History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 101

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III > Part 101

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Isaac Vose, entered Harvard College, but owing to ill health did not graduate. He studied law with Judge Putnam. He is unmarried and lives at the ancestral place on Main Street, near its junction with Lexington Street.

MILES PRATT.

Miles Pratt was descended from Joshua Pratt, who came to Plymouth in the "And" in 1623. At a very early date lands were granted to him in that part of Plymouth which is now Carver, and from that time to the present one branch of the family has made that town its place of residence. David Pratt, the father of Miles, lived in Carver, and having secured soule- thing more than a common-school education, devoted the earliest years of his manhood to teaching school.

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY. MASSACHUSETTS.

Eventually, however, he carried on a foundry in the heating, with their store at 31 and 35 Urion Streets, north part of his native town. He married Sarah. Boston. Since 1863 Oliver Shaw, also a native of Carver, has been the superintendent of the manu- facturing business. and largely to his fidelity and skill the company owes its success. daughter of Thoma- Barrow., of Carver, a descendant of John Barrows, who also received grant- of land in Carver at an early date and died in 1692. David Pratt had three children-Mary, who married George Barr ws; Sarah, who married Marcus MI. Sherman, and Miles, the subject of this sketch. Miles was born in Carver. september 17. 1-25, and at the age of fifteen years entered upon the occupation of selling h Il w-ware, the product of his father's factory, and from that time until his death his career was one of active industry.

About the year 1st, after being with his father " Die Years as a partner in his business. he entered the store f B. W. Dunklee & Co., dealers in stoves. as sale-man. and remained in their employ one year, when, with a son of Mr. Gould, an old president of the Black-tone Bank, he formed a partnership under the firm-name of Pratt & Gould, in the retail stove business In 1 -54 be formed a new partnership, under the name of Pratt. Weeks & Co., with William G. Lincoln. Allen S. Weeks and his uncles. Thomas and John Jay Barrows, as partners. At that time his father, David Pratt. having retired from business. the new firm engaged for a year in the manufacture of castings in Carver, while building a foundry in Water- town for the manufacture of cook and parlor stover and stove-ware. In 1555 the new foundry was finished and a considerable business was soon built up. mainly for the Eastern market and that of the I'rovinces.

In 1-7;, owing to -evere financial depression, the firm dis- Ived, and while its creditors suffered uo ioss, Mr Pratt wa- deprived of the earnings of his previous Fears, emerging from the wreck of his firm a poor mas. but with integrity and business vigor unim- Faired. With a determination rarely exbibited in such case- he at once took a lease of the Watertown foundry on his own account, and carried on its busi- new alone with marked success until the following year, Ist., when he formed a partnership with Luke Perkin-, al a native of Carver, under the title of Pratt & Perkins, with Wm. G. Lincoln, one of his 1 partner-, as a special partner. In Is63 Mr. Per- kin- e) the firm and the firm of Miles Pratt & Co. with Mr Lincoln as the partner. In of his orm was consolidated with that of George W Walker & C. of Boston, under the name of Walker, Pran & ( ... with Mr. Lincoln and Horace 0, 4- 6 rge W Wa ker as partners. In 1575 the y w. - torporate) under the name of the Wer & Tret Ma ufacturing Company, with fr rg W. W ker . president and Miles Pratt as For the th of Mr. Pratt. George E. Pres' None " tre rer and the e mpany is still 1 wz « lar_ ad -uveelu business in the manu- fator of \ ~, rang - furnaces, apparatus for hotel kitch is rance re mi bodlers i r steam and hot water

Mr. Pratt married, in 1:51, Sarah B., the daughter of Zebulon Chandler, of Carver, a descendant from Edward Chandler. who appeared in Duxbury in 1633. Mrs. Pratt died March 25, 1858, leaving no children, and on the 6th of October, 1859, Mr. Pratt married Ellen M. Coolidge, of Watertown, and had an only child, Grace. who married Frederick Robinson. of Watertown, and is still living. He died at Water- town on the 9th of August, 1582, and was buried at Mt. Auburn. His death occurred at a time when his brain and capacity for work appeared to be in their fullest vigor and when. with the threshold of his bus- iness enterprises, with its difficulties and embarrass- ments and obstacles, successfully surmounted, he was enjoying the fruits of his labors and indulging in am- bitious and well-founded hopes of enhanced success.

