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 19
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TOWN OF SUTTON.
In the following winter General Washington was anxious to dislodge the British from Boston. Having invited Colonel Putnam to dine at head- quarters, he detained him after dinner to discuss plans for the purpose, and especially to ascertain whether any plans could be suggested to fortify our troops on Dorchester Heights, thus enabling them to command the city. The ground was deeply frozen, rendering ordinary earth-works out of the ques- tion. Most providentially, as Colonel P. says, that very night he found a book on engineering, from looking at which for a few minutes a plan sug- gested itself to him for the work in question. The plan was reported to the commander the next morning, who immediately approved it. It was carried into execution on the night of March 4th, and the British were compelled to evacuate Boston.
From this time he was largely occupied in laying out works of defense, General Washington speaking of him in a letter to Congress of July 10, 1776, as "our chief engineer." Not only during the war, but during his life, did General Washington treat General Putnam with marked confidence and respect. After the declaration of peace in 1783, a petition was forwarded to Congress by two hundred and eighty-three officers of the army, asking for a grant of land in the western country, and General Putnam was selected to act in their behalf. He wrote to General Washington, requesting him to lay the petition before Congress. In his reply, dated June 2, 1784, he says : " Surely if justice and gratitude to the army, and general policy of the union were to govern in this case, there would not be the smallest interruption in . granting its request."
General Putnam was one of the trustees of Leicester academy, which was incorporated in 1784, giving for its support one hundred pounds. He was volunteer aid to General Lincoln in the suppression of Shay's insurrection. In 1787, he was chosen to represent the town of Rutland in the general court.
The formation of the "Ohio Company of Associates," by whom the settle- ment of the territory northwest of the river Ohio was commenced in 1788, was chiefly due to him. In January, 1786, he and General Benjamin Tupper issued a call for a meeting at Boston of delegates from the several counties to form such an association. The company was formed, and Rev. Dr. Manas- seh Cutler, of Hamilton, Mass., was appointed to make the purchase of lands. This was done in the summer of 1787. While he was negotiating for the land-1,500,000 acres-the celebrated "Ordinance for the government of the territory of the United States, northwest of the river Ohio," was passed by Congress. There is good reason to believe that Dr. Cutler was largely instrumental in the formation of this ordinance. A writer in the North American Review for April, 1876, says: "The ordinance of 1787 and the Ohio purchase were parts of one and the same transaction. The purchase would not have been made without the ordinance, and the ordinance could not have been enacted except as an essential condition of the purchase."
Gen. Putnam was one of the directors of the company from the beginning, and was appointed the general superintendent of its affairs. The first settlers left Massachusetts late in the fall of 1787, and landed at the mouth of the Muskingum, where Marietta now stands, on the seventh of April, 1788. Gen. Putnam came with the first company, and immediately commenced the work of surveying the lands, building a fort, etc. His family he did not bring out till 1790; Marietta continued to be his place of residence till his death in 1824. Though there were many men of liberal education among the early settlers,
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he was the leading citizen. Besides subordinate offices which he filled in the west, as well as at the east, he was appointed one of the three judges of the terri- tory in 1790, filling the place made vacant by the death of Gen. Samuel H. Parsons. According to the provisions of the ordinance, the governor and judges constituted the law-making body for the territory till 1799, when the population was sufficient for the election of a territorial legislature. In 1792 he was appointed by the President and Senate a brigadier general in the regular army. It was iu this year that he made a treaty with the Indians at Port Vincent (Vincennes, Indiana).
Four years later he was made surveyor-general of the United States, the first who ever held that office. In all the offices he held he acquitted himself with great credit. Perhaps our country does not furnish an instance of one with such limited opportunities in early life performing with more uniform accept- ance and success responsible public trusts. When Congress authorized a convention in 1802 for the formation of a state constitution, the citizens of Washington County elected him as one of their delegates.
Gen. Putnam was a man of large public spirit, ready to engage in any enter- prise for the advancement of education and religion. In 1797 he was one of the founders of the "Muskingum Academy," the first edifice of the kind in the north-west.
From 1801 till his death he was one of the trustees of the university for which the Ohio company had provided two townships of land in their purchase. ยท He took a prominent part in the erection of the Congregational church at Marietta in 1808, which is still used for worship. In 1812 a Bible society was formed, of which he was the first president.
