History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 193

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 193

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POST-OFFICES .- A post-office was established in Leicester about 1798, and Ebenezer Adams, Esq., was the first commissioned postmaster. He was succeeded by Col. Thomas Denny, Col. Henry Sargent, John Sargent (appointed April, 1829), Henry D. Hatch, L. D. Thurston, the present incumbent appointed.

The post-office in Rochdale was established in 1824, and Rev. Joseph Muenscher was the first postmaster.

The post-office in Cherry Valley was established in 1859, with Henry Tainter, postmaster.

FIRE DEPARTMENT .- The date of procuring the

little engine upon which the town depended many years for extinguishing fires is not known. A fire- engine, called "Union No 2," was purchased in 1841, partly by the town and partly by individual subscrip- tions. It came to town April 20th. A steam fire- engine was bought in 1869, and in 1886 it was re- placed by the present steam-engine. In 1885 a steamer was obtained for Cherry Valley, and chemi- cal extinguishers for Rochdale and Greenville.

TAVERNS .- The first tavern was on the corner of Main and Paxton Streets. It was occupied by Na- thaniel Richardson in 1721, Johu Tyler 1746, John Tyler, Jr., 1755, Seth Washburn 1756, then by John Tyler, by Benjamin Tucker 1761, Edward Bond 1767. It was then burnt and rebuilt, occupied by Elijah Lathrop 1776, Peter Taft 1778, Reuben Swan 1781, William Denny 1801, Aaron Morse 1810.

The second tavern was opposite the Catholic Church, built by Jonathan Sargent as early as 1727. He was succeeded by his son Phineas, and he in 1776 by Nathan Waite.

James Smith had a tavern in the last house in Lei- cester, on the road to Spencer, in 1740. He was tol- lowed by Samuel Lynde iu 1755; the house was de- stroyed by the hurricane in 1759.

Phineas Newhall built in 1776 a tavern on the Iat- nuck Road, where the last house in Leicester stands, which was open for many years.

The first tavern on the site of Leicester Hotel, oppo- site the Common, was built in 1776, by Nathan Waite. Jacob Reed Rivera, the Jew, bought it for his store iu 1777. Here a hotel has been kept by successive land- lords to the present time. Among these was John Hobert, who had charge of it from 1799 to 1817, and gave to it a wide-spread reputation as an excellent hostelry. In later years, notwithstanding the growth of the temperance sentiment in town, this hotel con -. tinued to defy the public will. It at length became so intolerable a nuisance that it was purchased by a company of citizens and closed. In 1882 it was burnt. In 1885 this company built the present Leicester Hotel, which has since been kept by L. G. Joslin, and has become a favorite resort for "summer boarders." During the Revolution Abner Dunbar had a tavern on Mount Pleasant (Benjamin Earle place), and George Bruce about the beginning of this century kept public-house on Mount Pleasant, in the residence before occupied by Major James Swan.

Samuel Green had a tavern in Greenville. The Rochdale Hotel was built by Samuel Stone about 1810, and was first kept by Hezekiah Stone.

LIBRARIES .- In 1793 provision was made for a "Social Library," the "Proprietors" first meeting December 10th. The fire-engine company established a library in 1812. A "Second Social Library " was commenced in 1829. These several libraries had fallen into disuse, but in 1858, by the efforts of the writer, they were united, and removed to one of the rooms of the Town House, and again opened for cir-

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culation. This library, containing about eight hun- dred and fifty volumes, was, in 1861, offered to the town, and at the town-meeting held March 4, 1861 was unanimously accepted. The library has grad- ually increased, and in February, 1888, the number of volumes was six thousand two hundred and twenty- eight. There are branch libraries at Rochdale, Green- ville and Cherry Valley, and the books are largely used in all parts of the town. The library has received donations of books from many individuals. Among these should be especially mentioned Waldo Flint, Esq., who gave to it nearly three hundred and fifty volumes. Over five hundred volumes from his own library came to it after his death. The library is also indebted to the interest and liberality of Abraham Firth, Esq. Mrs. E. H. Flint, Governor Washburn and many others have been its generous friends. But the library is most of all indebted to Rev. Samuel May for his long-continued devotion and services. He has taken upon himself as a free-will service the arrangement and care of books, the preparation and publishing of catalogues, and the general supervision of the library. The management of the library is committed to a Board of Directors consisting of five members, one of whom is annually chosen to serve five years. On the 13th and 14th days of January, 1873, the library was placed in the new " Memorial Hall," an attractive room in the Town House. It has already nearly outgrown these accommodations, and waits the time when wealthy and generous friends shall make provision for a library building. D. E. Merriam, who died in 1888, left toward this object $5,000.

