History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 103

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 103

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Wilson, the subject of this sketch, received his education in the schools at Providence, which he

Mafes Buffum

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OXFORD.

attended till his sixteenth year, when his father removed with his family to Douglass, Mass., in the year 1817.

The success of Samnel Slater, in the early part of this century, in constructing and operating machinery for the manufacture of cotton goods, attracted the attention of men with capital to enterprises of that nature.

Richard Olney had accumulated a considerable fortune in the West India trade in Providence, and prior to 1817 he and other associates, citizens of Providence, had built and thereafter operated a cotton factory at Douglass, and doubtless his interest in this enterprise was the reason of his removal to that town.

Here Wilson was employed for a time in and about the mill ; and one winter, when he was but seventeen years old, he taught school in one of the neighboring School Districts.

In after-life he remarked, with reference to his school-teaching experience, that some of his scholars were older and larger than their teacher.

In 1819 the family removed from Donglass to Oxford, where his father had bought the tavern property and adjoining store, situate in the centre of Oxford Plain, on the site where the hotel and brick store now are.

For the next three or four years he was employed as a clerk in his father's store at Oxford.

Soon after hecoming of age he started out for him. self, and, leaving home, obtained a position in a store at Providence, and afterwards was similarly employed at Hyde Park, Dutchess County, N. Y., and subse- quently at Little Falls, near Paterson, N. J., where he remained till 1829, when he returned to Oxford at his father's request, to take a place in the counting- room of the Oxford Woolen Company. This com- pany had been established in 1824, Richard Olney being one of the original stockholders, and thereafter acquiring a controlling interest in the enterprise.

Wilson remained in the connting-room of the com- pany till 1831, when he engaged in trade, with Samuel Dowse and Benjamin F. Campbell as partners, nnder the firm-name of Dowse, Campbell & Olney. This firm and its snecessors (of which he was a member) continued in business at the store premises, next south of the present bank building, till 1836.

In 1832 he married Eliza L. Butler, third daughter of Mr. Peter Butler, a well-known and highly- respected citizen of Oxford. His marriage was in all respects most fortunate and happy. In 1836, hav- ing sold his interest in the store in Oxford, he re- moved with his family to Lonisville, Ky., where he engaged in the dry goods business, his former part- ner, Dowse, having an interest in the venture, He resided in Louisville till 1842, when he returned to Oxford.

His father died at Oxford in October, 1841, and by his will Wilson was appointed one of the executors.

The estate owned a large interest in the Oxford Woolen Company and its property, and, by the terms of this will, the executors were authorized for a time to continue the business of the company ; accord- ingly Mr. Olney, being one of the executors, took part in the management of the business, and made his residence at the company's village, in the westerly part of the town.

In 1846 the mill and other property of the com- pany were sold to the late George Hodges, Mr. Olney, however, retaining an interest in the property, and forming a partnership with Mr. Hodges for continuing the business. This partnership lasted till 1853, when Mr. Olney sold his interest to Mr. Hodges, and, buy- ing the premises then known as the "Barbour Place," near the northerly end of the Main Street in Oxford, he removed there with his family in 1853. In the following year he, with Charles E. Daniels as partner, was engaged in the shoe manufacturing business. In 1855 he was elected cashier of the Oxford Bank. This position he held for nearly twenty years, till obliged by ill health to relinquish it a few months prior to his death.

His discharge of his office of cashier of the bank was marked by that strict fidelity to duty which dis- tingnished his condnet in every relation of life.

In politics he was a stanch Whig, so long as the Whig party existed, but in the latter years of his life he uniformly acted with the Democratic party.

In 1835 lie and his wife became members of the Orthodox Congregational Church in Oxford.

The sincerity of his religions faith was exemplified by the purity of his daily walk and conversation, and by the consistent Christian character he ever main- tained. The scrupulous honesty, strict integrity and uprightness, which marked his dealings with all, commanded at all times the respect and confidence of all who knew him.

While he was sincere and firm in his convictions, and ever faithful to the obligatious of duty, yet his nature was kindly, his impulses generous, and his judgments of others most charitable. In personal appearance he was tall, erect, with a well-proportioned figure, and manly and dignified in feature and bear- ing. He died at his home in Oxford in February, 1874, leaving his wife, four sons and a daughter.

