History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 158

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 158

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Mea's Labour at Farming Work in the months of July and August 3 shill. per day ; The months of May, June and September, 2s. 3d. per day ; The months of April aod October, Is. 9d. per day ; The months of November, December, Jao., February aod March, 1s. 4d. per day ; Wheat, 68. per Bushel ; Rye, 48. 3d. per Bushel; Indian Corn, 38. ; Oats, 1s. 8d. per Bushel ; Barley, 38. 6d. per Bushel ; Spanish Potatoes, 1s. per Bushel in the fall of the year and oot to exceed 1s. id. at any other season ; Beans, 68. per bushel ; Peas, 7s. per bushel ; Sheeps Wool, 2s. per lb. ; Fresh Pork, well fatted, 3 pence 3 farth, per lb. ; Goud Grass-fed Beef, 2 peace 3 farth. per lb. ; Stall-fed Beef, 3 pence 3 far- thing per lb. ; Raw Hides, 3 peace per lb. ; Green Calf Skins, 6 pence per lh ; Imported Salt, 13 shillings per bushel; Salt manufactured of Sea water, 15s. per bushel ; West India Rum, 88, 2d. per Gallon; New England Ruo), 58. per Gall. ; Best Moscorado Sugar, £3 6s. 8d. per Hundred Wt. and 8 peace 3 farthings by the siogle pound; Molasses, 48. 8d. per Gallon ; Chocolate, 1s. 9d. per lb. ; Best new milk Cheese, 5 peace 1 farthing per lb. ; Butter, 9 pence per lb. ; Tand Leather, 18. 3d. per lb. ; Curried leather, in Proportion ; Homespno yard-wide Cotton .. . ; Cloth, 38. 6d. per yard ; Mutton, Lamb and Veal, 3 pence per Jb. ; wheat Flour, 18s. per bundred Wt .; Best English Hay, 28. 8d. per Hundred Wt .; Teaming work, Is. 6d. per mile for a Ton ; Turkies, Dunghill Fowls aod ducks, 4 peace per lb. ; Geese, 3 peace per lb. ; Milk, 1 penay 3 farthing per quart ; Good Merchantable white pine Barn boards, 28, 8d. per hundred feet ; Men's best yarn Stockings 58. 4d. per pair ; Men's best Shoes made of neat Leather, 8s. per pair ; Wo- mea's best Calf Skio shoes, 6s. 8d. per pair ; Making Med's Shoes, 28. 8d. ; Making Women's leather shoes, 28. 8d. ; Good Salt Pork, 8 pence per lb. ; Cotton, 38. 8d. per lb. ; Good well-dressed merchantable Flax, 1 shilling per lb. ; Coffee, 18. 5d. per lb. ; Yard wide tow Cloth, 2 shill- ings per yard ; Good yard-wide Stripped Flannel, 38. per yard ; Fried Tallow, 7 pence per lb. ; Rough Tallow, 4 pence 2 farth. per lb. ; Men's board, 5s. per week; Women's board. 28. 8d. per week -. Taverners ; Oats, 2 peace 2 farthiogs for 2 Quarts ; A mug of Flip made with half a piot of West India Rum, ls. 1d. ; a mug of Flip made with half a pint of New England Rum, 9 pence ; a Common mieal of Vituals, 9 pence ; lodging a person a night, 4 peace; Keeping a horse a night or 24 hours en English Hay, 1 shilling ; Keeping a yoke of oxen a night or

24 hours on English Hay, 1 shilling ; Charcoal, 3 pence per bushel at the pit ; Shoeing a horse round and Steeling toe and heel, fis, 3d .; Weaving Plain Towel Cloth yard-wide, not to exceed 3 pence 2 farthings per yard; sawing White pine boards, 1s. Id. per Hund feet ; Tanner's Bark Oak-Delivered at the Yard, 12#, per Cord-price for tanning, 1 penny 3 farthings per lb. ; horse hire, 2 peace per mile ; C'yder not to exceed Cs. at the press io time of the Greatest Scarcity ; Carpenter's work, 3 shilling per day ; Price of Taylor's work to be advanced one- eighth part above what was usual when Labour at farming work in the Summer Season was 2s. Sd. per day ; Best Homespun Woolen ('loth of a Good Colour fulld and Pressd not to exceed Ss. per yard, and all other articles not her enumerated are to bear a price in a just Proportion to the Particularly Mentioned, According to former ('nstoms and usages. Dated at Paxton, Feby. 7, 1777. Agreed to by the Selectmen and Com- mittee of Correspondence of Paxton. Attest,

ADEL BROWN.

