USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Spencer > Historical sketches relating to Spencer, Mass., Volume II > Part 10
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When this fair day of May comes 'round, We sadly drop a tear On the brave soldier's grassy mound To hold his memory dear And pray that on this blessed land War's fiendish, fiery breath Shall come no more, with smiting hand, To scourge our homes with death.
Large Landowners.
The town of Spencer contains 21, 594 acres of land, of which amount William A. Wilson last year owned 910 acres or one twenty-fourth of the whole. George Wilson had 466 acres and Rufus A. Sibley. 443 acres, each holding about one-fiftieth of the town's area.
AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF REV. ALBERT LIVERMORE
Rev. Albert Liverinore, A. M., son of Lorenzo O. and Chloe D. (Bemis) Livermore, was born Sept. 3, 1843, in Spencer, Mass. in the house on lower Main street where his aged mother still resides. His grandfather, on his fathers' side, was David Liver- more, a Minute Man in the Revolutionary War; on his mother's
REV. ALBERT LIVERMORE.
side, his grandfather was Joshua Bemis, grandson of Samuel Bemis, Spencer's second earliest settler; said Joshua Bemis was a selectman and, for his day, accumulated a handsome estate. His first attendance at school was in the " Old Red School- house " below the homes of the Sumners in District No.
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9. In the second term of its existence he became a pupil of the High School established by the town in the old town hall, and taught by N. P. Pond, recently deceased. He con- tinued in attendance until 1860, when he became a pupil at Wesleyan Academy, from which he graduated in the sum- mer of 1861. Previous to this, a short time after his father's death, in the autumn of 1860, he taught in districts Nos. 3 and 9. Entered Amherst College in the autumn of 1863; at the end of the Freshman year, he enlisted in the 60th Regiment
MRS. CHLOE L. (BEMIS) LIVERMORE.
of Massachusetts Volunteers and at the expiration of his term of service, Nov. 1864, was honorably discharged. During the closing winter of the Civil war, he served at City Point, Va.,. under the United States Christian Commission, teaching contra- bands and serving the varied needs of the soldiers. Resumed his college studies in the autumn of 1865, to complete them in 1868, teaching during two winters in the town of Hubbardston to secure means for the completion of his education. After graduation, for over two years he taught first at the N. Y. Deaf and Dumb Institution, afterwards at White Plains Military Insti-
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tute and was principal of Nichols Academy, Dudley, Mass., dur- ing the autumn before he commenced his studies, preparatory to an entrance upon the work of the gospel ministry. Of his theo- logical course, one year was spent at Bangor, Me. and the last two at the Theological Seminary at Andover, Mass., of which he is a graduate.
His first field of labor was Miller's Falls, Mass., where he was ordained in November, 1874. In 1876 he went west and located at New Richmond, Wisconsin, a city largely des- troyed by a cyclone July 12, 1899. Here his labors were greatly blessed, large numbers coming into the church. The church building was renovated and the society attained self-sup- port. From Wisconsin he went to Michigan, where he labored for five years at St. Ignace, Nashville and Williamston. In the autumn of 1885, a call came from the Presbyterian Church in Spencer, N. Y., where he labored for more than twelve years. At the expiration of his service, he went to Montour Falls, the birthplace of David B. Hill and three miles from the famous Watkins Glen, leaving there after more than three years residence. In Feb. 1902 he became stated supply of the Presby- terian Church at Canaseraga, N. Y. In the opening weeks of his ministry, it was his privilege here to receive the largest ad- dition on any one communion Sabbath in the whole thirty years history of this church.
Amherst College bestowed on him the degree of A. M. in 1871. He represented Chemung Presbytery, of which he was a member for sixteen years, in the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, held at Washington, May, 1893. This was the church court which convicted the famous Dr. Briggs of heresy. Mr. Livermore acted with the minority in this famous case.
He married August 9, 1884, Mrs. Mary E. Bell of New Richmond, Wis., whose birthplace was Longmeadow, Mass. He has a step-son, Judge Frank A. Bell of Waverly, N. Y., special county Judge of Tioga County, the county of the famous "Tom Platt."
The Practical Joker.
The Practical joker doubtless lived in Spencer at an early date but his most active work commenced with the introduction of the small boot bottomers' shops about 1830 and virtually closed at the beginning of the Civil War.
