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 2
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 2
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2. We find, that there is a grant of one thousand acres to the ministry of Malden, May the 7th, 1662, which grant is laid out in this place. This farm contains a choice tract of land, and swallows up about one hundred acres of the aforesaid meadow; but the con- dition of the grant, as the record will declare, is, that it be improv- ed, within three years after the grant, for the ends wherefore it was granted; but that being not done; for it is now above six years since, and no improvement made ; we apprehend, the grant is void : but yet, if the Court please to renew it, in any other place, we speak not to oppose it : but, if it be continued and confirmed in this place, it will utterly hinder the settling of a plantation here.
3. There is another grant of land, unto Ensign Noyes, deceas- ed, laid out in this place, containing two hundred fifty acres of choice land, with a considerable quantity of meadow, lying in the heart of this place ; and by him was sold to one Ephraim Curtis, a young man living in Sudbury. We desire that the Court will please to make void this grant ; being not laid out regularly for quantity or quality, as we conceive, and it will very much prejudice this town. The person concerned may have his land in another place, bordering upon this town, where there is sufficient to accommo- date it, and also may have a lot in this town, if he desire it.
4. Whereas, the Court, in their grant of this town, hath reserv- ed two or three hundred acres of land, with a proportion of meadow, to be laid out for the Commonwealth ; if it please the Court, because of the straitness for meadow, to abate that reservation, so far as concerns meadow, it will greatly encourage the work.
If the honored Court please to remove these obstructions, we
6
PLAN OF SETTLEMENT.
[1669.
hope it will not be long before this place be settled in a good way, for the honor of God and the public good.
The Committee, in their journey, having discovered two other pla- ces beyond this to the westward, that will make two or three towns, the one place called Pamaquesset, lying upon the head of Chequa- bee River, the other place called Swquakeag,1 upon Connecticut River nearer to Boston than Hadley, we desire the Court will please to order that these places be reserved to make towns, the better to strengthen those inland parts, and the laying out of particular grants prohibited in the said places.'
Daniel Henchman, Daniel Gookin,
Richard Beers, Thomas Prentice.
The reservation to the public in the meadow was released, but the petition, in relation to the private grants, was refused.
The progress of the Committee of settlement in the discharge of their duties was, necessarily, slow, and, for a long time, their efforts were defeated by calamitous circumstances. Their first meeting was held in Cambridge, July 6th, 1669, when a plan was formed for the projected plantation. The foundation principles and rules they matured are entered on their original book of records, in the hand writing of the venerable Gookin, and indicate the wisdom and fore- cast of their authors. It was proposed, that the territory, including the whole of Worcester and Holden, and a large part of Ward, should first be divided into ninety twenty five acre house lots, and, in the apportionment of these to the settlers, 'respect should be had to the quality, estate, usefulness, and other considerations of the per- son and family to whom they were granted :' that the most conve- nient place, nearest the middle of the town, should be set apart and improved for placing the meeting house, for the worship of God : a convenient lot of fifty acres for the first minister, should be laid out as near to it as might be : another lot, in the next convenient place, not far from thenee, for the ministry that should succeed in all future times : that twenty acres should be reserved, near the cen- tre, for a training field, and to build a school house upon : that a lot, of twenty five acres, should be appropriated for the maintenance of a school and school master, to remain for that use forever : and that two hundred and fifty acres, should be for the use of the country. Provision was made for the equal apportionment of common charges upon the proprietors of lots, for erecting mills, opening and repair- ing ways, and for the equitable division of the remaining lands.2
1 Northfield.
2 Proprietors' Records. 3.
. 1674.]
PETITION OF PLANTERS.
Subsequent events prevented the practical effects of these regula- tions from being felt in the affairs of the inhabitants, except in the example and aid they might have afforded to those who directed their prudential concerns in more prosperous days.
The exertions of the Committee to procure settlement, seem, for a long period, to have been unavailing. At length, brighter pros- pects opened before them. In the year 1673, a company of thirty persons were engaged to commence the plantation, and, in the fol- lowing spring, thirty house lots were laid out, and they began to build and cultivate. Ephraim Curtis of Sudbury had, probably, previous to this time, taken possession of the rich tract of land near the centre of the present town of Worcester, and had erected a house on the 'Connecticut road' west of the head of Quinsiga- mond. So great was the obstruction encountered from his claims, that the Committee were compelled, again, to ask the aid of the legislature, in removing the vexatious incumbrance arising from his rights and pretentions. The following petition, subscribed by those who proposed to become inhabitants, was presented by them, on the 27th of May, 1674.1
' To the Hon'ble the Governor, Deputy Governor, Assistants and Deputies, assembled in the General Court of the Massachusetts Col- ony in New England, this 27th of May, 1674.
