USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Historical collections: containing I. The Reformation in France; the rise, progress and destruction of the Huguenot Church. Vol II > Part 3
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" A petition of William Ward, Esq., and Joshua Morse, showing that divers inhabitants of Medfield did, in the year 1727, petition the Gen- eral Court for the grant of a tract of land for a township lying between Oxford, Brooktiekl, and Brimfield, and the Province line, for such con- sideration as they should judge proper; whereupon, the court appointed that the said lands should be surveyed and valned, and the committee, after viewing the same, reported the value of the land to be £1, 000, and praying, in behalf of the said petitioners, that the said land may be granted and confirmed to them by this Court.
"In the House of Representatives, read and voted, that the prayer of the petitioners be granted, etc., etc., etc., the same verbatim to the action on the petition, July 4, 1729, thus passing the House as before.
" In council ; read and concurred."
It has now been shown that after several years' persistent effort these Medfield petitioners secured the grant for which they had labored.
Besides the names upon the third petition, are the following, who united as partners in this grant, and probably attended the first meeting of the proprietors in Medfield.
By the foregoing conditions of the grant, Joshua Morse was empowered to call the first meeting of the proprietors, and to act as moderator.
The new members were Nehemiah Allen, Moses Allen, Seth Wight, David Morse, Moses Marcy, David Shunway, and John Harding.
Joshua Morse was an inn-keeper at Medfield, and called the first meeting of the proprietors at his tavern, and all the sub- sequent meetings, for a period of seven years, were held there. This place of meeting was, no doubt, adopted, from the fact that for several years after the grant was made, the wilderness country in which these lands were situated, without roads, stores for family necessities, physicians, schools, and, in fact, but little land cultivated for raising provisions for man, or a supply of feed for domestic animals, did not admit of the com-
24
STURBRIDGE.
forts and conveniences of life to make it proper for the pro- prietors to remove there with their families.
It is understood, and known from traditionary reports, that it was the custom of these pioneer settlers to travel to this grant in the spring, and labor upon their allotments until the commencement of winter, and then return to their homes in their native town, for such as resided at Medfield ; and as the greater number were from that town, they thus immigrated in the spring and returned in the autumn, until about the time they had erected their dwellings, out-houses, felled the forests, and brought into cultivation the quantity of land prescribed in the conditions annexed to the act for the grant. Further- more, they had all the roads to make, their meeting-house to build, and to provide generally for themselves, their families, and animals, which required great labor and constant indus- try through the period of seven years allotted them to fulfill the terms upon which they would be entitled to ask the Gen- eral Court to grant them an act of incorporation for a town, and authority to choose the necessary officers for the proper organization thereof.
In carrying on all these early transactions Abraham Hard- ing acted as the clerk of the company of proprietors. At first, the grant took the name of Dummer, in honor of Lieutenant- Governor Dummer,* under whose administration they first petitioned for this land, but as they progressed in their im- provements for settlements the grant took the name New Medfield.
The first business of the proprietors upon the territory in- chided in the grant was to lay out fifty house lots for the
* William Dummer was a worthy and honored citizen of Massachusetts. He was commis- sioned as lieutenant-governor in 1716. At the departure of Governor Shute, January 1, 1723, he was left at the head of the Province, and continued as such until the arrival of Bur- net in 1728. He was also chief of the government after the doath of Shute, and until Gov- ernor Belcher arrived iu 1730. IIe was the founder of Dummer academy at Newbury. the first in Massachusetts. He died, October 10, 1761. aged eighty-two.
25
STURBRIDGE.
number of persons who were united and entitled to the pro- prictorship. These lots were to be settled upon, and the im- provements made thereon, as required in the act of the Gen- eral Court, as without this improvement their title would be void.
Owing to the great inequality of soil in this territory, they decided to lay out 100 lots, or twice the number required by the act ; and they appointed a committee to attend to that duty, none of the tracts to contain less than fifty acres, but to add such number of acres to the poorer lots as in their judgment would make them equal in value to the best. When the 100 lots had thus been laid out and equalized by suitable additions of land, they unite two lots by placing such two together throughout the allotments as would make fifty double lots of as near an equal value as was possible in the judgment of the committee.
CHAPTER Il.
DIVISION OF LANDS.
