History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 132

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 132

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CHARLES ALLEN was also one of the judges of the Conrt of Common Pleas from 1842 to 1844, when he resigned. In 1847 he was nominated judge of the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth, bnt declined the honor.

Worcester furnished judges of Probate for the county during this entire period, in the persons of Nathaniel Paine till 1836; Ira M. Barton, from 1836 to 1844, and Benjamin F. Thomas, from 1844 to 1848.

In 1834 GEORGE BANCROFT, a native of Worcester, son of Rev. Dr. Aaron Bancroft, published the first volume of his masterly "History of the United States." Though at that time he had ceased to be a resident of Worcester, still Worcester would not sur- render a qualified proprietorship in him, and viewed with paternal satisfaction the fame of her son.

These are not names only : they were intellectual and politicalj forces. However true it may be that

the real forces in the progress of a free people lie deeper than the surface, that the abiding principles of justice, sobriety, independence and morality must permeate the whole body and constitute an elevating and propelling power, yet, at least, it must find its expression. 1ts "Amen " follows the declaration of its faith, and does not precede it. There must be the "nnity of spirit," and thus the words of the faithful leader are the embodiment of the thought and aspirations of the mass.

In this interesting period of the nation's history the people of Worcester were not idle spectators ; her strong men were not apathetic listeners; they were fearless and determined actors.

The continued attempt of the slave States to en- large the slave-holding territory of the Union was met at the North by a sentiment of vigorous opposi- tion, moving, however, upon somewhat different lines. The American Anti-Slavery Society was or- ganized at Philadelphia in 1833. It had for its ob- ject the entire abolition of slavery. Local societies were formed in the free States. The Worcester County South Division Anti-Slavery Society held its first meeting at Worcester, February 15, 1838. Among its first officers from Worcester were Lewis Chapin, vice-president ; Edward Earle, secretary ; Ichabod Washburn, one of its councilors; Samnel H. Colton, treasurer; and Geo. M. Rice, one of the committee to establish other anti-slavery societies.

Meetings began to be held by it with considerable frequency, at which addresses were made and resolu- tions adopted, which had a powerful effect in shap- ing public opinion; but, nevertheless, they and those sympathizing with them to the full extent of their views were in the minority.

The great majority of the people regarded slavery as a blight and a curse, but directed their efforts mainly to prevent the acquisition of any more slave territory or the admission of more slave States.

The proposed annexation of Texas, with its vast area, was stontly opposed by well-nigh the whole population of Worcester and Worcester County.

A convention was held at Worcester May 6, 1844, of those opposed to the annexation. It was called to order by Hon. John W. Lincoln, of Worcester. Hon. Isaac Davis was one of the vice-presidents. Worcester was largely and strongly represented among the speakers. Charles Allen, Gov. Lincoln, Emory Washburn, Samnel M. Burnside, John Milton Earle and others expressed Worcester's attitude in no uncertain way.

Indeed, a considerable time prior to this, on De- cember 5, 1837, a convention of the ministers of the Gospel of the county was held in Worcester to take action with reference to slavery. It was adjourned to January 16, 1838, when resolutions in earnest con- demnation of slavery were adopted. Their spirit may be judged by the following expression of purpose : "In order to arrest attention, awaken interest, aronse

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the public conscience at the North and the South, and thus, as far as in us lies, bring into action a train of holy influences which, with the blessing of Almighty God, shall result in the total removal of this evil from our land."

No more secure stronghold of liberty existed in Massachusetts, or at the North, indeed, than Wor- cester and Worcester County. It was not surprising, then, that from Worcester should come the voice that summoned to the Free-Soil party the earnest friends of freedom, no matter what their former party affilia- tions had been. Charles Allen was the natural pro- duct of Worcester's free soil and free ideas.

An exceedingly interesting case was tried at Wor- cester at the January term, 1840, of the Court . of Common Pleas, relating in some remote measure to the slavery agitation. Dickenson Shearer and Elias M. Turner, both of Palmer, were indicted here for kidnapping a colored boy by the name of Sidney O. Francis, with intent to transport him out of the Com- monwealth, and to sell him as a slave. Pliny Mer- rick, for the Government, is said to have managed the case with great ability. Ira M. Barton, of Worcester; Mr. Chapman, of Springfield, and Hon. Isaac C. Bates (soon thereafter United States Senator), of Northampton, appeared for the defendants. Worcester was an exceedingly poor place to attempt such an act as these defendants committed. A Worcester County jury convicted both. Shearer was sentenced to the State Prison for seven years and Turner (a boy) was sentenced for eighteen months.

