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 46
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CHAPTER XIX.
DOMESTIC AND SOCIAL CHARACTERISTICS.
LIFE IN THE OLDEN TIME-TENDENCIES AND TRANSFORMATIONS - ABANDONED HOMESTEADS.
BEFORE bringing these chronicles to a close, it seems desira- ble to devote a few pages to a portraiture of the common, every- day life of our forefathers and foremothers, for the purpose of presenting clearly to view some of the practices and customs prevailing among them and indicating the conditions and cir- cumstances under which they laid the foundations and built up the superstructure of this goodly town. Such a sketch will open the way to a consideration of some of the tendencies of modern civilization and the great changes resulting therefrom in the domestic and social economy of the people at large, during the past hundred and fifty years.
Sufficient has already been said to show that the first comers here and their immediate descendants and successors, were not only profoundly religious men and women attending scrupu- lously to all the forms and ordinances of church life, but that they were also highly moral-honest, upright, good-principled, kind-hearted, and humane-faithful to their obligations in the various relations of life. They were, moreover, enterprising, industrious, frugal, temperate, ready and willing to work hard, endure privation, and practice a rigid self-denial, in order to build a home for themselves and their children and establish a township rich in blessings for coming generations. No doubt some unscrupulous, graceless fellows, and, now and then, a thriftless, disorderly family, were found among them ; but these were exceptions and not the rule, the great body of the men and women being of genuine character and worthy of remem- brance and grateful commendation.
They were furthermore, generally speaking, persons of intel- ligence, power of thought, and executive ability, well-qualified to be the pioneers in the important enterprise that they were here to promote. Of what goes by the name of culture,- book-learning, the equipment furnished by the schools,- they undoubtedly had little, but they had what served them in good stead therefor, sturdy common sense, sound judgment, and a practical knowledge of men and of affairs. They had, at the same time, a sense of the value of education as a prime factor in human character and in the social fabric, and early began to
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
make provision for securing its blessings to the community, as elsewhere narrated.
They were disposed to be watchful of the public morals and sought diligently to keep the township free from those social vices which imperil all sacred interests and dishonor both God and man. They guarded well the portals of the settlement, to prevent, as far as possible, persons of questionable character from coming in; they maintained a vigilant oversight of all strolling, transient visitors here; they held each other and especially all heads of families to a strict account for the con- duct and influence of whomsoever they might entertain as guests or inmates of their homes.
The dwellings of the first settlers were small, rude, and, in many respects, uncomfortable. Probably, many of them were simple log cabins, although, it is said, the first ones occupied were framed and covered with rough boards from the already existing sawmill. They had often but one room, with an attic overhead reached by a ladder, and this served the needs of the family, sometimes numbering a dozen or more persons. The single- roomed house was soon superseded by one of two apartments, with a small entry and a large chimney between. To the accommodations thus furnished was added, subsequently, a long room in the rear, devoted to all the ordinary purposes of domes- tic life, with a smaller one at each end for incidental uses. This style of dwelling prevailed largely during the latter part of the last century, and some well-known specimens of it are still to be found. In its final form as a typical farmhouse, it had two stories in front and one in the rear, and was covered by a common, double roof, the two sides of which were of very un- equal length. Other styles of residences came in at a later day, most of those now seen within the memory of many yet alive. As a needful accompaniment of the old-time dwelling, the high- curbed well was in its yard, having a long and lofty "sweep" above, wherewith to draw water from the cool depths below.
The furnishings of the house in those days were as rude and inartistic as the building itself. No carpet was on the floor and no pictures adorned the walls. Chairs were conspicuous by their absence, their places being filled with stools or boxes, or, perchance, a section from the trunk of a forest tree. A table of the most primitive pattern usually occupied the center of the common or living room, which served alike for kitchen, dining room, reception hall, parlor, not infrequently for a dormitory, and sometimes as a shop for the manufacture of brooms, nog- gins, pails, and other small articles of household or other use. Nearly every such apartment had a "settle" -a long bench or plain settee with a high back, on which half a dozen persons could be seated when occasion required. This occupied a prom- inent position on one side of the huge fireplace, in which wood four feet long could be burned, and from which, ablaze with
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W. P. ALLEN, GA DNE , MAS .