Since then the newspapers have given his active mind plenty of material to engross his thought and attention. The boot factories during the above period enforced but little if any disci- pline and were open to itinerant pack peddlers who went about
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from room to room vending their wares. The crimpers in the third story of the old Grout & Bush boot shop, which stood on the site of the present J. E. Bacon factory, concluded to play a practical joke on all peddlers coming into their room, not wishing to be annoyed by the persistent solicitations of these sons of Israel.
And this story of the practical joker is only one of many that might be narrated. The crimping room had only one door for entrance or exit, and near this, one of the crimpers had his work bench.
They so arranged the latch that it could easily be removed and when so removed the door was securely locked. As each peddler came in, exhibited his goods and passed on, the latch was quietly withdrawn and hidden. The peddler having gone the rounds and finding himself unable to open the door, naturally called at- tention to the fact and all hands apparently would come to see what the difficulty was. Not being able to find the latch, no one could think of a way to open the door and could suggest only two ways of exit. One way was by a rope already on hand for the purpose if required, and the other, to go up through a scuttle door into the attic, from whence access to the street could be at- tained easily by stairways. The peddlers always chose the
scuttle outlet. Boxes already at hand were then piled, one on top of another, until a man standing on them could with his hands easily reach the floor above. It was purposely arranged not to have boxes enough to make the exit easy. The peddler then mounted the pedestal, his pack was passed up and by him thrown onto the floor above and then came the more difficult task of getting up himself. This could not readily be done without assistance, which was always generously volunteered. While he pulled up with his hands the crimpers were supposed to be pushing him upward by his legs, but like untrained horses they did not always work together; some would pull downward while others were pushing upward. At last, after trying exceedingly the patience of the victim, they would give a final altogether push, which generally landed him in a heap on the attic floor.
He was a wise peddler who refrained from using vigorous expletives at this treatment. Some however were not wise, and their wrath only amused the crowd below.
The red letter day in this sport occurred when a Jew and his wife came in together. Out of respect for the woman no rough treatment was attempted on this occasion, although the exit of both was by the scuttle as usual.
It is certain none of the peddlers, who passed through this ex- perience, ever again ventured into that shop. It is supposed when in town, if they came at all, they passed by on the other side of the street.
.
RUFUS ADAMS SIBLEY
Rufus Adams Sibley, son of Brigham and Adaline (Adams) Sibley was born in Spencer, Mass., Dec. 3, 1841; taught district school in the autumn of 1858, also 1859. Entered the store of Grout, Prouty & Co. in 1860 as clerk and bookkeeper ; after remaining there five years he accepted a position as book- keeper with Messrs. Hogg, Brown & Taylor of Boston, Mass.,
VILLA OF RUFUS SIBLEY ON MOOSE HILL.
(Photo by Emerson)
where he was employed until March, 1868, when a copartnership with Alexander M. Lindsay and John Curr was formed under the firm name of Sibley, Lindsay & Curr, for the purpose of con- ducting a wholesale and retail dry goods and manufacturing business in Rochester, N. Y.
9
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RUFUS A SIBLEY.
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This firm erected the twelve story, fire proof, office building known as the Granite Building, and afterwards incorporated the Granite Building Co. with a capital of $1,000,000 to hold real estate, and the Sibley, Lindsay & Curr Co. with capital of $2,000,000 to continue the dry goods business at Rochester, with interests in Minneapolis, Minn., Erie and Titusville, Pa.
Mr. Sibley has been identified with many of the financial, educational and charitable institutions of Rochester for the past twenty-five years, and has maintained for several years a sum- mer residence at Moose Hill Farm, Spencer, Mass.
Punishing a "Copperhead," as Sympathizers with the South were Called During War of Rebellion.
Northern men now living who were born since the Civil War have little conception of the intense spirit of patriotism that pervaded the north during that great struggle, and how little opposition to their views it took to arouse their indignation. This is well illustrated by an incident that occurred in Leices- ter.
