USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Sutton > History of the town of Sutton, Massachusetts, from 1876 to 1950, Volume II > Part 18
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The farm owned by Mr. and Mrs. Wilfred Shappy, next to the Hadley cottage, has had many owners and more tenants since 1876. Foster Freeland sold to Joseph Moore in 1884. Mr. Moore was drowned in July 1887 while fishing in Lake Singletary. It was then owned by Laura M. Howard, who bought in 1889. Then followed a succession of owners; Mary I. E. Prentiss 1893, Nettie E. Smedley 1898, Edward Fay and his wife, who bought in 1901, and lived here four years when they sold to Mr. and Mrs. Herbert Sawyer. George Brightman bought in 1910 but kept it less than a month, selling to Ralph E. Roundy and his wife.
Mr. and Mrs. Roundy with their family made this their home for nine years, greatly improving the buildings and the land. Mr. Roundy was a successful grower of small fruits and vegetables. They had five children; Leon, Roy, Viola, who taught for a time in Sutton and later married Ernest Hudson of Laconia, New Hampshire; Ralph, who married Viola Gilbert of the town, and Everett, the youngest, who graduated from Sutton High School and Worcester Trade School. He is now in the printing business and a teacher in the Industrial School for Handicapped Children in Boston. He married Elizabeth Stockwell, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Tyler Stockwell, in 1924.
Mr. and Mrs. Roundy sold the property to Wilbur Robbins in 1919 from whom it was purchased by Charles Nichols in 1920. Mr. Nichols made many changes in the house. Wilfred and Josephine (Mercier) Shappy became the next owners in April 1923. The barn burned in 1924 the same day and hour that Everett and Elizabeth (Stockwell) Roundy were married. Mr. and Mrs. Shappy rebuilt the same year. They have one son, Roland F., a graduate of Sutton High School and Clark College. He has been an instructor in the Sutton High School and is at present (1951) the head of the Vocational Guidance Depart- ment in the Cranston, R. I., High School. He married Miss Lucille Fontaine of Millbury and they have one child.
Branching off at the left, in front of the Shappy home, is the road to the town farm on which there is only one house between West Sutton Road and the Boston Road. This farm was not mentioned in the old history, although there has been a house on the site since the early days of the town. According to the records, the first house built here was erected during the ownership of Elisha Putnam, who died early in the year 1745. He left a will in which he gave thirty- eight acres of land to his son Nehemiah. This will was made in 1745 and states that there was then a house on the thirty-eight-acre tract. Although there have been many changes, there seem to be traces of the old house still remaining in the present one.
Nehemiah Putnam owned it until his death in 1791, when it descended to his son Joseph, who owned it until his death in 1795. His widow sold it to Jonathan Davis of Oxford in 1799. Since then the title has passed to Gibbs Sibley in 1807, to Moses Hopkin and Jonathan Turner, both of Great Barrington, in 1808. They sold to Rufus Knapp in 1809, who kept it about ten years, selling it to Josiah Prentice of Petersham in 1819. It then went to Jason Waters in 1820, to James and Alpheus Albee 1823, to Brigham Knapp in 1825, to Smith Taft in 1827, to
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Amos Bigelow 1828, to Liberty Bigelow in 1839, to Daniel Lawrence in 1845, to Smith Baker in 1846, to Newell Sherman in 1846.
In 1862, Mr. Sherman gave part of the property to his son Hollis N., another part to his daughter-in-law, Emily Sherman (wife of Hollis), and the remainder to Charles H. Andrews, his son-in-law. In 1867 Mr. Andrews became sole owner. Mr. Andrews had two sons and they with their father heeled and soled shoes in the kitchen for several years. One son, Albert, married Mary Sibley, a member of the first graduating class of Sutton High School. She died at an advanced age, a resident of Spencer for many years.
The title passed from Mr. Andrews to Benjamin Cook in 1883, who owned it until 1893. Mrs. Cook died here. A daughter, Hattie Cook, was a graduate of the High School, Class of 1893.
The property was sold in 1893 to Charles and Emily Harwood. Mr. Harwood carried on a successful market gardening business, raising small fruits and vege- tables. Their two daughters were married at this house. Edith was married to J. Eddy Freeland in 1903 and Dorothy married Harry L. Bailey in 1905. One son, Charles, married Mary Putnam, daughter of George and Annabel Putnam. Another son George died in the South. Mr. Harwood died in 1910. Mrs. Har- wood and her daughter by a former marriage, Mrs. Matilda Harwood, continued to make this their home until 1912, when the place was sold to Seymour Beeman.
