History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 151

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 151

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The last report of the School Committee contains matter of great importance. An evening school was opened in the High School house under the direct charge of Mr. Holt, the master of the High School, and was continued for twenty-eight evenings. Begin- ning with about one hundred pupils, it soon had two

hundred and fifty. The youngest pupil was thirteen years of age and the oldest forty years. The com- mittee speak iu very high terms of Miss Sara A. Saw- yer, who had been re-appointed teacher of music for all the schools in the town. The High School, under the charge of Mr. Ira W. Holt, was reported as in a very satisfactory condition. The graduating class in 1888 numbered twenty-seven, and in 1889 it numbered fifteen. At the graduating exercises of the class of 1889 John F. Kenealy gave the Salntatory Address, Miss Jennie B. Jones was the Historian of the Class, Harold W. Loker recited the Class Poem, Mary E. Quinlan gave the Class Prophecies, while the Valedic- tory fell to the lot of Warren D. Valentine. The public has been informed that nearly all the teachers appointed in 1888 will be retained during the year succeeding. Mr. Holt and his assistants it is expected will still carry on the work in the High School, Mr. Nelson Freeman will remain master. in the Centre School, with a general supervision of the ten other schools in the same building, while George A. Tyzzer will be the master at South Natick, as heretofore,. with the supervision of the six other schools in that school-house. In Natick there are 39 schools, em- ploying 44 regular teachers and two special assistants. The teachers' wages, as reported March 1, 1889, amounted to $19,887.62, while all other expenses in- volved in conducting the schools (including the cost of a new school-house $4997.86) bring the sum total to $32,295.25 for the school years 1888-89, leaving, of appropriations unexpended, the sum of 68 cents.

MASTERS OF THE HIGH SCHOOL AND ASSISTANT INSTRUCTORS .- The list from the beginning in 1852. is as follows :

1852-60 .- Abner Rice. Assistant, Harriet N. Tolman.

1861-63 .- J. M. Merrick, Jr. Assistant, Miss Tolman.

1864 .- Mr. Merrick, without an assistant .

1865 .- No names are found in the school reports.

1866-67 .- Homer Rogers. Assistant, Miss I. L. Wight.

1868-72 .- Gideon D. Tower. Assistant, 1868, Miss C. C. Godding or Miss Mary C. C. Goddard, or both ; 1869-72, Miss Hattie C. Fairbanks, assistant.

1873 .- James F. Colby. Miss Fairbanks, assistant.

1874-76 .- George M. Smith. Assistant, Miss Fairbanks.

1877-81 .- Frederic O. Baston. Miss Fairbanks, assistant ; also after 1878, Miss Elizabeth P. Bigelow, assistant; 1881, Miss Katharine Bates also assistant ; Mr. Baston was the first master in the new High School house, which was dedicated March, 1878.

1882-85 .- E. D. Russell. Assistants, Lilla O. Davidson, Mary C. Eno ; 1883, Miss Nellie F. Wilson, also assistant ; 1884, the assistants were Nellie F. Wilson, Lula A. Pinkham, Nora L. Baldwin ; 1885, assistants, Ada G. Gardner, Lucy S. Pierce, Hattie E. Baldwin,

1886-87 .- Elmer A. Wentworth. Assistants, Hattie E. Boardman, Lucy S. Pierce, Fanny P. Owens.

1888-89 .- Ira W. Holt. Assistants, Hattie E. Boardman, Mabel S. Clark, Julia A. Ellis.

Of the above-mentioned High School masters, Mr. Tower has long been identified with the interests of Natick, as a lawyer with offices in Boston and Natick, as the chairman of the School Committee for many years, and as an efficient member of the Board of Trustees of the Morse Institute.

Mr. Baston became assistant cashier of the Natick

1 See Bacon's " Ilistory," page 129,

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National Bank some seven years since, but is now the trusted treasurer of the Natick Savings Bank.

