History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. II, Part 33

Author: Drake, Samuel Adams, 1833-1905
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Boston : Estes and Lauriat
Number of Pages: 650

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. II > Part 33

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Now follows Natick's history since 1800. It was then a farming community, its population 694. The growth was slow. In 1830 the census found only 890 persons. Five farins occupied the land within a half-mile circle from the first church. The meeting-house where Mr. Badger preached, unused before his death, was sadly neglected after- ward. The village children sported there; and an

1 Published in Massachusetts Historical Collections, Ist Se- ries, Vol. V.

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old resident has heard a now distinguished doctor of divinity as boy-preacher from its pulpit address his playmates.

The present First Church was organized at the Centre, with twenty-three members, in February, 1802, and for about thirty years was the only re- ligious society in town. Rev. Freeman Sears, the first pastor, was ordained January 1, 1806, and died, lamented, June 30, 1811. His monument in Dell Park was erected in 1873.

Rev. Martin Moore succeeded him, being pastor from 1814 to 1833. The most of the ministerial lot, an hundred acres given by the Indians in Mr. Peabody's day, was now sold. It covered the present business centre of Natick. The proceeds largely form the ministerial fund now. Mr. Moore was a sound divine, and fond of antiquarian re- search. His New Year's Historical Sermon, Jan- uary 5, 1817, and Life of Eliot possess much merit. At his dismissal in 1833 the church num- bered one hundred and seventy members. The Sabbath school began in April, 1818. Mr. Moore edited the Boston Recorder after leaving Natick, and, dying in 1866, lies buried in Mt. Auburn.

Rev. E. D. Moore followed from 1833 to 1838. A new church was built in 1835. Rev. Samuel Hunt preached from 1839 to 1850. He after- wards became private secretary to the late Vice- President Wilson, rendering valuable assistance in some of his published works. July 23, 1878, he followed his distinguished associate into the other world.

During the ministry of Rev. Elias Nason, the well-known historical writer, from 1852 to 1858, a new church was built, the third on the same site. Rev. Charles M. Tyler (1859 to 1867) and Rev. Jesse H. Jones bring the list down to the present pastor, Rev. F. N. Peloubet, installed January 17, 1872. In 1875 a new brick edifice of fine pro- portions replaced the church consumed in the great fire of January, 1874.

In 1828 the Unitarian (Eliot) Church, South Natick, was built and dedicated, whose semi-cen- tennial was observed November 20, 1878. This sanctuary stands upon the spot of Eliot's church. Its first pastor, ordained February 17, 1830, was Rev. J. W. Thompson, D. D., now of Jamaica Plain, Rev. Alexander Young of Boston preaching the sermon. Nine permanent ministers have fol- lowed him. Rev. H. Alger filled the desk nearly fourteen years, the house being improved by add- ing the chancel, spire, and clock. Rev. J. P.

Sheafe, Jr., ordained September 30, 1874, is the present pastor.

The recent semi-centennial commemoration was a day of historic interest. Valuable papers were read by the pastor on the previous houses of wor- ship built on this spot, and by Rev. Mr. Alger on the history of the present edifice. Reminiscences were given by former pastors and older members, and expressions of good-will by visiting friends. Voices were heard that were musical in the choir fifty years ago. We hear, from one who remem- bered, that the weather, a pouring rain, corresponded to that on the day of original dedication.

The Methodists worshipped a long time just across the line, on the edge of Needham and Wes- ton. But in 1834 they organized at Natick, dedi- cating their first house July 4, 1834. It became the town-house in 1868, and went down - or up - in the flames of January 13, 1874. The vestry of the new and beautiful house is now used.

In 1848 the Baptists began services at South Natick, removing in 1851 to the centre of the town. Their church stands south of the Common. Rev. A. E. Reynolds is their able and devoted pastor.

The John Eliot (Orthodox) Church, South Na- tick, was formed in 1859, under Rev. E. E. Strong as pastor. In the fall of 1862 they entered their pleasant sanctuary. Rev. Pearse Pinch, the present pastor, was ordained July 25, 1878.

The increase of the foreign element of the popu- lation soon introduced the Roman Catholic wor- ship. The congregation of St. Patrick's occupy the enlarged house, originally sold by the First Church to the Universalists, and by them, on their disbandment, to the Catholics in 1860. At South Natick also is another prosperous congregation.

St. Paul's Episcopal Church was formed in 1871. They entered their house of worship in 1875, which was consecrated December 13, 1877. Rev. B. R. Gifford officiates as rector.