Gen. Putnam enjoyed the confidence of the most eminent men of his time, both civil and military. Among his papers, which have been presented to the library of Marietta college by his grandson, Hon. William Rufus Putnam, are autograph letters from many distinguished men, as Washington, Hamilton, Fisher Ames, Oliver Wolcott, Timothy Pickering, Jonathan Trumbull, Gens. Knox, Wayne, Howe and others.
In this collection are also a large number of commissions, ranging from 1760, when he was made an ensign in the Provincial troops, to 1796, when he received the appointment of surveyor-general. Among the signers are Thomas Pownal and Thomas Hutchinson, governors of the colony of Massachusetts Bay before the revolution; Joseph Warren, president pro tempore of the Con- gress of Massachusetts Bay; John Hancock, Samuel Huntington and Elias Boudinot, president of Congress ; James Bowdoin, governor of Massachusetts ; Arthur St. Clair, governor of the north-west territory, and George Washington ; with Thomas Jefferson, Timothy Pickering and Henry Knox as secretaries.
In Dr. Hildreth's "Lives of the Early Settlers of Ohio," published in 1852, under the auspices of the Ohio Historical Society, the leading place is given to Gen. Rufus Putnam. And Ohio and the great north-west owe him a high place among those who have rendered signal service to the whole region.
The house was also occupied by Deacon Putnam's descend- ants. Capt. Francis was probably the last who lived there. The farm was afterward owned by a Mr. Wilson, then by Mr. Fuller, then by Caleb and Tyler Marsh ; they sold to James Freeland, who built the present house in 1818. It is
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TOWN OF SUTTON.
of brick with marble trimmings, cost twenty thousand dollars, and was, when built, after the model of one owned by an English lord, considered and intended to be the best house in Worcester county. Mr. Freeland, the only son of Dr. James Freeland, was when young one of the most brilliant and enterprising men in all the region. He was engaged in the " Canada trade," and was probably one of the most suc- cessful men that ever entered into that hazardous business. He chartered vessels and crews to assist him in transportation, and always made favorable runs. Like Alababa, he could measure his gold in a Winchester measure, but had no Casine or Casine's wife to tallow its bottom. He married Miss Polly Marble, daughter of Lieut. Stephen, son of Samuel, son of Freegrace, son of Samuel of Andover, Mass. His mother was daughter of Esquire Nathan Putnam, cousin of the renowned Gen. Israel, also Gen. Rufus, and Col. John, and son of Isaac, son of Deacon Edward of Salem, son of Thomas.
Mrs. Frecland was a lady. In early life she taught school, and was a devoted and successful teacher. She had two daughters and five sons, all born on this farm, which was next owned by their eldest son, Capt. Freeman Freeland, who, like his father, commenced a most brilliant carecr.
When eighteen years of age he was made captain of a military company, and when dressed in his new uniform, straight, trim, elegant and refined, he was the envy of his fellows. For general intelligence, personal appearance and gentlemanly deportment, he had few equals ; he was forseveral years a popu- lar teacher. He at times made a specialty of penmanship, being one of the best penman in the country. He left home at one time with only five dollars in his pocket, walked until he was able to establish a school, then taught from place to place until he reached the South, where he established a store, sent for one or two of his brothers, and carried on business until he was able to buy the old homestead and pour a pile of twelve thousand dollars in gold upon the parlor carpet. He divided his fortune with his brothers and sister and retired on this farm, working diligently for its improvement, raising many fine horses and clearing the fields of stones, until to-day you see some of the handsomest fields to be found in Worcester county on this beautiful place.
He lived with his father and mother until both died, then married Miss Mary De Witt, daughter of the late Capt. Stearns. De Witt of Oxford, one of the most deserving and successful men of Worcester county. Mrs. Freeland is a lady highly educated, of great intellectual capacity, and writes
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HOMES OF THE
for the press. Mr. Freeland died here, and his funeral was attended February 25, 1875. His widow now occupies this great mansion.
The next son, Mr. Franklin Freeland, worked on the farm until he bought the place he now owns, already described. He married Miss Caroline Adams at Bangor, Maine, Feb .. 25, 1853. They have had six children. Their oldest son, James, partakes of the Freeland enterprise, and is a perse- vering and successful business man. He married Miss Mary L. Shaw, and now lives on his father's farm. Mr. Franklin Freeland has been the "real estate" of the family, and is one of our best citizens.
The next son, Fred., was an intelligent young man, and died single.
