History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. II, Part 73

Author: L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts
Number of Pages: 896

USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. II > Part 73

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REPRESENTATIVES AT THE GENERAL COURT.

From 1776 to 1857, when Warwick became a part of the

Eleventh Representative District, the town was represented by the following :

Josiah Cobb, Thomas Rich, James Ball, Sammel Williams, John Gonldsbury, Nathaniel Cheney, Oliver Chapin, Caleb Mayo. Ebenezer Williams, Justus Russell, Jonathan Blake, Jr., Joseph Stevens, Lemuel Wheelock, Ashbel Ward, Clark Stearns, Ansel Davis, Samnel W. Spooner, William E. Russell, Ira Draper, John 1. Gale, Jacob C. Gale, Abijah Eddy.

VILLAGES. WARWICK CENTRE,

the only village in the town, is delightfully situated upon a commanding eminence, whence the eye may satisfy itself with a charming view of hills and valleys, and compass a varied and picturesque mountain landscape, which reaches into the distance upon every hand.

In the centre, containing two divisions, commonly alluded to as the upper and lower villages, are three churches, a school- house, a hotel, store, post-office, boot-manufactory, and a col- lection of perhaps fifty dwellings, which are for the most part attractive in appearance and surrounded by neatly-kept grounds. Warwick Centre boasted for five years-from 1852 to 1857-the possession of a militia company, called the War- wick Light Infantry, and of this company the town was justly proud. There is still left, however, the Warwick Cor- net Band, organized in 1852, famous in the neighboring towns as a noted musical organization.

CHURCHES.

The first mention in the records touching church matters ap- pears under date of 1753, when the committee appointed for the building of a meeting-house was instructed to proceed in that business. The house was to be 35 feet long and 30 feet wide, with 19 foot posts. In August, 1754, the church com- mittee reported that a contract had been made with Messrs. Mason & Perry for the building of the church as provided, and that the contract price was £26 138. 4d., the proprietors to defray the expense of procuring the slit-work on the spot. The contractors agreed to have the frame ready by the 1st of the ensuing October, and the proprietors agreed to pay for the raising entertainment. So far from having the frame ready as stipulated, the contractors had, by March, 1755, only cut ten or twenty trees toward the frame, but, being given more time, finished it late in 1755, and in April, 1756, after some controversy touching the location of the house, the frame was raised by towns-people and persons from Northfield and other places, and located where the road from Royalston to Northi- field was intersceted by the road to the pond. The present Unitarian Church stands near the site of the church above referred to.

Although the frame was raised in April, 1756, and although the proprietors voted in 1757 to appropriate £4 for inclosing the meeting-house, the frame was still uncovered early in 1759, although properly inclosed shortly afterward. In May, 1760, it was resolved by the proprietors "to raise the sum of £18 lawful money to defray the charge of some suitable orthodox minister's preaching upon probation within said township during the summer season." Although the records do not say so, yet it is likely the Rev. Lemuel Hedge, of Hardwick, and a graduate of Harvard, was engaged to preach upon probation, since in September, 1760, the proprietors gave Mr. Hedge a call to settle, and proposed to give him a yearly salary of £60 for five years, besides a settlement of £80 and the privilege of laying out 100 acres of land near the meeting-house, in lieu of the 100 acres in the second division falling to the minister's right. To this offer the inhabitants agreed to add 35 cords of firewood annually, and Mr. Hedge, accepting the terms, was ordained Dec. 3, 1760, on which date, also, the First Congre- gational Church was organized with 26 members. Mr. Iledge -touching whose Toryism during the Revolution recital is made elsewhere-was pastor nearly seventeen years, and died in Hardwick, in October, 1777, although he was buried in

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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.

Warwick, where a tablet, erected in the Fisk cemetery by his children, commemorates his virtues. In 1761, 872 were voted to finish the meeting-house, and it was agreed to build a pew for Mr. Hedge.

At the second town-meeting, in 1763, it was agreed to pay Mr. Hedge a salary of £60 until such time as there should be 80 settled families in the town, and after that his salary was to be increased at the rate of 13s. 14d. for each additional fam- ily settled in the town. In this year it was again resolved to finish the meeting-house.

