USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Ashburnham > History of Ashburnham, Massachusetts : from the grant of Dorchester Canada to the present time 1734-1886 with a genealogical register of Ashburnham families > Part 27
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But Vernon and Belvoir found little support on Beacon hill. The little town with enphonious titles, so elearly out- lined in the hopes and imagination of the petitioners, was destined to slumber in the gloom of defeat. Ashburnham was not only successful but recovered cost with the verdict. About this time the farms of John Ward and William Bar- rell and a considerable traet of non-resident land was severed from Westminster and annexed to this town.
Only one attempt to secure a change of the boundaries of the town occurred after this date. In 1827 George Wilker and twelve others, residing in the eastern part of the town, petitioned the Legislature to annex to Ashby all the land in
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Ashburnham lying cast of a straight line extending from the northwest to the southwest corner of Ashby. Henry Adams, Charles Barrett and Hosea Stone were chosen to remonstrate in the name of the town. The following year the petition was renewed and the Legislature sent a committee to view the premises. The town chose Joseph Jewett, Charles Barrett and Stephen Marble to confer with the committee. The measure was defeated, at an adjourned session of the Legislature, 1828.
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CHAPTER XV.
ROADS AND RAILROADS.
THE PRIMITIVE ROADS. - THE NORTHIFIELD ROAD. - EARLY ROADS IN ASII- BURNHAM. - THE GREAT ROAD TO IPSWICH CANADA. - A COUNTY ROAD. - ROAD TO ASHBY LINE. - NEW ROADS. - THE TOWN INDICTED. - OTHER COUNTY ROADS. - SOUTH TURNPIKE. -- THE WINCHENDON ROAD AMENDED. - TURNPIKES. - TEAMING. - EXPENDITURE. - ROAD COMMISSIONERS. - RAILROADS.
LIKE the veins in the human system eentring at the heart, the primitive roads of every town had a general tendency towards the meeting-house. It was not until the movement of surplus production gave additional employment to the roads that much attention was paid to any outward facilities. The carly roads of Ashburnham were for the benefit of the settlers within the town. The only roads which offered any suggestions for the accommodation of the surrounding towns were built under the commands of the court and in opposition to the will of a majority of the inhabitants. These roads from the first were styled County roads, and to keep them in repair a separate tax was assessed and special surveyors were chosen. The family of Jeremiah Foster rode into town in a cart drawn by oxen. The chaise in which rode the wife of Rev. Mr. Cushing on her wedding journey from West- borough to her future home could proceed no farther than Fitchburg and the remainder of the way was performed on horseback. But a general knowledge of these early times will present a good idea of the first roads in this town. So
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far as any have been better or poorer than the average road of the time the fact will appear. If the number of roads in the early history of the town excites surprise, it should be remembered that every settler demanded one leading from his clearing to some existing road. With a reasonable estimate of those built within the independent grants previous to 1765, of which there is no record, it appears that no less than forty-five roads were laid out in this town previous to the Revolution. Many of these were only a continuation of an existing road or the substitution of a more feasible route, and in the mean time a considerable number were discon- tinued.
While Ashburnham remained a part of the vast wilderness of unappropriated land, bounded on the south by Townsend, Lunenburg and Westminster, and on the east and west by the settlements in the valleys of the Merrimack and Connec- ticut rivers, the road from Lunenburg to Northfield was cut through the forest. The distance was forty-two miles and it was constructed about 1733. John Fitch, in a petition to the General Court, states that in 1739 he settled on the Northfield road seven miles above Lunenburg. Mr. Fitch settled where Paul Gates now resides, in the southern part of Ashby. The petition establishes the location of the road at that point, and the account of the Cambridge and the Bellows or Bluefield grants in Chapter I. affords additional information in regard to its course through this town and the date of its construction. This ancient road entered Ash- burnham north of Russell hill and near the point where the new road from Rindge to Fitchburg crosses the Ashby line. It continued through Lexington farm and north of Mount Hunger and northwesterly through the Bluefield grant into the north part of Winchendon. When the proprietors of Dorchester Canada established the boundary lines and came
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into possession of the township, they found this road already opened and extending through their grant.
