History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 133

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 133

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The foregoing list is incomplete.

TOWN OFFICERS .- The records for the first three years after the incorporation of the town are de- ficient. The first list of officers preserved to us is that chosen March 6, 1758, the town having heen in- corporated in 1754. The list includes several offices now obsolete, as tithingmeu, clerk of ye market, leather sealer, deer-reeves, hog-reeves, in the town records sometimes called hog-constables. The list of officers for that year was as follows : Joshua Wil-

lard, Town Clerk; Joshua Wilder, Daniel Miles Joshua Willard, David Sanderson, James Clemence Selectmen and Assessors; Nathaniel Sanderson, Treas urer; Jerameel Wilder, Benjamin Chandler, Con stahles ; Samuel Chamberlain, Samuel Briant, An- drew Dalrymple, Ebenezer Hill, Surveyors of High ways and Collectors; David Stone, Joel Matthews Tithingmen ; Sylvanus How, Seth Hapgood, Fence viewers ; Daniel Spooner, Clerk of ye Market ; David Sanderson, Leather Sealer; Kenelm Winslow, Seale of Weights and Measures ; Nathan Goddard, David Curtice, Field-drivers; William Walker, Josepl Marble, Aaron Chandler, Hog-reeves; Daniel Dunkin William Daget, Deer-reeve; Kenelm Winslow Pound-keeper. The record shows that all were swor except the town clerk, deer-reeves and pound-keeper The office of deer-reeve is suggestive of the fact tha deer were to some extent domesticated. This firs Board of Selectmen of which we have record was notable by reason of the name of Daniel Miles, tw sons of whom, Daniel and Joah, served in the revo lutionary army. The descendants of Joab Miles ar now represented by Major-General Nelson A. Miles of the United States Army.

SELECTMEN .- No complete account"of the Board of Selectmen or other official boards can here b given. In addition to the previous names we fiud that among those who served in the years from 1757- 1792 were Joseph Wilson, Daniel Spooner, Danie Duncan, Capt. Zedk. Stone, Thomas Rogers, Seth Hapgood, John Chandler, Theophilus Chaudler, Elisha Ward, Samuel Gates, Sylvanus How, Jona than Grout, Simon Houghton, Asa How, William Willard, Ephraim Doolittle, David Stone, Samue Dennis, Timothy Whitney, David Curtis, Edward Powers, Daniel Hastings, Samuel Briant, Ruggles Spooner, David McClellan, Jonathan Sanderson Capt. Wing Spooner, Ebenezer Winslow, Joel Doo- little, John Hildreth, Robert Peckham, Thomas Carter, Isaac Packard, Edward Baker, Daniel Hawks, Samuel Peckham, Samuel Stone, Maj. Ephraim Stearns, Joseph Gleason, Capt. John Permenter. Joseph Brown, Lieut. Luke Rice, Daniel Bigelow, Park Holland, William Macarty, Seth Williams, John Demick, Joseph Negus, Joel Brooks, Ebenezer Hammond, Jotham Bowker.

The following is a partial list of names of persons who have served on the Board of Selectmen since 1852 as found in town reports : Asa Johnson, P. W. Barr, Joab Young, S. D. Goddard, Hudson Tolman, J. W. Upton, Oren Tower, George Ayres, J. H. Clapp, Hubbard Peckham, H. S. Miner, Alfred Peck- ham, David C. Paige, Merrick Blanchard, Josiah White, Elijah Hildreth, Elisha Webb, Sewell C. Goddard, L. P. Cutler, C. K. Wilder, F. L. Sander- son, Geo. Bancroft, Charles F. Paige, Merrick E. Hildreth, Sanford B. Cook.

