History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 135

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 135

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

These hills, except the two last mentioned, are not craggy, unsightly protuberances, but grand swells of arable land, finely adapted to the production of grass and grain. The highest point of land in the town is believed to be on the farm of Michael Coyne, on Row- ley Hill.

The territory is also embellished by four natural ponds, containing, respectively, two hundred, one hundred and seventy, thirteen and ten acres each. These, in summer, contrasting with the deep foliage around them, are of great beauty and loveliness, set like immense diamonds sparkling in the sun in a rich bordering of emerald green.

Stillwater River is a small stream running through the west part of the town, having its source a few

miles above, in a gore of land known formerly-very properly-by the name of Notown. It flows through quite an extensive tract of meadow, once rich in the production of Foul meadow-grass (Poa Serotina), and blue-joint ( Calamagrostis Cunadensis), two varieties of forage plants, held in high estimation and much depended on for hay by the farmers of Sterling three- quarters of a century ago.

These meadows now are of little value (except it may be for cranberries), having, long since, hecome "run out." This quiet little stream, after it enters West Boylston, and receives the Quinnepoxit from Holden, assumes the more dignified name of the South Branch of the Nashua.

Various brooks wind among the hills, all finally emptying their tribute of waters into the Nashua. These now nearly useless small streams, two or three generations ago, when chair manufacturing was carried on quite extensively, were utilized in turning the wheels of many a "Turning Lathe" for the produc- tion of "Chair Stock."

A survey of the town was made in 1830 and a plan drawn by the late Capt. Moses Sawyer, a prominent leading citizen, and for many years the only practicing civil engineer of the town. Capt. Sawyer possessed in large measure the confidence of his fellow-citizens, and was noted for his probity, intelligence and prac- tical good judgment.

The plan drawn by him was lithographed by Pen- dleton, of Boston, and contains much valuable infor- mation in regard to the topography of the town, from which the writer has obtained the following particu- lars :

The area of the town was found to be 19,265 acres, equal to nearly 32 square miles ; 500 acres are covered with water. The population at that time was 1789. There were 256 dwelling-houses, 1 meeting-house, 1 town house, 3 grist-mills, 7 saw-mills, 2 shingle-mills, 1 bark-mill, 1 tannery, 10 chair manufactories, 3 taverns and 5 stores. Distance from Sterling to Boston, 39 miles and 23 rods; distance from Sterling to Wor- cester, 12} miles. There were 71 miles of roads; and ten acres were used by the town. A few miles only of new road have been added since to shorten dis- tances and avoid steep hills. This survey is worthy to be preserved in the archives of the town.

A former survey of the town was made by William Moris, Esq , in 1798, but it is believed no copies of that survey are extant.

Still another map of the town was made and pub- lished by Richard Clark, of Philadelphia, in 1855. This map, though more showy and pretentious in its style, is inferior to that of Capt. Sawyer's in point of valuable information. The noticeable features of Clark's map are that the eleven school districts are given in colors, and the three churches, town hall and several of the residences of the citizens are represented on the margin.

It does not appear that any settlements were made

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

within the present limits of the town until 1720. In that year five families came up from Lancaster and set themselves down on the rising lands west of the village, in the direction of Princeton.

The names of these pioneer settlers were Jonathan and David Osgood, Gamalial Beaman, Benjamin Honghton and Samuel Sawyer.

Jonathan Osgood located not far from the geograph- ical centre of the town, on the place now owned and occupied by Mr. George F. Davidson. He was the first deacon in the town, and public worship was at first frequently held at his house. The writer recol- lects clearly the large, commodions old dwelling. It had an antiquated appearance, and was demolished near the close of the second decade of the present century, and the plain beautiful residence of Mr. Davidson was erected npon its site by the then enter- prising proprietor, the late Mr. Gilson Brown.

David Osgood went a little farther westward and pitched his tent on the farm of the late Edward Ray- mond Fitch, now owned and occupied by his youngest son, Charles B. Fitch. The old red house yet remains, presenting a very neat and attractive appearance, it having been, to some extent, remodeled and kept in excellent repair. It is one of the oldest houses in the town.

Gamalial Beaman went a half-mile still farther west and established his home on the farm now owned by Mr. Wm. S. Walker. The farm remained in the pos- session and occupancy of his lineal descendants until 1834.

