USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Sutton > History of the town of Sutton, Massachusetts, from 1876 to 1950, Volume II > Part 37
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After Mr. Hall's death, Josiah Norcross acquired the property and when he died Mildred Sibley, his administratrix, sold the farm to Wallace King of Sutton. Mr. and Mrs. King remained there several years, and their oldest son, Everett, was born there.
About 1910, John Heslinga of South Sutton bought the property and moved there with his family. The two sons, Simon and Peter, went to the Old Stone School until it was closed. Mr. Heslinga raised early corn and other vegetables and he and his sons had a peddling route in Whitinsville and sold vegetables, wholesale, in Worcester.
The daughter Mary later taught school and is now living in Detroit. She has four children.
Mr. Heslinga moved to Millbury where a younger son, Gerald, was born. The farm was sold to a man named Chiplis, who, in turn, sold to August Russell. A very sad accident happened at this time. Some former owner had put acetylene lights in the house and the empty storage tank was still in a small shed nearby. Nobody dreamed that the receptacle was a hazard, but one day the Russell boy and another little chap, a boarder, dropped a lighted match inside. There was a roar and tremendous explosion and the Russell boy was critically injured and died.
In 1929, Mr. Russell sold the farm to Mrs. Emily Kuchinski. Her sons, Charles and John, have continued the dairy farming, as did Mr. Russell, but the Kuchinskis have also a thriving poultry business.
John Edward Kuchinski married Frances Barbara Serwecki Nov. 22, 1941. They have one son, John Francis. Charles Kuchinski married Claire Palmer in
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April 1949 and they are building a new home on the same farm nearer Dudley Square.
John Edward has remained in the old house, has remodeled the interior and added new improvements. An artesian well was dug and the pressure of water was so great that it would furnish the second floor of the house without a pump. A stream ran into the house cellar and down the street also. A trench had to be dug to carry away the overflow. A large water hole has been made in the pasture for the cattle and also for fire protection; several fields have been cleared of stones, increasing the tillable land, and the house has been painted for the first time in many years.
John and Charles Kuchinski have a well-known trucking business with a great deal of modern equipment.
The home occupied by Mrs. Rose Siska and her son Algurd is still called the "Old Burnap Place" and is the only house on the Burnap Road, off Central Turnpike. At the time Vol. I of Sutton Town History was published, John S. Burnap owned the place and afterwards lived there for many years with his family.
John Burnap was a carpenter, a skilled workman, as well as an excellent farmer. During most of her life, his daughter Addie lived with her father. She did needlework of finest quality. They were both loyal in their devotion to duty and one cold winter day they attended a neighbor's funeral. They both contracted pneumonia and died shortly afterwards within a few hours of each other.
The house was later occupied by Taeke Wiersma from 1911 to 1914. In 1916 Anthony Gurgzdis bought the property and sold to Matthew and Rose Siska in 1923.
Matthew, commonly called "Mike," was from Lithuania and was an excellent workman with a good education, obtained in his native land. He died in 1923.
There are four children: Bennie, who served in the Regular Army in Panama; Albert, who served in World War II; Algurd, now living at home with his mother and Mary, married and living in California.
It should be noted that there is real artistic ability in the family; especially in evidence in the work of Bennie and Albert.
The first house below Burnap Road on Central Turnpike, going east, is the home of Albert Siska and his family. In June 1948, Albert and Virginia Siska started to build their own house. At the present writing, it is not quite complete but a beautiful wall surrounds the attractive and well-kept lawn. They have one child, named Grace Marie, born Oct. 27, 1950.
It is an interesting fact that the old so called "silver mine," into which an eighty-foot shaft was sunk to obtain silver, in 1876, and abandoned, now fur- nishes Albert Siska with water for his home seventy-five years later.
Albert served in World War II with rank of Staff Sergeant. He is a wire worker at American Steel and Wire Co.
The Pavilionis farm, formerly known as the Fay or Prentice place, is on the Central Turnpike, at Dudley Square-east. It had been owned by the Prentice family, later by Daniel and Delilah Hammond and a Mr. Fay, who married Adelaide Hammond, daughter of Daniel Hammond. Several owners followed, until Anthony Pavilionis bought the property, April 16, 1925, from a Mr. Bernstein and moved into the old house with his wife and five children.
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The house was badly out of repair and had almost no conveniences, not even water. Mr. and Mrs. Pavilionis were undaunted, and for years they cultivated the fertile soil. Field after field yielded a superior crop of sweet corn and other products, as a result of very hard labor.