MOSES BUFFUM.

Moses Buffum was born July 10, 1800, at Smith- field, R. I., the son of Joshua and Sabra (Ballou) Buffum.

At nine years of age he was left an orphan, and thereafter made his way in the world unaided, in the face of adverse and discouraging circumstances. He was, in boyhood, employed in the mills at Slatersville, and, at fourteen years of age, was efficient as a cotton weaver. Being inclined to habits of sobriety and econ- omy, he, at eighteen years of age, had saved sufficient

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means to begin business on a small scale for himself. He had a desire to enter mercantile life ; but circum- stances not being favorable, his first venture was in the manufacture of felt hats for the New York market. In this he was only moderately successful ; and an opportunity offering to enter the store of Mr. Esek Pitts, a manufacturer of satinets at Millville, he availed himself of it.

Here he won, by his faithfulness and efficiency, the confidence of his employer, and, after two or three years, married his daughter and was received as his partner in the store, and also in the manufacturing business. The operations of the firm continned successfully until 1834, when Mr. Pitts died. Mr. Buffum then assumed the affairs of the company, and in addition took the agency of several other small mills in the vicinity, which he managed ably, developing excellent business talents. For several years he was prospered, and began to realize something of his hopes pecuniarily, when misfortune overtook him.

His first severe reverse was the burning of his mill, in 1849. He had not fully recovered from this loss, when, through the failure of a friend, whom he had assisted financially, he met with another disaster, and saw, within a short time, the results of his earlier business life nearly all swept away.

At the age of fifty-two, with his means thus materi- ally reduced, he, in 1852, came to Oxford, having that year purchased, of Mr. Charles L. Harding, the estate in the westerly part of the town, since known as Buffnmsville, having associated with him in the transaction Mr. Edward Thayer, of Millville. Here they began the making of fine black woolen cloths, in which they were prosperous.

In 1855 the partnership expired by limitation. Mr. Buffum then bought out his partner's interest, and by his wise and cautious management carried on the business successfully-his sons, Moses H. and Charles H., being associated with him a few years later-until his decease, in 1874.

Mr. Buffum possessed not only native sagacity and tact, but a hopeful temperament, which led him to persevering and constant effort under all circum- stances. Nothing changed his purpose, but quietly and untiringly he pursued his way until success re- warded his endeavors.

He had strong moral convictions and strict integ- rity ; was considerate of the rights of all with whom be had intercourse, and possessed the esteem of the community. He was early an anti-slavery man, and a free-soil voter, and later a decided Republican.

He had no ambitions for public promotion. While living in Millville he served five years in the State militia, and, after filling the offices of lieutenant and captain, was, on June 17, 1830, commissioned as colonel of the Second Regiment, First Brigade, Sixth Division of Massachusetts Infantry, which office he held until July 20, 1832, when he was " honorably

discharged at his own request," and was thereafter known as Colonel Buffum. He was a prominent Freemason, and in social and domestic life was genial and true. Through the long and painful illness which preceded his decease he exhibited the higher virtues which marked him as a man of uncommon fortitude and strength and amiability of character. He died Nov. 20, 1874, and was buried with Masonic honors, in Rural Cemetery, at Worcester, Mass. Moses Buffum may be numbered among the most successful husi- ness men of the town of Oxford. He married, July 24, 1823, Louisa Pitts, of Millville, who died, aged seventy-nine, on Jan. 13, 1885, at Oxford. They had eleven children, six of whom survive-two sons and three daughters residing in Oxford, and a daughter who married George Mason, in Washington, D. C.

EDWIN BARTLETT.

