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 30
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 30
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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
LEVI LINCOLN, II. U. 1802. See Lawyers.
DANIEL WALDO LINCOLN, H. U. 1803, son of Levi Lincoln, sen. born March 2, 1784, read law with his father, established himself in Portland, Me. was appointed by Gov. Sullivan, County Attorney of Cumberland ; was in practise in Boston from April 1810, to July 1813; resumed business in Portland ; and died April 17, 1815, at the age of 31 years. An Oration delivered at Worcester, July 4, 1805, and one before the Bunker Hill Association, July 4, 1810, are the only printed memorials of the splendid genius he possessed.
LEVI CHAMBERLAIN, son of John Chamberlain, entered William's College in 1804, but after two years, took up his connections with that institution, and became student at law, first in the office of his brother John, and afterwards in that of Levi Lincoln ; came to the bar in Worcester, Dec. 1813 : practised in Fitzwilliam and Keene, N. H. : was Clerk of the Courts, and County Attorney of Cheshire : and from 1821 to 1833, member of the Legislature of New Hamp- shire, as representative and senator.
JOHN GREEN, B. U. 1804. See Physicians.
FREDERICW. PAINE, [H. U. 1819, A.M.] son of Dr. William Paine, entered Harvard College in 1803, but soon left the University for commerce. He was Representative in 1829 : chairman of the Board of Selectmen in 1831, and President of the Worcester County Mu- tual Insurance Company from 1832.
JOHN NELSON, W. C. 1807, son of Deac. John Nelson, born in Hopkinton, Mass, became resident here at an early age. He studi- ed with Rev. Dr. Austin, and was settled in Leicester, March 4, 1812.2
1 The ancestors of this family of Bigelow, came to Worcester from Watertown. David Bigelow, father of Tyler, an ardent whig, was member of the revolutionary com- mittees, and delegate to each of the Conventions, at Concord, Cambridge, Boston, and within the county, in which the town was represented, from 1774 to 1789. In the con- vention of 1787, to consider the Federal Constitution, he voted with the minority from jealousy of delegated power. He died May, 1810, aged 80.
2 Of this gentleman a notice was inserted in the note to page 190.
272
GRADUATES OF COLLEGES.
ALEXANDER REED, D. C. 1808, son of Deac. Ebenezer Reed, born at Milford, Mass. July 10, 1786, became an inhabitant of Wor- cester with his father, (who died here May 21, 1823, aged 82,) in 179-1. Under the tuition of the celebrated Dr. Nathan Smith, he studied medicine, received medical diploma in 1811, and has since practised in New Bedford, Mass. The degree of Doctor of Medi- cine was conferred by Yale College, in 1816. Dr. Reed has been, for several years, the oldest councillor of the Mass. Medical Society for the Bristol county district.
GARDNER BURBANK, B. U. 1809, a native of that part of Sutton, now Millbury, was son of Elijah Burbank, who came to Worcester about 1793 : he studied law with Hon. Francis Blake : was admitted to the bar : but immediately engaged in the manufacture of paper, and in 1835 removed to Sharon, Vt.
THOMAS GARDNER MOWER, H. U. 1810, son of Thomas Mower, studied medicine with Dr. Thomas Babbet of Brookfield ; received the degree of M. D. from the University of New York; entered the army as surgeon in 1813 : served in the campaigns on the Canadian frontier during the war with England : and has since resided in the city of New York.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN HEYWOOD, D. C. 1812. See Physicians.
JOHN BRAZER, H. U. 1813, son of Samuel Brazer, succeeded Gov. Edward Everett as Latin Tutor in Harvard University, in 1815 ; was Professor of the Latin language in that institution, from 1817 to 1820 : and was ordained Pastor of the North Church, in Salem, Nov. 14, 1820. He was elected Fellow of the American Academy, in 1823 : one of the Overseers of Harvard University, in 1829: and received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from that college, in 1836.
