USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Townsend > History of the town of Townsend, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from the grant of Hathorn's farm, 1676-1878 > Part 16
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The seminary building passed into the hands of the party which held the security on the property, and from
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HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
1863 to 1870. it was used as a dwelling-house. In conse- quence of the act of the legislature abolishing the district system in 1869, the town in 1870 altered the number and location of the school-houses and bought the seminary building and renovated it for graded schools.
After the seminary had been in successful operation for four or five years, the congregationalists and others at the centre of the town, observing the good influences eminating from that institution, and that the baptist church was much better filled than at previous times, took the idea of an academy at Townsend Centre into serious con- sideration. First and foremost in this enterprise, was the Rev. Mr. Stowell. the orthodox minister. Accordingly at a proper time, a meeting of the people of the town, and of the members of the congregational church and society in particular, a sufficient sum of money in addition to the quantity of lumber and materials given by others inter- ested, was subscribed to erect a suitable building. Capt. Elnathan Davis gave the timber for the frame, delivered on the ground where it was erected. The traders at the centre gave the nails, lime and hardware. so that the academy was built by a mutual effort by which no one felt the least impoverished. It was finished in the summer of 1841, and opened the following September with a respectable number of students. It stood on the north side of Main Street, nearly opposite the bank, on a part of what is now the stable yard of Walter Fessenden. Esq. It was not so expensive a structure as the seminary, but was a substantial, well-arranged. two-story building. with a tower and bell surmounting it. For five or six consecutive years this academy received a good share of patronage, and during the autumn months a large number of scholars gathered within its walls.
·
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EDUCATIONAL HISTORY.
Mr. Noadiah Dickinson was the first preceptor of this academy. He graduated at Amherst college, was a good scholar, with easy, gentlemanly manners, calculated to keep all his friends and gain as many more as he desired. While Mr. Stowell remained in town he took much interest in this school, and he assisted Mr. Dickinson, when the services of an additional teacher were required, in a man- ner very acceptable to the students.
Jonathan C. Shattuck, of Dartmouth College, 1842. had charge of this academy, for some time.
The difficulty of supporting two institutions of similar character, like the seminary and the academy, in so small a town as Townsend soon became apparent. After Mr. Stowell and Mr. Dickinson left town, the interest in the academy began to flag. until finally, in 1851, the old district school-house, situated at the northeast corner of the common, where the blacksmith shop now stands. was much too small for the accommodation of the scholars. and District No. I bought this academy building, and moved it to a spot on the north side of the road, almost due north of, and opposite to, the methodist chapel. It was used for a public school-house till January 5, 1870. when it was burned, as is supposed, by an incendiary. There have been four other school-houses burned in this town, two in what was called the Potunck District (No. 8) . and two in the Harbor District. About 1830, a school- house was burned, which stood about one-fourth of a mile southerly from the bridge over the river at the Harbor, in * the angle of land made by the divergence of the Shirley and "South Row" roads; and in 1871 another school- house situated on the west side of the Shirley road. nearer the Harbor, was destroyed by fire by the careless deposit of ashes.
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HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
Since the State Board of Education was established, the town has kept pace with the general progress of education throughout the Commonwealth. The reports of the several school committees, on file with the town records, particularly since the existence of the law re- quiring that they should be printed, are drawn with great care, and contain many valuable suggestions.
It might afford pleasure to some readers to see the names of the persons, who, since the days of Horace Mann, the efficient secretary of the Board of Education, have served on the school committee in Townsend, but the simple statement of the fact, that, since that time the voters of this town have selected their best men on this com- mittee, will be considered sufficient. * Within the last decade the public schools have been very prosperous.
Thaddeus Spaulding, was the first public school teacher in this town, known to the writer. He taught the North school many terms, commencing 1785, in the school-house described in this chapter, at present a cooper shop. Miss Rebecca Warren taught in the south part of the town previous to 1800. She taught a long time and died at an advanced age, unmarried. Joel Adams was a teacher here more than seventy-five years ago.
