History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 46

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 46

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This was also near the fording-place of the old Indian trail. The path is traced by record southward from the river to near the residence of Mr. Lewis Morse. The present Woodstock road by the " Brown brick- yard," so called, was laid across this old path, not far from where Mr. Henry H. Wells' lane intersects it, and may have passed from there over Lebanon Hill.

This Brookfield and Woodstock path followed in a general way the previous Indian trail. Massachu- setts acquired the title to these lands, with power to grant the same, in 1681, as has been stated.

Tracts of land, of whatever size, granted to an in- dividual were called farms,-a name distinguishing snch lands from grants made for towns. Individual ownership of land in Tantonsque was established for the first time by lines and bounds November 24, 1714, the date of the survey of the Saltonstal farm. At an early date in the history of the colony the province of Massachusetts Bay gave to Sir Richard Salstonstal, Knight, one of the patentees named in the old charter, a tract of two thousand acres on the

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

banks of Connecticut River. This property was handed down among his descendants. and was owned in 1713 by his great-grandson, Rev. Gordon Salston- stal, of Norwich, Connecticut.

An agreement entered into by the province of Massachusetts and the colony of Connecticut in the year 1713 established a new division line, south of which was found to be Mr. Saltonstal's two thousand acres, as well as many other grants of Massachusetts along this border. In accordance with the terms of the agreement, Massachusetts paid to Connecticut, for these former grants, an equal number of acres of land by other grants within her now undisputed ter- ritory ; and these new grants took the name, and for many years were known as, " equivalent lands."

The following year Rev. Gordon Salstonstal, then Governor of Connecticut, agreed and accepted of the General Assembly of the colony the right to " take up to his own use the said quantity of acres, among the equivalents allowed to this Colony, where it shall best suit him, provided that the tract be taken up in one entire piece," May, A.D. 1714.

It suited His Excellency to select the tract now called the central Valley of Sturbridge. He obtained his first view of the valley upon his arrival at the camp- ing-ground, where the Woodstock road united with the Old Springfield. He made that point the eastern limit of his farm, the top of Shumway Hill the west- ern extreme ; the bend of the river near Mr. A. J. Morse's was made a southern angle, and the north line of the old Bullock place, Mrs. Luther Hamant's and J. J. Shepard's, defines the northern bounds. It was called by his children Pineland.

THE DEMICK FARM was west of and adjoined Sal- stonstal's farm. The origin of this grant is unknowo. The most part of the village of Fiskdale is built up- on this traet.

THE ELIOT FARM .- In "Ancient Plans," i. 285. is found a plot of John Eliot's one thousand acres, en- dorsed : "Purchased by Rev. John Eliot the 27th of September, 1655, of Wattaloowekin and Nakin, In- dians-said 1000 acres of land lies Southward of, and contiguous to the township of Brookfield alias Quabaug, at a place called Pookookappog Ponds."

December 5, 1715, the title to this land was con- firmed to the heirs of Mr. Eliot by the General Court. About eight hundred acres of the tract lie within the bound- of Sturbridge, owned by the following parties, viz. : Heirs of Mr. Austin Allen, Mr. G. H. Adams, Mr. Monahan, Mr. Griffin and Mr. S. F. Bemis.

Mr. Eliot petitioned the General Court in 1664, in . behalf of the Indians of Putikookuppogg, . . . ' and was granted ". . . a plant tion to the Indians not to exceed fower thousand acres . It was not to interfere with any former grant, and the Indians were not to convey it away, or any part of it, without the consent of the General Court. This grant was in view of Rev. Apostle Eliot's plan of establishing a "praying town here, after the model of that at

Natick." The consummation of this enterprise was prevented by the breaking out of King Philip's War, and the removal from this vicinity of the Putikookup- pogg Indians. No survey of the laying out of this grant has been found.

THE WINTHROP FARM .- The form and position of this farm, as first surveyed, has already been described on a preceding page.

