USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Orange > History of North Orange, Massachusetts : including leading events from the first organization of Orange, 1781-1924. > Part 8
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Tyler Perry's first ancestor in this country, John Perry, was born in Eng- land and came over in the ship Lion, arriving in Boston in November, 1631. The noted John Eliot, Apostle to the Indians, came over in the same ship and was ordained, the next year, as a preacher to a church in Roxbury. John Perry's name is the 17th on the list of members of that early church which is now the First Unitarian Church of Roxbury and these records are still preserved. John Perry died about ten years after settling in Roxbury, leaving a wife and children.
John Perry (2) son of John Perry (1) moved to Sherborn, Massachusetts, and was the first of five generations of the Perrys who were born, lived and died there.
Tyler Perry was of the 5th generation and was born in Sherborn, in 1760. At the beginning of the Revolutionary war, this boy of fifteen years enlisted in the militia of his native town. In July 1780, the young soldier was ordered to march with his regiment to Rhode Island where a British expedition was expected to land, to attack the French forces just arrived there.
By advice of Lafayette, the Count de Rochambeau had been sent over seas from France to Newport, R. I., with a squadron of ships of war and six thousand French soldiers to aid the army of Washington. The companies of militia
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TYLER PERRY PLACE
from Massachusetts and Connecticut towns were ordered to assist the French troops at Newport in the threatened attack of the British.
Sir Henry Clinton embarked 8000 men at New York for the expedition to Newport. But the ships proceeded no farther than Huntington Bay in Long Island Sound where they stayed a few days and returned to New York.
The enlargement of the forces at Newport by the militia of Massachusetts and Connecticut towns probably alarmed the British and sent them back to New York without making the threatened attack.
At this time Tyler Perry was a private in the 9th Co. of Militia of Sherborn, in Col. Samuel Bullard's regiment. His commander was Capt. Amos Perry and Abner Perry was colonel of his regiment.
As the enemy did not appear at Newport, the companies were all disbanded in fourteen days. The march home of sixty miles to Sherborm, occupied three days of travel. This brief active service entitled Tyler Perry to the honors due a Revolutionary soldier.
In the Revolutionary Records and History of Sherborn, the Perry names are numerous, both as privates and officers. Some of the descendants moved to other towns in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. They were of Puritan and Quaker stock and good citizens wherever they settled.
1785, August 27th, Tyler Perry married Sarah Adams of Braintree, now Quiney. She was of the family of John Adams and John Quincy Adams, presi- dents of the United States.
Tyler Perry left Sherborn and with his wife and five children came to Orange in or about 1804. On coming to Orange he bought 200 aeres or more of land and the house where he lived and where he kept a tavern many years, until after the death of his wife in 1818.
There were no railroads near and much travel from Vermont to Boston by stage coach and private carriages. Droves of cattle were constantly passing through the town on their way to Boston or Brighton. Taverns were a necessity for the travelers.
According to the records of the old church, Parish meetings were often hekt in the "Perry Inn" as it was then called. Tyler Perry and his eldest son, David, were both officers on the church committee and their names are frequently found in the clerk's books as assessor or treasurer of the Parish committee. In 1831 a Parish meeting was held at David Perry's house, when he was appointed with seven others to consider moving and turning the church one quarter round.
About 1830 or later Mr. Perry sold his house and land to his son David who kept the tavern a few years. Tyler Perry married again and moved to a small farm on the old road to Athol, where he died in 1836, aged 76 years.
His eldest daughter, Sally, married Ephraim Fay of Royalston, who died a few years later in the South where he had gone on business. His widow, Sally (Perry) Fay died not long after, leaving their only child, Mary Ann Fay, to grow up in the family of her Grandfather Perry until her early marriage to Moses Morton of Orange. Mr. and Mrs. Morton are well remembered in this community.
One daughter, Nancy, married Josiah Wheelock of Orange, whose grave is in the old burying ground. Some years after his death she married his younger brother, Clark Wheelock. They lived and died in New York.
Another daughter, Clarissa Perry, married David Goddard of an old, well- known family of Orange, and lived in Warwiek where she died in 1839.
The eldest son, David Perry, died in North Orange in 1852. The younger son, William Perry, died in Springfield in 1885.
