History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 225

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 225

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derer into paths of safety and of peace. Aside from these outside and special activities, the several churches of the town have combined more or less of temperance influence and effort with their other work io these later years, and maintained a Gospel broad enough to include the principles of temperance among the " good tidings of great joy for all people." The cause, so far as it assumes organic form, is at present represented by a Lodge of Good Templars, a Prohibitory Club, two branches of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and perhaps other as- sociations of which no report has come to land.

As with the cause of temperance, so was it, in its day, with the question of anti-slavery. In the irre- pressible conflict between liberty and tyranny which antedated the Rebellion by more than a generation and prepared the way for the triumph of the right in that bloody strife-a conflict which "tried men's souls" as few things in American history ever did be- fore, or ever will again-the friends of the oppressed, the friends of impartial liberty were not a few, and they stood strong and fearless for the right, coming up " to the help of the Lord against the mighty." And in the same spirit have other reforms and good causes, unpopular, perhaps but having the interests of jus- tice and humanity in them, been fostered, upheld and advanced by men and women of this goodly town.

SOCIAL AND BENEVOLENT ORGANIZATIONS .- Un- der this head are included those associations which, while partaking largely of the same spirit as the enterprises or causes just referred to, are more private in their nature and character and more restricted in the sphere of their activity and influence. Of these, so popular at the present day and so numerous in the community at large, Gardner has its full share. Little more can be done than to catalogue them in these pages without a detailed account of their ob- jects, methods of operation, officers or present degree of prosperity and success. They are mentioned in a miscellaneous way with little regard to their relative importance or any other principle of orderly suc- cession as follows : D. G. Farragut Post No. 116, G. A. R .; Women's Relief Corps; Sons of Veterans ; Hope Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons ; William Ellison Lodge, No. 185, Independent Order of Odd Fellows; Gardner Encampment, I. O. O. F .; Gard- ner Lodge, Knights of Honor, No. 1582; Gardner Lodge, American Order of United Workmen ; Achil- les Lodge, Knights of Pythias, No. 48; Narragansett Tribe, Improved Order of Red Men, No. 48; Puritan Council, Royal Arcanum, No. 1018; American Order of Hibernians, No. 6; American Legion of Honor ; Crystal Lodge, Knights and Ladies of Honor, No. 1072; Gardner Commandery, No. 347 ; United Order of the Golden Cross, Charles Sumner Camp, No. 37, Massachusetts Division Sons of Veterans, and others, perhaps, of which no record has been obtained.

The town is also honored with a Rifle Club, and a Knockabout Wheel Club, both duly organized and

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equipped for service in their respective spheres of ae- tivity. No attempt is made to enumerate the many societies organized, under many different names, in connection with the several churches of Gardner, as agencies for aiding in the efficient prosecution of the recognized work of the church.

BANKS .- The First National Bank of Gardner was established early in 1865, receiving its charter on the 25th day of February, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars, derived mostly from the citizens of the town. Mr. Amasa Bancroft was chosen first president and Mr. John D. Edgell, first cashier. In 1875 its capital was increased to one linndred and fifty thousand dollars, the amount of it at the present time. Mareh 27, 1876, Mr. Volney W. Howe was appointed assistant cashier. In 1872, Mr. Ban- croft retired from the presideney and Mr. Charles Heywood was chosen his successor. At the death of Mr. Heywood, in 1882, Mr. John D. Edgell was pro- moted to the vacant position and Mr. V. W. Howe was made principal cashier. These persons serve in the places indicated at the present day. This hank has been under wise and prudent management from the beginning, building up for it an excellent reputa- tion and securing for it the confidenee and support of the business community. It has a surplus of thirty thousand dollars.

The Gardner Savings Bank was established in 1868 and duly incorporated for the transaction of business under the laws of the Commonwealth. Charles Hey- wood was the first president and John D. Edgell, treasurer. This in titution has been of great value to the financial interests of the town, especially those of the middling elasses, by whom it is largely patron- ized. It has had a fortunate experience and may be regarded as thoroughly sound and trustworthy. Its present president is Mr. Franklin Eaton and Mr. J. D. Edgell is still the treasurer. The amount of its deposits to date is one million and thirty-eight thou- sand dollars and . its guarantee fund is thirty-eight thousand dollars.