The church was without the services of a settled minister from the time of Mr. lledge's defection until September, 1779, when Rev. Samuel Recd, of Middleboro', and a grad- uate of Yale, was ordained, the call having been extended to him the previous December, and the offer of £675 (Continen- tal money) as a settlement having been tendered him, with a salary of £60 the first year and £70 thereafter, said salary to be paid in money equal to rye at three shillings and sixpence per bushel, and corn at two and eightpence per bushel, 30 cords of wood yearly being also promised him. In 1786 a contract was made with Capt. Samuel Langley for the erec- tion of a new meeting-house, which was to be 58 feet long and 42 feet wide, with a porch on the front of the house suf- fieient to contain convenient stairs to go up into the galleries. The church was to contain 39 pews on the ground-floor and 20 in the gallery, and was to be finished in two years, at a contract price of $1500. Capt. Langley finished the house according to contract, but at a pecuniary loss. This meet- ing-house was built for the church society, and to it the town agreed to donate the old meeting-house, conditioned that the society gave to the town a deed of all the privileges in the new house, and permitted members of all Christian denomi- nations to worship in the building.

For some years previous to 1792, Rev. Samuel Reed had been supported by a fund created from the interest on certain notes issued by those who wished to support him to the amount which each wished to contribute. In August of this year it was agreed that the fund heretofore raised for the support of a Congregational minister should be withdrawn. In 1793 a committee reported that 305 acres of the ministry land had been sold for £239, and the income of this fund has since been devoted to the support of the ministry. In 1794, Rev. Mr. Reed became, by agreement, the town's minister, instead of the society's, and he was to have for his yearly salary £70 in silver, at six shillings and eightpence an ounce, 20 cords of wood, and the money for which the ministry lands had been sold as a loan, upon which latter he was to pay the interest to the town.

In this year, also, the General Court was petitioned to repeal the act incorporating the Congregational Society of Warwick, and the ministry fund created by the same. In 1798, Rev. Mr. Reed claimed that the town had failed to support him ac- cording to contract, and requested his dismissal, but this re- quest he subsequently withdrew. While still pastor of the church, Rev. Mr. Reed died in July, 1812, and in June, 1814, Rev. Preserved Smith, Jr., being offered a call, was ordained the following October as the next settled minister. About this time the church changed its creed to UNITARIANISM, and it has thus remained to the present day.

In 1836 a new church building (the present Unitarian edifice) was erected near the site of the old one, at a cost of $3000, and provided with a bell, which was the first church bell brought into Warwick.

Rev. Preserved Smith continued to serve the Unitarian So- ciety until 1844, when he was dismissed at his own request. Mr. Smith is still living in Greenfield, Mass., at the age of ninety. Since his retirement, preaching has been supplied by Revs. D. II. Barlow, Samuel F. Clark, G. F. Clark, Luther Wilson, Abraham Jackson, John Goldsbury, J. S. Lincoln, J. B. Willard, W. A. P. Willard, and others.

The Unitarian ministers who originated in Warwick were Revs. John Goldsbury, Nathan Ball, Amory Gale, Stillman Barber, Amory D. Mayo, and Henry II. Barber. Preaching is at present supplied to the society by Rev. A. Tufts. The church membership numbers about 40. The society received in 1864, from Mrs. Mary Clapp, of Dorchester, Mass. (but a native of Warwick), a donation of $1000, and in 1868, upon her eighty-fourth birthday, another similar donation. In the latter year, also, Miss Mary Ann Hastings, of Framing- ham, Mass., bequeathed the society $1000.

THE BAPTIST SOCIETY OF WARWICK,

which was partly in Warwick and partly in Royalston, was, by the town's consent, incorporated in 1806. There were Baptists in Warwick as far back as 1774, for under that date an article in the town-warrant read,-" to see if the town will take into consideration the certificates of the differing societies of those persons that call themselves Baptists, and pass any votes respecting their being taxed to the minister, any or all of them." The tax was probably not remitted, for in 1775 members of the Baptist Society sued the town to recover the minister's tax which had been collected from them, and not long afterward the Baptists were relieved of the tax.

