USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Orange > History of North Orange, Massachusetts : including leading events from the first organization of Orange, 1781-1924. > Part 11
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* This is the only brick house in North Orange or Tully, and was built from bricks made on the place. It was erected by Ebenezer Goddard, a prosperous farmer, who sold it to Humphrey Smitb,
FIFTY-TWO
Honorable to the people of the town was the whole-heartedness with which they supported this resolution.
As the war progressed there was a great demand for labor as well as a demand for volunteers. The wages of a workman became much greater than the pay of an enlisted man and while the workman found the demands of patriotism urgent, so also were the demands of his family for support. As a means of equalizing these demands, bounties were paid to volunteers and State Aid to their families.
1862, July 26. The town voted to pay each volunteer for three years service a bounty of $100 and to each volunteer for nine months service $50 when mustered in and credited to the quota of the town. The next month the bounty to 9- months men was increased to $100. 1864, November 8, the town bounty was fixed at $125. Citizens often added personal contributions to this amount; thus in addition to his bounty, each volunteer before leaving for the front was fur- nished by citizens with from two to twenty-five dollars for immediate use.
Nor should we forget the constant energy and ardor with which the women of North Orange worked in behalf of the soldiers. At their "Soldiers' Aid Meet- ings" held in different houses, the women rolled bandages, scraped lint, made quilts and underwear. These with other material for the comfort of soldiers in hospital, field and camp were packed in boxes and forwarded to the Christian and Sanitary commissions to be through them sent to the army and hospitals. The total value of articles forwarded to these commissions by the women of North Orange is given as $800. At aleveein N. L. Johnson's hall, January 28, 1863, the sum of $113.55 was raised "to help the boys who fight for us."
To President Lincoln's call for 75000 men on that memorable 15th of April, 1861, North Orange responded quickly. We learn from the Adjutant General's records that Orange furnished 209 men for the Civil War,-a surplus of ten over and above all demands. Of that number the following may be credited to North Orange. The list was taken from the Adjutant General's records.
15th Regiment, Co. C. Three years men. George Stafford 18; mustered in February 18, 1862. Died July 17, 1862.
21st Regiment, Co. A. Mustered in August 23, 1861. Three years men. Converse Mayo, 17, discharged for disability December 7, 1862. Wmn. H. Mellen, Corporal, 18, discharged August 30, 1864 at expiration of service.
25th Regiment, Co. I. Mustered in October 3, 1861. Three years men. John S. Brown, 29, discharged for wounds, October 2, 1862. Benjamin W. Mayo, Sergeant, 25, discharged October 8, 1864 at expiration of service. Charles Morton, 19, discharged January 18, 1864 at expiration of service to re-enlist January 19, 1864; discharged July 14, 1865 at expiration of service. Augustus Temple, 21, discharged March 19, 1863 for disability. Marcus H. Ward, 24, taken prisoner at Chowan River, April 16, 1863; exchanged July 17, 1863, wound- ed at Cold Harbor, June 3, 1864; died at Washington, D. C., June 28, 1864.
26th Regiment, Co. I, Marcellus A. Lothrop, 38; enlisted August 28, 1862; discharged January 4, 1864 to re-enlist.
36th Regiment, Co. H. Mustered in August 27, 1862 for three years. Augustus E. Bliss, 18; died of disease July 24, 1863 at Milldale, Miss. Henry Boyden, 26; died of disease August 15, 1863 at Vicksburg, Miss. Artemas W. Goddard, 23; transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps, January 5, 1864. William H. Goddard, 21; died in hospital at Louisville, Ky., August 17, 1863. Henry Mayo, Corporal, 21; died of wounds received in battle of the Wilderness, Va., May 11, 1864. Jonathan W. Mellen, 37, discharged for disability December 8, 1863. Sumner Moore, 28, discharged June 8, 1865 at expiration of service. Jerome Pierce, Corporal, 31, promoted to Sergeant; killed in action at Spottsyl- vania, May 12, 1864. Joseph H. Pierce, 18, taken prisoner at Pegram Farm, September 30, 1864; exchanged; discharged June 21, 1865 at expiration of service.