The progenitor of the branch of the family to which the subject of this sketch belongs removed, according to tradition, from Salem or vicinity to Cumberland, R. 1., where Zephaniah, the grandfather of Edwin, was born. He was a farmer and a blacksmith, and removed about 1795 from Cumberland to Thompson, Conn., where was born, February 9, 1810, Asa, the father of Edwin. He spent his early boyhood on the farm, and at twelve years of age began service at Slater & Howard's woolen-mill in Dudley (now Web- ster) entering the carding-room. Here he made good progress, and from time to time was promoted, until he was placed in charge of the department as overseer, which position he filled ably until his decease, in 1885, having been in this place for the term of sixty-three years. He was a man of character and influence, and although not professedly religious, was a constant attendant on public worship at the Baptist Church. He married Matilda, daughter of Samuel Kingsbury, who belonged to one of the staid old families of southern Oxford, and who served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War. They had three children-Edwin, Amos and Harriet. Amos was captain of Co. H, in the renowned Fifteenth Massachusetts Regiment, in the late war, and is now, 1888, superintendent of the Slater mill, in which his father spent so many years. Harriet married A. J. Bates, a well-known citizen of Webster, and died in June, 1887. Edwin was born October 25, 1833, at Webster, attended the public schools of that town and at Wilbraham Academy, and later at a commercial school at Worcester. In his boyhood he worked under his father in the mill. At abont sixteen years of age he was apprenticed to learn wool sorting, and was employed after the expiration of his apprenticeship as journeyman at Slater's until he came of age, in 1854. He then went to Philadel- phia, where he obtained a situation in a wool-store, and continued there for one year. In 1855 he returned to Webster, and spent the year at the old business of wool-sorting. In 1856 he accepted a situation as

Chrome Bartlett

Andrew Howarth

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OXFORD.

book-keeper at the mill of Russell Phelps, at West Fitchburg, where he remained for five years, until his engagement, in 1861 at North Oxford, as accountant for Messrs. Chamberlin & Burrough. After two years bere at book-keeping he became superintendent, con- tinuing during 1863 and 1864. In 1865, Chamberlin having previously sold to Burrough, Mr. Bartlett bought a half-interest in the concern, and the firm- name became Burrough & Bartlett, and continued thus until 1870. Down to 1865 their operations had been limited to the wool manufacture, at the two lower or "Huguenot " mills. That year the "Sigour- ney " and "Rockdale " mills, both cotton, were added by purchase. In 1870 Oscar F. Chase became a partner, and the firm-name was thereafter O. F. Chase & Co.

In 1874 Burrough sold out to Chase & Bartlett, who continued together until 1880, when the firm dis- solved and a division of the estate was made, Chase taking the woolen-mills and Bartlett the two upper mills. These he has since operated successfully to the present time, 1888, on cotton-yarns, the principal product being satinet-warps, which he supplies to many small mills in Oxford and surrounding towns.

Mr. Bartlett married, in 1859, while residing at West Fitchburg, Miss Sarah L. Eddy, of Webster. Their children were Harriet, born 1863, who married E. T. Hallowell, and resides at North Oxford; Jose- phine, born in 1868, and Edwin N., born in 1872, who both reside, 1888, at home.

Mr. Bartlett has been considerably in office in the town, having been for seven years and now (1888) is selectman-for six years chairman; several years school committee, and moderator at town-meetings. He is public-spirited and favors advanced methods in municipal affairs; and the appearance of thrift, which his mills and village present, gives evidence of his liberal disposition. He is one of the principal supporters of the Baptist Society at North Oxford, having, with his wife, become a member of the church in 1887.

Personally he is free and social, with a gentlemanly address and a genial temperament, and is much es- teemed as a friend and citizen.

ANDREW HOWARTH.

Andrew Howarth is probably better entitled to the distinction of a mannfacturer of textile fabrics "to the manor born" than any other man of the town, past or present, his grandfather, John, and his father, Charles, having both been flannel manufacturers at Rochdale, Lancashire, England. Andrew was six years old when his father and mother, Elizabeth (Lord), emigrated to America, and settled at Ando- ver, Mass. There the father, in partnership with his brothers, James and Isaac-James being the eldest and the head of the firm-began the first manufac- ture of fine-dressed flannels in the country. Andrew

was educated in the common schools at Andover, finishing his course at Phillips Academy. In early life he entered his father's mill, going through its various departments, and by years of experience there fitted himself for the supervision of the entire manufacture of first-class goods.

In 1844, at twenty-four years of age, he went to Keeseville, N. Y., where he had charge of weaving in the mill of Arnold & Keese. He remained there two years, and in 1846 removed to Waterville, Vt., where, for a year and a half, he was overseer of weaving in the factory of John Herren. Here he was married in September, 1846. He next removed, early in 1847, to Bellingham, Mass., and was, for about six months, in the employ of Kittredge & Loring. In August of that year he had an applica- tion from the Virginia Woolen Manufacturing Com- pany to go to Richmond, which he accepted, and began service there as overseer, and later was super- intendent, remaining seven years, until 1854, when, by the burning of the mill, operations ceased at that place. Returning North, he accepted a position as overseer of the weaving-room at George Hodge's mill in Oxford. After having been there about four months, a promising situation offering at Little Falls, N. Y., in the establishment of the Saxony Woolen Company, he, in 1855, removed thither, filling the position of overseer until 1859, when he was pro- moted to the agency, and ably managed the affairs of the company for thirteen years.