We have seen that the school and church at Natick at the first used the same room. Piety and learning were closely associated. Eliot's Indian teacher wrote for copies in the scholars' writing- books the questions and answers in the Catechism.

For some time prior to 1819 the town raised annually $600 for schools. After 1820 select schools, giving instruction in the higher branches, were taught by John Angier, Charles Forbush, Rev. Daniel Wight, Rev. Samuel Damon, and J. W. Bacon. During the winter of 1837 the

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centre district school was successfully conducted by a young man, Henry Wilson, who became an educator in a wider sphere. In 1852 the town established a high school, appropriating $ 1,000 for its support. This school has enjoyed able teachers and trained capable pupils ; but it never had a suitable domicile till the spring of 1878, when it occupied the new and attractive building on East Central Street. Abner Rice was its first principal, serving ten years. Mr. F. C. Baston is the present incumbent. Judge Bacon, one of the committee at the starting of the high school, gave a fitting address at the dedication of the new edifice, March 23, 1878. Some of our graduates take a college course, Harvard being usually their choice ; but more follow some handicraft of industry or skilled labor. There are three grammar schools, and the last enumeration of children of the school age was seventeen hundred.

We may just name the Sawin Academy, crown- ing Sherborn's central hill, since it originated and is endowed by the legacy of Miss Martha Sawin of South Natick. That institution realized from her estate $40,000.

William Biglow (now spelled Bigelow) should be mentioned here. He graduated the second'seholar at Harvard, 1794; was ¢BK poet in 1799. He studied theology with Rev. Mr. Thayer of Lancas- ter, and preached some in prominent pulpits, but never settled as a pastor. He carried on a success- ful sehool in Salem, and was master of the Boston Latin school, from 1805 to 1814. In later years one infirmity marred his power. He was an easy writer. He published his history of Natiek in 1830. Ile wrote also a history of Sherborn, and was a frequent contributor to the papers and magazines. He died in 1844, and rests with his generation in the old cemetery at South Natick.

Literary and scientific associations and free libraries also do an educational work among the people. In 1835 thirteen young men formed the Natick Debating Society. Most of its members have shone in after-life, - Austin Bacon, the in- defatigable antiquarian; Judge J. W. Bacon; Edi- tor E. C. Morse; A. W. Thayer, American Consul at Trieste, and author of a life of Beethoven written in. German ; and, primus inter pares, Henry Wilson. Their meetings in the old school-house aided much in developing skill and power in spoken or written argument. To the future senator, his work-beneh and debating-elub became his college and profes- sional school.

The Ladies' Social Library began at South Natick in 1836, and has contributed to the intelli- gence and culture of that village. In 1870 Mr. Oliver Bacon presented to the society their neat little building as a memorial of the interest his lately deceased wife had always felt in the library. It stands under the maples, close by the Eliot Mon- ument. Their collection will soon be merged in the new library.

The Historical and Natural History Society at South Natick was started in 1870. Its name in- dieates the intent of its founders, - scientific inves- tigation and local historical research. It was ineor- porated in 1873 as the Historical Natural History and Library Society. In the destructive fire of March, 1872, its collections were consumed, inelud- ing certain antiquarian treasures, the sounding- board of Parson Badger's pulpit, his wife's satin slippers, a pair of venerable shoe-buekles, ete. All the society's stuffed specimens were destroyed, a fine polar bear having been put on the shelves only the evening before. An extensive collection of ferns was lost. But the society has risen from this disaster to greater prosperity. Papers of his- toric and scientific interest are read quarterly. Mr. William Edwards, an active member, a loving and reverent student of nature, has a very fine collec- tion of ferns. The society has a good cabinet of South American birds gathered for them in Guiana by one of their members, an ornithologist, Mr. A. L. Babeock of Sherborn. There are also stuffed animals, minerals, shells, some Indian stone im- plements, and relics from aboriginal graves. Its library numbers nine hundred and twenty-five vol- umes. It possesses some ancient and curious books and pamphlets. Rev. HI. Alger has long been its efficient president. By the munificent bequest of the late Oliver Bacon, Esq., the society will soon have a fire-proof building in connection with the Baeon Free Library. The ground-plan makes the building in the form of a Greek cross. R. G. Shaw is the architect.

From information furnished by Judge Bacon, we can speak of carly libraries and the Morse Institute, our present free library.

The Natick Social Library was founded about 1810. A catalogue shows fifty-two proprietors and ninety-four volumes. No books were added after 1820, and in 1840 the society became ex- tinct.

The religious or parish library of the First Church was organized by Rev. Martin Moore early in his

NATICK.