CHERRY VALLEY FLOOD .- On March 29th, 1876, the dam of Lynde Brook Reservoir, the water supply of Worcester, gave signs of weakness. The water sur- face of the lake is 1870 acres and there were in it at the time 663,330,000 gallons of water. There had been heavy rains. Four days before one of the series of dams on the Kettle Brook, into which Lynde Brook empties, gave way, occasioning great damage to roads and bridges and flooding a part of Cherry Valley. The water of Lynde Reservoir was at the time run- ning over the flash-boards, twenty-seven inches higher than the dam. A leakage at the lower waste-gate house showed signs of increase, and this was the sig- nal of danger.

Strenuous efforts were made through this and the next day to save the dam, or at least hold it in place till the waters could gradually escape. Loads of earth and stone and large trees were thrown in above the dam. Meanwhile the alarm was given to families along the stream. Dwelling-houses were deserted, mill property was removed to the hill-sides and crowds of people stood upon the banks awaiting the result. The dam stood through the day and night and through the next day, and it was hoped that the calamity might be averted. All through the night and the next day the anxious watch continued. At

about ten minutes before six, in the afternoon of Thursday, March 30th, a little stream of water broke out above the lower gate-house. The alarm was given ; the dam was cleared of men and teams. The stream enlarged each second, earth and stones were thrown up, the bank of the dam caved in, the stone wall stood for a minute and then gave way, and the reservoir poured its contents into the channel below. The scene is described by many who witnessed it as grand beyond description. The water came rushing and roaring down the course of the brook, tearing out a gorge a hundred feet in width and carrying the solid masonry far down the stream. Those who were in Cherry Valley could hear the grating of the rocks ground together by the force of the waters. As it passed down the ravine its appearance was grandly beautiful. The water, nearly fifty feet in height, came surging, seething, rolling on, lashed into foam, a white feathery vapor rising above it. When it reached the street it tore away the bridge and road- way and then spread out over the meadow, converting the lower parts of the village into a sea, and then at Smith's dam was forced through the narrow passage. It passed through the centre of Mr. Olney's house, leaving the walls standing. The barn and carriage- house were separated and then floated out gracefully on the water, only to be wrecked when they reached the rocks below. Several tenement houses were de- stroyed. The flood tore away most of Smith's factory, annihilated Bottomly's mill and carried away the rear of the several factories along the stream and the dams; it wrenched away the boiler of Ashworth & Jones' mill and deposited it half a mile below, and swept away the engine and boiler of Smith's mill so that they were never found. At the corner of the James- ville Road and Main Street it struck the bank, and be- came a whirlpool as it turned southerly to Jamesville, where it was divided. A part of the flood followed the stream, inflicting damage upon the dam and fac- tory. The other part followed the Boston & Albany Railroad for nearly two miles, gullying out the track and destroying the double arch bridge. The scene after the flood was one of wild desolation, the fields and meadows being covered with boulders and the debris. The spot was visited by thousands of people during the next few days, some of them coming from a distance. The estimated number on one day was thirty thousand.

HISTORIES .- Leicester is unusually rich in annal- ists and historians. First among these is Governor Emory Washburn, to whose " Topographical and His- torical Sketches of the Town of Leicester," published Jnne, 1826, in the Worcester Magazine and Historical Journal, his " Brief Sketch of the History of Leices- ter Academy," published in 1855, his several addresses on anniversary occasions, and his " History of Leices- ter," published in 1860, the town is indebted for the collection and preservation of the facts of its early history. In the preparation of his history he was