OLD WHITNEY HOUSE. RESIDENCE OF CALVIN WHITNEY.
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CHARACTERISTICS OF BYGONE DAYS.
backlog, forestick, etc., there was dispensed in the winter time heat and sometimes light for all that were in the room. A birch broom to keep the floor free from litter, graced one corner, while against the chimney jamb stood the uncouth "shovel and tongs," wherewith to adjust the falling brands by day, or closely pack and cover them for the night.
Nearly every house was supplied with the paraphernalia need- ful for the production of the cloth out of which garments, blan- kets, and other articles were made for the household,- hatchels, cardboards, spinning wheels, reels, warping bars, looms, etc. So also was it with utensils needed in culinary operations,- mortar and pestle, bread trough, trays, piggins, jacks and spits, pots and kettles, gridirons, skillets, frying pans, hooks and trammels, tin kitchens, and the like. What served for cooking and table appliances in those days consisted mostly of wooden plates, bowls, and spoons, with a few articles of pewter ware, several earthen mugs, and a small assortment of knives and forks. These were arranged with considerable regard for order and good taste, upon a series of shelves at one end of the living room, familiarly known as "the dresser." Stoves had not been invented, and the cooking was done before or over the large, open fire, or in the spacious brick oven close by, where the principal baking for the entire week could be accomplished in a single day.
The diet of our ancestors was as simple as it was unadulter- ated and healthful. It consisted largely of wild game and fish, supplemented by the flesh of domestic beasts and fowls. The potato was hardly known. Corn, rye, and barley were the prin- cipal cereals used, and turnips, parsnips, pumpkins, peas, and beans, the leading vegetables. "Bean porridge " was the staple dish in many families, and is said to have been palatable and nutritious at any time, but "best when nine days old." Nuts, roots, and berries, nature's freewill offering, in their season, helped to give variety as well as volume to the " bill of fare." But little tea was used, and coffee had hardly a place in the culinary vocabulary. In their place were certain indigenous plants, the raspberry, Labrador tea, etc., from which an accept- able beverage was sometimes made, as there was from roasted barley. Cider from the orchards, and beer from wild roots and herbs, were common drinks in most households. Spirituous liquors of a severer type came into use at a later datc.
The dress of the men and women of whom mention is made was, no doubt, primitive and unique. Simple "homespun " was the material composing it, as it was homewoven, too, for the most part; and as the garments themselves were homemade. Wool from black sheep and white, properly combined, gave a checked dress which pleased the taste of the mother and her daughters, while deftly mixed they furnished an equally satis- factory gray suit for the father and sons. If other colors were
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
wanted, either for woolen goods or for those produced from home-grown hemp or flax, they were derived, not from Central American forests, nor from mineral deposits of any sort, but from trees and shrubs native to the soil. Now and then some article of the wardrobe, made of calico or other goods of foreign production, could be found among the better-to-do families, an object of interest and admiration, if not of envy, to the beholders.
Of the kinds and styles of garments then in vogue, no detailed and definite statement can be made. A skirt with short, loose gown is said to have been the ordinary dress of the women, while the men wore short trowsers, called "breeches," with a jacket, and a long blouse or frock over all. The Sunday suit for both sexes was more comely and attractive, though by no means elegant or artistic, according to modern standards.
The equipment of the farm for the cultivation of the soil, etc., was mostly of the farmer's own manufacture, supplemented sometimes by the skill of the common blacksmith. The vari- ous implements were clumsy in form and crude in construction, heavy and unwieldy,-a very course type or intimation of the light, shapely, easily handled apparatus of the present day. The multiform kinds of machinery, strictly so-called, which have revolutionized agriculture as an art or calling in life, had not then been invented.