On September 14, 1791, Seth Snow, of Paxton, gave by deed to the town, one and a half acres and fifteen rods, " whereon the meeting-house stands," the whole forming nearly a square tract for "the use and benefit of the town." The bounds are given in Book 115, page 134, as certified to hy Artemas Ward, register of deeds, Worcester, and are as follows, viz .:

A certain tract or parcel of common land lying in Paxton aforesaid, whereon the meeting-house stands, for the use and benefit of the said town, and is bounded as follows, viz. : beginning at a stake and stones on the south line of the burying-yard, thence East 3º S. nine rods and nine tenths to a stake and stone, being the Northwest corner of Frederick Huut's land ; thence South 13º 40' W. eighteen rods and eight-tenths uf a rod to a heap of stones on the West side of said Innt's barn, said line strikes the Northwest corner of said barn ; thence South 29º East ten rods and seven-tenths to a stake and stones ; thence West 12º 30" N. four rods to a stake and stones by the Southeast corner of Deacon Timothy Barrett's horse-shed ; thence N. 32º West seven rods to a stake and stones dear the Northeast corner of the store ; thence W. 8º 4\' N. eight rods and six-tenths to a stake and stooes by the Northwest corner of my dwelling-honse ; theace 8. 45° 30' W. six rods to a stake and stones ; thence W. 19º N. two rods and five-tenths to a stake and stones ; thence East 42º N. nine rods to a stake and stones near the Southeast corner of Abner Morse's horse-stable ; thence N. 8º E. running on the West side of the horse-stables eighteen rods to the first-mentioned corner; said tract con- tains one acre and a half and fifteen rods by measure.

The town, after about 1800, moved along the even tenor of its way, without alarming incidents, until 1812, when, at a special meeting of the town, held August 10th, of that year, it was voted to choose a committee to attend a county convention called to consider the state of the country, and Nathaniel Cracker and Braddyl Livermore were appointed as the delegates. There was also a petition or memorial or- dered at this meeting to he sent to the President, and the following persons were appointed to prepare the same, viz. :- Nathan Swan, Nathaniel Lakin, David Davis, Jr., Braddyl Livermore and Jonathan P. Gros- venor. The war was of short duration, terminating in a successful issue for the government.

Of Indian history little is known. Paxton was for many years a part of other towns, and their history would in part be its history, but long before the sur -. rounding towns were incorporated there were conflicts with the aborigines in this vicinity, though yet not much that can be localized as having happened with- in the present territory of the town. Yet there was one Indian resident of this town who made it his | home during the greater portion of his life, and his

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name was Aaron Occum.1 He was the last remnant and representative of his race. He lived about one hundred years ago, and had his home near the south- west point of Turkey Hill Pond. He lived in peace and quiet with his white neighbors, who learned to like him, and were, at times, much interested in him : "lle was a tall, well-formed man, very lithe and strong, and in feats of running, jumping, wrestling or lifting, no white man in the town could approach him. He clung to his ancient arms, and always was seen with bow and arrows, and with these primitive weapons his aim was unerring and fatal. He was a temperate and peaceful man and came to be respected and was a frequent visitor during the long winter evenings, at the dwellings of his neighbors, whom, in broken English, he would entertain by his wonderful stories of his ancestors and their exploits. Close by his cabin was a large flat rock, on which he pursued his occupation of beating brooms and making baskets, in which arts he was a master, and his wares found ready sale in the vicinity. Thus he lived till one eventful winter night, when he went to visit at the old red house on the hill, a half-mile or so west of his cabio, now the home of Oris Howe. It was an icy time, bitter cold having followed a storm of sleet. The face of the country was glass, with ice. Occum finally departed, and with a bound he started forward down the hill, but he never reached his cabin home alive. The next morning he was found dead at the foot of a sharp declivity, with a gash in the back of his head caused by a sudden fall on a sharp stone above the ice. Ile, in the darkness, had, doubtless, miscalculated his footing and thus came to his sudden death. He was buried in the public cemetery of the town."

