History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 3

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 3

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Here lies ye body of Garner Maynard, sou of Mr. Elisha and Mrs. Huldah Maynard, who died Apr. ye 14th 1745, aeg. 11 months and 11 days.

And on the foot-stone:

This is ye first body that in this burying-ground doth lie.

From this time forward the relations of the North and South Precincts were largely distinct save in town business.

September 16, 1751, Dr. Zachariah Harvey, Ed- ward Newton and others, living in the extreme nortli- western part of the precinct, at what was known as the "Shrewsbury Leg," and near the present village of Oakdale, in West Boylston, petitioned the Shrews- bury North Precinct that the meeting-house might be moved more into the centre of the precinct, or else that they might be allowed to draw their proportional part of the money granted for precinct and preach- ing purposes from the treasury, so that they might have preaching by themselves, at least during the winter season. The precinct refused to grant the re- quest, but voted " that the portion of the North Pre- cinct lying between the Quinnepoxet and Lancaster Rivers might become a separate town, district or par- ish by themselves."

October 9th of the same year Bartholomew Par- sons, Mephibosheth Bixby, Daniel Wheelock, Jona- than Foster, Reuben Moore, Daniel Bixby, Josiah Cutting, Zachariah Eager, Daniel Allen, John Par- sons, Edward Newton, William Whitney, Ezekiel Newton, Samuel Newton and Dr. Zachariah Harvey renewed the petition, alleging that the distance from the meeting-house was so great as to render their at- tendance upon divine worship inconvenient. At this time the precinct granted the sum of six pounds to pay the rates of the petitioners. This same year the town of Shrewsbury voted to allow those living on the north side of the Quinnepoxet River, and be- tween the towns of Holden and Lancaster, to be set

off and annexed to Lancaster. The annexation, however, did not take place until 1768.

Dr. Zachariah Harvey, named in this connection, seems to have been the most prominent resident in that section of the Shrewsbury North Precinct. In 1758 he gave, by deed, to the inhabitants of "Shrews- bury Leg " a lot of land for a burying-place and a school-house lot, and soon after removed into what is now Princeton, where he was the first practicing phy- sician ; and, upon the incorporation of the district of Princeton, was chosen moderator, clerk, selectman, assessor and agent to the General Court. The " Har- vey " apple, well known in this section many years ago, was introduced by him.

By an act of the General Court, passed September 18, 1762, Bezaleel Howe, Josiali Bennett, Levi Moore, Daniel Albert, Frederick Albert, Edmund Larkin, Jonathan Goodenow, Mathias Larkin and Zebulon Rice, with their lands bounding by a line beginning at the northeast corner of the Shrewsbury North Precinct, thence running to the Nashua River on the north side of the house of Daniel Albert, and so on the river to the precinct line at Aaron Sawyer's (now Sawyer's Mills Village), were set off from Lancaster and annexed to the Shrewsbury North Precinct. April 25, 1774, the precinct voted to receive William Dunsmore and others, with their lands, from the First Precinct in Lancaster. About this time the in- habitants of the Shrewsbury North Precinct renewed their original intentions of forming a separate town organization, and at a precinct meeting held January 13, 1772, an article was inserted in the warrant calling the meeting, on the petition of Dea. Jona- than Keyes and others, " to see whether the inhabit- ants would take the proper and necessary measures to have the precinct, and such of the inhabitants of Laucaster as might be accommodated, erected into a district, and this passed in the negative." At the precinct meeting held April 25, 1774, the matter of separation was again brought before the precinct, when " they signified by vote their minds to be set off from Shrewsbury as a separate town," and a com- mittee, consisting of Capt. Joseph Bigelow, Jr., Lieut. Jotham Bush, Benjamin Fisk, Ezra Beaman and Thomas Andrews, was chosen to present a petition to the selectmen of Shrewsbury for the above pur- pose, and to see if the town would grant their desire. This, it is supposed, the town refused to do, and in the impending political crisis of the Revolution which followed, all thought of an immediate separa- tion from the parent town seems to have been laid aside. In 1780 Aaron Sawyer, Nathaniel Lamson, Frederick Albert, Silas Howe, John Dunsmore, Jacob Winn, Hugh Moore, Nathaniel Hastings, Oliver Sawyer, Silas Hastings, Samuel Bigsby, Micah Harthan, Joseph Sawyer, Ezra Beaman, Edmund Larkin, Levi Moore, Josiah Bennett, William Duns- more, John Glazier, Phinehas Howe, Elijah Ball, Robert Andrews, Jr., and Nathaniel Davenport,

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BOYLSTON.

some of whom resided within the limits of Lancaster, and the others had lands there, petitioned the town of Lancaster that they might be set off and annexed to Shrewsbury. Some of them had already been joined to the Shrewsbury North Precinct, although in Lancaster, for town purposes. This request the town granted June 23, 1780. The line of division was the present north line of Boylston.

