USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > History of Worcester, Massachusetts, from its earliest settlement to September, 1836 : with various notices relating to the history of Worcester County > Part 18
USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > History of Worcester, Massachusetts, from its earliest settlement to September, 1836 : with various notices relating to the history of Worcester County > Part 18
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41
Abraham Lincoln, Levi Lincoln, and Edward D. Bangs, were elected delegates to the convention which was convened in 1820, for the amendment of the state constitution. Of the articles adopted by this body, November 15, 1820, and submitted to the people, nine were approved and adopted, April 9, 1821. The inhabitants of Worcester refused to ratify the 5th article, relating to the organiza- tion of the council and senate, providing that every town, having a population of 1200, should be entitled to one representative, and
159
CONSTITUTION. DOCT. THOMAS.
1831.]
establishing 1200 as the ratio of increased representation : and the 10th, concerning the rights and privileges of Harvard College. 1
The amendment numbered as the 10th in the Revised Statutes, changing the commencement of the political year from the last Wednesday of May, to the first Wednesday of January, adopted by the legislatures of 1829-30, and 1830-31, was accepted by the peo- ple, May 11, 1831. The votes here were, 146 for, 11 against.
The amendment numbered as 11 in the volume referred to, mod- ifying and altering the third article of the bill of rights, having passed the legislatures of 1832, 1833, was accepted by the citizens, Nov. 11, 1833. Two hundred and forty six votes were given by the inhabitants of Worcester in the affirmative ; fifty five in the negative.
By his last will, Doct. Isaiah Thomas, devised to the town of Wor- cester, a lot of land on Thomas street, on the conditions, 'that the town should erect, within three years from the testator's decease, a Charity House, and pay annually to the overseers of the poor, twen- ty dollars, to be appropriated towards providing for poor persons who might be there maintained, on thanksgiving days, a good and liber- al dinner suitable for the occasion, and to furnish on that day, half a pint of common but good wine for each person, or a reasonable quantity of such other liquors as any of them might prefer, that they might have the means of participating with their more affluent neighbors in some of the essential good things of life bestowed by a bountiful Providence, and be enabled to unite in grateful orisons for the peace and felicity of our country.' If the whole sum should not be required for the kind purpose indicated by the donor, the residue was to be expended in the purchase of books for the chil- dren of poor parents, or otherwise appropriated at the discretion of the trustees. The inhabitants, having already provided, at great ex- pense, ample accommodations for the indigent, although duly ap- preciating the benevolent intentions of the testator, were compelled to decline the acceptance of the benefaction, Nov. 14, 1831, on the condition imposed of erecting new buildings.
1 The votes of the town on the several amendments were as follows :
Arl.
Yeas.
Nays.
Art.
Yeas.
Nays.
1
106
99
8
19t
12
2
161
41
9
161
41
3
177
34
10
61
140
4
155
46
11
16t
41
5
64
139
19
166
37
6
118
39
13
166
37
7
133
70
14
156
46
160
SEPARATION OF HOLDEN. [1722.
The donation by the same liberal individual, of a lot, extending 172 feet on the north side of Thomas street, and 169 feet on Sum- mer street, including the ancient burial place, for the erection of a large school house, was accepted, and the condition of the bequest complied with, by the completion of a suitable edifice.
The sum of $ 2500 was granted by the town, April 21, 1830, to be appropriated for the purchase of the site of the Lunatic Hospital, and given to the Commonwealth.
In the narrative of events in the civil and municipal history of the town, notice of the divisions made during the period we have passed, has been reserved for the purpose of collecting the territo- rial changes into a connected view.