The career of Mr. Pratt portrayed in this sketch demonstrates the most prominent characteristics of the man, singleness of purpose, disturbed by no allur- ing temptations, a determination to succeed never weakened by obstacles in bis path, and an unswerv- ing integrity, without which neither singleness of purpose nor determinacion to succeed could have been of any avail. Good business man as he was. he permitted no outside schemes and enterprises to dis- traet his mind, and accepted no office except that of trustee of the Watertown Savings Bank, of which he was the most active founder. Brought up in politics as a Whig, he preserved his independence of speech and thought. and abandoned the party of his youth when be believed i: uutrue to the principles of human freedom. Afterwards a Republican, he was still inde- pendent and recognized no authority binding him to its ranks, when he believed that it had outlived its Deefulness and purpose. Nor in religious matters, more than in politics, was he bound by traditions. Born in the Orthodox Congregational Church and edu- cated under its influences, he became in the later years of his life a Swedenborgian and died in that faith. In all things be kept his mind free, always open to convictions, and when convictions came to him he was obedient to their commands.

SAMUEL NOYES.

Samuel Noves was the son of Christopher and Martha Reed Noyes, and was born in Plymouth, N. H., June 27, 1.04. He attended the district-school in winter, and aided his father in the store in summer. In June, 1-27. Mr. Nove- found employment in B.stun, where he remained two years, afterwards went to Cambridge and worked in the grocery-store of Deacon Brown four years.

In Apr.1, 1:53, he came to Watertown and opened

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(what was then called) a temperanee grocery-store, corner of Arsenal and Mt. Auburn Streets. Many prophesied at the time that this new project would he a failure, for it was customary in those days for grocers to sell liquors, and they did a thriving busi- ness in that line.

Mr. Noyes was a strong temperance man, and did not approve of the use or sale of liquors. There were three stores in town at the time which dispensed spirituons liquors, but Mr. Noyes having the strong courage of his convictions, plodded along in his way, his business slowly but constantly increasing. He was soon in need of a larger store, and moved in 1847 into the town hall building, where he remained for a number of years. In 1870 he built the briek block on the opposite side of the street, known as Noyes' Bloek. He continued to do business there until 1879, when he sold out and retired, having been in active business in Watertown forty-six years.

In June, 1836, Samuel Noyes married Amanda George, of Plymouth, N. JJ., and had six children, viz., Mary, Hattie, Samuel G., Sarah B. (who died in infaney), Charles H. and Emma L. Four of these children are now living,-Mary (now Mrs. Noyes), Samuel G. (unmarried), Charles (unmarried), Emma L. (now Mrs. Sidney E. Horne), living in Mendota, Illinois.

Samuel Noyes married for his second wife, Mrs. Mary Horne, and had two children, Wendell and Sidney E.

Mr. Noyes is a Republican in polities, was town treasurer and collector of taxes for twenty years, always attended the Baptist Church, and was treas- urer of that society fifty-five years.

THOMAS L. FRENCH.

Capt. Thomas L. French was born in Cambridge, Mass., Sept. 16, 1809. He was the son of Cyrus and Deborah (Learned), and grandson of Isaac French.

Capt. French's father died when he was quite young, and early in life he was obliged to depend upon his own resources. At the age of fifteen years he was apprenticed to Samuel F. Sawyer, of Cam- bridge, Mass., to learn the trade of mason and builder, and at the age of twenty-one he went in business for himself in Holliston, Mass. He re- mained in Holliston about four years, then moved to Watertown and continued the same business until within a few years when he retired from active life. Capt. French did a large and lucrative business in Watertown, and during the late war was master meehanie at the United States Arsenal and built most of their large brick buildings.

He was very active in town affairs-selectman fifteen years, in the Legislature one year, and held other minor town ofliecs. The captain was never de- feated for any office tendered to him by his towns- men but onee. During his active life few men were better posted in town affairs than he. The title of

captain he received from being fire warden in the days of the old volunteer Fire Department.

Capt. French married, for his first wife, Esta Pond, of Watertown. There were three children by this union, two of whom died in infancy.

Georgetta is still living. Mrz. French died Oct. 18, 1852. For his second wife, Mr. French married Mrs. Isaac French. She died Jan. 6, 1854.

Mr. French died Aug. 12, 1890.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

HOLLISTON.

BY ALBERT H. BLANCHARD, M D.