Of Indian relics there are few ; still, some are found of course, but not in numbers that would lead us to think any tribe made its permanent home on these hills. There is, however, just west of the Barre road, beyond the causeway, adjacent to the house of the late Benjamin Maynard, "a low, hollow rock," which tradition says was an Indian " Mortar," used by them for grinding corn. The story of the "Indian Graves" was related by John Metcalf, who lived to be ninety years old and had a clear memory up to the close of his long life. He died about 1884. Ifis statement was that southwest of said Turkey Hill Pond, on a long ridge, is the spot where a party of Indiaos killed a number of white men, as described in a book giving an account of the Indian Wars. Here seven white men were killed and were buried under a large oak tree. The mound may still be seen surrounded (or was) by flat stones, not far from the stump of a large oak tree. The original account stated "that a party of white men were attacked on a hill at the southwest corner of a pond with a large hill on the east side of it, about ten miles from Quinsigamond

(Worcester) and on the road from Quabog (Brook- field) to Wachusett, and were buried under a large oak tree." Mr. Metcalf showed this account to one Artemas Howe, of this town, and together they iden- tified this place as the spot referred to.

George Maynard states that at one time he sank a shaft into this mound and below yellow earth he came to a black mound, such as might appear in any very ancient grave.

Of murders there have been several within the present limits of the town since its first settlement. The first great crime of this character occurred on what is known as the o'd "Carruth Road," which formerly led from just below "Comins Mill " (once "Jennison's Mill") to the north into the Barre Road and on to West Rutland. Less than a half- mile from the mills named lived Daniel Campbell, a Scotchman, who was killed March 8, 1744, by one Edward Fitzpatrick, an Irishman who was in the em- ploy of Campbell. Fitzpatrick disposed of the body in the wood-pile, the whole covered over with a few rails. There was a general rally of the neighbors to search for the missing man. It was agreed that should the body be found the horn (conch-shell) should be blown to give notice. At the sound of the horn Fitz- patrick, who was standing in the doorway of the house, exclaimed, "My God ! it is all up with me," or words to that effect. Fitzpatrick was tried the following September, found guilty and sentenced to be hanged on the 18th of October following. Campbell was buried in the old cemetery at Rutland Centre, and on his tombstone is the following inscription, viz .: " Here lies buried ye body of Mr. Daniel Campbell, born in Scotland, who came into New England A. D. 1716, and was murdered on his own farm in 1774, aged 48 years. . . Man knoweth not his time."

This Carruth Road was much used in the days of which we write, it affording a short route to Barre and that section, to people in the vicinity of Jennison's Mills; besides, many came over this road to trade at Jennison's.

One Aaron Coggswell lived on the right as you go up this road. He is the ancestor of the present Coggswells of Leicester. Beyond Mr. Coggswell lived Ephraim Carruth and Further on Daniel Camp- bell and others. This Mr. Carruth, for whom the road was named, came from Marlboro' along with the Hows. After the murder of his neighbor, Campbell, his family, which was quite large, became discon- tented and he returned to Marlboro. He was a sur- veyor and once surveyed the farm of David Davis, who lived at C. A. Streeter's. Mr. Carruth was not in favor with Jonah How, who lived on what is now called " Davis' Hill." This How had a pasture op on the Carruth Road where he kept his sheep in sum- mer, and each year he lost a good lamb. At the close of the season, finding a lamb gone as usual, and hap- pening to meet Carruth, said to him that he had got a

1 Related to us by George Maynard of Worcester.

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ew name for his pasture and now called it Pilfer- ire. After that no lambs were missed. The local- y still goes by the new name among the old people 'the neighborhood.

