History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 50

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 50

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Several neighboring towns, whose situation is much like our own, have their surface dotted with natural ponds, forming an attractive feature in the landscape. The artificial pond is suggestive only of utility ; the natural pond seems to be almost wholly for the grati- fication of the eye. This town has only two natural ponds, and both are of small size. Snake Pond is in the extreme easterly part of the town, lying partly in Gardner; Cook Pond is in the southerly part of the town, small in area, and with no attractive features. The artificial ponds, for the mill privileges and reservoirs, are numerous and scattered over the town.

The soil of this town is not sterile; neither can it be called fertile. It yields fair crops when replenished by fertilizing material and stimulated to activity by the energetic hand of the owner. But the land is not easy of cultivation, and we cannot compete with West- ern States in the production of oats and corn. The usual agricultural products are raised here in moder- ate quantities. Grass is, perhaps, the most important product. The fruits are not produced in abundance here. The peach does not thrive. The season is hardly long enough for the grape. Apples are pro- duced in moderate quantities, but not nearly enough for the home supply. The white pine is the most abundant of the forest trees. Spruce and hemlock are common, and also maple, birch and beech. The oak and the ash are not so often found, and chestnut trees have become quite rare. The American larch,

sometimes known as tamarack, and the hard pine grow in some localities. The black cherry, leverwood, hornbeam, poplar, basswood and balsam are found in small quantities. The elm is rarely found, except where it has been set out as a shade-tree. The poison dogwood is found in some of onr forests, and the usual wild shrubs grow in abundance-the laurel, common alder, black alder, withewood, sumac and hazel. Doubtless the town at its first settlement was densely wooded. We read from time to time in the Pro- prietors' Records of their sending persons " to burn the woods." An important product in the early times was the potash obtained from the ashes of the burned trees.

Templeton was incorporated as a town in 1762. Its population at different periods has been as follows : In 1765, including Phillipston, 348; in 1776, inclu- ding Phillipston, 1016 ; in 1790, after Phillipston was set off, 950; in 1800, 1068; in 1810, 1205; in 1820, 1331; in 1830, 1552; in 1840, 1776; in 1850, 2173; in 1860, 2816; in 1870, 2802; in 1880, 2789; in 1885, 2627. Of this last number in the census of 1885, 1302 were males, 1325 were females; 2293 were native born, and 334 were foreign born.

The valuation of the property in the town in the year 1800 was less than one hundred and fifty thou- sand dollars ; in 1840 it was somewhat less than six hundred thousand dollars; in 1887 it was a little over one million dollars. According to the assessor's lists for the year 1887, there were in the town 592 dwelling-houses, 429 horses and 450 cows. The number of polls taxed was 788; the number of legal voters in 1888 was 569.

Templeton has its population gathered chiefly in the four principal villages. Each of these villages has a post-office and a hotel ; each has one or more churches and stores ; each has a public hall ; and, beginning with the year 1887, each, with a portion of the contiguous territory, constitutes a voting precinct for the purposes of the State election. The Centre village is at the summit of one of the high ridges of land of which this region is made up. Here the first houses were built ; here was the meeting-house of the olden time ; here was the public Common, serving as a military training field and muster-ground. The militia of this and the neighboring towns gathered here for the autumnal muster. On the west side of the common is the town hall. Near by is the Unitarian Church and chapel. On the east is the brick building of the Boynton Public Library. Next is the Trinitarian Church edifice. Opposite is the location of the summer school of Mr. Charles W. Stone, of Boston. At the south end of the Common Mr. Percival Blodgett keeps, in more than the usual quantity and variety, the miscellaneous assortment of dry goods and groceries usual in a country store. Mr. J. O. Winch deals in boots and shoes. For several years the hotel, now burned, was kept by Mr. Charles E. Ellis. Miss Delia Damon manages

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the affairs of the post-office. Westerly of the village is the station of the Ware River Railroad. Near it is an establishment for painting and finishing furni- ture, carried on by Messrs. Kilner & Bourn. On Trout Brook, near by, Messrs. Bourn, Hadley & Co. are extensively engaged in the manufacture of pine and ash furniture.