From 1917, when Mr. Beeman sold to Towfeh and Ella Abysath, the farm went through the hands of various owners: Messrs. Kalil M. Award and Fatorl 1918; Freda Award 1922; George Toohy, 1925; (The barn burned while Mr. Toohy lived on the farm and was never rebuilt.) Messrs. Grosasi, Giordese, and Grenier 1928-9; and in 1930, George T. Young became the owner. He sold to Ralph Hunt in 1940. Mr. and Mrs. Hunt were owners for some years until they went to Florida and sold to Daniel J. Salmon in 1948. Mr. and Mrs. Hunt have two children, Ralph Hunt Jr., who married Dorothy Mackenzie and lives in town and Dorothy, who is married and is in Florida.
Mr. and Mrs. Salmon made this their home with their three boys until they sold in August 1950 to Joseph Kasabula. Mr. and Mrs. Kasabula now live here with their two children.
A large tree stands near the house, the trunk of which measured seventeen feet in girth near the base, nearly twenty years ago. A descendant of the Bigelow family, looking at the tree about sixty years ago, asked how many horseshoes had been driven into it as hooks. He could remember four. They were all out of sight but an eyebolt, with link attached, could be seen protruding about six inches. The tree now has grown around that.
According to tradition, there was at one time a cider mill on the place, near an apple tree. The owner of the farm at the time stated that one morning he shook all the apples off the tree, started the cider mill and carried the apples to the mill, a bushel at a time, until from that one tree he had carried seventy bushels of apples.
Coming back to the West Sutton Road, on the top of the hill, is the site on which stood the large brick house, long known as the Freeland Homestead, built by James Freeland in 1818-1820. (See old history). It was occupied in 1876 by Mrs. Mary Dewitt Freeland, the widow of Freeman Freeland. Mrs. Freeland was a gentlewoman, and though somewhat eccentric, had a brilliant mind. She was an excellent French scholar and much admired by those who studied with her.
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THE OLD FREEI AND HOMESTEAD
She wrote the History of the Town of Oxford, published in 1894, devoting many years to its preparation.
Some of Mrs. Freeland's sayings are often quoted. Looking at the tip of her glove finger, twisted to cover a hole, she would remark, "A rent or a tear may be the accident of the hour, while a patch or a darn shows premeditated poverty."
The farm was sold to George Sessions of Worcester in the early 1890's, the buildings at that time being in poor condition. He kept it about four years, mak- ing extensive repairs in the main house and building a new ell. The barn also was torn down and the present one erected before 1895; William and John Burnap were the builders. In 1895 the farm was sold back to the Freeland family, Mrs. Caroline Freeland, widow of Franklin, becoming the owner.
James, the oldest son, carried on the farm a few years, then moved to Wor- cester. In 1903, J. Eddy Freeland, who had married for his second wife Miss Edith Harwood, came to the farm. A daughter Alice was born here. John F. and his wife came later and the two brothers ran the farm until 1912. In that year J. Eddy moved to Arizona where he has since resided. John F. with the help of another brother, George, who returned in 1912, ran the farm for more than a quarter of a century.
John Freeland raised corn and cauliflower for market, doing an extensive busi- ness in these two products, also keeping a herd of Brown Swiss Cattle. He was the first president of the "Brown Swiss Cattle Association" and for many years he was well known in the town and county. He was town moderator for a number of years. He also had the distinction of having served in the Legislature of two states; having been a member of the General Court of Connecticut and a
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HOME OF CARL T. LUND AND FAMILY
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representative from this district in the Massachusetts Legislature. Mr. and Mrs. Freeland celebrated their golden wedding in 1942. Mr. Freeland died in 1947 aged eighty-seven years and Mrs. Freeland died in 1950 aged seventy-six. Mr. and Mrs. Freeland had three children: Hope E., a graduate of Connecticut Col- lege for Women, who taught in Drew Seminary, Carmel, New York and later married Percy L. Allen, an architect, of New London, Conn. where they now live; Frank A., who married Miss Harriet Moreland of Essex, Mass., a former teacher in Sutton, and Faith A. who married Ellery B. Smith of this town.
Mr. and Mrs. George Freeland had two daughters; Evelyn H., a graduate of Worcester State Teacher's College, who married Daniel S. Smith of this town, and Caroline T., who is a graduate of Worcester Art Museum School and who married Hagop H. Malkasian formerly of Sutton, now of Auburn.
