USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Clinton > History of the origin of the town of Clinton, Massachusetts, 1653-1865 > Part 33
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Asaph R. Marshall, a native of Hillsboro, N. H., had a store of dry goods in the "Big Boarding-House." George B. Wooster, who had worked in the Lancaster Mills and had served as clerk to A. R. Marshall, bought him out, and Mr. Marshall moved to Worcester. There, he became deacon of
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the Old South Church. He served as a representative to the General Court in 1881 and 1882. He died January 30, 1884. George B. Wooster followed H. C. Greeley at Kendall's Block. He went to the West a few years later. He had a store in Nebraska at the time of his death in 1890 .*
* The comparative amount of stock carried by our merchants in the fifties can be judged from the following gleanings from the assessors' lists of 1857 :-
Dry Goods-Smith & Greeley, $6,500; O. A. Smith, $6,500 ; A. R. Marshall, $3,500; George H. Kendall, $1,500.
Dry Goods and Groceries-William H. Haskell, $3,200.
Groceries-Josiah Alexander, $1,800; William N. Peirce, $1, 500; Pro- tective Union, Div. 49, $1,500.
Hardware-Charles Bowman, $4,000.
Jewelry-Gilbert Greene, $2,000; C. D. Holton, $600.
Clothing-C. W. Field, $1,500; A. A. Jerauld, $900; James Greenwood, $800.
Boots and Shoes-Waldo Winter, $1,000; L. D. Lyon, $1,000; H. T. Goodale, $450.
Furniture-Elisha Brimhall, $1,500; Benjamin Ring, $200.
Drugs-A. A. Burditt, $1,500.
Books and Stationery-Eliphas Ballard, $1,000.
Bakery Stock-E. W. Howe, $500.
The following statistics for May, 1865, may enable us to get a general view of the life of our town'at that time: Population, 4,021; natives of the United States 2,637, of Ireland 967, of Scotland 172, of Germany 97, of England 89, of France 5, of Spain 2, of Canada, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, 50. Mill operatives, 666; laborers, 315; machinists, 56; farmers, 54; comb-makers, 40; house servants, 36; carpenters, 35; clerks, 28; shoe-makers, 27; teachers, 20; merchants, 15; painters, 15; students (over seventeen years old), 13; manufacturers, 13; grocers, 13; masons, 12; milliners, 12; boarding-house keepers, 11; blacksmiths, Io; founders, 7; clothiers and tailors, 7; book-keepers, 7; engineers, 6; dentists, 6; saloon-keepers, 6; clergymen, 5; physicians, 5; dress and cloak-makers, 7.
CHAPTER XXV.
LIBRARY AND PRESS.
APRIL 14, 1846, a petition was made to a justice of peace by H. N. Bigelow, J. R. Stewart, L. F. Bancroft, J. B. Parker, Sanborn Worthen, A. S. Carleton and G. H. Kendall, repre- senting that those gentlemen were "desirous of forming an association for the purpose of mutual improvement and for the further purpose of extending improvement to and throughout the village in which they reside, and the neigh- borhood with which they are more immediately connected, by sustaining courses of lectures upon the sciences and their connection with the mechanical arts, by sustaining, if their means shall allow it, a school for scientific instruction and education in those branches more immediately connected with their employment, and the collection of a library, a reading room and a repository of models and drawings of useful machines and mechanical inventions." In answer to this petition, a warrant was issued for a meeting for the pur- pose of organizing an association with these ends in view. At this meeting, held April 29th, J. G. Carter of Lancaster Center, J. C. Hoadley, J. B. Parker, J. D. Otterson and A. S. Carleton were chosen as a committee to draft a constitution and to report May 20th.
The preamble of the constitution presented and adopted offers a broader basis of organization than was suggested in the petition, namely: "In order to promote our mutual improvement in literature, science and the mechanical arts; -to diffuse a taste for literary, scientific and mechanical
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pursuits in the community in which we reside ;- and to de- velop the social, moral and intellectual natures with which we are endowed by one Creator."
The society took the name "The Bigelow Mechanics' Institute in Clintonville." E. B. Bigelow, in whose honor this name had been assumed, in addition to other donations, gave to the society as a recognition of his esteem, the valu- able air pump, now used by the Clinton High School, and two hundred dollars to be used for the good of the Institute.