Two miles easterly of Templeton Centre, and well toward the borders of the town, is the village of East Templeton. The Methodist Church las its location here. And here also is Memorial Hall , on whose walls are two marble tablets bearing the names of those soldiers who lost their lives in the Civil War. Ericsson Post, No. 109, of the Grand Army of the Republic, has its place of meeting in this building. There is a co-operative store in its lower story. Mr. F. L. Sargeant is the postmaster of the village, and has a grocery store. Mr. Henry J. Wright keeps a hotel and livery stable, and has a miscellaneous business besides. Mill Brook runs directly through this village and furnishes abundant water-power. Three shops on the upper part of this stream have been burned within a few years. A little farther down the stream is the factory of Mr. Chester N. John- son, who makes children's carts and wagons in large variety and quantity. The next factory is that of the sons of T. T. Greenwood, who are largely engaged in the manufacture of furniture. They have a furniture store at Gardner. Chairs are manufactured at the lowest mill on the stream by the East Templeton Co-operative Chair Company, a prosperous organiza- tion of several mechanics of the village, which has carried on business here for several years.

The village of Otter River is in the northeasterly part of the town, about three miles from the Centre village. It has a station on the Fitchburg Railroad. There is a public hall in connection with the school- house. St. Martin's Church, Catholic, is in this vil- lage. Frederick Warner is the postmaster and keeps a store. Francis Leland has built a large brick store on the site of the former hotel, and keeps groceries, dry goods and miscellaneous articles in great variety. Otter River furnishes water-power, on which are three factories, two of which are owned by the Hon. Rufus S. Frost, of Chelsea, Mass., and are occupied with spinning for his other factories elsewhere; the third has always been a woolen-factory. Messrs. Lord, Stone & Co. make a great many stoves, and send out agents to sell them in various parts of New England. There are two brick-yards at this part of the town. One has been somewhat recently established. The other was for many years carried on by Mr. Horatio N. Dyer, and more recently by his son, Charles C. Dyer. The annual product at this yard has recently been one and a half million of bricks.

Baldwinville is in the northerly part of the town, well toward the Winchendon line and about four miles from the Centre village. It has excellent railroad facilities, being situated at the junction of

the Ware River Railroad with the Fitchburg. The Baptist Church and the Goodell Memorial Church are both in this village. There is also a public hall, named Union Hall. George E. Bryant is postmaster of the village. For several years Mr. George Par- tridge has been the proprietor of the hotel. The Templeton Savings Bank has its place of business in this village. Mr. Louis Leland has kept a store at the " Lee" stand in this village since 1870, keep- ing a supply of dry goods, groceries and miscellaneous articles In the Cady & Brooks block, near the railroad bridge, Mr. C. S. Dickinson keeps drugs and medicines and a stock of furnishing goods in one store, and Messrs. C. S. Dickinson & Co. keep groceries in an adjoining store, in one portion of which is the post-office. Supplies of coal are fur- nished by Messrs. Evans & Bowker. Otter River flows directly through the village and furnishes a liberal supply of water-power, which is industriously used. The shop at the uppermost privilege is owned and occupied by Messrs. Smith, Day & Co., in the manufacture of chairs. A portion of the water-power here is used to turn the machinery of the paper-mill, where sheathing, roofing and fire-proof paper is man- ufactured by Mr. H. M. Small, formerly Small, Gould & Co. Mr. George A. Brooks is a contractor and builder, as well as a dealer in lumber. Following down the river, we come to what was formerly known as the "Red Mill." Here the Waite Chair Company manufacture children's chairs in a variety of patterns and with various ingenious devices for changing their form and rolling them about. At the "Lower mill " chairs of various patterns are manufactured by Messrs. D. L. Thompson & Son. On the north side of the river Messrs. Baker & Wilson manufacture children's wagons and carts at the lower shop, and carry on an extensive business of grinding and selling corn at the upper shop, formerly known as the "Hat-shop." There is a machine-shop near the railroad bridge in which William E. Nichols manufactures band-saw machines and chair machinery of various kinds aud does other machinist's work. Messrs. Holman & Harris have built a new shop in the northerly part of the village, close by the railroad. They use steam- power only, and make large quantities of pails, buckets and other wooden-ware. This account of the busi- ness of the village would not be complete without mentioning an enterprise in which Mr. Frank L. Hosmer and Mr. E. W. Lund are separately engaged. Each has a green-house, heated by steam, in which cucumbers are raised during the winter, and are ready in the very early spring for the New York and Boston markets, to which they are daily sent.

