History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 200

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 200

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islation in the concerns of the settlement. Therefore, when the committee, in the autumn of 1727, ordered the proprietors to build a meeting-house, stated the dimensions and dictated its location, the issue was boldly met, and in the act of incorporation the author- ity of the committee was dissolved. The proprietors considered apart from the town owned in common all the undivided land in the township. They were either the original grantees or their successors, and their number could not exceed the number of grantees admitted by the committee, and generally the number was less, because a few owned more than a single right. The proprietors were not necessarily residents of the town and only a part of the original grautees ever lived here, but within a few years nearly all the non-resident owners sold their rights to men liv- ing in this town. The proceedings of the proprietors constitute an important chapter in the annals of Lunenburg and Fitchburg. First they re-surveyed all the lots that had been distributed by the commit- tee and entered the title to each lot in a large record- book, which was the height of the art of book-making in those times and is now in an excellent state of preservation. Then they gave the five members of the committee collectively one thousand acres of land in compensation for their services. This tract was subsequently located in the southwest corner of Fitch- burg, bounding four hundred rods on the line of Leo- minster and four hundred on the line of Westminster, the other sides being parallel to these. That the com- mittee had left the affairs of the proprietors at loose ends is seen in the following proceedings.

By an adjustment of town lines a considerable tract was severed from Lunenburg, or what was supposed to be, and added to Lancaster new grant (now Leominster). Several house-lots had been located by the committee within this area, and to the unfortunate owners the proprietors gave an equivalent from the undivided land within the town. Then, to compensate themselves, they applied to the great fountain of land supply. The General Court granted their petition October 2, 1728, as appears in an extract from the court records : " A petition of Josiah Willard and Hilkiah Boynton, agents for the town of Lunenburg, praying that the said town may be allowed an equivalent for two thousand nine hun- dred and twenty acres of land lately taken out of said town and added to Lancaster new grant, etc."

October 2, 1728, "In the House of Representatives read and ordered that the town of Lunenburg have liberty by a Surveyour and Chainmen on Oath to lay out two thousand nine hundred and twenty acres of land on the west side of said town and contiguous thereto by a parallel line to their west line through- out, for an equivalent for the land takeu from said town for and within Lancaster new grant."

A portion of this addition is now in Ashby, but enough remains to constitute a considerable part of the area of Fitchburg. On account of this proceed-

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ing the township of Ashburnham was subsequently located nearly a mile further west than otherwise would have been the case.

In a former account of the grant and survey of the Walker and the Adams farms it was stated that they fell into the possession of James Kibby, of Reading, several years before the grant and settlement of the town. Soon after acquiring possession of these grants Mr. Kibby became insane and for several years no reference to the owner or to the grants is found. In the mean time, unconscious of the existence of any prior rights, the committee had overrun the obscured boundaries and had completely absorbed both grants in the distribution of land in that portion of the town. Soon after the incorporation of the town Zachariah Fitch, the guardian of Mr. Kibby, demanded posses- sion of the two tracts of land owned by his ward. To protect the titles of the new owners who were in possession, the proprietors compromised with the guardian by giving him one hundred and two pounds and a grant of three hundred acres in the southwest part of the town. This land, known for many years as the Fitch farm, was next north of the committee faim of (ne thousand acres, and was bounded on the west by the west line of Fitchburg and on the south by a line four hundred rods from and parallel to the Leominster line. It was subsequently purchased by William and Joseph Downe. In this proceeding, in addition to money paid, the proprietors had suffered the loss of three hundred acres and again sought in- demnity of the General Conrt. The appeal was not in vain. A grant of four hundred acres was immediate- ly made, which in two parts was located on the east bank of the Connecticut River. This land was subse- quently deeded to Josiah Willard and Edward Hartwell in consideration of the money paid the guardian of James Kibby. By the conditions of the grant of the township two hundred and fifty acres each was reserved for the benefit of Harvard College and for schools. In 1729 the proprietors gave Harvard College two hundred and fifty and forty-one hundredths acres which was located in the northeast part of the town, adjacent to Townsend, but did not extend east to the line of Shirley. In 1774 the college sold the lot to Joseph Bellows for one hundred and twenty pounds. One hundred and sixty-nine acres of the school lot was located in 1764 on the easterly side of Pearl Hill. In 1764 a part of this lot fell in the limits of Fitchburg. The remainder of the school lands was located by a vote of the proprietors "at a place called Toffet swamp " now in the south part of Fitchburg. For ministerial lands the pro- prietors laid out four lots. The town, apart from the proprietors, assumed control of the school and minis- terial lands, and near the close of the past century disposed of them in small parcels.

