petition of Mr. and Mrs. Crocker. Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Bemis and Augustus Il. Searle. For over two years services were held in the Academy Building Ilall. The place of bap-

tisin at that time was the pond on Puneh brook just north of Academy street, since drained and filled up. In 1833 the first church was built on Main street west of the common. The present handsome building was dedicated March 1, 1854, just about two years before the death of the founder. Besides Deacon Crocker and his wife, their sons Samuel S., Phineas A. and Chandler Crocker were charter members of the Baptist church in Fitchburg. We quote from the discourse at the semi-centennial OI the church: "Mir. Crocker and his wife were a source of doctrinal as well as spiritual power where- ever they resided. Their influence was felt imme- diately in Fitchburg upon taking up their abode herc. Mr. Crocker held frequent religious meetings in his own house and in the school houses when the op- portunity could be obtained. He preached, exhorted, prayed and seasoned all his instructions with sound doctrine upon the two ordinances of the Church of Christ. So, public and general attention was called to these Biblical themes and inen of independent judgment who cared to be scriptural in faith and practice and were not hound down by any ties of family or social circles or by tradition or prejudices, began to investigate the doctrine he proclaimed." Mr. Crocker was appointed deacon of the latchburg Church June 8, 1831.

A member of the church said of him after his death: "There are two individual brethren in Christ whom I love to think of as the most perfect modes of Christian character and the best illustrations in their respective callings of what would be a mighty power in the conversion of the World to Jesus- Rev. Appleton Morse and Deacon Samuel Crocker. Father Crocker was a man of much prayer and much joy in his religion. He was an evangelist 111 disposition and held prayer meetings and confer- ence meetings in his own house and elsewhere and preached the gospel frequently. He was a true, noble Baptist, a great honor to his name and his church. Our church had its beginning in his heart and labor and for many years he was a true foster father of the church."

Rev. Dr. Brooks said of him: "He had been a pillar of the church through ali its early years, not because he had wealth to sustain its enterprises, not because of any commanding talents, but be- cause every man who knew him, respected his sim- plicity of heart and purity of character and because, converted in his early childhood, he evidently loved the blessed Savior."

He married, at Lunenburg, Massachusetts, which adjoins Fitchburg, May 3, 1798, Comfort Jones, daughter of Samuel and llannah ( Adams) Jones, of Medway, Massachusetts. The ceremony was per- formed by Rev. Zabdiel Adams, of Lunenburg. ( For the ancestry of Comfort Jones, see accompanying sketch of Jones and Adams families.)

The following is taken from the Lewis History of Worcester County: "Alrs. Crocker was a de- scendant of the celebrated Adams family and in- herited all its self-reliance and independence of char- acter. Nobly struggling under adverse circum- stances, and unwilling to receive assistance not ab- solutely necessary, she aimed to nurture the children in habits of honest industry and to accustom them to exertion, not only from necessity but also from choice. Such an education as they received proved to be a greater instrument of temporal success than large fortunes in the hands of numberless children of luxury and ease. From this sensible and ener- getic young mother Alvah Crocker and his broth-

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ers derived their prominent characteristics." Sam- uel Crocker died August 26, 1856, aged eighty-two years.

The children of Deacon Samuel and Comfort (Jones) Crocker were: Alvah, born October 14, ISOI, of whom later; Phineas A., October 21, 1804; Chandler, November 3, 1806; Thomas, March 13, 18o9; Varamus E., February 7, 1812; Samuel Somerby, October 3, 1813; William Plummer, No- vember 25, 1817. All the foregoing were born in Leominster, Massachusetts, and are recorded as here given.

(IV) Alvah Crocker, son of Deacon Samuel Crocker (3), was born in Leominster, Massachu- setts, October 14, 1801. At the early age of seven he began to earn wages and contribute to the sup- port of the family. When he was eight he went to work in the paper mill of Nichols & Kendall in Leominster, where his father was employed ås vat man, and from that time until he was sixteen he earned from a dollar and a half to three dollars a week. During this period he had eight weeks of school each winter except in 1813 when he had but two. His father was a stern, rigid and uncompro- mising Puritan, intensely religious. There were no books in the Crocker home when Alvah was a boy, but he had access to a very good library in the home of his employer, Israel Nichols, and the boy made the most of his privileges. By working over- time in the mill at night, for which he was paid at the rate of four cents an hour, he accumulated fifty dollars. He spent this sum on his education. taking a term in Groton Academy. He returned to Leominster when his money was gone and kept school, intending to earn more money and go to college. But his father's orthodoxy interdicted a course at Harvard College on account of the Uni- tarian spirit prevailing there, and the boy went to Franklin, New Hampshire, to work in a paper mill.

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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 64

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