The humble petition of Daniel Gookin senior, Thomas Prentice, Richard Beers, and Daniel Henchman, a committee, appointed and authorized by the General Court, to order and manage a new planta- tion granted by this Court, lying and being upon the road to Spring- field, about twelve miles westward from Marlborough, together with divers other persons hercunto subscribed, who have lots granted and laid out there, humbly showeth :
That, whereas, your petitioners have been at a very considerable expense, both of time and estate, in order to settle a plantation there ; which, they conceive, when it is effected, will more conduce to the public good of the country than their particular advantage; and have so far advanced in that work, as to lay out about thirty house lots, and engage the people to settle them speedily : also have be- gun to build, plant, and cut hay there; but now, meeting with an obstruction and hinderance, by a young man called Ephraim Curtis, of Sudbury, who does lay claim unto two tracts of land, containing above five hundred acres, lying in the centre of this plantation, es- pecially one of the parcels, being about 250 acres, in which place
1 Colony Files, 1671.
S
COMMITTEE AND PLANTERS' PETITION.
[1674.
the Committee have laid out a minister's lot, a place for a meeting house, a mill, and ten other particular men's house lots, so that if this place be taken from us, this town is not like to proceed, to the damage of the public and your petitioners : now, although, we can- not grant that the said Curtis hath any legal right to debar our pro- ceeding, yet, for peace sake, we have offered him, a double share in the plantation, viz. two house lots, and accommodations to them, which will, in the end, amount to much more land than he pretends unto ; but all offers he declines : Therefore,
Our humble request unto the Court is, that you will be pleased to order, that the said Curtis may be sent for, and that both him, and your Committee, may be [examined] either before some Committee of the Court, thereunto to report the matter, or by the whole Court : for the substance of the case will, as we conceive, turn upon this hinge ; whether an order of the General Court, dated in May 1667, prohibiting the laying out any particular grants in this place, in or- der to reserve it for a village, shall be of force and efficacy to nulli- fy the acceptance of a particular grant laid out in this place, as is pretended, a year after ; namely, at a Court held Anno 16GS; the untying of this knot, which none can do but the General Court, will resolve the matter of controversy one way or other ; so that this town will proceed or cease, and that your Committee, and others concerned, may not be wrapt up in trouble and contention about this matter, whose scope and aim is, the public good, and that the good of many may be preferred before one, wherein we have no cause to doubt of this honored Court's favor and encouragement.
And so your petitioners desire in all humility to pray &c, for you.
Phinehas Upham, Daniel Whittamore, Jona. Treadaway,
Richard Dana, Palatiah Whittamore, Joseph Dana,
John Damond,
John Richards,
Thomas Brown,
William Hersy,
Jno. Provender,
Symon Meylin, Samuel Lee,
Edward Wildes,
Lazarus Grover, Thomas Pratt,
Jno. Wilder,
'Thomas Grover, Thomas Skinner,
Theophilus Thornton,
Stephen Grover, Henry Swillaway, Thomas Thornton.
Lyman Grover, John Starkey,
Daniel Gookin, sen. Thomas Prentice, Ric. Beers.
D. Henchman,
In compliance with this petition, the parties were heard before the deputies and magistrates, their evidence and arguments considered,
Philip Atwood, Joseph Richards,
Thomas Tewksbury, William Reed,
9
CURTIS'S CLAIM.
1674.]
and the controversy determined, by the equitable decision expressed in the following order, June 5, 1674.
' In answer to the petition of Capt. Daniel Gookin, Capt. Pren- tice, Lieut. Richard Beers and Mr. Henchman, and as a full issue of the case between the said petitioners and Ephraim Curtis ; The Dep- uties judge meet, that the said Curtis shall have fifty acres of the land that is already laid out to him, where he hath built, so it be in one place, with all manner of accommodation appertaining thereto as other inhabitants have. And also, that he shall have liberty to take up the 250 acres of land without the bounds of said place, pro- vided it be near adjoining thereunto : and to be in lieu of the land formerly granted to Mr. John Norton : and all this with reference to the consent of our honored Magistrates hereto.
William Torrey, Cleric.'
'5. 4. 1674.1 The Magistrates consent hereto, provided that the 250 acres to be laid out, without the bounds of the place, be under- stood without the bounds of the town; and that the fifty acres where he hath built, be laid out and ordered by the Committee for said plantation as other lots there are. John Pynchon, p. order.'
