USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Spencer > Historical sketches relating to Spencer, Mass., Volume IV > Part 6
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SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
Then came a lessening of his natural strength. He es- sayed renewal of health by a winter in Florida. There away from kindred and friends serious illness came and before his brother could reach him he was beyond help. Thus passed away a good man, a friend beloved whose nature was akin to the noblest of earth.
Among the families prominent in the church at Jocktown was the Luther Monroe family. Although not at all of Spen- cer save as they were of its First Baptist church, I am reminded to give the sons a place in this record. They attended the "Puddin Corner School," the family being resident in that part of Paxton. Nearly, or quite, sixty years ago Mrs. Mon- roe. who was a tailoress, made for my father a coat from a very old time overcoat. One winter morning my mother
sent me for the garment.
If it was not finished and Mrs: Monroe thought she could complete the work in an hour or two I was to wait and spend the time in play with the boys who were classmates at Sunday school. The coat was not done but Mrs. Monroe thought she could soon finish, so bade me wait. The boys, however, were at school. Some way the work called for more time than was expected and the wait was prolonged until the dinner hour drew near. Then Mrs. Mon- roe said she must get dinner for the boys, which I should share and she would end the work while we should be at dinner. Presently the boys came in. After mutual greetings with much boy-like exuberance, we were seated for dinner. There was one course only. Frozen pudding was served in a large dish. There was enough for all. The iced pudding was not the modern dainty by the above name, but simply the hasty pudding of our New England ancestors, immortalized in the Harvard "Hasty Pudding Club." The pudding has been served hot previously, then it had frozen solid in the cold pantry. It was served in scalding-hot skim milk that day. Appetite was keen and all left the table satisfied and ready for renewed play or work.
Rude fare, but sturdy boys grew to strong men in that home. Edward E. was at the head of the enlistment roll in his native town. He served from the opening of the war until near the end, was then taken prisoner and died of starvation in Salisbury. Poor boy ! how some of his mother's hasty pud- ding would have cheered him in that far prison. Nathan A. also enlisted but saw only brief service, dying early of chronic diarrhea. His memory is closely connected with the choir at the old meeting house. He played the first violin there for many years. His work was excellent. The names of these two patriot sons may be read in the granite of the soldiers' monument on Paxton Common.
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NORTH SPENCER.
George H., a third son of this family, was a fine tenor. For years his voice made melody at Jocktown. Later he sang at the Congregational church in Leicester. Ile served as chorister there also for twenty-five years. He was ever good and devout. Suddenly he closed his life when apparently his eye was not dim nor his native force abated. His long and faithful service as a singer will be a precious memory to many.
One other soldier may be named, A. S. Graton. brother of the widow of Daniel A. Ball, soon after his marriage to Louisa, daughter of Zadok Pike, who lived in Paxton but near the Baptist church, enlisted, saw much service in the army, was taken to prison at Andersonville where he remained until after the surrender of Lee and the end of the war. By Yankee shrewdness in small trading he kept himself from starvation and from mental ruin in his long and terrible imprisonment. He came out emaciated and broken. After leaving the public lines of travel he walked with difficulty to the home of Mr. Pike where his wife was. At the door he asked alms for a crip- pled soldier on his way home. He was kindly received but without recognition. For a little he simply noted the prepara- tion for his refreshment. Soon, unable longer to bear the strain, he cried out. "Does no one know me ?" Recognition followed and a scene of mingled joy and sorrow none may depict.
In due time health was recovered and years of active, useful life were granted. The great exposures and hardships of his army days brought a train of ills which later compelled retirement from business and for two years serious illness kept him at home. His confinement was relieved in many ways by kindness of army comrades, the great beneficence of the government, and the loving ministry of his home. Thus the end of life came.
In boyhood Mr. Graton lived with his parents at the Joshua Sylvester farm in Spencer and was a member of the Sunday school of the Methodist Episcopal church. After his army experiences he lived in Paxton. though for years a sales- man in the Sargent carriage rooms on Waldo Street. Worcester. He was long a pillar of the church in Paxton and died as "a good soldier of Jesus Christ."
