USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Historical collections: containing I. The Reformation in France; the rise, progress and destruction of the Huguenot Church. Vol II > Part 18
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In 1828 he commeneed publishing The Trumpet, in connec- tion with Rev. Russell Streeter, pastor of the society at Water- town; the first issue was July 5, 1828. The cireulation be- eanie large, about 6,000, and it was one of the most efficient publications of the denomination. Mr. Streeter eontinned in this connection only four months, when Mr. Whittemore became sole proprietor.' In 1830 he published his " History of Modern Universalism." In March, 1831, Mr. Whittemore resigned his pastorship of the society in Cambridge. In May following he was elected member of the Massachusetts Legislature from Cambridge, and was continued in that office for several years, ably representing that town, as well as doing good service to the State, in the prominent part he took in effecting a change in the third article of the bill of rights or constitution of Massachusetts. This article provided for the compulsory sup- port of religion ; it made religion a matter of state, and provided for its support by law. He believed and advocated the idea that the support of religion might safely be intrusted to the piety and good sense of the people.
He was, in 1831, made chairman of a committee on this subject, and continued in that office through three sessions. The first year, 1831, the amendment passed the house by a two- thirds vote, but was lost in the senate. The next year it passed through both branches of the Legislature.
The constitution required that it should pass both branches a second year, which was done in 1833. It was then submit- ted to the people, and was adopted by a large majority ; and thus, through the vigorous efforts of Rev. Thomas Whitte- more, religion in Massachusetts became free.
In 1832 and 1834 he published his " Notes on the Par-
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ables." About this time he enlisted ardently in the cause of temperance. Few men in Massachusetts took a deeper interest in this cause, or labored more effectually ; and he desisted from his labors only when disease admonished him that there was a limit even to the endurance of a robust constitution.
Besides editing and publishing The Trumpet, as sole proprie- tor for nearly thirty years, and writing numerous works, he was president of the Cambridge bank, and the Vermont and Massachusetts railroad. His capacity for business and as a writer seemed unlimited, while as a preacher he rarely missed a Sabbath that he did not preach somewhere.
He died in Cambridge, Massachusetts, March 21, 1861, aged sixty-one.
THE TOWN FAMILY.
This name was conspicuous in the early settlement of Oxford, among the first planters who founded that town in 1713. John Town was the first elerk when the settlement was organized, one of the first board of selectmen, and the an- vestor of those of the name in this town and Charlton, which was the west part of same, till 1754.
Jacob, one of the descendants, married Mary, the eldest daughter of Rev. John Campbell, who was born February 11. 1723, and the mother of the late Major-General Salem Town, who was born November 2, 1746, and died July 23, 1825, and father of the late General Salem Town, by his wife, Ruth Moore, of Oxford.
The late General Town was born March 26, 1780, and married Sally Spurr, daughter of the late General John Spurr, born June 15, 1786, and died Angust 19, 1852 : her husband died February 17, 1872, aged 92, and was the father of the late William M. Town, a graduate of Amherst college in 1825 ; studied law at Worcester with the Hon. John Davis and the Hon. Charles Allen ; admitted to the bar in 1828. He began
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his profession in Worcester, removed to Springfield about 1835, and died on April 20, 1841.
THE DAVIS FAMILY.
Ebenezer Davis, born September 18, 1737, died August 12, 1816.
He was remarkable for the accumulation of wealth for his time. He left an estate of $200,000, which it is said was the largest that had been probated in the county of Worcester up to that date.
Although following the pursuit of a farmer, he possessed great wisdom in making the best disposition of all his prop- erty, so as to add to his accumulations and keep all his gains where they would yield a constant income. In his loans he never exacted extortionate interest : six per cent., the lawful interest, was satisfactory to him.
He was the son of Edward Davis, who married Abigail Learned, of Oxford, daughter of Ebenezer Learned, and sister of General Learned, before referred to in the sketch of Oxford. This Edward was son of Samuel, born at Roxbury, June 23, 1681, who was son of John, of Roxbury, a blacksmith, born on October 1, 1643, who was the son of William, of Roxbury, the first of this branch in this country .*
Ebenezer, the principal subject of this sketch, born on September 13, 1737, married his cousin, Deborah, daughter of Deacon Samuel Davis, of Oxford. Their children were as follows : Asa, married Polly Sabin, died without children ; Abigail, married Abijah Davis, of Oxford, and left no chil- dren; Ruth, married Joseph Washburn, and had seven children, of whom Emory Washburn, late governor, judge, and now law professor at Cambridge, was one; Deborah, married the
* See Savage's Genealogical Dictionary, which gives an account of a large number of this name.