Mr. Holt, who is able and popular, remains master, with two of his valuable assistants.

The masters of the Grammar Schools, Messrs. Freeman and Tyzzer, are teachers of experience and ability in their several important departments.

" The Home School," of Natick, is an institution of more than ordinary importance. Mrs. Adelaide P. Potter is its proprietor, while Miss Nellie MI. Wright, Miss Searle and Miss Gertrude Howe are teachers. The special design of the school is to fit young ladies for Wellesley College. Connected with it is a Pri- mary Department. Music, art and elocution are taught by teachers from Boston. The students num- ber about thirty. Special courses of study are pro- vided for.

LIBRARIES .- These must always be an important factor in the educational institutions of any place, and in this respect few of the towns in the Commonwealth are more highly favored than Natick. Rarely has any town, or city even, two ably conducted and well appointed Free Public Libraries.

Earlier Libraries .- A public circulating library was established in 1808, which appears to have contained, at the first, about 100 volumes. By means of a dona- tion by George Homer, of Boston, a library of stand- ard religious works was established in 1817, but what finally became of it is not known.1

The Citizens' Library was established February 10, 1847, starting with about 500 volumes. This was given to the town in 1857 and accepted by the same on these conditions :

1. The town was to expend during the first year $300 for its enlargement, and $100 each succeeding year, and

2. Provide a room for it and pay the salary of its librarian. It is said to have contained, at that time, 432 volumes. A room was secured for it in the High School house for a time, when it was removed to Clark's Hall. W. F. Flagg was chosen librarian and his salary was $125 per annum. In 1864 Mr. J. B. Fairbanks was librarian and received as compensation $100 per year.

It appears that the town made an annual appropria- tion to increase its library, and in 1866 this was $299. As time went on less probably was done for its en- largement because of the prospect that the Morse Institute would soon be established.

The Morse Institute .- Miss Mary Ann Morse was the only daughter of Mr. Reuel Morse and Mary (Parker), his wife, and was born June 16, 1825. She had two brothers, who died before her, and their birth-place was on East Central Street, where the Institute build- ing now stands. The brick house which was her home and constituted a part of her estate was re- moved and set on Clarendon Street, and is now occu-

pied by Dr. Sylvester. Miss Morse died June 30, 1862, having passed some of the later years of her life in the family of Dr. Ira Russell, then residing in Winchendon, but formerly a physician in Natick. Miss Morse left her entire estate to found a library in Natick for the use of all its inhabitants. Five trustees were to be appointed by the town, if the bequest should be accepted, to serve for five years, and this Board of Trust were to execute the will. When the proposal came before the town at the meeting in March, 1863, a committee was appointed, composed of John W. Bacon, Elijah Perry and John O. Wilson, to take legal advice and recommend to the town a suitable course of action regarding the whole matter. This committee reported April 6, 1863, that the will was in a legal form substantially, that the bequest was valuable and that it should be accepted by the town.

This was done and the Board of Trust was provided for by the appointment of Messrs. Willard Drury, John W. Bacon, Horatio Alger, John O. Wilson and Elisha P. Hollis. March 7, 1864, the trustees re- ported to the town that they had organized and had requested one of their number, Mr. Willard Drury, to settle the estate as administrator under the will, and further that the condition of the estate was such that it could not at once be applied to the founding of a public library. Four weeks later, viz., April 4, 1864, the town voted not to accept of the bequest of Mary Ann Morse, and appointed, to take such actiou as might relieve the town of all responsibility in the matter, a committee composed of Messrs. John W. Bacon, Nathaniel Clark and George L. Sawin. The vote upon declining to receive the bequest stood 253 to 152. The records do not state the reasons for this action, but from later reports and proceedings it would appear that many doubted the validity of the will, especially as a suit had been brought against the trustees by George W. Pierce, the guardian of Charles R. Morse, a minor. Later the town voted, 117 to 30, to request the trustees to resign their trust. But in- stead of doing this they appear to have taken legal measures for ascertaining their rights and the rights of the town in the matter, for March 5, 1866, they re- ported to the town that the equity suit brought by them for the establishment of the trust in their hands as a public charity had been decided in their favor by the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth, and that all the suits against the estate of Mary Ann Morse had been settled and abandoned-that of George W. Pierce, guardian, because the note on which it was brought was plainly a forgery. This report was accepted, and the trustees had now full liberty to go forward in the execution of their trust. This is said to have been the first decision of the highest court of the State, sustaining the validity of a bequest for es- tablishing a library for all the people of a town as a public charity, that could not be allowed to become null because of any neglect on the part of those