TOWN CLERKS .- Joshua Willard, David Sander- son, John Chandler, Jonathan Grout, William

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Willard, William McCarty, Samuel Peckham, Jared Weed, Seth Hapgood, John L. Gallond, Lyman E. Sibley, Chas. B. Mosely, J. G. Mudge, Lewis E. Whitney, H. N. Tower, Sanford B. Cook. Of these the veteran town clerk of the early time was David Sanderson, who appears to have served eighteen years. Jared Weed, Esq., served twenty-six years, from 1817 to 1842, inclusive; aud Lewis Whitney, twenty-six years, from 1849 to 1874, inclusive.

TOWN TREASURERS .- The names of some of those who have served the town as treasurers are as fol- lows :- Nathaniel Sanderson, 1758-72. The upright- ness with which Mr. Sanderson discharged his duty is made a matter of public record. The committee chosen to audit his account for a period of five years find, in closing their report,

That what he has paid out and is yet in the Constable's hands, Amounts to Six Hundred and Forty-Two Pounds Nineteen shillings and one penny ; that the Treasurer has paid ont Four Pounds Seven- teen Shillings & four pence one farthing More than he hath Received In. He says that there is Now in the Treasury Five Pounds Six Shill- ings and Eleven pence two farthings, which, being added to the above Ballance, Makes Ten Pounds Four Shillings three pence and three farthings, which sum he says he's confident Belongs to the Town.

WILLIAM WILLARD JONATHAN GROUT, Committee.

Those curious in such matters may exercise their minds upon the question whether or not upon this statement Mr. Sanderson was more solicitous to do justice to the town, than accurate in determining what was due himself.

Theophilus Chandler was chosen town treasurer, 1772-76; David Sanderson, 1776-80; Capt. Ephraim Stearns, 17SI-92. Of those who have served at later dates, the names of Jonas Howe, Joseph G. Parmenter, Collins Andrews and John G. Mudge are reported, the latter having served contin- uously since 1869 to date, 1888, inclusive, or eighteen years.

SCHOOL COMMITTEE .- The following are some of the names of persons who have served on the School Committee since 1852, the list being incomplete :--- John J. Putnam, John Shepherdson, Luther Willson, Charles Kendall, L. Sanderson, John A. Wilder, Lyman W. Hapgood, Frank A. Wood, S. S. Tower, William Miller, John M. Holman, S. P. Goddard, D. F. Goddard, E. Jackson, Sanford B. Cook, Lewis W. Loring, A. Stowell, T. T. Merriman, George White, E. C. Anderson, Mrs. Maria N. Ayers, Ben- jamin Oher, C. W. Fifield, Lyman Clark, L. O. Mar- tin, Elisha Webb, Luther Stone, F. L. Sanderson, M. H. Leamy, I. F. Porter, David Shurtleff, Mrs. M. R. Stone.

The more prominent town officers for the year 1888 are Sanford B. Cook, town clerk ; John G. Mudge, treasurer ; Merrick E. Hildreth, George Bancroft, San- ford B. Cook, selectmen and overseers of the poor ; Frederick Bryant, Henry L. King, Thomas S. Howe, assessors ; Rev. David Shurtleff, Luther O. Martin, M.D., Mrs. Maria N. Ayers, school committee ; Daniel F. Bigelow, constable and collector of taxes.

CHAPTER LXXV. PETERSHAM-(Continued.)

BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES.

Park Holland-Samuel Willard, D.D., the Blind Minister-Solomon Wil- lord, Builder of Bunker Hill Monument-Deacon Cephas Willard- Austin Flint, the Beloved Physician - William Brown Spooner, the Philanthropist-Timothy W. Hammond- Rev. E. B. Willson-Invent- or8- Women-Longerity.

WHILE no citizens of Petersham appear to have risen to the highest rank in connection with the civil and military history of the country, yet the per- sonnel of the town is singularly interesting in respect to character and attainmeuts. It is possible here only to add some facts to the information previously published of the dwellers in or natives of the town. If somewhat extended narratives are given concern- ing a few, it is because the facts are at hand and with the hope that a more full history may be pre- pared by other hands at some future date, in which more ample justice can be done to the many whose names are worthy to be enshrined in the memory of those who come after, and whose lives offer examples worthy of imitation.

