History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 188

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 188

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Farm Lake is a beautiful sheet of water, with clean, gravelly shores, in the eastern part of the town. From the earliest times it has been a favorite resort for amateur fishermen of this and neighboring towns. An ancient inhabitant of that portion of the town about the year 1700 was so much devoted to fishing that the town jestingly voted to grant him the privi- lege of fishing there constantly. Within a few years this, lake has been stocked with black bass. Its area is ahout 200 acres. From the time when the custom of holding picnic-parties was first introduced, this has been a chosen resort for people of this town and of many other towns in this vicinity. Pleasure boats have been placed upon the lake, and thus the pleasures of sailing and rowing are added to those of the

groves and fields which exist upon its shores. Steam launches have also been added to the fleet within a few years. It has become an ideal place for a picnic, . and the number of such parties has greatly increased since the year 1880. There are now three groves on its banks which are open to the public during the warin season of the year. The lake is fed entirely by springs, and has an outlet which preserves its waters pure in the hottest weather. An excellent quality of ice is obtained here in winter.

Little Pond, covering about forty acres, is situated about one mile north of Farm Lake. It is used only for the purpose of fishing.

CAPT. AMARIAH LELAND was born in Eden, Maine, followed the seas, and was master of a ship for many years and continued in that business after his removal to Sherborn. He finally retired from that service and settled here, where his ancestors re- sided until 1710. He bought a farm which borders on Farm Lake, and his grove has become a great resort for picnic parties.

He has been a selectman of the town since 1886.

Sherborn is one of the towns which reach the southern border of the county, and is separated by the Charles River from Medfield and Dover in Nor- folk County. Its population in 1890 is about 1400. In addition to agriculture and fruit culture, the chief industries are the manufacture of shoes, of willow goods, and of cider and vinegar. One of the latter manufactories is not surpassed in size and in the magnitude of its business by any similar establish- ment in the country. A considerable business is done in procuring ice from Farm Lake and from some of the ponds in the township. A saw-mill in the southwestern section of the town annually converts a large number of logs into lumber.

A pamphlet " History of Sherborn," pp. 80, was writ- ten by William Biglow, of Natick, and published at Milford in 1830. In 1856 a " History of Sherborn and Holliston," with genealogies, was issued by Rev. Abner Morse and printed in Boston. In 1875 there was printed at Natick, in one pamphlet, the address of Hon. George B. Loring given at the bi-centennial celebration, and also an historical sermon delivered by Dr. Edmund Dowse about the same time.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

ALBERT H. BLANCHARD, M.D.

Albert H. Blanchard, M.D., was born in Boston June 25, 1828, the son of John W. and Sarah A. Blanchard. He was educated in Boston schools, re- ceived a Franklin medal at the Hawes School, in South Boston, in 1841, and entered the English High School the same year. From 1845 to 1848 he resided in Portsmouth, N. H., and while there he learned the art of pharmacy, pursued his academical studies and

10 C. Clark

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commenced those relating to medicine. Returning to Boston in 1848, he continued his studies in the Boylston Medical School, and attended lectures at Harvard Medical College for two years. Although ready to graduate in 1850, he postponed that cere- mony on account of his election as one of the house physicians to the Massachusetts General Hospital, . where graduates were not then received. After a profitable and interesting sojourn of a year at that in- stitution, he received his diploma at the commence- ment of 1851, having thus been engaged for six years in the preparatory studies of a physician.

Immediately after the death of Dr. Oliver Everett, in 1851, he was invited to settle in Sherborn as the physician of the town, and has remained to the present time, excepting two years during the Civil War. In 1854 and 1855 he transcribed the ancient records of the town, an act which had been authorized by the Legislature not long before, and he found the earliest book, a mere pamphlet, greatly worn and difficult to decipher. A similar work is greatly needed in many other old towns of our Commonwealth.

In August, 1861, Dr. Blanchard was appointed sur- geon of the Forty-first Massachusetts Volunteer Infan- try, after an examination by the State Board of Sur- geons, and was mustered into the United States service September 4th. The regiment formed a part of the " Banks expedition " to Louisiana, where they arrived early in December, 1862. June 17, 1863, the regi- ment was converted into cavalry, and is more gener- ally known as the Third Massachusetts Cavalry.

