USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Shirley > History of the town of Shirley, Massachusetts, from its early settlement to A.D. 1882 > Part 6
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"It was the earnest wish of my father that this land should be owned and controlled by me; but circumstances caused it to be otherwise. I now hope and trust that whoever may be the owner, at the time of my decease, may be disposed to receive a fair compensation for this cherished spot of my early days,-to the end that it may be owned by the town for the purposes above mentioned. And, that the object may be the more readily effected, I
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give and bequeath to the said town the further sum of five hundred dollars, to be added to the school fund estab- lished by my said will; or-if the Trustees of said school fund deem it best,-to be appropriated by them at once to the purchase and improvement of the grounds, aforemen- tioned, instead of taking the first interest of the school fund.
"I give and bequeath to the said town of Shirley, the following books, for the beginning of a library for the school aforementioned, to wit :- My large quarto Bible- Ancient Charter and Colony Laws-Plymouth Colony Laws-Journal of Provincial Congress of Massachusetts,- Revised Statutes of Massachusetts-Sidney on Govern- ment, 3 vols .- The Federalist, 2 vols .- Life of Jefferson- Virginia Debates-Heron's Junius, 2 vols .- Shakespeare's Works-Bacon's Essays-Trial of Warren Hastings- Edinburgh Encyclopædia, and sundry other of my books, at the discretion of my Executors, including agricultural works, and papers of all kinds.
"In case my children shall prefer not to hold my man- sion house and lands adjoining, with all the houses and buildings thereon, then it is my will that the town of Shirley shall take, have and hold the same in fee, at the sum of three thousand dollars, in part payment of the said bequest of four thousand dollars."
On the 12th of July, 1856, the trustees of the Parker School Fund held their first meeting, and organized by the choice of the two trustees first named in the will, as president and secretary for the ensuing year. The exec- utors of said will then paid over to them the bequest to the town, that appeared in said will, which with the interest that had accrued thereon amounted to $4,772.62. To con- stitute this sum the real estate, which formed a part of the bequest, was valued at $3,000, the price set upon it by the legator. At this meeting the trustees adopted a code of by-laws that had been previously prepared, which by-laws required the treasurer to give suitable bonds for the faithful
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discharge of the trust committed to him. The article re- quiring the treasurer to give bonds was abolished at the annual meeting in June, 1872.
In 1865 the trustees sold the real estate, which com- prised the mansion house and adjoining grounds, for the sum of $1,825, the other parts having been previously dis- posed of for $525. Thus, after nine years, the whole fund amounted to only $5,653.04,-which has been invested according to the will of the donor-and now (1872) amounts to $7,443.90. The rents and profits of the real estate-while in the hands of the trustees-but little more than paid the expense that was incurred in repairs and taxes ; and the sacrifice that attended its sale accounts for the slow growth of the fund exhibited by the above figures.
Although but little benefit can be realized, for many years, as the result of the Parker School Fund, future generations will have occasion to rejoice in the wisdom and goodness of the man who furnished them with such large educational advantages.
Next to the educational institutions for the instruction of youth, public libraries may be regarded among the efficient means of mental cultivation.
These meet the wants of persons of every age, for after the school-days are past, books not only assist the in- tellect to retain what it has gained through teachers, but help it to advance in its efforts after new acquirements. And as few families can be furnished with a choice assort- ment of even the common literature of the day, combina- tions of pecuniary strength is a New-England resort to supply the defect of individual weakness.
Shirley has never exhibited large enterprise in the way of raising and sustaining library institutions, and yet this source of cultivation has not been wholly neglected. Not far from the year 1790 several of the larger families of the town, aided and led by Rev. Mr. Whitney who projected the work, established a social library of over one hundred volumes-to which a few were afterwards
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added-of the choicest literature of the time, and much of which would be profitable reading in all time. There were no works of fiction, nothing of an ephemeral charac- ter,-but standard history and geography, biography and natural science. Remnants of this library are scattered, here and there, among families that have descended from the original proprietors, who have all passed away. It has had its day, and long since ceased to be an object of interest ; and to the present generation its very existence is generally unknown. Thomas Whit- ney, Esq., David Livermore and Zenas Brown, held, successively, the office of librarian. Small as was the collection, it was of great value when family collections were confined to the Bible, a volume of psalms and hymns, and a few school-books, and when periodical literature was an unknown luxury.
