USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Dracut > History of Dracut, Massachusetts, called by the Indians Augumtoocooke and before incorporation, the wildernesse north of the Merrimac. First permanment settlement in 1669 and incorporated as a town in 1701 > Part 29
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As a journey of this description was one in which the ma- jority of the travellers had not any experience, they did not realize what was needed for such an undertaking. Conse- quently, on leaving civilization they were encumbered with many articles which, while needed, became a burden and the route would be strewn with cooking stoves, mining tools, trunks, water filters for filtering the alkali water in the deserts through which they must pass, and household furniture. The skeletons of horses and mules marked the route, also the graves of those whose strength failed them and who were buried far from home and friends. Some would become appalled at the dan- gers and difficulties of a two thousand mile journey through the wilderness and return to the states. The overland route, start- ing near Kansas City at Fort Leavenworth on the Missouri River, crossed the Blue River, continuing through Nebraska, Wyoming, Salt Lake City, Utah, across Bear River to Winne-
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mueca on the Humboldt River, then through Nevada across the south end of Goose Lake and down Pitt River to Sacramento.
No record has been kept of the Dracut men who were in these expeditions, but that the town was represented we gather from the following names: Ephraim Peabody from East Dra- cut who was killed in a mine; George Eastman, Benjamin Parker, Coffran Nutting, Nathaniel Stickney Jr, Justus Rich- ardson, Ephraim Peabody from Navy Yard Village, Ezra Foster, George Kelly, Austin W. Pinney.
The gold fields of Australia also attracted Dracut men, and in 1853 six members of the Coburn family, viz., Horace, Edmund, Gates, Arad, Newton and Jackson, the last named was killed by the Australian savages, journeyed by sailing ves- sels to that country in search of gold. Gates married while living there and died September 18, 1868, leaving a family. Horace never married, but died there while Jackson was mas- sacred as already mentioned. The others returned to this country.
INSTANCES OF LONGEVITY IN DRACUT FAMILIES
Until the first quarter of the last century had passed into history, large families were the rule and there was not the in- centive to leave the town for other localities, which existed later as manufacturing places increased and railroads came into existence. Thus some of the families in Dracut have been en- abled to reach old age by engaging in farm work thus living near to nature and not indulging in those habits of mind and body which so often tend to premature old age.
Prominent among these may be mentioned the sons and daughters of Obadiah Richardson and his wife Hannah Hil- dreth, whose early home previous to her marriage was in "Me- theuing." These were Obadiah, Jr., born 1776; Sarah, born 1782, married Isaac Coburn; Hannah, born 1785, married Eph- raim Richardson; Clarissa, born 1787, married Amos Boynton ; Lydia, born 1789, married Col. Prescott Varnum; Merrill, born 1791, married Mucy Wood; Sophia, born 1793, married Wil- liam Foster; Elizabeth, born 1797, married Asa Parker; Char- lotte born 1799, married Dea. Reuben Coburn. All of the above named arrived at an advanced age, Charlotte and Merrill pass-
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ing away at about 75 years of age; Sarah and Lydia at about 94. and the others all reaching the age of 80. They all lived in Dracut or the immediate vicinity and, excepting Charlotte, at their death left numerous descendants.
The sketch of the Hamblet family records the marriage of John Hamblet and Elizabeth Perham. Their family consisted of sons, viz .: John, who resided in Maine and who died aged about 90; Thaddeus, born 1772, died in 1845, aged 73; Peter, born 1775, died at 71 years of age; Life, born 1780, died in 1874, aged 94; and Theodore, born 1792, at his death was about 80 years of age. These men, born of good old New England stock, leading active lives and temperate in their habits, were enabled to live beyond the years usually allotted to man.
