History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 100

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1464

USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 100

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MENZIES R. MOULTON.

Menzies Rayner Moulton was born in Monson, Mass., February 27, 1832; son of Asa and Abigail Moulton, who lived on the old " Moulton Homestead," handed down to them by their father, Daniel, and grandfather, Freeborn (so named because born on the passage from England about 1730), who built the old farm-house in 1763, which is still standing, although having passed out of the family name several years since. He had only the common-school privileges for an education. He spent his boyhood days attend- ing the district school and at work on his father's farm. At the age of fifteen he was apprenticed to learn the brick-maker's trade, which he followed during the brick-making season until after he had attained his majority. In 1852 he married Miss Jane E. Chaffin, of his native town, who died in 1854. Soon after the death of his wife he went to Templeton, and there learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed about three years. Meanwhile he became acquainted with Miss Maria Read, daughter of the late Abel Read, of North Rutland, to whom he was married in 1856. A little more than a year after this marriage he moved to this town because of the illness of his wife, hoping that the careful nursing of her own family friends might restore her to health, but she

died in less than a year from the time of her coming home. In 1858 Mr. Moulton bought out a grocery store at North Rutland, and continued the business until the breaking out of the Civil War. He married, in 1861, Oella L., oldest daughter of Hon. J. W. Bige- low, by whom he had the following children,-Saralı Oella, Joseph Menzies, Augusta Alice, John Warren, Olive Louisa, Albert Chapin, Helen Hannah, Samuel Freeborn and Henry Wilson. All but two of the above-named children are now living, Alice Louisa and Henry Wilson having died in infancy.

He enlisted in 1862 in the service of his country, in Company B, Fifty-first Regiment Massachusetts Volunteer Militia, under the call of President Lin- coln for three hundred thousand men, and was in the battles of Kingston, Whitehall and Goldsboro'. He was always found in his place in the ranks ; being a man of great physical endurance, he could bear the long and tedious marches far beyond the average sol- dier. While on a long, forced march, when others would relieve themselves by throwing away their blankets, overcoats, etc., he would gather up such as he could carry and, strapping them to his own knapsack, would march along apparently with the greatest ease, to the envy of all his comrades.

He was thus enabled to add to his own comfort during those damp, chilly nights, and many less fortunate than himself were privileged to share these comforts with him.

On one occasion, during the "Goldsboro' Expedi- tion," after turning into camp for the night, Mr. Moulton was one of only nine men in his company who responded to roll-call.

Although a man naturally slow in his movements, yet there was not to be found his match in the com- pany for running or jumping, which was a favorite sport with the " boys " while in camp. When tested by the trying scenes and privations of war, no mur- mur or complaint ever came from him. When in the service and since his return he has ever been held in great esteem by his comrades.

After returning from the war he bought the old Bigelow mills at North Rutland, repaired and run the saw-mill until 1866, when he sold to Mr. Cyrus Homer and bought the saw-mill at New Boston, which he owned only about a year. He then bought what was known as the Dr. Frink farm, a little south of the centre of the town, on the Paxton road. From this time up to 1874 he carried on his farm and worked at his trade, building several barns and the school-house in New Boston. He never seemed quite satisfied without a mill, so in 1864 he bought the Captain King saw-mill. This he remodeled by taking ont the "up and down" saw and replacing it with a circular saw, which he operated until 1880, when he built his present residence near the mill and sold his farm. He then took out his saw-mill machinery, built an addition to the mill-building, put in ma- chinery for manufacturing satinets with one set of

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

machinery. Mr. Moulton had never worked for a day in connection with such business, but, by employ- ing persons who were familiar with the different departments of work, he succeeded in producing a quality of goods which found a ready sale at a fair profit. He continued to run this mill until 1882, when it was destroyed by fire, involving almost a total loss. In 1884 he secured assistance to enable him to build a much larger and better mill, conven- ient for two sets of machinery, although he has only one set yet in operation, employing about twenty-five hands.

Mr. Moulton says that "one of his greatest regrets is that he did not supplement his common-school advantages for an education, by spending his spare moments and winter evenings in useful study." Being naturally fond of music, he became quite pro- ficient in playing the violin, and his services were often solicited for dancing parties, where he spent many of his evenings until a late hour, when his time and mind should have been more profitably em- ployed. He was induced to give up this practice through the influence of his second wife, Miss Reed. Mr. Moulton has held many offices of public trust in this town, having been selectman twelve years suc- cessively, most of this time its chairman, and also assessor for many years. He is a man of sound judg- ment, and by his enterprise and public spirit has done much to advance the welfare of the town.

