History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 143

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 143

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For Shade Trees .- Reuben N. Rice left by his will for this object $2000.

Semi-Centennial Fund of $1000 .- The Hapgood Wright Fund, already mentioned, is to accumulate for fifty years, and the income then to be spent as the town by a two-thirds vote inay determine, and the princi- pal to be again put on interest for another half-cen- tury, and tbe income then spent, and so on indefi- nitely.

Cemetery Donations .-- Twenty-six persons havegiven to the town various sums for the care and preserva- tion of their lots in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, and in some cases the surplus income for the general use of the cemetery, amounting in all to $4750. Other per- sons in 1860 subscribed to a fund for the care and im- provement of the cemetery that now amounts to $2000. All thesc funds are in the charge of three Trustees of Town Donations, who are chosen as va- cancies in their number occur, aud this arrangement has existed for nearly a century.

By the act of 1872 for introducing Sandy Pond water into Concord, the Trustces of Town Donations have the charge of the Sinking Fund for the water debt, and they now hold over $22,000 for that pur- pose.

Before the Town Library was incorporated dona- tions to the amount of several thousand dollars had been made to the town for the support of the library. These funds were transferred with the books to the

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Free Public Library corporation aud are now held by that institution.

CHAPTER XLVI.

CONCORD-( Continued).

Professional and Official Citizens-Conclusion.

CLERGYMEN. - Beside those already mentioned as ministers of the First Parish (now Unitarian), Rev. Hersey B. Goodwin was settled as a colleague with Rev. Dr. Ripley in 1829, and died in 1836. Rev. Barzillai Frost succeeded him; settled in 1837, and died in 1758. Rev. Grindall Reynolds was settled in 1858, and resigned in 1882, but has continued as honorary pastor since. Rev. Benjamin Reynolds Bulkeley was his successor, and is the present min- ister.

Over the Second Parish, the Orthodox Society. Rev. Asa Rand preached the first year, 1826. Rev. Daniel S. Southmayd was settled in 1827, and re- signed in 1832. Rev. John Wilder was settled in 1833, and resigned in 1839. Rev. James Means was settled in 1839, and resigned in 1844. He was suc- ceeded by Rev. William L. Mather, who resigned in 1849, and Rev. Luther Farnham served till 1850, then Daniel Foster till 1851; Rev. Luther H. Angier, from 1851 to 1858; Rev. Charles B. Smith, from 1861 to 1863 ; Rev. Edmund S. Potter, from 1863 to 1866 ; Rev. Frank Haley, to 1867; Rev. C. H. S. Williams, 1867 to 1870 ; Rev. Andrew J. Rogers, 1871 to 1872; Rev. Henry M. Grant, 1872 to 1886; and Rev. William A. Depew from 1886 to 1890.

The Universalist Society had one minister, Rev. Addison G. Fay, who was settled in 1842 and re- signed in 1846.

The Catholics who succeeded to the church of the Universalists have had for priests : Rev P. J. Can- ney, from January, 1868, to August, 1870 ; Rev. F. Delahanty, from August, 1870, to December, 1870; Rev. John O'Brien, from January, 1871, to 1873 ; Rev. T. Brosnahan, from 1873 to January, 1877; Rev. M. J. McCall, from 1877 to the present time.

Rev. John A. Crow has for some years been in charge of the Catholic worship at the Reformatory. Rev. W. J. Batt is the chaplain of that institution.

An Episcopal chapel was built here in 1885, and services have been conducted in it since by Rev. Mr. Rand, Rev. Mr. Judkins and Rev. Mr. Breed.

At Westvale a religious society is formed, to which Rev. H. G. Buckingham, Methodist, preached in 1836-87, and Rev. Bartlett H. Weston, Congregation- alist in 1888-89, and a church is soon to be organized.

LAWYERS .- John Hoar is the earliest lawyer in the town, if not in the Colony, and he was ordered not to practice in 1660, and died in 1704, being noted

for his difficulties with the church and his humanity to the Indians.

Peter Bulkeley, son of the first minister, held many places of honor and trust in the Colony, and died in 1688.

Daniel Bliss, a son of the minister, was an ardent Tory, left Concord in 1775, had his property confis- cated, and settled iu New Brunswick, where he be- came chief justice.

Jonathan Fay came to Concord from Westborough in 1780, and practiced his profession here till his death, in 1811.

