History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 117

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 117

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The men, as they shouldered their muskets and left behind them their wives and children, must have felt that they were consigned to the patriotic care of the mother town; that responsibility was to be shared by those who went and those who remained ; and recog- mizing their responsibility, the town voted in 1861 "that the selectmen be instructed to furnish all nec- essary supplies for supporting the families of members of the military formed and forming in this town, with the understanding that no person thus assisted shall be taken to the almshouse." "That the members of the military company recently formed be allowed the sum of twenty dollars each per month till the 4th day of July next, unless they should be called into active service before that time." Again on June 3d, the town voted "that the select men be instructed to make all necessary provisions for the families of all persons belonging in town who have enlisted for mil- itary service." The patriotic ardor of the citizens which prompted them to fill the various quotas of the town continued till the end of the war, and the town itself was no less patriotic in encouraging and sup- porting the men who went to the front. The reverse of 1861 at Bull Run, and the small progress made by the Union cause during that year, made it necessary for the Government to call out the reserve power of the whole North to meet the exigencies which faced the country in 1862. To a people less courageous and determined, the prospect was indeed a gloomy one. No substantial impression had been made upon the successful progress of the Rebellion, and to the faint-hearted it almost seemed as if the fate of the nation was sealed. As the historian of future years studies the history of the war, and grasps the motives and purposes, and discerns the springs of action which furnished ultimate success and victory, he need

hardly go beyond the annals of a single New Eng- land town, and no better representative of the class exists thau Stoneham. There was no abatement of the demand made upon her resources and no faltering in the spirit to meet the demand. On August 26, 1862, it was voted "to appropriate and pay to the Stoneham Infantry Company the sum of forty hun- dred dollars as a bounty to said Company, provided said Company of not less than forty men enlist into the service of the United States as the town's quota, under the call of the President of the United States, for three hundred thousand militia to serve nine months, and accepted and sworn into said service, said sum to be paid by the selectmen as soon as they are sworn in." This was the same organization that had joined the Sixth Regiment and marched through Bal- timore, though most of the members were new men. The company was officered by Captain Darius N. Stevens, First Lieutenant Samuel C. Trull, of Stone- ham, and Second Lieutenant Frederick Cochran, of Methuen. Forty of the members were from Stone- ham, and inost of the others from Lawrence and Methuen. They became Company C, of the Fiftieth Regiment, Colonel Carlos P. Messer. Perhaps in no company from Stonebam were so many old residents represented as in this. The beautiful autumn days spent in camp at Boxford, linger as delightful mem- ories in the minds of many who were then full of the hopes and enthusiasm of youth. The day when they shouldered knapsacks and muskets, marched to the train, sped on to Boston, formed in the streets, bade adieu to their friends and left the old Boston and Worcester depot for Allen's Point in New York by way of the Sound, is one never to be forgotten. And their arrival at the great metropolis on a cold and dismal morning, breakfast at the barracks, camp on Long Island, running of the guard, the evenings in the city, the embarking on the steamer "Niagara " from Brooklyn, which sprung a leak and caught fire off Delaware-breakwater, the trip up the river to Philadelphia, its kindnesses and hospitalities, the re- embarking on the "Jennie Lind," and the voyage down the Atlantic by way of Fortress Monroe and the Gulf of Mexico to the Southwest Pass of the Missis- sippi, and the sail up to New Orleans and Baton Rouge-all these, after a lapse of nearly thirty years, seem like a romance of adventure. The Fiftieth Regiment was in the command of General Banks, par- ticipated in the siege of Port Hudson and formed part of the army, which, in conjunction with General Grant at Vicksburg, opened the Mississippi. Vicks- burg surrendered on the 4th of July, 1863, and Port Hudson a few days later. Although Company C en- listed for nine months, they were in the service nearly a year, arriving home in August, their return being like a triumphal progress from Cairo through the West, upon whom were showered the hospitality of an enthusiastic and generous people all along the route. About the same time that Company C, of the Fif-

