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 7
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The Boston party continued the meeting over a year, holding by adjournment eleven sessions. They elected Richard Dana clerk in place of Samuel Wilder of Ashburn- ham who was elected in 1763 to succeed Nathan Heywood of Lunenburg ; they repealed all the measures adopted at the April meeting and voted that future meetings should be held in Boston until otherwise ordered. Not until 1771 was another meeting of the proprietors convened at Ashburnham, when Samuel Wilder was again elected clerk and was con- tinued in office until the organization was practically extinet. Benjamin Church of Boston remained the treasurer until 1763 and was succeeded by Caleb Wilder of Lancaster and by Jonathan Samson of Ashburnham.
It is certain that both parties were united in a vote passed a short time before the troubles began. It was proposed, in 1761, to "grant Mr. Taylor any certain sum of money to enable him to build a grist mill in the northeasterly part of said township and it passed in the negative unanimously." On the question of mills and the general policy of having any further connection with them there was the fullest meas-
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ure of sympathy and concord. At the previous meeting it was voted to "grant James Colman about one acre and one hundred rods lying between the house where he now dwells and the saw mill yard which belongs to Moses Foster Jr. and Zimri Heywood." The records also declare that such favor to Mr. Coleman was on account of "his good service in said township in promoting the settlement there." This land was in the northeast part of the town and is now in Ashby.
In 1761 the General Court so far recognized the settle- ment as to impose a province tax upon the lands and inhab- itants of the township. The proprietors instructed a committee to apply to the Court for relief. The petition, containing imformation of interest, is preserved in the Court Records :
A Petition of Joshua Henshaw Esqr. and others, proprietors of the plantation called Dorchester Canada, Setting forth : That in the year 1761 the General Court laid a Tax upon them of £44-7-1. and three yearly Taxes since. That the Lands in such a new Plantation do not yield the produce as in those that are more cultivated, and are subject to early and late frosts, inso- much that the Inhabitants have not been able to raise one half of their bread corn, but are obliged to travel to other places to purchase it. That they are, besides, subject to the ravages of wild beasts, whereby they lose more young Cattle, Sheep and Swine than the value of any Province Tax that could equitably be laid upon them and praying Relief.
THE EARLY SETTLERS. - A complete register of the early settlers of this town cannot now be made. The records in the incidental employment of names present no accurate list and there is no account of an enumeration of persons or of families at any time during the infancy of the settlement. The information which establishes the residence in this town
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IHISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
of the persons hereafter named has been gleaned from many sources. In 1751, when the proprietors informed the Gen- eral Court there were thirty men or more residing in the township, Timothy Mossman and Asher Cutler had removed to Sudbury, from whence they came, and did not subse- quently return. Thomas Gamble, who was here in 1739, had disappeared and in some other settlement was recount- ing his loss by fire. The man employed by Benjamin Bellows and his associates on Bluefield grant, and to whom tradition assigns the name of Johnson, is not mentioned after the desertion of the settlement in 1744. Ephraim Wheeler of Lancaster who was the managing proprietor of the block- house was frequently here until 1760, but probably never resided in the township.
Moses Foster is found residing here in 1750, but the date of his arrival is not definitely known. About 1750 he removed from the northeast part of the township to land granted him near the old common where he was a licensed innholder in 1751 and in later years. His name will fre- quently occur in the continued record of the settlement.
James Coleman with a numerous family left Ipswich, Mas- sachusetts, 1743, and the same year united with the church in Lunenburg. He is claimed as a resident of Lunenburg until 1760, but it is certain that he early settled on his land in the northeast part of the township, now in Ashby, and very near if not adjacent to the first clearing of Moses Fos- ter. Possibly when apprehensive of danger he retired within the line of the fortifications and being found a member of the church in Lunenburg, it was erroneously presumed that he was a resident of that place. Hle was a prominent man in the settlement and was later a valued citizen of Ashby.
Elisha Coolidge came from Cambridge, 1752. He prob- ably assisted in building the mills and for a time owned an
:
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interest in them which he conveyed to Nathan Dennis, December 13, 1752. Ile was a licensed innholder 1759, 1760 and 1761. He was one of the original members of the church and will be frequently named in the following pages.