Torrey, in his admirable sketch of Fitchburg and Lunenburg, expresses surprise that with a grant of six miles square, the proprietors managed to secure a

township so large. The General Court expressed an equal surprise one hundred years earlier, and ordered them to make a new measurement and report. What was subsequently done is briefly told in the Court records :

November 28, 1729. A petition of Josiah Willard, Esq., and others, a committee of the town of Lunenburg, in the county of Middlesex, showing that the inhabitants have been at the charge of a new and more exact survey of the said Town and find thereby that they linve Four thousand and one hundred and ninety-seven acres of Land within the limits of their Township above the original grant of six miles square, and forasmuch as they have been at grent expense and Difficulty in their settlement by reason of the War; Therefore praying that the plan of said Town may be accepted and confirmed notwithstanding the said overmessure.

In the House of Representatives read and ordered that the said plon be accepted and that the Innd therein delineated und described be nnd hereby is confirmed to the Grantees of Lunenburg, their Heira and Assigns, provided it exceed not the contents set forth and does not inter- fere with any former grant.

In Council read & approved.

Consented to

WM. DUMMER.

In this measurement no account was made of three thousand acres in the Woburn and Dorchester grants. They were included in the municipality; but they were no part of the six miles square granted the pro- prietors. The ponds also were excluded. By the surveys of 1830 and 1831 Fitchburg has an area of 17,879 acres; Lunenburg, of 17,494 acres; and esti- mating the area donated to Ashby at 1627 acres, the amount is 37,000 acres. Then to six miles square add the confession of the proprietors and the two independent grants, -the amount is 30,237 acres. Compared with other ancient surveys, the excess is not unusual. Not that acres then were larger than now, but that the practice of the time was liberal, and the methods of measurement not as exact. In the early surveys there was also an intentional allow -. ance for uneven ground and generally one rod in fifty for what the early surveyors styled "swag of ye chain."

The proprietors continued an organization over one hundred years and as long as any undivided land remained in Lunenburg, Fitchburg or a defined portion of Ashby. At a meeting in May, 1833, they adjourned to meet the next May at the house of Dr. Aaron Bard, and there the record ends. They re- ceived the grant from the General Court in commu- nity, and sold or donated it to individuals, and in their proceedings is vested the title to all the real estate within the original township. Except to re- ceive the school and ministerial lands, the town, as an organization, had no part in these proceedings. In two or three instances the proprietors sought the friendly offices and the superior influence of the town, which, through a kinship of interest, was in- variably granted. In this manner a few votes rela- ting to matters purely proprietary appear in the early records of the town.

On the day following the act of incorporation the General Court adopted an order instructing Captain Josiah Willard to call the first town-meeting. Im-

