History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 29

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 29

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It is now two hundred and thirty-five years since Master Joseph Rowlandson began his ministrations in the Nashua Valley, and there have been but eight in- cumbents of the pulpit in the church he founded, two of whom were slain when their joint service amounted to but twelve years. The present pastor, George Murillo Bartol, was unanimously called to his office a few months after the loss of Mr. Sears, and the fortieth anniversary of his ordination was feelingly celebrated by his parishioners on August 4, 1887. Ile was born at Freeport, Me., September, 18, 1820, fitted for col- lege at Phillips Exeter Academy, was graduated at Brown University in 1842, and from the Cambridge Divinity School in 1845. His power for good has not been limited by parish confines, nor restricted to the stated religious teachings of his order. The clergy in Lancaster had ever been held the proper super- visors of the schools, and upon his coming Mr. Bar- tol was at once placed in the School Board, and was annually rechosen, until, having given faithful service, usually as chairman of the board, during twenty-one years, he felt constrained to ask relief from this oner- ous duty. From the establishment of the public library he has always stood at the head of the town's committee, entrusted with its management, and in its inception and increase his refined taste, rare knowl- edge of books and sound literary judgment have been invaluable. With talents and scholarship that in- vited him to a much wider field of service, he has clung lovingly to his quiet country parish, making it the centre of his efforts and aspirations. He is an en- thusiastic lover of Nature in all her moods, a discrimi- nating admirer of beauty in art, earnest in his soul convictions, although averse to sectarian controversy -and so tender of heart as to seem charitable to all human weakness, save that he is intolerant of intol- erance.

The Universalist Society was organized April 3, 1838, and held its meetings for several years in the academy building. Rufus S. Pope, James S. Palmer, Lucius R. Paige, S.T.D., and John Harriman succes- sively supplied the pulpit until 1843. A meeting- house was built in South Lancaster, and dedicated April 26, 1848, but seven years later was closed, in 1858 was sold to the State, and now stands in the grounds of the Industrial School. Rev. Benjamin

Whittemore, born in Lancaster, May 3, 1801, son of Nathaniel, was pastor of the society from 1843 to 1854. He received the degree of S.T.D. from Tufts' College in 1867, and died in Boston, April 26, 1881, having been totally blind for the last ten years of his life.

The First Evangelical Congregational Church was organized at the house of Rev. Asa Packard, a retired clergyman resident in Lancaster, February 22, 1839. Mr. Packard was a fifer in the Continental Army, was seriously wounded at Haerlem Heights, entered Har- vard College and was graduated in 1783. He was for many years a noteworthy figure in the town, by reason of his old-school manners and dress. He wore knee-breeches and silver buckles, the last seen in Lancaster. March 20, 1843, he was found dead in his chair, being then eighty-five years of age. He preached here but a few times. Rev. Charles Packard was ordained January 1, 1840, resigned his pastorate here in 1854, and died at Biddeford, Me., February 17, 1864. He was the son of Rev. Hezekiah Packard, born in Chelmsford, April 12, 1801, and was graduated at Bowdoin College, 1817. During his valuable min- istry in Lancaster, Mr. Packard was familiarly known and greatly esteemed by all classes. Firm in opinion, outspoken where a principle was involved, he was, nevertheless, genial, respectful to the convictions of others, and always a preserver of peace. The meet- ing-house was dedicated December 1, 1841, was en- larged in 1868, and its accommodations increased in 1852 and 1884, by the addition of a chapel, church parlor, etc.

The successors of Mr. Packard have been : Franklin B. Doe, graduate of Amherst, 1851, ordained October 19, 1854, resigned September 4, 1858; Amos E. Law- rence, graduate of Yale, 1840, installed October 10, 1860, resigned March 6, 1864; George R. Leavitt, graduate of Williams, 1860, ordained March 29, 1865, resigned 1870; Abijah P. Marvin, graduate of Trin- ity, 1839, begun preaching here 1870, was installed May 1, 1872, and asked dismission September 12, 1875, but remains a resident of Lancaster, and an actively useful factor in its affairs ; Henry C. Fay, graduate of Amherst, employed 1876; Marcus Ames, acting pastor, 1877; William De Loss Love, Jr., graduate of Hamilton, 1873, ordained September 18, 1878, dismissed July, 1881; Darius A. Newton, graduate of Amherst, 1879, ordained September 21, 1882, dismissed 1885; Lewis W. Morey, graduate of Dartmouth, 1876, is now acting pastor.

