History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 170

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 170

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Occasionally, people are aided by the town who are still living in their own homes, which makes the ex- pense less for the town and it is also more pleasant for the families. There has not been a pauper at the farm for the past ten years who has been able to do much towards his own support. The farm is car- ried on quite like any other one, and its expense to the town has been lessened by connecting with it the repairing of the roads. The teams are owned by the town as the property of the alms-honse; the mas- ter has charge of them and hires the help. Previous to the meeting of the last Legislature the repairing of the roads was under the control of the selectmen ; but a bill was then enacted that every town should ap- point a road commissioner, who should have this in charge. Mr. Prescott is that commissioner, and as he employs the teams and help of the " farm," some- thing is saved thereby, making the expense of the farm somewhat less to the town,-so that the sup- port of the poor is made easier by this means. When there has been a prosperous year at the poor-house, the cost of maintaining it is not very much. The sal- ary ofthe overseer is but $10.00 per year, so that there is not much money connected with the office, nor " honor," even, unless it be the honor the overseer has of trying to do as he would be done by. It has been found that the old saying "blood will tell," is true sometimes respecting the panpers of our towns ; for there comes to he, occasionally, a race of paupers -the children are taught to get much of their living from others, and are brought up to work as little as

possible, so that it happens the children of paupers are now and then found in the poor-housc. In our Federal Republic each town is allowed to manage its own affairs-when nothing is done to conflict with the public interests of other towns, the county or the State-and this liberty has resulted in a careful guard - ing its financial concerns, and each one endeavors to keep its public expenses as low as possible. One of the means by which this is accomplished is in having but few paupers to support, and while each town by common consent and in the interests of hn- manity cares for its own poor, it does not wish to care for more than is necessary, nor to support any that have a "settlement" in other towns. Thus towns early watched each other and sought to prevent the gaining a settlement on the part of poor people, who came from other towns and cities surrounding. For it might happen that a poor family, living in a city and becoming dissatisfied with the life there, would remove to a neighboring town and soon call for aid in its own support. To prevent this extra ex- pense, and to have the poor maintained where they had a settlement, the "Province" enacted a law, in 1692-93, whereby it was necessary to warn all strang- ers who came to town to leave it. They might return to the city or to whatever place they belonged; but must not be allowed to obtain a settlement in the town to which they had come. If a person was not " warned out " within three months, he was then re- garded as an inhabitant of the town, and if he became poor and nnable to support himself, the town was then obliged to help him. That the towns were care- ful to obey this law is clearly shown hy the recorded names of people who had been duly warned. If, after fourteen days, a person had not complied with the warning, he was conducted by the constahle or his depnty beyond the limits of the town, but what be- came of him afterwards is not stated. It would seem a hard lot for an indigent person to he driven from place to place and not he ahle to find a home any- where, though it is prohahle that such people really had a settlement in some place where the authorities were obliged to aid them. A selectman's report of the early times in Boston has recently been seen, in which occurs a sentence that explains their conduct, and gives a reason why even men of means were also warned ont whenever they moved to another town. It stated that complaints had heen made that even wealthy people, who wished to settle in the town, had been warned, and the selectmen, in justification of their conduct, replied in their "report :" " Whcreas, some did put on the appearance of wealth that were really poor and eventually became town charges, the town voted to warn out all who came, without regard to appearance." It is, however, recorded that-" In many cases the persons so warned remained and be- came useful citizens ;" so that there was no real injus- tice done, for people who were really wealthy and werc desirous of settling in a new place were able ere

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long to prove their financial condition to the satisfac- tion of all, and were gladly allowed to remain.

DR. BENJAMIN OSGOOD .- No history of Westford can be complete without mention of the prominent men who lived and worked among her beautiful hills and valleys, and surely, for fifty years, no one knew better than this faithful and beloved physician the highways and by-ways, and no one was more inti- mately acquainted with the homes of the people, their joys and their sorrows.