Benjamin Houghton sat himself down abont seventy rods due north of the last-mentioned place-on the farm now owned by Mr. Asa Spencer. The old house remained until 1821, when it was destroyed by fire. It was occupied at that time by two families-Mr. William Reed and Simeon Toney. Traditional cir- cumstances aud anecdotes lead us to suppose that Benjamin Houghton was, in his day, a stirring busi- ness man. He kept a tavern, and hence was known everywhere as " Landlord Ben." He was also a very large landholder, as the Proprietor's Records and the Registry of Deeds will amply show. An anecdote in reference to this used frequently to be told of him. Two persons were discussing the physical character- istics of the moon. "They tell me," says one, "that there is land in the moon." "No," says the other, "I do not believe it, for if it were so Landlord Ben would have a farm there." But his large estate passed out of the possession of his descendants shortly after the death of his son Joel, who died in 1816.

Samuel Sawyer took up land and built a honse a short distance north of Landlord Ben, on the farm now owned by Mr. Charles H. Newton. The old house remained until 1816-standing exactly in what is now the roadway-when it was taken down, and the present more modern dwelling-house was erected some fifty feet in the rear of the old one, by his grand- son by the same name.

The descendants of these several persons above named have been very numerons, and very many of them have been leading citizens, holding honorable positions not only in Sterling, but in other places wherever, in the course of more than a century and a half, some of them may have migrated.

The meagre records of these early times furnish but little clue to the rapidity of the settlements, or to the increase of the population that followed. It is evi- dent, however, that large portions of the best land were soon taken up and brought under cultivation by others, also, from Lancaster, and from other towns as well. Tradition has it that many families came from Rowley, in Essex Connty, and settled in the more northwest part of the town, hence called Rowley Hill. And indeed, in confirmation of this, we find, in the Registry of Deeds at Worcester, conveyances of land from Benjamin Houghton to several parties from that town as early as 1733.

Another exotic implanted in the virgin soil of the town, from which sprang a numerous and influential portion of its population, was that of the Kendalls from Woburn. Josiah Kendall came to this town in 1736, and settled upon the farm now owned and occu- pied by Daniel and James F. Kendall, father and son, direct descendants of the said Josiah. For a further account of this family the reader is referred to the "Kendall Memorial," a family history of much merit, by Oliver Kendall, of Providence, R. I.

And so rapid indeed had been the progress in popu- lation and general advancement, that in thirteen years from the first settlement the inhabitants petitioned the Legislature to be set off as a separate township. This petition, having in view a large excision of territory from the old town, met with determined opposition and was rejected. A long and a rather unpleasant controversy followed. But whatever of acrimony may have been engendered by the contest, the asperity of feeling was softened and the inhabitants of the west part of the town were in a measure pacified by being made a corporation by the name of the Second or West Parish in Lancaster.

The Rev. Mr. Marvin, in his "History of Lancaster," -page 198-has given the names of those who signed this first petition " to be set up as a new township." They are quoted here to show who were the leading men of the town at that time. They are as follows : Gamalial Beaman (on another page called " the irre- pressible "), Ebenezer Prescott, Benjamin Houghton, Samuel Sawyer, Jonathan Osgood, Fairbank More, Jonathan Bealey, Thomas Ross, Joseph More, Shubael Bealey and John Snow.

But this proposition for a new township was among the inevitable events of the future, and was a bone of contention between the old town and the West Parish for more than forty years, when, finally, on the 25th of April, 1781, the Legislature settled the matter by granting an act of incorporation of the new town by the name of Sterling.

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In 1741 or 1742 the first meeting-house was built, principally by the voluntary labor of the inhabitants, the town granting them but a smallsum from its treas- ury for the purpose. The spot whereon it was set is the same that is now occupied by the Unitarian Church. The site is included in a lot of three acres, made over to the First Parish by deed of gift from Elias Sawyer, for the purpose of setting a meeting-house and for conveniency of stables and other uses. This deed is recorded in the Registry of Deeds, book 18, page 129. To accommodate the increasing population, an addition was made to this old church in 1766. Mr. Goodwin says of it now, that " it must have presented a singular appearance with three gable ends." .The pews were not sold, as in later days, but every year a committee was appointed to "seat the meeting- house," by which process those paying the highest taxes were accorded the most desirable sittings, and so on in regular gradation.

