History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 33

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1534

USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men > Part 33

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" In haste, though with esteem, I am " Your very humble servant,

" FISHER AMES."

" To SENATOR METCALF, BELLINGHAM."

" PHILADELPHIA, April 1, 1794. " STEPHEN METCALF, EsQ. :

" My Dear Sir,-On my motion the road to Hartford by Dedham, Mendon, and Pomfret, is agreed to in the committee of the whole House on the post-office bill. It will probably pass the House, and I will endeaver by proper explanations to procure for it a due consideration in the Senate. Should it be established by law that a mail shall be put on the middle road, it will be important that the towns should exert themselves more than they have done heretofore to work on the highway and render the middle road passable. I thought it might be useful to give you carly information on this subject. There is again a hope of peace. Some among us have their passions raised to the war pitch, and others would like a war against their debts ; but the prevailing desire is peace. It will be necessary, however, to prepare for war, as it is thought that it will prove the most effectual way to avoid it. Our happy country seems to stand in need of little more than peace and good order to secure its prosperity. I own I dread war, hy which we can gain nothing and may lose everything as a people. The arrangements which the present critical posture of affairs demands will delay the session of Congress for some time. It is however expected that we shall rise by the middle of May at the latest. I am, dear sir, with esteem and regard,

" Yours truly, " FISHER AMES."

This road was finally established and a post-mail placed on the same through Mr. Ames' influence with the national government, the towns and States of Massachusetts and Connecticut assisting in the con- struction.

The town finding some difficulty in obtaining the church for public meetings, chose a committee to pass upon the feasibility of constructing a new building, and the finding of a suitable location therefor. This committee ---

"having met and taken the matter into consideration, agree- able to appointment, beg leave to report : That we are of opinion that the most central and convenient spot for erecting said building is on the land now occupied by David Jones, situated at the end of the road leading from Ezekiel Bates' dwelling-house to the road known as the Taunton road, and is bounded partly on the west by the said Taunton road. The said Jones proposes giving the town one acre of land for the purpose of setting said house and other buildings upon, providing said town will agree to erect such a building as will

Daniel Wedge. David Hayward.

James Albee.

Asa Pond.

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best accommodate the religious society in said town for a house of public worship.

"EZEKIEL BATES, ) " LABAN BATES,

" JOHN SCAMMELL,

" ELIAB WIGHT,

Committee."

" BELLINGHAM, March 15, A.D. 1800.

"We, the undersigned, do hereby propose to the inhabitants of said Bellingham that we will undertake the building of a public house in said town for the purpose of better accommo- dating said inhabitants to transact their public concerns in. We propose said house to be forty-five by fifty feet on the ground, twenty-five feet posts, and one porch of fourteen feet square, which shall be built of good materials and be well wrought ; providing said town will grant the sum of one thousand dollars, five hundred to be assessed and paid into the treasury for the above purpose by the first day of April, 1801, and the other five hundred to be paid by April 1, 1802, and also to grant us the privilege of building pews in said house for the accommodation of the religious society in said town, and giving us the benefit of the sale of said pews to defray in part the expense of said build- ing; and if the above proposals should be accepted by a vote of said town, we do hereby jointly and severally agree and en- gage to completely finish said house without any other expense to said town, and we will give bonds to indemnify for the above purpose.

" In testimony whereof we have hereto set our hands.

" LABAN BATES, " JOHN SCAMMELL,

" ELIAB WIGHT,

" JOHN CHILSON,

' SIMEON HOLBROOK, " JOSEPH FAIRBANKS,

"SETH HOLBROOK, "SAMUEL DARLING, JR.,

"STEPHEN METCALF, JR., " ELISHA BURR."

In the September meeting the above was accepted by the town, and the first sum of five hundred dol- lars assessed. Joseph Fairbanks having set up a saw- and grist-mill on the Charles River, near where the Caryville Mills now stand, the selectmen laid out the road now known as Pearl Street, the road running to the Franklin line from the old turnpike. From 1796 to 1800 the town was not represented in the Legisla- ture, but in the last-named year Laban Bates was elected to that office, serving also in 1804. In 1802 the town declined to be represented. In December of the same year the town accepted of the new meet- ing-house (our present town hall), and Thomas Bald- win, of Boston, was decided upon to preach the dedi- cation sermon. A committee was chosen, and the clergy in surrounding towns invited. A subscription- paper was then circulated for the support of services. This not meeting with much favor, the town voted two hundred dollars in lieu thereof, and Rev. N. W. Rathburn was called. At the next annual meeting John Bates was chosen town clerk, in place of Eliab Wight, who had served the town in that capacity for a long term of years. In 1804 the town exchanged the old training-ground for a new one about the new meeting-house.