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mediately the inhabitants of Lunenburg were duly warned to meet at the house of Ensign Jonathan Willard. This house was on the Lancaster Road and not far east of the Woburn grant. The first election ever made in this town called Captain Josiah Willard in parliamentary terms to the chair, but more probably he sat upon a block or stood throughi- out the meeting. The selectmen were: Lieutenant James Colburn, Captain Josiah Willard, Mr. Hilkiah Boynton, Mr. Ephraim Peirce and Mr. Samuel Page. Lieutenant Edward Hartwell was town treasurer, and for minor town officers choice was made of Isaac Farnsworth, Noah Dodge, Joshua Hutchins, Jona- than Willard, Nathan Heywood, Eleazer Houghton, Samuel Johnson, James Jewell, John Fisk, Jeremiah Norcross, Jacob Stiles and Jonathan Whitney. Isaac Farnsworth, who was the town clerk the first nine years of the town's history, made a record of the meeting and probably was chosen at this time, but either through modesty or carelessness he made no record of his first election. The record of the meeting pre- serves the names of many who were residents of Lun- enburg in 1728. Others who are known to be resi- dents at this time are: Rev. Andrew Gardner, Philip Goodridge, David Peirce, David Gould, Moses Gould, Benoni Boynton, Jonas Gillson, Daniel Austin, John Grout and the sons of Samuel Page and Philip Good- ridge. The town increased rapidly during the years immediately ensuing, introducing many new names, but quite nearly all who were here at the date of in- corporation are included in the foregoing list. The second town-meeting, to raise money to meet public charges and to direct the building of the first meet- ing-house, was convened in September. The next meeting assembled in January, 1729. " It was voted and chose Capt. Josiah Willard Agent for ye Town of Lunenburg aforesaid to Join with Such other men as yo several neighboring towns shall appoint to Con- sider what may be best in order to divide ye County of Middlesex into two Counties." This proposition was met in 1731 by the incorporation of Worcester County. Excepting Woodstock, Conn., which, for some years, was considered a part of the county and State, Lunenburg in the order of age was the tbir- teenth and youngest town in the new county.

Omitting mention of many roads extending from house to house within the town, one of the earliest exploits of the town was to make a road or amend the existing bridle-path, from Lunenburg Centre to the line of Lancaster. In 1743 a road was cut to the west line of the town "for the accommodation of Dorchester Canada (Ashburnham), Ipswich Canada (Winchendon) and the towns above us." In 1745 the town voted that the men living in Captain Hart- well's company build a bridge over the North Branch "in the way that goes to David Goodridge's," and another bridge over the North Branch "in the way that goes to David Page's." The first place was at or near the bridge at South Fitchburg, and the other at

the bridge on Laurel Street, in Fitchburg. At the same time the men residing in Captain Willard's company were directed to "build a bridge over Mul- lepus, in the way by or near Hezekiah Wetherbee's, and a bridge over said Mullepus in the way that goes to Townsend below Widow White's Mill." Subse- quently, money was raised at short intervals for re- pairing and building bridges at these points, but after the Indian wars the militia was not again detailed to do the work. The town refused to build a short piece of road for the accommodation of John Scott, and on his petition the court appointed a committee, who re- ported in 1754 that, "having viewed the said road, have laid out ye same to ye great satisfaction of Mr. John Scott and the owners of the land the road goes through, who freely gave their land for the road." This was a short aod unimportant piece of road wholly within Fitchburg, and is described in the court records as "beginning at the land of said John Scott and running northeast on John Bridge's land, described by marked trees, then on land of Mr. Mead, then on land of Joseph Eaton, then on land of Joseph Spofford to the road that comes from Isaac Gibson's." The presumption that it was a thoroughfare from Lunenburg Centre to the house of Mr. Scott is not sustained hy the record.

In the building of the Northfield road the town did not participate, yet this ancient road receives frequent mention in the records. In 1733 a town- ship bounding on Northfield was granted to Josiah Willard and his associates, many of whom were re- sidents of Lunenburg. The early name of the grant was Earlington and Arlington (now Winches- ter, N. H.), and the road became known both as the Northfield and the Earlington road. It was con- ditioned in the grant of the township that the grantecs within two years " clear and make a con- venient travelling Road, twelve feet wide, from Lun- enburg to Northfield, and build a house for receiv- ing & Entertaining travellers on said Road, about midway between Northfield & Lunenburg aforesd .- And for the Encouragement of a Sutahle Family to settle in sª House, It is resolved that there shall be granted to him that shall Dwell in sd House for the space of seven years from the Grant one hundred and fifty acres of land."