The New Jerusalem Church of Lancaster was not legally organized until January 29, 1876, but neigh- berhood meetings had been held by believers of Swedenborg's doctrines so early as 1830, and for many years Reverends James Reed, Abiel Silver and Joseph Pettee at intervals visited the town and held services, usually in an ante-room of the town hall. Richard Ward was called as the first pastor in 1880, and was installed on the same day with the dedication of the

LANCASTER.

chapel, December 1, 1880. Besides the tasteful chapel, the society owns the parsonage and a small fund, due to the beneficence of Henry Wilder, who was for about twenty years the reader at meetings of the New Church believers. At his death his prop- erty was found to be willed for the establishment of this church.

The Catholic chapel was consecrated July 12, 1873. The parish is in charge of Rev. Richard J. Patterson, of Clinton.

The Seventh-Day Adventist Church in South Lan- caster was organized in 1864, and its meeting-house was dedicated May 5, 1878. Stephen N. Haskell was ordained its elder in August, 1870.

The old town-house being inadequate to the public needs, in April, 1847, it was voted to erect a new one of brick " between the Academy and the brick meet- ing-house," if land could be obtained, in accordance with plans furnished by John C. Hoadley, a noted civil engineer then living in Lancaster. The building was completed in 1848, costing about seven thousand dollars. It had only a single story at first, but the hall proved almost useless as an anditorium because of echoes, and in 1852 a second story was added at an expense of twenty-five hundred dollars. This has been used ever since as a school-room. The annex at the rear was built in 1881.

Under the stimulus of the comb manufacture and the temporary prosperity of the cotton factories of Poignand & Plant and James Pitts, the southerly portion of Lancaster had slowly grown in population to nearly fifty families by 1830, and became known as the Factory Village. The valuable water-power of the locality was not half developed for lack of enter- prise and capital. In due time these came, and com- bined with them came rare inventive genius. The Clinton Company began its prosperous career in the manufacture of the Bigelow coach-lace in 1838. In 1841 the Bigelow quilt-looms were started. In 1844 the foundations of the great gingham-mills on the Nashua were laid. Soon after the Bigelow power- looms revolutionized the making of Brussels carpet- ing. Lancaster suddenly awoke to find, built upon Prescott's mill-site, the bustling, ambitions village of Clintonville, embracing within a single square mile more people than dwelt in all its borders elsewhere. Another division of the old town was seen to be in- evitable, and Lancaster, on the 15th of February, 1850, granted to her daughter, Clinton, 4907 acres of land and independence, which grant the Governor and Legislature confirmed on March 14th.

June 15, 1853, a great multitude from near and afar assembled in Lancaster to commemorate the two hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the town. After exercises at the meeting-house, which included an oration by Joseph Willard, the historian, a procession was formed and marched to the elm- shaded lawn at South Lancaster, where three of the town's ministers, Whiting, Gardner and Prentice, had

lived and died. There hosts and guests found tables loaded with food, and the usual social exercises ended the festivities. The proceedings of the day were published, forming a volume of two hundred and thirty octavo pages, containing much local history.

The eminent educator, Professor William Russell, established the New England Normal Institute in Lancaster, May 11, 1853. It had but a brief life, though a very useful one, ceasing to be in the autumn of 1855. Dependent for support upon the fees received of students, it could not longer compete with the free normal schools of the State. Professor Rus- sell theuceforward made Lancaster his home, and here died August 16, 1873, "universally beloved and respected for his many virtues, Christian graces and scholarly attainments." He was a native of Glasgow, Scotland, born April 28, 1798, and a graduate of Glasgow University.

Lancaster began the printing of its annual school reports with that of Rev. Edmund H. Sears for the school year 1842-43. The first free high school was es- tablished in 1849, but was discontinued after the sepa- ration of Clinton in 1850, although the town from time to time voted to pay the tuition at the academy of scholars qualified for a high school course. In 1873 the free high school was re-established and located in the upper rooms of the town hall, and the academy ceased to exist. In 1851 the town, by authority of a recent enactment, abolished the school districts, since which year four of the original eleven district schools have been abandoned, and all schools of suitable size have been graded into primary and grammar depart- ments. New school buildings, with modern furniture und appointments, also have replaced the time-worn structures owned by the districts. The town has nearly always stood first in rank in the county, and among the first twenty-five of the State in its expen- diture for education. The appropriation for 1888 is six thousand eight hundred dollars, the children of school age numbering three hundred and twenty- four.

