USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 120
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1862 .- Selectmen, John E. Chaffin, Charles Turner, William H. Walker, George Bascom, M. V. B. Jef- ferson ; Assessors, Isaac Damon, Ethan Davis, Austin Flagg ; Clerk, John E. Chaffin ; Treasurer, Charles Knowlton.
1863 .- Selectmen, Ira Broad, Sumner Chamberlin, M. V. B. Jefferson, J. W. Rogers, William H. Drury ; Assessors, Ethan Davis, Austin Flagg, Nathan Howe ; Clerk, John E. Chaffin ; Treasurer, Charles Knowl- ton ; Representative, Nathan Howe.
1864 .- Selectmen same as 1863 ; Assessors, Isaac Damon, Nathan Howe, J. H. Wright ; Clerk, Isaac Damon ; Treasurer, C. Knowlton ; John Wadsworth, clerk pro tem.
1865 .- Selectmen, Ira Broad, Sumner Chamberlin, J. W. Rogers, Church Howe, Alfred Sawyer ; Asses- sors, Isaac Damon, Nathan Howe, Austin Flagg ; Clerk, Isaac Davis ; Treasurer, Charles Knowlton ; Representative (14th Wor. Dist.), Theron E. Hall.
1866 .- Selectmen, Ira Broad, Sumner Chamberlin, J. W. Rogers, Church Howe, M. V. B. Jefferson ; Assessors same as 1865 ; Clerk, Isaac Damon ; Treas- urer, Charles Knowlton ; Representative, Samuel Warren.
1867 .- Selectmen, Ira Broad, M. V. B. Jefferson, J. W. Rogers, Austin Flagg, George Howe ; Clerk, Isaac Damon ; Treasurer, Charles Knowlton.
1868 .- Selectmen, Ira Broad, M. V. B. Jefferson, J. W. Rogers, George Howe, Charles Flagg ; Assessors, Nathan Howe, S. Flagg, Jr., Samuel Warren ; Clerk, S. W. Armington ; Treasurer, Charles Knowlton.
MG. Nonen
HOLDEN.
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1869 .- Selectmen, M. V. B. Jefferson, George Howe, Charles Flagg, S. D. Hubbard, J. H. Wright ; Asses- sors same as 1868; Clerk, S. W. Armington ; Treas- urer, Charles Knowlton. Town voted to abolish dis- trict system of schools.
1870 .- Selectman, M. V. B. Jefferson, George Howe, Charles Flagg, Samuel D. Hubbard, J. H. Wright ; Assessors, Nathan Howe, Jeremiah Parker, Silas Flagg ; Clerk, George F. Rogers; Treasurer, Charles Knowlton; Representative to General Court, Isaac N. Ross. Voted to instruct the School Committee to choose a superintendent of school. William C. Met- calf chosen.
1871 .- Selectman, Charles Flagg, Austin W. Ward, S. D. Hubbard; Assessors, Nathan. Howe, J. H. Gleason, Ethan Davis; Clerk, George F. Rogers; Treasurer, Charles Flagg ; Superintendent of Schools, William C. Metcalf; Representative to General Court, I. N. Ross.
1872 .- Selectman, Charles Flagg, A. W. Ward, John Adams, James H. Wright, Samuel Warren : Assessors, Ethan Davis, Willard Allen, F. M. Stowell ; Clerk, George F. Rogers ; Treasurer, Charles Flagg ; Superintendent of Schools, William C. Metcalf.
1873 .- Selectmen, A. W. Ward, Samuel Warren, J. H. Wright; Assessors, Willard Allen, Isaac Da- mon, Silas Howe ; Clerk, George F. Rogers ; Treas- urer, S. W. Armington ; Superintendent of Schools, Dr. J. T. Rood.
1874 .- Selectmen, J. H. Wright, Wm. Howe, W. H. Fairbanks ; Assessors, I. Damon, Silas Howe, Silas Flagg; Clerk, Isaac Damon ; Treasurer, S. W. Ar- mington ; Superintendent of Schools, J. T. Rood.
