USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Spencer > Historical sketches relating to Spencer, Mass., Volume I > Part 5
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JOHN PYNCHON, SAML PARTRIGG, JOHN CLARKE, ISAAC PHELPS, SAM'L MARSH.
Brookfield, May 29, 1700.
"The General Court voted the sum of 5 lbs. for mending the road aforesaid, where it is needed." This was about $1.50 per mile, but then those were truly days of "small things."
A New England Town in 1719.
Let us now get the picture of a New England village as it ap- peared at the time of the advent of Samuel Bemis into Leicester and we shall then, bearing in mind what has preceded, have a fairly complete idea of the appearance of the country, his environment and the conditions under which he was obliged to labor. The fol- lowing description of Worcester in 1719 is taken from Lincoln's History : "There were 58 dwellings here at that time and about 200 persons. Tradition says they were humble edifices, princi- pally of logs, one story high, and with ample stone chimneys. Some were furnished with windows of diamond glass where the resources of the proprietor afforded means for procuring such a luxury. The light was admitted in many through the dim trans- parency of oiled paper."
Houses Have Plank Doors.
From other sources it is learned that the doors to the houses were made of planks in the most substantial way, nailed together with wrought iron nails and securely clinched. The windows were strongly made and opened outwardly, while inside, as a fur- ther protection, were heavy wooden shutters.
After 1722 we learn but little more of Samuel Bemis until the summer of 1726, the year he built the first framed house in what is now Spencer. This building was two stories in height
60
SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
and covered 800 square feet of ground. This is learned from a a description given by the assessors in 1798, when they report as above and add that the house contains eleven windows and sixty-seven square feet of glass. This would give an average of six square feet to a window, or about one half the usual size of windows at the present time. This house was taken down about 1845 or within the memory of many now living. It was no small undertaking at that time and place to build a house of that size. Housewrights, as carpenters where called in those days, were not plentiful, John Stebbins of Leicester hill, being the principal one then in the town. It may have been that the father-in-law of Samuel Bemis, John Barnard of Sudbury, a housewright, super- intended its construction. All the timber must needs be cut, lined, scored and hewed.
Framing a New House for Samuel Bemis.
The present method of framing was unknown. Each stick was in turn made to fit into its place in another stick by a process known as the scribe rule, that is the whole frame had to be put together on the nround, one section at a time, each tenon and mortise made the complement of each other and then taken apart and laid away until the time of raising. And then, when the frame was all ready, a bee was ordered and all the men in the country around were invited to attend and help raise the build- ing. At that time there were to be had in country places no ropes and tackle-nothing but the muscle of hardy yeomen was available. Every man came who could. To go to a rais- ing was to have a holiday of the most pleasant character and so we may suppose the neighbors of Samuel Bemis in Brookfield and Leicester turned out in force on the morning of some fair day in 1726, and before the sun went down had made him the happy possessor of the skeleton of a house of his choice, strongly and securely erected and ready for its outside covering. When com- pleted, into this house he moved and here spent the days of his vigorous manhood and at last when enfeebled by age bid adieu to the scenes of earth.
Why Seven Mile River Was so Named.
The Seven Mile river in Leicester and the Five Mile river in Brookfield were so designated by the early settlers on Foster Hill, in Brookfield, to denote the distance from their settlement to the fording places where these streams crossed the Boston trail. In 1725 the town of Leicester was complained of at the Quarterly Session of the Worcester Court, and under a law then in force
61
SAMUEL BEMIS.
fined for failing to provide a bridge at the junction of the Seven Mile river with the "Country Road" near the house of Samuel Bemis. This protest, though an expense to Leicester, did not bear immediate results, and in 1728 the town was again fined, with total costs amounting to about seventy-five dollars, and this time was aroused to action. There was a town meeting legally convened, March 5, 1728, "to see what steps and methods the town will take to answer the presentment at the Quarter Sessions for not erecting a bridge over the Seven Mile river. Voted that Lieut. Thomas Newhal and Mr. Josiah Converse do answer the presentment at the Quarter Sessions in behalf of the town for not building the bridge over Seven Mile river."