The duty was onerous and severe and the climate malarious, so that Dr. Blanchard became weakened by sickness and was finally obliged to resign his commission. He was honorably discharged from the service February 29, 1864.

After a long sickness in the spring of 1864, he re- covered sufficiently to perform some temporary ser- vice in the army in Virginia, and in August, 1864, returned to Sherborn and resumed practice. For thirty years he has also served as a member of the School Committee and much of that time as secre- tary of the board. He has been interested in the history of this ancient town and has given much time to the study of its settlement, its progress, and its people. He has also written a number of historical articles concerning the town.

He was married at Dorchester, May 18, 1852, to Eunice Alden Hooper, of that town.

FRANKLIN GROUT.

Franklin Grout is a native of Sherborn and has always resided there. He was born in 1839, a son of Nathan and Laura Ann (Fay) Grout, a grandson of Nathan and great-grandson of John Grout. The latter removed from Sudbury to Sherborn in 1760 and settled here. The grandfather, Nathan, and his brothers, Elias and Silas, were all soldiers in the War

of the Revolution, serving from three to five years each.

The subject of this sketch was educated in our common schools and afterwards attended for a con- siderable time the well-known English and Classical School of Messrs. Allen, in West Newton. A good training and a solid groundwork of education were thus secured.

Mr. Grout inherited a large farm, which he has conducted with skill and success. He has taken a prominent part in town affairs for many years, having served continuously as a trustee of the Town Library and of the Sawin Academy and Dowse High School, and also as a member of the Board of Assessors for several terms, most of the time as chairman. In the year 1884 he was chairman of the selectmen and would have been re-elected a member of that board had he not been chosen town clerk and treasurer in 1885. He also received a commission as justice of the peace during the same year. He has continued to fill the latter offices to the present time, in 1890, and is highly esteemed as a correct and careful guar- dian of these important interests of the town.

He was married, in 1864, to Elizabeth Leland, of Sherborn.

CHARLES A. CLARK.

Charles A. Clark belongs to an old Sherborn fam- ily. The first ancestor of which we have knowledge was Jonas Clark, who settled early in Cambridge. His son Samuel removed to Concord in 1686 and died there in 1730. Arthur,' the fourth son of Samuel, came from Concord to Sherborn between the years 1715 and 1718, married here, settled near Charles River and founded the Clark family of this town. His oldest son, Samuel, was the great-grandfather of the subject of this article. Three sons of Samuel took part in the Revolutionary struggle, one of whom, William, is thus described by Morse in his genealogy of Sherborn : "William, long a leading and hon- ored citizen of Sherborn, early imbibed the spirit of '76; entered the armny in the commencement of the conflict, served five years as a soldier, was in the bat- tle of Bunker Hill and at the surrender of Burgoyne; became a member of the church, served her as deacon and the town as selectman ; kept a store and tavern, was much employed in settling estates, and sustained through a long life a high character for responsibility, soundness of judgment and integrity. He married Elizabeth Whitney June 24, 1784, daughter of Hon. Daniel Whitney," one of the foremost men of his time in this State. In 1788 he purchased the estate of Captain Amos Coolidge on "The Plain," where the store above mentioned was commenced in the year 1800, and has been kept continuously on or near the same site by Alpheus, the son of William, and by Charles A., his grandson. Alpheus Clark, Esq., was also prominent in the service of the town, having been town clerk and treasurer for seventeen years, se-

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lectman for six years and Representative to the Gen- eral Court for four years. He was also a captain in the State Militia. He married Nancy Leland, of Sherborn, in 1810.

Charles A. Clark was born in the old homestead July 4, 1829, and has continued to reside on the same spot, although the original house, which had become very old, was replaced by a new and larger one in 1876. A large farm is attached and has been increased by several additions to the original purchase of Dea- con William Clark. It has been cultivated and im- proved by the three generations in addition to their business of store-keeping.

In the year 1888 Mr. Clark purchased of Hawes Brothers the stock and trade of the general store in the Central village, which had been carried on for many years by his brother, George Clark. Since that" time he has conducted business at both places. Like his ancestors, he has performed duty as an officer of the town, having served as selectman six years and assessor five years.