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NATHAN JOHNSON PLACE AND UNION HALL
Osgood Rich, 25, discharged April 23, 1864 for disability. William N. Smith, 20, promoted Corporal. Wounded in battle of Wilderness, 1864; discharged December 23, 1864 for disability. Edwin Stevens, 39, killed in action at Camp- bell's Station, Tenn., November 16, 1863. Edmund S. Ward, 25; died June 18, 1864 from wounds received in action near Petersburg, Va., June 17, 1864. Hiram C. Woodward, 40, died of disease at Camp Dennison, Cairo, Ill., August 10, 1863. 52nd Regiment, Co. F. Nine months men. Dennis Goddard, 27, discharged August 14, 1863 at expiration of service. Gamaliel D. Goddard, 18, discharged August 14, 1863 at expiration of service. David D. Mellen, 26, killed by sharp- shooters at Port Hudson, June 24, 1863. Daniel Stearns, 43; died at Port Hudson July 22, 1863. Henry R. Stowell, Corporal, 27; discharged August 14, 1863 at expiration of service. Solomon Wakefield, 33; discharged at expiration of service, August 14, 1863.
3rd Cavalry. Henry L. Temple, 16, died of measles May 17, 1864 at Gal- loupe's Island, Boston Harbor.
Navy. A. D. Foskett.
It is known that Warren Flagg and .Hodgkins enlisted, but no record of their names has been found.
Nor must we forget to mention those removed from North Orange, who from towns far and near, went forth to serve their country. Among those we recall are: John Q. Adams who died in Marengo, Ill., November 10, 1922. Dr. Adams served during the duration of the war in Co. H, 95th Illinois infantry. He took part in many notable engagements and for an act of bravery during the siege of Vieksburg, was awarded a silver medal by the Government. Captain Joseph G. Ball who lost an arm while in service; Alexander Lord, wounded at Antietam; killed in the battle of Gettysburg July, 1863; Henry Dwight Smith, Sergeant-
Major in 1st Vermont Cavalry, taken prisoner January 29, 1864 and kept in Andersonville prison six months. Uzziel P. Smith, Lieutenant in MeAllister's Battery from Chicago. James B. Smith, brother of Dwight and Uzziel Smith was at the age of 23 first lieutenant in the 25th Massachusetts Volunteers. Ten months later the organization of the 36th Regiment was completed and August 22, 1862, Lieutenant Smith was commissioned Captain of Co. K. of the 36th; commanded the regiment from June 3, 1864 to July 18, 1864. Provost Marshal, Second Division 9th Army Corps, July 20, 1864, to close of war; wounded in action at battle of Pegram Farm, September 30, 1864. Major, October 12, 1864; mustered out with the regiment June 8, 1865 as Major Brevet Colonel, U. S. Volunteers "for gallant and meritorious service in the field during the war." Philip G. Woodward at the age of 25 returned from Minnesota to enter the Union Army with the 36th Regiment; Sergeant of Co. H. 36th Regiment, August 6, 1862; Second Lieutenant, October 26, 1863; First Lieutenant May 15, 1864; wounded in action at Cold Harbor, Va., June 3, 1864; Captain, October 11, 1864; mustered out with the regiment at close of the war. Warner C. Woodward, 27 years; mustered in August 4, 1862, 36th Regiment. Promoted Corporal. Discharged for disability, December 23, 1864. Wesley A. Woodward, 21, en- listed in the 27th at Athol, March 28, 1862. Taken prisoner; died at Anderson- ville, Ga., August 21, 1864.
With so many of its sons and friends in the 36th Regiment, North Orange counts it a matter of pride that in all of its arduous service the 36th never lost a color or a flag. The women of Worcester presented the regiment on the day of its departure from Worcester, a flag. "Soiled and rent, its staff shattered," this flag which was carried by the regiment throughout its entire period of service, is now preserved in the State House in Boston, with the flags of the Mass- achusetts regiments.
