History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 119

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 119

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

500

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

favoritism for either rich or poor, he did the very best lie could for all, with a devotion which never swerved and a zeal which never tired. His skill in diagnosis was extraordinary. Within the last six months, three cases came to my knowledge, where professional experts gave one opinion, and he gave a different onc, modestly, but clearly, and in all these he proved ultimately to be correct. The solution of one of them occurred on the very day of his death ; the other two I was privileged to apprise him of. In nothing was his true merit more marked than in the genuine humility which adorned his character. Many a time I have been astonished at the depth of this trait ; for he was just as ready to follow the advice of a young physician commencing practice, as that of one of the magnates of our profession, if convinced he was in the right. More than any man I ever knew, he was guided by our fundamental principle of ethics -- the welfare of the patient. All else was thrown aside, apparently without an effort-pecuniary inter- est and reputation-and he was ready to brave oblo- quy and misconception, if the true welfare of the pa- tient required the sacrifice. This was partly the se- cret of the unbounded confidence reposed in him by all who knew him well enough. He was so upright that he almost leaned backward in all cases where his own interests seemed to conflict with those of the patient. I never met a man possessed of more, in- domitable courage. Time without number, I have known him go to see patients when any other man would have been in bed, and some of them were not half as sick as he himself was. As a man, his man- ners were refined and courteous, more like a gentle- man of the old school than we often meet with nowa- days. Those who did not know him intimately sometimes fell into the error of supposing him cold and distant, a very great mistake. Under the outside crust ran a vein of quiet humor, and warm human sympathy. He was deeply affectionate. He loved little children with an intensity which few were aware of, for he did not like to make a parade of his feelings. As a citi- zen Dr. Stevens was both public-spirited and liberal."

By nature he was a perfect gentleman, of absolute integrity, a lover of justice and virtue, and possessed a delicate refinement of feelings which prompted him to treat others with consideration and respect. In his character natural humility was combined with great dignity. While his appearance was always modest and unassuming, there was something about his bearing that would have repelled any offensive familiarity. Pitying and sympathizing with the poor and unfortunate, a large portion of his life was spent in their service. But few men in his profession ever exemplified more of the spirit of the Great Master. He seemed to fill the place for which nature designed him. People who came into his atmosphere instine- tively recognized the skillful physician, the wise coun- selor and true friend. Beginning his life at a time when there was no other physician in the town, his

practice gradually extended to the neighboring towns, till it became as large and probably larger than that of any other country doctor in Middlesex County. He was a most indefatigable worker, and hardly knew what rest was till the last years of his life, when his constitution had become undermined and his body enfeebled by thic exhausting labors of half a century. After an illness protracted through many months, he died on February 16, 1879, in the seventy-third year of his age, leaving a memory cherished in many com- munities and numerous households with mingled love and respect. After his death the following poem was written of him by Franeis Durivage, of New York :

" No unexpected news, and yet it fell With mournful resonance-a funeral knell 1 So good, so true, so gentle and so wise, I cannot write of him with tearless eyes. Memory recalls his venerable form, Less often seen in sunshine than in storm, As it appeared heneath the sky's black pall, Through the wild snow and the rain's drenching fall, Hastening responsive to our urgent call, Over my loved one's hed of pain to bend, More than the man of skill-physician, friend 1 Well did he win a pure and spotless name, Who might have won -- but he disdained it-FAME 1 For he was master of his sacred art, In its full scope and its minntest part. But to Ambition's voice he would not yield, The humble hero of Life's hattle-field. What is fame worth to him who can securo The blessings of the suffering and the poor ? What academic laurels have the power To arch with rainbow hues the parting hour? He chose the better part and sank to rest Conscious of duty done and truly hlest."

LUTHER HILL.

Luther Hill, son of James and Mary (Holden) Hill, was born in Stoneham, Massachusetts, February 3, 1808. His ancestors were among the early settlers of New England. Mr. Hill obtained his education in the public schools of his native town and at the South. Reading (now Wakefield) Academy, then in a flour- ishing condition, with Professor Heath as principal. After completing his studies there he taught school for a short time in Stoneham and Danvers, Massachu- setts, but early devoted his attention to business, com- mencing the manufacture of shoes at eighteen years of age, with a capital of twenty dollars. From this small beginning his business grew to be one of the largest in the State. In 1832 he formed a partner- ship with his brother, under the firm-name of " John Hill & Co.," John Hill, Jr., entering the firm in May, 1844. This firm was the first to employ power in the manufacture of shoes, using horse-power, then steam, for that purpose. Mr. Hill was also the first to apply power to a labor-saving machine or tool in manufac- turing shoes, being the inventor of a die for stamping out lappets or tongues, a great improvement upon the slow process of cutting them out with a knife. He then made dies to stamp out vamps, quarters and . soles. In 1858 his firm erected a large factory, intro-

