History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 68

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 68

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The Ashburnham company and the Fitchburg company, and possibly others from this vicinity in this service, had no regimental organization, and were attached to a New Hampshire regiment, commanded by Col. Bellows, of Walpole; but the rolls of the companies do not appear in the roster of that regi-

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ment. Only the names of a few of the Ashburnham soldiers of this company, found in miscellaneous papers and records, can be stated. They are-John Adams, David Merriam, William Ward, Jonathan Samson, Jr., and in all about thirty. In August of this year there was a draft, and David Chaffin being drawn, was assigned to Col. Cushing's regiment, in the army of Gen. Gates. He was discharged on account of sickness, three months later ; and of the soldiers in the Continental Army, Jacob Locke and Samuel Mason died in the autumn of this year.

In the year 1778 William Ward, Jonathan Benja- min and Benjamin Clark were among the nine months' levies for the Continental Army, and in the service at Boston appear the familiar names of Jona- than Samson, Jr., John Hall, Nicholas Whiteman, David Stedman and William Ward, while Ezekiel Shuttuck Metcalf, John Chamberlain, David Chaffin and Simon Rodiman were among the recruits for the expedition to Rhode Island. The theatre of the war having been transferred to the Middle and Southern States, there were no subsequent calls upon the militia or minute-men to meet sudden emergen- gencies, but the demand for men to recruit the deci- mated ranks of the Continental Army was often renewed. In this service the subsequent enlistments were: Ebenezer Conant, Jr., Jacob Constantine, John Kiblinger, David Bond, William Ward, Samuel Metcalf, David Chaffin, Edward Whitmore, Elijah Mason, Simeon Rodiman, Jacob Rodiman, Isaac Merriam, Reuben Rice, Andrew Winter, Jr., Phine- has Hemenway, Jonathan Merriam, David Clark, Jr., Jonas Benjamin, John Coolidge, James Legget, Peter Rodiman and William Ward. This was the seventh enlistment of William Ward. An increas- ing burden of taxation attended the progress of the war, and requisitions for money for beef and for clothing were often renewed, making heavy drafts upon the impoverished resources of the people of Ashburnham. Long before the close of the war they were compelled to meet their pressing liabilities with pledges of future labor and the ungarnered fruits of their toil. In a season of financial extrem- ity, in 1781, the town gave a vivid expression of failing resources in the following entreaty for re- cruits :

Voted that each man that will engage to serve in the army for three years shall have eighteen head of three years' old cattle given him when his time is out, and if he be discharged in two years then said cattle are to he but two years old, or if he serve hut one year they are to be but one year old, all to he of middling size.

In other words, the soldier was to receive a bounty of eighteen calves, and the town was to keep them of middling size as long as the soldier remained in the service.

Another vote about this time also reflects the poverty and distress of the time. In the dignified expression of a town-meeting, the citizens of Ash- burnham declared their inability to compensate

"Jonathan Samson and Mrs. Hemenway for send- ing two small deer to the army." The vote was negative, but in the record of a generous deed the town, perhaps unconsciously, extended to the gener- ous donors a more liberal reward. Often during the Revolution the soldier in the distant army was cheered by the presence of a father, a brother or a son, bearing from the scanty store of his home some articles of food or clothing. All were patriots, and whether at home or in the army, they labored for and served their country. Equally meritorious and con- tributary to the achievements of the Revolution were the arduous service of the soldier in the field and the self-denial and accumulating burden of the patriot citizen in his home experience.

For the information and profit of the present and future generations, a large majority of towns, follow- ing the commendable example of a few, will eventu- ally give a full and authentic account of the names and the service of its patriotic citizens who were enrolled in the War of the Rebellion. Itis a labor due to the surviving comrades and to the memory of the heroic dead. The limits of a chapter of local history will admit little more than a summary of numbers, or at best the lists of names and the dura- tion of service. These skeletons, however accurate in outline form, are without the flesh and blood of per- sonal exploit and the breath of individual experience and suffering. That the inhabitants of Ashburnham nobly performed their part in crushing the Rebellion and in preserving the Union is seen in the following aggregates : The whole number of enlistments credited to the quota of the town, including thirty re- enlistments of veterans, is two hundred aud forty- three. In addition to this patriotic record, about thirty residents of Ashburnham enlisted on the quota and are counted among the soldiers of other towns.