1875 .- Selectmen, M. V. B. Jefferson, W. H. Fair- banks, E. W. Mirrick, Geo. Howe, J. T. Rood; As- sessors, Isaac Damon, Silas Flagg, Wm. C. Metcalf; Clerk, Isaac Damon ; Treasurer, S. W. Armington.
1876 .- Selectmen, Wm. C. Metcalf, Chas. Flagg, W. H. Drury ; Assessors, same as 1875; Clerk, Isaac Damon ; Treasurer, Samuel W. Armington ; Auditor, Ethan Davis.
1877 .- Selectmen, Wm. C. Metcalf, W. H. Drury, H. W. Warren ; Assessors, same as 1875-76; Clerk, Isaac Damon ; Treasurer, L. B. Brigham; Represent- ative, Wm. Howe.
1878 .- Selectmen, same as 1877; Assessors, Wm. C. Metcalf, Chas. Dawson, J. C. Spaulding; Clerk, Isaac Damon ; Treasurer, L. B. Brigham.
1879 .- Selectmen, H. W. Warren, Chas. Dawson, Gates Chapman; Assessors, Isaac Damon, Chas. E. Parker, E. W. Mirrick ; Clerk, Isaac Damon; Treas- urer, L. B. Brigham.
1880 .- Selectmen, Gates Chapman, Chas. Dawson, Fred. T. Holt; Assessors, same as 1879; Clerk, Isaac Damon ; Treasurer, L. B. Brigham. Voted to estab- lish a "High School."
1881 .- Selectmen, Chas. Dawson, S. W. Armington, W. E. Austin; Assessors, same as 1880; Clerk, Isaac
Damon ; Treasurer, L. B. Brigham ; Representative, H. W. Warren.
1882 .- Selectmen, W. E. Austin, Isaac Damon, F. T. Holt; Assessors, Isaac Damon, E. W. Mirrick, Gates Chapman; Clerk, Isaac Damon; Treasurer, L. B. Brigham.
1883 .- Selectmen, same as 1882; Assessors, Isaac Damon, E. W. Mirrick, Ervin S. Hubbard; Town Clerk, Isaac Damon ; Treasurer, Frederick H. Fales; Superintendent of Schools, C. W. Stickney.
1884 .- Selectmen, H. W. Warren, F. T. Holt; A. A. Metcalf; Assessors, E. W. Mirrick, Ervin S. Hub- bard, W. E. Austin ; Town Clerk, Isaac Damon ; Treasurer, F. H. Fales ; Superintendent of Schools, C. W. Stickney.
1885 .- Selectmen, Isaac Damon, C. E. Parker, A. D. Bascom ; Assessors, Isaac Damon, C. E. Parker, E. S. Hubbard; Clerk, Isaac Damon ; Treasurer, F. H. Fales; Superintendent of Schools, C. W. Stickney.
1886 .- Selectmen, same as 1885; Assessors, Isaac Damon, H. C. Cheney, Silas Flagg; Clerk, Isaac Damon ; Treasurer, L. B. Brigham ; Representative, Samuel W. Armington.
1887 .- Selectmen, William H. Drury, William J. Prendegast, A. A. Metcalf ; Assessors, W. E. Austin, Samuel Warren, George Bascom ; Clerk, Isaac Damon ; Treasurer, L. B. Brigham.
1888 .- Selectmen, Isaac Damon, C. E. Parker, W. J. Prendegast ; Assessors, same as 1887 ; Clerk, Isaac Damon ; Treasurer, H. W. Warren.
Delegates to Provincial Congress : John Child, in 1775 ; James Davis, in 1776; and Richard Flagg, 1777 ; the latter in convention at Cambridge to form a Constitution.
BIOGRAPHICAL.
W. G. WARREN.
Waterman G. Warren was born at Ward (subse- quently changed to Auburn), Mass., on the old Warren homestead, in that part of the town known as West Anburn, May 16, 1807. He was the oldest of six sons and a daughter born to Deacon Samuel and Sally (Goulding) Warren.
Samuel Warren was born at Leicester, September 10, 1779, and was the son of Jonathan Warren of that town, whose father, Jonathan Warren, had also re- sided there.
