USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. I > Part 37
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The Rev. George B. Potter was in the army dur- ing the war. His health was poor when he came to Ashland; he grew worse, his disease terminating in consumption, and he died November 22, 1870, and is buried in Wildwood Cemetery, his being the only case of a minister settled in the town whose remains rest within its borders.
There had been quite a number of persons in the town connected with both the religious societies, who had not been in full sympathy with them, but who connected themselves therewith for the time being because they desired to worship somewhere. The larger part of this class had been connected with the Congregational society. They petitioned the Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Association for a minister, and Rev. George W. Mansfield was appointed pastor April 1, 1868. April 28, Rev. L. R. Thayer, D. D., Presiding Elder, organized the society ; July 6, the building com- mittee was appointed, Charles Alden, chairman ; March 3, 1869, the church was dedicated free of debt; it cost $16,000; April 4, 1871, Rev. A. O. Hamilton was appointed preacher in charge. The succeeding pastors are : 1873, Rev. Loramus Crowell ; 1874, Rev. Henry Lummis ; 1877, Rev. John R. Cushing, who still remains. Both Mr. Lummis and Mr. Cushing have manifested an active interest in the cause of education in the town, serving efficiently on the school committee.
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A Catholic Church was built on Esty Street in 1874. Father Ryan was the first priest ; he was succeeded by Father Cullen, the present incumbent. Thus we behold a little town of 2,200 inhabitants struggling to maintain four religious societies,- all necessarily weak.
Having traced the various religious societies from their organization to the present time, we will take up the municipal organization and government of the town.
The warrant for the first town-meeting was di- rected to William Seaver, and issued by Major Calvin Shepard, a justice of the peace. It was held on Monday, the 31st of March, 1846. Daniel Eames was chosen moderator; C. F. W. Parkhurst, town clerk ; Calvin Shepard, Jr., Josiah Bnrnam, Dexter Rockwood, Andrew Allard, and Albert Ellis, selectmen ; William F. Ellis, Daniel Eames, and Simeon N. Cutler, assessors ; William Eames, Cal- vin Dyer, and William Seaver, overseers of the poor ; Benjamin Homer, town treasurer ; Rev. Joseph Haven, Zenas P. Wild, and William F. Ellis, superintending school committee. The town granted $950 for support of schools, $750 for support of panpers, and $500 for repair of high- ways.
In starting a new town the people found them- selves somewhat in the condition of a young mar- ried couple, - they needed many things with which to " keep honse." New roads were to be built to make it convenient for some districts of the town to reach the new centre, changes were to be made in school districts, and some new school-houses built. They were without a town-farm for the poor, or a town-hall in which to transact public business. The fire-engine was removed by the town of Hopkinton, and another had to be pur- chased to supply its place. They had no snitable place for the burial of their dead ; no hearse, or house for it. To supply all these things required quite an outlay of money. The town met these wants as fast as possible, supplying the most pressing first. The second story of the school- house, which had been used as a chapel, was pur- chased by the town of Mr. Jackson, and used by it for its meetings. A new road leading to Holliston, and also one to Southborough, which the county commissioners had been petitioned by private in- dividnals to lay out, were ordered by them to be built. A new school-house was built the first year in District No. 2, and the next year one in No. 6. The poor were " farmed out " to different individ-
uals, but always to those who would treat them in a kind and humane manner. In 1855, after having considered the matter for several years through committees, and having held many town-meetings to deliberate upon the subject, the town voted to build the present town-hall, being driven to that action by the absolute necessity of making further provision for the wants of the centre school district. The building was finished late in the year, at a cost of about $10,000.
Schools. - The building of the town-house led to a system of graded schools at the Centre. The town was at first divided into seven school districts, by families, and not territorially, so that the town never contained any legal school districts. All the districts except No. 1 have been small, the attend- ance varying from fifteen to forty scholars. Since it was incorporated the town has built new school- houses in every district but No. 4. One district was abolished by setting it to others, in 1854, leaving six. The central district furnishes about twice as many scholars as all the rest.