In the spring of 1861 the Ashburnham Light In- fantry, under the command of Capt. Addison A. Walker, was a well-organized company and in a good state of discipline. Amidst the echoes of falling Sumter came to the loyal North the proclamation of President Lincoln for seventy-five thousand men. The service of the company was promptly tendered. But it was the policy of Governor Andrew to reserve many of the disciplined companies to be distributed among the regiments subsequently recruited. This reservation of the Ashburnham company, complimen- tary to its discipline, produced a considerable measure of discontent aud embarrassment, and several of the men, impatient of delay, enlisted into organizations that were already under orders. The ranks of the company, however, were promptly filled, and an ex- cellent discipline was maintained. With the organi- zation of the Twenty-first Regiment the expected summons was received. This company, subsequently known as Company G, containing forty men from this town, entered Camp Lincoln, at Worcester, July 19th, and with the regiment was ordered to the front

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August 23, 1861. In the mean time there had been fourteen enlistments from this town into the regi- ments previously organized. Immediately after, twenty men joined the Twenty-fifth Regiment, and nine men, who served in miscellaneous organizations, completed the patriotic record of the year.

In 1862 the number of enlistments was fifty-seven. Of these, five were assigned to the Thirty-fourth Regiment; twenty-three to the Thirty-sixth Regi- ment, twenty-seven to the Fifty-third Regiment, and two recruits joined the Twenty-first Regiment. To this date every call for men had been promptly met, and at times the town was credited with several men in excess of its quota. These repeated calls had borne hardly upon the community, and the number of men of snitable age was greatly depleted. Every- where the quota of 1863 remained unfilled, and the government, to fill the decimated ranks of the regi- ments in the field, resorted to conscription. Sixty- four men from this town were drafted. Of these, some were exempted on account of disability, others fur- nished substitutes or paid commutation, while a small minority-fonrteen, including substitutes and five recruits hired by the town-entered the service and were assigned to the regiments already in the field.

From January 1, 1864, to the close of the war, fifty- three enlistments and thirty re-enlistments of veterans were credited to the quota of the town. Abont one- fourth of these were strangers to the town, who were ready and willing to accept the proffered bounty, and with an equal alacrity they deserted at the first oppor- tunity. In this constant stream of men to the front, and in the gallant service of her sons, the loyal im- pulse and the firm patriotism of the town are clearly revealed. By the voice of the town, all needed sums of money were promptly raised and a generous pro- vision was made for the families of the soldier. The Aid Society, snstained by the women of Ashburnham, and the comprehensive liberality of the citizens, are apparent features of a noble record. In addition to several natives of the town who, at the time, were residing elsewhere, eleven residents of Ashburnham were commissioned officers in the service. Lieutenant- Colonel Joseph P. Rice was commissioned a captain at the organization of the Twenty-first Regiment and assigned to the command of Company H. In Febru- ary following he was promoted major, and, in May, lieutenant-colonel. He was killed at the battle of Chantilly September 1, 1862. At the organization of the Fifty-third Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel George H. Barrett was commissioned captain of Company I, and promoted lieutenant-colonel. He was in command of the regiment on its departure from the State, and, with the regiment, was mustered ont September 3, 1863. Captain Addison A. Walker, commissioned captain at the organization of the Twenty-first Regiment and assigned to the command of Company G; resigned May 13, 1862. Captain Samuel A. Tay-

lor was promoted from lientenant to captain May 28, 1862; resigned January 13, 1863. He was subse- quently a lieutenant in the Fourth Heavy Artillery. Captain Asahel Wheeler, promoted from lieutenant to captain January 14, 1863; resigned April 25, 1863. Subsequently he was commissioned captain in the Sixty-first Regiment. Lieutenant Alonzo P. Davis, commissioned first lientenant at the organization of the Twenty-first Regiment; resigned in January, 1862. Lientenant Charles H. Parker, commissioned lieutenant May 28, 1862; resigned March 2, 1863. Lieutenant George E. Davis, commissioned first lieutenant April 26, 1863; honorably discharged August 30, 1864. Lieutenant Joseph H. Whitney, commissioned lieutenant October 30, 1862; resigned February 23, 1863. The seven last named were assigned to Company G, Twenty-first Regiment. Lieutenant Charles H. Heald was commissioned lieutenant July 3, 1865, and was honorably discharged with the Second Regiment July 14, 1865. Lieutenant Charles W. Whitney, commissioned lientenant No- vember 13, 1864; honorably discharged with the Thirty-sixth Regiment June 8, 1865.

