USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > North Brookfield > History of North Brookfield, Massachusetts. Preceded by an account of old Quabaug, Indian and English occupation, 1647-1676; Brookfield records, 1686-1783 > Part 29
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TOWN OF NORTH BROOKFIELD.
a party at Esq. Hale's father's, and they had hashed meat for supper, which was considered a great treat.
" Old Mr. Pickard used to go to Boston once a year and get a barrel of rum, which he brought up chained to the axle of his ox-cart wheels. This would last him and his neighbors a year.
" The use of fine flour bread is another thing which has come about in comparatively recent times. Since my recollection, the purchase of 7 lbs. of flour was more thought of in the family, than is a barrel now. I have heard Col. Nye say that in the family where he was brought up, and lived ten years, there was not a particle of fine flour used at the table where he ate."
The following anecdote was told by Mr. Amasa Walker, as character- istic of the close of the century. Capt. John Potter of the Lower Vil- lage, was the watchmaker, and a leading man in public affairs. His sign intimated, watchmaking and " Mathematical Instruments." But in truth he was a universal genius, to whom everybody went for all delicate and difficult mechanical makings and mendings.
Not far from his shop was the village tavern. The hostess was a smart, sociable lady, well posted in her vocation, but not versed in tech- nical terms of uncommon use. One day in the absence of her husband, a stranger called, and ordered dinner ; and while it was in preparation, made many inquiries of the landlady about the town, its trades, etc. Among other things he asked, "Who is your clergyman?" It was a new word to her; and hesitating a moment, she answered, "Capt. Potter."
When the husband came home at evening, she said to him -- " a gen- tleman took dinner here to-day, and asked a great many questions about the place ; and among others, who the clergyman was ; and I told him, Capt. Potter ; for as I did not know what he meant, and as Capt. Potter did every thing, I thought he must be the clergyman, if we had any."
THE TOWN OF NORTH BROOKFIELD. - The first move towards obtain- ing town privileges was made in 1810. An article was inserted in the Parish warrant, May 13, 1810, To consider whether the Parish will vote to be set off as a Separate Town from the other Parishes, with all the privileges of a Town. On the question, Will the inhabitants send a pe- tition to the Legislature, for the purpose of being separated from the other precincts and be incorporated into a Township by the name of North Brookfield ? 82 voted Aye, and 10 voted Nay. Daniel Gilbert, Esq. Lieut. Jason Biglow, Luke Potter, Capt. Aaron Forbes and Dr. Jacob Kittridge were appointed a committee to draft a petition, which was as follows : "To the Honbl Senate and House of Representatives -
The Inhabitants of the Second Precinct in Brookfield humbly pray that they may be set off from the other Precincts in said Town, and be
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SECOND PRECINCT-NORTH BROOKFIELD.
incorporated into a Township by the name of North Brookfield; and that the Territorial limits of such Incorporation may be the same as those whereby the said Precinct is now designated.
" And the said Inhabitants would beg leave further to state, that from the extensive limits of said Town, it being separated into three distinct precincts, together with the necessary mode of transacting the business of the same, by annual rotation in each Precinct, they not only find the distance of travel burdensome, but, in considering the transacting of their parochial concerns a two-fold labor and expense ; That the offices of said Town are of necessity distant from the Centre, and that from the number of its Inhabitants, and the multiplicity of the business of the said Town, the term of one day insufficient for transacting the same."
Voted, Capt. Aaron Forbes an agent to present said petition to the Legislature.
Dec. 31, 1810. Voted, Lieut. Jason Biglow an agent to support the petition now in the General Court.
Voted, Daniel Gilbert, Esq., Luke Potter, Capt. Abel Harwood, Capt. Wm Ayres and Moses Bond be a committee to associate with their agent. Capt. Forbes was paid $7, for his services at Boston, and Lieut. Biglow $13.85.