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late Major Calvin Ammidown, father of the late Hon. Eben- ezer D. Ammidown, late deceased, of Southbridge; Lydia, married John Wheelock, whose daughter Sally, married the late Major John Spurr; Cynthia married a MeLean, who was executed in Canada, as declared, for high treason; Sally married Stephen Burroughs, a son of Rev. Stephen Burroughis, of Hanover, New Hampshire ; he was remarkable for his indiscretions and eccentricities of character ; Pame- lia married Samuel Kies, a lawyer by profession ; and Betsey married Dr. Ebenezer Borden, who was born, August 15, 1779, a physician in Charlton many years, and son of Asa Borden, a physician of Scituate, Rhode Island, but removed to Spencer, Massachusetts, and married Deborah Howland, of same place, in 1771.
This Mr. Davis married for his second wife the widow of the late Caleb Ammidown, of Charlton, January 19, 1802 ; she died, March 20, 1820. Her maiden name was Hannah Sabin, daughter of Joseph Sabin, of Dudley, born, February 2, 1741, and married to Mr. Ammidown, of that town, her first husband, April 14, 1758, by Rev. Charles Gleason ; and lived with her first husband till April 13, 1799, time of his decease, at the age of sixty-three.
THE DRESSER FAMILY.
This name appears among those that composed the officers when this town was first organized, and down to a recent period has been conspicuous in its history.
The residence of the late Major Moses Dresser, known as Dresser Hill, is a place of great beauty, having an extensive landscape view rarely excelled for its picturesque display ; by the enterprise of Major Dresser, this hill became noted as a resort for military reviews and general gatherings for several towns in its vicinity.
The late Harvey Dresser was his son, who resided here, and
Harney Defans
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far excelled his father for general enterprise by the great extent and variety of his business operations. He was born in the year 1789, and died, February 8, 1835, aged forty-six.
He began his business life as a painter, and rapidly extended his operations to the manufacture of furniture, carts, wagons, sleighs, and chaises ; besides harness for same, and various descriptions of iron work, including the ironing of carriages, the making of seythes, hoes, etc., monopolizing all these branches for twenty or thirty miles distance. To this he added two country variety stores. From this hill, the center of his operations, he advanced into the center village of South- bridge about 1828, and there erected what has since been known as " The Dresser Brick Block," and the dwelling-house now the residence of Captain Luther and Luther S. Ammidown, near the bank. To all this business he added by purchase of the late Samnel H. Babcock, of Boston, what had been known as the " William Sumner Cotton Mill" (which had, since the death of Mr. Sumner in 1822, passed through the hands of Colonel William Foster), by deed, dated, "June 28, 1831," consideration $12,500, and which has since been known as the " Dresser Cotton Factory."
By the marriage of his only daughter, Mercy; to Colonel C. A. Paige, May 9, 1843, this last estate passed to his possession, but has since been burned, leaving only the valuable water- power, dam, and lands connected therewith, still the property of Mr. Paige.
The rapidity of business extension by Mr. Dresser, and all attended with success, is the best evidence of his activity, skill, and great enterprise.
This great business gave profitable employment to a large number . of mechanics, which opened a consumption and demand for many farm products, and those from other indns- trial pursuits. Many will look back to Mr. Dresser as a benefactor, but while his success gained wealth which enriched
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others besides himself, it was an overtax upon his physical ability which brought him to a premature death, and caused him, not only to be lamented as a friend, but as a loss to the whole community.
REMARKS.
Besides the foregoing there were many persons in this town of considerable distinction, which, with those before given, gave it in former times special notoriety, as one of the most impor- tant of the towns in Worcester county. Its wealth and influ- ence were in no respeet inferior, and scarcely equaled, even by the shire town.
Among some of them may be given names as follows :
Caleb Ammidown, born in 1736. 1755. .. ..
General John Spurr,
Otis Farnum, .. .. 1782.
" October 21, 1821.
