History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 74

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 74

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Signed and sealed in the presence of

JOHN WONSOON, his O mark, JOIN ACQUITTHUS, his _ mark, GEORGE TAHANTO, bis O mark, JOHN GUILD.

L'ETER PUCKATAUGH, his P mark, JONATHAN WILDER,

MARY AUNSOCAMOG, her O mark,

This deed bears the date of 1701; but it seems that the purchase was not considered complete in 1711 ; for it is said in another document, executed in that year, that considerable money had been paid to George Tahanto for the purchase of said lands, though not yet consummated. We may understand that part of the money ivas not dne until the "General Court " should approve the possession to Lancaster.

The next public action in regard to the "New Grant" was at a town-meeting held in Lancaster, February 5, 1711. By vote of this meeting the inhabit- ants of Lancaster secured the right to join in the purchase of this Indian land by subscribing to the following contract :

Know all men by these presents that we, ye subscribers, being de- sirous to joine in ye purchasing of a tract of land which lyeth on the west side of the township of Lancaster, which lands have been formerly petitioned for to the General Court which the Inhabitants of said Lan- caster are still in pursuance of, and their petition is now with ye Court for granting the same, and considerable money hath already been paid to George Tahanto and other Indians towards the purchasing of said land, though not as yet consumated. Wee, the subscribers, do hereby bind ourselves, our heirs, executors and administrators firmly by these presents each ono his and theire equall share of the purchase of said land and of all charges that have or shall be necesseirely expended about the same; and to run equall hazard of obtaining ye said land,

Provided that if the said land be obtained we shall have each one an equall share of it, considered as to quantity and quality ; and the whole of the money to be paid unto such person of the town as shall be ap- pointed by them to receive the same : at or before yo fifth day of March next; and shall subscribe hereto at or before the 15th day of February current : or else to lay no claim to the said land.

Dated February ye fifth, 1710-11.

Some of ye persons subscribed yo same day ; and others had their Dames entered afterwards, the whole being ninety-eight that were the purchasers of said land.

It is to be noticed that in this document the peti- tion for the "new grant" is referred to as being with "the General Court ; " but it appears from the records of the confirmation, and would seem evident, also, from the fact that Thomas Wilder and John Hough- ton were appointed to manage this petition, that the "General Court" had hastened very slowly in the matter. The survey was not made till November, and the confirmation nearly three years later.

Upon the petition of the inhabitants of Lancaster, the General Court appointed a committee to survey the land and report. This report was received May 27, 1713, and was as follows :

In Concil :- The report of the Committee upon the surveys of land prayed for by Lancaster, Nov. 21 and 22, 1711.

Whereas, we, the subscribers, viz., Jonathan Prescott, John Farns- worth and Samuel Jones, are a committee appointed to view a tract of land, petitioned for by the lohabitants of Lancaster, and to make re- port to the General Court for their consideration, we have accordingly been upon the spot the days above dated and proceeded thereupon as follows :- Imprimis. We began at the proper bounds of the Lancaster plantation, and thence ran our line upon a Northwest point or there- abouts, along by the Southwest side of Manhapange and Unkachen- alwick Ponds, extending said line three miles ; from thence we made an angle running near upon a S. W. point, crossing a river called the North River, and so running over hills called Monnoosuck Ilills, said line being about six miles in length, till it meets with the middle branch of Lancaster river, at or near a little hill on which the Indians had marked a tree for a corner of said land, being near five miles wide. At the southward end bounded partly by Capt. Davenport's farm, to the S. W. corner of Lancaster Old bounds. The land included within these bounds is rocky and mountainous and very poorly accommodated with meadow.

JONATHAN PRESCOTT. JOHN FARNSWORTH. SAMUEL JONES.

This action is endorsed upon the report :

Read and ordered that the tract of land above discribed be added and confirmed to the town of Lancaster as part of the township, not prejudic- ing any former grants.

Concorred by the Representatives,

JOSEPH DUDLEY. Consented to, ISAAC ADDINGTON, Sec'ry.

From the foregoing records it appears that while Leominster was a part of Lancaster from 1713 to 1740, the connection was only nominal. The land was owned by certain of the inhabitants, who as proprie- tors laid out and disposed of it as they saw fit, and no doubt from the first proposed to make it a separate town. More than this, there were no settlements there earlier than 1725, and so soon as such settlements were numerous enough to make a community, a movement was started to divide from Lancaster.