Veterans of the Civil War,-Edward Baker, Massachusetts Navy, S. F. Daniels of the 52nd and 60th Mass. Regiment, John Holston, who died February 18, 1923 at the age of 100 years; W. W. Weeden, 3rd Michigan Cavalry, and Adriel White, 53rd Regiment were highly esteemed residents of North Orange for many years.
Everett Davis, Ist. Mass. Cavalry and Dwight E. Clements, 10th Vermont, are surviving veterans now living in North Orange.
Mrs. Adriel White and Mrs. S. F. Daniels are the only surviving widows of veterans of the Civil War, in North Orange.
The name of no North Orange man has been found among the Spanish War Veterans.
Names of soldiers in the World War: Earl Bosworth, Floyd French, Henry A. Gale, Geddis Hitchcock, Arthur Lundgren, George Mason, Henry Mason, Clifford D. Newton, Jesse C. Worrick. Ellery Flagg enlisted in Athol; registered on the Athol roll.
Mustered Out
"They live, the fallen live, though ages fly; God made the right eternal, its defenders never die."
In the cemeteries of North Orange, sleep the soldiers of three wars.
Soldiers of the Revolution: Amos Boyden, Daniel Harrington, Silas Marble,/ Samuel Moore, Tyler Perry, Benjamin Porter, Aaron Smith, Alexander Wheel- ock, all rest in North Orange cemetery.
Soldiers of 1812-1814: Stephen Mayo in North Orange cemetery; Captain Ebenezer Atwood and John Davis in the Jones cemetery; John Lewis and Zina Goodell in Tully cemetery.
FIFTY-THREE
Soldiers of the Civil War: George P. Ward in North Orange cemetery; Henry Foskett, Alexander Lord, George Stafford, Mareus H. Ward, Nathan W. Ward, Peter S. Ward in Jones cemetery; Augustus Bliss, S. F. Daniels, J. E. Forrester, J. Greenleaf, M. R. Hartshorn, Amos Holden, B. W. Mayo, Henry Mayo, David Mellen, Sumner Moore, Charles Morton, Osgood Rich, Augustus Temple, Henry Temple, Edmund Ward, W. W. Weeden, Adriel White in Tully cemetery.
The Temple Family
The greatest value of the Old Home day in New England is the revival and cultivation of interest in the local history of the country towns. Historical faets of early or later days are collected for these occasions and preserved for future reference. These become more and more valuable when opportunities for gathering such information pass away, as the years go on. Having left my native town in early years, my knowledge of its history has been limited but my interest in stories of its past still continues. When quite recently au old newspaper advertisement of 1805 fell into my hands, relating to a son of North Orange, it seemed to me that others, as well as myself might find it interesting. The author of the advertisement was Samuel Temple, born in North Orange, in May 1770, when the whole town was called Orange. From inquiries among his relatives, and elsewhere, we find that Samuel Temple was born on Temple Hill near the Zina Goodell homestead. His father, Hananiah Temple, was one of the early settlers of the town. He had three sons and three daughters. Samuel and his brother, Daniel, both graduated from Dartmouth college. One sister was the mother of Rev. Henry Barber of Warwiek, now a professor in the Meadville Theological school. Another sister, Anna, was the mother of Mrs. Royal Ward. Samuel's mother hoped her sons, after graduating from college, would go into the ministry, but there is no record of cither of them preaching. Samuel married and settled in Dorehester, where for many years he was a prominent and useful eitizen of Norfolk eounty. Samuel Temple had two sons, one Hananiah, named for his grandfather of Temple Hill, North Orange. These two sons were prominent eitizens of Dorchester, and a grandson was for some time the register of deeds for Suffolk county. Many of the noted family of Temples in New England bore titles of honor and occupied high official po- sitions under the government. But this is not of their English ancestry. It is only a brief sketch of Samuel, a son of Orange. He was an excellent teacher, a ready writer and the author of several standard school books. He was also the author of several music books. Later in life he kept for several years a country store in a building then standing on a portion of the site of Thayer Tav- ern, at Dorchester and Milton Lower Mills. He afterwards removed across the bridge into Milton, where he died in 1815. The "Arch" alluded to in the advertisement was erected over the bridge between the towns of Dorchester and Milton. It commemorated the ratification of John Jay's treaty with Eng- land, although it was not built until two years after the notableevent. It bore in letters of gold the following inscription : "We unite in defense of Our Country, and of its Laws, 1778."
