USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Northborough > History of Northborough, Mass., in various publications and discourses > Part 7
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Besides what was originally a part of Marlborough, this town includes a large triangular tract, lying north of the old Marlborough line, (of which the Coram Farm and the Brown Farm made a part) and containing, as has been estimated, between two and three thou- sand acres. This tract, with several others now in the westerly part of Westborough, was surveyed in January and February, 1715-16, by Wm. Ward, and annexed to Chauncey Village by a grant of the General Court, before the latter was separated from Marlborough.
In March and April. 1721, this tract was again surveyed by James Keyes; and a committee, consisting of John Sherman, Da- vid Brigham, and Joseph Wheeler, was appointed to lay it out in forty five shares, according to the number of the proprietors, which shares were afterwards divided among them by lot.
Besides the above tract, the principal part of the farm of Deac.
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HISTORY OF NORTHBOROUGH.
Caleb Rice, of Marlborough,* which lay without the original boun- daries of the town, with another tract nearly as large, adjoining the former, falls within the limits of Northborough, forming the south- west angle of the town.
Northborough is of an irregular form, its average length being about five miles, and its average breadth somewhat more than three miles.
SURFACE, SOIL, &c .- The principal part of the town consists of a valley, environed by the hills of Marlborough on the east, Berlin on the north, and Boylston and Shrewsbury on the west, and open- ing into Westborough on the south, which town is an extension of the same low grounds. The surface of this valley is, however, di- versitied by numerous hills, some of which are so considerable as to be distinguished by names. The northwest corner of the town, comprehending five or six good farms, and more than 1000 acres of land, forms part of the ridge of high land, running from Berlin, through Boylston and Shrewsbury, and is commonly called Ball's Hill.t
Liquor Hill is a beautiful eminence, rising with a gentle decliv- ity from the great road, nearly opposite to the church, skirted with forest trees, while its summit and its northern and southern declivi- ties are open to the view and form a rich and pleasing prospect. Edmund Ilill, about a mile in the northerly direction from the church, and Cedar Hill, in the southeastern part of the town, are similar in form to Liquor Ilill, but less open to observation.
Northborough is well supplied with streams of water. The principal stream is the river Assabeth, which, rising in Grafton, and crossing an angle of Westborough, flows diagonally in a northeast- ern direction, through this town, crossing the great road, about half a mile east of the church, and turnishing several valuable wa- ter privileges.
Cold Harbour Brook rises in Shrewsbury, crosses the southeast corner of Boylston, and enters this town. Having received a small
* Deac. Caleb Rice was the father of the late Josiah Rice, of this town, who died 1792, aged 92, and who came into possession of the farm abovemen- tioned, and was one of the greatest landholders in the town. That farm alone contained above five hundred acres, besides which, he owned several hundred acres in other parts of the town.
t So called from two brothers, James and Nathan Ball, from Watertown, who settled there about the year 1720, and where some of their descendants still live. James, the father of the late Doct. Stephen Ball, and grandfather of the present Doct. Stephen Ball, Sen. died 1756, aged 62. Nathan, father of Nathan Ball, died 1708, aged 73.
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HISTORY OF NORTHBOROUGH.
tributary stream from Rocky Pond, in Boylston, and supplying wa- ter for a Grist and Saw Mill, it flows in a very circuitous route through a tract of rich intervales and extensive meadows, crossing the road at Cold Harbour bridge, a few rods south of the church, and having received another small stream from the west, on which a Saw Mill is erected, it falls into the Assabeth, a little below where the latter crosses the great road.
In the easterly part of the town, a small stream, called Stirrup Brook, issuing from Little Chauncey Pond, furnishes a supply of water for a Saw Mill, and is bordered by a rich intervale and meadows.
Another small stream, called Hop Brook, from the abundance of wild hops which formerly grew on its banks, rises in Shrews- bury, crosses the southwest angle of this town, furnishing water for two Saw Mills and one Grist Mill, and falls into the Assabeth, soon after that river enters the town. It appears, therefore, that all the waters of Northborough fall into the Assabeth, which con- veys them to the Merrimack between Chelmsford and Tewksbury.
The two principal ponds in Northborough are the Little Chaun- . cey, in the southeastern part of the town, containing sixty five acres, and Solomon's Pond, in the northeastern part, containing twenty six acres. Little Chauncey takes its name from Great Chauncey, in Westborough, with which it is connected by a small stream. It is a beautiful sheet of water, well stored with fish, its borders in part . fringed with woods, while to the east, it opens towards cultivated fields. Soloinon's Pond, so named from Solomon, an Indian, who was drowned in it, is not destitute of beauty, and is encompassed by a tract of excellent land.
