History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 126

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 126

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Ile married, July 23, 1842, Miss Patience H. Saun- ders, of Grafton. A son, George M. Whitin, who was for several years the superintendent of the cotton-mill at North Uxbridge, died suddenly January 24, 1883. A son, Albert H., is the only child now living.

PAUL WHITIN DUDLEY, the son of Amasa and Ann (Fletcher) Dudley, was born April 3, 1817, in Amsterdam, N. Y. His parents had removed there some years before from Whitinsville, but soon after his birth returned to their old home. Mr. Dudley's childhood was spent in Whitinsville, in Sutton (Man- chaug) and in Uxbridge. In these places, at the com- mon schools and the academy at Uxbridge, he obtained his education. He went into his father's store in Ux- bridge and learned the business of his life, that of a merchant. He continued with his father, and in the settlement of his business when he became unable to care for it himself, until he was twenty-nine, when he

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P. M. Dudley

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NORTHBRIDGE.

came to Whitinsville and took charge of the store of P. Whitin & Sons. He retained this charge until the firm wa- dissolved in 1864, when he formed a partner- ship with Mr. Charles P. Whitin, to continue the same business under the firm-name of P. W. Dudley. & Co. Mr. Dudley had the active management of the business until his death, July I, 1872.

Mr. Dudley was a thorough business man, exact and methodical. He was untiring in industry. His perfect integrity and his ability inspired such con- fidence that he was often called to positions of trust in the town and in the church. He was chairman of the Board of Selectmen in the trying years of 1862, '63,'64 and '65, declining a re-election the next year. He was from the first a director of the National Bank. Individuals often called on him for help in their affairs, and he was most ready to assist. Though the calls outside of his business were so many, nothing was neglected, and his industry and method were such that nothing was half done.

He was a benevolent man. Hating waste, he used his means most generously and conscientiously for every good cause and for individual need. Not con- tent with giving of his means, he gave personal service freely. Many can witness of these deeds of personal service, especially during and after the war, for soldiers and their families. Many of these deeds were known only to himself and those helped, and often not to them. No good canse or deserving person ever appealed to him in vain. He was deeply interested in everything that made for the public welfare, local and national. He was especially active and earnest in the temperance cause. At the time of his death he was president of the Worcester Sonth Temperance Union and a member of the State Temperance Alliance. To this cause he gave freely of time and money.

He was a very conscientious man and never hesi- tated to obey the voice of duty, though it might be a most unpleasant task, and he did the most trying of duties in such an honest and gentle way as to com- mand the respect of those whom he might have to rebuke or antagonize. All knew and felt that there was not a trace of malice or harshness in the man.

He was a true and faithful Christian. He identi- fied himself with the Village Congregational Church when he came to Whitinsville in 1846, and was always at his post, and ever ready to do his full share and to make up, as far as possible, the lack of service by others. He was chosen deacon January 11, 1866, and continued in the office until his death. He was also superintendent of the Sabbath school for several years. In this office he gave due expres- sion to his love for and great interest in children. Kind words and deeds for them were constant.

October 19, 1842, Mr. Dudley married Miss Sarah A. Tobey, of Worcester. She, with four children- three sons and a daughter-survives him. He was preparing to attend the Sabbath evening service

when he was stricken by paralysis. He remained unconscions until his death, the next morning. Though cut down in mid-life, he was not called until he had done a good work for the community, for his family and for his Master.

JOSIAH LASELL, the son of Chester and Nancy (Manning) Lasell, was born in Schoharie, N. Y., August 6, 1825. His parents were of Pilgrim extrac- tion, and held and practiced the faith of their fathers in its finest and sturdiest qualities. Here and amid such home influences Mr. Lasell spent his child- hood. He fitted for college in his native place, and entered Williams College, where his brother Edward was professor of chemistry, in 1840. He studied law for a time at Schoharie; but his instincts and tastes for teaching drew him from the law as a profession. Yet, without doubt, those months spent in this study helped to prepare him for his business career, which was to be his larger life-work. He first taught in the boys' school of Professor Piquet in Brooklyn, N. Y .; then for several years in Spingler Institute, New York City, of which Jacob Abbott was the principal. In 1852 he and his brother-in-law, Professor G. W. Briggs, joined his brother, Professor Edward Lasell, of Williams College, who had projected and secured the incorporation of Lasell Seminary in Auburndale, in this State, in the enterprise of establishing a sem- inary of high grade for young ladies. A few months after they began the work Professor Lasell, the founder, died, and Mr. Josiah Lasell became joint principal with Professor Briggs, and continued in this work until 1860. June 5, 1855, he married Jane, the only daughter of Mr. John C. Whitin, of Whitinsville.