Mr. Wilder says that the Beamans, the Sawyers, the Houghtons, the Osgoods, the Carters, the Joslins, the Whites, the Whitcombs and the Wilders were the principal proprietors. Not many, if any, of the

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ninety-eight who purchased the land, however, settled any part of this territory. It was taken by their children and others. But the occupation was slow and late. It appears that when the southwestern half of the grant was so far settled as to ask to be in- corporated as the town of Sterling, in 1733, there were scarcely more than five families in that part which finally became Leominster. The first beginnings of this settlement are described in the following quota- tion :

" In 1725, Gershom Houghton and James Boutel] ventured a few miles farther north than Sterling, and erected houses in what is now the south and south- westerly part of Leominster. Seven years afterwards Jonathan White fixed himself in the north part. And in two years more Thomas Wilder and Nathaniel Carter became permanent settlers. And soon after- wards settlements were commenced in different parts of the northern half of the grant (for it is yet all Lan- caster) by Benjamin Whitcomb, Jonathan Wilson, Jonathan Carter, William Divoll, Gardner Wilder, Ebenezer Polley, Oliver Carter, Josiah Carter, Thomas Houghton, Thomas Davenport and others." This would bring the record to 1734. It is evident that the new movement was now fairly inaugurated and sure of success, and that the number of settlers increased rapidly ; for the people within three years-1737- conceived the idea that they could well manage their own affairs, and were able to maintain a godly minister. Mr. Wilder declares that these early set- tlers were just the men to conduct the new enterprise with success,- intelligent, clear-hcaded farmers; men of resolute purpose and with a definite policy. To this no one will enter any objection who is at all acquainted with the work which they accomplished. They may have been less brilliant than others, as the Hon. C. H. Merriam suggests, but they evidently ; or third growth takes it place. Many parts of this had what was and is far better : a very liberal endow- ment of muscle, honesty, brains and common sense.

After three years of effort the new town of Leo- minster was incorporated July 4, 1740. It included territory equal to sixteen thousand six hundred and two acres, or about twenty-six square miles. Not- withstanding the statement of the committee, "that the land was mountenous and meadows few," the northern half of the " new grant " was "a goodly terri- tory and well worth possessing." Its meadows may not be broad, but they are fertile ; its mountains existed only in the wearied imaginations of these surveyors, as they dragged their chain along the borders of the " new grant" in the chilly air of November, 1711. To the better-rested eye of the early settlers these same mountains subsided into hills, rich and strong of soil to their very summits. To-day they stand out so gracefully against the sky as to seem the very embodi- ment of strength and beauty, making Leominster a delight to all who know her.

A general description of the surface and soil of the newly incorporated town is not necessary. It is

enough for the purpose of this sketch to say that it proved a tract well adapted to tillage and grazing; attractive as a home and offering sufficient induce- ments for manufacturing and business.

The area of the town remained as at first until the year 1838, when by an act of the Legislature some 2,000 acres of what is called No Town were added. No Town was a tract of unincorporated land which was located between Leominster, Westminster and Princeton. It is supposed that it was in part, or all, granted to the town of Sudbury as a return for losses in the Indian Wars, as the "new grant" had been ceded to Lancaster. This conjecture is aided by the fact that the few who did settle here came from the town of Sudbury, and that others of that town, who were not settlers, owned land here. If the ter- ritory was granted in consequence of loss and suffer- ing for Indian depredations, the general character of the tract would indicate that the receivers were not materially enriched by the grant. The whole sec- tion is extremely rocky, the surface being thickly covered with boulders, dropped here by the glaciers of the past, and the greater part of the tract unfit for cultivation. Excellent pastures are found, however, in some parts of No Town, and, indeed, the whole tract seems better adapted to grazing than for tillage. There is here and there much good soil, but the rocks make it too difficult of cultivation and too hard to reach to make farming profitable. This whole sec- tion is excellent wood-land and this, no doubt, would be the most profitable crop to raise. The first growth of oak, birch, ash and maple, with a liberal supply of pine, hemlock and chestnut, which half a century ago covered these rough acres, wooded so heavily those swamps and turned the whole into a dense forest, have disappeared, and a strong second

tract could in this way be made profitable, which are good neither for pasturage nor cultivation.