CAPTAIN PARK HOLLAND .- An historical letter written to Major Jonas Holland, of Schenectady, N. Y., by Captain Park Holland, informs us that their ancestors were from London. Upon coming to this country, they settled at Watertown, afterward removing to Shrewsbury, where Park Holland was born, and later located in Petersham. In 1776 Park Holland, having been previously enrolled as a min- ute-man, enlisted, with thirty neighbors and friends, for service in a brigade of Massachusetts troops, which were sent to New York. He served under Washington at White Plains and in New Jersey. He, upon expiration of his first enlistment, re-enlisted for service during the war, with twenty-four or five others of Petersham. His brother, Ivory Holland, received a lieutenant's commission, and Park Hol- land was made a sergeant-major, from which rank he rose to that of captain, and was paymaster and agent to settle the accounts of the regiment. He served in the campaign which led to Burgoyne's surrender; afterward at West Point and at White Plains. At the close of the war he, by public advertisement, vis- ited Petersham, Northampton, Worcester, Harvard, Danvers, Boston and Wrentham to pay the soldiers of the regiment.

Captain Holland once attended a dinner given by Washington to some of his officers, and a character- istic incident is narrated, showing the general's ab- horrence of profanity.

The payment of the Revolutionary soldiers being completed, Park Holland and General Rufus Putnam went in partnership to survey "the Schoodiac and Passamaquody country, the harbors, islands, &c.," of Eastern Massachusetts (now Maine). An interesting

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narrative of this and several other surveying tours in what is now Maine and Vermont is given in his let- ters. On one of these tours he undertook to survey a tract of land extending north to the height of land dividing the waters of the St. John from the St. Lawrence, an unknown distance, supposed to be fifty or sixty miles into the wilderness, but which proved to be a hundred and sixty miles from the northern limit of previous surveys. The hardship of this tour was such that Captain Holland weighed eighty-three pounds less upon his return than when he set out, much of the time having been spent without any proper supply of food. At the time of Shays' Rebel- lion (so called), a company was raised by Captain Holland in Petersham, Athol and Rutland for ser- vice of the government. No stronger testimony to bis worth could well be given than the fact that he was able to enlist as privates thirteen commissioned officers of the Revolutionary army, including General Rufus Putnam, under whom Captain Holland had served, as he had under Captain Shays himself. His company marched with General Lincoln from Had- Jey to Petersham, all but two of them being more or less frost-bitten on arrival. He had a wife and family at the north part of the town. Shays' men, on their retreat to Athol, halted before the house. Mrs. Holland, being herself ill, ordered fires built and food offered to the insurgents, and by her dis- creet civility the household was saved from further injury than being stripped of food supplies.

Captain Holland was chosen selectman, town clerk, and for several years represented the towns of Peters- ham and, after removal to that place 1790, Belcher- town in the General Court. He, in company with another person, purchased of the Penobscot Indians one hundred and ninety-two square miles of land lying on either side of the Penobscot River, but the title does not appear to have been made good. He removed, however, to Eddington, Maine, where his last days appear to have been spent attended by a faithful daughter, who discarded all offers of marriage in devotion to her honored father's happiness. The story of his life was largely written out in letters dictated to her after Capt. Holland ceased to himself use the pen, with which he had in early years shown much skill. He was accustomed to say that if "variety is the spice of life," his had been well sea- soned. Dr. J. G. Holland, the author, born in Belch- ertown 1819, was a grandson of Luther Holland who was a brother of Capt. Park Holland.