After Abraham Lincoln had been shot and Andrew Johnson became President, a well known Spencer farmer went by team to Worcester to make purchases. In addition to useful merchan- dise, he purchased and drank an immoderate quantity of ardent spirits. By the time he reached Leicester in the evening on his way home he was exceedingly talkative. He put up his team at the Leicester Hotel barn and was preparing to go into the hotel bar-room, when on passing a few citizens seated on the piazza the political situation somehow was broached. He then took occasion to remark that if Johnson followed in the footsteps of Lincoln he ought to suffer the same penalty. This was his real sentiment, although had he been free from the influence of liquor, he would not thus have revealed it. This saying was so obnoxious to the citizens that they at once procured his team, loaded him into it and started him homeward. By the time he had gone as far as the postoffice, he felt the fighting spirit within, turned about and drove to a small public resort at the foot of Leicester hill, whithier the citizens, now thoroughly aroused, followed. By the time they had reached the place, they found he had engaged a room and obtained a copy of the assessors' report in order to get the full names of the parties who had ordered him home. Refusing to open the door, they forced entrance, took the drunken man out of doors and asked him if he would salute the flag, and then go home. With a profane oath he refused. They then got a rail, carefully rode
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him around the dooryard, let him off and asked him again to salute the flag. Still more angry and profane he again refused. They gave him another ride, with some roughness. He again refused. They then gave him so rough a ride that he cried out in a loud voice, when asked once more if he would salute the colors: "Yes, I'll salute anything." He then made a salute satisfactory to the citizens, was again placed in his wagon and went directly home a sobered man.
He was unable from lameness caused by this experi- enice to get away from his house for over two weeks, but next day he sent a complaint to Trial Justice Luther Hill for the arrest of the leader of the rail ride, Edwin L. Sprague. Deputy Sheriff Nathan Hersey went to Leicester either to arrest him or to get a bond signed by citizens guaranteeing his appearance at court May 13, 1865. Capt. John D. Coggs- well, then just returned from the war, Edward Sargent, card clothing manufacturer, Charles B. Brown, Marshall Snow and Henry Eddy were, besides Sprague, leaders in the affair on the night in question. Coggswell and Sargent guaranteed to pro- duce Sprague at court the next day, which they did, coming themselves to act as witnesses if need be. Sprague, however, plead guilty to the charges, whereupon Hill fined him one cent without costs. This irritated the farmer so much that he called Hill thereafter "The One Cent Justice." The next evening after the trial some one from Spencer, driving a span of horses, called at the house of Sprague, contributed to him the amount of his fine and congratulated him on his patriotic work. The name of this party was never known. The farmer and all who helped give him that evening ride are now dead except Mr. Sprague, who is still living in Leicester.
Capt. Daniel Green and His Religious Meeting at Jocktown Church.
Calvin D. Woodbury of North Spencer relates that Capt. Green, elsewhere mentioned, and at the time of this incident owner of the abandoned Baptist Church, on a certain date caused notice to be given out that services would be resumed the follow- ing Sabbath. A fair sized congregation assembled, supposing there was to be preaching. When the usual time came for service to begin, Capt. Green ascended the pulpit, read a chapter from the Bible, then descended remarking: "Now if each one will do as much as I have done, we will have quite a meeting." No one else appearing ready to take an active part in the service, the meeting dissolved by mutual consent and to the real grief of the projector.
BIOGRAPHY OF JOSEPH CHAUNCEY LYFORD
BY HON. ALFRED S. ROE OF WORCESTER
Among the many sons of Spencer who have reflected credit upon their native town few deserve greater note than the man whose name forms the subject of this sketch. His vocation is not one to excite popular applause; he is himself the most modest of men, but as a teacher in the neighboring city of Worcester he has made for himself a name and reputation that anyone might envy. Few men come nearer to realizing the progress of the typical American than J. Chauncey Lyford who, in his career, has passed through all grades from the humblest beginning to, if not competence, at least comfort and respect.
He was named from his father, and from a maternal uncle, Chauncey Howe, who having gone south in the early 50's was there lost in the war of the Rebellion. The elder Lyford was a Maine man who had worked at tailoring and bootmaking in Lynn and had followed the latter vocation in Natick and North Adams whence, about 1850, he came to Spencer and finally located near the railroad station in the south part of the town. Having married Esther V., daughter of Francis Howe, he here car- ried on the business of bootmaking and, having bought land, farmed the same with added acres as long as he lived. He was a man of the strictest integrity and the greatest industry, but the changes in business ways and the physical results of years of overwork, added to the care of a family of nine child- ren, reduced him to a semi-dependent condition long before his time. During the war of the Rebellion, he bottomed hundreds of cases of boots worn by our Boys in Blue. He died in 1879 at the age of fifty-seven years. His widow still survives.