A fee of five dollars was charged for membership, and some forty men joined. The management of the affairs of the Institute during the first year was placed in the hands of twelve trustees. The first board of trustees was consti-
tuted as follows: W. T. Merrifield, president; H. N. Bige- low, J. B. Parker, Vice-Presidents; A. S. Carleton, Treasurer; J. C. Hoadley, Corresponding Secretary; C. B. Kendall, Re- cording Secretary; J. R. Stewart, Levi Greene, C. W. Wor- cester, Ezra Sawyer, J. D. Otterson, J. G. Carter. In 1847, C. G. Stevens and William Eaton were made trustees, and on the following year, Sidney Harris, H. A. Pollard, J. W. Willard and Charles Ryan. H. N. Bigelow was president for 1847-48. It was intended that the society should be a legal corporation, but the failure to administer the oath to the clerk after the first year destroyed the legality of all the acts as a corporation.
The first lecture was given before the Institute by J. G. Carter of Lancaster, October 1, 1846. This was followed by lectures once in two weeks throughout the winter. These lectures were partly by home talent and partly by speakers from the neighboring towns and cities. The home lecturers were: J. C. Hoadley, C. G. Stevens and Dr. G. M. Morse. On alternate weeks, there were debates conducted by the members of the Institute.
A small circulating library was immediately purchased, and additions were made from time to time, according to the funds of the Institute or the liberality of donors. A
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CIRCULATING LIBRARY.
reading room was opened June 5, 1847, in the southeast room on the second floor of the Kendall Building. C. G. Stevens, who had an office in the building, acted as the first librarian. This reading room was not frequented by ladies or children, and it really became a sort of club room for the members of the Institute, who gathered there to read and talk. Any resident of Lancaster, not a member of the Institute, could have the privileges of the reading room by paying three dollars per year. Later, the library was moved to the second floor of A. P. Burdett's Block. The interest in the lectures and debates evidently declined after the first year, and the energy the society possessed was given mainly to the read- ing room and library.
On account of the desire of the members of the Institute to control its affairs directly, rather than through a board of trustees, at a meeting held May 10, 1849, the constitution was so changed as to accomplish this end. Thus, new life was infused into the organization. There was a course of twelve lectures during the winter of 1847-48, with an average attendance of somewhat over one hundred. Among the names of the lecturers for the following year, we find those of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Horace Greeley, Edwin P. Whip- ple and Henry D. Thoreau. Similar courses of lectures were held during the two succeeding years, and the number attending was sometimes as large as four hundred. G. N. Bigelow was president of the society from 1849 to 1852, and then J. T. Dame was chosen. In 1850, there were three hundred and eighty books in the library; in 1852, there were six hundred and sixty-seven. The location was changed from the Kendall Block to the A. P. Burdett building.
It was found desirable in 1852, to change the Institute into a legal corporation. To do this to advantage a complete re- organization seemed necessary. June 19th, a meeting was held for the organization of a society in the form of a cor- poration "for mutual improvement and the promotion of education." This corporation took the name of "The Bige-
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low Library Association." At a meeting of the Bigelow Mechanics' Institute, held June 30, 1852, it was voted to transfer all the property of the Institute to the Association.
The stock of the corporation had a par value of ten dol- lars. Most of the stock-holders had a single share, but a few held as many as twenty. Before the end of the first year, one hundred and twenty-two shares were taken, and at the close of the next year, one hundred and fifty-nine were on the books. Franklin Forbes was first chosen presi- dent, an office which he continued to hold until the Associa- tion was dissolved.
It was voted at this first meeting, June 19th, to buy "a lot of land at a cost not exceeding one thousand dollars, and to build thereon at a cost not exceeding three thousand, a build- ing adapted to the purposes of the Association, and for rent- ing." The land on Union Street at the intersection of Wal- nut Street, was bought. September 30th, the Association added seven hundred dollars to the amount hitherto appro- priated for the building. Jonas E. Howe was engaged to erect it.
E. B. Bigelow offered to "give to the Bigelow Library Association for the enlargement of its library one hundred dollars every half year for the next five years," if "the As- sociation raise and appropriate to the same object a like sum at each respective time of payment." This proposition was gratefully accepted. Through this gift, two thousand dol- lars worth of books were added to the library within five years and the number of volumes was quadrupled.