POST-OFFICES .- The first office for the reception and distribution of mail matter established in town was located in the village of South Gardner, that be- ing on the great line of travel between Boston and the towns lying westward in the Connecticut Val- lev. Mr. Clement Jewett was the first postmaster. His successor was Moses Wood. who, having business interests at the Centre, moved the office there. The people of the south part of the town were mueh dis- satisfied, and petitioned the department at Washing- ton for a new office. Their petition was granted, and Abijah M. Severy was given the charge of it. He was succeeded by Lewis H. Bradford, Samuel S. Howe and S. W. A. Stevens, who received the ap- pointment about the year 1854. At the central office Mr. Wood was probably succeeded by Levi Heywood, C. Webster Bush and Miss Sarah E. Richardson, who has filled the position since 1873, to the entire satis-

faction of all interested and concerned. An office was established iu the West Village some years since ; it is now in charge of Mr. Albert A. Upton.

CEMETERIES .- There are four of these citics of the dead within the limits of the town-the old burying- ground in the rear of the First Congregational Church, lying between Green, Heywood and Wood- land Streets, which was laid out about the time of the incorporation, and in which sleep the remains of nearly three generations of the earlier inhabitants; Green Bower Cemetery, off Union Street, South Gardner, which is in control of an association or- ganized in 1849, though it had been used previously to some extent for burials; Crystal Lake Cemetery, purchased "for a cemetery for the use of the town " in 1858, and oeeupying a beautiful site on the west side of the lake which gives it its name; and St. John's (Catholie) Cemetery, off West Street.

POLICE,-The Police Department of the town con- sists of fourteen men, at the head of whom is Mr. Henry Carney, with headquarters in the basement of the Town Hall building.

PHYSICIANS .- The first medical practitioner was Joseph Boyden, who came to town early in its history from Sturbridge, married the daughter of Seth Iley- wood, followed his profession until ahont the time of the settlement of Rev. Jonathan Osgood in 1791, when he left for Tamworth, N. H., where he spent the remainder of his days. He is said to have been a man of superior ability and of wide reputation. Dr. Boyden was succeeded by Mr. Osgood, who was not only a minister, but a physician of acknowledged skill, serving in that capacity for more than thirty years with a good degree of success and to the satis- faction of his patrons. The third physician of the town was Dr. Howard, whose stay was brief and of whom nothing further is known. In 1822 Horace Parker, M.D., from Westford, began the practice of his profession in the place and continued till his health failed in 1829, when he returned to his old home, resigning his place to his brother David, who had studied with him and who had already practiced somewhat in the community. Dr. David Parker came to Gardner well-qualified for the duties of his calling and cordially endorsed by the highest medical authority in the Commonwealth. He early evineed unusual skill in the treatment of disease and endeared himself to the people of the town and vieinity, both by his success as a physician and by his kindness and sympathy in times of siekness, anxiety and hereave- ment. Had he given himself wholly to his chosen work he would have risen to a high and commanding position in the medical world. For nearly sixty years he lived in Gardner, was familiar with its affairs and with the great mass of its people, attending to the duties of his profession almost to the last, and passing away at the advanced age of more than four- score years in the spring of 1886. Others of the profession in town have been : Drs. Carpenter, Jew-

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

ett, Harriman, Warner, Whittier, Sanborn and Saw- yer, Sr. The present physicians are: Drs. R. F. Andrews, C. H. Bailey, E. A. Colby, J. E. Gallagher, G. W. Garland, J. R. Greenleaf, H. P. Grise, F. E. Hale, Waldo Mason, - Mulligan, J. H. Pilardy, F. S. Riopelle, E. A. Sawyer, W. A. Smith, G. B. Underwood.

ATTORNEYS .- Among the first men who practiced law in Gardner were C. H. B. Snow, Esq. and C. W. Carter, Esq. Mr. Snow died many years ago, and Mr. Carter is still in the profession at Leominster. The present lawyers are Charles D. Burrage, Thatcher B. Dunn, Ephraim D. Howe, Edward P. Pierce and James A. Stiles.

POPULATION, ETC .- The population of the town, indicating its growth from the beginning, is given as copied from statistical tables preserved in the office of the State Secretary, at Boston, to wit: 1785, about 300; 1790, 531; 1800, 667 ; 1810, 815; 1820, 911; 1830, 1023 ; 1840, 1260; 1850, 1533 ; 1855, 2183 ; 1860, 2666; 1865, 2553; 1870, 3333 ; 1875, 3730; 1880, 4988 ; 1885, 7283.