The plantation of Quinsigamond, as originally granted and sur- veyed, extended nearly twelve miles from north to south, and six miles from east to west.1 It was designed to include within the boundaries established, the same quantity of land which would have been comprehended in a tract eight miles square. Extreme liberality of admeasurement greatly enlarged the proposed area. In 1684, it was directed, that the whole township should be divided into 480 lots, 200 to be set off adjoining the northern boundary. A line was drawn corresponding with this arrangement, separating the town. The north part of the lots long remained unoccupied. In 1722, a meeting of the owners, holding as tenants in common, was conven- ed by the warrant of Stephen Minot, Esq. and a distinct proprietary erected, called North Worcester. It was determined to make parti- tion of the lands : surveys were commenced in 1724 : tracts were re- served for public uses : and grants to settlers registered. It was provided, that Col. Adam Winthrop, ' for his good services done the town, shall have the first pitch.' The planters, in 1730, were ex-
2 As stated on the original plan, the north and south lines were 1920 rods each : the east line 3815 : the west 3760. The Rev. Mr. Whitney, History of Worcester County, 25, says, ' Worcester is part of a tract of land called by the aborigines, Quinsigamond: which territory was esteemed by them to bound, easterly partly on Quinsigamond pond and partly on Hassanamisco, now Grafton : southerly, on the Nipnet or Nipmug country, where Oxford and some adjacent towns now are: westerly on Quaboag, now Brookfield, and lands in that vicinity ; and northerly on Nashawogg, now Lancaster, Sterling, &c.' No evidence now remains to verify the assertion that Worcester was part of this territory. On the contrary, all the memorials which exist at this day, show that the aboriginal name was applied to the waters of the lake and the country immediately adjacent, and that it was borrowed by the committee of settlement, and bestowed upon the plantation, after- wards Worcester. The venerable father of county history was mistaken in Indian geog- raphy, when he limited the Nipmug country to the southern towns. The best authori- ties deelare that its boundaries were much wider.
161
COUNTRY GORE. WARD.
1778.]
empted from town rates in the south part, for seven years, on con- dition of making and maintaining their own highways. The town voted, in 1740, to consent to the incorporation, 'if it be the pleas- ure of the Great and General Court, in consideration of the great distance from the place of public worship.'
An act of the Legislature, giving corporate powers, passed Novem- ber 2, 1740, and North Worcester became a town, by the name of Holden, in honor of the Hon. Samuel Holden, a director of the Bank of England, whose clevated character and beneficent exertions to promote the interests of literature and religion, well merited the to- ken of respectful and grateful recollection. The first town meeting was held, May 4, 1741.
Between Worcester, and that part of Sutton now Grafton, a tract of land intervened, called the Country Gore, beyond the jurisdic- tion of either municipality. The owners and inhabitants of this ter- ritory petitioned to be annexed to Worcester. It was voted, March 3, 1743, ' that the town cheerfully accept of this offer, and pray they be joined to, and for the future be accounted as a part of the town of Worcester, to do duty and enjoy equal privileges with us, if it may be consistent with the wisdom of the Great and General Court to grant their request.' A resolve of Massachusetts, April 5, 1743, united the petitioners and their estates to this town.1
Another accession of inhabitants was gained, June 2, 1758, when James Hart, Thomas Beard, James Wallis, and Jonathan Stone were set off from Leicester.
The slight additions to popniation were more than balanced by another dismemberment. June 23, 1773, a precinct was erected, ex- tending three miles into Worcester, three into Oxford, three into Lei- cester, and one mile and a half into Sutton, measured from the place designated for the new meeting house, along the roads then tray- elled. This district, which was denominated the South Parish of Worcester, was incorporated, April 10, 1778, as the town of Ward, receiving its name from Artemas Ward, Esq. a brave general of the revolution, member of the Council of the Provincial Congress, judge of the County Courts, and representative in Congress. About thirty families were thus separated from Worcester. The boun- daries of the parish and new town were nearly, though not precisely coincident. The act provided, that certain individuals, included by the latter, but not within the limits of the former, might retain
1 The petitioners were, Jolin Barber, Thomas Richardson, Daniel Boyden, Jonas Woodard, Ephraim Curtis, Jabez Tolman, Matthias Rice, Timothy Green.
21
162
PROPOSED DIVISION OF THE COUNTY.
[1785.
their relations to the towns of their original settlement, until it was their pleasure to express, in writing, intention to unite with the new corporation. Ten persons1 by this exception, were permitted to con- tinue their former connections. In 1826, Thaddeus Chapin and ten others petitioned the Legislature to reannex the territory in which their estates were situated to Worcester ; their request was refused : and this town still has citizens exercising rights and subject to du- ties within the lines of Ward.
The erection of a precinct, and the incorporation of a town, were strenuously resisted. Long and earnest remonstrances opposed the proceedings in each stage, and the separation was effected by per- severing efforts, renewed and pressed in successive years.
In 1785, a petition of James Ball and others was presented to the General Court, praying for the erection of a new county, of which Petersham should be the shire town. Hardwick, Barre, Hubbard- ston, Petersham, Templeton, Winchendon, Athol, and Royalston, were to be separated from the county of Worcester, and Warwick, Wendell, New Salem, Shutesbury, the district of Orange, and Green- wich, from Hampshire. Orders of notice were issued, but the prop- osition shared the fate of similar projects to diminish the integrity of our territory.
