History of Westminster, Massachusetts (first named Narragansett no. 2) from the date of the original grant of the township to the present time, 1728-1893, with a biographic-genealogical register of its principal families, Part 2

Author: Heywood, William S. (William Sweetzer), 1824-1905
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Lowell, Mass.: Vox Populi Press : S.W. Huse & Co.
Number of Pages: 1082

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Westminster > History of Westminster, Massachusetts (first named Narragansett no. 2) from the date of the original grant of the township to the present time, 1728-1893, with a biographic-genealogical register of its principal families > Part 2

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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.

PART ONE.

DESCRIPTIVE REVIEW OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS.

CHAPTER I.

NAME AND TOPOGRAPHY.

ORIGIN OF NAME-SITUATION -CLIMATE -LANDSCAPE FEATURES - SPECIAL LOCALITIES.

THE town of Westminster is one of the old municipal bodies of which the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was originally composed. The story of its existence begins at a period lying far beyond the time when the British colonies in America sep- arated from the parent government across the sea, and laid upon these shores the foundations of a mighty nation, composed of subordinate, co-related states. Its territory was derived from previously unappropriated lands by grant of the provincial leg- islature, acting under the authority of " Parliament and Crown"; its early proprietors acknowledged loyal subjection to King George II; and its mandates and behests for many years were issued and executed "in His Majesty's name." Nevertheless, it was peopled by men and women of sturdy Puritan stock, who had breathed the airs and imbibed the spirit of civil and religious liberty; "who knew their rights, and knowing dared maintain " them; and who, sympathizing heartily in the great movement for freedom and independence which arose in the latter half of the eighteenth century, shared with their compatriots the hardships and sacrifices incident to the strug- gle that ensued, as they also shared the happy fortunes subse- quently resulting from a well-earned victory. The place this town has filled in New England society and the part it has played in the great drama of American life -the polity it has maintained, the activities it has put in motion, and the achievements it has won, during its long and not wholly un-

HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.

eventful career, it is the purpose and office of this volume to duly delineate, record, and publish to the world.

Name. The name of the town, thus introduced to the reader's notice, is one widely known in the world, associated, as it has been for generations, with both the civil and re- ligious interests of the English realm, and found, as it fre- quently is, on the pages of English literature and in the annals of English life. It is of Anglo-Saxon derivation and of very ancient date. Traced to its origin, it leads back to the time when the course of empire was passing over from the continent of Europe to the British Isles, and when the crude elements of English nationality were emerging from chaos and crystaliz- ing into the forms and institutions of modern society. It is a compound word, formed by the union of two primitive ones, to wit : - West, a cardinal point of the compass, and minster, sig- nifying church, making the combination stand for the West church. How this combination took place and how the result- ant term, Westminster, came into use, are matters easily ex- plained. The first converts to Christianity in the mother country erected, at a very early period, a house of worship in the heart of the already existing "city of London," and dedi- cated it to the Apostle Paul, the original of the cathedral now bearing the name of that saint; and also, about the same time, a similar structure, in the midst of a settlement some two miles to the westward, which they consecrated to St. Peter. To distinguish these from each other, on the basis of their rela- tive position, the former was sometimes called the East minster, or house of religious convocation, and the latter the West minster. As time went on, however, the first assumed per- manently its apostolic designation, while the other retained the one given it by reason of its location, which in due time took on its consolidated form, Westminster; a name that was afterwards applied, not to the ecclesiastical structure alone, but to the whole section of country adjacent thereto. With the growth of the nation, that locality increased in population, wealth, and importance, till it became the "city of Westmin- ster," and until it was finally incorporated, with the "city of London " and contiguous boroughs, as a constituent part of the kingdom's metropolis. In fact, it rose to be, as it still is, the most noteworthy part of that metropolis - the part not only in which stands the renowned abbey bearing its name, but in which cluster the great interests of the empire, - where the houses of parliament and all the important public offices are situated, where culture and refinement chiefly center, and where are displayed more than in any other locality, the glittering ensigns of royalty and the proud emblems of a mighty nation's majesty, power, and glory.

