History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 223

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 223

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Street, which is designed to serve its needs until a more commodious and substantial edifice can be erected, in the near future. In this building, which, with the grounds, cost about eight thousand dollars, besides the main auditorium, with a seating capacity for five hundred persons, there are rooms for a pas- tor's residence, schools, social and society meetings, etc., etc. After two years of faithful service, Father Soly, on account of failing health, resigned his pas- torate, and was succeeded by the Rev. C. E. Bru- nault, the present incumbent. Under his wise and prudent management the parish has flourished, and grown to be the leading one in town in respect to. numbers. Varions activities have been instituted for purposes of charity, and to promote the material, intellectual and moral welfare of the people, among which are St. John the Baptiste's Society, for mutual help, a temperance society for men and also one for boys, a literary club, a club for naturalization purposes, the League of the Sacred Heart, St. Ann's Society for married women and a Society of the Immaculate Conception for girls. Two day-schools are in opera- tion, having both French and English teachers, over which Father Brunault exercises a watchful super- vision.

CHAPTER CXV. GARDNER-(Continued.)

RELATIONS TO THE STATE AND NATION.

THE spirit of patriotism and of loyalty to those principles of civil and religions liberty which are embodied in the Declaration of Independence, and which underlie both the Commonwealth of Massachu- setts and the American Republic, has from the begin- ning animated the hearts and actuated the lives of the sons and danghters of this representative New England town. If at any time it has seemed to slum- ber or grow cold, it would, on occasion, revive again, and burn and glow with renewed ardor and zeal, ready to meet bravely any emergency, to stand fast in any lot, and to endure any hardship or sacrifice for liberty's sake, to vindicate the honor of the old Bay State or to save the imperiled country.

Gardner was not incorporated until after the sign- ing of the treaty of 1783, whereby the English col- onies in America were acknowledged and declared by the mother country to be free and independent,-until the thunders of the Revolution had died away upon the air. Nevertheless, a goodly number of its early citizens had taken part in the great struggle, and had shared, with those better known to fame, the honors and rewards with which a hard-won but glorious vic- tory had been crowned. Thirty-five of the early citizens of the town are known to have been connected with the Continental Army in one capacity or anuther,

or to have contributed by personal service in some different form to the mighty achievement which broke forever the bonds of colonial allegiance to despotic power, and it is more than probable that several others whose names are not found on any existing records belonged to the same triumphant patriotic category. The list of Revolutionary soldiers, as derived from trustworthy authorities, is as follows :

Baker, George.

Hill, Jesse.

Baker, John.

Hill, Moses.

Baldwin, Josiah.

Holland, Joseph.

Beard, Andrew.

Howe, Ebenezer.

Bickford, William.

Jackson, Elisha.

Bolton, Ebenezer.

Kelton, Samuel.

Clark, Joseph.

Kemp, John.

Comee, David.

Knecland, Timothy.

Eaton, John.

Matthews, John.

Fairbanks, Levi.

Simonds, Elijah.

Foster, David.

Simonds. Joseplı.

Foster, Samuel.

Stone, Samuel.

Glazier, John.

Wheeler, Josiah.

Goodale, Peter.

White, John.

Greenwood, Aaron.

Whitney, Joshua.

Greenwood, Jonathan.

Haynes, Reuben.

Heywood, Seth.

· Whitney, William. Wood, Elijah.

Several of these were commissioned officers, though it does not appear that any of them rose to a higher position than that of captain. Elisha Jackson had command of a company of minnte-men raised by order of the Provincial Congress, and with those under him hurried away to Cambridge on receiving tidings of the battles of Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775. William Bickford and Josiah Wheeler had been soldiers in the French and Indian Wars. Ebenezer Bolton and David Foster were at the battle of Bunker Hill, the latter helping to carry the body of General Joseph Warren from the field. Jonathan Bancroft, Benjamin Eaton, . Reuben Haynes and Samuel Stone were at the taking of Burgoyne at Saratoga, October 17, 1777, the most important of all the victories of the seven years' contest.