The last Board of Selectmen consisted of F. W. Paine, Horatio N. Tower, Ebenezer H. Bowen, Jonas Bartlett and Albert Tolman. The days of the township were nearly passed. Its varied and multiplied muni- cipal interests could better be regulated through the instrumentality of city government.

November 8, 1847, on motion of J. Milton Earle, it was voted that a committee of ten be appointed to draw up and present to the Legislature a petition for a city charter. The committee was composed of the following : Levi Lincoln, Stephen Salisbury, Ira M. Barton, Isaac Davis, Benjamin F. Thomas, Edward Earle, James Estabrook, Alfred D. Foster, Thomas Kinnicutt and Ebenezer L. Barnard. This committee was successful in securing the desired act, which was approved by Governor Briggs February 29, 1848. The act was accepted by vote of the inhabitants on March 18, 1848, and the first city government was inaugu- rated April 17, 1848.

THIRD PERIOD.

The same sagacity and political wisdom which Worcester as a town had so often and so invariably shown continued to direct and dominate her as a city in the selection of her municipal officers. The same sacrifice which her citizens had so often shown in relinquishing personal preferences and abating

private interests continued to animate them. The organization of the various departments of a new city, the proper adaptation of suitable methods to new conditions, the introduction of orderly and accurate systems all require earnest thought, active vigilance and laborious devotion.

With rare wisdom the choice was first made. Levi Lincoln, with the education and tastes of a scholar, with the experience and statesmanship resulting from long service in Congress and as Governor of the Com- monwealth, with the judgment and prudence derived from connection with large business interests, was selected as Worcester's first mayor.

In her first Board of Aldermen were Benjamin F. Thomas, judge of Probate; Isaac Davis, with his legal and financial ability ; Stephen Salisbury, eminent in learning and skilled in finance; John W. Lincoln, for many years chairman of the Board of Selectmen, a man of sound judgment and held in great respect ; Parley Goddard, James S. Woodworth, James Esta- brook and William B. Fox, all men of tried capacity, and held in high esteem. With mature judgment the various departments were organized, and with con- servative and watchful care the finances were regulated. To the mayor and aldermen of that first year Wor- cester is greatly indebted. They labored with intelli- gent and untiring zeal. Eighty-four meetings of that board were held during the year, and the greater portion of the measures and ordinances adopted had their initiative with them. Isaac Davis was chairman of the Committee on Finance, and with such watch- fulness did he and his associates upon that committee regulate the financial affairs of the new city, that the expenditures were but $65,389, the tax but $5.34 on $1000 and the debt reduced.

With no boastfulness it can be said that few cities, if any, in the Commonwealth, have during any period of their existence been favored with mayors of greater ability than was Worcester in its early years. When among them may be named Levi Lincoln, Henry Chapin, Peter C. Bacon, Isaac Davis, Alexander H. Bullock, W. W. Rice, P. Emory Aldrich and D. Waldo Lincoln, we doubt if any citizen of the Com- monwealth will question it. Most certainly no edu- cated citizen of the State need ask as to any one of them, Who was he ? What did he ever do?

Distinguished and honored service in the guberna- torial chair, upon the bench. in Congress, at the bar and in the management of one of the great railroads of the country have made their names known at least through the Commonwealth.

The city was equally fortunate during the same time in its choice of legal advisers. Among its so- licitors were lawyers of great eminence,-Henry Chapin, Peter C. Bacon, Charles Devens, Jr., Dwight Foster and George F. Hoar. Its other important of- ficers were, in the main, as wisely chosen.

Shortly after the new government was organized the Worcester and Nashua Railroad was completed.

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Its first train ran December 18, 1848. The Fitchburg and Worcester Railroad was opened in February, 1850. Thus in the mid year of the century Wor- cester was the radiating centre of six railroads.

Its population in 1850 was 17,049. Its valuation in the same year was $11,082,501. The ratio of in- crease in population during the decade from 1840 was 128 per cent., and in valuation during the same period 158 per cent.

No wonder that Mayor Chapin, in his inaugural address in 1850, should say, "What is to be the cx- tent of our population no one can foresee. We have come to our growth so many times that the prophets have lost their reputation, and we stand where na- ture and art both combine to make us a great inland city. Year by year the hum of industry grows louder and the footsteps of an increasing population are more distinctly heard."