Sally (Goulding) Warren was born at Auburn, February 1, 1790. She was the daughter of Captain Jonah Goulding, a conspicuous rebel in the Shays' Rebellion. In this insurrection of 1787, Captain Goulding, afterwards a colonel in the State militia, led his company to Worcester and prevented Judge Arte- mas Ward from opening court. For this he was im- prisoned, according to his own account, "forty days and forty nights" and in addition was threatened
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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
with hanging. The daughter partook of the sterling character of her paternal ancestor.
Mr. Warren, the subject of this sketch, belonged to a family of tanners. His ancestors back four genera- tions, upon both sides of the line, were tanners. All of his brothers, except one, the late Dr. Jonah G. Warren, of Newton Centre, a distinguished Baptist preacher and scholar, were at some time in their lives engaged in that industry ; and the same is true of not less than thirteen of the children of the next genera- tion.
His opportunities for obtaining an education were limited in the extreme. He worked upon his father's farm and in the tannery summers, and attended the district school winters, here acquiring the merest rudi- ments of an education.
On the 22d of April, 1830, he was married to Mary Eddy, of Auburn, his wedding present from his father being two dollars in cash to fee the minister, and the loan of his old horse and shay with which to bring home his bride.
His father's death occurring two years later, he in- herited the ancestral tannery, which Jonah Goulding, when he moved from Grafton to Auburn, had pur- chased of Nathaniel Southworth. Mr. Warren con- ducted the tanning business here with varying success till 1840, when he loaded his household goods, con- sisting of a wife and five children, into a covered wagon and moved to Holden, where for ten years he continued the tanning business in partnership with his brother, Samuel Warren, in the tannery built at Eagleville (then Brick City), about 1825, by John P. Maynard.
This partnership was dissolved by mutual consent, and Mr. Warren, in the spring of 1850, purchased the Edward Richardson tannery, located one-half mile west of Holden Centre. According to the record, this tannery, with seventeen acres of land adjoining, was sold by John Watson to Heman Richardson, Decem- ber 23, 1789, for one hundred and twenty ponnds sterling, and its earlier history is not of record.
The old tannery was enlarged and greatly improved and the business successfully continued, a part of the time with his son Samuel as his partner, for more than a quarter of a century.
In 1874, while continuing the business with his oldest son at the old tannery, he formed a partnership with his other two sons, under the firm-name of B. & H. W. Warren & Co., and this company erected the brick tannery nearer Holden Centre. This tan- nery, in its character and equipment, its facilities for producing the kind of leather which is its specialty, card leather, probably is not surpassed by any other in the State.
In 1882, business at the Richardson tannery having been discontinued, Samuel Warren became a partner, the style of the firm being changed to W. G. Warren & Sons, and the father and three sons continued the business with a good degree of success till 1886.
During these years there had been a gradual growth of the business from the tanning of perhaps fifteen hundred sides of leather in 1845 to twenty thousand sides in 1886.
Mr. Warren died August 7, 1886, at the age of sev- enty-nine, leaving a wife, who survived him but one year, his three sons, who still continue the business under the firm-name of W. G. Warren's Sons, and two daughters, one the widow of the late Rev. Lester Williams, formerly pastor of the Baptist Church in Holden, and the other Susan E. Warren.
He was a devoted husband and father, kind-hearted and charitable. A man of good common sense, sound judgment and strictest integrity, and enjoyed the full- est confidence of all in his business and other rela- tions. He had marked peculiarities and his strong personality impressed itself upon all with whom he came in contact.
He was the relentless foe of the liquor traffic and the cause of temperance and all the moral reforms of his day received from him a liberal and hearty support.
In his early life, in the palmy days of slavery, he was an abolitionist, a follower of Gerrit Smith, Garri- son and Phillips. He boldly proclaimed his senti- ments in favor of liberty for the oppressed, when such action meant hardship, scorn and persecution. After the enactment of the Fugitive Slave Law he was zealous and active in all movements in behalf of the fugitive, and made his home a place of refuge for the bondman, a station on the underground railroad to freedom-thus earning the honor due to those who have the courage of their convictions, and the daring of their duty.