It is now one hundred years since the first recorded election in Lancaster of a school visiting committee. Dr. Thayer became chairman of the board in place of Rev. Timothy Harrington in 1794, and held the position forty-six years, until his decease. Silas Thurston, a veteran schoolmaster, was first elected in 1820 and served for thirty-seven years. He also died in office, October 25, 1868. Capt. Samuel Ward served about twenty-five years between 1788 and 1816. Rev. George M. Bartol was of the school com. mittee during twenty-one years between 1848 and 1872. Solon Whiting served sixteen years between 1820 and 1843. Fifteen others have been members of the School Board ten years or more each.

After the destruction of Lancaster in 1676, Master Rowlandson's books are spoken of by Mather as though a considerable part of his loss. Mention is often found in early inventories and elsewhere of

HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

respectable literary collections in the possession of Lancaster scholars. But the first considerable library of a public character here was established by an asso ciation of citizens in 1790, and known as the Lancaster Library. This society was reorganized in 1800 as the Social Library Association. In 1850 the books were sold at auction to the number of a little over a thou- sand. The Library Club was organized the next year, and in 1862 its collection, numbering over six hundred volumes, together with one hundred and thirty volumes of the Agricultural Library Associa- tion, were offered in aid of a free public library, pro- vided the town would assume its support and increase as authorized by statute. The town accepted the gift, added the little school libraries which had been purchased in 1844, and opened the collection to the public October 4, 1862, in an upper room of the town hall.

January 22, 1866, Mr. Nathaniel Thayer proffered the town a permanent fund of eight thousand dollars, the income of five thousand to be expended in the purchase of books for the library, and that of the remainder for the care of the public burial-grounds. The trust was accepted at the next town-meeting with grateful acknowledgments. At this date there had been some discussion about the erection of a monu- ment to those men of Lancaster who had given their lives for their country during the Rebellion. It was wisely decided at the town-meeting of April, 1866, that the memorial should take the form of a useful public building, with suitable tablets and inscriptions upon its inner walls. The town voted the sum of five thousand dollars for the erection of a library room, to be known as Memorial Hall, provided an equal amount should be obtained by private subscription The building was completed and dedicated June 17, 1868, Rev. Christopher T. Thayer being the orator of the day, and Nathaniel Thayer presiding. The cost of this memorial was nearly thirty thousand dollars, of which Nathaniel Thayer defrayed nearly two- thirds.

Hon. Francis B. Fay subscribed one thousand dol- lars, and afterwards gave one hundred dollars more for a clock. Colonel Fay had been a resident of the town for about ten years, having built a mansion in 1859 upon the site now covered by the country-house of E. V. R. Thayer. He was born in Southborough June 12, 1793, had served in both branches of the Legislature for Chelsea, of which city he was the first mayor, and for a brief time was Representative in Congress, being appointed by Governor Boutwell to fill the unexpired term of Hon. Robert Rantoul, deceased. He died in 1876.

George A. Parker presented the library with a large collection of costly works relating to the fine arts, selected by bimself and valued at over five hun- dred dollars, and gave seven hundred dollars for the purchase of books of similar character. This en- lightened beefaction of Mr. Parker claims the

gratitude of the community not only, nor chiefly, for its munificence, but because it richly endowed a de- partment which must otherwise have been meagrely furnished,-affords the means for gratifying the love of beauty, innate in all humanity,-combats utilita- rianism and teaches refinement-exerts a humanizing and exalting influence by appeals to hope and imagi- nation from beyond the dry line of knowledge. The nature of the gift discloses something of the charac- ter of the donor, who was a man of broad intellect, keen powers of observation and comprehensive views upon measures of public utility. Extensive travel had developed in him cosmopolitan tastes, he had acquired a wide acquaintance with English literature, and his private collection of books was of choice selection and the largest in the town.