CHAPTER CLXV.

OXFORD.

BY WILLIAM T. DAVIS.

THE town of Oxford lies in the southerly part of Worcester County, only separated from the State of Connecticut by the town of Webster. The central village is built on an extensive plain, surrounded here and there by hills, and its main street is a mile long, nearly one hundred and fifty feet wide and lined by rows of thrifty trees. This avenue, perfectly straight and level, gives to the town a generous and wholesome expression-especially attractive to the stranger. The merchant or professional man, weary with work and enfeebled in constitution, could find no spot within the limits of our State where he could rest his body and brain with so much certainty of re- cuperation as in one of the many cheerful homesteads along this stately thoroughfare. The territory of which the town is composed was originally within the jurisdiction of the Nipmuck tribe of Indians. On the 16th of March, 1682, the Massachusetts Colony Court passed the following order :

This Court having information that some gentlemen in England are desirous to remove themselves into this colony and (if it may be) to set- tle themselves under the Massachusetts, for encouragement of such per-

sons, and that they may have somne from among themselves according to their nature, to assist and direct them in such a design, this Court doth grant to Major Robert Thompson, William Stoughton and Joseph Dudley, Esqs., and such others as they shall associate, to them a tract of land in any free place containing eight miles square for a township, they settling in said place within four years thirty families and an able Orthodox minister, and do allow to the said township freedom from country rates for four years from the time above limited.

This grant included about sixty-five square miles of land, of which eleven thousand two hundred and fifty acres were set apart for a village. In January, 1685, no movement having been made towards a permanent settlement, the court, in response to a pe- tition of the grantees, ordered that-

" In answer to motion and request of William Stoughton and Joseph Dudley, Esqs., on behalf of Major Thompson and themselves, desiring this Conrt's favor to enlarge the time of their grant of their plantation, this Court do enlarge the time for settling that plantation therein men- tioned the space of three years from this day.

Soon after this extension of the grant a colony of French Huguenots, to the number of thirty families or more, settled on the territory with their minister, Daniel Bondet, and a flourishing community was the result. The conditions of the grant had been met-a ministry had been established, a meeting-house had been erected, agriculture and even small manufactur- ing industries had sprung up and every indication of a permanent municipality existed. Upon the appear- ance, however, of hostile Indians, in 1694, the French residents, unaccustomed to Indian warfare, and seeking peace and comfort, after flying from persecution in the Old World, began to retreat to places of refuge nearer the coast. The colony or town gradnally faded away, until, at the close of the century, little was left besides the fort, which its peo- ple had built for their defence, to show that it had ever existed. The records of the colony disappeared, and though in 1699 a few families returned, their continuance in the territory was for the most part temporary, and it was only by an entirely fresh re- settlement that the town, in 1713, breathed the breath of life. Traces, however, of the old Huguenot set- tlement are to be found along the whole current of the town's history, and the names of Shumway and Sigourney on the records of the town show the sur- vival of at least a portion of the old French blood of 1686.

No formal act of incorporation of the town is to be found. The foundation of the municipality is dated by some in 1713, when the first English settlement began. It is probable, however, that the grant of May 16, 1682, and the act of 1693 authorizing the col- ony to send a Representative to the General Conrt, were the only legislative proceedings on the subject. It seems clear then that either 1682 or 1693 should be considered the date of the birth of the town.

There appears to have been no further effort made to occupy the lands until 1713, when, a few English families having entered upon them, the original pro- prietors of the grant, or their heirs, issued the follow- ing proclamation :

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OXFORD.

To all persons unto whom these presents shall come :

Joseph Dndley, of Roxbury, in the County of Suffolk and province of the Massachusetts Bay, in New England, Esq. ; William Taylor, of Dorchester, in the same county, Esq .; Peter Sargent, of Boston, Esq., and Mehitable, his wife; John Danforth, Esq., and Elizabeth, his wife ; John Nelson, of Boston, Esq., and Elizabeth, his wife ; and they, the said William Taylor, Peter Sargent, John Danforth and John Nelson, are the heirs and execu- tors of the Ilon. William Stoughton, late of Dorchester, deceased, send greeting :