On the 1st day of January, 1852, he was married to Martha A. Paul, of Sherborn.

CHAPTER LIV.

CARLISLE.

BY SIDNEV A. BULL.

CARLISLE has had an existence peculiarly its own in certain respects, inasmuch as it existed as the Dis- trict of Carlisle for a little less than two and a half years, then ceased to exist for a period of nearly twenty-four years, when, by an act of the General Court, it was allowed to exist again as a district, which state of things continned for a period of nearly twenty- five years, when it was incorporated by an act of the Legislature, with the full powers, authority and respon- sibilities of a town, which prerogative it has been al- lowed to enjoy to the present date, and doubtless will go down the ages with at least all the prestige with which the struggles and triumphs of the past have endowed it.

The original corporation, known as the District of Carlisle, was taken wholly from the territory included within the limits of the town of Concord, aud includ- ed in part a considerable portion of settled territory known as the Bloods' Farms, which tract of land came into the possession of the brothers John and Robert Blood, partly, by purchase as early as 1650, and partly probably by descent from their father.

Robert also possessed other extensive contiguous territory in right of his wife, who was the daughter of Major Simon Willard, to whom the General Court of the Colony had granted lands as a reward for his eminent public services.

After the incorporation of Billerica, in 1655, the Bloods, whose farms adjoined the new plantation, though not within its limits, appear to have been considered as belonging to that township.

During King Philip's War the Bloods songht refuge in Concord, and were there taxed as inhabit- ants ; but on their petition the General Court, on the 9th of May, 1678, ordered these taxes to be repaid them without charge to the petitioners.

This appears to have been the beginning of a con- troversy between them and the town of Concord, which resulted, on the 17th of March, 1685, in an agree- ment between the parties by which the "Farms," which had heretofore existed as a " peculiar," were annexed to Concord, upon conditions by which Rob- ert Blood, Sr., his heirs and assigns, were exempted from obligation to serve in any town office, and from all rates excepting such as should be laid for repair- ing or building the meeting-house.

By this agreement also the " waste lands " of the Bloods were to be exempted from taxation, highways were to be laid out to and from the town for their accommodation, and they were to have "meet places assigned to them in the meeting-house " in Concord.

No express reasons for granting the exemptions claimed by the inhabitants of the territory above named have been found in the State archives, bnt the settlers there occupied an outpost on the front- iers, and were remote from the meeting-house in Con- cord Village, from which they were separated by the Concord River, and to which they had access only over roads often submerged, or otherwise impassable. The conjecture is not unfounded that these circum- stances furnished sufficient inducement for consent- ing to their enjoyment of these special privileges.

As early as December 18, 1732, Jonathan Blood, John Parlin and twenty-six others, inhabitants of the northerly part of Concord, subscribed to an agreement to support meetings for public worship at the house of Joseph Adams ; the whole amount thus subscribed was £18 4s.

The subscribers appear also to have organized as a society, to have chosen a clerk, and to have held meetings for prudential affairs, sometimes at the house of David Parlin.

At a meeting of the inhabitants of Concord held May 21, 1733, a vote was passed pursuant to an arti. cle in the warrant upon the questions, "whether the town would make allowance to sundry inhabitants of the north part of Concord to support preaching amongst them in the winter season, or would sett off the said inhabitants to be a separate precinct," both of which were decided in the negative.

The preceding petitious presented to the town were doubtless the result of the meetings for public wor- ship held at the house of Joseph Adams, and also of the advisory meetings held at the house of David Parlin and elsewhere.

Although their requests had not been granted, an

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agitation had been started which gained in favor and strength, as year by year it was considered, and peri- odically brought before the minds of the people.

Another way, however, was open by means of which the petitioners might obtain relief.

The following year, during the fourth session of the Assembly, a petition of Benjamin Stone and twenty- five others of Concord, doubtless representing the same body which had organized for public worship in the winter of 1732, and had unsuccessfully peti- tioned the town for aid in the spring of 1733, set- ting forth the distance they are at from the place of public worship in said town, and praying that they may be erected into a separate precinct by the bounds stated in the petition, was read, and notice thereof was ordered to be served on the town of Concord, re- turnable on the first Tuesday of the next May ses- sion.