Some twenty-five years ago, at the time of grading e Great Road, as the Barre Road was then called, any men were employed, among whom was one oyle, an Irishman. He boarded at the first house youd the brook on what is now called the West oad (New Braintree Road), a quarter of a mile or ss west of the Common. In the evening of May 11, $62, one Henry Watson, an Englishman, was going to his home, known as the Stillman Smith place, yond Pudding Corner. As he came opposite the use some conversation occurred with this Doyle, ho demanded some rum of Watson, which he refused, hereupon Doyle became angry, and stepping to the oodpile, took up a hemlock stick and chased Watson, ho ran to the next house, where Samnel Peirce ved, and as he passed on to the veranda at the west de of the building he was struck and killed. Doyle once fled to Worcester, where he was arrested, tried id sentenced to a long term of imprisonment at hard bor. There was, some years ago, a human skeleton und in the front yard of a small farm-house, now cupied by H. Sweetser, on the road leading to Pine ill, in the northerly part of the town. This ought to mind the fact that a peddler by the name 'Livermore, who staid over-night in this neighbor- od, some years prior, was suddenly missed from e community, and was thought to have been foully alt with, as a quarrel was believed to have occurred Widow Samuel Sweetser's that night. An inquest as held, hut nothing was established, thongh Ben- min Maynard, who was present, stated that some of e parties living there were much disturbed and emed guilty. At all events, the principals soon ter left, and have never returned.

A man by the name of Charles Conners, in Feb- ary, 1862, was frozen to death in his sleigh at the ot of the hill near Pudding Corner, on the New raintree road, east of the school-house. He had en to Worcester, and, addicted to drink, had pro- red a bottle of liquor, and, over-indulging, had be- me insensible from two canses,-the liquor and the ld. The day had been somewhat mild and fairly easant, but in the early afternoon the wind rose and grew cold rapidly, and before sunset the wind had sen to a blizzard, and the thermometer dropped aring the night to 30° below zero. He was found the morning, sitting nearly upright, with his hat f and an empty bottle beside him. The reins had ecome tangled, and had turned the horse to the side ' the road, where he stopped, and was yet alive. he man lived at North Spencer, and the team be- nged to Samnel Cunningham, of that place. The ay he was found the thermometer at noon stood at 3º below, the coldest day for three-quarters of a cen- ry in this locality.

At one time in the spring of the year, as a com- pany of workmen were engaged repairing the road near the present town-farm, Captain B- was hold- ing the plow when a skeleton was turned up. All were horror-stricken, and the captain left and went to work elsewhere, being unable to witness the scene. It was told by him that it must be the body of a Mrs. Hunt, who had lived on the cross-road near by, and who, having died of the small-pox, was hur- riedly buried there. But this was not credited by the citizens. The other theory was that a young man, who, a year before, was working for the captain, had suddenly disappeared without any very good ex- planations, and it was believed the body was his, especially as an investigation showed the remains to be those of a male person.

Among the notable people who were born or lived in Paxton was the Livermore family. Jason Liver- more was one of the early settlers, and lived in the southerly part of the town, near Pudding Corner, and had several children.

He was in the engagement at Bunker Hill, as has already been shown, and was a man of high conrage and great patriotism. He was for many years a prominent citizen here. His son Braddyl also be- came prominent, and was well known for his capacity to transact business, and stood high among his towns- men. His son, George W. Livermore, a graduate of Harvard, and now of Cambridge, became a distin- gnished citizen of that place, and returned on June 14, 1865, and delivered the historical address at the centennial celebration, and to him, as well as to other writers, are we much indebted for many of the facts herewith embodied.

Few mien in our early history were as distinguished as Doctor Samnel Stearns. He was a somewhat cele- brated man in his day, as well as prominent as a practicing physician. He traveled much between 1778 and '85, and he made the journey from Southern Georgia to Massachusetts on horseback. He relates leaving Georgia in February, with the trees bloom- ing, and he so timed his journey as to reach Massa- chusetts in early June, having a succession of blos- soms for a thousand miles. He married Sarah Witt of Paxton March 7, 1773.