' June 5, 1674. Consented to by the deputies. Wm. Torrey, Cleric.'2
'The adverse claim of Curtis having been thus quieted, the grant of the future town secured, and the rules for conducting the settle- ment established, the next care of the Committee was to extinguish the title of the Indians, then numerous in the vicinity, that neigh- bors so dangerous and powerful might be propitiated. A deed of
1 5th month; 4th day : June 15, 1674, new style.
By Stat. 24. Geo. II. Colony Laws 579, for regulating the commencement of the year and correcting the calendar, the style was changed. It was enacted, that from the last day of December, 1751, the year should be considered as beginning on the first day of January, and that the day following the second of September, 1752, should be called the fifteenth, omitting eleven intermediate nominal days:
Previous to this act, the year was considered as commencing on the 25th of March, the Lady day, or Annunciation of the church. According to the ancient reckoning, March was the first, and February the last month.
The correction of the calendar, made by Pope Gregory XIII, in 1582, was immedi- ately adopted in catholic countries. Although not established in England until 1752, it was customary to indicate the change by double dates, between the 1st of January and the 25th of March : thus, March 24, 1674-5, would have been written ; the day being after the commencement of 75, new style, and before the end of 74, old style.
To adjust the difference of style, eleven days are to be added to all dates previous to Sept. 2, 1752.
2 Colony Files, 1674.
2
10
INDIAN DEED.
[1674.
eight miles square, for the consideration of ' twelve pounds in law- ful money of New England, or the full value thereof in other specie to the content of the grantees, within three months after the date to be paid and satisfied,' was executed, with great formality, on the 13th of July, 1674, by Solomon, alias Woonaskochu, sagamore of Tataesit, and John, alias Hoorrawannonit, sagamore of Packachoag.1 The receipt of part of the purchase, viz. two coats and four yards of trucking cloth, valued at twenty six shillings, as earnest, in hand, was acknowledged. The conveyance was in fee, to the Committee, and the rest of the people admitted, or to be admitted, to be inhabitants. The terms, included all and every part of the natural or civil right of the native chiefs, in all and singular, the broken up land and wood- land, woods, trees, rivers, brooks, ponds, swamps, meadows, minerals, or things whatsoever, lying and being within the eight miles square. Covenants were inserted that the lands should be held without any let, molestation, or disturbance by the grantors or their kindred, or people, or any claiming under them ; and that full and ample deeds and writings should be made according to law on finishing the pay- ment. From a marginal note, attested by the venerable Gookin, it appears, that the full consideration was discharged, August 20th, 1676, one half being advanced by himself, and the other moiety fur- nished by an assessment of one shilling the acre on the houselots of the proprietors.
The acknowledgement of this deed was before Gookin himself, though one of the grantees ; a circumstance not remarkable in times of purity, when the interest of the man was not considered as af- fecting the uprightness of the magistrate.
The following persons attested the instrument as subscribing wit- nesses.
Onnomog, sagamore of Occonomesset,2 now Marlborough. He is mentioned, Dec. 1674,3 ' as lately deceased, about two months since, which is a great blow to that place. He was a pious and dis- creet man, and the very soul as it were of that town.' He was the last ruler of his tribe.
Numphow, sagamore of Wamessit, now Tewksbury, said by Goo- kin,3 to be ' of the blood of the chief sachems.' His son Samu- el, was teacher of the praying Indians ; ' A young man of good
1 Middlesex Registry of Deeds, Lib. 8, Fol. 317.
2 This word is written by Gookin, 1 Mass. Hist. Col.i. 185, Okommakamesit: by IIuteh- inson, quoting from Elliot, Hist. Mass. I, 156, Ogguionikongquamesut : by Rev. Mr. Allen, Wor. Mag, ii. 141, Ockucangansett : and is said to have been corrupted to Ago- ganggomissit.
3 1 Mass. Hist. Col. 1, 185.
11
GRANTS OF LANDS.
1675.]
parts, and who can speak, read and write English and Indian compe- tently. He is one of those that was bred up at school at the charge of the Corporation for the Indians.'
Joseph Thatcher, of Chabanakonkomon,1 now Dudley, who was a teacher.
Nosoonowit : a christian of Pakachoag.