Whereas, The General Court of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, in the year one thousand six hundred and sixty-two, granted to said Joseph Dudley, William Stonghton and their associates, a certaio tract of laod io the Nipmuck country eight miles square for a township, as may be seen more at large by the records of the General Court, pursuant whereunto, and for the uses aferesaid, the said Joseph Dudley, William Stonghton and their associates, in the year one thousand six hundred and eighty-six, brought over thirty families of French Protestants into this country and settled them upon the eastern part of the said tract of land, and reserved, granted and set apart 11,250 acres for a village called Ox- ford for the said families, and bounded it as by a plat upon record will inore fully appear ; but forasmuch as the said French families have many years since wholly left and deserted their settlements in said village and the said lands, as well by their desertiog the same and refusing to return npon proclamation made for that end, as by the voluntary surrender of most of them, are now reinvested in and restored to and become the estate and at the disposition of the original proprietors, their heirs and successors for the ends aforesaid.

And Il'hereas, There are sundry good families of her Majesty's subjects within the Province who offer themselves to go out and re-settle the said village, whereby they may be serviceable to the Province, and the end and design of the original grant aforesaid be answered and attained :

Now know ye, That the said Joseph Dudley, William, Taylor, Peter Sargent and Mehitable, his wife, John Nelson and Elizahetb, his wife, and John Danforth and Elizabeth, his wife, for and in consideration and to the uses and intents above mentioned,

Have fully, freely and absolutely, and by these presents do give, grant and confirm unto Samuel Hageburn, John Town, Daniel Eliot, Abiel Lamb, Joseph Chamberlain, Benjamin Nealand, Benoni Twitchel, Joseph Rocket, Benjamin Chamberlain, Jr., Oliver Collin, Daniel Pierson, Abram Skinner, Ebenezer Learned, Thomas Leason, Ebenezer Humphrey, Jonathan Tillotson, Edmund Taylor, Ephraim Town, Israel Town, William Hudson, Daniel Eliot, Jr., Nathaniel Chamberlain, John Chandler, Jr., John Chandler and others, their associates, and as their number amount to thirty families at least, all that part of the said tract of land herein above mentioned: provided always, that if any of the persons, grantees above named, or any of their associates, shall neglect to settle upon and improve the said land with themselves and families by the space of two years next ensning, or being settled thereon shall leave and desert the same and not return to their respective habitations in the said town upoo due notice given, that tben io such case it shall and may be lawful to and for the rest of the grantees and their associates, heirs or assigns respectively, or the major part of them, to seize npon and take the said estato or estates of such person or persons so deserting, excepting always and reserving to Gabriel Bemon, merchant, the whole of his right, grant or purchase, which made him one of the original proprietors, as by deed or record thereof may appear.

In Witness whereof, The parties above named to these presents have bereunto interchangeably set their hands and seals the eighth day of July in the 12th year of his Majesty's reign Anno Domini 1713.

[Signed]

J. DUDLEY. WILLIAM TAYLOR. PETER SAROENT. MEHITABLE SARGENT. JOHN DANFORTH. ELIZABETHI DANFORTII. JOHN NELSON. ELIZABETH NELSON.

The mystery attending the early settlement and history of the town is in no sense cleared up by this instrument. In its text Oxford is called expressly a town, showing that there must have been some pre- vious legislative enactment creating it. It is known that in 1693, when the French colony was at the high-tide of prosperity, an act was passed allowing

Oxford to send a Representative to the General Court. It may be fair to assume, on a full consider- ation of all the facts in the case, that this act was intended as a formal act of incorporation, and that the year 1693 should be adopted as the year of the birth of the town. Oxford was at that time in Suf- folk County, and it is said by Peter Whitney, in his history published in 1793, that the early records of the town were kept in Boston, and burned in the State House there.

After the resettlement provided for in the above grant the first town-meeting was held on the 22d of July, 1713, under a warrant issued by John Chan- dler, one of the justices of the peace for Suffolk County, at which John Town, Benoni Twitchell and Joseph Chamberlain were chosen selectmen and John Town town clerk.

In 1714 the thirty families settled on the territory seem to have been represented by the persons named in the above instrument, with John Chandler ex- cluded and with the addition of Isaac Learned, Peter Shumway, Joseph Chandler, John Coller, Joshua Whitney, Thomas Hunkins and Ebenezer Lamb. In that year the head of each family received by lot a tract of thirty acres of land.