Judge Wait Winthrop, who inherited this property from his father, died 1718, intestate. He left two children-John Winthrop, of New London, Conn., and Ann, the wife of Thomas Lechmere, of Boston.

The son's claim under English law, that the real estate was entirely his own, and the claim of Mr. Lechmere, in behalf of his wife, under the colonial law, occasioned a suit which continued ten years or more, being finally decided according to the colonial law.

The settlement of Brimfield was " hindered by the extent and uncertain tenure" of the Winthrop farm, and the committee for laying ont the town petitioned the General Court in 1723 for a reform of the survey. This petition was refused. But it was renewed in 1727, accompanied by one bearing the same request from Mr. Lecbmere. The result was a new survey, which was accomplished and accepted by the General Conrt December 18, 1728. It was in a square form, four miles each way, with the Connecticut line for the southern boundary. The farm formerly owned by Mr. Lyman Janes occupies the northeast corner; the road by the residence of Mr. John Hamilton is on the east line. The farm extends into Holland one and a half miles, the north line of that town being identical with that of the farm.

It is presumed that the position and "uncertain tenure" of the Winthrop farm may have postponed decisive action of the General Conrt upon "The petition of several of the inhabitants of Medfield and sundry others," . . . "for a Grant of the Province Land between Oxford, Brimfield and Brookfield."

The first petition of 1725 called out the action of the court, in so far as to order, June 2, 1725, the lands to be surveyed. The report, one year later, was made by John Chandler, Jr. The survey was made the 11th, 12th and 13th of May, 1726 -- Wm. Ward, surveyor ; Ebenezer Learned and Joseph Plimpton, chairmen. The report gives thirteen thou-and seven hundred and thirty-two acres as the amount of province land, ex- clusive of the farms which have been described. The subsequent re-location of the Winthrop farm dimin- ished that amount to the extent of about three thou- sand acres.

The second petition, with twenty-seven names, came np June 13, 1728, and was ordered to be referred to the next full session; in the mean time a committee was sent to view the land and estimate the value, who reported it to be worth one thousand pounds.

A third petition, with fifteen more names added, in all forty-two, came up in the General Court July 4,

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1729. The prayer of the petitioners was granted by a vote of the House, but the Council failed to con- cur.

September 3, 1729, William Ward, Esq., and Joshua Morse, by petition to the General Court in behalf of themselves and associates, obtained the object of sev- eral years of persistent effort,-the grant for

A NEW TOWNSHIP .- The evidence does not appear that the one thousand pounds were exacted by the General Court, but the grantees were put under cer- tain obligations instead. They were "obliged in seven years' time from this date to settle, and to have actually on the spot fifty families, each of which to build a house of eighteen feet square at least, to break up and bring to fit for plowing and mowing,- and what is not fit for plowing, to be well-stocked with English grass-seven acres of land; to settle a learned orthodox minister and lay out to him a house- lot, equal to the other house-lots, which house-lot shall draw a fiftieth part of the province land now granted, and to be accounted as one of the fifty that shall be settled." Following were suitable regula- tions for managing the business of the association.

Building a meeting-house was not among the court's requirements.

PROPRIETARY HISTORY .- The following are names of the grantees in the order by them established. Most of those whose residence is not here given were of Medfield.

Meletiah Bourne.

William Ward, of Southborough. Ezra Bonroe, Shubael Goram. Thomas Learned, of Oxford.

Nathan Fisk, of Watertown. Henry Fisk, of Watertowa.

Peter Balch.

Ezra Clark.

Ebenezer Learned, of Oxford. Nahum Ward, of Southborough. Gershom Keyes, of Boston. Zerobabel Eager.

Samuel Ellis.

David Ellis.

John Shearmao, of Marlborough. Joseph Baker.

Jooas Houghton, of Lancaster.

Thomas Gleason. Moses Gleason. Jonas Gleason.

