History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 39

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 39

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The degree of Master of Arts was bestowed upon him in 1845 by Williams College; in 1852, by Yale; in 1854, by Dartmouth, and in 1861 by Harvard. Amherst conferred upon him, in 1867, the degree of Doctor of Laws. He was a member of the American Academy of Sciences, the Massachusetts Historical Society, and the London Society for the Encourage- ment of the Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. He was one of the founders of the Massachusetts Insti- tute of Technology. In politics he was generally a conservative, never an active partisan, and in later life proclaimed his independence of party. He was, in 1860, nominated by the Democracy of the Fourth District as their candidate for Representative to Congress, but his opponent, Alexander H. Rice, afterwards Governor of the State, secured the election by a small plurality.

Mr. Bigelow's published writings mostly treat of political economy, and are characteristic of the man, exhibiting his analytical skill, and remarkable rather for precision of statement and lucidity than for rhetorical graces. He sent to the press in 1858, " Remarks on the Depressed Condition of Manufac- tures in Massachusetts, with Suggestions as to its Cause and Remedy ;" in 1862, a large quarto entitled, "The Tariff Question Considered in Regard to the Policy of England and the Interest of the United States ;" in 1869, an address, "The Wool Industry of the United States ;" in 1877, "The Tariff Policy of England and the United States Contrasted ;" in 1878, "The Relations of Labor and Capital," an article in the Atlantic Monthly.

CHAPTER XII.

CLINTON-(Continued).

Schools-Churches-Newspapers-Water Supply-Statistics, Etc.

WHEN, in the latter days of the Revolution, it he- came necessary to resort to a draft to fill the quotas demanded for the Continental service, towns in Mas- sachusetts were usually divided into districts called squadrons, in such manner and number as were sug- gested by neighborhood convenience and the number of men to be raised. An exactly similar plan seems

CLINTON.

to have obtained at the same time, if not earlier, for the distribution and use of school money. A law of 1788 made this custom as applied to schools general in this Commonwealth, and at this date Lancaster was divided into thirteen squadrons. Two of these, known as Prescott's Mills and South Woods, were within the bounds of Clinton. Judging from the share of the town's appropriation received, they were among the smallest districts in population. In suc- ceeding years the limits of the squadrons and their number were frequently changed, but these two re- mained essentially unaltered until 1846, being gener- ally called Districts Ten and Eleven.

Each squadron provided its own school accommo- dations, whether a special building, or, as was often the case, a room in a dwelling house, or an unused shop. The earliest school house known to have been built upon Clinton soil was that at Prescott's Mills, in 1800-a cheap, frame structure located upon a slight elevation in the woodland on the southwest corner of the intersection of the Rigby Road (now Sterling Street) with the main highway. On each of three sides it was lighted by small windows, placed high above the floor and protected on the outside with board shutters. The room was about eighteen feet square and had a plank seat running around the three windowed sides, with long heavy writing-desks before it. To the front of the desks were attached board seats for the abecedarians. On the fourth side was a fire-place broad enough to take in cord-wood. The South Woods School-house, or Number Eleven, was similar in style, but less capacious, and situated en- tirely out of sight of any other building on the old county road east of the Nashua, about half-way be- tween Bolton corner and Boylston line.

With the increase in population and wealth brought by the enterprise of Poignand & Plant, the pride of the " Factory District "-as Prescott's Mills began to be called-demanded larger and better school accom- modations, and in 1824 a brick edifice was built upon Main Street, about fifty rods southerly from the old one, its cost, four hundred and twenty dollars, being assessed upon the property of the district. This was planned by James Pitts, Sr., and the scholars' seats all faced in one direction, being arranged in tiers gradually rising from front to rear. This building served in the cause of education for about twenty-five years. The first teacher in the old school-house was Miss Sally Sawyer, who was paid one dollar per week, and boarded with Captain John Prescott, who was paid five shillings per week by the district. In 1808 there were twenty-seven scholars coming from twelve families. Those who sent children were ex- pected to contribute wood, cut fit for use, the amount being prescribed by the prudential committee and apportioned according to the number ofscholars. There were never but two terms of schooling in the year- a summer and a winter session, each of seven to ten weeks. Titus Wilder, Silas and Charles Thurston,

and Ezra Kendall were for many years the winter teachers of Number Ten, noted disciplinarians all, who sucessfully guided the youthful generations of their day along thorny pathy of learning, according to the often-quoted Hudibrastic version of Solomon's proverb. Titus Wilder, in 1808, received four dollars and fifty-eight cents per week for his instructions, and " boarded himself."

