USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Shirley > History of the town of Shirley, Massachusetts, from its early settlement to A.D. 1882 > Part 11
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At a legal town-meeting holden July 27th, 1863, it was voted, "That the town pay one hundred dollars to each of this town's quota of drafted men, or their substi- tutes, who go into the service under the late call of the President of the United States, and also furnish State aid to their families according to law."
On the 5th of July, 1864, it was voted "to raise two thousand dollars to pay volunteers that have been enlisted for this town, or may hereafter be obtained to fill the quota next called for by the President.
"Voted, that the selectmen, after expending the two thousand dollars raised for the purpose of recruiting, be
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further authorized to pay one hundred and twenty-five dollars to each and every recruit they may obtain, in order that our full quota may be kept up."
One month later, "It was voted that the town pay one hundred and twenty-five dollars in gold to each and every volunteer who will enlist, or to any enrolled man who will furnish a substitute, to fill this town's quota under the call of the President for five hundred thousand men."
On the 8th of the subsequent November, an expected call for army recruits having been rumored in town, the following action thereon was taken: "Voted, that the Selectmen be constituted a committee, and authorized im- mediately to borrow a sum not to exceed two thousand dollars, and procure recruits to fill an anticipated call for three hundred thousand men."
Then, at a meeting convened January 24, 1865, it was voted, "That the Selectmen be authorized to procure and put into the service of the United States fifteen men, in addition to those already in. Also that they be author- ized to borrow a sum of money sufficient to pay the sum of one hundred and twenty-five dollars to each of the men who have been put in-or may be put in before the 18th of March, 1865-who have not been paid according to a previous vote of the town."
In addition to all these legal appropriations of money for army support, one constant stream of private charity was in motion to supply the wants of the sick and wounded, and for the general comfort of those engaged in the hardship and peril of this war of emancipation. Nobly did the people of Shirley-in common with their fellow-citizens of the State and country-labor in the great work of securing the perfect freedom of this and future generations of the American people.
A town history would seem to be a proper place to make a record of the names of those who perilled their lives in defending the federal government against the rebellious arms of southern slave-holders. A few of the persons named in the following catalogue were from
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abroad, and but little known in the town,-yet all are given, in alphabetical order.
SHIRLEY MEN IN THE ARMY OF THE REBELLION.
John H. Alger, private,
Michael T. Ames, private, James Armstrong, private, Octave Anedette, private, George W. Baker, private, Oliver Balcom, private, Horace A. Balcom, private, Frank Balcom, private, Thomas Baley, private, George V. Barrett, Ist lieutenant, James Haley, private, William L. Harris, private,
George H. Beard, private, Frank M. Boynton, private, Andrew Blood, private, Christoff Brockennan, private, Joseph Brooker, private,
Charles H. Brown, private, Norman H. Bruce, private, Henry Bunnell, private,
Jeremiah Flynn, private, George F. Fuller, private, Patrick Gately, private,
John Gately, private, Rock St. Goah, private, John Goodhue, private, John Goss, private, William Greenalgh, private, Benjamin Grovner, private,
Albert L. Hartwell, private, James Hawksworth, private, George Haynes, private, Alvin Henry, private, George C. Hill, captain, William Hodgman, private,
Charles Hoffman, private,
Henry S. Butler, musician, Robertus F. Holden, private, Stephen Howard, private, Henry Johnson, private, Medard Bourcard, private, Edward E. Carr, private, Norton E. Chamberlain, corporal, Josephus Jones, colored, private,
Charles P. Chandler, private, Andrew J. Clough, captain,
Philip Conners, private,
Charles H. Cowdrey, private, Moses Cram, private, John R. Cram, private,
Thomas Daley, private, Michael Danlon, private, Granville C. W. Davis, corporal, Charles B. Davis, private, Henry A. Dixon, colored, private, John B. Lapine, private, Edward Donahue, private, Percy H. Dunkins, private, Joseph Duprey, private, Estis Elliott, private, Henry Elmore, private, Owen Elmore, private, George A. Farmer, private, W. H. Farmer, private, Joseph A. Farnsworth, private, John W. Farren, private, Simon Fields, private, 18
Albert Kilburn, private,
`Charles E. Kilburn, private, Clesson Kenney, sergeant, Daniel L. King, sergeant, Peter King, private, Thomas Kittridge, private, Thomas Kelley, private, Carle Lamerlain, private, Samuel Lane, private, George A. Lancey, private,