In 1808, Seth Davis, Esq., a native of Townsend, at present an active old gentleman, resident of West Newton, taught school here. A few years later Miss Mary Palmer, Miss Betsey Pratt, Miss Polly Giles, and Miss Mary Adams (now Mrs. Bertram), were some of the Townsend school teachers. Contemporaneous with the last named individuals, the male teachers were Daniel Conant, Joel
* In 1836, the committee consisted of Rev. David Palmer, Rev. Columbus Shum- way, Rev. James Barnaby. Dr. John Bertram, and Samuel Adams.
·Seth ODavis
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Giles, John K. Palmer, and Samuel Adams, all Townsend boys once, and successful instructors.
Hon. Seth Davis (whose autograph and likeness, in this book, were made after he was ninety years of age) . was the son of Timothy Davis, who was the son of Timothy Davis, who was a blacksmith. a wrought nail maker in particular, and one of the early settlers of this town. He sold "two house lots numbering twenty-five and twenty-six," for £650, to Daniel Adams, Jr., of Concord, (now Lincoln). These lots included all the land on the west side of the road, leading from the present dwelling-house of Elisha D. Barber, to Brookline, com- mencing at Darius O. Evans' northeast corner ; thence westerly by his north line as far as a point in line of the east line of "the six rod way ;" thence southerly by that line to the end of "the six rod way ;" thence easterly on the road by the school-house, and northerly by the road to the place of beginning, including both the farms of Mr. Barber and Mr. Evans, and all the land between the west end of Mr. Barber's farm and the six rod way. The deed "Timothy Davis to Daniel Adams, Jr.," dated November 3, 1742. "in the sixteenth year of His Majesty's reign George the Second," is still in existence, the signatures to which are well executed, except that of Hannah Davis. the wife of Timothy, who commenced her name with a small h, having however the example of the justice of the peace, who made the draft of the deed, who fell into the same error.
Timothy, the grandfather of Seth Davis, died in this town, in 1800. aged about ninety years. Timothy Davis. father of Seth Davis and son of the nail maker, resided part of the time in Ashby, and part of the time in Townsend.
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HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
He was a revolutionary soldier, and a poor man. Seth Davis was born in Ashby, in 1787, and his busy life of more than ninety years, presents one of the best examples of a strictly self-made man. It had never entered his mind that words represented thoughts until he was nearly nine years of age, when he was presented with a copy of Robinson Crusoe, which, by dint of perseverance, he read and understood, giving him a keen relish for reading, and a thirst for knowledge. He passed less than two years of his life in the school-room, as a scholar. He acquired his education while he was teaching school, and during the many leisure hours, while others of his youthful acquaint- ances were after pleasure, in the sports and gayeties attractive to that period of life. His first school was at Mason, New Hampshire. In 1808, he taught the winter school in Townsend, in the school-house which stood in the corner of the Battery road, opposite the gate entrance to Ash Swamp. Mr. Benjamin Barrett. now eighty-five years old, attended the school taught by Mr. Davis at that time. In 1809, he taught the winter school in the Battery school-house (now a dwelling), made of brick, on the opposite side of the road and some further east than the old house. During the three succeeding winters he taught at Newton, in this state, where he had formed an acquaintance, and where he finally settled and made himself a home and "troops of friends." For many years he was principal of an academy at that place. He prepared a primary arithmetic, two or three thousand copies being printed and used in that vicinity. He made an orrery to explain the motions of the heavenly bodies. probably the first one used in this Commonwealth, and introduced some valuable improvements in the methods of
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EDUCATIONAL HISTORY.
instruction. His whole teaching was attended with much common sense and wisdom, all his record and examples being worthy of the highest commendation. About 1840, having acquired considerable real estate in the flourishing town of his adoption, he gave up teaching and attended to his property, to business, and rural affairs.
From 1840 to 1844, he was one of the county com- missioners, and during these three years he made all the surveys which the duties of the board required. He is fond of flowers, gardens, lawns, and all that is beautiful in nature. More than three-fourths of all the trees now growing in West Newton, including the stately elms and clean sugar-maples, which make its streets delightful, as well as the fruit trees, were set out by his hands, during every year of his life from 1811 to the present time. His untiring labors, with his head and his hands, through a long life, have been crowned with a success to a degree that must be exceedingly gratifying to a man of his generous and honorable purposes.