There are, in No Town, two prominent and inter- esting hills,-Bald Hill in the centre, on whose sides are many acres of pasturage, most of it of excellent quality ; and Crow Hill, which is nearer the West- minster line and which is not good for pasturage. This last hill is, however, exceedingly picturesque, with its abrupt sides and almost perpendicular cliffs. It may be that the surveyors of the "new grant " wandered away to climb its toilsome sides, and in the resulting weariness reported to the " General Court" that Leominster was a mountainous country. In this section are found the head-waters of several brooks whose waters are nsed in manufacturing, and a part of the land is covered by the Leominster reservoir, the reserved force of some of the mills of this busy town.

Several early settlements were made in this sec- tion. Robert Legate built a house on Bald Hill, and a few years ago-possibly still-many apple trees of ! his planting remained about the place. In the east-

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ern part, near the Leominster line, Silas Parmenter had a farm, and Elijah Rice settled near Rocky Pond. There were also three houses built on the north side of Bald Hill, which were still standing within the memory of this generation, although it is not possible to ascertain who were the original own- ers. The last occupants were Joseph Palmer, one Munjoy and Peter Parmenter. At an early date sev- eral log-houses were built in different parts of this traet, some of which remained till within a few years.

With the addition of this tract, Leominster re- ceived all her territory. The matter stands a little out of the order of time, but wholly in the order of subjects. Returning for a moment to 1740, we have the town ready for its civil and ecclesiastical life. It could, in the nature of the ease, have no long period of early history, and it took its Indian know. ledge from tradition rather than experience. No1 can its history hold much remembrance of the kings ; for the great Revolution was only a quarter of a century away, aud the Colonies were fast acquiring the knowledge and discipline which made it a sue- cess, when Leominster was incorporated. It was, as we shall see, only in the last of these great ante- Revolutionary struggles that she could bear a part. But if the early history is brief, it is honorable.

CHAPTER CLV.

LEOMINSTER-(Continued.)

ECCLESIASTICAL.

THE FIRST PARISH, NOW THE FIRST CONGREGA- TIONAL (UNITARIAN) PARISH .- The early religious affairs of Leominster, so far at least as the First Par- ish is concerned, are very fully stated by Hon. David Wilder and others. Free use of this material is made in the present sketch.

Poverty is sure to be the first harvest gathered by the men and women who settle any new country. The early inhabitants of Leominster found no excep- tion, in their favor, to this law. They were poor, but did not suffer their poverty to plead against an early and liberal provision for the educational and reli- gious wants of the community. So important, in- deed, in those early days, did the moral and religious training of the people seem, that by the act of ineor- poration the town was required to erect a suitable meeting-house and maintain a godly minister. There was no needless delay in this matter. The town was incorporated June 23 (old style), 1740, and within the year, as the following record shows, this matter was considered, and in. the expressive language of the time it was decided that "God's Tabernacle should be ereeted here."

At a town meeting (the third after the incorpora- tion of the town) held at the house of Benjamin

Whitcomb, "Inholder within said Town, on Mon- day, ye fifteenth day of December, Annoque Domini 1740," of which meeting Thomas Davenport was moderator, the records show the following business : " First. Voted, that they would build a Meeting- House in the year forty-one. Second. l'oted to build ye Meeting-House fifty feet in length, and forty feet in bredtlı, & twenty-three feet in hight."

Land now included within the limits of the "new cemetery " was presented to the town by Ebenezer Wilder as a site for this building; but the people preferred a different location, and the first church was erected on land purchased of Ebenezer Hough- ton, in the northwest corner of the old burying- ground. The committee to see that the work be done were Jonathan White, Joseph Wheelock and Nathaniel Carter. The frame was raised the follow- ing summer ; presumably, all appeared to help under the following vote: "That the committee should have a Carpenter to hew and Frame said House, allowing all the Inhabitants a liberty to work his proportion if he come to work when he is notified by said committee, and shall be allowed six shillings a day, and three shillings a day for a yooke of oxen, and they are to begin work the last of March next."

To this early and emphatic action, Leominster may owe mueh of that peace at home and honor abroad which have marked her history.