1 see Bacou's " History," page 163.

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

charged with the trust. At that time the estate was appraised at not far from $17,000, with considerable debt incumbrance. In 1872 the trustees had about $45,000 at their disposal, besides the valuable lot of land upon which a library building could be erected.

At the annual meeting March 4, 1867, the trustees of the Morse Institute reported that the administrator, with the will (of Mary Ann Morse) annexed, had made a final settlement of his accounts and turned over the estate into the hands of the trustees ; that they were holding the same and applying the rents, etc., to the payment of existing debts, which, on the 1st day of April next, they expected to so far liquidate that only an incumbrance of about $750 would remain ; that there were two notes, one for one hundred dollars payable to John Kimball, and another for about $200, payable to Mr. Eaton, of Boston, with some interest, which they (the trustees) believed to be justly due, but not legally so because the holders did not commence suits for recovery within the specified time; and they asked the town to authorize them to pay these notes, upon receiving proper indemnity from personal lia- bility. The town voted to accept this report and to authorize the payment of these notes, under the con- ditions named above.

March 2, 1868, the Morse Institute trustees reported that they had paid all the claims upon the estate, ex- cept the two notes mentioned above, and the claim of Stephen Hayes for $20, and that, excluding the lot of land, the estate was then worth $25,000.

March 7, 1870, the trustees reported that the estate of Miss Mary Ann Morse in their hands was worth $36,000, exclusive of the lot for building, and that they expected to remove the brick house and make contracts for the erection of the library building be- fore the close of the year. A year later the trustees reported that they had removed the brick house and were procuring plans, etc., for the library building, that the estate was now worth $38,000, and that as the will of Miss Morse provided that two-thirds of the same might be used in the erection of the building, they should have funds sufficient to provide an ele- gant and well-furnished structure. Also to have the property relieved from taxation that they had applied to the Legislature for an act of incorporation.

In 1872 the trustees reported that the securities in their possession were worth $40,000, and that they should proceed to erect the Morse Institute building at once.

In 1873 they reported that the Institute building would doubtless be completed by June 1st. They were re-elected as trustees the second time.

At the annual meeting of the town, 1874, the trus- tees reported that the Institute building had been completed in July, 1873, and that the town library, by a vote of the town, had been transferred to it (3154 volumes), and that they had purchased with the fuuds of the Institute 2283 volumes. These, with the donations that had been received from Vice-President

Henry Wilson, made the whole number of volumes 7311. They reported moreover, that on Christmas day, 1873, the building was dedicated, and thrown open to public inspection, and that on January 1, 1874, it was opened for public use. Also that they had expended upon the building ($27,000), and had in their hands about $11,000, $9000 of which would be devoted to the purchase of books, and $2000 would constitute a reserve fund.

The town accepted the report, with the exception of one recommendation of minor importance, and ap- propriated for the support of the Institute $300, and what might arise from the taxation of dogs. From time to time the town appropriation has been in- creased until it has reached the sum of $800, with the annual addition of the amount raised by the tax- ation of dogs, which, though variable, is always nearly or quite as large as the regular appropriation.

