History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 60

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 60

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The approved ministers of Uxbridge Monthly, as far as ascertained, have been Daniel Aldrich, Rieli- ard Mowry ; Job Scott, approved 12th month, 1783; Israel Sabin, approved 1790; and Royal Southwick, Daniel Clapp, Timothy K. Earle, John B. Daniels and Salome C. Wheeler. In addition to the above, the following have moved into the Monthly Meeting from other places, viz. : Stephen Cortland, Lydia Haight and Susan A. Gifford.

Only two of the above-named ministers were natives of Uxbridge, and spent their whole lives in the town, ministering semi-weekly to the congregations that gathered in the " Old Brick," viz. : Richard Mowry, who died 1st month 23d, 1835, aged nearly eighty-six years, and Royal Southwick, who died 11th month 30th, 1840, aged eighty years. Job Scott, whose ministry was approved in 1783, and whose journal giving a history of his labors in the ministry has been published, spent only a few years of his life in the town, and Israel Saben lived here in 1770, at the time of his marriage, and for several years afterwards.

There are now but four approved ministers of the denomination in the Monthly Meeting ; and only one of these, Mrs. Salome C. Wheeler, is a resident of the town. Her labors in the ministry are usually at the Northbridge Meeting, but her influence in our schools -of which she is one of the Board of Examiners- her interest in temperance work, her kind sympathy and labors for the sick and afflicted, are all gratefully appreciated by the people of Uxbridge, who are proud to claim her as one of our most respected citizens.

The membership of this denomination is not large, but they make up for lack of numbers by their intel- ligence and Christian zeal.

In the words of the Quaker Poet of Amesbury :

" The last of his sect to his fathers may go, Leaving only his coat for some Barnum to show ; But the truth will ontlive him, and broaden with years, Till the false dies away, and the wrong disappears."

The Roman Catholic Church .- The earliest ac- count of any Roman Catholic Church service in Uxbridge is that a service was held for the few Catholics then in town, in 1850, by the Rev. Patrick McGrath, of Hopkinton, in one of the laborer's tenements owned by Joseph Thayer, Esq.

In 1853 Uxbridge was erected into a parish by Right Rev. J. B. Fitzpatrick, Bishop of the Diocese of Massachusetts, and Rev. E. J. Sheridan was ap- pointed pastor, August, 1853. The parish then in- cluded the towns of Grafton, Millbury, Northbridge, Douglas and Uxbridge. St. Mary's Church in Ux- bridge was dedicated in 1855, the sermon on the oc- casion being preached by Rev. James A. Healy, afterwards Bishop of the Diocese of Maine.

In May, 1867, Rev. Dennis O'Keefe was appointed pastor and remained one year, when he was removed to Clinton, in this county.

In May, 1868, Rev. Dennis C. Moran was appointed pastor, and the church in this town being insufficient to accommodate all the Catholics of Uxbridge and Northbridge, so rapidly had their numbers increased, that this pastor caused St. Patrick's Church in Whit- insville to be built in the year 1870, and thus gave relief to the overcrowded St. Mary's.

In 1871, Rev. Henry L. Robinson, a gentleman of great erudition and eloquence, was appointed pastor, and is still occupying that position, loved and honored by his congregation, and highly respected and appre- ciated by Christians of other denominations. So highly have his labors in this field been valued by the head of his Church, that the additional title of "Doctor of Divinity " has been accorded to him, and is, we know, well deserved and modestly worn.

In the year 1876 St. Mary's was repaired and hand- somely frescoed at an expense of over two thousand five hundred dollars. The present parish includes the towns of Uxbridge and Northbridge, with St. Mary's as the parish church. Dr. Robinson has charge of both churches and congregations, and is assisted by a curate. The number of souls belonging to the parish is over two thousand, and its average Sunday attendance is very much larger than any other congre- gation in the town.

CHAPTER XXVII.

UXBRIDGE-(Continued.)

SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES .- It will be observed that the act of incorporation of the town required not only

166

HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

that there should be maintained public worship, but also required to be maintained "a school-master to instruct their youth in writing and reading." The schools in Uxbridge rest upon this foundation.

In January, 1732, the town voted "that they will sett np and keep a school in ye town of Uxbridge," and " voted to have a school-dame for ye Ist 7 or 8 months, to keep a school in each part of the town proportionable," and " voted that ye selectmen shall provide a school-dame, and state ye places that she shall keep ye school att."

There must have been some difficulty in providing a school-dame, for on March 7th the town voted "to make choice of a school-master to keep a school in town, and that John Read, Senior, he the school- master."

Whether some doubting Stephen considered the employment of a school-dame an evasion of the re- quirement in the aforesaid act, that " a school-master be maintained," etc., and caused the town to recon- sider its first vote, or no female teacher could be per- suaded to bury herself in the wild-woods of this then thinly inhabited town, is an open question. But it is of record that the first school was tanght by John Read. What salary he received, and how many weeks in a year his school was in session, is not recorded. His successor, George Woodward, was chosen May 3, 1733, and the town voted to board him and to give him twenty pounds for his year's services. Mr. Jame- Emerson boarded the teacher, and was allowed seven shillings a week. January 7, 1734, the town chose Edmund Rawson teacher, and increased his salary to twenty-five pounds. The same year we find mention made of school districts as "squadrons," and eaclı squadron had the liberty of choosing its teacher-a woman-and the selectmen were to approbate the teachers.

In 1736 John Rawson was elected teacher, and was allowed forty-five pounds for teaching school. The expenses of maintaining the schools up to the year 1756 seem to have been met from the income derived from the grants of land made to the town by the General Conrt, one of which was a grant of five hun- dred acres, in the northerly part of the province, in what is now New Hampshire; though in what part of that State it is difficult to determine, though it is said to be in Coos County. In the year 1756 the town began to raise money for schools by direct tax, helped ont from time to time by sale of the school lands, and the nse of the proceeds for school purposes.

The first mention made of a school-house is in the month of December, 1738, when the town " voted to build a school-house." Tradition says the meeting- house was previously used for this purpose; but as we have seen, the primitive meeting-house had but poor accommodations for use on the Sabbath, and it is hardly probable that it was made use of for school purposes in its then unfinished and uncomfortable condition. It is more probable that the schools were

kept in private houses, as the selectmen were required to open schools in different parts of the town. The school-house erected in 1738-39 must have been almost as crnde and uncomfortable, in many respects, as the meeting-house, for the town voted October 17, 1740, " to allow forty-four pounds, three shillings and three pence for what had been done and for what was to be done to the school-house "-a sum equivalent to a little over two hundred dollars, which in these days of plenty would pay for a very uncomfortable barn, if it was not too large. In 1760 the town voted to divide the town into districts, and each district was to enjoy the privileges of schooling in proportion to the money raised by them. The division took effect in 1761, and the town was divided into thirteen districts'; the children of specified families were to attend specified schools, and each district was to have a sum of money allotted it, in proportion to the number of scholars in that district. The sum of sixty pounds was raised for schools each year from 1762 to 1771, in 1776 forty pounds, in 1777 sixty, in 1778 one hundred and twenty, and in 1779 three hundred pounds, show- ing by this sudden increase the effect and the pur- chasing power of the depreciated currency in the time of the Revolutionary War. In 1783-84 the ap- propriation again fell to forty pounds, the money value of the currency having improved by the emission of a new and better national promise to pay.