A memorial of the delegates of Templeton, Barre, Petersham, Athol, Winchendon, Hubbardston, Oakham, Gerry, Gardner, Roy- alston, and Warwick, at the January session of the Legislature in 1798, prayed for the incorporation of those towns into a new county. The people, in April, voted that it was inexpedient to divide Wor- cester into two distinct counties.
At the annual meetings in April, 1828, the question was submit- ted, by the Legislature, to the people of Worcester and Middlesex, shall a new county be formed of the towns of Royalston, Winchen- don, Athol, Templeton, Gardner, Westminster, Ashburnham, Fitch- burg, Leominster, Lunenburg, Princeton, Hubbardston, Philipston, Lancaster, Bolton, and Harvard, from the county of Worcester ; Groton, Shirley, Pepperell, Ashby, and Townsend, from the county of Middlesex, as was prayed for in a petition bearing the name of Ivers Jewett at the head? The decision was in the negative, by a great majority of the voters.
1 Samuel Curtis, Mary Bigelow, William Elder, Daniel Bigelow, John Elder, Jon- athan Fiske, Benjamin Chapin, Eli Chapin, Joseph Clark, Moses Bancroft.
163
ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY.
-
CHAPTER X.
First Parish. First meeting houses. Rev. Andrew Gardner. Difficulties on his dis- mission. Mr. Bourne. Rev. Isaac Burr. Visit of Whitefield. Church Covenant, 1746. Rev. Thaddeus Maccarty. Controversy about church music. Seating the meeting house. Difficulties ending in the separation of the Second Parish. Mr. Story. Rev. Samuel Austin. Church Covenant. Rev. Charles A. Goodrich. Rev. Aretius B. Hull. Rev. Rodney A. Miller. Presbyterian Church, 1719. Rev. Edward Fitzgerald. Rev. William Johnston.
No records of the early days of the church in Worcester have descended to our times. The knowledge possessed in relation to its organization and proceedings, previous to 1722, is derived from tra- dition. Subsequent to that period, some information of the promi- nent events in our ecclesiastical history, may be collected from the votes of the inhabitants concurrent with the acts of the church : for it was the ancient usage of all our towns, before they had been di- vided into parishes, to manage their parochial concerns in the gen- eral meetings.
The committee of grantees, in their covenant with the first plan- ters, provided, that care should be taken to procure a teacher of morality and religion, as soon as might be; and until regular in- struction should be obtained, directed, that the Lord's day should be sanctified, by assembling together for devotional exercises. Liberal grants of land were made for the support of the ministry, and a lot appropriated for the first learned, pious, and orthodox teacher of religion.
Meetings for worship were held at the dwelling houses most con- venient in regard to central situation. Each man repaired to the as- sembly with his gun, and joined in the peaceful exercises as com- pletely armed as if prepared for instant military service.1 Sentinels
1 In 1675, the colony court ordered, ' that every man that comes to meeting on the Lord's day, bring with him his arms, with at least six charges of powder and shot : also, that whosoever shall shoot off a gun, at any game whatsoever, except at an Indian or a wolf, shall forfeit 5s. on such default until further order.'
164
FIRST PARISII. [1719.
were stationed around to give warning of approaching danger. The well known custom of the Indians, whose prowling bands selected the rest of the Sabbath, in many instances, for their murderous inva- sions, rendered vigilance and precaution necessary for safety. Tra- dition relates, that the devotions of the planters were sometimes dis- turbed by alarms of the coming foe. On one occasion, an arrow, directed against the dwelling where they had assembled, entered the loop hole which served for window. The protecting Providence of God averted its point from his servants, and gliding over the congre- gation, it struck deep in the timbers of the opposite wall.
Soon after the last permanent settlement, a church was gathered, and Deacons Daniel Heywood, and Nathaniel Moore, elected its officers.
A plain and rude structure of logs was erected for the public meetings of the inhabitants, in 1717, eastward from the Baptist meet- ing house, at the junction of Franklin and Green streets, and was occupied during a few years for worship.
In 1719, a more spacious and commodious honse was commenced, on the common, near the site of the present edifice.
