History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 8

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 8

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In an earlier part of this narrative lists of persons who have held the prominent town offices have been given to show who among the inhabitants of the town were conspicnous in their day and generation. That this may be further shown, it will be proper to insert in this record the names of those who have at

Charles Smith.

Daniel Tenney. Thomas T. Walker. Elijah Ward.

914

HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

various periods represented the town in the General Court. The first General Court of Massachusetts, after the adoption of the Constitution, was held in what is now called the old State House, on State Street, in Boston, on Wednesday, October 25, 1780. The writer has no record of the Representatives from Upton prior to 1786, but the following list covers the period from that date to 1889, inelusive :

Ezra Wood .. 1786

None. 1823

None 1787

None 1824

Thomas Marshal Baker 1788

None 1825

None 1789

None 1826

None. 1790

None 1827

None 1791

Ezra Wood.

1828

George L. Gibbs, of Northbridge. 1869

Adams Fisk, of Upton 1870

Davis P. Gray, of Northbridge. 1871

William Knowlton, of Upton 1872

Emery A. Howard, of Northbridge .. 1873

Nahum B. Hall, of Upten. 1874

Cyrus F. Baker, of Northbridge 1875

Wesley L. Fisk, of Upton .. 1876

Under the apportionment of 1876, based on the census of 1875, Mendon, Milford and Upton eonsti- tuted the Second Worcester District, and were repre- sented until the next apportionment as follows :

William H. Cook, of Milford 1877

Angustus S. Tuttle, of Milford 1877

William II. Cook, of Milford 1878

Charles A. Davis, of Uptoo. 1878

Homer W. Darling, of Mendon 1879

Ezra Wood, Jr .. 1810

None .. 1845

Isaac N. Crosby, ot Milford 1879

Isaac N. Crosby, of Milford 1880

Benjamin A. Jourdan, of Upton 1880

Silas W. Hall, of Milferd 1887

Charles W. Wilcox, of Milford.

1881

Silas W. Ilall, of Milford.

1882

Ezra Wood, Jr. 1816

Ezra Wood, Jr 1817

None 1818

Velorous Taft 1853

None 1819

Gilbert Lincoln. 1854

Ezra Wood, Jr 1820

Velorous Taft 1855

None

1821

Elijah W. Wood, 1856

Ezra Wood, Jr. 1822

Henry D. Johnson, 1857

On the 1st of May, 1857, the twenty-first artiele of amendment of the Constitution, which had been adopted by the General Court of the years 1856 and 1857, was ratified by the people. That amendment provided that a census of the legal voters of each eity and town on the 1st of May shall be taken and re- turned to the Secretary of the Commonwealth on or before the last day of June in the year 1857 ; and a eensus of the inhabitants and legal voters of each city and town in 1865 and every tenth year thereafter. It further provided that the House of Representatives should consist of two hundred and forty members, which shall be apportioned by the Legislature to the several counties, which counties should be divided into Representative districts by the county commis- sioners, except in Suffolk County, where the division should be made by the mayor and alderman of the city of Boston. Under the apportionment made in 1857, Northbridge and Upton constituted the Eigh- teenth Worcester Distriet, and were represented until the next apportionment as follows :

Henry D. Johnson, of Upton 1858

Charles P. Whitin, of Northbridge .. 1859

Ilenry D. Johnson, of Upton. 1860

Joshua W. Moise, of Northbridge 1861

llenry Shaw, of Upton. 1862

William Kendall, of Northbridge. 1863

George S. Ball, of Upton 1864

Samuel J. Fletcher, of Northbridge 1865

Arba T. Wood, of Upton. 1866

Under the apportionment of 1866, based on the een- sus of 1865, Northbridge and Upton constituted the Nineteenth Worcester District, and were represented until the next apportionment as follows :

Jonathan C. Taylor, of Northbridge 1867

William Knowlton, of Uptoo. 1868

None 1792

None 1829

Ezra Wood 1793

Ezra Weed 1830

None

1794

Eli Warren. 1831

Ezra Wood 1795

Elisha Fisk 1832

None. 1796

Ezra Wood 1833

None. 1797

None .. 1834

Jonathan Batcheller,

1708

Benjamin Wood 1835

None 183G

None 1837

William Legg 1838

William Legg. 1839

Elijah Warren 1839

Nahum W. Holbrook 1840

Elijah Warren 1840

Ezra Wood, Jr. 1806

Nahum W. Holbrook 1841

Ezra Wood, Jr 1807

William Legg 1842

Ezra Wood, Jr 1808

William Legg 1843

Ezra Wood, Jr. 1809

None. 1844

Ezra Wood, Jr. 1812

None. I847

None

1848

Ezra Wood, Jr

1814

Nalıum W. Holbrook 1849

None 1850

None 1851

John Forbush 1859

Thomas J. Hall, ef Upton.