Francis Moquet, of Framingham. Henry Adams. Ichabod Harding. John Plimpton. 1 Josiah Cheney.1 John Dwight. Jonathan Boyden.1

Joshua Morse.

Joseph Clark, of Medfield.

Joseph Plimpton.

Nathaniel Morse.

Nathaniel Smith, of Dedham.

James Deaison. Joseph Marsh.

Minister'a right.

Seven supernumerous shares were sold for seventy- five pounds each to :

Gershom Keyes.

James Denison.

Abraham Harding.

Moses Allen.

Nehemiah Alleo.

Seth Wight.

David Morse.

Twelve at least of these became inhabitants of the new plantation. Many others of the Medfield pro- prietors sent their children and grandchildren. So many came from that town, that after calling the

place Dumer in 1731, it became known as New Medfield.

Several early settlers became proprietors by pur- chase. Ezekiel Upham bought of John Shearman ; David Shumway of Ebenezer Learned; Hinsdale Clark one of the shares of James Denison ; John Harding had one of the shares of his " father, Abra- ham ;" Edward Foster bought of Joseph Plimpton ; Moses Marcy becoming acting proprietor in Novem- ber, 1735, by power of attorney from absent members. Abraham Harding, of Medfield, served as clerk for the proprietors for many years.

At the first meeting, November 6, 1729, a committee of five, viz .: William Ward, Esq., Joshua Morse, Capt. Ebenezer Learned, Capt. John Dwight and Abraham Harding, were empowered to act in all the affairs of the proprietors for the year ensuing.

They were "directed to lay out one hundred lots in the best of our land, adding to the poorest lots a quantity of acres according to the best of their judg- ment to make them as equal in value to the best as they can." "None of the one hundred lots to be less than fifty acres." "And then to couple two lots to- gether and make them as equal in value, each couple or pair as they can." This was accomplished, and the drawing was carried out "July ye 9th, 1730."

This first division comprised nearly all the proprie- tors' lands north of Quinebaug River; also south of the river the west side of Shumway Hill, and several lots where now are situated Globe Village and the centre village of Southbridge.

The second division, which was made in 1733, com- prised the most part of the town now in Southbridge. Most of the remaining lands were divided in 1740; and again some small remnants in 1761.

As early as June, 1730, the "Committee of Affairs " received a letter from the heirs of Governor Salston- stal containing proposals for locating the meeting- house on their land. In the following November, Jonas Houghton, of Lancaster, and Ebenezer Learned, of Oxford, in behalf of the proprietors, obtained a deed -free gift-of ". . . " six acres of land to set a meeting-house upon, out of a farm or tract of land containing two thousand acres, lately granted to the Hon. Gurdon Salstonstal, deceased, by the General Assembly of ye said Province, lying in Pine-land, near or upon where ye road which runs from Brook- field to Woodstock meets with the road now used from Brimfield to Oxford." Land was given for highways four rods in width through their lands where most convenient, east and west, north and south.

This deed contained no description of bounds, and the location within certain limits was left to the pro- prietors. This was well; and the names of William Ward, Esq., of Southborough, Jonas Houghton, of Lancaster, Joseph Plimpton, Joshua Morse and Abra- ham Harding (last three of Medfield), who located the meeting-house, the common, and planned the sys-

1 Died before the first division of land.

Solomon Clark.

Timothy Hamant. William Plimpton. Ephraim Partridge. Abraham Harding.

Moses Harding. Josiah Ellis,

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

tem of roads which diverge therefrom, should be held in remembrance. The suitable place was found about one-fourth of a mile southeast of where the road from Brookfield united with the road, as then used, from Brimfield to Oxford.