The soil is in general rich and productive, the poorest being, as Whitney justly observes, that " which appears as we travel the great road." In the northern part of the town, the land is rocky and hard, though it produces good crops of hay and grain. In the middle and southern parts the land is more level, and if not more productive, is cultivated with much less labor and expense.
ROADS, &c .- The principal road is the old Worcester Post road, which passes through the middle of the town, about forty rods south of the Meeting House. The distance to Boston from this town is 34 miles ; to Worcester 10 miles. Four Stages, furnishing a daily Mail from the east and from the west, pass on this road every day, Sundays excepted.
The old County road from Framingham to Worcester, also leads
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through the south part of the town ; and the Worcester Turnpike crosses the southwest angle, passing one house only in Northbo- rough. The roads from Lancaster to this place, one of which pas- ses the Meeting House in Berlin, and that from Boylston, are much travelled. The distance to Lancaster is 10 miles; to Boylston 6; to Westborough 43 miles.
The highways are kept in repair by an annual tax of from $500 to $800.
MILLS, MANUFACTORIES, &c .- Northborough contains at present four Grist Mills, five Saw Mills, two Carding Machines, a manufac- tory for Hoes and Scythes ; large and commodious works recently established by Capt. Thomas W. Lyon, for manufacturing Cotton Machinery ; an extensive Tannery owned by Phinchas and Joseph Davis, Esquires, whose annual sales of leather amount to $20,000. There are also six Coopers, four Blacksmiths, one Saddle and Har- ness Maker, one Book Binder, three Wheelwrights, eight or ten Shoemakers, who, besides supplying the wants of the town, manu- facture about 4000 pairs of shoes annually for a foreign market. The Cotton Factory, built in 1814, by the Northborough Manufac- turing Company, at an expense of about $30,000, was lately sold at auction, and is now in the possession of Rogerson & Co. of Boston, and Isaac Davis, Esq. and Mr. Asaph Rice, of this town. It stands on the river Assabeth, which furnishes a sufficient supply of water during the principal part of the season ; and contains over 700 spin- dles for Cotton, and 100 for Woollen, 10 looms, a fulling mill, card- ing machine, &c. and manufactures 80,000 yards of cloth annually.
There are in the town, two stores, furnished with a good as- sortment of English and West India Goods, the one kept by Gale & Davis ; the other by Rice, Farnsworth, & Co.
POPULATION, DEATHS, &c .- At the time of the ordination of Rev. Mr. Martyn, (1746) there were 40 families in the place ; the num- ber had increased to 82 families at the ordination of Rev. Mr. Whit- ney, (1767) ; and, in 1796, to more than 110 families. By the cen- sus of 1810, the number of inhabitants was 794; by that of 1820, 1018, making an increase of 224 in ten years. By a census taken the last winter, however, and which it is believed is very nearly accurate, the whole number of inhabitants was only 946, of whom 488 were males, and 458 females.
In the autumn of 1746, the year that Rev. Mr. Martyn was or- dained, and for several following years, particularly in 1749 and 1750, this society was visited by a very mortal sickness among
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children, by which the growth of the society must have been very sensibly checked, and which must have been attended with circum- stances of peculiar distress .*
Sixty children, out of a population which could not have much exceeded three hundred, fell victims to the desolating pestilence ; and, with the exception of one adult, (Benjamin Rugg, a stranger,) were the first persons that were buried in the new church yard.t
This was the last sweeping, mortal sickness, with which this place has been visited.
Since the great sicknesss, in the years 1749 and 1750, no town in this vicinity has been more exempt from wasting, mortal distem- pers. The number of deaths from 1780, to 1800, including a peri- od of twenty years, amounted to only 146, averaging a little more than 7 in a year. During the first twenty five years of the present century, the number was 282. The average number for the last ten years has been about 114 annually, in a population of nearly a thousand souls. The whole number of deaths from 1780, to the present date, (June, 1826) is 450; of whom seventy eight were 70 years and upwards ; forty three, 80 years and upwards ; seventeen, 90 years and upwards; one (Wid. Hannah Fay}) in her hundredth year; and one (Deac. Jonathan Livermoreg) one hundred years and seven months. There are now living in this town, five or six
* The sickness which prevailed in 1746, Capt. Timothy Brigham informs me, was the dysentery, then called, " the fever and flux." Capt. B. then a child of 10 years old, lost a sister, and was himself sick of the disease. He thinks that as many as 30 children died that year, in this place. He recol- lects being attended in his sickness by Doct. Benjamin Gott, of Marlborough. The sickness of 1749 and 1750, was the " throat distemper," as it was termed, which, for many years after its first appearance in New England, proved such a desolating scourge.
