History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 105

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 105

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BIOGRAPHICAL.

LUKE ADAMS.

Luke Adams, who was one of Barre's most substan- tial farmers, was born in New Braintree, January 20, 1801; he was the son of Jonathan Adams, formerly of Northboro', and Dorothy, daughter of Dr. Edward Flint, of Shrewsbury. His parents came to the ad- joining town of Barre in 1808, and located upon the farm in the southern portion, which is now the residence of his son, Austin F. Adams. Mr. Adams' father dying when he was but about twelve years of age, the farm passed into the management of strangers' hands, by whom it was carried on for several years. Mr. Adams lived with his mother and sister during this time, attending the common school, and obtain- ing such an education as the instruction of those days could furnish. At the age of eighteen that spirit which marked his after-life began to assert itself; purchasing stock and farming implements, he began farming for himself on the old farm, although owning but a half-interest in the place. At this time the buildings were out of repair and the land badly run down; with this discouraging outlook he began his life-work in earnest, and met with signal success. He soon erected new buildings, and so improved the farm that its capacity and valne were much increased. He took a great interest in all practical farm machinery, and was among the first to make use of the tedder, spreader-cart, horse-rake, etc .; it was upon his farm that the inventor of the first successful tedder experi- mented with his invention, and by him the inventor was financially aided in obtaining his patent. Mr. Adams was conservative in his operations, firm and decided in his opinions, and of sound and practical judgment. He was a valued member of the Boards of Selectmen, Overseers of the Poor and Assessors, and a trustee for many years of the Barre Savings Bank ; he filled many places of trust and responsibility, but never neglected his farm, which to-day ranks high. The utmost confidence was placed in his sound judg- ment and strict integrity. He died October 25, 1884, leaving a widow, a son and daughter.

PETER M. HARWOOD.

Peter Mirick Harwood was born in Barre June 10, 1853. His ancestry in direct Harwood line is Peter (1804), Peter (1763), Daniel (1736), David (1708), David (1668) and John (1630), who is supposed to have been a son of Henry, who came from England in fleet with Winthrop. His mother, whose maiden- name was Eunice Jones Mirick, was a descendant of Abram and Eunice (Jones) Garfield, who were also ancestors of the late President Garfield.

Mr. Harwood's early days were spent on the farm where he now lives. He attended the district school, the Barre High School and the Massachusetts Agri- cultural College at Amherst, from which he was grad- uated in 1875. While in college he had the honor of winning the first Farnsworth Rhetorical gold medal. At the death of his father (1876) he assumed the management of the homestead, and began business life as a farmer and breeder of fine stock. In 1877 he was elected a member of the Board of Selectmen, being the youngest man ever on the board. In 1879 he was made a member of the School Board ; again elected in 1884, he has held that office ever since, being its chairman three years. He was lecturer of Barre Grange, P. of H., in 1877, '80, '81 and '82, and master in 1883, '84 and '85, during which period the organization reached the largest membership in its history ; he was lecturer of the Massachusetts State Grange in 1886 and '87; he was secretary of the Massachusetts Agricultural College Alumni Associa- tion for several years, and its president in 1886-87, and presided at the great banquet on the occasion of the twenty-fifth anniversary of the college. He was for several years a director, and in 1887 and '88 presi- dent of the Barre Central Cheese Company, and presi- dent of Worcester County West Agricultural Society in 1887 '88 and '89. He married Mary Ann Wallace December 13, 1884, from which union two children have been born,-Eunice Frances (July 18, 1886) and Mary Louisa (February 29, 1888). Mr. Harwood has been engaged for several years in the breeding of Hol- stein-Friesian cattle, and has developed one of the finest herds in the State. He enjoys a wide and hon- orable reputation, both as a public officer and as a business man.

CHARLES ROBINSON.

Charles Robinson is a native of the town of Barre, where he was born July 29, 1834. His early days were spent on the farm ; at the age of seventeen years he obtained a position in a general country store in his native town as a clerk, attending school in the mean time. Leaving Barre in 1856, he started his busi- ness life in the dry-goods and grocery business in Wilmington, of this State, where he remained for about two years. Not finding the business congenial to his taste, he returned to Barre, and began the manu- facture and sale of boots and shoes, in which he con- tinued until 1862, when he enlisted in the Fifty-fourth

