USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Sutton > History of the town of Sutton, Massachusetts, from 1704 to 1876, including Grafton until 1735, Millbury until 1813 and parts of Northbridge, Upton and Auburn > Part 14
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Mary married Dr. Leonard Pierce and had two daughters, Mary Frances and Ellen Douglass. Ellen married M. M. Hovey and has two children, John Wm. and Marius M., jr.
Mrs. Pierce is one of the best read and most intelligent ladies of the land. She inherits the Le Baron estate, and lives there with her daughter, Mary Frances.
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Edwin was a merchant in New York City, where he died single, much lamented by all who knew him. Frederick is a physician of some note in New York.
Theodore was a merchant in New York, but being out of health, has retired on the farm with his sister.
Caroline married Dr. N. C. Sibley, and had one son who died young. She married for her second husband Stephen Merihew, Esq., a New York lawyer, by whom she has a son and two daughters. George is in a store in New York.
Since Capt. Putnam left the place several different families have lived there. Silas Brown, since a lawyer in the West, had charge of the farm two or three years. Dea. Solomon Marble and his son Joel, the father of the celebrated editor, Manton Marble of New York, lived here and carried on the farm. Joel's wife died here.
John Rich, jr., owned the farm several years and died here. He left a wife and one daughter, Mary.
The house where F. F. Sibley lives it is not known who built. Samuel Goddard lived there and carried on the tanning business ; next, Caleb Torrey followed in the same business. Major Holman owned it. Christopher Nason tanned there. Reuben MeKnight owned it and lived there. Simon Sibley owned it and lived there many years. His sons were Freeman, now Dr. Sibley of Warren, Simon Harrison, the manufacturer of Warren, once worth four hun- dred thousand dollars, but who has now retired from business on account of heavy losses by the Boston fire, etc. George was a blacksmith. His daughter Sophronia married Anthony Mason, and had two sons and one daughter. Mary married a Cummings and died. Nancy married a McKnight and died. Mr. Sibley died at Warren, about ninety-seven years of age.
Rev. Mr. Walker lived here a year or two. Anthony Mason carried on the farm several years and died there. F. F. Sibley was the next and is present owner. He was born in Oxford, October 22, 1827.
Samuel Goddard married a King for his first wife ; for his second Widow Park. He went to Royalston and had a very large family ; among them Deacon Nathaniel Goddard of Millbury.
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The next house was the old school-house, made into a dwelling house by Col. Jason Waters; many families, too numerous to mention, have lived in it. Mr. Amos Waters once owned it and lived there. It is now occupied by Mr. Isaac Waters, son of Stephen, son of Richard, son of Richard ; he married a daughter of Salem J. Shaw.
The present school-house was built 'in 1818.
The house now owned and occupied by Salem J. Shaw was built by Oliver Bullard and sold to the present owner. Mr Shaw was born in Wales, Mass., February 13, 1821; married Susan Ann Putnam, daughter of Harvey, son of Abner, son of David, son of Deacon Cornelius. Mr. Shaw has run the mill several years and is a wheelwright by trade.
The first framed building raised in West Sutton was a saw mill on the site where Shaw's mill now stands. The house where Daniel Chase died, now belonging to his heirs, was originally a store and stood where the Widow Gibson's house now stands. The store was kept by Captain Thomas Smith, then by Bastow and Hovey, then by Dr. Amasa Braman, next by Colonel Jason Waters, then by Jabez Hull, then Samuel Putnam, last Le Baron Putnam. It was moved to present site by Captain Cornelius Putnam, next owned by Adolphus Draper, who was a blacksmith and owned and occupied the trip-hammer shop. Chase was a carpenter and a good workman. He left a wife and two daughters.
The house where Loren Kenney lives was built by Amos Waters, son of Amos and Abigail, about 1816-was sold to Stephen Hutchinson with a farm of about seventy-five acres : by him sold to James Phelps; he sold to Levins Sibley, Lewis Stockwell owned it, Calvin Eager bought it, and Nathan Heath bought of him for Mrs. Crossman ; ¿ it is now owned by Loren Kenney.
Stephen Hutchinson came from Rhode Island and had a large family. He moved to Oxford, where he died.