public duties at Bellingham Centre on account of the great distance, and this, aided by the growth of West Medway, so near by, culminated in 1807 in a petition for a new town formed from parts of Bellingham, Franklin, Medway, and Holliston. A viewing com- mittee from the Legislature visited the premises and reported adversely. In 1816 the matter was again agitated, and a hearing granted by the standing com- mittee of the House of Representatives. This com- mittee decided favorably, providing a portion of that part taken from Bellingham was relinquished ; but the people declining to do this, the decision was again adverse. In 1823 the matter was brought up again, and several hearings granted. In May, 1824, the fol- lowing petition was sent to the Senate and General Court. " The undersigned, inhabitants of the West Parish in Medway, humbly represent that your peti- tioners, comprising a small part of the towns of Med- way, Bellingham, Holliston, and Franklin, were incor- porated for parochial purposes about seventy-five years past by an act of the Legislature, since which time re- ligious worship has been regularly supported and parish privileges constantly exercised therein. That within a few years past two commodious houses for public worship, a parish house, and other buildings equally adapted to town and parish purposes have been erected, and that said parish as herein described contains about two hundred and fifty ratable polls, twelve hundred inhabitants, and nine hundred acres of land. They further represent that the inconveniences and evils of transacting town business in their several towns at the distance of from four to seven miles from their homes, while the distance to the centre of the parish does in no instance exceed three miles, the remoteness of your petitioners in Holliston from the shire-town of their county (Worcester) as at present situated, and the expense and inconvenience of performing military duty in their several towns at the distances above men- tioned, render an incorporation of your petitioners for town purposes highly desirable and necessary. Your petitioners therefore humbly pray that they may be incorporated as a town, with all the privileges of other towns within this commonwealth, according to the fol- lowing boundaries, viz. : Beginning at the Milford line, on the northerly side of Nahum Clark's farm, and running easterly, including said farm and across the land of Henry Adams, to a stake and stones on the northerly side of a town road; thence across said road to the northeast corner of said Adams' farm ; thence to a white-oak tree standing on the east side of the road, about twenty rods north of Capt. Jonathan Harding's barn; from thence to the

The difficulty arising from the attendance upon south side of the farm belonging to the estate of A.

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Morse, opposite his dwelling-house ; from thence to continue a straight line on the southerly side of said Morse's farm to the Pond road, so called ; thence run- ning southerly on said road about twenty-five rods ; thence easterly a straight line along the south side of Capt. M. Rockwood's home farm to the old grant line (so called) ; thence southerly on said line and Candlewood Island (so called) ; road to the old county road ; thence running southerly across said road and Charles River to the end of a road near Amos Fisher's , pline of inmates were adopted at the time the town's house, in Franklin ; thence southwesterly on said road to a town road leading from the factory village in Medway to Franklin meeting-house ; thence to the; corner of the road near the house of Joseph Bacon ; thence, following said road by Luther Ellis' house, to the southeasterly corner of Leonard Lawrence's land on the westerly side of said road ; thence to the southeast corner of Stephen Allen's meadow-land ; thence westerly across Mine Brook to a white-oak tree on the line between Bellingham and Franklin ; thence westerly, on a division line of lands of Stephen Met- calf and Jesse Coombs, to a town road in Bellingham ; thence westerly across Charles River to a stake and stones beside the turnpike road west of Elijah Dew- ing's barn ; thence, crossing said road and running northwesterly, to a town road on the division-line of Na- than Allen and Benjamin R. Partridge, easterly from said Allen's house ; thence northerly on said division line to Hollistontown line; thence running westerly on Holliston's line to farm corner (so called) ; thence northerly on the town line of Milford to the corner first mentioned. And as in duty bound will ever pray."

