USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Bolton > History of Bolton, 1738-1938 > Part 14
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powdered bark, usually oak bark, and the whole filled with water. After some months the tan-pit was emptied, and the process repeated. The hides became slowly impreg- nated with the astringent properties of the oak-bark. The whole process took a long time to complete, and leather suitable for sole-leather required from six to twelve months ; thicker leathers, called "butts" or "backs," required up to eighteen months. The thinner kinds of leather required less time, some kinds being tanned in a different manner, by the use of sumac or alum.
The first tanyard in Bolton of which we have a record was built in 1750 by Samuel Baker, on the place now owned by John Hopkins and called "West Pond Farm." Samuel Baker, called in town records "Captain Baker," also built a sawmill on the brook north of the house he erected. His neighbor to the east was John Peirce, also a tanner, who bought the Baker place from Samuel Moore, to whom Captain Baker sold it in 1765. Captain Baker removed to Berlin territory in 1765, buying the stone house in West Berlin, long called the "Judge Baker place."
John Peirce operated the tannery for about seven years, selling to John and Nathaniel Potter who were called "housewrights." They probably operated the tanyard, however, or hired a tanner, as the tanyard is mentioned in the deed they gave Benjamin Sawyer, nearly twenty years later. The Sawyers were not tanners and built a grist mill, probably on or near the site of the old tannery.
There was also a tannery in the south part of the town, on the Old Marlborough Road. The location of this tan- yard was on the east branch of Wataquadock Brook, a few rods southwest of the Garrison house. Josiah Babcock, called in the deed a tanner, bought twelve and one fourth
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acres of land in 1802, and "} of the house standing thereon" from Levi and Betsy Moore. There is in the deed no men- tion of a tanyard. However, in 1806, he bought from Ebenezer Bridge of Harvard, a currier, a partly finished currying shop "with the privilege of removing the same or improving it where it now stands." Josiah evidently pre- ferred to "improve " it on his own land, and doubtless moved it to the place where he used it as a tan-house for many years.
Some of the very oldest inhabitants can recall a tannery in the center of Bolton, located on land now owned by Mr. Edes, and facing the Harvard Road. It was close to the brook which runs under the road, north of W. L. Sprague's house, and belonged to the Sprague property. This tan- yard was owned by Martin Wood as early as 1806, and how long before that is not known.
BRICKYARDS
In Whitney's History of Worcester County, published in 1793, it is stated that at the time there were two famous brickyards in Bolton which made 200,000 bricks annually. One of these was on the bank of the intervale nearly back of the house where George Day now lives. The second was not far away, on the east side of the road (now Route IIO) about fifty yards up a brook which flows into Still River. A large depression in the earth shows where a great quantity of clay was removed. The Haynes family later erected a comb shop on the site of this brickyard.
Many, if not all, of the brick houses in the town were made of Bolton bricks. These bricks are not of the same size as modern bricks but a trifle smaller, making any alterations or repairs on houses built of them somewhat difficult. It is
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supposed that the houses of Mrs. Emerson, T. T. Pond, Richard Nourse, Charles Day, George Kimball and one Haynes house were constructed of Bolton bricks.
THE FULLING MILL
From the earliest days of our country, cloth-making or weaving was one of the most important occupations of the housewife and other women of the family. Women were extremely proud of their skill, and weaving patterns and secrets of dyeing were passed from mother to daughter like valuable heirlooms. Spinning wheels, flax wheels, clock reels, cards, and looms, were as much the standard equipment of every home as fireplaces or chairs and tables.
The proper finishing of cloth was, however, always a problem. In homespun cloth each thread of warp and woof is easily separated from those beside it, thus greatly affecting the wearing qualities. The invention of the process of fulling and the building of a fulling mill was probably hailed by the housewives of Bolton as a real "modern improve- ment." This mill was on the Great Brook, probably on or near the Harvard Road not far from Brockway's corner. Its action depended on water power, and a great deal of water was also used in the process.
The home-woven cloth was taken to the mill, scoured with soap and water, rinsed, dried, and stretched. Then it was folded into bundles, a thick solution of either soap or Fuller's earth being spread between the layers. These bundles were next subjected to the action of heavy mallets or stocks for three hours at a time, fine cloth being fulled four separate times. The pounding or beating process caused the woolen fibres to hook into each other and become united until the cloth became "felty," and not ravelly when cut, like other
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woven goods. During this process the cloth became much thickened and only about one half as long or wide as in the beginning.