Many residents of Lunenburg, of Townsend, and of "the lower towns" were employed, and the road was nearly or quite completed in the summer of 1733. There yet are many traditions handed down through several generations from ancestors who, in perpetual fear of the Indians, were engaged in this enterprise. The farm of one hundred and fifty acres on which was the house of entertainment was surveyed by Nathan Heywood, and located not far from where the west line of Winchendon was subsequently estab- lished. The survey was made October 7, 1733. In the autumn of 1734 Benjamin Bellows, Hilkiah Boynton and Moses Willard, a committee of the

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grantees of Arlington, petitioned the General Court for another tract of land on which to build another house of entertainment at a convenient point on the line of the road. This petition sets forth that the road from Lunenburg to Northfield is forty-two miles; that about twenty-four miles from Lunenburg there " is a house of entertainment set up to the great ease and comfort of persons travelling that road, and your petitioners, apprehending it would greatly accommo- date Travellers, more especially in the winter season, to have another House of Entertainment between Lunenburg and that already set up." The General Court promptly granted four hundred and fifty acres, which was surveyed by David Farrar and located on the line of the road in the northwest part of Ash- burnham. In 1735 a house was built, and for a few years a family occupied it. The Enos Jones farm is a part of this grant. After the obliterating influences of one hundred and fifty years, an attempt to accu- rately trace this ancient thoroughfare cannot be wholly successful. The ready voice of tradition offers too many suggestions, and frequently points out roads that are known to have been built subsequently, and for other purposes. At several points the location is well-established by contemporaneons records. The old Northfield Road began at a point more than a mile southeast of the centre of Lunenburg, and probably on and using the Lancaster Road, it con- tinued past the Old or South Cemetery, and bearing northerly as far as the North Cemetery, and near that point making an angle, its course was nearly due west to near the present line of Fitchburg; then, possibly to avoid the rivers beyond, it bore north, and passed where John Fitch was subsequently captured, now the residence of Paul Gates, in Ashby ; thence it bore westerly, and from the west line of Lunenburg, now in Ashby, to the east line of Northfield, it was cut through a wilderness of unappropriated land. The survey of an ancient grant in Ashburnham locates the road in its continued course at a point not far from where the present road from Rindge to Fitch- burg crosses the line between Ashburnham and Ashby. Then passing north of the North Branch of the Nashua and the South Branch of Miller's Rivers, its course, by the farm (formerly) of Enos Jones in Ashburnham, and near Spring Village in Winchen- don, is established by early records.

In 1757 an effort to divide the town was inaugurated. The eastern section was first settled, and continued to be the most populous. Here was the meeting- house, the pound and the stocks. Here was the re- pository of the records and of the standard weights and measures, and, in fact, the seat of government. The situation clearly demanded that in the event of a division by a north and south line, the western portion must be created into a new town. In har- mony with these conditions the issue was made. While the incorporation of a town was solely within the province of the General Court, the petitioners

desired to fortify their solicitations by the consent and approval of the whole town. For a few years public sentiment was divided by the proposed gco- graphical line of division, and the larger number of voters in the eastern section denied the early petitions for a new town. The ettort was continually renewed and vigorously prosecuted, until in January, 1764, the consent of a majority of the whole town was obtained, and a line of division substantially the present town line was agreed upon.

Immediately the inhabitants of the proposed town instructed John Fitch, Amos Kimball, Samuel Hunt, Ephraim Whitney and Jonathan Wood, who had been prominent in this affair, to obtain from the General Court an act of incorporation. Their mission was eminently successful, and Fitchburg, including more than one-half the area of the original township, was incorporated February 3, 1764.

The limits of this sketch, excluding voluminous material and mauy interesting events and incidents in the early history of the town, has forbidden a fre- quent repetition of the names of committees and many other prominent characters; but no apprecia- tive chapter of the early annals of Lunenburg can fail to associate the actors with the events, and to give some account of the early residents of the town.

Of the committee of the General Court prominent in the early proceedings, Hon. William Tailer was a member of the Council, and the remaining four were members of the House of Representatives. Hon. William Tailer was born March 10, 1677. He lived in Dorchester, where he died March 1, 1732. He was prominent in the early Indian Wars. In 1712 he was chosen commander of the "Ancient and Honorable Artillery." He visited England, and re- turned with a commission as Lieutenant-Governor, and subsequently he was acting Governor of the Province. The name is here written "Tailer" to correspond with the usage of his time. Samuel Thaxter was of Hingham, and a son of Samuel and Elizabeth (Jacobs) Thaxter. He was a colonel, a magistrate, and from 1716 to 1719 a delegate or member of the House of Representatives. He died previous to 1741.