Chauncey, the oldest child in the family, was born Oct. 12, 1853, and burdens were early laid on his shoulders. He remembers that one of the first duties performed by him was the holding of the cow's tail while his father milked. As the lad looked on and saw how easily the fluid ran into the pail, he thought he could do that task himself. His opportunity soon
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J. CHAUNCEY LYFORD.
(Photo by Himself )
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came, for one night the father was late in returning from a vil- lage trip and when he essayed to take the milk pail for his ac- customed chore, he was surprised to learn that some one had anticipated him. He could not believe the statement till he had had ocular and manual evidence, but the boy had gotten himself into business. Thereafter he did the milking but there was no one to hold the switching tail. While he nominally at- tended the district school, he was very early inducted into the art of working on boots and from practice in playing at pegging soles, he soon advanced to doing the real thing. The senior Ly- ford was accustomed to work from the earliest morn to late at night and what more natural than that his boy should keep him company. Help was employed in the home shop, for in those
JOSEPH ADAMS LYFORD,
Bor11 in Livermore, Maine, De- cember 17, 1821; died in Spen- cer, May 17, 1879.
FRANCIS HOWE,
Grandfather of J. Chauncey Ly- ford, was born in Spencer, Feb- ruary 22, 1801; died in same town May 26, 1873.
days the big central edifices, devoted to manufacturing, had not been erected. Here for years, father, son and help labored often from four o'clock in the morning till ten o'clock at night, yet the lad made himself ready for the village high school when some- what past twelve years of age. The school was not graded and furnished as now, but pupils came and went when they chose. There he continued to study, working at home meantime, till he was nineteen years old, in that period having had no less than six high school principals. At that age he graduated with his sister Ella and Alice V. Proctor in the first class ever sent out from the school. It is somewhat remarkable that several years later the members of this class formed a part of the first output of the State Normal School at Worcester.
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Working in the shop as many hours as his father's men, doing chores besides, our Spencer boy yet found time to study nature in her many forms and to lay the foundation for his future success. His father looked with disfavor upon the visits of his boyish friends, hence he early grew self-centered and independent. At thirteen he owned a gun and soon began to
ELLA JANE LYFORD, Born in Spencer, May 5, 1856; died in same town January 30, 1891.
secure specimens of animal nature for preservation. His love of the flowers came from Grandmother Howe, whom he helped in care of her floral friends. His favorite route to school, two and a half miles away, was through the woods and ere long he learned to snare partridges and rabbits by whose sale he secured all the spending money his boyhood possessed. By trapping muskrats and selling their pelts, he secured some coveted books and appliances.
Just at this time he began to bring from the woods and way- side such trees and shrubs as attracted his attention, and to plant
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them on the grounds around the old home. The names of many of them were unknown to him, and he well remembers his first instruction in botany, a study in which afterwards he, was to be- come much interested. Mr. George A. Craig had been employed by the grandfather to run a line through a long stretch of wood- land on Bare Hill, and our boy went along to carry the chain and cut brush. It was while on this holiday that he first had pointed out to him a Cornel and a Vibernum, and heard them named and characterized. Seedling apple trees were brought home and set out in picturesque confusion, and later he helped his father graft them, using scions brought from various orchards lying
HANNAH (ROBBINS) HOWE,
Grandmother of J. Chauncey Lyford, was born in Dudley, December 31, 1801; died in Spen- cer, July 22, 1884.
within the sphere of his investigations. The varieties secured were such as satisfied a boyish appetite: Hubbardston Nonesuch, Fall Porters, Gravenstein, Sops of Wine, etc., and were never chosen because of their possible market value. The picture, page 142, briefly repeats this story, every tree shown in it having been planted in this way.
From 1861 to 1865, one of his earliest morning duties was to go to the railroad station and get from the first western train a
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THE JOSEPH A, LYFORD HOMESTEAD AT SOUTH SPENCER.
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copy of the Springfield Republican and carry it to his father who would take time enough from his work to read the headlines and thus know what the state of the war was. The boy next took it to a neighbor who had time to read during the day. In the eve- ning the same paper was brought back and the father, with candle in hand, went through its columns most carefully. In this way every line of the sheet was utilized and the facts of the strife were deeply planted, not glossed, in the minds of parents and children. Our friend remembers his interest in a large map of the seat of war hanging upon the wall back of a stove in the village gristmill. He was wont to study this at each opportunity, till at last the miller said to Mr. Lyford: "Why don't you buy a map for that boy so that he may study it all he wishes?" The father acted on the suggestion and secured a copy which straightway became one of the choicest of treasures. It was so thoroughly marked at every move in the long years of fighting, that today the Worcester Teacher has the names and data of the terrible struggle ineffaceably impressed upon his memory.