In the spring of 1839 a few ladies, connected with the First Congregational parish, organized an association for the purpose of establishing a library of such books as would "be both interesting and useful." The plan of their association is simple. A committee of three is annually chosen whose duty it is to have the general care and over- sight of the books, collect and make proper disposition of the funds, and appoint a librarian. The constitution of the association requires each applicant for membership to pay a fee of initiation, and each member to pay an annual tax. The funds that have in this way been derived, though small, by judicious management have enabled the committee to make yearly additions to the number of books in the library. At the present time it has almost seven hundred volumes that may be changed and distributed each week. They contain much of the current literature of the day, including works on religion and ethics-his- tory and biography-voyages and travels-philosophy and the arts-poetry and romance-and general miscellany. The association has found liberal patrons . in the late William Parker and William F. Whitney, of Boston. The
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first furnished several volumes of a miscellaneous char- acter, and the latter gave the complete histories of the late William H. Prescott. The library is now in successful operation ; has sustained the unabated interest of its patrons and their families, and has been to them all a source of comfort and information. "Blessed is he that readeth."
· Five out of the seven school-districts availed them- selves of the state appropriation offered in 1842-on con- dition that as much more should be added by a town tax or by individual subscription-and procured the "School Library" published under the direction and superintend- ence of the Massachusetts Board of Education, by Marsh, Capen & Lyon, late of Boston. These libraries are very much neglected by the people, and will soon be entirely forgotten.
The several Sunday-schools have juvenile libraries, (with which, in some parishes, books for adults are con- nected,) numbering from one hundred to one thousand volumes in each parish.
There has also been instituted in the town a select agricultural library, but it does not receive that attention from its proprietors that its merits demand.
The number of persons from this town who have sought and obtained the benefits and honors of a collegiate education is small. This is owing, undoubtedly, to its limited population, the pecuniary inability of parents to give their sons the privileges of a public education, and the general inclination of the young men of the town to engage in mechanical and agricultural pursuits.
NICHOLAS BOWES WHITNEY stands first on the list. He was a son of Rev. Phinehas Whitney, and graduated at Cambridge in 1793, having pursued his preparatory course in the academies of Groton, and New Ipswich, N. H. He adopted his father's profession, and read divinity under his direction and that of the Rev. Dr. Chaplin of Groton.
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On the first day of January, 1800, he was ordained over the Second Congregational Church in Hingham, as colleague with the Rev. Dr. Shute. Here he remained until 1833, when, at his own request, he was dismissed. He died Nov. 26, 1835, aged nearly sixty-four years.
Mr. Whitney was conservative in his views, both as a theologian and as a preacher. He was Arminian in senti- ment, and yet he called no man master. The Scriptures were his sole guide, in both doctrine and practice, and he strove to secure the objects of his calling by presenting bible truth in its natural simplicity. His ministry was marked by quietness, and was blessed with the usual suc- cess of the age in which he lived. He was retiring in his habits, having little disposition to seek notoriety outside of his appointed sphere of labor. The only printed pro- duction which he left was a sermon preached to his own people Sept. 16, 1821, "occasioned by the death of Josiah Lane, Jr., who was drowned from on board the schooner Ida."
At the funeral of Mr. Whitney an impressive dis- course was preached by Rev. Charles Brooks, then minis- ter of the Third Congregational Parish in Hingham.
JOHN DWIGHT, also a graduate at Cambridge, in 1800, was a son of John and Susanna Dwight, and was born in Shirley, Dec. 22, 1773. Among his college class- mates were Chief Justice Lemuel Shaw, Washington Allston, Rev. Charles Lowell, D. D., Rev. Timothy Flint and Rev. Joseph S. Buckminster. He at first prepared himself for the gospel ministry, but never entered upon the duties of the profession. He then studied medicine with the celebrated Dr. John Jeffries of Boston, and estab- lished a practice in that city.