In the autumn of the same year, the Rev. Andrew Gardner, ordain- ed as the first settled minister of the Gospel, formed that connection with the town, terminating in acrimonious controversy, and embit- tering the harmony of the people of his charge. On his settlement a gratuity of £60 was voted. The amount of salary can only be in- ferred from the fact, that in 1722, taxes of £40, of the then curren- cy, were levied, for the support of public worship in that year. Dif- ficulties between the church and pastor soon arose. Complaints, probably reasonable, were made by him of neglect in the payment of his annual stipend, and of refusal to discharge the grant made on his acceptance of the office. He was accused of remissness in the per- formance of duty, and of too ardent love for the chase of the deer, and the sports of the hunter. The dissatisfaction so much increas- ed, that some, who had united in the invitation to Mr. Gardner, with- drew from attendance on his preaching, and declined contributing to his maintenance. Petitions were presented to the Legislature for direction and relief, but without effect. In September, 1721, an ec- clesiastical council was convened from seven churches : but its result was ineffectual for the settlement of the unhappy differences which existed. Recourse was afterwards had to other advisers, with as lit- tle beneficial influence. New petitions having been presented, a re- solve was passed by the General Court, June 14th, 1722, ' that it be
165
REV. ANDREW GARDNER.
1722.]
earnestly recommended to that council only of the seven churches which did meet at Worcester, in September, 1721, to whom the contending parties submitted their differences, relating to the Rev. Andrew Gardner, that the said council proceed and go to Worcester, on or before the first Wednesday of September next, to finish what is further necessary to be done for the procuring and establishing of peace in the said town, according to the submission of the parties.'
On the 10th of August following, the inhabitants represented, ' that the elders and messengers of the several churches, appointed to meet at Worcester, for deciding the differences in that church, decline going thither by reason of the rupture with the Indians, it being a frontier place : it was therefore recommended that the min- isters meet at Dedham, for the affair aforesaid.'
The council met, pursuant to this direction, and after mature de- liberation, advised that the relations of Mr. Gardner be dissolved, ' his temporal interest being secured,' and on the 31st of October, 1722, he was dismissed from the ministerial office in Worcester. Soon after, a suit at law was instituted by Mr. Gardner, for the arrears of salary. The irritation occasioned by the long controversy was in- creased by this unfriendly act at parting, and a vote was passed, against the remonstrance and protest of many of the elder inliabit- ants, not to allow the grant of sixty pounds formerly bestowed as a gratuity, which he had ' left to the generosity of the town.' An ac- commodation was at length effected by mutual arbitrators.
The Rev. Andrew Gardner was a native of Brookline, Mass. and graduated at Harvard University, 1712. His name is last on the list of the class, in the period when the pupils of the venerable insti- tution at Cambridge were entered on its catalogue according to the honors and station in society of the parents. After his removal from Worcester, he was installed as the first minister of Lunenburg, Mass. May 15, 1728. This connection was as unfortunate in its termina- tion as his earlier engagement. He was dismissed, February 7, 1731-2, 'because,' says the Rev. Mr. Adams, 'he was unworthy.' Mr. Gardner then retired to one of the towns on Connecticut river, where he died at an advanced age. 1
The errors of Mr. Gardner seem to have been more of the head than heart. Eccentricities, resulting from secluded habits, and igno- rance of the ways of the world, united with that independence of spirit regardless of its opinions, diminished his usefulness. Less mindful of clerical dignity than of the exhibition of wit in its practical sports,
1 Whitney's History of Worcester County, 144. 150.
166
FIRST PARISH. [1724.
the strict sense of propriety was sometimes shocked by acts in them- selves innocent. Tradition relates, as illustrative of manner, that he once secretly substituted a large stone for the better food in the pot of a friend who had invited him to dine, and consoled himself for the loss of his dinner, by the gratification of witnessing the aston- ishment created by the appearance of the unusual dish of boiled granite. Whatever imperfections marred his reputation, his benev- olence and charity should be permitted to spread their mantle over his errors. Pecuniary embarrassment sometimes arose from gener- osity that would not hesitate to count cost. An instance of its ex- tent is preserved : A poor parishioner having solicited aid in circum- stances of distress, the clergyman gave away his only pair of shoes for his relief, and as this was done on Saturday, appeared the next day in his stockings, at the desk, to perform the morning service, and, in the evening, officiated in borrowed slippers, a world too wide for his slender members.1
January 6, 1724, an invitation was given to the Rev. Shearjashub Bourne to become the minister of the town, with a settlement of £ 100, and a salary of £ 75 for five years, afterwards to be raised to & 80. Although the offer was declined, he continued to preach for a few months.