In 1782 he was in Enrope, and continued his trav- els there for several years. He published a volume of his letters from England and the Continent writ- ten in 1784.1 He speaks of meeting Minister John Adams at the Hague, and spending some time with him in driving about the conntry. Doctor Stearns was very fond of art, and greatly admired the paint- ing of Rubens, as well he might. He visited the Hague in the summer of 1784 and was a gnest of John Adams, the American minister, of whom he speaks in

1 This volume was published by Isaiah Thomas of Worcester, in 1750, entitled, " A Tour in Holland," with a preface by John Trumbull, the celebrated author of " McFingal."

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

the highest praise. In speaking of the ambassador he says his livery is the same as the American uniform. He also says that in popularity and influence at that court Mr. Adams bore the palm of the diplomatic body. He adds that Mr. Adams talks but little, but what he says is direct and forceful; that America stands indebted to him principally for three important acquisitions-the defeat of Sir Joseph Yorke and se- curing the patronage of Holland in a critical moment, the extension of our limits and the security of our fisheries. The headquarters of the embassy was the Grand Hotel, which Mr. Adams had purchased for the permanent quarters of United States ministers. Dr. Stearns relates an incident which, but for him, the life of Mr. Adams might have been in great jeo- pardy, viz. :- They were driving along the banks of a canal in Delft when a child was discovered struggling for life in the waters of the canal. Mr. Adams drew off his overcoat and was about ready to leap into the water when the Doctor interfered. At this juncture, a workman close by had made the plunge and saved the drowning child.

The Earles were numerous and prominent in the town's early history and for many years afterward. Marmaduke Earle came from Leicester and settled where Nathaniel Parkhurst now lives, about a mile west of the centre, on the Barre road. He had four- teen children.

Capt. Ralph Earle, of Leicester, was the best-known of any of the Earle family. He took a part in the Revolutionary War and performed other and valuable service. One of his sons, R. E. W. Earle, became famous as an artist, He made a painting of Niagara Falls which attracted much attention, and subse- quently he resided in the South, where he became an inmate of the family of General Jackson, at the " Ilermitage." He painted several portraits of the general and his family. He died there in 1837, and was buried in the garden, beside the graves of Jackson and his wife. Captain Ralph was a member of im- portant committees raised by the town at sundry times during the Revolution ; was for a time chairman of the selectmen, and occasionally served as modera- tor. He was also captain of the Standing Company in the Revolution.

Philip Earle1 was a public man and was engaged in the manufacture of scythes, below Jennison's Mills, just west of the highway. Here he had a trip-ham- mer and carried on quite a business. The mills above named were first owned by one Silas Newton ; he lived on Brigham Hill, where one Brigham subsequently lived. Newton had a fulling mill, besides a saw and grist-mill and shingle-mill. He sold to Samuel Jen- nison, who is reputed to be a rough sort of a man. He kept a wet grocery store in the basement of his house, and it used to be a much-frequented resort. IIe sold to Homer Chase, his son-in-law, who con-

tinued the store business. Homer was a son of Jona- than Chase, who lived where Horace Daniels now lives.

The Davis family was likewise conspicuous, and the first Simon Davis came from Concord to Rutland, where he had a son David, who settled in Paxton, where Charles A. Streeter now lives. He had a son David, Jr., who lived at the foot of the hill, just west of his father's place. There was a tan-yard just back of this last-named house, where considerable business was done annually. At this time there was another tan-yard near Pudding Corner, on the Bellows place, where an equal amount of tanning was done. This Davis family are the ancestors of Mr. D. Gates Davis, who, until lately, lived where Jonah Howe formerly lived.