Persons not stock-holders were allowed to use the library for an annual fee of two dollars. As the reading room of the Institute had been little patronized in its later years, it was not continued by the Association.
The new building was ready for occupancy during the summer of 1853. The lower floor on the west side was rented for the post-office, and rooms were rented to C. G. Stevens, H. N. Bigelow and H. Kellogg. Later, the base-
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ENTERTAINMENTS.
ment was finished off and rented to the Town of Clinton for an armory. The net income from the building paid a good interest on its cost. Among the most prominent of those who had rooms in the building at a later time were J. R. and H. S. Robinson, J. Thissell, Bay State Shirt Company and Mary O'Keefe. The first catalogue, published just after the books were moved to the new building, shows that there were thirteen hundred and twenty-one volumes in the library. Isaac Baldwin, the assistant of C. G. Stevens, was the first librarian here, and it was doubtless prepared by him, work- ing under the direction of Mr. Forbes. In 1855, Mr. Bald- win was succeeded by A. E. Bigelow. He was followed in the same year by J. H. Vose who served until May 2, 1857, when G. W. Weeks was chosen. He served for ten years. Excellent courses of lectures were provided in the winter of 1852 and 1853 and on the following year, but they were not pecuniarily successful and, when it was found that the course planned for 1855 and 1856 would not be supported, it was given up.
A levce was held January 11, 1855, which proved more lucrative. It was made in part an exhibition of home indus- tries. The recently completed mill of the Bigelow Carpet Company, in which it was held, was abundantly decorated with Wilton and Brussels carpeting, the plaids and coach- lace of the Clinton Company, the ginghams of Lancaster Mills and the quilts of the Lancaster Quilt Company. The comb shop of Sidney Harris and the carpet bag factory of J. W. Caldwell were also represented. This levee was re- peated January 13, and a similar one was held in March of the following year.
By the year 1860, the circulation of the library had in- creased to four thousand, while the number of volumes on the shelves was three thousand three hundred and eleven, a gain of over three hundred per year. A catalogue was pre- pared during this year by the librarian, G. W. Weeks. It was published early in 1861. It is a volume of one hundred
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and sixty pages. It is characterized by great accuracy, and shows that the management of the library was much more efficient than was common in those days.
A collection of minerals was begun in 1862, and in a few years there were a thousand varieties. Collections bearing on local history were also made by the librarian.
After the resignation of Mr. Weeks in 1867, H. H. Waters and G. W. Morse served as librarians for a short time each. January 2, 1869, J. H. Hunt was elected, and he continued to serve until 1873.
The growth of the library was not as great during the twelve years from 1861 to 1873, as it had been in the pre- ceding ten years, for in 1873 there were only four thousand four hundred and eight volumes on the shelves, a gain of less than a hundred per year.
At a meeting held August 4, 1873, a committee which had been appointed "to consider the donating of the books and other property of the library to the Town of Clinton," reported: "That, whereas the establishment of the Bigelow Library Association was originally intended for the good of the people at large, and whereas, the formation of the Free Public Library will more effectually secure the design of the Association. The committee recommend to the stock hold- ers of the Association to grant to the Town of Clinton all the books, pamphlets and periodicals, and all articles of natural history belonging to the Association." This dona- tion was made and accepted on certain conditions, and the Bigelow Free Public Library was established.
The Bigelow Library Association proved not only an educational blessing, but a business success, for its shares paid a final dividend of forty-seven dollars. It was not until 1877, that, after all settlements had been completed, the Bige- low Library Association which had for so many years been the center of culture for the community, ceased to exist.
The first number of the Lancaster Courant was published
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ELIPHAS BALLARD.
July 4, 1846, by Eliphas Ballard and F. C. Messenger. It was printed in the north side of a one-story building which has been raised in its old location on the east side of High Street and now forms the upper part of C. W. Field's build- ing. The editorial work was done by Mr. Messenger, while Mr. Ballard was printer and publisher. They also carried on a book, medicine and stationery business. The price of the Courant was one dollar and fifty cents per year. The Courant contained at first four pages of five columns each. For many years, the amount of local news was very small. Information from Europe was considered of greater impor- tance than that from High Street. A story, often continued, selected miscellanies, general news of the country and the world, long-winded discussions of obstruse topics by local writers, with occasional items about events at home, made up the reading matter of the paper. To one who is studying the history of the time, the advertisements and the lists of marriages and deaths are the chief sources of information. During that period of great development in the community, from the beginning of publication to 1850, there is scarcely a word concerning any of the new buildings that were being erected, and events, to which columns would now be de- voted, were entirely unnoticed.