The Warwick Baptists worshiped at the West Royalston Church, and, in 1798, 22 members of this church withdrew for the purpose of organizing a church in Warwick. The church was accordingly organized, but in 1803 united with the West Royalston Church, although the Warwick Baptists enjoyed occasional preaching in their town after the reunion.

In January, 1843, 14 members of the Baptist Church of Royalston and Warwick petitioned to be set off as a branch church at Warwick Centre, and in August of that year the church at Warwick was organized with 23 members. Rev. E. M. Burnham was the first pastor, and among his successors have been Revs. L. Fay, S. S. Kingsley, Caleb Sawyer, J. G. Bennett, E. J. Emory, G. B. Mills, Lyman Culver, Erastus Andrews, L. F. Shepardson, E. D. Daniels, H. H. Woodbury, C. Farrar. Rev. Mr. Watrous is the present pastor. The society owns a house of worship at Warwick Centre, and has a fund of $1000, bequeathed in 1872 by Daniel Pierce. Revs. Ebenezer Barber, Henry Holman, and Jonathan Blake (Bap- tist ministers) originated in Warwick.

THE UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY OF WARWICK

was incorporated in 1814. Revs. Robert Bartlett, John Brooks, Stillman Clark, T. Barrow, E. Davis, and John Il. Willis were the preachers to 1852, since which time the society has had only occasional preaching, and never owned a meet- ing-house. Revs. Caleb Rich, Robert Bartlett, Ebenezer Wil- liams, and John Williams, from Warwick, became Universalist ministers.

THE SECOND CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH

was organized in 1829, with 30 members, the most of whom had withdrawn from the Unitarian Church, and in 1833 the church edifice, now located in the upper village, at Warwick Centre, was built. The first settled pastor was Rev. Samuel Kingsbury, in November, 1833, previous to whom, however, preaching had been furnished by Revs. A. C. Page, Job Cush- man, Eliphalet Strong, and others. Rev. Roger C. Hatch succeeded Mr. Kingsbury in 1885, and preached until 1853. Mr. Hatch continued to reside in Warwick, and died in 1868, aged eighty. The preachers who followed him included Revs. D. C. Frost, Henry MI. Bridge, E. Il. Blanchard, Mr. Bissell, E. R. Bassett, and others. Rev. John Garmon, of Orange, supplies the preaching at present.

Among the Congregational ministers who have been natives of Warwick may be noted the following : Revs. John Fiske, Moses Fiske, Swan L. Pomeroy, Nahum Gould, Junius L. Hatch, John Leonard, Francis Leonard, Levi Wheaton, and Geo. W. Barber. It may likewise be noted that Rev. Levi

782

HISTORY OF THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.

B. Stimson, an Episcopalian minister, was a native of War- wiek.

SCHOOLS.

When the tract now Warwick was first granted to the original owners, in 1735, one of the sixty-three equal shares of land was ordered set apart for schools, but the first move made by the town toward supporting education was in 1768, when £10 were appropriated for that purpose, and it was further decided to have a moving school, and to have a master in the winter and a mistress in the summer. In this year MIrs. llannah Rawson was employed to teach the summer school, at 4s. Gd. per week.

In 1773 the town was divided into school districts, and in 1774 educational interests had so far improved that £24 were appropriated for schools. In 1785 the school districts num- bered nine, and in this year a committee reported that 291 acres of school land had been sold for £128, and the income of this fund, it may be remarked, has ever since been devoted to the support of schools, each of the nine districts receiving about $3 from the fund.

In 1850 the school districts were surveyed by the selectmen, and the boundaries at each corner marked by a stone monu- ment hearing the number of the district. Six years later, in 1856, the school-house now standing opposite the Unitarian Church was erected. In 1878 the town devoted $1000 to the support of schools.