1883

David M. Richardson, of Mendon

1883

James F. Stratton, of Milford

1884

Daniel Reed, of Milford 1884

James F Stratton, of Milford.

1885

Henry J. Bailey, of Milford 1885

James F. Stratton, of Milford. 1886

Henry E. Fales, of Milford. 1886

Under the apportionment of 1886, based on the eensns of 1885, Northbridge, Upton and Uxbridge constitute the Tenth Worcester District, and have been represented as follows :

Daniel W. Taft, of Uxbridge. 1887

Rowse R. Clarke, of Northbridge ... 1888

Joseph Addison Partridge, of Upton 1889

But there have been other representative men who must not be forgotten, some of whom have passed away and some of whom are now living, reflecting eredit on their native town in the places of their adoption. Among these may be mentioned Hon. George W. Johnson, who was born in Upton October 6, 1832, and became a prominent citizen of Milford, where he died respected by the citizens of his adopted town, and remembered with affection by his old townsmen of Upton as their frequent and liberal benefactor. Samnel Austin Nelson, too, who was born in Upton October 9, 1819, and died in Charles- ton, South Carolina, June 26, 1887, carried with him

Ezra Weed, Jr. 181]

William Legg. 1846

Ezra Wood, Jr. 1813

Ezra Wood, Jr. 1815

Edward S Leland, of Upton

1882

None. 1803

W. Rawson 1804

None 1805

None .. 1799

None. 1800

None, 1801

Elisha Bradish 1802

915

UPTON.

to his distant home the seeds of his New England training, and developed into a successful, large- hearted Christian gentleman, who secured the respect and love of all who were so fortunate as to live within the sphere of his influence. Hon. Henry Chapin,1 of Worcester, was born in Upton May 13, 1811, and died in Worcester October 13, 1878.

Nor must Colonel Elijah Stoddard be overlooked in this narrative, who, with the exception of a temporary residence at the South, where he had formed business connections, was a life-long citizen of Upton, and filled a large space in its social and business life. Though more than once he was a member of the Board of Selectmen, he never sought office, and only accepted it under the urgent pressure of bis fellow- citizens. Colonel Stoddard was descended from An- thony Stoddard, who appeared in Boston in 1639. Through John, Daniel and Samuel came Jeremiah, the son of Samuel, who lived in Hingham and mar- ried Rebecca Bates, of Bellingham. Jeremiah Stod- dard had a son Ezekiel, also of Hingham, who mar- ried Lucy Forrestall. Both Jeremiah, the father, and Ezekiel, the son, were soldiers in the Revolution. Jeremiah Stoddard removed to Milford, and his son Ezekiel in early life removed to Upton, where he bought a farm and carried on the business of a farmer until his death. His children, all born in Upton, were Elijah, the subject of this sketch, born in 1785; Lucy, who married Daniel Forbes; Polly, who mar- ried Asa Wood ; Lyman, who married Effa Colburn; Lucretia, who married a Moors; Electa, who married William Hale, of Fairhaven ; Hartford, who married Sarah Taft ; Rebecca, who married Merrill Ruggles ; and Ezekiel Bates, who married Sarah Starkweather. Colonel Stoddard married, in 1809, Zilpha, daughter of Isaac and Hannah (Fisk) Nelson, and Isaac Nelson, the father of his wife, as well as his own father, was a soldier in the Revolution. His children were Ann Maria, born in 1810, who married Charles H. Batch- eller, of Grafton, and Lemuel Torrey, of Wey- mouth ; Isaac Nelson (1812), of whom later mention will be made; Lucy Jane (1815), who married Syl- vanus N. Aldrich, and whose son, Hon. S. N. Aldrich, is at present United States sub-treasurer at Boston ; Lois Nelson (1817), who married Joseph S. Farnum, at one time partner in business with William Knowl- ton; Electa (1819), who died young; Electa Jnlania (1824), who married David Atwood; Elijah Brigham (1826), of whom also later mention will be made; and Janette (1829).