In 1937, when the new Providence and Worcester Super Highway was constructed, the roadway and the large clover-leaf turn over the Central Turn- pike was planned to cover the best farm land and the location of the Pavilionis house and barn. This area has been named John H. Dudley Square, in memory of Staff Sergeant John H. Dudley, who was killed in Action over Sicily in World War II.
JOHN H. DUDLEY SQ. WORLD WAR II VETERAN
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JOHN H. DUDLEY SQUARE
The Pavilionis family were forced to vacate their buildings and are now living in a new home, east of the original spot, with modern improvements and a satisfactory barn. The five children were married. They are: Anthony Jr .; Mary, who died at the age of 32; Anna, now living with her father and mother with her two children, Nellie and Eva.
Anthony Pavilionis has been employed on the Town Highways for many years.
The stone house at Stone School Four Corners at the intersection of Old Stone Road and Central Turnpike, was built by Oscar Arrell. The property was formerly owned by Joseph Shambo and Mr. Arrell bought it in September 1939, and has lived there since with his family. Mrs. Mary Arrell died in 1939, leaving
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five sons, Albert, Aime, Henry, Arthur and Raymond and two daughters, Rita and Lucienne. Albert and Aime served in World War II. Albert married Eva Meletskis and moved to Auburn. They have one child, Bernard. Aime married Emily Doolittle and they live in the Leland Hill District. They have one boy, John Arthur, born March 18, 1946.
Going east on Central Turnpike, the first house on the left beyond the inter- section of Old Stone Road and the Turnpike, is the house owned and occupied by William and Phyllis Crosby and their two boys, Richard 1947 and Bruce 1952.
Mr. Crosby bought the land from his father, Maynard Crosby, in 1948, cleared the area and built the house, himself. It is an attractive, modern six-room structure.
Mr. Crosby is a contractor and is associated with Francis Silun, of Sutton and they have a successful business.
Mr. Crosby is a World War II veteran. He was in the Marine Corps and served in the Pacific Area.
Just beyond the home of William Crosby on the left, going east on Central Turnpike, is the home of Donald and Margaret Crosby and their daughter, Judith Ann, 1948.
This unfinished home is owner-built. It will have six rooms and is very attractive. He bought the lot from his father, Maynard Crosby. Donald Crosby is a veteran of World War II, being a Corporal in the Army in Amphibian Service in the Pacific Area.
The Crosby place, situated on the Central Turnpike, west of Lincoln Corner, was, for many years, owned by Deacon Amos Batcheller, then by his widow, Julia M. Batcheller, and inherited by her daughters, Mrs. Rebecca Hall of Falmouth and Mrs. Nettie Jenkins.
One of the first modern poultry houses in this vicinty was built here about 1889. Previous to that time, no special provision was made for housing poultry. Hens could be found roosting in barns in winter, in trees in summer or on any convenient spot. The eggs were hard to find in the haymows or in the grass, often near a stone wall. In the 1880's people began to consider the keeping of hens a lucrative venture instead of a convenience. Mrs. Batcheller and her daughters had a long, shed-roof building constructed and went into the hen business. Mrs. Jenkins became sole owner, in 1915.
In 1916, Albertus W. Going bought the property and he, in turn, sold it to Thomas Geddes, in 1919. Mr. Geddes sold to Arthur Fitzgerald, in 1920, who on Oct. 20 of the same year, sold to James Whittles.
Maynard E. and Elizabeth Crosby purchased the place, June 8, 1923, from the estate of James Whittles. The house has been on this spot since 1830 and the successive owners have kept most of its original characteristics to the present day. Mr. Crosby was employed for many years on local highway maintenance and is now a packer in the U. S. Envelope Co. in Worcester.
They have three children: Donald Murray, born April 22, 1923 in South- bridge; William Babb, born Nov. 22, 1925, Sutton; Barbara Ruth, born Nov. 9, 1926, Sutton. Donald Murray married Margaret M. Michna, April 22, 1946. William Babb married Phyllis M. Christian, June 28, 1947. Barbara Ruth mar- ried William Trilligan, June 18, 1949.
Donald M. Crosby served in the U.S. Army from Feb. 2, 1943 to Jan. 1946.
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William B. Crosby served in the U.S. Marine Corps from March 1, 1944 to June 1946.
The Lincoln Place, now owned by the heirs of Harvey Lincoln, is situated at Lincoln Corner on the Central Turnpike.
It was built by Abraham Batcheller and in Sutton Town History, Vol. I, it is therefore called the "Batcheller" home.
