USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. II > Part 49
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William L. Peabody, son of Enoch, Dartmouth, 1856, studied law, practised for several years at Lynn, and is now established in his profession at Omaha, Nebraska, where he is also judge of pro- bate.
Benjamin M. Hartshorn, son of Benjamin, grad- uated at the Harvard Law School, and opened an office in this town. He was chosen for three years as one of the general school committee, and in 1867 was clected chairman of the board of selectmen. He died the same year, aged twenty-seven.
John M. Bancroft, son of Joseph, Dartmouth, class of 1859. Went west as civil engineer till the breaking out of the war, when he enlisted as a private in the second Michigan infantry, was in sixteen battles, served three years, and attained the rank of captain. He was then offered the colo- nelcy of a regiment of cavalry, which he declined on account of health. He removed to Brooklyn, New York, and was engaged for a year or two in laying out the public park there. He is now em- ployed by ten New York insurance companies as surveyor, which gives him employment in different parts of the country, with his principal office in New York.
E. Bentley Young, son of Edward, graduated at Dartmouth, 1862. Teacher in Brimmer School, Boston.
Horace P. Wakefield, son of Deacon Caleb, Am- herst, 1832, practising physician at Oakham, Massa- chusetts, for several years, where he held the office of selectman and town-clerk, and was twice clected as representative to the legislature. Returning to Reading, he was clected senator for this district in 1862, and served one year, and also as school committee and town-clerk for several years, and justice of the peace. He was then appointed as inspector of the almshouse at Tewskbury, and afterwards physician there. Subsequently he was transferred to the superintendency of the state almshouse at Monson, which he retained till 1877.
Rev. William Wakefield, son of William, grad- uated at Amherst, 1839, taught the South Reading Academy one year; Codman School, Dorchester, about two years ; graduated at Andover, 1845; went as home missionary to McConnelsville, Olio, remaining there six years ; preached at Madison, Ohio, three years. In April, 1855, he removed to Harmar, a village of Marietta, where he was pastor for many years. He is now settled at La Harpe, Illinois.
Edward Hartshorn, M. D., formerly of this town, studied medicine, settled at Berlin, has an office in Boston, and is proprietor of the well- known bitters, "Key to Health."
S. O. Richardson, M. D., son of Dr. Nathan, of this town, resided in Wakefield, and was widely known for his " Sherry Wine Bitters."
John Reid, son of Rev. Jared, formerly pastor of the Old South Church in this town, graduated at Yale, 1846, resides at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he is engaged in teaching.
John S. Wallis, Yale, 1832, studied law; became a farmer in Bolton, Massachusetts.
William F. Wallis, brother of John S., studied at Yale, but died before graduating.
Rev. Pliny F. Sanborn, son of Rev. Peter San- born, Amherst, class of 1840. Settled for some years at West Bloomfield, New York, afterwards at Springfield, same state.
Rev. George E. Sanborn, brother of Pliny F., Amherst, 1843. Preached at Georgia, Vermont, Mt. Vernon, New Hampshire, Northborough, Massachusetts, and is now superintendent of the orphan aslyum at Hartford, Connecticut.
Joseph C. Sanborn, M. D., of the same family,
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though not a college graduate, is a physician in Boston.
George W. Symonds, son of Obed, not a college graduate, studied medicine, was formerly in prac- tice at Lancaster and Clinton. Died in 1873.
Daniel Temple, son of Charles, not a graduate, is a dentist. He has resided in the Southern States many years. He first went there as an agent for Dr. Morton, and engaged in introducing ether as an anasthetic in surgical operations.
Stillman E. Parker, Esq., entered Amherst College, 1841. After studying about two years he was obliged to leave on account of ill health. He is now engaged in the manufacture and sale of shoes. He has served on the school committee in this town longer, with one exception, than any other person. He was a member of the state legis- lature in 1859, and holds a commission as justice of the peace.
Alfred A. Prescott was a member of the class of 1843, Harvard College; began the practice of law in 1845 ; was Register of Probate about six years, - from 1852 to 1858. He now resides in Cali- fornia.
Rev. Thomas M. Symonds, son of Eben D., graduate of Waterville College, Maine, 1847, New- ton Theological Seminary, 1850. Was never settled as a pastor. Labored under the direction of the Home Missionary Society, with a good degree of success, at Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he died July 5, 1852, at the age of thirty-one.
William Wallace Davis, nearly two years a stu- dent at Dartmouth, left the college and enlisted as a soldier in August, 1862. He received a bullet- wound in his right wrist at the battle of Gettys- burg, on account of which he was discharged from the service. Enlisting again in December, 1863, in the 59th regiment, he was promoted to be first lieutenant the next year. He lost his left arm in the battle of Petersburg, July 30, 1864, and again received an honorable discharge November 29, 1864.
