History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 10

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 10

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In 1831 they retired from business and devoted themselves to real estate, purchasing of Judge St. Loe Livermore his large estate in Belvidere, in the town of Tewksbury, for $25,000, with the purpose of selling it in house-lots demanded by the rapidly in- creasing population of Lowell. This fine swell of land, bounded on two sides by the Concord and the Merrimack, became a part of the city about three

years after its purchase. It contains 150 acres and upon it have been erected very many of the most elegant homes of the city. The results of this enter- prise, when added to the accumulations of trade in earlier years, made the Nesmith brothers among the most opulent of the citizens of Lowell.

Colonel Nesmith, though not a seeker for office, had his share of official responsibilities. In early life he was inspector of schools, and held other town offices in Windham. In the War of 1812 he enlisted as a soldier for three months, and served as third lieute- nant in Captain Bradley's company, stationed at Portsmouth. In 1820 he was chosen colonel of the Eighth Regiment of New Hampshire Militia. After coming to Lowell he served two years in the City Council, and he was a director of the Merchants' Bank.

His last years were spent in his home on Park Street, his large estate affording him sufficient and congenial employment. Colonel Nesmith was a gentleman of the old school, dignified in manner and observant of the gentle courtesies of social life.

It is to the honor both of the head and heart of Colonel Nesmith that in his last will he left to his native town of Windham $3000 for founding and per- petuating a public library, $1000 to the High Street Church Sabbath-School, of which his own children had been members, and $25,000 as a fund for the sup- port of the poor of Lowell. He died July 31, 1870, at the age of eighty-two years.

1871. Mayor, Edward F. Sherman.

February 8th. The first case of small-pox occurred. This disease became epidemic in the city and was the occasion of much excitement and alarm. The city government was very severely blamed for inef- ficient action in checking the disease, and many citizens were roused to anger and indignation. It is easy to judge after an event what should have been done. The disease prevailed till autumn, and 580 persons were attacked by it, of whom 178 died. October 23d the Board of Health reported that all danger from small-pox had passed. The city ex- pended $26,000 on account of this epidemic. Its origin is traced to an emigrant family who settled in Mill Street. This family, having a sick child, used every means to conceal the fact that the disease was small-pox. The parents reported it as a case of mea- sles. After the child had died a "wake" was held in the house, and before the truth became known large numbers had been exposed.

March 14th. City Council appropriated $15,000 to establish a fire-alarm telegraph.

April 11th. Central Savings Bank organized.

August 22d. Framingham and Lowell Railroad opcied for travel.

December 9th. The Grand Duke Alexis, of Russia, visited Lowell.

December 29th. Odd Fellows' Hall dedicated.

SIDNEY SPALDING was born in East Chelmsford

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

(now Lowell) November 14, 1798, and died at his res- idence on Middlesex Street, Lowell, on September 2, 1871, at the age of nearly seventy-three years. He was the son of Mieah Spalding, a respectable farmer of East Chelmsford, whose farm- house, in which his son was born, still stands on the corner of School and Liberty Streets, in Lowell. In lively contrast to the numerous equipages which now daily traverse the once quiet farm of Mr. Micah Spalding it is fitting to record that he was the possessor of the first chaise owned in East Chelmsford. He died April 23, 1830, at the age of seventy-seven years, while his wife, Mary Chamberlain [Spalding], lived to the great age of ninety-one years.

The Spalding family is so numerous in Lowell and its vicinity, and bears so honorable a name, that a brief record of the ancestral line of the subject of this sketch will not fail to interest the reader.

Edward Spalding, his earliest American aneestor, seems to have joined that devout band from the towns of Woburn and Coneord, who, about 1652, being in search of a new place of settlement, had discovered a tract of land on the west side of Concord River, which they pronouneed " a comfortable place to ae- commodate God's people," and which, on making it their home, they had ealled Chelmsford (Chelmer's ford), probably in affectionate remembranee of Chelmsford in England, on the banks of the river Chelmer. Edward Spalding was in the first Board of Selectmen in the town. John, the oldest son of Ed- ward, eame with his father to Chelmsford when about twenty-one years of age and lived to the age of eighty- eight years. Joseph, son of John, also lived in Chelmsford and died in 1728, at the age of fifty-four years. Simeon Spalding, son of Joseph and grand- father of Sidney Spalding, was far the most distin- guished of his aneestors. He represented in the Leg- islature the town of Chelmsford during the eventful years preceding the Revolutionary War and during the first years of the war. The faet that he possessed the full confidence of his patriotie constituents indi- cates the quality of his own patriotism. He had the military title of colonel. Colonel Spalding was a prominent Free Mason and for several years the his- toric Pawtucket Lodge, of Lowell and vicinity, held its meetings at his house. Micah, the son of Colonel Simeon Spalding, was, as before stated, the father of Sidney Spalding.