The whole population in both districts, during even the prosperous days of Poignand & Plant's mills, prob- ably did not reach two hundred and fifty souls, and the schools were small. Upon the opening of the new industries the old school-rooms were soon filled to overflowing, and a primary school for Number Ten was established in 1844. A so-called high school was started in Clintonville by private enterprise during 1846, kept by Miss Adolphia Rugg. She was soon succeeded by George N. Bigelow, an excep- tionally successful instructor, who was called away to become principal of the State Normal School at Framingham, in 1855. There were in 1847 about two hundred and thirty children of school age in Clintonville, and the citizens, with commendable zeal, combined to establish graded schools, elected a pru- dential committee, a board of overseers and treasurer, and authorized the borrowing of thirty-five hundred dollars for the building of the needed school-houses. The South Woods District was abolished and the whole territory divided into four sections. New houses were erected at Lancaster Mills and Harris Hill, the central brick house was refurnished, and the northern section was provided with a suitable room by the enlargement of the primary school-house. The third grade, or grammar school, at first occupied the chapel of the Congregational Society at the corner of Main and Sterling Streets, and was generally known as the high-school. The establishment of a high school as distinct from the grammar school dates from 1874.

Clinton has now eleven school buildings, all but two being substantial brick structures. Thirty-six teachers-all females but one-and a general super- intendent are employed, besides eight engaged in the evening schools. The various schools are thus graded: one high, ten grammar, twenty-two primary-all open ten months in the year. In 1888 twenty-seven thousand dollars were appropriated for their support, and the pupils attending them numbered fifteen hun- dred and ninety-four. The number of children be- tween five and fifteen years of age is now nineteen hundred and sixty.

The first high school building, which also served for the centre grammar school, was built at the coruer of Church and Walnut Streets in 1853. The present handsome structure at the corner of Chestnut and Union Streets, one of the most finely appointed in the Commonwealth, was completed in 1885, from plans of J. L. Faxon, at a cost of sixty thousand dollars. It is of brick and Long Meadow sandstone, and con-

HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

tains eight rooms above the basement. The princi. pals of the high school have been as follows : George N. Bigelow to 1853; C. W. Walker, one year ; Josiah S. Phillips to 1859 ; Henry S. Nourse, temporarily to fill out Mr. Phillips' term ; Rev. Frederick A. Fiske one year ; Miss Elizabeth A. Owens, one year; Dana I. Joscelyn, one year; Rev. Milo C. Stebbins, 1862 and 1863; Josiah H. Hunt, eight years ; Andrew E. Ford, from 1873 to present time. Mr. Ford is a graduate of Amherst College, a member of the class of 1871. The superintendents have been : Samuel Arthur Bent, 1883-85 ; William W. Waterman, 1886-89.

There are now nine organized religions societies in Clinton, seven of which own capacious and comfortable meeting-houses. The residents pre- ceding the advent here of the Bigelow looms were a God-fearing and church-going people, most of whom regularly attended the Sahbath services in Lancaster, two or three miles distant. Wheu members justified it, the managers of the Clin- tonville corporations and other leading citizens or- ganized neighborhood meetings, which were usually held in the brick school-house. November 14, 1844, a church of the Orthodox Congregational denomina- tion, called the Second Evangelical Church of Lan- caster, was formed, having fifty-one members, and occupied as their place of worship a chapel built upon or near the site of the first school-house at the corner of Main and Sterling Streets. The first pas- tor, Joseph M. R. Eaton, was engaged at a salary of five hundred and fifty dollars, and ordained January 9, 1845. The society hired the bass viol used in the choir, but the performer upon the instrument was one of its most prominent members. In September, 1847, signs of a change in the fashion of church music ap- peared, by a vote of the parish that they "would he pleased to have the Seraphine played on trial." The society rapidly increased in numbers and prosperity, and January 1, 1847, dedicated a new house of wor- ship upon Walnut Street. This building, much en- larged in 1859 and again in 1871, it continues to occupy. Mr. Eaton was dismissed April 11, 1847. His successors have been as follows: William H. Corning, ordained December 8, 1847, dismissed October 2, 1851; William D. Hitchcock, ordained October 21, 1851, dismissed July 16, 1853; Warren W. Winchester, ordained March 23, 1854, dismissed June 17, 1862; Benjamin Judkins, Jr., acting pas- tor, December 1, 1862, resigned December 1, 1867; DeWitt S. Clark, ordained November 11, 1868; dis- missed December 12, 1878; Charles Wetherbee, in- stalled April 30, 1879, dismissed July 31, 1884 ; Darius B. Scott, installed January 14, 1885.

