USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Sutton > History of the town of Sutton, Massachusetts, from 1876 to 1950, Volume II > Part 56
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The labor involved in digging out with crude stone picks and the shaping and hollowing out with scrapers the rounded masses of various shapes and sizes from which the pots were made must have been prodigious. Not only did they take out tons of unusable rock but also they excavated many feet below the level of the ground to secure the best soapstone.
The great Indian Bay Path Trail from eastern to western Massachusetts is reputed to have come down West Millbury Road along the northern shore of Singletary down the east side of Singletary Brook to a ford of the Blackstone near the Millbury Mills to Grafton Street, Millbury. It seems probable that Sut- ton Indians took advantage of the travel of other Indians over this rout to trade their surplus pottery of soapstone to those having no local supply. Perhaps even Indians from a distance came to these quarries as to a common source for their soapstone. How else explain the great amounts of this material excavated, cer- tainly much more than enough to supply the needs of the few local Sutton In- dians. In 1939, the Dolly Bond Quarry was very carefully excavated to the depth of several feet to the soapstone where the Indians left off quarrying by Ripley Bullen and others. Many picks, scrapers and sherds of pots were found. At the bottom, in the surface of the soapstone itself, were the outlines where the partly shaped pots were broken off to be finished elsewhere. Splendid pictures were taken, showing every stage of the excavation and also of the various artifacts and soapstone sherds obtained. As time went on and it became easier to make clay pottery, there was probably a gradual discontinuance of the making of that of soapstone and so of its quarrying.
As we have already said, the Indians buried with the dead his cherished pos- sessions with the thought that these would be a solace and a protection to the spirit on its journey to the Happy Hunting Grounds. In this custom they were like most primitive peoples. Only one possible Indian grave has been reported as found in Sutton. This contained parts of two skeletons and was located in the sandbank near Welsh's Grove, Ramshorn Pond, a short distance from the site of an Indian village on this pond. The bones on exposure to air crumbled. No im- plements were found with this burial. Probably there are many of these graves as yet unlocated in Sutton.
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In this early Indian life, the woman was a very important factor. She was Jack of almost every trade and good at all. Besides being water and fuel carrier, fire tender, cook, caretaker of the children, mover of household equipment, she was skinner, dresser and tanner of hides, the maker of these when ready into clothing and moccasins, the weaver of mats, baskets, and even of a rude cloth of vegetable fiber and animal wool, moulder and firer of clay pottery, planter, cul- tivator, harvester and storer of her corn and other vegetables, grinder in her hol- low stone mill with her stone pestle of her corn supply, dryer of her surplus meat, fish, berries and pumpkins, and dyer and decorator of clothing and uten- sils. She thus became Sutton's first tanner, potter, farmer, miller, shoemaker, tailor, dyer and meat, fish and vegetable dryer.
The man's work had to do with the provision by hunting and fishing of meat and fish, with offensive and defensive warfare, with the quarrying and making of soapstone vessels, with the shaping, pecking, chipping, polishing, grinding and hafting of the artifacts necessary to prepare these for their respective uses, and with making birch bark canoes and wooden dugouts. Many of these proces- ses required long, patient and skillful labor. Chipping, shaping, hafting, drill- ing, pecking, grinding, polishing necessitated a man being an expert stonework- er, quarrier, woodworker and connoisseur of the best wood and stone for the different tools and weapons. Judging from the many finely made implements that have come down to us, no labor was left undone necessary for the produc- tion of almost perfect ones of their various kinds, bows and arrows, spears, drills, axes, gouges, gorgets, pipes, sinkers, plummets and banner stones. Lazy the Indian may have been from a white man's standards, he was yet unstinted in his work in producing beautiful and serviceable tools, weapons and ceremonial stones and indeed in the skillful performance of any of the occupations upon which he depended for his safety and his livelihood.