Mr. Spalding, after completing his elementary education, became a elerk in the glass works of Middlesex Village (now Lowell), a village which, situated at the head of Middlesex Canal, was in those early days a very important centre of business. At lengtli he opened a store in this village, which in two or three years he relinquished in order to engage in trade in Savannah, Georgia. But after visiting the Southi he found neither the elimate nor the institu- tions of Georgia agreeable to his tastes and lie, re- turned to New England. It was while in Georgia

that he imbibed those political principles which made him an ardent Free-Soiler during the rest of his life.

His next business adventure proved to be most for- tunate. In company with four or five other gentle- men, in 1830, while Lowell was a town, he purchased the farm of Jonathan Spalding, in the south part of Lowell, and proceeded to divide it into house-lots for the rapidly increasing population of the town. This proved to be the enterprise which occupied most of the remaining years of his life and front which he de- rived most of his wealth.

However, he took a prominent part in the eon- struction of the Lowell and Lawrence and the Salem and Lowell Railroads, in the stoek of which he was a large owner. At the time of his death he was presi- dent of the former road and director of the latter.

Although Mr. Spalding was not ambitious for po- litieal honors, he was for four years a representative of Lowell in the General Court. He was one year a member of the Common Couneil and for two years in the Board of Aldermen. In 1861 he was nomi- nated as candidate for mayor of Lowell, but he de- clined the honor. Had he received the election he would have graced the office, for he was a gentleman of superior talent for business, of cultivated manners and of commanding personal presence. His tastes led him to the quiet enjoyments of domestie life. He was fond of books, and in his elegant and attractive home he had much to allure him from the walks of politieal life.

He, however, had his share of human sorrow. He lived to see the death of two wives and all of their four children. His third wife and one daugh- ter, Miss Harriet Sidney Spalding, survive him. Dr. Charles Parker Spalding and Mr. Frederie Parker Spalding, who are sons of his third wife by her for- mer husband, Frederie Parker, Esq., attorney-at-law, and who were adopted by Mr. Spalding and received his name, are now respected eitizens of Lowell.

1872. Mayor, Josiah G. Peabody.

January. William North died at the age of seventy- eight years. He was born in Weathersfield, Conn., July 12, 1794. He held the position of superintendent of the dyeing department of Middlesex Mills. He was a man of great moral worth and was affeetion- ately ealled "Father North." He was often honored with eity offiees. He was especially identified with St. Paul's Methodist Church.

February. City Library removed to Masonie Block. February 10th. E. F. Sherman, mayor of the eity in 1871, died at the age of fifty-one years.

Mareh 15th. People's Club organized.

April 27th. George Brownwell died at the age of nearly seventy-nine years. He was born in Ports- mouth, R. I., August 8, 1793. After working as a ina- chinist in Fall River and Waltham, he came to Lowell in 1824, and was among the first machinists of the Lowell Machine Shop. On the death of Paul Moody

Sidney Balding

LOWELL.

he succeeded him as superintendent of the machine shop. He retired from active business in 1845. He was a member of the Common Council, of the Board of Aldermen and of the Legislature, and was one of Lowell's first citizens.

April 26th. Oliver M. Whipple died at the age of seventy-eight years. He was born in Weathersfield, Vt., May 4, 1794, and came to East Chelmsford (now Lowell), in 1818, nearly eight years before the town of Lowell was incorporated, and established a powder manufactory which he operated thirty-seven years. He was a man of great energy and he took a very active part in developing the enterprises of the city in its early days. He was honored both by the town and city of Lowell with many offices, and is justly esteemed one of the founders of the city.

August 3d. An embassy from Japan visited the city.

The Pawtucket iron bridge was finished in 1872, at a cost of $36,000, half of which was paid by the town of Dracut.

LOWELL WATER- WORKS. - On November 27, 1872, the pumping-engine of the water-works was first set in motion.

Very soon after Lowell received her city charter (1836), the question of an adequate water supply attracted the attention of the city government.