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

CHAPTER XVIII.

TEMPLETON-(Continued.)

Grant of the Township-The Proprietors-Early Settlements-Old Houses- Incorporation ; Templeton, Phillipston-County Relations-State Rela- tions-Political Parties.

THE lands lying in this region were regarded as the property of the Province of Massachusetts. They were grauted to persons with a view to the promotion of the settlement of the country rather than as a means of increasing the revenues of the Province. There were many persons in the towns of the eastern part of the Province who had rendered military service in the war against the Narragansett Indians, which terminated in 1675, ending with the destruction of the Indian tribes. Promises had been made to the sol- diers in these wars that they should receive gratuities in land in addition to their wages ; but for fifty years these promises had remained unfulfilled. The soldiers who survived and the heirs of others urged their claims and finally, June 15, 1728, the General Court recognized their claims by granting to them two town- . ships, each six miles square. A convention of those who brought forward their claims met at Cambridge in 1730. At that meeting the number of those who presented claims was much greater than had been expected. Thomas Tileston, Esq., and others were appointed a committee to request the General Court to grant more townships. This petition was acted upon favorably by the House of Representatives, which voted that each one hundred and twenty per- sons whose claims sball be allowed by this court may be allowed a township of six miles square. The con- currence of the Governor and Executive Council was necessary to give validity to the grant. The House of Representatives seut to the Council a message setting forth earnestly and eloquently the valor and merit of the soldiers engaged in the Narragansett expedition and calling the attention of the Council to the fact that a "proclamation was made to the army, in the name of the government, when they were mustered on Dedham Plain, where they began their march, that if they played the man, took the fort and drove the enemy out of the Narragansett country, they should have a gratuity in land beside their wages." Addi- tional lists of claimants were afterwards brought in, making the full number of officers aud soldiers whose claims were allowed eight hundred and forty persons. A committee was appointed to lay out five more tracts of land in some of the unappropriated lands of the Province, iu accordance with the order of the General Court. The grantees were also ordered to meet within six months to make choice of committees to regulate each propriety or township which was to be held and enjoyed by each one hundred and twenty grantees in equal proportion. The grantees of each township were to pass such rules aud orders as to oblige them

to settle sixty families, with a learned minister, within the space of seven years from the date of the graut. The grantees chose such committees June 6, 1733,

THE PROPRIETORS OF THE TOWNSHIP .- Each of the townships granted by the General Court to soldiers of the Narragansett Indian War seems to have borne the name Narragansett, with a number attached to distinguish the one from the other. Some of these townships seem to have been in New Hampshire. The neighboring town of Westminster was Narragan- sett Number 2. Templeton was, until the time of its incorporation, known as Narragansett Number 6. The proprietors of this township seem first to have drawn a township somewhere in New Hampshire, as at their first meeting they voted to accept of the town- ship "on the back of Rutland, in lieu of the town- ship assigned us, west of Ponocook and Suncook."

The first meeting of the proprietors of the township Narragansett Number 6, was on October 19, 1733, at the tavern of Jonathan Ball, in Concord, Mass. They chose Samuel Chandler, Jonas Houghton and John Longley as a committee to lay out a township "on the back of Rutland, if the land there be acom- adable." At an adjourned meeting of the proprietors, December 3d, they voted to accept of the township. A survey of the township was made by Jonas Hongh- ton, and a plot of the same was returned to the General Court, which was accepted by that body in February, 1734. A meeting of the proprietors was held April 1, 1734, when they chose Jonas Houghton, John Longley and Joseph Fassett a committee "to finish the lines of the township, and burn the woods from time to time until further orders;" they also voted that a tax of teu shillings should be paid by each pro- prietor.