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more largely than is generally known indebted to Jos. A. Denny, Esq., who gathered inch of this information, and whose " Reminiscences of Leices- ter," published about fourteen years ago in the Worcester Spy, whose history of the schools, published in the School Report of 1849, whose various compila- tions from the Town Records, whose identification of locations, and whose personal journal, covering a period of eighteen years, including that of the Civil War, entitle him to the distinction of the annalist of Leicester. Miss Harriet E. Henshaw in 1776 pub- lished "Reminiscences of Colonel William Henshaw," which are rich in interesting and curious information relating to the Revolutionary period. Not only local, but other historians are indebted to her rich stores of ancient manuscripts, including the Orderly Books of Colonel William Henshaw, Adjutant-General of the Provincial Army, containing the official records of the Revolutionary army during the first year of the war, letters of the Committee of Correspondence, and other documents of inestimable historical value. Draper's "History of Spencer" and Whitney's "His- tory of Worcester County " are also sources from which light is also thrown upon the early history of the town. The academy has also had its historians. A brief but valuable sketch was published in 1829 in connection with Principal Preceptor Luther Wright's address. Rev. S. May, in the " Proceedings of the Worcester Society of Antiquity," 1882, has a paper on the academy. Governor Washburn's history, and the address of Hon. W. W. Rice at the centennial anniversary of the institution, are both of them the result of much careful research. The historical ser- mon of Rev. B. F. Cooley, at the fiftieth anniversary of Christ Church, Rochdale, and "The Religious History of the First Congregational Church in Leicester," by Rev. A. H. Coolidge, have also been published. To these sources of information is to be added the historical sermon of Rev. Hiram Estes, D.D., at the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Baptist Church in Greenville. The manuscript journal of Ruth Henshaw, reaching back into the last century, gives an insight into the life of the early times, and serves to verify some of the facts and dates of history. The letters of Grace Denny, of England, published in the " Genealogy of the Denny Family," prepared by C. C. Denny, Esq., are of special interest, referring as they do to the situation of the place soon after its settlement.

CELEBRATIONS .- In addition to celebrations in town which have been noticed in other connectious, are others of an interesting character. The four towns, Leicester, Spencer, Paxton and Auburn, which wholly or in part were embraced in the original township, united in celebration on the 4th of July, 1849, in the grove, on Grove Street. Hon. Samuel Draper, of Spencer, presided. More than two thousand persons were present. The citizens of Spencer, preceded by the fire company, were escorted into the village,

under the direction of Henry A. Denny as chief mar- shal, by the Leicester Fire Company, with the North- bridge Band. Four Revolutionary soldiers were honored guests. The address was by Hon. Emory Washburn, and is a valuable contribution to the Revolutionary history of the towns. Rev. Dr. Nelson was chaplain. Among the after-dinner addresses was that of Hon. Joseph Sprague, ex-mayor of Brooklyn, N. Y.

The 4th of July, 1871, was chosen as the date of celebrating the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the organization of the town by the several towns of the original township. The exercises were in a large tent on the Common. Rev. S. May, in behalf of the Committee of Arrangements, introduced the exercises of the morning, which consisted of music by the Worcester Band, singing, prayer by the chap- lain, Rev. A. H. Coolidge, and a learned and eloquent historical address by Governor Emory Washburn. About eight hundred sons and daughters of Leicester sat down at the tables, Capt. J. D. Cogswell as mar- shal having charge of the arrangements. Jos. A. Denny, Esq., as president of the day, introduced the after-dinner exercises, Dr. J. N. Murdock acting as toast-master. Addresses were made by Hon. Waldo Flint, Abraham Firth, Esq., Hon. Edward Earle, Gen. E. T. Jones, Hon. N. Sargent and others.

In 1876 the towns again united and celebrated the centennial of the Declaration of Independence. The morning exercises were in the town hall, and Rev. S. May was president of the day. John E. Russell, Esq., delivered an eloquent address. The singing was un- der the direction of Mr. Thomas S. Livermore, and the music by the Leicester Cornet Band. The com- pany then moved in procession, under Capt. J. D. Cogswell as marshal, to Sargent's Grove, where after- dinner addresses were made by the several clergymen, teachers of the academy and others.

The principal addresses on all these occasions have been published, and are invaluable sources of import- ant and interesting local and general history.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

DR. EDWARD FLINT.1

Dr. Edward Flint belonged to a family of physi- cians. His grandfather, Dr. Edward Flint, of Shrews- bury, was the physician of that town during a long life. His father, Dr. Austin Flint, born in Shrews- bnry, established himself in Leicester in 1783, at the close of the War of the Revolution, in which he had been an army surgeon, lived here a long and honored life, professionally eminent, and died at over ninety years of age. His elder brother was Dr. Joseph H.