In 1867 the high school was started, in charge of Mr. J. O. Norris, and has not been interrupted since. A. J. George is the present principal. The school numbers forty pupils, and is accomplishing all that its friends can expect or reasonably desire. Among those who have had charge of the schools for many years may be named, C. F. W. Park- hurst, Elias Grout, William F. Ellis, and Luther E. Leland. The present yearly expenditure for schools is $4,300, against $800 in 1847.
Cemeteries. - The first burial-place in the town was a piece of private ground containing one half acre situated on the north side of Union Street, opposite the old mansion where Isaac Dench lived, who was buried in this private yard, as was also Colonel John Jones, senior and junior, former own- ers. It came by descent from Jones into the hands of Dr. Jeremy Stimson, a daughter of whom married Captain John Stone, whose family still reside upon the farm. Many of the early settlers were buried in this yard by the courtesy of the owners, Mr. Stimson building for himself a tomb. It has been used but little for many years. About twenty-five years ago Dr. Stimson of Dedham, one of the heirs, made a proposition to the town to deed the land to them if they would enclose it with a substantial wall, to preserve it from dese- cration. The town accepted his offer, and built the wall.
The want of some suitable place to bury the
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dead was sensibly felt at the time the Congrega- tional Church was built in 1835. The parish had three fourths of an acre of land east of their meet- ing-house which was not needed in connection with the house. The town of Hopkinton bought enough land to make up two acres, and enclosed it, making truly a churchyard. This was laid out in lots, and used by all connected with the parish who desired, whether they lived in town (Hopkin- ton) or not. After the formation of the new town, they bought out the ownership of the parish in the land, and it was used by the town up to the year 1869, when it was found to be no longer adequate to the demands upon it. No new lots could be obtained. Besides, the feeling sprang up that the heart of a growing village was not just the place to bury the dead. A committee was chosen by the town, with instructions to purchase some suitable spot out of the village large enough to meet the requirements of the town in future years. The committee consisted of Warren Whitney, Henry Cutler, Willard R. Eames, Charles Alden, and Alvah Metcalf. They purchased a lot of Charles Alden containing twenty-three acres, sitnated about one mile southeast of the village, at the junction of Cold Spring Brook with Sudbury River, and near the " Connecticut Path," mentioned in our early history. It borders on the river for some fifty rods. The land at the time of the purchase was covered with wood, about one half of which has been removed. The ground rises from the river fifty to seventy-five feet, commanding a view of the whole village when not obstructed by the foliage. A small stream of pure cold water supplied by springs from the hill runs through the grounds, furnishing water to an artificial pond, and by means of a ram the water is carried to a high level plateau, supplying a fountain and furnishing water for flowers in their season. The place was publicly consecrated June 24, 1870. An address suitable to the occasion was delivered by the Rev. Elias Nason of Billerica, who resided in the village in his early days. Probably no cemetery in the whole state possesses more natural beauty, or adaptation to the uses for which it has been set apart, than Wildwood.
