USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Townsend > History of the town of Townsend, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, from the grant of Hathorn's farm, 1676-1878 > Part 17
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MILLS AND MANUFACTURES.
possesses a large amount of miscellaneous information. During the holidays he may be seen dispensing his gifts among his friends, and particularly to those who are in need of assistance. In 1861 and 1862, he was the repre- sentative in the Legislature, for Townsend and Ashby.
Nathan Carlton was a clothier, at the Harbor, as early as 1790, and the mill where he obtained his power stood where Spaulding's planing mill is now situated. He was in business for considerable time and his house stood on or near the spot where Abel Eaton's house was recently burned. Silas Lawrence followed him in the same trade and at the same place. In 1821, Paul Gerrish took possession of the property which he enlarged and im- proved. He put in a wool carding machine, a spinning jenny, and a loom, or looms, and engaged in the manu- facture of woolen goods, with good success. This gentle- man was one of the most prominent citizens of the town. He was a justice of the peace, and one of the selectmen quite a number of years. In 1832, he represented Town- send in the Legislature. An accurate town officer and an exemplary man. He continued in this branch of industry more than twenty years.
About 1807, Jonathan Richardson came into the possession and ownership of the saw and grist-mill erected by Hezekiah Richardson & Sons, which stood a few rods easterly of the present leather-board factory. Connected with this building was an ell, or wing, which contained the. first wool carding machine ever in operation in this town. Previous to this time, most of the wool produced in town was carded at the mills in Pepperell or Groton ; the rolls of wool were then returned to the farmers' wives who spun it with Richardson's "patent head," and wove it into
250
HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
cloth, which was put into the hands of the clothier for coloring and dressing. Capt. Josiah G. Heald was the owner of this machine. He was a clothier, and he continued in that trade and wool carding more than a quarter of a century. He had the confidence of the people, gave strict attention to his business, and was much respected.
Hezekiah Richardson, (born in Townsend, 1741,) and his sons Zaccheus. Hezekiah, and Levi, were ingenious mechanics. A part of their business was chairmaking, and the manufacture of spinning-wheels, both for wool and flax. The house in which Hezekiah, senior, lived, is now standing about a third of a mile northwest from the "turnpike bridge," on the premises, triangular in shape, surrounded on its three sides by public highways. It was built about 1746, has always been occupied by a family, and remains to this day a com- fortable dwelling-house. These three sons were born in this house, between 1770 and 1776.
Levi constructed a wool spinning-wheel with an extra gear, which was patented. It was a favorite with the women, and was known among them as "the patent head." He was also the inventor of a set of sliding blocks, which, after a log was put upon the saw carriage and the saw put in motion, would set for each board till the whole log was sawed. Through the influence of General Varnum, of Dracut, a member of Congress from this district at that time, he obtained a patent on this invention.
Soon after the close of the revolution, the Warrens, and others, were engaged in the manufacture of potash, and this business was followed in a profitable manner till about 1820, when wood became more valuable.
251
MILLS AND MANUFACTURES.
Previous to the commencement of the present century. the principal branch of industry of the town, from which was derived the greatest amount of money, was the manu- facture of beef, pork, and rum barrels. These casks were drawn to market, at Boston, by ox teams, usually about four days being spent in making the journey.
Within the last fifty years most of the families in this town manufactured woolen goods for their own clothing. A tailoress would be in attendance with these families, once a year, and make these woolens into clothing for its members. So with regard to boots and shoes. The farmers sent their hides, marked so as to be recognized, to the tanners, where they were made into leather. A boot and shoemaker would go around to each house and make those goods, sufficient for a years stock. for the family.
Samuel Whitney, of this town, was the inventor of what is known as the Woodworth planer. He spent considerable time and money on this machine. He had a model made by a competent machinist, which did the work admirably, and he intended to secure a patent on the same, but while he delayed in attending to that business. and dreaming about the fortune he hoped to make by it, a dishonest man stealthily invaded the premises in which the model was stored, took drawings and admeasurements of it, from which another model was made and sent to Washington, and a patent was taken out in another man's name. By this bold and villainous theft, Mr. Whitney was defrauded out of the benefit of his ingenious and useful invention.
In the days of equestrianism, practiced by both sexes. when pleasure wagons were unknown, a saddler was almost as indispensable in every town as a minister.