In 1860 Mr. Whitin called him to his assistance in the conduct of the machine works he had just pur- chased at Holyoke, in this State. He remained in Holyoke until January, 1864, when Mr. Whitin, having sold the works, and having become sole pro- prietor of the Whitin Machine Works, Mr. Lasell came to Whitinsville to have the care of the books and accounts of the concern, and to render Mr. Whitin such assistance as he might need. When the Whitin Machine Works was incorporated in 1870, Mr. Lasell was made its treasurer, and he shared in the labors of the president, Mr. Whitin, and as the latter was obliged to lay a-ide his work more and more, it devolved more and more on the treasurer, who relieved him almost entirely of the burden of the details of it.

At the death of Mr. Whitin, in 1882, Mr. Lasell was made president and he also retained the treas- urership until January, 1886. It was largely by his inspiration and under his direction that the recent great enlargement of the works has been made.

As a teacher Mr. Lasell had rare qualities and great success. He had a true teacher's genius to awaken enthusiasm and to impart instruction to the aroused pupil. Many pupils will say, as one did to

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the writer many years ago, "No teacher ever did so much for me as did Mr. Josiah Lasell." And his work as a teacher is fittingly commemorated in the name of the institution, with whose early history and success he had such intimate connection.

As a business man he developed large capacity. Though not educated to business, his well-trained mind grappled successfully with its problems. He took wide and far-reaching views of the varied forces affecting business interests, and knew and could state his reasons for his opinions. He believed in large developments yet before us, and formed his plans to provide for them. He was, too, the master of details, and had unusual capacity of accomplishing a great deal of work with seemingly slight effort. He was also able to see and appreciate the difficult and intri- cate mechanical questions connected with machinery.

He was called to varied offices of trust, as director of the Providence & Worcester and of the Rome & Water- town Railroads, director of the Whitinsville National and Savings Banks. And very many in a large circle of kindred and friends naturally looked to him for counsel, and never failed to find in his judicious advice the help they sought.

As a friend, hosts can testify how true, kind, con- siderate and ready with word and deed of help he was. Incapable of malice, he cherished the most charitable and kindly views even of those from whom he might differ or who had wronged him. Severe words were very rarely, if ever, spoken of any. Pleasant and cheery ones came easily from his lips and carried comfort to many hearts. As a citizen he took deep interest in all that concerned the country and the State and the community, and sought so to discharge his duties as should best help the public weal.

In early life he cherished the Christian hope, and made public profession of his allegiance to Christ. At Holyoke he was superintendent of the Sabbath- school and gave efficient help in the music of the worship. In Whitinsville he was a Sabbath-school teacher until he took charge of the choir, which he led for several years. His interest in the musical service of the house of God continued until the last, and the last evening of his life he sang with his wonted fervor in a praise service, and in a few hours passed into the life of praise, March 15, 1886, much mourned and much missed as a man, citizen and friend.

He left a widow and two sons, Chester W. and Josiah M., who continue in the business of their father, and two daughters, Catharine W. and Jennie L., the former of whom is the wife of G. Marston Whitin, the treasurer of the Whitin Machine Works.

GUSTAVUS E. TAFT was the son of Cyrus and Lu- cinda Morse Taft. He was born in Peacham, Vt., August 29, 1829, to which place his father had moved rom this town a few years before. When he was ten years of age his parents returned to Whitinsville. He

received his education in the schools of the town and in the academy at Uxbridge. At seventeen he en- tered the machine-shop of P. Whitin & Sons as an ap- prentice. Here he developed his mechanical powers, from which so much of his success in life came. He continued in their employ until 1860; when, Mr. John C. Whitin having purchased the Holyoke Ma- chine-Shop, Mr. Taft went to Holyoke to be super- intendent of the works. He remained in this position until Mr. Whitin sold his interest in Holyoke, and took the machine shop in Whitinsville, on the dis- solution of the firm of P. Whitin & Sons, January 1, 1864. Mr. Taft then became superintendent of the shop where he learned his trade, and he was identified with all its enlargements and the great growth of the business. To this great development he contributed much by his eminent abilities as an organizer of la- bor and a manager of men, and by his great me- chanical skill exercised in the improvements in tools, greatly increasing their efficiency, and by his inventive skill. He made important improvements in cotton machinery, in cards, in spinning-frames and looms, many of which were very valuable. For some of these he obtained patents. His most valuable patent was for the " Whitin Gravity Spindle," the joint invention of himself and Mr. Henry Woodmancy. It was obtained July 18, 1882. A patent was also ohtained for it in England, France, Germany and Holland, and it has been made and sold abroad and in the United States in great numbers. It is an important application of a new principle to the driving of the spindle, and greatly increases its producing capacity.