From this most famous quarter of the English capital the town of Westminster took its name, -a name borne by five

NAME AND SITUATION.

other municipalities in the United States, which thereby share with this one whatever dignity, honor, or prestige has been imparted to a common designation, by reason of its high anti- quity and the distinguished associations it has so long enjoyed. At whose suggestion, or by whose agency, it was adopted in the case under notice, there are no records, so far as is known, to show. It is not mentioned in the petition of the inhabitants of the territory involved, praying the general court of the Province of Massachusetts Bay for an act of incorporation, nor does it appear in the journals of the two houses of that body, detailing the processes by which the request of the petitioners was finally enacted into law. A careful examination, however, of the engrossed copy of the legislative bill which was formally signed by the governor, Thomas Pownell, in order to make the incorporative act complete, discloses a key to the secret, - a solution of the problem every way reasonable and satisfactory. By such an examination it is rendered clear that the word Westminster, wherever it stands in the body of the instrument, is in the same handwriting as is the signature of the chief magistrate, the space which that word occupies in any instance having evidently been left unfilled by the transcriber, as it was unquestionably unfilled in the original document. This being the case, it is proper and justifiable to infer that no name whatever was used during the legislative proceedings, nor until the enactment came before the executive for his approval, when he himself, of his own free will and judgment, and in the exer- cise of a privilege often accorded one in his position by the custom of the time, supplied the vacant places and honored the new town with an appellation by which it has ever since been known, and with which its citizens and friends have never had reason to be otherwise than abundantly satisfied.

Situation. Westminster is a distinctively country town, being located in the centrally-northern part of the County of Worcester, in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, midway between the eastern extremity of Cape Ann and the line of the State of New York on the west. It occupies an elevated posi- tion upon the range of highlands which separate the waters of the Connecticut River from those of the Merrimac. The geo- graphical situation of its central village is 42° 323' north lati- tude and 71° 543' west longitude from Greenwich, or 5° 8' east longitude from Washington. It is bounded on the north by Gardner and Ashburnham; on the east by Fitchburg, Leomin- ster, and Princeton ; on the south by Princeton and Hubbardston ; and on the west by Hubbardston, Gardner, and Ashburnham. Its mean height above the level of the sea is about one thousand feet. The town hall, as nearly as can be estimated, is twenty and a half miles, by a direct line a little west of north, from the Court House in Worcester, and about forty-eight miles, by a similar measurement W. N. W., from the State House in Boston.

HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS. .

By the carriage way the distance from Worcester is nearly twenty-two miles, while the railway station, two miles eastward from the town hall, is fifty-five miles from Boston along the line of the track. The extreme length of the town from north to south on a meridian line is not far from eight miles, and its extreme width on a line parallel to the equator is about six miles. Its most remote points are nearly nine miles from each other. It has an estimated area of twenty-three thousand acres, or thirty-six square miles. Its population numbers not far from sixteen hundred persons, about three-fifths of whom are dis- tributed at large over its territory, being connected with the agricultural interests of the place, the remaining two-fifths resid- ing in more compact neighborhoods, where mechanical opera- tions offer favorable opportunities for remunerative labor and self-support. The principal of these neighborhoods is at what is called "The Center," - a village containing nearly a hundred dwelling-houses, three churches, three stores for traffic in gen- eral merchandize, a commodious town hall, an hotel, an exten- sive bakery, a bank, a large chair manufactory, several small shops for minor industrial purposes, and numerous subordinate buildings. Every thing there is kept in excellent order and repair, and the whole presents a neat and attractive appearance. Few country villages are more comely and pleasing to the view than this, and few are more indicative of thrift, competence, comfort, domestic and social content, and happiness. Wachu- settville is located two miles east of the Center, and has within its limits two paper mills and about twenty-five dwellings, with the usual accompaniments. South Westminster is somewhat smaller, and is situated a mile from the Center, on the slope of land which rises gently from the southwestern extremity of Meeting-house Pond. It is of recent growth, having sprung up as an adjunct of a large and flourishing chair manufactory established there some forty years ago. A few dwellings and a small chair factory and other buildings connected therewith, located near each other, about two miles north of the Center, constitute what is called "Whitman's Village," or sometimes " Scrabble Hollow"-the former name having been derived from a prominent family which first settled there and for many years occupied an influential position in that part of the town.

Climate. The climate of Westminster, situated as it is considerably above tide water, and almost wholly beyond the reach of the modifying influence of oceanic breezes and currents of the sea, is inconstant, frequently disagreeable, and in some respects trying to the human constitution, but can not be regarded as specially prejudicial to health and length of days. It is characterized by great extremes of heat and cold, and by sudden and violent changes which affect to a large extent the annual fall of rain and snow and the general dryness or humidity of the atmosphere, with their attendant sanitary qualities, ten-

W. P. ALLEN, GARDNER, MASS

CENTRAL VILLAGE - LOOKING EAST,

W. P. ALLEN, GARDNER, MASS.

CENTRAL VILLAGE-LOOKING WEST.