Beginning with the close of the Revolution and continuing a little more than fifty years, a company of militia, ordered and maintained by the laws of the Commonwealth, regularly appeared at the annual trainings and musters. Until a general revision of the militia laws, abont 1835, this service of able- bodied citizens of suitable age was compulsory. At a very early date the citizens of Ashburnham gave evidence of dissatisfaction with this feeble expression of a military spirit. In re-ponse to an earnest peti- tion, in June, 1791, the General Court adopted the following resolve:

Resolved, That His Excellency the Governor be and he is hereby em- powered and requested to issue orders for forming a Company of Light Infantry in the town of Ashiburnhom, provided they do not reduce the standing company of militia in said town to a less number than sixty privates of the train hand ; the officers of said Light Infantry company to be appointed and commissioned in the same way and manner as is provided by law for the appointing and commissioning other military officers. Said company when so formed to be under the command of the Colonel or commanding officer of the fourth regiment of the second brigade in said division.

The organization of the Ashburnham Light In- fantry immediately ensned, and the first officers-Jo- seph Jewett, captain ; Caleb Kendall, lieutenant; and Charles Hastings, ensign-were commissioned July 13, 1791. From this date the company was vigor- ously maintained with full ranks and manifested a genuine military enthusiasm, until the War of the Rebellion, with the exception of five or six years, about 1850. In 1866 the organization was revived, and, complying, with the general militia laws of the Commonwealth, it constitutes a company of Massa- chusetts Volunteer Militia, and at present forms a part of the Sixth Regiment. In the War of 1812 the Ashburnham Light Infantry was ordered into the service and was stationed at Sonth Boston and Dor- chester fifty-one days. They were discharged Octo-

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ber 30, 1814. At this time the officers were Ivers Jewett, captain ; Timothy Crehore, lieutenant ; and Walter R. Adams, ensign. There were forty-eight non-commissioned officers and privates.

EDUCATIONAL .- " Voted to Keep a School and voted Eight Pounds for ye School and Voted for yt ye School Should be a moveing School, voted to leave it to ye Selectmen to make ye Quarters where ye school shall be Cept and voted it bee a free School." These votes, adopted in 1767, are the beginning of the educational history of Ashburn- ham. From this date public schools have been maintained, the orthography of the town clerk has been improved and general results have kept pace with the progress of the age. Seen in the light of the present, the sums raised for school purposes in the early history of the town were limited, but they were not less than the appropriations made in other towns of equal ability. With the exception of the years 1768, 1769 and 1776, in which no appropriation was made for this purpose, the town raised twelve pounds annually until and including 1777. During the later years of the Revolution a large nominal sum in depreci- ated currency was appropriated, and for several suc- ceeding years the annual appropriation was fifty pounds. The substantial and increasing sums raised for school purposes in this town are given in each de- cade : 1800,8300 ; 1810, $400 ; 1820, $500; 1830, $500; 1840,$900; 1850, $1400; 1860, $1700; 1870, $3000; 1880 and to 1888, $3000. From 1872 to 1875, $3500 was appropriated. For a considerable number of years the town was divided into three school districts, and while under this arrangement, a school was main- tained at the centre of the town, another at the Dutch Farms, in the east part, and the third in the south part of the town ; there were no school-houses until immediately after the Revolution. At the close of the past century there were nine districts, and in each a comfortable school-house. In 1829 the Tenth District, including Lane Village, was organized mainly from the old Seventh District, and in 1850, by a division of the First District, the Eleventh Dis- trict was created.

In other respects the boundaries of the several school districts, with a few temporary and minor changes, have been preserved to the present time. The early settlers of this town divided themselves in- to communities of convenient proportions many years before the State vested school districts with corporate powers, and a committee " to visit and in- spect the schools " was annually chosen by the town several years before a committee of supervision was authorized by the laws of the State. Beyond the slen- der support of the town the public schools in their infancy were spontaneous in the several neighbor- hoods, and were not the creation of public legisla- tion.

The school system originated with the people, and the perfection of our school system rests in the fact

that it has not been creative, but has seized and solid- ified with the authority of law the established meth- ods created and approved by the people. From the first the schools have been in advance of the statutes. It is true that law has given uniformity and symme- try to our school system, but all its features origi- nated with and were first approved by the communities which make up the people of the Commonwealth. In 1878, after considerable discussion, the school district organization was abolished, and the pruden- tial affairs of the schools were referred to the Com- mittee of Supervision.