It was not until after the adoption of the Constitu- tion of the United States that regular enumerations of the inhabitants began to be made decennially by law. But somewhere in the old church records it is stated that in 1764 the town contained 156 dwelling- houses and 856 inhabitants. And at the time of the first national census in 1790, there were 209 dwelling- houses and 1,428 inhabitants. Thus it is seen that the town made commendable and steady progress in the first seventy years of its existence. To the trav- eler or the casual visitor the place must have pre- sented an appearance of substantial prosperity and comfortable living. Large, commodious dwelling- houses had been built of similar style and construc- tion throughout. They all fronted to the south ; were two-storied in front, with a long roof running down to one low story on the north side. Two large square rooms occupied the ground floor on either side of the front door, usually distinguished-as the house stood square to the four points of the compass-as the "east" and " west " room, with corresponding cham- bers above. Immediately back of these two front rooms was the long kitchen, with its wide-mouthed fire-place and capacious oven.

A score or more of these plain, ancient dwellings still remain, though all have undergone more or less alteration. The habits and mode of life of the peo- ple was as plain and substantial as their dwellings. They were industrious and frugal, and their way of subsistence, down even to the time within the mem- ory of persons now living, was simple and inex- pensive.

The walls of their houses were unadorned with fresco or elegant, costly paper-hangings, and the floors were innocent of carpets. Neatness of person, however, and in household arrangements was a char- acteristic of the time. In summer, in the absence of carpets, it was the custom to sprinkle clean white sand on the floors, and fill the wide chimney-mouth with evergreen bushes, relieved here and there by

daisies and sprigs of golden-rod. This was the old English fashion, as we infer from some lines of Gold- smith, in his " Deserted Village," where he says :

Imagination fondly stoops to trace

The parlor splendors of that festive place : The white-washed wall, tho nicely saoded floor 4 * * The hearth, except when winter chill'd the day, With aspen boughs, and flowers, and fennel gay.

Among the few that remain of these ancient dwell- ings, that now owned and occupied by Mr. Dugan, on the Amory Farm, best represents, in its external ap- pearance, the houses referred to above.

This farm was owned many years ago by Rufus G. Amory, Esq., of Boston. Originally it was owned by Colonel Asa Whitcomb. Colonel Whitcomb pos- sessed a large estate, and was a noted man in his day. He was chosen deacon of the church in 1760, Repre- sentative to the General Court in 1766, '68, '69, '70, '71, '72, '73 and '74. He was a delegate to the Pro- vincial Congress at Cambridge February 1, 1775, and was appointed justice of the peace in 1780. Liberty is here taken to transcribe the account Mr. Goodwin has given of this emineut citizen in the Worcester Magazine in 1826 :

At the commencement of the war he was one of our wealthiest citi- zens. He was for many years entrusted with the most important and responsible offices,-was Deacon of the Church, Representative from Lancaster before the division, and Justice of the Peace, besides hie various military stations. Such was his zeal in the cause of liberty, and so great his confidence io the patriotism and integrity of hie country-men that he pledged his whole fortune upon the faith of the paper currency, and consequently became bankrupt He removed to Princeton, where he died at an advanced age in a state of abject pov- erty ; sustained by a conscious integrity, that never departed froot him, and an exalted piety that elevated him above the ills of life.

The farm on which he died is in the easterly part of Princeton, owned by Mr. Estee, formerly known as the Temple place.

Another of these antiquated houses is that on the Kilburn Farm on Rowley Hill. This house was probably built by Deacon Joseph Kilburn. He was chosen deacon in 1767, and died in 1789. This farm has ever been held in the Kilburn name, and is now owned by Mr. Levi Kilburn, a grandson of Deacon Joseph. The present owner is now in the eighty- fourth year of his age. It is not improbable that this farm may be retained in the Kilburu line for at least another generation.