Solon Bancroft, son of Emery, graduated at Dart- mouth, 1864, studied law, and is now in practice. Has an office here and also in Boston. He was for some time employed in teaching in one of the city schools. He is Assistant Judge of Middle- sex District Court.
Gilman L. Parker, graduated at Dartmouth, 1868. Is now in business in Boston.
at the Farm School, Thompson's Island. Is now sub-master in the Dwight School, Boston.
Thomas Appleton, graduated at the Rensselear Polytechnic Institute, at Troy, N. Y., in 1868. He has since been employed as civil engineer.
Howard A. Hanaford, graduated at Tufts Col- lege in 1873. He is now pastor of a Congrega- tional Church.
George H. Barrus, graduated at Institute of Tech- nology, in Boston, class of 1874. Mechanical engineer.
Herbert Barrows, graduated at Institute of Tech- nology, class of 1874. Civil engineer.
Walter B. Barrows, graduated at Institute of Technology, class of 1876. Teacher in Argentine Republic, South America.
Frank E. Appleton, graduated at Worcester Free Institute, 1874.
The Third Church, formerly called the West Parish Church, and now the Old South Church of Reading, organized in 1770, has had, as pastors: Rev. Thomas Haven, ordained November 7, 1770, died May 7, 1782 ; Rev. Peter Sanborn, ordained June 9, 1790, dismissed June 7, 1820; Rev. Samuel Green, ordained September 20, 1820, dismissed March 26, 1823; Rev. Jared Reid, ordained Oc- tober 8, 1823, dismissed June 12, 1833; Rev. Aaron Pickett, installed September 25, 1833, dis- missed April 3, 1850; Rev. Lyman Whiting, in- stalled January 1, 1851, dismissed November 1, 1855; Rev. William Barrows, installed February 20, 1856, dismissed May 6, 1869; Rev. William A. Thompson, installed February 14, 1872, died Sep- tember 17, 1875.
Since the decease of Mr. Thompson, no pastor has been settled. Rev. L. J. White has been the acting pastor since 1877.
The Third Congregational Society in Reading was formed April 2, 1827. It held its meetings in the upper portion of the building known as the Academy, erected in that year, while the lower floor was used as a school-room. Several preachers served for short terms, - Rev. Mr. Barbery till his death in 1830, and Rev. Mr. Damon from 1833 to 1835. In 1838 it was absorbed in the Second Universalist Society, which culminated, in 1856, in a new organization, with the name changed to First Universalist Society. Rev. N. R. Wright became pastor for two years, and was succeeded by Rev. L. M. Burrington for two and a half years. Rev. E. A. Eaton officiated a portion of the time
Walter S. Parker, son of Henry F., Dartmouth, 1868. Taught school in Bradford, Sherborn, and | till 1865, and was followed by Rev. W. W. Hay-
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ward till 1867. Rev. E. B. Fairchild, in 1868, commenced holding an afternoon service in Lyceum Hall. A house of worship was built in 1871, where the society has since continued to hold its meetings. In 1869 a new society was formed, un- der the name of The Christian Union. It adopted the following as its platform and creed : " A belief in the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Humanity, as taught by Jesus Christ, and acknowl- edging Him as Our Teacher and Guide."
The present pastor, Rev. C. W. Heizer, was set- tled in February, 1878. In June of the same year the society placed itself in fellowship with the Uni- tarian denomination.
The Salem Street Baptist Church was organized in 1832, with sixteen members. The meeting- house was built in 1836. The pastors were settled as follows : Rev. Henry Smith, June, 1837; Rev. J. Woodbury, 1842; Rev. John Upton, 1843; Rev. J. G. Townsend, 1845; Rev. John Cookson, 1848; Rev. E. K. Fuller, 1854; Rev. A. M. Higgins, 1858; Rev. William R. Davy, 1859; Rev. H. P. Guilford, 1865 : Rev. T. W. Crawley, 1867 ; Rev. Luther D. Hill, 1870; Rev. James K. Ewer, 1874.
Bethesda Church and Society. - The Bethesda Society was formed in 1849. The first meeting was called April 23. Captain Timothy Wakefield was moderator; Oliver Peabody, clerk ; Timothy Wakefield, Aaron Parker, John H. Bancroft, as- sessors ; Milo Parker, collector and treasurer. Stillman E. Parker was chosen clerk in 1855, and has held the office to the present time. The church edifice was dedicated January 1, 1850.