He was married October 27, 1810, to Mary Durell. She died June 16, 1867. On the first of July, 1868, he married Mary J. Glidden, his present wife. His children were, Mary W., born November 27, 1813, died November 12, 1842, and Harris L., born February 24, 1829, died March 12, 1853.
His ninetieth birthday, the third day of September 1877, was observed in a special manner, at his house in West Newton. His former pupils, together with his numerous friends, responded enthusiastically to the call, that suitable honors should be shown to their old master and fellow-citizen. On that occasion were speeches,
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music and poems, all of an enjoyable, cheering and elevating character.
"The friends who knew him in his youth. The tried, the true, the brave, Have passed from earth, like viewless winds. Where rustling harvests wave: The aims his young ambition craved His riper age has won: The dews of morn, in erimson glow Pillow his setting sun.
"The boys he taught in other days Are boys no longer now. Time lovingly has begged their locks. And silver streaks their brow ; Still. as 'mid ruined arch and fane In old, historie lands, Some shaft. intact. its head uprears .- This grand old pillar stands."
CHAPTER X.
MILLS AND MANUFACTURES.
First Mill in Town at the Harbor, 1733-"Hubbard's Mill" at West Townsend-Hezekiah Richardson's Mill and the Variety of Busi- ness at that Place-James Giles' Mill-Eben Butler's Mill- Daniel Giles' Mill, afterwards Owned by Adams & Powers- Steam Mill of Giles & Larkin-Steam Mill of Walter Fessen- den & Son-Sketch of Walter Fessenden-The Work done by these Mills-Morocco Factory of Abram S. French-Sketch of Abram S. French-Clothiers and Wool Carders-Hezekiah Rich- ardson and his Sons-Samuel Whitney, the Inventor of the Planer-Peter Manning, the Saddler-Townsend Harbor in 1790 -The Tanning Business Carried on by Several Parties-Hats Made of Fur, and Pahn Leaf Hats-Foundry at the Harbor- Statistics of the Manufactures of Townsend, for 1875. taken from the Decennial Census.
The first mill in Townsend, was built at the Harbor, by John Stevens and John Patt, by mutual agreement in writing, each binding himself, his heirs and executors, to the other, his heirs and executors, "to furnish one- half of the labor, timber, stone and iron, necessary for the erection of said mill for sawing boards ;" and "to keep the same in repair for twenty years." This written agreement, drawn in a neat, bold hand, worded in a scholarly manner, and legally binding on both parties, is now in the possession of the Ball family, which was con- nected by marriage with the Stevens family. The signa- tures of these men, and of two witnesses to the instrument,
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HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
would be particularly noticeable in a collection of auto- graphs. John Patt owned the land on the north side of the river, and John Stevens on the south side where the mill was built. This agreement was executed in January, 1733, and the mill was built and completed before the thirtieth of November following. A dam, suitable in height, was thrown across the river at or near where the stone dam now stands, which stopped the water much further up the river than was agreeable to the engineering of these two men. A meeting of the proprietors was called in August of that year, when it was voted to allow Ephraim Sawtell an "equivalent for such land as may be flowed by the raising of the dam."
The mill was located a few rods westerly of the place where the leather-board factory now stands. A grist-mill was soon after put in this building. This mill was sold by the builders a few years after its erection, including the privilege and a certain amount of land, to John Conant, who was the owner and occupant for a long time. The large two-story house, now standing near the south end of the dam, was built by this John Conant. away back in the provincial times, when all legal documents specified the year of "His Majesty's Reign." This house was a tavern for many years. Conant's mill had no competitor in Town- send, till about 1768, when a dam was made and a mill erected on the south side of the Squanicook, at West Townsend, near the west side of the stone bridge. The name of the man who built the mill is unknown to the writer, but about 1775. William Hobart was the proprietor. This mill was known in its day as "Hubbard's mill," and it was burned about 1790. The privilege remained un- occupied till 1798, when Hezekiah Richardson bought the
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property, and the canal leading easterly from the stone bridge was made, which remains in use to the present day. The labor in excavating this canal was most all done gratuitously, by the farmers and others, in consider- ation of better saw and grist-mill accommodations. Mr. Richardson made a mill nearly on the same site where a mill now stands. The water at this mill has been utilized for more different kinds of business than at any other place in this town. Here has been a saw and grist-mill, a wool carding mill, a cotton yarn factory, a stocking factory, a machine shop, and a leather-board mill, the last being the present business.