Nathan Dennis was from Dudley. He owned the mills and was an innholder 1753 and 1754. Ile returned to Dudley about 1756.
Jeremiah Foster removed from Harvard and settled on the Gamaliel Hadley farm in 1753. In 1757 he was chosen a committee to repair the roads and subsequently his name is frequently repeated in the records.
John Bates, Benjamin Spaulding and Zimri Heywood were residents of the northeast part previous to 1760. In 1767 they were included within the new town of Ashby.
Thomas Wheeler was here and an innholder in 1756. He was one of the original members of the church, moderator of the second town meeting, 1765, and probably moved away that year.
Moses Foster, Jr., was in Dorchester Canada in 1758 and perhaps came with his father several years earlier. His eldest child died here in 1760. The family removed to Shel- burne in 1771. He lived in the northeast part of the town and in 1760 he and Zimri Heywood had a mill there.
Unity Brown was a resident here in 1759, but the date of his arrival is not known. The marriage of Unity Brown of Dorebester Canada and Rebecca Arnold of Shrewsbury August 16, 1759, is entered on the records of Shrewsbury and Lunenburg. He united with the church at its organiza- tion but his name is not anywhere found after 1762.
Enos Jones from Lunenburg settled on the Bluefield grant in 1761. He was then nineteen years of age and was not married until several years later. A part of the land owned by him has remained in the possession of his descendants until within the memory of many now living.
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HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
Samuel Fellows removed from Harvard, 1762. He set- tled in the centre of the town and built the first mill on Phillips' brook. It was located just north of the blacksmith shop and very near the site of the shop of Rockwood & Walker that was burned in 1883. With the father came Sam- nel Fellows, Jr. They removed ten years later to Shelburne.
Samuel Nichols from Harvard bought the mills at the out- let of Naukeag lake which had been owned by Dana, Cool- idge and Dennis. In 1777 he removed to Walpole, New Hampshire.
William Whitcomb, also from Harvard, settled on land which was later known as the George Howard farm. For several years he was one of the most active and influential men in the place, but later his name is seldom found in the records. He died here at an advanced age.
Jonathan Samson, like many of the other settlers, was one of the proprietors and had owned a right in the township sometime previous to his settlement on the Merrick Whit- ney farm in 1762. It is possible he was here before the date given. The birth of his eldest child May 7, 1759, is recorded here, but there is no assertion that the child was born in Dorchester Canada.
Stephen Ames settled east of Rice pond, as early as 1762. He removed from town in 1777.
Tristram Cheney was from Sudbury. "He was an active citizen. While he remained no one exercised a more con- trolling influence in the direction of public affairs. He settled where Horace W. Houston now lives, and in 1774 removed to Antrim, New Hampshire.
William Joyner was probably from Sudbury. He was here in 1763, town clerk 1766, 1767 and 1768, united with the church, 1769, but there is no record of his death or of his dismissal from the church. In 1770 he was not taxed and it is probable he removed late in 1769 or early in 1770.
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Ebenezer Conant, from Concord, settled probably near and west of Rice pond. He was residing here in 1763. He was sixty-four years of age at that time. With him came his son, Ebenezer Conant, Jr.
John Martin, Ebenezer Hemenway, Abraham Smith, Deliverance Davis, who settled on the David Russell place, now owned by Mrs. Russell, George Dickerson, Jeremiah Bridge and a few others, arrived here so near the close of the annals of Dorchester Canada that they should be counted among the early arrivals in the new town of Ashburnham.
There is evidence that a few families were residing on the Rolfe, the Starr and the Converse grants at an early date, but there is found no mention of the names.
During the arrivals of the settlers who have been named, the Germans were making substantial progress in the settle- ment of Lexington grant. They were independent of the proprietors, and except in the sympathies of a new settle- ment, they were a community by themselves.