Joseph Lasier, private, Peter Lavily, private, George F. Lawrence, private, James H. Little, musician, John H. Linnehan, private, Stephen W. Longley, 2d lieutenant, Harriman Longley, musician, Frank Lovely, private, William McGill, private, Phelix McGovern, private, Isaac A. McDaniels, private,
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John McCarty, private, James McGill, private,
George H. Mason, private,
William McLelland, private, Daniel Mahony, private, Walter Mitchell, private, David Morrell, private,
William M. Moses, private,
Emery Munyon, private,
George Munyon, private, Thomas McGovern, private, Joel C. Neat, private,
Harrison Nelson, private, Alexander Nelson, private,
Abel Nickless, private,
Daniel O'Hern, private,
Michael O'Neal, private, George F. Parker, private,
Marcus M. Parmenter, private, Sidney Parris, colored, private, John Peterson, colored, private, Charles W. Richards, private, John Roach, private,
Charles F. Robbins, private,
Harrington W. Sanders, private, Otis Sartell, private, Charles P. Sartell, private,
James Sawtell, private, E. M. Smith, private, Marcus M. Spaulding, private, Lorenzo Spaulding, private,
Henry B. Story, private,
Henry Taylor, private,
Walter Taylor, private,
Granville P. Travis, private,
James Taylor, private,
Walter Underwood, private,
William W. Underwood, private,
William F. Warren, musician, Henry A. Waters, private, Stephen Wheeler, corporal, John Wheeler, corporal, John G. White, private, Henry K. White, private, Wellington S. White, private,
Walter Wright, private,
Frederick Wilson, private,
John Zimmerman, private.
NAVAL VOLUNTEERS.
Charles Love,
Charles E. Richards.
The whole number mustered into the federal service from Shirley was one hundred and thirty-eight; two of whom belonged to the navy. Of this number twenty- one were killed, or died in camp, hospital, or at home of disease engendered by the hardships of army life. The bodies of those that could be recovered from abroad,- and one who died after his return,-lie buried in our two cemeteries ; and each year, since 1868, their places of rest have been visited by their comrades of the "Grand Army," who, joined by the citizens of the town, have scattered flowers over their graves, accompanying the act by offer- ings of prayer and praise.
At this delightful service in 1871 the minister of the First Congregational Parish gave an address in the. Centre Church, and the next year the same appropriate service
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was performed in the Village Hall, by the minister of the Universalist Church. A few of the closing paragraphs of the first-named discourse will be a fitting close to the chapter which relates the action of the people of Shirley in connection with the wars of the American Republic.
After a brief allusion to the character and sacrifices of the deceased soldiers who had volunteered from Shirley, the speaker addressed their living comrades, who had as- sembled to honor and perpetuate the memory of departed worth, in the following language :
"FELLOW-CITIZENS OF THE GRAND ARMY :- I rejoice in the wisdom and goodness which have united you in an associated body,-I rejoice in your association as the re- pository of sacred memories which lead you annually to gather yourselves around the dust of your departed com- rades, to drop the emblem of your regard for their worth upon their fast-sinking graves. You have been joined with them in the fatiguing march of war, in the privations of its camp experience, and in the horrors of its battle- strife. You have seen them fall, through wounds and disease, and you rejoice that a few of them have been interred within your neighborhood, that you may present the offering for which you are here to-day. How delight- fully appropriate the tender act! Flowers are the most beautiful, as they are the most transient, of nature's gifts. They meet the senses to ravish them with delight; so in the moral world do actions, faithfully executed. What can be more beautifully sublime, than for men to offer their lives a sacrifice to the good of their country? Such an offering your comrades have made, and their sacrifice calls for this response from you, their compeers. Thus you would preserve, in memory ever green, the record of their virtues, the lustre of which must long survive the tomb. Lay on their mounds the blue, red and green, the colors in which Nature herself weaves the emblem of faith, hope and love. There is a fitness in crowning their graves with flowers. There is a language in flowers, we say ;
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they speak of that which cannot be put in words, fragrant memories and blossoming hopes. True, they soon wilt and perish; and yet they leave behind a grateful odor which we cherish as we do the memories of our benefac- tors who died in serving us.
