USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Worcester > Reminiscences of Worcester from the earliest period, historical and genealogical with notices of early settlers and prominent citizens, and descriptions of old landmarks and ancient dwellings, accompanied by a map and numerous illustrations > Part 20
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37
Maj. John White, Feb. 2, 1797 aged 51. Mrs. Eliza White, Oct. 16, 1798.
Tyler Wellington, July 26, 1821, aged 42.
Palmer Stowell, Oet. 18, 1820, aged 24.
Curtis Fowle, March 18, 1825, aged 80. He came from England, joined the American army in 1775, and served faithfully during the war.
David Brown, Oet. 11, 1816, aged 48; wife Lucy, Feb. 20, 1823, aged 47; daughter Lucy, May 31, 1819, aged 19.
Samuel Harrington, March 27, 1838, aged 84; wife Silence, May 17, 1828, aged 74.
Elizabeth, wife of Dison Dyer, Aug. 13, 1828, aged 67.
John Fisk, Sept. 10, 1836, aged 35.
Sarah, wife of Simon S. Gates, Feb. 23, 1830, aged 33.
Rufus, son of Andrew and Rebecca Adams, Oct. 9, 1828, aged 27 ; his sister Lucy, Dec. 21, 1818, aged 27.
Joseph Kingsbury, Feb. 15, 1815, aged 68.
Oliver Kingsbury, Nov. 12, 1809, aged 27.
Joseph Daniels, Feb. 18, 1826, aged 68 ; father of the late Wm. P. Daniels. Joseph Daniels owned a very large amount of real estate around Washington Square, which he sold to Samuel Hathaway, including all that now occupied by the railroad corporations, iron works, the old Pine Meadow Cemetery, &c.
Daniel Johnson, Jr., May 17, 1809, aged 33.
Charles Adams, Oct. 3, 1813, aged 70; his wife Abigail, Oct. 6, 1796, aged 53.
Benjamin Tucker, Sept. 13, 1806, aged 73, and his wife Martha, Nov. 3, 1820, aged 90. Their son,
Enos Tucker, June 19, 1822, aged 56 ; and his wife Mary, July 10, 1851, aged 82. Enos Tueker was the first harness-maker in Worcester, having a shop on Main street, nearly opposite Central street.
Capt. Samuel Brooks, June 29, 1817, aged 87, and his wife Hannah, Dec. 6, 1819, aged 96. He was brother of Capt. Nathaniel Brooks, and father of the late Dea. Nathaniel Brooks.
Samuel Woodburn, March 11, 1803, aged 80. He resided previous to 1782 in the old Gov. Han- cock (afterwards Gov. Lincoln) mansion on Lincoln street, where he kept a public house for the en. tertainment of attendants upon the county courts.
Zilpa Furrows, July 8, 1830, aged 30.
Lucy, wife of Amos Robbins, April 11, 1849, aged 56.
Ebenezer Geer, Jr., Aug. 31, 1818, aged 28: his wife Azubah, March 4, 1826, aged 40.
Thankful, wife of Joel Putnam, Oct. 30, 1822, aged 32.
W'm. Barber of Boston, nephew of Elder Wmn. Bentley, Nov. 12, 1813, aged 19.
Daniel Chadwick, May 23, 1836, aged 84 ; his wife Elizabeth, July 1, 1822, aged 61. Their son Daniel, Feb 26, 1825, aged 37, and his wife Betsey, Jan. 30 1818, aged 24. Joseph, son of Daniel and Elizabeth Chadwick, March 2, 1812, aged 12. They lived just south of Northville.
Wm. Bingham, April 7, 1827, aged 27.
Robert Gray, Oct. 6, 1799, aged 64 ; his wife Margaret, Sept. 7, 1796, aged 57.
Reuben Gray, May 23, 1814, aged 70; his wife Lydia, (date unknown) ; their son Reuben, drowned July 12, 1807, aged 20; their son Moses, killed by fall of a tree, March 26, 1803, aged 18.
Asahel Bellows, Aug. 9, 1835, aged 54. IIe kept the old stone jail and tavern on Lincoln Square after Gen. Heard.
Adrian Webb, Feb. 5, 1830, aged 62. He was a well known barber, occupying a shop on Court ITill.
Dolly, wife of Thomas V. Kent, Feb. 19, 1836, aged 39.
Sarah, wife of Thomas Sutton, March 28, 1821, aged 26.
Rufus, son of Andrew and Rebecca Adams, Oct. 9, 1828, aged 27; their daughter Lucy, Dec. 21 , 1818, aged 27.
Lemuel Estey, Oct. 6, 1817, aged 21.
