History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 108

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 108

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The means taken to provide funds for the Prov- inces and assist iu the rising movement to preserve their liberties show they were not wanting in patriot- ismn, but expected every man to do his duty without special compensation.

Captain Stephen Maynard was chosen representa-

tive to the next Provincial Congress at Cambridge, and also, in July, 1775, to the Congress to be held in Watertown.

February 7, 1775, a Committee of Inspection and Observation, recommended by the Continental Con- gress, was appointed, consisting of twelve persons,- Jonathan Bond, Captain Benjamin Fay, Daniel Forbes, Phinehas Hardy, Ebenezer Maynard, Abi- jah Gale, Captain Jonas Brigham, Dr. James Hawes, Lieutenant Joseph Baker, Timothy Warren, George Andrews and Phineas Haskell. Funds were raised, and a committee was appointed to collect donations for the relief of the suffering poor of the city of Boston.

Dr. James Hawes, at this time, took a very promi- nent part in town affairs ; he was also a justice of the peace, and wrote many deeds. At the annual March meeting the town elected James Bowman and Abra- ham Bond constables. This office, which included that of collecting taxes, was considered a very unde- sirable one. Many preferred to pay fines rather than serve. Some forty years previous it had been voted that "black slaves" should be eligible for that posi- tion. The town voted repeatedly to indemnify the constables from loss on account of illegal taxes, im- posed to meet the expenses of the coming rebellion against British rule, and for paying funds collected into the provincial treasury.

It appears that Dr. Hawes was equal to the emer- gency and ready to perform the labors of both con- stables. The record says that Constables Bond and Bowman " agreed with and hired Dr. James Hawes to serve as constable in their room and sted, and he swore the Constable's oath."

Orders were given for the purchase of " Twelve Fier arms and Bayonets, Sixty Cateridge Boxes, Sixty hitchits," also "two good Drums for the minit Company." The old committee to buy the cannon was " to make it fit for use and our defences," and Lieutenant Joseph Baker was to " Inlist 7 suitable, able, active men to learn to use and exercise our cannon in a warlike manner." They were to be counted a part of the "minit company," and to have the same pay.

March 10, 1775, Dr. James Hawes was chosen to attend the Provincial Congress in place of Captain Stephen Maynard.

At the annual March meeting in 1776 no action was taken relative to the war, except to choose a new committee of " Correspondence, Inspection and Safety."

At a meeting of the inhabitants of the town of Westborough on " May ye 24, 1776, and being warned on purpose to Consider of a Resolve of the House of Representatives on May ye 10, 1776, concerning In- dependenticy, Voted to advise Capt. Stephen May- nard, our representative, to conform to said Resolve, in Case that the Honourable Congress Shall Judge it most Expedient for the Safety and wellfair of the Colones."

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July 17, 1776, a committee appointed to confer with those " who had done a turn or part of a turn during the war since April 19, 1775," could not agree on the compensation they should receive from the town. The soldiers were represented by a committee of three of their number, viz .: Lieutenant James Godfrey, Lieutenant Thomas Bond and Mr. Nathan Fisher.

The town's committee recommended that those " who went on their own account to the war should receive £3 for eight months' service, and in proportion for two months." A bounty of nine pounds had been offered for new enlistments for the New York army a few days previously.

July 22, 1776, when the call for every twenty-fifth man for the " Northward Department or Canada Ex- pedition " was urgent, the town-meeting was ad- journed for a half-hour, to see " who would be willing to Inlist" and what sum of money they would go for. At the end of this recess the bounty was raised to ten pounds.

An offer of three pounds was made July 26, 1776, for men to enlist and go to Dorchester and stay till December 1st.

The Declaration of Independence was recorded in the town-book as a " Perpetual Memorial thereof."

The enlistment and re-enlistment of troops was fre- quent, and the terms of service from two months to three years, or the war. In the spring of 1775 there were but two hundred and eighteen polls in town, and the enlistments in 1775 were 49; in 1776, 97; in 1778, 71 ; in 1779, 35; in 1780, 14; or 365 enlistments and re-enlistments in a town of about 900 inhabitants. A few remained in the army to the end of the war. While New England was specially threatened by the British in Boston, and by the attempt of General Burgoyne to separate it from the rest of the country by his expedition from the North, probably most of the able-bodied men were in the field. When the principal theatre of war changed to the south of the Hudson, and when ultimate success was insured by the surrender at Yorktown, most of the soldiers re- turned to their homes. The number of men in the field at one time is not known. The news from Con- cord found the minute-men ready. Capt. Stephen May- nard, was in command of the militia at the beginning of the war. He and Captain Benjamin Fay were the two richest men in town, and paid nearly double the tax of any other resident of Westboro'.

