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 6
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 6
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The traveller of 1718, on entering the town from the head of Quinsigamond, following the Connecticut road, first passed the houses of Benjamin Crosbee and Isaac Miller, on opposite sides of the way, where the buildings of the town farm now stand.
Westward, about half a mile, was the land granted to Ephraim Curtis, where his son then lived, still owned by his descendants.
Next, was the house of Thomas Haggat, whose daughter was the first female born in Worcester.1
1 Haggat among other occupations, manufactured wooden shovels. With the me- chanical ingenuity, he possessed the trading propensity of a Yankee. Having set off on an excursion, to dispose of a stock of wooden wares, he was induced to exchange
44
VIEW OF THE TOWN. 11718.
Passing his residence, the Connecticut road followed the little way leading to the Lancaster road, by the dwelling of Ichabod and Thomas Brown, to the corner north of Adams square, where Henry Lee, Esq. then resided.
Turning south, the path went through the valley a few rods west- ward of the highway now used, to the house of Nathaniel Hench- man, a son of that distinguished officer who was one of the founders of the town.1
'The Country road crossed Mill brook, by a fording place about a fourth of a mile north of the present bridge. After passing the fort and mill, it turned west and ascended the hill, to the settlement of Joshua Rice. It was continued by a circuitous route to New Worcester.
The Lancaster way, coming from the north, along the present Boston road, went through Main street, then shaded by primeval forests, to the garrison house of Deacon Daniel Heywood .? Moses Rice had thus early opened an ordinary or tavern,3 a few rods north of the Town Hall. Daniel Ward had built nearly opposite the old south meeting house. The house of Jonathan Hubbard, the first man who died after the resettlement, and that of James Rice, more south, completes the enumeration of edifices where population has become most crowded.
After Jonas Rice became a resident of the town, a road was made from the head of the pond, passing by the houses of James Taylor, Moses Leonard, Palmer Goulding, Richard Flagg, running along the grass grown path east of the Grafton road, and through the fields, by Deacon Nathaniel Moore's to Jonas Rice's ;4 thence it was car-
horses frequently, always giving some part of his own merchandize to equalize the pre- tended difference of valuc. This trade was conducted with so little profit, that the shovel merchant, at the conclusion, was glad to regain his original steed by parting with all his remaining property in wood work. On returning with the same animal with which he had commenced his journey, without any of his stock in trade, he gravely re- marked that ' he had saved his horse though he had lost his shovels.'
1 Henchman was an eccentric man, having even stronger peculiarities of manner than are usual attributes of celibacy. He constructed his coffin and hollowed his grave with his own hands many years before his deccase. Willing to derive benefit while living from the first of these tenements of mortality, the box was deposited in the garret, and annually filled with the productions of his garden, until he took personal possession. A stone long marked the spot where his remains reposed amid the fields he cultivated ; but no memorial now indicates the place of his rest. Several aged apple trees planted by him near his dwelling, on the farm of the late Levi Lincoln, still survive. On his de- cease, the land descended to the family of the late Gov. John Hancock.
2 On the site of the Central Exchange. 3 Now United States Hotel.
" The position of these buildings is indicated on HI. Stebbins's Map of Worcester, published by C. Harris, 1833, !
45
VIEW OF THE TOWN.
1718.]
ried westward, in a direct course, across Raccoon Plain to Halfway river, where it joined the Connecticut path.
These were the two great highways of the town. A log placed over the stream where the canal bridge now stands on Front street, accommodated those who passed by the house of James Holmes, to that of Gershom Rice, on the south side of the Grafton road, where the first orchard was planted. This way led into the old Connecti- cut road through Hassanamesset to Springfield.
A path along Summer street went to the first burial place, situa- ted north of the junction of Thomas street. A beautiful grove of oaks waved over the graves of the forefathers of the hamlet, em- blems of the sturdy characters and hardy virtues of those whose narrow beds they shaded. In the recollection of many living inhab- itants, little piles of stone and mouldering heaps of turf marked the last homes of the early settlers. The hillocks and the trees have disappeared in the progress of improvement, and the cemetery is no longer distinguishable from the green spots unhallowed by the rest of the dead.1
The house of Gershom Rice, was the place where meetings for religious worship were first held. A building was soon erected for devotional exercises on Green street, north of the union of Franklin street, where the inhabitants assembled on the Sabbath, until a more spacious meeting house was reared, in 1719, on the site of the old south church.