COOPER SHOPS
In an early history of Worcester County is found the statement that the manufacture of barrels, hogsheads, hoops, and staves was at that time one of Bolton's most important industries. Every family in Colonial days "put in" several barrels of cider for the winter. Many barrels and hogsheads were used in the numerous distilleries. Wooden tubs, butter tubs or firkins, kegs, buckets, and other articles were made in the cooper's shop.
Ichabod Smith, who lived in the Goding house on the Pan, had a cooper shop. He sold the place in 1767, to a blacksmith who probably remodeled the shop to suit his trade.
Thomas Houghton was also a cooper. When he sold the Kimmens place in 1849, he reserved the blacksmith shop and the cooper shop, which were "to be taken off by the grantor." Thomas Houghton evidently built this shop, as there is no mention of it before his ownership of the property.
John Kimmens, who lived in a plaster house on the point of land formed by the Old Marlborough Road and the road which passes the old burying ground, had a cooper shop. Upon his death in 1821, his wife, Judith (Houghton), was left the use of this shop during her lifetime.
Joseph Houghton, who lived on the Green in the house now owned by Robert Forbes, rented his farm in 1807 to Isaiah Whitney of Harvard. He reserved a part of the house for his own use "and the garret to lay casks in if needed, also the cooper shop with a privilege to lay cooper
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stuff near said shop and a privilege to pass and repass through the house to said shop." Joseph evidently operated the cooper shop himself and, as he was then unmarried, made a contract with Whitney for board, washing, and mending for a year.
THE COMB INDUSTRY
In the first half of the nineteenth century, comb-making was probably Bolton's most important industry. Horn was the material used, the work being done by hand with saws of various sizes. In 1837, there were five comb shops here, and the value of the product for that year was $21,500.
One of these shops was that owned by Francis Haynes and his brother Silas, built on the site of the old brickyard. The story is told that the Hayneses, being enterprising people, had an idea of using water power in their comb shop for greater production. Still River ran through their land, so an engineer was engaged to lay out a suitable site for a dam. He looked around and pointed out the place to erect the dam. "Now," said the engineer, "toss up a coin. That will decide for you on which side of the dam to put your mill; there is about as much flow in one direction as in the other !"
Another comb shop, owned by Asa Holman, was located on Wataquadock Hill Road nearly opposite the Cunningham house, now owned by Malcolm Ware. There was also the Gibson comb shop.
Besides the places classed as shops there were dozens of small family comb shops all over Bolton, some not even separate buildings, but merely one room of the house used to work in. Sanford Houghton did a large comb business on the Green. Jonas Houghton, who lived nearly at the
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Still River line, also made combs. Elcanah Caswell, on the Pan, had a small comb shop connected with his house. Horace Faulkner, in Fryville near the Quaker Church, and William W. Whitney, on Moore Road, were comb makers.
Others who made combs as a side line, probably as a winter occupation, include the following : Jaazaniah Hough- ton, Nathan Hosmer, Calvin Wheeler, Orson Bailey, Dexter Bailey, Franklin Brigham, Wilder Bush, Caleb Wheeler, Anthony Wetherbee, Leonard Hartwell, and Henry Sawyer.
In the early nineteenth century, ladies wore in their hair huge ornamental combs made of shell. Levi Barnard established a factory near the Hackett house for the manu- facture of these combs and did a thriving business. It is said that at one time so many workers were employed there that a boarding house was run for their accommodation.
BLACKSMITHS AND WHEELWRIGHTS
The blacksmith was an important man in the community. Not only did he shoe horses and oxen, but all the hardware which went into the building of a house was the product of his skill. The making of hinges, latches, hooks, fireplace fittings, implements of all kinds for the home and farm, besides nails, which were all hand made, kept the forge glowing winter and summer. Many blacksmiths not only earned good livings, but became well to do.
The first blacksmith in Bolton may have been Joseph Sawyer, uncle of General John Whitcomb, in whose home John lived as a child. He lived in the "east part," while Bolton was still a part of Lancaster.