Of the 7283 inhabitants in 1885, there were native males, 2650; females, 2630; foreign males, 1067; females, 891; mulatto males, 35; females 10. This population was distributed in 1673 families, who occu- pied 1148 dwellings.

According to the assessor's estimates for the last year (1888) the property of the town is as follows :

Total value of personal estate. $1,006,070

Total value of real estate. 2,883,476

Whole valuation. $3,889,546

From the same authority it appears that on the 1st day of May the last year there were in town : horses, 732 ; cows, 511 ; sheep, 45; other neat cattle, 139 ; swine, 119; dwelling-houses, 1251} ; land assessed, 12,558.44 acres ; number of tax-payers, 2,955; num- ber of polls, 2,635 ; amount of money to be raised by taxation in 1888, $71,313.29.

The public property of the town of Gardner in the year 1888, as reported to the Tax Commissioner of the Commonwealth, Alanson W. Beard, was follows :

School-houses $65,000

Town-honse 30,000

Armory 3,000

Almshouse-real aud personal property 9,000

Eighty-four shares in Fitchburg Bank 7,300

Fire apparatus 6,000

Engine-houses 12,000

Other assets (cash on hand) 10,000

Cemeteries 5,000

Public grounds 5,000

Total $152,300

The liabilities of the town are :

Funded debt .. .$106,000

Temporary loan .. 8,000

Trust funds. 425

Total $114,425

The present town officers are : Clerk and Treasurer,

C. Webster Bush ; Selectmen, Charles Bancroft, Web- ster Cowee, G. N. Dyer; Assessors, R. P. Adams, Marcus Whitney, Thomas F. Carney; Overseers of the Poor, Charles Eaton, Charles Whitney, Jos. D. Frinney ; Collector of Taxes, Edwin H. Cady ; School Committee, Dr. E. A. Sawyer, Mrs. Clara Howe, J. M. Moore.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

LEVI HEYWOOD.

Prominent among the business-men and inventors of this his native town stands the name of Levi Hey- wood, a sketch of whose ancestors' lives and inventive genius we here give. In connection with each of the varied industries which have made New England the work-shop of the country, there is in almost every case some single name, that of a pioneer, or especially successful manufacturer, which is at once suggested when the industry is named. In this relation to the chair manufacture stands the name of Heywood. The various families of this name, widely dissemi- nated through Middlesex and Worcester Counties, are all of them, it is believed, descended from Jolin Heywood, who, prior to 1650, came from England and settled in Concord, Mass. His son, well and widely known as Deacon John Heywood, was a man of large influence both in civil and in ecclesiastical affairs. One of his sons, Phineas, born in Concord in 1707, removed in 1739 to Shrewsbury, Mass. He was selectman, a Representative in the Provincial Con- gress, a member of the Committee of Correspondence in 1774-75, aud a man of large influence in public affairs. His son Benjamin, born in 1746, was com- missioned, in 1776, a captain and paymaster in the army, and served through the war. He was present at the surrender of Gen. Burgoyne. From 1802 to 1811 he was one of the judges of the Court of Com- mon Pleas, and for many years was one of the most eminent citizens of Worcester County. His older brother, Seth, born in Concord in 1738, was carried with his father's family to Shrewsbury, and in 1762 was married to Martha Temple, of that town. He soon after moved to Sterling, and served as lieutenant in the Army of the Revolution, purchasing a farm within the limits of what is now Gardner. He was living there at the time of the incorporation of the town in 1785, and, in connection with John Glazier, was one of the petitioners and chief promoters of that act, and was the first town clerk. His son Benjamin, born in Gardner in 1773, married Mary Whitney. He inherited his father's farm. He was for many years the town treasurer. His children were Levi, Benjamin F., Walter, William, Seth and Charles. He died in 1849, in his seventy-seventh year. .

Levi Heywood was born in Gardner, December 10, 1800. His early advantages for education were only those of the common schools of that day, with the

Levi Holyroodo

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addition of two terms at the academy in New Salem, Mass. He taught school for two terms, in 1820-21- 22. In the spring of the latter year lie went to Rochester, N. Y., and was employed for about one year in stone-work by contract. Returning in 1823 to Gardner, he entered into partnership with his brother Benjamin, in the business of a country store. In 1826 he commenced, in Gardner, the manufacture of wood-seated chairs. In 1831 he went to Boston, and opened a store for the sale of chairs, in which business he continued till 1836.