Colonel Stoddard, soon after his marriage, became connected with business operations in Savannah, Georgia, but returned home at the outbreak of the War of 1812, and bought the Farmer farm, in the south part of the town, which he occupied and man- aged about six years. About the year 1820 he re- sumed his business connections at the South, locating

himself in Charleston, where he remained four years. Not long after his return he opened a store, in which he began the business of buying and selling straw braid, which soon developed into the hat and bonnet manufacturing industry. In those days the farmers about Upton brought their various products to the town stores for sale and exchange, and among these were straw plaits, which their wives and daughters braided from rye straw. These plaits were at first used for trimming purposes, but became, finally, the seed from which the large straw hat and bonnet husi- ness of Worcester County has grown. Colonel Stod- dard and the firm of Fisk & Bradish were among the pioneers in this branch of industry. For a time Colonel Stoddard was a partner with William Knowl- ton, under the name of Stoddard & Knowlton, but after the removal of Mr. Knowlton to West Upton, he carried on the business alone for some years, and finally retired to his new farm on the Mendon Road, not far from the Common, where he died in 1865. He was a man of indomitable energy, of uncompro- mising integity, and at his death was a considerable owner of real estate, the management of which divided his time with the usual routine occupations of the farm.

Isaac Nelson Stoddard, the oldest son of Colonel Stoddard, was brought up in the schools of his native town, and at the early age of fifteen years taught a school in Medford. He was born, as above stated, October 29, 1812, and graduated at Amherst in 1832, having during his college career taught school in Mendon, Upton and Holliston. After leaving college he taught a classical school in Medway, and in 1833 became teacher of the High School in Plymouth. In 1835 he went to New Bedford to teach, remaining there until 1837, when he returned to Plymouth and resumed his old situation, which he continued to oc- cupy with success until 1841. The writer of this sketch was fitted by him for Harvard in 1838, and among his scholars at various times were Judge Charles G. Davis, William G. Russell, Esq., of Bos- ton, and the late Thomas Drew, at one time a resident in Worcester.

In 1841 Mr. Stoddard was appointed by Harrison collector of the port of Plymouth, and held office until 1845, in which year he was appointed cashier of the Plymouth Bank as the successor of Nathaniel Goodwin, and succeeded to the presidency of the Ply- mouth National Bank in 1879. He married, in 1836, Martha Le Baron, daughter of the late Hon. John B. Thomas, for many years clerk of the courts for Plym- outh County, and has a large family of children and grandchildren, one of his sons, Charles B. Stod- dard, being the cashier of the bank of which he (Isaac N. Stoddard) is president, and William S. Morrissey, the husband of one of his daughters, being the cashier of the Old Colony National Bank in the same town. Mr. Stoddard has been successful as a business man, and in the various trusts confided to

1 See Chapter II.

916

HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

him he has always held the confidence and esteem of the community in which he has passed more than fifty years of his life.

Of his brother, Elijah Brigham Stoddard, it will be perhaps superfluous to speak, as the chapter on the Bench and Bar of Worcester County contains a sketch of his career. The writer will content himself with stating that he was born in Upton in June, 1826, and graduated at Brown University in 1847. He was ad- mitted to the bar in 1849, and settled in Worcester, where he married Mary, daughter of Hon. Isaac Davis. Mr. Stoddard has held many offices, having been a member of the House and Senate in the General Court, a member of the Executive Council, a member of the staff of the Governor, and mayor of his adopted city. He has been a director in the Providence and Worcester Railroad Company, and now holds the offices of secretary of the Mechanics' and Farmers' Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and of president of the Quinsigamond National Bank, both in Worcester.

In closing this history of the town of Upton there is little to add. The schools of the town are in a satisfactory condition and in the hands of a committee devoted to their interests. During the year 1887-88 the sum of $4840.62 was expended for their support. The other expenditures of the town for the same year were: For principal and interest of the town debt, $5803.75 ; for roads and bridges, $1993.59; sup- port of poor, $2256.79; Fire Department, consisting of an engine and a hook-and-ladder company, with their apparatus, $352.59 ; town library, $250; town officers, $750.54; State tax, $1102.50; county tax, $655 ; State aid, $270; military aid, $288 ; and sundries, $1243.88.

The town has no water works, but William Know]- ton & Sons, of West Upton, are liberally supplied with water and apparatus, affording abundant means of protection to their own and surrounding property in that village.

The business of the town, aside from the straw in- dustry and the farming industry, includes a machine- shop, conducted by A. H. Chapman ; a jewelry store, kept by J. M. N. Barrett ; general and retail stores, conducted by C. H. Bull, C. S. Temple, T. B. Hawes, H. L. Patrick, C. A. Wood, E. A. Willard, H. C. Child and Mrs. A. A. Wood; and a drug-store man- aged by Stephen B. Fisk.

According to the census of 1885 the following schedule shows the agricultural product of the town :

Dairy products

$32,314

Poultry ..