252
HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
In 1787, Peter Manning was engaged in this trade at the Harbor. His house and shop, all in one building, stood where Charles Emery now resides. He is repre- sented as a very polite gentleman, a skilful mechanic, and a good singer ; but he rebelled against the practice of al- ternate reading and singing the lines of the hymn, which was the custom in public service on the sabbath. Through his influence, that fashion was laid aside.
At that time, Townsend Harbor was the only col- lection of houses in town which could be called a village. It contained a tavern, the large, old house (now standing) , at or near the south end of the dam at the river, kept by John Conant, a very popular landlord ; a saw and grist- mill, a blacksmith shop, a clothier (1790), a tanner, a trader, (Life Baldwin, in 1788,) who occupied the build- ing for a store, which is painted red and stands on the north side of the road. nearly opposite to Jonas Spaulding's counting-room. This was the first store in Townsend, and its proprietor at that time, Mr. Baldwin, was a man of good influence. He was town clerk and one of the select- men of this town for several years.
About the commencement of the present century. there was quite a heavy growth of pitch-pine where the central village now stands, the nearest houses to which were the red house, now standing on the north side of the road, just south of the Walker pond, so called, and two or three small dwellings situated at the westward of the old burying ground, or in that vicinity.
At the west village, that now is, the hotel now stand- ing and two or three houses, constituted all the buildings of that locality. The borders of the town, at that time, probably contained as many inhabitants as at the present time.
MILLS AND MANUFACTURES. 253
In 1789, Capt. Timothy Fessenden was engaged in the tanning business on land now owned by Harriet Read. near the north end of the dam over the Squanicook, at the Harbor. John and Samuel Billings, of Lunenburg, were interested in this property, but whether as part owners. mortgagees, or otherwise, is unknown. John Jewett fol- lowed Fessenden in this business, till about 1808, when Oliver Read bought the place and worked at the same trade till about 1827.
Soon after 1800, Benjamin Pierce started a tannery near the first little brook crossing the road leading from the depot, at West Townsend, to the post office in that village. It stood on the north side of the road. Several proprietors followed him in the business, among whom were George Hartwell, Levi Stearns (about 1825), and Alexander Lewis (about 1828).
The amount of business done in these establishments varied from one to two thousand dollars per annum. In 1827, Curtis Stevens bought the mill, supplied by water from "Willards stream," in the fork of the Ashby roads (where Lewis Sanders' mill now stands),-built tan vats on the north side of the mill and utilized the water power to grind bark and for other purposes in the tanning busi- ness, which he pursued till about 1835.
John Orr. in 1854, erected quite a large two-story and attic building near the railroad track at West Townsend Depot for a tannery, which was operated by steam power. He employed five or six workmen in the business till 1858, when the property went into the hands of a firm under the name of Freeman & Avery. These men increased the business, constantly employing fifteen or twenty operatives. They shipped a large amount of their goods into the
33
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254
HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
market, but they were not first-class financiers, and did not meet with the success which they anticipated.
In 1864, this establishment was bought by George Taft, who retained the foreman, and some of the workmen under the firm which preceded him, and he went on with the business. The building and finished stock contained in it were burned in 1868, but in due time Mr. Taft built another structure, of about the same dimensions and on the same site, which remained about three years, when that also was burned. Since that time the ruins of this factory have remained undisturbed. Within the last quarter of a century this branch of industry in Massachu- setts has been concentrated into a few places, like Woburn. and other populous towns, containing heavy capitalists. with whom competition is next to impossible.
Soon after the old meeting-house was moved on to the common (1804), a blacksmith, a tinsmith, and a hatter, set up their several trades, near each other, just west of the Goss bridge, at the centre of the town.
Eben Wilder, the hatter, lived on the spot now owned and occupied by Americus Lawrence. His hats were "felt" throughout the town, and none of them, while in his possession ever contained a "brick" inside, for he was "brim" full of temperance and moderation. Had he lived till 1832, he might have seen the dexterity with which the farmers' wives and daughters turned out the palm-leaf hats with their nimble fingers. At that time more than three-fourths of the families in this town contained one or more persons, sometimes three or four, who braided palm- leaf hats nearly all the time.
David P. Livermore, a trader at the Harbor, intro- duced this branch of industry into this town. The women
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MILLS AND MANUFACTURES.
and children braided these hats, and took their wages in goods from his store.