The Morse Institute building, standing on a spacious lot at the corner of East Central and Washington Streets, is a very convenient and imposing structure, being built of pressed brick with trimmings of fine New Hampshire granite. It is two stories high, with a French roof, crowned with turrets. In the base- ment is the usual steam heating apparatus. On the lower floor there are a large packing-room, the jani- tor's room and reading-rooms furnished with files of newspapers and periodicals. Upon the second floor the library proper is found, with the reference library in a separate but adjoining room. Connected with these is a large and very pleasant room, upon the tables of which the more valuable monthly and quar- terly periodicals of the day constantly attract readers. The library is now open to the public every day of the week except Sunday, from 10 to 12 A.M., from 2 to 5 P.M., and on Monday, Wednesday and Friday even- ings, from seven to nine o'clock.

On the same floor is the spacious and very conven- ient room for delivery. The library is constantly growing through gifts and annual purchases. During the year 1888-89 it increased by 413 bound volumes, and contained at the date of the last report March, 1889, 11,735 volumes in the circulating department and 659 volumes in the reference department. The total number of bound volumes enumerated in the accession catalogue is 12,394. Total number of bound public documents is 2778, making a grand total of 15,172 bound volumes. The total circulation of books for 1888-89 was 26,094, an increase over the same of the preceding year of 5080 volumes.

The trustees, with Deacon John O. Wilson as chairman (who has been a trustee from the begin- ning), watch constantly over every interest of the Institute. The janitor is Mr. R. T. Nash. The list of the librarians and their assistants is as follows :

1874 .- Librarian, Miss K. V. Lovejoy ; assistant, Minnie M. Mann. 1875-83 .- Librarian, Rev. Daniel Wight ; assistant at first, Miss Min- nie M. Mann ; later assistants, Miss Katharine K. Wood, Miss Mira R. Partridge, Miss Carrie L. Morse, Miss Nellie L. Fox.

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1884-85 .- Amos P. Cheney, with Misses Wood and Partridge as as- sistants.

1886-SS .- Miss Katharine K. Wood, with Misses Fox and Partridge, assistants.

1888-89 .- Miss Nellie L. Fox, librarian, and Miss Mira R. Partridge, assistant.

The library is conducted efficiently.

Bacon Free Library, South Natick .- Oliver Bacon, Esq., of Natick, died April 3, 1868, at the age of eighty-one and a half years. By his will, after giv- ing certain legacies to his family connections, he committed to five persons, iu trust, "all the rest and residue " of his estate, both real and personal, for the founding of a library. These trustees were directed to erect in South Natick, upon a lot of land given for the purpose, a fire-proof building, costing not more than $15,000, to be called The Bacon Free Library. The building was to be constructed in such a manner as to accommodate a large library and to furnish suitable rooms for the use of the " Historical, Natural History and Library Society of South Natick," while provision was made for the purchase, increase, main- tenance and care of the library. But the will of Mr. Bacon having been made seven years before his death, two only of the trustees named in it were liv- ing in 1878; and one of these, being in Europe, de- clined the trust, so that a full board of trustees could not be organized till 1879. During the eighteen months following the building was erected. The ground plan is in the form of a Greek cross, and it is built of brick and stone, the latter elaborately and tastefully laid, so that the whole structure is highly ornamental. The library proper is entered directly from the main street of the village, while the rooms designed for the collections of the society named above are under and above the library, though all above ground, the building standing upon land slop- ing backward to the east. The collections alluded to are arranged in glazed hard-wood cabinets. The library contained, in 1879, 925 volumes, with some very ancient and valuable pamphlets. In 1884, when the library had been open nearly four years, it had increased to 3738 volumes, 939 of which belonged to the Historical, Natural History and Library Society named above. During the year 1884 426 volumes were added. A reading-table connected with the library has been generously supplied with newspa- pers and the most valuable of the periodicals of the day. In 1884 the librarian was H. L. Morse.

This library is constantly receiving accessions. Mrs. Adelaide Williams is librarian, and the libra- ry is open Mondays and Thursdays from 2 to 5.30 o'clock p.M. Wednesdays and Saturdays, 2 to 5.30, and from 7 to 8.30 o'clock P.M. Everything about it indicates care and general prosperity.