The heirs of Governor Salstonstal were four daugh- ters, viz .: Elizabeth, wife of Richard Christopher; Mary, wife of Jeremiah Miller ; Sarah, wife of Samuel Davis (all of New London, Conn.); and Catherine, wife of William Brattle, of Cambridge. The farm was di- vided, and Mrs. Christopher and Mrs. Miller had the eastern half, one thousand acres, which they sold, in 1732, to William Ward, Esq., who had been for two years preceding chairman of the committee for for- warding the settlement. He built a saw-mill on Sugar or Hobb's Brook, and the large pine trees found stand- ing near by, perhaps on what is now Sturbridge Com- mon, were cut and sawed into lumber, which was used in building the meeting-house in 1733-34. The meet- ing-house was built by John Comins, Jr., of Oxford, after a plau of one at Grafton. The first meeting- house stood upon the site now occupied by No. 1 School and public library building.

The money, five hundred and twenty-five pounds, received for the seven supernumerous shares sold was, by vote, donated to the purpose of building the meeting-house. Twenty pounds were raised in No- vember, 1733, "for ye completing and finishing ye meeting-house at New Medfield (

The settlers in New Medfield made choice, in March, 1736, of Rev. Caleb Rice, who was accordingly "called" to be their minister. Preliminaries being arranged, Mr. Rice accepted the call in August, was ordained September 29th, and installed pastor of a church formed at that time.

The installment of a pastor released the proprietors from any further care or expense about preaching in New Medfield.

In the matter of roads and bridges nothing what- ever was done during the eight years that the public charges were paid by the proprietors. The members of the association, who were settlers, were a minority. From time to time-nearly every meeting-articles were inserted in the warrants asking for action about roads and bridges. A piece of road was laid out by the proprietors in 1736, and nothing expended upon its construction. A committee was appointed in 1731 to select the most necessary and convenient place or places for a bridge or bridges over Quinebaug River.

There is no record of any report of that committee. At a meeting of the proprietors, May 31, 1738, it was " Voted: That Joshua Morse shall have £1 : 16 : 0, for a journey to New Medfield in ye year 1736, to a

proprietors' meeting to prevent Building Bridges over Quinebaug river in sª town."

This policy of the associatiou occasioned much inconvenience and hardsbip to the settlers. The Old Springfield Road and the Brookfield and Woodstock were the only ways of ingress and egress, and, besides those, such paths as individuals made for themselves.

The time specified in the grant of the township expired in 1737. The court's requirement in every respect having been fulfilled, the "Committee of Af- fairs" elected November 9, 1737, were instructed, by vote, "to petitiou ye General Court at their next session, that the settlers or inhabitants of New Med- field (so called) be invested with such privileges as other towns in this province by law Injoy."

The response of the Legislature, in May, 1738, was an "Act of Iucorporation," entitled " An Act for Erecting a New Town in the County of Worcester, at a Plantation called ' New Medfield,' by the Name of Sturbridge."

The settlement having arrived at the dignity of a municipality, with the same privileges and rights of other towns in the province, the proprietors had no longer any official power in her affairs.

All the lands which had been received from the heirs of Hon. Gurdon Salstonstal, also the meeting- house, were given to be the property of the town, " for the use and benefit of the town of Sturbridge forever." This was voted at a meeting of the proprie- tors, April 10, 1740.

The proprietary association existed until 1788, when the book of records was closed. Job Hamant was the last clerk.

One of the original grantees, Henry Fisk, outlived the association. He died in 1790, aged eighty-three. STURBRIDGE .- When first incorporated, no portion of "The Country Gore" was included. This was a tract of ten thousand acres, in the form of a gore, left between Oxford and Leicester, when the latter town was set off, which extended westward to a line run- ning through Walker and South Ponds, the wide end of the gore.

In answer to a petition of John Davis, Caleb Child and others of the inhabitants, in 1741, the General Court annexed about one-third of the tract to this town. "Brookfield 500 acres" was aunexed to that town in 1717, as compensation for the same amount previously laid out to Col. John Pynchon, on Coy's Hill, and occasioned the peculiar form of the lines between said town and Sturbridge.

Including what was called "The Neck," lying between Oxford or Dudley and Woodstock, the southern bounds of the original town extended east as far as Southbridge now does on the Connecticut line.