Like leaves on trees the race of man is found, Now green in youth, now withering on the ground; Another race the following spring supplies, They fall succe-sive and successive rise : So generations in their course decay, So flourish these when those have passed away.
DEACON WILLIAM HOWE.
Deacon William Howe was born in Holden (in which town he has all his life resided), June 1, 1814. He was the son of Thomas Howe, born August 19, 1785. The parents of Thomas IIowe were Jotham and Dorothy Howe. Mr. Howe's mother was Sally, daughter of Hezekiah and Lucy (Raymond) Walker. She was born May 30, 1787.
The subject of our sketch was the fourth child and fourth son in a family of thirteen children, of whom ten lived to maturity and eight still survive.
He lived at home, attending district school both summer and winter till eleven years old. After that . he attended school only in winter, working on the farm with his father and brothers during summer.
In 1839 he settled on a farm of his own in the northern part of Holden, which he carried on with marked industry, energy and success till 1858. In
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William Howe
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DOUGLAS.
that year he formed a copartnership with Major Theron E. Hall, and engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods in the village of Jeffersonville, where he has since resided. This partnership continued two years, when Mr. M. V. B. Jefferson purchased the interest of Major Hall, and the business was con- tinued under the firm-name of Howe & Jefferson for twenty-six years. The skill and success of this firm in the manufacture of woolen goods is sufficiently shown by the facts that when they commenced man- ufacturing they ran one set of woolen machinery, and that when the partnership was dissolved they were running twelve sets, with a corresponding growth of the village of Jeffersonville, which has come to be one of the most attractive and flourishing manufac- turing villages in Central Massachusetts.
On January 1, 1886, Mr. Howe disposed of his interest in the business to his partner.
Mr. Howe married, in December, 1839, Mary Ann, daughter of Mr. John Jefferson. Mrs. Howe died June 10, 1880. His family consists of three dangh- ters : Augusta F., wife of M. V. B. Jefferson, of Wor- cester; Anna M., who married Addison N. Putnam (now deceased) ; and Dora L., wife of Henry W. Warren, of Holden.
Mr. Howe has been repeatedly chosen by his fel- low-citizens to responsible positions in town affairs. He has been eleven times a member of the Board of Selectmen for the town of Holden, holding the office, when first chosen, for six years in succession. He was also chosen to represent his district in the Legis- lature of 1887, serving upon the Committee on Com- merce and Manufactures.
Mr. Howe was converted at the age of fifteen years -was baptized in December, 1830, and has main- tained an active and honored connection with the Baptist Church for more than fifty-eight years. In 1873 he was chosen deacon of the church, the duties of which office he still efficiently discharges. His parents were constituent members of the Holden Bap- tist Church, and not less than thirty members of their family, near and remote, have been connected with it during its history, covering now fourscore years.
Mr. Howe's many excellencies-his good judgment of men, his wisdom and tact, his gentle firmness and unwearied patience, and his spotless honor-have en- deared him to all who may claim his friendship, as well as to his family, and have made him highly respected and esteemed in still wider circles, as well as in church and town, where best known.
CHAPTER CLXXVI.
DOUGLAS.
BY A. F. BROWN.
Territorial-Early Grants-Boundaries-Topography-Geology.
THE true province of the historian is to collect and truly record such facts and events as he attempts to
describe, without prevarication or subterfuge; and the value of a history is enhanced in proportion as the writer adheres strictly to this rule. Very little has been known or correctly written in regard to the early history of the town of Douglas. Prior to the year 1708 the territory now embraced within the limits of the town of Douglas was an uubroken forest inhabited by a few Indian stragglers from the Narragansett or Nipmuck tribes. One small band occupied the ex- treme easterly part of the town, another the southern part and still another band were located northerly of the centre. In all these localities Indian implements and tools are frequently found, showing that they inhabited and cultivated in their rude way land in these several sections.