Mrs. Caroline Freeland lived to the unusual age of one hundred six years and four months. She had remarkable vitality, retaining her faculties nearly to the end. She was a woman of staunch principles, never dodging an issue; an example of uprightness to her family and friends. At the time of her death she was said to have been the oldest ex-school teacher in the United States.
In 1904, during the bicentennial Anniversary of the town's founding, a bronze tablet, marking the site of the house where General Rufus Putnam was born, was placed on a boulder a few rods north of the brick house. Mrs. Freeland donated the land on which it stands to the town.
It bears the following inscription:
General Rufus Putnam
Born April 19, 1738 Soldier in the War for Independence Companion of Washington Constructor of Works at Dorchester Heights That compelled the Evacuation of Boston Engineer of Fortification at West Point Father and Founder of Ohio Leader of the Company that gave The Great North West to Freedom, Education and Liberty This monument dedicated May 17, 1904 By the Town of Sutton at its Bicentennial
The farm was sold in 1939 to Carl Lund of Worcester. The house was so badly damaged by the hurricane of September 1938 that it was torn down and a new house built by Mr. Lund near the old site. The barn, badly damaged, was put in good repair. The large carriage house was levelled by the hurricane. The demolishing of the brick house removed a familiar landmark. Its size and location made it outstanding and the stories connected with it made it a part of the Town's history.
"Mr. Carl T. Lund's love for the scenic beauty offered by Sutton's heights resulted in his signing, on April 13, 1938, an option to buy the Freeland farm on West Sutton Road. The final papers were completed and on May 8, 1939, Mr.
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Lund became the new owner of the beautiful expanse of property so situated at the crest of Freeland Hill as to command a distant view in all directions.
"The plans for restoring the beautiful old brick colonial mansion came to a quick, sad end when Mr. Lund was informed by his architect that, due to the hurricane of 1938, and the toll taken by the one hundred and twenty years it had withstood the elements, the structure was no longer practical to restore and must be demolished.
"A new home was built, and Mr. and Mrs. Lund, their daughter Melba, Mrs. Lund's sister Florence and father, Frederick Hult, moved in on March 25, 1942. It is a large impressive white house of colonial architecture, unique in that one of the main ells was finished as a music room, equipped with pipe organ and sufficient in size to accommodate one hundred people. The house is surrounded by large lawns and set off by many beautiful trees and shrubs.
"Mr. Lund was the founder of the New England High Carbon Wire Company of Millbury, Massachusetts. This firm, under his management, became the leading manufacturer of high carbon and alloy steel wire in the country. He was very civic-minded and was ever ready to support a good cause. Death took from us this good citizen on May 31, 1948."
The first place beyond the Eight Lots Road coming toward Sutton Center and the last house in District No. 3 was owned by Solomon Severy in 1876 and occu- pied by B. Frank Batcheller. It was deeded to Mr. Batcheller in 1886. He carried on the farm until his death in February 1913. His wife (Ella Barnes) died in 1893. Their two children Fred L. and Edith were born here. Mr. Batcheller married second, Harriet Barnes, his sister-in-law, in 1894. Mr. Batcheller was Selectman of the town for some time and was one of its best-known and liked citizens.
The following incident is related concerning him while he was serving as a selectman.
"About 1900, B. Frank Batcheller became interested in building a State Road between the Millbury and Sutton lines on Singletary Avenue through Sutton Center to the Manchaug and East Douglas line. The only State Road in Southern Worcester County was built in Leicester through the efforts of a 'Doc Smith' of Leicester about this time. The Sutton road being next, Mr. Batcheller and Mr. George Smith of Sutton, brother of 'Doc Smith', had a very interesting meeting at Leicester discussing methods which were used in obtaining the first appropria- tion of $1000 from the State, a like amount to be raised by the town.
"The first part of the program was to get the State Highway Commission interested, to which end a dinner was given for them in the St. Charles Hotel of Millbury. Plenty of food and, perhaps, a light punch was pleasantly enjoyed by a number of Sutton Voters. The next thing was to show the Commission that the road was well used by public. To accomplish this, Mr. Batcheller hired a hack and driver (Mr. David Powers of Millbury) and, taking the commission along the Sutton road, endeavored to convince them of the need. The driver, meanwhile, had been instructed to hit all the rough spots. Arrangements also were made to have six two-horse teams well loaded, kept moving up and down the road until the commission passed. The members were very much impressed with the amount of traffic. The next work was to convince the voters, and a special Town Meeting was called to raise the necessary funds. It took no little
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engineering to get the appropriation, but after a heated discussion in Town Meeting, the money was voted. Thus the program for building was begun. The road was built from native stone in Sutton, the stonecrusher being set up on the roadside and stone hauled to the crusher by town teams; labor done by town help, as far as possible, in order to help town voters and taxpayers. The price paid was $1.50 for ten hours work for a man and $4 or $5 for ten hours work for man and team. Mr. Batcheller personally supervised the work, letting no soft rock go into the crusher.