There used to be an old house on the corner. Mrs. Putnam says it was an old house seventy years ago. No one seems to know who built it. Mr. Amos Waters lived in it many years. He is said to have been one of the most
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exemplary of men, and was known as "Deacon Amos," although he never held that office. He married for second wife a daughter of Elder Samuel Waters, and had a large family of the best of children, all quiet, intelligent, peace- ful and good. He was a hoe-maker by trade and made the best hoes of his time. They were plated hoes with an eye for the handle; the upper side was steel, the under side iron. The theory was that the iron would keep the steel from breaking, and being soft would wear off at the bottom and keep the hoes sharp. He used to manufacture them in a trip-hammer shop which he built, near where the Hooker shop now stands. The scythe business was also carried on there. Captain Cornelius Putnam made axes there. It was quite a business shop, owned and operated by several different men and firms. Janes and Shumway were here, borrowed money, bought horses and ran off. They went to Wisconsin and started business. The place was named Janesville after Mr. Janes, and is now an important town. They were here in 1836.
On the opposite corner stood a long, low house known as the "Tom Smith House." Thomas Smith, son of Robert Smith, lived here many years. He married for his second wife a daughter of Elder Samuel Waters. He was born in Douglas. The Sutton high school, kept by Rev. George A. Willard, was located at one time in this house. The house was owned at one time by Captain Reuben Waters ; his mother died here in her one hundreth year. She, once so active and intelligent, in the last year or two of her life became a mere child, so that Mrs. Waters gave her toys and made her rag-babies to play with. The house was owned several years by Daniel Hovey. V. C. Hooker owned it and took it down.
The next house above was built by V. C. Hooker, and sold to Samuel Newton, and by him to Mr. Ethan Brown. Mr. Brown was born in Oxford, married Mary Ann Sibley, daughter of Almon. They have one daughter, Delia, who graduated at Mount Holyoke. She married Rev. Mr. Law- rence.
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The house now occupied by Franklin Sibley was built by Veranus C. Hooker, who bought the site of James Phelps about 1840. It has been owned by Henry Batcheller, John Rich and Sibley. Rev. Alvan Abbott once lived in this house. Sibley has been mail-carrier from West Sutton to Millbury for several years.
The house now owned by Mrs. Elder Fuller was built by Elder Samuel Waters; he kept tavern, had an ashery and distillery back of the house ; also two blacksmith shops, one for the manufacture of scythes and one for hoes. One was operated by water-power, near where Phelps' mill now stands.
He took stock in the "village factory," which brought failure to so many, and was sent to jail, where he wrote a sermon entitled "The Spirits of the Prison," which was published. He preached in the first Baptist church several years. After he gave up preaching he had a paint shop near his house, where he painted carriages.
The other part of the house, now owned by Olive Tucker, was built by his son Joshua and sold to Amos Waters. "Deacon Amos" occupied it several years and died there.
The old part was owned by Esq. Bastow. His father, Job Bastow, died there March 28, 1827 ; his widow died October 31, 1830.
Samuel Waters, Jr., bought it; he was deacon of the first Baptist church. He finally moved to Worcester, where he died. Captain Willard Putnam, son of Aaron, son of Archelaus, son of Edward, owned it. James Phelps bought it and sold to Willard Hall, son of Joseph, son of Deacon Willis. On the settlement of Widow Hall's estate, sold to the present owner.
Ebenezer Cadwell once lived in the west part of this house, and carried on the tailoring business. He was after- ward depot master at Northbridge.
The house now owned and occupied by Mrs. Mindwell H. Phelps was built by Sumner Bastow, Esq., in 1817; John Hathaway and Darius Sibley worked on the house; they slept in it before the plastering was dry, and having a char- coal fire Hathaway was suffocated by the gas. Sibley but
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just escaped. Esq. Bastow was a lawyer in the old grab-law time. His kind feelings rendered this profession distasteful to him, so he gave it up, and accepted the position of cash- ier of the Oxford bank, which he kept until his last sick- ness. He died December 29, 1845, aged sixty-eight. He was an affable, gentlemanly, kind-hearted man. His wife, a daughter of Elder Samuel Waters, died March 22, 1871, aged eighty-four. Their son Julius S. was born here ; he went to Brown university, was a physician, and died Decem- ber 24, 1839. Esq. Bastow, while listening on a certain occasion to a sermon by Rev. Mr. Mills, took out his pen- knife and cleaned and scraped his finger-nails, which appa- rent inattention somewhat annoyed his reverence, drawing from him a mild rebuke. So the next day Mr. Bastow sent a handsome apology, accompanied with the entire sermon nicely written out. It was a peculiarity of his to busy his hands in some such way while listening intently to an argu- ment or discourse. It taxed the very suave Mr. Mills to his uttermost to rejoin with due politeness to this unexpec- ted apology, yet he did it with such grace and dignity as few men could command ; regretting, no doubt, that he had not more nail-scraping and less giddy hearers in his congre- gation.