Francis Fullam was a magistrate and an influential citizen of Watertown. He was a member of the House of Representatives 1717-24, and a selectman of Watertown many years. At the incorporation of Weston his homestead fell in that town, where he died subsequent to 1752. He was the clerk of the committee and his clear, ornate penmanship is pre- served. He wrote his name as here given, but in many records it is Fulham. Francis Fullam, who was residing in Fitchburg at the date of incorpora- tion, was his grandson.

John Shepley was a son of Thomas, and was born in Charlestown. He settled in Groton, where he died September 4, 1736. He was a prominent citizen and a member of the House of Representatives many

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years. This name in early records is written Shippie, Shiple and Sheple.

Benjamin Whittemore, the fifth member of the committee, was born in Charlestown, September 1, 1669. He was a son of John and Mary (Upham) Whittemore, of Charlestown aud of Cambridge. Benjamin settled in Concord, where he became an active citizen, a selectman and a Representative sev- eral years. He died September 8, 1734. At the meetings of the committee Mr. Tailer was sometimes absent. The others, almost withont exception, were present.

Samnel Page, the first settler in Lnnenburg, was born in Groton, Jnne 4, 1672. He was a son of John and Faith (Dunster) Page. In 1719, when the com- mittee surveyed the township, they found him resid- ing on the province land and were entertained at his house. This Selkirk of the wilderness began a clear- ing on the Marshall place in 1718 or a year or two previously, and when discovered by the committee his family consisted of a wife Martha and seven chil- dren, the youngest an infant of ten months. Five other children were born in this town. In the ad- mission of grantees, he and his son Joseph became original proprietors of the town. He was a select- man, 1728 and 1731; collector, 1732; and School Com- mittee, 1738. The first ponnd was at his homestead, and he was chosen ponnd-keeper. He died September 7, 1747. In sketches of the man and in tradition he is styled " Governor " Page, in recognition, perhaps, of the fact, that while his family constituted the pop- ulation of the locality he was the chief executive offi- cer of the domain, but there is no evidence that the title was employed during his life. Very probably, it is one of the pleasant fictions of tradition.

Josiah Willard, whose active career would fill a volume, was a son of Henry and Dorcas (Cutler) Wil- Jard. He was born in Lancaster, 1695. He removed to Lunenburg, 1723 or the following year, and was foremost in the affairs of the settlement. He was a captain on the frontiers and subsequently was a colo- nel and for a season was commandant at Fort Dum- mer. In 1733 he obtained, with others, many of them residents of this town, the grant of a township adja- cent to Northfield (now Winchester), N. H., and thither he removed, probably in 1737. During the remainder of his life his active energies and achievements are conspicnons in the annals of New Hampshire. He died December 8, 1750. The following lines are copied from a journal announcing his death : " He was a gentleman of superior natural powers, of a pleasant, happy and agreeable temper of mind, a faithful friend, one that paid singular regard to min- isters of the Gospel, a kind husband and tender parent. His death is a great loss to the public and particularly on the western frontiers."

Edward Hartwell, son of John and Elizabeth (Wright) Hartwell, was born in Concord May 25, 1681. In early life lie lived a few years in Lancaster,

where he was a sergeant in the Indian wars in 1722, and a lieutenant a year or two later. He was in Lancaster in the spring of 1725, but in Angust of that year he wrote the Governor of the Province that he had removed to Turkey Hills, where he had built a house and made improvements upon his land. He closed the letter with an assurance that at his new home he was " in a good capacity to serve his King and country." He was one of the grantees of the town, and probably he had been engaged in clear- ing land and building a house during a part of the years 1721-24. He settled on the Lancaster Road, over three miles from the centre of the town.

He was a man of great size and physical strength and power of endurance. Possessing an equally strong mind, energy and force of character, he cou- tinnally exercised a commanding influence over the rising fortunes of the settlement. In the troublous times on the frontiers he was much employed in the service, and rose to the rank of major. He was a deacon of the church, selectman, town treasurer, School Committee and frequently was elected to im- portant committees and to other office in town affairs. He was a Representative many years, serving in this capacity at eighty-five years of age.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 200

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