There were in Worcester in 1718, if the evidence of the proprie- tary records is to be credited, fifty eight dwelling houses. Tradition says they were humble edifices, principally of logs, one story high, with ample stone chimneys. Some were furnished with windows of diamond glass, where the resources of the proprietor afforded means for procuring such luxury ; the light was admitted in many, through the dim transparency of oiled paper. It is hardly necessary to add, that all have long since sunk in decay, or been removed to give place to the more splendid habitations of modern times,
Worcester, probably, contained at this period, about two hun- dred souls.
Certificates, entered by direction of the Committee, on the books of the proprietors, show that the individuals named below, had com- plied with the order of the Court, by erecting houses upon the lots granted, and occupying them three years. The figures indicate
1 This spot is enclosed [1836] within the play ground of the Brick School House, on Thomas [and Summer streets.
46
FIRST PROPRIETORS. [1718.
the number of acres assigned to each, on the first division of lands.
Jonas Rice, 80: James Rice, 100: Gershom Rice, SO: all of Marlborough : Joshua Rice, 30: Elisha Rice, 30: Thomas Glea- son, 30: Obediah Ward, 30 : Aaron Adams, 30: David Haynes, 30: Richard Ward, 30 : Ephraim Curtis, 50 : George Parmeter, 60 : Josiah Rice, 30: Ephraim Rice, 30 : Ephraim Rice, jun. 30 : Rev. Benjamin Allen, 40: Nathaniel Moore, 40: all of Sudbury : John Elliot and John Smith, 180: Daniel Henchman, 150: Jonathan Tyng, 40 : Stephen Minot, 20 : William Paine, 20 : Thomas Pal- mer, Cornelius Waldo, (with John Oulton of Marblehead,) 213 : Peter Goulding, 50: Nathaniel Jones, 40: George Danson, 200: all of Boston : Jacob Leonard, 40: Moses Leonard, 30: Isaac Leonard, 40: all of Bridgewater : Isaac Wheeler, 40; of Medfield : Thomas Brown, 30 : Ichabod Brown, 30 : Thomas Prentice, 60 : of Newtown : James Taylor, 30: Daniel Livermore, 40: of Malden : Thomas IIaggat, 20 : of Andover : James Ilolmes, 40 : of Wood- stock : Leonard Hoar, 30 : Henry Lee, 30 : Daniel Heywood, 40 : Josiah Heywood 30; of Concord : Thomas Binney, 40 : John Bar- ron, 50 ; James Butler, 40 : Benjamin Fletcher, 30 : Benjamin Bar- ron, 30.
Lots of 40 acres each were assigned for the use of schools, the minister and the ministry, and to Col. Adam Winthrop, Col. John Ballantine, Col. William Dudley, Col. William Taylor, and Capt. Thomas Howe, of the Committee. Other lots were granted very early to Benjamin Flagg, David Bigelow and John Stearns, of Wa- tertown : Peter King, Henry Knapp, James Knapp, of Sudbury : John Gray, Jonathan Marble, Isaac Miller, Joseph Crosbee, Martha Serjent and Andrew Mc Farland.
Such is the account which record and tradition afford of the ap- pearance of the town in its infancy : not uninteresting from the com- parison of vigorous maturity with early fecbleness.1
1 When the Indian foe disappeared and the inhabitants became strong, a warfare was commenced and long continued, with the ferocious animals and poisonous reptiles in- festing the township. Large bounties were offered for their destruction. In 1728, the sum of 3 pence was voted for the death of a rattlesnake, and a draft of £1 on the treasury was accompanied with 80 rattles as vouchers. The gratuity was annual- ly increased in amount as the common enemy diminished. In 1734, Mr. Jonas Moore claimed payment for 72 in his own right. The last demand was as recent as 1758, when 16 serpents were paid for at the rate of 1d. each.
The young settlements were much harrassed by the incursions of troops of wolves. In 1734, it is recorded, ' that notwithstanding the law of the Province giving encourage- ment for the destruction of wolves, they still continue very troublesome and mischievous, especially among young cattle and sheep : whereby people were discouraged from keeping sheep, so necessary for clothing,' and a reward of £4 was voted for their cap-
47
SCOTCH AND IRISH EMIGRANTS.