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B.W.
ISON.S
"MILESTONE FARM", HOME OF MR. AND MRS. EDWARD W. MACLAREN
"The spreading of the stone was all done by hand shovelers (no modern machinery in those days!). The construction began at the Millbury line on Singletary Avenue and continued toward Sutton Center. To satisfy the Man- chaug voters, another construction started at East Douglas, working to Tucker Pond, Manchaug. It was then an easy matter to continue from Sutton Center to Manchaug." This was done a few years later.
The Selectmen at this time were B. Frank Batcheller, Tyler Stockwell, and Frank Putnam.
After the death of B. Frank Batcheller, his son, Fred L. Batcheller, bought the place from the heirs in April 1913. Edith, the daughter, married Dayton Hudson of Oxford. They had two sons. Fred Batcheller's wife, Florence (Merritt)
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Batcheller, was a former Gardner school teacher. She was interested in all the social activities of the town until her health failed. She died in 1923. Their son Lincoln holds a responsible position on the Rockefeller estate at Pocantico Hills, N. Y. He married Vietta Sterling of Millbury and they have one daughter Barbara. The oldest daughter, Elizabeth Batcheller, was an unusually lovable and talented young woman, and her untimely death in 1926 at the age of twenty- two was a great loss to her family and friends. The second daughter, Phyllis, married Edward Maclaren, the son of a former pastor of the First Congregational Church. They have taken over the farm and occupy it. They have three children: Edward W. Jr., Airman Technician, First Class, USN, Benjamin F. in College and Alice in High School.
Harriet Batcheller, a graduate nurse, married Harold Gibson and they live in town with their two children. Barbara, another daughter, married Alfred Beaton of this town; they also have two children. Alice, the youngest daughter, married James Rice Sherman II. They reside in Waterbury, Conn., with their three children.
Fred Batcheller was a dealer in hay for years besides keeping a dairy. He is well known, public-spirited and interested in civic and religious organizations. He is a deacon of the First Congregational Church.
A disastrous fire occurred during a severe ice storm in December 1942. The firemen saved the house by strenuous effort but the barn and carriage house were completely destroyed.
A small apartment in the rear of the house has been rented for some years. Mrs. Elmer Bancroft and her son Ralph occupied it at one time. Mr. and Mrs. Harold Hunton were living here at the time of the fire and lost part of their furnishings. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Duplisea and two children followed as tenants for three years. Since September 1951, Mr. and Mrs. Charles McCabe have made this their home. Mr. McCabe is a music supervisor in the public schools. He and Mrs. McCabe also direct the choir of the First Congregational Church. They have a small daughter.
A HURRICANE EXPERIENCE - SEPTEMBER 21, 1938 Phyllis B. MacLaren
This morning, of September 21, 1938, breaks warm and sunny. A beautiful day to be out of doors. The weather man speaks lightly of a hurricane. He's just giving us variety in this question of weather. Who ever heard of a New Eng- land Hurricane?
Plans to spend the morning in Worcester seem inevitable and I am on my way. My eight month old baby will be safe in the hands of the maid until my return at noon.
Eleven o'clock arrives. Unforeseen complications in a Worcester lawyer's office appear to necessitate some more driving. "It's a grand day. Why not run up to Gardner? You'll be back before bank closes and we can finish this thing up." It sounds reasonable enough.
Hurried plans by 'phone, to care for arrangements at home during my pro- longed errand and I am on my way once more. I must hurry - the baby will be all right for a while but I must surely be home in time for her 6 o'clock feeding and bed time. I've never left her this long before.
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At Princeton I commence to recognize signs of flood. "Why yes," I muse, "there are threatening floods." After days of rainfall many cities and towns in river districts and low lands have been terribly threatened by rivers running wild. Newspapers and the radio have talked a lot about it. I hardly realized what all the broadcasts were about 'till now.