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tieth, was being organized, forty-two Stoneham men joined the Thirty-third Massachusetts Regiment, Col. Maggi. The officers were, Captain James F. Rowe, Captain Hiram P. Marston, Lieut. Archeleus Welch, Lieut. Sidney L. Colley and Lieut. Charles H. Barry. These men experienced much hard fighting. After being engaged in the battle of Gettysburg they were ordered to the Southwest, participated in the battle of Lookout Mountain and joined the army of Gen. Sherman in his march to the sea. In 1864 Captain Francis M. Sweetser raised a company for 100 days, represented by sixty-six Stoneham men. They per- formed garrison duty most of the time in and about Baltimore. Marshall P. Sweetser was first lieutenant and Moses Downs, Jr., second lieutenant. In Feb- rnary of the same year twenty-nine other sons of Stoneham joined Col. Gonld's Fifty-ninth Regiment, passed through the terrible campaign of the Wilder- ness and the closing year of the Rebellion. There also appear 189 Stoneham names upon the muster-rolls of the various regiments, battalions and batteries of the State in addition to those already mentioned. Between 400 and 500 soldiers from the town served during the war, although she was credited with more than 500, from the fact that several of them enlisted more than once. Some idea may be formed of the alacrity with which men enlisted when it is remem- bered in the latter part of 1862 Stoneham had al- ready furnished 269 men, about sixty more than were required of her at that time. The following list of those who were killed and died in the service, while not, perhaps, complete, is believed to be substantially correct :

Killed.

William H. Richardson, 5th Mass. Regt., Co. F (three months), acci- dentally shot ; died July 7, 1861.

George O. Berry and John E. Le Clair, 13th Regt., Co. G, Antietam, September 17, 1862.

Joseph H. Wheeler, Ist Regt. Heavy Artillery, Petersburg, Va., Jnne 15, 1864.

Charles H. Carr, 22d Regt., Co. E, Gaines' Mill, June 27, 1862.

Philip O. Buxton, 33d Regt., Co. D, Lookont Mountain, Tenn., Octo- ber 29, 1863.

Wm. Maban, 33d Regt., Co. D, Gettysburg, July 2, 1863.

John Nolan, 33d Regt., Co. D, Dalton, Ga., May 25, 1864.

Leonard S. Whittier, 59th Regt., Co. A, Spotteylvania Court- lIonse, May 12, 1864.

Jeremiah Murphy, 59th Regt., Co. E, Spottsylvania Court- House, May 12, 1564.

Died in the Service.

William B. Smith, 8th Light Battery, September 11, 1862.

Jobn L. Hovey, 3d Regt., Heavy Artillery, Jnne 11, 1865.

Henry Bort, 2d Regt., Mass. Cavalry, June 3, 1865.

William H. Heath, surgeon 2d Infantry ; died at Chattanooga Angnst 23, 18€4.

Charles A. Whittier, 13th Regt., Co. G, wounded at Antietam ; died at Chambersburg, l'a., September 27, 1862.

Otis W. Pinkham, 33d Regt., Co. D, Brook Station, Va., May 16, 1863. Nathan Starbird, 33d Regt., Co. D, Washington, D. C., January 12, 1503.

Walter B. G. Gray, 33d Regt., Co. D, at Stoneham, August 23, 1864. Aaron A. Green, 331 Regt., Co. D, at Beverly Ford, Va, June 6, 1863. Joseph Le Clair, 33d Regt., Co. D, Resaca, Ga., May 15, 1861.

Warren V. B. Tibbetts, 33d Regt., Co. D, Fairfax Court-House, March 15, 1803.

Oliver Wheeler, Jr., 33d Regt., Co. D, A'exandria, Va., Nov. 10, 1862.

Hiram George, 59th Regt., Co. F, Danville, Va., August 20, 1864. Peter McClusky, 59th Regt., Co. G, Alexandria, Va., October 10, 1864. Jolın O'Brien, 59tl Regt., Co. G, steamer " Baltic," October 16, 1864. Charles Peterson, 59th Regt., Co. G, Readville, Mass., Oct. 23, 1864. Clement Pocket, 59th Regt., Co. G, City Poiut, Va., August 21, 1864. Samuel I. Dodge, let Co. Sharpshooters, Oct. 19, 1862.

Isaac B. Cowdrey, 2d Co. Sharpshooters, Yorktown, Va., April 30, 1862.

George W. Young, 2d Co. Sharpshooters, York, Pa., October 8, 1862.