Among the college graduates who were natives of Warwick were John Gouldsbury, - Gould, Stillman Barber, II. HI. Barber, Nathan Ball, Levi Wheaton, C. C. Wheaton. A town library, now containing 1500 volumes, was founded in 1870 upon a town appropriation of $100, and since that the enterprise has been supported by town and individual sub- scriptions.

BURIAL-PLACES.

The burying-ground first laid out in 1766, in what is now Warwick, occupied a lot adjoining the present Unitarian Church in Warwick village, but it was abandoned in 1782, and many of the remains were transferred, with the old head- stones, to the Fisk Cemetery, opposite the Congregational Church, in the upper village, donated in part by Moses Leon- ard and in part (in 1864) by Mrs. E. C. Fisk. There is but one headstone standing in the old burial-place, and it records the death, in 1777, of Abel Stevens.

Among the oldest inscriptions seen in the new cemetery (the only public burial-place in the town) are the following :

Rev. Lemuel Iledge, 1777; Mary Proctor, 1782; Anne Davenport, 1784 ; Chris- topher Gonldsbury, 1782; Hannah Whitney, 1784; Hannah Roberts, 1784; Mary Stevens, 1782; Lucy Ball, 1782; Moses Leonard, 1788; Phoebe Bancroft, 1788; Samuel Williams, 1786; Robert Burnet, 1790; Josiah Gale, 1794; Sally Pierce, 1795; Jas. Ball, 1797; Elizabeth Gale, 1798; Leonard Bancroft, 1798; Malinda Gale, 1799 ; Elizabeth Stevens, 1793; Elijah Whitney, 1792; Samuel Ball, 1799; Luceba l'enniman, 1792; Simeon Stearns, 1800; Jonas Ball, 1803; Caleb Mayo, 1803; John Gonhlsbury, 1802.

In 1871, Mrs. Mary Blake Clapp, of Boston, donated $500 to the town of Warwick as a fund whose income should be set

apart for beautifying and keeping the cemetery in repair, and in 1872 she made a second donation of $500 for the same pur- pose.

INDUSTRIES.

The value of the yearly products of the town's industries is about equally divided between agriculture and manufac- tures. The value of the former was, in 1875, about $72,000, and of the latter 886,810, the number of farms being 153. There are a number of saw-mills in the town, and, among these, the mills of G. W. Moore, C. W. Delvey, and Geo. N. Richards produce also pail-staves and heading, and that of A. C. White chair-stuff. A boot-factory at Warwick village, conducted by Nabum Jones, who established it at that point in 1854, provides employment for about forty persons, and pro- duces annually about 20,000 pairs of boots, of the estimated value of $50,000. George M. Wheeler manufactures brush- woods in the south part of the town, to the value of about $6000 yearly, and employs from 6 to 8 men. The braiding of straw hats is an industry that is briskly pursued by the women of Warwick. The products of agriculture are limited in quantity to furnishing the supply for home demand, although some shipments of cattle, butter, and cheese are made. War- wiek was noted for her fat cattle some years ago, and in 1860 and 1861 held two important cattle-shows.

The total value of the town, in 1878, was $252,241, of which $210,825 was in real estate. The total tax-State, county, and town-was $6439.22, or at the rate of .025.

WARWICK'S WAR RECORD.

Below will be found a list of the names of the soldiers sent by Warwick into the war of the Rebellion :