1718]
The town of Worcester shared liberally in the accession to the population of New England, by the emigration, in the early years of the past century, of the decendants of a colony of Scots, who re- moved from Argyleshire, in the reign of James I. and formed a plan- tation in the north of Ireland, near Londonderry, in the province of Ulster. Adhering with conscientious fidelity to the presbyterian te- nets, they endured the persecution which pressed on the protestants during successive reigns. The accession of William, although it lightened their burdens, did not relieve dissenting christians from galling exactions. Allowed to retain their form of worship, they were compelled to contribute from their resources, to the support of another church. Loaded with tythes of the harvests of lands held by tenancy under exhorbitant rents, they embarked for a country where religious freedom was united with civil liberty, and neither tythingman nor taxgatherer had oppressive jurisdiction. In 1718, a- bout one hundred families arrived in Boston, and twenty others lan- ded at Casco, afterwards followed by new colonies, dispersed through the country.1
A company of the Scots early settled in Worcester, and here suf- fered illiberal opposition and even active hostility. Having formed a religious society, they commenced the erection of a meeting house on the west side of the Boston road .? The timbers had been raised and the building was in the progress of construction, when the in- habitants gathered tumultuously by night, and demolished the struc- ture. Persons of consideration and respectability aided in the riot- ous work of violence, and the defenceless foreigners were compelled to submit to the wrong. Many, unable to endure the insults and bit- ter prejudices they encountered, joined their brethren of the same
inre. In 1733, so great injury was done by these marauders, that the price of their heads was raised to £8.
The precipitous eliff' still called Rattlesnake rocks, was the favorite resort of wolves, bears, wild cats and serpents, in those days, rendering the steep dangerous to man.
The winged depredators on the husbandman's harvests were early proscribed. A bounty of 3d. thinned the armies of blackbirds, jays, and other feathered plunderers.
1 The grant by Massachusetts of unappropriated lands at the East, not affording a place suited to the wishes of the emigrants, after exploring the wilderness, they selected a lownship in New Hampshire, then ealled Nutfield, from the abundance of its forest fruits, and afterwards named Londonderry from the city of their sojourning in Ireland, where sixteen families assembled beneath a venerable oak, on the 11th of April, 1719, to unite in devotional exercises Belknap. Parker's Century Sermon, 1819.
The society that visited Boston under the spiritual guidance of the Rev. James Moorhead, in 1727, formed the Federal street church in that city. Dr Channing's ser- mon, on the ordination of Mr. Gannet, 1824.
2 North of the house of Frederic W. Paine, Esq.
48
SCOTCHI AND IRISH EMIGRANTS.
[1718.
denomination, who, under the charge of the Rev. Mr. Abercrombie, commenced the settlement of the town of Pelham, in the county of Hampshire.
They were industrious, frugal, and peaceful, contributing to the prosperity of the province, by the example of diligence and the in- troduction of useful arts. 'They brought with them,' says the faith- ful historian of New Hampshire,1 ' the necessary materials for the manufacture of linen : and their spinning wheels, turned by the foot, were a novelty in the country. They also introduced the culture of potatos, which were first planted in the garden of Nathaniel Walker of Andover.' The characteristic of the age in which they lived was not charity. Differences of language, habits, and ceremonial, laid the foundation of unreasonable hatred, and the strangers were not treated with common decency by their English neighbors. Their settlements,in other places, were approached by bodies of armed men, and their property, in some instances, wantonly destroyed. They were every where abused and misrepresented as Irish, a people then generally but undeservedly obnoxious; a reproach peculiarly griev- ous to the emigrants. 'We are supprised,' writes the Rev. Mr. Mc . Gregoire, the pastor of Londonderry, in a letter to Gov. Shute, bear- ing date in 1720, as quoted by Belknap, ' to hear ourselves termed Irish people, when we so frequently ventured our all for the British crown and liberties against the Irish papists, and gave all tests of our loyalty which the government of Ireland required, and are always ready to do the same when required.' 'The jealousy with which they were first regarded, finally yielded to the influence of their simple virtues and sterling worth .?
1 Belknap's New Hampshire, i. 193. Farmer's edition.
2 Among those who remained in Worcester, after the removal of their countrymen were the following persons, whose names are collected from the records of the town and county.
James Mc Gregoire, William Mc Han, John Duncan,
John Mc Clentick,
Dunean Graham, James Glasford, James Furgerson, John Batley,
John Clark,
Andrew Farrand,
Hugh Kelso,
James Hambleton,
Alexander Mc Konkey, William Caldwell,
James Forbush,
Robert Lorthog,
James Mc Clellan, William Young, Andrew McFarland,
William Gray, Robert Crawford. Patrick Peables,
Mathew Gray,
Robert Gray. Robert Peables, Robert Barbour,
John Peables,
James Thornington, John Mc Konkey, Abraham Blair.