t The old burying ground, in which many of the first settlers of North- borough were interred, is cast of the road leading to Westborough, a little south of the dwelling house of Mr. William Maynard. It is now overgrown with trees and brush.
# Widow Hannah Fay was a daughter of Nathaniel Oaks, was married to Gershom Fay, father of the late Thaddeus Fay, and died, March 8, 1806, aged 100.
§ Deac. Livermore came from Watertown about A. D. 1720, and settled on the Brown larm, so called, where David Dinsmore now lives. He was the first Parish Clerk in this place, which office he held many years. Ile died April 26, 1801, aged 101. A short time after he was 100 years old, he rode on horseback from his house to a military review, near the middle of the town, the distance of three miles, and returned without fatigue. He posses- sed uncommon learning for his time, was an accurate surveyor, and an excel- lent penman, owing to which circumstance, the early records of the town ap- pear in a remarkably fine state.
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persons over eighty years ; and one, (Capt. Timothy Brigham,*) in his ninety first year. One couple (Capt. Amos Ricet and his wife) still survive, who were joined in marriage before the death of Rev. Mr. Martyn, who baptised their first child. They were married May 8th, 1766, and have lived together more than sixty years.
The average number of births for a year, has been, of late, about thirty ; which, deducting the deaths, will give an annual increase of from fifteen to twenty souls.
CIVIL HISTORY .- Nothing has been found on record relating to the part which this town bore in the old French wurs, as we have been accustomed to hear them called by our aged fathers. We learn, however, from the few who survive of the generation then on the stage of active life, that this small, district was not back ward in furnishing men to join the several expiditions, which were under- taken for the conquest of the French in Canada.
Eliphalet Warren, John Carruth, and Adam Fay, joined the ex- pedition to Halifax, in 1754. In the following year, Benjamin Flood and Eber Eager, the latter of whom did not live to return, were at Crown point. In 1758, the eight following persons were with the army under General Abercrombie, at his defeat before 'Ticondero- ga. Capt. Timothy Brigham, [now living and who retains a per- fect recollection of the scenes he passed through in this ill-fated expedition,] Eliphalet Stone, Samuel Stone, [who died on his re- turn,] Benjamin Flood, Josiah Bowker, Samuel Morse, Gideon How- ard, and Joel Rice. Capt. Brigham says that the attack upon the French lines commenced at 5 o'clock, A. M. and lasted till 7 o'clock, P. M. ; and that over 1900 of our men were missing at the calling of the rolls that evening. Capt. B. says that after this repulse, the army retreated to Lake George, soon after which, the company to
* Capt. Timothy Brigham is a son of Jesse, who was a son of Jonathan, who was a son of Thomas Brigham, one of the early settlers of Marlborough, He was present at the defeat of the English, under Abercrombie, before Ti- conderoga, in 1758, and Lieutenant of the company of minute men that march- ed down to Cambridge on the memorable 19th of April, 1775. Jonathan Brigham was in the Indian fight, at Lancaster, (now Sterling) Aug. 19, 1707, and stood next to Richard Singletary, who was killed in the action. This fact, Capt. B. had from his own mouth.
t Capt. Amos Rice is a son of Jacob, who was a son of Jacob, who was a son of Edward, one of the 13 original petitioners for the Plantation of Marl- borough. Benjamin, another son of Edward, was the father of Deac. Matthi- as Rice, and of Simeon Rice, late of this town, and of Zerubbabel Rice, late of Marlborough. Tradition says, that the first person by the name of Rice, who emigrated to New England, had eight sons, all of whom lived to be 90 years old and upwards.
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which he belonged (Capt. Stephen Maynard's of Westborough) was dismissed and returned home.