The Peirce family came here from New Hampshire, but of all the members perhaps John D. Peirce is the most conspicuous. His father was Gad Peirce, and his grandfather David Peirce. The subject of this brief sketch came to live at the Peirce homestead, in the easterly part of the town, on the farm now owned and occupied by Horace Peirce. He lived with Job Peirce, an unele. He, at the age of sixteen, decided to secure a liberal education, and, with the a-sistance of the Rev. Mr. Conant, a near neighbor, he went to Leicester Academy. He joined the church at that place. He fitted for college, entered Brown Uni- versity and graduated with Elbridge Gerry Howe, of this place. He married in Sangerfield, New York, studied for the ministry and settled in York State as a Congregational minister. He subsequently went to Michigan and preached for a time at Marshall, and at same time kept the post-office (in a cigar-box). When Michigan was admitted into the Union he was ap- pointed State Superintendent of Instruction. Hetook an active part thereafter in all educational affairs and advised a liberal policy for the State, which was adopted, and has left its impress on that great Com- monwealth to this day. He was at one time promi- nently named for United States Senator, but being a Whig and they in the minority, he decided to change his politics, and soon after the party he espoused be- came the minority and so he died a disappointed man in some respects. But his life was made valnable to his fellow-men in the founding of a new State.

Of the IIarrington., first came Nathan Harrington from Weston and settled on the farm just north and under the shadow of Pine Hill. He had children- Nathan, Lemuel and Samuel. The first son settled in Barre, Vt., the second lived and died in Hardwick, Mass., while Samuel remained at home and had children-Lucy B., Elizabeth F., Samuel D., Lemuel, David, Simon G., Abigail and Lucinda. Samuel D. had children -Samuel, who lives in Boston ; Nathan, living in Toledo, Ohio ; and Eliza, who married Rev. Charles Morris and lives in Gloucester.

David Harrington, last above named, married Miss Olive Holmes in October, 1830. He lived and died

1 This Philip was a son of Marmaduke Earle and succeeded to the Im-iness of one Joel Crossman.

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PAXTON.

on his farm in Paxton. He celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of his marriage on October 29, 1880. There was a large company of relatives and friends from far and near present on that occasion. Mr. Simon G. Harrington is still living at the advanced age of eighty years and upwards, at his farm on the Rutland Road. He represented the town some years since in the Legislature and is one of the brightest and ablest men in this vicinity.

Silas D., son of Dr. Loami Harrington, was a very prominent man in the public affairs of this town. On November 17, 1877, he celebrated his fiftieth wed- ding anniversary. He died suddenly soon after, while on a visit to Millbury. He was for many years one of the selectmen and much respected. His por- trait can be seen in the new town hall.

The Howe family is a numerous one in Paxton, and the first settler here was one John How, who came from Marlboro', Mass., in 1742, and pur- chased lands of an agent of the Crown, and the old deed, now in possession of Dr. A. J. Howe, bears the seal of the colonial government. The place purchased by John Howe is now owned by Deacon Keep, and is situated about a mile west from the centre. This John Howe deeded the place to his son Paul Howe, and he to his son John, and he to Samuel H. Hlowe, the father of the present Dr. An- drew Jackson Howe, of Cincinnati. Of the Howe family born in Paxton, Dr. Howe is the most dis- tinguished. His father moved to the edge of Lei- cester, where Mr. Watts now lives. At the age of twenty, Andrew bought his time of his father, agree- ing to pay one hundred dollars for his " freedom," a transaction not unknown in those days. Young Howe worked in a saw-mill and thereby kept his engagement with his father as to the payment of the "time" or freedom money. He then went to Graf- ton, where he worked for an uncle in a shoe-factory. While thus engaged he made the acquaintance of Dr. Calvin Newton, who, being interested in him, consented to take Andrew as a student on condition that he acquire the education requisite to enter college. The young man, nothing daunted, subse- quently entered the Leicester Academy, where he at- tended two years, taking high rank as a student, From there he went to Cambridge and was admitted, and during the four years there he held a reputable place in his class, that of 1853. While fitting for college he was obliged, out of study hours and during vaca- tions, to labor at whatever his hands could find to do ; sometimes he was busy with wood-chopping and threshing and boat-building. After graduation at Harvard he prepared his way as best he could pe- cuniarily for entering upon a course of medical lec- tures at Jefferson College, in Philadelphia. The next year he attended hospital instructions in New York. The year following he took temporary charge of Dr. Walter Burnham's practice in Lowell, Mass. In 1855 he was appointed to the professorship of

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 158

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