The application failed ; and April 15, 1811, another petition was sent to the Legislature, in charge of Daniel Gilbert, Esq., as agent for the Precinct. This new petition stated the bounds of the proposed town, as they were defined in the Act establishing the Second Precinct [see ante, p. 250 ] as far as to the northeast corner of Joshua Dodge, Jr's land ; and adds-"Thence westwardly on the most southwardly lines of lands now owned by Samuel Waite and Daniel Waite, and Calvin and Francis Stone to the said Calvin and Francis' southwest corner ; Thence northwardly on the most westwardly lines of said Calvin and Francis Stone's land, to the line dividing the Town of New Braintree from the Town of Brookfield - the lands of said Calvin and Francis Stone and part of Whitney hill (so called) having been set to the said town of Brookfield from New Braintree, more than twenty years ago, in consideration of territory taken from said Second Parish and annexed to the town of New Braintree, and has since been considered a portion of the Second Parish, and been assessed as part of the same." The bounds were then continued on the lines of New Braintree, Oakham and Spencer to George Harrington's northeast corner. "And further, your petitioners beg leave to state, that they are tenants in common with the two other Parishes, in a certain Burying Ground, lying in the Third Parish, and that as there are many families in said Second Precinct whose deceased connections are deposited there, your Petitioners hum-
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ACT OF INCORPORATION.
bly pray, they may be permitted to retain the same interest therein which they now possess.
Signed
JASON BIGLOW WM AYRES, 2d EZRA BATCHELLER
LUKE POTTER DANIEL GILBERT
HUGH CUNNINGHAM
AMOS BOND Committee.
Act of Incorporation.
SECT. I. Be it enacted etc. That all that part of the town of Brookfield which has been heretofore called and known by the name of the Second or North Parish (excepting that part of said territory now lying south of the post-road leading from Worcester through Spencer to Springfield), together with the inhabitants thereon, be, and the same is hereby incorporated into a separate town by the name of NORTH BROOKFIELD. And the said town of North Brookfield is hereby vested with all the powers and privileges, and shall also be subject to all the duties to which other corporate towns are entitled and subjected by the constitution and laws of this Commonwealth.
SECT. 2. Be it further enacted, That the inhabitants of the said town of North Brookfield shall be entitled to hold such proportion of all the personal property now belonging to and owned in common by the inhabitants of the town of Brookfield, as the property of the said inhabitants of North Brook- field bears to the property of all the inhabitants of the town of Brookfield, according to the last valuation thereof.
SECT. 3. Be it further enacted, That the inhabitants of the said town of North Brookfield shall be holden to pay all arrears of taxes due from them, together with their proportion (to be ascertained as aforesaid) of all the debts now due and owing from the said town of Brookfield, or which may be here- after found due and owing by reason of any contract or other matter and thing heretofore entered into, or now existing.
SECT. 4. Be it further enacted, That the said town of North Brookfield shall be holden to support their proportion of the present poor of the town of Brookfield, which proportion shall be ascertained by the present valuation of the town; and all persons who may hereafter become chargeable, as paupers, to the town of Brookfield and North Brookfield, shall be considered as belonging to that town, on the territory of which they had their settle- ment at the time of passing this act, and shall in future be chargeable to that town only.
SECT. 5. Be it further enacted, That the said town of North Brookfield shall be holden to pay their proportion of all state, town and county taxes assessed on the inhabitants of the said town of Brookfield, until a new val- uation shall be made of the said Towns. Provided, That the said town of North Brookfield shall be holden, until the further order of the Legislature to pay to the town of Brookfield such proportion of any of the expenses of maintaining the bridges and causeways over the rivers in the town of Brook-
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SECOND PRECINCT-NORTH BROOKFIELD.
field, as a committee of the Court of Sessions for the county of Worcester shall determine ; and said Court of Sessions are hereby authorized, on ap- plication of either of the inhabitants of Brookfield or North Brookfield, from time to time, to appoint a committee for the above purpose, whose report, made to and accepted by said court, shall be binding on the said towns.
SECT. 6. Be it further enacted, That any Justice of the Peace for the county of Worcester, upon application therefor, is hereby authorized to issue his warrant, directed to any freeholder in the said town of North Brookfield, requiring him to notify and warn the inhabitants thereof to meet at such time and place as shall be appointed in said warrant, for the choice of such officers as towns are by law required to choose at their annual town meet- ings. [Passed Feb. 28, 1812.]
Feb. 20, 1818, the Legislature passed an Act, to provide for the repeal of the fifth section of the above Act, as follows :
Be it enacted, that Austin Flint of Leicester, Nathaniel Jones of Barre, and Joseph Cummings of Ware, are hereby appointed a committee to hear and consider the claim of Brookfield on the one part, and of North Brook- field on the other; and finally to determine whether the town of North Brookfield ought in future, to pay any part of the expenses of maintaining the bridges and causeways in the town of Brookfield . . .