Abraham Moor, who lived south of the meetinghouse, was a blacksmith in the early days of the town. Thomas
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Atherton, son of Eliakim Atherton, had a blacksmith shop on the Pan in Revolutionary days.
One of the early blacksmiths was Elnathan Polley. In 1789, Jacob and Olive Houghton sold to him, for one pound seven shillings, a small tract of land on the Great Road near Four Mile Brook, which "is the plot where the said Elna- than has built a blacksmith shop." This shop probably stood where Mrs. Henry Whitcomb's iris garden now grows. The shop had several owners, and was later taken down and rebuilt on the other side of the road, directly opposite the Kimmens house. Here Captain Oliver Sawyer, in the early 1800's, "swung his heavy sledge, with measured beat and slow." Captain Oliver's brother, Daniel Sawyer, who lived in the house now owned by Frank Paine, was a wheelwright. He probably worked with Captain Oliver in the latter's shop. To Daniel Sawyer goes the credit for making the first one-horse wagon ever seen in this town. It had no springs, the body being bolted down on a wooden axle. The spokes were all pinned into a huge hub large enough for a two-horse wagon, which caused a great clatter after it had been used for a while. Such a wagon sold for $40. and Mr. Sawyer was kept busy supplying the demand.
A blacksmith shop stood near the Holman Inn, probably being used for shoeing the stagecoach horses and for repair- ing the coaches. It was later operated as a separate enter- prise until about 1876, when it was torn down. Another shop stood only a stone's throw away, on the left side of the lane that leads to the Emerson School, and about fifty feet in from the main road. This was owned by Joel Sawyer, the owner of the mill nearby. For a number of years the smith was Tilson W. Barker, who lived in the house where Cora A. Jacobs now resides. Mr. Barker sold his interest
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in the shop and also the house, removing to the east part, where he bought the house now owned by Mr. Gustafson. He built a blacksmith shop there, and operated it for a number of years.
For fifty years, Amos Powers was well known as a black- smith. He had a shop on or near the site of the house owned by Arthur Miner. About 1880, he bought the old shoeshop opposite the Town House, using the lower floor for a blacksmith shop. After he sold the building to Wil- liam Robinson, he hired the shop by the mill pond. When Pond Park was made, part of the shop building was used to erect a blacksmith shop on Mr. Powers' land, now owned by Frank A. Powers. Amos Powers followed his trade for over fifty years, until a very few years before his death in 1932.
George Taylor, on the Pan, owned and operated the last blacksmith shop in Bolton. This shop still stands on the corner of Burnham Road, although it has not been used for several years.
POTASH SHOPS
Colonel Caleb Wilder, who lived on the Old Common in Lancaster, discovered a method for making potash in large kettles. Soon many in nearby towns had adopted his method. The earliest potash shop on record in Bolton stood on the site of the present post office.
In 1793, Bolton had one pearlash and two potash works. One potash shop stood on the Berlin Road south of the Brick Store. It was moved diagonally across the street, and the First Baptist Church erected on the site. The church build- ing was sold to the town in 1864 or 1865, and used for many years as the "Center School." It is now used as the fire house.
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Another potash shop was in the extreme eastern part of Bolton, on the so-called Moore Road, the exact location not determined, but probably near one of the two houses at the end of the road.
LIME QUARRIES
The date of the discovery of limestone in Bolton is not known. Henry S. Nourse, foremost historian of this vicin- ity, places it at about 1736, and although the Whitcomb family who owned nearly the whole of eastern Bolton may have known of the existence of lime on their property pre- vious to 1736, it was not quarried extensively until General John Whitcomb came into possession of his father's property in 1733.
General John opened or developed the quarry, built the kiln, and operated an extensive business. The Bolton quarry was the second to be discovered in all New England, the first being at Newbury in 1697. With new towns coming into being in all the vicinity around Bolton, the demand for lime must have been enormous. The quality of the Bolton lime was first class. It can be detected in the plaster of many old houses today, being harder and smoother than modern plaster, in fact almost rock-like in texture.
The lime business was carried on for many years by the Whitcombs and their descendants, but was finally sold. It had been in the possession of the new owner but a few years when a spring was struck at the bottom of the quarry. The water came in with such force and swiftness that the workers were obliged to flee for their lives, leaving their tools behind them, and the ox which operated the windlass was drowned. The business was abandoned after this stroke of misfortune, and due to newer and cheaper methods
THE LIME KILN
SAWYER'S MILL, ON THE PAN
THE BLACKSMITH SHOP
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of quarrying and burning pursued by other companies, it was not reopened.