YE DUTCHMEN. - The German settlement in the eastern part of the town was a substantial contribution to the intelli- gence and population of the settlement. These emigrants were educated people, equal in character and ability to their contemporaries in the township. They were in full sympa- thy with the other settlers in religion, in hatred of tyranny and in zealous defence of their political rights. In the Revolution no portion manifested a livelier interest or con- tributed more in treasure, sacrifice or service. They had fled from tyranny in their native land and were quick to recognize and resist oppression in any form. The sturdy, frugal, industrious characteristics of the fathers have been renewed in their children. From the first they have been received into full fellowship and admitted on equal terms to all social and publie privileges. By assimilation and inter-
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marriage, they are no longer a distinct people, yet the im- press of this element of the population of the town has been healthful and salutary. . There remains an impulse not to mention the German settlers in a separate paragraph and in no manner distinguish them from other members of a cemented common community. The impulse would prevail save from a fear that the omission of particular reference would falsely be ascribed to an indifferent recognition of their character and worth. The events which influenced their settlement in this town are not concealed. They were in Lexington in 1757 and not destitute of money. Their imperfect knowledge of the English language and other reasons, at once apparent, urged them to settle in one com- munity if sufficient land could be found at a convenient point. The town of Lexington offered to sell them one thousand acres of land in a continuous tract. They bought it and came here. If Lexington grant in 1735 had been located in any other place they would have gone there. The deed bears date of December, 1757, and is recorded in March, 1758. The original grantees were Henry Hole, Christian William Whiteman, Jacob Schoffe, Simon Roda- mell, Peter Perry, John Rich and John Kiberling. All of these, except Peter Perry, whose name does not appear again, immediately settled on the Lexington grant. At the same time or the following year, Jacob Selham, Andrew Windrow, Henry Stack, widow Constantine and Jacob Barkardst settled near them. John Oberlock and Philip Vorback bought land and resided south of the old common and near the site of Cushing Academy. In 1774, Jacob Wilker removed from Boston to the farm still owned and occupied by his descendants. These were born in Germany, and Lexington grant, where most of them resided, soon became known as the Dutch farms.
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John Kiblinger-the name is now written Kibling -first settled in Maine but soon removed to Boston. In 1758, with his wife and three children, he came to Dorchester Canada. He was prominent in public affairs until his death, April 4, 1777, aged about fifty-five years. This family first located north of the Wilker farm, but subsequently they exchanged farms with the Constantines and removed to the farm now of George A. Willard.
Constantine. - This family consisted of a widow and her children, the husband and father having died in Boston a short time previous to their removal to this town. She died April 25, 1782, aged nearly eighty years. Jacob Constan- tine, a son, married July 5, 1773, a daughter of Christian William Whiteman. He died from injuries received by being thrown from a bridge in Ashby, March 8, 1814, aged sixty-one years. As previously stated, this family finally settled on a farm still associated with the name and situated north of the farm of Joseph W. Wilker.
Christian William Whiteman, or Whitman, settled on the farm now of Warren E. Marble. He was an active, intelli- gent man. In this family there were six children, three of whom were born in this town. In 1796, the aged parents removed to Haverhill, New Hampshire, where one of their sons was then residing.
Jacob Schoffe resided near the Whitemans until 1777 when he removed to Haverhill, New Hampshire. While he re- mained, his name receives honorable mention in the records.
Henry Hole assumed the name of Ilall. He was forty years of age at the time he settled on the Captain Lemuel Whitney farm now owned by Levi E. Flint of Ashby. IIe died in this town 1794, aged eighty-three years. His eldest son was born on the ocean.
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HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
Simon Rodamell had a farm near the home of Jacob Schoffe. In 1777 he presented letters of recommendation from a Lutheran church in Germany and was admitted to the church in this town. In later years the name has been changed to Rodimon. IIe died 1813, aged ninety-three years.
John Rich, one of the early German settlers, was an active citizen while he remained in the township. He was living in Ashburnham in 1774, but previous to 1778, he removed to Haverhill, New Hampshire.
Andrew Windrow. - To end a season of discontent con- cerning his German name, he found a glorious summer in the name of Winter. His farm was northeast from the centre of the town. He died November 22, 1792, aged seventy years. His widow died 1814. Andrew Winter, Jr., resided on a farm that was annexed to Ashby in 1792.