Water-Power .- The Sudbury River, which runs the whole length of the town, furnishes quite an amount of water-power, which has been well utilized in the past. At the extreme western end of the town is a woollen mill, owned and occupied by Taft and Aldrich, who manufacture satinets, employing
about forty hands. The yearly value of goods made is $75,000. There is a fall of thirty feet at their mill. At this place, very many years ago, was a mill for making iron from the ore, and it has since gone by the name of " the Old Forge." About one mile down the stream is the site of the old paper-mill, built by David Bigelow and broth- ers in 1818, where they manufactured paper by hand successfully for many years. It then passed through various hands till a few years ago, when the mill was burned. The dam still remains, and the privilege, with the dwelling-house and land connected, is now owned by the Dwight Print Com- pany. The next on the stream is a box and planing mill, one mile west of the village, owned and occu- pied by Alvah Metcalf. Value of yearly manu- factures about $7,800. In the village is the water-power, heretofore alluded to, on which was the cotton-factory of the Middlesex Company. This privilege was purchased in 1868 by the Dwight Print Company, together with the land and build- ings belonging thereto. They purchased some adjoining lands, so that they now have connected with the works one hundred and sixty-three acres. The company intended, at the time of purchase, to use the water for washing and bleaching purposes, and to erect mills for printing cotton cloth, to be operated by steam. The inducements to locate here were the purity of the water and the peculiar location of the ground, - there being some four to five acres (enough to place all their buildings on), hard and dry land, so situated that a turnout track could be laid from the railroad up the street, passing directly in front of all their buildings. The company, in 1869, proceeded to erect six sub- stantial buildings, besides a machine-shop. The company also built ten double dwelling-houses for the accommodation of their help, and own eight others, besides two stores and a grist-mill. Upon all this property it expended $425,000. Before all these improvements were completed work was suspended and never resumed. The erection of these works and the expenditure of so much money gave a great impetus to the growth of the town. Real estate rose in value very fast, but as that was a period of speculation and inflation everywhere, it did not reach a higher point here than in other places of the same relative size and situation. Mechanics, professional men, tradesmen, and others flocked into the town in anticipation of the busi- ness and population which the mills would bring. From 1868 to 1873 one hundred and three dwell-
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ing-honses were erected in town, stores of various kinds were built, and a good deal of money expended by the people to reap the advantages of a business which they have never seen. One mile below the village was the emery-mill of Charles Alden, already spoken of. In 1867 Mr. Alden sold out to a stock company, in which he was a large owner, and the name of the Washington Mills Emery Company was adopted. The business was carried on by the company until September, 1878, when the mills were set on fire in the night and destroyed. They had been sold, about a year previous, to the city of .Boston. A new mill had also been erected near the Washington Mills, and another company formed, called the Vitrified Wheel and Emery Company, operating under patents secured by Mr. Alden, and manufacturing emery- wheels, which are extensively used for polishing. After operating five or six years this company sold out to the city of Boston, and the mill was taken down in 1877. These mills were returned by the Industrial Census of Massachusetts for 1875 as doing a business of $104,000 yearly.
At the eastern end of the town, near Framing- ham line, the privilege was first improved by the erection of an iron foundry, owned by Gilbert Marshall and his son-in-law, Richard Sears. The latter built a saw-mill about the year 1816, and afterwards sold to Calvin Bigelow, who built a grist-mill in 1818. The property then passed suc- cessively into possession of James Whittemore, Wil- liam Greenwood, and finally to S. N. Cutler about the year 1838, who established with his sons the large grain business which has been done there. When Mr. Cutler purchased the property it con- sisted of a " custom " grist-mill, on the north side of the river. By " custom " grist-mill is meant one to which the farmers in the vicinity brought their grain to be ground, for which service the miller compensated himself by deducting two quarts from each bushel. In a few years Mr. Cutler declined to grind for the farmers, having com- menced to buy corn at the West, which was shipped to Ashland depot, and then teamed by him to his mill, where, after being ground, it was again loaded up, and carried to customers in the neighboring towns and sold. The railroad was some little dis- tance away on the south side of the river, and about twenty feet above it. In 1861 S. N. Cutler & Son built a new mill on the south side of the river. The cars from the West were now running directly to their doors, and they often had thirty or forty cars
on their tracks at a time. The grain was taken to the top of the mill by clevators, and after being ground was reloaded into cars and sent to many different places. This mill was burnt in December, 1867, rebuilt during the same winter, and was run- ning again in the spring of 1868. In the fall of 1876 S. N. Cutler & Co. sold their water privilege, mill, and everything belonging thereto to the city of Boston, and it was taken down in 1877. On the Cold Spring Brook, about three miles from its junction with Sudbury River, was in former years a grist and saw mill occupied by Daniel Eames. There is a good fall here, but the quantity of water flowing in the stream in summer-time is small. The mills were suffered to go to decay, and the water privilege has not been utilized for about twenty years.
Having thus given a statement of the water- power of the town, it is pertinent to mention why so many of these privileges have been sold and the mills taken down. In 1872 the city of Boston obtained the passage of an act by the legislature to furnish an additional supply of pure water to the city of Boston.