When men sacrificed their all in sacrificing their lives, it seems almost invidious to select a few for words of eulogy, unless they occupied exceptional positions ; but there were some cases that seemed pe- culiarly distressing. Those who knew Willie Rich- ardson, a bright, active, joyous boy, full of life and spirits, the pet of his family and friends, who was the first victim shot by the accidental discharge of a re- volver, will remember what a sad shock was felt by the entire community when the report came of his wound and his death, and with what regret and tears he was followed to the grave. And then the Whittier brothers,-Charles dying from wounds received at Antietam in 1862, and Leonard, killed at Spottsylva- nia Court-House almost two years later,-furnish an illustration of what grievous sorrow the war imposed upon some households. Both of them upright, prom- ising young men, the two oldest sons, who made a record which deserves to be gratefully cherished by their townsmen for all time to come, as they shall read of the part taken by their town in the great events from 1861 to 1865. The illustrious names of great leaders live on the pages of history, but pat- riotism and heroism no less worthy of remembrance filled the ranks of the army. Dr. Heath, who was surgeon of the Second Massachusetts Infantry, and who died at Chattanooga, deserves a lasting memory. Born in Sandwich, New Hampshire, he had been lo- cated in Stoneham for several years, was the first treasurer of the Stoneham Five Cent Savings Bank, had been actively interested as a member of the School Committee in the public schools, and was a most useful and public-spirited citizen. Those who knew him and recall his kindly smile and genial courtesy must always regret that so promising a life should have been cut off in early manliood. Return- ing to 1860 and 1861, two important events occurred which materially affected the development of the town.

Prior to the construction of the Boston and Lowell and Boston and Maine Railroads, the public means of communication with Boston had been by stage-coach over the Medford and Andover Turnpike. After the completion of the Boston and Maine Road, which passed through what was then the extreme eastern section of the town, Mr. Padilla Beard connected by coaches with the road at the station, now known as Melrose Highlands, which was the usual way of go- ing to the city, till the Stoneham Street Railroad was built in 1860, it being opened in the fall of that year. The Stoneham Branch Railroad, connecting with the

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Boston and Lowell at East Woburn (now Montvale), was opened in 1861, as far as Farm Hill and completed to Franklin Street, the present terminus of the road two years later.

During the war the vast consumption of the Gov- ernment had stimulated great activity in manufactur- ing, and the impetus earried along a scemingly pros- perous business in almost all industries till 1871 and '72, when the evil effects of a depreciated eurreney were experienced and a reaction set in. These were very successful years in the material development of Stoneham. For a time tlic ratio of inerease in popu- lation was greater than that of any other city or town in the county except Cambridge and Somerville. The men returned home from the war, the factories were filled, business inereased, and it was an era of unabated prosperity. The principal industries were the manufacture of shoes and the tanning of hides and eurrying of leather. Thic old-time manufactur- ers, the fathers of the shoe business, such as George W. Dike & Co., Allen Rowe & Co., Warren Sweetser, Alpha Richardson, Darius Stevens and Ira Gerry, had most of them either retired from business, or ceased to oeeupy the foremost rank. The old methods were passing away, and with them the old coneerns. From 1865 to 1870 about the only leading establish- ments with an existence of twenty years behind them were John Hill & Co. and William Tidd & Co, It is not designed to give any detailed account of the shoe ' business or of the manufacturers engaged in it; es- peeially there will be no allusion to living men. As a general rule, the faults and virtues of the dead ean only be east up and a eorreet balance struck, but no complete history of the town during the last fifty years could be written without some reference to the men who were active in it, for it was their lives which largely traced the course of local events. In all frankness let it be said we were not a people gener- ally of considerable education, or of high intellectual and social eulture, nor were there many citizens of large means. There was an absence of what are fre- quently termed "old families," which gave character to many of the most respcetable New England towns. On the other hand there was general thrift and pros- perity, and that eeaseless, active energy which in the history of communities so often precedes gentle man- ners and refinements of life.

We were a typical New England manufacturing town, just emerging from the country life of our grandfathers, commencing in a small way, and laying the foundations for a larger future. One of the patri- archs of the shoe business was Alpha Richardson, commonly known as the Commodore, who originally located at the north end of the town, in the Wiley house, at the intersection of Maine, Central and Wil- liams Streets. Here he kept a grocery and variety store in the first story, and had a hall in the second story, which was the scene of old-time danees and social festivities. Had there been a chronicler in

those days to have preserved the reminiscenees and stories, told by the neighbors collected about the stove in Mr. Richardson's store, he would have left a most interesting picture of the times. We can readily imagine the old residents coming in on a winter's evening, drawing about the fire and indulging in a vein of jovial wit stimulated by occasional potations of East India rum. It is almost impossible to realize that this was about the business eentre of the town at one time. Opposite the store lived Dr. Stevens. On the corner whicre W. B. Stevens now resides was the blacksmith-shop. Near by lived Aaron and Squire Peter Hay. At the corner of Central and Elm Streets was the Burnham Tavern, and not far away the Parsonage.