In 1752 a road was proposed from a point now in Ashby "along to the southward of Watatuck hill to the Bluefield road so called." Other mention of the Bluefield road gives no additional information in regard to its location at any point . in its course through this town. In its westward course through the northern part of Winchendon it was sometimes called the Earlington road, for the reason that the grant of land adjoining Northfield was frequently called Earlington, or more correctly Arlington, now Winchester, New Hampshire. The road was constructed by the Wil- lards, Bellows and Boyntons of Lunenburg to forward the settlement of that grant. The first road proposed by the proprietors of Ipswich Canada was " from Earlington to the meeting-house lot," meaning from some point in the Earling- ton or Northfield road to the meeting-house lot. At the next meeting they offered six pounds " to such proprietor as shall cut a horse way from Earlington road to the meeting- house lot." These two votes are parcels of the same project. The magnificent suggestion in the History of Winehendon that the first vote contemplated a road from Northfield to Ipswich Canada is extravagant. In the first vote supply the omission of the word "road" after Earlington, then the two votes are consistent. In any other light the worthies of Winchendon are found building a road from the meeting- house lot to Earlington and supplementing it with a road from the same point to the Earlington road.
The records do not define the location of some of the earliest roads in this town, but a considerable sum of money was expended for this purpose during the infancy of the set- tlement. The first road, which can be definitely located, was between the saw-mill and " the place where the meeting-
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house is to stand as strait as the land will allow of." The first road of considerable length would naturally be some inlet from the lower towns. In 1742 a committee was chosen "to clear what is absolutely necessary in the eastern road already laid out and to see if a better road could be found out to Lunenburg." In 1743 " Edward Hartwell, Esq., and Mr. Andrew Wilder" were paid for marking out a road from the meeting-house to the west line.
In 1753 increased sums of money were paid to committees and laborers on account of the roads, but without reference . to their location. The same year appears an article "to see if it would be agreeable to the proprietors to have the great road leading to Ipswich Canada and Royalshire six rods wide, as it is likely to be the principal road to the upper western towns and Albany." However agreeable it might have been to secure a road of such ambitious proportions, the proprietors voted they would not do it, and it is possible Albany never heard of it. The truth is, the proprietors so long delayed the building of any suitable road to the line of Ipswich Canada, that soon after this date the aid of the court was invoked and a county road was built. In the midst of these proceedings, with a buoyancy of spirit that approaches audacity, the proprietors vote to perfect all the roads in the township.
In 1758, and in succeeding years, with little change in the form of expression, an agent is chosen "to oversee those that shall be employed in working at the road, that they are faithful in their service and have no more allowed them than they deserve." In 1761 it was ordered " that the same com- mittee, that laid out the road from the meeting-house to Mr. Winter's, proceed to lay out said road till it comes to the road by Mr. James Colman's house, excepting where it goeth through Stoger's farm, so called." Stoger's farm is
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another name for Lexington grant or the Dutch farms. The proprietors were unable to tax the settlers on this or the other grants and were justly exeused from building any roads through them. Andrew Winter lived near the west line of Lexington grant and James Coleman's house was near the Stacy mill in Ashby. In 1761 there was a division of the highway tax ; six pounds was expended on the county road, nine pounds in the south part and four and one-half pounds in the north part of the township.
No sooner had the settlement assumed the dignity of a town than the building and maintenance of the roads became familiar subjects of legislation. Within two years fourteen roads were laid out by the selectmen and accepted by the town. Others followed in rapid succession. While many of these original roads now constitute a part of the existing highways they have been so many times extended and amended that their identity is buried beneath the weight of continued record. The first road laid out by the selectmen was from a point now in Ashby to meet a road south of the Reservoir pond :
June 27, 1765. We then Laid out a Road from Fitchburg Line through Bridge Farm and then the marks are on the West and South side of the Road to Stephen Ames'es.
N. B. The above said Road Runs through Lexington Farm, so Caled.
The bounds are generally stated in very indefinite terms, but a majority of them were said to end at the meeting-house " or in some road leading to it which assists in locating very many of them.