On the 29th of July, 1714, it was voted by the town to build a meeting-house on a lot of land a short dis- tance northwesterly of the present Congregational Church. The completion of the house was long de- layed, though it was occasionally used as opportunities for preaching were afforded. The pulpit was tempo- rarily supplied and efforts were made to settle a pastor, but without success until March 1, 1721, when Rev. John Campbell was ordained. Mr. Campbell came from the North of Scotland to New England in 1717, and was educated at the university at Edinburgh. His pastorate continued until his death, which occurred May 25, 1761, in the seventy-first year of his age and in the forty-second year of his ministry.

He married Esther Fairchild, of Boston, who died at Oxford in 1777, and his children were Mary, born February 11, 1723, who married Jacob Town ; John, born February 7, 1724; Isabella, born March 27, 1726 ; Duncan, born March 27, 1727, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas Stearns, of Worces- ter; Isabella, again, born July 26, 1728, who married Josiah Wolcott, of Salem; Elizabeth, born Angust 14, 1730 ; Alexander, born February 12, 1732, who married Lydia, daughter of Thomas Stearns; Wil- liam, born April 2, 1734; and Archibald, born August 6, 1736.

Mr. Campbell was followed by Rev. Joseph Bow- man, who was installed November 14, 1764. Mr. Bowman graduated at Harvard in 1761, and, after the short preparation for the ministry, which was com- mon in those days, was ordained at Boston August 31, 1762. He at once began his professional work among the Mohawk Indians, and continued in In- dian service until May, 1763. He remained at Ox-

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

ford about eighteen years, and was finally dismissed at his own request August 28, 1782. After his re- moval from Oxford he was settled at Bernard, in Vermont, September 22, 1784, and died in 1806.

Rev. Elias Dudley succeeded Mr. Bowman, and was ordained April 13, 1791, and dismissed March 6, 1799. He was a native of Saybrook, Conn., and graduated at Dartmouth in 1788. Rev. Josiah Moul- ton followed Mr. Dudley, and was ordained March 26, 1805. The ministry of Mr. Moulton continued until April 6, 1813, and with his ministry the iden- tity of the town with the old territorial parish disap- peared.

The church proper, which was organized on the 18th of January, 1721, retained all its old functions and powers, but the parish, for the support of which the town had been previously taxed, and for the erection of whose meeting-houses and the support of whose ministers it was responsible, became limited to its actual members. In fact, a severance of church and State had come about, occasioned, doubtless, at that early period, by the unnsnal number in Oxford of those who had departed from the faith of their fathers.

In 1737 a new meeting-house was erected, the com- pletion of which, like that of the first, lingered for many years. It was probably owing as much to the unsubstantial character of the first structure as to its size that in twenty-five years a new one was consid- ered necessary.

Rev. David Batcheller was installed as the suc- cessor of Mr. Moulton February 13, 1816, and re- mained until his death in 1822. On the 17th of De- cember, 1823, Rev. Ebenezer Newhall was ordained, and dismissed June 19, 1832. Mr. Newhall was a graduate of Harvard in 1818, and numbered among his classmates Sidney Bartlett, the Nestor of the Massachusetts bar; Francis Brinley, now living in Newport, R. I .; Rev. Dr. Samuel Barrett, who died in 1866; Rev. Dr. Frederick Augustus Farley, still liv- ing; Rev. Dr. George Rapall Noyes, who died in 1868; and Rev. Dr. Thomas Worcester.

Rev. Loren Robbins was installed December 26, 1832, and dismissed June S, 1836, and was succeeded by Rev. Horatio Bardwell, who was installed June 8, 1836. Mr. Bardwell continued in the pastorate until June S, 1864, and died at Oxford May 5, 1866. He was followed by Rev. Samuel J. Austin, who was in- stalled on the day of the formal dismissal of his predecessor, and dismissed November 9, 1868. Rev. Thomas E. Babb was installed September 20, 1871, and dismissed May 1, 1877, to be followed by Rev. Amzi B. Emmons, who was installed October 16, 1878. The present pastor is Rev. William N. T. Dean, and the present house of worship was erected in 1829, and dedicated November 3d in that year.

The next religious society in Oxford in point of age is the Universalist Society. It was organized April 27, 1785, and Rev. Adam Streeter was engaged to

supply the pulpit. Rev. Peter Whitney says, under date of 1793, " In the town of Oxford there is a society of those who are denominated Universalists (about a fifth of the inhabitants). These, with some families from several neighboring towns, make a respectable society. And they have erected a large elegant meeting-house towards the south end of Oxford Plain, where the road from Connecticut intersects the road from Wor- cester to Dudley. This house is constructed upon the most modern plan, with a tower and bell. This so- ciety have not as yet any settled minister."