8,619

Wood products.

20,074

Cereals,

3,459

Fruits

5,220

Hay, straw and fodder.

29,507

Meats and game.

5,075

Vegetables

10,133

Domestic animals (value)

40,109

Animal products ..

8,811

Food products.

1,852

Green-house products

585

Hot-house products. 270

Liquors and beverages. 1,392

Other products 200

$167,628

The population of the town in 1885 was 2265, showing an increase from 1880 of 242, and at the same date its valuation was $880,247. Though the increase in population and wealth has been small, and the general business of the town hax somewhat de- clined, there is reason to hope and believe that with the advent of a railroad, and the consequent facilities for reaching a market for products, the prosperity of the town will be secured.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

IION. WILLIAM KNOWLTON.

In the lives of active and prominent citizens of our New England towns may be found much that is very instructive and inspiring to the present generation, inasmuch as they generally achieve their positions and fairly win their honors. Hon. William Knowlton, long identified with the business interests of Upton and one of the most active business men of southern Worcester County, was born June 29, A.D. 1809, at Boston. As a boy be was susceptible of deep and last- ing impressions. For, although so young, he had a deep reverence for the late Dr. Lowell, of the West Church at Boston, where his parents worshipped. Perhaps that impression might have come in part from the deep reverence in which the doctor was held by his parents, but he retained it to the last. His parents for some reason moved to Hopkinton, Mass. There were then three sons and one daughter, William being the youngest. Somehow the family were in reduced circumstances. The father died, leaving these chil- dren to the care of the devoted mother. Each one was called to help keep the wolf from the door of this fatherless household, and William, though small and not more than ten or eleven years old, was put into the family of Mr. John Holmes, of Hopkinton, who died a half-century ago. While here as a boy he made a deep impression upon the whole family ; his intelligence and fidelity won their hearts. While living here, his two older brothers, then quite young men, were drowned together in what is now called Echo Lake, Hopkinton. His mother was so lonely after the death of his brothers she took her youngest son, William, home. She lived then in Hayden row, Hopkinton. But his energy and his mother's needs and wisdom soon apprenticed him to the late James Bowker as a farmer and cooper. He carried on a small farm, bought the staves and hoop-poles stand- ing, and went himself with his help or apprentices into the woods to cut and split them for the casks he made. Here he remained until he was twenty years of age; then, honorably, he bought the remaining

Man Knowlton

917

UPTON.

year's time of his apprenticeship and went to Adams' Corner, in Northbridge, where he learned to bottom shoes. His sojourn here lasted about one year, when we find him in Upton, in the employ of the late Asa Wood. His energy and faithfulness made a most favorable impression upon all with whom he had to do, but the work was too confining and hard. His health failed, and he went to recruit at the home of his sister, who had married the late Daniel J. Coburn, then of Hopkinton, afterward of Boston, and at one time sheriff of Suffolk County, and who died at his home in Malden a few years ago. It became evident to his physician that he must have a more active, out- door life, and after recruiting at his sister's some time, he entered the employ of Lyman Stoddard, in Upton Centre, in the year 1832. Mr. Stoddard kept a coun- try store, and in connection therewith bought and sold domestic straw braids. Here he was in the open air a large part of the time, as he traveled to purchase the braids, though in the intervals of such employ- ment took his place in the store. He apparently re- gained his health completely. While thus employed he impressed the late Col. Elijah Stoddard as the man he wanted. He proposed a copartnership. There was no building open in which the new firm could operate. They at once set about building a store, Mr. Knowlton going into the woods with Col. Stoddard to cut and hew the timber for it. In 1833 the firm of Stoddard & Knowlton was in it. It was a country store in Upton Centre, and in connection with it they bought domestic straw braids and also manufactured these into straw honnets. This year, on the 1st of January, Mr. Knowlton married Miss Caroline Taft, and they began housekeeping over the store occupied by the new firm. This partnership lasted until 1836, when Mr. Knowlton moved to West Upton and formed a copartnership with Capt. William Legg, doing a general manufacturing business of ladies' goods in foreign and domestic braids. Mr. Legg before many years withdrew from the firm, and the late Joseph Farnum, of Worcester, took his place. Mr. Farnum withdrew after one year and Mr. Knowlton continued the business alone. Under his talents and energy it grew into a large business. In the mean time his own sons had grown up, and were from time to time ad- mitted to the firm, and under the name of William Knowlton & Sons the business has been most pros- perous and successful. Mr. Knowlton leaves four sons and one daughter. Some years ago the family were saddened by the sudden death of a beautiful daughter in the bloom of womanhood and usefulness, and his wife has only preceded him a few months into the invisible land.