It was about a year after the incorporation of the town that the general feeling of unrest and disquiet- ude in the central and western parts of Massachusetts arose, which ripened later into that episode in post-Revo- lutionary history denominated "Shays' Rebellion." The citizens of Gardner at the outset sympathized very fully with the prevailing dissatisfaction caused by excessive taxation, a depreciated currency, and other conditions of political and social life consequent upon a long and costly war, which, combined with the poverty of the masses of the people, made the public burdens "heavy indeed, and grievous to be borne." They therefore, with commendable heartiness and dispatch, responded to a call for a convention, to be held at Paxton on the 26th of the following November, for the purpose of consulting upon the existing grievances, and of finding some way of relief from the disabilities and burdens to which all classes of the population were subject, and at a legal town-meeting chose Captain Samuel Kelton

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GARDNER.

as delegate thereto, and instructed him in regard to his action at its sittings. It cannot be learned from the records that the delegate made any report of his mission, or of the doings of the convention, or that the town took any further action in the matter. It is but reasonable to suppose that the citizens, seeing to what extremes the master-spirits of that and kindred gatherings were inclined to go, and that there was violence and treason in the movement as it was man- ipulated, could not find it in their hearts to have anything more to do with it. Their sense of justice and of patriotic duty would not allow them, probably, to be parties to the bloody designs of the leading agitators, and so quietly allowed the whole subject to go by default, so far as they were concerned. By this course they fortunately escaped becoming involved to any extent in those measures which led speedily on to open insurrection or mad defiance of the State government, and which came to their tragic culmina- tion at Springfield on the 25th of the following Janu- ary, 1787, when five of the insurgents were killed by the United States troops stationed there, in an insane attempt to capture the arsenal of the Federal Govern- ment, and its military stores. The repulse of the assaulting party on that occasion virtually put an end to the whole wicked and foolhardy affair.

Although the town, in its corporate capacity, ap- pears to have been absolved from all complicity with the rebellion, yet there were several individuals who were so far implicated as to be required to go before a justice of the peace, take and subscribe to an oath of allegiance to the State and National governments, and deliver up such fire-arms as might be in their possession. Certificates from magistrates attesting to the fact that at least three persons conformed to that requirement, and so may be judged guilty of some act of disloyalty in connection with the revolt, were received by the town clerk in the spring of 1787, and were copied in full into the records. The impartial historian, looking through the vista of more than a hundred years, sees some justification for the discon- tent which prevailed during the critical period under notice, even while pronouncing emphatic condemna- tion upon those violent, blood-thirsty spirits, who would not only have sacrificed human life to an indefinite extent to gain their ends, but imperiled all those precious interests which the recently-closed Revolutionary War had been waged to secure.

The year 1794 was a year of great discontent and ex- citement throughout the entire country. There were various canses for this unfortunate state of the public mind. The trouble with the Indians of the great Northwest, the so-called Whiskey Insurrection in Pennsylvania, which at one time assumed threatening proportions and called for the intervention of the gen- eral government, the complications growing out of the conduct of the minister of the new French Re- public, and, perhaps, most of all, the growing feeling that England was not fulfilling the terms of the

Treaty of 1783 honestly and in good faith, aronsing in many quarters a disposition to let loose upon her again the dogs of war-all these things served to un- settle the public mind and to jeopardize the public welfare. The wisdom and statesmanship of President Washington were taxed to the ntmost to avert threatening ills and guide the Ship of State safely through the troubled waters to serener and safer seas. Pending efforts to secure by peaceful means and in quiet ways assumed-to-be-invaded rights, to allay popular disquietude and to promote public order and tranquillity, he deemed it wise and prudent to put the country in a state of defence and to prepare it for whatever emergency might arise. Measures were in- stituted to that end. State governments rallied to the support of the National authority, and seconded its methods and plans of action. The Common- wealth of Massachusetts issued a call to all the towns to raise certain quotas of men, who should be ready at the shortest notice for any service to which they might be called. Gardner responded with loyal good will. In town-meeting it was voted " to give a bounty of twenty shillings to men who should enlist, when they were called into service, and to make up their wages to ten dollars per month." A military com- pany was formed, with William Bickford captain, which was kept under drill till the crisis was passed and the statute requiring its formation repealed.