Fayette remains a bachelor. The youngest son, Mr. Foster Freeland, at one time the preceptor of Millbury Academy, married Miss Frances Jane Woodbury, an heiress and a very intelligent and worthy woman. They had one daughter, at the birth of whom the mother died; that daughter is Miss F. J. W. Freeland, a recent graduate of Sutton high school. The house which stood on this place when Mr. Freeland bought it was situated just in the bend of the road, some forty rods east of the present dwelling. A store kept by Nathan Woodbury at one time was connected with the old house. Mr. Fuller had an ashery near by, where he made potash. There was a private burial place on this farm, containing several graves. One stone bears the name of Mary Wilson. Military musters have been held on some of the beautiful fields of this farm. In the large and commodious hall in the Freeland mansion, Rev. George A. Willard established a select school in: 1835, which continued two years and was very popular; it was known as the Sutton high school.
The next house was first owned by Deacon Benjamin Woodbury, who came here from Beverly, and raised a large family. He was succeeded by his son Colonel Bartholomew Woodbury, who kept tavern! here for several years. Then Eli Rising kept the house. Jonathan Fuller owned it, mar- ried a daughter of Job Darling who lived here. Then Capt. Luther Little bought it. It now belongs to Solomon Severy,
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TOWN OF SUTTON.
Esq. It was occupied several years by B. L. Batcheller, Esq., and is now occupied by his son, Mr. Frank Batcheller, a young man of great industry and enterprise. The present house was built by Captain Little about 1845 or '46. He
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1771
MERCON.SC
RESIDENCE OF B. L. AND B. F. BATCHELLER. .
came from New Bedford, where he had been engaged in the whale fishery. He died here very suddenly while driving his team.
The house and barn have since been much improved by Batcheller or present owner.
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HOMES OF THE
CENTRE DISTRICT, NO. 4.
The next place was first settled by John Burdon, a tailor, who was born in Durham, England, about 1685, was im- pressed on board a man-of-war and sent against the Spanish. He was at the taking of Gibralter in 1704; and afterward went to sea for several years. He went to Africa after slaves, and brought them to New England. He came to Sutton in 1727 and built a log cabin on the shore of Singletary Pond, a little west of Kendrick's, where he lived a few years, when he built a house where Deacon Marble now lives, and planted an orchard. He left Sutton and resided at Charlton a few years, where his wife died. He returned to Sutton, and died at the Phineas .Putnam place in February, 1763.
It was next owned by Deacon John Frye. But little is known of him. He joined the first Congregational church in 1746, was eighth deacon in 1762. He removed his rela- tion to Royalston. It was next owned by Deacon Worcester, then by Deacon Amariah Preston, who deeded it to Lieut. Stephen Marble, Oct. 22, 1776. Lieut. Marble was son of Samuel, son of Freegrace, son of Samuel and Rebeckah of Andover. His wife was daughter of Esq. Nathan Putnam, son of Isaac, son of Deacon Edward, son of Thomas. He carried on this large farm, besides doing quite a business as saddler and harness-maker. He built the present large and commodious house in 1806. His son, Palmer, born here Sept. 24, 1784, succeeded him in like employment until his death, Sept. 12, 1865. He joined the church in 1822, was chosen deacon in 1826, and served in that capacity several years. He was a thick-set man of good figure and pleasant counten- ance. He married Polly Woodbury, daughter of Lieut. John, son of Captain Jonathan, son of Deacon Benjamin. They had a large family of children, most of whom died of consumption. Deacon John W., the present owner, is the only survivor of their children, and is a man of true worth, peaceable, quiet, intelligent and honest. His mother still lives, and is wonderfully active for one of her age.
The shop which Lieutenant Marble built opposite the house was moved away, converted into a dwelling, and is
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TOWN OF SUTTON.
now the home of the Misses Adams. On this farm once stood a school-house, located near the Griggs house; the old doorstep of which still remains. Mrs. Marble says she went to school there one day when the school was kept by Captain Simeon Woodbury. The house was afterward moved and made into a tenement; and was once occupied by Major Holman, who was a noted veterinarian. Alpheus
EMERSONASCS
RESIDENCE OF DEA. JOHN MARBLE.
Marble, who married a Butler, lived there; also Mr. Brown, who played the violin at the Baptist church. It was again moved, and is now the carriage house at the Graves place.
The next place, owned by Mr. White, was purchased by Thomas Griggs of Brookline, Massachusetts, a young man of merit and mark. He married Mary, daughter of Benja- min and Mary Goddard, July 4, 1776. She was a descend- ant of Edward Goddard, of Norfolk county, England.