The minute-men marched by way of Lexington to a point near Boston, arriving the night after the Con- cord and Lexington fight. The wagons, loaded with one month's provisions, provided by the selectmen, probably arrived later. Whether the " field-piece " figured with the Westboro' men who fought at Bun- ker Hill does not appear.

Among the officers from this town were Lieutenant- Colonel Moses Wheelock, whose headstone is in Memorial Cemetery, near Main Street, Captain Seth

There was great difficulty in procuring clothing and other supplies for the army. Cloth was spun and woven by hand, and the women were obliged to do much of the farm-work in the absence of the men. There was a great lack of blankets. The town fre- questly made appropriation for the purchase of beef for the army.

May 19, 1777, the town first chose representatives to the Great and General Court of the new Common- wealth. Captain Stephen Maynard and Mr. Daniel Forbes were chosen, and instructed not to assent to forming a Constitution until there was a change in the form of representation. As early as the begin- ning of the year 1777 the depreciation of paper-money began to cause trouble, and, February 17th, the price of nearly every article in common use and of all kinds of labor was fixed by vote of the town.

The price of "good cyder in the fall of the year was 3 shillings fourpence per Bairl, and in the spring and summer 6s.

" For a meal of vitials of the best Quality, 1s. per meal ; For their common vitials, 8d. per meal ; For a Mug of Flip made of W. I. (West India) Rum, 10d. per Mug; and for New England Flip, &d .; For loging a person a Night in a good Bed, 10d."

In June of the same year " Amasa Maynard was chosen to procure evidence against any person inimi- cal to this State or any of the United States, and lay the same before the court." If Tories existed in town they kept very quiet, and do not appear to have been so active or ontspoken as in many towns in the county.

As the winter came on steps were taken to provide for the families of those in the army.

Captain Levi Warren and others from this place shared iu the fight at Bennington and the campaign against General Burgoyne in the summer of 1777, and received, in 1778, eight dollars for the first month and six dollars per month thereafter from the town treasury.

January 8, 1778, a committee was appointed on the " consideration " (Constitution) sent out by Congress, and made the following report: "We are of the opinion that the Protestant religion is not duly guarded in said Constitution. Also we think it might be well to acknowledge the Superintendence of Heaven in the Stile by adding these words, -' Under God,' after the words, 'Shall be.' "

The report was unanimously adopted and sent to the General Assembly of this State.

From 1775 to 1820 the growth of population was quite slow. The whole area of the town was divided into farms, and no industry was started to give em- ployment to the young men. One thousand persons were considered all that the town could properly support, and the surplus population settled farther west and north.

The earliest settlers were nearly all of American Morse, Lieut. James Godfrey and Lieut. Henry Marhle. I birth, the children and grandchildren of English and,

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

in a few instances, Scotch parents. So few new families moved into town that the index of births, marriages and deaths in the town archives show seventy-seven references during the first hundred years of the town's history to persons whose surnames be- gin with "R," and all but twelve were named Rice. During the same period, out of eighty-nine names beginning with "F," all but seventeen were Fay, Forbes or Forbush. The names How, Hardy and Harrington were more than one-half of those begin- ning with " H."

There were a few "Smiths" during the first century of the town's history, but they were not named "John." Barzillai Smith, son of Ezekiel and Ruth, was born in 1767, and Merodachbaladan Smith mar- ried Abigail, and was blessed with three children, born about the middle of the last century.