Speaking of the Burnham, formerly the Hay Tav- ern, it was a hostelry, patronized very largely by drovers and teamsters before the days of railroads, for there was a large amount of travel from New Hampshire and the North over the turnpike to Bos- ton, which found this a convenient stopping-place. The yard in front of the great barns is said at times to have been white with the canvas tops of wagons. Severer notions prevailed in the church then than now, in reference to daneing and other social amuse- inents, which, at the present time, are regarded as quite innocent. Mr. Richardson was a member of the church, and was taken to task for the use to which his hall was appropriated, as appears by the following transcript from the church reeord :

" Brethren : Having had it reported with apparent truth that Brother Alpha Richardson has encouraged vain amusements, and feeling such conduct to be a cause of grief to myself as well as to others, I visited him the 15th day of February to be assured of facts, and to speak to him in a Christian manner as disclosures might justify me. Not having ob- tained satisfaction by seeing him alone, I took with me Brother Peter Green and visited him again on the 24th day of June, and by conversa- tion obtained as little satisfaction as at any previous interview. Having thus taken substantially the step laid down in the Gospel, to deal with an offending brother without gaining him, I now, as a brother offended, tell it to the church for them to examine and judge about as God may direct them. First, it is ascertained that Bro. Richardson has encour- aged vain amusements by providing a room for a dancing party. Sec- ondly, he justifies himself in doing it and for reasons which are entirely different from those which ought to influence Christians.

(signed) " JABEZ LYNDE.

"Stoneham, July ye 8th, 1830."

" On the foregoing communication the church voted to send a eitation to Bro. Alpha Richardson for him to appear before the ehureh at their adjourned meet- ing and exonerate himself from the charges brought against him." A report is made that "Bro. Alpha Richardson says he has not any thing to do with the church nor the ehureh with him respecting his con- dueting his business." On July 20th "Bro. Alpha® Richardson came before the church and appeared to justify himself in opening his house for balls and dancing parties." Manifesting no repentance, his connection with the church was severed, though he eontinucd ever afterwards to remain a member of the parish and support the society. Mr. Richardson afterwards removed his business to the building on

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Main Street, now occupied by Patrick Cogan & Son, where he kept a store and manufactured shoes, resid- ing ju-t north of the factory till his death, which oc- curred in 1868. He was a man of kind feelings and genial disposition, and for many years was an active and enterprising citizen. At the other end of Main Street, at the corner of Marble, was Allen Rowe, who for many years manufactured shoes in a part of his house. and subsequently, with his son Allen, Jr., built quite a large factory and store on the spot where Hon. Onslow Gilmore now resides. During middle life he was a thrifty and prosperous manufacturer and mer- chant, though he took no very active part in public affairs. Fitty or sixty years ago one of the leading citizens and principal business men was Darius Stevens, who was repeatedly entrusted with almost every office within the gift of the town, serving con- tinually on important committees and exercising a very great influence in the management of public affairs. Like many of his contemporaries, he both manufactured shoes and kept a store. After his death a short obituary of him appeared in one of the local papers, and it was so just and discriminating in repre- senting his character that perhaps no better account can he given of him.

"Another old resident of the town, Mr. Darius Stevens, passed away at the ripe old age of eighty- six, yesterday morning, after a life of great useful- ness. The second son of Rev. John H. Stevens, he was reared in the stern virtues of early New England industry, economy and strict honesty. Later in life, when a prominent manufacturer, which he continued to be for a generation, these virtues stood him in good stead, winning the respect and confidence of all with whom he came in contact. His fellow-townsmen honored him with the important offices of selectman, collector and representative to the State Legislature, which duties he discharged with uniform care and fidelity. Mr. Stevens took a deep pride in the wel- fare of his native place, and was active in promoting any needed improvement or reform. He lived to see the town grow from a small village of five hundred inhabitants to its present size, a growth which he largely aided, by erecting a number of stores, dwell- ing-houses, etc. Even to the last was his strong men- tal power and keen reasoning manifest. A close reader of the leading daily and weekly journals, all the doings of the nation and the State were thoroughly familiar to him, and his upright views concerning men and their duties refreshing in these days of cor- ruption and deceit. Not only was he successful in his public character, but unusually happy in his domes- tic relations; strongly interested in the Orthodox church where his family worshipped, his liberality and earnest efforts proved greatly instrumental in com- pleting the present edifice. Kind and genial, firm in his convictions, yet with a broad charity for the faults of every one, Mr. Stevens gained the esteem of all. For over three-score years he and his aged wife have

enjoyed a life of quiet content, seeing their children and grandchildren grow up around them. Thus full of years and good report, he has closed a well-spent life and entered into his rest, leaving a wide circle of descendants to revere his memory." (1878.)