CLIMATE AND SURFACE.

dencies, and effects. The winters are usually long and severe, and are subject to high winds and heavy storms, especially from the northeast, which are not only detrimental to many forms of vegetable life, but promotive of certain types of disease to which human beings are susceptible. At the same time, the natural conditions and circumstances which subject the place to many of the harsher and less welcome moods of the winter time, have their compensation in the fresh, cool breezes of the summer season, which moderate the otherwise excessive heat, and render that portion of the year more invigorating and delightful. Its lofty and exposed position imparts at all times not only purity and salubrity to the air, but constant and rapid movement to the waters; both of which facts conduce to vigor and strength of body, to activity and clearness of intellect, and, indirectly, to moral soundness and energy of character. On the whole, the town must be regarded an unusually healthful one, as the mortuary records of the population abundantly attest. Cases of pulmonary, malarial, or zymotic disease are of rare occurrence among the native-born population, and the number of persons attaining "good old age" is exceptionally large. The meteorological condition of the climate may be judged by the statement that the average annual rainfall in the general section of country to which the town belongs is forty- two inches, while the average temperature in the winter months is 223º Fahrenheit ; in the summer 65°, and for the year about 443º.

Surface. The territory of Westminster, when considered with reference to its superficies or external conformation, is greatly diversified. Considerably broken and wild in some localities, in others it is gently undulating, or level and plain- like. Between its lowest and highest points of altitude above the level of the sea, as shown hereafter, there is spread out an almost unlimited variety of those phases and exhibitions of rural perspective which contribute so largely to the beauty and charm of a landscape, arresting the attention and gratifying the taste of the lover of the works and wonders of Providence in the material world. Hill and dale, meadow and upland, forest and field, lake, river, and streamlet, blend together in one continuous display of scenic loveliness and enchantment. Delightful drives in all directions solicit the pleasure seeker and admirer of nature, and few towns in this vicinity or else- where can offer more or richer attractions to such than can here be enjoyed. Sylvan shades and sunny slopes, wilderness depths and commanding heights, glide into each other in rapid succession, as one journeys about, like the dissolving views of some grand, skilfully-manipulated panorama. From most of the eminences of the town the surrounding country presents an unusual variety of pleasing scenes, some of which are most picturesque and exquisitely lovely. Even the rough and

HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.

broken sections, -the rocky, barren hills, give a rustic, wild aspect or setting to the picture, and, by contrast, if not other- wise, add to it special interest and fascination. The graceful form of "Old Wachusett," rising at the southeast to an altitude of more than two thousand feet, partly within the town's limits, discernible from every prominent point of observation, lends wondrous grandeur and majesty to the view in that direction, while opposite, still farther away to the northwest, stands Monadnock, of nearly twice the height and more kingly mein, whose " bald and awful " brow, half revealed and half concealed amidst the clouds and vapors that often envelop it, bounds there the remotest reach of the beholder's eye.

Hills. As has already been suggested, the natural scenery of Westminster is characterized by numerous elevations of con- siderable altitude, some of the more important of which are worthy of special mention. Several of them are precipitous and steep- uncouth ridges of rock, lifted from their native bed by some convulsive force of nature in some unknown period of past ages, with scarce earth enough upon them and accompanying nutritive properties to give root and sustenance to the most stinted shrub or impoverished herbage, - sometimes not enough to hide their rough, hard faces from view; while others, the larger number perhaps, more gentle in their ascent and better favored with a soil susceptible of cultivation, are covered with vegetable growths of a various sort, furnishing sites for some of the best farms in all the region round about. Most of these eminences are designated by names of ancient date, given them in some instances for reasons that are apparent or easily inferred; in others, for reasons that are doubtful or unknown.

Directly to the southeast of the Center, within the borders of the village, stands what has always been known as "Meet- ing-house Hill." Upon its summit, at the northerly side of an open, level area, originally laid out for a training-field and other public uses, and familiarly called "the Common," or in later years " the Old Common," stood the first house of worship erected in the town, whence came, of course, the name by which it has always been designated. A mile north of the Center is the commanding eminence, crowned with the well-known Win- ship dwelling house and farm buildings, which has obtained the very appropriate appellation of Prospect Hill, the view from it being more extensive, varied, and beautiful perhaps than from any other point in town. Farther on in the same direction and double the distance from the central village, near to Gardner line, is Beech Hill, called so from the largely prevailing kind of wood native to the locality. More northeasterly, three miles from the Center, and reaching to the boundary of Ashburnham, is Bragg Hill, the easterly and bolder extremity of which, near to Fitchburg, is called Bean Porridge Hill. The origin of these

W. P. ALLEN, GARDNER, MASS.

MEETING-HOUSE POND AND WACHUSETT MOUNTAIN.