The first step towards making a division of the land of the town among the proprietors was taken at a meeting held in Concord, October 30, 1734. At that meeting it was "voted that the township be laid out in part as soon as may be. Voted that there be laid out a hundred and twenty-three forty-acre lots of the best of the upland. Voted that Samuel Chandler, Captain James Jones, Mr. Joshua Richardson, John Longley and Joseph Fassett be a committee to lay out the lots above-mentioned. Voted that the lots be made as equal as may be, and in as regular form and as compact as the land will allow of. Voted that said committee order ways (roads), and where the meeting- house and the three public lots shall be, aud to order land for a burying-place and for a training-place, and for other public use, according to their best discre- tion."

It will thus be seen that land for the public use was provided for at the earliest possible time, even before the settlement of the town. In accordance with the preceding vote, the committee proceeded to lay out the one hundred and twenty-three forty-acre lots- house-lots these were called-one for each of the one hundred and twenty owners of the township, and the

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three public lots, of which one was for the support of schools, one for the first minister, and one for the support of the ministry. The committee employed surveyors, and spent about thirty days in the work of surveying the lots.

At a meeting held at Concord, January 24, 1735 (old style), the lots were distributed among the pro- prietors by a chance drawing. Any proprietor who did not like his lot was permitted to drop it and take an equal amount in the undivided land, provided he did so within a given time. The full list of the names of the original proprietors, with the numbers of the lots which fell to each, may still be seen in the book of Proprietors' Records. Very few of these original owners of the lots in the township ever settled here. Their lots were sold to others.

It was a condition of the grant of the township by the General Court that sixty families should be settled on as many lots within seven years. But settlers did not rapidly come in. In 1737 the proprietors voted that the owners of sixty of the lots, designated by drawing numbers, should pay into the treasury the sum of twelve pounds each, old tenor, and that the other sixty lots should be settled within three years, and that each proprietor who settled his lot should receive a bounty of eight pounds. In 1743 an addi- tional bounty of twelve pounds was offered to each of the first ten families who, before September 1, 1744, would build a "good dwelling-house and inhabit the same, agreeably to the act of the Great and General Court." But a war between France and England came on, and the Indians acted as allies of the French, and the whole colony was so disturbed that all thought of settling new townships was given up. However, peace came in 1749.

The first meeting of proprietors held within the township was on October 6, 1742, on " Ridge Hill," supposed to be near where the Partridgeville School_ house now stands. A contract was made with Samuel Sheldon to build a saw-mill, but he failed to build one. Another contract was made with James Simonds, Renben Richardson and Oliver Richardson. It is believed that they built a mill in 1743, on the site now owned by A. S. Hodge. A meeting of proprietors was held in 1744, and after that no meeting was held until September 20, 1749, when they again met on " Ridge Hill," in the township.

A meeting was held May 9, 1750, "at the meeting- house place," in the township, and it was voted to divide the meadow land. Four acres, in the middling sort of the meadow, was taken as the standard or quantity assigned to each proprietor. John Whit- comb and Charles Baker were appointed surveyors. There was not enough of the meadow land to furnish each one four acres, and so it was voted that those who drew " blanks," should have nine acres each, "in any of the undivided upland," giving us an idea of the relative value of meadow and upland at that time. In 1751 there was a second division of upland, with

seventy acres as the standard, but the committee had power to make the lots larger or smaller, according to their goodness. These lots, one hundred and twenty- three in number, were surveyed and distributed by lot, May 15, 1759.

A third division of the upland was agreed upon in May, 1753, with forty acres as the standard, and it was voted that each proprietor may " pitch to his own land,"-that is, select a lot adjoining one formerly re- ceived at a previous distribution,-and that the com- mittee " qualify the land over or under the standard, as it is for goodness or accommodation." There were sixty-six " pitched lots ; " the other proprietors drew for their locations. A fourth division of land was voted twelve years later, September 25, 1765, with twenty acres as the standard for each proprietor. And twelve years later still, October 29, 1777, a fifth divis- sion was agreed upon, and six acres was to be the standard, with the usual provision for increasing or diminishing the quantity according to the location and goodness of the land. And thus, if we include the division of the meadow lots, there were six divi- sions of land among the proprietors. In all of the divisions, each proprietor must have received about one hundred and eighty acres of land. Some received an excess of upland in the place of meadow lots ; and some lots were made a little over or under the standard, according to location or goodness.