Prior to the year 1767 the town paupers were boarded around, like the school-teachers, and the town, in meeting assembled, decided how much to pay for their support. They were frequently widows, left without children who could provide for them in their old age, and were taken by some of the most respectable and prominent people of the town to board. In that year a work-house was built on land of Timothy Warren. It was of wood, one story high, thirty feet long and sixteen feet wide, and cost, the town £26 13s. 4d., or about $100. Finding the cost of a separate establishment for the paupers greater than that of selling them to the lowest bidder, the work-house was sold in 1790 and no other provided until 1825, when the farm of Capt. Daniel Chamber- lain was purchased. This farm remained the pleasant home of the town's poor until the purchase of the Sandra farm and town reservoir in 1882, when the poor-farm on the Flanders Road was sold. A new building was then erected and the old farm-house at the reservoir annexed and remodeled for the use of the pauper department, at an expense of $6,000.

A few years after the town was incorporated a large number of roads were laid out. The main thorough- fare was the old Connecticut road over Rock Hill, in Northboro', passing east of Lake Chauncy and then bearing to the west and finally following the present location of Main Street for the greater part of the way from Westboro' to Grafton. It is usually re- ferred to as the "Country Road." All land not granted by the State to towns or individuals was called " Country land," or the " Wilderness."

Roads were promptly laid out to the corn-mill and saw-mill of the Pratts on the Assabet, at the two dams, near the present dams, west of the village, owned by John Johnson and J. M. Brigham. The corn-mill was at the upper dam. Long Lane was then the Upton road, passing by N. M. Knowlton's house and Jack Straw's Hill. A road was laid out to the saw-mill of the first Jonathan Forbes, situated at the present main dam at the town reservoir, about 1730. Ebenezer Chamberlain had a mill at Rocklawn soon

after. The water privileges at Piccadilly and Park- er's mill were utilized at an early date.

The crooked course of the roads is principally due to the effort made either to follow the " cart-way " to somebody's house or to lay one-half of the road on the land of each of two adjoining owners, and so fol- low the farm line. The width varied from two to four rods. Before the town was fifty years old an effort was made to diminish the width of the roads, and too often with success.

Westborough was left at one side by the main stage routes the first hundred years of her existence. The upper Boston road to " Hartford and Connecti- cut " went through Sudbury, Marlborough, North- borough, to Shrewsbury. The middle road to the same localities went through Holliston and Mendon. It was not until 1810, when the turnpike was built, that Westborough became on the direct line of travel.

Very early in its history we find references to va- rious inns and taverns in town, some of them far from any other business, and apparently carried on simply for the convenience and comfort of the neigh- boring farmers, who dropped in, when passing, for a glass of cider and a cracker, and more willingly for a taste of New England rum or flip. A glass of flip cost a half-day's wages at the time of the Revolution, and was an extravagance in which every one in- dulged. Even the ladies, at their social teas, had flip and mulled wine. The tavern, too, was the political and social centre, taking the place of the numerous organizations, clubs and societies of the present day. It was little more than an ordinary dwelling-house, with a bar, and an occasional guest. Sometimes it was used as a court-house, when more convenient for the parties at law than the justice's house.

The house now standing near the corner of the turnpike and Lyman Street, the old Forbush Tav- ern, seems to have been the first one which in any sense was like our ideas of a tavern. This was al- ready built when the turnpike was run so near it that it was almost at the door, and was immediately utilized as a place to change horses, rest and feed passengers, get and deliver the mails. About seven- teen years after the opening of the road a new, larger house was built at Wessonville, which imme- diately sprung into great popularity. Wessonville seemed on the eve of again becoming the principal village of the town.

Not far from the site of the old church and par- sonage a thread factory was erected, a store built, houses were put up, the post-office was established, and the stages, with their two, four or six horses and rumbling wheels, rushed up and down the steep hills. The usual number of passengers in one of these coaches was four, and the fare from Boston to Wor- cester over this route about this time was two dollars. This old Wessonville tavern is still standing, and is connected now with the Lyman School. Here, in

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1825, Lafayette stopped on his way down from Wor- cester, and lunched in the dining-room, while forty of the men and boys of Westborough waited out- side to catch another glance at the great celebrity.