The Hovey family may be included in those who are espe- cially mentioned under the heading of this article. Their his- tory may be found in the genealogical sketches and need not be repeated. Reference has been made to the sons of James P. and Rebecca Hovey. William lived in Lowell and was 90 years old at the time of his death. Horatio Nelson lived at East Cambridge and reached the age of 92. Joshua, who was a partner of his brother William, also lived to the age of 92. Cyrus was a silversmith in Lowell and died when 77 years of age. George inherited the Hovey homestead at Hovey square, where he died at the age of 94. These brothers were born in Dracut and their lives were spent within the limits of the town as originally laid out, but, by annexation Joshua, William and Cyrus in their later years lived in Lowell. The Hovey house built by their grandfather, Thomas, is still standing and in the days of stage coaches was on the highway over which stages travelled from Boston to Concord, N. H. It was known as Hovey's tavern and flip and hot tea was provided for the trav- ellers, the coaches being driven near the windows where the beverage was passed to the occupants of the vehicle, thus ren- dering it unnecessary for them to alight. The first U. S. Mail to Dracut was delivered at this house.
The town has produced two individuals who are now (1922) still living and who have attained the rare honor of being centenarians. Clarissa Polly, secoud child of Ezra and Sarah (Holland) Foster, was born at Bolton, Canada, Janu-
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ary 8, 1820. She left Canada when 17 years of age to come to the States to work. Her father's family at this time resided in Lowell and she continued for four years to work in the Lowell mills, working 14 hours each day. The family then re- moved to the Varnum Garrison house on Riverside St., then the highway to Pawtucket Bridge. The Nesmith brothers had established a small flannel mill at the Navy Yard Village, and she found employment here as a weaver. About 1838 her father purchased a farm at New Boston village, where he spent the remainder of his life, cared for in his old age by his daugh- ter, Clarissa, and her husband, Horace Smith, a carpenter by trade whom she married in 1853. She is a member of a long- lived family. Her grandfather, Foster, was a soldier in the Revolution, and died in his 95th year. Her father and mother reached the age of 88. Her sister, Mrs. Banfill, was 95. An- other sister, Mrs. Flynn, and her brother, Ezra, were over 80 at their death.
Adeline Parker, daughter of Butterfield, and Mary (Tem- pleton) Coburn, was born February 23, 1819, in Dracut. She was an operative in the mills of the town and in Lowell, and her home was here until her marriage with John Denning of St. Louis, Mo. She was one of nine children, all excepting two, being aged at the time of their death. Her mother, who died in 1869, was 87 years old. Her home was at St. Louis, where she has resided since her marriage. She died June 18, 1920, aged 101 years.
FAST DAYS AND THANKSGIVINGS
The early settlers of the Colony were deeply impressed with the thought of dependence on the Maker of the Universe and their public acts were performed with this fact always governing them. They came here to escape religious oppres- sion, not political tyranny, for they were loyal subjects to the King of England for a century and a half after their arrival in 1620. Their object was to establish a church where each one could worship according to the promptings of their conscience. It is not the duty of the writer to record the success or failure of the object which led them to cross the ocean and commence life anew in a strange country, which until this time was a
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wilderness. Their first buildings were for protection and shel- ter, their mills for the conversion of grain into meal and flour, and then their next duty was to build a house of worship and to provide plenty of rum and molasses to cheer the workmen while erecting it. The religious spirit was shown in town affairs, as no one would be allowed to vote unless he was a church member. Whenever danger threatened or provisions be- came scanty, fast days would be appointed and they were strictly kept and the day was devoted to fasting and prayer for deliverance from threatened dangers. In later years only one day in the year was kept as a day of fasting and prayer, and this appointed to be held in April where prayers were offered for a bountiful harvest. In this State the custom was discontinued as the day was given to feasting and sports, and Patriots' Day was adopted in its place.
When relieved from danger or there was an abundant har- vest, days of thanksgiving were appointed, which later also occurred once in the year, a day in November being set apart for feasting, merry making and joy. One writer records that, "First Thanksgivings were for harvests, safe arrival of ships with provisions, etc., and it is on record that one prudent town postponed celebration for a week in order to get molasses to sweeten pumpkin pies." As the people of New England be- came settlers in the west and south, they carried with them their feelings of thanksgiving and now a national holiday is proclaimed yearly, and in many of the churches services are held and the spirit of thanksgiving as well as the form is duly recognized.