This gentleman was the son of Hon. Melatiah Bourne, of Sand- wich, and descended from the first emigrant to that town. He graduated at Harvard College in 1720, and was married to Abigail, the daughter of Rev. Richard Cotton of Sandwich. He was or- dained in Scituate, Mass. Dec. 1724. His health becoming impair- ed by paralytic affections, he was dismissed in 1761. From an in- scription on the head stone over a grave in the east burial place in Roxbury, it appears that he died there, Aug. 14, 1768, aged 69. 2 His character is briefly delineated in the following lines on the time worn monument.
'Cautious himself, he others ne'er deceived, Lived as he taught, and taught as he believed.'
Between the dismission of Mr. Gardner and the settlement of his successor, the Rev. Samuel Jennison, son of Hon. William Jenni- son of Worcester, who died in that part of Sudbury now Wayland, October 14, 1729, aged 29, Mr. Fitzgerald, and Mr. Richardson,
1 Relation of Mr. Daniel Goulding.
: MSS. of Samuel Jennison, Esq. Town Records. 2 Hist. Col. iv. 234.
167
REV. ISAAC BURR.
1725.]
were employed to preach occasionally. The sum of £2. 3s. was paid to them for the services of the sabbath.
On the 24th of August, 1724, the church elected the Rev. Tho- mas White to be their pastor : the town, however, did not concur in the choice, but appointed a committee, ' to address Mr. White for his further assistance in the work of the gospel.' He was afterwards or- dained minister of the first church in Bolton, Conn. Oct. 25, 1725, where he died, Feb. 22, 1763.
Soon after, the Rev. Isaac Burr was engaged to supply the pul- pit, and on the 10th of February, 1725, was invited to assume the sa- cred office, with a settlement of 200 pounds in money, or the value in land, and the annual salary of 80 pounds. The call having been accepted, he was ordained on the 13th of October following. The churches in Hartford, Framingham, Marlborough, Lancaster, Lei- cester, Sudbury, Weston, and Shrewsbury, were requested to render their assistance at the ceremony ; and the sum of ten pounds was ap- propriated for the entertainment of the elders, messengers, and dele- gates attending.
The ministry of Mr. Burr was long, and peaceful, until near its close. The votes in relation to pecuniary supplies, evince the cor- dial regard of his parishioners. The taxes not being regularly paid, it was voted, September 25, 1727, ' That the inhabitants contribute, once a month, on the Lord's day, after divine service, for the sup- port of the minister, until a rate can properly be made; each person to paper up his money, and subscribe his name on the paper ; so that an account may be taken of each person's money, to be allowed on his rate, when made.' The paper currency of the province, having depreciated in the fluctuations which diversify its history, frequent voluntary contributions were made for the minister. In answer to the petition of Mr. Burr, it was voted, October 24, 1732, ' that the town cheerfully grant him & 20, and earnestly desire he would lay the same out in purchasing an addition to his library.' Successive grants of money were made, as is expressed, 'to encourage him.' The salary had been raised to £ 140, in bills of credit. The insta- bility and depreciation of this medium, rendered a more certain standard of compensation necessary. In 1741, the inhabitants voted, ' to make the salary equal to what money was at the time of his set- tlement, having regard to the difference between silver and paper :' 29 shillings of the latter being estimated as equivalent to an ounce of the former.
The celebrated Whitefield, whose splendid eloquence seemed al-
168
VISIT OF WHITEFIELD, [1740.
most the gift of inspiration, controlling the judgment, and swaying the feelings of men at pleasure, went through New England, during his second visit, preaching to congregations gathering, by the acre, beneath the open sky, in numbers no house could contain. On his way to New York, this powerful exhorter arrived in Worcester, Oct. 14, 1740, accompanied by Gov. Belcher, whose mind had been deep- ly impressed by the glowing elocution which had roused thousands. The account of their reception is in Whitefield's continuation of the journal of his evangelical labors.
' 1740. Tuesday, Oct. 14. Got to Marlborough, eight miles from Sudbury, about 4 : preached in the meeting house, to a large con- gregation. At first, my heart was dead, and I had little freedom ; but before I had finished, the word came, with such a demonstration of the spirit, that great numbers were much melted down. When I came into the meeting house, I turned about, and, to my surprise, found Gov. Belcher there. He was affected, and though it rained, and he was much advanced in years, yet he went with us as far as Worcester, 15 miles from Marlborongh, whither we got about 8, at night. Here we were kindly entertained, at the house of Col. Chan- dler. We spent the remainder of the evening very agreeably, with the governor, and after prayer, retired to rest. Oh, that I may ap- prove myself a disciple of that master, who, while tabernacling here on earth, had not where to lay his head.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.