Mr. Ballard was a native of Lancaster. His father's home was in the Deer's-Horns District. He worked as a printer for about ten years in Boston, and was thirty years old when he published the first number of the Courant. His pastor, Rev. L. J. Livermore, of the Unitarian Church, said of him: "He was kind, almost feminine in the gentleness of his disposition. * * * I never saw his temper ruffled, al- though he had his share of the world's vexations, perhaps, * he had too little of the rugged, strong, selfish nature to make a successful business man, * * * quiet, reserved, un- pretending, a lover of peace and concord, * * trying to meet his obligations and make others happy, even as he himself enjoyed life."
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The Courant, which up to July 6, 1850, had been called the Lancaster Courant, on that date took for its title, Satur- day Courant. It was at this time enlarged by the addition of a sixth column. F. C. Messenger made his valedictory in the Courant of June 28, 1851, after he had been editor five years. He went to Maine, where he became editor and pub- lisher of the Camden Advertiser. In March, 1859, he was editor of the Oshkosh Herald. Mr. Ballard became the sole printer and publisher, and Edwin Bynner the editor. Mr. Bynner came to town originally as a painter. He had been station agent during the previous year, and a dealer in brick and lime. He had also been an auctioneer since February, 1851. These forms of business he still united with his editorial duties.
May 7, 1853, Mr. Bynner went into partnership with Bal- lard as publishers. The Courant moved to the south store under Clinton Hall, in October, 1853. May 13, 1854, Mr. Bynner withdrew from partnership in publishing on account of ill health, but still continued his editorial duties. On July Ist, he withdrew from these also. In addition to ill health, he assigned as a reason for this withdrawal the fact that the income from the paper furnished an inadequate sup- port for his family. Although the circulation had doubled during the three years of his editorship, yet only two hund- red copies were taken in town. No wonder he said: "The wolf prowls too near the editorial chair to admit of any longer occupancy of its 'unstuffed' space."
Mr. Bynner was a man of literary ability, although he was at times more fluent than a severe taste might demand. He was a man of vivid imagination, keen wit, sound judg- ment, honest fearlessness and a high ideal of his editorial position. In local affairs, his influence was always used to restrain lawlessness and to promote enterprise. His frequent editorials on such public needs as fire engines, railroads and gas works, on beautifying the Common and planting trees along the streets, and especially on liberality in matters of
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EDITORIAL WORKERS.
education by means of schools, books and the lecture sys- tem, must have had an important influence in the develop- ment of the community. In dealing with the affairs of the state and nation, especially with the different phases of the anti-slavery movement, his editorials had a breadth of vision and a fervor of eloquence seldom found in a country news- paper. When he left Clinton, he went to Worcester, where he acted as freight agent. In 1858, he became agent of the Commercial Steamboat Company and Worcester and Provi- dence Railroad Company. His versatile genius often found expression in newspaper literature, and he was well known as a public speaker. If he had devoted himself entirely to let- ters he might doubtless have gained as great a reputation as that held by his son, Edwin Lassiter Bynner, the author of Agnes Surriage.
John P. Davis, who had for some time been connected with "the business of the paper," undertook the editorship after Mr. Bynner withdrew. His name as editor disappears without any formal statement, December 9, 1854. Henry Bowman became a partner of Mr. Ballard, October 2, 1854, and remained until May 5, 1855. Rev. L. J. Livermore of the Unitarian Church, having done the editorial work of the paper for some weeks previously, assumed formal connection with the paper, January 6, 1855. September 5, 1857, this connection was severed. During his editorship the paper, though full of noble sentiment, dealt little with matters of local interest.