So early as March, 1816, several families of the Baptist faith formed themselves into a society and held meetings, sometimes in the South Woods School- house, sometimes at the house of Charles Chace, and engaged various preachers to visit them on stated

Sabbaths. Elders Luther Goddard and Thomas Mar- shall were thus hired for some time. The leaders in the society were mostly residents of School Districts Ten and Eleven, and included Charles and Alanson Chace, John Burditt, the Lowe and Sargeant families, Deacon Levi Howard, Joel Dakin, Abel Wilder, Ben- jamin Holt, etc. In 1830, when the Hillside Church was established, many of these joined that society. The second church organized in Clintonville was called the First Baptist Society, and dates from April 24, 1847. For two years its meetings were held in the chapel on Main Street vacated by the Congre- gational Society. In 1849 it removed to the present house on Walnut Street, the capacity of which, how- ever, was greatly increased in 1868. The land upon which the meeting-house stands was a gift from Ho- ratio N. Bigelow. The first pastor of the church, Charles M. Bowers, D.D., resigned March 28, 1886, after thirty-nine years of faithful ministry. He was succeeded by Rev. Henry K. Pervear.

A chapel for Roman Catholic worship was built upon Burditt Hill, on Main Street, in 1849, by Rev. John Boyce, occupied as a mission church, and called St. John's. Clintonville had then heen for about four years a mission station, a priest from Worcester coming on one Sunday of each month to say Mass at the house of some parishioner, Rev. J. J. Connelly succeeded Father Boyce in 1862, residing in Clinton, and the next year the town became a parish, with Rev. J. Quin as pastor. He was followed in May, 1868, by Rev. D. A. O'Keefe, who died in October of the same year. Rev. Richard J. Patterson, the present pastor, was ordained a priest December 22, 1866, and came to Clinton in November, 1868. The chapel on Pleasant Street was built by him in 1869. The corner-stone of the new Gothic church building at the corner of Union and School Streets was laid August 8, 1875. This is by far the largest and most costly of Clinton's houses of worship. It is solidly built of brick and cut Fitzwilliam granite, according to plans of P. W. Ford, of Boston, and can accom- modate a congregation of three thousand persons. It was formally dedicated June 27, 1886.

The Methodist Episcopal Society was organized in October, 1851. Regular meetings had been attended previously by those attached to this faith, in Burdett's -then known as Attic Hall, and were continued in Concert Hall until the dedication of their present meeting-house on High Street, December 25, 1852. The basement of this edifice was added and finished as a vestry in 1856, and the whole building was reno- vated and improved in 1868. A parsonage which stood until this year upon the opposite side of the street was the gift of Daniel Goss, of Lancaster. In 1887 the church building was again remodeled and enlarged. The pastors have been as follows :- Philip Toque, October, 1850 to March, 1851; George Bowler, one year; J. Willard Lewis, two years; Augustus F. Bailey, one year, 1854; Newell S. Spaulding, two

CLINTON.

years; Daniel K. Merrill, eight months, 1857; Willard F. Mallalieu, four months; William J. Pomfret, two years; Thomas B. Treadwell, one year, 1860; Albert Gould, two years; John W. Coolidge, hired for a brief time; William G. Leonard, four months; E. F. Had- ley, fourteen months; Edwin S. Chase, one year, 1866; Frederick T. George, one year, 1867; Joseph W. Lewis, two years; William A. Braman, three years; A. C. Godfrey, one year, 1873; Volney M. Simons, three. years; Watson M. Ayers, three years; Chas. H. Hana- ford, two years, 1880-81; Albert Gould, three years; John H. Short, three years; M. Emory Wright, 1888.