First Bridge Over Seven Mile River.
The money was raised for the bridge and it was completed the year following, but the structure appears to have been a crude attempt at bridge building, and was probably built low down near to the stream and only wide enough for the pas- sage of a single team. Owing, probably, to the superficial char- acter of the structure we find the town, Nov. 2, 1741, consider- ing the question whether it would be better to repair the old bridge or build a new one as we learn from the following record:
Att a meeting of the freeholders and other inhabitants of ye town of Leicester, Leagaly convened upon Monday, the second day of November, 1741, that whare as the sum granted by this town for the repairing the highways in this town prove in sufficiant and more particularly in the western part of said town there being so much wanting to be done either in repairing the bridge over Seven Milde River or to build a new Bridg over said river this is therefore to see if ye town will grant a sutable sum of money to repare or build said Bridge or what may be nessarey for any other part of said town as allso to see what the town will alow to each man for a days work at said bridge as allso for cart and oxen and put ye care there of into ye hands of a sutable committee or other ways to see what ye town will do in the affare a Bove mentioned. Voted that ye sum of eight shillings be a lowed to each 111an for a days work at ye above said Bridg at the Discression of the Committe and the sum of five shill- ings a day for a pair of oxen and the suni of three shillings a day for a cart in the business a Bove said
Samuel Bemis Directs Sixty-five Men at Bridge Building.
The town voted the money needed and this time a substan- tial structure was erected, occupying about two weeks' time, with Samuel Bemis apparently superintendent of the work. No man before or since probably had such an array of help at the build- ing of a wooden bridge in town as Mr. Bemis directed on this occasion, no less than sixty-five different men being employed
62
SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
during its construction, as will be seen by the following document recorded in 1742:
Mr. William Green,
Treasurer of the town of Leicester,
Sir-Whare as the inhabitants of this town at a meeting Reg- ularly convened, voted to raise the sum of sixty pounds to build a Bridg over Seven Mile River in this town and the same have bin assessed on the Inhabitants and Delivered to the last year's Consta- bles, viz: John Crowl and patrick Watson, and the several persons which are here under written working in Building the Bridg the sum affixed against his name all which sums so affixed you are de- sired to pay to the several persons here under named and the same shall be alowed to you.
JOHN LYND, JOHN WHITTEMOR, JOSHUA NICKOLS, LUK LINCOLN, BENJAMIN TUCKER, Selectmen of Leicester:
L. s.
d.
L. S.
d.
Benj. Woodart,
16
Josaniah How,
8
David Earl,
8
Henery White,
Jacob Briant,
S
John Orms, I
4
Edward East,
S
Thomas Graton, 16 John Stebbins, 8
Daniel Denny,
2
IO
6 Samuel Bemis, Jr , I
4
James Southgate,
I
6
Thos. Richardson, I I2
Ichabod Merrit, I
4
John Whittenior,
I
4
Edward Bond,
8
Daniel Snow, 1
16
Robert Woodart,
8
James Smith,
8
Oliver Witt,
8
franses how,
8
William Green Jr.
8
John Graton,
13
Joseph Tompson,
I
4
William Wickor,
8
John Reed, I
4
Jonathan Sargent, I
4
hugh Cunningham,
8
Rich'd Southgate, Jr.