SECT. 2. Be it further enacted, That from and after the time the report of said committee, shall be filed in the office of the Secretary of the Com- monwealth, the said fifth Section of said Act incorporating the town of North Brookfield, shall be repealed ; and the duties and liabilities of said North Brookfield, resulting from the said section, shall altogether cease . . .
At this point the historian begins to realize the irreparable loss conse- quent upon the destruction of the North Brookfield Town Records by fire. The labor of gathering materials for the fifty years covered by those Records has been difficult and discouraging, and in many respects results are unsatisfactory ; and the history of those years must necessarily be fragmentary and topical. What has been attempted is, to present fully the leading and essential facts and movements that have contributed to build up the town's industries, and give character to its inhabitants. Fortunately, a few persons were living when this work was commenced, whose memories covered the period in question. The Historical Dis- courses of Dr. Snell contain much important matter ; some papers pre- pared by Messrs. Freeman and Amasa Walker are accessible ; a large amount of historical material has been collected and saved by Mr. Henry E. Waite ; and the results of Mr. Charles Adams, Jr's five years of earnest labor in searching family records, and drawing forth family reminiscences ; all these, and the constant aid of members of the committee of publi- cation, have been at the writer's disposal ; and to these sources is due whatever of completeness marks the remaining pages of the book.
265
NORTH BROOKFIELD IN 1800.
It will help the reader to appreciate the progress of the town, if we can draw a true picture of the place as it was when the present century opened. Dr. Snell says: "At the time of my settlement (1798), the scenery was rural beyond almost any other town in the region, the popu- lation everywhere very sparse, and not five -if there was one - well- finished and neatly painted house in town-and but three or four dwelling houses within about half a mile of our meeting-house, which of all others was the place of the greatest retirement, except on the Sabbath. The spot, while far from central, furnished no eligible sites for building ; and there being no mercantile business in town, but upon a very small scale, and but one mechanic [Capt. John Potter] within nearly a mile, the house of worship had around it through all the week, a remarkable stillness ; disturbed only by the coming and going of the sickly, the palsied, those afflicted with swellings, disjointed bones, broken limbs, and the diseased of every sort, who resorted for relief, like the multitude around Bethesda, and with much the same confidence of a cure, to your far-famed surgeon, Dr. Jacob Kittridge, whose decease in 1813 was so much lamented. The age and infirmities and consequent coldness of your former house of worship, without any means of warming it in severe weather, together with the distance of dwelling houses (except two or three), rendered the condition of the people on a cold Sabbath every thing but tolerable ; and the labors of the minister wholly useless, unless to afflict his hearers with a long discourse for not providing a warmer house. When almost every one was anxiously looking for the close of service that he might thaw out from his morning's freeze, and that desire was to be read in the countenance without danger of mistake, you may well imagine that the feelings of the speaker could not be of the most pleasant sort, especially when he had spent half the week, day and night, in preparing his discourse. I wonder that so many people then attended public worship in severe weather, making their way for miles to God's house, without any means of warming, till the noon intermis- sion. And now I as much wonder that so many absent themselves from `the sanctuary, as I then did that so many attended.
" Every individual who went to meeting, with the exception of some half dozen, must be either a pedestrian or a horseman. For those who did not walk, there was but one mode of conveyance, and that the saddle and pillion. A wagon was a thing unknown ; and as for chaises, there were but three or four in town,' and scarcely an umbrella for protection from rain. People of both sexes were obliged to take the storm as it was sent; and thought it no great task to walk in clusters two or three miles to the sanctuary.
1 Among the first to own chaises, were Thomas Hale, Esq., Lieut. John Bigelow, Solomon Barns, Daniel Forbes, Esq. and Nicholas Jenks.
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SECOND PRECINCT-NORTH BROOKFIELD.
"The inhabitants were all husbandmen - even the few mechanics who wrought at their trades merely to supply town customers, were farmers upon a larger or smaller scale. There was not more than a single mechanic whose ware was purchased abroad ; while we were wholly dependent upon other places for most kinds of mechanical business, no less than for merchandise. . .. The population of the Precinct was then about 1, 100, nor did it essentially vary for nearly 30 years."
At that date, Wait's Corner, in the northwest part, and the forge and mills on Five-mile river, were the main business centres of the place.
The clothier's shops, at these points, have been described in Chapter I. ; as has Capt. Potter's mechanical laboratory at the Lower Village, in a preceding page of this chapter.