Laid out a road from Samuel Fellows Juner to the meeting House Running North Through Wetherbees Land and Williams Land and Stones Land and Turning Northerly on Stones Land
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and Dickersons Land and Sampsons Land and Oaks Land and Wheelers Land and Common Land till it comes to the publick meeting House, is two Rods wide and marked on the easterly side of said Road.
The general course of the above road recorded in 1765 is stated, but like many others its location at intermediate points cannot now be determined. In some instances, like the following, the care of a road was assumed by the town without the intervention of the selectmen :
. The town excepted Mr. Melvins Road, sd Road runs from Nathan Melvin's by Willim Benjamins and through Creehor's Lot and through Simeon Willards Lot & Oliver Willards Lot, and through Mr. Whitemoor's Lot through Elisha Coolidge's Lot to Bluefield Road sd. Road is two Rod wide and marked on ye Northerly side.
The first county road was not a voluntary enterprise, and probably it was not maintained with any degree of enthu- siasm. In 1773 parties residing in adjoining towns secured its indictment. The town "chose Samuel Wilder, Esq., to make answer to the Court of General Sessions of the Peace to be holden at Worcester the last Tuesday of March instant to an Indictment found against the said Town by the grand Inquest for the body of said county, for not mending or keeping in repair the County road or King's Highway from Winchendon Town line to the meeting-house in Ashburn- ham."
The descriptive portion of the indictment affords some information of the condition of the road. The Court Records declare that it "was founderous, miry and rocky, encum- bered with great stones, deep mud, stumps and roots and destitute of necessary bridges whereby the travelling that is necessary in & through the same road is greatly impeded
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and his Majesty's Liege Subjects who have occasion and right to pass and repass in and through the same road by themselves and with their horses, teams & carriages cannot conveniently and safely pass in & over the same road but in so doing are in great danger of losing their own lives & the lives of their cattle & of breaking and destroying their Carriages."
Mr. Wilder, clothed with plenary power, went to Worces- ter to make answer to the court, but when he heard himself addressed in such terms it is impossible to imagine what he had to say. To face a court breathing anathema and making such assault upon himself and his town required great cour- age and fortitude. Whether fear gave strength and courage to the ambassador or his utter discomforture appeased the temper of the court is uncertain. In any event the case was continued, and then the court, possibly in sorrow for an assault upon innocence, calmly reviewed the field and came to the conclusion that inasmuch as the road, meanwhile, had been repaired the town should be forgiven on the payment of five shillings and costs.
In 1776 the maintenance of a new county road was added to existing burdens. For several years after this date a special surveyor was chosen for the "south county road." It extended from the centre of the town past the school- house in the first district, and thence, nearly by the present road, past the Joseph Harris' place to the Westminster line.
Soon after the Revolution the project of a county road from Winchendon to Westminster, passing through the south- west corner of the town, was revived. With its usual alacrity in such cases, the town instructed the selectinen to oppose the road. The following year the incorporation of Gardner intervened and with other legacies the town trans- ferred all responsibility in the premises to the young town.
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But Ashburnham was scarcely relieved from one vexation concerning county roads before others of a more weighty character demanded attention.
In 1790 a county road in amendment of the old thorough- fare from Winchendon Centre was proposed. An agent was sent to Worcester, but his efforts were attended with limited success. Three years later the petition was renewed, and Samuel Wilder, Abraham Lowe and Colonel Francis Lane were selected to continue an active opposition to the project. The town instructed their committee to measure all the county roads in the town and to ask the court if any additional burdens would be reasonable and just. Again, a delay was effected, but the suspension of hostilities was only for a brief season. The petition was renewed in 1798. Samuel Wilder, on whom the town relied for council and service in every emergency, was dead. ' The town sent David Cushing, Joseph Jewett and Hezekiah Corey to the rescue, but without avail. The road was laid out and a majority of the town was greatly discomforted. Before the fate of this road, of which mention will be made again, was decided another of greater proportions was proposed. The preliminary proceedings were brief. Before the town had fairly set its face against it, a county road was laid to com- plete a line of travel from Winchendon Centre to Leominster, passing through this town by the town farm and on sub- stantially the same route as the Fifth Turnpike was subse- quently built ; and, in fact, the county road influenced the location of the turnpike which was finally accepted in room of it. One of the advocates of this county road was Joseph Stone who lived on the farm later owned by the town. In this proceeding Mr. Stone was strongly opposed by a large majority of his townsmen and public sentiment upon this subject is reflected in the records. At first, the road was
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styled Captain Stone's road, but as the controversy grew warmer it was called Stone's road, and there is a tradition in this town that the popularity of Mr. Stone faded as rapidly as the fortunes of the road were advanced.