EARLY BUILDINGS
Buildings to shelter the family and protect them from the wild beasts and Indians were the first to be provided by the settlers. Rude in appearance and destitute of architectural beauty, they would be warm and as the occupants were not accustomed to the conveniences and luxuries of modern civiliza- tion, they were satisfactory and the children received instruc- tions in thrift and good citizenship, even if the buildings were primitive. As the first settlement was above the falls, so it is reasonable to expect the first buildings would be located in that
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vicinity. The Durkee house, near Coburn's ferry, and the Garrison house opposite Totman road, are considered the old- est, while the Capt. Peter Coburn house north of Collinsville, would be erected soon after settlement. No house belonging to the Varnums remains standing. The garrison house on River- side Street, owned by Joseph Varnum, remained until recent years, but is now removed. The art of photography was not known and our knowledge of the shape of the earliest build- ins can be gathered only from old prints, many of them the result of the artist's imagination.
We need not assume that the first buildings were log houses, although the speculators who were here temporarily be- fore the Coburns and Varnums may have built them. Chelms- ford, just across the river, had been in existence fifty years and the many water privileges must have provided power for saw- mills, while the axe wielded by a strong arm hewed into shape the oak timbers which composed the framework. The old houses, to which reference is made, retain the low studded rooms, the large beam across the ceiling and the corner posts in the rooms. These buildings are exceptional, as to a great extent the houses of those days were only one story in height with a square room on each side of the front door with a smaller room in the rear of the chimney which occupied the center of the house. A low attie, devoid of partitions, furnished sleeping rooms for the larger children while their elders occupied beds set up in the square rooms under which were the trundle beds which were drawn out at night and occupied by the little ones. In these houses large families were raised and not unfre- quently an older son would bring home a wife, and grand chil- dren would find room to grow and thrive. In such cases an- other room might be provided, but in any case the house would be well filled. This is not a fanciful picture for houses of this kind have existed within the memory of the writer, who was acquainted with the occupants in their later life. It is unfor- tunate that no records have been kept relating to the time of the building of these houses. Allusions to them in the town records do not state whether they refer to an earlier building or one at present in existence. To form an opinion of the age of a building, its general features must be studied. If they corre-
JOHN WALLACE THISSELL
(See Page 425)
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spond to those above described they belong to the period of the first settlement. This type of house could be found a few years ago reaching from New Boston Village to the Navy Yard by way of Meadow Bridge, but they have all disappeared.
The Osgood house now standing on the Mammoth road near ledge hill and owned by Charles H. Cutter is a type of these houses. While evidently of the period mentioned, the builder arranged for more room in the lower story, as back rooms were provided. The overhead beams, the large posts in the rooms, the huge chimney with capacious fireplaces are to be found which indicate a building of an early date. At the top of the crooked stairway may be seen two low attic rooms, each having a fireplace, which is rarely to be found in an attic room.
This style of houses while existing until the time of the Revolution, is now nearly extinct. It was followed by a more convenient type which represented the improved financial con- dition of the owners. The east side of Beaver brook was be- coming settled. We now change to a larger house having two stories with four square rooms on the ground floor but by reason of a long sloping roof on the back only the two front chambers could be square. The examples of this type may be found in the Capt. Stephen Russell house, east of Hovey square, and the Curtis house on Broadway, now owned by Moses L. Daigle, and the old Richardson house on Hildreth St., near Coburn St.
Other houses are still standing which were at first built on this plan, but the long roof later removed, viz., the Hovey and Abbott houses at Hovey square. The Henry Richardson house at Hovey Square and the Rockwood D. Coburn house at New Boston, the latter built near the close of the Revolution, were of this type. The Richardson house just mentioned, was built by Gen. William Hildreth and is now a large three story house, but a visit to the attic reveals the marks on the chimney of the roof of the house showing the pitch of the roof and its original height. A later owner, desiring a larger house, added rooms on the north side and changed the roof to a flat one, supported by trusses.