James Giles had a small mill, where the kit mill of A. M. Adams now stands. as early as 1787; and about the same time Major Samuel Stone, of Ashby, built a mill on Willards stream. in the fork of the two roads leading to Ashby. Afterwards this mill was owned by Eben Butler, of whom, in 1819, Benjamin Barrett and son bought this property. They demolished the old mill. made a stone dam, and the second mill at this place. Quite recently a mill, three stories in height, and rather capacious, was built here ; and in 1871. another stone dam. further up the stream, was made for reservoir purposes, by which the privilege was much enhanced in value. This mill is now used for the manufacture of coopers' stock. and owned by Lewis Sanders, who built it.
In 1817, Daniel Giles erected a mill on the spot now occupied at the Centre for a grain elevator. This mill has not passed through many hands, although it has been enlarged and greatly improved. Adams & Powers were the next owners, and at present, Alfred M. Adams, a son of the senior partner of the above firm, is the proprietor.
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HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
For the last half of a century, this saw and grist-mill, in connection with the coopering business, and on account of its central location in relation to a market for flour and meal, has done the most business of any mill in this town. Soon after Daniel Giles disposed of this mill, he built a steam mill on the west side of the Brookline road, about half a mile northerly of the common, where a new build- ing erected for a mill now stands. This mill was not long in operation before it was burned, and he lost heavily by the fire. The citizens of the town, and his friends, with much sympathy for the loser, contributed liberally to his relief, so that with the money, he purchased a shell of a mill at Sharon, New Hampshire. and removed it on to the same spot where his mill was burned. This building was converted into a steam mill for the purpose of making coopering stock, and was run by the firm of Giles & Larkin, until the death of Mr. Giles, in 1858, when Mr. Edwin A. Larkin bought the property and continued the coopering business. Through the carelessness of an engineer, or the wickedness of one of his enemies who intended to destroy his reputation, or perhaps his life. the boiler burst in this mill, in May, 1862, killing three men, and tearing out one side of the mill, besides doing con- siderable other damage. This mill was taken down, 1874, and the present structure on its site, put in its place.
In 1867, a large two-story and basement factory for manufacturing coopers' stock of all kinds. operated by steam. was built at the centre of the town by Walter Fessenden & Son. This mill gave employment to about thirty workmen. The building, motive power, machinery. and every facility for the manufacture of this stock. was first class. Except the usual vacation of four or five
Walter Giessenden
MILLS AND MANUFACTURES. 245
weeks, it was kept running during the year. In August, 1874, this mill was burned, the fire being undoubtedly the work of an incendiary. This large structure was. at that time, full of combustible goods, made from pine lumber. There was no wind ; the evening was dark during the fire which raged furiously ; when the roof fell in, a gleaming and hissing sheet of flame shot upward to the sky, which was visible for a long distance around. Had the fire happened when the wind blew, or any time except when the mill yard and surrounding roofs were wet, the central village would have been reduced to ashes. The factory now standing on the same site. altered slightly in its architectural proportions from the model of the mill that was burned, was finished and commenced running, February 4, 1875.
Hon. Walter Fessenden was born September 20, 1813. He obtained his education at the people's college-the common school-where a great majority of our prominent business men take their "degrees" of good sense and self- reliance. A certain prominent educator was once asked what studies should be taken by boys. Said he, "Teach them that which they will practice when they become men." Mr. Fessenden received just that kind of an education. He lived more than two miles from the school- house, during his boyhood, while the school terms were much shorter than at present, so that his educational advantages were rather limited. During his minority he learned the coopers' trade, a vocation which he plied with success, having large vitality and muscular strength. Up to 1845, he just made the two pages of the ledger balance. though occasionally it was up grade with him. The
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HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
impetus given to business by the California excitement in 1849, and other causes operating in his favor, established him in the coopering business so that he began to employ quite a number of men in that branch of industry.