"He was brought up in the strictest doctrines of Cal- vinism, against which, however, his mind reacted strongly, and he became very decidedly a free-thinker. He was exceedingly positive in his political opinions-which is one of the unmistakable Dwight traits, wherever found. In
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politics he was a Hartford federalist of the most conserva- tive type."
Dr. Dwight possessed a superior mechanical genius, and was continually inventing and constructing various machines and instruments,-such as a piano on a peculiar model of his own, a fire-engine, orreries, &c. He had a taste for music, and devoted much time to the cultivation of his mind in that fine art. He was very temperate in his habits, eating and drinking moderately and regularly, and was always a man of moderate means.
He married Mary Corey of West Roxbury, (who was living in Boston in 1866,) a lady of a very simple, modest, childlike nature, fresh in her feelings and instincts, and of a lovely disposition. Late in life he removed to West Roxbury, and passed the residue of his days in the pleasant village of Jamaica Plain. He died Aug. 5, 1852. He had four children, whose record will be found in the genealogical portion of this history.
DANIEL PARKER, son of James Parker, Esq., was the third graduate from this town. Being early designed by his father for a learned profession, he was, at a proper age, placed in the academy at Groton,-then in charge of the late Hon. William M. Richardson who was subse- quently chief justice of the supreme court of New Hamp- shire,-where he fitted for college. He was admitted a member of Dartmouth College in 1797, where he pursued a collegiate course, graduating in 1801. He was in the class with Daniel Webster. He read law in the office of Merrick Rice, Esq., of Lancaster, in the county of Worcester. After his regular preparatory course of study he was admitted to the bar, and established himself in the practice of his profession in the town of Charlestown, now (Charlestown District) Boston. Here he remained, doing a lucrative business, until the year 1811. For several years of this period he held the office of judge-advocate of the third division of Massachusetts militia, by the appoint- ment of its commander, Major-General Joseph B. Varnum.
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In the year 18II he was invited by the late Hon. William Eustis-then secretary of war, and afterwards governor of Massachusetts-to accept a situation in the war office at Washington, to which he assented, and after- wards became chief clerk of that department. He re- mained in this situation at the time of the declaration of war against Great Britian in 1812, immediately follow- ing which, (the army having been greatly increased and placed upon a proper war establishment, ) he was appointed by President Madison adjutant- and inspector-general of the army, with the rank of brigadier-general. He con- tinued in this laborious and most important office until the reduction of the army succeeding the close of the war. He was then appointed paymaster-general of the army, in which office he continued until the further reduction and reorganization of the army, when he retired from the service and held no office under the government for. several years. But during the administration of President Polk he was requested by Hon. William L. Marcy-then secretary of war-to accept the office of chief clerk in that department, to which he consented; and he remained in that situation until his death, which was on the fifth of April, 1846.
General Parker married the only child of the late Hon. Zaccheus Collins of Philadelphia, by whom he had several children, all of whom, except two, together with their mother, died previously to his own decease. His eldest surviving child, a daughter, married Clement Hill, Esq., of Maryland, a few years before the death of her father. She has a family of several children, and at the present time resides in Washington. His other child, a son, graduated from Yale college, and afterwards spent some time in European travel. He at length adopted the medical profession, and after a due preparation, estab- lished himself in Philadelphia about one year after the death of his father. Not far from this time he married a lady of that city, with whom he settled himself in the en- joyment of life, having an ample fortune, and the future
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seemed to be filled with anticipations of the most gratifying character. These were, however, of short duration, as he was suddenly attacked by consumption, which terminated his life in the year 1848. His widow is still living, and also a son, born after his death.