THE town of Holliston reaches to the southern point of Middlesex County, and forms a large part of its boundary in that direction. The boundary line separates it from Medway and Millis, in the county of Norfolk, and from a portion of Milford, in the county of Worcester. It is a daughter of Sherborn, having been formed entirely from that ancient town. The history of Sherborn is therefore the history of Holliston until the date of incorporation of the latter town, in 1724.

Grants of the land now included in this township were made by the General Court, as early as 1659, to Major Eleazer Lusher, of Dedham, and to Dean Win- throp, son of Governor John Winthrop; and also, from 1664 to 1674, to Lieutenant Joshua Fisher, of Dedham, to John Parker and one Hopper. Lusher's grant of two hundred and fifty acres comprised the present central part of Holliston, and twelve aeres of meadow "lying on the brook Wennakeening" (Bogis- tow Brook); and Winthrop's grant of six hundred aeres or more abutted upon Medfield line in one di- reetion and upon a pond (Winthrop's) in the other. Major Lusher sold his grant to Lieutenant Ilenry Adams, of Medfield, in 1660; and after the death of Lieutenant Adams it was bought by Hon. William Brown, of Salem, and afterwards came into the pos- session of his son, Colonel Samuel Brown, and Judge Samnel Sewall. Lieutenant Adams took immediate possession and is said to have mowed the meadows the same year. Ile sent cattle here and some of his sons resided here, especially Jasper, who seems to have had the management of the land and gave his name to "Jasper's hill," now Mt. Hollis, from which, by signal fires, he communicated with his father in Medfield. Hc lived here, unmarried, for a period of about fourteen years until driven off by the Indians under King Philip in 1676.

The second planter was William Sheffield, who, with his brother Edmund, bought in 1662 the grant of Lieutenant Joshua Fisher, of Dedham, at "C'habbo- quasset," in the southeast quarter of the present town. Ile took possession, but did not settle there probably

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

until 1674. Edmund Sheffield does not appear to have settled there at all. Of this land no deed had been obtained in 1688, Lieutenant Fisher having died in 1672, before he had completed a deed to the Shef- fields. William was in much trouble on this account, and, as he did not know what action to take, presented the following petition "on a training day " in Sher- borne, November 22, 1688, "to ye fathers, with all the inhabitants of Sherborn :" "Wm. Sheffield, of Sher- born, the aged, your humble petitioner, doe humbly intreat you to show your love to me, to give, grant or confirm my land which I bought of Lt. Fisher, of Dedham, to confirm to me and mine, I shall be very thankful to yon forever; for 1 am like a man having myself half in the mire, and want to be holpen, help I pray you and damnifie no man with it." In answer to this "request the inhabitants then present did gen- eraily by their vote, grant and confirm to him the said land soe far as they had any interest in it." He seems by an order of the Court to have obtained his deed at a later date. He had extinguished the In- dian title to his tract in 1675. He became a wealthy man for those days, and in 1686 was rated the third highest in Sherborn. He was a selectman in the early years of Holliston and served on the first board. IIis son, William Sheffield, bought Hopper's farm of 280 acres in the west part of Holliston.

Winthrop's grant was purchased by Captain John Goulding, and extensively improved by him. He settled there about 1705, and was a man of wealth and of " herculean size and strength," and a principal inhabitant in the carly affairs of the town ; was town clerk ten years and selectman ten years.

Alexander Marsh also settled on a part of Win- throp's grant, on the north shore of Lake Winthrop.

No other grants appear to have been occupied until 1680, and then only by proprietors of grants made prior to the incorporation of Sherborn, or that were made by the town of Sherborn. Under the latter head, in 1679, " Sherborne granteth to such as shall make a saw-mill on a Brook [Bogistow Brook, where the blanket-mill stands] about half a mile on this side the corner rock that was Natick bounds, the sum of 50 Acres of upland adjoining to that brook, and 3 or 1 Acres of meadow, if it may be found upon that Brook, as may be convenient -also 10 Acres of Swamp, the Cedar timber excepted. This saw-mill to be built by the end of 12 months, and be continued three years or as the selectmen then in being, and the owners shall agree. So the land to be settled to the owners." Samuel Lind, of Boston, soon accepted this offer and built a "corn-mill" and afterwards a saw-mill upon it. The same privilege was used in later years for a trip-hammer mill, woolen-mill, cotton-mill and ma- chine-shop, and in our day for the manufacture of blankets. The building was burned about 1843, and a new one afterwards erected.