At this time (1825) Bellingham's valuation was $15,627 ; number of polls, 215; inhabitants, 1034. The amount of valuation taken into the proposed new town, $2157 ; number of polls, 28; inhabitants, 201. This would have left a valuation of $13,570, and 187 polls, with 833 inhabitants. The number of acres of land in Bellingham, 11,466; the number proposed to have been taken, 1133; leaving 10,333. The new town as a whole would, had it been set off, con- tain a valuation of $14,793, with 234 polls, and 1225 inhabitants. Out of all the persons to have been set off (134), only 61 objected, and 173 asked the State government to incorporate them, they representing a valuation of $11,280.70 ; but, for some reason to the writer unknown, the town was never established, and the question from that day to this has not been agi- tated, though it seems from present indications it may arise before long. In 1827, Maj. John C. Scammel | served as representative. No one served in 1828, but in 1829 Col. Joseph Rockwood was elected, and | ballots, it was voted to dismiss the warrant without

served two years, with Maj. Scammel returned in 1831. In 1829, John Cook was chosen town clerk, and the matter of a town farm was first discussed. In 1830 the annual town expense reached one thou- sand one hundred dollars. The committee authorized purchased the farm of Seth Holbrook, paying therefor three thousand five hundred dollars. The farm con- tained one hundred and fifty-five acres, and also its equipment of stock and tools. Rules for the disci- paupers were removed there. The expense the first year was four hundred and twenty-four dollars and eighty-four cents. The town's powder- house stood at this time on the land owned by Simeon Barney, and which house was built in 1811. In 1836 the small- pox again made its appearance, and a hospital was erected on the town farm, and the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars was expended in inoculation. In 1837 the town petitioned for a post-office, and selected Rev. Joseph T. Massey as postmaster. In the latter part of the year 1837, Edward C. Craig was appointed town clerk in place of John Cook (2d). Mr. Craig was appointed to the office at the next meeting. In 1840 the third story in the meeting-house was fin- ished off for an armory, and at this time the roll numbered one hundred and thirty-two of those per- sons doing and subject to military duty. Edward C. Craig declining to serve, Francis D. Bates was chosen town clerk in 1842. In this same year the choosing of tithingmen was abolished. In 1842 the town granted James Freeman the right to construct a shop on the town's land adjacent to the church, and in 1843 stoves were procured and placed in the town meeting- house for heating purposes. The selectmen generally occupied the position of Board of Health, but the first regular board consisted of Nahum Cook, George W. Blake, and James P. Thayer, elected May 1, 1843. In 1845, James M. Freeman was chosen town clerk. In 1846, Noah J. Arnold was chosen to favor the construction of a railroad from Woonsocket, R. I., to Boston. Mr. Freeman was retired in 1846 as town clerk, and Amos Holbrook elected. In 1832 and 1834, Stephen Metcalf served as representative; in 1836, no one; and 1837, John Cook (2d); in 1838, Asa Pickering; 1839 and 1840, no one; 1841, Dwight Colburn; 1842, Edward C. Craig; 1843, Jeremiah Crooks; 1844, James W. Freeman ; and in 1845 and 1846, no one. At the meeting in No- vember, 1846, four votes were taken on a represen- tative, and no choice was made in either ballot. On the next day four more ballots were taken, with the same success. On the following day, after two more

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BELLINGHAM.

sending a representative. The first printed school committee report was issued in 1847. In the same year the town was unsuccessful in electing a repre- sentative. In 1848 a movement was instituted on the part of the town of Roxbury, seeking to have the county-seat removed thereto, but the idea never met with much favor, our own town voting no unani- mously. Francis D. Bates was again chosen town clerk. About this time a difficulty arose with the Norfolk County Railroad, and the town forbade the company crossing or otherwise interfering with the town roads. In 1849 a board of town auditors was first chosen, which board consisted of Samuel Met- calf, George Nelson, and Edward C. Craig. In 1851, Martin Rockwood acted as representative. In the same year leave was granted James P. Thayer, Alan- son Bates, and others to build a boot-shop on the town's land at the centre.

In 1851 ten ballots were taken before Edwin Fair- banks was elected representative. Next year, the crows becoming so numerous as to cause a great deal of damage, a bounty of twenty-five cents was allowed on old birds and one-half as much on young crows, the bounty extending over a period of four months. The orthodox church at this time having become a thing of the past, and the building being occupied solely by the town, it was decided expedient to finish off the lower floor and rent it for boot-shop purposes. Fenner Cook served at the State-House in 1853, and Willard Thayer, after a long struggle, was finally elected delegate to the convention on revising the State Constitution. In the same year all that tract of land about the town house was sold, reserving one acre for the town hall and yard.