SAMUEL WILLARD .- From a work entitled "Sing- ers and Songs of the Liberal Faith," by Rev. A. P. Putnam, D.D., the following sketch of the life of one of the sons of the town is taken :

" Rev. Samuel Willard, D.D., born in Petersham, Mass., April 18, 1776, was a son of William and Catherine (Wilde) Willard, and grandson of Rev. Samuel Willard, of Biddeford, Maine. Samuel Wil- lard, the grandfather of the Biddeford minister, was

acting-president of Harvard College, 1701-07, and was the son of Major Simon Willard, who came from Kent, England, and bought land of the Indians in Concord, Mass., before the year 1635. Joseph Wil- lard, another president of Harvard, 1781-1804, was uncle to Samuel, the subject of this sketch. The latter spent his early years on his father's farm. He began to prepare himself for college at the age of twenty-one, and was fitted mainly under the instrnc- tion of Rev. Nathaniel Thayer, D.D., of Lancaster, Mass. Having graduated at Harvard, 1803, he was subsequently, for more than a year, Dr. Abbott's assistant in the Exeter Academy, and was afterwards for some months tutor at Bowdoin College, prose- cuting at both of these last-named institutions his studies in the classics, and devoting himself also to the study of theology, under the direction of Drs. Appleton, Buckminster and Mckean. In September, 1805, he removed to Cambridge, where he continued bis preparations for the ministry, and soon obtained a license to preach. Economical considerations in- duced him to reside for a time at Andover, and it was while he was there that he was invited to preach at Deerfield, Mass. He gave his first sermon in that place, March 15, 1807, and received, the next June, a call to settle. August 12th was fixed upon for the ordination. The council called, in accordance with the custom of the churches, sat for two days, and after a rigid examination of the candidate refused to ordain him, regarding his views as too liberal for the orthodox standard. Here was one of the first indica- tions of the split that was destined ere long to divide the Congregational body of New England. Another council was called with more success, and he was duly ordained September 23d, of the same year. From that time Mr. Willard was a recognized pioneer of the liberal movement in Western Massachusetts ; bravely contending with voice and pen for larger freedom, and willingly suffering not a little odium and persecution for the sake of what he believed to be the truth. On the 30th of May, 1808, he was married to Susan, only daughter of Dr. Joshua Bar- ker, of Hingham, by whom he had three children- Susan, Mary and Samuel, the last a graduate of Har- vard, 1835. About the year 1818 his eyes suddenly failed him, in consequence of too much study by a dim light. For thirteen years after this sad occur- rence he was able to see large objects only very indis- tinctly, and for the remaining twenty-seven years of his life be was totally blind. The amount and variety of intellectual and other labor which, with the faith- ful aid of his family, he accomplished during these forty years of his calamity, seem almost incredible. He continued his usual pastoral duties until Septem- ber, 1829, when he resigned his charge; then removed to Hingham, where for some years he assisted his son-in-law in teaching a school, and finally, after a brief residence in Concord, returned to Deerfield, where he spent the rest of his days, preaching occa-

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sionally for his people, even to the very close of his long career."

It is said that Dr. Willard, who was the author of four hundred and sixty-seven hymns, could repeat from memory any of them, also whole books of the Bible. He wrote several books, and numerous articles for religious newspapers and magazines. Samuel Willard died at Deerfield October 8, 1859.

SOLOMON WILLARD .- The public services of Solomon Willard, brother of the foregoing, were such as to justify extended notice of his life. He was born in 1783. The first twenty-one years of his life were spent in his native town, at the end of which time he went to Boston. He had only common ad- vantages in regard to education, but made the best use of those he had. His first work in Boston was fitting piles for wharf construction, at fifty cents per day. In this connection he said that his employer taught him to keep his broad-axe sharp. We soon hear of his having attended lessons in drawing. He connected himself with the Athenaeum, attended lec- tures upon anatomy, studied geology and chemistry. Meantime his labors have advanced to architecture and designing. He built an extensive winding stair- way, since destroyed by fire. Going south, he made a model of the Capitol building at Washington. He became a teacher of architectural drawing and de- signing, and invented the principle of the hot-air fur- nace, taking out no patent for the invention, but leaving profits to be reaped by others.