The so-called laboring man of these later years, with his clamor for shorter hours, has little conception of the anxiety this future leader of young Worcester had in finding something to do that he might put a little money in his purse. It must be re- membered that he had school as much of the time as he could give to it. Then there was work in the shop, alternated with labor on the farm, so timed, he says, it seemed as if he were sore in a new spot every day of his life. Nor was this all, for he found time when off home duty at night to unload grain and coal from the cars near by at $1.50 per load of twelve tons a car. He shoveled snow from the railroad tracks and when the tracks themselves had to be moved, he worked Sundays for double pay, but as he was not accounted a skilled navvy he was assigned to the back breaking task of carrying the rails. Where did the hours of rest come in for this young student, for such he was during all these experiences? He took only such time for sleep and recuperation as seemed absolutely necessary and only regretted that the days were no longer and that he had not more hands and feet with which to work. With his money earned so honestly and yet with such pains, he bought his clothes and began his library. Quackenbos' School History he already knew by rote, and the home store included Rollins' Ancient History, The Columbian Orator. Scott's Lessons, The American First Class book, an old book about pirates, an old book of plays in prose and a single volume of The Spectator. These were his only standbys and were mostly books from his grand- father Howe's collection who was once a schoolmaster. How-
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ever, such as they were, they led up to the well selected collec- tion of books which today fills many shelves in his comfortable home.
Mr. Lyford is, aside from his work as a teacher, an artist of much local repute. He does not know where he gained his liking for pictures, but he recalls the regular visits of a peddler at his father's home and his own delight when, through this
ESTHER VILETTA (HOWE) LYFORD, (Photo by J. C Lyford) Mother of J. Chauncey, was born in Spencer, Dec. 5, 1835. Still living at South Spencer.
travelling merchant, he became the possessor of a portrait, very simple and plain, of Abraham Lincoln. His regard for the martyred President was like that of a child for a near relative, for had he not followed every step of the War, during its weary length and had he not, on that memorable morning of April the:
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15th, 1865, heard the railroad man from whom he obtained his regular Republican say: "There is great news today, but it will make you feel unhappy?" He was one of thousands of loyal Americans, young and old, men and women, who shed tears as they read how the great man had fallen. From that print of the President, to drawing and painting for himself, progress was direct and sure, till now, homes in his adopted city are deemed all the more beautiful for the possession of coloring from his hand.
After the war, his father's business flagged and his health failed, whereby the duties of his first born were in no way lessened. His boyish merit was not without recognition in his own town and several times he might have gone into the great boot shop of Isaac Prouty & Co., but various circumstances prevented till, at the age of nineteen, he actually did engage to work in the office, but the desire to gain a better education overcame all other aspirations and he declared his determination to study more. His employer was quick enough to see a future for the boy and said : "Go and I'll help you."
Then came the struggle. The young man kept books at the railroad station for some time. The new Normal School was about to open in Worcester and here seemed to be the opportunity for Chauncey Lyford and his sister, Ella. But where was the money to come from? He worked in the Howe box shop, standing behind a planer till he had earned $75.00 with which he bought some clothing and a railroad ticket to Worcester, and in September, 1874, he and his sister began their daily trips to the city. They reached the school each day three-fourths of an hour late and returned on the earliest train possible. At home, such demands were made upon their time that all their studying had to be done upon the cars. The elder Lyford was in rapidly declining health and much of his work, the son had to do. There were many children to care for, so that Ella, the sis- ter, was absolutely necessary to the mother. Thus the work went on, till the time arrived for apprenticing, when they must come into the city and stay. Then came the good offices of Mr. Charles N. Prouty, for he readily loaned the needed money to pay the outlay, and further said: "You can have money to go to college with if you desire." Finally graduating July, 1876, in the first class from the Worcester Normal school, the brother and sister began their life work with Ella, to end all too soon in 1891. The credit attaching to such grad- uation, may be estimated from the fact that the Lyfords were among the ten survivors of sixty-nine members, first and last of the class. Survival of the fittest applies. Chauncey se- cured a position in the Washington Street school, where he was
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