For nearly two years, no name appeared at the head of the editorial column of the Courant, but the keen human interest and the trenchant wit of its leading articles would have given evidence of the work of Rev. C. M. Bowers, even if his editorship had not been an open secret. At no time before the Civil War are we able to get more closely at the life of the community through the paper than in those "hard times" of 1857-8, when he did so much to turn the workless people of Clinton from their despondency to profitable self-
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improvement, and to cheer their hours of idleness. The following may be taken as a sample of his wit: A corre- spondent had criticised one of his articles on the ways to relieve the distress of the community, and said, among other things, that it would be well for the editor to give up his horse and ride upon an ass, as his Master did. Mr. Bowers replied: "Your last paragraph is capital; we concede to all its suggestions. We are willing to share with the people, and we should decidedly enjoy riding as you hint; so if you will trot up, ready saddled, to our house at half-past ten to- morrow, we will prove our readiness to imitate the Master by using an ass, in the sight of all the people."
Rev. C. M. Bowers was succeeded by J. J. Allen, May 7, 1859, but Mr. Allen remained only until the 20th of August. For the next two and a half years, Mr. Ballard managed the paper by himself, with what volunteer help he could get from the citizens of the town. For the few months follow- ing January 7, 1860, these unpaid helpers were recognized as editors, under the title, "An Association of Gentlemen." After this, Mr. Ballard seems to have had little assistance.
During the opening year of the Civil War, although the Courant suffered severely from the lack of an editorial head who could devote his full time to it, yet, even under these circumstances, the paper could not fail to give voice in some degree to the patriotic enthusiasm of the people, and much of the news was of such evident importance that it almost published itself. The letters from the Clinton soldiers, es- pecially those from William J. Coulter, added much to the value of the sheet.
Horatio E. Turner, who had for some time previously added many editorial duties to his work as a printer, was for- mally acknowledged as editor March 22, 1862, but he enlisted in August of the same year. During the next five months, although Wellington E. Parkhurst's name nowheres appears in the Courant's columns, we know that he was receiving his initiation into the editorial duties which he was afterwards
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to perform so ably for so many years. October 31, 1862, the Courant was nominally sold to W. A. Farnsworth, but Mr. Ballard really controlled the paper until, after an existence of sixteen and a half years, it was stopped December 13, 1862, on account of the high price of stock.
Although Eliphas Ballard ceased publishing the Courant in 1862, yet he continued the book and stationery business here until 1869, when he removed to Gardner and engaged in the clothing business with A. A. Jerauld, Junior. In later times, he continued the business with his son. He was also connected with the Gardner News in its earlier years. Dur- ing the twenty-three years he was in our community, he in his quiet way exerted a great power for good upon the peo- ple in his private capacity. As the publisher and, at times, the editor of the Courant, his influence in moulding the opin- ion of the growing community was unsurpassed by any clergyman or teacher. His sweet reasonableness never sanc- tioned anything that was rash or base, while local enterprise and national patriotism always found inspiration and encour- agement. Thus, the Courant in its earlier days had the same characteristics that it has displayed in later times, except that it has grown in virile force as it has increased in age.
The young men who worked in the Courant office during these earlier years of publication have a remarkable war record. They enlisted, one after another, until every man who had worked there, outside of Mr. Ballard and the regu- lar editors, was in the service of his country. Henry Bow- man, Henry Greenwood, William J. Coulter, James A. Bonney and James P. Chenery were in the Light Guard; Daniel A. White was in the Twenty-fifth, Horatio E. Turner was in the Thirty-fourth, Robert Orr in the Fifty-third. W. B. Whitte- more entered the navy.
Of Bowman and Greenwood we have already had occa- sion to speak. James P. Chenery was the son of Seth Chen- ery, who came from West Boylston and worked in the Parker Machine Shop. He learned his trade in the Courant office.
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He, and also his brother, Frank A. Chenery, gave their lives for their country. James A. Bonney, a native of Sterling, was killed on the field of battle. Horatio E. Turner died in Andersonville. Daniel A. White is a native of Marlboro, N. H., born August 12, 1836. He attended the Clinton High School. He entered the office as an apprentice in 1852. He was a musician and a member of our first brass band, and leader of the second. We have already spoken of his con- nection with the hoop skirt business and his partnership with S. W. Tyler in the grocery business. He has been one of our leading grocers since the Civil War. Robert Orr, who was born in Paisley, Scotland, and had come to this country in the forties, began to work in the office in the early fifties. He went away for a while, but returned when so many of the compositors entered the Fifteenth. Since the war he has worked in the Worsted Mill, in the stationery and book business, and in the Courant office.
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