DANIEL KNIGHT, B. U. 1813, son of Edward Knight, studied law with Levi Lincoln, practised in Spencer, and afterwards in Lei- cester, where he died, Aug. 16, 1826.
GEORGE ALLEN, Y. C. 1813, son of Hon. Joseph Allen, studied theology with the Rev. Dr. Andrew Yates, Professor in Union Col- lege, and was ordained minister of Shrewsbury, Nov. 19, 1823.
HENRY ELIJAH DIX, H. U. 1813, son of Dr. Elijah Dix, born Feb. 6, 1793, studied medicine with Dr. John Warren of Boston, entered the United States Navy, and died in the Hospital atf Nor- folk, Va. Jan. 21, 1822.
AUSTIN DENNY, Y. C. 1814. See Lawyers.
STEPHEN SALISBURY, H. U. 1817, son of Stephen Salisbury, studied law with Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. and was admitted to the bar, but did not enter into the practise of the profession.
273
GRADUATES OF COLLEGES.
FRANCIS ARTHUR BLAKE, H. U. 1814, son of Hon. Francis Blake, born in Rutland, April 4, 1794, but early resident here, adopted the profession and entered the office of his father. Admitted to the bar in 1817, he settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, removed to the city of New York in 1823, where he died March 22, 1824, immediately after a favorable exhibition of talent as counsel in the trial of a capi- tal case.
GEORGE BANCROFT, H. U. 1817, son of Rev. Dr. Aaron Ban- croft, visited Europe in the autumn of 1818; was two years in the University of Gottingen in Germany, where he was admitted Doctor of Philosophy : spent 15 or 18 months in a tour on the continent ; was tutor in Harvard College from 1822 to 1823; afterwards open- ed a high school at Northampton : and has resided for some years past in Springfield. In 1834, he published the first volume of the History of the United States : and has been greatly distinguished as a fine scholar and elegant writer.
BAXTER PERRY, H. U. 1817, son of Deac. Moses Perry ; born April 16, 1792 : studied theology in the Andover Seminary ; settled in the ministry at Lyme, N. H. ; where he died, Jan. 18, 1830.
ROBERT TREAT PAINE FISKE, H. U. 1818, son of Dr. Oliver Fiske, is now practising physician in Hingham, Mass.
WILLIAM LINCOLN, H. U. 1822. See Lawyers.
CLARK PERRY, H. U. 1823, son of Deac. Moses Perry, studied the- ology at Andover, and was ordained at Newbury, Mass. Oct. 1828.
DAVID PERRY, D. C. 1824, son of Deac. Moses Perry, of the Andover Theological seminary, was settled as clergyman, in Cam- bridgeport, in 1829.
ISAIAH THOMAS, H. U. 1325, son of Isaiah Thomas, jun. has been proprietor and editor of the 'American,' a newspaper in Cincin- nati, Ohio, and merchant of that city ; and is now resident in New York.
ANDREW BIGELOW, son of Walter Bigelow, entered Harvard College in 1825, but was compelled to leave his class by ill health. He became assistant instructor at Garrison Forest Academy, and died, at Worcester, April 1, 1826, aged 24.
BENJAMIN F. THOMAS, B. U. 1830. See Lawyers.
WILLIAM S. LINCOLN, B. C. 1830, son of Levi Lincoln, read Jaw with Rejoice Newton and William Lincoln, was admitted At- torney in 1833, and has since been in the profession in Millbury, Mass.
DANIEL WALDO LINCOLN, H. U. 1831. See Lawyers,
35
274
GRADUATES OF COLLEGES.
HARRISON GRAY OTIS BLAKE, H. U. 1835, son of Hon. Francis Blake, is student of theology in the Divinity School at Cambridge.
HENRY BIGELOW, H. U. 1936, son of Lewis Bigelow, is student of medicine.
JOHN HEALY HEYWOOD, H. U. 1836, son of Levi Heywood, is engaged in instruction.
HENRY SMITH, B. U. 1836, was licenced to preach, and is minister of the Baptist persuasion.1
DISTINGUISHED CITIZENS.