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Regiment Massachusetts Volunteers, from which he was soon transferred to the Forty-second Regiment. From this regiment he was detailed into the Engineer Corps, where he did efficient service as pontonier at Donaldsonville, Port Hudson and other places. At the expiration of his term of service he returned to Barre and re-engaged in the boot and shoe business. In 1871 he resumed farming, making market-garden- ing his specialty, and followed this for abont ten years. In 1875 his attention was drawn to the superiority of the Holstein Friesian breed of cattle, and, after thor- oughly investigating their merits, in 1880 engaged in breeding and raising this fine class of stock, since which time he has devoted his whole attention to it. His sales of these cattle, which are numerous, have been mostly in the New England States, although some of his stock has been sold to go as far south as North Carolina. His farm consists of about seventy acres, and is in a high state of cultivation and, with the aid of a silo, of which he is an enthusiastic advocate, will keep through the year fifty head of cattle. His crops are mostly corn and hay, which, with purchases of hay and grain, is fed out to a herd of one hundred and four Holstein Friesians, all of which are registered stock. A son of Mr. Robinson is associated with him in the business of breeding and managing this fine collection; besides these, four men are employed on the farm throughout the year.

CHAPTER LIII.

WEBSTER.

BY WILLIAM T. DAVIS.

IN the town of Belper, Derbyshire, England, on the 9th of June, 1768, Samuel Slater, the founder of the town of Webster, was born. Onthe 28th of June, 1782, at the age of fourteen, he was apprenticed for seven years to Jedediah Strutt, a partner of Arkwright, to learn the business of manufacturing cotton. At about the time of the close of his apprenticeship he saw an advertisement of a premium for the introduction of

Arkwright machinery into the United States, and being familiar with the methods used by his employer, he determined to seek his fortunes in the New World. On the Ist of September, 1789, he left Derbyshire for London, and on the 13th of the same month sailed for New York, where he arrived after a sixty-six days' passage. He at first engaged his services to the New York Manufacturing Company, but, after a few weeks, hearing of Moses Brown, of Providence, he wrote to that gentleman on the 2d of December, offering his services in the line of his trade. On the 10th of De- cember Mr. Brown replied, inviting him to Providence, to which place he removed in January, 1790. On the 5th of April in that year he signed a contract to con-

struct machinery after the plan of that with which he had become familiar during his apprenticeship. He soon became engaged in Pawtucket, R. I., in the suc- cessful mannfacture of cotton-yarn, which was sold to be woven on hand-looms into cloth by domestic labor.

While engaged in this business, Mr. James Tiffany, of the town of Wales, in Massachusetts, then known as South Brimfield, became acquainted with Mr. Sla- ter in his trading expeditions to Pawtucket, and at his request Mr. Slater took his two sons, Lyman and Bela Tiffany, into his employ. Through Mr. Tiffany, Mr. Slater was informed of the existence of water-power in what is now Webster, and in 1811 Bela Tiffany was sent to examine it. In a letter, dated May 27, 1811, Bela Tiffany wrote to Mr. Slater that he had found on the examined premises a two-story house un- finished, a grist-mill with two stones, a good saw-mill, a trip-hammer shop, thirteen or fourteen acres of land, one-half of which was swamp, and water-fall sufficient for all practicable purposes. He added that the re- gion was a most benighted one, four miles from Ox- ford, three miles from Dudley and six and one-half miles from Thompson, in Connecticut. The price asked was $4000, and he wrote that he had secured a refusal of the property until the 20th of June. The result of the examination was the purchase of the prop- erty in the name of Bela Tiffany, and this purchase was followed by others, including a farm of two hun- dred and twenty acres, with a house and barn, nine and one-half acres bought of Elijah Pratt, and before the close of the year 1812 about two hundred and sixty acres more from various persons. In December, 1812, Mr. Tiffany transferred to Mr. Slater five-sixths of the property, retaining one-sixth as his own interest in the enterprise.

Mills were at once erected, and in 1813 Slater & Tiffany began in what is now Webster the manufac- ture of cotton yarn. At the same time a dye and bleaching-house was erected and placed under the charge of John Tyson, who took an interest in the business. Mr. Tyson died Angust 2, 1821, and his interest passed into the hands of Mr. Slater. Other purchases of land were made by Slater & Tiffany in 1814 and 1815, but on the 27th of November, 1816, during the depression in manufactures which followed the War of 1812, Mr. Tiffaoy sold his interest to Mr. Slater for $8400. During the war the company be- gan the manufacture of broadcloth under the super- intendence of Edward Howard, a Yorkshireman, who had at home been engaged in the business.