After the road was laid the town selected Abraham Lowe, Joshua Smith and Joseph Jewett to draw up a remonstrance in support of an appeal to the General Court. The proposed construction of the turnpike offered the town some relief, and measures were introduced to influence the location of the turnpike in a manner that would lead the court to discontinue the original road. Ebenezer Munroe, Joseph Jewett and John Gates were chosen to confer with the directors of the turnpike, and upon hearing their report the town, 1802, "Voted to make the road from the foot of the hill below Abraham Foster's, so on to the county road by Oliver Sam- son's, at town expense on condition that Stone's road, . so called, can be discontinued and the town be at no more cost or expense on or about said road. Also the town voted to put in one thousand dollars in the road on condition that it be made a turnpike road to run from Winchendon line by Nathaniel Foster's mill, so on to the foot of Abraham Foster's hill, so out by Oliver Samson's. Also voted to put in five hundred dollars on condition that they go with the road where they think best in the town, Stone's road, so called, to be discontinued and the town be at no further expense on account of Stone's road."
The following year the town made a fourth proposition, offering the corporation $1500 if the turnpike was constructed over the old common. The corporation accepted the smallest sum offered and reserved the right to "go with the road where they think best in the town." The turnpike was built in 1805 and 1806 and the county road was diseon- tinued.
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ROADS AND RAILROADS.
The town next directed attention to an amendment of the first county road which had been ordered by the court. To this date the travel from Winchendon was compelled to make the ascent of Meeting-house hill, and thence abruptly down into the valley as it proceeded to Fitchburg. A more feasible route had been debated for several years, but the town steadily refused to divert any travel from the old com- mon until the authority of the court had been invoked. A section of new road was now built, commencing at a point on the old road, one and one-half miles west of the old com- mon and meeting the road again in front of the present resi- dence of Seth P. Fairbanks. This road was built in 1817 at a cost of $1060. It was clearly a benefit to the public, but the dwellers around the old common, and many others, who shared with them a commendable regard for the centre of their town. its meeting-house, its cemetery, its pound and its aristocracy, were greatly discomforted. When this enterprise was completed it was the most thoroughly con- structed section of road in the town. The conditions required it "to be sixteen feet between the ditches, crowned eighteen inches in the centre and all stones to be removed that come within six inches of the surface." Before this road was completed measures were taken to secure the indictment of the road leading from the centre of the town to the guide-board near the house of Caleb Ward who then resided west of Lane Village and near Lower Naukeag lake. At a special town meeting some one proposed to repair the road by subscription and escape an indictment. Thirty days' labor were immediately pledged, and then the town com- placently directed that the labor be performed at onee, and after that the complaint be defended by the town if prosecuted.
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HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
Commencing with the present century there was an era of turnpikes. After the extreme depression in business, which was the natural consequence of the drain of the Revolu- tionary War, the country made substantial progress in wealth and development. A moderate accumulation of cap- ital began to seek channels of investment and every enter- prise which promised a fair return for the capital employed failed not for want of money or the encouragement and support of business men. Stimulated by an increasing travel and traffic to and from the centres of trade, turnpikes built and controlled by corporations were extended into every field of supply. Towns on the lines of these throroughfares were greatly benefited, and great efforts were made to influence their location. Taverns, stores and blacksmith shops were multiplied and many of them were mainly dependent on the patronage of these roads.