Looking back thirty-five or forty years, one of the most familiar figures on our streets was Warren Sweetser. He, with four of his brothers, had come from South Reading when young men and settled in Stoneham, where they all passed their lives, and be- came respected citizens. Mr. Sweetser's factory occu- pied the present site of Chase's Block. Those who remember him in his prime, and in town-meeting when answering an opponent, or debating a question, will recall the cool, keen, sarcastic style which so often characterized him and made him a dangerous antagonist. He was born in the year 1799 and lived till the age of ninety, retaining complete possession of his faculties to extreme old age. Originally he took a radical stand in opposition to the anti-slavery agi- tation, but became an early Republican and an ardent supporter of Fremont in 1856. A man of well- poised mind and good judgment, though of strong prejudices, possessing the old-fashioned New England integrity, during the years of his prosperity he earned for himself the respect of his townsmen, which fol- lowed him to the close of life. For many years no two families exercised so wide & local influence as the Hills and the Dikes. Each family, consisting of sev- eral brothers who ordinarily stood by each other, was a power in itself; and then each family, in certain ways, seemed to be at times at the head of rival fac- tions. The Hills were generally Whigs and the Dikes generally Democrats. When a Democratic adminis- tration was in power, George W. Dike was its local representative and postmaster, and when a Whig ad- ministration came in, the same position was occupied by John Hill. They largely represented the vigor and strength of the town, and were living illustrations of one of the advantages of large families. Hon. George W. Dike, son of Jesse Dike, was descended from Samuel Holden, an early settler, and was born April 14, 1807. With slight opportunities in his boyhood, he commenced life in a small way, beginning to manufacture shoes at the age of nineteen, walking to Boston, carrying his goods on his back, and returning with stock in the same way. Gradually increasing his business, after some years he bought out the store of Ira Gerry and formed a co-partnership with John Howard, which continued to the death of Mr. Howard, after which he carried on the business of manufacturing shoes and keeping a country store till 1848, when lie formed a co-partnership with his brother, Lyman Dike, under the firm-name of Lyman Dike & Company, the two brothers remaining together till 1855, when they dis- solved. During these years they did a very large bus- iness manufacturing goods mostly for the Southern and Western trade. They built and occupied the shop that was afterwards owned by H. H. Mawhinney &

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Company, on Central Square, at the time it was built, the finest and most complete factory in town. After the dissolution of Lyman Dike & Company he asso- ciated with himself two of his sons and two of his sons-in-law, and till 1861 carried on business under the style George W. Dike & Sons. Mr. Dike from the time lic became a voter took a great interest in public affairs, local, state and national. He was elected by his fellow-citizens selectman, assessor, oversecr of the poor, highway surveyor, town treasurer, trustec of Public Library, of Lindenwood Cemetery, auditor, etc. He was greatly interested in the public schools, having served on the school committee twenty-eight years, and was largely instrumental in changing the schools from mixed to gradcd ones. He was a mem- ber of Governor Boutwell's council in 1851, and at one time the democratic candidate for congress. He was the leading democrat, and always remained true to his political faith, although he furnished two sons in the late war, one of whom was Captain John H. Dike. After a long life, having enjoyed the pros- perity of success and suffered the disappointment of reverses he died July 4, 1883, at the age of seventy- six. A generation has now passed away since the death of John Hill, but his name is still respected as one of the best citizens who ever lived in Stonebam. He is usually spoken of as old John Hill, to dis- tinguish him from his son, John Hill, Jr. Mr. Hill was born in Reading in 1794, the son of James Hill and Mary Holden. Although not born in Stoneham, his ancestors on both sides were old Stoneham stock, his paternal ancestors having lived in the north part of the town. He was descended on his father's side from that James Hill who lived 150 years ago on one of the Charlestown farms. John came here with his father when a small child, and lived during his youth at the old homestead on Marble Street which his father built, where the Hill family were reared. The house is the one owned and occupied by the late Lot Sweetser. On arriving at manhood Mr. Hill settled in the south part of the town and built the house op- posite the end of Wilson's Lane, the one owned by the late Jesse Green. Here he commenced business in an humble way. It is said of him when he went to Boston to sell his shoes and buy his stock that he used to hire John Bucknam's horse, leave it at Charlestown, and, to save expense, shoulder his goods and take them on his back over the ferry to the city. Some years later he moved to what is now Central Square and bought of Reuben Geary the building that afterwards was enlarged into the Central House. At that time Mr. Geary kept a store there. The frame of the struc- ture had originally been gotten out by Captain David Geary, the father of Reuben, who intended to use it for a tavern, and this was the use to which Mr. Hill subsequently put it, opening there a public-house on December 31, 1829. He kept it for a few years and then sold out to Benjamin Goldsmith, erecting a short time afterwards the house where he subscquently lived

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 117

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