They had three children; one daughter, who died in infancy, and two sons, John and Joseph, both born in
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Sutton. Lieutenant John Griggs, the eldest son, succeeded his father upon the estate. He was a gentleman of much public spirit, possessed of every moral excellence of charac- ter, and identified with all enterprises designed to promote the interests of the community. He married Mary, daughter of Nathan Thurston, Esq., of Oxford, Massachusetts, grand- daughter of Rev. David Thurston * of Medway, Massachu- setts, who was the first clergyman of the second church in Medway, 1752.
He received his education and graduated at Princeton, New Jersey. On the maternal side Mary Thurston was the granddaughter of Dr. Alexander Campbell of Oxford, and in this line of ancestry son of Rev. John Campbell, a native of Scotland and the clergyman of the first English settle- ment in Oxford.
Rev. John Campbell was of the London branch of Camp- bells.
The coat of arms brought by him from Scotland, at the time of the Stuart rebellion, is now in the possession of Mrs. Dr. Julius Y. Dewey of Mont- pelier, Vt., and has upon it the following record :
CAMPBELL OF ARTERUCHEL.
He beareth Gerony of eight D'Or and Sable.
This bearing of very ancient date was quartered on the escutcheon of the royal standard of the kings of Scotland from the time of Malcolm III. to the death of Mary Queen of Scots, who was beheaded by the sanguinary Eliza- beth, since which time it has been borne by Campbells, Dukes of Argyle, to which they are entitled by being lineally descended from Duncan, who was murdered by his kinsman Macbeth.
The family of Lieutenant John Griggs consisted of seven sons and four daughters.
Lewis, the eldest son, was married to Maria Hancock, a lady of Grafton, Massachusetts, Jan. 26, 1842. After a short residence in Grafton he became engaged in business in Boston, and subsequently in Cincinnati, where he remained until 1865, when he returned to Sutton and purchased a landed estate, where he is now residing in quiet retirement, a much csteemed citizen. His family consisted of two daughters ; Anne, born in Grafton; Mary Louise, born in Boston, married to Heury Simeon Stockwell of Sutton.
* The ancestors of Rev. David Thurston came to this country in 1631, having sailed in the ship "Mary Ann " from Bristol, England.
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TOWN OF SUTTON.
Salem, the second son, engaged in business in Grafton, married Maria Cleveland of G .; afterwards removed to Worcester, where he is now a resident, and has a large and interesting family.
Thomas Thurston, the third son, studied medicine, is a physician in Grafton. Married Julia, the only daughter of Delano Pierce, M. D. He has represented his district in the state legislature.
RESIDENCE OF MRS. JOHN GRIGGS.
The fourth son, John, engaged in mercantile business, a young gentleman of much promise, and died in middle life.
Joseph Franklin, fifth son, graduated at Yale College in 1846, studied theology at Andover, and is now professor of Greek in the Western University of Pennsylvania. He married Elizabeth Buchanan, daughter of Dr. I. Brooks of Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.
George, the sixth son, went at a very early age to Cali- fornia, where he now resides. He sailed in the ship
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"Edward Everett," the first vessel from Boston with passen- gers for California.
Nathan, the youngest son, is a resident of Australia.
Susan Elizabeth, the eldest daughter, was first married to Gibbs Lilley of Sutton, in her second marriage to Julius Y. Dewey, M. D., of Montpelier, Vt. Susan Lilley, her only daughter, married Edward, son of Dr. Dewey of Mont- pelier, Vt.
The second daughter, Mary Ann, married Capt. William W. Taylor, United States Army. She died soon after her marriage, and her remains and those of her infant son were sent home to her friends for burial in Sutton.
The third daughter, Frances Helen, married Willard F. Pond of Worcester; died in early life, leaving one son and two daughters. Margaret Louise, the youngest daughter, married Henry Simeon Stockwell of Sutton, died June 6, 1868, much loved and lamented.
Lieutenant John Griggs died June 11, 1850. Mary (Thurston) Griggs died March 25, 1878.
Captain Joseph Griggs, second son of Thomas Griggs, of Sutton was a man of much enterprise of character, and was extensively engaged in business. But owing to the pressure of the times and large losses through other parties, he was obliged to enter bankruptcy, and his property was equitably divided among his creditors. He afterwards engaged in busi- ness with success, and paid to his former creditors every indebtedness, both principal and interest, though he had been legally discharged from every obligation. Such an example of moral honesty in character is as worthy of note as it is rare. Capt. Joseph Griggs had a large family, most of whom died in childhood. His son Joseph died in Florida at the early age of seventeen years. His two daughters, who survive him and inherit the many noble qualities of their father, reside in Worcester.