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BACON ETRELIPRARY

Bacon Free Library.

ministry. In 1840 it had about one hundred vol- umes of religious works.

The Citizens' Library was established February 10, 1847. Five hundred dollars were subscribed in five-dollar shares. Its catalogue of 1852 counts four hundred and thirty-two volumes. February 11, 1857, it was given to the town as the foundation of a town library, " provided Natick appropriates three hundred dollars the first year for books, and one hundred dollars annually afterwards, also a room for the library, and choose and pay a libra- rian." The town accepted the proposal, and in April the Citizens' Library, with four hundred and eighty-three volumes, became the town's property. The town library thus originated, in 1859 had 1,741 volumes. This was transferred in 1874 to the Morse Institute, bringing that organization its 3,154 volumes.

In Junc, 1862, Miss Mary Ann Morse died. Her will gave all her estate to found a public library for the use of all the inhabitants of Natick. If the town accepted the bequest, then five trustees,

to serve five years, were to take the estate and exe- cute the intent of the will. The town accepted, and chose Willard Drury, John W. Bacon, Horatio Alger, John O. Wilson, and Elisha P. Hollis, trustees ; and this board has been thrice re-elected.

A friend thus writes of Miss Morse : "Mary Ann Morse was the third child and only daughter of Reuel Morse and Mary Parker, born June 16, 1825, and died June 30, 1862. She was of the eighth generation in a direct line from Samuel Morse, born in England in 1585, who was the first of this name emigrating to this country. He came to New England in 1635, and settled in Dedham. Miss Mary Ann Morse had two brothers, who both died before her. They were all born in the brick house then standing on the spot where the library now is, but moved to Clarendon Street to give the site for the present fine edifice. Her teacher, when Miss Morse was a girl of fourteen, speaks of her excellent health, kind disposition, and fair abilities. Her later years were spent in the family of Dr. Ira Russell, now of Winchendon, who influenced her

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I POATE

Morse Institute.

much in the final disposition of her property." Within the library, facing the staircase, a marble memorial tablet bears this inscription : -

In perpetual memory of MARY ANN MORSE ; the munificent founder of this Institute. Born June 16, 1825 : Died June 30, 1862. She gave her whole cstate to establish this Library for the use and benefit of all the inhabitants of her native town.

But her generosity came near being thwarted. In 1864 the town rescinded their acceptance, declined the bequest, and instructed the trustees to resign. These applied to the Supreme Judicial Court for instruction as to their duty, and the case was heard by the full bench at the January term, 1865. A report of this can be found 10 Allen's Reports, and is interesting as being the first case in this country where it has been held that a bequest to establish a public library for the use of all the in-

habitants of a town is a public charity, which the courts will not allow to fail by reason of any mis- conduct or neglect of any of the parties charged with the trust. The appraised value of the estate was about $ 17,000, with several thousand dollars of debts. Yet the skilful financial management of Captain Drury, the treasurer, enabled the trus- tees in 1872 to have about $45,000, besides a large lot on which to place the new library build- ing. The plan was drawn by George B. Thayer of Boston. The beautiful edifice was completed, and dedicated, with an address by Judge J. W. Bacon, December 25, 1873. It is a two-story brick structure, of Gothic style, with light granite trimmings. The whole number of volumes, Feb- ruary 1, 1879, was 10,099.

The trustees hold funds to the sum of $12,500, the income of which may be appropriated for the purchase of books alone. Other expenses the town pays. Among the treasures of this library is a copy of Eliot's Indian Bible.

When the first printing-press was set up in Na-

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tick we know not, but the Natick Observer made its appearance April 5, 1856, and went through at least six volumes. The Natick Times, Vol. I. No. 1, is dated October 28, 1864, and lasted cer- tainly five years. The Natick Bulletin, a wide- awake weekly, reached its tenth anniversary Novem- ber, 1879; while its vigorous competitor, The Natick Citizen, came into being in December, 1877. Both are able papers.

Various kinds of manufactures have engaged the industry of our people. The dam at South Natick gives a fall of nine feet. On the canal formerly stood Curtis' paper-mill, now owned and operated by the Boston Flax Leather Company. They con- trol the entire water-power, and their land was the planting-ground of the first settlers. They em- ploy fourteen men, Mr. J. B. Sewall being their efficient superintendent. The little island midway the dam Mrs. Stowe makes the young men's study- place in her Oldtown Folks. The grist-mill hums its well-accented song. Years agone a paper-mill and a plaster-mill were in one building here ; indeed, the spot has been a mill-site over a century. Brick- making was successfully pursued many years on the west shore of Lake Cochituate. A hat establish- ment, now extinct, did a good business. A long three-story building near the railroad shows where one of the enterprising citizens has made his for- tune, and given work to many in the extensive base- ball factory of Harwood and Sons.