Lyman Mason, Nathaniel M. Pond, Henry Il. Jillson, Dwight S. Jennings, Rayal E. Stimson, lesse F. Bridge, George Jennings, George E. Cook, Howard S. Proctor, Joseph A. Williams, William Dugan, Joseph Spencer, Henry 0. Cook, George Mason, Frederick Quinu, Amory Gould (21), Alphonzo Rayner, Richards Mayo, Henry Witherell, Alonzo Scott, Dwight E. Stone, Omin Curtis, Charles E. Randal), Charles Lawrence, Theodore Putnam, Jairus Hammond, Albert C. Barber, Artemas W. Ward, Richard Weeks, Jr., William Weeks, Francis S. Fuller, Joseph Putnam, R. H. Barber, IT. W. Kidder, A. J. Curtis, George Severance, Alex. Cooper, George B. Cobb, Summer Lincoln, Peter Dyer, John Farnsworth, Lewis Atwood, William 11. Mason, A. R. Jennings, Joseph Adams, S. T. Underwood, Amos Taylor (3d), Alfred Houghton, Elliot Stone, Charles W. Higgins, Albert L. Hunt, Silas Jennings, Samuel Adams, Heury W. Lawrence,* Francis L. Moore,* Levi E. Switzer, Frederic Williams,* Benjamin Hast- ings, La Fayette Nelson,* Edward N. Coller, Seth A. Woodward,* Henry II. Manning,* Jus. D. Delver,* Charles Jones,* James H. Fuller,* Willard Packard,* Franklin Pierce,* J. B. Caldwell, . W. H. Blake, Jos. W. Saw- yer,* L. S. Jillson,$ M. S. Cushing,* M. L. B. Partridge,* Joseph Drake,* Edwards Davis," James M. Chapin,* J. S. Rayner, Jr., * S. P. Shepardson, Jr.,* Jos. W Ellis .*

The last 26 names, marked with a *, are the names of those who died in the service. These names are inscribed on a sol- diers' monument erected in 1866 in the Fisk Cemetery at War- wick village. The monument is a handsome shaft of New Hampshire granite, and was constructed at a cost of $1336. The amount raised by Warwick to furnish sokliers for the war was $17,827.37.

WENDELL.

GEOGRAPHICAL.

WENDELL is one of the most hilly towns in eastern Frank- lin, and the smallest in point of population. It is bounded north by Erving, south by Shutesbury and Leverett, east by Orange and New Salem, and west by Montague. Its popula- tion in 1875 was less than it was in 1790. In 1790 it was 519. In 1875 it was 503. In 1800 it was 787. In 1810 it rose to 983, In 1820 it declined to 958, and in 1830 to 874. In

1840 there was an advance to 875, and again in 1850 to 920. It declined in 1860 to 704, in 1870 to 539, and in 1875 to 503.

Miller's River forms the entire northern boundary of the town, separating it from Erving, and about half the distance across the northern border the town is traversed by the Fitch- burg Railroad. The town measures about six and a half miles in length, and about five and a half in width.

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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN COUNTY.

NATURAL FEATURES.

Wendell is mountainous, and abounds in wild and rugged scenery. Almost the entire surface of the town rests upon a bed of gneiss, except at the northeast, where it passes into granite. There are fifteen distinct elevations among the hills of Wendell, of which the most important is Bear Mountain, that rises 1281 feet above the sea-level. From the summit of this eminence the tourist may obtain a delightful and exten- sive view of the Miller's River valley and the neighboring country.

Mountain brooks abound. Among them may be men- tioned Swift River, Whetstone, Wickett, and Osgood Brooks. Wickett Pond, west of Wendell Centre, is the largest sheet of water in the town. Of timber there is no lack, the chief growth being beach, pine, chestnut, and rock-maple. About two years ago there was some agitation over the reported dis- covery of a silver mine in the northeast, but patient research by a company organized to work it ended in failure.

EARLY SETTLEMENT.

The earliest settlers of Wendell are said to have removed thither chiefly from the towns of Lancaster, Sterling, West- minster, Leominster, and Lexington, in the counties of Mid- dlesex and Worcester, Mass. Thomas Osgood, Richard Moore, and William Larned, of New Salem, settled in the north part of the town as early as 1754, upon that portion known as Ervingshire. A settlement was made shortly after near Wiekett Pond, then in the north part of Shutesbury, by James Ross, - Locke, Silas Wilder, Lemuel Beaman, Ben- jamin Glazier, Jobn Wetherbee, - Hamilton, and others. The settlers upon Ervingshire looked upon themselves as belonging, after a fashion, to Shutesbury (or Roadtown), and did belong at first to the ecclesiastical organization of that town.