Those settlers who were inhabitants of New Med- field (so called), fulfilling the "Court's requirements" before the incorporation of the town, also the home- steads which they originated, are the following :

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STURBRIDGE.

Aaron Allen (Joseph, Joseph, James), born 1715; wife Hannah -; came from Dedham, originally from Medfield. His house is still standing, now owned by Mr. Nelson Bennett.

Moses Allen (brother of the preceding), born 1708. He was a proprietor. He began on the next lot north of his brother, now Henry Weld's. He had no family here, and removed from the town after a few years.

Joseph Allen, with the preceding, were the three sons of widow Miriam (Wight) Allen, who came with them from Medfield. He was born 1702; married, first, Abigail Gold ; second, Sarah Parker; began the homestead long known as the " Squire Jabez Harding place." He and his family left the town after a few years.

Nehemiah Allen (Joseph, James) born 1699; mar- ried Mary Parker. He came from Sherborn and settled the site called the " Old Allen Place," north of the Baptist Church in Fiskdale. He was a pro- prietor.

Joseph Baker, from Dedham, probably (wife Keziah) ; was a grantee, and settled lot 47, his own right. The homestead is abandoned, and now in- cluded in the farm of Mr. C. G. Allen.

David Bishop; wife Hannah; on the Holland road, now known as the Deacon Jonathan Lyon place.

Nathaniel Bond ; house site the east side of the road in the south part of the farm of Mr. T. E. Arnold.

Hinsdale Clark (Nathaniel, Joseph), born 1710; married Anne Partridge ; house site near where Har- vey Newell now resides in Globe Village.

Joseph Cheney (Josiah, Joseph), from Medfield ; born 1709; married Margery Mason; settled the Cheney place on Shumway Hill; now abandoned.

Phinehas Collar, from Medfield; born 1702; wife Hannah ; settled on the next lot east T. E. Arnold's farm ; now abandoned.

Ebenezer Davis ; wife Mary; settled where Mr. Hayer lives, near the turnpike school-house.

James Denison, a native of Scotland ; wife Expe- rience; located where Lewis Morse resides in South- bridge. He was a grantee.

Ebenezer Fay; married Thankful Hyde ; located next north of Eliot's farm ; known as the Cyrus Fay place.

Henry Fiske (Nathan, Nathan, Nathan), from Watertown ; born 1707; married Mary Stone; house site upon E. T. Brooks' farm on Fiske Hill. He was a grantee.

Daniel Fiske, brother of the preceding; born 1709; married, first, Dilliverance Brown; second, Jemima Shaw ; located next north of his brother.

Samuel Freeman ; wife Mary ; house site on Elm Street, Southbridge.

Jonathan Fosket ; wife Hannah ; settled where now Melvin Shepard resides.

Edward Foster; site now occupied by Alonzo Marcy, Southbridge.

Joseph Hatch ; site of the Pauper Asylum, South- bridge.

Henry Hooker (Henry), from Medfield ; married, 1733, Mary Parker, of Needham ; first settler on the Brackett place; site now owned by Mrs. F. W. Em- mons.

John Harding (Abraham, John, Abraham), born 1713; married Vashti Rice; settled where Mr. C. G. Allen now resides.

Caleb Harding, brother of preceding; born 1714; married Hannah Weld; settled the place now Edward Nichols'.

James Johnson; wife Susanna; settled the farm called the Merrick place, west of Fiskdale.

Ebenezer Knapp, of Medfield; married Elizabeth Mason.

Samuel Leach, from Boston ; married, 1736, Lydia Mason, of Medfield; began where Ezekiel Cooper now lives.

Joseph Marsh, of Medfield ; wife Sarah ; originated the homestead now the residence of S. F. Bemis. Aaron Martin ; wife Sarah; began the homestead now Horatio Carpenter's, on Fiske Hill.

Moses Marcy, from Woodstock, Conn. ; born 1702; married, 1723, Prudence Morris. His house is the residence of Andrew Marcy, in Southbridge.