As crows previously became so far a nuisance as to demand a bounty, so this year a bounty of twenty- five cents was allowed on woodchucks. In Novem- ber the town so far relented as to allow, for the first time, the leasing of the town hall for " public enter- tainments of a moral nature." In the same month, after an uninterrupted and persistent effort to choose a representative for the next year, the idea was finally abandoned, and no choice was made. The Charles River Railroad being agitated, and the town recognizing the benefit naturally derived from direct communication with Boston, resolved, in 1849,-

" That it is of vital importance to the present and future wel- fare of this town to have the Charles River Railroad extended to the State line, near the village of Woonsocket, in the State of Rhode Island, and the town in its co-operative capacity does most earnestly pray that the said railroad may be chartered agreeably to the report of the committee on railroads and canals which is now before the honorable Senate on its final passage, as the passage of the bill chartering said railroad would be the

means of building it, and thus opening a communication by railroad to the inhabitants of Bellingham not only with Boston, but with Woonsocket and Providence, in the State of Rhode Island, and with the city of New York."

This resolution passed unanimously, and the railroad is now known as the Woonsocket Division of the New York and New England Railroad. In the year 1856 the town abated the taxes on the stock of the above road. In 1854 and 1855, Charles Cook (2d) served at the State capitol. At the March meeting Eliab Hol- brook was elected town clerk. About this time applica- tion was made for the town hall for a dance, and the town considered the request, as it " Voted that the town let the town hall for all good and lawful dances." In 1856, Martin Rockwood was sent to the General Court, and during the next year Rucl F. Thayer acted as town clerk. In 1858, Horace Rockwood served as representative. In 1858 our present tax collector came to light in the same official position which he has held for a long term of years, with short intervals of rest. We refer to Hon. Daniel J. Pickering, collector. In 1860 the renowned Dr. George Nelson was placed on the school committee, and the Baptist clergyman, Rev. Joseph T. Massey (previously named), elected town treasurer. In 1861 the citizens liable to military duty were a follows :

Sanford W. Allen.

Anson E. Cook.

Addison H. Allen.

James O. Chilson.

Elijah Arnold.

Louis M. Chilson.

Louis Arnold.

Whipple O. Chilson.

Albert Arnold.

Hiram M. Cook.

George Ames.

Munroe F. Cook.

Samuel A. Adams.

William E. Cook.

Edmund J. Adams.

Nathan A. Cook.

Dexter D. Bates.

John D. Chilson.

Addison S. Burr.

William E. Coombs.

Seneca Burr.

Stephen F. Coombs.

Crawford Bowdich.

John Carr.

Albert F. Bates.

Henry B. Cook.

Alanson Bates.

William H. Carey.

William Bates.

Albert H. Colburn.

Edward Butler.

Julius Cross.

Henry W. Blake.

Joseph Cross.

Nathaniel Bozworth.

Alvin H. Clark.

Boswell Bent.

Sherman R. Chilson.

Charles Barrows.

Moses Drake.

Andrew Boyce.

Thomas McDowell.

Frederick J. Bemis.

Joseph L. Daniels.

Charles E. Burr.

Perry H. Dawley.

Adams J. Barber, Jr.

Lyman C. Darling.

Smith Burlingame.

Alfred O. Darling.

William A. Darling.

James Burlingame. Joseph U. Burr.

A. M. Darling.

Davis P. Chilson.

Luke Darling.

Elisha N. Crosby.

Edward McDowell.

Hiram A. Cook.

Alexander McDowell.

Samuel W. Claflin.

Ariel B. Drake.

Willard N. Chilson.

William McDowell.

Henry Cook.

O. N. Evans.

Elisha Chase.

John H. Eaton.

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HISTORY OF NORFOLK COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

John Eddy.

Amos L. Osgood.

Albert W. Follett.

Asa Pickering (2d). William Page.

Joseph Fairbanks. Edwin Fairbanks. William Fairbanks.

Amos Partridge, Jr.

Calvin Fairbanks.

John E. Fisher.

Louis L. Fisher.

Charles Farrington.

Joseph Fisk.

Henry U. Rockwood.

Oliver Gardner.

Edward Gallagan.

Louis H. Rockwood.

John W. Gerstle.

Henry Rhodes.

Alonzo H. Gayer.

Thomas R. Richards.

Joseph Gerstle.

William Sherburne.

Thomas H. Gay.

Charles H. Shippee.

Thomas B. Getchell.

Edgar N. Scott.

Joel Howard.

Erastus D. Slocum.

George Hixon.

William Sprague.

Joseph H. Holbrook.

George N. Tillinghast.

Charles P. Hancock.

Benjamin Tinkham.

Frank E. Hancock.

Andrew J. Tingley.

Elisha H. Towne.

Amos R. Bent.

Charles E. Burr.

Joseph Osgood.

Michael Harpen.