The long roof type was followed by one which represents the time of the commencement of the last century. The two
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roofs corresponded in shape, the beam in the ceiling and the low studded rooms had disappeared, but the large chimney, the crooked front stairs and the posts in the rooms, the result of using large timbers for framing, were retained. But by the introduction of stoves and the discontinuance of fire places in later years, the large central chimneys were no longer required and a chimney with one flue was substituted. The frames of the houses had been so well braced and the timbers so firmly joined by oak pins in mortice and tenon that when the house was raised the frame could be rolled about without changing its shape. This elaborate framing was discarded and the bal- loon frame of the present day substituted.
The meeting houses have been described in a former chap- ter and have undergone a similar change. The first one which stood on Varnum Avenne was doubtless of one story only and of primitive construction. The second one which was at the Navy Yard Village, must have had two stories, as when "digni- fied," reference is made to the gallery. The third one which, in 1794, was erected at Dracut Center and a little later, the one at Pawtucket bridge, were of the prevailing style with enclosed stairway, outside of the main building, with the pulpit near the center of the length of the building and the main aisle crossing the width of the room. Later changes placed the pul- pit at the end of the room and the center aisle running length- wise of the building, but at present individual styles have taken the place of regular types of architecture.
The changes in the school buildings have been even greater. One common room with fireplace and seats without any support for the back or feet have gradually improved until rooms are provided for different grades, steam heat and run- ning water with low easy chairs, play grounds and modern sani- tary conveniences furnished which promote health and comfort.
The farm barns were also all of one type. These have nearly all disappeared and as they will soon be things of the past a description of them will be given. The construction dif- fered only in the number of floors, the smaller one having only one, the larger having two floors into which wagons could be driven, each being near the ends of the barn. The barn floor doors and all smaller ones except one on the opposite side opened
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into the barnyard. The cows and oxen were ranged across the end of the barn facing the main floor, whose length was the width of the building. On the opposite side of the floor were stalls for the horses, pens for the young cattle and sheep, with small doors opening into the yard, and the deep bays for hay and the scaffolds. If the barn was not large enough to require two main floors, small doors on a level with the scaffolds gave an opportunity to pitch hay and sheaves of grain from wagons standing outside. Barn cellars were not provided until the present style of building was introduced.
THE FIRST GARRISON HOUSE
The date of the erection of this building is not known, but it was in existence in 1664, five years before the first settlers, Varnum and Coburn, came from Ipswich. This building is now standing on a street which connects Varnum Avenue with the Boulevard and is owned by the City of Lowell, and permission has been granted the Lowell Historical Society to occupy it. This building is on a part of the Military grant of 1664, and four years later was sold to Edward Colburn, who, at his death, left it to his son Joseph. It was sold to the Blood family, who in turn sold it to Major W. H. H. Durkee and is known as the Durkee house.
Colburn erected houses in the vicinity for his sons which, in the Indian raid of 1675, were burned, but evidently he and his sons were stationed in this garrison house which was en- closed in a stout pallisade or stockade and were enabled to pre- vent its destruction. In this building Daniel Gookin, the In- dian agent, held a court once a year until the settlement of the town. Minor cases were settled by the Indians, but Gookin's court corresponded to our Superior Court. It was originally a four-room house, with fire places having hearth stones ten feet in length. The shape of the original building is shown in the picture of the house. It was later enlarged to its present width by lengthening the rafters on the back of the house and making the roofs of unequal length, the front roof remaining unchanged. This roof was afterward lengthened, giving it its present shape. An examination of the attic room shows these alterations.
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Edward Colburn's ferry was a continuation of this high- way to Chelmsford and this building was the toll house. The stone posts which supported the gate still exist although only one is standing. During the years preceding the Revolution the broad fields adjoining were the parade ground for Capt. Peter Coburn's company and in the building, which was also a tavern, was the barroom which was considered indispensable on election days, the voters meeting here, where games and fes- tivities would be continued for several days.