"THE first division of lands by the founders of Sturbridge was on the 9th of July. 1730. Prior to this, the land had been divided into 100 lots, not less than fifty acres each, as before related. Each proprietor was to have a home- stead of fifty acres, and an additional lot of fifty acres or more ; thus in drawing for these lands each ticket had stated upon it two of these parcels, which the committee who sur- .veyed and laid out the several traets believed they were a fair average in value of all the lots to be divided. Mr. William Ward was the surveyor, who had charge of running out the lines of these several divisions. The whole cost of survey and overlooking the same was £164, 13s., which, with other charges, was assessed upon fifty homestead lots, £4 to each.
The following names were entitled to share in this first di- vision, and drew each two lots, as set against their respective names :
" Meletiah Bourn
Drew Lots Nos. 45 . and 4 East
William Ward
42
and 18
Shuball Goram
.6
25
and 37
Thomas Learned
..
7 West and 65
Nathan Fiske
7 East and 29 West
Henry Fiske
30 .. and 75
Ebenezer Learned
..
44 and 6 East
Nalnum Ward
11 West and 15
Gersham Keyes
24 East and 31 West
Zerubbabel Eager
2 West and 76
John Sherman
.
48 and 25 East
Joseph Baker
6 6
17 and 26
Jonas Houghton
..
35 and 22
27
STURBRIDGE.
Thomas Gleason
Drew Lots Nos. 6 West and 68 East
Moses Gleason
٠٠
10 and 9 -
James Gleason
17 East and 52 West
Joshua Morse
..
9 West and 39 East
Joseph Plimpton
11 East and 30 . 12 " and 12 West
Solomon Clark
21 West and 67 East
Timothy Hamant
2 East and 71 West ¥ and 24 1
William Plimpton
..
19 West and 40 East
Abraham Harding
..
20 East and 23 .
Josiah Ellis ..
11 West and 54
Peter Balch
..
14 " and 22 West
Ezra Clark
17 East and 64 “
Samuel Ellis
49 * and 61 **
David Ellis
1 West and 54 East
Franeis Moquet
..
29
and 41 ..
Henry Adams
18 4 and 70 4
Ichabod Harding
43 . and 53
John Plimpton
..
20 West and 55
Josiah Cheney
50
and 13
John Dwight
..
21 East and 8 West
Jonathan Boyden
.6
8 and 21 4
Joseph Clark
..
36 West and 60 East
Nathaniel Morse
58
and 69
10 and 26 4
" Lots not divided at this meeting, but left for new proprietors,
16 West and 73 East 3 .. and 66
62
and 23
15
and 32 6
" Lots not divided at this meeting, but left for future disposal,
13 .. and 19
16 East and 33 West
i
46 West and 28 East
"The following persons were admitted as proprietors after this first drawing: Nehemiah Allen, Moses Allen, Seth Wight, David Morse, Moses Marcy, David Shumway, and John Harding."
The committee having discharged their duty in allotting the land, a meeting of the proprietors was held, July 9, 1730, when each proprietor drew lots for his share or home- stead, which then entitled him to enter upon such land as fell to him, to consider it as his property, and to commence at once
9 East and 28 West
James Denison
٠٠
Nathaniel Smith
Ephraim Partridge
28
STURBRIDGE.
the necessary improvements to make it a legal homestead in accordance with the requirements of the grant.
It is understood that some of the names which appear as grantees, never removed to this territory ; but the lots which fell to them by the drawing were either improved by them or their children or assigns; thus each complied with the terms of the contract.
The axe, no doubt, was first applied to the leveling of the for- est here in the autumn of the year 1730; but it is believed and understood that the pioneer settlers did not generally appear until the spring of 1731, at which time the felling of the forest trees by the hardy wood-chopper was heard in every (marter of this district.
Henry Fiske, one of the original proprietors, and his brother Daniel, pitched their tents near the top of the hill which has ever since borne their name. They had been at work some time without knowing which way they must look for their nearest neighbor, or whether, indeed, they had a neighbor nearer than one of the adjacent towns. At length, on a clear afternoon, they heard the sound of an axe far off in a sontherly direction, and went in pursuit of it.