Upon the issuing of the proclamation of war against Great Britain, in 1812, by President Madison, the people of Gardner were evidently largely in sym- pathy with the so-called Federal Party of the country, the members of which were disposed to regard the ac- tion of the Chief Magistrate with disfavor, and to look upon the conflict which such action was designed to inaugurate as not only unnecessary and unjustifia- ble on general principles of national polity, but as hostile to the best interests of the Republic. Under this prepossession, they were moved to join with their fellow citizens of other towns and localities in creating a movement or state of public sentiment which should have a tendency to terminate hostilities even before they had fairly opened, and avert the calami- ties which it was claimed by the Federalists would inevitably result from a continnance of the struggle. They accordingly sent Rev. Jonathan Osgood a dele- gate to a convention held at Worcester on the 12th day of August, only a few weeks after war was de- clared "to consult upon the alarming condition of our country " and " to petition the President of the United States to bring about a speedy and honorable peace with Great Britain."'

But the efforts of the opponents of the war were without avail. The national administration was fully committed to its declared policy, and was not to be dissuaded from its purpose to urge it forward with all possible vigor and efficiency. Seeing that there was no alternative in the matter, and deeming the cordial support of the regularly constituted govern-

864

HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

ment a token of loyalty to the nation, the citizens of Gardner, or at least a reputable proportion of them, responded to the call for enlistments in the public service. A company of militia was organized under the name of the Gardner Light Infantry, which was soon ordered to repair to South Boston for the de- fence of the metropolis of New England against any possible attacks from British cruisers that were look- ing for vulnerable points all along the Atlantic coast, and there it remained on duty until the cessation of hostilities, early in 1815. The officers of this com- pany were: Ephraim Williams, captain ; Samuel Sawin, lieutenant; Joel Cowee, ensign ; Ebenezer Bolton, Charles Hoar, Benjamin Stone and Reuben Wheeler, sergeants. The organization was main- tained for some twenty years, but, fortunately, there was no occasion for its being called again to swell the ranks of horrid war.

But there are duties which the patriotic citizen owes his country in times of peace as well as when commotion fills the air, and armed foes threaten the public welfare and the nation's life. And these the people of Gardner discharged with more or less of constancy and fidelity, according to personal convic- tion or party preference, for nearly half a century, little apprehending the fiery ordeal through which they were to be called to pass. But it came never- theless, and they rose to meet it with wonderful una- nimity and alacrity, -- with characteristic and praise- worthy loyalty and zeal. When the mutterings of se- cession first arose, after the election of Abraham Lin- coln to the Presidency of the United States in the autumn of 1860, and when, in the following April, by the firing upon Fort Sumter, open and armed rebellion against both the constituted authority of the nation aud the Republic itself in the interest and for the perpetnation of chattel slavery was inaugu- rated, they girded the loins of their strength about them, and, in the name of outraged justice and an insulted flag, they rallied to the support of the Fed- eral Government, and furnished men and means to repel the domestic invader and suppress the unwar- ranted and traitorous revolt.

On the 30th of April, in response to the proclama- tion of the President declaring the existence of an armed rebellion in the slave holding States, and call- ing for seventy-five thousand volunteers to meet the rising foe and overthrow the conspiracy, a special town-meeting was held for the purpose of taking appropriate action in the way of meeting the de- mands of the crisis. At that meeting it was unani- mously

VOTED, That the selectmen be and hereby are authorized to purchase, at the expense of the town, clothing or uniforms (suitable for wear in actnal service) sufficient for the members of a volunteer militia coni- pany, which may be raised by enlistment of the citizens or inhabitants of the town, and be organized agreeably to the laws of the Common- wealth, on or before the first day of June next. Provided, that said company shall pledge themselves to enter the service of the Common- wealth of Massachusetts, or of the government of the United States, to

defend and sustain said government against the traitors and rebels, which now or may hereafter threaten its destruction, if called for hy the proper anthority or authorities for that purpose at any time within one year from the date of the organization of said company. Also pro- vided that, if an entire company caonot be raised in the town of Gard- ner, the selectmen are hereby authorized to furnish naiforms or cloth- ing, as aforesaid, to such citizens or inhabitants of said town as shall enter the service of their country for the purpose aforesaid.