Through the patriotic loyalty of his great-granddaughter, Mrs. Fannie Morton Daniels, the grave of Tyler Perry --- Revolutionary Soldier-has been rescued from oblivion in the old burying ground in North Orange and will be honored hereafter on Memorial Day by the veterans of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Mrs. Divine Perry Hudson. August 8, 1918.
The Green House Tavern and North Orange Postal System
A shady highway stretching southward. Can't you see it through the magic glasses of your imagination? A pleasant level stretch of road with the district school-house close by its eastern edge. Nearby the scholars are en- joying a recess. Suddenly one spies a cloud of dust far down the road and above the merry shouts of happy children rings the cry, "Stage is coming." Sports are dropped and all fall in line facing the road to see the stage go by. As it passes, the boys doff their caps and salute the driver with a bow while the girls courtesy. Ah! there's a kind-hearted passenger aboard to-day, for in response to the salute, some oranges are thrown out. Now manners are doffed as easily as caps and little and big seramble for the golden fruit.
Meanwhile the stage rumbles around a curve in the road and up to a tavern across the road from the village common called at present Goddard Park; the tavern called by past generations Wood's Inn; later, the "Green House" because painted green for many years, is now the Post Office block.
The word-picture just sketched calls back associations of that era when turnpikes and country roads were replacing the narrow rough roads over which the early settlers patiently plodded on foot or on horseback, or, a little later, jolted over in two-wheeled carts. An era that brought great days for stage- coaches, and the taverns along their routes, long vanished days of which even "their reminiscences are passing away with the generations to which they be- longed." Gone, too, are the lumbering thorough-braced stage-coaches, but some of the old taverns remain. North Orange retains three such taverns serving now not as hostelries, but as private dwellings. Each has features of interest, but to-day time allows especial attention to but one of them,-the "Green House."
The fame of this tavern may not have been wide-spread, but it possessed the same distinguishing feature that the Yankee boastingly claimed for his
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CENTRAL MOUSE.E
GREEN HOUSE TAVERN-LATER CALLED CENTRAL HOUSE
native town and that was the fact that one could start from there to go to any place in creation.
Moreover if the "Green House" had a voice to tell us of the now buried generations and interesting events of its time, we should have a more complete history of this town than any person now living can furnish.
For how many years the "Green House" has stood, no one knows. Dr. J. Q. Adams says it was probably built by Benjamin Mayo. In that case its birthday must date previous to 1797.
Having as its distinguishing feature a long ell extending easterly, the square, two-story house with four-sided roof, flat on top, had broad chimneys and large fire places that promised its guests protection from the cold; the usual access- ories of a fire place,-erane, pot-hooks, pots and tin kitchen and the great briek ovens exhaling "wonderful savor of pies and pastry" promised substantial food supplies; and at short notice the bar-room fulfilled its promise of minis- tering to longing appetites the toddy which our forefathers thought so indis- pensable.
An important line of travel passed over the road by this tavern for the road was the thoroughfare between Boston and Brattleboro, Vt. Stage coaches between the two places enlivened the road and drivers and passengers stopped at the "Green House" for rest and refreshment. Here also marketers and teamsters halted on their way down to Boston with loads of produce; likewise on their return, their ox-wagons laden with rum, molasses, codfish, tea, salt and spices for the country traders. Droves of cattle were frequently driven down from farther north and here the driver eame for the night after turning his cattle into Oliver Ward's adjoining field (now Mr. Estabrooks') and securely fastening the huge gate opening into the road. Here tarried the transient traveller and the occasional peddler. So great fires roared in the chimneys and the fumes of tobacco and toddy mingled in the bar-room as stock stories were exchanged.
Of imaginary tenants of the "Green House" there is one report, a report, that gave rise to the rumor that the house was haunted. Investigation by a few townsmen proved that the strange noises heard in the vacant house, were not made by ghostly tenants, but by a loose board on the back of the house.
Of the many owners and occupants of the Green House only a partial list follows. Calvin Mayo, Justin Lord and Gardner Wood were among those who conducted the tavern from its opening until it ceased to be a tavern in 1849 when Mr. Wood sold the property to Philbrook Worrick and Moses Morton. The Gardner Wood farm comprised at that time 21 acres extending from the Warwick road southward to land now owned by Mrs. Adin Taylor. On the eastern side was Benjamin Wood's house lot now the southeast corner of L. P. Cheney's mowing, thence the Athol road to Solon Oliver's pasture; thence the present boundary line to the Warwick road which formed the northern boundary. The western boundary was the same as at present. Two years later, Mr. Morton sold his part to Mr. Worrick who never lived there during his 21 years of sole ownership, but let the house to various tenants among whom were Caleb Mayo and Lafayette Worrick.