Jacob Selham resided on the borders of the German settle- ment. When Ashby was incorporated, he was included in that town. The name was changed to Sellenham. He died 1769, aged sixty years. His son, Henry Sellenham, is fre- quently mentioned in the records of Ashby.
Henry Stack, later known as Steele, is said to have been buried in this town. No record of his death has been dis- covered.
The Lexington grant was originally purchased by Henry Hall, Christian William Whiteman, Jacob Schoff'e, Simon Rodamell, Peter Perry, John Rich and John Kiblinger. Peter Perry immediately sold his interest to his associates and the land was divided among them. James Locke of Townsend, later of Ashby, was employed to survey and divide the land into lots. About one hundred and fifty aeres of meadow were reserved as common lands and the remainder was divided into fourteen lots of unequal areas.
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In the distribution of land among the six remaining pro- prietors, to Henry Hall was assigned a lot in the northeast corner and a lot near the centre of the south line. Christian William Whiteman received a lot on the cast line, south of the first lot of Mr. Hall, a lot near the centre of the north line, and a small lot near the centre of the west line. Jacob Schoffe took a lot near the centre of the east line and south of Mr. Whiteman's first lot, and a lot of irregular outline in the southwest corner. John Rich became the owner of a lot on the east line south of the first lot of Mr. Schoffe and a gener- ous lot in the centre of the grant. To John Kiblinger was given a lot in the southeast and another in the northwest corners of the grant. To Simon Rodamell was awarded two lots near the centre of the grant, one north and one south of the lot of Mr. Rich and a small lot near the centre of the west line between lands of Mr. Whiteman and Mr. Schoffe.
THE PROVINCE LINE. - The boundaries of Dorchester Canada were established in January, 1736. Five years later the province line was run which severed a considerable tract of land from the township and gave it to New Hampshire. Allowing for a variation of the needle, the province line was run north 80º west, while the northern boundary of the township was located north 78º west. The difference be- tween the town course across the township would lead to a divergence of about one hundred rods. The province line entered Dorchester Canada abont ten rods south of the northeast corner and passing westward, cutting wider and wider, it severed one hundred and ten rods at the north- west corner. The detached area was two thousand three hundred and forty rods in length with an average width of sixty rods, amounting to eight hundred and seventy-seven acres. In the northeast corner of the township there had been laid out twelve second division lots which were clipped 7
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HISTORY OF ASHBURNHAM.
by the province line. On the northern side of the township no other lots had been laid out. Through the remainder of its course the province line took tribute from the undivided lands. By subsequent grants, the proprictors make restitu- tion to the owners of the mutilated lots, but their loss from the common land was never compensated. Twice they chose a committee to petition the General Court for remu- neration, and as late as 1764, they voted to have the claim revived. It had been delayed too long. The era of grants was ended. In the prosecution of this claim the proprietors joined another which arose from the inadequate allowance for the ponds in the original survey of the township. The proprietors informed the General Court that the allowance of three hundred acres which was then made was an error at once apparent, as indeed it was. They submitted an esti- mate of the several ponds in the township made by Caleb Wilder and Nathan Heywood. This ancient reference to the ponds is of interest :
The Great pond in Dorchester Canada that
the mill stands on [Upper Naukeag] 680 acres
In the Lower Manockeeg 330
the long pond by mount Hunger hill 270 66 In one of the great Watatock ponds 70
In the other 66 30
In one of the little Watatock ponds
30
In the pond by the third Division School Lot SO
The pond in the Southwest corner of the township 100
That part of the Menomanack lying in Dor- chester Canada 100
Taken off by the Province line from Dor- chester Canada 877
. In these statements it was claimed that the proprietors had lost one thousand three hundred and ninety acres on
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account of the ponds and eight hundred and seventy-seven acres by the establishment of the province line.
The contributions of land to Ashby and to Gardner, when those towns were incorporated, will receive mention here- after. The northeast corner of the original township before it suffered any dismemberment was about two miles east of the present bound. The southwest corner was at Gardner Centre. The northwest corner was within Monomonock lake, in Rindge. In the estimate of losses exhibited to the General Court there is an error of one hundred acres. That part of Monomonock lake which fell within the limits of the old survey is reckoned a part of eight hundred and seventy- seven acres cut off' by the province line and is also included in the losses on account of the ponds.