The stores - referred to by Dr. Snell - were Joseph Thurston's, who lived at the Harvey Belcher place, and kept a barrel of new rum, ditto. of sugar, a chest of tea, a few nutmegs and notions ; Samuel Hinckley's, west of Buxton's hill, who kept molasses, which he bought by the hogs- head, West India rum, and logwood, indigo and madder, some English calicoes, and an assortment of spices ; and William Fiske's, near the meeting-house, who promised to rival Hinckley's, but died in 1800.
The taverns were Wait's, near Woolcott's Corner ; Thomas Ball's, at the Lower Village ; and Capt. Harwood's, on the hill near the Amasa Walker place.
The village blacksmith was Dea. Walter Walker, at the Amasa Walker place ; John Hinds, in the east part ; Wyman Bartlett, near the Walnut . Grove cemetery ; and Chellis Keep in the west part. The Jenkses did blacksmithing at their forge, and their two trip hammers gave them special facility for doing heavy work.
Joseph Parks, the nail maker, lived in the southeast part.
Thomas Barns was the gunsmith.
Salmon Dean had a tannery in Spunky Hollow ; Francis Stone had another at Wait's Corner ; David Thompson and Daniel Wetherbee had a tan-yard opposite the E. Hill place.
Elijah and Daniel Richardson were the wheelwrights ; and Paul Has- kell did such work when he had leisure. He depended on farming for a living ; and the Richardsons were forced to seek a more remunerative calling among the rich virgin soils of Vermont. Their work here was mainly the making of ox-cart wheels, axles and tongues, as the carpen- ters or the farmers themselves could get out the cart-body, and the ox- sleds. Such a vehicle as a pleasure wagon - and that without springs - was a rare luxury, as late as 1812.
The carpenters were Bela Stoddard, Josiah Parker, Nathan Carruth and Joseph Poland; but every thriving man could hew, and mortise, and lay shingles.
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THE FIRST TOWN MEETING.
Dea. Benj. Adams and Ezra Batcheller, Sen. were the principal coop- ers.
The cobblers of that day, were Ezra Richmond, who had a small shop in the east part of the town; Malachi Tower, who lived in the old Dempsey house ; Thomas Tucker and Abiel Dean. They had a bench in their kitchens ; but used to go round to the farmers' houses in the fall with their kit, and stay a week or so, mending and making the family supply of shoes.
Tom Humphrey made and peddled peeled brooms; but the father or grandfather usually did this work of a winter's evening.
Wm Hubbard, a wounded English soldier, was the tailor ; and Abigail Wright the tailoress ; but the woman did as much cutting and fitting as the man ; and in a majority of cases, both tailoring and dress-making were done by the housewife or a maiden sister, at home.
Spinning and weaving - for every family owned a great and little wheel, and the loom was still a common appendage to the unfinished garret - were " household arts," as also was wool-dyeing. The dye-pot kept its place in the chimney corner till the century was well opened ; and the madder tub was displaced only when Dea. Ellis of the West Precinct introduced his new method of coloring scarlet. Lamb's wool cloth, skilfully fulled, and dressed, and colored, made a red riding-hood that set off to good advantage a plump face and side curls, and the girls knew it, and so did their mothers.
Joseph Thurston had a small potash house in his garden ; and every farmer annually set up a leach-tub, for extracting lye for soap making. Samuel Stevens and Elisha Drake had a small pottery, where they made brown earthen ware. Justus Stevens was the sieve maker.
The four principal cider mills, were Cyrus Ayres' in the east part, William Ayres, 2d's in the west part, Samuel Cheevers' near Capt. Nye's, and Jonathan Wetherbee's, where the Big Shop now is.
The only brick house in all the Brookfields, in 1798, was one built by Maj. Peter Harwood, soon after the Revolution. It stood 13 miles east of No. Brookfield village ; is now owned by Charles S. Knight.
Eleazer Bradshaw, the hatter, was the prim bachelor of those times, who always wore a Quaker hat of his own manufacture, and was once sent as representative to the General Court. He sold groceries in a small way; was honest; kept his own counsel; and died worth $40,000.
1812. - The first town meeting was held on Tuesday, Mar. 10, 1812. Daniel Gilbert, Esq., was chosen moderator, and Moses Bond, town clerk.
In June of this year, war was declared by the United States against Great Britain. Public sentiment was divided in relation to the reasons
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SECOND PRECINCT-NORTH BROOKFIELD.
for, and the righteousness of the step. But, without regard to politics, the Brookfield Light Infantry Co., when ordered out by Lt. Col. Salem Town, promptly responded, and marched to the defence of Boston. They were in camp at the " Rope Walk," South Boston, Sept. 8, to Oct. 30, 1814.