History tells us that for the greater part of the years thus briefly recalled, most of the inhabitants of New England country towns had only "brains and courage for their stoek in trade." Hence it follows that industry and economy must have been their slogan. Nevertheless a good time never came amiss as is shown by their huskings, their sleigh-rides, their dances, their parties and their Fourth of July celebrations. The tavern extended its hospitality of the towns- people and increased their opportunities for friendly intercourse, but remini- scence likes best to linger over the good times in the hall on the second floor of the tavern's long ell. What memories the hall must have held of that good old institution, the village lyceum,-its debates and lectures. One of the earliest subjects for debate was "Are Early Marriages Judicious?" But generally attention was given to publie matters when good talkers and keen intellects made the debates instructive as well as interesting. Usually the speak- ers and oftentimes the lecturers were residents of the town. One of the lectures- an Experimental Lecture on Electricity-links those old days with our modern electrical age.
What memories of joy and laughter at dancing schools and dancing parties in that same hall where Cupid often daneed attendance, at the same time aiming his arrows with marvellous accuracy. Rich memories of singing schools that flourished under the teaching of Mr. Morris, Mr. Merrill, Mr. George Field and Mr. A. J. Fisher. There must have been in the town an especial fondness for singing for after a singing school closed for the season, singing meetings were held in meeting-house, school-house or private house. But it was at singing school where voiees joined with tones of the fiddle that fun and singing went hand in hand. Bantering made a large part of the fun and opportunities for jesting were always improved. So when Sylvia Briggs was given the privilege of choosing the piece to be sung she quickly responded to the knock of oppor- tunity. Knowing the attraction between a young man attending the school and Miss Lamb, the daughter of Israel Lamb, Miss Briggs chose the following selection.
See Israel's gentle shepherd stand With all-engaging charms; Hark how he calls the tender lambs And folds them in his arms.
Happy are memories of Select Schools held in the hall for several terms. These schools were well attended by pupils coming across the meadows, down from the hills, up from the plains, from the remotest district as well as from the
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center of the town. Among those who guided the feet of these pupils along the road to knowledge were Percival Blodgett, Joseph Wright, W. D. Herrick, after- wards pastor of the Baptist Church at North Amherst, Emily Goddard, sister of Dr. Goddard of Orange, and Dr. James Oliver of Athol. In speaking of his teaching in different sehools Dr. Oliver said, "I think my North Orange exper- ience was the pleasantest part of my life. Many of the scholars were very near my own age and not an ugly or unpleasant one among the number. Each scholar was put upon his or her own honor and there was in reality no such thing as discipline, still there was perfect order;" a tribute to North Orange youth that is well worth recording. Pleasant memories of levees and church suppers of which Mrs. Nathan Johnson was the leading spirit obtain.
And what of the Free Masons' lodge-room, the small room opening out of the hall at the east end? Caravans might come to Athol and attract for a day, but didn't every child in the village know that in the small room east of the hall, the Masons kept their goat all the time and thrilling was the anticipation of what would happen "just supposin" that goat got out. In connection with the Masonie meetings held there it is of interest to note that a Masonic lodge was the first secret organization that flourished in Orange. Petitioners for the charter of Orange Lodge, instituted June 8, 1825, included the first officers,- David Young, Jr., Worshipful Master; Ebenezer Goddard, Senior Warden; Nathan Niekerson, Jr., Junior Warden; Dr. Perley Barton, Secretary; James Young, Treasurer; Sherebiah Baker, S. D .; Amos Cheney, J. D. ; Jonathan Hogg, S. S .; Thomas Barry, J. S .- with Nathan Cheney, Adin Holbrook, Henry K. Johnson and Eliphalet Thorpe. From these names we see that residents of Athol joined those of Orange in the petition. On account of the anti-Masonic exeitement the Lodge suspended in 1831, but was re-instituted in 1859 with Benjamin Sawin the new Master.