March 28, 1785, the precinct again voted to take measures to become a separate town, and a commit- tee, consisting of Lieutenant Jonas Temple, Captain Joseph Bigelow and Ephraim Beaman, was chosen to again petition the town of Shrewsbury. This time they were successful, and, at a town-meeting held May 9, 1785, a joint committee from the two parishes was chosen " to perambulate the line and renew the boundaries between the precincts, as also to settle all matters relating to a separation of Parishes," etc., and Colonel Job Cushing. Captain Jonah Howe and Major Asa Rice were chosen on the part of the South Precinct, and Lieutenant Jonas Temple, Captain Joseph Bigelow and Major Ezra Beaman were chosen on the part of the North Precinct. At a subsequent meeting, held January 2, 1786, it was voted to set off the North Precinct as a separate town ; and on the 1st day of March, 1786, the town of Boylston was incorporated. It received its name in honor of an eminent family of Boston and Roxbury, two of whom were skillful physicians in succession, and another founded the chair of rhetoric and oratory in Harvard University. This family, through Ward Nicholas Boylston, Esq., of Princeton, gave to the two churches a large pulpit Bible, communion cup and bell, and in 1799 the sum of forty pounds sterling, directing the town to keep it on interest until it should amount to a sum sufficient to erect some public building for the use of the town. In Jannary, 1827, he died, and in his last will he directed that the sum of three hun- dred dollars should be added to that already given, and that the present Town Hall should be built, which was completed in 1830. The first town-meet- ing was held March 13, 1786, and these officers were chosen : Moderator, Lieutenant Ephraim Beaman ; Town Clerk, Lieutenant Aaron Sawyer; Selectmen, Major Ezra Beaman, Liutenant Jonas Temple, Lieu- tenant Timothy Whitney, Captain Jonathan Fassett, John Hastings ; Assessors, Ephraim Beaman, Jonas Temple, Edmund Stiles; Town Treasurer, Captain Joseph Bigelow.

June 14, 1796, the westerly part of the town, with certain other lands, taken from the towns of Sterling and Holden, were set off and incorporated as the Second Precinct in Boylston, Sterling and Holden. Two years previous, in 1794, Major Ezra Beaman and twenty-seven others, living in this portion of the town, had presented a petition to the town, asking its con- sent that they might be set off and incorporated, either as a town, district or society. This petition the town had refused to grant, and application had

been made to the General Court, which resulted in their incorporation as a precinct. By the terms of the act of incorporation, those persons residing within the territory embraced within the limits of the Second Precinct, who should signify, in writing, to the clerk of the Second Precinct, within' six months from the passage of the act, their choice to remain within the First Precincts of the respective towns from which the new precinct was composed, should thereafter be considered as members of said First Precincts. Among those from Boylston to avail themselves of the terms of the act of incorporation was Lieutenant Jonas Temple, who had been most prominently identified with the affairs of Shrewsbury North Parish, and thus far with the affairs of the town of Boylston, while most prominent among the seceding portion were Major Ezra Beaman and Captain Joseph Bigelow, Jr., both of whom had been very active in the affairs of the town and church. The new precinct had already erected their meeting-house three miles westward from the centre of the town, where the old church now stands on West Boylston Common. From this time forward the church and parochial affairs of the two sections of the town became separate and dis- tinct

The parish affairs of the old precinct were sepa- rated from the affairs of the town, and vested in the First Precinct in Boylston, which organized Septem- ber 5, 1796, with the following officers : Moderator, Captain Robert Andrews ; Precinct Clerk, Lieutenant Aaron Sawyer; Precinct Committee, Dr. Samuel Brigham, Deacon Levi Moore, Lieutenant Aaron Sawyer ; Assessors, Captain James Longley, Lieu- tenant Jacob Hinds, Jonathan Fassett, Jr. ; Treas- urer, Captain Robert Andrews; Collector, Major Jotham Bush, and were so continned separate from the affairs of the town until the incorporation of the Second Precinct into the town of West Boylston, in 1808, when the parish affairs were again vested in the town, and so continued until 1823, when the organi- zation of the parish was revived. That Boylston was in as prosperous condition at this time as most of the other towns of the period may be seen from the fol- lowing extract, taken from the " History of Worcester County," published in 1793 by Rev. Peter Whitney, of Northborough. This reverend author says, "It may be styled a rich town, for they are not only clear of debt, but have several hundred pounds in their treasury. There are sure indications of wealth and prosperity among them. Here are some large and good farmers as perhaps anywhere in the country, who keep large stocks of cattle. The people raise all kinds of country produce, especially beef, pork and grain, butter and cheese ; vastly more than they consume, and carry more into the market, perhaps, than any town of its size and numbers." Previous to 1808 it is said that not less than three thousand bushels of rye, with not less than the same quantities of corn and oats, were produced; and during the