The next place was owned by Mr. White, who also owned the Grigg's place. His daughter married Thomas Parker, who was next owner by inheritance. Then her three daughters, Mary, Roby and Falla, came into possession, who lived here till 1824, when it was conveyed to Mr. Amos
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Armsby, next owned by Mr. Ira Graves, and by him sold to F. A. Stockwell, the present owner. There was formerly a shoemaker's shop on this place. Mr. Armsby was a carpenter and machinist ; he built him a large shop which was operated by horse-power. After Mr. Armsby left, it was sold to Gibbs Lilley, moved down by his house and used as a store. It is now a tenement house.
Amos Armsby, son of Joshua, married a Fletcher, sister to Mrs. Paul Whiting, and had three sons and one daughter. Horace learned his father's trade and went to Millbury, where he carried on the sash and blind business. One of his sons is now cashier of the Millbury National Bank. Edwin lived at Whitinsville. Loren graduated at Amherst college and is a Congregational clergyman. The daughter married John Morse, jr. They were all very worthy people. Mr. Graves, whose wife died here, went to Millbury to reside with his son, Mr. Parley Graves, and died there.
The next place was settled by Elder Benjamin Marsh, who came from Danvers and was one of the three first settlers in town. See Annals, 1716-17.
This place was afterward owned by his son, Benjamin Marsh, to whom it was given by the will of Elder Benjamin Marsh, made Dec. 3, 1762, and approved by Jedediah Foster, Judge of Probate, Dec. 4, 1775. Benjamin Marsh deeded it to his son Joshua, March 10, 1795. Joshua deeded it to his son Warren, June 2, 1810. Joshua and Warren conveyed it by deed dated Nov. 22, 1816, to Archelaus Putnam, who deeded one-half of said farm to his son Tyler, March 17, 1823. Mr. Archelaus Putnam, son of Archelaus, son of Edward, son of Deacon Edward, son of Thomas, lived on this place from 1816 until he died, February 9, 1854. He was a man of wealth, kind feeling, gentlemanly deport- ment, rather above medium size and very active. He was a farmer. He belonged to a class than whom there is none more noble, was engaged in a business than which there is none more honorable.
When our young men look at things in the true light they will be slow to renounce the certain returns of honest industry
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upon the farm, for the uncertain rewards of professional life. His wife was a most tidy housekeeper, and one of the best of women.
Their son Tyler was a man in rather delicate health for several years before he died, yet he was very industrious and raised a large and very respectable family, all born on this place. He died here, Sept. 9, 1849. His heirs conveyed their interest in the place to A. W. Putnam, by deed Nov. 18, 1852. Archelaus Putnam gave his interest in the place to him by will on certain conditions, which having been fulfilled, make him the present owner.
The present large and commodious house was built by Mr. Archelaus Putnam about 1818, and has been recently improved by Mr. A. W. Putnam. The house on the place when Mr. Archelaus Putnam bought it, stood near the same site ; a house built prior to that stood farther north, both of which were built by the Marshes.
During the gale of 1815, it is said that the wind started up the roof of the house on this place, and Mr. Joshua Marsh, who was a large heavy man, ran into the attic and caught hold of one of the rafters, exclaiming : "Burn it all, Warren ! I will hold the roof down; you get a chain, and we will chain it." .
It is thought by some that the first white child born in Sutton was born on this place, and was Abigail Marsh, daughter of Elder Benjamin Marsh. On the corner of the Hutchinson road near this house, stood the first Baptist meet- ing-house built in town. Elder Benjamin Marsh was the first preacher of that order in town and preached in that house. On this farm is a burial place where the Marshes were buried, and on a stone of granite about eighteen inches high and the same width, is the following inscription, ELD. M., with some other inscriptions which cannot be deciphered. There are other stones bearing the names, Marsh, Merriam, King, Armsby, Hutchinson, Putnam, etc.
The next place was settled by Capt. Jonathan Woodbury, about 1765; he was son of Deacon Benjamin and twin brother of Colonel Bartholomew, and was born on the place where Colonel Bartholomew kept tavern, Nov. 10, 1740,
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EMERSON SCA
RESIDENCE OF A. W. PUTNAM.
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