VOTED, That the selectmen pay to the order of the several members of a militia company, which may be raised from the citizens of the town, or to the order of their families in their absence, the sum of one dollar per day, payable monthly, for three months from the commence- ment of actual service.

The same spirit which is manifested in these initial votes of the town was displayed throughout the entire four years of the war, prompting corresponding action from time to time as the exigencies of the country required. In illustration of this fact, a few instances of what was done, and a few only, are here referred to. On the 23d of July it was "Voted, that the selectmen be and hereby are authorized to offer a bounty of one hundred dollars (in addition to the bounty now offered by government) for each and every volunteer who may enlist into the service of the United States on or before the fifteenth of August next as a part of the quota of forty men to be fur- nished by the town of Gardner under the late requi- sition of the Governor of Massachusetts, and that the sum of $4,200 be and hereby is appropriated by said town for the purpose of carrying the same into effect." A month later the same bounty was again voted, and the sum of six thousand dollars was appropriated accordingly. By vote of the town passed June 27, 1863, the selectmen were authorized to draw on the treasurer at their discretion for funds to render "the necessary aid to the families of those who have been or may be engaged in the military service of the United States." On the 4th of April, 1864, one hundred and twenty-five dollars was voted to " each recruit under the recent call of the Presi- dent." Similar votes were passed at several success- ive dates during the remaining period of the conflict.

According to a carefully prepared list of the num- ber of men sent by the town to aid in the suppression of the slave-holders' rebellion, there were two hun- dred and ninety-one in all, of whom one hundred and eighty-five, including half a dozen re-enlistments, were citizens or residents, the others being engaged from outside to fill the required quotas. Of those belonging to the place, seven were slain in battle, three died of wounds, seventeen were victims of vari- ous diseases incident to the fortunes of war, while a number of others, returning home, sunk slowly into their graves as the result of ailments contracted while connected with the army ; others, yet living, have been sufferers from maladies or disabilities in- curred in the same way.

It has been estimated that the whole amount of money expended by the people of Gardner during the four years of the war, for the purpose of prose- enting it and carrying it to a successful issue in the

865

GARDNER.

complete suppression of the Rebellion, was sixty-two thousand two hundred and sixty-nine dollars, accord - ing to the following itemized statement :

Raised and paid out by the town. $23,062

Voluntary subscriptions .. 13,344

State aid paid soldiers or families 17,363

Paid for twenty-five substitutes 7,500

Sent to soldiers by Soldiers' Aid Society 1,000

Making a total of. .. $G2,269

This sum, according to the census of 1860, would be nearly twenty-four dollars to each man, woman and child in the town, or at the rate of almost six dollars a year, which may be regarded as the actual annual cost of the Rebellion to every inhabitant during its continuance. Aside from this vast expend- iture, there has been paid what is called State Aid, which comes primarily and substantially from the citizens of Gardner, being included in the State tax. The amount of this at first was twenty-three hundred and twelve dollars, but has been reduced to about six hundred dollars a year. And this payment is to continue, though in constantly diminishing figures, as time goes on, indefinitely, or until the last man in Gardner who heard and answered his country's call during those years of her distress and threatened over- throw, 1861-65, shall have passed beyond the realm of all earthly conflicts and of all mortal needs, when it may be said of him :

" He sleeps his last sleep, he has fought his last battle. No sound shall awake him to glory again."

Since the close of the war the citizens of Gardner have been content and happy in following the pur- suits and fulfilling the obligations of their common every-day-life, in guarding and fostering their domes- tic and social interests, in providing for the general needs of the community, in giving encouragement to both private and public morality and piety, in pro- moting the growth and prosperity of the town, all of which things sustain definite relations to the national welfare, and in discharging the more quiet but highly important duties of good citizenship in the spirit of true loyalty to those principles and institutions of civil and religious liberty which the republic prop- erly regarded represents and was founded to maintain and perpetuate. Their patriotism, though it may not display and report itself in those more open and strik- ing forms assumed in the time of the great uprising, is nevertheless, as may be believed and hoped, burn- ing, a steady, never-dying flame, within their breasts, ready as of yore to respond to any call of the country for brave defenders in the hour of peril, should it come again, and for true and noble men and women al- ways and forever, in whom alone, with the favor of God, is to be found its assurance of permanent pros- perity and of unfading glory.