Dr. Osgood was born April 25, 1781, in Westford. His early years were passed here. In 1804 he went into the family of Amos Bancroft, M.D., of Groton, to study medicine under his care. After finishing his studies with Dr. Bancroft he practiced for a time in Littleton, but at the earnest solicitation of friends finally returned to his native town, where he resided until his death, February 1, 1863. He was twice married, his first wife being Miss Nancy Cummings ; the second, Miss Eliza Cummings, of Westford. Dr. Osgood was a very unassuming man ; his opinions and convictions were strong, and he held them firmly, but did not obtrude them. He never sought publicity, bnt quietly pursued the even tenor of his way so acceptably to the people that, only when bowed with the weight of years and of sorrow he was glad to rest, could he, without remonstrance from old and young, resign to hands fresher from the schools the service he had so long performed. He was a member of the Massachusetts Medical Society, he was interested and active in works of reform and educational efforts, a trustee of Westford Academy, and for many years secretary of the board. He was a deacon of the Uni- tarian Church. He was a successful physician, a good citizen, a kind friend, affectionate and beloved in his own house. He was highly esteemed by his professional brethren, respected by his neighbors and beloved by his patients. His life was quiet and un- ostentatious, but many are those who hold him in grateful remembrance.

DR. EDWARD C. ATWOOD .- When the last history of Westford was written Drs. Edward C. Atwood and Joseph B. Heald were practicing medicine in town. Dr. Atwood was a Westford boy; he graduated at Dartmouth College in 1871, and at the Long Island College Hospital, Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1874, when, find- ing that there was an "opening" at his old home, he came here and settled down to the practice of his chosen profession. He soon had all the business he could do, but remained only ten years ; for in 1884 he sold his practice to Dr. Walter J. Sleeper and removed to Daytona, Florida, on account of the health of his wife. There he built a drug-store, and, answering a few sick-calls, he soon had all the patients he cared to attend. One of his brothers accompanied him to Florida, and together they bought land, set out orange-trees and have now a large "grove," which furnishes oranges-he says-of the "Unequaled Hal- ifax River variety."

DR. WALTER J. SLEEPER .- Just before Dr. At- wood went away Dr. Sleeper took his place and is a successful practitioner here now. He graduated at the Dartmouth Medical College in 1881. After grad- uation he took hospital work and courses in surgery, the skin, heart, lungs, eye and ear, in the hospitals of Boston, New York and Chicago. He then spent a year in traveling through the West, and finally re- turned to his home, in Manchester, New Hampshire, where he practiced till he came here, iu 1884. Taking Dr. Atwood's place, he had much to do from the very first, and has proved himself to be a doctor worthy of the confidence of the public. He bought a " lot " in the centre of the village aud built a fine residence, and is making his grounds attractive.

DR. JOSEPH B. HEALD .- The doctor graduated at the Long Island College. Hospital, Brooklyn, New York. His first settlement was in Paris, Stark County, Ohio, where he remained about three years-remov- ing to Westford in February, 1878. In 1887 he left a good practice to accept the offer of a partnership with his brother, Dr. W. F. Heald, in Pepperell, removing to that place in April of that year. He is still there, and reports reach us that he is well liked as a physi- cian. Some of his old patients in town occasionally send for him now, when they require a doctor's ser- vices. Dr. Heald was our town clerk at the time of his removal to Pepperell, and his work in that office was satisfactory to all concerned. He was kind to the poor, occasionally helping one in need from his own purse and charging nothing for his attendance.

DR. JAMES F. SMITH .- Dr. Smith took the place of Dr. Heald when he went away in February, 1887. He graduated at the College of Physicians and Sur- geons, New York, May 14, 1882. He took special courses in Orthopedic Surgery, in diseases of the throat and nose, of the eye, ear, skin and chest-be- sides general hospital practice. He received diplomas for several of these courses. He practiced medicine for two years, then in the State of Maine for the same time. He has a growing practice and is making a specialty of treating the eye, ear and nose.

OFFICIAL .- The census of 1885 gives 2193 as the population at that date. Comparing this number with that given in 1880, viz., 2148, there will be found a little gain. The number of persons assessed on prop- erty is 420, the number for poll tax only 250. Total number of polls assessed, 528. Tax on each poll, $2.00. The value of the assessed personal estate, excluding bank stock, is $209,660; value of assessed real estate, buildings, excluding land, $490,689 ; value of assessed land, excluding buildings, $374,401. Num- ber of acres of land assessed, 18,000; assessed tax on property per $1000, $12.60, for the year 1889. The tax of State, county, city or town purposes, includ- ing overlayings-on personal estate, $2676.62; on real estate, $10,900.13 ; on polls, $1056.