But the largest business here, as in other towns of Eastern Massachusetts, has been shoemaking. The original manufacturer, Mr. Asa Felch, died in April, 1878. He first made sale shoes in 1827. Later his brother Isaac became a partner, and those of the family name still follow the business. The thriving suburb of Felchville thus got its name and growth. Mr. Felch manufactured brogans, since Natick's staple production; his workshop was a room in his house. He took apprentices, whom he instructed. William Bent, founder of the house of W. and J. M. Bent, of Cochituate, served with him. Mr. Asa Felch is said for years to have kept no books, remembering all his affairs.

Mr. William Coolidge, Albert Leighton, and Edward Walcott, in the West Part, and George C. Whitney, Mr. Kimball, and David M. Whitney, at the Centre, were in the shoemaking trade before or by 1830.

The shoes were made by hand, one or two per- sons doing the whole. The lapstone, hammer, and awl, the knee-clamps for stitching, and the low

bench are as out of place now as our grandsire's flintlock muskets, or grandmother's swinging cranes in the great fireplace. On Saturdays a one-horse wagon took the week's work to Boston, bringing home new stock. Mr. Kimball kept the only store at the Centre, on the present Common facing the yellow church. His shoe-shop was up- stairs. Biglow's History names several handicrafts pursued, but has not a word about shoemaking, soon to be the making of Natick.

In 1830 there were two post-offices, - at South Natick and on the Worcester Turnpike. Three roads intersected Natick, -the Worcester Turnpike, in the north part, the Central Turnpike, and the Old Hartford Road, through South Natick. The following account carries us back to the day when our fathers travelled : "On the Worcester Turnpike, the great southern mail each way daily. Several other mail and accommodation stages are frequently passing. On the Central Turnpike, Boston and Hartford Telegraph line of stage coaches every day but Sunday, up one day, down the next. On the Old Hartford Road, Boston, Mendon, and Uxbridge daily line of coaches, and continues on to Hartford three days in the week, and back the other three." On each of the three highways stood the old-time tavern, its hanging sign swinging aloft, offering refreshment to man and beast.

For the next twenty years the shoe-business greatly increased. Its originators here enlarged their operations ; left rooms at home or small sheds for the commodious shops; instead of a few ap- prentices, they sought workmen by tens and twen- ties ; and new firms sprang up. Natick leaped from the slow growth of a farming town to quick increase. Stores, houses, and inhabitants doubled. Until 1830 the population had added from forty to ninety every decade. The increase from 1820 to 1830 was five per cent ; from 1830 to 1840, forty- four per cent ; between 1840 and 1850 the popula- tion more than doubled, and nearly doubled again during the next ten years. As labor-saving ma- chines were used in shoemaking, the several oper- ations were subdivided among cutters, bottomers, dressers, and stitchers.

In 1831 two enterprising dealers took their goods by water to New York. So hard was the voyage, it was feared that they were lost ; but they arrived and prospered.

When the railroad was opened in 1835 the Centre outgrew other parts of the town, and was known as Natick, the older village being called Sonth Natick.

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.

In December, 1833, a young man of Farming- ton, N. H., walked thence to Natick. On arriving, Henry Wilson engaged with a manufacturer, giving five months' labor to learn the business. In a few weeks he bought back his time and began for him- self. He once started to make fifty pairs of shoes without sleeping, and almost succeeded. In 1836 he visited Washington for his health. As an opera- tive Mr. Wilson was industrious, alert, economical, and temperate. Men worked then twelve or fifteen hours a day. From doing a journeyman's work he became in 1838 an employer, doing business ten years. In 1847 he employed one hundred and nine persons, who made over two thousand cases of shoes.

Henry Wilson.

He resumed business for a year and a half, till his election as United States Senator in 1855. As a manufacturer he was honest and fair-dealing, sym- pathizing with the workmen, for he himself had worked as one. But his ambition was in another direction than business and wealth.

Edward Walcott was a personal friend of Mr. Wilson. He is largely identified with the business growth of Natick. He was a manufacturer at first, but afterwards became interested in real estate. He built the Walcott Block, and at his death was much missed. A fully equipped shoe-factory runs almost as much machinery as a cotton-mill. In the be- ginning all the operations were hand-work, but now

each part has its ingenious machine, and some six or eight of these clattering inventions do the work. Once a pair of shoes signified three hours' labor.