John L. Tuttle opened an office here in 1799, and was postmaster and county treasurer till he led a reg- iment to the Canada frontier in the War of 1812, and died in the army, being robbed and poisoned.

John Merrick practiced law here for ten years be- fore 1797, when he died at the age of thirty-six years.

William Jones, a native of the town, had an office here for a few years after being admitted to the bar in 1795, moved to Maine and held important posi- tions there.

Thomas Heald practiced law in Concord from the beginning of the century to 1813, when he went south and became a judge in Alabama.

Samuel Hoar, a descendant of John Hoar, was born in Lincoln, started in practice in Concord in 1807, and took the foremost rank in his profession. He was chosen Representative in Congress in 1836, and sent to Charleston, S. C., in 1844, as agent for Massachusetts to protect negro sailors from being sold as slaves. He was forcibly sent home by the pro- slavery mob, and narrowly escaped violent treatment. He retired from practice in 1849, after representing the town in both branches of the General Court, and died in 1857, universally beloved and lamented.

John Keyes, a native of Westford, camc liere in 1812, took the practice and the offices of Colonel Tut- tle, held the positions of postmaster and county treas- urer for twenty-five years, was Senator and Represen- tative several years and died in 1844, at the age of fifty-eight years.

Nathan Brooks, born in Lincoln, opcned his office here in 1811, and became secretary of the Middlesex Mutual Fire Insurance Company in 1826, and con- tinued in that office till his death in 1863. Mr. Brooks beside service in the Legislature and the Gov- ernor's Council, had a large practice in the Probate Court as administrator or executor of a large number of estates.

Elisha Fuller practiced law in Concord from 1823 to 1831, when he removed to Lowell.

John Milton Cheney, who graduated in 1821 at Harvard College, studied law with Hon. Rufus Hos- mer, at Stow, settled here in June, 1831, and was made cashier of the Concord Bank in 1832. In 1836 he was chosen treasurer of the Middlesex Institution for Savings, and filled both places till his death, in 1869. While he alone discharged the duties of these

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IIISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

positions, the great robbery of the bank safe took place in 1867. In broad daylight at noon the bank was entered, the safe opened, and $300,000 in bills and securities was carried off by two expert cracks- men. Of this, $200,000 was afterwards secured and restored to the institution.

Albert H. Nelson, a son of Dr. Nelson, of Carlisle, graduated at Harvard, studied law and began the practice here in 1836, in partnership with John Keyes. He afterwards opened an offiee on his own account and continued here till 1841, when he re- moved to Woburn. There he had a large practice and was district attorney for the Northern District for two years, 1846 to 1848. He served two years in the Senate and was a Councillor in 1855. He was that year appointed ehicf justiee of the Superior Court of Suffolk County, and held that offiee till his death, in 1858.

Ebenezer Roekwood Hoar began practice in Con- cord in 1839; was appointed justice of the Common Pleas Court in 1849, and served five years; in 1859 was appointed to the Supreme Judicial Court, and served there ten years; in 1869 was Attorney-Gene- ral of the United States, and in 1872 a member of the High Joint Commission to settle the disputes with England growing out of the War of the Rebellion. After this he resumed practiec in Boston ; was coun- sel in many important eauses, and, though par- tially retired from active work in his profession, still appears in court occasionally. He served one year in the State Senate, and one term as member of Con- gress, in 1873-75.

John S. Keyes opened an office here with his father, in 1844; was sheriff of Middlesex County from 1853 to 1860; United States marshal for Massachusetts from 1861 to 1866, and since 1874 has been standing justiee of the District Court of Central Middlesex.

George Merrick Brooks, son of Nathan, began as a lawyer, in 1847, in Coneord; held the office of State Senator in 1859, and of Representative in Congress, in 1869-71; was appointed judge of Probate and Insolv- ency for this county in 1871, and still fills that offiee.

Charles W. Goodnow praetieed law here from 1848 till his death, in 1856.

George Heywood studied law with Samuel Hoar ; began praetiee in 1851 ; has been Representative and Senator in the General Court, member of the Govern- or's Couneil, and is now president of the Coneord National Bank and of the Insurance Company, and has been town elcrk more than thirty-seven years.

Charles Thompson, a native of Sudbury, has prac- tieed law in Concord since the war, and was trial justiee here from 1872 to 1874, and is an associate justiee of the District Court.