During the past twenty years the town has main- tained a high school. The early terms were held in the basement of the armory and in the school-houses in the central village. Commencing with the in- anguration of Cushing Academy in 1875, a depart- ment of that well-ordered institution has given the town a permanent and excellent high school, and for its support an annual appropriation is made.

Cushing Academy bears the name of its founder. Thomas Parkman Cushing, a native of Ashburnham and a son of Rev. Dr. John Cushing, through the active and later years of his life was a merchant and resident of Boston, where he died November 23, 1854. Immediately after his decease, and in accord- ance with the provisions of his will, the Cushing Academy Fund was safely invested.

At the time of the organization of the academy corporation, in 1865, the sum of ninety-six thousand dollars was transferred to the corporation, which was left at interest until the accumulation was sufficient to meet the cost of a school edifice, and leave the principal unimpaired.

In the mean time George C. Winchester presented the corporation an ample and eligible lot for the site of the academy. Mr. Winchester is a great-grand- son of Rev. Jonathan Winchester, the first minister of this town. The grounds accommodating the in- stitution received the name of "Winchester Square," perpetuating at once, through the liberality of their descendants, the memory and names of the first and second ministers of Ashburnham.

The present commodious and attractive building was promptly erected, and dedicated September 7, 1875. The cost of the building, including furniture, was 892,611.75, and the permanent fund in round numbers is one hundred and twenty thousand dol- lars, of which the income is annually appropriated for the support of the school.

A spacious dwelling, known as " Jewett Hall," and occupied by teachers and pupils, was presented to the corporation by Charles Hastings, and the Crosby house, on Central Street, was presented by Rev. Jo- siah D. Crosby, who was the first clerk of the board of trustees, and who manifested an unwearied inter- est in the work and mission of the school. From the first this institution has been eminently successful, and under its present able management it commands

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confidence at home and a liberal support from the surrounding towns.

Edwin Pierce, A.M., was the first principal. He remained in; charge four years, 1875-79. He was a son of Dana and Diedema (Paul) Pierce, and was born at Barnard, Vt., June 25, 1826; graduated at Dartmouth College, 1852. He was formerly professor of Latin and Greek at Yellow-Stone Spring College, Iowa, and principal of other educational institu- tions.

Professor James E. Vose succeeded Mr. Pierce, and remained in charge until his death, May 30, 1887. He was a son of Edward L. and Aurelia (Wilson) Vose, and was born at Antrim, N. H., July 18, 1836. Previous to his labor here he had secured a merited reputation, and had been in charge of several acade- mies of New Hampshire.

H. S. Cowell, A.M., was appointed principal in June, 1887. He is a son of Rev. David B. and Chris- tiana B. (Coffin) Cowell, and was born at West Leb- anon, Me., October 10, 1855; graduated at Bates College, 1875. He was principal of Clinton Grove Seminary, Weare, N. H., 1875-76; of Francestown (N. H.) Academy, 1876-83 ; of Arms Academy, Shel- burne Falls, Mass., 1883-87.

The first president of the board of trustees was Rev. Francis Wayland, D.D., who died 1865, and was succeeded by Hon. Alexander H. Bullock, who resigned 1876, when Abraham T. Lowe, M.D., was appointed. He died July 4, 1888, and his successor has not been chosen. Hon. Amasa Norcross, the only remaining original member of the board, is vice- president. Hon. Ebenezer Torrey, Hon. Ohio Whitney and George F. Stevens, Esq., have filled the office of treasurer. Mr. Stevens died November 15, 1887, and his successor, George W. Eddy, was appointed No- vember 30, 1887. Rev. Josiah D. Crosby was clerk of the board from 1865 to '76; upon his resignation he was succeeded by Colonel George H. Barrett, who has been continued in office to the present time.

MECHANICAL INDUSTRIES .- There are fifty mill- sites in this town where at some time the water-power has been utilized for mechanical purposes. This un- usual number of mill privileges found in a single town have invited the farmers of Ashburnham from the cultivation of a rugged soil to engage in a variety of mannfactures. Succeeding the primitive saw-mills, which were numerous in this town and whose only product was boards and other coarse lumber, there have been in times past a large number of small shops in which has been manufactured a great variety of wares. Thread spools, friction matches, knife trays and many other articles of wood-ware have been made here. Tubs and pails were formerly manufactured at several mills and still are made in considerable quan- tities by George G. Rockwood at the centre of the town. From the first, and independent of the manu- factures uamed, the leading industry of this town, both past and present, is the manufacture of chairs.