No wonder that the philosophic mind of the great lawyer, Hon. Peter C. Bacon, should seek to trace its cause. In his inaugural address as mayor in 1851, among other causes to which he attributes the sur- prising growth, he says, " not inconsiderably are we indebted for this increase to the superior excellence of our admirably organized and efficiently conducted school system and to our educational advantages, which have attracted vast numbers to a residence amongst us. . But the proximate and most efficient cause in the production of these grand re- sults is to be sought in the introduction of railroads, which has made Worcester the centre and focus of no less than six converging railroads, thus affording to us facilities of communication not, perhaps, pos- sessed or enjoyed by any other inland city in the world of no greater extent or population."

Although, perhaps, a diversion, I cannot permit this opportunity to pass without calling more special attention to this admirable address of Mayor Bacon. It evinces profound thought, it covers a wide range of topies, many of them rarely discussed at such a time ; it announces with fearlessness the result of his deep moral convictions and his intended action as a consequence thereof, and I have no hesitation in pronouncing it the most able address ever made by a mayor of Worcester to its City Council.

The decade from 1850 to 1860 was marked in Wor- cester by a steady and symmetrical growth. The population increased to 24,973, and the valuation to $16,406,900. Municipal taxes had increased from the modest $65,000 of 1848 to $119,067 in 1860. The rate of taxation was still low, it being only $8 on $1000 in the latter year.

The year 1868 marks the close of this period. In 1865 the population was 30,058 ; valuation, $18,937,- 800 ; rate of taxation, $17 on $1,000; municipal taxes, $222,047.51. In 1868: population, 36,687 ; valuation, $26,220,260 ; municipal expenditures, $297,069.

The city in 1848, when the Town Hall had become the City Hall, evidently did not propose to have the

same liberties taken with the exterior of the structure, now that it was thus ennobled, as had formerly been the case. The City Council, accordingly, in 1848 by vote directed the city messenger to place upon the exterior walls of the building the following notice : "Stick no bills on this Building."

No political flag could flaunt itself over any of the streets without due permission. October 13, 1851, the Council voted to permit a flag to be suspended over Main Street from the Whig headquarters at the corner of Main and Central Streets, and within a few days, upon petition of the Democratic Committee, a similar favor was granted it.

The hall in the City Hall was the principal one in the city till Mechanics' Hall was completed, in 1857, which is one of the most beautiful and spacious halls in the State.

In 1855 an attempt was made to procure a lot of land on which to erect a new City Hall. The lot on the corner of Main and Pleasant Street was sought, but upon report of the committee that the price asked was $52,000, the subject was dropped and the Town Hall of 1825 remains the City Hall of 1889.

Telegraph wires were first strung in the city in 1849.

The works of the . Gas-Light Company on Lincoln Street were completed in 1849, and gas furnished in November of that year.

Buildings were numbered in accordance with the vote of the City Council in 1848.

In 1862 the floating bridge over Lake Quinsiga- mond was supplanted by the construction of a solid causeway at an expense of $25,997.

The first recommendation for the establishment of a Public Library was made by Mayor Bacon in 1851. It was established through the munificence of Doctor John Green in 1859.

In 1856, in compliance with the recommendation of Mayor Isaac Davis, a superintendent of public schools was first elected. In the same year the " New Com- mon " or "Elm Park" was improved and a new street built from Elm to Highland Streets, adjacent to the park. Prior to this time the only park in the city was the "Old Common" or "Central Park," which had been such from time immemorial.

In 1863, Ex-Mayor Isaac Davis offered to the city a deed of fourteen acres on the shores of Lake Quin- sigamond for a park, but the City Council rejected it. It was reserved for his son, ex-Mayor Edward L. Davis, to renew the offer many years after, which was gratefully accepted.

The first horse railroad was opened for the car- riage of passengers from Lincoln Square to New Worcester, August 31, 1863.

The mayors during this period were as follows : 1848, Levi Lincoln ; 1849-50, Henry Chapin ; 1851- 52 ; Peter C. Bacon ; 1853-54, J. S. C. Knowlton ; 1855, George W. Richardson ; 1856, Isaac Davis ; 1857, George W. Richardson ; 1858, Isaac Davis ;

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WORCESTER.

1859, Alexander H. Bullock ; 1860, W. W. Rice ; 1861, Isaac Davis ; 1862, P. Emory Aldrich ; 1863- 64, D. Waldo Lincoln ; 1865, Phinehas Ball ; 1866- 68, James B. Blake.