At least a dozen Indian mortars or corn mills have been found in Sutton. In these with their stone pestles, sometimes two and a half feet long, the Indian women ground their corn. Those found are all too heavy to be moved from place to place. Therefore they must have been located originally near campsites or at convenient spots along frequented trails. The largest of these is now by the roadside on the old Hartford Turnpike, not far from where a road branches off to Purgatory Chasm. Others have been found near Hicks and Ramshorn Ponds. Two are located at Wilkinsonville on land owned by John Dudley. At West Sut- ton, Rev. Dr. Tuttle and Walter N. Waters each had one in the yards of their homes. Others have been found just over the line in Millbury and Northbridge.
The soil in Sutton, except in a few places, was too heavy and rocky for the Indian agriculture. This accounts for the first settlers finding so few areas cleared for cornfields. Towns like Grafton and Oxford had much more easily tillable land. The Praying Indian Villages of Hassanamisset and Manchaug were for this reason more naturally located on the sunny sides of Keith Hill in Grafton and on the great plain at Oxford. Only a few of the old Indian cornfield locations are now definitely known. One on the side of Bolton or Burnap Hill, northwest of Stumpy Pond, had been used as an Indian cornfield for many years before Ebenezer Burnap purchased the land. Another is situated on both sides of the West Sutton Brook where it crosses the Shaw land on the road from West Sut- ton to Manchaug Pond. Tradition also says there were Indian cornfields in
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Indian Hollow, Old Stone Road, on land owned by John Dudley and near Hicks Pond. There must be others either not reported or unknown.
Sutton's Indian population was probably never more than a few hundreds at most. After the introduction of agriculture this number may have been even less. For then two conditions instead of one became necessary for a good lodge site, easily tilled land and good fishing instead of good fishing alone. These condi- tions we have found were not usual by Sutton ponds and brooks. While there are over a hundred camp locations along the shores of Manchaug, Singletary, Rams- horn, Stevens, Mumford and Stumpy Ponds, hardly any of these are near corn- fields adapted to Indian culture. Nearly all, as we shall later show, are too rugged and rocky for the agricultural work of the women. This condition would, however, have been no handicap to the early hunting and fishing Indians. The later Indians would have chosen different camping locations except transiently on hunting expeditions or at the time of the spring fishing. Since on these sites we find the characteristic larger implements of the Pre-Algonquians, we know that they occupied them first.
The many Sutton Indian campsites may easily be divided into four types which will be briefly described and located:
I. Sites on hills or the sunny sides of these. The former were used as places of sanctuary or refuge in times of danger because they were easy to defend and not readily accessible. Mt. Ararat and Twin Mountain in Millbury and perhaps Bolton and other hills in Sutton belong to this class. Usually those on the sunny sides of hills had nearby good Indian corn land. All needed a convenient water supply from brook, spring or pond.
II. Those on relatively level, easily tillable soil by ponds, springs or streams. As we have shown, not many of this kind have been found in Sutton. The best known are those on the Shaw land at West Sutton, the Dudley land at Wilkin- soonville, and on land near Hicks Pond. Such sites would probably have been equally acceptable to both earlier and later Indians. There must be many others of this type unreported.
III. Those close to the old-time shores of ponds situated in the rocky basins of hills. As there was generally no nearby good corn land, they must have been selected on account of their closeness to good fishing. Such ponds as Singletary, Manchaug and Ramshorn belong to this class. These have been dammed at their outlets making larger reservoirs for water power. In this way the old campsites have been covered with water and become visible only when this is drawn off sufficiently to reveal them. They may then be seen washed clean, showing many spalls and other evidences of former occupation. Almost every point of land reaching out into these ponds, the islands in them, and good spots near inlets and outlets were favorite camping places. Probably thousands of implements have been picked up during the last hundred years by collectors around Man- chaug and Ramshorn Ponds alone. Rev. John C. Crane, David Welsh, Oscar and Burton Stowe, and the writer as well as many others have all made considerable collections of relics from these. Singletary has less sites and has produced fewer relics.
At Ramshorn, the camping places are nearly all on the south shore, starting with Welsh's Grove on the southeast and extending around to the Jacques'
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Grove on the west side. At Manchaug Pond we find evidences of Indian occupa- tion almost everywhere along its shores. The largest encampments, however, were on the north shore alongside the Manchaug Road, on Blueberry and Swen- son's Islands, on the long Waters Beach, on both sides of the outlet near the dam, and at the extreme southern shore. Best sites on Singletary seem to have been at the north end of this pond on the higher ground near where the Bay Path wound its way.