Charles H. Walcott opened an office here and in Boston, in 1874, and is now chairman of the State Board of Arbitration and Conciliation.

Prescott Keycs, son of Jolin S., has also had an offiee here and in Boston since 1882.

Henry A. Richardson has recently begun the prae- tiee of law in Concord.

Judge Henry F. French resided here from 1870, till his death in 1885, although his duties as As- sistant Secretary of the Treasury in Washington kept him there for nearly ten years.

George A. King, Samuel Hoar and Woodward Hud- son reside in Concord and praetiee law mainly in Boston.

In 1877 every board of town offiecrs save the Fire Department had a lawyer at its head.

PHYSICIANS .- In addition to the long list of those in Concord prior to 1835, as given in Shattuck's " History of Coneord," there may be now mentioned : Dr. Edward Jarvis, a native of Concord, who prae- tieed from 1832 to 1837, when he went to Louisville, Kentucky. He returned to Massachusetts in 1843, settled in Dorchester, and made a specialty of the eare of insane persons. He took great interest in sta- tistics, founded a statistical society in Boston ; was a trustee of the Woreester Lunatie Hospital ; wrote voluminous reports, lecture, pamphlets and books ; represented his society in the International Statisti- cal Congress, in England, in 1860; did mueh labor for the eensus of that year and of 1870, and, after a long and useful life, died in 1884, and was buried in Coneord.

Dr. Henry A. Barrett, a son of Col. Sherman Bar- rett, of Coneord, began practice here in 1845, in the place of Dr. Isaae Hurd, and continued till his death, in 1889.

Dr. Edward W. Emerson began in 1873 to praetiee here in partnership with Dr. Josiah Bartlett, who had been the leading physician sinee 1819, and continued after Dr. Bartlett's death in 1878, till he gave up his profession in 1884.

Dr. George E. Titcomb succeeded to Dr. Emerson's practice in 1884. Dr. N. H. Kirby began to practice here in 1888 and Dr. Braley in 1889, and all continue in Coneord to the present time. Other physicians have at various times praetieed in Coneord,-Drs. Gallup, Sawyer, Whiting and Ballou, as homeopa- thists; Drs. Tewksbury and Dillingham as eeleeties, and some others.

GRADUATES .- Since the publication of Shattuck's " History," the following Coneord young men gradu- ated at Harvard College :

1834, George Moore ; 1835, Hiram Barrett Dennis, Ebenezer Rock wood Hoar; 1837, Ilenry David Thoreau ; 1841, John Shepard Keyes ; 1844, George Merrick Brooks, Edward Sherman Hoar ; 1845, Gorham Bart- lett ; 1846, George Frisbie Hoar; 1847, George Heywood ; 1849, Joseph Boyden Keyes; 1850, Ephraim Merriam Ball; 1851, Nathan Henry Bar- rett; 1854, Charles Pickering Gerrish ; 1856, Nehemiah Ball, George Brooks Bigelow ; 1858, Henry Walker Frost ; 1864, Charles Henry Ilil- dretli, Gardner Whitney Lawrence; 1866, Edward Waldo Emerson ; 1867, Samuel Hoar ; William Hammatt Simmons ; 1870, Charles Emer- son Hoar, Charles Hosmer Walcott ; 1871, Henry Nathan Wheeler ; 1873, Francis Hagar Bigelow ; 1874, Edward Emorson Simmons ; 1876, Frank Wheeler Barrett ; 1879, Woodward Hudson, Prescott Keyes ; 1882, Sher- man lloar ; 1883, George Heywood; 1884, Herbert Wheoler Blanchard, George William Brown ; 1886, Thomas Parker Sunborn ; 1887, Nelson Macy Barrett.

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Making, with the sixty-six whose names are given in Shattuck's " History," over one hundred graduated from Concord since John Bulkley, in the first class in 1642. This gives an average of more than one stu- dent in the college all the years of its existence.

STATISTICS .- The population of Concord was : 1840, 1784; 1850, 2249; 1855, 2244; 1860, 2246; 1865, 2232; 1870, 2412; 1875, 2676; 1880, 3922; 1885, 3727; 1890, 4435. Number of legal voters, in 1885, 760. Valuation of real estate in 1889, $2,194,020; valuation of personal estate, $1,165,017 ; number of polla, 957 ; number of dwelling-houses, 639; number of horses, 575; number of cows, 1528; number of other cattle, 259; number of swine, 208; number of acres of land, 14,879. Rate of taxation, $10.40 on $1000.