Isaiah Rider. born April, 1777. " October 22, 1824.
William T. Rider, .. 1772. .. February 4, 1842.
Dr. Dan. Lamb,
born April, 15, 1779.
.. November 28, 1853.
Major John Spurr,
born in 1783. August 8, 1863.
Nehemiah Stone,
Franklin M. Farnum, born March 30, 1809.
Died April 13, 1799.
" March 2, 1816.
.. April 17, 1869. 1866.
There are others of an early period equally distinguished:
Dr. John Philips, an able physician, and a man of general intelligence.
Captain Israel Waters, a farmer and man of wealth and liberality ; he left by his will a legacy to Leicester academy of over $8,000.
He died in 1823; the executors of his will were Colonel Asa Bacon, of Charlton ; Austin Flint and N. P. Denny, of Leicester ; which was entered for probate in December of same year. Colonel Bacon died in 1854, a man of integrity, and much respected in his vicinity.
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GENERAL SALEM TOWN.
The general is again referred to for his early acquaintance with the late Hon. Wm. L. Marcy. This is a newspaper quotation, and no doubt true ; given by a correspondent of The Liberal Christian :
"I spent a day of my vacation at Charlton, Massachusetts. Bill Marcy (so called when a youth), was a native of this neighborhood, and grew up to be a wild, heady youth. He was thought by his parents and by all the neighbors to be the worst boy they knew. One winter he succeeded. in conjunction with kindred spirits, in ousting the teacher from the dis- trict school. Salem Town, then a young man, was summoned as the fittest person to take charge of these unruly youth, and complete the term.
"Everybody thought the new teacher certainly would have trouble with Bill Marcy. But the trouble did not come. The first day had not passed before Mr. Town had discovered in his pupil an element of real good, and told him so. This, to the boy, was a most unusual acknowl- edgment, and it touched his heart. Some one had seen good in him.
"He was then capable of better things, and was determined to make the endeavor. It was the turning-point in his life.
" Such was his conduct and such was his progress in study, that his teacher advised him to go on and prepare himself for college. It was a great surprise to his parents, but at the urgent solicitation of Mr. Town, they gave their consent, and he was placed under the instruction of a clergyman in the vicinity of his home.
" At length he entered college, and passed through the course with great success; justifying at every step the confidence and hope of his friend. In subsequent life he rose from one degree of eminence and usefulness to another, until at last the whole world was familiar with the name and fame of William L. Marcy.
"Long years after he had left his school-day haunts, and when he had come to deserved eminence, he visited Boston, and was the guest of the then Governor of the old Bay State. Among the distinguished men who were then invited to meet him was General Salem Town. When the governor saw Marcy and Town greet each other as old friends, he very naturally expressed a pleasurable surprise that they knew each other so well.
"' Why! ' said Marcy, that is the man who made me. When I was a boy, everybody was against me. None-no, not even my own father or mother-saw any good in me. He was the first who believed in me,
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told me what I might become, and helped me on in life at that critical juncture. Whatever of merit or distinction I have since attained to, I owe to him more than to any other living person.""
And here it may be remarked, that, General Salem Town was not extraordinary in either intellect or cultivated ability ; he was a man of fair culture and general understanding, but somewhat remarkable in his kindness of heart and genial ten- perament ; for these qualities he was conspicuous.
Through a long life he has acted the part of a useful man, always gaining friends but never losing them. His efforts have exhibited a desire to do good, always interested in pro- moting common school education, good morals, and religion.
In the early period of his life he was for a time engaged by the State authorities as a surveyor, in laying out the public lands in the State of Maine, then known as the Province of Maine, a part of the State of Massachusetts. In this capacity he had served in his more immediate vicinity, under the late Caleb Ammidown, Esq., of Charlton, who was noted in all that region in that respect ; when at the sale of the personal effects of Mr. Ammidown, by his exeentors, after his decease, Mr. Town purchased at public auction on that occasion, the surveying instruments the deceased had for many years been accustomed to use, and which were continued for that purpose by him so long as he followed that occupation.