Wm. Augustus, only son of Wm. Stowell, drowned May 19, 1827, aged 6.
Wm. Alden, son of Alden and Elizabeth Blanchard, Mar. 12, 1829, 1 year ; daughter Elizabeth Aug. 12, 1834, aged 9.
Heman Lincoln, son of Benjamin F. and Maria C. Farnsworth, Sept. 6, 1825, 20 months.
Noah Harrington, July 18, 1832, aged 73 ; his wife Lois, Oct. 11, 1820, aged 54 ; grandparents o f Wm. H., Chauncey G , and Frank W. Harrington of Worcester.
Charles Smith, Sept. 1, 1820, aged 24.
Sarah, daughter of Elbridge and Hannah Dix, Nov. 19, 1825, 2 years and 10 months.
27
210
Reminiscences of Worcester.
Silas Rice, May 31, 1835, aged 86; his wife Elizabeth, Sept. 4, 1797, aged 39 ; their son Abraham, Aug. 1, 1795, aged 6.
Benjamin, son of Rev. L. I. Hoadley and Mrs. Lydia Hoadley, April 15, 1828, aged 5 days.
Elizabeth, wife of Elijah Burbank, Sept. 11, 1831, aged 66, and their daughter Mary, March 12, 1810, aged 17. Hle carried on for a long time till 1884, the paper mill at Quinsigamiond Village, started in 1794 by Isaiah Thomas, where the iron works now are. he ded at Brooklyn, N. Y., in 1848.
Sylvia, wife of Peter Rich, Sept. 10, 1844, aged 74.
The preceding comprise but a portion of the numerous bu- rials in the Mechanic street Cemetery between 1795 and 1860, the earliest and latest dates at which interments appear to have been made there, as a large number of the bodies have been removed by their friends, and buried elsewhere, either at the Rural Cemetery, which was first opened in 1838, or at Hope Cemetery, comprising 52 acres, opened in 1854. It is estimat- ed that of the 450 persons interred in the Mechanic street ground, the bodies of 350 yet remain. The condition in which this ground has been for several years past, has provoked much indignant comment upon the policy of the municipal author- ities in allowing the wholesale desecration which has been en- acted here, as well as at the Pine street Cemetery, the fences of both having been broken down and carried off for fire-wood, and many of the monuments mutilated and destroyed by vicious hands, whom a secure fencing and a proper guarding of the same would have kept away from making these depredations. Should the Foster street extension from Main street to the Union depot at Washington Square be constructed, as now contemplated, most if not all of the Mechanic street burial ground will have to be taken for the purpose, thus necessitating the removal of all the remains now left there.
PINE STREET BURIAL GROUND.
The burial ground at East Worcester, having a frontage of five hundred feet on Pine street, which originally comprised eight acres, first began to be commonly used in 1828. It origin- ally belonged to the estate of Jacob Holmes, afterwards succes- sively of Joseph Daniels and Samuel Hathaway, who more than fifty years ago owned an extensive tract of real estate in the vicinity of Washington Square, including the site of the Union depot. By successive cuttings off from time to time, on the south side, since the opening of the Boston and Worcester,
211
Reminiscences of Worcester.
and Boston, Barre and Gardner Railroads, this burial ground has now been reduced to 90,000 feet, or a little over two acres, and it will probably all be soon used for other purposes, the larger portion of the bodies interred there having already been removed, and the remainder will soon be. No burials have been made there for many years. One of the first interments in this cemetery was of the body of Col. Reuben Sikes, who died Aug. 19, 1824, aged 69. He was proprietor and landlord of the old Exchange Hotel, opposite Court Hill, then the lead- ing hotel of the town, from 1807 to 1824, and was with Capt. Levi Pease of Shrewsbury, the most extensive stage proprietor in the central section of New England. His remains have just been removed to the family lot in Rural Cemetery. Another whose remains have recently been removed from this ground, is Isaac Goodwin, a prominent lawyer and distinguished antiquari- an, who died Sept. 17, 1832, aged 45. He was father of Hon. John A. Goodwin of Lowell. Among others interred here, whose remains have been removed, are the following :
Capt. John Barnard, died Sept. 13 1830, aged 87; and his wife Sarah, Feb. 4, 1831, aged 84. They were grandparents of the present Lewis Barnard, and resided on the estate on Lincoln street, previously owned and occupied by Capt Israel Jeunison. This Capt. John Barnard was son of Isaac Barnard who came from Sutton, and settled first at New Worcester.