But the great work of Mr. Willard's life was as architect of Bunker Hill Monument. The building of the monument was initiated to commemorate the fiftiethi year of independence, but the corner-stone was laid June 17, 1825, the anniversary of the battle, rather than on Independence Day. Full information of Mr. Willard's connection with the monument is given in "The Memoir of Solomon Willard," by W. W. Wheildon, prepared by direction of the Bunker Hill Monument Association. In this work the ques- tion of who was the architect is fully and carefully considered. Several persons had prepared designs for an obelisk, from which circumstance arose a con- troversy as to who was the architect. This claim has been made in behalf of Alexander Paris, Horatio Greenough and Robert Mills, but a careful examina- tion of the evidence, made by direction of the asso- ciation having the monument in charge, makes it conclusively established that Solomon Willard was the true and only architect, as he unquestionably was the superintendent of practical construction from the beginning to the completion of the work.

For his services he accepted no compensation, only allowing a commutation of his expenses, which were very small. His desire was to do the work as a labor of patriotism, having ample support from other work. Under his direction a quarry was purchased at Quincy. For the transportation of the stone to the seashore the first railway of the country was laid, it 31

being operated by horse-power. The monument cost about $100,000, which was estimated by Mr. Willard as about half the cost at current rates of the time for similar work. The saving grew largely out of im- proved methods devised by him for quarrying and transportation, by reason of which granite was made much more available as a building material, the arch- itecture of Boston being somewhat modified by the fact.

Solomon Willard died of apoplexy February 16, 1861. Circumstances of peculiar sadness attended his departure. On the morning of his death he arose at the usual hour and, while waiting breakfast, talked with a friend of the state of the country. Six States had passed ordinances of secession. Forts, arse- nals, mints and navy yards had been seized, and the Confederate Convention was engaged in preparing a Constitution in the interests of slavery. Mr. Willard gave way to fears and wept at the prospect of the country going to destruction. Being called to break- fast, he arose to answer the call, but instead of taking his seat at the table he fell upon the floor and never spoke again. The thought of national dissolution appears to have literally burst the blood-vessels of the brain which had devised and constructed Bunker Hill Monument, and to have broken the heart of one who loved his country faithfully.

CEPHAS WILLARD, a brother of Rev. Dr. Willard and of Solomon Willard, the architect, was born No- vember 29, 1786, and died November 25, 1879. His long life was spent as a son of the soil. Among the various offices held by him were those of assessor, coroner, deputy-sheriff and member of the House of Representatives. He was deacon of the Unitarian Church fifty-six years, and treasurer for more than thirty years in succession. The family to which he belonged had held the office of deacon for more than a hundred years, with the exception of a short inte- rim, caused by the fact that at a certain time a brother deacon was found walking disorderly, in re- spect to temperance, and all members of the diacon- ate resigned as a courteous way of conducting the brother out of office. This duty done, the church promptly re-elected those whose conduct had been worthy.

As deputy-sheriff Deacon Willard was once found unwilling to perform a task to which he was invited, that of assisting in the execution of the death pen- alty by sentence of a court. He offered to resign his office if the duty were required of him, but that sac- rifice of position he was not allowed to make. He was more successful in executing the law relative to imprisonment for debt. In such a case he set a man at work on his farm until his wages were sufficient to discharge at once the debt and the prisoner. When ninety years of age Deacon Willard attended the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia alone, and, the same year, presided over the Centennial Celebra- tion in his native town, his lifetime having covered

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nine-tenths of the life of the nation. A memorial discourse by Lyman Clark, delivered at the occasion of his funeral services, was published. It will be noticed that the family from which these three brothers were descended had given two presidents to Harvard College.