Up to 1821 the business of Mr. Slater was con- ducted on a stream which runs from Chaubunnag- unganug Pond, but in that year, through Mr. Howard, a location was made on French River, where prop- erty was bought at a cost of twelve thousand dol- lars. In 1822 Mr. Howard transferred one-half interest to Mr. Slater for six thousand dollars, and in that year, while the woolen-mill was there building,

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the old woolen-mill was burned. Additional pur- chases of land on French River were made by Slater & Howard between 1822 and 1824, including about four hundred and twenty-five acres, and still other purchases were made at later dates.

On the 2d of Jannary, 1829, Mr. Howard sold his interest to Samuel Slater and his sons, George B. Slater and Horatio Nelson Slater, who thus, as Samuel Slater & Sons, became the owners of all the prop- erty which had been puchased since 1811, includ- ing all the water-power supplied by French River within the limits of what is now Webster and by Chaubunnagunganng Pond. During the year immediately following the purchase of the entire property the firm of Samuel Slater & Sons became involved in embarrassments, from which they were, however, happily and entirely extricated. Mr. Slater died in Webster April 20, 1835. He married, October 2, 1791, Hannah, daughter of Oziel Wilkin- son, who died in 1812, and about 1817 he married Esther, daughter of Robert Parkinson, of Philadel- phia. His children, all by his first wife, were: Wil- liam, born August 31, 1796, died January 31, 1801 ; Elizabeth, born November 15, 1798, died November 4, 1801; Mary, born September 28, 1801, died August 19, 1803 ; Samuel, born September 18, 1802, died July 14, 1821; George Bassett, born February 12, 1804, died November 15, 1843; Jolin, born May 23, 1805, died Jannary 23, 1838; Horatio N., born March 5, 1808, died August, 1888; William, born October 15, 1809, died September, 1825; Thomas Graham, born September 19, 1812, died 1844.

After the death of Mr. Samuel Slater, in 1835, the business was carried on by George B. Slater and Ho- ratio N. Slater until the death of the former, in 1843, after which date Mr. Horatio N. Slater conducted the business until his death, in Angust, 1888, and was succeeded by his son, Horatio N. Slater, who is the present manager. The three establishments belong- ing to the concern are the H. N. Slater Manufactur- ing Company at the North Village, incorporated in 1836, manufacturing cotton dress-goods, checks, lawns, silesias, jaconets, etc. ; the H. N. Slater Manufactur- ing Company at the East Village, employed in the finishing of cambrics, silesias, cotton dress-goods, lawns, etc., and the Slater Woolen Company at the East Village, incorporated in 1866, manufacturing broadcloths, flannels, tricots and doeskins. In the three about fifteen hundred hands are employed. The cotton and woolen factories are located on French River and the finishing factory on the ontlet from the pond. The water with which the inhabitants of the town and the Fire Department are supplied is furnished from a reservoir belonging to one of these establish- ments, through pipes of the town water-works, first laid in 1867, for which an annual rental is paid by the town.

new town began to be agitated. His property and interests lay for the most part within a territory made up of a part of Dudley, a part of Oxford and what was called Oxford South Gore, which was a tract of land included in no incorporated town. There were eleven hundred and sixty-eight inhabitants living on this territory, whose wishes in the premises were ex- pressed in a petition to the General Court, which may be found at length in another part of this sketch. An act of incorporation was passed March 6, 1882, of which the following is the text :

AN ACT TO INCORPORATE THE TOWN OF WEBSTER.

Sec. 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled and by the authority of the same, That the territory in the Southerly part of the County of Worcester comprised withio the following limite that is to say beginning at the south west cor- ner of said territory where the line hetweea Massachusetts and Condec- ticut intersects Freoch River ; thence rnuning easterly by said line tu the southwest corner of Douglas; thence northerly by the line which divides Douglas from Oxford Sonth Gore until it intersects the line be- tweea Oxford and Douglas ; thence due west two and three-fourths miles and thirty rode to a stode monument shout eighty-eight rods west of French River; tbence Southerly in the direction of a stone momument in the line of Oxford and Dudley near the house owned by Daniel Green- wood and Samuel Slater to the middle of said river ; thence southerly by said river to the first mentioned corder together with all the inhabitants dwelling thereou he and they hereby are incorporated intoa towu by the name of Webster and vested with all the powers, privileges aod immuni- ties and subject to all the duties and requirements of other incorporata towus agreeably to the constitutivo and laws of this Commonwealth.

Sec. 2. Be it further enacted, That the inhabitants of said town of Webster shall be holden to pay all arrears of taxes which have been le- gally assessed upon thein by the towne of Oxford and Dudley befora the passing of thisact ; and all taxes assessed and not heretofore collected shall ba collected and paid to tha treasurer ot the towas of Dudley and Oxford respectively ia the same manner as if the act had not been passed.