This petition came up for consideration June +, 1734, together with a certificate of twenty-eight other inhabitants of the proposed precinct, showing their un- willingness to be a part of the precinct. Also in the mean time the town of Concord had chosen a com- mittee of three to be present at the hearing and give reasons to the General Court why the prayer of the petitioners should not be granted. After considera- tion the preponderance of opposition prevailed, and the petition was ordered to be dismissed.

The petitioners had now been twice refused their request, each time by a different tribunal ; but at a town-meeting held by adjournment March 7, 1737-38, and called, among other things, " to see if the town will dismiss Zechariah Blood and others, petitioners with him, from Concord, in order to join with part of Chelmsford and part of Billerica to make a separate township," and to hear the petition of Eleazer Brown and others on the north wardly side of Concord River, " that all the inhabitants of the town, on the north and northerly side of the North River, so called, may be set off a separate township."

The inhabitants refused to grant the latter petition by a vote of seventy-six to twenty-six, and on the former petition, "the town saw cause not to act at that time, for that a greater number that lived within the bonnds asked for appeared against the wanting the said petition than appeared for it."

Two years later, on the 3d of March, 1739-40, at a meeting of the inhabitants of Concord, for which the twelfth article in the warrant was " to hear the request of Jonathan Blood and others, of the northwardly part of the town who desire to be set off to be a separate precinct, according to bounds set forth in their peti- tion," the town refused to grant the prayer of the pe- titioners.

The next attempt that has been discovered to have any portion of the territory north of the Concord River set off as a separate town or precinct, was on the 5th of May, 1746, when the warrant for the next town-meeting contained an article for hearing and

considering the petition of John Hartwell and others, then to be laid before the town for that purpose.

The meeting at which this petition was considered was held May 20th by adjournment from the 12th, and at the adjournment the petition was referred to the next town-meeting.

The grounds for separation, alleged by these peti- tioners, were "in order to their more convenient coming to ye publik worship of God, from which they are many times many of them hindered by ye Difficulty of passing ye river in times of flud and by ye great Distance of their abood from ye place where ye publike worship of God is now upheld."

On the 3d of November of the same year the war- rant for the town-meeting to be held on the 17th contained an article for considering the petition of John Hartwell and others, which it is probable was the original petition, and it was again referred to the next town-meeting.

The record of the next town-meeting, held by ad- journment on the 3d of March, 1747, contains no reference to this petition.

This and other similar applications were ineffec- tual until the year 1753, when, having failed to get a vote of the inhabitants of Concord consenting to their separation, James Chandler and forty-six other inhab- itants of this territory (uot, however, including Blood's Farms) appealed to the General Court in the following petition, which was read in the House September 13, 1753, and notice thereon ordered to be served on the town of Concord, returnable "on the second Wednesday of the next sitting of the Court : "

"To His Excellency William Shirley, Esqr., Capt -General and Governor- in-Chief in and over his Majesties Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, and to the Honle His Majesties Council and House of Representatives in General Court Assembled. The Petition of the Inhabitants of the Northerly Part of the Town of Concord Humbly Sheweth,

"That whereas your Petitioners have for many years Past attended with our Families on ye Publick worship of God at the old Parish in said Con- cord with many and great Inconveniencies by Living (many of us) 80 Remote therefrom, there is a great Number of aged, and youngerly Per- sone are very Frequently Necessarily Detaind from the Publick worship. They not being able to Travel so far in the heat of Summer withont Ex- posing their health, and in ye winter season the Days Being 90 Short they Cannot withont a great Deal of Pains and Trouble get to ye Place of Pub- lick worship io season and in Case they tarry till the times of Exercise is over they Cannot Return to their Places of abode till Sometime in the Evening, which greatly Endangers them to Suffering with the Cold, and Perticularly in times of floods there is great Numbers (of all Sex) are obliged to Tarey at home on yo Sabbath, altho there is good bridges over the Rivers but Cannot Come at them, all which Renders your Petition- ers' Case very Difficult.

" Your Petitioners therefore Ifumbly Pray your Excellency and Hon- ours would take our Case into your wise Consideration and Grant unto us a Destrict under snch Restrictions and Regulations as your Excel- lency & Honours, in your great wisdom, Shall Think Fit.