Mr. Tower, who has more recent familiarity with the north part of the town says :
That part of the old country road passing east and west through Spencer and Bumskit some three or four miles in length perhaps, presents today scenes of desolation. unmatched along any other roadside of equal length in town. Old tumbling down barns and outbuildings, old windowless houses in the last
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SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY
stages of decay and more numerous than these old cellars over- grown with shrubs and vines but too sadly reveal where once the thrifty husbandman dwelt. On the north side of the road a little way up the hill west of Browning pond brook is the cellar of a house where "old John Barclay," as he used to be called, once kept a little store and from this center made fre- quent journeys into the surrounding districts to more quickly dispose of his wares. He always went afoot and was what would now be called a packpeddler. They were not numerous in those days and every child when they saw him coming left all other forms of amusement just to look with curious eyes into his opened valise of as miscellaneous a lot of small mer- chandise for household use as could readily be carried, but he with all of his generation has long ago disappeared from the earth, leaving behind him only what now has become the re- mains of the places where they once dwelt and a few frag- mentary memories in the minds of some who once knew them.
To this I may add that "Ma'am Barclay" kept a few things for sale more tempting to boys than anything in her husband's pack. When fishing at the pond or picking huckleberries on the hills beyond it was great sport to buy a glass of "mead," or a piece of "Ma'am Barclay's" cherry pie, both if money in hand permitted. Alas, it was often otherwise. Both father
and mother Barclay are gone. "Alick," the son, whom the mother ever praised and the father as constantly faulted, has followed them. His sons are landmarks now owning much of North Spencer and of adjacent lands.
It is fitting to stay my pen. Many other memories press. I should have written of our frequent observance of the national birthday as one of the reasons why North Spencer nobly res- ponded to the nation's call for men in the hour of great need. In some way the day was remembered. The first observance I recall was a picnic near Browning's pond and a Revolutionary soldier was present. That was probably sixty-four years agone. The soldier's name was Eben Rixford. His widow lived many years later with her aged mother, Mrs. Newton, in . a small house opposite the home of Daniel Ball. To this house my mother sent me each morning of Thanksgiving day with something of the good cheer of the feast for the comfort of the widows housed there.
It was so customary to have some fitting observance of Independence day that one year anent the discussion of pros- pect and plans one young man wisely remarked by way of stimulus, "If they don't have no Fourth of July this year, I shall go fishing." A picnic celebration near Thompson's Mills was held in 1857. Only native talent could be secured after
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NORTH SPENCER
much effort. Nevertheless, the day was full of brightness and of forces that intensified love of country and mutual delight. Daniel A. Ball, Henry P. Lyon, George H. Monroe, Alfred H. Brown, W. L. Thompson, Reuben Cunningham, a noble youth, early taken away by consumption, loved and lamented by all, Clementine Boyden, Lydia A. Lyon, Ruth Cunningham, Sarah Allen, and others were radiant and helpful that day. The memory of song, sentiment and speech is vivid and delightsome.
As already indicated, great changes have been in all that country side. The Cunninghams, early settlers of Scotch vigor and thrift, have now no representative in the whole neighbor- The Ivory Allen
hood. The Monroes are all away also.
farm is owned by aliens. The Allen mill is gone and the water flows unvexed to join the Seven Mile River below. The cider-mill at the Newton place, Bumskit, is hardly a memory there. The blacksmith is forgotten, his house and shop un- known for a generation. The tavern is a ruin. The store departed long ago and the stage barn followed to the same oblivion. One boot shop has served as a barn many years. The other is in ruins. The post office is no more. The ball players are not, nor the youth that filled the village with glee. The meeting house has been moved away from the hill- top and the old households are broken and scattered.
1
CAPTAIN ISAAC PROUTY.
The founders of the leading industry of the town should have honorable recognition in these sketches of Spencer his- tory. The manufacture of boots at an early day had begin- nings at two points in the township. Other ventures in this line, many of them, followed in due time and helped largely to swell the volume of production with its attendant industry and resultant wealth, until Spencer became notable as a center of activity in leather.