" ' You may break, you may scatter the vase if you will, But the scent of the roses will hang round it still !'
"FRIENDS AND BRETHREN :- We will go with you to the resting place of our honored dead, with hearts of sym- pathy and words of condolence; with prayer and with praise, we will sanction your emblematic act ; and we will try to realize the sentiments expressed by a noble bard in the following beautiful stanzas :
" ' How sleep the brave, who sink to rest, By all their country's wishes blessed ! When Spring with dewy fingers cold, Returns to deck their hallowed mould, She there shall dress a sweeter sod Than Fancy's feet have ever trod.
' By fairy hands their knell is rung; By forms unseen their dirge is sung ; There Honor comes, a pilgrim grey, To bless the turf that wraps their clay ; And Freedom shall awhile repair, To dwell a weeping hermit there.'"
CHAPTER VII.
Alms-house-New County-Post Offices-Stores-Rail- roads-Physicians.
The early method of sustaining those who were de- pendent on the public for support, in most of the rural towns in New England, was exceedingly objectionable. It seems that the burden of this support was considered so onerous as to justify the most strenuous measures of econ- omy, in securing the object demanded by wholesome law. And oftentimes the position of the pauper was one of shame, as well as of undue physical inconvenience and suffering. Shirley was not entirely free from the reproach here implied.
During the first eighty-four years of its history its pau- pers were annually distributed among those families that were willing to give them bed, board and nursing, at the least possible expense to the town. At the annual town- meetings the names of the unfortunates were publicly paraded, and they were auctioned off-one after another- by the moderator, to the lowest bidder .* Spirituous liquors were frequently furnished, unblushingly, by the town authorities as a lure to cheap bidding. As a general fact, the consequence was that the paupers were forced into the poorer class of families, into unwholesome rooms, and frequently compelled to subsist on coarse and some- times unwholesome food. Enlightened Christianity could not always bear the oppression of this wrong ; hence, at an early period of the town's history, measures were pro- posed by the more reflecting part of the community for the removal of this error. At a town-meeting holden in
*See Appendix O.
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March, 1763, a proposal was made to secure a general and well-organized home for that unfortunate class of our fellow-citizens called paupers, and it resulted in the follow- ing action by the meeting, after a proper debate :
"Voted to choose a committee to provide a work-house in this district ;- and Ensign Longley, Capt. Longley and Lieut. Walker were chosen this committee." The reader will perceive that in this record all christian names are passed over, and if strength can be imparted to civil pro- ceedings by military titles this was a strong committee ; and yet, the result shows that it was an unsuccessful one, as the project entirely failed in their hands. This praise- worthy attempt to ameliorate an unfortunate and unjust custom took place just ten years after the incorporation of the town ; and it surely is a reflection on the degeneracy of after times that seventy-four years were permitted to pass before any further attempt was made in the right di- rection. During all this period the gavel of the modera- tor was heard, at each annual town-meeting, hammering off the board and lodging of the unfortunate pauper to the lowest bidder, amid libations of spirituous liquor offered up at the shrine of economy !
In 1837, after considerable exertion by an efficient committee, a farm was selected in the northern valley of the town, on the borders of the Mulpus, containing a little more than one hundred acres of land, -- suitably divided into mowing, pasturing and tillage, and a rich meadow plat,- all of which was well watered and fenced, and supplied with large and commodious buildings. This fair farming establishment was thus converted into an asylum of charity, and became a home for the homeless. Ample provision was made for comfortable lodging, food and raiment, for medical attendance of the sick, and for appropriate labor for those in health; the old had a careful super- vision according to their several necessities, and the young were duly provided with sacred and secular instruction. Religious meetings were holden in the establishment at stated periods, and the various facilities of moral, mental
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and religious training were appropriately applied to the varied wants of the several inmates.
The asylum was in a position retired from the public highway-a peaceful retreat for those who have little interest in the stirring events of life, and little concern with those changes that engage the attention of the more active portion of the community. Aside from the par- ticular fitness of the location, the natural facilities of the farm adapted it to the purpose for which it was to be de- voted. It contained a thick bed of clay, from which large quantities of bricks of a superior quality have been, from time to time, manufactured.