Jonathan Mason, married, 1739, Hepzibah Morse, both of Dedham ; settled where the late Oliver Mason resided in Southbridge.

Noah Mason, his brother, married, 1736, Keziah Muscraft; settled where the late Lyman Chamber- lain resided, in Southbridge.

Joseph Morse (Joseph, Joseph), married Expe- rience Morse, both of Medway ; located where A. H. Morse now resides, in Southbridge.

David Morse (David, Ezra, John, Samuel), born 1710; wife Jerusha Smith; the homestead of A. J. Morse.

John Morse, his brother, born 1717 ; settled where Thomas Mack now lives, northwest of Fiskdale.

Joseph Moffett ; wife Mary ; the " Old Holbrook Place."

Josiah Perry; wife Hannah; homestead of the late T. N. Harding, in Southbridge.

Onesiphorus Pike ; now Mrs. Luther Hamant.

Solomon Rood ; wife Sarah ; Jason Smith's or near there.

Rev. Caleb Rice ; wife Priscilla ; at the parsonage, now Wm. Whittemore's.

Richard Rogers ; where W. H. H. Ormsby resides. John Streeter.

Joseph Smith (Nathaniel, Samuel, Henry), born 1707 ; married Abiel Hamant. He was the first who stayed through a winter in this town, probably 1730-31. His location was between W. H. H. Ormsby's on the north and the George Plimpton place on the south.

Joseph Scott, settled on Moses Marcy's mill-grant. The house site is near the residence of Mr. David G. Whittemore.

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Isaac Newell (Isaac, Isaac, Abraham), from Need- ham ; born 1688; married, 1715, Abigail -; settled first east of Cedar Pond.

John Stacy ; wife Sarah -; on the site of the residence of Mr. Melvin Haynes; kept tavern there.

Samuel Slinmway, from Oxford; wife Sarah ; farm now occupied by William H. Shumway, his great- grandson.

David Shumway, from Oxford; wife Esther; the S. M. Streeter farm, now owned by Fiskdale Mills Company.

Ebenezer Stearns; the Leonard place, now Mrs. Malcom Ammidown's.

Daniel Thurston (Daniel, Daniel, John), born Medfield, 1702; was in Marlborough 1732, in New Medfield (Sturbridge) in 1737 ; wife Miriam - -.

Rowland Taylor, from Leicester ; honse site where L. B. Chase now lives.

George Watkins; wife Dilliverance; the George Weld place.

Hezekiah Ward, son of William, of Sonthborongh, married Sarah Green, of Leicester; site of the resi- dence of S. H. Hobbs.

Charles Ward, his brother; wife Abigail ; where J. H. Lyon now resides, on Fiske Hill.

Ezekiel Upham was of Dorchester, in 1726; born 1700; wife Hannah ; his homestead has continued in the name, now Nathaniel Upham.

From items of record, gathered here and there, the foregoing are known to have been here before the town was incorporated. They constituted the main portion of those who fulfilled the conrt's require- ments.

There were a few more, probably, on the ground, whose names cannot now be given. The number of families were increased to over one hundred in about twenty years, and after that, by the formation of new families by the sons and daughters of the early settlers, the town continued rapidly to increase in population during the period previons to the Revolutiou.

Many new names appeared. As founders of well- known families here, the following may be mentioned : John Weld, Nathaniel Walker and Jabez Nichols were bronght into onr limits by the annexation of over three thousand acres of the "Country Gore," in 1741 or '42. Rowland Clark, Benjamin Hyde, John Marsh, Benjamin Robbins, Jeremiah Streeter, Na- thaniel Smith and Daniel Plimpton were here 1745. Ralph Wheelock, William Mckinstry and Jabez Harding in 1755; Gershom Plimpton, 1759; James Plimpton, 1764. James Gibbs and the Howards settled in the lead-mine district before 1770. David Wight moved here in 1774.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 46

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