" The individual whose solitary axe they heard had also been attracted by the sound of theirs, and was advancing towards them on the same errand. They came in sight of one another, on opposite sides of Quinebaug river. By felling two trees into the stream, one from cach bank, a bridge was constructed on which they were enabled to meet and exchange salutations. The unknown man of the axe was found to be James Denison, one of the proprietors, who, in the absence of a better home, had taken lodgings in a cave, which is still to be seen, not far from Westville. In this lonely den he continued his abode, it is said, till a neighboring wolf, who probably had a prior right to the premises, signified
29
STURBRIDGE.
her desire to take possession, when Mr. Denison peaceably withdrew, and built him a house of his own."*
It has been said that "Joseph Smith was the first proprie- tor who remained through the winter in Sturbridge. His dog was his only companion. Alexander Selkirk was not more secluded from human society on the island of Juan Fernandez than Smith was in this place during four months, having neither seen nor heard from a human being in that time."
The cellar that protected his provisions from frost during that solitary period may still be seen on the farm of Jabez Harding, Esq., not far from an aged pear-tree, which Mr. Smith is said to have planted soon after he came.
On the 20th of November, 1733, the company made a second division of land, at which time it was voted that Moses Mareyt have a fifty-acre lot granted him, if he will build a grist-mill on the Quinebaug river at the dam where the said Marcy hath built a saw-mill, to be completed before the last of September, 1736.
* Mr. Denison was a native of Scotland. His parents both dying while he was young, he went to live with his aunt.
When he was about sixteen years of age, he was entieed from home, and embarked on board a vessel bound for New England.
On his arrival in this country, having no other means of paying his passage, he bound himself to the service of the captain. His master disposed of him to a farmer at Medfield, whom the youthful adventurer served for the space of four years and eight months. When he heeame of age, his only earthly estate, besides the elothes on his back, consisted of twenty- five cents, which he obtained for the skins of two muskrats he had trapped. Being a young man of industrious habits he was admitted into partnership with this company. Mr. Denison married his wife in Medfield, and removed her to this town in May, 1732. She was probably the first woman that ever shared the tolls or enjoyed the bliss of domestic life in Sturbridge. On the Ist of August following she became the mother of Experience Denison, the first child born in the town, who became the wife of Captain Ralph Wheelock, and from whom a large and respectable family have descended."
Moses Marey was a native of Woodstock, son of John Marcy, one of the proprietors and first settlers there. His rights as a proprietor in the first allotment was not less than
100 acres, 50
but probably more; to which add this gift
Then add his first purchase of land of Captain Peter Papillon, August 6, 1732, of lots No. 2 and 4, adjoining in the south-west corner of Oxford, covering the mill site - 200 and his second purchase of lot 6, adjoining his first purchase, bought of John
100 Woleott, surviving administrator of Captain Papillon, by deed, March 25, 1736, 450
30
STURBRIDGE.
It is presumed that, before the erection of Mr. Marcy's grist-mill, the settlers here, who had occasion to use a grist- mill, were obliged to go to some of the adjoining towns : Ox- ford, on the east ; Brimfield, on the west ; Brookfield, on the north ; and Woodstock, on the south border. "Perhaps, how- ever, they had no occasion to go ; for it is reported by some of the oldest of their descendants now living, that their prin- cipal diet at first was boiled beans. These they usually pre- pared on the evening of one day in sufficient quantity for breakfast and dinner of the next; so that cookery, which with us has become such a difficult task, they dispatched with great ease in little time .* On the whole, it appears that the honored fathers of this town were men of hardihood, resohi- tion, and self-denial ; and that they found sufficient scope for the exercise of their ability during the first few years of their residence here."
Their chief labor during the first seven years was to erect their homesteads, their meeting house, and the settling among them a learned orthodox minister.
Having fulfilled the aforesaid conditions in the grant, they were incorporated into a town, in May, 1738, by the name of "Sturbridge."
This name is derived from Stourbridge, a town in Worces- ter county, in England; and, as Stourbridge in Worcester- shire, in England, had a town by the name of Dudley for its neighbor in that county, it was quite natural that the coinci- dence should lead the settlers or the court to adopt the name
Beside this large tract of land thus early acquired, he was entitled to his share of all future divisions of lands as a proprietor in this grant. This 450 acres covered all the center village of what is now Southbridge, the water-power of the Central, the Paige or Dresser, and the Columbian Mills.
* " The office of cook, however, even in those days of simple fare, was not entirely free from perplexity. Their household conveniences were by no means of the best ; Henry and Daniel Fiske on one occasion lost their supper, and with it the principal part of their culi- nary apparatus, by the unlucky fall of a stone from the top of the chimney, which dashed to pieces their iron pot while the beans were boiling."