Luther Hill

501

GROTON.

ducing steam as a power. This application of steam- power was the first of a series of wonderful changes in the shoe industry. Mr. Hill's brain teemed with posi- tive and original conceptions, the result of which was the invention of many machines used in the man ufac- ture of shoes. Among them the first sole-cutter and counter-skiver machine, upon both of which he ob- tained patents. In 1857 Mr. Hill became interested in, and put in practical operation, the first pegging- machine used in this country. In 1862 he placed in his factory the first heeling-machine ever used, devel- oping it with improvements on which he obtained several valuable patents, and he successfully operated it until, with Gordan Mckay and others, he formed a stock company, known as the Mckay Heeling-Ma- chine Association. This machine, with additional patents, is in general use to-day. Mr. Hill was the first to apply the sewing machine to the fitting of shoes, and later connected it with steam-power. Many of the best and most complicated machines used in the manufacture of shoes to-day have sprung from these inventions of Mr. Hill.

He retired from the firm Nov. 10, 1866, after a suc- cessful business career of forty years, bearing with him the love and esteem of all with whom he had been associated. Throughout his entire life Mr. Hill had the welfare and progress of his native town warmly at heart, and was prominently identified with all meas- ures for its advancement.

He was largely interested in real estate, helped to introduce street lighting by gas, and with six others planned and pushed to completion the Stoneham Street Railroad. His good judgment, progressive views and dispassionate manner in debate gave him influence as a citizen. His townsmen's appreciation of these qualities was shown by his election to the office of selectman, School Committee, overseer of the poor and assessor. He discharged these duties with the same fidelity, honesty and integrity that distin- guished his conduct in every relation of life. Strong in his sense of justice and the principle of universal right, he was a warm supporter of George Thompson and William Lloyd Garrison, and was among the first to join the anti-slavery movement in the days when to arow and maintain its principles meant almost social ostracism. He was one of the founders of the Uni- tarian Church in Stoneham, and showed the sincerity of his religious faith by the purity of his daily life. In June, 1840, Mr. Hill was married to Sarah Atwell Stevens, of Stoneham, daughter of Darius Stevens, and granddaughter of the Rev. John H. Stevens, who officiated at the marriage ceremony. This marriage was in all respects a most fortunate and happy one, and in his home the utmost harmony and confidence prevailed. Mr. Hill was a strong advocate of woman's suffrage. His daughters shared equally with his sons his thoughts and wise counsels, and to all he gave the game opportunities for education and usefulness. Mr. Hill was a self-made man in every senseof the word ;

whatever he achieved in life was due to his own efforts. While he was sincere and firm in his convic- tions, his nature was kindly, his impulses generous, and his judgment of others most charitable. He died at his home in Stoneham, Oct. 31, 1877, leaving his wife, four sons and four daughters.

CHAPTER XL.

GROTON.

BY HON. SAMUEL A. GREEN.

THE town of Groton lies in the northwestern part of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, and is bounded on the north by Pepperell and Dunstable ; on the east by Tyngsborough and Westford; on the south by Lit- tleton and Ayer; and on the west by Shirley and Townsend. The First Parish meeting-liouse-or "the tall-spired church"-is situated in latitude 42° 36' 21.4" north, longitude 71º 34' 4" west of Greenwich, according to the latest observations of the United States Coast Survey. It is distant nearly thirty-one miles in a straight line from the State House at Bos- ton, but by the traveled road it is about thirty-four miles. The village of Groton is situated principally on one long street, known as Main Street, a section of the Great Road, which was formerly one of the principal thoroughfares between Eastern Massachu- setts and parts of New Hampshire and Vermont. The Worcester, Nashua and Rochester Railroad passes through it, and traverses the township at nearly its greatest length, running six miles or more within its limits. It is reached from Boston by trains on the Fitchburg Railroad, connecting with the Worcester, Nashua and Rochester road at Ayer, three miles dis- tant from the village.