Many years passed, in which the old quarry was all but forgotten. The twentieth century found students from various colleges and universities making yearly pilgrimages to Bolton for the purpose of studying the numerous minerals found in the quarry. In 1937, however, the lime business in Bolton took a new lease of life. Raymond Mentzer, the owner of the quarry, leased it to a Somerville company, headed by Mr. Frederick Hazen, for the manufacture of agricultural lime. The quality of the lime produced is excellent, as it contains a high percentage of magnesium, which is uncommon in most available lime.
SHOEMAKING
Every village in the early days had its shoemaker, or "cordwainer," as he was usually called. Many are listed in the very earliest records of the town. Probably the most noted of all Bolton shoemakers was one whose fame was not only local, but extended even to foreign lands. Joseph Holder, whose little shop stood close to his house on the Old Marlborough Road (where Charles H. Jones now lives) was the Quaker cordwainer whose honest workman- ship brought customers to his humble door from all the sur- rounding towns. His work was of surpassing excellence, and soon the wealthier ladies of Bolton, Lancaster, and other towns would wear no shoes but those of his make.
When Captain Cleveland of Lancaster went to Havana as vice-consul, Mrs. Cleveland left the measure of her foot with Friend Holder, and every year packages of shoes went from Bolton to her and to certain Cuban friends of hers.
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S. V. S. Wilder resided for several years in Paris, and while there Mrs. Wilder periodically sent orders to the Quaker expert ; and not for herself alone, but for several Parisian friends who admired the style and workmanship of the shoes made by the rustic shoemaker thousands of miles away.
David Holder lived next door to his brother Joseph, and worked with him in the latter's shop. In later years a shoe- shop was operated in the house of David Holder.
There were, of course, many other shoemakers in Bolton. Elcanah Caswell, on the Pan, also made shoes, besides combs and straw hats. Rufus Sparhawk, who married Mr. Cas- well's daughter, Mary Abba, was a shoemaker. He and his brother Oscar were in business together. David Bab- cock, who was a shoemaker and cobbler, lived in a house which stood on the site of the one now owned by William Laws. He later bought the house and shoeshop of Calvin Gates, which is now owned by William Prachnick. Blaney Palmer and John Brown were shoemakers. John Temple, cordwainer, made shoes in the house now owned by Mrs. Burns. Luther Houghton was a shoemaker in the same house many years later.
The value of the boots and shoes made in Bolton in 1837 is given as $6000. In Hayward's Gazeteer of New England, published in 1856, the value of boots and shoes manufac- tured here is given as $48,236.
By the middle of the nineteenth century, shoemaking had become a very important industry in Bolton. It had reached such proportions that a few of the more venture- some souls of the community decided to go into the shoe business on a larger scale. On April 22, 1853, a joint stock company was formed which assumed the corporate name of "The Bolton Shoe Company." The capital stock of this
-
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company was $7000, which was represented by seventy shares at a par value of one hundred dollars each. These shares were held by twenty-two persons, all but seven of them Bolton residents.
The business of the Bolton Shoe Company was carried on in the building opposite the Town House, which now belongs to James Walsh of Hudson, who remodeled it in 1936 for a two-family dwelling. This building had been the property of Caleb Nourse who had operated a shoeshop there for about twenty-five years previous to the incorporation of the Bolton Shoe Company. The deed from Caleb Nourse states that this was the same property left him by his honored father on June 25, 1829. It would therefore seem that Caleb Nourse's father, Barnard Nourse, probably had a shoeshop there in the very beginning of the nineteenth cen- tury.
The Bolton Shoe Company as such did not last long. In the latter part of 1856, and the early part of 1857, the Com- pany deeded the property in three parts to Joseph Whitney and Lyman Moore, Sherman W. Houghton, and Francis Brigham respectively. The shop was operated until the 1870's, when newer methods came into existence and it was closed.