JOHN CHANDLER. The ancestor of that branch of the Chandler family furnishing so many men of distinction in the ante revolu- tionary history of the county, was William Chandler, admitted freeman in 1640, who died at Roxbury, June 19, 1641. Ilis son John, inherited the patrimonial estate, and resided in that town until 1686, when, with a company of neighbors, he emigrated, and founded a plantation at Woodstock, which was included in the gov- ernment of Massachusetts, until its inhabitants revolted to Connec- ticut in 1748, depriving our Commonwealth in after time, by their rebellion, of jurisdiction over a fair territory, and of citizens, except for this disloyal act, of most excellent character. He was deacon of the first church gathered there.
1 The following young men from Worcester, are under graduates of the several Col- leges, September, 1836.
In HARVARD UNIVERSITY ; John Weiss, son of John Weiss; Senior : Pliny Farle Chase, son of Anthony Chase ; Samuel Jennison, son of Samuel Jennison ; John Waldo Lincoln, son of Levi Lincoln ; Leri Lincoln Newton, son of Rejoice Newton ; Sophomores . John Chandler Bancroft Duris, son of John Davis ; Benjamin Hey- wood, son of Dr. Benjamin F. Heywood; Freshmen.
In YALE COLLEGE. Edwin Osgood Carter, son of Elias Carter; of the Junior class. In AMHERST COLLEGE. Samuel Austin Taylor. son of Samuel Taylor : Nahum Gale, son of Nahum Gale ; Seniors : Horace T. Blake, son of Jason Blake : Thomas Allen Gule, son of Nahum Gale; Juniors: Charles Gleason. son of Jonathan Gleason; Sophomore : Sumner Clark, sou of Isaac Clark, Samuel Ingersoll Goddard, son of Perley Goddard ; Harrison O:is Howland, son of Southworth Howland : Freshmen.
In WESTERN RESERVE COLLEGE : Elias E. Carter, son of Elias Carler, Fresh- man.
Among the names of those registered on the Records of Harvard University as of Worcester, are Josiah Salisbury, 1798 : James Putnam, 1808 : Charles > Putnam, 1814 and Franeis E. Putnam, 1815 They were not natives of the town, nor long resident here. Among others from Worcester, who entered that College, but scon withdrew to other pursuits, or by reason of ill health. not noticed in the text, are these : John Patch, 1791. Joseph Dix, 1794 : Nathaniel A. Paine, 1809 : William J. Seaver, 1810 : Gard- ner Paine, 1815: George Lincoln, 1832 : and James F. Gleason, who died, Aug. 17, 1834.
275
JOHN CHANDLER.
JOIIN CHANDLER, son of Deacon John Chandler, and Elizabeth Douglas his wife, the first known in any public capacity in our annals, was born in Woodstock. He possessed strong natural powers, and with slight advantages of education, rose to distinction in the civil, military, and judicial departments of government. On the erection of the County of Worcester, he was appointed first Judge of Probate, first Justice of the Courts of Common Pleas and General Sessions, and Colonel of the regiment of militia ; offices, which he retained till his death, in 1743. He was Representative in the General Court from Woodstock, where he resided, and member of his Majesty's Council.
JOHN CHANDLER, named on our records the first, son of John Chandler and Mary Raymond of New London, Conn. his wife, born at Woodstock, Oct. 10, 1693, removed to Worcester in 1731, and was Clerk of the Judicial Courts from that date to 1754; Re- gister of Probate to 1754; Register of Deeds to 1762 ; Sheriff from 1751 to 1762; Selectman from 1732 to 1736 and from 1741 to 1754; and Representative from 1735 to 1740. On the decease of his father, he succeeded to the higher offices of Judge, Colonel, and Councillor. His talents were rather brilliant and showy than solid or profound. With manners highly popular, he possessed cheerful and joyous disposition, indulging in jest and hilarity, and exercised liberal hospitality. While Judge of Probate, he kept open table, on court days, for the widows and orphans who were brought to his tri- bunal by concerns of business. He died at Worcester in 1763.