" There is a tide in the affairs of men. which. Taken at the flood leads on to fortune."
The number of his operatives, and the amount of his trade, began to increase, so that he soon did a heavy business, shipping his goods to California, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland, and even to the Sandwich Islands, be- sides supplying his share to the usual trade of the cities on the coast. In 1859, the firm of Walter Fessenden & Son was formed, since which time Albert L. Fessenden has been the junior partner. This is the leading manu- facturing firm in this town ; and up to 1875, from sixty to eighty men have been in its employment as laborers, woodsmen, teamsters, millers, and coopers, who have converted many thousand cords of pine lumber into goods which have found a ready market. Walter Fessenden was one of the most influential men in securing from the Legislature a charter for the Townsend Bank. This in- stitution has been under his charge, as president, for more than twenty years, during which time it has paid good dividends and added a surplus of about forty per cent. to its capital stock. In 1865, it became a National Bank, in conformity to the United States laws. In 1856, he was a member of the National Democratic Convention at Cin- cinnati, when Mr. Buchanan was nominated ; and again, in 1860, he was chosen a delegate to the National Demo- cratic Convention which assembled at Charleston, South
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MILLS AND MANUFACTURES.
Carolina, where he was an unfaltering Douglas man. In 1861. he was chosen a member of the Massachusetts Senate. He is fond of travel having been two or three times to the Pacific slope, and, during the summer and fall of 1874, he made the tour of Europe, in company with a part of his family. He married Harriet E. Lewis, February 6. 1838.
It appears unnecessary to pursue the description of the Townsend lumber mills any further, although many have had their "exits and entrances" since the town was settled. The coopering business, for the last fifty years, has kept these establishments hard at work during a large part of the year. The timber is converted into barrels. shooks, kegs, kits, tubs, and pails, which, after shipment to the various cities of the United States, are filled with fruit, fish, syrup, spices. edibles of different kinds, chemicals, various manufactures and products, from whence they go on the wings of commerce to every market known to the enterprising American merchant.
In 1833, Abram S. French built a morocco factory, on the brook running northeasterly from Bayberry hill, near its junction with the river, and near where James Giles built his saw-mill, described in this chapter. He erected a dam on this brook, which afforded sufficient water to operate a fulling-mill during the largest part of the year. This establishment was in successful operation till 1853, employing constantly ten or twelve workmen ; and from the fact of a continuation of twenty years in the trade, the presumption is that the business was a source of wealth to the proprietor.
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HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
Abram S. French was born in Boston, in 1809. His mother was a daughter of Isaac Kidder, of Townsend, where he has resided most of the time during his life. . He made one or two voyages to the West Indies, as a cabin boy, but not being captivated with a maritime life, he was sent to New Ipswich, New Hampshire, where he acquired a good academical education. Preferring to enter business rather than pursue a course of study for a pro- fession, and having a taste for rural pursuits, he carried on a farm for a few years. After closing up his morocco dressing business, before mentioned, he stocked a tannery at Lockport, New York, and carried on business success- fully at that place with a partner to whom he sold his interest in the trade. He then went to Wellsville, New York, and built a large tannery, and pursued that branch of industry for several years very profitably to himself, leaving it most of the time in charge of a reliable and competent superintendent. Partially losing his health, and seeing a good chance to sell, in 1864, he disposed of this factory and its stock in trade, and retired from business. The prices of everything being inflated by the paper currency caused by the war, leather was worth more than double when he sold compared with its cost when he built the factory. He married Lois P. Richard- son, in 1831, and although they have always had an abundance of wealth and friends, they have been severely bereaved by the loss of four of their six children ; a son in the rebellion, two daughters, each about twenty years of age, and a daughter in childhood. Mr. French has always been fond of books, which during the days of bad health have been a source of much pleasure to him. He has a retentive memory-is well posted in history, and
Al French.
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