With the manifold change incident to later movements in the world of business came the retirement of many of the boot manufacturers of the town until not a single representative of Josiah Green, the first pioneer, remained and the entire out- put of footwear was issued by two productive forces at the Prouty and Jones shops. Notwithstanding, the making of boots and shoes abides as the dominant industry of Spencer.
The present purpose is to set forth in fair measure the rise and development of this industry by Isaac Prouty and the Isaac Prouty Company and with that a brief study of the man who laid the foundations of the great business now carried on by that house. It will be essential to give some account of the family in order to note the real quality of the man, and this may well appear at once.
His Lineage.
The ancestry of Isaac Prouty has been traced back to Richard Prouty, who was living in Scituate, Mass., in 1667. Two earlier Isaacs are noted in the line of descent. Six of the children of the second of these Isaacs are said to have come to Spencer. Of these Thomas. the father of the man now to be stock.
studied, was one. Evidently these Proutys were of English The removal to Spencer was doubtless sometime in the last half of the eighteenth century.
This Thomas Prouty married a Spencer woman, Louisa Wood. To the new home came three sons, John Nazro, Homer, Isaac ; also one daughter, Diadamia.
A brief notice of the elder brothers of Isaac will indicate the vigor of this new blood for Spencer. John Nazro made a farmer's home in the northerly part of the town, not far
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CAPTAIN ISAAC PROUTY.
from the Ivory Allen place. In the midst of forceful life he met death by accident in the street at Worcester. His widow kept the farm and cared for the children as they had need. Those in mature life helped to make the Prouty name honorable. The eldest, Thomas A., has already conspicuous record in these historic sketches. John Nazro, Jr., and Theodore have also after worthy lives, passed away. One daughter, Melinda L.,
CAPTAIN ISAAC PROUTY.
long known as Mrs. John Rockwood, is still living, and the youngest son, Vernon, died a few years ago. Isaac Lothrop Prouty, director of the Spencer National bank, and active citizen of his native town. was in busy life when this slight record of his branch of the Prouty family was begun. Now he has been carried by his compeers to an honored grave.
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SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
Homer, the second son of Thomas Prouty, became a stout- hearted farmer in North Brookfield, outliving both his brothers and raising a family of ten sons and one daughter.
The educational advantages afforded these rugged Spencer boys were simply those of the common school of one hundred years ago. Evidently they shared alike until the death of their father when Isaac, who was born Dec. 9, 1798, was some twelve a competence for his family.
years old. Thomas Prouty had acquired little in the way of Isaac was bound out, directly, to Charles Watson, a citizen in the easterly part of the town.
The lad was then about thirteen. Mr. Watson was to give him the privileges of the district school, to teach him the shoe- maker's trade, to clothe him and to pay him at his majority one hundred dollars. With this sundering of home ties and the accompanying sense of poverty of means, compelling the break- ing of a home, it is not strange that an eager desire for gain, for a larger prosperity was awakened in the heart of this youth. No money was to be paid him for years. With a stout heart he sought some relief from the severity of his position. By trapping game and selling the same and by careful saving of all receipts he was able with some brotherly help from John Nazro to buy his freedom when he was nineteen.
After this purchase of his time he worked awhile for Josiah Green, the pioneer in the manufacture of boots already men- tioned. This indicates that Mr. Watson had been faithful in some good measure to teach the bootmakers' trade to his 'pren- tice boy and also that the lad had been sharp to improve his. opportunity.
Later Mr. Prouty, now approaching full manhood, toiled for some years as a bootmaker, and perhaps for a Paxton firm, at the farm long known as the William Comins place, then in Rutland but afterward set off with the Davis and Hubbard farms to the town of Paxton. The Comins farm was then held by the late Dea. Ira Barton, with whom Mr. Prouty boarded, having a shop& connected with the other farm build- ings. In that shop he labored early and late, day by day, till years passed slowly by and his feet by continual abrasion wore quite through the boarding of the floor. Others .of the shoe- making craft have thus worn out the flooring at their feet. But only the patient, hardworking craftsmen ever made such records.
Mr. Prouty not only worked hard, making long days, he also saved the greater part of his earnings. Rather, he al- lowed the money due him to accumulate in the keeping of his employers until some $1,200 was due. Then came the failure- of the firm and final payment of ten per cent.