There is one man, now living in this town, at the age of 88, nearly, [Lieut. Abraham Munroe] who was at Halifax, in the regi- ment of Maj. Rogers, of Londonderry, N. II. in the year 1757, and, at the taking of Ticonderoga under Gen. Amherst, in 1759. Mr. Munroe had there the rank of Eusign ; and, in the following year, received a Lieutenancy. He served in the regiment of Col. Saltonstal, of Haverbill; and, at the departure of our army for Mon- treal, received orders to remain at the head of a detachment of men, for the purpose of completing the repairs of the fortifications at Crown Point. Lieut. Munroe continued at Ticonderoga, till his discharge, in May, 1763, under Capt. Omsbury, or Amsbury, to whom the command of the fort had been committed.
Several other persons belonging to this town, whose names I have not learned, were in service at different times during the French wars, some of whom did not live to return.
The following particulars have been collected relating to the part which this town bore in the burdens and privations of the revolutionary war.
It appears from the town records, that the inhabitants of this town, took an early and decided stand in defence of the liberties of our country. So early as March, 22d, 1773, more than two years before hostilities commenced, a number of spirited resolutions were passed at a district meeting, called for the purpose, among which were the following :
" 2. Voted, as the opinion of this district, that it is the indispen- sable duty of all men and all bodies of men to unite and strenuously to oppose by all lawful ways and means, such unjust and unright- eous encroachmeuts, made or attempted to be made upon their just rights ; and that it is our duty earnestly to endeavor to hand those rights down inviolate to our posterity, as they were handed to us by our worthy ancestors.
" 3. Voted, that the thanks of this district be given to the town of Boston for their friendly, seasonable and necessary intelligence ; and that they be desired to keep their watch, and guard against all such invaders and incroaches for the future.
"4. Voted, that Capt. Bez. Eager, Doct. Stephen Ball, and Mr. Timothy Fay, he a committee to make answer to the committee of corres., at Boston, informing them of the opinion of this district in this matter."
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HISTORY OF NORTHBOROUGH.
In August of the following year, eight months before the war commenced, at a special meeting called for the purpose, the district passed the following vote .- " That we are determined to defend our charter rights and privileges, at the risk of our lives and for- tunes, and that the town desire the committee of correspondence,* to write to their brethren in Boston, and inform them thereof."
In November, 1774, the district voted to appropriate money in the treasury to buy one hundred pounds of powder ; three hundred pounds of lead, and two hundred and forty flints; and on June 3d, 1776, it was resolved, "that it was the mind of this town to he inde- pendent of Great Britain, in case the Continental Congress think proper ; and that we are ready with our lives and fortunes, if in Providence called, to defend the same."
Some time before the war broke out, a company of fifty minute men was raised in this town, under the command of the late Capt. Samuel Wood, who held themselves in readiness to march at a mo- ment's warning, whenever and wherever hostilities should com- mence.f At length the memorable 19th of April arrived, on which day, the first blood in our Revolutionary struggle was shed, at Lex- ington and Concord. On the same day, before one o'clock, P. M. the tidings reached this place. The company of minute men be- longing to this town was collecting at the time to listen to an oc- casional patriotic discourse from Rev. Mr. Whitney. They were directed without a moment's delay, to put themselves in readiness to march; and in three or four hours from the time when the news arrived, they had taken leave of their families and were paraded in the yard of Capt. Woods' house, whence (the Rev. Mr. Whitney having in a fervent prayer commended them to the protection of the God of armies,) they immediately set out on their march for the field of danger and of blood.}
*The following persons were a standing committee of Correspondence, in 1774. Bezaleel Eager, Seth Rice, Jr. Levi Brigham. Gillam Bass, and John Ball. In the following year, the ever memorable 1775, there were seven on the committee of correspondence, viz. Thadeus Fay, John Ball, Joel Rice, Amos Rice, [now living] Artemas Brigham, Jethro Peters, and Nathan Green.
t April 10th, 1775, the town voted to pay fifty minute men one shilling each, for each half day they shall meet to learn the Military art, for sixteen hall days ; and granted £40 for that purpose. The town also voted that Mr. Timothy Brigham, Constable, pay to Henry Gardner, Esq. the Province tax, which he has now in his hands, for the year 1773, and the District will in- demnify him. Also Voted, to indemnify the Assessors for not making the province tax for the year 1774.
# Of the fifty men belonging to this company, the following persons are now living in this town. Capt. Timothy Brigham, then the Lieut. of the
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HISTORY OF NORTHBOROUGHI.