In June, 1838, Mr. F. M. Dexter, civil engineer, of Boston, was employed to ascertain the level of Tyng's and Long Ponds, and of Merrimack River above Pawtucket Falls, and also the probable cost of intro- ducing water from each of these sources. One itemn of the engineer's report was that an outlay of $168,000 would furnish a daily supply of 1,200,000 gallons from Tyng's Pond.

It was in 1848, ten years afterwards, that this re- port was taken from the table and referred to the proper committee. William E. Worthen, engineer, was engaged to investigate and report the cost of sup- plying with water 75,000 inhabitants. He reported that no pond in the vicinity of Lowell could furnish a sufficient supply and recommended the taking of water from the Merrimack River as the most feasible plan. To do this would require an outlay of $400,000 or $500,000.

Here again the question rested for seven long years.

In 1855 an act of the Legislature was obtained allowing the city to take a water supply from Merri- mack River.

In 1860 more surveys were made and reported npon, and referred to the next city government, and then follows a long rest of six years.

In 1866 the city government raised a committee on water supply, and appointed Mr. L. F. Rice as engi- neer. The plan reported made Beacon Hill, at the head of Sixth Street the place for a reservoir, and West Sixth Street the place for a pumping station. It was estimated the total cost of introducing water from the Merrimack, would be $750,000. This plan

was submitted to a vote of the people of Lowell and rejected.

But soon there follows a change in the popular sentiment. The friends of the water supply measure take courage. Again on February 23, 1869, a popu- lar vote was taken with the result of 1868 for the measure and 1418 against it. By this vote the city government was instructed to proceed and to intro- duce water into the city for extinguishing fires and for domestic uses.

The committee into whose hands was put the charge of executing the work consisted of the mayor, Mr. Folsom, Aldermen Scott and Latham and Coun- cilmen Anderson, Greenhalge, Haggett and Lamson .. New investigations werc now madc. Water taken from various sources was again analyzed. The water from the Merrimack River and Beaver Brook was pro- nounced pnrest. The Council decided in favor of Beaver Brook, with an estimated cost of over $1,000,000.

Again opposition arises. In November, 1869, the proposition of postponing the whole matter was brought to a popular vote and negatived by a very decided majority, the yeas being 824 and the ways 2754. So decided an expression of the popular will settled the matter. And now the work proceeds. Messrs. Levi Sprague, William E. Livingston and S. K. Hutchinson were appointed as the Board of Water Commissioners and Mr. Joseph P. Davis as engineer. The plan adopted was that of the engineer, who re- commended that water be taken from Merrimack River at a probable cost of $1,265,000. This was the final plan, and it has been carried into successful exc- cution. Very few if any dispute its wisdom.

My space will not allow me to speak at length of the filter galleries, conduits, engines, pumps, and a thousand other appliances necessary to the comple- tion of the great work. The rest must be given in a statistical form. The annual report for 1888 gives us the statistics below :

The reservoir lot on Beacon Hill contains 17 acres. The reservoir itself covers nearly seven acres.

Total length of water mains, miles

Number of water-takers .

15,500

Estimated population supplied 70,000

Total charges from all sources for 1888 185,000

Net bonded indebtedness of the city for water- works

$1,191,160

Amount of receipts above expenditures in 1888 $5,244

Total expenditures on water- works

៛4,453,583

Number gallons water pumped in 1888 1,822,042 490

Number tons of coal consumed in 1888 1,800

Average price of coal per ton in 1888 $4.44

Number of gallons of water used daily per capita G616

1873. Mayor, Francis Jewett.

May 1st. Young Women's Home dedicated.

July 9th. Fisher A. Hildreth died at the age of fifty-five years. He was born in Dracut February 5, 1818. His home was in Centralville, and through his life he was identified with the city's history. As editor of several Democratic papers and as post-

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

master of the city he became very widely known. He acquired wealth and from his estate was erected the " Hildreth " block. He was a man of talent and enterprise.

August 24tlı. Dr. Edson's eightieth birthday cele- brated.

September 29th. The Daily Times appears as a morning paper.

1874. Mayor, Francis Jewett.

March 7th. Fiftieth Anniversary of the organiza- tion of St. Anne's Church celebrated.

April 20th. Fire at Wamesit Mills ; loss, $40,000. September 24th. G. A. R. Hall dedicated.

December 1st. Lowell & Andover Railroad opened. October 31st. Rev. John O'Brien 1 died at the age of seventy-four years.