The original grant of the township was made in the spring of 1655, and gave to the proprietors a tract of land eight miles square; though subsequently this was changed by the General Court, so that its shape varied somewhat from the first plan. It comprised all of what is now Groton and Ayer, nearly all of Pepperell and Shirley, large parts of Dunstable and Littleton, and smaller parts of Harvard and Westford, in Mas- sachusetts, and small portions of Hollis and Nashua, in New Hampshire. The present shape of the town is very irregular, and all the original boundary lines have been changed except where they touch Town- send and Tyngsborough.

The earliest reference to the town on any map is found in the Reverend William Hubbard's "Narra- tive of the Troubles with the Indians in New-Eng- land," a work published at Boston in the early spring of 1677, and in London during the ensuing summer under a different title. The map was the first one cut in New England, and of course done in a crude man-

502

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

ner. It was engraved probably by John Foster, the earliest Boston printer. The towns assaulted by the Indians in Philip's War are indicated on the map by figures ; and at that period these places were attract- ing some attention both here and in the mother country.

There were two petitions for the plantation of Groton, of which one was headed by Mr. Dcane Winthrop, and the other by Lieutenant William Martin. The first one is not known to be in exist- ence, but a contemporancous copy of the second is in the possession of the New England Historic Genea- logical Society. The signatures vary in the style of handwriting, but they do not appear to be autographs, and may have been written by the same person. The answer to the petition is given on the third page of the paper, and signed by Edward Rawson, secretary of the Colony, which fact, renders it probable that this is the petition actually presented to the General Court as the original one, after it had been copied by a skillful penman. It was found many years ago among the papers of Captain Samuel Shepley, by the late Charles Woolley, then of Groton, but who subse- quently lived at Waltham; and by him given to the New England Historic Genealogical Society. The petition is written on the first page of a folio sheet, and the answer by the General Court appears on the third page of the paper. Near the top of the sheet are the marks of stitches, indicating that another paper at one time had been fastened to it. Perhaps the petition headed by Deane Winthrop was attached when the secretary wrote the action of the General Court, beginning, "In Ans" to both theise peticons." The grant of the plantation was made by the Court of Assistants on May 25, 1655-as appears by this document-though subject to the consent of the House of Deputies, which was given, in all proba- bility, on the same day. In the absence of other evi- dence, this may be considered the date of the incor- poration, which is not found mentioned elsewhere.

In the early history of the Colony the proceedings of the General Court, as a rule, were not dated day by day-though there are many exceptions-but the beginning of the session is always given, and occa- sionally the days of the month are recorded. These dates in the printed edition of the records are fre- quently carried along without authority, sometimes covering a period of several days or even a week; and for this reason it is often impossible to learn the exact date of any particular legislation, when there are no contemporaneous papers bearing on the subject.

The petition and endorsement are as follows :

" To the honored Generall Courte assemblod at Boston the humble pe- tion of vs whose names ar here vnder written humbly shoeth

"That where as youre petioners by a prouidence of god liane beene bronglit over in to this wildernes and liued longe here in: and being sumthing straightned for that where by subsistance in an ordinario waie of gods prouidence is to be liad, and Considdering the a lowance that god giues to the sunos of men for such an ende : youre petioners request there fore is that you woukl be pleased to grant vs a placo for a

plantation vpon the River that runes from Nashaway in to merimake at a place or a boute a place Caled petaupankett and waubansconcett and youre petioners shall pray for youro happy prosedings

" WILLIAM MARTIN RICHARD BLOOD JOHN WITT

WILLIAM LAKIN RICHARD IIAUEN TIMOTHY COOPER

JOHN LAKIN JOHN BLOOD

MATHU FARRINGTON ROBERT BLOOn

"In Ansr to both theisc peticons The Court Judgeth it meete to graunt the peticone's eight miles square in the place desired to make a Comfortable plantaçon wch henceforth shall be Called Groaten formerly knowne by the name of Petapawage : that Mr Damforth of Cambridge wth such as he shall Asossiate to him sball and hereby is desired to lay it out with all Convenjent speede that so no Incouragement may be wanting to the Peticoners for a speedy procuring of a godly minister amongst them. Provided that none shall enjoy any part or porçon of that land by guift from the selectmen of that place but such who sball build howses on theire lotts so given them once wthin eighteene inonths from the time of the sayd Townes laying out or Townes graunt to such persons ; and for the prsent MY Deane Winthrop Mr Jnº Tinker MY Tho : Ilinckly Dolor Davis. Wm. Martin Mathew ffarington John Witt and Timothy Couper are Appointed the selectmen for the sayd Towne of Groaten for one two yeares from the time it is layd out, to lay out and dispose of particular lotts not exceeding twenty acres to each howse lott, And to Order the prudentiall affairs of the place at the end of which tjme other selectmen shall be chosen and Appointed in theire roomes : the selectmen of Groaton giving Mr Danforth such sattisfaction for his service & paines as they & he shall Agree ;