George Alanson Parker was born May 9, 1822, at Concord, N. H., one of thirteen children. Being early thrown upon his own resources, he was forced reluctantly to abandon cherished hopes of a classical education, although fitted for entrance to Harvard College, and began his life's work in the office of the noted civil engineer, Loammi Baldwin, In 1842 he opened an engineering office in Charlestown, Mass., associated with Samuel M. Felton, whose youngest sister became his wife. Among other public works in which he was engaged during this part of his career were the surveys of the Fitchburg, Peterboro' and Shirley and Sullivan roads, and the building of the Sugar River and Bellows Falls bridges. In the spring of 1857 he came to Lancaster to reside. He became the chief engineer for the Philadelphia, Wil- mington and Baltimore Railway, and during a long illness of President Felton was acting president of the corporation. The building of the Susquehanna Bridge at Havre de Grace, Md., was his most cele- brated professional success, and one which gave him a national reputation. In the earlier stages of its construction he patiently overcame almost insuper- able natural difficulties, and when the superstructure was well advanced a tornado destroyed, in a few moments, the labors of months. This terrible mis- fortune he bore with cheerful fortitude, displaying great fertility of expedient and fresh energy in the reconstruction. During the Rebellion he was agent of the government for supplying rolling-stock to the roads used by the War Department. His latest work was the building of the Zanesville and Ohio River Railway. He was for many years consulting engineer of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad corporation. He freely gave his townsmen the benefit of his large ex- perience and skill for the permanent improvement of the public ways and bridges, and served them faith- fully for three years in the Legislature.

Throughout a life of nnnsual activity and grave responsibility never did his home in Lancaster fail to give him peace, rest and inspiration for new work. For Lancaster he always had a devoted affection, and for her people a sincere regard, which displayed

Ruot Parker

LANCASTER.

itself in earnest and ready sympathy in time of need. Though too busy a man to be greatly given to social recreation, his hospitality was unbounded, and he was one of the most entertaining and genial of hosts, the most kindly and helpful of neighbors. He lived in closest sympathy with Nature, having the tenderest appreciation of every beauty in her realms of field, forest and stream. In the marvelous order of the seasons, in the development of animate and inani- mate creation, he recognized the law and beneficence of the Almighty and found confirmation of his strong and abiding religious faith. By the roadsides and within the borders of his own estate remain the ever- growing evidence of his love for trees and his thought for his children's children and the townspeople. In the graceful ontline and the grateful shade of a stately tree he felt truly that to them who should live after him he had left a kindly memory.

He died very suddenly April 20, 1887, before any waning of bodily or mental vigor was discernible in him, and before he had reached the span of life allotted to man ; but he had done a full life-time's work. Death came as he would have had it-in his own home and when his earthly labors had found successful conclusion.

Hon. George Bancroft, September 20, 1878, in memory of kindness received in boyhood of Capt. Samuel Ward, asked the town to receive one thousand dollars in trust, the income "to be expended year by year for the purchase of hooks in the department of history, leaving the word to be interpreted in the very largest sense." The trust was accepted with proper expression of thanks, and is entitled the Bancroft Library Fund, in memory of Capt. Samuel Ward. The income of two thousand dollars, the bequest of Rev. Christopher T. Thayer, who died in 1880, is also available for the purchase of books. Special bequests have been received from Mary Whitney, Deborah Stearns, Sally Flagg, Mrs. Catherine (Stearns) Bal- lard and Martha R. Whitney. Henry Wilder and Dr. J. I. S. Thompson, by their intelligent interest and zeal, secured valuable archæological and natural history collections, which are constantly increasing by donations.

The library is more generously endowed with ex- pensive and beautiful works on the natural sciences and art than most public libraries of twice its size and age. It is also rich in local history and bibliog- raphy, as such a collection should be. The town appropriates for its care and increase one thousand dollars annually, besides the dog-tax, fines and sales of duplicates-amounting to four or five hundred dollars more.