Beneath the hall there was on the first floor a store, the usual adjunct of a tavern. This store sometimes called the lower store to distinguish it from the "upper store located where L. P. Cheney's house now stands, was conducted by various traders among whom were Lyman Harrington, Josiah Wheelock and Hillel Baker,-the firm name Baker and Wheelock. Here the thrifty home maker brought her butter, receiving for it 16 cents a pound or perhaps exchanging it for calico or some other goods, for trade at that time was largely a question of barter, so mueh so that merehants were usually called traders-most traders were willing to receive in payment either cash or potash, live geese feathers, wheat, rye or eorn.
Barter and romance are far-separated but it was through barter that one North Orange maiden found the romance of her life. No opportunity afforded her a meeting with the newly-arrived, unassuming young storekeeper about whom she heard the neighbors talk. As days passed her desire to see him in- creased, but she had no cash, therefore no excuse to go to the store. Suddenly the eackling of a hen gave her an inspiration; she would use an egg as a medium of trade and forthwith hastened to the store to exchange the newly-laid egg for peppermints. The egg procured not only the peppermints, but also the maiden's future happiness for the acquaintance thus begun led to marriage and many years of true devotion to one another.
There lingers in town the memory of a man who invariably arrived at the store just as it was closing for the night. After buying many groceries, he once said,"Gardner there is something else iny wife told me to be sure and get, but I can't seem to think what it is." After much thinking he said, "Maybe it was saleratus; put me up several pounds as it always comes in handy in a family where there are eleven children."
One other customer comes to mind .- the dame who always had a glass of toddy after making her purchases. The goods she bought were charged, but not wishing the word toddy to appear on the bill presented to her husband, she asked the proprietor not to charge that. "What shall I do," said the store- keeper, "I can't remember how many glasses you drink." "Oh, write Chorus!" said the dame. When the bill was sent in the puzzled husband exclaimed. "('horus! Chorus! What does this mean? We have had no music." What followed I leave to your imagination.
At that time liquor drinking was a matter of ordinary usage in all the country round. Was haying to be done, a bridge to be built or a meeting house to be raised there must be an abundance of rum; at weddings and at funerals liquor was thought necessary; not to offer distilled spirits to the minister when he called, would be the height of inhospitality; when sick, people drank to get well, and when well, they drank to prevent sickness. The time was a part of the half century following the Revolution when hardly any other manufacturing industry of the country reached the magnitude of the manufacture and sale of New England rum. Much of the beverage was sold at grocery stores, most storekeepers being licensed retailers of ardent spirits. Old ledgers contain many charges of new rum and gin, thus proving that not all the jugs and tin pails filled at the store were vinegar jugs and milk pails.
In justice to the storekeepers let it be remembered that such traffic was then considered honorable, also that the courts would not entertain an application for a license unless the good character and standing of the applicant were first certified by the selectmen of the town.
Among those eoming to the store were women who eame for the varicolored straw braid from thich they braided hats. The storekeeper bought the braid and let it out, paying for the hats braided therefrom in a variety of wares. From the store the hats were taken away to be bloeked. Still well remembered is a Mr. Rogers who used to come from Barre to Orange and buy the hats which he blocked. For several years there was a large barter in palm leaf hats, the output of Orange in 1837 being 72,300 hats, the value of thich was $12,050.
And where could one get more news or later news than at the store, that resource for long winter evenings, that refuge from storm and cold where men talked idly of "what others said and others did, how others died and others lived," or perhaps participated in spirited diseussions rivaling those of the lyceum, the topics ranging from the temperature to the policy of the Government.
The store was followed by a dress-making establishment where from 1845 to 1853, Miss Emeline Ward found favor as a dress-maker and won the hearts of small girls while cutting gay pieces of patchwork for them and teaching them to sew.
In 1872 Mr. Worrick sold to C. O. Rieh. Then followed repairs and altera- tions. Mr. Rieh gave up his shoe shop in the ell where boots and shoes brought from Athol were bottomed, and the ell was converted into a two-apartment dwelling. In the main building a chimney was taken down and the brick ovens removed. A large unfinished room in the basement was converted into a milk room after taking out the spacious fire-place equally available for boiling eider or for cooking and where less than fifty years ago the spit was earefully turned that the turkey in the tin kitchen before the fire might be perfectly roasted for the Thanksgiving dinner; the bar-room from which the bar had been removed before Mr. Rich bought it, became a sitting room and June 17, 1891, Mr. Rich opened his dwelling as a public house under the name "Central House." After the death of Mr. Rich in 1892 the property was bought by Mr. Alfred Rice who started the store which has since been kept there continuously by various pro-
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prietors. In 1898 Mr. Rice sold to Mr. Leslie H. Woodbury who 10 years later sold to Mr. Hibbard Gilmore, the present owner of the property.