The old fashioned advertisement is a true pieture of an old time country store, when gin, brandy and rum were sold as freely as soap and candles. This is the "Advertisement Extra," written in rhyme: To be sold at the store oppo- site the Arch over Milton Bridge, the following articles, viz:
Salt pork and powder, shot and flints, Cheese, sugar, rum and peppermints.
FIFTY-FOUR
Tobacco, raisins, flour and spice, Flax, cotton, wool and sometimes rice.
Old Holland gin and gingerbread, Brandy and wine, all sorts of thread,
Segars I keep, sometimes one bunch, Materials all for making punch,
Biscuit and butter, eggs and fishes, Molasses, beer and earthen dishes,
Books on such subjects as you'll find A proper food to feast the mind,
Hand soap and candles, tea and snuff, Tobacco, pipes, perhaps enough,
Shells, chocolate and Stetson's shoes As good as can be I suppose,
Straw hats, oat baskets, oxen muzzles, A thing which many people puzzles,
Knives, forks, spoons, plates, mugs, pitchers and platters, A gun with shot wild geese bespatters,
Spades, shovels, whetstones, scythes and rakes, As good as any person ever makes,
Shirts, frocks, shoes, mittens, also hose, And many other kinds of clothes,
Shears, scissors, awls, wire, bonnet paper, Old violin and cat-gut scraper,
Tubs, buckets, pails and pudding pans, Bandanna handkerchiefs and fans,
Shagbarks and almonds, wooden boxes, Steel traps (not stout enough for foxes),
But excellent for holding rats, When they elude the paws of cats,
It's more than 40 kinds of drugs, Some good for worms, and some for bugs,
Lee's, Anderson's and Dexter's pills, Which cure at least a hundred ills,
Perfumes most grateful to the nose, When mixed with snuff, or dropped on clothes,
I've many things I shall not mention, To sell them cheap is my intention.
Lay out a dollar when you come, And you shall have a glass of rum.
N. B. Since man to man is so unjust, 'Tis hard to say whom I can trust, I've trusted many to my sorrow, Pay me today. I'll trust tomorrow.
Mrs. D. P. Hudson, 1913.
THE ELLIS FAMILY HOMESTEAD
The Ellis Family
Remarks on the Ellis family by Walter F. Ellis, great grandson of Seth Ellis, Jr. at the 17th annual North Orange reunion.
In this busy work-a-day world, every man selects and learns to love as home, some particular locality. where he establishes his business and his residence, but I envy neither the ambition nor the affections of him who does not often turn with longing to the associations and friendships of his childhood home, and the scenes and remembrances of his ancestors.
"We see them in our sweetest dreams, These fruitful hills ar.d flowing streams, And listen with a half drawn sigh To melodies of days gone by."