An early line of travel from the north and west was from Keene through Jaffrey and New Ipswich and thence to Boston by way of Townsend. It was incorporated in 1799, and built without delay. Another turnpike incorporated 1802, from Keene through Winchendon and Leominster, passed by on the other side. This Levite came nearer and indeed was located through the southwest part of the town, but it was of little local benefit. It is now included in the town roads, and the houses of John M. Pratt, John V. Platts and Stephen Wood are on the line of it. The next turnpike in this vicinity came no nearer. It was incorporated in 1807 and completed 1811. It was an important line of travel from Keene through Rindge, Ashby and Groton. This turnpike entered Ashburnham near the residence of Edwin J. Stearns, and the present road from that point, where there was a toll-gate, to the Ashby line at Watatic pond, marks its course through the corner of the town. While this turn-
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pike was patronized considerably by the inhabitants, it was of little benefit to the town. If Ashburnham was not highly favored by this cra of turnpikes, the inhabitants generally escaped the losses which ultimately attended the deprecia- tion of stock.
In other towns many men of comparative wealth were financially ruined, and the savings of the poor, which were allured by golden promises from the scanty accumulations of continued toil and many self-denials, were lost in the general ruin which ensued. If these early turnpikes were not successful from a financial standpoint they greatly encouraged the growth and development of the country, and by competition and example they did much to improve the general condition of the other roads.
About the time of the decline of the turnpikes a large amount of money was expended in building and repairing roads. A new line of travel, in which this town had a lively interest, was opened through the valley of Miller's river and from Winchendon through the centre of Ashburnham to Fitchburg and the lower towns. For many years long lines of teams and a great amount of pleasure travel passed through the central village. Very many now living are fond of telling of the heavy wagons, drawn by four, six and eight horses, laden with produce for the market and return- ing with merchandise for the country stores, or of the four and six horse stages that daily passed each way. The scenes of life and activity that attended their arrival and departure and other features of those days are well remem- bered. The active landlord answered the demands of many guests, while the busy hostlers in the spacious barns grew weary in attendance upon the overflowing stalls. The hammer of the smith awoke the stillness of night and the fire in the forge scarcely burned out before the beginning of a
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new day. A much larger business to-day is done with one tithe of the noise and confusion of the olden time. Then, the newspapers, unaided by the telegraph and other modern facilities, gave little information of passing events. Items of intelligence were noisily communicated by word of mouth while bustling crowds around the taverns and the stores gathered the latest news from the passing traveller. Now, the current price of commodities and the records of the world are gleaned from the papers in the quiet retirement of home. Then, orders for goods and the general intercourse of trade were often verbal messages transmitted through many mouths. The message of to-day, silently committed to the mail, or to the swifter transmittal of the telegraph and the responding shipment of merchandise, left by the passing train, are in happy contrast with the noisy methods of the olden time.
During the construction of the Fitchburg railroad from point to point, the teams and stages in that direction made shorter journeys, but the condition of affairs at this point was not materially changed ; but the building of the Vermont and Massachusetts and the Cheshire railroads which soon followed drove the stages and the teams from the road.
The amount expended for the annual repair of the roads during the early history of the town conformed to the in- crease of population and secured highways that reasonably met the requirements of the times. The appropriation in 1770 was £35; in 1773, £80 ; in 1790, £120 ; in 1800 the sun was increased to $900. For many years the town chose one and sometimes two surveyors for the county roads and com- mitted the town roads to the care of from two to ten persons, the number being gradually increased as the roads were extended and more thoroughly repaired. In 1818 the town was divided into twenty-one highway districts. The county
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roads and turnpikes, gradually losing their individual charac- ter, were ineluded among the several districts. In 1845 the number of highway districts was increased to twenty-five, which, with slight changes, were continued until a recent date. From the first, and until the present system was adopted, a surveyor was annually chosen for each district. In 1832 and 1837 the town voted to raise one-half the usual amount in money, but before the tax was assessed the action was reconsidered and the former system of a labor tax was continued until a comparatively recent period. The amount annually expended for the repair of the highways was gradu- ally increased from $900 to $1500; the last sum was deemed sufficient until 1865, when $1800 was raised, and since that date the amount has ranged from $2500 to $4500. In 1870 the town committed the care of the highways to the select- men and the following year a board of commissioners was established. The members are elected for three years. On this board Simeon Merritt has served eleven years ; Samuel Howard, nine years; Jesse Parker, two years; Stephen Wood, three years ; Frederic E. Willard, three years ; Charles H. Whitney, one year; Robert W. MeIntire, six years ; Charles W. Whitney, 2d, five years; Justin W. Bemis, one year. The three last named constitute the present board.
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