THE TOLL HOUSE AT CENTRAL BRIDGE
"Where Varnum Park now is, stood at the end of the dis- mal covered bridge of the period, the toll house, which is hardly historical, but was the place of more than common interest and of distinct individuality. Many people will remember it, and also the sprightly lady who sometimes presided over the till- clean, crisp and of unbounded hospitality. There were hood- lums then as well as now; but no hoodlum who measured swords with her ever left the field without a scratch. On a Saturday afternoon, the great field day of country people, every inch of space belonging to the toll house was occupied by vehicles, with horses sleepily enjoying an unwonted holiday or luxuriously toying with their nose bags while the owners were over to Lowell trading. I can see them now, as they come trail- ing one by one wearily across the bridge, bearing their sheaves with them. The toll house was to the people of Dracut what a modern (men's) club house is today-a choice bit of gossip flying through the air was sure to find lodgement and circula- tion. The Boston Daily was passed from hand to hand, and contents noted, and lost, strayed or stolen conveniently posted. But when the bridge became free in 1850 (sie), the toll house was no longer needed and its star went out." (Mary E. Wight in Lowell book).
The last toll keeper was a man whose name was Spanlding and who through an accident had lost one of his lower limbs. What a contrast between those times when the toll man could leisurely collect his money, unfasten and swing back the gate which reached across the street, and have time for an inter- change of views on the political situation after which the team
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entering the bridge, he returned leisurely to the office before his services would again be required, a contrast when we con- sider the almost uninterrupted stream of vehicles, street cars and pedestrians which now daily pass over this bridge.
TOWN RECORDS
The absence of records for the first ten years of the ex- istence of the town forbids the recording of the transactions and vital records of that time. It is fortunate that the books have been preserved through the years in which they were kept in dwelling houses and liable at any time to be destroyed by fire. The peculiar spelling of names and lack of system in re- cording events are of minor importance and due allowance must be made for the phonetic spelling as the clerks, while men of sound sense and ability, had received very little educa- tion. To reproduce all their errors would occupy too much space in this work, although it would be of interest to record them.
A large blank book in which records of town meetings, vital statistics, private marks on cattle, etc., were all recorded together, was considered sufficient, while names of those who were born or died were often entered with no information re- lating to their parent's names or in any way counecting them with any particular family. One instance to illustrate will be given which is only one of many of a similar nature. While preparing a genealogy of the Colburn-Coburn families, the writer had occasion to record the date of death of Lydia, wife of Elijah Coburn, and the town records were consulted. There were several bearing this name, only three having the name of the husband given. The others were: Lydia d Jan 24 1813 Lydia d June 26 1821. Mrs. Lydia d. Feb. 21 1842. Lydia. Old age Dee 30 1846. Fortunately at that time some of the grand children were living and the one who gave the informa- tion that he was the baby at the time of her death, was born in 1821 and thus the date was secured Such entries are the de- spair of the genealogist. The clerk understood who they were and seems to have taken it for granted that future generations would be able to identify them.
The ocenpation given in some cases was peculiar, one being "hunting and loafing." While one name given a child was con-
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sidered sufficient, the opposite extreme is often seen, thus, Caleb Methusaleh Bishop Baxter Polk Page, who had a brother equally well provided, who was named John Howard Wilber- force Clarkson Fox Penn Page.
That the clerks spelled names as they were pronounced we learn from a few examples. Austin, Astin and Astens. Clem- ent, Clament, Clammons, Clements, Clemment, Clemons. Co- burn, Colbon, Colburn, Coben, Coban. Bathshebu became Ba- shaba, Bathshebe, Bershaba, Barshaba and Barsha. Gilchrest was changed to Gilcreas, Gilcrest, Gilgreast, and Guilgreast.
While many births are unrecorded as there was no law until 1850, which required such record, some appear whose births occurred in other towns. Eight children of Benning and Elizabeth Moulton are recorded, but none of them born in Dra- cut. The death of Samuel Armor, "alias" Pompy, a Spanish Indian, is recorded as occurring on May 7, 1744, and it is pos- sible that this is the Indian who is buried in the corner of the Varnum cemetery and near whom Silas Royal, who was owned by Gen. J. B. Varnum, was at his own request buried. The name of this colored man was pronounced in those days Rial, and when recorded was spelled "Silas riol," which was an enigma nutil it was remembered that the herb penny royal was called penny riol. Other names were changed, Atkinson be- came Adkinson, Ditson was changed to Didson, and was so spelled.
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