The Historical Natural History and Library Society of South Natick .- It was both natural and proper that an active interest in historical matters, so far as Nat- ick is concerned, should early be developed and take form in South Natick, for this part of the township

is pre-eminently historic ground. Here Rev. John Eliot did what no other man of his age accomplished, in civilizing and Christianizing the Massachusetts Indians; and here are nearly all the localities that Mrs. Stowe has immortalized in her "Oldtowu Folks." In 1870, January 26th, a few gentlemen met at the house of Rev. Horatio Alger for consultation, among whom were Messrs. Oliver Bacon, Elijah Per- ry, Josiah F. Leach, Austin Bacon, William Ed- wards, Joseph Dowe and Amos P. Cheney. Other meetings followed, and the result was the organiza- tion of the " Historical and Natural History Society of South Natick and Vicinity," with Rev. Horatio Al- ger as president; Rev. Gorham Abbot, LL.D., as vice-president, Joseph Dowe, recording secretary ; Rev. Stephen C. Strong, secretary, and Mr. William Edwards as treasurer, with all other necessary offi- cers. The last-mentioned, Mr. Edwards, was made Natural History Curator.

Collections of relics and specimens illustrative of natural history were now made and placed in the chambers over the store of the curator, and a course of nine lectures was given by eminent men upon his- torical and philosophical subjects. Among the relics collected by the society were the sounding-board of the old church, under which Rev. Oliver Peabody preached for many years to the Indians, the bridal robe and slippers worn by the bride of Rev. Mr. Bad- ger, Mr. Peabody's successor, and some of the pottery work of the Natick Indians. But all these, with val- uable collections of birds and insects, representing foreign lands as well as our own, were reduced to ashes in a disastrous fire on the morning of March 2, 1872, when the old tavern, "the Eliot House," and nearly the entire business portion of the village be- came a total loss. But, nothing daunted, the society kept on its course, made new collections as rapidly as possible, listened to other lectures, and, adopting a new name in part, was incorporated, April 26, 1873, as the " Historical, Natural History and Library So- ciety of South Natick." An appropriate seal was soon procured, which represents Mr. Eliot presenting the Bible to a group of Indians beneath the branches of the ancient Eliot Oak. In the years following the society prospered and increased its collections greatly, while its library became more and more valu- able. The society occupied its new rooms in the Bacon Free Library building early in December, 1880, and the work of transferring and arranging its col- lections occupied the time of the curator for several weeks.

A very interesting and important part of the work of this society has been accomplished through the observance of

Annual Field Days .- 1881, May 2d, was such a day, when about fifty persons assembled near the grave of the Indian preacher, Daniel Takawambait, and vis- ited in turn the site of Deacon Badger's (Deacon Wil- liam Bigelow's) house, and other well known local-

552

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

ities. Mr. Elijah Perry prepared a very interesting account of a number of the farms of the region vis- ited on this occasion. May 1, 1882, was another field day. The ancient Indian bnrying-ground which was first visited was minutely defined by Rev. J. F. Sheafe, Jr. (See " burying-grounds" in this histori- cal sketch.) The same gentleman described "The Old Meeting-honses." A history of "The Old Elia- kim Morrill Tavern " was given by S. B. Noyes, of Canton. " Merchants' Block " was described by Mr. William Edwards. Mr. Amos P. Cheney gave a his- tory of "The Ebenezer Newel House." Samuel Law- ton's home (the Sam Lawson of "Old Town Folks " ), was described by Mr. Elijah Perry, as was "The Car- ver House and Family," by Mrs. Mary P. Richards. Other individuals described other places of note, among whom was Mr. Horace Mann, of Natick, who has made a study of the ancient history of this town for years, and donbtless is more familiar with it than any other person.