THE MANUFACTURE OF POTASHI. - One hundred years ago potash was made in all the new towns, and for obvious reason the business was continued until the supply of ashes became limited. A sketch of Ashburnham found in Whit- ney's History of Worcester County, 1793, contains the assertion, "here are potash works and have been from its infancy ; and the first complete ton of this article carried into market was from Ashburnham." It is probable that this sketch was contributed by Rev. Dr. Cushing. The authorship is reflected both in the substance and in the man- ner of expression, and many of the details are repeated in nearly the same words in his Half Century Sermon, twenty- five years later. Dr. Cushing never wrote carelessly and the statement can be accepted without qualification. The earliest reference to this manufacture appears in a vote of the proprietors, 1753, offering to Benjamin Frobisher one right of land in the township, whenever he commenced the manu- facture there and gave four shillings, old tenor, for each bushel of ashes delivered at his place of business. The
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HISTORY OF ASHIBURNIIAM.
price named was equivalent to nine cents in silver. At a later meeting, a committee was instructed to purchase a right of land for this purpose at an approaching sale of land for the payment of taxes. Subsequently, it was proposed that the proprietors agree to deliver 3000 bushels each year at 62 pence, or near 83 cents per bushel. The grant of land to encourage this enterprise was never made, nor is there any evidence that Mr. Frobisher ever located in the township. It is more probable that this enterprise in its infancy was encouraged by Caleb Wilder of Lancaster, a man of ability and enterprise. He was one of the proprietors of Dorchester Canada, and exercised a controlling influence in its affairs. He was engaged in the manufacture of potash in several places, and was the first to employ kettles in forwarding the process of evaporation, and it was here he manufactured that historical ton of potash, at that time the largest shipment that had been made at one time. One of the carly and longest continued works of this character was situated nearly opposite the No. 1 school-house. The water for the leaches was conveyed from a spring not far from the Powder House. At this place Joseph Jewett and Ivers Jewett manufactured large quantities of potash. The works were under the supervision of John Woods. Captain Lemuel Whitney and several others were engaged in this manufacture until a comparatively recent date.
THE DISTRIBUTION OF LANDS. - Very early in the pro- ceedings of the proprietors, the first division lots of fifty acres and the second division lots of eighty acres were laid out and became the private property of the several proprie- tors. Exclusive of the six grants within the township, over which the proprietors had no control, the undivided land, comprising nearly two-thirds of the township, was the common property of the corporation. Passing over many
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votes and the selection of committees to lay out additional lands which produced no results, the first substantial accom- plishment was in 1762, when a third division lot of eighty acres was assigned to the owner of each right. A few of these lots were assigned previously but there was no general distribution until this date. A fourth and a fifth division soon followed. The last were called equivalent lots, for the reason that the more valuable ones were given to the persons who had drawn inferior fourth division lots. After these distributions of land, there remained about twenty small tracts of land in different parts of the township, in- eluding five islands in Upper Nankeag. These remained common property until an auction sale in 1781. At this sale a tract of fifty acres was purchased by Rev. John Cush- ing. This was the original number 31 in the first division which the proprietors allowed Deacon Moses Foster to relinquish and lay out another lot bearing the same number a short distance northeast of the common. The great island was sold to Edward Withington and the four smaller islands were purchased by Timothy Fisher. The common lands were the capital of the corporation of the proprietors, and when this was all disposed of the organization was dissolved. The owner of each right in the township had received five tracts of land and had been required to pay one-sixtieth of all the taxes assessed from time to time. When the remain- ing lands were sold and the debts liquidated, there was remaining in the treasury a sum of money which was divided among the proprietors, and on each right was paid £2-10-2. From a financial stand-point, if the value of the land and this insignificant dividend exceeded the amount of taxes assessed from time to time, the enterprise was successful. But in forwarding and solidifying the settlement, in extending the fruits of organization, and in their agency in the control of
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