It is understood that this place was a part of a 500-acre grant from the King of England and that the properties now owned by William Stockwell on the North, Maynard Crosby on the West and Ralph Dykstra on the Northeast, were set off from the original tract, as shares given to early Batcheller sons.
HOME OF THE LINCOLN FAMILY
The house now occupied by the Lincoln family is an excellent example of early construction and has had few alterations in the last two centuries.
When the Turnpike was first built, it was a toll road and the Lincoln House was a "half-way house." The horses for the stagecoach were changed here and kept in the large barn, since removed. It was at the southeast of the dwelling -which was a tavern at the time.
The old toll road used to pass through what is now the yard, and the tollgate was at the east of the barn. Today, some of the tall stone gateposts are still standing and the old roadway is easily identified.
Mr. Henry Batcheller, long-time Town Clerk of Sutton, born here, said the property was in his family's possession for one hundred and ten years. Sub- sequently, its title passed to John Leland, Ezra Campbell, Judson Day and
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Oliver Adams until on July 18, 1854, Timothy Reuben Lincoln bought the place.
When Timothy Reuben Lincoln owned the property there were two tene- ments. The Amos Smith family of Upton lived here and their daughter Josephine, now Mrs. Humes of Upton, was born in the house, Jan. 30, 1859. Mrs. Augusta Smith and her two daughters, Aleda and Grace, lived here for a time and Grace died here.
Timothy Reuben was married Sept. 17, 1851 to Ruth Leland. There were two children: Harvey Timothy, born in 1853 and Levi, born in May 1855. Levi died when only a month old and was closely followed by his mother, whose death occurred in August of the same year.
The second wife was Mary Ann (Smith), who was married in Jan., 1857 and the family remained in the Lincoln house until her death in 1903, when Mr. Lincoln went to East Providence to live with his son Harvey and family until his own death in 1904.
Harvey Timothy Lincoln was married, Oct. 4, 1882, to Jennie Estelle Mason of Providence. There were three children: Walter R., born in Providence, May 30, 1886; Inez Estelle, Sutton, Dec. 16, 1889 and Jennie Irene, Sutton, May 31, 1891.
After Mr. Harvey Lincoln's death here in March, 1916, the property passed to his widow and three children.
The house was rented to Walter Lowe and to Adin Lowe and his family for a few years until 1908, when the Lincolns came back to Sutton and have lived here since that time.
It is interesting to note that the family spend six months of each year in their home in Miami, Florida, going back and forth in their own car. Walter Lincoln is employed there as an upholsterer and gardener. Many home town people, when they return from the south, speak with delight of the calls they made on their hospitable Sutton neighbors, in Miami.
"Journey's End" or the "Delaney Place," is the first house on Lincoln Road.
This little cottage with its white, rose-covered fence, was purchased by Dexter Lowe from Amos Aldrich in 1876. Mr. and Mrs. Dexter Lowe and their family lived here for many years. In 1918, the Lowe heirs sold the property to James C. Stearns of Worcester, Mass. Mr. Stearns remodeled and modernized the interior of the house and, in 1934, sold the property to Charles R. Fitzgerald. In 1936, George F. and Mabel A. Delaney became the present owners of "Journey's End."
On the opposite side of the road, near the house now owned by George Delany on Lincoln Road, we find a cellar-hole. The house that stood there until it burned, about 1895, was built by Ezra Batcheller, one of the sons of Abraham Batcheller. A story in the family relates that in planning this old house it was lined up with the North Star. The man, who drove the stakes for the foundation to be laid, was very careful to have the measurements exact. As he painstakingly started to drive down a stake, his axe slipped and he broke his kneepan. In 1837 Tmiothy Lincoln came to Sutton from Norton, Mass., bought the property and settled there with his family.
Mr. Lincoln was twice married; first to Lucy M. Leland of Upton, and the second wife was Ruth Leonard of Seekonk, now a part of East Providence, R. I.
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They had three children: Timothy Reuben, Asa and Jesse. Timothy Reuben, born in 1826, was nine years of age when the family moved to Sutton. Later he bought the present Lincoln homestead on Lincoln Corner.
Asa Lincoln, a brother, afterwards lived in the home where George Amour now resides.
The Timothy Lincoln place was bought from the Harvey Lincoln heirs in 1950 by Oscar Arrell of Sutton.
The place next beyond the Delaney property, going towards the Northbridge Town Farm, on Lincoln Road, was built by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Richards. They bought a few acres of land from Charles King about 1940, cleared away the trees and built the small house and barn. Later they bought another tract of sprout land from John Dudley. Mr. and Mrs. Richards lived there 10 years, kept cows and sold milk. Mr. Richards also worked in Whitinsville and Millbury. In 1950 the property was sold to Walter Siver who came there with his family and they are living there at the present writing (1952).