('apt Peter Slater, died October 13, 1831, aged 72; and his wife Zilpa, July 18, 1818, aged 53. Capt. Slater was one of the celebrated "Boston Tea Party," and when a youth of 14, on the night of Dec. 16, 1773, aided in throwing overboard the 242 chests of tea into Boston harbor, as- sociated with him on that memorable occasion, being Col. Paul Revere, Gen. John Spurr of Charl- ton, (grandfather of Zephaniah, Elijah and George R. Spurr of Worcester,) Capt. Benjamin Rice of Brookfield, (great-grandfather of Hon. Wm. W. Rice of Worcester,) and some fifty others, many of them afterwards distinguished in the revolutionary service, whose names are engraved upon a marble monument erected to the memory of Capt. Slater in Hope Cemetery, to which place his re- mains and those of his family were removed several years ago, at the dedication of which monu- ment appropriate services were held July 4, 1870, when speeches were made by Hon. Isaac Davis, Hon. Henry Chapin and others. Capt. Slater was a native of England, and came from Boston to Worcester in June, 1775, after the battle of Bunker Hill, of which he was an eye witness, (being then a youth of 16,) and served three years in Maj. Wm. Treadwell's artillery company, after which he was a short time laborer on the farm of Gov. Levi Lincoln, senior. on Lincoln street. He married a daughter of Benjamin Chapin who lived just over the border in Auburn, and settled on the farm on Pakachoag Hill, afterwards owned and occupied by Wm. Goss, senior. In 1806, Capt. Slater removed to Main street, and established a rope walk in the rear of the estate (where the Quinsigamond Bank now is) which he purchase l of Dea. Nathan Heard. This rope walk was re- moved ten years ago, and brick buildings owned by Hon. Isaac Davis now occupy the site of his residence, and that of Maj. Treadwell, (afterwards of Francis Blake, ) just south of it on the corner of Central street. Capt. Slater was at one time a commander of the old Worcester Artillery. He had ten sons and four daughters.
The burials in over fifty family lots yet remain to be removed, among them the following :
Sam'iel Braser. a well known and leading merchant in Worcester nearly 100 years ago, who died Aug. 10, 1835, aged 89; his wife Elizabeth, June 6, 1821, agel 65: and their daughter Betsey, June 18, 1871, aged 3 years. He was father of Rev. Dr. John Braser of Salem. Samuel Braser's residence and store occupied the site of the present res dence of William Dickinson, who purchas- ed the Braser estate in 1848, and remodeled the old dwelling, which then had stores in the first story as now. Mr. Braser's first residence and store were burned February 18, 1815, in connec -
212
Reminiscences of Worcester.
tion with the residence and store of Enoch and Elisha Flagg, adjoining on the south, and new structures were erected on their site.
Reuben Gleason, died Nov. 24, 1833, aged 55 ; his wife Abigail, Aug. 31, 1830, aged 45.
Susan C., wife of Joseph Fisher, and daughter of Wm. and Lucretia Mcclellan, died March 11, 1831, aged 25.
Charles W., son of Wm. and Lucy Gates, Aug. 26, 1833, aged 4.
Elizabeth, wife of Robert Smith, Oct. 6, 1837, aged 96 years and 7 months.
Lucy, daughter of Ephraim and Catherine Child, March 1, 1830, aged 32.
Alexander G. Vottier, Oct. 17, 1844, aged 70. He was a well known Frenchman of exceedingly facetious character, and kept a candy and refreshment store sixty years ago in a little wooden building which stood on the south corner of Main and School streets, and afterwards in one of the stores in " Goddard's Row." He was fond of relating incidents of his service as one of Napoleon's soldiers, under whom he served at the battle of Waterloo.
Archibald Willard, Oct. 9, 1848, aged 50 ; and his wife, Dec. 11, 1844, aged 37. He kept a hotel at Tatnuck, a little west of that previously kept successively by Joseph and Lewis Holbrook, and Benjamin Flagg.
James Witherby, Sept. 3, 1851, aged 34.
Harriet, wife of Francis R. Gourlay, Nov. 24, 1846, aged 40.
OTHER BURIAL PLACES.
The Roman Catholics had their first burial ground about two miles out on the road to Tatnuck, which they purchased in 1834. Their present burial ground at South Worcester began to be used in 1848, during the ministrations of Rev. Matthew W. Gibson, one of their earliest pastors, who super- intended the construction of St. John's Church. The French Catholics have a burial place about a mile and a half out on the east side of Lincoln street, comprising about 22 acres, which they have used for two years.