(Note by Mr. Clark.) The writer here follows Mr. Clark in his centennial address.
31
STURBRIDGE.
of Sturbridge for this grant of a town in the county of Wor- cester, in New England.
It is, however, understood that some of the ancestors of these settlers were natives of Stourbridge in Worcestershire, in England.
The following is the act of the Legislature for incorporat- ing this town :*
"ACT OF INCORPORATION.
" AN ACT FOR ERECTING A NEW TOWN IN THE COUNTY OF WORCES- TER, AT A PLANTATION CALLED ' NEW MEDFIELD, ' BY THE NAME OF STURBRIDGE.
" Whereas, The proprietors of a certain tract of land within the county of Worcester, called ' New Medfield,' have fulfilled the conditions of their grant, and therefore pray that they may be incorporated into a township; for want thereof they labor under great difficulties ;
" Be it therefore enacted by his Excellency, the Governor, Council, and Representatives, in General Court assembled, und by the authority of the same, That the tract of land lying between the towns of Brookfield, Brimfield, Woodstock, Oxford, Dudley, and the Province line, and the 10,000 acres, so called, be and is hereby created into a township by the name of Sturbridge, and that the inhabitants thereof be and hereby are vested with all such powers, privileges, and immunities as the inhabi- tants of the other towns within this province are, or by law ought to be, vested with.
" May, 1738."
By an order of the General Court accompanying this act of incorporation, Moses Marcy, who is styled one of the prin- cipal inhabitants, t was authorized and empowered to issue his
* See Acts of General Court, State Department, vols. from 1692 to 1694 .-
Colonel Moses Marcy was born in Woodstock, Connecticut (then a town under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts), April 18, 1702, and was married to Prudence Morris, daughter of Edward Morris, of that town, and one of the original proprietors thereof, August 19, 1723; she was born, August 9, 1702. Their parents. John Marcy and Edward Morris, were neighbors, but the latter was a man of note, even in the town of Roxbury, his native place, his father having been a member of the Governor's council; but the for- mer Mr. Marcy was of more humble position in society; thus Moses, his son, was not doomed the equal in a social position with that of Miss Prudence, and objections were interposed against the attentions of this suitor for the hand of the daughter of the more aspiring Morris; it is reported that they even confined Miss Prudence to her chamber,
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STURBRIDGE.
warrant for the assembling the freeholders, and other inhabit- ants qualified to vote in town affairs, for the purpose of choosing officers. The first meeting for the choice of officers for the organization of this town, was held the 18th of September, 1738, at which Moses Marey was chosen moderator ; Daniel Fiske, town clerk ; Daniel Fiske, Moses Marcy, and Henry Fiske, selectmen ; Joseph Smith, constable, and the other usual officers of that period. Fence-viewers, surveyors of high-ways, hog-reeves, deer-reeves, and a clerk of the market. " It is rather difficult," remarks Mr. Clark, " for the inhabitants of this period to comprehend the duties of the last named office, as there appears nothing yet in the market, unless it were wood and wild land." These officers were to hold their appointments till the annual March meet- ing. The business affairs of the town now commenced ac- cording to the rights and powers of corporate bodies of this character.
On the 13th of February, 1739, the selectmen of Sturbridge issued their first warrant for a town meeting. As it gives an
and forbade hier lover's visits to the house. Notwithstanding these precautions, he found means of bringing the young lady to a secret parley one night from her chamber window. During this stolen interview it was agreed between them that he should secretly repair to a place some miles distant called " Pamlico," and that she should obtain her parents' leave to visit a relative of hers at that place. The careful parents could make no objec- tion to their daughter's proposal, and as it would seem to place her beyond the reach of all annoyance from the unwelcome suitor, they sent her away. Here the parties renewed their acquaintance, and their mutual attachment strengthened till it resulted in matrimony.
They removed to the borders of the Quinebaug, within the limits of the grant to the Medfield petitioners, in the summer of 1732, with a family of five children, which was afterwards increased to eleven. He was soon admitted to a proprietorship, equal with the petitioners, and he not only became "one of the principal inhabitants," as he was styled, but, in the opinion of his fellow-townsmen, the principal one.