8
patrick Watson; I
17
William Sinkley,
8
Rich'd Southgate,
I
6
Benjamin Johnson, 2
8
John Lynd, I
17
Nathaniel Green,
16
Thonias Lowden,
16 6
Joseph Shaw, Benj Bond,
8
John Lynd, Jr ,
8
Thomas Smith,
8
John Sanderson,
16
Joseph Trumbel,
8
phinice Newton,
8
William Earl,
8
8
Samuel Tucker,
I6
8
John Potter,
8
5 I2
Archabel Lamond,
8
6
Samuel Brown,
I
14
Joshua Whitney,
Thomas Steel,
I
4
William Green,
2
18
peter Silvester,
I
I2
Jonathan Lamb, I 14
Israel Parsons,
2
12
Jacob Shaw,
8
Jonathan Newhall,
I
6
Samuel Barns,
I3
Daniel Lynd,
16
John Converse,
I
6
I
9
John Scott,
I
12
8
Joshua Nickols,
I
Jonas Livermor, William Thompson, Samuel Bemis, David Adams,
I5 8
8
Robert Griffin,
63
SAMUEL BEMIS.
At a town meeting held March 15, 1742, Art. 5, was as fol- lows :
To see if the town a low ye Coumpts of the Committe that was impowered to Build a Bridg over Seven Mile River in this town as allso to see if they will make sum a lowance to Mr. Samuel Bemis for timber cut in his land to Build said Bridg with and grant money to pay ye same. Voted to allow ye account of the Comity in holl that was chosen to buld ye Bridg over seven mile river. Voted that ye sum of 161b IIs 6d be granted and assessed to defray ye charge of building ye bridge over seven Mild river.
The sides to the bridge, however, were open and so remained for fifty-seven years, when at a town meeting held May 14, 1798, it was "voted to repair the Bridge near Amasa Bemis' house, and to have rails both sides of the Bridge and causeway."
SEVEN MILE RIVER BRIDGE.
The famous Seven Mile River Bridge, near the original homestead' of Samuel"Bemis. The center of the old fordway was about ten feet from the north or opposite side of the bridge as shown in the engraving.
64
SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
Church Relations in Leicester and Spencer.
While Samuel Bemis appears never to have been a commu- nicant of the church, his relations thereto and to the parish with which he was connected, seem to have been of a most cordial character. In 1733, we find him paying for the sup- port of the Leicester church 2lbs. Is. 8d., or the most of any man in a list of thirty-eight tax payers, except John
CHLOE BEMIS,
daughter of Joshua Bemis Jr., and great granddaughter of Samuel Bemis Sr. Born in Spencer, April 1, 1820, now living. Married Lorenzo O Livermore in May, 1840, better known by the name of Lory. Their children were; Walton Livermore and Mrs. Frances Livermore Stone, now living in Spencer, and Rev. Albert Livermore of Mon- tour Falls, New York.
Lynd, who paid 2lbs. IIS. 7d. In 1734, out of a list of seventy- five persons taxed, he paid ilb. I9s. Id., which amount was ex- ceeded by only four persons. In 1735, he paid for mending glass in the meeting house 6s. 6d. For entertaining council 16s. 6d. For Rev. David Parsons settlement 18. 10d. For paying Rev. Mr. Goddard's arrears, and Dea. James Southgate for entertain- ing Mr. Goddard and "sum other ministers in ye year," ilb. 6s. 4d.
65
SAMUEL BEMIS
Only two others out of a list of ninety-four who were assessed, paid as large a tax. In 1736 he paid toward Rev. Mr. Goddard's salary 2lbs. IIs. Iod., which amount was exceeded by only two persons: Jacob Lawton, who paid 3lbs. 8s. Iod. and John Lynd, who paid 3lbs. 5s. 3d.
Rev. David Parsons Sues the Town
In 1737, the Rev. David Parsons sued the town for arrearage in salary, won his suit, and to help liquidate this debt Samuel Bemis paid 2lbs. 16s. 5d., and these sums fairly rep- resent his annual payments in support of the gospel. "As early
SPENCER SCENERY. Overlooking beautiful Brooks Pond with its many islands, from summer residence of Dr. A. A. Bemis.
as April 2, 1739, Samuel Bemis and John Stebbins, in behalf of other settlers, met the proprietors at Boston to see about support of a minister of the gospel," and later "Samuel Bemis and John- athan Lamb were chosen assessors to levy a tax to support the preacher .- Draper, p. 87.