There have been but two changes in the Board of Selectmen since the former history ; that history gives

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

for the year 1882 the following names: George T. Day, Arthur Wright, Albert P. Richardson. In 1886 Isaac W. Carkin took the place of Arthur Wright, and in 1890 William L. Kittredge took the place of Isaac W. Carkin. Gilman J. Wright is the present town clerk ; he succeeded Dr. Joseph B. Heald in 1887. The representatives elected from our town or district since 1881 were as follows :

1882, Charles 11. Miller, of Pepperell ; 1883, Moses P. Palmer, of Gro- ton ; 1884, Noah Prescott, of Westford; 1885, Frank Leighton, of Pep- perell; 1886, George S. Graves, of Groton ; 1887, Arthur Wright, of Westford; 1888, John O. Bennett, of Pepperell ; 1889, James M. Swal- low, of Dunstable.

A few changes in the former history are here ap- pended : In 1863 John W. P. Abbot, Edward Pres- cott and George W. Dupee were elected as the Board of Selectmen. In 1864 the same board was re-elected.

In 1857 Robert P. Woods and Eliel Shumway, both of Groton, were elected representatives; in 1861 David Porter, of Shirley, and John W. P. Abbot, of Westford ; in 1862 Albert Leighton, of Pepperell, and Isaac O. Taylor, of Dunstable.

THE PEOPLE .- The writer has lived with the people of Westford for ten years and has found that, as a whole, they adhere to the principles bequeathed them by their fathers and are living examples of characters those principles can produce. Benjamin Franklin attributed all his success among men to the character he established for himself, and not to any brilliancy of intellect; and Westford has stood well among the surrounding towns for the characteristics it has pos- sessed. Emerson said that the characters of men make the conscience of society in which they live, and on account of this fact Westford has long been knowu as a place where it is a pleasure to reside. " The virtue and intelligence of the people, their cul- ture and social refinement, and their regard for edu- cation and all humanizing influences will insure for them the praise of every honorable mind and the es- teem of the good. Rising every year to a higher grade of morality and piety, they will take the sure road to a genuine prosperity, and make the closing century a happy introduction to the achievements of the next." Many of the people are graduates of the academy, and are interested in every educational re- form and in the progress of the sciences and arts. Strangers, occupying our pulpits, often speak of the average intelligence of the congregations. A paint- ing-class, composed of quite a number of the young people of the place, has been a permanent institution for several years, and the paintings that adorn their homes attest the artistic taste that produced them. Courses of lectures have been maintained, and scarcely a winter passes without one or more of them. Quite a number have read through the four years' course of the Chautauqua Reading Circle and receiv- cd their diplomas. Several other reading clubs or circles have been organized from time to time, and large numbers have attended some of them, for ex-

ample, the Unity Club, held one year ago. Miss Kate Hamlin is, at present, giving a course of parlor lec- tures upon the English language and literaturc. She writes in a very pleasing and attractive manner, and her lectures are filled with the results of careful study of the periods of English literature, as well as the philosophy of the history itself. She is away from Westford nearly all the time during the winter, read- ing her lectures to circles of cultivated ladies in the cities and towns about and in other States as well. Westford has also a Village Improvement Association, which shows a commendable public spirit on the part of the many who are members of it. Public spirit shows itself here in striving to make the place a thriving, energetic, healthful and attractive one. It introduces fine stock and improved methods. It has replaced " The old hut on a barren pasture corner, that served for a primitive school-honse, with the modern structure, well-warmed and ventilated and with attractive surroundings." It maintains good walks and roads, and lights its streets. The public spirit of Westford makes the village, which it con- trols, as comfortable, healthful, moral and beautiful as possible. Our people are pleasant, neighborly and good-natured ; they especially care for those who are ill or have misfortune ; there is a peaceful atmos- phere here of an unselfish, self-sacrificing community. Our people are readers, are refined and cultivated, and have that cheerfulness which is the aroma of life. They have "June natures-rare, sunshiny !" Such natures carry a pleasant wholesomeness with them all the time-a "well-spring of chcer that never seems to run low." The writer has been to places where the people looked as though they had never seen the sun, or had just passed through a hard winter; the past seemed gloomy, and the future a thing of dread and foreboding. It is not so here, but the nature of the people so harmonizes with the natural life about them in the spring or early summer that one thinks of the low-land meadows, the murmuring brooks, the singing of birds, the air blowing from the sweet South as though coming from a bank of roses, and the sun shining warm over all. Such natures, where ever existing, are cultured, refined, beautiful.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

CHARLES G. SARGENT.