The memorial hall, occupying the larger part of the edifice, serves as a reading-room, contains shelving for twenty thousand volumes, and a tablet upon which are cut the names of the town's soldiers who died in the war. A fire-proof room is used by town officers, and contains the town records. The natural history

collections are displayed in an upper hall. The num- ber of bound books is now twenty thousand ; of pam- phlets, over ten thousand. About thirteen thonsand volumes were loaned during 1887 for home use, or an average of twenty-nine for each family in town. The management of the library and cemeteries is vested in a committee of seven. Rev. George M. Bartol has been chairman of this board from the first. Dr. J. L. S. Thompson served as librarian, with the exception of one year, until 1878, and Miss Alice G. Chandler has held the office since that date. The original building being already crowded by the growth of the collections, extensive additions are in progress which will more than quadruple the shelf capacity. The cost of these improvements is assumed by the four sons of Nathaniel Thayer, honoring their father's generous interest in this noble institution, the pride of the town.

There are six public burial-grounds in Lancaster, all save one thickly set with the narrow homes of the town's majority. The oldest is mentioned in 1658 as " burying-place hill," and probably was set apart for its purpose in 1653, being close by the site of the first meeting-house. The oldest date legible is that upon a stone marking the grave of the first John Houghton -April 29, 1684. There are older memorial stones, however, but undated. Among them are that of the first John Prescott, 1683, and that of Dorothy, the first wife of Jonathan Prescott, who died a year or two before the massacre. The earliest stones are rude slabs of slate, and the brief inscriptions, now almost illegible, seem to have been incised by an ordinary blacksmith's chisel in unskilled hands. The graves of four of the earlier ministers-Whiting, Gardner, Prentice and Harrington-are grouped together in this yard.

The second burying-ground is that upon the Old Common, opposite the site of the third church. The land for this was given by the second Thomas Wilder, probably in 1705. The third, called the North Ceme- tery, as a town institution dates from 1800, but the field had been used for burial purposes several years carlier.

The Middle Cemetery contains about two acres, and was purchased of Dr. Thayer and Hon. John Spragne in 1798. The North Village Cemetery covers about four acres, and was bought in 1855. Eastwood em- braces forty-six acres, was purchased in 1871, accepted as a cemetery in April, 1874, and dedicated October 12, 1876. The grounds are forest-clad and naturally beautiful, the highest elevations commanding exten- sive views. They are laid out with winding drives according to a plan made by H. W. S. Cleveland, landscape architect, a native of Lancaster. All the public burial-places are cared for by a special com- mittee. The town's appropriation for this purpose is usually three hundred dollars, and the income of seven special funds amounts to two hundred dollars more.

HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

CHAPTER VI.

LANCASTER-(Continued).

The Rebellion-The Town's History Printed-The Town's Poor-Death of Nathaniel Thayer- General Statistics, Etc.

AT the Presidential election of 1856 the vote of Lancaster was: For John C. Fremont, 232; James Buchanan, 35; Millard Fillmore, 10. The vote of 1860 stood: For Abraham Lincoln, 183; Stephen A. Douglas, 42; John Bell, 41. The men who thus voted, when traitors appealed from the ballot-box to the sword, were not tardy in defence of their convic- tions. One of Lancaster's sons served in the Sixth Regiment, in which was shed the first blood of the Rebellion, in 1861, on the anniversary of the battle of Lexington. The news of that bloodshed told every village of the North that the bitterness of civil war had begun. Monday evening, April 22d, a mass- meeting of the citizens in Lancaster town-hall, Dr. J. L. S. Thompson chairman, deliberated upon the grave dangers threatening the republic. Enthusias- tic patriotism ruled the assembly; nor was it con- tent with flamboyant resolutions only, but began then and there the organization of a company for the defence of the government.

This company, seventy-eight men, chiefly of Lan- caster and Bolton, was called the Fay Light Guard, in honor of Hon. Francis B. Fay, of Lancaster. It was soon drilling under command of Thomas Sher- win, captain-elect, and three weeks later joined the Fifteenth Regiment, iu camp at. Worcester. With- out any sufficient reason, alleged or apparent, the Governor arbitrarily refused to commission the com pany's chosen commander as captain, and the men, in response, encouraged by the sympathy of the whole camp, refused to be sworn in under the stranger from another county set over them. The company was therefore disbanded, when the rank and file, almost without exception, enlisted in other companies of the Fifteenth and Twenty-first Regi- ments. They had received an outfit, and been paid one dollar per day for all time spent in drill, at an expense to the town of nearly one thousand dol- lars. Before the end of August, 1861, forty volun- teers represented Lancaster in the Union Army, and before October closed, four of these slept their last sleep on the banks of the Potomac, victims in the defeat at Ball's Bluff.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 29

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