The Bethesda Church was organized April 17, 1849, with ninety members. Rev. Edward W. Clark, the first pastor, was ordained January 1, 1850, and remained two years. Rev. W. H. Beecher became pastor, September 14, 1853, and was dismissed in 1856.
Rev. William H. Willcox, the third pastor, was installed July 2, 1857. His pastorate was of unusual length and prosperity. His resignation being accepted, the connection with the church and society was dissolved March 5, 1879. On the same day Rev .. William B. Ely was installed as liis successor.
The Methodist Episcopal Church was organized June 9, 1867, with nineteen members. The meet- ing-house was built in 1870. Rev. Stephen Cush- ing preached one year. Rev. H. D. Weston suc- ceeded in 1869, and preached two years; Rev.
J. N. Short, three years ; Rev. W. H. Hatch, three years ; Rev. J. L. Hanaford, one year ; Rev. J. F. Mears, the present pastor, entered upon his labors here in 1878.
The First Presbyterian Church was organized February 27, 1873, with twenty members. Its house of worship was dedicated February, 1874. Rev. A. S. Gardiner was installed as pastor, May, 1873, and remained till September, 1875. Rev. P. M. Macdonald has since supplied the pulpit.
In 1871 J. Hilary Skinner, Esq., correspondent of the London Times, attended a political banquet in this town, of which he gave a pleasant descrip- tion in his paper. A few extracts from his narra- tion may properly be given in closing the historical sketch of the town.
" You must picture a brightly lighted hall, with a gallery at one end where a band of music and six rows of tables stretch down the centre. You must fill the hiall with quiet, earnest-looking people of both sexes, and imagine the usual table at the top, furthest from the music, where sat the principal guests of the evening. . ... You may fancy that the scene is before you, and hurry on to discuss its social bearing without having heard of the pretty young waitresses.
" Yet stay a moment, I. entreat, for this matter of pretty young waitresses aforcsaid is worthy our attention. The well-behaved, neatly dressed girls who hand round the coffee and tea so demurely, and who are, in one sense, the chief ornament of the room, belong to the same class of society as those on whom they wait. . . . . Vanish all thought of dull-eyed and weary British waiterdom, - vanish the nimble garçon and the obliging kellner. We are waited on by nymphs who bring us the fra- grant coffee or the sleep-killing tea, and my only trouble is about asking for more. Shall I venture to beckon to me that pretty creature who has just embraced the old dame on my right ? Shall I call out " Waiter! " in a firm undertone, and hold up my cup at this smiling young person whose little head overflows with curls ? The question is mo- mentous to a timid Briton, but its answer is sim- ple. Hold up the cup, ask for more, do anything that reason and friendship will permit, and the at- tendant nymphs will be found as much alive to the work of the hour as their countrymen are apt to be alive to any work which they take in hand.
I cannot attempt to tell all that was said, or to give the names of all who spoke, but such a slight sketch of the leading speeches as has gone before
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may serve to show you to what sort of discussion the company listened. Here were men and women side by side, equally attentive to the recital of party hopes and fears, equally warming up - with only the mild stimulants before described -to laugh and to stamp on the floor at good party hits. It is but fair to say that they listened also with courteous attention to some remarks from an Eng- lishman who was present, on matters further afield, and that an able criticism in the next speech on English prospects was very well received. The
people had thoughts for much more than party politics, but it is as politicians that their gather- ing together thus quietly, with wife and children, is the most remarkable. What can be a better sign for free institutions than the levelling upwards which brings laborers and mechanics, small traders and wealthy merchants, to the same assemblage of intelligent, self-respecting citizens? Whilst so much of the country is true and sound, there will be strength in the Americans to stifle Tammany and to regenerate a dozen Utahs.
SHERBORN.
BY ALBERT H. BLANCHARD, M. D.
HERBORN is one of the older towns in the county, and forms a portion of its southern border, being separated by Charles River from Dover and DON'T TRE LEAD ON ME! Medfield in the county of Norfolk on the east; on the south is Medway, in the same county. Holliston and Ash- land bound it on the west, Framingham on the north, and Natick on the north and northeast. The township now contains about 10,000 acres, and its extreme length from north to south is something more than six miles, and from east to west about four and one half miles. Originally the territory was very much larger, but it was reduced by the formation of new towns. The population is abont 1,000. It is situated some twenty miles W. S. W. of Boston, with which it has easy com- munication by the Mansfield and Framingham Railroad, which passes through the town from south to north, and connects with the Boston and Albany Railroad at South Framingham.