The meeting referred to above was held in the school-house on Oxford Plain, and Daniel Fiske was chosen moderator. The following declaration was adopted :

Whereas, A unmber of professors of the Protestant religion, being principally of the inhabitants of Oxford, together with some persons of the adjacent towns, have, for a number of years past, assembled upon the Sabbath day for public worship, and have attended to the instroc- tions of Rev. Adam Streeter and supported him by free contributions from time to time, do now resolve to form themselves into a religious society in conformity with the laws of the Commonwealth."

Ezra Conant was chosen secretary, and Samuel Davis, Jr., Collins Moore and Jonathan Davis, of Oxford, Ebenezer Davis, of Charlton, Ebenezer Rich, of Sutton, and Isaac Stone, of Ward, were chosen a committee to issue certificates of member- ship. Rev. Mr. Streeter died September 3, 1786, and was followed in 1788 by Rev. Elkanah Ingals, of Grafton. On the 19th of April, 1789, Rev. Thomas Barnes succeeded to the pastorate, and remained nntil 1793. In 1794 Rev. Michael Coffin, of New York, began to supply the pulpit, and remained three years. After 1801 Rev. Hosea Ballou and Rev. Edward Tur- ner supplied for a few years, and were followed by Rev. Jacob Wood. Since Mr. Wood left, the follow- ing have officiated : Rev. John Nichols, Rev. Richard Carrique, Rev. Lyman Maynard, Rev. Seth Chandler, Rev. John Boyden, Rev. Gilman Noyes, Rev. Alvin Abbott, Rev. Alfred Barnes, Rev. R MI. Byram, Rev. Jacob Baker, Rev. Albert Tyler, Rev. H. Closson, Rev. O. H. Tillotson and Rev. George Proctor. At the present time the pulpit is supplied by Rev. Mr. Preble, of Webster. The meeting-house of the society was remodeled in 1845.

The Methodist Episcopal Society of Oxford was organized in 1835. In 1836 Rev. Benjamin Paine was appointed pastor by the New England Confer- ence, and in 1840 a meeting-house was erected, which was succeeded by the present house of worship in 1868. After a long succession of pastors, who have been changed by the Conference after short terms of service, the present pastor is Rev. P. R. Stratton.

A Baptist society was organized in North Oxford on the 29th of March, 1837.

As long ago as 1793 Mr. Whitney stated in his his- tory, " There is also a number in Oxford of the Ana- baptist persuasion ; they are destitute of any stated teacher."

At the meeting for organization the following per- sons signed the constitution :

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OXFORD.

Jennison Barton.

William Copp.

David Hall. Robert Fitts.

Waterman Warren.

Maverick Jenuison.

Ebenezer Newton. Amos P. Newton.

David Stone. David Holman.

William Dalrymple. Martin Bowen. Warren Bruce.

James Boomer. Ebenezer Cook.

David Jennison.

Fenner S. Hopkins. Flavel Leaclı.

Andrew J. Copp. Samuel Warren.

At a meeting held on the 1st of May, 1837, Josiah Goddard was chosen moderator and William Copp clerk. It was voted to adopt as the articles of their faith, practice and covenant those which are used in the Worcester Baptist Associatiou. Jennison Barton and William Copp were chosen deacons.

In May the church was recognized by the ecclesiastical council as the North Oxford Baptist Church. The meeting-house of the society was erected in 1837, and among the pastors have been Rev. A. Smith Lyon, Rev. Solomon Gale, Rev. J. N. Hobart, Rev. Joseph Hodges, Rev. J. E. Wood, Rev. C. M. Herring, Rev. Thomas Chapman, Rev. Joseph Smith, Rev. W. H. Shedd, Rev. J. W. Lathrop, Rev. Oliver Ayer. At the present time the pulpit is occu- pied by temporary supplies.

An Episcopal Church was organized on the 10th of May, 1864, and in the same year a handsome stone edifice was erected for public worship which reflects credit on the development of taste iu the town. The pulpit, now unsupplied, has been occupied among others by Rev. W. F. Floyd and Rev. Dr. W. H. Brooks.

The Catholic Church was built in 1856, and its present pastor is Rev. Charles J. Boylan.

While attending to the religious improvement of its people, the town was not neglectful of its educa- tional interests. Schools were established at an early date-at first kept in private houses, and soon after provided with houses of their own.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 100

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) Publication date: 1889 Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1464

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton)
Publication date: 1889
Publisher: Philadelphia : J.W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1464