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 34
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DR. MERRICK WALLACE, a son of Nahum Wallace of Oxford, was born April 12, 1808. 1n 1847 he completed a course of study at the Botanical Medical College then in Worcester, and to this school of medicine he closely adhered in his practice. His remedial methods were then compara- tively new and he early secured a liberal patronage. Ilis practice extended into the adjoining towns and frequently he made long journeys in response to demands for his profes- sional attendance. Dr. Wallace was also a successful farmer and in this pursuit he manifested a constant interest. Hc died May 22, 1875.
DR. LORENZO LOCKE WHITMORE, a son of Colonel Enoch and Clarissa ( Willard) Whitmore, was born in this town, July 2, 1823. With the exception of Dr. Abraham T. Lowe. he is the only physician in this town who was born within the field of his professional labor. He pursued a liberal course of academical and professional study, gradu- ating at the Harvard Medical School in the class of 1852. After a brief practice in Warwick, he returned to this town and assumed the management of a large farm which for more than one hundred years has been the homestead of his ancestors. For several years he rode an extended circuit in this town and in Rindge, and fully maintained the confidence of his patrons. More recently he has found full employ- ment in the management of his farm.
DR. JOHN ORLANDO MATTOON (eclectic) was a native of Vershire, Vermont, born October 10, 1837. He was educated at the academy in Chelsea, Vermont, and the
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well-known institution in New London, New Hampshire. He read for his profession with Dr. George K. Bagley of Chelsea, Vermont, and graduated at a medical school in Cincinnati in 1858. The same year he located in this town and practised with a fair measure of success until his early death which occurred January 13, 1862.
DR. THERON TEMPLE, son of John and Sally (Taylor) Temple, was born in Heath, April 20, 1833. He is a gradu- ate of Berkshire Medical College in class of 1856. In 1857 he entered upon the practice of his profession in Belehertown and was there successfully employed until 1861, when he was commissioned assistant-surgeon in the Twenty-fifth Massachusetts Volunteers. This regiment was assigned to the Burnside expedition. In this service Dr. Temple con- tracted malarial fever and resigned in the spring of 1862. The same year he removed to this town where he commanded the respect of the community and secured a lucrative prac- tice. While residing in this town he was examining surgeon by appointment from Governor Andrew. In the autumn of 1864, he removed to Amherst and continued in active prac- tice until 1875. During the past ten years he has been employed in the customs service at Boston with a residence in Waltham.
DR. HARVEY D. JILLSON (eclectic) pursued his pro- fessional studies at Harvard Medical School and at Worces- ter. Adopting the theories of the eclectic school, he entered upon the practice of his profession in Leominster in 1860. He removed to this town in 1864. He was elected a member of the school committee for three years but removed to Fitchburg in 1868 before the completion of the term. For two years he was president of the Worcester North Eclectic Society, and eleven years its secretary, and was a vice-president of the National Eclectic Medical Society.
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He died September 25, 1877, aged forty-three years.
DR. CHARLES L. PIERCE, son of John F. and Abigail .Fiske Pierce, was born in Derby, Vermont, May 17, 1840. He attended school at Newbury, Vermont, and at Meriden, New Hampshire, and graduated at the New York College of Physicians and Surgeons. He practised his profession a short time at Charlestown, New Hampshire, and removed to this town in 1865. Dr. Pierce was generally regarded as a skilful physician and was employed by a considerable part of the community. He removed to Natick in 1871, and from thence to San Francisco, California, where he died May 11, 1885.
Dr. ALONZO LAWRENCE STICKNEY, son of Alvah and Rebecca (Wright) Stickney, was born in Townsend, May 26, 1835. He attended the academies at Milford and New Ipswich, New Hampshire, and graduated at Harvard Medical School in the class of 1862. His first professional labors were at Sutton. In the spring of 1864 he was appointed assistant-surgeon in the regular army and served to the close of the war. Returning to Sutton he was there successfully employed in the practice of his profession until his removal to this town in 1871. In an unusual degree. he carly secured and has merited the confidence of his patrons. His success as a physician and his usefulness as a citizen will elicit prompt recognition in future reviews of completed labor.