He sold the place to James Phelps in 1827. Mr. Phelps enlarged the house very much and built the beautiful barn in 1839 : the carpenter work was done under the direction of Jabez Ellis. He built the mills now owned by S. J. Shaw in 1830 : the mill work being done by Ezra Davis and others. This saw and grist-mill with 30 acres of land, including the orchard now owned by Stockwell, was sold to Lewis Stock- well in 1841; he bought also the Hutchinson house. Stock- well sold the mill to Oliver Bullard, who built the house where Shaw lives and sold to Shaw. He built a shop for making washers, just above the saw mill now owned by Henry, in 1847. It has since been moved, and stands where Amos Waters' hoe shop used to stand. It belongs to the heirs of V. C. Hooker. He built Henry's saw mill and sawed the first log there Dec. 18, 1856. He bought the upper reservoir and built the dam in 1858. He built the new
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grist-mill in 1858. After his death the mills were sold to Henry Batcheller and by him to Sumner Kenney, by him to Henry Phelps. He built a blacksmith and wheelwright shop where Hooker's shop now stands, in 1861. It was burned in 1866.
He was a millwright by trade, and doing the mill work where they were putting in a new machine for making paper, he conceived the idea of making those machines; so he employed a draughtsman who took dimensions and drawings of all parts of the machine, and he and Gen. Spofford com- menced manufacturing the famous Fourdrinier paper machines in 1826. They made their first pattern in the machine shop at Manchaug.
The business was continued on under the name and firm of Phelps and Spofford until 1841. Their machine shop was located at Spoffordsville in the town of Windham, Ct.
They sold the machines for about $3,000 apiece, and when the purchasers were not able to pay for them, they took mort- gages for their security ; nevertheless, this precaution proved their ruin, for they soon had more paper mills on their hands than they knew what to do with.
So, to bolster up their broken customers, they stocked several of these mills and run them with bad partners, until they were obliged to fail in 1841. After going through bank- ruptcy, Mr. Phelps invented and had patented in 1843, what is known as " Phelps' Patent Rag Washer." He sold of these washers one hundred and twenty thousand dollars worth ; a little more than one half of the amount being profit. Mr. Phelps was son of Henry Phelps ; his mother was daughter of Edward Putnam, who originally bought five hundred acres of land on Putnam Hill, for five hundred dollars.
James Phelps was a fine looking man, weighing over two hundred pounds. His twin brother, Sim., looked much like him, but was not quite as fleshy. James, for several years before he died, was troubled with the gout, and almost lost the use of his lower limbs. Yet he had wheels on his chair and trundled himself about the house, would crawl into his wagon and ride to his shop and about his farm, directing
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all his men, and actually doing more business than any other man in West Sutton, although a cripple, and frequently exercised with the most excruciating pain.
Of his family only his wife and two children survive. Mrs. Phelps is now in her eightieth year. The children are Henry, who married Julia Waters, and Sarah, the widow of Horace De Witt. She has one son, Alexander, a promising young man, now engaged in the hardware business in Worces- ter.
Judge Barton wrote the following obituary, which was published in the Worcester Aegis, in June, 1863 :
"The death of James Phelps, Esq., of Sutton, noticed in the last Aegis and Transcript, will attract wide attention among the elder members of the busi- ness community. He was formerly a large manufacturer of paper machinery. The disastrous period for all manufacturers, previous to the passage of the bankrupt law of 1841, compelled Mr. Phelps to take the benefit of that act, and at the age of fifty years he was left entirely destitute of property. With most men at that age and under such circumstances, further enterprise would have been wholly paralyzed. But possessing great hopefulness and mechanical talent, he put forth new efforts to retrieve his fortunes; invented what is well known as "Phelps' Patent Rag Washer," and by the manufacture of that useful machine, he supported himself under great bodily infirmities, gave remunerative employment to many laborers, paid debts from which he had been legally discharged, and saved a moderate competency for his family. Few men have left a purer name for integrity and enterprise, and his loss will be deeply felt by his family and by the community where he has so long resided."
His funeral was largely attended by his friends and neigh- bors, at the Baptist church in West Sutton on the third inst. The services were appropriately performed by Rev. Mr. Lyman of Sutton Centre, assisted by the Rev. Messrs. Avery and Becker, the Baptist clergyman of West Sutton.
He bought originally but little land of Esquire Bastow, but has bought on of different ones, so that the present farm contains about ninety acres.