The second division of the common lands of Sher- born was made in 1682, including all of Holliston;

and until then no other settlers were admitted. But soon after that date arrangements were made for tak- ing possession of these lands and purchasing the same of the Indians. All of these settlers were particular to "extinguish the Indian title." They considered that the Indians had a right to the lands, and they bought that right and took deeds therefor. William Sheffield purchased directly of one of the chiefs, John Awosamog ; others united in obtaining a common quit-claim deed from several Indians who were au- thorized to convey the same.

Not many families had settled in Holliston when the year 1700 had arrived. For this there were two principal reasons : the one above-mentioned, that no new settlers were admitted until after the year 1682, and another one, that this territory was several miles distant from the church in Sherborn, a serious matter in those days, when the opportunity to attend the stated services of the sanctuary was considered one of the highest privileges. Even as late as the year 1723 there were only thirteen subscribers to the peti- tion to be set off from Sherborn, and it is believed that all but five heads of families signed the petition.

The inhabitants of Sherborn were about to erect a new meeting-house, and those residing in the west- ern part of the town (now Holliston) were strenuous in their endeavors to have it placed on a spot which should accommodate them. The town endeavored to respond to this reasonable request. On March 6, 1723, the qualified voters met at the meeting-house, and im- mediately adjourned to meet at "the platt, seventy or six-score rods Easterly from Dirty Meadow bridge, or Thereabouts " (about half a mile east of the rail- road station, in East Holliston), when and where it was unanimously voted by all present, " that a meet- ing-house be built for the town to worship God in, on Lord's Days, upon a certain hill by the road side, . so that the town remain together for the strengthening thereof." November 18, 1723, the inhabitants "voted to nullifie and make void this vote of March sixth, in consideration that the Form and Situation of the Town is so ill Convenient that one Meeting-House Cannot be so placed as to Suit the Whole town, but that in time there will be need of two to accommodate the Inhabitants." And £160 was granted to defray the cost of a new meeting- house on the old site. This was, without doubt, a sensible decision, and subsequent events have so proved it.

" At guid Meeting after Sundry votes had passed, relating to the build- ing or rebuilding of ye publick Meeting house, the following motion was made by Sundry of ye Principle Inhabitants of yo said town, Who are Dwellers on ye West side of Dopping Brook. The request of us, the Subscribers, in behalt of Our Selves and the Other Western luhabitants of ye town ; Do desire that the following articles may be put to vote, viz. : Whether they will not be free to Grant us ye liberty of Having that part of Shelheld's Farm Lying on y. East Side of Boggestow Brook and Kalmund Morse's Land and possessions on Je Kunt side of Dopping brook aforesaid, over and above >. Dividing line projected between the Eastern and Western parts of the town from Colonel Buckminster's cor- ner, &c. Then We will do all publick Duty to the town as heretofore

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till the Genll. Court Shall Set us off Except in ye Cost of Building or re- building the meeting house, as it has been this day voted. And if so We'll ask for a Dividing line no further Eastward.

" Jonathan Whitney, Jolin Goulding, Joshua Underwood,

" Timothy Lealand,

" Aaron Morse,

Thomas Jones,

" Moses Adams, Jr.,

Isaac Adams,

" Joseph Johnson,

John Twitchell,

" Ebenezer Pratt,

John Larnit."

On the above the following vote is recorded : "The town by their vote do save to the said Western In- habitants over Doppiu Brook, whensoever they are sett off, their proportion iu ye £160 this day granted towards ye Building ye publick Meeting House where it now stands." And the remainder of the above mo- tion was also passed, " for the sake of future peace and good Neighborhood." This amicable spirit has been continued even to the present day; and for many years Sherborn and Holliston constituted one of the State districts for choice of Representative to the Legislature.

June 3, 1724, a petition of the inhabitants of the westerly part of Sherborn was presented to the Gene- ral Court, showing the "great inconvenience they are under by reason of their great distance from the place of Publick Worship, the said town being near 12 miles long, and the meeting-house sitnated at the Easterly End; That they have applyed to the Town to be sett off, but cannot obtain a division by such a line as they think reasonable ; and therefore praying that they may be made a distinct and separate township hy snch boundarys as are in the said petition partic- ularly set forth." In council, read and ordered that Adam Winthrop, Jona Dowse, Esqs., to whom the House joined Ebenezer Stone, John Quincy, Esqs., and Mr. Edward White, be a committee to repair, as soon as may be, to Sherborn, and make inquiry into the matter of this petition, and report what they think proper for this Court to do thereon. The charge of the committee to be borne hy the peti- tioners.