" The magists haue passed this wth reference to the Consent of theire bretheren the deputs hereto

" 25 of May 1655.

" EDWARD RAWSON, Secrety

"The Deputies Consent hereto " WILLIAM TORREY Cleric."

The entry made by Secretary Rawson in the Gen- eral Court Records, at the time of the grant, is sub- stantially the same as his indorsement on Martin's petition, though it distinguishes between some of the names signed to each petition. It is evident that the one headed by Dcane Winthrop was also signed by John Tinker and Thomas Hinckley; and probably by Dolor Davis, Richard Smith and Amos Richard- son, as is inferred from a petition dated May 16, 1656, and given later in this account of the town. The Roman letters and Arabic figures within paren- theses refer to the volume and page of the General Court Records at the State-House. The entry is as follows :

"In Ansr to the peticon of MY Deane Winthrop Mr Jnº Tincker Mr Tho: Hinckly &c & of Lieu Win Martin Timothy Cooper &c The Court Judgeth it meete to Graunt etc." (IV. 204).

Charles Hastings Gerrish, of Groton, has a contem- poraneous copy of this record made by Secretary Rawson, which was perhaps sent originally to the selectmen of the town. It was found among the pa- pers of the late Hon. John Boynton, at one time town clerk.

The record of the House of Deputies is also prac- tically the same, though there are a few verbal vari- ations. It begins :

"There beinge a pet. prferd by Mr Deau Winthrop Mr Tho: Hinck- ley & divers others for a plantation vpon tho riuer that Runs from Nash- away into Merimacke called petapnwage & au other from some of the

503

GROTON.

Inhabitants of Concord for a plantation in the same place to both which the Court returned this answer that the Court Thinkes meet to graunt etc." (III. 462).

The following letter from the Hon. J. Hammond Trumbull, whose authority in such matters is unques- tioned, gives the meaning and derivation of the In- dian name of the town :

"HARTFORD, Dec. 22, 1877.

" MY DEAR DE. GREEN,-Petaupauket and Petapawage are two forms of the same name, the former having the locative postposition (-et), meaning 'at ' or 'on' a place ; and both are corruptions of one or the other of two Indian names found at several localities in New England. From which of the two your Groton name came I cannot decide without some knowledge of the place itself. I leave yon the choice, confident. that one or the other is the true name.

" ' Pootuppog,' used by Eliot for 'bay,' in Joshua xv. 2, 5, literally means 'spreading' or 'bulging water,' and was employed to designate either a local widening of a river making still water, or an inlet from a river expanding into something like a pond or lake. Hence the name of a part of (old) Saybrook, now Essex, Conn., which was variously writ- ten Pautapang, Poattapoge, Potabange, and, later. Pettipaug, &c., so des- ignated from a spreading cove or inlet from Connecticut River. Potta- poug Pond, in Dana, Mass., with an outlet to, or rather an inlet from Chicopee River, is probably a form of the same name. So is ' Port To- bacco,' Charles County, Md. (the 'Potopaco' of John Smith's map), on the Potomac.

"But there is another Algonkin name from which Petaupauk and some similar forms may have come, which denotes a swamp, bog, or quagmire,-literally, a place into which the foot sinks; represented by tbe Chippeway petobeg, a bog or soft marsh, and the Abnaki potepaug. There is a Pautipaug (otherwise Pootapaug, Portipaug, Patapogue, etc.) in the town of Sprague, Conn., on or near the Sbetucket River, which seems to have this derivation.

"If there was in (ancient) Groton a pond or spreading cove, connected with the Nashua, Squannacook, Nissitisset, or otber stream, or a pond- like enlargement or 'bulge' of a stream, this may, without much doubt, be accepted as the origin of the name. If there is none such, the name probably came from some ' watery swamp,' like those into wbich (as the ' Wonder-working Providence' relates) the first explorers of Concord 'sunke, into an nncertaine bottome in water, and waded up to their knees.'