In 1872 he terminated his services there, and having, by prudence and economy, accumulated ade- quate means, he bought a mill of two sets of ma- chinery at Northfield, Vt., where he settled down and laid the foundations of his present prosperity. Ten years of successful business enabled him to be- come the purchaser in 1882 of the establishment at Oxford formerly owned by George Hodges. During 1882, 1883 and a part of 1884 he operated the two mills, his son, Francis A., having had charge at Oxford until the sale of the Northfield conceru in 1884, when both father and son were associated here, and in 1888 still continue.

Mr. Howarth married, September 26, 1846, at Waterville, Martha Moorcroft, who died in April, 1877, at Northfield. Since her decease he has re- sided with his son. This son, Francis A., is the only surviving child, and was born in Richmond, Va., in 1849; was graduated in 1872 at Brown Uni- versity. He married Bertha A. Husy, of Hoboken, N. J., and they have one son,-Andrew P., born in 1874 at Northfield.

As may be inferred from the foregoing, Mr. How- arth is a man of good business ability, closely obser- vant of the minutest detail of his manufacturing, cautious and consequently successful financially. He is pleasing and social in manner, and decided in his opinions. As a citizen he has liberal ideas as to public affairs, and has the respect and confidence of

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the community in general. Of his mill and village too much cannot be said in praise with reference to situation and general aspect. It will be difficult to find in Massachusetts a like establishment for which nature has done more than for this beautiful spot.

CHAPTER CLXVI.

DANA.

BY GEORGE W. HORR, LL.B.

DANA was incorporated February 18, 1801. It was named in honor of Judge Francis Dana, who assisted in obtaining for its citizens the distinction of belong- ing to an independent municipality. It was composed originally of parts of Petersham, Hardwick and Greenwich. A boundary line was established Feb- ruary 12, 1803, but the boundary line between Dana and Greenwich was not permanently established until June 19, 1811. Parts of Hardwick and Petersham were annexed to the town February 4, 1842.

In 1839 a petition was signed by the inhabitants of one school district in the town of Prescott, in favor of annexation to Dana. The town promptly voted to accept the proposition and extended a cordial wel- come to their neighbors. The Legislature, however, refused to change the boundaries of the towns, and the line on the west side of Dana remains the same as when the town was incorporated.

It is bounded on the north and east by Petersham; on the south by Hardwick and on the west by New Salem, of Franklin County, and Greenwich and Pres- cott, of Hampshire County.

It has two large natural ponds-one in the south- west part of the town, containing about one hundred and sixty acres, called Pottapaug Pond, and a large sheet of water in the north part of the town, called Neeseponsett, which has been from the memory of the oldest inhabitant a resort of piscatory parties, sum- mer and winter.

The most important river is Swift River, which af- fords excellent water privileges.

Dr. Hitchcock, in his scientific State survey of Massachusetts, gives the geological structure of Dana as gneiss, and stratified with hornblende slate.

In the south part of the town is located Pottapaug Hill, and in the northern part Rattlesnake Hill.

There was a settlement, probably, in the south- westerly part of Nichewaug (now Petersham) as early as 1734, which territory afterward, at the time of the incorporation, formed a part of the town of Dana.