This act gave the city the right to take the waters of Sudbury River from a point just below the Boston, Clinton, and Fitchburg Railroad bridge in Framingham to its source, together with all its tributaries, ponds, rivulets, and brooks, natural or artificial, with the right to erect dams on said river or any of its branches, and build storage basins thereon. The effects of this act were all unforeseen by the people of Ashland at the time of its passage. Could they have been known, we do not think the legislature would have passed the law in its present form.
The act allnded to makes careful and full pro- vision for the compensation of the individuals whose property is taken, by the power which it confers. In carrying the law into effect the Bos- ton Water Board decided to build a dam in Fram- ingham (No. 2) about half a mile below the Ashland line, and erect a storage basin upon that portion of Sudbury River lying two miles above. By doing so they flow out the emery-works of Charles Alden, situated at the same point on the river as Cutler's elevator, the elevator and mills, the Vitrified Wheel and Emery Works, and the Washington Mills Emery Company. The city, besides, flows and seizes something like one hundred acres of valuable land, all of which property is forever stricken from the valuation of the town. Many of the workmen
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
had settled around these different works, and ac- quired little homesteads, which now are of small valne when the business which gave them support is destroyed. About $100,000 has been paid for damages, and about the same amount will be lost from the assessors' books.
Allusion has been made to the suspension of the Dwight Print Company, and the fact that they had never resumed work on their mills. By the time they were ready to do so the legislative act had been passed, and the company began seriously to consider the effect it would have upon them. As many of the articles used in bleaching and color- ing by all print-mills are of a poisonous nature, and must of necessity float off into the stream, they did not venture to run the risk of finishing the mills, and of stocking them with machinery, to find themselves stopped by an injunction. In this juncture they brought an action against the city for damages sustained by an interference with their water-power. They failed to gain their cause, for the reason that while they might still use the water to turn their wheels, they had no right, under the common law, to poison it. Thus it will be seen that the operations of this act work only dis- aster to Ashland, striking a serious blow at its prosperity from which it will take many years to recover. The other manufactures of the town are principally boots and shoes. The value of boots and shoes made in 1875, as shown by the Massa- chusetts census, was $698,000, giving employment to two hundred and forty-five males and thirty- two females, and having an invested capital of $219,000. At the present time the industry is very much depressed.
War Record.1-From the very beginning the town of Ashland did its part in the great work. The first appropriation of the $ 12,468 which was expended in the four years, exclusive of state aid, was made June 29, 1861; and from the first call recruiting went on until one hundred and eighty- four men were furnished for the war, - a surplus of eleven over and above all demands. Fifteen are on record as having died prior to 1865, and fifteen more have deceased since the war closed. Of those who died in the war, six were killed in battle, four died by disease, and five died in rebel prisons ; indeed, one of the four classed as dying of disease ought rather to be added to this latter class, as he was a paroled prisoner, and died from the effects of starvation after reaching the Union lines. These
1 Furnished by Rev. Marshall M. Cutter.
men who died represent eleven different organiza- tions, seeing their service principally in the armies of Virginia.
On the books of the town there are the names of one hundred and sixty-one individuals, who in person as volunteers, or in the other ways which the government accepted, represented the town. The one hundred and eighty-four represent the number of men actually mustered in on the differ- ent calls for troops, and as there were various re- enlistments, the town quota must be represented by fewer persons than are apparently on the mus- ter-rolls. The history of the service of these men shows how much the smaller towns have in common with the larger ones. They served in every branch of the service, - infantry, cavalry, artillery, and the navy. They represent twenty-nine different organizations distributed among the various depart- ments of military operations; Virginia had the lion's share of them, but North Carolina, Louisi- ana, the interior of the Confederacy during Sher- man's march from Atlanta to the sea, -all these places were visited by soldiers from Ashland. Six- teen were wounded in battle; against the names of two of them it is recorded that they lost an arm for the cause, and one lost a leg. Nineteen of them served three years and more. Twenty-two are on record as serving two years, or nearly that time, being on duty until the close of the war. Nine served from 1864 until the close of the war. Twenty-eight are on record as veterans, or re-en- listed men.