Mr. John Snow was the first trader at the centre of the town, who furnished leaf to be manufactured into hats. The other storekeepers soon followed, and this enterprise furnished employment for many people in Townsend, and the two northern towns in New Hampshire which join it, who had scarcely any other method of earning any money. From 1855 to 1860, while Mr. Daniel Adams was in trade at the centre of the town, the entire business in this line passed through his hands. He sold yearly, from twelve to fifteen thousand dozen of palm-leaf hats, a large portion of which went to the southern states, and were worn by those people who at one time in our national history were known as "intelligent contrabands." but more recently have been the principal stock in trade of a victorious and enthusiastic political party.
About 1830, Beriah Blood and Reuben Farrar came from Concord to the Harbor, and bought the Conant mill. Soon after. they moved a large barn, standing near by on the south side of the river, and set it up in their mill yard, near the side of the road, and converted it into a foundry. Quite a sum of money was invested in the building and stock. Albert S. Page commenced the business, which afterwards was in the possession of several different men and different firms. At one time, the establishment turned out a large quantity of goods. The Wards, two brothers, there for a while, were experienced workmen, and gave character to their goods in that branch of industry. There always appeared to be a lack of capital in the hands of the owners of this foundry, to prosecute the business in a successful manner. About 1852, it was burned while the
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HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
Woods brothers, (the railroad contractors,) were the owners.
The foregoing synopsis of the different businesses and enterprises, which have engaged the attention of the Townsend people, has been prepared with all the care and attention that could be given to the subject. A large part of the manufactures and trades, described here partially, were begun and ended before any considerable portion of the present inhabitants were born. Only a few · venerable forms, which bear "the human face divine," have come down to us through the generations, which were the least cognizant to the various interests, which, in the days of yore, were so important. "Heaven has so bountiously lengthened out the days" of Miss Mary Palmer, Miss Hannah Seaver, Mr. Samuel Searl, Mr. Benjamin Barrett, Mr. Seth Davis, and a few others, that certain interesting facts have been drawn from the repositories in their remembrance, which have been of great assistance to the writer.
It is remarkable how soon a few years will sweep into oblivion the dates of events which once were of thrilling interest to the whole community. A friend when laid in the ground has the time of his departure indented on the faithful marble that perpetuates his memory, but no monu- ment is ever erected on the spot, once cheered by the hum of happy industry, where a mill has rotted down, or been swept away by fire or flood ; neither is there any record of the event, and, generally, unless the searcher after the date can obtain an interview with some intelligent mother who recollects that "it was the same year that my Mary was born," he can scarcely ever with certainty fix the date. It has been considered in good taste, inasmuch as this is the centenary of our nationality, to insert here, the
257
MILLS AND MANUFACTURES.
statistics of the manufactures and occupations of the town. as brought out by the Massachusetts decennial census of 1875. This statistical table will supersede the necessity of a single word further on the manufacturing interests of the town :-
STATISTICS OF MANUFACTURES. Massachusetts Census of 1875. TOWN OF TOWNSEND-COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX.
Estab- lish- ments.
Capital Invested.
Value of Goods made.
MANUFACTURES.
BARRELS, HALF BARRELS AND KEGS,
II
$202,700
$344,254
BREAD BOXES,
I
1,200
1,096
CLOTHING, Men's Custom-made,
3,000
6,000
HATS, Palm-leaf,
I
1,596
LEATHER-BOARD,
I
20,000
15,600
LUMBER, SHINGLES, LATHS, ETC.,
5
20,800
25,348
MEAL, CORN, RYE AND WHEAT,
2
12,000
20,000
TINWARE,
I
380
TUBS AND PAILS,
I
10,000
23,300
OCCUPATIONS.
BLACKSMITHING,
4
4,800
8,870
BUTCHERING,
2
3,500
14,875
HARNESS AND SADDLE REPAIRING,
I
432
2,800
PAINTING,
I
1,000
3,2 50
STONE CUTTING,
2
1,900
4,090
TINSMITHING,
I
2,000
2,500
WHEELWRIGHTING,
I
3,000
6,200
AGGREGATE.
MANUFACTURES, ( goods made,)
2.4
$270,080 16,632
$437,994 42,585
OCCUPATIONS, ( work done,)
12
36
$286,712
$480,579
DESCRIPTION AND QUANTITY OF GOODS MADE-IN PART.