Means of conveyance in the early days here were few in number and primitive in character. Aside from the use of the natural powers of locomotion, horseback riding was the prin- cipal method of traveling about town or journeying abroad. Sidesaddles for the women, and pillions for both women and children, were common, and it was not infrequently the case that a man, his wife, and one or more little ones would be seen mounted upon the same patient, willing, burden-bearing bcast, on their way to meeting or a distant neighbor's house,-a picturesque spectacle ! Few wheeled vehicles were in town, a hundred years ago, save those of the coarsest, clumsiest make for farmer's convenience, and the introduction of comfortable, attractive wagons and pleasure carriages of any sort is a matter that comes within the memory of some now living.
As to amusements, these people were not without them, as is sometimes supposed- not without something to relieve the tedium and dullness of what might seem to be the monotony and barrenness of their lot. Possibly they were as well sup- plied with the means of merrymaking, according to their desires or conscious needs, as are those of us who now occupy the places left vacant by them. To be sure, they had no clubs, cattle fairs, improvement society meetings, musical entertain- ments, etc., but they had trainings, wrestlings, raisings, huskings, apple bees, quiltings, etc., for adults, while the children indulged in their little games of "tag," "hide and seek," "hunt the
385
PLEASURES OF OUR ANCESTORS.
slipper," and "button, button, who's got the button," much as their successors of the same age do now.
Moreover, neighborhood visitation and the friendly intercourse of social life were then of that free and unconventional charac- ter which affords some of the purest, sweetest, and most satis- fying pleasures of life. Class distinctions were practically un- known, all the people occupying a common level of rank and honor, sharing together the fortunes of their lot as members of one household of faith and of one school of hardship, toil, and self-sacrifice, in which the good fortune and happiness of one became the joy of all.
Furthermore, these people believed most heartily that they were engaged in a great and noble work. They felt that the blessing of heaven would rest upon their labors. In such an assurance there is always satisfaction and delight. And besides, after a little, they were prospered in what they sought to do. The settlement was filling up, the rough places were made smooth, and the waste places fruitful, -the wilderness and solitary place was made glad before their eyes, and in these results there was abundant cause for rejoicing. So that, look- ing at the matter in a large and appreciative way, it is more than probable that the lot of these ancestors of ours was not so cheerless and forbidding as might at first thought be sup- posed, and they, themselves, not the long-faced, gloomy, discon- solate folk we sometimes take them to have been. Very likely life had as much zest, as much relish, as much real enjoyment to them as it has to us, their pleasure-ridden descendants. Their privations had their compensations, their losses were not without gains, and some honey they were able to extract from the carcass of the lion they were called upon to meet in their path, vanquish, and destroy.
In picturing to our thought the life of the community as it was in the olden time, the conditions and circumstances under which our fathers and mothers labored in their day, we are reminded of the very great changes, mostly for the better, which have taken place since they were the actors in the drama of this town's affairs, and how different everything in the domes- tic and social economy of to-day is from what it was then. We are living in a new era of history, in a new age of the world, - an era and an age made possible to us by their labors, by the fidelity and conscientious zeal with which they met the respon- sibilities and discharged the duties that, in the Providence of God and the progress of civilization, were laid upon them.
The germs of the changes referred to, the seed-grain of all the advancement that has been made since the days spoken of, existed among the people of that early time. Their personal character, the principles of civil and religious liberty they cher- ished and honored, the form of social and civil life they estab- lished and illustrated here, their faith and piety, their hope of
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
better days to come, were well calculated to generate tendencies and activities which could result only in greatly improved social conditions, in a higher form of civilization, in the better life of the present day. So it is that "they labored and we entered into their labors"; so it is that they sowed the seed of harvests that nourish and sustain our lives; so it is that we received from them a precious inheritance, which, God grant, we may transmit enriched and augmented to coming generations.