In Gardner the bridges are all police patrolled. I am forced through deep water nearly up to the running boards. Narrow sections are roped off to direct traffic past danger spots.
I complete my transactions at the bank in a few moments and I am back to the point in South Gardner where, coming up, I passed through the highest water. All motor traffic is stopped! Boats are carrying pedestrians over the raging currents.
People are watching the skies. Even now it is darkening - threatening another downpour after several hours of beautiful sunshine.
They tell me my only exit from the city is the Ashburnham road - all other highways are inundated. I make a dash out the Ashburnham route only to find ropes across a small bridge at a point where ordinarily a tiny brook meanders.
Automobiles have been stopped but a few moments and the drivers seem so quietly resigned to an over-night in Gardner. Every one seems to be turning around in order to make hotel reservations in the city. But I can't stop - nothing under Heaven can stop me. Yes and there are two other cars just ahead - they can't stop either. I wonder if they have babies at home.
We plead with the officer in charge. Yes - he will allow us to pass - cautiously - at our own risk! I am the third in line. We are over. But now will there be further obstacles?
As I drive homeward - my heart heavy - I witness hundreds of people gaping at the swollen rivers - curiously - and I wonder why they don't sense the same thing I do - a sort of coming disaster I can't explain. Maybe it's the wind which makes me feel this way. Every thing seems to be blowing about.
As I enter the town of Sterling rain begins to fall and the wind gains velocity until, as I enter the causeway through the West Boylston Reservoir, it drives in sheets which feel like tiny knives cutting my flesh. My open Ford roadster is no protection against this storm.
Detours retard my progress in North Worcester and at 4:45 P. M. as I drive down Main Street, the rain has stopped now, the sound of splintering windows, caused by the swaying of shop signs, rends the air. The people are still gaping and laughing. Actually standing in great numbers watching flagpoles totter and billboards crash! If ever warning of disaster was evident, it is now.
But what is this? After barely moving through heavy Worcester traffic, I come to a whole row of shattered poplars on Quinsigamond Ave., thrown to the road by the wind. Recklessly I drive over the tree tops.
Intensity of the storm has gripped me but now I feel a sort of shock. I'm won- dering if the end has actually come. What ever has happened to the rest of the family? Has the house crushed on their heads?
Thoughts of drowning in the filthy Blackstone River retard my haste as I come to the bridge on the new cut-off on the outskirts of Millbury. This wind could blow Ford and all into the river and I'm not going to chance it. I'll turn around
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and take the longer route. I'll be safer. and misery will have more company. And yet there is barely a sign of life in the village.
The driver of a bread truck in Millbury Center, as I stop for advice, tells me not to go further. He is the first individual I have seen today, seeming to realize the full weight of the blow. Here slate shingles, torn from the Town Hall roof, are being driven inches deep into the sides of wooden buildings by the wind.
I'm going to chance a bit more driving. Trees are down all round me but as long as my path is clear ahead I shall keep going. Enormous old Maple trees are swaying and their roots are being uplifted but still I may get home. It has become an obsession and yet - as I near my sister's home, just North of Bramanville, I suddenly lose courage. I can't go on. I stop by the curbing, leaving the fruits of this morning's shopping in the Ford and dash for the house. As I see a great Maple leaning, ready to crash I already regret having left the car. It will be crumbled like match wood and I will be tied here with no sort of conveyance with which to get to Sutton.
Yes, that tree is down - down on my Ford. I watch it slowly sink, and I can- not tell what is happening as the foliage is so dense.
For one hour we watch the storm, the height of it, tearing things to pieces. The roar is terrific. I shiver when I think of what might be happening to me had I ventured further into that maelstrom. People are leaning into the wind, strug- gling to get home.
And now it abates a bit. I'm going home too! All opposition to my decision is of no avail. I am on the road - walking with another woman, who is going home to another baby. Only she is sort of hysterical. Thank Goodness I'm not hysterical. The rain and wind in my face and the realization that I am actually accomplishing that, for which I have striven since morning, gives impetus to my efforts. The light of day helps me, although that light is fast waning.
After leaving my companions I push on alone. The time passes more slowly. On Singletary flat I meet the High School principal and one of the faculty on the road with a car striving to get through the fallen trees in an effort to locate a bus load of children who started for a concert in Worcester this afternoon and, as all of us, have become "dislocated." Naturally, with all means of communication disabled, every living person away from home since about 4 o'clock has tempo- rarily become lost to those awaiting us at home or elsewhere.
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