The name of the town was anciently written Sherborne, and sometimes Shearborn, Sherburn, and Sherburne. The latter was the most aeeept- able, and finally became its permanent designation for many years ; and the action of a portion of the inhabitants in presenting a petition to the General Court in 1852, to change the name to Sherborn,
has since been much regretted. The chief ground of this action was a supposition that Sherborn, in Dorsetshire, England, was the original home of some of the first settlers. It was a town anciently distinguished as the site of a monastery, and as a place of burial for some of the Saxon kings ; and at a later day as the spot where the prime nobility met William, Prince of Orange, and welcomed him to the throne of England. But the best author- ities spell the name of this Dorsetshire town "Sher- borne "; and in the usual confirmation, by the General Court, of the grant of land for a township, " it is ordered that the name of the towne be Sher- borne." And wherever the town is mentioned in the records of the General Court of the colony it is called Sherborne. It would, therefore, have been more satisfactory, if an alteration must be made at all, to have had the new name wholly correct.
Grants of land by the General Court to indi- viduals were commenced as early as 1643, and were continued at intervals for thirty years ; but always subject to the rights of the Indians (Nip- mucks), who received payment and gave deed's for all the land included in the township. Few if any of these grantees oceupied their land. The first transfer to actual settlers of land " lying in the woods on the west side of Charles River, three miles from Natick," was made May 3, 1652, O. S. Immediately after, Nicholas Wood and Thomas
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Holbrooke took possession and commenced their labors. They were soon followed by Henry Lay- land, Benjamin Bullard, George Fairbank, John Hill, Thomas Breck, and Daniel Morse. Most of these persons were men of substance, of strong, de- termined character, hardy, and not easily discour- aged, as the event proved. Many of their names still live in the persons of their descendants, who are found among the prominent citizens of Sherborn at this day. And they required all the energy and endurance of which man is capable to subdue the wild lands " in the wilderness beyond Medfield," and to protect themselves against the lurking In- dian. For although the Nipmuck Indians who in- habited this portion of the colony had been treated fairly in the purchase of their lands, and were at first friendly, they were afterwards influenced and controlled by King Philip with disastrous results to the settlers.
These first residents settled in the south and southeast parts of Sherborn, which then included a portion of the present eastern part of Medway. The Indian name for the locality was Boggestow ; it is perpetuated in the name of a meadow, pond, and brook. In various petitions to the governor of the colony and the General Court, the settlers termed themselves " inhabitants of Bogistow," and " inhabitants and proprietors of lands at or near Boggestow."
Although living remote from Medfield and not included within its bounds, the Boggestow people obtained privileges there, and also enrolment and taxation as hier citizens ; and for some twenty-five years the births and deaths in their families were there recorded.
But at length, as the number of settlers increased, and the farms were growing into better condition, a petition signed by fourteen inhabitants was pre- sented " to the much honored General Court, 7 of 3 mo. 1662," praying for " liberty to be a Towne of ourselves with such others as may be admitted to our Society hereafter." The General Court ap- pointed a committee " to view the place and return their apprehensions." The result appears to have been unfavorable, as nothing more is found con- cerning the petition. But the colony remained, for these were men not easily daunted when they had once determined to subdue the forest, and to form a community of their own. They were strengthened by the addition from time to time of new residents, until in the year 1674, when the settlement was twenty-two years old, the number
of families amounted to twenty. The long-cher- islied plan of forming a new town and church was then revived, and urged by a second generation of planters. Joseph Morse, a son of Daniel, was prominent in preparing a new petition "To the Honoured Gov. & Deputy Gov., with the rest of the assistants and deputyes of the Generall Court of his Majesty's Colony of the Massachusetts," October 7, 1674. This petition represents that there are " neere twenty families already settled on farmes . in this part of the wilderness called Boggestow, & neere thereunto, besides some other farmes, not yet Improved, lying between the bounds of Naticke & Meadfeild, & upon the west of both, which probably may shortly be em- prooved also." It also states that "amongst other difficultyes," the petitioners " have not found it our least to goe to meeting on the Lord's day unto Meadefeild, by reason not only of the distance from theare, and the leaving of severall at home, but also in regard of the difficulty in passing over the water betwext, in winter seasons & times of floods, which sometimes prooves hazardous to health & life ; wherefore for our releife herein, and that wee may not wholly omit our duty what in us lyethì to spread the Gospel in this wildernesse, . ... & for the better regulating of affayres amongst us, we your petitioners do humbly crave the favorable help of this Honoured Court." It then asks that a tract of land, six miles square, may be " made a towne, & that the name thereof may be -"; and also that they may have liberty to purchase of the Naticke Indians certain other parcels of land.