IV. Those along the shores of swiftly flowing streams in narrow rocky val- leys sloping upward to hills. Their rocky locations precludes their being selected for other reasons than good fishing. These streams also sometimes in more than one place have been damned to make large reservoirs for water power. Mumford River alone has three, at least, dammed up reservoirs of large size within the limits of Sutton: Mumford Reservoir, Stevens Pond and the reservoir formed just below the Manchaug Pond Dam. As in the case of the lake sites of type III, the campsites along these former streams have been inundated and are visible only at low water. At Mumford Reservoir they extend with short intervals for at least a mile on both sides. There are at least a half a dozen well defined loca- tions. At Stevens Pond they are mostly located toward the eastern, northeastern and southeastern sides, the largest ones near the outlet on two points of land. At the reservoir below the Manchaug Dam, they extend on both sides for nearly half a mile down the river.
Stumpy Pond is another reservoir made by damming a small stream. There are two sites near the dam on which at low water many spalls and some whole and broken implements appear.
There are probably many other sites along similar streams in Sutton with which the writer is unacquainted.
AUTHORITIES CONSULTED
Hudson-History of Sudbury
Palfrey-History of New England
Parkman-Conspiracy of Pontiac
Willoughby-Antiquities of New England Indians Clara Endicott Sears-The Great Powwow
Daniels-The Huguenots in the Nipmuck Country
Mrs. Freeland-History of Oxford
Pierce-History of Grafton
Chase-The Bay Path
Rev. John C. Crane-The Nipmucks and their Country
Baldwin-Manuscript History of Sutton
Temple-History of Framingham
Others who have provided information John Dudley Dr. W. Elmer Ekblaw David Welsh G. Burton Stowe
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HISTORY of SUTTON
AGRICULTURE 1870-1950 By Walter B. Shaw, Associate County Agricultural Agent
The agriculture in Sutton like that in many other towns in Worcester County is very diversified. In the early period, this variety applied to nearly every farm. By 1950, this had changed to a single major type of agriculture on most of the individual farms. The chief types were dairy, fruit, poultry or swine.
In order to clarify these changes, the history will be divided into periods of ten to twenty-five years.
The first or base period was from about 1870 to 1895. The early part of this period didn't differ greatly from the previous fifty years.
A typical farm, at this time, consisted of a herd of several cows, a few head of young stock, one or more pair of steer or oxen, a brood-sow or two and a small flock of hens, for its livestock. The crops on the farm usually consisted of hay, corn, small grain (oats, rye and barley), fruit and vegetables. Horses were kept for transportation and power. A large percentage of these were lighter horses, weighing from 900 to 1200 pounds, with a few of the work horses a little heavier. During this early period, the plowing was done with a single landside plow, drawn by oxen or horses. Many of these teams were trained so that one man could both hold the plow and drive. In other farms it would take two men to do this same work. The harrows in this period were first, the old A-type, made of two heavy oak beams about eight inches square and eight feet long. These were held together in the middle by a similar beam, about four feet long, thus forming a perfect A. Several holes were bored into each beam and one-inch square iron bars driven through each to form the cutting part of the harrow. Following this type of harrow, they had the spring-tooth harrow made of steel springs, attached to an iron frame. Later in this period, the wheel harrow made of two groups of steel discs, set in rows, came into use.
If you started down the road in the north or west part of Sutton during this period, you could select almost any farm and find something like this: Early in May, the farmer would be seeding oats, wheat or barley for grain. These crops would also serve as a nurse-crop for grass seed. Late in May or early June was corn planting time, again a crop for grain with the stocks or stover used to feed the cattle. Late in June, wheat or rye, sown the previous fall, was ready to harvest for grain. This was cut with a scythe having a special attachment (called a cradle) to hold the grain. With this equipment the grain could be cut and laid in neat rows across the field. Next, it was picked up and tied in bundles and left standing in the field to dry.