After the division of 1777 there was still remaining a quantity of land, in pieces of irregular shape, lying between the lots already laid, in various parts of the township, amounting in all to about nine hundred acres. At a meeting of the proprietors, held May 3, 1786, it was voted that "it is expedient to sell this land at public vendne, and, after paying the debts, divide the proceeds among the proprietors according to their interest." Any proprietor, who preferred it, was to have his share of the land set off to him under the direction of a committee. The sale was made in accordance with the vote. And it was further agreed on June 6, 1787, that the hill called the " Mine Hill" should be sold " at public vendue for the most it will fetch." Both sales having been made and the debts paid, there was found a balance of eleven shillings and six pence for each original right, which the treas- urer was directed to pay to the owners of the rights.

The proprietors, at their meeting of May 3, 1786, granted the Common, and the burying-ground near it, to the town of Templeton, for the use and benefit of the people of the town and their heirs forever.

· In the division of land among the proprietors, after the survey was made, it was usually laid before a meeting of the proprietors and afterwards recorded by the proprietors' clerk, in a book kept for that purpose. There are, in the archives of the town, two books, con- taining the records of the proceedings of the propri- ctors at their meeting-, and a record of the surveys in the original laying out of lots throughout the town-

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

ship, with the length of the lines in rods, and their direction as indicated by the compass. There are many boundary lines of farms and lots, which, to- day, are the same that were made by the first survey- ors as they laid out lots in these original distributions among the proprietors. The proprietors continued to hold meetings, with long intervals between, in the later times, until 1817. A meeting was called to meet at the dwelling-house of Lipha French, on the 10th of February of that year. This meeting was adjourned three times, the last meeting being on the first Monday of November, 1817. They then "voted to adjourn this meeting to the last Wednesday in May next, then to meet at Lipha French's." This is the last entry in the Proprietors' Book of Records. It is not even signed by the clerk, as was the custom.

The original proprietors of this township, as it appears, lived mostly in the towns of Concord, Gro- ton, Lancaster, Bolton, Littleton, Westport, Chelms- ford, Stowe, Marlborough, Billerica and Woburn. Their first meeting was held in Concord, and their earlier meetings were held in the more central of these towns. As has been already stated, their first meeting here was in 1742, on " Ridge Hill." Some other meetings were held there also. Sometimes after the meetings were held in the township, they met at the meeting-house place; sometimes at Joshua Wright's tavern, or at the house of Lipha French, in later times.

The early proprietors of this and other towns were constituted by the General Court a body corporate for managing the affairs of the settlement. Their legal powers were similar to those of towns. They could lay taxes for the making of roads and for the support of schools and public worship. But these taxes were assessed wholly on the land, and not on polls or personal property. Their meetings were con- ducted much after the manner of towu-meetings. The presiding officer was called a moderator. They had a clerk and treasurer. They chose committees to per- form various duties in their behalf. Samuel Chandler was a leading spirit among the proprietors in the earlier times and until his death, in 1742. Charles Baker was prominent in the earlier settlement, and was a leading citizen of the town after its incorpora tion. For some time he held the office of Proprietors' Clerk. He surveyed many of the lots in the original laying out, including the Common and burying-place. He died in 1813, at the age of eighty-five. His place of residence was in what is now Phillipston, on the farm recently owned by Henry S. Miner.

EARLY SETTLEMENTS-OLD HOUSES .- One hun- dred and fifty years ago this hilly region of northern Worcester County was probably one unbroken forest. The noise of the axe of the lumberman had not then mingled with the sound of the gurgling streams, which then ran quietly to the sea unvexed by dam or water-wheel. Twenty-five years ago there were white

pine trees in our valleys which must have been stand- ing when the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth. There is nothing to indicate that the Indians had any dwelling- places here or engaged in the cultivation of the land. They probably roamed through the forests merely for the purpose of hunting and fishing. An arrow-head has now and theu been picked up. A stone mortar and pestle for pounding corn have been found. There is evidence that the early settlers in several of these towns were annoyed by the Indians. Buildings were burned, property destroyed, and some persons lost their lives at their hands.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 50

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