In his novel "Old Mortality," Sir Walter Scott sketches the life of Robert Paterson, who for 40 years traveled among the hills and valleys of Scotland, visiting the places where the Covenanters, fallen in the wars of the previous eentury, lay buried. Sir Walter tells us that Paterson, going to the cemeteries, would reset the fallen tablets, clear away the moss from the stones and recut the inscriptions carved on the monuments, recording the names and records of those who slept beneath. A somewhat similar service calls us here today. We meet in a place made dear by the memories of our fathers. Like "Old Mor- tality," we revisit the scenes of their labors, brush away some of the dust that has obscured the story of their lives, and chisel deeper into our hearts the record of their virtues and high character. Because I have devoted some attention,
in spare hours, to the records of the early Ellis', it has been suggested that I give a brief account of this branch of the family which established the Ellis name in Orange. In 1635, John Ellis came from England to Boston, and the following year he was one of the first proprietors of the town of Dedham, where he married Susanna Lombard and his first two children were born. He became a Freeman, was admitted to the church in 1640, and was a prominent citizen. In 1650 he became one of the 13 original grantees of the town of Medfield, where he lived until his death in 1697. His daughter Hannah, born in April 1651, was the first white child born in Medfield. He established his home on the tract allotted him on the present Main street, and built a log house. After the town was burned by the Indians in 1676, he built a substantial farm dwelling, having a central chimney, and a long kitchen under the low sloping roof, which was taken down in 1890, but a good photograph of which is in existence. He served as selectman for seven years, and received many public appointments at the hands of his fellow citizens. His oklest son John 2, born in Dedham in 1646, lived in Medfield for 25 years, and became in 1675 one of the proprietors of Medway, a town set off from Medfield, at the west side of the Charles river. He married first Mary Herring and had five children, second, Mary Hill, whose son Samuel was the father of the first Ellis in Orange. When he was first mar- ried in 1677 he built a house at Rockville Corner, East Medway, which was standing within my recollection, but was burned in 1888. John's youngest son, Samuel 3, born 1699, inherited his father's estate in Medway, where he lived for nearly 50 years, with his wife, Dorothy Hall, by whom he had eight children. Samuel died in 1769, aged 70, and his wife survived him 21 years, reaching the advanced age of 90. The grave stones of both Samuel and Doro- thy are in the old cemetery at East Medway, now Millis, not far from the home of the famous Cliquot Club ginger ale. From my study of the local records and Samuel's will I believe him to be one of our most interesting Ellis ances- tors. A sturdy New England farmer, he and his wife lived together 50 years, less four weeks, and brought up their five sons and three daughters to be capable law abiding citizens, all of whom married and lived to a good age. By his in- dustry and thrift, he amassed a considerable property which by his will he dis- tributed very impartially among his children. The oklest son of Samuel and Dorothy was John (4) Ellis, born in Medway, October 28, 1723. At the age of 23 he married Mary Baker, a daughter of Abijah J., Dorchester, and removed to Medfield, where his eight children were born. About the year 1780, an emigration from Mendon, Medfield and Bellingham, brought several to War- wick,-The Cheneys, Goodels, Goddards and Ellis families. John Ellis was one of these pioneers, with his wife and three sons, Seth, Moses and Nathan. After 1791 the names of Moses and Nathan disappear from the local records. John Ellis settled on the land near Tully Brook, since known as the Ellis place, and built a house on the knoll opposite the present one. This earlier house was removed to Athol about 1870. John was active in church and town affairs from the beginning, was moderator of the first meeting in August, 1781, to dis- cuss plans for the new town of Orange, and was elected in 1782 first commiss- ioner of the new church. He contributed toward the church building fund, to the fund to support a minister, and to the special fund of 100 pounds to settle Rev. Emerson Foster, the first minister. In the first allotment of pews he paid $35 for pew 28, and $28 for pew 25 in the name of his son Seth. He was selectman in 18SS and held many minor town offices. John and Mary Ellis lived together more than 58 years, she dying in 1804, aged 80, and he in 1816 at the age of 92. His grave is in the old cemetery at North Orange. His son, Seth 5, who was not 21 when he came to this locality as a pioneer with his father, married in 1783, Elizabeth Rawson, a daughter of Josiah, who had come