June 16, 1724. A petition of Timothy Leland and others. A committee of the inhabitants of the West- erly part of Sherborn, praying that this Court would direct the said town not to levy any tax on them for building the meeting-house until September next. The committee appointed to consider their former petition, not being able to proceed to Sherborne till the recess of the Court ;

In council read and ordered that the prayer of this petition be granted. In the House read and con- curred in.

November 20, 1724. Reported and recommended the Western part be erected into a precinct and separated from the First Parish by the line that now divides Sherborn from Holliston and Ashland; that they be obliged within eighteen months to erect and finish, at their own charge, a suitable house for worship ; that they provide, as soon as may be, a learned and Orthodox minister ; that they be allowed to assess the

lands of non-residents within said precinct Id. per acre towards the charge of building and settling a minister ; that they be freed from paying any part of the £160 lately assessed by said town for building a meeting-house in the easterly part of the town; that they continue to pay their proportion for the support of the present minister of the town until they obtain a minister of their own, and no longer ; that they pro- cure and maintain a school-master to instruct their youth in reading and writing.

Their report was accepted in the several articles thereof, "saving that the Western part of Sherborne be a town and not a precinct, and that a bill be brought in to erect the said lands into a township ; and that the inhabitants of the western part pay the charges of the committee, viz., £10." This bill passed to be enacted by both Honses, December 3, 1724, and the New town was called Holliston, in honor of Thomas Hollis, Esq., of London, a benefactor of Har- ward College; and Mr. John Goulding, a principal inhabitant, was empowered and directed to summon the inhabitants qualified for voters to meet for the choice of town officers, to stand until the next annual 'election according to law.

Thomas Hollis returned the compliment by pre- senting the town with an elegant folio Bible for the pulpit, in which is inscribed, "The Gift of Thomas Hollis, of London, Marchant, To the Meeting-house in Ifolliston, whereof Mr. James Stone is pastor, and his successors." This inscription is supposed to be in the handwriting of Mr. Hollis. Rev. Dr. Tucker gives the following history of this volume : "It was a noble folio printed at Oxford [in the year 1679], and for the first one hundred years of the church's history had been used by its pastor in the service of public worship. Becoming too much worn for that place, the selectmen had given it to the poor-house, where it would have been soon utterly finished, had not the worthy descendant of its donor, Dea. Thomas Hollis, of Boston, got news of its whereabouts, after much search, and secured its possession by giving a new copy of the Scriptures to that institution. The church, on ascertaining this several years after, with some persuasion induced Mr. Hollis to relinquish the valuable relic, which he greatly prized, and which no money could have bought from him, by pledging itself to guard the treasure for all time to come, from harm. The volume was too much dilapidated for rebinding, but by order of the church, a shrine was made for it, resembling a massive book, and in this elegant encasement the venerable heirloom is safe from further harm in the keeping of the Church officers."

There is a doubtful tradition that Mr. Hollis sent also a bell for the meeting-house, but that by fraud on the part of some one through whose hands it passed, a cracked bell was substituted and offered to the church committee here, who refused to accept it. Another report is, that through mistake or connivance,

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

the bell was sent to the church in Hollis, New Hamp- shire, or to the Hollis Street Church in Boston.

This incorporation was made about fifty years after the incorporation of Sherborn, the mother town, and seventy-two years after the first settlement west of Charles River, " so slow was the progress of settle- nient in New England after the first immigrations in 1620 11." The township then comprised 15,086 acres, but in 1826 it sustained a small reduction by an ex- change of land with Medway and a larger one in 1846 by the incorporation of Ashland.

The first town-meeting was held December 21, 1724, eighteen days after the incorporation, at the house of Timothy Leland, now occupied by A. J. Travis, about half a mile from the nail factory towards Ashland. Town officers were chosen according to the provisions of the act, and the organization was completed. The first selectmen were John Goukling, William Shef- field, Ebenezer Ilill, Jonathan Whitney and Thomas Marshall. John Goulding was the town clerk and was annually re-elected to that office until 1734. " This gave the first impulse to the operations of this infant member of the body politick."

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 101

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1278

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278