The house where widow Gibson now lives was built by Jonathan Dudley, jr., in 1826. Sold to Col. Reuben Waters who lived here several years; some of his children were born here. It was afterward owned by James Phelps, sold by him to Gardner Gibson, a carpenter, who died there in 1876.
The house where Henry Phelps now lives was built by James Gleason in 1833. He married Eliza Dodge, daughter
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of Josiah Dodge. He sold to Samuel Rich and moved to Southbridge, where his wife Eliza died. He married for second wife a daughter of John Dodge, with whom he now lives in Southbridge.
Samuel Rich married Nancy Stockwell, but had no chil- dren. He adopted a daughter who married a Presby, and to her and her heirs Mr. Rich gave this house. They are the present owners. He also gave a handsome donation to the First Baptist church.
The house where widow Earle now lives was originally a wheelwright shop, occupied by Reuben Chase and Origen Harback. It was made into a dwelling house by Col. Jason Waters, sold to Daniel Tourtellott, Esq. Mrs. Perry bought it, and it was inherited from her by her daughter, Mrs. Geo. C. Earle, the present owner. Many families have lived in this house, among them Capt. Charles Harback, Charles Warren, Capt. Parley Howard, a Mr. Hastings, who went to Connecticut, Moses Sibley and others.
The house now owned and occupied by Parley Waters was built by Col. Daniel C. Tourtellott about 1830. He married for first wife Sarah Sibley, daughter of Moses and Sarah ; a part of his children were born here and his wife died here. He married for second wife H. Serepta Stock- well. He now has a third wife and lives in Worcester. He was Colonel of the Regiment that used to muster at West Sutton, and was a splendid officer. He sold to present owner. Ensign Parley Waters, now eighty years of age, is active and intelligent as most middle-aged men. When quite young he had a fever, and after that his hair came out white, giving him then quite a venerable appearance. His wife is now nearly 77. Their children are all dead. Sarah, their grand-daughter, is their only surviving descendant, and one of the first graduates of the Sutton High School.
The house and store now owned and kept by Henry B. Bullard, was built by Samuel Davis for Lyman Parsons, who first kept the store. It was next kept by Gibbs Lilley, Luther Woodbury acting as attendant ; next owned and kept by Amos R. Holman, who sold to Rufus C. Hall, who kept
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it several years. He sold to Samuel Waters, who soon sold to Bullard, the present owner.
The old tavern house which stood where the tavern now stands, was moved across the road, and afterwards occupied by Nathan Arnold and others. It was built by Amos Waters, one of the first settlers. He married widow Daniel Carriel ; her maiden name was Abigail Cobb. She had one son, Daniel, by her first husband, and four sons and three daughters by her second. After his death she married Robert Smith and had one son and one daughter. Miner married a Marble, the daughter married a Whipple.
The children of Amos and Abigail were all born in this house. Their names were Amos, Jude, Reuben, Simeon, Patty, Huldah, and Abigail. Patty married Capt. David Putnam, Huldah married John Putnam and Abigail Capt. Abner Putnam, son of Esq. Nathan. He moved to Ludlow, Mass., and died there. After the death of Amos Waters his widow rented her thirds to Aaron Sibley and a Mr. White, and went to live with her third husband down at the Aldrich mill place.
In the days of the Revolution a train of powder wagons accompanied by a military escort, on its way from Philadelphia to Boston, passed this house. One of White's boys, full of mischief, stuck pitch pine slivers into an apple, and as the train passed, lighted his torch and threw it at the last powder cart, which act so enraged the guard, that they came back to the house, broke out all the windows and threatened the lives of the inmates, thinking them tories. One woman with a child in her arms was obliged to run for her life, the guard threatening to pierce her with his sword if she did not leave. She ran to the Elder Waters' house, and the boy to save his life went and hid under the flume at the mill. After hunting a long time for the boy they went to Le Baron's tavern, where they spent the night; and when they threatened to go back, and burn the house, feeling sure that tories lived there, Mr. Le Baron's assurance that they were good Union people, and that it was only the foolish act of a mischievous boy, was all that saved the house. White was so alarmed for his safety, that he left the place.
The house was afterward occupied by Capt. Reuben Waters, who kept the first tavern here. All of his children were born here. He built the Masonic Hall and store adjoining in 1815.
It was next kept by Col. Jason Waters, who also kept the store. He was the son of Jude, the son of Amos. Col. Jason was quite an enterprising man. He married a Phillips
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and moved to Philadelphia, where he died. One of his daughters married a distinguished and wealthy physician, and now lives in Philadelphia.