There was also living within this territory at that time two, and perhaps three, white families, whose farms were reserved and confirmed to them when the several grants and purchases were made from the General Court. One, a Mr. Simon Chamberliu, owned and lived on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres located southwesterly of what is known as the Ministerial or Minister's Lot, and nearly in the centre of what is now known as the "Douglas Woods," and south of the Thompson Road. The location is well known from the fact that it embraced within its limits what is now known as " Chamberlin Pond." In the three thousand seven hundred acre grant was the Aldrich farm of two hundred acres. This farm was located in the extreme south part of the towo, and is now owned by Retus Walling and Jesse Chase ; is westerly of the " Providence Turnpike Road," and southerly from the Mowry K. Thayer place, and was owned by a Mr. Edwin Aldrich, who was the father of Jacob Aldrich, who was the father of Amariah Aldrich, who was born here. The place is now cov- ered with a heavy growth of wood and timber. Many of the present residents of Douglas well remember Amariah Aldrich, some of whose descendants are still with us. The "Streeter Farm," situated on the Webster Road, is another farm occupied by the father of Asa Streeter when the first grant was made of four thousand acres.
The town of Sherborn, in Middlesex County, was incorporated in 1674, a small agricultural town with few inhabitants, who lived chiefly within their own resources. In 1700 the Legislature incorporated the town of Framingham, taking from the town of Sher- born seventy-seven families with their estates to make up a portion of Framingham. This so exasperated the remaining inhabitants of Sherborn that they be- sought the General Court for redress. Finally, after several years' petitioning and importuning, the General Court granted to the inhabitants of Sherborn four thousand acres of land "Lying westwardly of Men- don " (now Uxbridge). This was called Sherborn Grant. Before this tract of land was located and di- vided, another grant of land of three thousand acres was obtained by the people of Sherborn, and the next
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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
year, 1815, thirty-seven hundred acres of laud were obtained by the people of Sherborn by purchase; these were called Sherborn New Grant, and very soon after these three tracts of land, with other adjoining tracts, were called New Sherhorn. These several grants were finally located and divided by a rule adopted by the inhabitants of the town of Sherborn, so as to give each family or householder one or more lots. These tracts were divided by what they termed range-lines, running east and west, and said to he two hundred rods apart, and were designated first, second, third and fourth range-lines. Surveyors, now living, have been able to locate and follow these lines in many places in town. Every person's right extended from one range line to another, or, in other words, were two hundred rods in length from north to south; and the size of the lots depended much npon the standing and condition of the parties, and allotted according to the rule adopted in the division of the four thou- sand acre grant.
These several grants were located as follows : The 4000 acre grant embraced within its limits Douglas Centre and what is called the west part of the town. The southwest corner of this tract is at what is known as "Bear Corner," a large heap of stones, about sixty rods south of the Cold Spring on the Thompson Road. This Bear Corner is one of the oldest landmarks in town. It marks the southwest corner of the 4000 acre grant, the southeast corner of the lot of the twenty proprietors of Douglas, the southeast corner of the minister's lot, which was in- cluded in the twenty proprietors, the northeast corner of the " Boston Men's Farms" and the northwest corner of a part of the 3000 acre grant. From this point the line runs northwest 800 rods, passing a little west of Badluck Cedar Swamp to a point near the old Bailey place; thence easterly to a point in Sutton south line on the north line of land formerly of Micah Hill; thence southerly to a point in the south line of land formerly of Dr. Wm. Douglas; thence westerly to first bound. The 3700 acre pur- chase grant was located in the southeast part of the territory granted (now the southeast part of the town), bounded south on the province line and east on Mendon line (now Uxbridge), and contained 3603 acres besides the 200 acre Aldrich farm.
The 3000 acre grant was located in two tracts -- one of 1101 acres was located on the north side of the 3700 acre tract, and between that and the 1000 acre tract bought by Dr. William Douglas and others, described further on; and 1900 acres, the remainder of the 3000 acre grant, was located west of the 3700 acre grant, was bounded on the province line, and included the north end of Wallum Pond within its limits and extended north to Bear Corner.