" Including all within the Bonnde hereafter mentioned in ye borth- erly Part of sd Concord.

" Beginning at ye Corner of the Town, Near Joseph Parlin's, then with Acton Line to where it Crosses Neslioby Brook (so-('alled), then Down Said Brook to the River, then with Said River till it Copies to Blood's Farm (so-Called), Then Bounding on gul Blood's Farm till it Comes to Billiraca Line, then with Billiraca Line to the Corner first mentioned-and your Petitioners Further bege Leave to Inform your Excellency and lionma that we Haive Petitioned the Town of Concord to

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

vote ns off as a Destrict ; and they haive had a Town-meeting for that Purpose, but Refused so to Do ; and we, as In Duty Bound, Shall Ever Pray, &c."

Before action was taken on the above petition the inhabitants of the town of Concord passed a vote agreeing " that the inhabitants of the Northerly part of the Town Shall and May have all the Liberty that the Town can Grant them, to Go off as a Separate District at any time when they shall Agree or Choose so to do by the following bounds :

" Vizt-to begin at Concord River and Run streight to Acton Line so as to Run across the Road Leading to Blood's farm and across Groton Road (so-called) at Each of them one Mile and three Quarters from the Meeting-House upon a streight line and then to be Bounded on Acton and Billerica and on Concord River to where it began."

Early in the next session Jonathan Blood and twenty-seven others who were desirous of being in- cluded in the territory to be set off, and who thought, with many others who lived in the northerly part of said town, that the part voted to be set off was too small, sent in a petition to the General Court, asking that the grant of the town may be confirmed with a small addition, according to bounds given, which are nearly identical with the bounds included in the act which was finally passed, making a district of the northerly part of Concord by the name of Carlisle, and which will appear later on, and which would include Blood's Farm (so called).

In the mean time Jonathan Brooks and twenty others, who lived within the territory described in Chandler's petition, filed their objection to being " layed off," in any shape, according to that request.

A committee chosen by the town of Concord for the purpose also appeared and presented their objections to the Chandler petition, some of which were as follows:

" That while the petitioners Pray for a part of said Town to be sett off as a District Containing in all Six thousand Nine Hundred and Thirty acres, ou which are upwards of Eighty Families and is in the most va. u- able part of the town, being the most fertile aud Profitable land, and Contains all, or almost all the Lands within the first parish in Said Town, Capable of Making any New or additional Settlements. Whereas much of the Remaining part is Barren and unprofitable pine Land, which never can be improved to any advantage. That if their petition should be Granted, the Bounds mentioned in their petition which Comes within one IInndred and ninety-four Rods of the meeting-Honse, it will leave the first Parish in bad situation & Circumstances, and will make the Burden very heavy on a few Persons, we would also Observe that the Difficulty in Passing the River mentioned in their Petition is withont Foundation, the Town Haviog Lately been at a Great Expence in Rais- ing the Causey and Building a wide wall for people to travel over on foot when a flood Covere the Causey. And said Petitioners in their Peti- tion have Left out and made no mention of Blood's Farm (60 called), which adjoyns to the northerly Part of Concord and Contains about One Thousand Eight Hundred and fifty acres, with about fifteen fiunilies thereon, and which is Accounted a part of Concord and live the most Remote from the Publick worship of any belonging to the town and are obliged to travell through that Part Petitioned for to be Sett off in Order to Get to the Place of Publick worship."

For these and various other reasons which seem to be plausible and just, the said town of Concord pro- tested against the latter-named petition and urged the

consistency of the bounds as previously noted, which was the vote of the town, and which included in the aggregate about six thousand and six hundred acres of land, and on which there were living at the time about sixty families, "and Room Convenient for a Considerable many additional settlements. This was thought by the Inhabitants of the Town at their said meeting to be as much as they Could Spare without manifest Injustice to the Remaining Part, and to be as Large as the Petitioners and Others Concerned Could Reasonably desire and what was thought to be Sufficient to satisfie them although Something less than they asked for," but in referring to the Jonathan Blood petition, which it is claimed would take in about five families more than the town voted to them, 110 objection would be made.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 188

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