Charles W. Thayer.

John W. Higgins.

Charles Tingley.

John Terlin.

Asa Pickering.

George II. Howard.

Henry Thayer.

Peter McKeen.

Frederick Bates.

Thomas Hines.

Charles Williams.

George L. Metcalf.

Martin V. B. Cook.

Joseph Hope.

Sylvanus White.

John C. Metcalf.

John J. Gertsell.

Charles N. Hixon.

Elbridge Whitney.

Edward J. Adams.

Joseph Gertsell.

Luther Hixon.

Henry A. Whitney.

Charles P. Hancock.

Samuel D. Gregory.

George Jennison.

Willis Whitney.

Jarius Lawrence.

Handel Holbrook.

James A. Joslin.

Samuel Sturtevant.

Thomas McDowell.

Joseph W. Holbrook.

Horace Inman.

Cornelius Sullivan.

Willard O. Freeman. Willis Whiting.

Dudley Keach.

Daniel Shea.

George A. Richardson.

James W. Pickering.

William Keach.

Lucian Sheppard.

Amos Keach.

Hazard P. Slocum.

James Davis.

Howard Carleton.

Frederick Kingman.

Ruel F. Thayer.

Peter Mckean.

James P. Thayer.

David Lawrence.

Charles T. Thayer.

Warren Lazelle.

Joseph Thompson, Jr.

George Matterson.

Charles Thomas.

Joseph Moore.

Benjamin M. Usher.

John C. Metcalf.

Alonzo N. Whitney.

Francis Metcalf. Jonathan Wright.

Frederick B. T. Miller.

Elijah D. Wilcox.

Solyman Miller.

Benjamin W. Woodbury.

James Malone.

Henry Wilcox.

George Nelson (2d).

Henry Waterman.

Ellis T. Norcross.

enlisting for three years received seven hundred dol- lars. In September five thousand dollars were voted to pay the town's enlisting soldiers. In 1863, George H. Townsend was sent as representative. In 1865 one thousand dollars was expended in paying State aid to soldiers' families. In the same year Hollis Metcalf and others asked the town to lay out and widen the street now known as Pearl Street. The town refusing the prayer of the petition, the county commissioners granted the same, and charged the expense to the town. In 1866, William Fairbanks was elected to serve the district at the State-House.

Of those persons from our town who served in the war of the Rebellion, the following names appear in the " Record of Massachusetts Volunteers," none ap- pearing on the town books :

George Swift.

John V. Coombs.

Jarius Hancock.

Martin Tingley.

Patrick Gallagher. Pardon L. Crosby.

Robert Poste.

Garrick F. Moore.

Thomas D. Getchell.

A total of thirty-three. In 1872, Seneca Burr was chosen representative, and in 1875, Rev. Joseph T. Massey, pastor of the Baptist Church, was sent. In 1879, Hiram Whiting was empowered, and in 1882, | Nathan A. Cook. In 1870, Rev. J. T. Massey was elected town clerk, and served ten years, Roland Hammond, M.D., being then chosen to the office on account of Mr. Massey resigning his pastorate and leaving the town, to spend the remainder of his life near his boyhood home in Virginia, where he has purchased the " Thomas Jefferson" estate. In April, 1882, Dr. Hammond tendered his resignation, and Arthur N. Whitney was appointed by the selectmen to serve out the unexpired term, and in 1883, Henry A. Whitney, the present incumbent, was elected.

The commencement of the civil war drew out the first public action of the town in an appropria- tion of two thousand dollars to fit out and drill those men who had gone and were going in defense of their country. In the same year Hon. Daniel J. Having considered in chronological order the most important events in the town's past career, it may be advisable to look for a moment to its people, its facili- ties, and its industries as they now exist. Our people, collectively considered, travel very little, and the pos- terity of the early families to a great extent still reside within the town limits, and on the same homesteads Pickering was sent as representative. In July, 1862, the town offered a bounty of one hundred dollars for each volunteer until seventeen were obtained, and to all who enlisted in ten days after that date ten dol- lars additional was paid. A call coming in August of the same year for more men (nine months'), a bounty of two hundred dollars was offered, and those occupied by their fathers. Few mechanical indus-

In all one hundred and sixty-nine.

Charles Partridge. Vernon S. Partridge. Asa Partridge. Calvin N. Rockwood. Vernon B. Rockwood.

George B. Rockwood.