In 1675, the work of settlement was prosecuted with vigor. About the middle of April, surveys were made of the lands by David Fisk of Cambridge, and John Flint of Concord.2 The lines and boun- daries of the lots were established by actual admeasurement, and grants were made, confirmed and registered. Fifty acres were laid out to Gookin and Prentice, and twenty five to Henchman, of the Committee. A lot granted to Phinehas Upham,3 July 8, 1673, was now described and located, ' and although it should contain more than fifty acres, yet the Committee have confirmed it to him for a fifty acre lot, more or less ; and this they did upon a rule of justice and equity, in consideration of the labor, travel, and activity of the said Upham, from time to time, in furthering, advancing, and en- couraging the settlement of the plantation.'4 In pursuance of the order of Court, fifty acres were assigned to Ephraim Curtis ' where he had begun to build a small house.'5 A lot of forty acres was appropriated for the use of the 'first, learned, pious, and or- thodox minister.'G
At this time the grants to the following persons were surveyed, confirmed, and recorded. The figures express the number of acres in each lot.
In the west squadron or division on the north side of Connecticut road : Thomas Hall, 25, of Woburn : Daniel Gookin, 50; Samuel Gookin, 25, of Cambridge : Simon Meyling, 25; Ephraim Curtis, 50, of Sudbury : Daniel Henchman, 25, of Boston : Dr. Leonard Hoar, 25, of Concord.
In the west squadron or division on the south side the Country road: Phinehas Upham, 50, of Malden : Philip Atwood, 50, of Con- cord : Trial Newbury, 25, of Woburn.
In the middle squadron or division on the north side of the Coun-
1 Written Chabanakongkamun, 1 Mass. Hist. Col. I 189. On Carlelon's inap of Massa- chusetts, it is called Chargoggagoggmanchoggagogg. This collection of syllables is di- vided into two words, on Keach's map of Dudley, 1831, and bestowed on Slater's Pond.
2 Prop. Records, 7-12.
3 Phinehas Upham afterwards distinguished himself in the War with Philip as Lieu- tenanl of Infantry. He was mortally wounded in the attack on the Narraganset Fort, Dec. 19, 1675, and died, soon after, in Boston.
4 Prop. Rec. 8. 5 ib. 7. 6 ib. 10.
122
VIEW OF THE SETTLEMENT. [1675.
try road : Thomas Brown, 50, of Sudbury: Richard Dana, 50; Jacob Dana, 25, of Watertown : Joel Jenkins, 100, of Malden.
In the middle division, on the south side of the Country road, cast side mill brook: Thomas Prentice, 50, of Woburn : Benjamin Webb, 50, of Marlborough : First Minister, 40: Benjamin Crane, 50, of Sudbury : Thomas Hall, 25, of Woburn.
In the eastern squadron, lying next to the Country road to Bos- ton : Joseph Waigh, or Wayt, 25, of Marlborough : John Provender, 25, of Malden : Samuel Brigham, 25; John Fay, 50, of Marlbo- rough : Gershom Eames, 25, of Framingham : Thomas Grover, 25; John Paul, 50; John Shaw, 25, of Malden : Jolin Curtis, 44; Simon Meyling, 55, of Sudbury.
Another squadron in the way to Lancaster : Michael Flagg, 25; Joshua Bigelow, 25; Joseph Beamis, 25; all of Watertown.
Other lots granted and Indian purchase money paid but not laid out : William Taylor, 25, of Malden : Jonathan Treadaway, 25, of Sudbury : William Adams, 25, of Concord or Sudbury.
In 1675, ' the Country road to Connecticut'1 as it was called, the highway of communication between Boston and the western set- tlements, entered the town near the head of the Pond, and following along the course of the present Shrewsbury road to its intersec- tion with that to Lancaster, passed westward of the route now trav- elled, and crossed the stream nearly a quarter of a mile above the Bridge. It then traversed the plain and ascended the hill west of the modern Court House, near where a private lane now exists. It was merely a path cut through the woods, practicable for passengers on foot and with horses.
1 This was the new road from Marlborough, through what is now Northborough, Shrewsbury, and Worcester to Connecticut. The Nipmuck, or old road, passed through the east part of Northborough, over rock hill, east of Great and Little Chauncey Ponds, into Westborough, and thence through Grafton. The first house built on the new road west of Marlborough, was that of Col. James Eager of Northborough. In 1674, there was no human habitation on its route between Marlborough and Brookfield, except the wigwams on Packachoag. Wor. Mag. ii. 152.
In the agreement of the Committee with Capt. IIenchman, in 1684, it is said 'the country road is to lead up where carts have gone towards the north west corner of the citadel, and so pass into the street, next on the westerly side, where the mills are to stand, that earts as well as horse may pass therein.'
The way to Lancaster went northward from the town, nearly on the route followed by the present old Boston Road.