In 1874 the village of Pawtucketville (1000 acres) was set off from Dracut to Lowell. This village, many years older than Centralville, has a history reaching back into the last century. Here, in 1711, was established the old church whose history is else- where given. The bridge over the Merrimack at this place, incorporated in 1792, had drawn people to the spot. This village, formerly known as West Dracut, is now one of the most pleasant and attractive parts of our city.

In the same year (1874) Middlesex Village (660 acres) was set off from Chelmsford to Lowell. The history of this village also runs back into the past century. Here started the Middlesex Canal, which was incorporated in 1793 and opened in 1804. It was a busy place in those early years. It is now a quiet village adorned with pleasant homes.

By the annexations of Belvidere, Centralville, Pawtucketville, Middlesex Village, etc., the territory of Lowell has been very greatly extended. Belvidere alone contained five square miles. The extent of the city now is more than twelve square miles, having been enlarged by annexations in 1832, 1834, 1851, 1874, 1879, 1888.

The original territory of Lowell was not an inviting place for private residences. The low grounds, inter- spersed with swamps, sprinkled with clumps of bushes, dotted with muddy ponds, hardly promised licalth and a pleasant home to the new-comer. Well does the writer remember how, at the time he contem- plated coming to Lowell in 1845, his wise physician shook his head and warned lin of the peril to which he was exposing his family. But by an admirable system of drainage and the annexation of these four villages, all of which are inviting and eligible spots for healthy homes, Lowell may, on the score of licalthfulness and neatness, challenge comparison with her sister cities.

Lowell has now outgrown the crude and barren aspect of a city in the rough process of being built, and is fast putting on that settled and homelike ap-

pearance which timnc alone can give. When the poet Whittier was, for a short time in 1844, a citizen of Lowell, he missed "the elm-lined avenues of New Haven and the breezy leafiness of Portland," and even declares that " for the last few days it has been as hot here as Nebuchadnezzar's furnace." However, he kindly adds : "But time will remedy all this." The prophecy has proved true. Few cities present more to please the eye than Lowell. Its streets are broad with spacious grades and well paved side-walks, and lined throughout with elms and maples in the very prime of beauty.

The decaying old buildings, cheaply constructed in uncouth style many years ago, and standing hard upon the traveled street, such as too often mar thie beauty of older cities, do not appear in Lowell. The city stands upon the border line between the decay of age and the freshiness of youth.

Nor is the scenery of Lowell without its charms. As the traveler approaches the city from the east, along the banks of the Merrimack, and passes the elegant residence of Gen. Benj. F. Butler, there is spread out before him a scene resplendent with beauty. On his right across the stream rise gracefully the heights of Centralville, crowned with forest trees, while at their feet the waters of the river dash and foam as, amidst the huge boulders, they descend the falls. Farup the river two graceful bridges, spanning the stream, are outlined on the western sky, while on the south side of the Merrimack are ranged in long array the vast structures of our great manufactories, with their graceful chimneys towering far above them. Let the traveler now turn to the left and, ascending Lynde's Hill in Belvidere, view a far different scene but one of equal beauty. At his feet, nestling amidst the green foliage of the trees, are the ten thousand homes of a thrifty and happy people, the numerous church spires proclaiming that in the hearts of this people there is a better worship than that of Mam- mon. Against the western sky, and forty miles away, stretches the long range of the Pack Monadnock Mountains in New Hampshire, while far beyond them rise the dim outlines of the Grand Monadnock. At the left also rises the peak of Mount Wachuset in our own State. The whole scene is one of great loveli- ness, mingling with the triumphs of human art the charms and beauties of nature.

1875. Mayor, Francis Jewett. Population, 49,688. January 7th. Kalakaua, King of the Sandwich Islands, visited Lowell.

March 31st. Knights of Pythias dedicated their new hall.

July 1st. New City Charter adopted by popular vote.

June. Tappan Wentworth died at the age of seventy- three years. He was born in Dover, N. H., Feb. 24, 1802, and was a descendant of Thomas Wentworth, the celebrated Earl of Strafford. He married Anne McNeil, a nicce of President Franklin Pierce. He

1 For biography 800 " St. Patrick's Church Ilistory."

Farinh B. Lerench

LOWELL.

came to Lowell in Nov., 1833, and entered upon the practice of law, in which he gained a very high repu- tation. He was honored with many offices in the city and the State, and in 1852 was elected to Congress by the Whig party.