The First Unitarian Church was organized June 12, 1852, though services had been regularly held in Burdett and Clinton Halls, by its members, during the two previous years. The meeting-house upon Church St. was dedicated Feb. 2, 1853. Twenty years later it was raised, greatly enlarged, and the basement fitted up for use as a vestry and church parlor. A bequest received from the estate of Colonel G. M. Palmer has enabled the parish to build a spacious and comfortable parson- age upon a valuable lot on the corner of Walnut and Water Streets. The pastors have been as follows :- Leonard J. Livermore, began preaching April, 1851, resigned September, 1857; Jared M. Heard, ordained August 25, 1858, resigned in 1863; James Salloway, installed November 9, 1864, dismissed December, 1868; Ivory F. Waterhouse, began preaching January 3, 1869, resigned May 25, 1873; William S. Burton, began preaching October 5, 1873, resigned December, 1875; Charles Noyes, began preaching May 7, 1876, resigned August 13, 1882; J. Frederick Dutton, in- stalled June 6, 1883, resigned November 24, 1885; James Cameron Duncan, ordained June 17, 1886.

The Church of the Good Shepherd (Episcopal) was established as a mission in 1874. Regular services be- gan April 12th of that year, in Bigelo w Hall. On the last Sunday of June, Rev. L. Gorham Stevens assumed charge of the mission, and remained until the follow- ing April. After a brief interval he was succeeded by Rev. John W. Birchmore, who, however, never be- came a resident of Clinton, but was in charge of the mission until April 28, 1878. October 28, 1876, the foundations of a chapel were laid on Union Street and the building was consecrated on the 17th of the following April. Rev. Henry L. Foote was settled as rector in August, 1878, and a parish organization was effected April 14, 1879. In July, 1881, Mr. Foote was called to the parish of Holyoke and Rev. E. T. Hamel, an Englishman, became rector in September, 1881. He was followed by Rev. George F. Pratt, in May, 1884, who resigned and was succeeded by Rev. Thomas L. Fisher, April 1, 1888.

The Second Advent Society meet in Courant Hall. The organization dates from 1871, but no minister has been settled. Isaac Barnes is the elder.

The Spiritualists hold meetings in Currier's Hall, having no settled pastor. Their organization dates from 1882.

The German Church, Rev. F. C. F. Sherff, pastor, has recently built a neat Gothic meeting-house at the corner of Haskell and Birch Streets. Services in the German language had been held for about a year pre- vious to its dedication, May 20, 1888, in the vestry of the Congregational Society.

The post-office, in its present spacious and conven- ient quarters, occupies nearly the same site as when established in 1846, by H. N. Bigelow, the first post- master. The second postmaster, John T. Dame, Esq., served from September 7, 1853, to April 6, 1861, when he was relieved by Deputy Sheriff Enoch K. Gibbs, who held the office until August 1, 1870. His suc- cessor, Charles M. Dinsmore, closed his service Janu- ary 3, 1887, when John McQuaid, the present post- master, received his commission. From the date of the removal of the office from Kendall's Block, in 1853, to its return to High Street upon the completion of the Bank Block, April 9, 1882, it occupied the west- ern eud of the Bigelow Library Association building, on Union Street.

Under the law of 1858, creating trial justices, John T. Dame, Esq., was commissioned and held office until 1864. Daniel H. Bemis, Esq., succeeded to the office, and was superseded by Christopher C. Stone in 1871. The Second District Court of Eastern Worcester was established in July, 1874. It took the place of the trial justice, and includes in its jurisdiction the towns of Berlin, Bolton, Harvard, Clinton, Lancaster and Sterling, its sessions being all held at Clinton. Hon. Charles G. Stevens was appointed the first standing justice, Major C. C. Stone, special justice, and Frank E. Howard, clerk of the court. September 7, 1880, Major Stone was confirmed as justice in place of Mr. Stevens, who declined further service, and Jonathan Smith, Esq., was commissioned special justice on September 14th. In January, 1886, Mr. Smith re- signed, and Herbert Parker, Esq., was appointed to succeed him January 27, 1886.

The Saturday Courant's early history has been told in a former page. With its restricted local circula- tion becoming unremunerative when the war prices of paper and lahor were encountered, it was discontinued with the number for December 13, 1862. In July, 1851, Mr. Messenger had withdrawn from both editorship and partnership, to be succeeded by Edwin Bynner, who with genial versatility figured at the same time as editor, painter, poet, town-wit, auc- tioneer and station-master. November 1, 1853, the publishing office was moved acro-s High Street to rooms under the Clinton House hall, where it re- mained for fifteen years. Mr. Bynner abandoned the enterprise July 1, 1854, finding it not sufficiently prof- itable, and was replaced temporarily by John P. Davis. January 1, 1855, Rev. Leonard J. Livermore was given editorial charge of the paper, which he re- tained until September 5, 1857, when he removed to Lexington. Rev. Charles M. Bowers then acted as editor for twenty months, but did not permit his

HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

name to appear as such. Thenceforward for about three years the paper was nominally under the direc- tion of "an association of gentlemen." March 22, 1862, Horatio E. Turner essayed the task of editing it, but at the end of four months enlisted in the Thirty-fourth Infantry, to give his life for country. Wellington E. Parkhurst performed the editorial duties from August 16, 1862, to the farewell number.