General Parker was a gentleman of pleasing man- ners, of courteous address, at ease himself and placing all at ease with whom he conversed. His mind was richly stored with the results of study, observation, reflection and travel ; and by his ready mode of communication he ren- dered himself an interesting and agreeable companion. His remains were interred in the Congressional burying- ground at Washington, and over them his son placed a monument, made in Boston, of Quincy granite.
LEONARD MOODY PARKER. He was a son of James Parker, the youngest of ten children, and the next in order of the natives of Shirley who received the benefits of a public education. At the age of fourteen years he was placed in the academy at Groton, then under the pre- ceptorship of the late Caleb Butler, Esq. In 1804 he was entered a student at Dartmouth college, where he was graduated in 1808 with a full share of collegiate honors. He studied law two years in the office of Hon. Abijah Bigelow, of Leominster,-member of Congress from Worcester north district,-and one year in the office of Hon. Levi Lincoln of Worcester. Admitted to the bar in 18II, he commenced the practice of his profession in Charlestown, in the office vacated by his brother, General Parker, who had received an official appointment under government. In 1812-upon the memorable declaration of war against, Great Britian, a marked epoch in the annals of our history-Mr. Parker was appointed army judge-advocate, attached to Military District No. I, and held that office until the reduction of the army after the return of peace.
In 1816 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives from Charlestown. In 1818, and for the
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three succeeding years, he was chosen to the State senate from the county, of Middlesex. In 1820 he was a member of the Convention for amending the Constitution of the State, on the separation of Maine from Massachusetts. In 1825, 1828, and 1829 he again represented the town of Charlestown in the House, and in 1826 and 1827 was a member of the Senate from Middlesex. In 1830 he re- ceived from President Jackson the appointment of naval officer for the port of Boston and Charlestown,-upon the decease of General Boyd, his predecessor in that office,- in which he continued four years, when he retired to his native place, the quiet and pleasant town of Shirley, where he passed the residue of his days. Within the year following, his fellow citizens elected him a representative to the Legislature ; the same year he was again chosen a senator for the county of Middlesex, which required him to resign his seat in the House. In 1837, and again in 1840, he was a member of the Senate, and in that capacity served as a member of the valuation committee, convened in the autumn of that year. In this same autumn he was elected chairman of the Middlesex board of County Com- missioners, for three years, and at the expiration of the term declined a re-election. His last official position was in the Massachusetts House of Representatives, a member from Shirley, elected in 1850; and, as a member of the longest official standing in that body, called the House to order and presided in its organization.
While engaged in his duties as a legislator, Mr. Parker was often called to the performance of important trusts ; among which may be mentioned the appointment, (by a resolve of the legislature in 1825,) of himself, Theo- dore Sedgwick and James Savage, "to prepare a system for the establishment of a Seminary for the education of the working classes in the practical arts and sciences." The result of the commission was two elaborate and valu- able reports, accompanied by a bill. The same year he was one of the commissioners to settle the long-contested boundary-line between the Commonwealth and the State
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of Connecticut. A final and satisfactory adjustment of this question was happily effected by this board, of which that able and estimable man, the late Hon. Elijah H. Mills of Northampton, was chairman. The Hon. John Mills, then of Southbridge, was the other member of the Commission, having been made the substitute of the Hon. Mr. Lyman of Enfield, who died soon after his appoint- ment. In 1830 Mr. Parker was on the board of Commis- sioners appointed by the legislature to examine into the condition of the banks of the county of Suffolk.
In his political principles and party relations, Mr. Parker was, throughout his public life, a republican of the old Jeffersonian school, and in his politics there was no variableness or shadow of turning. In 1824 he was chairman of the State committee of the republican party who supported that eminent citizen, William H. Craw- ford, for the presidency, and in every successive election he sustained the regular nominations of the democratic party.