In 1881, Mr. Taft was made agent of the corpora- tion, and remained such in the active management of the business until his death.

He ever had a deep interest in local and national affairs, though so engrossed in business that he could give but little time to any public affairs. But he was always ready to do his full share in contributing to any measures that would advance the interest of the com- munity. In all personal relations he was eminently friendly ; ever ready to grant a favor, and in such a manner that one seeking it was made to feel that it gave him real pleasure to do it. And if he was con- strained to refuse a request, it was so kindly done as to make manifest his regret that he must refuse. He remembered and helped the needy in an unostenta- tious way, hiding the hand whence the benefaction came. He was a firm believer in the protection of American industries, as best for workman and em- ployer.

November 8, 1855, he married Miss Ruth L. Lamb, of Clinton, Me., who with six children survives him. His three sons are engaged in the same shop where his life-work was done. He had for years contended with a fatal disease, suffering much and knowing that he was liable to sudden death. But he kept at his work with great cheerfulness until very near the end, which came after a short confinement to the house-

Gustavus E Taps.

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NORTHBOROUGH.

came in an instant-June 23, 1888. A strong man, of large ability in mechanics and in business, of unim- peachable integrity, of most friendly spirit, of win- ning ways and kind action.1

CHAPTER LXIX.

NORTHBOROUGH.

BY JOSEPH HENRY ALLEN.

Territory, 10,150 acres ; population, in 1885, 1853.

NORTHBOROUGH is the youngest in age, the third in size, and the least in population, of the four borough towns (so-called) formerly included in the town of Marlborough.2 It lies on the old county road be- tween Boston and Worcester, thirty-three miles from the former, ten from the latter ; the track of the first emigration to Connecticut, in 1635, ran through its southeastern corner. Its shape is an irregular poly- gon, of six or seven sides, with a broad angle thrust out to the southeast; its dimensions are from four to five miles each way. The larger part of it is valley, lying rather lower than either of the surround- ing towns. The A>sabet River (here a slender stream) rising some miles to the south, flows about three miles of its course, northeastwardly, through the town, and is joined by four brooks,-Stirrup Brook, which is the outlet of Great and Little Chauncy Ponds, making here a course of nearly two miles ; Hop Brook (once fringed with wild hops), which courses the southwest border of the town; Cold Har- bor Brook, which flows about three miles from Straw Hollow and Rocky Pond, in the edge of Boyls- ton, and is then joined by Howard Brook, a shorter stream (where possibly a few trout may still survive), which overflows a broad meadow a little farther north, The Assabet, then flowing with considerable force, furnishes large water-power at Hudson, Rockbottom

1 The writer of this history gladly acknowledges his great obligations to the researches of Rev. L. F. Clark and Mr. Charles O. Bachelor, in the early history of Northbridge. He has made free use of the materials they gathered.

" In the year 1656, on petition of the inbabitants of Sudbury (founded io 1638), the colonial Legislature of Massachusetts Bay made to tbat town a grant of about forty-five squara milee of territory to the west- ward, known as Whipsuppenicke, including a reservation of six thousand acres held by the Indians of Ognonikongquamesit. (These names are also written Whipsufferadge and Ockoocangansett: the reader takes his choice.) Tbis territory-of which the central point is about thirty miles due west from Boston-was, in 1660, incorporated as a town, under the name Marlborough. In 1717 the western portion, till theo known as Cbaun- cy (a grant of land near Cbauncy Pond having been made to President Chauacy, of Harvard College), was separately incorporated as West- borough. Ten years later the eastero portioo was further divided, its sontbern part becoming Southborough ; and the North Parish of West- borough, organized in 1744 as a "precioct," was in 1766 incorporated as the " district " of Northborough, becoming a towo, with right of repre- sentation in the Legislature, noder a general law passed in 1775. Of the four borough towns, Marlborough belongs to Middlesex County, the other three to Worcester.

and Maynard (formerly Assabet), joining the Sudbury to form the Concord, and so to the Merrimack, near Lowell.