One of the most prominent men among the early settlers was Judge Joshua Green, a native of Boston, and a graduate of llarvard in 1784. He settled in Wendell in 1790, and from that period until 1830, continued for forty years to serve the town uninterruptedly as selectman, treasurer, assessor, or representative to the General Court. Failing health alone caused his retirement to private life, and after an extended, useful, and honored existence, he passed away in 1847. Daniel Porter, mentioned as one of the first physicians in Wendell, served as town clerk for thirty-five successive years, from 1788 to 1823.

Few descendants of the early settlers of Wendell remain in the town at this day. Among them may be noted Joseph Wilder, aged ninety, the Drurys, Stones, Needhams, Austins, Deaths, and Caswells.

Previous to 1784 marriages in this town averaged about three per annum, and the births about fifteen.

NOTEWORTHY INCIDENTS.

In July, 1781, £40, hard money, were raised to defray charges that had arisen or might arise. At the same time a committee was chosen to purchase land for a burying-ground, who se- cured the ground which now adjoins the Congregational Church in Wendell Centre. The land was probably purchased from Jonathan Osgood, for which the town paid him ES an aere. In November, 1782, it was voted to build a work-house, 18 feet by 30. The first stocks were built about March, 1786. In July following a dog-pound was ordered to be built, 30 feet square. In 1788 it was agreed in town-meeting that the right to vote in town affairs should be possessed only by such per- sons as were in possession of landed interests.

J. Fisk and Daniel Porter were physicians in Wendell about 1786, and in the same year Thomas Atherton was a black- smith there. These were probably the earliest representatives of those callings in Wendell's history. In December, 1790, about 40 persons (alluded to as laborers), and the wives of sev-

eral of them, sought to take up their residences in Wendell without obtaining the town's consent, and they were aceord- ingly notified by the town constable to depart from its limits .* A certain Lieut. Blodgett is mentioned in the records of 1800 as having had a blacksmith-shop in the town, but where is not mentioned.

In 1812 the keeping of Terence Allen and her child (pau- pers) was put up at public vendue, and struck off to John Goss at a dollar a week. It was voted at the same time that " if any man will take the Widow Allen for $200, and exempt the town from any further expense, they will give said sum, the selectmen to superintend the matter."

The first road opened into the tract now occupied by Wen- dell was from Roadtown (Shutesbury) to the North End, in 1756. In the same year a road was opened through the south part, from Montague to New Salem. The old road from New Salem through what is now Wendell Centre to Montague was begun in 1762. . Previous to 1850 the town had expended upward of $40,000 in constructing and repairing high ways.

Nathaniel Wilder, a Revolutionary soldier, of Wendell, lived to be the veritable " oldest inhabitant," his age at the time of his death, in 1851, being one hundred years and two days. Several of the citizens of the town served in the insur- - gent forces of Shays.

The Congregational Church of Wendell observed its cen- tennial Dec. 2, 1874, on which occasion the celebration was marked by an address of welcome by the pastor, Rev. B. B. Cutler ; a historical discourse upon the town's rise and growth, by Rev. W. H. Beaman ; a poem, by Dr. V. W. Leach ; and a banquet at the town-hall.

REVOLUTIONARY REMINISCENCES.

The first reference in the records touching the Revolutionary struggle was made July, 1781, when it was voted to raise £72, hard money, to procure the town's proportion of beef for the army. In the following month it was agreed to pay " the men raised by Capt. Sweetser" the value of 16 bushels of rye and 20s. in hard money a month. A committee was chosen to procure Continental clothing.

In March, 1783, James Ross was allowed £9 for money he paid to soldiers for bounty and mileage. Besides Capt. Sweet- ser, already mentioned, the names of Samuel Orcut, Nathaniel Wilder, Zedekiah Fisk, Samuel Reed, and Jacob Harwood are recalled as having represented Wendell in the first Revo- lutionary struggle.

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History of the Connecticut Valley in Massachusetts, with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Vol. II, Part 73

Author: L.H. Everts & Co Publication date: 1879 Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts Number of Pages: 896

Author: L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1879
Publisher: Philadelphia : Louis H. Everts
Number of Pages: 896