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BELLINGHAM.

tries have settled here; still, those that have, find warm support on the part of the citizens. Perhaps because farming alone constitutes the chief industry of the town, this may serve as a reason why so many of our young men leave town on arriving at that period when it becomes necessary for them to strike out for themselves.

| This privilege consists of two granite mills having eight sets of machinery and a capacity of three thousand yards per day. This mill is superintended by Hiram Whiting, Esq. One mile below on the river, and four miles from the centre, is the Caryville Mills, having a capacity of three thousand yards of satinet, as at North Bellingham. This privilege is owned by Taft, McKean & Co. (Moses Taft, William

By the last census the town had as its inhabitants 612 males and 635 females, a total of 1247. Of A. McKean, Addison E. Bullard), and was formerly this number, 360 were ratable polls, 307 of whom run by William Cary, from whom the locality was named. Previous to the present company the con- cern was run under the name of C. H. Cutler & Co., the latter firm coming into existence on the death of C. H. Cutler, five years ago. At Rakeville is an establishment where farm tools are made, and which business was established by Jerold O. Wilcox, and is now carried on by his son, D. E. Wilcox. The main line of the New York and New England Rail- road runs through the southeast portion of the town, and the station there is termed Rand's Crossing. The Woonsocket Division of the same road runs the entire length of the town, with stations at the centre, North Bellingham, and Caryville. The Milford, Franklin and Providence Railroad, just completed, runs across the town, and crosses the Woonsocket Division of the New York and New England Rail- road at Bellingham Centre, and also has a station in town named South Milford, so, as will be observed, there are four stations in the town besides the junc- tion at the centre. The passenger service is so ad- its traffic to and from Boston five times daily, the distance being about twenty-nine miles. In town there are five stores, four factories, three grist-mills, and seven saw-mills. Formerly there were four boot- and shoe-factories, producing over 225 twelve-pair cases per week, three of which establishments were at the town centre and the largest at Caryville. To the one at Caryville we now refer. This business was established in 1848 by E. & W. Fairbanks. In 1864 the latter bought out the former, and made within ten years two substantial additions thereto, so that ninety hands found employment in making boots for the Western trade. The annual production consisted of 7000 cases, in the making of which were consumed 125,000 pounds of sole leather, 350,- 000 feet of upper leather, 160 bushels of pegs, and 7500 pounds of nails. were born in town, 24 were naturalized, and the re- mainder persons coming in from other towns. There are 25 individuals following professional pursuits in town and out, and 26 are engaged in trade, 178 in farming, and 356 in manufacturing and mechanical industries, making a total of 1069, who are continually adding to the common stock. There are 11 foreign- born and 5 native-born who can neither read nor write. Of those citizens who have been and are specially prominent and beneficial to the town we may mention Stephen Metcalf, Stephen Metcalf, Jr., Noah Alden, Noah Arnold, Rev. Joseph T. Massey, Cornelius H. Cutler, William Fairbanks, Hiram W. Whiting, E. Baron Stowe, Ruel F. Thayer, and Nathan A. Cook. The town is divided into localities, as follows : At the south end of the town, " Rake- ville" and "Scott Hill"; west of and approximate to the town centre, "Crimpville"; toward the north part of the town, " North Bellingham"; and at the extreme north end, " Caryville," named from William H. Cary, formerly a resident, but now of Medway. | justed that nearly every station in town can forward Bellingham Centre has a post-office, with one mail per day from Boston. North Bellingham has a post- office, with two mails per day from Boston, and Cary- ville also has a post-office, and besides having two mails per day to and from Boston, has one to Milford and one to Medway. Bellingham is in the form of a parallelogram, is nine miles long by two wide, and is bounded by Medway and Franklin on the north and east, the State of Rhode Island on the south, and the towns of Mendon and Milford on the west. The Charles River enters the town at South Milford, and flows through the town centre, North Bellingham, and Caryville. At the centre are two dams, one the property of Seneca Burr, who runs a saw- and grist- mill ; the other, known as " the old red mill," is owned by the Rays, of Franklin, and is now used to grind rags, etc., for use at other mills. At North Belling- ham the Ray Woollen Company has an extensive In the year 1874 the proprietor, William Fair- banks, died, and, virtually, with his death the entire business became lost to the town. Immediately upon his decease the business was disposed of by his ex- ecutor to Houghton, Coolidge & Co., of Boston, privilege for the manufacture of satinet cloth, and which was formerly run by Noah Arnold as a cotton- mill. Dr. Seth Arnold, of "Dr. Seth Arnold's Balsam," formerly resided here with his relative.

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History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Part 33

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1534

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1534