In 1744, when the western half of Leicester had been erected into a precinct which was July 18th of that year, a parish meeting was held Sept. 10th, at which it was voted that Mr. Samuel Bemis, John Newhall and Mr. James Wilson be the assessors. Also voted that Samuel Bemis, John Cunningham, Johnathan Lamb, John
5
66
SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
Stebbins and James Wilson be a committee for calling general meetings. On the same date and on the town's book of records the following statement is made :
An Unusual Document
We, whose names are hereunto subscribed do for ourselves and ours, hereby declare ourselves fully satisfied on the account of any charge or charges that we have been at of any public nature or degree whatsoever for this society from the beginning of the world to this day as witness our hands.
Varwell Being
JOHN ORMES, JOHNATHAN LAMB, JOHN STEBBINS, HIS WILLIAM X SINKLER, MARK JAMES WILSON,
JOHN CUNNINGHAM,
JOSHUA BARROW,
SAMUEL BEMIS, JR.,
DAVID ALEN, JOHN NEWHAL, MOSES SMITH, JOSIAH ROBINSON.
Sept. 30, 1744, the committee called the freemen "to meet at the meeting house in said parish in respect of their choosing Mr. Joshua Eaton to be their gospel minister and also in respect to his settlement and salary and also to receive Mr. Eaton's answer to settle amongst us," which he had been invited to do at a previous meeting. It appears that Mr. Eaton gave a favorable response to their invitation for at the same meeting it was voted that James Wilson, Samuel Bemis, Johnathan Lamb and John Stebbins be a committee to provide for the ordination, which took place Novem- ber 7th. At a parish meeting, Dec. 24, 1744 "to see about building seats in the meeting house" it was voted that Samuel Bemis, Johnathan Lamb, James Wilson, Johnathan Ormes, John Stebbins, Moses Smith and Joshua Barton be a committee to build the body of the seats and to mark out and set a price on the pwe spots." "Voted that Mr. Samuel Bemis shall have the pwe spot on the right hand side of the coming of the south door, prize 5lbs., the highest cost of all." "Voted, tenthly that Mr. Samuel Bemis, Jr., have the pwe spot at the left hand side of the coming
67
SAMUEL BEMIS.
in of the east door in case that he provides the whole of the wad- ing Stuf for the Bodey of the Seets."
At a meeting held March 29, 1745 "voted eighthly that Dea- con Willson, Mr. Samuel Bemis and Left. Lamb be a comety for to divide the ministerial and school lot."
On November 25, 1745, the parish "voted that Johnathan Lamb, Samuel Bemis and James Wilson be a comety to rickon and setal accounts with Mr. Eaton."
At a meeting held on "Mundy, March 14, 1749," it was voted "to raise fifty pounds Old Tenor to pay Mr. Samuel Bemis' account he hath against ye Parish."
DRIVE THROUGH SPENCER PUBLIC PARK.
The only town offices to which he was elected, thus far found recorded, are those of constable and "Sarvayour of ye Hiways," but his posterity have been honored with town office beyond that of any other Spencer family.
His interest in schools cannot be determined except from the fact that he appears to have paid his school tax whenever there was an assessment and never asked for any abatement. He also took the schoolmaster into his family circle in the days when boarding around was in vogue, and at another time to have boarded him continuously throughout one-half a probable term of eight weeks, as by the town record of March 3, 1746, when it was
68
SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
"voted to a low to Samuel Bemis the sum of four pounds eight shillings old tenor for Bording our schoolmaster, Adam Boolard one month & keeping his horse one month."