HILLS AND PONDS.

designations may be easily suspected, but can not be positively affirmed. A bleak, rocky, barren ridge in the southerly portion of the town, the highest isolated point of land within its limits is Graves' Hill, which derived its name from a former owner, one of the early settlers, who had his dwelling on the westerly side of it, not far away. A still more precipitous and desolate elevation, a mile east of the last and three miles from the Center, one side of which is a perpendicular face of rock nearly a hundred feet high, is called Crow Hill, for reasons sufficiently obvious to those acquainted with the place and its belongings. Still farther in the same direction, and quite at the southeast corner of the territory, is Ball's Hill, which probably perpetuates the name of some former owner or neighboring resident. There are other lesser elevations scattered over the territory, such as Barnard Hill, Miles' Hill, Mt. Hunger, etc., but they are not of sufficient importance, nor widely enough known, to be definitely mentioned and located in this connection.

Ponds. There are four natural bodies of water in West- minster, to which, in making a catalogue under the present topographical head, must be added several artificial ones of considerable size, importance, and permanency, constructed in aid of manufacturing interests in this and neighboring towns. The most prominent of the former is what has usually been called Meeting-house Pond, though sometimes, in recent years, Westminster Pond, or Lake. It lies to the southeast of the Center, beyond and partly at the base of Meeting-house Hill, whence its earlier and most common name; its northernmost borders coming within a radius of half a mile from the town hall. Its extreme length is about a mile and its greatest width less than a hundred rods, its estimated area being 152.3 acres. Its waters are clear and unusually pure, being derived mostly from springs within its own depths or on the circumjacent hillsides, rendering them eminently suitable for domestic uses, should they ever be needed in some possible growth of the town here- after. It is a beautiful sheet of water and adds greatly to the charm of the landscape, especially when viewed from the Old Common, with the quiet village of South Westminster on the right, the green fields and farm buildings in the distance on the left, while the rising slopes and rugged hills beyond are sur- mounted by Wachusett, lifting its head grandly towards the sky. It is a source of power for numerous manufacturing establishments located upon the banks of the stream through which its contents take their way to the sea.

Wachusett Pond, or Lake, is a body of water containing 134. 15 acres, with more picturesque environments, situated two miles farther to the southeast, at the very foot of the mountain whose name it bears. It is partly in Princeton, but mostly in Westminster. Its northern and western borders have, at a recent date, become the seat of several summer dwellings,

HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS

private and public, to one of the latter of which are attached ample and attractive grounds, mostly in the adjacent grove, laid out and fitted up as a resort for pleasure parties and tema- porary visitors in the heated season of the year. This body of water also is a source of supply for mill privileges below.

Mud Pond is a small, unimportant body of water in the northerly section of the town, and Grassy Pond, a similar one in the easterly, two miles from the central village. Some years since, the latter became a part of the reservoir which was created in order to retain the surplus flowage of the springtime, for use during the later and drier months of the year by the mills of Wachusettville and other manufactories farther down the stream. This reservoir covers a tract of meadow land, some two hundred and fifty-five acres in extent, reaching from the village named to the outlet of Wachusett Lake, whose con- tents, in connection with those of Westminster Pond, are its chief source of supply. The influx is sufficient to make it of decided utility in the way indicated during the summer and autumn season, and from year to year indefinitely. The same is true in regard to what were formerly called the Town Meadows, three-fourths of a mile east of the Center, now used as a reservoir for the benefit of manufacturing interests located below. Two or three similar changes have been made in meadows near the Gardner line, in aid of the South Gardner industries. A few small mill ponds variously located are all that remain of the thirty-five or forty that existed sixty or seventy years ago. The reduction of lumber acreage in the vicinity and the tendency to concentration exhibited in all mechanical activities, here as elsewhere, have contributed to bring about the indicated change.

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History of Westminster, Massachusetts (first named Narragansett no. 2) from the date of the original grant of the township to the present time, 1728-1893, with a biographic-genealogical register of its principal families, Part 2

Author: Heywood, William S. (William Sweetzer), 1824-1905 Publication date: 1893 Publisher: Lowell, Mass.: Vox Populi Press : S.W. Huse & Co. Number of Pages: 1082

Author: Heywood, William S. (William Sweetzer), 1824-1905
Publication date: 1893
Publisher: Lowell, Mass.: Vox Populi Press : S.W. Huse & Co.
Number of Pages: 1082