Half fish barrels,
68,077
Dry half and flour barrels,
Fish kegs,
105,974
3,250
Dry half barrels,
9,550
Nail and mustard
Nail kegs,
4,786
kegs, 1,113
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HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
Fish kits,
306,000
Emery kegs and
Kegs,
191,000
barrels, 400
Half flour barrels,
1,390
Quarter fish drums, 2,500
Barrels,
10,272
Bread boxes, 2,500
Molasses kegs,
71,028
Tubs,
30,000
Half barrels,
193,963
Pails, 28,000
Salt barrels,
200
Butter tubs,
45,000
Paint kegs,
1,150
Value of stock used (in the town), $249,849
DESCRIPTION AND VALUE OF STOCK USED-IN PART.
Lumber,
$75,040 Staves. $60.897
Hoops,
40,659 Heads, 28,723
Total,
$205,319
Value of buildings used for manufacturing purposes. $89.000
Value of average stock on hand in manufac- turing establishments,
$87,630
Value of machinery in use,
$51,725
MOTIVE POWER.
Steam engines, 3 ; nominal horse power, 172 ; actual 292. Water wheels. 19 ; nominal horse power, 447.
PERSONS EMPLOYED.
In manufactures, males 283 : females 8. In occupations, males 21 ; females o. Totals. 304. 8.
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CHAPTER XI.
WAR OF THE REBELLION.
Rabidness of the Politicians Previous to the Rebellion-Stupendous Effort of Massachusetts in Suppressing It-War a Terrible Agent in Civilization-Call for a Town Meeting. April 20th. 1861- Patriotie Resolves of the Town-Names of the Men who En- listed in June, 1861. and were Mustered into the Sixth Massachusetts Volunteers-Men of the Twenty-Sixth Massachu- setts Regiment-Account of the Thirty-Third Regiment, and the Townsend men in the same-Re-enlistment of the Nine Months Men in the Old Sixth Regiment, in August, 1862-The Fifty-Third Regiment of Massachusetts Volunteers for Nine Months-Sketch of Capt. Anson D. Fessenden-Names and Terms of Service of Townsend Men in Various Regiments- Roll of Townsend Men Belonging to the Twenty-Fourth Massa- chusetts Ileavy Artillery-Roll of the One Hundred Days Men who Enlisted July 7. 1864-Patriotism of our Young Men, and the Number of them Killed and who Lost their Lives-Aid Afforded by the Ladies of Townsend to the Sanitary Com- mission.
It is hardly necessary for a town historian to enumerate and discuss the causes which led to the rebellion of 1861, which has engaged the attention of so many different writers. An exact and impartial account of that gigantic struggle, embracing the incipient causes thereof, is not to be found in English literature.
"Quos Deus vult perdere. prins dementat."
Those whom God would destroy, he first makes mad.
That madness ruled the politicians, who assembled at our national capital from all parts of the country for
260
HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
years, previous to the bombardment of Sumpter, is beyond dispute. The words and acts in the halls of Congress, by persons calling themselves gentlemen, were akin to bar- barism. What man would assault a defenceless gentleman, with a bludgeon, for words used in debate, as Brooks did his intended victim, unless he was the very personification of drivelling insanity !
When the news of the election of Abraham Lincoln (who did not receive an electoral vote from any of the southern states,) reached Boston, Faneuil Hall swarmed with exultant men. Among the ill-timed remarks of the orators, on that memorable occasion, was that of Henry Wilson, who, in speaking of the southern people, used these words : "We now have our feet on their necks." Certainly these words were not called for, and no sane man at that time would have used them, for they were calculated to arouse the combativeness, and meet with a martial response, when received by the southern people over the telegraphic wires.
The great wrong of firing upon the national flag, and plotting treason against the government, must be held in everlasting remembrance, to the disgrace of the southern leaders in the rebellion : but let no reader suppose that the South alone was responsible for this civil feud which sundered the ties of consanguinity and drenched the land with fraternal blood ; which entailed a monstrous debt on the nation, and swept away from their homes and into the grave nearly half a million of men. on both sides, who have fought their last battle.
·Beware
Of entrance to a quarrel ; but, being in.
Bear it that the opposer may beware of thee."
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WAR OF THE REBELLION.
It cannot be said that special attention was paid by any state or statesman to the precautionary words here quoted, but Massachusetts gave good heed to the last part of this compound declarative sentence, by a vigorous and unqualified support of the government in its effort to preserve the Union by military force.