Another famous tavern was the one kept by Joshua Mellen in Piccadilly, in the house now occupied by John B. Fitch. This as well as the Forbush Tavern was a great place for balls, and popular among the young people. In the centre of the town was the Gregory House, still standing, after having seen many changes, on South Street, and occupied for stores. This was afterwards famous as Brigham's Tavern, the last of the old-fashioned inns which Westborough was destined to know. It has been about sixty years since Mr. Dexter Brigham bonght the Gregory House. At that time it stood near the present location of the Westboro' Hotel, facing South Street. Up-stairs was the hall-used for suppers and dances, and capable of being made into three rooms by the letting down of hinged wooden partitions usually fastened to the ceiling. In 1824 the hotel was very much enlarged- the new part now forming much of the present West- borough Hotel, while the old part was moved to its present location. Part of its large number of guests it owed to the popularity of Hopkinton Springs as a summer resort-the visitors there usually stopping in Westborough, and sometimes, finding pleasant quar- ters and plenty of the water from the famous springs for their use in the hotel, decided to go no further, and spent their summer at Brigham's. Mrs. Brigham' still living in town, was one of the famous cooks of her day, her mulled wine, mince pies and election cake being known all over this part of the country.

The question what part of Westborough should be the business centre was finally settled in 1834, when the railroad was opened. Piccadilly, Wessonville, District No. 6 were left to be country districts, not even villages. The stores, shops, factories, churches clustered around the new railroad station. The West- borough Hotel for many years was the hotel of the place, until in 1880 the Whitney House was built on land adjoining the Memorial Cemetery, and opened to the public. New doctors coming to town no longer, as did Doctor Hawes in 1763, locate near Ly- man Street to be near the post-office at Forbush Tav- ern, but all settled within three minutes' walk from the station. The glory of the turnpike had departed.

In a report concerning the Indians of the Com- monwealth, made by act of Legislature in 1859, it is stated that there were at that time one thousand six hundred and ten descendants of the Indians in the State. Ninety of these belonged to the Hassana- misco tribe, and only two, both girls, were located in Westborough. These two were descendants of old Andrew Brown, an Indian of pure blood, who served in the Revolution, and lived in a small cellarless hut, not far from the Insane Hospital. He is remem- bered by many of the older inhabitants of this town, and the renown of his danghter, Deb, who often

used to travel with the famous Sarah Boston, reached to all the neighboriug towns.

Among the Indians living here at the beginning of the century was Jo. Aaron, who seemed to have been a leader among the Hassanamiscos, and old Gigger, who lived first in a curious hut in a swamp, beyond B. A. Nourse's present farm. This hut was built of stones, sloped to a narrow space at the top, with a hole for a chimney and a front door of wood and glass. The stones were covered with sods, and Gig- ger, with the two women, Betsey and Sallie Gigger, lived warm and comfortable in the coldest weather. They were part negro, and, like all the Indians, re- membered by persons now living, drank often and heavily. Gigger afterwards lived in a wigwam on the Mill Road. All the Hassanamisco Indians were in the habit of coming to Westborough Swamps for material for their baskets, and as far back as the first years of Mr. Parkman's pastorate they came over to work for people here, as is shown by the entry for July 18, 1726, in his journal, where he says : "Mar- tha Bowman, Indian, came 2 o'c., and this morn Joshua Misco and his squa hoed my corn." They stayed three days with him, then " went away."

Probably many of these Indians, like Sarah Bos- ton, were descended from slaves-colored men, who, by marrying a free Indian woman, insured the free- dom of their children.

The earliest slave of whom we have any record is the one bought by Mr. Parkman, four years after his settlement here, named Maro. He paid £74, " which was the price of him," to his father, in Boston, then started for Westborough on horseback, Maro run- ning on foot. A little more than a year atterwards he speaks in his journal of his various afflictions, and adds : "But especially Maro at point of death," and the next day he writes: " Dark as it has been with us, it became much darker about the sun setting, The Sun of MARO's life Sat."

In a census of slaves, taken in 1754, Westborough is reported as having six owned within its limits. One was owned by Mr. James Bowman, and three-a man, his wife and daughter-by Capt. Stephen May- nard, who were afterwards sold to go South. Capt. Maynard lived in the fine old house ou the North- borough Road, now occupied by B. J. Stone. The heavy wall leading up to the house was built by one of these slaves.

A familiar sight on the streets in the beginning of the century were old colored people, who had been slaves here or in other towns, among them one once owned by Sir Harry Frankland, at his mansion in Hopkinton (now Ashland)-old Dinah. She is re- membered as a short, stout old woman, carrying a cane, and in the season a bunch of wild flowers; but the greatest impression on the children was made by the three long straight marks on her face, where she was branded at the time of her capture in Africa.