In 1788 we find the first mention made of a gram- mar school, the town having then " voted that three pounds, thirteen shillings and six pence, raised at the last meeting, should be applied to a grammar school the present year." In 1796 the town was redistricted and divided into eleven school districts and substan- tially remained so divided np to 1825. In 1797 the town voted to raise two thousand dollars for building school-houses in the several districts, and in case the inhabitants of the district were unable to agree where their school-house should be placed, the com- mittee were to fix upon a proper site. For a good description of these old school-houses I am indebted to Hon. Charles A. Wheelock, who speaks from personal experience in the following language :

"The old school-houses ! What queer buildings they were when compared with the modern school- house ! The writing-desk was a plank rnnuing round three sides of the room ; the seat was a slab, its flat side uppermost, with holes bored in it in which were driven cart-stakes for legs. The scholar had no back to his seat unless he should turn round and face the centre of the room, when his back might rest against the edge of the plank writing-desk. The big stone fireplace was filled with blazing logs in winter and the child must roast and freeze by turns. The dun- geon-that dreadful place-to which the unruly ones were consigned sometimes to regale themselves upon the good things the prudent had brought to sustain themselves in their arduous labors while delving among the mysteries of the three R's, and the heavy

167

UXBRIDGE.

ruler was there and that never-to-be-forgetten birch which was so quickening to the mental faculties when properly administered."

Gradually but surely the expense attending the schooling of the children increased, so that while in the year 1800 the amount appropriated was only about four hundred dollars; iu 1835 it had increased to one thousand dollars. With the increased appropria- tion better school advantages were secured. The average wages of female teachers in 1835 was only $5.73 per month, and male teachers $13.93, exclusive of board. The schools were kept twenty weeks in a year, women teaching summers and men in the win- ters; and, therefore, it is to be presumed that the ten weeks of summer school were principally for the benefit of the younger children, while the growu-up sons and daughters, whose labors were essential to the family support in summer, attended school ten weeks in the winter, and were taught by a man, on account of the necessity of having some one who could hundle them and compel obedience. As the town increased in population, as it did rapidly after 1835, it became necessary to provide better accommodations for the school-children. The appropriations gradually in- creased, new school-houses were erected to take the places of those so graphically described by Mr. Whee- lock, and more and better teachers were employed.

In 1855, it having been ascertained that the town had a population sufficiently large to bring it within the provisions of the statutes requiring a high school to be kept, the town voted that the School Committee should procure a place and open such a school, and six hundred dollars was appropriated for the support of the school until the next March meeting. The committee subsequently employed Mr. Nathan Gold- thwaite as principal of the school, which was opened in the old academy building ou the northerly end of the town's common. This "old academy building" was erected in 1819 by Solomon's Temple Lodge of Free Masons and the citizens of the town by contri- bution, the citizens building the lower story and the Masons the upper. In February, 1819, this article appeared in the town warrant: "To see if the town will permit the erectiou of a private school-house on the north end of the Common, between the cartway leading to widow Fanny Willard's back-yard, and the wall south of where the old blacksmith shop stands ; provided said building can be erected by private munificence."

On March 3d (annual town-meeting) it was voted that liberty be given to build a school-house on the town common-of certain specified dimensions-pro- vided it be built within three years from this date. The Masonic Lodge, recently formed in the town, which had been holding its meetings in the hall at the Spring Tavern, in the north part of the town, de- sired better accommodations and effected an arrange- ment with the committee of citizens by which the Masons and the citizens should erect the building at

joint expense, the Masons completing and occupying the upper story and the citizens the lower part for private school purposes. The building was of brick and was so far completed December 25, 1819, that the Masons occupied their new hall. The private school, which was afterward known as the " Uxbridge Acad- emy," was opened by Mr. Abiel Jaques, a Harvard graduate, in the fall of 1820, and was used for an academy and select school for young ladies under sev- eral different teachers of both sexes, until about the time the town took it for a high school room in 1855.

In 1865 a three years' course of study was arranged for the high school, which, in 1869, was changed to one of four years. The schools and school system of Uxbridge have always been its especial pride. The town has freely voted its money for their support, and, notwithstanding the carping criticisms of a few, who, if they knew more about the schools, would use better judgment, they are excellently and economi- cally managed, and are producing grand results. The wages of teachers at the present time average as fol- lows : Female teachers, thirty-five dollars per month ; male, high school only, one hundred and ten dollars, for ten months only. There are now seventeen com- mon schools and the high school, and the average length of the schools is thirty-three weeks for com- mon schools, and thirty-eight for the high school.