The third field day, May 1, 1883, was, if possible, the most interesting of all. Dr. G. J. Townsend, the president of the society after the death of the vener- able Mr. Alger, presided, and a large delegation from the various historical societies of New England was present. Rev. C. A. Staples, of Lexington, and Rev. George E. Ellis, D.D., made elaborate addresses. Seth Davis, Esq., of Newton, ninety-six years old, also made appropriate remarks. Places of great his- toric interest were visited, and papers were read by Edwin C. Morse, Esq., Mr. Horace Mann, Rev. J. P. Sheafe, Jr., Rev. Samuel D. Hosmer, Mr. Herbert L. Morse, Mr. Amos P. Cheney and Mr. Samuel B. Noyes.

" Wellesley, the Conntry Seat of H. H. Hnnnewell, Esq.," is the title of a very interesting paper prepared by the president of the society, Dr. G. J. Townsend. But there is no space for an ontline even of these care- fully prepared and instructive papers.

In its bearing upon the culture of any people the value of a day spent in this manner can hardly be overestimated.

The museum of this society is constantly receiving valnable accessions, one of the most recent being a set of table-knives and forks in a case, once the prop- erty of Thomas Hutchinson, Governor of Massachu- setts in 1769, presented by Mrs. W. P. Green, of Sher- born. One of the most active and efficient members of this society is Mr. Amory L. Babcock, of Sherborn, who was appointed curator in 1874. The preparation and arrangement of the numerous articles in the museum are due to the patient and long-continued work of Mr. William Edwards and Mr. A. L. Babcock.

The library of this society has now about 1000 volumes. The librarian is Mr. Eliot Perry.

Probably bnt few of the people of the town, much less

of the adjoining towns, have any correct impressions respecting the variety and valne of what may be seen in the museum of this society in South Natick. Mr. William Edwards, Professor of Botany in Wellesley College, a life-long student ofnature, has been tireless in adding to the collections. There are birds gathered from South America, stuffed animals of various kinds, minerals, shells, stone implements, and relics taken from Indian graves, as their old burying-yard has been dug over in the progress of modern improve- ments.

University and College Graduates and Members .- Oliver Peahody (Har- vard University 1745), Nathaniel Battelle (H. U. 1765), Ephraim Drury (H. U. 1776), William Biglow (H. U. 1794; see biographical), Robert Peteshal Farris (H. U. 1815), John Angier (H. U. 1821), Calvin E. Stowe (Bowdoin College 1824 ; see biographical), Charles Angier (H. U. 1827), Josoph Angier (H. U. 1829), Amos Perry (H. U. 1837), Daniel Wigbt (H. U. 1837 ; see biographical), Jonathan F. Moore (Amherst College 1840), Alexander W. Thayer (H. U. 1843), Johu W. Bacon (H. U. 1843 ; see biographical), Joseph W. Wilson (Yale University 1854), Alfred' Stedman Hartwell (H. U. 1858), James McManus (H. U. 1871), Henry Thayer (H. U., Medical Dept., 1846), Louis E. Partridge (H. U., Med. Dept., 1856), Albert H. Bryant (H. U., Med. Dept., 1860), Augus- tus E. Dyer (H. U., Medical Dept., 1865), Gustavus A. Greenwood (H. U., Med. Dept., 1865), John Burte (H. U., Med. Dept., 1870), George Lane Sawin (H. U., Law Dept., 1860), Albert E. Ware (H. U., Den- tal Dept.), 1875 ; Frank E. McCutchins (H. U., Dental Dept., 1876), Lewis M. Norton (Massachusetts Institute of Technology ; Assistant in Chem- istry there two years ; a member of Berlin and Godinger Universities, Germany, two and a half years; received from the latter degree of Doc- tor of Philosophy on examination ; is now Professor of Organic and In- dustrial Chemistry in Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Horacs B. Gale (gradnate of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1883 ; ie Professor of Dynamic Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri).

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 151

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1034

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034