DR. AMORY JEWETT, son of Amory and Lucy E. (Die- waide) Jewett, was born in Boston, January 17, 1833. He attended the public schools of Boston and graduated at the Eclectic Medical College, Cincinnati, Ohio. After a brief practice in Boston, he removed to this town in 1868 and remained in successful practice until 1873. Since he re- moved from this town he has practised in Clinton, Fitchburg
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and Hubbardston. On account of failing health he has retired from active practice and now resides in Somerville. Dr. Jewett, while residing in this town, was successively secre- tary, councillor and president of the Worcester North Eclectic Medical Society.
DR. NATHANIEL JEWETT, a brother of Dr. Amory Jewett, was born in Boston, March 10, 1841. He graduated at the Boston High School in 1858 and pursued a course of pro- fessional study under private tuition. He graduated at the Boston Dental College 1869, and at the New York Eelectic College 1871. In the mean time Dr. Jewett attended lectures at Harvard Medical School and at the College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York. He removed to this town in 1871 and has maintained a lucrative practice to the present time. He has been president of the Worcester North Eclectic Medical Society, and for many years the secretary and treasurer. He has been councillor and presi- dent of the Massachusetts Eclectic Medical Society and is a member of the National Eclectic Medical Association. Dr. Jewett is the eighteenth resident physician who has practised in this town and among this number none has been more constantly employed.
DR. CHARLES KNOWLTON was here a few months in the autumn and winter of 1830-31.
DR. MILES SPAULDING, now of Groton, practised in this town from April to September, 1845, supplying the time between the practice of Dr. Stone and Dr. Miller.
DR. JOHN PETTS, who resided in this town for many years, was a physician, but he did not engage in practice after he removed to Ashburnham.
. LAWYERS. - Of the four resident lawyers of this town only one remained any considerable length of time. If the good people of Ashburnham have not been wholly free from
NAUKEAG LAKE FROM PACKARD'S HILL.
LANDSCAPE ROW FROM MEETING HOUSE HILL.
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strife and contention, they have seldom appealed to the courts for arbitration. And in some instances it is possible the contestants have found more entertainment in a continued prosecution of some domestic quarrel than could be realized in any possible terms of legal adjustment.
EPHRAIM MAY CUNNINGHAM, EsQ., practised law in this town from about 1818 to 1824. He removed to South Reading, now Wakefield. While in this town he boarded with the Jewetts, and by tradition he is furnished with the credentials of a good character and respectable abilities.
HENRY ADAMS, EsQ., came to this town in 1825, or carly in 1826, and remained four or five years. He was a man of fair abilities and met with a reasonable measure of success.
GEORGE G. PARKER, EsQ., was born in Coventry, Connecticut, May 10, 1800, and was graduated at Yale in the class of 1828. He pursued his professional studies in the office of Myron Lawrence, Esq., of Belchertown, and began the practice of law in this town in 1831. He was quite deaf and labored under great embarrassment, yet he was successful and was highly esteemed by the profession and by his townsmen. He served two years in the supervi- sion of the public schools and for many years he was a mem- ber of the board of selectmen. In 1840 and 1841 he ably represented the town in the Legislature. He died Decem- ber 14, 1852.
ALBERT HAYNES ANDREWS, ESQ., son of Jeremiah and Abigail Anna (Haynes) Andrews, was born in Waltham, December 29, 1829. He attended the schools in Ashby and Fitchburg and the Academy at Westminster, and pursued his professional studies in the office of Judge Thornton K. Ware of Fitchburg. He was admitted to the Worcester county bar in 1856. With a view of entering upon the practice of law in the West, Mr. Andrews went to Chicago
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and there becoming interested in the controversy attending the political situation of Kansas he raised a company of sixty men and hastened to the relief of the Free State party in this memorable conflict. Returning to the East he entered upon the practice of law in this town in the autumn of 1857. He was the fourth and last resident lawyer in Ashburnham.