Gov. Simon Bradstreet, who was Governor of the Province of Massachusetts before 1700, left by will to his grandchildren-John, Annie and Simon-chil- dren of his son, Doctor Samuel Bradstreet, among
other things, "what was due to him for salary as late Gov."
Annie married a Mr. Nathaniel Williams, of Bos- ton, a schoolmaster. The other two heirs having died, Mr. Williams and his wife petitioned the Gen- eral Court, in 1702, to have the claim adjusted and settled. In 1714 there was granted to them on their petition 1000 acres of " Province land, provided it could he located by a competent surveyor without infringing on any other grant."
In 1715 it was surveyed and platted by Mr. Thomas White, surveyor, and located in the northeast corner of New Sherborn, and on June 7, 1715, it was ordered by the General Court "That the land so platted be confirmed to the said Annie Williams, the other chil- dren having died."
Most of this tract of land of 1000 acres was soon after this sold by Mr. Williams and his wife to Jonathan Draper and Nathaniel Brewer.
Nathaniel Brewer soon after sold his interest in the tract to Capt. Benjamin Murdock. In 1728 Draper and Murdock divided their land, D.aper taking the north and Murdock the south part; and on their petition, about this time, they, with their estates, were set to the town of Uxbridge.
Nathan Brewer also bought of the General Court, about 1716, eight hundred acres lying west of the Bradstreet grant This tract was known for many years as the " Brewer farm."
In 1721 Dr. William Douglas, Hahijah Savage, John Bining, William Tyler, Andrew Tyler and Benjamin Brousden bought of the General Court one thousand acres south of the Brewer farm and the Murdock farm. This was called the Dr. Douglas grant, and in 1727 was divided between the owners-the Tylers settling on their rights.
About 1740 there was granted to what was called the twenty proprietors of New Sherborn, afterwards Douglas, 4524 acres in the westerly and northwest- erly part of Douglas; a portion of this tract, how- ever, a few hundred acres, was west of the Douglas town line, and in what was then Oxford South Gore. Included within the grant was the Simon Chamberlin farm of 150 and 400 acres, granted to the ministers, and the ministerial lot of the parish. This tract, with two or three additional grants, one of 1245 acres, one of 360 acres and one of 162 acres, extended the entire length of the west part of Douglas, from Nipmuck corner on Oxford line to Rhode I-land corner. From Connecticut northeast corner to Rhode Island corner, which is just one mile, their land was only about two hundred and ten rods wide. At the extreme northwest corner of this tract, at Nipmuck corner, was located the Douglas School farm, so called, of 200 acres, which was sold many years ago for the benefit of schooling.
About this time, 1730, there was granted to Boston parties, a tract of land called the "Boston Men's Farm," bounded north and west by land of the twenty
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proprietors, east by the three thousand acre grant and Wallum Pond and south by the province line, compris- ing about eighteen hundred acres. This tract was im- mediately settled by a few thrifty and intelligent fami- lies, who cultivated some very good farms on the hill west of Wallum Pond. The old town road leading from the north end of Wallum Pond to the Coffee house passed through this tract and for many years was a principal thoroughfare. This, with about six hundred acres in the northeast corner of the town (about three hundred acres of which came from the Bradstreet grant) and about three hundred acres back of the four thousand acres called "fragmentary lots," comprises the now entire territory of Douglas, making, with the overplus, about twenty-one thousand acres.
Douglas is bounded on the north by Oxford, Sutton and Uxbridge, on the east by Uxbridge, (formerly Mendon), on the south by Rhode Island, on the west by Connecticut and Webster (formerly Oxford South Gore). There are four large ponds of water, mostly within the limits of the town-Wallum Pond, in the southwest part of the town and partly in Burrillville, R. I., covers one hundred and forty acres in Douglas. Badluck Pound, a little west of the centre, covers one hundred and ten acres-these are both natural ponds. Reservoir Pond is an arti- ficial pond of four hundred acres on the stream lead- ing out of Badluck Pond. Manchaug Pond, in the north part of the town, and partly in Sutton, covers ninety-three acres in Douglas. This was originally a natural pond, but has been enlarged and deepened by the erection of a substantial dam at its outlet.
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