At a recent period when, having no further use for such in- struments, this writer being on a visit to him, at his residence at Charlton, conversation turned incidentally to the character and doings of the late Caleb Ammidown, the grandfather of his visitor, then accompanied by his cousin, the late Hon. Ebenezer D. Ammidown, and among other things was related by the general, his acquaintance and great respect for the late Mr. Ammidown ; and observed, that he now possessed the identical compass he purchased, and had long used as aforesaid, when by request this instrument was bought by the writer,
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and since by him deposited in the museum or cabinet of the public library of his native town ; the same having been used among the last acts of the late Caleb Ammidown, in making the first survey of the territory, which originally formed the Poll Parish, incorporated in 1801, and which became the town of Southbridge in 1816. There may this compass, the work- manship of the late Peregrine White, of Woodstock, long remain as a memento of the past, appropriately finding rest, reminding those of the present generation, and those to follow, of the valuable duties it has aided to perform, and also serve as a memorial of the character and important services rendered during the wisely and usefully spent lives of the much re- spected owners, through whose hands it has passed, and at last found rest in that useful and excellent institution.
CALEB AMMIDOWN.
In further illustration of the character of Mr. Ammidown and his ancestry, the following is given :
The Ammidowns are descendants of French Huguenots ; the ancestor of all of this name in America was Roger Aimedoune, who came to New England with the first colonists to found Massachusetts. He arrived at Salem (before that place took this name), then called Naumkeag. As Mr. Felt remarks in his history of this town,
" Salem was indebted for its first settlement to the failure of a plant- ing, fishing, and trading enterprise at Cape Ann, which fruitless attempt was made by a number of gentlemen belonging to Dorchester in England, among whom the Rev. John White took the principal lead (about the year 1624).
"His heart was strongly set on establishing a colony in Massachu- setts. His chief desire and exertion was, that it might become a place of refuge from the corruptions and oppressions which prevailed at home under the countenance of James I. He had learned that some persons of the Plymouth Plantations were obliged with their families to leave and reside at Nantasket. The occasion of such a separation was their siding with the Rev. John Lyford, who was ordered to quit the 15A
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former place for his disagreement with most of the inhabitants on sev- eral subjects. Of those thus seceded, Mr. White and his associates chose Roger Conant to take charge of the planting and fishing; John Oldham (before referred to) to superintend the trade with the Indians; and Mr. Lyford to officiate as minister. After a year's trial their prospect of gain was closed. This was then abandoned. when Roger Conant, John Woodbury, John Balch, Peter Palfrey, and some others removed to Naumkeag in 1626."
This may be properly called the beginning of the colony of Massachusetts.
" But surrounded with Indians, this small number began to look for more safe quarters, and only remained through the efforts of Rev. John White, who wrote that he would by no means have the settlement there relinquished, and promised to exert his influence for speedy re-enforce- ments. In 1627, in reference to this settlement. Governor Thomas Dudley wrote to the Countess of Lincoln, that some friends being together in Lincolnshire, fell into discussion about New England and the planting the Gospel there ; and after some deliberation we imparted our reasons by letters and messengers to some in London and the west country : where it was likewise deliberately thought upon, and at length with often negotiation it ripened, so as to have proposals made for a patent."
While this action was in progress in England, looking for a refuge for the oppressed for reasons of their religious faith, which could not yield to the doctrine and polity of the English church, and looking for escape to the Western world, a simi- lar but more violent action was transpiring in France through the oppressions of that government. Under the able minister, Cardinal Richelieu, the whole force of that kingdom was then, in 1627, directed to dispossess the Huguenots of their politi- cal, military, and naval rights under the Edict of Nantes. He had succeeded, by his military efforts, in dispossessing the Huguenots in the precincts of Angumois and Saintonge, and driven them into the city of Rochelle, which then contained a population of about 30,000 inhabitants ;- when he laid siege to that place, and after its continuance about fifteen months, and the city in a state of starvation, with its population reduced to about 5,000 souls by death in its defense, disease, and by
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escape in foreign vessels to other countries; then by promises of protection, the city surrendered.
It was during this siege that many of these Huguenots es- caped to England, among whom was the great ancestor of the family of Aimedoune.
Arriving in England and sharing in his religious faith simi- lar views to that of the Puritans, then projecting the plan for a new colony in New England, he united and embarked among the first colonists for that object. Thus the name of Roger Aimedoune is found in this country first at Salem.