Various reasons have been suggested why the in- habitants in this particular locality should wish to be incorporated into a township. And for lack of re- corded evidence, there have been many guesses why the inhabitants yearned so ardently for a charter of incorporation. It should be remembered, however,

at this period of time all were taxed to support the preaching of the Gospel, however remote they might be from the place of worship; that the law permitted towns to build a meeting-house and assess a tax upon the citizens of the town to pay for its construction, and also levy another tax upon them to support the regular Congregationalist Church. Although this law was subsequently modified, so that if tax-payers paid to some designated religious society a sum of money, and furnished a certificate that they had complied with the statute, in such case made and provided, they were released from the "ministerial tax," so-called ; yet, at the time of the movement for incorporation, no such amendment or change existed in the law. It, therefore, seems probable that these reasons, and the distance of the locality from the meetings of the towns at their centres, and the obligation resting upon the militia to attend their trainings at a distance so remote, may all have had weight in producing the firm resolution to have a town for themselves and their descendants, and to have it called Dana. We have not available records to furnish all the names of the citizens of the territory which afterward formed this township who took part in the great Revolutionary struggle, but it is safe to say, after an examination of the records of Petersham and elsewhere, that Bezaleel Ausden, Ruggles Spooner, Thomas Stimpson, Jona- than Parkhurst, John Town, Elijah Babbitt, Stephen Johnson and Stephen Witt were soldiers for liberty from the old Bay State, and from the farms and plan- tations afterwards embraced in this township. Most of these names are now familiar ones in the nomen- clature of the numerous families of their descendants.

Most of the voters among the early settlers of Dana were believers in the Democratic political tenets of Thomas Jefferson, and opposed to the Federalists, so that the action of the citizens of this young munici- pality in the War of 1812 with England, coincided with a large portion of the inhabitants of Petersham, and the patriotic side was espoused by them.

Vote for Governor in 1801, the year of their incor- poration, stood : Elbridge Gerry, 45 ; Caleb Strong, 4. Elbridge Gerry was elected Governor in 1810, and afterwards elevated to the high office of Vice-President of the United States.

The records of the town of Petersham, covering the period of the War of 1812, have been burned, so that we are not able to find the names on record of those citizens who might have been subsequently annexed with their property, to Dana. There is evidence of one commissioned officer, by the name of Elisha Foster, who commanded a company as its captain.

The first town-meeting was opened by legal warn- ing by Daniel Bigelow, a lawyer of Petersham, and a gentleman of the old school, very much respected by the citizens of his town and county.

A large share of the inhabitants of the new town- ship felt that Mr. Bigelow, to some extent at least, belonged to them, being so prominent a man in their

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former town, and who had two sons, at that time members of the Williams College, Daniel, Jr., and Lewis, both of whom afterwards gradnated in the class of 1803. Lewis was afterwards elected a member of the Seventeenth Congress.

The largest owners of land in this new township, in fee simple, as we learn from the records and tradi- tion, were Seth Williams, Joseph Hendrick, Jere- miah Sibley, Elkana Haskins, Joel Amsden, Bezaleel Amsden, Jacob Amsden, Daniel Russell, Oliver Har- ris, John Town, Ichabod Town, Elijah Town, James Babbitt, Elijah Babbitt, William Bancroft, Dr. Jacob Whipple, Simon Whipple, Benjamin Skinner, Nathan Smith and Stephen Johnson. Mr. Johnson lived until 1855, dying at a very advanced age.

Several of the above, it is believed, owned land to the amount of five hundred acres each, or even more.

At the first town-meeting Jacob Amsden, John Town, Jr., and Joseph B. Hendrick, the latter being one of the largest land-owners in the new town, were chosen assessors, to determine the valuation of the property of the inhabitants, for the purpose of taxa- tion.

At this meeting all necessary town officers were chosen : a Board of Selectmen, the assessors herein- before mentioned and a long list of minor officers.

Daniel Stone, Esq.,-who yet lives, a most respected and honored citizen, and, although upwards of eighty-two years of age, retains his mental faculties, in full vigor, and whose father, Elias Stone, a very worthy man and most enterprising citizen, and who moved to Dana in 1804 and afterwards became the owner of five hundred acres of land in Dana, whose son Dauiel, carrying ont his father's hopes and expec- tations, helped to prepare the way for the utilization of Swift River for manufacturing purposes,-says, speaking of one class of town officers, in an interest- ing historical sketch prepared by him many years ago, but never published : " It was the duty of the Tithingmen to keep order at Church, and, I remem- ber when a boy, of hearing the heavy cane of the Tithingman fall with a loud rap, when the boys and girls played in meeting." And he quaintly adds : " Such officers are needed now."

It was the custom then for couples about to be married to be advertised. The town clerk, at the close of the service on Sunday, would call out the names of the intended bride and bridegroom in a loud voice, "marriage intended," etc.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 103

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