The Green House closed its career as a public house 30 years ago, yet almost daily through this period, old and young alike have gathered there. Do you ask why, you will find the answer in the sign above the entrance to the store. The two words, Post Office, signify that here "the door of the United States postal service stands open to the public," here Government provides space for the use and convenience of the people and makes possible communication be- tween people of the same community or widely separated countries.
Why is it called the "Post Office?" Because the earliest known means of sending messages was by couriers who were either fast runners or riders mounted on horses, camels or young dromedaries. To secure greater speed the couriers were relayed at intervals. The Romans marked by a "post" the place in the road where the relay was effected, hence our name, Post Office.
In the earliest days of our own country there was no regular means of com- munication between the colonies. The occasional letter was sent by some friend or traveller, official dispatches being sent by a special messenger. By the end of the 18th century the need of communication had so increased that mail was sent from a general post office in Boston once a week by riders on horse- back. Just as one of these postriders left a house that once stood not far distant, Mr. Zina Goodell entered. Finding the woman of the house in tears, Mr. Goodell inquired the cause of her weeping. "Oh!" wailed the woman, "I have a great deal of trouble, I have trouble, I make trouble, I borrow trouble, and now I have to buy trouble." Explanation showed that she had just paid the post-rider 25 cents for delivering a letter bearing the unwelcome news that her sister who went away for a visit had suddenly married and would not return. The unex- pected desertion of her sister with the prospect of a life alone was the cause of her grief.
By an Act of Congress in 1802 stage coaches superseded mounted carriers. The mail was carried in a saek buttoned under the boot of the stage coach. That it was not secure from damage is shown by a circular issued by a Postmaster General to the stage coach line "urging that a hole be bored in the bottom of the boot that rain water might be carried away and not be permitted to damage the mail." These stage coaches carried passengers as well as mail, the ordinary fare being reckoned about 5 cents a mile. On the few fast lines the drivers were allowed to take only six inside passengers and an extra charge was made for the privilege of riding in these gay red coaches. The contract on one fast line required 7 miles an hour, mud-time or snow-time, $100 to be forfeited if there were failure in complying. There were relays of horses every 10 miles. Both ordinary and fast- line coaches were well patronized by the public and many a country town lost business when stage-coaches were discontinued because railroads had come.
The transition period during which conveyance of mail by stage-coach gave way to conveyance by railway, began in 1834, when mail was first forwarded by railway. This period covered several years for railway transportation proved at first so much less reliable than transportation by stage-coach that the latter continued to carry the mail for some years after Congress had declared all steam railroads post routes.
Previous to transportation of mail by railway Orange signalized its growth by the establishment here May 2. 1816, of its first post office, Lyman Harrington the first postmaster. Succeeding Mr. Harrington as postmasters have been David T. Bruce, George Wheelock, Josiah Wheelock, Perley Barton, Davis Goddard, Hillel Baker, Nathan L. Johnson, Philbrook Worrick, Nathan L. Johnson again, Fred Worrick, Osgood Rich, Miss Maria Blodgett, Alfred Rice,
THE BAKER HOME AND FIRST POST OFFICE BUILDING AT RIGHT
Leslie Woodbury, Hibbard Gilmore, and Mrs. Steadman Coe, the present incum- bent.
In its pilgrimage through the years the post office has changed its abode many times. Kept at first in the ell of the Green House, it was removed when Hillel Baker was postmaster, to the small building erected by him just east of the Green House. We next find the post office in N. L. Johnson's store until a change in administration brought a new postmaster, Philbrook Worrick; then the post office journeyed to the upper store owned at that time by Mr. Worrick. Another political change brought a second term of service to N. L. Johnson and a trip of the post office to his own store where it remained until Mr. Johnson's death in 1885. The next two postmasters kept the post office in the Hillel Baker building. Then once more and for the last time it went down the hill to Solon Oliver's store, formerly N. L. Johnson's, where Miss Maria Blodgett served as post-mistress. Since 1896 the post office has been in its present location in the Green House.
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