The following description of this old First Church by Mr. Wilder is of decided interest :

"This house answered the purpose for the humble Christians of those times ; but the people of the present time (1850) would not think it a suitable place in which to worship God in publie. It was rough-boarded on the outside, with but few or no glass windows, and within only a loose floor and movable seats. For several years there were no pews and the outside was not finished and painted until 1753. But it served the purpose for which it had been erected. Not only did our forefathers statedly meet in that house for public worship and for the transaction of their parochial business, but the common town- meetings were also held in it for one-third of a century. And then, viz., in October, 1775, it was sold at public auction and purchased by the Baptist Society in Harvard, taken down and carried to 'Still River' and for a long period was the place of worship of that society. But some years ago, when they were about to build a larger house the old one was moved across the way and fitted up for a parson- age house."

Of course we shall be wholly unable to appreciate the sacrifice necessary to build even this rude structure unless we can put ourselves in the place of these early settlers. We must, in imagination, visit their homes, realize how they lived and dressed and worked, feel, so far as we may, the difficulties and priva- tions of their pioneer life; call to mind the danger of the wilderness, the cold welcome of the climate,

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the heavy labor and slow return, where a forest must be cut, the ground cleared and the soil broken before the seed can be planted or the first harvest be gathered, if we would realize what such a structure cost its builders. Taking all this into consideration, we are forced to concede, that it must have been an heroic company-men and women who had fed their resolution on principle-who gathered in this rude building, with little light and no heat, of a Sabbath, when, in 1742, the town voted to have preaching in this new church. In such places we are to look for New England and the beginnings of a nation.

Still this people, so poor, but resolute, were not wholly without the luxuries of a well-appointed mod- ern church, for we read : "That they heard several candidates before settling Mr. John Rogers." We are further informed that the action which resulted in the call of Mr. Rogers was "according to the advice of the neighboring ministers." It is pleasant to notice that "advice" is no new invention and to reflect that an individual, a church or a town can enjoy all its advantages even in the wilderness. So Mr. Rogers was called, and Mr. Wilder notes that he was a lineal descendant of the martyr of that name. Of this there is no reasonable doubt, still the fact is not fully established. This is the succession as given by Mr. Slebbins in his discourse. "He was a son of Rev. John Rogers, of Boxford, who was a son of Jeremiah Rogers, of Salem, who was the grandson, as is supposed, of Nathaniel Rogers, of Ipswich,-of this last there is only traditional proof,-who came from England in 1636, and who was the second son of John Rogers of Dedham, England, who was the son of one of the ten children of John, the martyr." Those who are curious to see the full record are referred to the notes appended to the above discourse.

Mr. Rogers was installed by a council of the neighboring churches and ministers, September 14, 1743 (O. S). On the same day a church of sixteen male members was constituted. We are unable to Jearn whether any women were admitted to this early church or not. Possibly, as the women could not vote in town affairs, and might not be enrolled for war, it was supposed that they would neither miss the way to heaven nor be of service in the church militant. At all events, their names, if any be- longed, do not appear.

The salary of Rev. Mr. Rogers was fixed at forty- five pounds a year, which was to be increased to fifty-five pounds, when the town should contain sixty families. He was also entitled to a deed of the minister's lot of forty acres. This lot is said to have been located near the " old poor farm," although Mr. Rogers never actually lived there. It is clear, how- ever, that the men of those times did not consider it necessary to have the minister's lot as near the church as the minister's pew was to the pulpit.

As an example of what the covenants of that day werc, and as evidence of the earnest character of the

people, the covenant of this First Church is given in full, with the names of those who signed it :

COVENANT .- Being persuaded that we are now called of God to come into the state of a Gospel ('hurch, we do it, therefore, freely, in a solemn and religious manner, reflecting on our own unworthiness, admiring the mercy and coudescension of God and trusting in his promised grace. Accordingly, in the presence of God and mau, we make these solemo declarations respecting our faith and practice.

Declaring our hearty belief of the Christian religion comprised in the Holy Scriptures, we firmly promise that (studying and meditating in the word of God day and night) we will thereunto habitually conform our lives.

We dedicate ourselves to the Lord Jehovah (to the Father, Son & Holy Spirit) and take him for our eteroal portion. We give up ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, the Head of the Church, as our Prophet, Priest & King.

We promise constantly and in an exemplary manner to observe all the duties of the Moral Law, to live soberly, righteously and piously, keeping consciences void of offence towards God aud man. We resolve to walk together as becomes a church of our Lord Jesus ('brist in the faith and order of the Gospel, according to the best light we can obtain, diligently attending the public worship of God, the sacraments of the New Testament and all his sacred institutions, watching over one an- other in meekness and tenderness.