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

winter seasons the farmers carried large quantities of rye meal to Boston, for which they received $1.25 per bushel. Large quantities of cider were annually made, and at this time there were not less than thirty cider-mills in the town.

The division of the town into parishes did not, how- ever, restore the harmony expected, and much oppo- sition was continually manifested between the two sections of the town until 1807, when a petition, signed by Ezra Beaman, Jonathan Plympton, Paul Goodale and William Fairbank, as agents in behalf of the parish in Boylston, Holden and Sterling, was presented to the General Court, asking that body that "they might be incorporated into a District by some proper name and vested with all the powers and priv- ileges which by law appertained and belonged to dis- tricts." This petition was received by the General Court January 23, 1807, and referred to the commit- tee on towns, who thereupon reported an order that the petitioners serve the towns interested in the pro- posed district with a copy of the petition and order at least fifty days before the first Tuesday of the first session of the next General Court, which date was as- signed as the time for the hearing of the petition and any remonstrances that might be brought against it. In reply thereto, Captains James Longley and Robert Andrews and Aaron White, Esq., appeared as agents on the part of the town of Boylston, and protested against the prayer of the petition, provided the pro- posed district was to be annexed to the town of Boyls- ton. Another remonstrance against annexation was also presented to the Legislature by Jonas Temple and sixty-one others. Some time afterwards the agents of the town and precinct met and signed articles of agreement, the first of which was that "the precinct might be incorporated into a town," and January 30, 1808, an act passed the General Court to that effect, and the Second Precinct of Boylston, Holden and Sterling became a town by the name of West Boylston.

The history of the town of Boylston during the first century of its existence was, like that of most country towns of its size and situation, quiet and uneventful. As a part of Shrewsbury it took an earnest and active part in the events of the Revolution, and, with the ex- ception of a very few, its inhabitants were ardent patriots and well-wishers for the independence of the colonies ; and the North Precinct of Shrewsbury sent its full quota of soldiers into the Continental ser- vice. The town of Boylston was well represented in the War of 1812, and on its town records are spread some able memorials and papers relating to national affairs for the period between 1790 and 1812. It sent eighty soldiers into the War of the Rebellion, which was a surplus of one over all demands made upon it, one of whom was a commissioned officer. The first recorded action of the town relating to the war was taken April 29, 1861, when it was voted that "whereas the President has called upon the loyal States for

men to defend the integrity of the Union, therefore, it was the duty of all good citizens, forgetting all past differences, to rally and unite as one man to sustain the government and put down rebellion." A commit- tee consisting of Captain Lambert Lamson, A. W. Andrews, and David T. Moore were chosen to consider the matter of providing uniforms for all persons in the town who should volunteer to form a military company, and that each volunteer should be fur- nished with a Colt's revolver and bowie-knife and be paid one dollar a day by the town while in the United States service and one dollar for every half-day spent in drilling previous to being mustered into service. It was also voted to raise the sum of two thousand dollars to carry above objects into effect. July 28, 1862, the town voted to pay a bounty of one hundred and five dollars to each volunteer who should enlist before the 5th of August to fill the quota of the town. August 25, 1862, this bounty was increased to one hundred and twenty-five dollars. August 15, 1864, the town fixed the sum of one hundred and twenty- five dollars as the bounty to be paid each volunteer enlisting to the credit of the town. The amount of money expended by the town for war purposes, ex- clusive of State aid, was ten thousand six hundred and fifty-seven dollars. The amount of money paid for State aid during the war to soldiers' families, and repaid by the Commonwealth, was $6520.46.