The land and buildings were purchased for $2,969.71. The farming utensils, household furniture, and domestic animals were secured for $700. Within a few years the buildings passed through changes, and were subjected to repairs-among which was the erection of a new barn to take the place of one destroyed by fire-that well adapted them to the public service for which they had been set apart ; making them convenient for the master and com- fortable for the inmates.
When this establishment was opened; and during the first three years of its occupancy, the number of paupers varied from fifteen to thirty ; but as the temperance refor- mation progressed the number diminished, so that by the close of the twelfth year there were but from three to five who claimed a home in the alms-house.
This important change in the amount of pauperism, -together with some injudicious management in its pru- dential concerns, whereby the expense of sustaining the asylum because disproportionably large,-induced several persons to advocate the abolishment of the institution, and a public sale of the property. It was argued that the few that remained, or that would be likely to become de- pendent on the public for support, could with more ease to themselves and with less cost to the town be accommo- dated in private families ; and this without the objectiona- ble auction principle that had prevailed at a former period.
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Accordingly, at the town-meeting in April, 1853, a vote was obtained for the immediate sale of the farm and all its appurtenances, which decision was executed on the spot. This measure was adopted to the very great regret of a respectable minority of the citizens, and has since been regarded by some of its movers as a hasty measure, and productive of evils that might have been foreseen.
As time has progressed, however, and the causes of pauperism have diminished, the suggestion has proceeded from several sources to set up district asylums throughout the Commonwealth, (each district to contain any conve- nient number of towns,) as homes for the imbecile ; and to have them constructed on such a scale as to enlarge the comforts of the inmates, and at the same time reduce the expense of their support. There is doubtless too much wisdom in this measure to be long overlooked by a dis- criminating community.
Since the incorporation of Shirley, several attempts have been made to dissect it from its present county rela- tions, and connect it with a group of contiguous towns for . the formation of a new county. These attempts had an early origin, and have been, from time to time, renewed unto a recent period.
In 1763 the town took the following action on the subject : "Oct. 24. Voted to choose a man to sign a peti- tion with ye neighboring towns, concerning making appli- cation for a new county, in this part of the county of Middlesex and the part of Worcester County adjoining. Deacon Hezekiah Sawtell was chosen for said purposes."
Nothing more is found concerning the project until May, 1785, when the following article appeared in the warrant for a town meeting: "To see if the town will choose a delegate to meet other delegates from several towns in the northerly part of Middlesex County and the northerly part of the county of Worcester, to consider on the matter of forming a new county, to consist of a num- ber of towns in the aforesaid counties." The town voted to send a delegate, and Obadiah Sawtell was appointed to
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that office. No report of the result of this action has been recorded, and probably none was made.
In the year 1794 the following entry appears : "Voted to send a man to Leominster to meet a committee from several towns in the counties of Worcester and Middlesex, in order to petition the General Court for a part of each of the aforesaid counties to be made a distinct county. Dr. Benjamin Hartwell was chosen delegate." The whole matter was, however, reconsidered, and the delegate dis- missed.
Though nothing further appears on the town records concerning a new county until quite a recent date, the matter has been repeatedly agitated, with considerable earnestness ; and petitions have been twice forwarded to the State Legislature in favor of the change. "At the annual meetings in April, 1828, the question was submitted by the Legislature to the people of Worcester and Mid- dlesex,-'Shall a new county be formed of the towns of Royalston, Winchendon, Athol, Templeton, Gardner, Westminster, Ashburnham, Fitchburg, Leominster, Lun- enburg, Princeton, Hubbardston, Phillipston, Lancaster, Bolton, and Harvard, from the county of Worcester ; Groton, Pepperell, Shirley, Ashby, and Townsend from the county of Middlesex, as was prayed for in the petition bearing the name of Ivers Jewett at the head?' The de- cision was in the negative, by a great majority of the voters."
When the subject was brought before the Legislature in 1851 it received a negative without being referred back to the people. As the extreme towns in the several coun- ties have been brought near their shire-towns by means of railroads, thereby removing the difficulties of court attend- ance that formerly existed, a large majority of the people deem it unwise to incur the expense of establishing any additional counties in the Commonwealth.