The petition was granted October 21, and the town named Sherborne, on the condition "that a farm of two hundred acres of land be reserved for the country, that no land shall be allotted to any but actual settlers, and that no man shall receive above fifty acres till there be twenty new families settled there, and then the whole that is free to be disposed of as the major part of the inhabitants capable by law to vote shall judge meet."
The form of this new township was very irregu- lar. It has been aptly compared to a hand-card, with its handle about one mile wide, between Na- tick and Medfield, and with its blade west of those towns, extending north to Sudbury River, and south to Charles River and the north line of Bel- lingham, then a part of Dedham. It included much territory which has since been assigned to new towns. As soon as practicable, negotiations were held with Major Gookin and Rev. Jolin Eliot,
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in behalf of the Natick Indians, for an exchange of land with them. This exchange was completed in 1679, and the township thus rendered more compact. The negotiations were commenced in 1675; but a terrible calamity suspended the work for two years, and paralyzed every effort that was not required for self-preservation. This was noth- ing less than the horrors of an Indian war.
The inhabitants first " assembled for the ordering the affairs of Shearborn," on January 4, 1674 - 75, fourteen persons being present ; and the records of the town then commence. A committee was chosen to view the land granted by the General Court for a township, and to lay out the same; and another committee to treat with the Natick Indians for the desired exchange of lands. Only one other town- meeting was held for about two years, and that was in March, 1676, for the transaction of indispensa- ble business.
At this time Philip, the great sachem of the Wampanoags, was on the war-path, scattering fire and death wherever. he went; and the consterna- tion excited in the minds of the settlers was some- thing of which we can have no adequate idea. The rapidity of the movements of the Indians through the by-paths, the thickets, and the forests, with which they were perfectly familiar, their stealthy advances, their sudden appearances, and violent murderous attacks as they swooped down on a vil- lage or a settlement, caused them to be peculiarly dreaded by a people who were wholly unaccus- tomed to this savage mode of warfare. More- over, as Philip truly stated in a paper which he left on a portion of the bridge betweeni Medfield and Boggestow, destroyed by him on the retreat following his desperate assault on the former town, " the Indians lose nothing but their lives. You must lose your fair houses and cattle." The fear of so much loss undoubtedly added to the pangs of dread for the loss of life; for their farms were of little use in this wilderness without their buildings and cattle. His bold threat in the same paper that the Indians " will war this twenty-one years if you will," did not give them much hope for the future, although, as Hubbard quaintly ob- serves, Philip fell short of this time by more than nineteen years. But of his early death, effected by a party under Captain Church, the colonists could then know nothing, and they had only the pros- pect of continual watchfulness and defence for an indefinite period. During the known presence of the enemy in the vicinity, the people all retreated
to the garrison-houses, of which there were two,1 and lived there. Many remained for a long time, and there some of their children were born. One of these garrisons was the house of Daniel Morse, Sr., near the present road from Sherborn to Dover, and not far from Charles River ; and the other on the farm of Benjamin Bullard, near the present boundary line between Sherborn and Medway, and also near Charles River. The latter was attacked by the enemy on February 21, 1676, the same day that Medfield was burned, and after their re- treat from that place. This garrison was made with great care and strength, and resisted the as- saults of the Indians, some of whom were picked off by shots fired through the admirably arranged loop-holes. Finding their efforts vain, they next attempted to burn the building by pushing down the declivity above it a cart of burning flax. De- struction now seemed imminent ; but fortunately the progress of the cart was arrested by a rock, still to be seen, and the lives of the garrison saved. Some writers place the date of this attack at a later day, in May, but Hubbard, who wrote about 1677 - 78, is probably better authority. The only other concerted attack by the Indians was made either in May or July following (writers differing as to date), when they met with such a notable re- pulse that " they never dared to show their faces there afterwards." But there were single attacks by scattered Indians, and some deaths occurred among the whites. These were troublous times, and tried to the utmost the nerve and endurance of our ancestors. They never meditated a retreat from their possessions, but resolutely adhered to every means of defence, and were obliged to be watchful against surprise for a long time, not knowing the day nor the hour when they might be again attacked by their treacherous foe. Philip commanded not only his own tribe, but also In- dians of other tribes, whom he had persuaded to enlist in his attempt to extinguish the new settle- ments of English people. Some of these Indians had hitherto been friendly to the whites, and among them the Nipmucks, who inhabited this and the neighboring region of country. Says S. G. Drake,2 " These were the most distressing days that New England ever beheld. Town after town fell a sac- rifice to their fury. All was fear and consterna- tion. Few there were who were not in mourning
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