Sec. 3. Be it further eaacted, That the said towo of Webster shall hereafter be liable to pay two-seventh parts of the axpenses necessarily to be incurred in the support of all paupers who at the time of the pass- ing of this act were actually in need of relief aod wera receiving support from the town of Dudley and one-fourth part of the expenses so to be incurred hy tha towa of Oxford in the support of paupers at present re- ceiving relief from the said town of Oxford. And that io all cases of paupers who shall hereafter staud in need of relief as paupers whose set- tlements have beeu derived or obtained in either of the towns of Oxford or Dudley previous to the passing of this act tha said paupers shall ba supported by the towa within the territorial limits of which such settle- ment was gained, the said town of Webster being required to support all such as have acquired or shall hereafter acquire a settlement within the territory herein descrihed.

Sec. 4. Be it further enacted, That the said towa of Webster shall be holdea to pay and discharge two-seventh parts of all expenses which may accrua to the said town of Dudley in the construction of a county rond leading from a point aesr the dwelling-house of Ralph Vinton to the line of Oxford, which the county commissioners for the county of Worcester have heretofore located and ordered to be wrought ; and shall also pay and discharge two-seventh parts of all debts aod obligations dua and incurred by the town of Dudley before the passing of this act by vir- tue of any contract already executed and shall he holden in the same proportional amonot for all legal liabilities heretofore incurred hy the said towa of Dudley not otherwise provided for io this act, Provided, nevertheless that all monies now in the treasury of the said town of Dud- ley or which may hereafter be paid into the same as the proceeds of taxes already assessed or of obligations now due or owing to the said towa nf Dudley shall first be applied to the payment of the dehts and ex- penses and the discharge of the liabilities due from or incurred by the towo of Dudley as aforesaid.

Sec. 5. Be it further enacted, That the bridge over Freuch River dear Preston's cotton-mill and the bridge on the same stream near Slater'a cotton thread-mill shall forever hereafter be maintained and kept in re- pair by said town of Webster and that the bridge on said river near tha line of the State of Connecticut shall be maintained and kept in repair

Not long after the recovery of Mr. Slater from his embarrassments the question of the formation of a | by said town of Dudley ; and that the said bridges io regard to all legal

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

liabilities shall he respectively deemed and taken to be within the limits of the town which by this act is required to maintain and repair the same.

Sec. 6. Be it further enacted, That of all state and county taxes which shall be required of said towns previous to a new valuation the said town of Webster shall pay thereof in the proportion in which the said towo of Webster is liable as aforesaid to the payment of expenses to be incurred as aforesaid in the support of paupers now chargeable to the towns of Oxford and Dudley.

Sec. 7. Be it further enacted, That any justice of the peace for the County of Worcester, upon application therefor is hereby authorized to issue his warrant directed to any freeholder in the said town of Webster requiring him to notify aod warn the inhabitants thereof to meet at such time and place as may be appointed in said warrant for the choice of all euch town officers as towos are by law required to choose at the annual town meetings.

On the 27th of February, 1841, an act was passed by the General Court providing that "from and after the passage of this act the boundary line between Webster and Douglas is hereby confirmed and es- tablished as follows, viz. : beginning at Nipmuc cor- ner on Oxford line; thence running south seven and a quarter degrees, east one thousand five bun- dred and seventy-eight rods to the Bald Hill monu- ment on Connecticut line erected by the commis- sioners of Massachusetts and Connecticut in the year one thousand seven hundred and twelve."

The following is the text of the petition on which the act of incorporation was based:

To the Senate and House of Representatives of the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The undersigoed inhabitants of Dudley Oxford and Oxford South Gore so-called io the County of Worcester represent that they are residents within a territory containing about ten thousand acres of land bounded as follows beginning at the south west corner where the line between Massachusetts and Connecticut intersects French River thence Easterly by said line which divides the States to the south west corner of Douglas thence Northerly by the line which divides Douglas from Oxford South Gore till it intersects the line between Oxford and Douglas thence due west to French River aod thence down said river to the plece of begin- Ding that said Gore which is not within the limits of any municipal cor- poration contains about four thousand five hundred acres ; that about three thousand five hundred acres are within the limits of Dudley and about two thousand acres within the limits of Oxford, that the whole population is supposed to be from fifteen to sixteen hundred from seven to eight hundred of which is in Dudley from five to six hundred in Ox- ford & from one hundred to one hundred aud fifty in said Gore that said territory was rungh and very thinly inhabited until the water-power af- forded hy said river and a large natural pond invited the enterprise of manufacturers and mechanics from which time it began to flourish vig- orously and is destined undoubtedly to increase in capital & business and to afford at no distant period a support to a much more numerous population-that there are within suid territory two religious societies each of which has a meeting-house also a post-office five cotton-mills three woolen-mills a;machine-shop, five forge-shops, hoe & scythe-shop, a{dyeing and bleaching establishment and six stores in all which ex- teosive and active business is carried on, that most of said population is distunt from Dudley from three to four miles-from Oxford from four to five miles, that the great public highways leading to Boston to Hartford to Providence and other large towns do not pass through Dudley or Oxford so that said population has little natural connec- tion or connection in business with the villages in the centre of those places, that it is burdensome and inconvenient to travel so great a distance to attend town-meetings and for other town purposes that it would greatly promote the prosperity happiness and convenience of said population to be admitted to separate municipal privileges, as nearly one-half of said territory has hitherto been denied all partici- pation in such rights and the other half is so situated as to be sub- jected to unreasonable expense and loss of time in obtaining them- that a separation would not be injurious to Dudley or Oxford as each would be left with a large population aod territory. Your petitioners therefore pray that they may be incorporated into a town with the

limita aforesaid or such other limits as you shall see fit to assign them. And as in duty bound will ever pray.

This petition was signed by George B. Slater and one hundred and fourteen others of Dudley, William Kimball and thirty-six others of Oxford, and Para- clete Morris and twenty-one others of Oxford South Gore. It bears no date, but was presented to the General Court in 1831, and referred, June 3d of that year, to the Committee on Towns. On the 8th of June that committee reported through its chair- man, David Wilder, that a copy of the petition " be served on the town clerks of the towns of Oxford and Dudley, and be published three weeks succes- sively in the Massachusetts Spy and National Egis, two newspapers published in Worcester, and that Messrs. John Wyles of Brimfield, Elijah Ingraham of Pawtucket, and William J. Otis of Boston be a com- mittee to view the premises at the expense of the pe- titioners and report to the next General Court. This report was accepted. and the matter went over to the Legislature of 1832, and the petition was then re-en- forced by another dated December 31, 1831, and signed by Joseph Bracket and five others, who claimed to be residents in Oxford, Dudley and Oxford South Gore.

Another petition, dated Dudley, December 14, 1831, was presented to the General Court of 1832, of which the following is the text :

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.

To the Honorable the Senate and House of Representatives to be assembled on the first Wednesday of January, A. D. 1832 :

The subscribers, inhabitants of the town of Dudley, in the County of Worcester, beg leave to represent to your honorable body that whereas George B. Slater and a number of other persons, inhabitants of the town of Oxford and Dudley, and Oxford South Gore, did, at the last session of the General Court of said Commonwealth, held on the last Wednesday of May last, present a petition, praying that all of that part of Dudley lying Easterly of French or Stony River, and a part of Oxford de- Beribed in said petition, together with said Oxford South Gore, might be incorporated into a Town, and whereas there was an order of notice is- Bued on baid petition, returnable to the next General Court, to be held on the first Wednesday of January, then next following ; we therefore humbly pray that if your Honorable Body shall see fit and proper to grant the prayer of the aforesaid George B. Slater and others, that the following described tract of land, lying in Dudley aforesaid, and west- erly of the aforesaid River (containing by estimate eight hundred acres, bounded as follows), viz. : Beginning on the west bank of said River being at the southeast corner of the farm formerly owned by Nathan Ward, but now by Zera Preston and Joseph Scholfield ; thence on the south line of said farm, westerly about eighty rods, to the southwest corner of said farm ; thence northerly on the west line of said farm to the northwest corner of the same; thence in a northerly direction to the outlet of Peter Pond (so-called) ; thence in a straight line to a monu- ment on Oxford old line, where Dudley projects northerly into Charl- ton ; from thence, on Oxford old line, easterly about two hundred rods, ta a monument northerly of Olney Esten, in Oxford ; thence southerly, on Oxford line, to the River aforesaid, and down said River to the first-men- tioned corner, may be incorporated into the same Town, and be a part thereof as fully and effectually asif the same had been included in the aforesaid petition. Our reasons for earnestly requesting that our peti- tion may be granted are that we are owners of land on both sides of the aforesaid River; that we live from two and one-half to three and one- half miles from the centre of the Town in Dudley, where public busi- ness is done ; that we are but from half a mile to a mile from the centre of population of the contemplated new Town, and where it is contem- plated that the town business will be done. That three or four years eince, we, together with a number of inhabitants on the easterly side of

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 105

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1576

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1576