JOHN CHANDLER, son of the last mentioned John, and of Hannah Gardner, described as 'daughter of John Gardner, Lord of the Isle of Wight, in the Province of New York,' born, Feb. 26, 1720, as. he succeeded to the military, municipal, and some of the judicial offices of his father, inherited the characteristic traits of his ances- tors. He was cheerful in temperanient, engaging in manner, hos- pitable as a citizen, friendly and kind as a neighbor, industrious and enterprising as a merchant, and successful as a man of business. Leaving the country at the commencement of the revolution, he sacrificed large possessions to a chivalrous sense of loyalty. In the schedule exhibited to the British Commissioners appointed to adjust the compensation to the Americans, who adhered to the royal gor- ernment, the amount of his real and personal estate which was con- fiscated, is estimated at & 11,057, and the losses, of the income of offices, from the destruction of business, and by other causes, at near- ly £6,000 more. So just and moderate was this computation ascer-
276
CAPT. JONAS HUBBARD.
tained to be, at a time when extravagant claims were presented by others, that he was denominated in England, ' the honest refugee.' He died in London in the autumn of 1780.
CAPTAIN JONAS HUBBARD. The son of an early settler, he was born in Worcester. Previous to the revolution, he was engaged in the cultivation of his patrimonial estate, and in the management of extensive concerns of business. The first sounds of coming war found him an Ensign in one of the three militia companies of the town. A few months before hostilities commenced, Captain Rufus Chandler, a decided royalist, afterwards a refugee, and an active and influential man, paraded his troops before some British officers who had visited him from Boston, and boasted to his guests of that loyalty among his men, which the king vainly expected would sus- tain his assumptions of power amidst a bold and intelligent yeoman- ry, knowing their rights and willing to defend them.
When the volunteer company of minute men was raised, Hubbard was elected Lieutenant, and actively participated in the evening drills, after the labors of the day were over, and in the preparations made by the busy industry of the martial spirit of the times, for immediate action.
Soon after this gallant corps marched to Cambridge, he was ap- pointed Captain. When the expedition through the Kennebeck wilderness, against Quebec, was planned, volunteers were enlisted from the army at large. The object of the service, or the destina- tination of the troops, was known only to the superior officers. It was understood that it would be attended with danger, labor, and suffering. Hubbard, brave and energetic, did not shrink from peril or hardship in the cause to which he had devoted himself, and, at his own request, was appointed to the command of a company, in the detachment of Arnold. While the troops halted at Fort Wes- tern, on the Keunebeck, he wrote to his wife, in terms worthy of a patriot martyr : ' I know not if I shall ever see you again. The weather grows severe cold, and the woods, they say, are terrible to pass. But I do not value life or property, if I can secure liberty for my children.' Captain Hubbard shared in the extreme sufferings of the march, and probably more than his proportion, as acting under a commission, among those who had no reverence for artificial distinctions, beyond that yielded to the legitimate authority of cour- age and wisdom.
On the arrival of Arnold before Quebec, the golden opportunity when he might have entered its gates triumphantly was lost. 'The
277
COL. TIMOTHY BIGELOW.
attack was made by the way of the lower town, at midnight of the last day of December, 1775, in a fierce tempest. In storming a barrier, Capt. Hubbard fell, at the head of his company, severely wounded. Respected for his fearless intrepidity and loved for his personal worth, his men wished to remove him to a place of shelter from the fast falling snow, and of safety from the vollies of balls poured down from the ramparts. But he peremptorily refused. 'I came here to serve with you, I will stay here to die with you,' were his last words to a comrade who survived. Bleeding and stretched on a bed of ice, exposed to the bitter influence of a winter storm, life soon departed. It was a glorious time and place for the gallant soldier to yield up his breath, beneath the massive walls of the im- pregnable citadel, with the death shot flashing fast, and the thunder of battle swelling round him.