FIFTY-FIVE
THE STORE AND POST OFFICE, WHERE THEY STILL GATHER AT MAIL TIME
from Grafton to settle in Warwick. This Josiah was a descendant of Edward Rawson, the first secretary of the Massachusetts Bay Colony from 1650 to 1686. Seth and Elizabeth carried on the farm during the declining years of his father and their four children were born in the Ellis house. He was interested, like his father, in the church during its early years, and was selectman in 1806. His wife Elizabeth died in 1818, and he married second, Mrs. Joanna (Cheney) Goodell, widow of Zina Goodell and grandmother of your venerable poetess, Mrs. Elvira (Goodell) Ballou. Seth died in 1840 at the age of 80, and his grave is in the old cemetery. His oldest son Seth (6) Jr., was born in 1784. At the age of 20 he married Susanna Cheney, the daughter of Ebenezer, one of his most prominent and prosperous neighbors. The present Ellis house was built by Seth, Jr., at the time of his marriage in 1804. He and his wife, Susanna lived together 50 years, less two days. They had 10 children of whom seven grew to maturity. Seth, Jr., was selectman in 1817, 1818, 1828. He was assessor of the First Church in 1827. In 1853 he bought at auction pew 11 for $53. Some of you remember Seth Ellis who died in 1854, and many of you recall his widow, who lived on the farm and carried it on with assistance until her death in 1870, after which it was sold out of her family. Of the children of Seth and Susanna, Caroline married Robert Turner and removed to Michigan; Orin, my grandfather, left home at the age of 20 and went to Maine, where he married Mary Phillips Brown, and had one son, my father; Cheney married Fanny and Louisa Forrester; Edwin married Lois L. Wood of North Orange, and owned the sash and blind shop in Athol; Roxanna married Charles Temple; Joseph Warren married Hannah and Esther Wheelock ; Sumner married Mary Jane Morton, sister of your present secretary, and became a Universalist minister. My investigation of this branch of the Ellis family convinces me its members have maintained a pronounced reputation for independenee of thought, indus- try and general intelligence. Several of these men have been real pioneers.
John of Medfield, John of Medway and John of Orange were each in their time, prominent in the establishment of a new Massachusetts town. They have been a long lived race, Seth Jr. and his five grandfathers, back to the first John, all having lived beyond the age of 70. Liberals in religion, they have been active in church and town affairs and have in every generation added honor to the family name. In this brief summary of their lives, we honor our ancestors today for what they accomplished in a new country, with infinite toil and danger; but much more do we honor them for what they were. They loved God and they loved their fellowmen, they feared God but they feared no man. They set their principles high above the tranquil enjoyment of an easy living. We must likewise teach our children that the object of human life is not greatness but goodness, that the true philosopher's stone is a high standard of human virtue, that the highest demand on a human being is to do well the duty that lies nearest and make the world better by his having lived in it. All men cannot be great but all men can be good. All men cannot reach what are sometimes falsely estimated as the principles of desirable eminence, but every man can be respected. All men cannot exert a wide influence, but every man may be a blessing to the circle of friends and relatives that surrounds him. Be- cause of the type of men who were the founders of New England, the people of this section of the United States are still strong on the moral qualities. Dean Briggs of Harvard University puts it well:
"Be it mountain, glade or prairie, Be it city strong or fair, Be it east or west that his eyes shall rest,
He sees New England there.
Be it east or west that his eyes shall rest, New England stands the same, For God and the right, at the front of the fight
Are the men that bear her name.
For the message of the Master She has breathed with every breath, And come what will, New England still Shall be faithful unto death."
Some of the Town Worthies
I want to speak of some who were once a working force in this community, and as the clairvoyants say in describing those who have passed over-I see a man who was prominent, occupying positions of honor and trust, and yet while he was a worker and leader, he was approachable, more than ordinarily agree- able and one of the most industrious men I ever knew. I had the good fortune to board at his house one winter when I taught school in this district and I was surprised to find the energetic hard working man that he was, up early in the morning while others were sleeping, and constantly at it through the day, toiling incessantly; an admirable characteristic in any one. This man was Philbrook Worrick.
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