Nor did the spirited resolutions, above adverted to, end in idle words. They were the result of reflection and patriotic principle ; and they led to the cheerful endurance of privations and hardships, of which the descendants can probably form no adequate concep- tion.
At one time five, and soon after three, at another five, at anoth- er seven, and on one occasion seventeen men, were called for from this small town by the General Court, and were marched in some instances, several hundred miles, to mingle in the scenes of war .*
In the spring of 1781, agreeably to a resolve of the General Court, this town was divided into eight classes, each class being re- quired to furnish a man to serve in the Continental Army for the term of three years, or during the war. And what is worthy of re- mark, as it is an evidence of the patriotic spirit which prevailed among this people in the preceeding autumn, viz. December 28, 1780, the town, taking into consideration the hardships undergoue by those who had entered into the service of their country, and es- . pecially the losses they had sustained, by being paid in a depreciat- ed currency, generously voted to raise their quota of men, and to pay and clothe them at their own expense, allowing them 40 shill- ings each, per month, in hard money, and £21 per year, also in hard money, in addition to their clothes.t
Six men more were called for from this town in the following. summer; five to go to West Point, and one to Rhode Island, who were accordingly raised, and the town granted £122 5s. in hard money, (or $107,50,) to pay the same. At the same time, they were required to purchase, for the use of the army, 3518lbs. of beef, for which the town granted £77, in hard money (or $256,66.) The whole amount granted at this meeting, and which went to the sup- - port of the war, was therefore $664,16 in hard money ; which, con- sidering the population of the town and the value of hard money at that period, was a great som and must have been felt as a heavy burden. Previous to the June, 1778, it appears from the town 1
company, Capt. Amos Rice, Mr. Isaac How, Mr. Joseph Sever, Mr. Reuben Babcock, and .Ar. Nathan Rice. Capt. Samuel Wood, the commander of the company, died September 21, 1818, aged 75 years. Ile was present, and received a slight wound, at the battle of Bunker Hill. 'The Ensign of the company was Mr. Thomas Sever, now of Townsend, in this state.
* "July 13th, 1780, the town voted and granted the suin of ten thousand pounds to pay seventeen men hired into the service, nine for the term of six months, and eight for the terin of three months."
t Town Records, I. p. 212.
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HISTORY OF NORTHBOROUGHI.
records, that this town had expended in money and service towards carrying on the war £1474 14s. 1d. in a depreciated currency probably, the precise value of which, it is difficult now to deter- mine .*
Such, we presume is no more than a fair specimen of the bur- dens borne by the community in support of the war of our Indepen- dence, and of the spirit with which they were borne.
In many, very many instances indeed, the people were impor- erished and brought low. But they were not disheartened; and, by the smiles of a merciful Providence, their efforts were crowned with complete success. Let us who have entered into their labors not forget what we owe to that far-famed generation, who support- ed the privations and hardships of a long and harrassing conflict, in support of our cherished liberties.t
The number was small of those who had refused to embark in the cause of liberty, the names of four only being recorded as ab- sentees, whose estates were confiscated near the close of the war.t
The patriotism of two others was indeed suspected, and they were subjected to a good deal of inconvenience in consequence of it.§
The town records contain a list of the names of 90 persons (probably the whole number who paid taxes) with the amount contributed by each.
"October 30, 1780, the town granted £6660 to purchase beef for the army." This I suppose was when the depreciation of money was nearly, or quite at the lowest ebb, about which time, £2933 6s. Sd. were granted to Rev. Mr. Whitney by an unanimous vote of the town, in addition to his yearly salary.
"May 17, 1781, the town granted the sum of £3300 Os. Od. to pay for three horses for the use of the Continental army."
t Among the survivors of the soldiers of the revolution, in this town, five received pensions from the U. States, agreeably to the law passed, April, 1818. From all these, however, with the exception of two, one of whom has since died, their pensions were withdrawn, after the modification of the law, in 1820. Since that time, two of the number, reduced to poverty, have recovered their pensions ; and the only remaining one from whom it was withdrawn, and who, depending on the pension, had involved himself in debt in erecting a small building for his accommodation, has been compelled to part with his snug little farm, and is now, in his old age, reduced to the very verge of abso- lute want. Such, so far as [ have witnessed it, has been the operation of the laws respecting pensions to Revolutionary Soldiers. It may be remarked moreover, that the two to whom the pensions were continued, had been a town charge, and were not regarded as very valuable members of the com- munity.
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