According to William Schouler, adjutant-general of Massachusetts during the rebellion, in his report to the General Court, January 1, 1866, this Commonwealth was represented in the army and navy. in the different terms of service during the war, by one hundred and fifty-nine thousand one hundred and fifteen (159,115) men .*
Massachusetts stood at the end of the war, showing that with the exception of twelve small towns, every town and city in the state had furnished a surplus over all the demands from the war department, which amounted in the aggregate to fifteen thousand one hundred and seventy- eight (15,178) men, of which the town of Townsend furnished thirty-three (33) men.
As on the 19th of April, 1775, the Middlesex county men were the first to yield their lives in the revolution, so on the 19th of April, 1861, just eighty-six years afterward. men from the same towns, belonging to the Sixth Massa- chusetts Regiment, were the first who gave up their lives for their country, in the mob fight at Baltimore, on which occasion three men were killed and thirty wounded.
"Men of reflection have become satisfied that a nation. like an individual, is by the laws of nature-the laws of God, clothed with the right of self-preservation ; and when its existence is threatened, it is bound by a religious obligation to sustain its being at every hazard, and by all
*Adjutant-General's Report, page 16.
34
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HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
the fair means that God and nature have put in its power. War is to be dreaded, and prevented as far as practicable : but like the amputating knife, is allowable to save the life of the body politic. And though war in itself is a great calamity, and leaves many evils in its train, the history of the world shows that some of the grandest steps in civiliza- tion have grown out of the wars, which at the time were regarded as great calamities."
Apparently nothing but war could have checked the lordly pride of those southern masters, who fain would have made the chief corner-stone of their confederacy the institution of slavery. No people were ever more hu- miliated than those conspirators who took the sword, and their cause perished by the sword.
A dismal despondeney hangs over the distressed peo- ple of the gulf states. the educated portion of whom can never adapt themselves to the grade of poverty to which they have been levelled by the war. Undoubtedly the time will come, after the present generation has passed away, when commerce will spread her wings over their navigable waters-when the hoarse breathing of the steam engine will keep time with their various industries-when Educa- tion will dispense her favors irrespective of race or com- plexion, and the flag, once spurned by their fathers, will be a blessed symbol.
On the twentieth of April, 1861, a warrant was posted at the usual places, in Townsend, calling a town meeting on the twenty-seventh day of said April, which contained the following article :-
"2. To see if the town will take any measures to facilitate the enrolment or enlistment of volunteers, whose
263
WAR OF THE REBELLION.
services shall be tendered to the Governor of the Common- wealth, or through him to the President of the United States."
On this article, voted and chose a committee of five citizens to report to the town a plan for its action. Chose for said committee, Henry Sceva, Walter Fessenden, Daniel L. Brown, Nathaniel F. Cummings, and Samuel S. Haynes, who submitted the following preamble and resolutions, which were accepted and adopted by a unani- mous vote of the town :-
"Whereas, a portion of the states of this confederacy, are now in open rebellion against the Government, and whereas, the President of these United States has called upon the Loyal States for a Military force sufficient to suppress the rebellion and maintain the laws of the land ;
"Now, therefore, we, the citizens of Townsend in town meeting assembled. hereby declare our undying love for liberty, and our sacred regard for the Constitution as transmitted to us by its founders.
"Resolved, that we tender to the Government our sympathy, and if necessity require. our lives and property.
"Resolved, that our foreign born citizens, for the promptness with which they have rallied to the support of this their adopted country, have laid us, the native born citizens, under everlasting obligations, and that our gratitude for their support and sympathy should be appro- priately, cheerfully, and promptly acknowledged."
"Voted, that Walter Fessenden, Daniel S. Brown. Nathaniel F. Cummings, James N. Tucker, and Alfred M. Adams, be a committee to take immediate measures for the enrolment of a company of able-bodied men,
264
HISTORY OF TOWNSEND.
whose services shall forthwith be tendered to the govern- ment."
"Voted, to provide for the families of those who may need assistance during their actual service."
The President called for seventy-five thousand men. through the war department, on the fifteenth of April, 1861. The gentlemen of the committee, chosen at this town meeting, and other men of wealth and influence, appealed to the patriotism of the citizens, assuring them that the families of married men should be cared for, in case they should volunteer to fill the quota of the town. During the next June, seven Townsend men were enlisted. and were mustered into the Sixth Regiment, Massachusetts Volunteers (June 19). The names of these men, and their record in connection with the regiment, are here presented :-
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