CHAPTER CXVI.

GARDNER -(Continued.)

MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS.

GARDNER WATER WORKS .- With the rapid growth of Gardner and the accompanying multiplication of wooden buildings in the more thickly populated dis- tricts, the need of some effective system of public water works, both as a protection in case of fire and as a means of domestic supply, became apparent to many of its leading citizens. After agitating somewhat the subject of providing for this need, a public meet- ing in the interest of the project was held Marchi 10, 1880, at which S. L. Wiley, of Greenfield, president of the Wiley Construction Company, who was familiar with such enterprises and who had looked the ground over to some extent with a view to practical results, was present and made a statement in regard to the feasibility of the thing proposed and the probable cost, both of the works and the water as it might be fur- nished to consumers. His representation made so favorable an impression upon those who heard it that a town-meeting was called on the 28th of April, when, after considering the subject at some length, a com- mitee was chosen "to contract with any Company or Corporation for sixty or more hydrants for a term of years for the use of the town, and to authorize such Company or Corporation to lay water-pipes along or across any highway and make necessary excavations for the same." This committee, after due inquiry and deliberation, closed a contract with the Wiley Con- struction Company in the autumn of the same year, and in the following June the work of laying the mains was commenced and carried forward to com- pletion four or five months afterward. During the succeeding winter, the reservoir on Glazier Ilill was constructed, as was also the pumping-station at the southeast corner of Crystal Lake. At an adjourned annual town-meeting in 1882 the committee reported their doings with the agreement made with the Con- struction Company, which was as follows: "The Company are to put in sixty hydrants according to accompanying plans, and furnish water for extin- guishing fires for twenty years, at the rate of sixty dollars for each and every hydrant per year, the town to have the privilege of putting in new hydrants at its own expense on lines of pipe already laid, withont additional cost. If new lines of pipe are laid, the Company will put in new hydrants on the same terms as the original ones were furnished. All hydrants to be accepted by the town and warranted to be kept in good working order. The Company to supply all public buildings, fountains and watering-troughs, without cost to the town, and all private parties at rates not to exceed those established in the town of Athol. The control of the hydrants to be in the hands of the Chief Engineer of the Fire Department.

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

At the end of twenty years the Company agrees to sell to the town at a price determined by three disin- terested appraisers." This agreement was ratified by tbe town.

On the 10th of April, 1882, the Gardner Water Company was incorporated by act of the Legislature, and given the privilege of taking water from Crystal Lake, with the additional "right of eminent do- main." The capital stock of the company was $100,- 000. S. L. Wiley was chosen president, and Volney W. Howe secretary and treasurer. The water was first let into the mains May 4th, and a trial of the hy- drants took place May 11, 1882. Everything proving satisfactory, the Gardner Water Company bought of the Wiley Construction Company all its interest in the undertaking, assuming all its stipulated obliga- tions to the town. The cost of the works, to the pres- ent time, has been about $80,000. More than sixteen miles of street pipes have been laid, with seventy-four hydrants and six public watering-troughs attached. Abont one-third of the families in the town are ac- commodated by the works. School-houses and en- gine-houses, as well as other public buildings, re- ceive water free. About three hundred thousand gallons are used per day. The reservoir will contain tive million gallons, and is supplied from Crystal Lake, the water of which is of superior quality and practically inexhaustible, by two compound, duplex, condensing pumping engines, made by the Deane Steam Pump Company, of Holyoke, which are capa- ble of pumping four million gallons per day. Henry W. Conant is the present skillful and efficient snper- intendent of the works, and the officers of the com- pany at this date are C. H. Green, of Northfield, president ; Volney W. Howe, secretary and treasurer.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 223

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