Distribution of Population. A marked feature of the transformation which has taken place in the domestic and social life of the township during the period intervening between the olden times and the present, has been but incidentally alluded to in the presentation thus far given, and deserves a more ex- tended notice. It pertains to the general distribution of the inhabitants of the town throughout its territory, and to the cen- tralizing tendency which assumed a definite, practical form about a century ago, resulting in the gradual growth of the several villages now existing, and in the accompanying depopu- lation and desertion of large districts, once the seat of flourish- ing homesteads and of worthy and influential families.
It was the prevailing custom, if not the definite policy, of the first settlers in town, for each proprietor of a house lot to locate upon it and devote himself largely to its improvement and cul- tivation. Under this regime, nearly every one of the sixty- acre tracts laid out in the first division of lands had a resident owner upon it, and the same was to a large extent true of those of the second division. Naturally some lots would be unsuit- able for homestead uses, while others would be added to neigh- boring lots, to enlarge the landed estate of certain settlers who had the means of purchase at their command. As a rule, how- ever, each lot came to have an occupant, and the population was distributed far and wide throughout the township.
And this state of things continued until near the close of the last century, when the work of centralization began. The Revolutionary War being over, and the questions incident to the founding of the state and national governments being set- tled, the energies of the people were turned into other chan- nels and expended upon other objects. A spirit of enterprise and of improvement sprang up in all directions, manifesting it- self in the establishment of various kinds of manufactures, in the opening of important thoroughfares, and in the multiplica- tion of other instrumentalities and facilities for supplying the growing wants of the community. In the line of the increased activity of the times, the water power of the "Narrows" and of other parts of the town was developed and utilized; the Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike was built, furnishing more easy and abundant communication with prosperous settlements to the west, and with growing markets to the east; a hotel and several new stores were erected and opened on the "Main
387
GREAT CHANGES IN TOWN.
street," for the accommodation of the traveling public and of adjoining localities ; several men of energy, business capacity, and public spirit from abroad came in to augment existing forces here; and withal a season of unprecedented prosperity prevailed. An increase of business at the Center attracted residents from the outside as time went on, while the rise of important industries in neighboring towns, the founding of manufacturing villages in more distant places, the opening of new fields of activity at the West and elsewhere, all offering inducements and attractions superior to those of the rocky, ob- curate farms, had the effect of gradually depleting the outlying districts, and of giving up many once well-tilled fields and farms to pasturage or forest growths.
So great have been the changes thus indicated that many names once familiar here, and representing large families, such as Brooks, Graves, Heywood, Hoar, Taylor, are no longer to be found ; while others, like Holden, Miller, Sawin, Whitney, and Wood, though remaining, yet appear in greatly diminished numbers. Only a few estates continue in the families of those who first occupied and improved them,-a dozen, or fif- teen at most,-while the great majority of them, by reason of the mutations incident to every condition of life, and other con- siderations of a more distinctly financial character, have been sold and resold many times. All of which appears more fully in the following tabulated statement concerning
ABANDONED HOMESTEADS.
A striking feature of the territory of the town at the present day, resulting from causes set forth in the last few paragraphs, is the appearance, here and there in all directions, of old cellars, wells, orchards, or other tokens of dwellings once existing but now gone forever. Some of these have so re- cently been removed, or given over to decay, that their ownership and occu- pancy, in latter years at least, are well known to the generation now on the stage of active life, while many others there are so long vacated that all traces of those once in possession of them have been lost, or are preserved only in vague and uncertain traditions or in the fast fading memory of the older inhabitants. To rescue all of them from oblivion and place them in their proper relation to the continually changing life of the community and township, considerable time and effort have been expended in looking up the history of these forsaken localities and in tracing their descent from the beginning to the end of their existence as places of residence. Nearly every one of the sites of former homesteads within the town's borders has been visited by the writer, and they are spoken of from personal observa- tion as well as by personal research among authentic records and annals. A very few instances occur in which no indications whatever can now be found of buildings known to have once existed, as will be noted in proper time and place.