During this time the city had lost none of its in- fluence possessed in former years, but furnished men of eminence for important positions in the State and nation, Emory Washburn was Governor of the Com- monwealth in 1854, John Davis was United States Senator from 1815 to 1853, Alexander H. Bullock was Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1862 to 1865, inclusive, and Governor from 1866 to 1869, Dwight Foster was Attorney-General of the State from 1861 to 1864, inclusive, and judge of the Supreme Court from 1866 to 1869, Chas. Allen was a member of Congress from 1849 to 1853, Eli Thayer from 1857 to 1861, John D. Baldwin from 1863 to 1869. Pliny Mer- rick was justice of the Court of Common Pleas from 1850 to 1854, Charles Allen Chief Justice of the Su- perior Court from 1859 to 1867, Benjamin F. Thomas judge of the Supreme Judicial Court from 1853 to 1859, Pliny Merrick judge of the same court from 1853 to 1864, Charles Devens, Jr., was justice of the Superior Court from 1867. During this entire time, as in the previous period, citizens of Worcester filled the position of judge of Prohate for the county. Thomas Kinnicutt from 1848 to 1857, Dwight Foster to July 1, 1858, Henry Chapin from July 1, 1858, for many years beyond the close of this period. Worcester furnished district attorneys for the Middle District during the greater portion of this time: Benjamin F. Newton from 1851 to 1853, P. Emory Aldrich from 1853 to 1855, John H. Matthews to 1856, E. B. Stoddard to 1857, P. Emory Aldrich from 1857 to 1866, Hartley Williams to 1868.

Worcester sent as its Representatives to the Con- stitutional Convention of 1853 : Charles Allen, Isaac Davis, John S. C. Knowlton, J. Milton Earle and Henry Chapin.

The great material advance which the city ex- perienced, stimulated by its easy connection with the seaboard, the interior and the West, as well as by the demands of the war, is so fully covered by Mr. Wash- burn in his carefully prepared article, that the mere. reference to it here is alone permissible.

INTRODUCTION OF WATER .- The capacity of Blad- der Pond, now Bell Pond, which the Worcester Aque- duct Company used as its source of supply, was soon inadequate for the demands of the city. The property of the Aqueduct Company had come under the con- trol of the city by purchase in 1848. The aqueduct pipes were extended each year, but individual takers were often deprived of a supply, because of its insuf- ficiency for the double purpose of extinguishing fires and for domestic purposes. Expedients were resorted to in order to increase the body of water available in the pond, principally by pumping from a spring in Gates' lumber-yard.

Ethan Allen presented a petition to the City Coun-

cil, April 24, 1848, for leave to lay pipes under a portion of Lincoln and Main Streets, "to bring into his grounds from the north part of Worcester the water from some springs in the grounds of Capt. Lewis Barnard, and to such other places as may be necessary to conduct the water from said petitioner's premises." Permission was granted on said petition May 6, 1848, for him to lay pipes as far south as the house of Charles Thurber, Esquire. July 23, 1849, he was granted leave to extend his aqueduct pipe "through and over Front Street, as far as Salem Street, for the purpose of supplying families with water."

Hon, Phinehas Ball, in a report made to the City Council, February 9, 1863, states that this aqueduct was then supplying "some thirty-seven different par- ties, almost wholly on Main Street" This same aqueduct is still in use at this day, supplying a few families during a portion of the year. The house of the writer, on Lincoln Street, is among those thus supplied.

The Paine Spring aqueduct was also in use, furnish- ing in 1863 "at least a hundred and twenty-five fami- lies and shops, on School, Union, Main, Thomas and Summer Streets."

The third private aqueduct was the Rice Aque- duct, "supplying parties in the neighborhood of Graf- ton and Franklin Streets, to the number of sixty-one families, and two steam-engines which are estimated equal to twenty-four families."