He also, in connection with W. R. Carnes and his brother William, under the firm-name of Heywood & Carnes, started a mill for sawing veneers from mahogany, etc., in Charlestown. This mill was burned in 1835. He then returned to Gardner, and entered into partnership with his brother Walter, who with others had been for some years engaged in the manu- facture of chairs on part of the premises now occupied by Heywood Bros. & Co. The veneer-mill in Charles- town was rebuilt, and Mr. Heywood retained his interest in it until 1849. The business of the new firm in Gardner was conducted with success, the manufacture being mainly by hand, the only machinery being the ordinary turning-lathes and circular-saws, which were operated by water-power, obtained from the pond now known as Crystal Lake.

In 1841 it occurred to Levi Heywood that machinery specially adapted to the various processes of manu- facture might be introduced to advantage. His brother, of a more conservative disposition, hesitated to leave the well-worn paths in which they were achieving reasonable success. This difference of opinion led to a dissolution of the partnership, Levi purchasing his brother's interest. He at once gave his thoughts and labor to the devising and constructing of special machinery, as well as to the introduction of different kinds of wood-working machinery, which were already in use for other purposes, and were also adapted to his purpose. In the successful carrying- out of this idea he inaugurated a new era in the chair manufacture, and herein manifested much enterprise, together with the fertility of resource, mechanical skill and inventiveness, and the purpose to introduce constantly new and valuable features, both in methods of manufacture and in style of product, which have always characterized him, and have been large elements of his success.

As an instance of his originality in the matter of mechanical devices, it may be said that as early as 1835 he conceived the idea of the band-saw, now universally adopted as one of the most valuable tools in wood-work. The idea was not original with him though, nor really novel, for as early as 1808 Wm. Newberry, of London, England, had conceived the same idea, and made a crude model of a band sawing machine, but did nothing more with it. So thoroughly were its advantages anticipated by Mr. Heywood, that he consulted with B. D. Whitney, of Winchendon,

and with Charles Griffiths, of Boston, as to the feasi- bility of constructing a machine of this kind. Both of these gentlemen, experts in such matters, agreed that with the quality of saw-blades then made, or any known methods of uniting them, so as to make an endless band, the idea could not be successfully carried out. As is well known, M. Perin, of Paris, France, has since that time accomplished what Mr. Heywood so many years before conceived to be both desirable and feasible.

In 1844 he took into partnership General Moses Wood, then of Providence, R. I., and his brother Seth, the style of the firm being Heywood & Wood. This partnership continued till July 1, 1849. At that time General Wood retired from the firm, and Messrs. Calvin Heywood and Henry C. Hill were admitted, the style of the firm being changed to L. Heywood & Co. Mr. Heywood, in addition to his business relations as the head of the firm of Hey- wood Bros. & Co., in 1847 formed a partnership with Hon. W. B. Washburn, of Greenfield, Mass., in the manufacture of chairs and wooden-ware, at Erving, Mass., the style of the firm being Messrs. Washburn & Heywood. At this point it is proper to refer to the inventions of Mr. Heywood, which have been mostly to meet the demands of his own business, and have largely contributed to its success. Among them may be named one for wood chair-seat, one for tilting chair, three for machines for splitting, shaving and otherwise manipulating rattan, and four for machin- ery for bending wood: Of the merits of his wood- bending process it may be proper to introduce the testimony of M. Fr. Thonet, of Vienna, Austria, the head of the largest chair manufacturing firm in the world, employing some five thousand operatives. After visiting the factories of Messrs. Heywood, he wrote : " I must tell you candidly that you have got the best machinery for bending wood that I ever saw, and I will say that I have seen and experimented a great deal in the bending of wood." The Heywood patents have been combined with those of John C. Morris, of Cincinnati, Ohio, on which the patents of Blanchard have, after protracted litigation, been de- cided to be infringements. The combined patents owned by the Morris & Heywood Wood-Bending Co. it is believed cover the really effective methods for bending wood.

Mr. Heywood represented the town in the conven- tion for revising the Constitution of the State in the year 1853, and in the lower branch of the Legislature in 1871. He was a director in the Gardner National Bank, and a trustee of the Gardner Savings Bank from the organization of those institutions; an at- tendant of the Congregational Church in Gardner, and a liberal contributor to its support. He was largely interested in educational matters, and made liberal donations of land and otherwise to the town in this direction. He was respected in the highest degree for his personal integrity and excellence of

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

character, and his example was for good to the large number of his employés, and to the community in which he was long regarded as the most influential citizen. He died July 21, 1882.