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CAPTAIN ISAAC PROUTY.
Some labor troubles are of ancient date.
About this time Mr. Prouty was married. His mother- in-law is said to have essaved to comfort him over the above financial loss by saying, "Isaac, you must not let this discourage you, you are young, and can earn more." There is no other indication in the record that he ever lost his courage and this word from a respected woman is by no means a proof of dis- couragement. It was simply a note of good cheer.
Marriage.
In the early days now under review a farmer named John Goodell lived prosperously at the place just north of the Spe- cer line, later known for many years as the Sol. Davis farm : then, still later, owned by the late Jason Wilson and now by one of the sons of John A. Barclay, deceased. At this Goodell home Isaac Prouty found, wooed and won his first helpmeet. On the eighth day of June, 1826, Isaac Prouty and Mary Ann Goodell were joined in holy wedlock. By this marriage there was a positive strengthening of his financial standing, and the years that followed of conjugal and family life were years of advancement and blessing.
The Family.
The following children were born : John Goodell, Lewis Wilder, George Porter, Ellen Smith, and Jason Wood. This youngest child died in infancy. The others reached maturity and will receive farther notice.
The worthy mother of these children all too soon was taken from the home by death, Dec. 5, 1837.
On the twentieth day of October, 1840. Mr. Prouty was again joined in marriage with Mary Ann, daughter of Lewis Newton, Rutland, Mass. This step also allied Mr. Prouty with wealth. Yet withal both these wives were women of generous, native endowments much more valuable than the money with which they by birth were connected.
Of this second marriage were born : Jane E., Charles New- ton, Mary Ann, Julia Elizabeth, Louise Jennie, and Jason Wood. Of these the eldest died in infancy. The others are still living. Mrs. Prouty, the mother, outlived her husband a few years, saw her children established in mature and active life, was loved and cherished by them and after the years of manifold burden and joy passed to her account and reward July 20, 1876.
Beginnings at North Spencer.
After his first marriage Captain Prouty appears to have lived awhile at the home of William Bemis in the Wire village neighborhood. His eldest son seems to have been born there.
60
SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
Soon the home was transferred to Rutland, one and one-half miles north from North Spencer, and near the Wilder place, so called. There Lewis Wilder was born and there Captain Prouty began, in a small way, the manufacture of boots. Presently he moved all his interests to North Spencer. At first he had rooms in the Wilson tavern and there George Porter was added to his number.
Securing the house, with a small plot of land at the head of the village, hard by the home of Edmund Newton, he in- stalled his growing family therein and carried forward the making of boots by order from measure in one of its rooms. In this house he continued to live until he transferred business and home to the middle of the town.
These minor details are of value as indicating the hind- rances through which the man made his upward way and the struggle by which his fiber was toughened and his nature strengthened for the later and more severe testing by larger things.
Growing demand for larger space in which to push the manufacture of boots ied to the erection of the first factory, at North Spencer. It was small and simple. A one and one- half story frame building, some 18 by 36 feet. For many years it was known far and near as "Capt. Isaac's Shop." It now serves as a barn at the Hiram Barr place, a little way on the Oakham road.
Mr. Prouty thus became an employer. Workmen ap- peared in the shop, and slowly, but surely, the varied activity of a boot factory was established. In the larger room of the first floor the cutter's tables had the fairest light while the benches of bottomers and other essential appliances and ma- chines had the balance of the floor.
Stock and products were stored in a smaller room near the entrance. On the second floor were beds for workmen. A day came when the entire space of both floors was overcrowded.
From the first the shop became a social center-a sharp rival of the Wilson tavern and store. After the closing of these Capt. Isaac's shop was for years the industrial and social headquarters of the people from Captain Isaac Prouty's to Amos Ware's in Paxton and from Oakham line to the "Puddin Corner" neighborhood beyond the Baptist meeting house at Jocktown.