From 1852 to 1864 the subject of an additional water supply was from time to time referred to by successive mayors, and spasmodic action was occasion- ally taken by the City Council. The first expert ex- amination of available sources was made in 1854 by Mr. M. B. Inches, a competent engineer, of Boston. Again in 1856 a further examination was made by Mr. Inches and a report made recommending Hen- shaw Pond and Kettle Brook as the most available source for further supply. At the municipal election in that year the question was submitted to the inhab- itants for a yea and nay vote upon the recommendation aforesaid. After the exclusion of the vote in Ward 1, on account of informality, the vote stood, Yeas, 939; Nays, 940. If the vote of Ward 1 had been in- cluded the yeas would have had a majority of 87. The debt of the city was at that time not quite $104,000, and the inhabitants were by no means unan- imous in their desire to increase it four or five-fold by an expenditure for one particular purpose. Thus the matter rested till 1860, when, upon further surveys, it was recommended to obtain legislative authority to take Lynde Brook, which was obtained by act of the Legislature in 1861, but quiet brooded over the waters till 1864. In 1863 Hon. Phinehas Ball made an elaborate report. The citizens felt the urgent need of definite action, and on January 18, 1864, the question was submitted to the voters whether water should be introduced into the city from Lynde Brook

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

in the town of Leicester in substanstial accordance with the report of Mr. Ball. It was decided in the affirmative by a vote of 864 yeas to 282 nays.

Work was soon commenced upon reservoir and con- duit pipes, and on November 14, 1864, water was let on for the first time. The city now had a reservoir on Lynde Brook of the capacity of 228,000,000 gallons, the height of the dam being at first twenty-seven feet from the bed of the brook. The debt of the city by reason of the extraordinary expenses of the war and introduction of water, was in 1865 nearly $425,000. Mayor Blake suggested and encouraged the necessary measures and expenditures required by the growth of the city and demands of the future. With the intro- duction of water came the necessity for the adoption of a system of sewerage. Mayor Blake recommended it in 1866, regarding it " the foremost and most im- portant of any matter which can come before us." Legislation was obtained, and in 1867 work began on a portion of the great central sewer in Mill Brook and some lateral sewers, which was prosecuted in subse- quent years.

POLITICAL ACTIVITY AND INFLUENCE .- No period in the history of our nation since the Revolution has approached in the magnitude of the issues to be determined the years from 1848 to 1865. Political questions were dignified into the loftiest moral issues. The grandest fearlessness of political action was the result of the deepest convictions of the human soul. " Deep answered unto deep," and heart to heart. Men held freedom dearer than life and partisans became patriots. The stain of political dishonor was cleansed with blood and a nation's life was dearer than one's own.

Worcester had no humble part in this grand awak- ening, this beneficent fusion of the political with the moral forces. She led ; she did not with cautious and hesitating step follow. The first majestic movement was in the Whig National Convention at Philadel- phia, in June, 1848, when Worcester, by the lips of Hon. Charles Allen, made the momentous declara- tion : "You have put one ounce too much on the strong back of Northern endurance, you have even presumed that the State which led on the first revo- lution for liberty will now desert that cause for the miserable boon of the Vice-Presidency. Sir, Massa- chusetts will spurn the bribe. We declare the Whig party of the Union this day dissolved."

These words met with an emphatic response in Worcester, and when, on June 21st, after the return of Mr. Allen from the convention, a meeting was held to receive him, presided over by our honored Albert Tolman, its members, its enthusiasm and its earnest- ness left no doubt as to Worcester's endorsement of his action. One of the resolutions adopted at that meeting defined with a clearness of expression and an intensity of spirit rarely equalled the lofty attitude of Worcester's loyalty : "Resolved, That Massachusetts wears no chains and spurns all bribes ; that Massa-

chusetts goes now and will ever go for free soil and free men, for free lips and a free press, for a free land and a free world."

Worcester was fitly chosen as the place for holding the People's Convention of Massachusetts on June 28, 1848, of which Samuel Hoar, of Concord, a name ever honored, was president, and at which Charles Allen, Charles Sumner, Henry Wilson, Joshua R. Giddings and others made addresses, and who were received by the five thousand freemen there gathered with unbounded enthusiasm.

The Worcester Spy, then under the management of John Milton Earle, was an unmistakable factor of great power in the grand advance that stopped only with Appomattox. On July 5, 1848, in referring to the convention, it said: "They have spoken a voice not to be mistaken and taken a stand never to be receded from till the last battle is fought and the victory won for Liberty and Right." In another article, by a dif- ferent writer, Worcester's connection with the origin of the Free Soil party is fully considered. It is my purpose simply to refer to it. But I content myself with quoting the words of Senator Hoar in his pro- found and eloquent address at the celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of the naming of Worces- ter with reference to this subject. He says : "But as surely as Faneuil Hall was the cradle of American Independence so surely was Worcester the cradle of the later revolution."

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 132

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