While a resident of this town he was a member of the school committee and in 1860 and 1861 he represented this district in the Legislature, and was adjutant of the Ninth Regiment of Militia, then under command of Colonel Joseph P. Rice. In May, 1861, Mr. Andrews was commissioned a first lieutenant in the regular army and assigned to the Nineteenth Infantry. He continued in the service about nine years and during this time he was in fact a citizen of Ashburnham. For gallant and meritorious service at the battle of Shiloh he was breveted captain and at Stone River he won the brevet rank of major. In the autumn of 1863 Major Andrews was ordered North on recruiting service. After enlisting two hundred and sixty-five men he remained with his regiment in Tennessee and Georgia until the sur- render of the Confederate army. Subsequently, Major Andrews was with his regiment in Arkansas and Louisiana until he resigned January 1, 1870. During this time he was commandant of military posts much of the time and was frequently assigned to important trusts.
During the past seventeen years Major Andrews has resided in Fitchburg, in Kansas and in San Francisco, Cali- fornia, and since November, 1879, he has been Inspector of Customs at Boston. In a life of diversified employment, Major Andrews has been faithful and efficient in the dis- charge of duty and has commanded the respect and confi- dence of his associates.
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DEACON SAMUEL WILDER Was born in Lancaster, May 7, 1739. He was a son of Colonel Caleb Wilder and a grand- son of Judge Joseph Wilder. Colonel Caleb Wilder owned many acres of land in Dorchester Canada and was much employed in forwarding the settlement. His name frequently appears in the records of the proprietors, but he never re- sided in this town. Samuel Wilder settled here previous to 1765. At the first town meeting under the act of incorpora- tion, March 25, 1765, he was chosen collector of the land tax. Before the close of the year he temporarily removed from the town and in November following Samuel Nichols was chosen in place of Mr. Wilder who was, as the record asserts, "out of the province." He soon returned and in 1767 he was a selectman and received other mention in the proceedings of the meetings. From this date he resided in Ashburnham continuously until his death. In early life he was a captain in the colonial militia, but he was never honored with the title after he was chosen a deacon. The records assert his popularity and the unlimited confidence of his townsmen. He was several years a member of the General Court ; was the town clerk twenty-two years, a selectman fifteen years and an assessor twenty years. In addition to this extended service he was frequently chosen on important committees and in every emergency his service was invoked. For many years he was justice of the peace and in his time few legal papers were executed in this town which did not bear his familiar signature.
The advancement of Mr. Wilder was attended by no for- tuitous circumstances. His honors were merited and his position among his townsmen was the voice of mature senti- ment. If not brilliant, his qualities were solid, and if he did not win the applause of his fellow-men, he enjoyed in an unusual degree their trust and confidence. At fifty-nine years of age he died suddenly May 9, 1798, but he lived
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until Joseph Jewett had been advanced to his assistance in town affairs. Leaving his mantle, like the prophet of old, upon the shoulders of his successor, he closed a record full of honor and unstained with an ignoble deed.
JOSEPH JEWETT, son of Edward and Sarah Jewett, was born in Stow, May 10, 1761. The family had previously resided in Concord, where some of the older children were born and subsequently removed to Bolton. Deacon Edward Jewett, a man of superior ability and a prominent citizen of Rindge, was an older brother. After serving in the Revolu- tion, of which mention is made in another chapter, Joseph Jewett removed to this town in 1783. He was a merchant and a farmer and for many years the leading business man in the place ; but in other employments he was even more in- timately identified with the town's history. In this con- nection his record as a citizen, and the sterling qualities of his character demand more than a passing notice. At the age of twenty-two years he entered upon the scene of his future activity and immediately the town recognized the qualities of the man. The proof of his popularity and the measure of the confidence reposed in him are witnessed by the records. He was a member of the board of selectmen fifteen years, an assessor fifteen years, town clerk eighteen years and was ten times chosen to preside over the annual March meeting.
In the midst of these accumulating honors and responsi- bilities he was a member of the Legislature seven years and was frequently chosen to serve on committees and render other service to the town. But no numerical statement of his official service will fairly express the measure of confi- dence reposed in him, or the unanimity in which he was called to these posts of duty. In military affairs he evinced a lively interest. Tradition asserts he was the first captain of the Ashburnham Light Infantry. It is certain that he
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commanded a company in this town as early as 1789 and was commissioned a captain of the independent company in this town, July 12, 1791, and the following year was promoted to major. He was lieutenant-colonel in 1795 and colonel of the regiment, to which the Ashburnham companies belonged, in 1796. For many years he was a justice of the peace and was frequently called upon to act in this capacity. A rear room in the store building was styled the court-room and there many official papers were executed and many minor suits were adjudicated.