1 By Rev. Samuel May.

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Flint, of Northampton and Springfield, whose son Austin became distinguished in New York, both in practice and as a medical anthor; and who left a son, also named Austin, as successor to his labors and hon- ors. Dr. John Flint, of Boston, was a cousin, and studied medicine with him. And his only son, John Sydenham Flint, was a physician for some forty years in Roxbury, held in the highest esteem there, and died in April, 1887.

Dr. Edward Flint, second son of Dr. Austin and Elizabeth (Henshaw) Flint, of Leicester, was born November 7, 1789. He studied medicine with his father, and established himself in its practice in Lei- cester in 1811. Six years later he was married to Harriet, eldest daughter of Elihu Emerson, Esq., of Norwich, Vt. Soon after marriage he built the house in the centre of the town which he occupied during life, and where his widow now resides in her ninety- first year. Dr. Flint died May 30, 1880, being, like his father, a few months over ninety years of age. Three children was born to them-Charlotte Emerson, Sally, and John Sydenham. The daughters were very excellent and attractive young women, but they both died in early womanhood. Their loss severely tried Dr. Flint's faith and firmness ; but no murmur escaped him. Seven years after his own death, his only son died, as already stated, and the mother is now left childless, but is ministered to, in her age and many infirmities, with unsurpassed devotedness.

Dr. Flint succeeded to his father's large practice, which extended beyond the town limits. He gave his life, in the strictest sense, to his profession, and to those who needed his services, making no discrimina- tion among those who were able and those who were not able to pay him for that service. It was a life uneventful, but steadily laborious, and attended with frequent exposures. A physician has peculiar oppor- tunity to render charitable service, and Dr. Flint had his full share of such experience; and as he had a great repugnance to pressing the collection of debts due him, it followed that an unusual amount of such indebtedness was never paid. A recent writer in a Health Journal says : "It is safe to say that but few physicians in general practice manage to collect more than one-half of their bills," and enlarges upon the wrong thus done. Cases of destitution will always occur, and our physicians may be safely trusted not to forget them; but it should cease to be thought allowable for others to use a doctor's time and ser- vices withont compensation. Attempts, on various grounds, were made to introduce other physicians to the town, but the general respect and confidence of Leicester people were never withdrawn from Dr. Flint. Washburn, in his " History of Leicester," says of him: "The rank and position which Dr. Flint sustains in the community have been the natural re- sult of the many years of honorable and successful pursuit of the profession of his choice."

He was a life-long friend of temperance. When

his house was built-which was before the day of tem- perance societies-he induced the workmen to give up the customary strong drink, and he furnished them hot coffee in its place, which Mrs. Flint daily made for them. He never permitted wine or strong drinks to be placed on his table, nor offered to visitors, and never used them himself. He told the present writer that he had an early lesson on the subject, in seeing his father always pass the mug or glass untasted, as it went the rounds among the neighbors collected at some public place. His horses and his dogs were more than his servants : they were his friends and he was theirs. He had a quaint humor, with a somewhat rough manner, in both respects resembling his father. When a boy he one day brought from the post-office to his father a small packet ; his father, on opening it, said, " Here, Ned, take off your jacket," which being done, the father rolled up the boy's sleeve, and with no further notice made an incision in his arm and in- serted some vaccine matter, and thus, as he always claimed, he became, with little previous notice, the first subject of vaccination in the town of Leicester.

DEA. JOSHUA MURDOCK.1

The older readers of this history will be glad to rec- ognize in the accompanying engraving the likeness of Dea. Joshna Murdock. He was the son of William and Achsah Murdock, and was born in Westminster, Mass., October 28, 1780. He served a regular appren- ticeship as cabinet-maker to Artemas Woodward, of Medfield, Mass. He was united in marriage with Clarissa Hartshorn, of Medfield, June 3, 1806, and soon removed to West Boylston, and, with his brother Artemas, began the business of cabinet-making. In 1811 he came to Leicester and purchased the place still owned by the family. His cabinet shop was east of the house. Here he carried on the business for many years, employing a number of hands. He was in every sense a master-workman. The products of his skill were at once thorough and elegant, and many highly valued and beautiful specimens are still retained in various families in the vicinity.

In 1833, and again in 1834, the town expressed its appreciation of him by electing him to the House of Representatives in the Legislature of the State. He was for many years treasurer of the First Parish, first elected when the affairs of the parish were managed by the town, through the selectmen. He was also trustee of the invested funds of the church and parish to the time of his death. He was made deacon of the church January 7, 1817, and retained the office through life. He was the first superintendent of the Sunday-school, and held that office, as nearly as can be ascertained, more than twenty-five years.