Ile was the first citizen who received the appointment of justice of the peace, and was the first representative the town sent to the General Court. He held the office of mode- rator in seventy-two meetings, having been called to the chair at every annual meeting, and at most of the intervening ones, for twenty-four successive years. He was on the board of selectmen thirty-one years, town clerk eighteen, and town treasurer cighit: not unfrequently filling all these offices at once. During the old French war he repeatedly fitted out soldiers for the army on his own responsibility, and from his own private re- sourees, for which he was afterwards remunerated by the town.
lte died, October9, 1772, aged seventy-two, leaving an honorable name, a large estate, and a numerous posterity. The Hon. William L. Marcy, late Governor of New York, was a great grandson of his.
33
STURBRIDGE.
insight into the extent of their municipal affairs at that early day, this warrant is here inserted in full, viz .:
" WORCESTER, SS. :
" To Joseph Smith, Constable of' Sturbridge :
"In his majesty's name you are required forthwith to warn all the free- holders and other inhabitants of the said town, to convene at the meet- ing-house in Sturbridge, atoresaid, on Monday, the 5th day of March next, at nine of the clock, in the forenoon, then and there to elect and depute selectmen, constable, and other town officers (as the law directs), to serve this town the ensuing year; to furnish Mr. Rice's desk with a cushion ; and to agree upon the granting such sum or sums of money as shall be judged needful for the benefit of, and defraying all necessary charges arising within, the said town ; and to agree and conclude upon any other matter or thing which shall be thought needful to promote the benefit and welfare thereof."
So far from attending to " any other matter or thing" at this meeting, it does not appear from the record that all the matters were acted upon as specified. There is no account of any money granted, or cushion furnished for Mr. Rice. In their next meeting, a month later, they granted the minister's salary, hired a man to procure the wood, and voted that twenty-five pounds, about $110, be put into the treasury for the town's use. If this seems now a small sum for defray- ing incidental town charges, it should be remembered that as yet there were no schools to pay for, nor any panpers to support, while the highways to take care of required little, except by requisitions for the labor of men, tools, and teams; and that the price of labor (which is an index to the prices of other things) was six shillings, old tenor, or about fourteen cents per day.
The subject of education was brought into town meeting for the first time, October 6, 1740. In the warrant for that meeting, there was an article, " to see if the town will come into any measures to provide a school." It passed in the negative, and there appears no further action on this impor- tant subject for a year and six months. At length, in
34
STURBRIDGE.
March, 1742, the question was put whether the town will grant twenty pounds for schooling of the children in this town, and that the selectmen should dispose of the same for that purpose ; and it passed in the affirmative. The selectmen divided this sum, giving ten pounds and ten shillings for the support of two schools in the sonth-east part of the town, and nine pounds and ten shillings for the support of two schools in the north- west part. Thus it appears that the first step for support of schools was the establishment of four schools, at an average of five pounds per school .*
The names of the teachers who had the honor of laying the foundation of school instruction here were Margaret Manning and Mary Hoar, subsequently the wives of Jeremiah Streeter and John Stacy.
The next year thirty pounds was voted for the same object, and divided in the same manner; and the year following forty pounds, and it was ordered that one half be expended for winter schools, and the other half for summer; and it appears that in 1745 a school committee of four persons was chosen to hire the dames, and have the charge of the schools.
In 1753 the town voted to build three school-houses, one in the south-east section, within the present limits of Southbridge, one in the north-western, and the other in the center.
* The following comments appear in a note on the subject of schools in this town by Rev. Mr. Clarke, in his centennial address: " Probably there is not a circumstance in the early history of this town which the present and future generation will review with less satisfac- tion. It had been a law of the Province for almost an hundred years," that every township within this jurisdiction, after the Lord hath increased them to the number of fifty house- holders, shall then forthwith appoint one within their town to teach all such children as shall resort to him, to write and read The ancient law was substantially re-enacted with a penalty of ten pounds, about fifty years before this town was incorporated, which penalty, in 1702, was increased to twenty pounds. As the citizens of Sturbridge do not appear to have incurred this penalty, while thus neglecting to provide a public school, we hope that there was sufficient reason, which we can not now discover, for this neglect. But to us, with only the facts we have, it certainly appears unaccountable that while the swine, the cattle, and even the wild deer of the forests came into remembrance at every annual meeting, and secured public favor, the children were thus forgotten." Rev. Mr Clark did not take into his calculation, probably, the fact that during the first seven years but few families resided permanently ou this grant, and many of these pioneer settlers were young men, sons of the petitioners; and again many, not much unlike Mr. James Denison, returned to their native
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