From most of the surrounding homes men, women and children made frequent trips to the shop for work of some sort. Boys and girls "stitched counters" and "sewed on straps." Those a bit older were busy from day to day "siding boots," and men took away "uppers" and "bottom stock" with "find-
61
CAPTAIN ISAAC PROUTY.
ings" and presently returned boots to the shops, having mean- while been at work in some room at home, possibly in a small shop that sunned itself by the roadside. With the return of each "twelve-pair case" another was taken out unless, as too often happened, a wait was ordered, for a day or more, because no more stock was fitted. Thereby trials came to needy wage- earners, and undoubtedly to their employer also.
As already noted the shop became too strait for the demand made by a growing business. As relief a similar building was. moved from the Sally Cunningham grounds, nearby, and ranged alongside the overcrowded one. A generous overflow soon filled all the added space. This second shop is still on the site, a dilapidated and idle watcher of the quiet roadway and still fields, instead of a hive of bustling industry on lively village street.
What tales could be told of the years when this factory so pulsed with eager life. There social plans were made and force for their execution accumulated. There tongues were busy after the ride, the picnic, the party, the singing school and the spelling match. Gossip was vital, sometimes, alas, des- tructive. Politics had a day, a month. Business, however, was ever first and foremost. There were few written records, and most of the actors of those days are with the silent majority, quiet as the shop that once they thronged.
Farther enlargement at North Spencer was assured by the rental and use of Wilson's store and stage barn. Lewis had finished a brief course at Leicester academy and been taken by his father into partnership. He began at once to show the vigor which later appeared in the factories at Spencer.
Presently effort was made to secure more real estate in North Spencer. As this failed and as the distance from the market and from the railway at South Spencer became an in- creasing hindrance to the firm the outlook for a better location was soon an urgent matter. In due time the estate of the Rev. Levi Packard, at the center, was purchased and a large factory built on the lot. This factory abutted directly on the- driveway to the horsesheds in rear of the Methodist Episcopal church. As the entrance to the factory was on that way the same was used for all cartage to and from the shop. The horsesheds also proved to be very convenient for incidental storage. A chaise that came to the family by the first marriage was for years thus housed and until the "boys" brought it forth to embellish a street parade. By that service and usage the honored vehicle of many pleasing memories passed to ob- livion, as did that other "One hoss shay" of Dr. Holmes' famous poem.
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SKETCHES OF SPENCER HISTORY.
HOME OF CAPTAIN ISAAC PROUTY.
63.
CAPTAIN ISAAC PROUTY.
Side Lines at North Spencer.
Before noting developments at the new factory a brief glimpse of certain side activities at the old headquarters must be given. Captain Prouty was in a measure a farmer also. There were always cows in stock as well as an excellent horse. Large pastures were filled with grazing herds in the summer. He pastured the cows of the village neighbors and took pay in labor. He killed beeves from his stock and distributed the meat, on account, among his workmen. Groceries were sup- plied in like manner after the closing of Mr. Wilson's store. Sometimes the cheaper grades of boots were traded for general household supplies and these, in turn, went to the homes about him when not wanted at his own. Thus in many ways he was a most important factor of common life at North Spencer. In all, his personal interest was in mind. Advancement was a necessity of his life.
New Factories.
The first of these at the center of the town has already been mentioned. It was a three-story frame building, 30 by 60 feet. Two sons, Lewis and George, were now partners with their father. Lewis having shared largely in the conduct of the business at North Spencer was made the manager in the new shop. Machinery was increased in order to lessen cost and enlarge the production of the company. A few prosperous years brought imperative demand for yet more space. meet this necessity the Mason estate at the foot of the hill was bought and the present "Big Shop," in part was built. This structure was of five stories with a basement, its dimensions 42 by 104 feet. The basement was fitted up with an engine and boiler for motive power and heat.
Business was transferred to these larger quarters in 1864. Charles N., the elder son by the second marriage, was taken into the firm. Production continued to increase. The new factory was soon enlarged by adding to its length 130 feet of like breadth and height. A new engine with adequate boilers was supplied to meet the growing call for power and heat. Every way expansion was in order.
Deaths.
In the midst of this great development illness came. Cap- tain Prouty and his son Lewis were seriously ill with pneu- monia. In a few, brief days both these rugged, pushing men were at the end of earthly contests and labor. From the busy tumult of shop and mart they thus swiftly passed to the quiet- ness of death. The astute head of the house and the success-
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