TOPOGRAPHY .- These water-courses have traced the lines of population and business enterprise, The first white settler was John Brigham, who, in 1672, occupied "Licor-meadow Plain," which we under- stand to be Cold Harbor Brook Meadow, just north of what went as Liquor Hill till 1834, when it took the gentler name of Assabet. Saw-mills and grist- mills were early built on all these streams. A full- ing-mill was set up by Samuel Wood (who removed from Sudbury about 1750) near where the main road is crossed by the Assabet; bog-iron was found and worked, and potash was made hard by. A tan-yard was established by Isaac Davis in 1781, near the Assabet, where it makes the boundary from West- borough ; two miles farther down its course a cotton factory was built, in 1814, during the dearth and pov- erty of the War of 1812; and, a little farther still, the "new factory " was built, of brick, by the brothers Davis in 1832. In the south of the town, the Assa- bet Valley widens into "the Plain," quite flat for perhaps a mile and a half in length by half as much in width. Farther north the surface of the town is very diversified, with stony and rugged hills on the northern and western borders.

The chief elevations are Mount Assabet (before mentioned), which rises about one hundred and fifty feet from the valley, near the geographical centre, a pleasant rounded and wooded eminence; Edmond, Sulphur and Ghost Hills are bolder elevations to- wards the north; Tomlin Hill, more low and flat, in the southwest; Bartlett Hill, a long and handsome oval, near the Boylston line; and Ball Hill, broad and stony, over which the town road climbs heavily towards the northwest. In general, the forests are well preserved on the higher ground, and give the town the advantage of a landscape much admired for its picturesque beauty. Solomon Pond (so named for an Indian once drowned there), of twenty-six acres, lies prettily among high sloping banks of pine, toward the northeast; and Little Chauncy, of sixty- five acres, in the low-lying meadows of the south- east.

The rocks of the northerly hills are mostly gneiss, in strata lying at a dip of 70° to 80°; near their foot are iron and lime, not worked.3 At the west is a large amount of micaceous slate, or schist, containing (it is thought) much iron. Hills and pastures are plentifully strewn with boulders, some of them weighing a great many tons. Most of these are of gneiss, and split favorably for building uses. In some parts large garnets are common : I have found one over an inch in diameter, and one of half that size, very clear and perfect. Quartz crystal is some- times found in very fine specimens. Some of the

3 Lime was quarried and burned here about a hundred years ago.

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

northerly hills are effectually paved with ledges and boulders.1 The general quality of the soil is good, though too sandy in the south; with more gravel also, and less clay, than some more productive soils. Apples are a good crop, and peaches were, fifty years ago; but pears and quinces have never flourished so well. There are clay-beds, especially one of great value, close to the eastern houndary, where bricks of rarely excellent quality are made, light red and very hard ; these bricks were selected, among other sam- ples, as the best in building the great Cochituate Aqueduct.

This sketch of the geology of the town would not be complete without a notice of the discovery, made November 17, 1884, of a part of the skeleton of a mastodon, on the farm of William U. Maynard, near the Shrewsbury line. The bones are those of a young animal, which had floundered in a peat-bog and there perished. They were found resting on a bed of blue clay, seven feet below the surface of the ground-the peat being four or five feet in thickness. Most of them are deposited in the museum of the Worcester Society of Natural History ; the teeth, by which the species was identified, are in the Peabody Museum, Cambridge. This discovery is the single proof of the existence of that animal east of the valley of the Hudson.2

TOWN HISTORY .- The northerly portiou of West- borough had been recognized as a separate "pre- cinct," or parish, with church and minister of its own (the Rev. John Martyn) since 1745.3 But its inde- pendent corporate life began with the year 1766, when a summons was issued to the inhabitants of the Second Precinct-

To conveaio at the meeting House in 2d Precioct on Monday, the thertyeth Day of this iostant, January, at one of the clock io the after- good, then and there . . . to see if the Precinct will peticoo to the Grafe and Jenearal Cort to be set of a Destrict or not . . . and see if the Precioct will chuse a Commity or order the Precinct Committee to Pre- ambulate the Line between the first and second Presencts of West- borough . . . and employ a Servair (surveyor) to Run the Line and set up Bouods where they cant be founde [aod to see] upoo whut tairms they would be set of upon ; and it was voted that we should be set of on the same tairms that South Brimheld was, and to have our part of

1 Good old Silas Bailey, who, at past eighty, had just dune his day's work with a hush-scythe, told me that when he bought his farm, near the north border, a neighbor more experienced, viewing it, feared at first that it might not have stones enough ; but, being told there were "enough to fence it all ioto acre lots," was well satisfied with the pur- chase.