In April, 1812, he with his wife united with the First Congregational Church-the first persons to make

1 By A. II. Coolidge.

Dosta Murdock

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LEICESTER.

a public profession of faith after the settlement of Dr. Nelson, the month before. He possessed a singularly even and benign spirit, sweetened by genuine piety. He was always very modest and retiring, yet he cheerfully accepted the cares and responsibilities of his office in the church, and was always heard with interest and pleasure in the several meetings of the church. The writer remembers him with the deepest respect and tenderness as one of the truest, most helpful and sym- pathetic of his friends in the first years of his min- istry.

He died suddenly, in his shop, December 30, 1859. A memorial sermon was preached by the junior pastor, January 8, 1860, from Prov. 20: 6-" Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness; but a faithful man who can find ?"

JOSEPH A. DENNY, ESQ.1

Joseph Addison Denny was the grandson of Daniel Denny, who settled in Leicester in the spring of 1717. He was one of the twelve children of Joseph Denny. His mother, Phoebe Denny, was the daughter of Col. William Henshaw.

He was born May 13, 1804, and passed his early childhood in the house on Main Street now owned by the family of the late John Loring. His mother died when he was eleven years old. About two years later he left home and was a clerk in the store of H. G. Henshaw, Esq., in New Worcester, for two or three years. He then returned home, and attended school at Leicester Academy for several terms. About the year 1823 he was engaged as a clerk in the store of James & John A. Smith, in a building west of the Leicester Hotel. There he remained until 1826, when he commenced the manufacture of card-clothing, which he continued until 1857.

He was a diligent and intelligent student, and pro- ductions of his pen at this period, which are still pre- served, indicate unusual thoughtfulness as well as lit- erary taste. He early formed the determination of making his life a success in the truest sense. He even gave up the games and other amusements in which many of the young were absorbed, that he might se- cure his evenings for useful reading. When he reached the age of twenty-one years he wrote a series of reso- lutions for " future guidance." These resolutions are indicative of his early purpose, as well as of his later character. Among them are the resolutions to abstain from the use of " ardent spirits," gambling and pro- fane language. The platform of business principles which he then adopted is worthy of the consideration of the young, and is given in his own words : " Resolved, That if frugality and application to business will en- sure me a competency of wealth, I will never be poor. That, while I have my health, I will never spend faster than I earn, and on the contrary, while I have a sufficiency, I will never deny myself the conveni-

ences of life for the purpose of hoarding up treasure. That, while I am prospered in business, I will never refuse charity, where I think it my duty to extend it. And should I ever accumulate property, may I have the satisfaction of reflecting that it was not obtained by oppressing the poor, unfair dealing or any other dishonorable means, and may a bountiful Providence prosper my undertakings."

In the year 1826 he entered the firm of Isaac Southgate & Co., which, as has already been stated, developed into that of Bisco & Denny. It was in the beginning a small enterprise. The pricking and tooth-forming machines were moved by hand, and the cards sent out to be set by women and children. The business increased gradually, and prospered so that by careful attention to its details he secured a competence.

He was also largely interested in the establish- ment of the Leicester Boot Company. He was a prominent director and valued adviser in the State Mutual Life Assurance, and the Merchants' and Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Companies in Wor- cester, from the date of their organization to the time of his death. He was a director and for a time the president of the Leicester Bank. He was assistant assessor in the Internal Revenue Depart- ment during and after the war. He served the town as selectman and School Committee, and from March, 1850, to the time of his death, in 1875, was town clerk. He was, in 1857, elected to the House of Representatives in the Legislature of the State. His services for the academy, to whose interest he was earnestly devoted, were invaluable. He was a trustee from August 20, 1834, and treasurer from May 11, 1853, till his death, in 1875. He gave to this institution his personal services, and contributed liberally to its funds; and it was through his influ- ence that most of its present endowment was se- cured. With many of the former pupils of this in- stitution the thought of Leicester Academy and Joseph A. Denny are inseparable. His portrait has a place with the founders and benefactors of the academy in Smith Hall. Mr. Denny was a man of literary tastes, and spent much time in reading, thus familiarizing himself with history and the best lit- erature.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 193

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