In these outlines of a life work, if other evidence failed, there would remain the inference of capacity, honesty and a measure of urbanity through which his fellow-men clearly recognized these sterling qualities.
In civil affairs Joseph Jewett is the most conspicuous per- sonage in the town's history. He was the oracle of his time and an antocrat among his townsmen, yet his ambition was limited and he wisely exercised authority when thrust upon him. The aged who remember Mr. Jewett are united in the testimony that he was a man of rigid integrity, -- that the distinguishing qualities of his mind were an intuitive per- ception and a sound judgment, and that he was kind and considerate to his fellow-men. He died May 3, 1846.
GENERAL IVERS JEWETT, a son of Colonel Joseph Jewett, was born in this town, May 7, 1788. His record as a mer- chant in his native town has been stated in another chapter. In 1827 he removed to Fitchburg and was interested in several manufacturing and other enterprises. Many of the business ventures which he forwarded with enthusiasm and supported with his money and credit were unfortunate for him and his friends. General Jewett was of buoyant, ardent temperament, of attractive, personal appearance and com- manding presence. He was affable, kind-hearted and gener- ous. Popularity was his birthright and the record of his
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early life is attractive and inspiriting. At thirty-four years of age he had risen from the ranks of the Ashburnham Light Infantry to the rank of a general of the State Militia. At every step in this rapid transition he had been an efficient and popular officer. He had been a successful merchant and € had enlarged the business established by his father. He had been employed in town affairs and had exercised unusual sway and command among his fellow-men.
Few men at this age and in a rural community of limited population have made a more brilliant record. In mental capacity, in fitness to lead and ability to command among men and aptitude in the routine transaction of business, he resembled his father in an eminent degree. In boldness of conception, in power to persuade and in originality of project he was his superior ; but in ripeness of judgment, in pru- dence and caution, he failed at the threshold of his father's success. Of his later life little is known. He removed to the South and there accumulated a handsome property which was swept away by the fortunes of war during the Rebellion. He died at Mobile, Alabama, April 26, 1871.
THE WILLARDS. - The brothers Deacon John and Jacob Willard removed from Harvard 1768. They were men of ability and occupied prominent positions in public affairs. Deacon Willard died July 4, 1793, having been in feeble health for several years. He was a man of most estimable character and was highly respected. Had he been sustained by health it is probable that very few in the history of the town would have been more conspicuous.
Jacob Willard was a strong, aggressive character. His services in behalf of good government during the disturb- ances succeeding the Revolution, and especially during the excitement attending the revolt of Daniel Shays, were instant and effective. He was a delegate to the Law and Order
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Conventions held at that time, and was a firm supporter of the Government. He was a representative to the first Legislature convened under the Constitution of the State, and was four times elected subsequently. His name fre- quently appears in the list of town officers in another chap- ter, and few men have exercised a stronger or more salutary influence in town affairs. He died February 22, 1808.
SILAS WILLARD, EsQ., son of Deacon John Willard, was another prominent citizen of this town. In 1820 he was a member of the Constitutional Convention and was frequently chosen to positions of trust. For twenty-eight years he was a justice of the peace and through a long life he commanded the esteem and respect of all who knew him. He died June 14, 1855.
JOHN ADAMS, son of Captain Thomas and Lydia (Chad- wick), Adams, was born, January 22, 1745. In 1766 he began a clearing on Cambridge farm, on land purchased of his father, and here he was engaged each summer in clearing land and in building a house and a barn until 1770, when he became a permanent resident of this town. That John Adams was a man of unusual vigor of body is an easy infer- ence from the fact that he lived to the advanced age of one hundred and four years, one month and four days, and that he was a man of superior mental endowment is swiftly wit- nessed by the record of a prolonged and useful life. He was frequently elected assessor and selectman, and in other municipal affairs he was much employed. In an unusual degree he commanded the respect and good will of his towns- men. The fruit of a life of industry and frugality he dis- tributed, while living, among his children, and when over ninety years of age, with a horse and light wagon, he journeyed to Harford, Susquehannah county, Pennsylvania, and back to Ashburnham. His son, James, had previously 31
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removed to Harford and soon after his visit there he re- turned to that place and there resided until his death.