Upon the muster-out of the Union forces, Lieuten- ant William J. Coulter, a skilled printer, who had been employed upon the Saturday Courant, resolved to resume its publication. Mr. Parkhurst was chosen as editor, and September 30, 1865, the first number of the Clinton Courant appeared from the old office. The venture proved promising enough to warrant en- largement of the paper in 1866, 1867 and 1870. in January, 1869, the office of publication was removed to Tyler's Block, then just completed, and October 10, 1872, to its present locatiou on Church Street. Its management remains unchanged. The Courant has maintained from the ontset an independent position in politics and religious matters, but is not weakly neutral, nor reticent in expression of opinion upon any topic of public interest. It is now twice the size of the original sheet of 1846, has a wide circulation for a paper of its class and is growing in deserved popularity. A smaller sheet was published as an ex- periment, on Tuesdays from September, 1880, for one year, in connection with the Saturday issue, and called the Clinton Advance. The unique file of the Courant preserved in the Bigelow Public Library is an invaluable record of Clinton's progress.

The Courant has had an active competitor for public favor during the last ten years. The Clinton Record was first published by John W. Ellam September 1, 1877. Its editors were E. A. Norris and R. M. Le Poer. This newspaper was bought by Trowbridge & French, and its name changed to the Clinton Times, November 13, 1882. Mr. Trowbridge soon sold his interest to his associate, George French, who, iu April, 1884, disposed of the paper to George W. Reynolds, from Melrose. During 1883 the Times also appeared in semi-weekly form. It was Republican in politics and advocated prohibition. It was published Wed- nesday afternoons from a printing-office in Greeley's block. Its publication ceased March 24, 1887. Mean- while a third candidate for the people's favor had appeared.

The Clinton Enterprise, published by Wood Brothers in Greeley's block dates from Friday, May 14, 1886. M. E. C. Hawkes was its first local editor and man- ager.

For the first thirty years after its incorporation the town's people were wholly dependent upon wells and rain-cisterns for water required for domestic purposes. The larger manufacturing companies, by means of their steam pumps, supplemented by reservoirs upon high ground, protected their works from fire and sup- plied their tenants. The question of the introduction

of water for general use was often agitated, but it was not until November 22, 1875, that definite action favoring such introduction was taken by a town- mee.ing. On that date the report of a special water- supply committee, of which Hon. Daniel B. Ingalls was chairman, was adopted, and the committee in- structed to obtain the necessary legislation for the furtherance of their recommendations. April 4, 1876, an act was approved authorizing Clinton to take the waters of Sandy Pond, or any other pond or brook within the town limits, for domestic and fire purposes, and to borrow the sum of one hundred and twenty- five thousand dollars for the construction of works. During the subsequent five years, however, nothing resulted save surveys, estimates and warm discussion. Upon petition the Legislature revived and extended the act February 4, 1881, for three years. During that year a reservoir, with a capacity of two million gallons, was constructed upon the summit of Burditt Hill, and the main pipes were laid connecting it with the principal streets.

The water of Sandy Pond is of great depth and purity, covering an area of about fifty acres, and so situated as easily to be guarded from external con- tamination. The supply from it can be cheaply increased by bringing to it the flow of Mine Swamp Brook ; but its elevation is insufficient to obviate the necessity of a costly pumping-station. Explorations were, therefore, extended into the adjoining towns, in the hope of obtaining a re-ervoir at sufficient height to supply the town by a gravity system. In- vestigation of the sources of Wickapeket Brook, begun by Jonas E. Howe of the committee, disclosed such unusually favorable conditions that the scheme for using the waters within the town bounds was aban- doned, and a petition met the Legislature of 1882 asking authority to take water from Sterling. An act gave the desired privilege, and also authorized the issuing of additional water-bonds to the amount of one hundred thousand dollars. This legislation was accepted by the required two-thirds vote of a town- meeting March, 1882, and by January 1, 1883, the main works were completed.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 39

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