The first shop at South Natick began in 1840. Four large shops at one time were busy hives ; but two were burned, and business fell off. Many make shoes in little shops, getting stock from the large dealers. Mr. Pfeiffer has recently built a fine workshop.

A series of interesting articles in The Citizen, on the history of Natick's principal business, preserve many valuable facts.

The Harrison political campaign brought Henry Wilson into his sphere of life-work. An accepta- ble platform speaker, he won notice as " the Na- tick Cobbler." Occasional defeats when nominated for office only led at last to higher promotion. He was state representative in 1841, state senator in 1844, major, colonel, brigadier-general in the state militia, delegate to the National Convention in 1848, from which he and Charles Allen with- drew, and an unsuccessful Free-Soil nominee for governor. But his meridian was not yet reached. In 1855 he became a senator in Congress, tlie colleague and comrade of Charles Sumner. Both were stanch patriots, who did splendid service in the nation's critical hour. Mr. Wilson attained the vice-presidency on General Grant's second nomi- nation, and was the third Massachusetts man to fill that chair.

Upon the north side of the Common stands the Soldier's Monument, dedicated July 4, 1868. We read eighty-nine names of our townsmen who died in the war. Natick sent some three hundred men. Many went in the 13th regiment, Company H, and in the 39th regiment, Company I. This monument is flanked in front and rear by four brass twelve- pounders. Standing between two churches, and near a school-house with five hundred pupils, it is a memorial to old and young of patriotism and sac- rifiee. General Wadsworth Post 63, G. A. R., is in a flourishing condition.

Before us lies a printed sheet, entitled, " Psalm C., -to be sung at the Tea Party given in the Town-Hall at Natick, Oct. 28, 1846, for the pur- pose of raising means to purchase a copy of Eliot's Indian Bible, to be preserved in the Archives of the Town."

A note reads : "N. B. The Psalm in the Natick dialect is copied from Mr. Eliot's translation of the Psalm, bound up with his Indian Bible. The English translation of the same Psalm is from the

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NATICK.

' Baye Psalme Book,' prepared by Rev. Mr. Eliot and Rev. Mr. Welde of Roxbury, and Rev. Mr. Mather, of Dorchester. The edition of the work from which we copied was printed at Cambridge, by Stephen Daye, in 1640, and was the first bound volume printed in British America. The tune is from Ainsworth's ' Psalms in Metre, Imprinted in the yere MDCXVIII.,' at Amsterdam. The origi- nal is in diamond notes, and is the tune to which Eliot's Indians actually sung the Psalm. - AWT."

We would almost as lief sing the Indian as the unrhythmic English of the third verse :

" Wah-teau-ok Je-ho-vah God-w kez-huk-que-ag-kup-ua-gum noh Qut nee-na-wun mat ; nee-na-wun Ma-uit um-mis-sin-nin-nu-moh."

" Know, that Jehovah he is God, who hath us formed it is he, & not ourselves : his own people & sheepe of his pasture are wee."

Next year, by the efforts of Professor Francis, D. D., of Cambridge, who wrote Eliot's life in Sparks' American Biography, Oliver Bacon, Esq., and Rev. Thomas B. Gannett of South Natick, a monument of sandstone was reared in memory of Eliot's work in the little park, on the site of the Indian burial-ground, hard by the location of the Indian church. The obelisk bears in front this simple inscription : -

JOHN ELIOT Apostle to the Indians. Born 1604, Died May 20, 1690.

The rear side shows an open Bible with, on the left- hand page, the legend, "Up Biblum God, 1663." An iron fence encloses the shaft.

October 8, 1851, was celebrated as Natick's bi-centennial. Incorporated as a town but sev- enty years before, this anniversary commemorated the earliest settlement. The festival included an address by Professor Stowe, himself born near the old oak, a procession, and a banquet with speeches, one being delivered by Rev. George Copway, an Ojibway Indian. The supposed portrait of Eliot, recently brought from England by Hon. William Whiting, hung before the pulpit. A young girl of sixteen, a lineal descendant of the Natick In- dians, sat among the guests.

On election-day, May, 1842, an old hollow oak in the roadway, which had been valued as an his-

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. II, Part 33

Author: Drake, Samuel Adams, 1833-1905 Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Boston : Estes and Lauriat Number of Pages: 650

Author: Drake, Samuel Adams, 1833-1905
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Boston : Estes and Lauriat
Number of Pages: 650