WESTBOROUGH IN THE GREAT REBELLION .- At

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

the commencement of the War of the Rebellion, in 1861, there were six hundred and thirty-four polls in town, of whom about two-thirds were fit for duty. The population increased somewhat during the war, but the number of men furnished under the different calls for troops usually exceeded the quota for this town.

Three hundred and thirty men entered the army and eleven the navy. Twenty-four fell in battle or died from army exposure, and forty were wounded. Six died in Southern prisons.

A few days after the capture of Fort Sumter a town-meeting was held, "To seeif the town will grant or appropriate any money towards raising a military company in this town."

Following the precedents of the Revolution, the citizens proceeded to raise five thousand dollars for the purchase of uniforms, swords and other military supplies, and the pay of soldiers. Although the action of the town was illegal, there was no objector present, and the resolutions of a committee recom- mending this course were unanimously adopted. The Westborough Rifle Company was at once formed and equipped, forty-five men being taken from adjoin- ing towns.

One hundred and one men joined the company, which was supported two months principally at the expense of this town, and then joined the Thirteenth Regiment July 16, 1861. Their families were at once aided, when necessary, out of the town treasury. The ladies worked on uniforms and articles needed by the soldiers. In April, 1861, they organized the Soldiers' Sewing Circle, for the purpose of aiding the Sanitary Commission and in other ways assisting those in the field.

It was estimated that articles to the value of twenty-five dollars each, yearly, while the war lasted, were sent to the soldiers by their home friends.

When it was thought best to offer bounties for en- listments, in 1862, Abijah Wood, J. A. Fayerweather, A. J. Burnap and Zebina Gleason loaned the town ten thousand dollars, as the money could not be legally raised by the town for that purpose. A large number of the citizens who had property gave them a bond indemnifying them in case the town was not allowed to refund this money.

February 1, 1862, there were forty-four Westborough men in the Thirteenth Regiment, eight in the Twenty- second Regimental Band, and fourteen in other branches of the service-sixty-four in all. The calls for additional troops were frequent and were promptly responded to.

One year later Westboro' had furnished twenty- four more than its proportion. One hundred and one new enlistments had been made. Of this number twenty-two joined the Thirty-fourth, thirteen the Fiftieth, and twenty-six the Fifty-first Regiment.

Rev. Gilbert Cummings, Jr., pastor of the Unita- rian Society, was elected chaplain of the Fifty-first

Regiment. War began to seem a serious matter as the wounded came home from the front. Thomas Copeland and Hollis H. Fairbanks fell at Centreville, in August, 1862, and four were wounded and one taken prisoner. By February 1, 1863, six had died and thirty-two had been discharged on account of wounds or disease. In July, 1863, of sixty-six men drafted, thirty were accepted. In the following month of Octo- ber, thirty-two more men were called for and promptly enlisted without any pecuniary inducement from the town. They were generally quite young. Frank W. Bullard enlisted when sixteen years old ; left Wor- cester April 18, 1864, was wounded and captured in the battle of the Wilderness eighteen days later, and had a leg amputated when in the hands of the enemy.

In May, 1864, the company of State militia under the command of Captain C. P. Winslow was called out and was soon after ordered to the defense of Wash- ington. Sixty-two men from Westborough enlisted in this company and formed part of Company E, Fourth Regiment Heavy Artillery.

In December, 1864, this town had furnished a sur- plus of thirty-five men, and the call of that month was answered by the enlistment of thirteen more men.

Three hundred and thirty-seven men from West- borough served in the war, including four who served both in the army and navy. Of this number twenty- five died during the war. Fourteen were killed on the field of battle, eight died in rebel prisons and three others from disease. The bodies of but five were brought home, although the town made arrange- ments to bring home the remains of those falling in the army, when it was possible to do so. Sixty-two were wounded, some of them several times. Disease in times of war is said to kill more than the bullet ; but in this case the contrary proved true. Of the twenty-five captured by the enemy, ten were con- fined for a considerable period of time at Anderson- ville or other Sonthern prisons, and of these all but two died while prisoners. .

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 108

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