The organizations into which volunteers from the town were most largely represented were the 11th, 16th, and 32d infantry, and the 2d cavalry of the three years' troops, and the 5th infantry of the nine months' troops. The latter regiment made an honorable record in North Carolina. The others formed a part of our noble Army of the Potomac. The 11th was in twenty-five battles, the 16th in fourteen, the 32d in twenty-one, and the 2d cavalry was in twenty-six engagements. To sumn up, the town had soldiers in nineteen of the three years' regiments, in seven of the nine months', in two batteries of light artillery, and in one or two other organizations upon the land, and also in the navy. To name the battles summons a host of memories. Antietam, Cedar Mountain, Gettysburg, Fredericksburg, Cold Harbor, Spott- sylvania, Petersburg, Five Forks, the battles of the Shenandoah Valley, of Sherman's campaign, --- from all these the representatives of this town can
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AYER.
bring home to us personal experiences of deep and thrilling interest.
When the town was incorporated, in 1846, it probably contained 1,200 inhabitants, with a valua- tion of $421,659. In 1850 the population was 1,304, with a valuation of $107,121; in 1860 the population was 1,554, with a valuation of $585,837; in 1870 the population was 2,186, with a valuation of $1,288,732 ; in 1875 the popu- lation was 2,211, with a valuation of $1,380,610.
Owing to the general depression of business and the removal of manufacturers, the town has lost since 1875 both in numbers and valuation ; but it is well located, and convenient to a good line of railroad, and when prosperity shall come again, the enterprise and perseverance of her people will keep
Ashland in the line of progress with her sister com- munities.
During the years 1871 and 1872 the Hopkinton Railroad was built, extending from the depot of the Boston and Albany Railroad in Ashland through Hopkinton to Milford, where it unites with the Milford and Woonsocket Railroad, thus form- ing a direct line to Providence. The town sub- scribed and paid for $10,000 of its stock. It will never receive a dollar therefor, but may obtain incidental advantages equal to the interest of its investment. It gives two ways instead of one by which to get coal and other products. The divi- dends must come in shape of the reduced price of these products.
AYER.
BY SAMUEL A. GREEN, M. D.
HE act incorporating Ayer was approved February 15, 1871. By its provisions that portion of the town of Shirley lying east of the Nashua River, and that part of Groton lying south of a straight line running easterly, from the point of junction of James' Brook with the Nashua River, to the point where the southerly side of the county road, leading from Groton by the Ridge Hill Tav- ern to Littleton Old Common, intersects the line between Groton and Littleton near Spectacle Pond, were comprised in the new town.
The earliest name by which this southern por- tion of Groton was known was that given by the Indians, Nonacoicus, still preserved in the name of the brook, which, flowing from Sandy Pond through the town, supplies the water-power for its several manufactories. The name of this brook is now often contracted into Coicus or Cauicus. Just south of the points where the Fitchburg and Stony Brook railroads cross this brook it has a fall, which furnishes a small but steady water-power that has been in constant use for more than a century.
At least one of the seven garrison-houses of
Groton in 1692 was situated within the present limits of Ayer, - that on the farm of Mr. Heze- kiah Usher, the garrison of which consisted of Usher, Samuel Bennett, - Bennett, and three soldiers, -the smallest and probably the weakest of all the garrisons. From a reference to Usher's farm that is found in a paper at the State House it appears that it was situated at Nonacoicus. Usher's will also, which is on file in the Suffolk Probate Office, is dated August 17,1689, at Nona- coicns, where he was undoubtedly living at that time. He married the widow of Leonard Hoar, President of Harvard College. She was a daughter of Lord Lisle, one of Cromwell's peers. Her union with Usher was not a happy one. She left him and went to England in the year 1687, and did not return until after his death, which took place at Lynn, July 11, 1697. In his will he alludes very plainly to his domestic troubles and bitterly blames his absent wife.
One of the earliest taverns in the old town of Groton was kept by a Mr. Peirce just before and during the Revolution. It appears by an almanac for the year 1773 that he kept a public house at that time, and his name is continued in the series of almanacs till 1784, when it is dropped. In the Boston Gazette of September 30, 1773, one George
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