As a man of great public spirit he has held the town office of selectman, but found himself earlier in life too absorbed in business to yield to the desire of his townsmen to give him office. But, as a Republi- can, he has been a liberal member of that party, and represented later in his life his district in the State

Legislature, as a member of the House in 1868 and 1872, and in the Senate in 1878 and 1879. In 1880 he was a delegate to the Republican National Convention at Chicago, where he became a strong supporter of James A. Garfield. His interest in education was most marked. He early saw a need of higher educa- tion in agriculture, and as a member of the State Board he did what he could to promote it. When the Agricultural College started he was deeply interested in its success, and became a patron and trustee of it, giving to it most liberally of his means; and as a member of its executive board, rendered it in its time of need most valuable services. He also has been a liberal donor to the Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science at Worcester, and gave some five hundred dollars to the town library of Upton. As a charter member of the First National Bank at Mil- ford, he was from its start made a director, and at his . death was the last original survivor of that board. As a townsman he was always interested in the welfare of the town, and his liberality has been felt in all its de- partments. His most marked traits of character were untiring energy and perseverance. It built up and firmly established a business that has become immense, even against the obstacles of want of capital at first, and frequent and severe losses, but when defeat came that would have crushed one with less power and energy his faith never faltered. His word was as good as his bond in business transactions. In the year 1857 he lost largely but paid his debts at maturity. Soon after this, at the breaking out of the war in 1861, came another commercial panic. But amid his great losses he met all his obligation- except those of four of his largest New York creditors, who, seeing his burdens, advised him to make a small compromise, but in a few years he paid them in full, dollar for dol- lar. Thus, honest and true, he has reared a noble monument of sterling character and a successful busi- ness enterprise. His own opportunity for an educa- tion was exceedingly limited, but his mind was quick to learn in the school of life. His business ability was somewhat remarkable. He would often decide almost instantly in great transactions involving thou- sands of dollars, and seldom make a mistake. Such a man, of course, was a man of vast executive power. He could, in his best days, conduct his manufactory, run his farm and keep his many work:nen feeling the ubiquitous power of his master-mind. As he pros- pered in business he grew in benevolence. He never forgot his early poverty, and hence was most generous to the poor. In later years he has not sought to in- crease his estate so much as to distribute to the poor and to help the indigent, but in all so modest and re- ticent in his gifts as to hardly let his left hand know what his right gave. His patriotism through the war and since has prompted him to help- the disabled soldiers and the families of such whenever he felt they could be aided by his gifts. Rarely are riches given to one more broad and generous. In his affec-

018

HISTORY OF WORCESTER COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

tions he was very strong. He never forsook or forgot a friend. The simplicity of his character grew in beauty and attraction as he grew old. He loved little children and they loved him. He rarely passed one without a smile and such a gentle, winning recogni- tion that the little one was drawn to him. And this simplicity expressed itself in a reverence that made him a constant attendant at church, and in earlier days a worker in the Sunday-school. Never a secta- rian, he worshipped with those with whom he hap- pened to be. He, however, loved the Unitarian faith, and gave freely to promote its interests. Identified from the first with the Unitarian Society here, a few years ago he built a church at West Upton and gave its use to the society for purposes of worship, and fol- lowed it with interest as long as he lived. In his family, as a tender husband, father and grandfather, his character shone out with all its ripe beauty. When terrible suffering and pain came he bore it most patiently and with humble submission to God's will, and tenderly and gratefully, even when he could not speak, by his eye and smile recognized the blessed ministry of his own loved.

He passed to his rest Sunday, July 18, 1886, at the age of seventy-seven. Then his active life closed,- dust to dust, ashes to ashes,-nature claims her own alway, yet he lives in what he accomplished, in his acts of beneficence, in the hearts of the poor who bless his name, in the affections of his family, in the memory of little children who loved him and of his fellow-townsmen and friends, and in the mansions of the Father's house on high. .

REV, BENJAMIN WOOD.I

Benjamin Wood was born in Lebanon, N. H., September 15, 1772. He was the youngest but one of twelve children, seven of whom were sous ; of these, three became ministers of the Gospel,-Samuel, the eldest, known as Dr. Wood, of Boscawen, N. H .; Benjamin, and Luther, the youngest of the family.

Benjamin fitted for college with his brother Samuel, and entered Dartmouth at the age of sixteen. He graduated in 1793, commenced the study of theology with Samuel, completing his preparation for the ministry with Dr Nathaniel Emmons, a noted divine of Franklin, Mass.

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History of Worcester County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 8

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