Mr. Charles G. Sargent was born in Hillsborough, N. H., July 17, 1819, and died in Graniteville, July 16, 1878, aged 58 years and 364 days. At fourteen years of age he was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker, afterwards to a clock-maker and then entered the Lowell Machine-Shop, where he mastered the machin- ist's trade. While in the employ of the Lowell Mail- ufacturing Co. le invented a valuable burring ma-

Cha Efungand

J. Horney Read

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chine and ever after continued to invent and manu- facture machinery. He was a natural machinist, as his various inventions very clearly attest.

From 1850 to 1854 Mr. Sargent remained in Low- ell in business for himself, then removed to Granite- ville and built up the large industry which his sons are now carrying on. He was a public-spirited and benevolent man, giving largely toward the establish- ment and support of the Methodist Church in this place.

ALLEN CAMERON.

Mr. Allen Cameron was born on the 30th of Au- gust, 1823, at Allness, Rosshire, Scotland. He belongs to the Lundavra House of the Cameron Clan, and among his ancestry, traceable for over five hundred years, are many distinguished in military and political affairs. His father, Alexander Cameron, was an ex- tensive sheep farmer, and Mr. Cameron's early life was passed upon the farm, which was managed by his mother after his father's death. He attended the public schools at Allness and also the higher grades at Dingwall. On the 12th of August, 1843, at the age of twenty, he sailed from Liverpool on a packet ship for New York, which place was reached after a voy- age of thirty-two days. He immediately went to Boston, where he found employment in a cotton and wool commission-house, 28 Lewis Wharf,-Fairbanks & Cameron.

Mr. Cameron of the firm was an elder brother, lo- cated in this country for some time previous. He re- mained with the firm for two years, and then engag. ed as book-keeper for a wall-paper concern-Hurlburt & Gregory. After four years' service here he went to New York and entered the employment of Coates & Co., bankers. In about eighteen months the firm was dissolved, and for a while he acted as agent in this country for a carpet commission-house in Manchester, England, and also did business for the wool firm of Ripley & Co. In 1851 he went to Norwich, Conn., and for three years was agent for the Greenfield Worsted Co. For several years he was interested in various branches of worsted and carpet manufacturing and dyeing, until the year 1858, when he came to Westford and bought Mr. Sargent's interest in the Abbott Worsted Co., forming a partnership with John W. Abbott, which has continued to the present time. On the 12th of September, 1860, he married Eleanor Francis, daughter of Levi Flint, of Charlestown. Mr. Cameron is the financier of the firm and attends to the buying and selling.

The clan to which he belongs has always been an influential one. The present chief is a member of Parliament, and the representative of the clan in Westford clearly shows the influence a race of such men must have in their native land.

J. HENRY READ.1

Joseph Henry Read, son of Zaccheus and Mary (Heywood) Reed, was born in Westfield, Middlesex County, Aug. 5, 1835. After securing a common - school education in the public schools of his native town he availed himself of a course of study in Springfield English and classical schools, and after- wards at Westford Academy. He chose farming for a calling, and has made no change since.

Mr. Read was married in Westford, Jan. 13, 1857, to Mary Eleanor, daughter of Daniel and Mary Ann (Beede) Falls. Of this union were six children-M. Alice, Carrie E., Nellie A., Abbie M., Henry B. and Florence H. Read. He has held the various town offices, such as selectman, overseer of the poor, School Committee, auditor, etc. He has been a director and secretary of the Westford Mutual Fire Insurance Company since 1876. Mr. Read was a representative to the General Court in 1872-73, and has been a com- missioner of Middlesex County since January, 1876.

CHAPTER LIX.

WAKEFIELD.

BY CHESTER W. EATON.

THE town of Wakefield, with its fresh, cheery name, its elegant public buildings and modern dwell- ing-houses, its smiling lakes and well-kept parks, its hum of business and air of prosperity, might well seem to the casual visitor as a place of recent growth. One need not look far, however, to correct his first im- pressions. Once out of the immediate region of depots, stores and factories, a glance at the mossy slabs in the old burying-ground, or the glimpse of an ancient domicile sheltered by a venerable elm or but- tonwood, will bring to the senses of the thoughtful observer the genuine flavor of antiquity.