The store was next kept by Morgan Phillips, then by Dudley and Torry, next by Col. Reuben Waters and Harvey Lombard. Estes Davis bought out Lombard, and Lyman Parsons went in with Davis, then moved to the new store. The store has since been made into a tenement.
Geo. C. Earle next kept the hotel, and as a landlord he so served his customers as to command their respect and esteemn. He married Miss Martha Rich, daughter of Amos and Patty Rich.
At the time when he kept this house military trainings were very popular, and the different towns tried to see which could produce the best uniformed, armed, equipped and drilled companies. The annual regimental musters were generally celebrated in the beautiful fields in front of this house, it being made the headquarters of the inspectors.
Four very popular Colonels were produced in this little village : Col. Jason Waters, Col. Reuben Waters, Col. Geo. C. Earle, Col. Daniel C. Tourtellott.
Paris and Geo. A. Tourtellott moved the old house and built the brick one, making their own bricks, for there was a brick-yard on this place just back of the barn, where the brick-making business was carried on many years. They succeeded Earle in the hotel, and the Tourtellotts kept the house several years, Charles A. succeeding George. Geo. A. afterwards kept a hotel in Templeton, where he died. Charles went to Millbury, where he kept a popular house until he died.
After the central turnpike was built, this house was a noted stage tavern, two stages a day stopping here on their way from Boston to Hartford and vice versa. Two drivers boarded here, Silas Freeman and Joseph Perkins, one driving east and the other west: they changed horses and coaches at this place. Many travellers stopped here, and the house was well patronized. In the olden time, before daily papers and mails were established, the neighbors used to congregate here to learn the news from travellers, and find out about the markets by teamsters from Boston.
This house used to be noted for its dancing schools, singing schools, balls, etc., which were held in the beautiful hall built by Capt. Waters for the use of the Masons. Those beautiful figures, Faith, Hope and Charity, which adorned the walls, were designed and painted by the noted artist, Jeremiah Styles.
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Since Tourtellott left, several men have kept the house, but there is not much demand for such a house, now that most of the travel is by railroad.
Tourtellott sustained the house by entertaining parties and getting up bird suppers as long as he could, but finally left.
Waldo Putnam bought it and kept it one year or so, then sold to an Irishman by the name of Quirk, who still owns it. Mr. Wallis kept it last year. A Mr. Whiting lives there now. A Mr. Presby once bought it and built a barn there, then it went back to Paris Tourtellott, whose heirs sold to Waldo.
There used to be great amusement in those general trainings, and their dress parade was a fine sight. Their sham fights were bloodless, and conse- quently real fun, although they did on one occasion scare all the rats out of the place; they left in the night after the battle. Their tracks were seen a mile distant the next morning in a sandy place in the road. They were so numerous that a finger could scarcely be put on a spot without touching one. They halted on Putnam and Pigeon hills, and those places were overrun by them.
The next house was originally Willard Putnam's wheel- wright shop. It was made into a dwelling house by Mrs. Patty Perry, formerly Mrs. Amos Rich ; she died there. Mr. Perry married Cynthia Bastow and died there. Mrs. Earle sold it to Frank Sibley, he sold to Mrs. McKnight, she to Bowers Davis, who is now repairing, enlarging and improv- ing it very much.
The next house was Esq. Bastow's office. It was first 1 moved across the road and used as a tailor's shop by Ebenezer Cadwell, then removed to its present site, and enlarged for a shoe shop by Capt. Parley Howard. It was altered into a dwelling house by Rufus Bacon. His daughter, who married a Fairbanks and died in Worcester, was born here. Several families have lived in it, and it now belongs to Nathan Waters. The next house was built by Capt. Reuben Waters for Dorrance Sibley, who first occupied it in 1813. Capt. Parley Howard owned it and lived in it several years. He was a shoemaker, and carried on quite a business. His first wife died here. He married for second wife a Miss Parker, and had two or three children ; she died, and he married a third wife. He died in the north part of the county. Mrs.
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Stephen Putnam died in this house. Mrs. Stephen Waters lived in it. It has been owned for several years by Nathan Waters, and by him rented to various families.
The next house was built of brick by Paris Tourtellott in 1830. He lived here several years, married Mary Ann Stevens, who died here. Deacon Dana bought the place and sold to Thomas Tucker. Warren Johnson bought and sold to Rev. Mr. Snow, whose only son was killed by lightning soon after, at this place, which rendered the house so desolate that he sold to Deacon Lamb, the present owner.
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