" Yours truly,

" J. HAMMOND TRUMBULL."

The last suggestion, that the name came from an Algonkin word signifying "swamp" or "bog," ap- pears to be the correct one. There are many bog meadows, of greater or less extent, in different parts of the town. Two of the largest-one situated on the easterly side of the village, and known as Half- Moon Meadow, and the other on the westerly side, and known as Broad Meadow, each containing per- haps a hundred acres of land-are now in a state of successful cultivation. Before they were drained and improved they would have been best described as swamps or bogs.

It is to be regretted that so many of the Indian words, which have a local significance and smack of the region, should have been crowded out of the list of geographical names in Massachusetts. However much such words may have been twisted and distort- ed by English pronunciation and misapplication, they furnish now one of the few links that connect the present period with prehistoric times in America. " Nashaway," mentioned in the petition, is the old name of Lancaster, though spelled in different ways. Mr. Trumbull has given some interesting facts in re- gard to this Indian word, which I copy from a paper

by him in the second volume of the "Collections of the Connecticut Historical Society : "

" NASHAVE (Chip[pewa], nussawati and ashawiwi), 'mid-way,' or ' between,' and with ohke or auk added, the 'land hetween ' or 'the half-way place,'-was the name of several localities. The tract on which Lancaster, in Worcester county (Mass.) was settled, was 'be- tween' the branches of the river, and so it was called ' Nashaway ' or 'Nashawake' (nashaue-ohke) ; and this name was afterwards trans- ferred from the territory to the river itself. There was another Nasha- way in Connecticut, between Quiuebaug and Five-Mile Rivers in Windham county, and here, too, the mutilated name of the nashaue-ohke was transferred, as Ashawog or Assawog, to the Five. Mile River. Nat- chaug, in the same county, the name of the eastern branch of Shetuck- et river, belonged originally to the tract 'between ' the eastern and western branches; and the Shetucket itself borrows a name (nashaue - tuk-ut) from its place 'between' Yantic and Quinebaug rivers (page 33)."

The town is indebted for its name to Deane Win- throp, a son of Governor John Winthrop and one of the petitioners for the grant. He was born at Gro- ton, in the county of Suffolk, England, on March 16, 1622-23; and the love of his native place prompted him to perpetuate its name in New England. He stands at the head of the first list of selectmen ap- pointed by the General Court, and for a short time was probably a resident of the town. At the age of exactly eighty-one years he died, on March 16, 1703-04, at Pullen Point, now within the limits of Winthrop, Massachusetts.

The following letter, written by a distinguished representative of the family, will be read with in- terest :

" BOSTON, 27 February, 1878.

" MY DEAR DR. GREEN,-It would give me real pleasure to aid you in establishing the relations of Deane Winthrop to the town of Gro- ton in Massachusetts. But there are only three or four letters of Deane's among the family papers in my possession, and not one of tbem is dated Groton. Nor can I find in any of the family papers a distinct reference to his residence there.

"There are, however, two brief notes of his, both dated 'the 16 of December, 1662,' wliich I cannot help thinking may have been writ- ten at Groton. One of them is addressed to his brother John, the Gov- ernor of Connecticut, who was then in London, on husiness connected with the Charter of Connecticut. In this note, Deane says as fol- lows :

""" I have some thoughts of removing from the place that I now live in, into your Colony, if I could lit of a convenient place. The place that I now live in is toolittle for me, my children now growing up.'

"We know that Deane Winthrop was at the head of the first Board of Selectmen at Groton a few years earlier, and that he went to reside of Pullen Point, now called Winthrop, not many years after.

"I am strongly inclined to think with you that this note of December, 1662, was written at Groton.

" Yours very truly,

" SAMUEL A. GREEN, M.D."

" ROBERT C. WINTHROP.

A few years before the incorporation of the town, Emanuel Downing, of Salem, who married Lucy, a sister of Governor John Winthrop, had a very large farm which he called Groton. It was situated in what was afterward South Danvers, but now Peabody, on the old road leading from Lynn to Ipswich, and thus named, says Upham, in his "Salem Witchcraft," "in dear remembrance of his wife's ancestral home in 'the old country'" (I. 43). Downing subsequently sold it to his nephews, John Winthrop, Jr., and Adam Winthrop, on July 23, 1644, when he speaks of it as

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 119

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