2 An Indian skull was found during the excavation for these remains, hut " cannot have been long in the peat," and "it is evident that it has no association with the mastodon " (" Nineteenth Report of the Curator of the Peabody Museum," where the skull now is, p. 493). A pamphlet on the discovery was prioted by Franklin P. Rice for the "Society of Antiquity," Worcester; a copy is in the Public Library of North- borough.

3 Mr. Martyo was ordained May 21, 1746. " Although the ceremonies of the ordinatioo took place in the meetiog-house, yet it appears from the town records that it was in a very unfinished state, having neither pulpit, galleries, glass windows, nor eveu permanent floors. It was not till June, in the following year, that a vote could be ob- tained 'to glaze the meeting-lionse aod lay the floors,' and not till the next autuom that the pulpit and gallery stairs were built."

the towo stock of amonition and wates & measeurs & ministry lande, and also our proportion of the money that is granted or assest.

In accordance with these votes, on the 24th of Jan- uary, 1766, the precinct was

erected into a District by the name of Northborough ; and [it was ordained] that the same District be & hereby is invested with all the priviledges, powers & immunities the Towns io this Province by Law do or may eojoy, that of sending a Representative to the General Assembly excepted [this right being exercised till 1775, as a part of Westborough] ; their proportion of all monies, arms & ammenition, weights and mea- sures belonging to said town the inhabitants of said District shall have aod enjoy, a proportion thereof equal to the proportion they paid of these charges of said Town accordiog the last town tax ;

all of which appears to have been amicably ar- ranged. The first corporate act of the district thus created is copied here in full, as a fair specimen of the process of organization in these small political communities, then (it will be noticed) under Provin- cial rule. It is a record of the meeting held March 4, 1766 :-

This towo covioed according to a warriant bearing Date the tenth of February Last Issued oute by Francis Whippele, Esqr., one of his Majesty's Justics of ye peace appointed by the Grate and General Court to issue Dist Warrant & then proceeded and acted on ye articels follo- Ing : 1. Voted & chose Bezaleel Eager Moderator ; 2ly Voted & chose Timothy Fay Dis. Clerk ; 3dly Voted & chose for Selectmeg ye ensuiog yeare, Josiah Rice, Jacob Rice, Beza Eager, Timothy Fay, Jesse Brig- ham ; fly Voted for Assessors for ye yeare eosning, Jacob Rice, Timothy Fay, Levy Brigham ; 5ly Voted & chose for a Towne Treasurer Jacob Rice ; tily Voted & chose for a Constibele ye eusuing yeare William Bud- cock ; 7ly Voted & chose Wardens ensuing yeare, Josiah Bowker & John Carruth ; 815 Voted for Sirvayors of Highways ensuin yeare, Samuel Gamwell jun., Joos Bruce, Samuel Maynard, Timothy Brigham ; gly Voted & chose for Tithing meg ye ensuin yeare, John Ball, Eliphalet Warreo ; 10ły Voted & chose for Hogreeves ye ensuing years, Henery Gaschet ; 11ly Voted & chose for deare reeve for ye ensuing yeare, Sam- nel Gamwell ; 12Wy Voted & chose for Surveyor for Claboards & Shingles ensuing yenre, Stephen Jenney ; 18ly Voted and chose Joho Martya for Seuler of Leather ; 14by Voted & chose Henery Gaschet and Jorge Oak Fence Vewers ; 15ly Voted & chose Jesse Mayoard Survayor of Whete ; 16ly it was put to vote to see if Town would let there Swine go at large ye ensuing Yeare, it past in ye affirmmitive ; 1717 it was put to vote to see it ye town would chuse ye Selectaien to Joyn with ye Town of Westborough as a Committee to divide ye Town Stock according to the act of Court, it past in the affirmmitive ; Isly it was put to vote to see if the towo would ajourn there meeting to Lewt John Martyn's for fifteen minite; it past in ye affirmmitive ; then upon ye ajourn- ment voted that they would reconsider ye vote of chusing Stephen Ball wardeo; 19by voted and chose Juhu Carruth warden, and all ye above said officers have Been sword to their Respective Officirs. Then Die- solved said Meeting. Bezaleel Eager, Moderator. Attest, Timothy Fay, Clark.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 126

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