The oldest house in the village is a part of what is now the Central Hotel, kept by our popular landlord, Mr. J. N. Brooks. This house is said to have been built in the year 1759, by Mr. Jabez Brooks, and, for much the largest part of the time since, has been oc- cupied as a tavern. At the time it was built there were but two houses within the distance of half a mile,-Deacon Jonathan Osgood's at the west and that of Mr. Roger Robbins at the east, where Mrs. C. A. Riley now lives. Another ancient dwelling is that on the north end of the Common, owned by Mrs. C. A. Goodnow. It is claimed by some that a

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

part of this house was the first house built in the vil- lege. It was, in very early times, owned and occu- pied by a Mr. Harris, grandfather of the late Mr. Clarendon Harris, of Worcester.

The public records of the town were destroyed in September, 1794, by the burning of Mr. Moses Smith's store. Mr. Smith was town clerk at the time, and kept his public office in the store. The destruction was complete-leaving a blank iu the town's history, from that date back to the time of its incorporation as a precinct-a period of more than fifty years. Subse- quent records, however, show that the town did not suffer in comparison with other towns around in the public spirit of its citizens or in the liberality of its appropriations for roads and other improvements, and for the maintenance of church and schools. An in- quiry has recently been raised, whether the town had ever adopted by-laws, regulating the transaction of public business ; aud in the belief that it never had done so, a committee was appointed at a late town- meeting to prepare suitable rules to be presented at a future meeting for the town's consideration and ac- tion. By a reference to the record of a town-meeting, held on the 3d day of November, 1794, it will be found that a code of by-laws for the regulation of town- meetings was adopted, which runneth as follows:

Art. 1. To take a seat and sit.

Art. 2. To proceed to business at the hour appointed in the War- rant.

Art. 3. To rise and address the Moderator with bats off when we wish to speak and sit down when done speaking.

Art. 4. That we will not presume to speak when one is orderly speaking before ns.

Art. 5. That we will not interrupt by attempting to converse, or trans- act private business when assembled for public.

Art. 6. That the law respecting the Moderator's duty shall be read at the opening of every town-meeting, if requested.

Art. 7. That the Moderator shall exercise the powers vested in bim by law, and that we will strictly obey.

Art 8. That the above articles shall be copied in a large, legible band and brought in by the Clerk at the opening of every town-meeting and bung up in open view of the town.

In 1799 the second meeting-house was built, and located on the site of the old one at a cost of $8500. Mr. Timothy Hildreth was the builder. He was, at the time, tavern-keeper as well as carpenter.

In the following year the town-house and school- house combined was erected on the spot occupied by the present one, which was formerly the site of Mr. Samuel Brown's blacksmith shop. (See deed of Samuel Brown to Ebenezer Pope, book 146, page 60; also deed of Ebenezer Pope to town of Sterling, book 168, page 66, Registry of Deeds.) It was a very plain build- ing-thirty-eight by twenty-eight feet-innocent of paint, and cost about $700.

Previous to 1822 the method of supporting the poor was by boarding them out among such families as were disposed, for the sake of the income, to take them. The manner of disposing of them was sometimes by auction. But, in time, a more philanthropic sentiment began to prevail, and this mode of providing for the unfortunate poor was regarded as inhuman. In con-

sequence, in the year above-named, a committee of intelligent citizens was appointed at the town-meet- ing, in March, to take into consideration the manner of supporting the poor, and report whether a change for the better might not be made. In due time the committee presented to the town an able report, set- ting forth the disadvantages and the inhumanity of the present system, and recommending the purchase of a farm as a better and more economical way of dis- charging the town's obligation to this unfortunate class of her population. The report was accepted and the committee was instructed to purchase a farm at a cost not exceeding the sum of three thousand dollars. Thereupon the farm, now owned and occupied as the Pauper Establishment, was purchased. The former owner was William Morris, Esq. The farm contained sixty acres, and was purchased for the sum of $1900. Seventy-five acres have been added since the original purchase, making a total of one hundred and thirty- five acres ; valued in the overseer's estimate for 1888 at $3400. A large and commodious Almshouse was built in 1877, containing twenty-six rooms. Careful provision is made for the comfort of the inmates and the care of the insane. Eight rooms are suitably fitted up for the latter class and five rooms are devoted to the common poor. The estimated value of the house is $3000. The other farm-buildings have been recently thoroughly repaired, and, to some extent, remodeled, and are valued at $1000.

In 1825 a fund of one thousand dollars was estab- lished, the income of which to be used in furnishing females of limited means with fuel during the winter months. The fund was derived from the sale of a farm given to the town for that purpose by Jacob Conant, Esq.