During the long period of his legislative services Mr. Parker was uniformly active and efficient in the discharge of the duties that devolved on him. To pass over many of less moment, a few of the more prominent deserve a place in this sketch. In the year 1820 he moved in the Senate an inquiry into the expediency of abolishing the then Circuit Court of Common Pleas, with four judges, which had become wholly inadequate to the public ser- vice. As one of the committee he prepared the bill for establishing the new Court of Common Pleas, as it is now organized. The circuit court system, which had long re- mained a favorite measure of the republican party, was a great improvement on the old county court system, which it superseded; but the organization under this bill was still more effective, and has, with slight variations, con- tinued ever since. A service not then appreciated, (but the value of which can now be seen,) was rendered, the same year, by the defeat of the bill seriously urged in the Legislature, to sell the whole interest of Massachusetts in
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the public lands in Maine for $150,000. Mr. Parker took an active part in defeating this project, which would have given millions to private speculation instead of reserving it for the State and for common-school education !
In 1826 and 1827 Mr. Parker was chairman of the joint standing committee on roads and canals,-as it was then designated,-before railroads had a legislative being. They were then just beginning to be talked about, and Mr. Parker took a lively interest in the matter. This session he reported resolves for the appointment of a board of commissioners on internal improvements, who were di- rected to make sundry surveys for routes for railroads, among which was one from Boston to the Hudson river, and also the line from Boston to Providence. The next year the name of the committee was changed to roads and railways, and Mr. Parker again officiated as chairman. The reports and surveys made under the resolves of the present year were referred to this committee, which made a full report, foreshadowing very distinctly what has since resulted in the Boston & Albany railroad and other routes. That report urged the necessity of having the State take a leading interest in the work, and maintained that "should the State think it expedient to assume the whole of the great work, it would prove a source of profit and not a burthen."
Accompanying the report was a bill for the appoint- ment of a more numerous board of commissioners on internal improvements. Levi Lincoln, David Henshaw and Nathan Hale were subsequently appointed on that board. In 1828-9 Mr. Parker, in connection with Theo- dore Sedgwick and other influential members of the House, made an earnest effort to induce the State to take the in- terest and control, to the extent of two-thirds, in the con- struction of a railroad from Boston to Providence, and from Boston to Worcester. This measure failed, and sub- sequently these roads went into the hands of private corporations, by means of which their great profits have
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gone to individuals, instead of providing, as they other- wise would have done, a large revenue for the Common- . wealth.
In 1826 came up the great question of the freedom of Warren bridge, the first attempt to open a free passage from Boston to the country. The subject of this notice regarded the struggle for this measure as the grand battle between vested rights and monopolies which had stood so long in the way of progress, and had compelled the many to pay everlasting tribute to the few, "by setting a toll-gate against posterity." Mr. Parker-as the records of that period amply show-was a most persevering and effective advocate of a free avenue, and perhaps was relied on more than any other senator in the lead he took in sup- port of the bill. It was carried through, after a protracted and exciting debate; by one majority ; but it met the veto of Governor Lincoln, and failed at that time to become a law. . The following year the friends of the measure again carried it through against the most inveterate opposition ; and this time-so decisive had been the indication of public sentiment-it escaped a veto and became a law. From this have resulted the free avenues, subsequently opened, which have proved of priceless benefit to the city and the surrounding country.
In 1836 the Western Railroad had exhausted its means, and applied to the Legislature for aid. The doc- trine of the democratic party, with which Mr. Parker acted, was substantially that if aid was granted, the State should assume the road,-and not make its loans to private corporations.
The subject was one of difficulty and delicacy. Mr. Parker advocated the bill, in pursuance of the policy rec- ommended in his report in 1828, and moved an important amendment, touching the ultimate power of the State to assume the road,-without which it probably would not have passed the Senate, as it finally did, thereby increas- ing the capital one million of dollars in behalf of the State.
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During this and the following year numerous railroad companies, created prior to March 11, 1831, applied for extension of time and increase of capital; and Mr. Parker took care, in every case, to move the conditional clause subjecting them to the general law of 1831, from which their prior charters had exempted them. This was earnestly opposed, by many of the friends of railroads, as a grievous infringement of the then favorite doctrine of vested rights ; but it is believed that all now see the utility and necessity of such a provision.
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