The last farm on Dodge Hill Road, opposite the Lincoln place, is now owned and operated by Mr. and Mrs. William T. Stockwell. This property has been in the Batcheller and Stockwell families since 1790, when the present house was built by Benjamin Batcheller, son of Abraham Batcheller, one of the first to settle in this part of the town, whose homestead was the present Lincoln place at Lincoln Corner. Volume I of the Sutton History tells us that Benjamin traded with his brother Amos, taking in exchange Amos's share of the old homestead.
Amos Batcheller lived here until his death. One of his daughters married Tyler Stockwell and their son Amos was grandfather of the present owner, William Tyler Stockwell. Amos Stockwell married Catherine Hall and the family lived here from 1822 to 1882. They had six children: Abbie, William H., Rowland G., Herbert, Almy and Tyler. Catherine (Hall) rode on the first trip of the Lady Carrington from Worcester to Providence on the new Blackstone Canal.
Abbie, who married Asa B. Shepardson of Oxford, died at the time of a diph- theria epidemic in 1864. William H. married Lucina Jones of West Millbury and lived there until 1933. Rowland G. married for his first wife, Olive Lincoln, adopted daughter of T. R. Lincoln. After her death he married Ida Leland. Rowland G. bought the old Adams Place on Leland Hill and afterwards pur- chased the Day Place with the brick house near the Old Stone School. He died there a few years after his wife. Herbert married Ella Sawyer and lived on Maple Street in Millbury for over fifty years. He was employed by the New Haven Railroad and later was in the teaming business. Almy died in infancy.
Tyler, born in this house, Dec. 16, 1861, married Mary McFarland, Jan. 16, 1895. He was an excellent farmer and improved the soil and buildings. He served the Town on the Welfare Board and as a Selectman for several years. They had two children: William T., born Nov. 2, 1895 and Elizabeth, born May 16, 1902.
William T., the present owner of this property, married Mabel Brigham, March 18, 1920. There were four children. William Tyler Jr. died in infancy. Catherine is the wife of John Gaucher, chemist at Johnson Wire Co. of Wor- cester, who served in the Navy in World War II, and has been recalled to service in 1950. They have a home on Maple St. in Millbury. Alice married Julio Paletta of Main St., Millbury, proprietor of Paletta's Market, who served in
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HOME OF WILLIAM T. STOCKWELL
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the Army, World War II. Ann married William Murphy of Millbury and they are now living at the Stockwell home.
Elizabeth, daughter of Tyler Stockwell and Mary McFarland, married Everett E. Roundy, June 30, 1923, and now lives in Norwood, Mass. They have four children: Tyler, born Dec. 5, 1924, is studying at present at New York University of Law; Priscilla, born Sept. 9, 1926, is employed by Jordan Marsh Co. in Boston; Ellsworth, born March 11, 1931 is a student at Bentley School of Accounting, and Marshall, at home.
William T. has owned and operated the Stockwell Dairy in connection with this farm since 1915. He employs five men and sells milk and cream in three towns; Millbury, Sutton and South Grafton.
Mr. and Mrs. Stockwell have greatly improved the property. They added another story to the house, and with artistic and interior decorations, have adapted the old-fashioned rooms to comfortable modern living.
The water supply, which furnishes the dairy and house, comes from the same spring on the hill that the original Batcheller owner planned to serve his own and the homes of his three sons. A lead pipe has brought this water through the original hollow pine logs from the spring on the hill to the barn and the house for over a hundred and fifty years.
The first house on the right beyond Lincoln Corner, going east on the Central Turnpike, is owned by James O. Dudley. Mr. Dudley built the four-room house and barn in 1934, put in an artesian well and lived there with his wife, Mary, and his family until he moved to the old Francis Dudley Place, just over the Northbridge line.
There are three children: James A., Evelyn, Mrs. Frank R. Parsons, and Francis. Mr. Dudley has been an employee of the U. S. Postal Service for many years. He has also raised and sold on this place small fruits of a very superior quality besides sending plants to many States in the Union.
Mr. Dudley served in the Navy in World War I, and his son, James, in World War II, also in the Navy.
Among the tenants who have occupied this house are Roy Lermond and family, Mrs. Leonice Randles and the present tenant, Lee Gochie and family.