In this respect it is the second town in New England. This business, either in the production of chair stock or finished chairs, has been conducted in all parts of the town; but experiencing the fortunes of the times, the industry has become centralized in a few large establishments. Beginning with 1842, when Charles Winchester purchased the mill and business of Philip R. Merriam, the growth of the business in this town was rapid. In 1848 the firm of Charles & George C. Winchester was formed. They conducted an exten- sive business and erected new mills and many dwell- ing-houses. In 1870, when the firm was dissolved by the retirement of the senior brother, they were giving employment to two hundred men. George C. Win- chester was succeeded in 1880 by the Boston Chair Manufacturing Company with a capital stock of $150,- 000. The company own and occupy for manufactur- ing purposes thirty-four buildings, presenting a total flooring of 300,000 feet, or about seven acres. The number of men employed is abont 200, beside afford- ing employment to an equal number of persons in filling the cane chairs. The number of chairs annually made and sold approaches one-half a million.

There have been many firms and individuals en- gaged in this manufacture in South Ashburnham. The more familiar names are Burgess, Glazier, May, Matthews, Flint, Merriam, Allen, and at present Or- ange Whitney, Benjamin E. Wetherbee, Irving E. Platts and Luther B. Adams. An extensive plant is owned and conducted by Wilbur F. Whitney, who has been engaged in the manufacture in this town since 1865. His factory was burned six years ago, and immediately he purchased land at Ashburnham Depot and erected the capacious buildings now occu- pied by him in the business. The two main factories are respectively 172 by 40 and 150 by 40 feet. This manufacture includes rattan and over 600 patterns of modern styles of cane-seat chairs. Mr. Whitney gives employment to 250 hands, demanding a monthly pay- roll of $9,000. The annual product is $350,000. The number of cane-seat chairs annually produced is nearly 400,000.

Cotton-spinning by power, and the manufacture of cloth completed in hand-looms, was begun in this town in 1811 or 1812. This industry was established at Factory Village. The mill was burned in 1846, and a larger mill was built on the same site, which was also burned in 1877. It has not been rebuilt. The cotton factory on Water Street in the central village was built by a home corporation in 1849. It has been continuously operated, and has contributed to the ma- terial interests of the town. The property is now owned and conducted by George Blackburn & Co.

BOUNDARIES .- According to the surveys when the original township was severed from the wilderness, there were included in the boundaries then estab- lished twenty-seven thousand one hundred and ninety acres. The early measurements were ex- tremely liberal, and the actual area of Dorchester

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Canada at this time was about thirty-one thousand acres. Encroachments upon these fair proportions has been a favorite occupation of the surrounding ; towns. Four considerable tracts of land have been taken from the original area, and other attempts have been successfully resisted.

By the adjustment of the province line in 1741, eight hundred and seventy-seven acres now included in Rindge and New Ipswich were severed from the town. Both the original and amended boundaries of the town on the north were right lines, but they were not parallel, The course of the original line was north 78° west, while the amended province line was established north 80° west, with the intention of run- ning a line due west with an allowance of ten degrees for variation of the needle. The area taken from this town in form was a trapezium extending across the northern border, and about ten rods in width at the eastern, and one hundred and ten rods at the western extremity. The incorporation of Ashby in 1767 sev- ered about one thousand five hundred acres from the northeast part of the township. Ashby was not an original grant, but was composed of parts of Town- send, Ashburnham and Fitchburg. In the same man- ner Gardner in 1785 was taken from the towns of Ash- burnham, Templeton, Westminster and Winchendon. The area severed from this town was nearly three thousand acres. Again in 1792 another tract of land in the northeast part of the town, containing about one thousand and four hundred acres, was severed from Ashburnham and added to Ashby. The town, still containing an ample area, could afford the land, but the loss of several valued and useful citizens by each of the last three dismemberments was a more serious consideration. Again the spectre of disinte- gration appeared in the southeast part of the town. Beginning with the close of the Revolution and con- tinned for twenty years, the adjoining portions of Westminster, Fitchburg and Ashburnham made an earnest effort to become incorporated as an inde- pendent town. At times the measure was prosecuted with considerable energy, and at all times it was strennously opposed, and finally defeated by the re- mainder of the towns at interest. With the exception of slight changes to correspond with the line of a few farms, no subsequent curtailment of the area of Ash- burnham has occurred.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 68

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