At the annual town-meeting in March, 1886, the town voted to celebrate the one hundredth anniver- sary of its incorporation, and a sum of money was appropriated to carry this vote into effect. At a special meeting in month of April following the proper committees were chosen to carry out the pro- posed centennial gathering. The 18th of August was selected as the date. The day proved unusually pleas- ant and the features of the celebration were most successfully carried out. Very many of the residences in the town were elaborately and appropriately deco- rated and it was estimated that nearly five thousand people were present. A salute of one hundred guus was fired by Battery "B," Light Artillery, Massachu- setts Volunteer Militia, under Captain Fred. W. Wel- lington. The music was furnished by the Worcester Brass Band. The address was given by Henry M. Smith, Esq., of Worcester, Mass., a son-in-law of Rev. Wm. H. Sanford, a former pastor of the Boylston Church, and the poem was read by Hon. William N. Davenport, of Marlborough, a native of the town. Hons. Phinehas Ball and Charles B. Pratt, both ex- mayors of Worcester and natives of the town, were respectively president and chief marshal of the day. An interesting feature of the occasion was the presen- tation of a tablet erected in the town hall to the memory of the soldiers who fell in the War of the Rebellion by George A. Cotting, Esq., of Hudson, a former citizen of the town. This tablet is of Italian marble and bears the following inscription in gilt letters :

895

BOYLSTON.

THIS TABLET,

erected on the Ooe Hundredth Anniversary of Boylston, by George A. Cutting, is in commemoration of the valor of its citizens who died in the great civil war of ISGI, to preserve the unity of our country.

John R. Roberts, private, Co. K, 2d Regt. Mass. Vols ; killed at battle of Cedar Mountain, Va., Aug. 9, 1862 ; æ. 25 years. He was the first soldier enlisted from Boylston.

Elliot J. Flagg, private, Co. I, 4th Regt. N. Y. Vols. ; killed at battle of Antietam, MId., Sept. 17, 1862 ; æ. 23 years.

James H. Wilson, private, Co. I, 21st Regt. Mass. Vols ; died of wounds at Fredericksburg, Va., Dec. 15, 1862 ; æ. 28 years.

Albert Hastings, private, Co. E, 21st Regt. Mass. Vols. ; died at Camp Nelson, Ky., April 12, 1864 ; æ. 24 years.

Jolın W. Partridge, private, Co. D, 25th Regt. Mass. Vols. ; died at Andersonville, Ga., May, 1864 ; æ. 29 years.

George W. Brewer, corporal, Co. D, 25th Regt. Mass. Vols. ; killed at Cold Ilarbor, Va., June 3, 1864 ; æ. 23 years.

Watson Wilson, private, Co. I, 36th Regt. Mass Vols; died of wounds at Washington, D. C., June 28, 1864 ; æ. 22 years.

Juban 31. Forbes, sergeant, Co. C, 34th Regt. Mass. Vols .; died at Salisbury, N. C., Sept. 27, 1864 ; æ. 25 years.

Ferdinand Andrews, corporal, Co. D, 25th Regt. Mass. Vols. ; died at Boylston, Mass., Nov. 26, 1864 ; æe. 25 years,

George C. Flagg, private, Co. F, Mass, Vols. ; in Mexican War ; at U. S. Hospital Barracks, New Orleans July 26, 1848 ; æ. 24 years.

AUGUST 18, 1886.

CHAPTER CXX.

BOYLSTON -- (Continued.)

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.

THE church was gathered on the 6th day of Octo- ber, 1743, Rev. Mr. Cushing and the church in Shrewsbury assisting, in obedience to a request from Deacon John Keyes and twelve others. The precinct made choice of Mr. Ebenezer Morse to settle over them in the Gospel ministry. They agreed to give him £400 (old tenor) settlement and £160 (old tenor) annual salary, for the first two years, and £5 (old tenor) additional every year until his salary should reach £180 (old tenor), provided that Mr. Morse should, when so desired, give to the precinct a quit- claim of the ministerial lands that were in the North precinct.

These terms were not satisfactory to Mr. Morse, and at another meeting it was voted to increase his salary £10 per year for the first two years till it be- came £200 (old tenor) a year, and so to be higher or lower, as the price of provisions should rise or fall; allowing, at that time, wheat to be twenty shillings per bushel, rye fifteen shillings, Indian corn ten shil- lings, oats six shillings in the North Precinct of Shrewsbury, and pork eighteen pence per pound and beef eleven pence per pound in Boston.

These terms were accepted by Mr. Morse, and he was ordained on the 26th day of October, 1743. It is said that at the time of the ordination the meeting- house was in an unfinished condition and had neither pulpit nor pew, nor floor laid, and neither windows nor doors.