OFFICIALS OF THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT. -E. R. Hoar, United States Attorney-General, 1869, and member High Joint Commission, 1872; J. S. Keyes, U. S. Marshal, 1861 to 1866; A. G. Fay, Provost Marshal, 1863-64; L. Eaton, assessor inter- nal revenue, 1865-66; Richard Barrett, Edwin S. Barrett, George Keyes and D. G. Lang served as Deputy United States Marshals during and since the war; William W. Wilde, Geo. Keyes, H. H. Buttrick and Lyman Clark were in the Boston Custom-House before and after the war; Samuel Hoar, Representa- tive in Congress, 1835 ; George M. Brooks, Represen- tative in Congress, 1869; E. R. Hoar, Representative in Congress, 1873. Besides these three, two others: William Whiting, of Boston, and George F. Hoar, of Worcester, have been members of Congress. The five lived, and four of them were born on an acre of land on Main Street, in Concord, and one of these has been a member of the Cabinet, and another is a Senator in Congress now.

Two graduates of the West Point Military Acade- my, Amiel W. Whipple in 1840, and Elbert Wheeler in 1874, were both appointed cadets from the same house in the southwest part of the town, known as the " Nine Acre Corner."

OFFICIALS OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS .- Lieutenant- Governor, Simon Brown, 1855 ; State Treasurer, Joseph Barrett, 1845-49 ; Councillors, Nathan Brooks, 1829-31, George Heywood, 1880-83 ; State Board of Arbitration and Conciliation, Charles H. Walcott, 1886 ; Clerk of the Senate, Henry D. Coolidge, 1883-90; Senators : Joseph Hosmer, 1765-93; John S. Tottle, 1808-12; John Keyes, 1822-29 ; Samnel Hoar, 1825, '32 ; Nathan Brooks, 1831, '35; Daniel Shattuck, 1836; Phineas How, 1541; Ephraim Merriamn, 1842; F. R. Gourgas, 1843; E. R. Hoar, 1846; J. S. Keyes, 1849 ; C. C. Hazewell, 1852; E. W. Bnll,.1856 ; George M. Brooks, 1859; George Heywood, 1865 ; Henry J. Hosmer, 1889-90 ; Trial Justice, Charles Thompson, 1872-73.

OFFICIALS OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY .- Justice of Court of Common Pleas, Ephraim Wood, 1785-93 ; Justice of Court of Sessions, Abiel Heywood, 1801-27; Judge of Probate, George M. Brooks, 1871- ; County Treasu- rers : John L. Tottle, 1808-12 ; John Keyes, 1812-37 ; Stedman Buttrick, 1837-55; Sheriffs : Joseph Hosmer, 1794-1808 ; William Hildretb, 1809- 13; John S. Keyes, 1853-60.

OFFICIALS OF THE TOWN OF CONCORD,-Town Clerks : Abiel Heywood, 1796-1834 ; Phineas Allen, 1834-35; Nehemiah Ball, 1835-39 ; Cyrus Stow, 1840-48 ; F. R. Gourgas, 1848-53 ; George Heywood, 1853 -; Town Treasurers : John M. Cheney, 1834-40 ; Timothy Prescott, 1841; Sted- man Buttrick, 1842-51 ; A. A. Kelsey, 1852; Albert Stacy, 1853 ; Samuel Staples, 1854-55; Joseph Holbrook, 1856-57; John B. Moore, 1858-59 ;