In 1869 the Massachusetts Legislature passed a law abolishing school districts, and requiring the towns to take possession of all the school-houses and other school property owned by the several districts iu their corporate capacity, within one year thereaf- ter, and pay the districts for the same such sum as a committee agreed upon by the towu and the districts should appraise the property at-the same to be paid to the several resident and non-resident tax- payers of the districts, iu proportion to the amount of property liable to taxation therein, by deducting from such tax-payer's annual town tax for that year the amount apportioned to him for his interest in the school property.

By this law Uxbridge bought of the several school districts property aggregating, by the appraisal of the committee, something over $23,000. Since 1870, therefore, the school district system has ceased to ex- ist, and all the schools and school property is in the charge and control of the general School Committee, consisting of twelve members, and instead of repairs and expenses attending the building of new houses be- ing now paid by direct tax upon the inhabitants of the district, where the school-house may chance to be located, as was formerly the case, all the school ex- penses, inclusive, are assessed in one sum to the in - habitants of the town, as other town charges are assessed. This, of necessity, makes the per cent. of increase of money raised for town purposes since 1860 appear larger, in proportion to the increase of the previous period referred to in the first chapter, than it otherwise would ; for the amount of money usually

168

HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

required annually for repairs of school-houses is quite an item in the list of school expenses, and liable to mislead the careless critic who attempts to show the extravagance of school management to-day over the management of twenty years ago. A careful exami- nation of the records and the other items of town expenses will show conclusively that the percentage of increase in school expenses has only kept pace with the increase in population, valnation and gen- eral progress of both town and State.

No town in the county can show better schools or better accommodations for the scholars for the amount expended. The grading of the schools is comparatively higher than obtains in many of the neighboring towns, and applications are frequently received from pupils in adjoining towns for leave to attend the grammar and high schools in Uxbridge. The schools for the past three years have been under the charge of school superintendents, whose personal attention to the minutest details of grading, instruc- tion and discipline has done much to produce the good results obtained. Cheap, unskilled labor in any busi- nessis dear at any price; and a poor teacher, more than a poor laborer in any other vineyard, can do immense damage, and should never be intrusted with the edn- cation of the young, even though she is willing to work for small wages. The success of a school, like the success of a woolen-mill or a machine shop, de- pends upon the degree of skill possessed by the man- agers, and the consensus of public opinion is in favor of that kind of management which produces good results and makes the business a success.

We have neither time nor space to give an account of the different private schools which, since the in- angnration of Uxbridge Academy, have met with varying success. At the present writing not a single private school is in existence in the town, nor has there been for several years. The broad and liberal instruction given in the public school seems to meet the requirements of all classes, and no occasion offers for the establishment of schools for private emolnment and gain.

From small beginnings, under most discouraging and disheartening circumstances, the public school system of Uxbridge has constantly advanced, until it has become one of the proudest monuments to the good sense, sagacity and philanthropy of her people.

in 1812. So that it probably existed some thirty-five or forty years.

It is not easy to trace the history of libraries in the town, prior to the establishment of the " Uxbridge Free Public Library," by vote of the town in April, 1874; as they, and the records concerning them, have passed out of existence. Hon. C. A. Wheelock re- members that there was a "Social Library" in the town in 1821, and how much earlier he is unable to tell. As its name was " Uxbridge Second Social Library," it is very probable that it began its existence soon after the year 1812-the date of dissolution of the Ux- bridge Social and Instructive Library.

Another library was formed as early as 1830 or 1831, which continued to live with varying degrees of use- fulness until the establishment of the " Free Public Library." As many as a thousand volumes may, at one time, have belonged to it, as we have seen vol- umes which were numbered as high as nine hundred and fifty. In the forty years of its existence it was used by a large number of persons. From a report of the Hon. Benj. Adams, dated January 11, 1836, it ap- pears that this library was formed in January, 1828. In 1865 the name of this library was called " Uxbridge Library Association," and for several years the writer of this history had charge of the same as librarian, it being then in the room occupied by him as an office in the Union building. In the spring of 1873 the Library Association offered the books belonging to the association to the town as a nucleus for a public library ; provided the town will establish such a li- brary. About the same time the "Uxbridge Agri- cultural Library Association," an association of farm- ers, who for several years had been contributing books and funds for an agricultural library, and who owned a few hundred volumes and pamphlets, made a similar offer, with the same condition.