The history of many families of New England is told in that of Capt. Hubbard. The ancestor, hardy and enterprising, went out from the cultivated country to redeem new tracts from the waste. The father, animated by a noble patriotism, exchanged the sickle for the sword, the peaceful pursuits of agriculture for the privations of military life. The sons, inheriting his adventurous and manly spirit, emigrated to Maine, where the eldest ranks among the foun- ders of towns.1
COL. TIMOTHY BIGELOW, was born in Worcester, August 12, 1739. His father, Daniel Bigelow, was of that class of substantial farmers who have been distinguished here for independence, good sense, industry and probity.2 The youngest son, the subject of this sketch, was first apprenticed to a mechanic trade, and afterwards prosecuted the business of a blacksmith with diligence 3 He was
I Gen. Levi Hubbard, the first settler of Paris, in Maine, has borne many offices with honor. He was representative of Oxford District, in Congress, from 1813 10 1815.
2 Daniel Bigelow married Elizabeth Whitney, and with his wife moved from Water- town to Worcester, and resided in that part of the town then called Bogachoag, now Ward, where he died at the great age of 92 years. He had five children, David, Na- thaniel, Daniel, Timothy, and Silence : the latter, was for many years a school mis- tress ; the former, with a single exception, have been before mentioned. His paternal ancestors early emigated from England. The first recorded notice of any of the family in this country, is of John Bigelow, an inhabitant of Waterlown, who in 1636, served as Grand Juror, at a term of the Court held at Newtown, now Cam- bridge. He was possessed of extensive tracts of land, cultivated a farm, and 'was well to live.' The name was formerly written Biglo, by corruption from Bedloe, the more ancient orthography.
3 He built a forge before the war on the south side of Lincoln Square. After return- ing from the army, he erected a triphammer and other iron works, on the site of the Court Mills, now owned by Stephen Salisbury, Esq.
278
COL. TIMOTHY BIGELOW.
soon ranked among the most energetic and prosperous of the young men of the village. With strong native power, and shrewd ob- servation of men and things, he labored to supply the want of the advantages of education : he collected a small but well selected li- brary, became acquainted with some of the best English authors, and gained the art of speaking with directness and force, and of writing with point and accuracy. These acquisitions were soon called into full exercise. As the clouds of the revolution gathered, he was placed in prominent position among the whigs of the town. Our best educated and most influential men were decided tories. Mr. Bigelow, espousing with ardor the opposite party, as early as March 1773, was elected of the local Committee of Correspondence, and, in December, organized the Political Society.1 Meetings of these bodies were often held at his dwelling, and measures were there concerted in secret, which broke the control of the adherents of the king. The recital of his exertions would be but repetition of the narrative of that struggle between the patriots and royalists, with which he was identified, already spread through former pages. The bold and then treasonable resolutions of the town, in 1774, were re- sisted in the public meeting of the inhabitants by Col. Putnam, who remonstrated against the adoption, in an appeal of solemn and lofty eloquence : they were sustained vigorously, by Mr. Bigelow, and carried triumphantly. From that day the 'sons of liberty' were victorious, where toryism had possessed its strongest hold in the in- terior. Member of the famous 'Whig Club' assembling in Boston, he was associated with Warren, Otis, and other eminent movers of the springs of 'rebellion.' He was delegate in the Provincial Con- gress during its first and second sessions.2 When the company of Minute Men was formed, he was chosen, by unanimous vote, to be its commander. Under his unwearied instruction, this corps attained such excellence in military exercises, as to draw from Washington, on the first review, the expression 'this is discipline indeed.' On the day preceding the Concord fight, he had been engaged in prep- arations for the removal of the military stores to a place of safety, and returned, in good time to place himself at the head of his men, when they took up the line of march, on the 19th of April, 1775. Ar-
1 An account of this society and of the political exertions of Col. Bigelow will be found in the sixth and seventh chapters of this work.
2 Col. Bigelow, with other leading whigs, desirous of the establishment of a press in Worcester, had made proposals to Isaiah Thomas to issue a newspaper here. An ar- rangement was effected for this purpose at the commencement of 1775. The removal of the Spy from Boston, took place immediately after the battle of Lexington.