Julius M. Smith, 1860-61 ; George Heywood, 1862-75 ; Henry J. Walcott, 1876-84 ; Charles E. Brown, 1884-87 ; George E. Walcott, 1887-88; John C. Friend, 1890 ; Selectmen : Abiel Heywood, 1796-1834 ; Daniel Clark, 1830-44, '49; Cyrus Hubbard, 1822-34; Joseph Barrett, 1834; Cyrus Stow, 1835-40, '42-43; Isaac S. Lee, 1835-40, '42; Timothy Prescott, 1840-41; Elisha Wheeler, 1840-41 ; Joseph Darby, 1843-48 ; Francis R. Gourgas, 1844-50 ; Jacob B. Farmer, 1844-49 ; Richard Barrett, 1848-49 ; Nehemiah Ball, 1850; A. A. Kelsey, 1850-56; C. A. Hubbard, 1850, '76- SO ; J. S. Keyes, 1851-58 ; A. G. Fay, 1851-53, '62-63, '71-72 ; Samuel Staples, 1854-55; George M. Brooks, 1858-59 ; B. N. Hudson, 1858-62 ; J. M. Smith, 1858-60 ; E. W. Bull, 1860-61 ; Elijah Wood, 1862-63; N. B. Stow, 1862-65 ; B. Tolman, 1864-65; L. A. Surette, 1867-69; E. C. Da- mon, 1867-69; L. W. Bean, 1867-69 ; W. F. Hurd, 1870 ; Edwin Wheeler, 1870; Joseph Derby, Jr., 1870; A. J. Harlow, 1871-72; TI. F. Smith, 1871, '73-75; W. W. Wilde, 1872-75; J. B. Moore, 1873-75; Charles Thompson, 1876-82; George Tolman, 1876-80 ; R. F. Barrett, 1881-82 ; W. H. Hunt, 1883; C. H. Walcott, 1883; Samuel Hoar, 1884-86; H. J. Hosmer, 1884-86; S. G. Brooks, 1884-87; C. E. Brown, 1887-88 ; A. G. Fuller, 1887-88 ; G. E. Walcott, 1888-90 ; Prescott Keyes, 1889; Wood- ward Hudson, 1889; John II. Moore, 1890; Caleb H. Wheeler, 1890; Representatives to the Legislature : John Keyes, Joseph Barrett, 1833- 35; Cyrus Stow, Stedman Buttrick, 1836-37 ; Stedman Buttrick, 1838; Stedman Buttrick, Ephraim Merriam, 1839 ; Ephraim Merriam, Francis R. Gourgas, 1840 ; Ephraim Merriam, 1841 ; Francis R. Gourgas, 1842 ; Anthony Wright, 1843-44; Isaac S. Lee, 1845-47; John Stacy, 1846 ; Samuel Staples, 1848, '52-53, '56, '83 ; No choice, 1849 ; Samnel Hoar, 1850; Aaron A. Kelsey, 1851; William W. Wilde, 1853, '77; Ephraim W. Bull, 1855; Richard Barrett, 1857, '76 ; George M. Brooks, 1858 ; Simon Brown, 1860; George Heywood, 1863-64, '66-67 ; Edwin Wheeler, 1871 ; John B. Moore, 1874; Samuel Hoar, 1881 ; Henry J. Hosmer, 1884, 'S6-87.

The latest vote of Concord, in a matter of public interest, was that in 1889, when it was learned that one of the new naval cruisers was named for this his- toric town. Under an article, in the warrant for the annual meeting, it was voted " to present to the gov- ernment of the United States some appropriate orna- ment for the new gunboat 'Concord,'" and an appro- priation for the purpose was made, and a committee chosen to carry out the vote. A reduced copy of the minute-man in bronze was suggested to the Navy Department and accepted by the Secretary of the Navy as appropriate for the purpose. Mr. Daniel C. French, the sculptor, kindly offered to make a new model of this famous work, which has been success- fully cast at the Chicopee Foundry. It is nearly three feet in height, and presents the same figure, with the musket and plow, as does the original at the bat- tle-ground. It is to stand on the front of the poop- deck of the ship, with an appropriate legend beneath expressing its meaning. The "Concord " has been built at Chester, Pennsylvania, by the Delaware Iron Ship Works, formerly John Roach & Sons, and with all her machinery from the Quintard Works in New York on board, was safely launched March 8, 1890. When the vessel is completed with her armament, and put in commission, the statue will be presented and permanently placed in position to carry on the ship the honor of the name and the victory it repre- sents around the world.

The centre of the town is every year becoming more a place for residence rather than business. Many of those in active life go to Boston daily, and more who have retired from busy occupations seek Concord for a quiet home. The largest farms are secured by persons of taste and wealth for great and

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

permanent improvements. The smaller and worn- out farms are falling into the hands of the indus- trious and saving of our foreign population. The change that these departures from the old-time ways are fast making in the Concord of to-day can hardly yct be fully estimated. The business activity, the political influence, the literary prominence of the past generations seem to be gone, never to return. What the future will be must be left to the coming men and women to determine.