It will thus be seen from the preceding records that Samuel Bemis in his prime was active in promoting the religious inter- ests of the town and served on many important parish commit- tees, but neither the anathemas of Rev. David Parsons nor the tears and tender entreaties of Rev. Joshua Eaton prevailed upon him to become a communicant of the church he in so many ways fostered. He was now nearing sixty years of age ; his sons had grown to manhood, married and settled around him and from now on he appears to have gradually relinquished cares of a public nature. On March 4, 1764, at the age of seventy-two he ceases to be the manager of his farm, one hundred acres of which, with "a mansion house and barn thereon where I now live," he deeds to his son Joshua.
Samuel Bemis in His Old Age.
He has lived to see the town of his choice gradually develop into a thriving settlement, and his voice and deeds have been po- tent in shaping its destiny. He has lived to see two of his sons march away to the French and Indian Wars, and come home laden with honors, uncontaminated with the vices of the camp. He has seen his grandchildren multiply until it seems probable that he may have been unable readily to have called them all by name, and now as he is nearing the close of life he sees, on the 20th of April, 1775, his son Jonas and six of his grandsons march as minutemen for the defence of the colonies. The Brookfield Rangers, in which company his son Jonas was a lieutenant, must needs pass his door, and whether the time was midday or mid- night, no doubt he was in readiness to see the men march by to the music of the fife and drum, and waving his hand bid them God speed as they pressed on and out of sight on their way to Cambridge. But from now on, being old and feeble, his days fly swiftly by and in 1776, at the age of eighty-four, he is laid away by the side of the wife of his youth in the old churchyard on the hill, having completed his life work and won the respect and esteem of his fellow-citizens.
Sarah Barnard's Ancestry.
His wife, Sarah Barnard, came from English ancestry. She was born at Watertown, January 25, 1694, and died at Spencer, September 30, 1755, preceding him twenty years. Her father, grandfather and great grandfather Barnard were named John. John Barnard Senior, born in 1602, came to America from Ips- wich, England, in the ship Elizabeth, William Andrews master, in 1634 with his wife Phebe and their son John, aged three, and
69
SAMUEL BEMIS.
settled at Ipswich in this State. Her father was a housewright and lived at Watertown, and his surname, Barnard, has to some extent been used in Spencer as a given name in the Bemis and other families.
The names of the children of Samuel Bemis and wife were as follows :
Where born.
Name.
Where died.
Date,
Age.
Watertown
Samuel
Date. May, -, 1716
Spencer Aug. 15, 1793
77
Edmund
Nov 1, 1720
66
Dec. - , 1810
90
Sudbury
William
Nov. 1, 1722
Mar. 23, 1801 78
Spencer
Nathaniel
-, 1725
66
Jan. - , 1784 61
Sarah
Dec. 12, 1727
Joshua
July 14, 1729
Mar. 24, 1789
59
66
Elizabeth
-- , 1732
--
Jonas
Mar. 25, 1737
66
May 7, 1790
53
-
Bemis Family as Workers.
The sons all settled in Spencer and their average ages at death was the psalmist's allotted length, three score years and ten. They were all farmers, men of action and property, who from morning till evening, we conclude, or from sun to sun, which was in those times the working day, felled the forests, dug out the stumps, cleared the fields of rocks, built rail and stone fences, reclaimed the swamps, dug ditches, built roads and such other pioneer work as was needed to be done in addition to tilling the soil and caring for their stock. Surely there was no lack of work in those days, and while there was not much money in circulation, the people all managed to be comfortably fed, clothed and housed. It was while these men were living that roads actually begun to be made, since for the first thirty years after the settlement of the town there were no roads except the "Country Road," nothing but cart paths from house to house.
Bemis Family at Road Building.
The first road laid out by competent authority was in 1750, but from the beginning of road making in Spencer as our records will show, up to the year 1901 under the administration of Lewis D. Bemis, road commissioner, the Bemis family have had a great proclivity for road making, and it is safe to say that of the one hundred miles of roads in town, adding thereto twenty-five miles of roads abandoned, there is hardly a rod on which at one time or another some Bemis has not worked. In one year there were four highway surveyors of the Bemis name.