After the Fourth of July celebration, the farmers went to work harvesting the hay crops. This usually consisted of some clover, timothy, redtop or swail grass from the wetter areas. Up to this time, the chief equipment used in harvesting hay was the scythe for cutting, with the hand rake and fork for collecting and loading onto wagons. At the barn, the hay was also removed from the wagon and stored in the bays and lofts with hand forks.
In August, the oats or barley, sown in the spring, was ready for harvesting. This was handled similarly to the rye or wheat. Later, threshing equipment would
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come in and thresh the grain. This equipment was owned by one farmer and he would thresh for a number of neighbors. Each neighbor would help the others and the equipment and crew would move from farm to farm until all the thresh- ing was done. As the work progressed from farm to farm, the women would serve dinners for the men. An ox or a horse in a treadmill was used as power to operate the threshing machine.
From early June through July, corn had to be cultivated frequently and, in many instances, hoed by hand. The cultivating was done with a horse-drawn hand cultivator. This was a steel frame with a single wheel in front. The frame was hinged in front so the width at the rear could be adjusted. About ten steel teeth, attached to the frame, acted as cutters. Two handles were attached to the top so the operator could guide it. One of the children on the farm usually had to guide the horse by leading or riding it.
September was corn-cutting time. This was done with a special cutter, consist- ing of a steel blade about a foot long, attached to the end of a handle at an angle of ninety degrees. The corn, cut close to the ground, was placed upright against a rack, consisting of a board about twelve feet long with two legs on one end. The corn was placed on both sides of the rack until the bundle or stook was large enough to stand alone. It was then tied near the top with a strong string and allowed to remain in the field until the grain was thoroughly dried. After the drying process was completed, the grain was husked and stored in corn cribs. These were small buildings, set on legs about three feet off the ground, to keep the grain away from the soil moisture. The boards were also spaced about one inch apart, to allow for the circulation of air that the grain might remain dry.
Frequently they made the husking a gay time by holding a husking bee. On these occasions, the corn was brought into the barn and everyone would gather for the husking. The attraction was the opportunity of kissing the nearest girl when finding a red ear of corn. These parties usually ended with a barn dance and cider and doughnuts for refreshments.
The fall was also the time to harvest and store the squash and pumpkins that many had grown in the cornfield. Other garden crops, such as potatoes, cabbages, beets, carrots and turnips were harvested and stored for winter use.
The apples during this period were chiefly Baldwin, maiden blush, russet, greening, pippins and summer and winter Porters. These were usually grown on scattered trees near the edges of fields. Although some of the orchards were started from trees purchased from nurseries, most of them were wild apple trees, grafted with scions of known varieties. The apples were stored by these different methods: cider, for vinegar or in many cases allowed to age or ferment and used as a drink; fresh apples, stored in barrels for eating or cooking during the win- ter; dried apples, cut up and dried for cooking purposes after the fresh apples were gone.
In this early period, a few cows were kept to supply milk, cream and butter for the family. Butter was also made and traded at the stores in Sutton Center, West Sutton, Manchaug and Millbury for groceries the family needed. Beef, veal and pork were also slaughtered on the farm and exchanged for supplies that could not be produced there. At that time the cows usually freshened in the spring and most of the butter was produced on pasture-feed during the summer. The extra
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butter was often stored for winter use by packing in large crocks and covering with salt.
Many farms kept one or more brood-sows. In the spring, most of the small pigs were sold to neighbors, a few being kept for their own meat-supply. In the fall, the spring pigs weighing about two hundred and fifty pounds were killed. The hams and bacon were cured in their own or a neighbor's smokehouse. The salt pork was packed away in a brine. The pigs were usually fed skim milk, kitchen garbage and grain, produced on the farm.
The poultry on the farm was usually a small barnyard flock, housed in a small building about twelve feet wide and varying in length. The hens were allowed to run during the day and often would hide and lay their eggs in a secluded spot. After the nest contained from ten to fifteen eggs, the hen would set on them for a period of three weeks to hatch out a brood of chickens. Then hens were then placed in small coops or barrels with slatted fronts. These gave the chickens a chance to run, picking up green grass, worms and grit and still kept under the control of the mother hen. This method of hatching and brooding kept down or limited the size of the farm flocks.