Rev. Mr. Morse's connections with the people ap- pear to have been harmonious until the beginning of

the Revolutionary period, when he and a few of his friends became royalists, and they were called to an account by the town of Shrewsbury, disarmed and forbidden to leave the limits of the precinct. This so excited the indignation of his parish, the majority of whom were patriots, that a meeting was called, early in the year 1771, to take into consideration the difficulties existing between them. At this meeting they voted, by a division of thirty-seven yeas to twelve nays, that the pastoral relations should be dissolved, and a committee, consisting of Daniel Whitney, Nathaniel Davenport, Jonas Temple, Fred- erick Albert and Silas Howe, were chosen to inform Rev. Mr. Morse that he was dismissed, and take mea- sures to see that he did not enter the pulpit again as their minister.

The matters between pastor and people remained in an unsettled condition for some time longer, until finally the church voted to call an ecclesiastical council, which assembled and advised the precinct to reconsider their former vote dismissing Rev. Mr. Morse, which was done, and then, after a protracted sitting, dissolved the pastoral relations. Rev. Mr. Morse remained in the town, occasionally preaching to a few of his friends, until his death, January 3, 1802, at the age of eighty-three years and nine months. He was a native of Medfield, and was a son of Hon. Joshua Morse. He graduated at Harvard College, 1737. Soon after his settlement here he married Persis, daughter of John Bush, with whom he lived thirty-three years. He was a man of unusual ability, and, previous to his settlement, had studied law, with a view of entering that profession. He afterwards studied medicine and practiced that profession in connection with his ministerial work and after his dismis ion. He also fitted many students for college ; among the number was the late Rev. Dr. Thaddeus Harris, of Dorchester, Mass.

After the dismission of Rev. Dr. Morse the church remained without a pastor a little more than a year, when a call was extended to Mr. Jesse Reed to settle with them. This call he declined, and, although urged to become their pastor, remained firm in his decision. In the following October the church in- vited Mr. Eleazer Fairbanks to become their min- ister, and he was ordained March 27, 1777.

The council met on the 26th of March, and that day was spent in hearing Rev. Dr. Morse's objections to his settlement, which were overruled, and he was ordained on the following day. His salary and settle- ment were the same as had been offered to Mr. Reed, viz .: £66 13s. 4d. salary, and £133 6s. 8d. settle- ment. His salary was afterwards increased to £70, and his settlement £180. Just previous to his settle- ment the church voted to dispense with the Half-way Covenant, so-called, and during his ministry important changes were made in the manner of conducting church music. During this time also the North Pre- cinct of Shrewsbury was incorporated into the town

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HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

of Boylston; and the erection of a new meeting- house was undertaken, the location of which was the subject of a great controversy; several committees were chosen, both from this town and the neighbor- ing towns. The town was surveyed to find the centre or in some way to fix upon a spot that would be satis- tory, but without success. Finally, upon the recom- mendation of a committee consisting of Nathaniel Longley, Esq., of Bolton, General John Whiting, of Lancaster, and Abraham Monroe, of Northborough, the location where the Centre School now stands was selected, and the meeting-house was completed in 1793, and the present Common purchased of the heirs of Eleazer Taylor and Colonel Jotham Bush. In December, 1792, Rev. Mr. Fairbanks asked his dismission, which the church refused to grant, but afterwards consented, and he was dismissed April 23, 1793, after a pastorate of over sixteen years. He was born in Preston, Conn .; graduated at Brown Univer- sity in 1775; he married Sarah, daughter of Deacon Amariah Bigelow, and after his dismission removed to Wilmington, Vt., and then to Palmyra, N. Y., where he died in 1821.

November 1, 1793, the church voted to invite Mr. Hezekiah Hooper, of Bridgewater, to settle over them according to the Cambridge Platform. This call was concurred in by the town and accepted by Mr. Hooper. In the month of February previous to his ordination the church observed a day of fasting and prayer, and, in accordance with the usual practice of the times, invited several of the neighboring clergy- men to unite with them and assist on the occasion. Rev. Drs. Reuben Puffer, of Berlin, Joseph Sumner, of Shrewsbury, Nathaniel Thayer, of Lancaster, Reu- ben Holcomb, of Sterling, and Rev. Peter Whitney, of Northborough, were present. They convened Feb- ruary 6, 1794, and were met by Rev. Mr. Morse, and an attempt was made to adjust the difficulties between him and the church. It was a delicate and difficult affair, and whatever may have been the result of the council, it is certain that the matter was not fully settled until some time after the ordination of Rev. Mr. Hooper. At the same time important changes were made in the church covenant, and the practice of receiving members on the Half-way Covenant, so- called, was renewed, which practice continued for more than twenty years afterwards.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 3

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