For the purpose of making this review more intelligible and of fixing in the mind of the reader more permanently the various localities described, they are numbered in regular order, each number having its corresponding one on the map of the township to be found at the beginning of the volume. It is not claimed that the places thus indicated are mathematically correct, though they are deemed sufficiently so for all practical purposes and to serve
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HISTORY OF WESTMINSTER, MASS.
the general ends for which they are designed. It will be noted that the tabulated record begins at the extreme northerly part of the territory, pro- ceeding thence southward by indirect advances, as convenience or fancy dic- tates, until the entire ground is covered and the opposite limit reached. Possibly the list is incomplete, but the number of omissions, if any, is very small indeed. The designation "Abandoned Homesteads" is used in a somewhat restricted sense, inasmuch as in some instances it is made to ap- ply to the giving up of a dwelling site on a lot or farm for a more eligible or desirable one on the same domain, if considerably removed from the original. If the change were inconsiderable -of a few rods only -no notice is taken of it. So far by way of explanation. The abbreviations and con- tractions in the sketches given, will be readily apprehended.
No. 1. In the extreme north part of the town, seemingly on 2d Div., lot No. 112. Was purchased by Mark Cutter, in 1823, of Samuel Gibson of Fg., the house, barn, etc., then standing upon it. Mr. C. was in town in 1815 and prob. erected the buildings afterward occupied and finally owned by him. Subsequently to his death, about 1848, the family moved away. Several other parties resided there temporarily, afterwards, but the house disappeared many years since and nothing now remains, save the cellar and a few other tokens of what was once a well-appointed homestead.
No. 2. Situated half a mile north of the present residence of James H. Laws, on what was originally No. 41, 2d Div. It was the home of Isaac Brooks, who, coming from Acton in 1770, purchased land, erected a dwel- ling, etc., and spent his life there. After his death the buildings went to decay and at length disappeared, some years since.
No. 3. The residence of Samuel Brooks, son of Isaac. situated ab. 50 rods from the county road, on the town-way leading to his father's. A mill built by him is still standing. (See Chap. on Industries.)
No. 4. A small house once stood between the dwelling of Samuel Cooper (now A. S. North's) and the old Martin (Chesmore) place. It was once occupied by Wm. S. Bradbury, Benjamin Tilden, etc. Prob. owned by Mr. Cooper.
No. 5. Located on lot 39, 2d Div., in what is now an open field half a mile northwest of Mr. Laws'. The dwelling was prob. built by Jacob Harris, who bought the land of Samuel Kendall, O. P., in 1767, and who sold it, with house and improvements, to Jona. Brooks, Fg., 10 yrs. later. In 1779 Mr. Brooks sold to Jedh. Cooper. Only transients lived there after- wards and the buildings gradually went to decay.
No. 6. In 1772, Jacob Goodale, from Southboro', bought of David Mc- Intire, lot No. 5, 3d Div., and is supposed to have built a house upon it, which he occupied some 8 or 10 years and then left town. No correspond- ing cellar-hole or other token of a habitation has been found. But there exist certain indefinite remembrances of such, centering in a former Flint pasture, which lies N. W. of the schoolhouse in old District No. 6. This location is confirmed by the fact that the first schoolhouse in that part of the town, built in 1784 was ordered to be placed " on a ridge of land near Mr. Milens house"- Mr. Milen (Millen) being the assumed successor of Mr. Goodale on the estate.
No. 7. In the Nichols pasture, on the north side of the cross road lead- ing from near where Porter F. Page lives to the valley, a few rods from the river, are there indications of the former residence of Thos. G. Cree, who was in town but a few years. His house was prob. little more than a rude hut and soon disappeared.
No. 8. Half a mile east of the main highway over B. P. hill, at the end of a lane still traceable, are there the cellar, well, etc., which mark the site of the buildings of the large estate originally belonging to Jonathan Town- send, but sold by him to Nathl. Sawyer, from Reading, ab. 1773. Mr. S. lived there till his decease and was succeeded by his son Eli, who sold
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ABANDONED HOMESTEADS.
to his son-in-law, Joseph Burgess. The house was burned more than 50 yrs. ago, and the barn. in 1876.
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