279
COL. TIMOTHY BIGELOW.
riving at Cambridge, on the following day, he joined the army, as Captain, and soon after, by commission from Congress, was pro- moted to the rank of Major. In September 1775, he engaged, as volunteer, in the expedition against Quebec. Had that winter march through the wilderness been the exploit of a Grecian phalanx, or Roman legion, the narrative of sufferings and dangers, severe as were ever endured or encountered, would have been celebrated in song and story. One of the three divisions penetrating through the forest, by the route of the Keunebeck, was commanded by Major Bigelow.1 In the attack on Quebec, during the night of the 31st of December, in the assault on the fortress, exposed to a shower of balls from the barriers and ramparts, he was made prisoner, and re- mained in captivity until the summer of 1776. An exchange hav- ing been negociated, he returned, and was soon after called into service with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. The commission of Colonel was received, Feb. 8, 1777, and he was appointed to the com- mand of the 15th Regiment of the Massachusetts line in the Con- tinental Army, then forming, principally of the men of Worcester county. Remaining in Worcester, until the ranks were filled and the new troops drilled, he marched to join the Northern Army under Gen. Gates, and arrived on the scene of action in season to assist in the capture of Burgoyne. With his regiment, we afterwards trace him, at Saratoga, in Rhode Island, at Verplank's Point, Robinson's Farms, N. J. Peekskill, Valley Forge, and West Point. A braver band never took the field or mustered to battle. High character for intrepidity and discipline, early acquired, was maintained unsullied to the close of their service.
After the army was disbanded, Col. Bigelow was stationed for a time at West Point, and afterwards assigned to the command of the national arsenal at Springfield. When he left military life, it was with the reputation of a meritorious officer, but with straightened purse. The pay of the soldiers of freedom had been irregularly
1 During a day's halt of the troops, on this memorable mareh, Major Bigelow as- cended a steep and rugged height, about 40 miles northwestward from Norridgewock, in Somerset County, Maine, for the purpose of observation. This eminence still bears the name of Mount Bigelow.
A faithful and most interesting narrative of the campaign against Quebce. was pub- lished by John Joseph Henry, a soldier in the expedition, afterward's President of the Second Judicial Distriel of Pennsylvania : the journal of Major Return J. Meigs is printed in 2 Mass Ilist. Coll. ii. 227 : some original letters of Arnold. are inserted in the Maine Historical Society's Collections, i. 341. From these sources may be derived full detail of the memorable expedition.
280
COL. TIMOTHY BIGELOW.
advanced, in depreciated currency, 1 and large arrears were with- held. With a frame physically impaired by long hardship, toil, and exposure, with blighted worldly prospects, with the remains of pri- vate property considerable at the outset, but seriously diminished by the many sacrifices of his martial career, he returned to his home. With resolute spirit he set to work to repair his shattered fortunes, and resumed the old occupations of the forge and work shop. But times had changed since the fires of the furnace had been last kind- led. If the products of his skill were in as quick demand as in former days, responsible customers were diminished. Hard money had ceased to circulate ; credit existed ouly in name; and public confidence was destroyed. Change too had come over the war worn veteran himself. The stirring occupations of the field, the habits formed by eight years of active service, the tastes acquired by residence in the camp, and action in the exciting events of the revo- lution, and disuse of old avocations, had produced inaptitude for a course of business so long discontinued. Still, he bore up against circumstances of discouragement, and contrived to maintain his family in comfort and in respectable position. With others, he obtained a grant of a township of land in Vermont, containing 23040 acres, Oct. 21, 1780, upon which he founded a town and be- stowed the name of Montpelier, now the capital of the State. A severe domestic affliction, in 1787, the loss of his second son, Andrew, who fell a victim to rapid consumption, uniting with other disap- pointments, depressed his energy, and cast over his mind a gloom presaging the approaching night of premature old age. He died March 31, 1790, in the 51st year of his age.2
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