We promise likewise, if any children shall be committed to our care, to educate them in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

We promise to be sincerely and regularly concerned for our neighbor's welfare, both temporal aud spiritual, to do no injury, to give no offence, but to do what in us lies to promote the happiness of all (with whom we shall be concerned) in every respect, and not to confine this caution and benevolence to our friends, but to exteod them even to our enemies.

More particularly, we promise inviolably to practice all relative duties both to superiors, inferiors aud equals, to show them all that honor, love, condescension and beneficence which shall be due from us. We promise never to revenge any injury we may suppose ourselves to have received of our neighbors. We will never promote or countenance any obscenity or impurity by word or deed. We will never wrong our neighbors' worldly estate, but endeavor to advance it, conscientiously obeerving the rules of justness and honesty, and, as far as we shall be able, make full reparation of any injuries which we may have done. Moreover, we solemnly promise that we will never allow ourselves in the practice of calumny or slander, but will strictly regard such Christian rules as these. (Titus 3, 2) Speak evil of no man, (James 4, 11) Speak not evil one of another, (2 Cor. 12, 20) lest there be strifes, backbitings, whisperings ; and will exercise that charity which covereth the multitude of faults, and thinketh no evil. And in all our affairs whatever we will relig- iously avoid (as well as prudently discourage) indiscreet anger, couten- tion and a selfish and party spirit. And, in sum, we solemnoly engage that we will invariably seek the public weal, and govern ourselves by the peaceful, charitable aud generous principles of our holy religion, fixedly adhering to that most reasonable precept of our Blessed Lord and Pattern, " Whatsoever ye would that meu should do to you, do ye even the same unto them."

Anon, now sensible of our own corruption and weakness and of the power and vigilance of our spiritual enemies, we implore and trust in the grace of God, through Jesus Christ, to preserve us from dissimula- tion and instability, with reference to these our sacred vows and resolu- tions, to which, in the presence and fear of our all seeing Judge, we subscribe our uames.

Joha Rogers, Thos Houghton, Benj. Whitcomb, Nathaniel Carter, Simon Butler,

Jona. White, Oliver Carter, Ebenezer Polly, James Boutell,

Gardner Wilder,

Thomas Wilder, Jos. Wheelock,

Ephraim Stoue, David Johnson, Thomas White, Phillip Sweetser.

The tree thus planted yielded, for some years, only pleasant fruit. Pastor and people dwelt together in harmony, prosecuting, no doubt, with zeal and suc- cess the legitimate work of a Christian Church. But in time there began to be discontent, whisperings of error, the gathering of the people in groups, of a Sunday, to discuss the sayings and doings of the

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pastor, until, some fourteen years after its organiza- tion, this feeble church was in the midst of what is known as the Rogers Controversy. It was a matter of the greatest importance, in the thought of the men and women of that day, but is remembered now chiefly as another example of the folly, on the one hand, of a premature discussion of religious themes, and on the other, of attempting to make all men think and believe alike. The history of this once famous controversy may be briefly stated. Mr. Rogers had, in the course of his studies, come to an honest change of views upon many of the important questions embodied iu the covenant of the church. On the other hand, the men to whom he ministered had little time to consider such matters. They were accustomed to a certain familiar sound in the truth which they heard; a form of words it may be, and the life they lived precluded close thought. Under these circumstances it would seem that Mr. Rogers gave utterance to his new views with more clearness than discretion, and the people rebelled. They were not prepared. In time many did come to believe exactly as he did ; but it could not be done in a day. The result was that matters reached such a point that a council was called, July 26, 1757, to meet and con- sider the case. Mr. Rogers was accused, before this council, of not believing in the divinity of Christ, in the doctrine of original sin and of being mixed on question of conversion. Of the general truth of these charges there is now, as there was then, probably, no doubt, except that he seems to have held very clear, although unusual, ideas of conversion ; at least for that time. The finding of the council was against Mr. Rogers, but his opponents were advised to wait for three months in the hope that he would modify his views-a course to which the council strongly urged him. If no improvement was noticed, the council was to be called together at the end of that time. Of course there was no change. The parties had already taken sides; Mr. Rogers had, wisely or unwisely, refused to be a party to this council ; his opponents already had the sanction of the neighboring churches ; both parties were fully convinced that they were doing battle for essential righteousness. Why should a change be expected ?

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 74

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