1876. Mayor, Charles A. Stott.

January 13th. Reform Club organized.

February Sth. Fiftieth anniversary of the First Bap- tist Church celebrated.

March 1st. Lowell celebrated the fiftieth anniver- sary of its incorporation as a town. General Butler delivered an oration and addresses were made by Hon. John A. Lowell, Marshall P. Wilder, Dr. John 0. Green, Rev. Warren H. Cudworth, Jonathan Kimball, Bishop Clark, of Rhode Island, C. A. Stott, mayor, and Rev. Dr. Miner. The poem for the occa- sion was written by John S. Colby. Music by the Lowell Choral Society and the Germania Orchestra of Boston.

June 6th. The First Congregational Church cele- brated its fiftieth anniversary.

June Sth. Dom Pedro II., Emperor of Brazil, visited Lowell.

October 23d. Albert Wheeler died at the age of sixty-three years. He was born in Concord Decem- ber 15, 1813, and came to Lowell when ten years of age. In 1836 he engaged in the grocery business on Tilden Street, and in the same ,place continued the trade for forty years. Few citizens of Lowell have been so familiarly known. His genial, social nature gained him many friends.

August 21st. Josiah B. French, mayor of the city in 1849 and 1850, died at the age of seventy-six years.

JOSIAH BOWERS FRENCH .- In the first quarter of the present century there were upon the farms and the hillsides of New England many families of smart and promising boys who had been reared in virtuous homes, whose physical powers had been strengthened by the necessity of labor, and whose stout hearts and willing hands only waited for an opportunity to take up the serious duties of life and to make for themselves an honorable name. Such a family was that to which belonged Josiah Bowers French, the subject of this sketch; and such an opportunity was the commencement of the great manufacturing enterprises of Lowell about seventy years ago. Luther French, the father of Mr. French. was a respectable farmer in the town of Billerica, four of whose sons-Josiah B., Abram, Walter and Amos B .- came to Lowell in carly life and became men of high standing and enterprise among the founders of the city.

Josiah B. French was born in Billerica December 13, 1799, and died at his home on Chelmsford Street, Lowell, August 21, 1876, at the age of seventy-six years. His early education was limited to the dis- trict schools. At the age of eleven years he left home, not to return, and lived with two of his

uncles, attending school and working upon the farm for his board and clothing. One of these uncles resided in Salisbury, N. H. For two or three years of his minority he worked in a store, and for a short time he was engaged in trade in Charles- town.

Mr. French had this advantage in life : that he was a man of fine personal bearing, tall, erect and commanding, giving the impression to one who met him that he was no ordinary man.

At the early age of twenty-four years he seems to have attracted attention to his merits, for he then received from Sheriff Nathaniel Austin an appoint- ment as one of his deputies for Middlesex County. Upon this appointment he became a resident of Lowell, where he held the office until 1830, acting, meantime, as collector, and serving in various minor offices.

In 1826 he engaged in the service of the Central Bridge Company, and took part in disposing of its stock. He was appointed coroner in 1827, collector of taxes of the town of Lowell in 1829 and assessor in 1833-34.

In 1828 he was active in the work of organizing the Old Lowell Bank, the earliest of the discount banks of the city. Of this bank he was for several years a director.

From 1831 to 1846 he did an extensive business in staging on various lines of travel. He had a contract for carrying the United States mails be- tween Boston and Montreal. Of the old method of staging Mr. French gave an interesting account in a paper read before the Old Residents' Historical Association on May 4, 1874, in which he said : "The number of stages arriving at and leaving Lowell, at the time when the Boston and Lowell Railroad went into operation, in 1835, was forty or forty-five each day." The railroad greatly inter- fered with his staging, but he continued to carry the mails afterwards. It was many years before the railroad was extended to Montreal.

The talents of Mr. French were recognized by his frequent appointment to office. In 1835 he was elected on a citizen's ticket as Representative of Lowell to the General Court of Massachusetts, and long afterwards, lin 1861, he was again elected.

In 1836 and in 1842 he was a member of the Com- mon Council. In 1840 and 1841 he was chief en- gineer of the Lowell Fire Department. From 1844 to 1847 he was one of the commissioners of Middle- sex County. He took an active part in the incor- poration of the City Institution for Savings, and also of the Appleton Bank. With both of these institu- tions, either as trustee or director, he was connected from the beginning, and shortly before his death he became president of the Appleton Bank.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 10

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1226

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226