Wakefield began to be settled by white men in 1639. Its territory was then claimed as part of the domain of the Saugus tribe of Indians, whose Sachem had his lodges by the sea, in what is now the city of Lynn, then called Saugus, the township of Lynn then including the present towns of Saugus and Lynnfield. Sundry inhabitants of Lynn petitioned the Colony Court for a place for an inland habitation at the head of their bounds, and in 1639 the Court granted the petition, and gave the town of Lynn "four miles square at the head of their bounds, or so much thereof as the place could afford, upon condition that the pe- titioners shall within two years make some good pro- ceeding in planting, so as it may be a village, fit to contain a convenient nuinber of inhabitants, which may in due time have a church there, and so as such

1 From Raud's " Que in One Thousand."

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

as shall remove to inhabit there, shall not withal keep their accommodations in Lynn after their re- moval to the said village, upon pain to forfeit their interest in onc of them at their election." Thereupon the settlement began in earnest, the region taking the name of Lynn Village, and in 1644 was duly incor- porated as the town of "Redding." The locations of the early settlers were mostly on what is now the cen- tre of Wakefield, between or near the lakes, and on the slopes of the adjacent highlands. The fore- fathers, having erected their humble dwellings and built a church and a mill, had laid in faith and works the foundation of a municipality which should grow better and handsomer with age, and last while towns endure.

The title to the lands within the townships of Read- ing and Lynn was confirmed to the inhabitants thereof by a deed from the Indian owners, dated September 4, 1686, in which the consideration named is £10 16s., the deed being recorded at Salem, and signed by David Kunkshamooshaw, grandson to old Sagamore George No-Nose, alias Wenepawweekin, sometime of Rumney Marsh, and sometime at or about Chelms- ford, sometime here and sometime there, but de- ceased and Abigail Kunkshamooshaw, wife of David, and Cicely alias Su George, ye reputed daughter of said old Sagamore George, and James Quonophit, of Natick, alias Rumney Marsh, and Mary, his wife. It is a matter of congratulation among present residents of Wakefield, that a peaceable and record title to their territory can be pointed at.

While these sturdy Puritans, who, a few short years before, had forsaken their English homes for con- science' sake, were in these Indian solitudes humbly doiug their part in working out some of the greatest problems of the human race, their kinsmen and brothers in the faith were on the home soil of Eng- land, under Oliver Cromwell and John Hampden waging successful war against King, church and aristocracy, fighting and preaching for the same great principles of civil and religious liberty as their brothers in the American wilderness. The first set- tlers of this town werc all Englishmen, and of the same stern stuff and stock that fought at Naseby and Marston Moor, made Cromwell Protector of England and who later put away the sword for "the truer work of building up a kingdom of righteousness in the hearts and consciences of men."

The names of these first citizens of the old town reveal their English origin, and are still borne by many leading families of the region, and are as follows :

Nicholas Brown, Thomas Clark, John Daruon, William Cowdrcy, George Davis, Robert Dunton, Samuel Dunton, Josiah Dustin, Jonas Eaton, William Eaton, Zachary Fitch, Isaac Hart, Thomas Harts- horne, William Hooper, Thomas Kendall, John Lau- kin, Thomas Marshall, William Martin, John Pearson, John Poole, Thomas Parker, Francis Smith, John

Smith, Jeremy Swayne, Thomas Taylor, Edward Tay- lor, Richard Walker, Samuel Walker and John Wiley.

The town, as first incorporated, included what is now Wakefield and Reading. In 1651 a second grant of two miles square was made to the town of Reading, and included, substantially, what is now North Read- ing. In 1713 the inhabitants of the last-named territory, "having become of sufficient and competent numbers to call, settle and maintain a godly, learned, orthodox minister," were incorporated as a distinct parish by the name of the North Precinct of Read- ing, the remaining portion of the town being known as the First Parish. In 1769 the northwesterly part of the First Parish, the part then called Woodend, was incorporated by the name of the West Parish of Reading, forming the nucleus of the present town of Reading. In 1812 the old town was divided, and the First or South Parish, then commonly known as the Old Parish, including the present territory of Wake- field, was incorporated as a new town, with the name of South Reading. This separation, by which the Old Parish lost the birthright of its original name, was due to political causes. The North and West Parishes were strongly Federalists and opposed to the impending war with Great Britain, while the people of the Old Parish were nearly all Republicans and enthusiastic for the war. The Old Parish was the largest of the three in population and voters, but not cqual to the two others. Party feeling ran high, and as a consequence the citizens of the South Parish found themselves without offices or influence in the administration of town affairs. This was not a pleas- ant state of affairs and induced hasty action, for, tak- ing advantage of an opportunity when the Republi- cans were in power in the General Court, the Old Parish obtained a charter for a distinct town and South Reading was born. The new town began with 125 dwelling-houses, a population of 800, and a valua- tion of $100,000.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 170

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