At the annual town-meeting in March, 1874, there being an article in the warrant for the consideration of the subject, the town voted to establish a Free Pub- lic Library, appointed a committee to report a plan, etc., of the same at an adjourned meeting to be held in April, and voted to appropriate the "Dog Fund," amounting to about $275 to the uses of the library. At the adjourned meeting, April 6, 1874, the report of the committee and its recommendations and rules for the management of the public library were ac- cepted and adopted, and a board of trustees was cho- sen, as provided by law.

Libraries .- The earliest circulating or public library in this town, of which there is any record, was called The Free Public Library thus established went into operation for the delivery of books January 20, 1875, and had on its shelves six hundred and eighty-nine volumes. In thirteen years the library, under the ju- dicious management of Hon. Chas. A. Wheelock and his associates on the board of trustees, and the gener- ons annual appropriations of the town, has become one of the best in the county ; is patronized by all classes of society, has a catalogue containing nearly the " Uxbridge Social and Instructive Library," and was kept and managed by George Southwick, who was born in 1747, and died in 1807. A book was found many years ago by Jonathan F. Southwick, which contained the name Uxbridge Social and Instructive Library, with the number 103, and the date 1775. Mr. Southwick (now deceased) said that he remembered a meeting of the stockholders, for the purpose of divid- ing up the books, and closing the affairs of the library, fire thousand volumes of the best literary and standard

169

UXBRIDGE.

works, suited to all ages and conditions of life, and has so nearly outgrown its present quarters in the north end of the new town hall that, at no distant day, it will be necessary to move to a building by itself, which we hope some public-spirited citizen will build, and present to the town for that purpose.

The advantages of a Free Public Library cannot be overestimated-it reaches the homes of the poor as well as the rich, and furnishes the means of a home education and culture, otherwise unattainable by many. To the scholars in the public schools, who have frequent occasion to consult the valuable refer- ence books and encyclopædias ; to the mechanic and the farmer, seeking scientific demonstration of their respective theories ; to the professional man, and the average reader, it has proved a real blessing and source of constant gratification and enjoyment. If it adds something to the burden of taxation, all pay it cheerfully, feeling that it is money well invested, and its rapid growth and constantly increasing use proves that the projectors of the "Free Public Library" made no mistakes when they induced the town to take its action of 1874. At the present rate of increase, averaging some four hundred volumes per year, the "Uxbridge Free Library " will soon be entitled to honorable mention on the records of the National Library at Washington.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

UXBRIDGE-(Continued.)

MANUFACTURING .- While Uxbridge takes no in- ferior rank as an agricultural town, sbe ever points with becoming pride to her manufacturing establish- ments, which, more than anything else, have been the means of increasing her population and her valuation.

At an early date in her history the ingenuity of her mechanics began to manifest itself in the prodne- tion of better facilities for carrying on of mechanical business. More than one hundred and fifty years ago dams were built across the water-courses, and the giant "aquæ fluentes" was harnessed to the forge, the saw-mill, the grist-mill, the wheelwright-shop and finally the factory, until to-day, the busy whir of the spools and spindles, the rattle of the loom and the clatter of the bobbins, on every stream, fill the air with their music and tell the glad story of a happy, prosperous and intelligent people.

Hon. Charles A. Wheelock, one of the oldest and most intelligent manufacturers now living in the Blackstone Valley, to whom I am indebted for many valuable hints and facts in the preparation of this history, gives me the following account of the manu- facturing industries of this, his native town.

country ; but it is not so generally known that John and Arthur Schofield, who came from England in March, 1793, introduced the manufacture of woolen goods.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 60

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