It was at first spelled Aimedoune, but has since been changed by different parties to Amidon, Amadon, and Ammidown, but however spelled, may be traced to the same root, Roger Aimedoune, of Salem ; thence he removed to Weymouth, then to Boston, where he and his wife, Sarah, record the birth of their daughter, Lydia, the first recorded birth in that city in alphabetical order under the letter A. Thence to Rehoboth, then in Plymouth colony, where this ancestor died in 1673.
From thence the descendants became, among others, the early planters at Mendon, and from there to Oxford; among the members of the first church established there, as will be seen, were the names of Philip Ammidown and wife, who were the grand parents of Caleb Ammidown, Esq., of Charlton.
At the close of the Revolution, in 1783, it became necessary for the confederated States of America to devise plans for a revenue to pay the debt incurred by the war, and to meet the current expense of government (there being then no system by duties or imposts upon foreign merchandise imported into the country), a resort to direct taxation, or a system of internal revenue, in some respects like the present one following the late rebellion, was adopted.
The records of the senate in Massachusetts show that on the 10th of February, 1783, it was ordered that Ephraim Starkweather and John Bacon, Esqs., be a committee to col-
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lect, sort, and count the votes for a collector of excise for the county of Worcester, who reported that the whole number of votes was eighteen, and that Caleb Ammidown, Esq., of Charlton, was unanimously elected. He was continued in that office until after the revenue system was established by imposts under the constitution, abont ten years.
Through his services as surveyor and conveyancer, a large portion of the more ancient deeds of land, in the towns of this vicinity-Charlton, Dudley, Oxford, and Sturbridge-are found in his handwriting, in clear and concise drafts, and fine speci- men of penmanship.
The Hon. Emory Washburn, late Governor of Massachu- setts, in his historical sketch of Leicester academy, in the latter part of his very excellent history of that town, refers to Caleb Ammidown in the connection of benefactor to that institution, as follows :
" Caleb Ammidown was of a class of men which were once scattered through the country, whose independence of thought and opinion gave character and consistency to public sentiment of the community at large. Though these men had little other training than the development which circumstances produced, the lack of education was more than supplied by the strong common sense which had been disciplined in the school of necessity. Though the more immediate sphere of Mr. Ammidown was circumscribed within the limits of a single town, yet his influence was felt, and his name and character were known through a much wider circuit.
" As a land surveyor he was engaged by the government in surveying the confiscated estates of the refugees in the Revolution. For many years he was a member of the Legislature, and, as such. was a strong sup- porter of the government during the 'Shay Rebellion,' as it was called .. Among the other responsible offices he was called to fill was that of excise master for the county of Worcester, after the close of the Revo- lution."
To: D. Ammindown
SOUTHBRIDGE.
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SECTION III.
CHAPTER I.
THIS town had its origin in a poll parish, incorporated by
the name of the second religious society in the town of Charlton, February 28; 1801.
For some cause not ascertained, this parish received the name of Honest Town, and continued to be known in all this region of country by that name fifteen or twenty years. The precise time it received this title is equally unknown at this time, but it is a matter of history that the name Honest Town continued until this territory was incorporated as a town by the name of Southbridge.
POLL PARISH.
ITS ORIGIN, PROGRESS, AND TERMINATION.
The first meeting preparatory for establishing a poll parish or town by including within its limits a portion of each of the three towns, Dudley, Sturbridge, and Charlton, was held at the tavern-house of the late Colonel Benjamin Freeman (a central point within the limits aforesaid) early in the year 1795.
At this preliminary meeting the question was discussed, when it was ascertained that the general sentiment of those present favored an immediate movement for securing this
16A
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object. It was represented and believed that the interest of all within the limits designated would be greatly promoted in their religious, political, and social relations, by being united in a separate body politic.
As then situated they were members of different towns, and subjected to great inconvenience, by being compelled to travel, many of them, six miles or more to enjoy like privileges, which, if formed into a separate parish or town, they could have within their immediate vicinity.
To effeet so desirable an object, with all interested, a com- mittee of seven of their number was selected to consider that subject, also the building of a parish meeting-house, the selec- tion of a location for the same, and to make their report at a future meeting. The following-named persons were chosen to act in this behalf: Oliver Plimpton, Daniel Morse, Joshua Harding, Luther Ammidown, Asa Walker, Eleazer Putney, and James Dyer.
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