In 1856 Fitchburg (which has since received a city incorporation) was made a shire-town in Worcester County ; and that will be an additional reason for leaving
19
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present town and county lines and associations undis- turbed.
In these days of cheap postage and of voluminous correspondence, of newspapers and magazines, of anxiety to know, through public documents, what is passing in legislative assemblies ; in these days when the inaugural address of the chief magistrate of the Union has hardly escaped his lips in Washington before it is ready for dis- tribution from the press in Boston; in these days when everybody is looking for daily news, through the daily public journal, it must seem strange to learn that, for fifty-eight years from the incorporation of the town, Shirley was possessed of no post-office; nor yet of any regular mail conveyance ! It follows, therefore, that all letters and newspapers must have found their way to and from town by the uncertain mode of private transporta- tion ; or were left in the post-offices of neighboring towns, where they were liable to be detained for weeks before they could reach their place of destination.
This was not so great an evil as it might appear at first view ; as correspondence by letter was very limited- magazines and reviews were almost unknown-and news- paper patronage was confined to a small number of families. The ease and cheapness by which mailed matter is now conveyed has supplied a want of its own creation ; a want which was previously unfelt because un- known.
In 1811,-just eleven years after a post-office had been established in Groton,-there was one obtained for Shirley ; and Thomas Whitney, Esq., was appointed postmaster. He remained in office during his life, a term of thirty-three years; and the vacancy caused by his death was filled by his son, Hon. James P. Whitney. In 1847 Mr. Whitney died, and his place was supplied by the appointment of George Barrett, Esq. In 1852 Mr. Barrett died, and the office was filled by the appointment of Col. Thomas Whitney, who was a son of the first post- master, and a brother of the second. Mr. Whitney held
.
S. LONGLEY.)
FLOUR 8 CRAIN.
Autoglyph Print, W. P. ALLEN, Gardner, Mass.
RESIDENCE AND STORE OF SAMUEL LONGLEY, ESQ.
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the place until his death, which occurred in 1865. The office was then secured for Jonas Longley, Esq., who is the present incumbent. (1882.)
In the course of fifteen or twenty years from the es- tablishment of the first post-office, it was found that the population of the town could be better accommodated by having a second place of mail delivery constituted. Through the manufacturing interests, the South Village had begun to assume such proportions as to give counte- nance to this claim. Successful measures were therefore adopted to establish a post-office in that village, and Augustus G. Parker, M. D., was appointed postmaster. In 1837 Dr. Parker resigned the place, and Israel Longley was appointed his successor. Mr. Longley held the office until 1857, when he was superseded by Mr. Alfred Page. It was currently reported at the time that political defec- tion was the cause of this change, rather than any want of fidelity on the part of the incumbent. Mr. Page was superseded by Mr. William B. Edgarton, who held the position until his death, in 1880, when the present incum- bent, Samuel Longley, Esq., was appointed.
The trade in almost all of our New-England rural towns has been generally confined to their own citizens ; and traders have not been encouraged to keep articles on sale, except such as the conveniences and necessities of their patrons have demanded. For, when merchandise of a higher grade has been allowed to tax the resources of traffic, but small profits (if not actual losses) have been realized. Such, however, was the extent of the palm-leaf trade, which was continued for a quarter of a century, (beginning with the year 1826,) that the patronage of the Shirley traders was greatly increased by custom from abroad. Hence, they were encouraged to sustain stores of higher-priced and less common goods than had usually been kept for sale. But the recent facilities of conveyance to larger marts of traffic have, in these latter days, warned the humble trader of our rural villages not to en- large his sphere of operations to such an extent as to have
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dull sales, and allow articles of cost to lie on the shelves' so long as to become shop-worn and out of use.
The trade of Shirley began with two stores-of almost simultaneous origin-set up in the two most feasible localities of the town. As the population increased, more places of trade were demanded, especially in the South Village, where there are now three stores, all of which are in the execution of a fair business. The oldest trading establishment is in the centre of the town. It was set up by Thomas Whitney, Esq., and remained under his charge and that of his family for more than fifty years.
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