In the closing years of a remarkable life he passed through no twilight of mental decay and feebleness. When over oue hundred years of age, in a letter to Mrs. Samuel Gibson, who during many years was a near neighbor, he writes of himself in these clear, intelligent sentences, - " My eyesight remains much as it has been for many years. I can see with glasses to read an hour or two at a time which answers in the room of hearing." Not until he had closely approached one hundred years did his hearing fail, and to the end he was able to converse with his friends, although his hearing was considerably impaired. Under date of February 7, 1846, he writes to his grandson, John Adams, as follows :
Beloved Grandson : - This morning I received the kindness of your letter, and among other things it brought the sorrowful and melancholy tidings of the death of your venerable grandmother Gibson. The news has struck me with uncommon feelings of sorrow. I presume you are not unacquainted with the friendship. that has for many long years subsisted between the old lady, your grandmother, and myself, and hope you will not wonder at my being overpowered. My mind is too much disturbed to be able to write. O, what a vale of tears is this pilgrimage, - this worldly state in which we are placed ! And how are we excited to sym- pathize with each other under the bereavements which we have sustained since I saw you last, when we look around and see what slaughter the King of Terrors has been permitted to make in our family. O, how many of our nearest relations and even bosom companions are no more ; - and last of all your beloved grand- mother, my friend and sister. And where now shall we look for consolation? To God and to the Gospel of his Son. There, and there alone, shall we find relief.
Love to your children and all enquiring friends, your uncle Samuel's [Gibson] family in particular. With the affections of a parent,
I remain JOHN ADAMS.
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In a letter to Joel Foster, son of Samuel and grandson of Jeremiah Foster, an early settler in this town, vivid evidences of an unimpaired memory are apparent. The letter was written at Harford, February 3, 1846.
Respected Friend: - I am now with a weak and faltering hand attempting to comply with your request by writing a few lines to you, hoping this will find you and your family in health and prospering. I would inform you that my health is as good as may be expected by a person like myself under the infirmities of old age and the decay of mental faculties. Dear sir, I received your friendly letter by my son James and took much pleasure in read- ing the contents of it ; it always gives me much pleasure to receive a letter from my Massachusetts friends, but especially from a family where I have been so agreeably acquainted as I was with your honored father and his family. It reminds me of by-gone days when we were doing town business together. If ever I took satisfaction in that business it was when I was connected with your father. True, he was not a ready writer ; but his candor, his judicious and sound judgment and unprejudiced mind and ex- tensive knowledge of the town and its affairs, qualifled him for the business in which he was often engaged. I presume you remember me often at your house, and I knew something of its affairs ; and truly I thought your father and his family was a worthy example, and on his farm a pattern of industry, dilligence and economy ; in the town, a pillar to the community a blessing to all, an honest man, which is the noblest work of God. But his God whom he served saw fit in the midst of his days to call him hence, and shall not the Lord of heaven and earth do right? And who shall say to the Almighty, what doest thou, or why doest thou so ?
I understand by your letters that in years past you have been visited by sickness and the loss of friends, even your bosom friend. In this I can feelingly sympathize with you, having been tried in the same furnace of affliction, losing the wife of my youth with whom I lived fifty-three years, every year adding strength to the tie of affection. But under these trials it becomes us to cultivate
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a spirit of resignation whereby we may be enabled to say from the heart. - " Not my will, heavenly Father, but thine be done."
Dear friend, I now take the liberty to congratulate you on the happy connexion which you have formed with the once Mrs. Cobleigh, a lady with whom I have in time past had some aequaint- ance, and view her to be a lady of virtue, intelligence and benefi- cence, and with whom I wish you to enjoy a long, peaceful. joyful, prosperous and happy life.
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