In the closing words of Senator Hoar's oration this sketch may well finish : "It may be that the separate municipal and social life which has given this town her character and history is about to come to an end ; that this little river is to lose itself in the sea; that the neighboring city will overflow her borders, or that railroad and telegraph and telephone will mingle her elements inseparably with the great mass of American life. I do not believe it. I think the town will preserve for a long and indefinite future her ancient and distinctive quality. But however this shall be, the lives of our fathers will not be lost. The town will have made her impression upon America herself. Among the memorable figures in history shall be that of dear, wise, brave, tender, gentle Old Concord-she who broke the path into the forest- she who delivered her brave blow between the eyes of England-she by whose firesides the rich and the poor sat together as equals-she whose children made. her famous by eloquence, by sculpture and by song."

BIOGRAPHICAL.

NATHAN BROOKS.

Thomas Brooks was of the early settlers of Concord, and the family name has been handed down through every generation since, till in the Revolution it was borne by one of the minute-men at the Old North Bridge, who was slightly wounded by the British fire.

His son Nathan, the subject of this sketcli, was born in Lincoln, just over the Concord line, Oct. 18, 1785, He was one of fourteen children, and, as was the cus- tom and necessity of those days, was obliged to help in the farm work as soon as he was old enough to be of service. He had no other schooling than was af- forded by the district school three months in a year until he was seventeen years old. Then, desiring to go to college, he studied with Rev. Dr. Stearns, the clergyman of Lincoln, fitted for college and graduat- ed at Harvard in 1809. He taught school in the winters, and thus earned some part of the expenses of his education, which his father could not afford to pay. He held a fair rank in his elass, and taught school a year and then began the study of the law in the offices of Hon. Samuel Hoar, and Thomas Hcald,

Esq., in Concord, and was admitted to the Middlesex Bar in 1813. He began practice in Concord in a small office on the Lexington road previously occupied by Jonathan Fay, Esq.

Here he got some clients, and, by his faithfulness and care of their cases, soon acquired a fair share of the business of this shire-town. He removed in a few years to a more central office on the Main Street, which he built in conjunction with Mr. Hoar, and oc- cupied his part of it till 1833. His practice, more cs- pecially in the Probate Court, increased, and his in- dustry and honesty became almost proverbial.

In 1826 the Middlesex Mutual Fire Insurance Com- pany was organized, and Mr. Brooks was chosen the secretary and treasurer of the company. This em- ployment soon required so much of his time that it interfered with his practice of his profession, and afterwards he confined his legal work mainly to office business and the settlement of cstates. He was for many years master in chancery for Middlesex county, and under the " Insolvent Laws" of that time had a large share of that business. He had great industry and capacity for work, and in all his oc- cupations he found plenty to. do, as he was a director of the Concord Bank and the president of the Savings Bank from their incorporation. He was early interested in politics, and as a stanch National Republican he was elected representative from Con- cord to the Legislature of 1823, '24 and '25, and was a useful and popular member. After this service he was chosen by the Whigs to the Council in 1829 and 1830, and to the Senate in 1831 and 1835. He was the candidate of the same party for Congress in 1838, and, after nine stoutly-contested trials; his Democratic opponent, Hon. William Parmenter, was chosen. In town affairs he was active and influen- tial, though heseldom had any leisure for town offices, and in his office many important town matters were discussed and practically agreed upon.

Why insurance offices should be such centres of talk, news and gossip, it might be hard to tell, but the Old Middlesex was no exception to the rule. In the dark, dingy back-room of the bank building, where Mr. Brooks worked as secretary, more stories have been told, more anecdotes repeated, more politics dis- cussed than perhaps in any other room in the town if not the county. Always there, never interrupted by sickness, uniformly courteous, rarely impatient with the prolonged stay of callers, from nine o'clock A.M. when the mail had come and directors and neigh- bors collected to read the paper and chat about the news, till nine o'clock in the evening a constant suc- cession of visitors were entertaincd by Mr. Brooks, till the great wonder was how he ever found time to do his work. In the winter a great open fire of walnut logs tempted many to toast their shins around his heartlı, and the warmthı of his smiling welcome equalled that of the fire. To all who came he listened patiently, and with a rare fund of humor answered

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 143

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