CHARLES HEYWOOD.

The subject of this sketch, Mr. Charles Heywood, was the second son of Levi and Martha (Wright) Heywood, and was born during the temporary resi- dence of his parents in Boston, on the 12th day of November, 1831. At an early age, having received a good elementary education in the public schools and at the Fitchburg Academy, he entered the office of E. D. Brigham & Co., commission merchants on Long Wharf, when he was subjected to a thorough training in mercantile affairs, which, in addition to his native abilities and previous acquirements, admir- ably fitted him for his subsequent career in life. When nineteen years old he went into the counting- room of the rising establishment of which his father was the founder and head, and in which he himself was to become an important factor in later years. There he applied himself not only to the clerical duties pertaining to his position, but to the study and mastery of the details and practical workings of the great industry with which he was brought in contact, and of the means and agencies by which that industry could be carried forward to larger issues and a grander achievement than had as yet been attained or con- ceived of as possible for it. He thus became amply qualified for membership in the firm of Heywood Bros. & Co., to which he was admitted a few years later, and for a responsible place in its multiform activities. For a while he had charge of the Boston department of the establishment, having his residence at Winchester, a few miles out of the city. In 1866 he returned to Gardner, where he was brought into more immediate relation to the processes of manu- facture and to the development and growth of the business, and when he assumed a more direct re- sponsibility in the control of the company's affairs. In 1868 he withrew from the firm, but returned to it six years later and remained in its active service until compelled to desist by failing health, which resulted in his death June 24, 1882. By his removal from the scene of his earthly labors, Gardner lost one of its first citizens, and one of the best representatives of its important interests and prosperous fortunes.

It is difficult to justly estimate such a man as Charley Heywood, to set in proper array his many estimable qualities, and to give him that complete and symmetrical portraiture which will reproduce him, as he was, to the reader's eye and mind. Only a few hints to this end will be attempted in this delincation. As a man of husiness, quick to grasp business problems and efficient in executing business demands, he was, by common consent, pre-eminent. Nature seemed to have made him, under the eye of a

wise Providence, for business pursuits and achieve- ments, endowing him with a keen, clear insight in that direction and a discriminating, practical judg- ment which, acting with such spontaneity and pre- cision, was akin to genius, if not genius itself. An eminent citizen of a neighboring town, well qualified to judge in such matters, declared him to be " the ablest financier in the northern part of Worcester County."

But he was more than a business man by far-a man of affairs was he in a large sense, built after a generous pattern, to serve many nses, and to answer numerous ends in life. He was a many-sided man. Of versatile gifts, of wide sympathies, of broad views, of comprehensive purposes and aims, of a liberal spirit, he was restricted to one line of effort, to no narrow field of desire or endeavor. Nothing relating to the public good or to the prosperity and welfare of the com- munity was foreign to him or failed to enlist his interest and active support. His ability, his manly character, his disinterested spirit were recognized by his fellow-citizens, who were swift to acknowledge them and ready to honor them by suitable tokens of confidence and appreciative regard. At different periods he held by election and appointment the re- sponsible offices of selectman, School Committee and town treasurer. When in Winchester in 1861 he was chosen Representative to the General Court, and again in 1868 in the district of which Gardner formed a part, though he was a pronounced Democrat, while the district was decidedly Republican -his well- known ability, combined with his sound judgment and fair-mindedness, securing for him the cordial support of many of his political opponents. As a Democrat, he was repeatedly nominated for Congress- man and State Senator. At the organization of the Gardner Savings Bank in 1868 he was elected president, and in 1872 was called to the presidency of the First National Bank upon the retirement of Amasa Bancroft, a position which he held till his decease. He took an active part in the long struggle to secure the construction of the Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroad and contributed very largely of his personal effort and pecuniary means to that result, In recognition of his services the corporation made him, for many years, one of its vice-presidents and finally its president. An ardent admirer of the principles, ritual and objects of the Masonic order, he was greatly interested and chiefly instrumental in the founding of Hope Lodge in Gardner, of which he was made first Master. Devoted to the mystic rites, he was held in high esteem by his associates, and rose by regular gradation to the thirty-second degree in the ascending series of honors conferred under the jurisdiction of the order.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 225

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