Matthew Thornton, who, as delegate to the Continental Congress from New Hamp- shire, signed the declaration of Independence, is said, by his biographer, to have resided when a child among the emigrants in Worcester.
49
SCOTCH AND IRISH EMIGRANTS.
1718.]
Abraham Blair, an ancestor of some of our present townsmen, distinguished himself in the memorable siege of Londonderry, in 1689. After a series of bloody I ables, the besieged were reduced to such extremity by famine ' that a dog's head was held dog cheap at half a crown.' Blair, William Caldwell, and a few others, as an hon- orary testimonial of their services were made free of taxation through- out the British provinces.
The Scotch were accompanied by a few of the native Irish, with whom they had contracted relationship during their long residence, or been attached by community of sentiment and suffering.
Among those deriving nativity from Ireland, were the ancestors of the Young family, who first introduced and planted here the use- ful potato.1 John Young died June 30, 1730, at the great age of 107 years : his son David, died Dec. 26, 1736, aged 94.2
'The toils and dangers of original settlement being past, the plan- tation advanced with vigorons and rapid growth. The swelling pop- ulation and expanding resources required municipal powers for the management of the common interests of the inhabitants. In 1721, the freeholders and proprietors presented a petition to the General Court for incorporation, which was intrusted to John Houghton, Esq. of Lancaster, and Peter Rice of Marlborough, with the follow- ing letter from Jonas and Gershom Rice, the ' fathers of the town,' dated May 31, 1721.
'Gentlemen : Whereas sundry of the freeholders and proprietors of Worcester, having preferred a petition to the General Assembly, on several heads, as appears by said petition, have empowered us to
1 It is remarkable that the eseulent, now considered essentially necessary for table and farm, should have been introduced at a period so late. It is related, that some of our early inhabitants, after enjoying the hospitality of one of the Irish families, were each presented with a few potatos for planting. Unwilling to give offence by refusing the present, they accepted the donation : but suspecting the poisonous quality, they carried the roots only to the next swamp, and there threw them away, as unsafe to enter their homes.
2 The following inscriptions are chiselled on the common head stone placed over their graves in the old burial place :
' Here lies interred the remains of John Young, who was born
' Here lies interred the remains of David Young, who was born in
in the Isle of Bert, near London- the parish of Talibeyn, county of
derry, in the kingdom of Ireland. Donegal and kingdom of Ireland. He departed this life, June He departed this life, December 26, aged 94 years.'
30, 1730, aged 107 years.' " The aged son and the more aged father
Beneath (these) stones, Their mould'ring bones Ilere rest together.'
50
INCORPORATION.
[1722.
take care that it be seasonably entered and moved ; inasmuch as it is a difficult time, by reason of a contagious distemper now raging in Boston, we know not where the session will be ; we, therefore hum- bly crave the favor of you, Gentlemen, to take the trouble upon you, to enter said petition and to move it in the court as there is opportu- nity.'
'So, craving your serious thoughtfulness for the poor, distressed town of Worcester, we subscribe ourselves your humble servants,'
Gershom Rice, Jonas Rice.'
Other petitions of similar import were subsequently presented, and, on the 14th of June, 1722, a resolve passed the Legislature, vesting the Inhabitants of Worcester with the powers and privileges of other towns within the province, and directing that the freehold- ers and inhabitants be assembled on the last Wednesday of Septem- ber then next, to choose all town officers, as by law accustomed for towns to do at their annual meetings in March.
Under the authority of this resolve, a warrant was issued by Francis Fulham, Esq. of Weston : and on the 28th day of September 1722, the inhabitants convened in their first town meeting. Muni- cipal officers were chosen, and from that day, Worcester, then in the County of Middlesex, assumed her place among the regularly or- ganized towns of the Commonwealth.
CHAPTER V.
1722 to 1765. Lovell's war and French wars. Selectmen's petition, 1724. Gershom Riee's letter, 1724. Uriah Ward. Col. Chandler's orders. Seleetmen's petition, 1725. Capt. Wright's letters, 1725. Benjamin Flagg's letter, 1725. County estab- lished, 1731. Gov. Belcher's visit, 1735. Soldiers. Excise, 1754. French nentrals, 1755. Military exertions, 1756. Col. Chandler's report, 1757. Men in service dur- ing French wars. Division of the county and removal of the courts opposed.