The eggs at this time were produced during the late winter and spring. The hens persisted in becoming and staying broody, during the summer. The extra eggs were also sold or traded to the local stores. During the spring, when most farms had extra eggs, the winter supply was stored by packing in salt or water glass.
The Singletary Creamery was organized about this time. This gave the farmers an opportunity to sell cream instead of making butter on the farm. Mr. Charles Woodbury of Sutton was one of its head officials. Vernon Johnson drove one of the teams that collected cream in Sutton. Farmers selling cream to the creamery were allowed to purchase butter at whosesale. The creamery encountered financial troubles and only operated a few years.
It was also during this period that J. and J. E. Tourtellotte of Providence started purchasing apples in Sutton. Every fall they would send two men to Sutton to grade and pack the apples in barrels. The apples were then shipped to Providence and from there to England.
About 1890, David Welsh planted the first MacIntosh apple tree, in the Eight Lots district. This apple later became one of the most popular varieties in New England.
The Sutton Beauty apple, developed in West Sutton, was an excellent apple for late fall or early winter. The straight upright growing habit of the trees made it unpopular with commercial growers.
Late in the 1890's, Worcester Milk Dealers started purchasing fluid milk in town. The first of these were small dealers, collecting the milk from two or three farms. This change in the method of selling milk encouraged winter as well as summer production. In this same period, several farmers were retailing their milk in Millbury. William Perry and Frank Batcheller were two of the first to retail their milk in this way. The milk was carried in eight-quart cans, measured out with a quart measure and poured into any type of a container that the house- wife put out. In 1888, the milk was retailing for four cents per quart.
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Another market for agricultural products during this period was the sale of hay. The most of the hay was sold for horse-feed to industrial plants in Wor- cester. George and H. L. Ray started purchasing hay from the local farmers and delivering it to Worcester. When Mr. Ray gave up the hay business, it was taken over by Fred L. Batcheller. Some of his best customers were Standard Oil Co. and American Steel and Wire Co. In 1890, the local price was five to eight dol- lars per ton. The delivered price was eleven to twelve dollars.
During the winter, most farmers spent their time cutting fuel wood for home use and sale in Worcester and nearby towns. They also cut lumber for home use and sale. If only a small quantity was cut, the logs were hauled to one of the local sawmills where they were sawed into lumber. Two of these sawmills located in West Sutton were owned by Salem J. Shaw and Charles Phelps.
Ice was also harvested from the local ponds and stored in the winter for use during the summer. It was stored in special constructed houses with a double wall, made by boarding up both the inside and the outside of the studs. The space between the studs was filled with sawdust for insulating purposes. The ice was also packed in at least a foot of sawdust to keep it from melting. The ice stored in this way supplied refrigeration for the milk and food on the farm.
The period of 1895 to 1910 saw several changes in the dairy industry. The first of these was an increase in the size of the herds as the sale of fluid milk in- creased. It was in this period that Whitin Co. and Anderson Bros. of Worcester started purchasing milk in Sutton. H. L. Ray used to collect and deliver the milk to Worcester for Whitin Co. Several small dealers also purchased milk in Sutton during this period. Most of these were reliable and paid the farmers for their milk but occasionally one would disappear without paying.
With this change in milk sales there was an increase in demand for dairy cows. Henry Brigham of West Sutton used to go to Vermont and purchase a number of cows. He would start home, driving them over the road and trade cows with farmers along the way.
B. Frank King also purchased cows in Vermont but would ship them down by rail. Mr. King used to hold cattle-auctions and sell the cows to farmers in Sutton and neighboring towns. His son Arthur later took over the business and is still dealing in cattle.
In this early period, Dexter Brigham in the east part of Town used to separate his milk, selling skim milk and cream at retail in Millbury and Worcester. He continued this method until compulsory pasteurization forced him out of a mar- ket about 1930. About this same time Charles Hough and Everett Donaldson were retailing skim milk and butter in Whitinsville. They shifted to another method of marketing their products, before Mr. Brigham changed.
The glass bottle for delivering milk to consumers came into use about this time. Charles Putnam and Scott Stockwell retailing milk in Millbury were two of the first farmers to deliver milk in this way.
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