The son of Samuel, who became the most distinguished, was Captain Edmund, and after him Corporal Jonas, both from ser- vice in the Colonial Wars. The following obituary notice orig- inally appeared in the Massachusetts Spy of December 26, 1810, but is now reproduced from Draper's History of 1841.
70
SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY .
BEMIS HILL.
Looking toward the west from the Nathan Bemis, Jr. place. Samuel Bemis settled at the foot of this hill and the location was near the center of the picture, the present site of Bemnis Memorial Park. (Photographed by Geo. A. Craig, Esq.)
71
SAMUEL BEMIS.
Captain Edmund Bemis.
"Died in Spencer, Captain Edmund Bemis, aged 90 years. There are some things worthy of record in the life of this aged and war worn veteran. His father was the first settler in Spen- cer, having removed from Sudbury, to this town, about the time of the birth of this son, that is, about 1720. This son Edmund has been very remarkable for his habits of honesty, industry and temperance, which have produced a long life of health and happi- ness. He early entered into the service of his country, and was a Lieutenant at the reduction of Louisburgh in the year 1745. At this siege he was a zealous and active officer. After the French had surrendered to the victorious arms of New England, it was found they had spiked their cannon, intending thereby to render them entirely useless to the captors. It had been heretofore deemed an impracticable thing, after a gun was thus spiked, to drill it out, or by any other method whatever, to render it again fit for service. The commander of the American forces, offered a premium to any one who would undertake the task, if he should prove successful.
Finds a Way to Utilize Spiked Cannon.
"Lieutenant Bemis undertook it, and by a process heretofore never thought of, effected the desired object. Instead of drilling, as was supposed to be the only practicable method, he collected a large quantity of wood around the cannon, and setting it on fire, heated them to such a degree that with a cold punch, the spike was easily driven into the barrel. Thus was he the author of a useful discovery to his country, which has ever since been followed with complete success. After the reduction of Louisburgh, he was a Captain in the war with France which succeeded, at the close of which he returned home, to seek that repose among his friends, which he has since enjoyed without interruption.
Digs the First Grave in the Old Cemetery.
"It will perhaps be, worthy of notice, as one singular circum- stance, that he dug the grave for the first person in Spencer, up- wards of seventy years ago. As he was the first person who prepared a mansion for the dead in this town, so likewise he is the last inhabitant who has removed to those gloomy mansions, be- tween which times, there are supposed to have been not less than twelve hundred persons consigned to the same place, which he first marked out, and of which he has since taken possession."
The grave alluded to was for Elizabeth Adams, infant child of David Adams, a neighbor who settled in Spencer in 1734. The child was buried in 1742 in what is now known as the old
72
SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
cemetery where a headstone may be seen erected by some one of a later generation. Nathaniel Cunningham gave the above land to the town in 1740 "for the accommodation of a meeting house and for other parochial and municipal purposes." Before this time interments were made at Leicester.
MOOSE LAKE AND PUBLIC PARK GROVE.
The land comprising Spencer Public Park is in the rear of the late David Bemis' house and was purchased from him and donated to the town by Hon. Luther Hill. The purchase price was $2, 100 -- of which amount David Bemis discounted $100 in view of the purpose for which it was to be used.
Louisburgh Fortress Strongest in America.
In order to give a better idea of what was accomplished at Louisburgh, which is on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, the following descriptive matter is added: About 1713 the French began erecting fortifications here, designed to be the strongest in America. The work continued for thirty years and five million dollars was expended on the fortress and armament. The station thus became very important to the naval and fishing interests of France in America and threatened serious loss in time to the English and colonial fisheries. Massachusetts in such a case would have been the chief sufferer among the colonies, and ever alive to her interests, in 1745 while England and France were at war, sent an expedition to attempt the capture of this strong cita-
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