The peace of the country was disturbed by the renewal of hos- tilities by the eastern Indians, in 1722, when that war broke out which derives its distinctive appellation from Lovell, its hero and martyr. The native tribes of Massachusetts had long ceased to be formidable; but the incursions of the allies of the French from
51
SELECTMEN'S PETITION.
1724.]
Canada spread alarm along the exposed frontier, and rendered mil- itary force necessary for the security of the settlements. Wor- cester, in 1722, furnished five men for the country's service, in the company of scouts under Major John Chandler. Two were posted at Leicester.1 Two others,2 in an independent party, commanded by Benjamin Flagg, with the rank of serjeant, kept garrison in this town or ranged the woods.
In the autumn of 1723, seven of the inhabitants of Worcester en- listed as soldiers and served during the winter. Five 3 were posted at Rutland under Capt. Samuel Wright : Two 4 were in Capt. Jo- seph Kellog's company.
In the spring of 1724, the safety of the town was endangered by numerous parties of hostile Indians lurking in the woods ; May 3, 1724, the selectmen presented the following petition for aid.
' To his Honor, the Lient. Governor and Commander in chief, in and over his Majesty's Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New- England.
' The petition of the subscribers, humbly sheweth : Whereas, the town of Worcester is very much exposed to the Indian rebels in the present war, there being a great distance between the towns of Lancaster and Rutland, in which we lie open to the enemy, we do therefore, at the desire of the principal part of our inhabitants, humbly lay our difficulties before your honor ; earnestly entreating that you would be pleased, in your great wisdom, so far to commis- erate our distressed state, as to send us some soldiers to strengthen our front garrisons and scout our woods : otherwise we fear the sad effects which may happen ; there being no scout in our woods, or soldiers to guard our defensible places, or inhabitants most exposed and very much disheartened by reason of the present danger, they apprehend themselves to be in ; and if your honor will be pleased to afford us some relief, it will be a means to cause our front garrisons to keep their stations ; otherwise, we humbly conceive, it is morally impossible they should : and for that great privilege to your honor's poor petitioners, as in duty bound shall ever pray,
Nathaniel Moore, Benjamin Flagg, jr. } Selectmen of James McLellan, James Holden, Worcester.5
The greater pressure of danger on other towns, scattered over
1 John Gray and Robert Crawford. 2 Ephraim Roper and James Knapp. 3 Zebediah Rice, Phineas Jones, John Crawford, Uriah Ward, Moses Rice. 4 John Serjent, Daniel Shattuck. 5 Province files, 1724.
52
GERSHOM RICE'S LETTER.
[1724.
the wide territory in the rapid advance of cultivation, prevented im- mediate relief being afforded. A letter addressed to Col. Chan- dler, June 21, 1724, exhibits vivid description of the condition of the inhabitants of Worcester.
' Honored Sir : With all due submission, these are to lay before your honor, the distressed condition of this poor place. Through God's goodness the Indians have made no attack upon us as yet, but we are constantly under surprising fears of it. We received the caution from your honor, with the late intelligence of the In- dians coming over the lake : also we hear of the late mischief done at Hatfield ; and just now we have a post from Rutland with an account of the continual discoveries of the enemy, and the last night our town was alarmed by (as one of our inhabitants says) discovering an Indian : so that this day (Sunday) we have but a thin meeting : the more because some dare not stay from home. I have been but very loth to trouble your honor, being sensi- ble of the pressure of business : but waiting so long and having no help, and being so very much exposed, your honor will excuse me. Our town is not only very much exposed, being so open to the ene- my, but we are no way capable of defending ourselves ; nor can we expect much help from one another. A small number of Indians, according to appearance, might overcome the whole place. Fur- ther, my house, though near the centre, is almost an outside. I have no fort about it : nor if I were able to build have I now sufficient strength to keep it myself. I have began to get some timber to for- tify, but am too weak handed to go through, and understanding the backwardness of the country to support us, we are very much dis- heartened. We have an expectation upon your honor to be a father to us, and we hope the country will not see us stand here waiting to be a prey to our enemies. We are informed that it is objected against our having assistance, that Brookfield, Rutland and Leicester defend us ; but let any one consider that understands the ground. It is affirmed to me by those that should be best able to know, that it is fourteen miles from Brookfield to Rutland, and that a line drawn from Brookfield to Rutland will be fifteen miles of our set tlement. As to Leicester, the people there more need help from us than are able to render us any, as likewise do Shrewsbury and Has- sanamesit. Rutland and Brookfield being well garrisoned and man- ned, what is more common than for them (the enemy) to go a little further for advantage in weaker spots ? The late instance at Hat-
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