The next house on the left is the George Amour property. It is located on the Central Turnpike about a mile from Dudley Square. It was known formerly as the Asa Lincoln place, built in 1846. It was owned by several people over the long years; among them, Frank Barber, who used to work for Dexter Brigham, his neighbor.
He will long be remembered for the stories he used to tell. Of them was one in which he described his travels when he shipped "ninety tons of frog's legs from Malone, N. Y. to New York City."
Hartley Nichols lived here for a time. He made superior hulled corn which was considered a delicacy among the townspeople. After the Nichols family left, Maurice Caplette lived here. He sold the property to George Amour, April 24, 1928.
The Amours have cleared away the unwanted trees and completely remodeled the house; extending the kitchen and adding two rooms.
There are nine children: Harriet, born in Keene, N. H. in 1927; George Jr., born in Millbury in 1928, married Dorothy Hairyes and has a daughter Linda;
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Arlene, born in Millbury in 1929; Theodore, born in Sutton, 1930, died one year later; Elizabeth, born in 1933; William, born in 1935; Nancy, born in 1939; Carol, born in 1940; Barbara, born in 1941.
Mrs. Amour died in 1944. The children are musical and the three oldest took Hawaiian and Spanish guitar lessons and became proficient. The younger chil- dren have good voices and have delighted the local audiences with their costume programs.
The last house in Sutton on the Central Turnpike, going east, was built by James A. Dudley.
This modern five-room structure stands on land formerly owned by James O. Dudley and Joseph Baarda and was previously a part of the old Pierce property.
Mr. Dudley is a construction foreman and was married to Margaret Wiback of Millbury in 1950. They have one daughter Laura Lee (1952). James Dudley served in the Navy in World War II as Fireman, First Class, in the Pacific Theatre of Operations.
OLD STONE ROAD
Dudley Lane leads from Old Stone Road to the John Dudley Farm. This property was conveyed to John Dudley by Offen Burnham, in 1766. The old house, which was torn down in 1920, had been the scene of many interesting happenings. It is related that the Indians on their trips to Marlboro to collect the annuities, granted to them by the State, often used to spend the night before the large open fireplace in the kitchen. One cold night, after the fire had been carefully banked, and the Indians had rolled up in their blankets on the floor, one or two of the more wakeful redskins broke into the ash-covered fire to get live coals to light their pipes. The result was that when Captain Dudley arose in the morning to start up the fire, no live coals could be found. The fire was completely out and in those days, before the invention of matches, this was a serious matter. The Captain stormed around for awhile, until an old squaw finally found a live spark in her pipe, which she managed to puff up into a glow. Then a piece of linen was ignited and blown upon until it burst into flame, after which a candle was lighted. The rest was easy.
On March 3, 1793, the Captain, to celebrate the birth of a son John, pulled up two saplings, an ash and an elm, and set them near the house. The ash is still living. The elm was fourteen feet nine inches in circumference but was ruined by the 1938 hurricane.
This son John, the eldest of a large family, was a large man and served on the Guard of Honor, all over six feet tall, for General Lafayette when he visited Worcester. The height of the men of this guard was further accentuated by huge bearskin caps.
John Dudley married Mary Woodbury, in 1940, and prepared for this event by building the present house on the north end of the old house. Two children, John W. and Mary W., were born here. John died in early manhood, and Mary married Charles J. Dudley of Northbridge.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles j. Dudley had two children: John C., born in North- bridge and Luella, born here. Mrs. Dudley died May 31, 1899; Mr. Dudley, Nov. 24, 1912. John C. was graduated from Harvard College, Lawrence Scientific
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School, Class of 1904. He married Flora E. Holbrook of Sutton, and they had one son John H., killed in action in World War II. Luella was married to John E. Gifford, for years a teacher in the North High School of Worcester. They have one son Charles E., a landscape architect, now living in Virginia.
After the deaths of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Dudley, the farm came into the ownership of John C. Dudley, who made it his home until World War I, when he enlisted in the 26th Engineers and saw overseas service. Since that time several different families have lived here. Among them are those of Channing Smith, Oliver LaPlante, Napoleon Lapierre, Joseph Navikas, Carl Westerberg and Roy Potter.
The Armsby house on Old Stone Road, just before the intersection with Armsby Road, is now the home of Mrs. Fayette Armsby King and her son Francis H. King. The house, built in 1752, is one of the oldest in town.
John Armsby bought the property from J. Patch Stockwell and lived here for forty-seven years. Mrs. Emma Morse Armsby, his wife, died in 1878, leaving two daughters, Hattie M., born in 1875, who died in 1881, and Emma E., born in 1878 and died in 1913.
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