In Wor. Mag. ii. 142 it is supposed that the village of Pakachoag was on the Con- necticut road. The account of Gookin shows that it was abont three miles distant, at this time. A highway was subsequently located, south of the ancient path, which pass- ed near the foot of Pakachoag.
13
VIEW OF THE SETTLEMENT.
1675.]
On this road, south of the fording place, was erected, at a very early period, one of those edifices called block, or garrison houses, and denominated on the records, 'the old Indian Fort.' The structures for defence against the tribes prowling in the forest, so far as specimens have survived the waste of time, or descriptions been preserved by tradition, had great uniformity in construction. They were built of timbers hewn on the sides in contact with each other, firmly interlocked at the ends, and fastened together with strong pins. They were generally square in form and two stories in height, The basement was furnished with a single thick door of plank. The walls were perforated with narrow loop holes for the use of musket- ry against an approaching foe. A ladder, easily drawn up if the lower floor was forced, ascended to the next room, which projected two or three feet over on each side, having slits for infantry and wi- der port holes for cannon. The gentle slope of the roof afforded an elevated position to overlook the surrounding country, and was some- times crowned with a little turret for an observatory. These watch towers, impervious to ball or arrow, were of abundant strength to resist an enemy unprovided with artillery, and might defy any attack, except that by fire on the combustible materials. To these wooden castles, in the infancy of the country, the inhabitants repaired on the alarm of danger, and found ample protection within the rude fortresses, seldom reduced by the savage, of too fierce temperament to await the lingering progress of seige.
The lands eastward of Main Street, in the centre of the town, had been flooded by the Beavers, who had established their hamlet and built a dam across the stream near the bridge on Front Street. It is probable, the tract around the head of the Blackstone Canal then spread like a fair prairie, free from trees and covered with the herb- age of the meadows.
There were tracts which had been occupied by the Indians as planting grounds ; and their simple husbandry, if it did not improve by tillage, admitted the rays of the sun through the thick shade of the primeval woods to warm the soil enriched by the decayed veg- etation of ages. The 'Indian broken up lands' are frequently mentioned in the proprietary records. The fires of the hunter, an- ticipating the work of the axe, had prepared fields for the plough.
These are the only vestiges of improvement which can be traced as existing when the first settlers of Worcester commenced their labors.
Most of those who had expressed intention to become planters and joined in the petition of the Committee in May, 1674, discour-
14
PHILIP'S WAR.
[1674.
aged by difficulties or delay, had abandoned their purpose. Of the persons who obtained grants, many did not discharge the purchase money of one shilling the acre, and but few actually removed. It required stout hearts to penetrate the depth of the wilderness and maintain residence in the immediate vicinity of the savage.
Ephraim Curtis, who had already built, Thomas Hall, Simon Meyling, Phinehas Upham, Thomas Grover, Philip Atwood, Joseph Waight, John Provender, and perhaps some others, had arrived in the month of April, 1675. Six or seven houses were erected. Nei- ther record nor tradition, affords information of the position of the hab- itations. The neighborhood of the Fort, the convenient proximity of water and meadow, would, it may reasonably be conjectured, have induced to the selection of the northern part of the present central settlement.
To the edition of Hubbard's Narrative published in 1677, is pre- fixed a Map of New England, being as the title expresses ' the first map here cut,' framed to illustrate the events of the war with Philip. The places ' assaulted by the Indians during the late awful revolu- tions of Providence' are indicated upon this rude specimen of the origin of the arts in our country. The town of Worcester is thus distinguished. In the work it is described, as 'a village called Quonsigamog, in the middle way between Marlborough and Quaba- og, consisting of about six or seven houses.'1
The settlement was prosperously advancing, and the inhabitants, in the language of the record, ' had built after the manner of a town,' when the war with Philip of Mount Hope broke out in Plymouth colony. The conspiracy to crush the white men by a general mas- sacre, if, as has been asserted by the early annalists, such a com- bination existed, was disclosed before it had ripened to its sanguin- ary maturity, and the Indians were driven unprepared into the con- flict ending in the extermination of their tribes. The influence of the great native warrior extended widely through the tributary nations. The confederation he planned to expel the invader, who grew stronger day by day, and like the serpent, though crushed at one point was alive at another with renovated power to injure, though defeated of its primary object, was the commencement of a series of hostilities that desolated the frontier settlements. Although remote for a time, the war soon approached the plantation of Quin- sigamond. The son of Matoonus had been executed in 1671, for the murder of an Englishman, and his head placed on a pole, where
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