AUSTIN FLINT, M.D., LL.D., born in Petersham, 1812, graduated as M.D. at Harvard, 1833, was one of the founders of the Buffalo Medical College, 1847. He was, in 1861, appointed professor of the principles and practice of medicine in Bellevue College Hos- pital, New York, and of pathology and practical medicine in Long Island College Hospital. With other medical works he has published a "Practical Treatise on the Pathology, Diagnosis and Treatment of Diseases of the Heart " and a standard work on the " Practice of Medicine." A pamphlet memoir, by A. Jacobi, M.D., president of the New York Acad- emy of Medicine, has been reprinted from the Med- ical Record of April 24, 1886. From it we learn that Dr. Austin Flint was descended from Thomas Flint, who emigrated from Derbyshire, England, and came to Concord, Mass., in the year 1638.

He was of Puritan stock, and his father, grandfath- er and great-grandfather were physicians. His was apparently a case of inherited fitness for his work. Having received a liberal education at Amherst and Harvard, he practiced three years at Northampton and Boston, after which he moved to Buffalo, N. Y., in 1836. There he resided sixteen years, with a brief absence, during which he taught clinical medicine in Rush Medical College, Chicago, in 1847.

He left Buffalo in 1852 to take charge of the chair of clinical medicine in the University of Louisville. Thence he returned to Buffalo in 1856. The winters from 1858 to '61 were spent in New Orleans, teaching medicine and attending Charity Hospital. In the year 1859 he settled in New York. He resigned his position as teacher of the Long Island Medical Hos- pital in 1868, but retained his chair in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College to his death.

The Buffalo Medical Journal was founded by him in 1846, and edited by him for a period of ten years.

The memoir of Dr. Jacobi closes with this tribute,-

Austio Flint had great advantages, and developed and utilized them for the benefit of the many. Born with an enviable inheritance, he enjoyed a thorough general and special education. Ile had great phys- ical endurance and uniform health, an imposing presence, pleasant mao- ners, and an equable temperament. With physical and intellectual powers he combined iodefatigable love of work, which he performed systematically and energetically. He was a thoroughly modest mao, who knew how difficult it is to master the depths of koowledge ; thus he had an unusual degree of common sense, which hmits aspirations and aims. Thus he became thorough io what he undertook to practice and teach. He was successful in practice, and enjoyed the confidence of hoth the profession and the public. As a teacher he is remembered by thousands ; his pupils loved him and his colleagues honored him. His writings obtained for him a national and international reputation. There was oo place of honor in possession of the profession of the city, State or country, which he has not filled. The profession of Europe was anxious to show its respect for him. Thushe lived and worked to an ad- vanced age, disturbed by bnt few symptoms of evanescing powers, and when the time came he ceased to labor and live on the very same day.

A letter from a relative tells us that "his manner to all was unusually courteous and kindly, and his disposition one of rare sweetness. His sympathies were far-reaching, and he was so tender-hearted that he was unable to take up surgery as a specialty, al- though his father, who was a physician, thought lie showed great skill in that direction."

He died March, 1886. The story of the medical profession in and from the town, led by the name of Flint, remains to be written in future.

WILLIAM BROWN SPOONER will be long remem- bered as an upright merchant, business man, banker and philanthropist. He was born in Petersham, April 20, 1806. At an early age he went to Vermont to live with an uncle. There he acquired a knowl- edge of the tannery, but aspired to an education and the legal profession. He became a merchant's clerk and taught school. At twenty years of age he went to Boston, and there finally decided in favor of mer- cantile life, entering the firm of Simpkins & Spooner, afterward forming that of William B. Spooner & Co. He was the first president of the New England Shoe and Leather Association, and for thirty-eight years a director of the Shoe and Leather National Bank. An ardent advocate of the anti-slavery cause and the cause of temperance, he was elected to the Massachu- setts House of Representatives, 1857-58. He led in the organization of the Massachusetts Total Absti- nence Society, was its first president, which position he held until his deatlı. The executive ability of Mr. Spooner led to his being appointed in behalf of the State of Masschusetts as one of the Board of Management of the Centennial Exhibition at Phila- delphia, 1876, to which duty he gave much time and attention. William B. Spooner died at Boston, Octo- ber 28, 1880. His will contained various public bequests. A memorial has been published by the Massachusetts Total Abstinence Society.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 133

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