The fund is under the control of five trustees, who are to be chosen annually, and who are to render ac- count to the town and submit their books and papers to its inspection, and also to that of the donor and his heirs, whenever requested so to do. By the report of the trustees, at the annual town-meeting in March, 1888, the principal of the fund invested was shown to be two thousand and twenty-four dollars, showing that the fund has been carefully and judiciously managed, while at the same time, from year to year it has fulfilled the purpose of the benevolent donor. The "Conant Fund " has relieved anxiety and carried cheerfulness to many a poor widow's heart as the cold winds of December have whistled dismally about her dwelling. .

The late Mrs. Emily Wilder made a bequest in her will of fifteen hundred dollars for a similar purpose, which the selectmen, as trustees, received from the executor of her estate in 1887, and which they have duly invested.

The old town-house, built in 1800, having fallen int › somewhat premature decay, partly in consequence of having been used as a school-house as well as a town-house, was sold in 1835 to Mr. John B. Pratt,

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who removed it to a location a little south of the village on the Worcester road, known ever since by the eupbonious name of "Tuggsville," and our present chaste and well-proportioned town-hall was erected in its place. It was built by Mr. John Springer, for many years a respected resident of the town. It was completed in November, 1835, and was immediately dedicated with appropriate ceremonies. Edwin Conant, Esq., delivered the dedicatory ad- dress, a large assemblage being present. In the evening following the services of dedication, a very pleasant musical entertainment was given, in which some noted singers, former residents of the town, took part, among whom were Colonel Daniel New- hall, of Boston; Bartholomew Brown, Esq., of Bridge- water ; Mr. John Brown, of Boston ; Mr. Nathaniel Sawyer, of New York, and Mr. Cephas Newhall, of Sterling, all of whom were "singing masters," or, as in modern parlance, " professors of vocal music."

CEMETERIES .- There are four public burial-grounds within the limits of the town. One is situated in the southwest part of the town in the Leg District (so called); one near Sterling Junction ; the old village churchyard, where repose the remains of the first settlers of the town and many of their descendants; and the new "Oak Hill Cemetery," half a mile dis- tant from the village on the Lancaster road. The latter contains about eight acres and was purchased of Mr. Joel Houghton in 1858. Much attention and labor of late years has been bestowed upon all these hallowed depositories of the dead, in repairing and new-setting the fences, furnishing suitable gates and entrances, and in removing weeds aud bushes, and all unsightly objects which offend the moral senti- ment, if they do not tend to nourish the " horrors of the tomb." And it is pleasant to observe that all these sacred enclosures are being cared for and orna- mented, both by public and private munificence, by chaste monuments of marble or granite, by graded avenues or shaded paths, and by the planting of flow- ering shrubs and plants around and within the curbed family lots in a manner calculated to render them pleasaut resorts, suited to calm contemplation, or to secret, holy communings of the soul with that of the loved but silent tenant of the grave.

The old burial-ground was enlarged in 1837 by the purchase of about two acres adjoining on the south side, including an avenue to the Kendall Hill road, where there is an entrance with stone posts and an iron gate. It was purchased of Mr. Augustine Hol- combe. It was laid off into family lots, which have been mostly taken up, and now thickly abounds with becoming monuments, mostly of marble, of various styles.

The "Oak Hill Cemetery " was laid out into burial lots, avenues and paths under the direction of a com- mittee, consisting of Daniel Hosmer, Eli Kilburn, Cap- tain Moses Sawyer, Luther W. Rugg and Ezra Ken- dall, appointed at the annual meeting in March, 1859,

with power to employ a civil engineer ; and at a subse- quent meeting the same committee were authorized to enclose the land by a suitable picket-fence, and to grade the avenues and patbs, and to prepare a code of by-laws for the regulation of the affairs of the cemetery.

The committee caused a plan of the whole ground to be made out, by which it was shown that it con- tained three hundred and fifteen lots, but only one hundred and fifty-one lots were staked out. An additional number has been staked out since, and there are still others to be prepared for use as neces- sity may require. A cemetery committee is chosen each year, who have entire control of all burying- grounds, and all funds given or appropriated for the purpose of improving or beautifying them.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 135

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