Company Roll : Lewis Abbott, captain ; Nathaniel Lynde, lieutenant ; Daniel Drake, ensign; Wm Hastings, Bensley Davis, Pliny Upham, Jona. Moore, sergeants ; Seth B. Otis, Benj. Adams, Cheney Rice, Foster Newton, corporals ; Nathan Doane, Parker Johnson, Samuel Stevens, Samuel Spooner, musicians ; privates, Wm Barrett, Ruf: - Barrows, Sylvanus Brigham, Cheney Dewing, Ephraim Dewing, Dexter Forbes, Reuben Gilbert, Nathaniel Harwood, Daniel Matthews, Cheney Olds, George Olds, Jonathan Olds, Solomon F. Olds, Edmund Potter, Henry Seyers, Lewis Smith, Joel Upham, Otis Waite, Geo. Wilder, Leonard Winslow.
INDUSTRIES. - In Chapter I. were enumerated and described all those industries which depended on water-power for their successful prosecu- tion. In this chapter will be described only those which depend on mechanical skill, and are driven by hand-power, horse-power or steam- power ; and the list will be chiefly confined to such as can properly be classed as public enterprises. And as will appear, these several enter- prises are all in a single line of business.
The seed which has developed into the great tree of North Brook- field's prosperity, was planted in 1810, by Oliver Ward, who came from Grafton, where the business of shoe-making had already been estab- lished. " Previous to the shoe business," says Dr. Snell in his Histori- cal Discourse of 1850, "the people of this town with a very few exceptions, were farmers, and were making next to no progress in any thing profitable, or calculated to elevate their character and promote the cause of morality or civilization. They had no productive employ- ment, and did but little else through the winter months, but to get their fuel, [sit by the kitchen fire,] drink their cider, and tend their cattle. There were many poor families - poor houses - and poorly furnished. The mechanics were few, and did business upon a very narrow scale. With one or two exceptions only, all their customers were their neigh- bors. The introduction of the shoe business and its successful prose- cution, which furnished profitable employment to almost all classes of people, in a few years put a new face upon things, bringing ready money into the hands of the diligent and laborious poor, made them comfortable livers, and freed from debt, and put spare money into their pockets. The extension of this business soon began to increase our population - buildings were repaired - children handsomely clothed - new habitations began to rise and multiply, till this flourishing village
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OLIVER WARD.
with a busy population stands before you, as the result of diligence and reformation from some of our old and impoverishing habits. Instead of sending the products of the farm to a distant market, it is with scarcely an exception, more than consumed among ourselves. Most of the people seem to have money enough to purchase any and every thing they wish, and even many things they would do better without - and defray expenses that never ought to be incurred - which serve to waste precious time, and impoverish and corrupt the mind, rather than increase rational enjoyment and intellectual edification.
" We are greatly indebted for our temporal prosperity to gentlemen who have so steadily and honorably for many years, gone forward in this manufacturing enterprise. If they have found it for their gain, we are to rejoice in it. Who goes a warfare at his own charges? The ox that treads out the corn is not to be muzzled. Who would subject himself to all this care, and labor, and risk, and vexation, for nothing? While they are promoting the prosperity of others, it would be painful to think that they must lose all themselves. Their past influence in support of order and correct habits, and religious institutions, and benevolent oper- ations, and good principles, ought not to be forgotten."
OLIVER WARD. - As already intimated, to Oliver Ward belongs the honor of starting the manufacture of sale shoes in North Brookfield ; and his was the earliest establishment of the kind west of Worcester. Mr. Adams says of him: "Mr. Ward learned the tanner's trade of Clark . Brown of Grafton ; came from Grafton to North Brookfield a little be- fore 1810, and for a short time carried on the tanning business in Spunky Hollow. He started a shoe manufactory here in 1810, depending mainly on the Southern market for sales of his goods. At first, only sewed work was done. But after a short time, pegged work was introduced. Mr. Ward made his own pegs. Maple logs were sawed into sections of the proper length, which were then split with a long thin knife into splints, the points cut with a stiff knife, and then the splint divided into pegs. The next improvement was to cut the points of the pegs in the blocks with a knife and mallet before splitting ; and the next was to cut the points with a toothed gouge driven like a carpenter's plane ; and the next to do the whole by machinery.
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