Besides being the largest individual stockholder in the Bolton Shoe Company, General Amory Holman owned a small shop of his own. This is described in the auction bill for the sale of his estate, dated 1858, as sixty feet long and eighteen feet wide. It probably stood in back of the houses now owned by Mr. Townsend and Mr. Felton, and it is said that it was later used as a paint shop, then moved across the street and made into a house or houses.
No manufacturing is done in Bolton today.
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SILK MANUFACTURE
About the year 1832, a strange new industry appeared in Bolton, which consisted of about one-third agriculture, one-third husbandry, and one-third manufacturing. This industry (or art, as it was usually called), was the manu- facture of silk. It now seems preposterous that people thought they could raise silkworms and carry on the manufacture of silk in New England. However, the idea was not scoffed at, but eagerly accepted. In fact it be- came almost a craze, so much so that dozens of people put a great deal of money into the preparation for silk raising, often money they could ill afford to lose.
The fad must have swept the Commonwealth, as in 1831, the Governor, by authority of the Legislature, pub- lished a book on the culture of mulberry trees and the raising of silkworms. The first step was the culture of mulberry trees, on the leaves of which the silkworms were to be fed. Great orchards of mulberry trees were set out by well-to-do farmers, and smaller orchards by nearly every family in town. In a letter to his Bolton agent in 1833, S. V. S. Wilder refers to the Chinese mulberry trees he has just sent, which he wishes kept separate from the Holman mulberry trees. General Amory Holman sold thousands of the trees, and when the venture turned out to be a failure he was severely criticized.
There was nothing erroneous in the idea that mulberry trees would grow and flourish in New England. In fact, to this day in widely separated sections of the town may be found here and there an ancient mulberry tree, gnarled and stunted, but still alive.
The second step was the rearing of the silkworms. This
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is described in the Governor's book as very simple, but about forty pages are devoted to it, and to an inexperienced reader the process would seem quite the reverse of simple. The worms were to be fed on mulberry leaves, which had to be constantly before them from the day they hatched until they were ready to spin their cocoons. Even the author of the book admits that in the last stage "the worms con- sume an incredible quantity of leaves, eating with great voracity and at this time the labor of tending them is most fatiguing."
When the silkworms went into their cocoons, the third step began, which was the winding of the silk. This process was not all hand work, as a reel was suggested as being "handy." However, it was so complicated that only skilled labor could be employed.
The book estimated that three thousand mulberry trees would produce ninety thousand pounds of leaves, on which could be fed enough worms to produce thirty-seven hundred pounds of cocoons, which in turn "if good and well reeled" would produce 420 pounds of raw silk, which, at the market price prevalent in 1831, would have been worth from $1260 to $2520.
This vision of wealth caused great interest in the venture, but the bubble soon burst, when the silkworms sickened and died. They were subject to disease just at the time of going into the cocoons, so that all the work of rearing them was lost. Some silk was made, mostly in thread form, the fringe on the curtains in Daniel Webster's house in Boston being made from native silk. However, interest in such an unreliable business soon waned, and only the mulberry orchards stood as reminders of an unprofitable venture. Several Bolton families were interested in the silk enterprise.
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MISCELLANEOUS INDUSTRIES
Many industries, besides those mentioned, were carried on in Bolton. Some of these were only part-time work, probably done in the winter when such occupation did not interfere with the farm work.
Jonathan Fry, who lived in the house now owned by Albert Syze, made cards for carding wool. He sent the cards to Boston in large quantities. In the year 1836, 1050 pairs were sent at one time and later in the year another load of 1700 pairs were sent. Joshua Walcott also made cards, but in smaller quantities.
Many farmers in the early days made cheeses. Among those who made a business of selling cheese were Martin Houghton and Oliver Barrett.
Joshua Sawyer made bellows and although it would seem that the demand for such an article would be decidedly limited, it must be remembered that one hundred or more years ago at least one pair was a necessity in every house- hold. At one time Mr. Sawyer was credited with four dozen pairs on his account at Woodbury and Holman's store.
In the days when horses and oxen were on every farm, whips were an item of trade. Amos French made whip stocks and Curtis Pollard made whip lashes. Luke Whit- comb, who lived on the Hudson Road in the house now owned by Joseph Rodreguez, made oxbows. Samuel Gut- terson was a harness maker and carried on his trade in the house on the corner of the Berlin Road now owned by Mrs. George B. Newton. Thaddeus Pollard was a saddler.
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