Besides the above, there have been private and family burial lots at other places, including one at Quinsigamond Village, belonging to the Tatman family, descendants of Jabez Tatman. The old dwelling of the latter, and of his son, Jolin Tatman, (grandfather of the present R. James Tatman,) stood one hun- dred years ago, just east of the burial place, in which some forty interments have been made. Another private burial place was near Winter Hill on land of the late Ezra Goddard, now owned and occupied by his son, Josiah Goddard, in which several members of that family were buried, but all the remains have been removed to Rural Cemetery. On John Brewer's estate near the corner of June and Mill streets, near Tatnuck, two burials of that family have been made, and there are prob- ably other instances of this kind.
At Jamesville, near the south-east side of the pond, on land belonging to Benjamin James, were buried two persons, whose remains were removed to the west cemetery in Auburn two years ago. They were the bodies of Amos Putnam, who
213
Reminiscences of Worcester.
died Sept. 17, 1811, aged 81, and of his wife Sarah, who died Dec. 21, 1802, aged 64. He was probably a relative of Isaac Putnam, (referred to on page 99.)
When the excavations were being made for the foundation for Jonathan Grout's block, on Main street, opposite Elm street, June 8, 1870, the workmen found several feet below the surface of the ground, part of an old tombstone with the in- scription : " Here lies the body of Elizabeth Willard, wife of Jonathan Willard, who died July 4, 1720, aged 38 years." She was daughter of John and Mary (Hapgood) Whitney of Framingham. Her husband resided at what is now South Worcester. The finding of this old relic in that locality, coupled with the fact that when the excavations were being made for the building of the Insurance Block, just north of this spot, a few years previous, several fragments of tombstones were found, indicates that formerly, between the closing of the first burial ground on the corner of Summer and School streets, and the opening of the second one on the old Common, the ground opposite Elm street about midway between the two localities may have been used for a burial place. The date (1728) would seem to confirm such a supposition. At that period, the ministerial or common land embraced all the ter- ritory east of Main street and north of Front street, as far as Exchange street and Mill Brook, including the spot in question.
Upon the farm of Dea. John H. Brooks, in the north part of the city, are the graves of four persons who died of small pox, two of them on the north side of Nelson lane, leading west from Holden street, and two on the south side of that lane, half a mile from any street. No mark designates the names or dates of burial, except on one grave, upon the head stone of which are the words : "In memory of Elizabeth, wife of Increase Blake, who died of small pox, Nov. 22, 1792, aged 61. The sweet remembrance of the just, shall flourish when they sleep in dust." By the side of this is another grave upon which there is nothing to indicate the name. Possibly it is that of her husband, who kept a store for several years in Wor- cester, the name of Increase Blake being upon the list of pro- perty owners here between the years 1778 and 1792.
214
Reminiscences of Worcester.
Luke Brown, who came from Sudbury, and kept the old jail and Hancock Arms' tavern on Lincoln street from 1746 up to the time of his decease, of small pox, April 14, 1772, when he was succeeded in the hotel and jail by his son, Luke Brown, Jr .. was buried near the summit of the Jo Bill road, uren what was then his own land, afterwards purchased by the elder Stephen Salisbury, who had the remains removed to the old Common.
The first person buried in the old Catholic Cemetery near Tatnuck, was John Diviny, who was killed with three others, while at work blasting in the big ledge on the Boston and Albany Railroad, then in process of construction, near Pine Meadow, his body being lodged in a tree. He was buried near the front gate of the cemetery. He came over from Ireland in 1833 with John Fay, now Catholic sexton and undertaker.
The first person buried in the Catholic (St. John's) Cem- etery at South Worcester, now comprising some forty acres, was Nicholas Mooney, in June, 1848.
The first person buried in the Rural Cemetery, now compris- ing fifty acres, was Harriet Paine, wife of Judge Thomas Kin- nicutt, who died Sept. 29, 1838, aged 30.
The cemetery in Auburn Centre began to be used about the time that section was first set off as the southern precinct of Worcester.
The burials in the old Anburn or " Worcester South Pre. cinct" Cemetery, of those prominent in Worcester affairs pre- ceding the separation of that town, are as follows :
Thomas Drury, Nov. 3, 1778, aged 58, and his wife Elizabeth, Aug. 17, 1807, aged 77 : their son, Lient. Thomas Drury. July 6, 1836, aged 91, and the latter's wife, Experience Drury, Dec. 2, 1834, aged 91. Maj. Thomas Drury, (sou of Lieut. Thomas.) died April 26, 1846, aged 69, and his wife Mehitable, Nov. 6, 1810, aged 32. Col. Alvah Drury, (son of the latter,) died Sept. 28, 1839, aged 43. The above, comprising four generations, all resided in the old Drury mansion, (long kept as a hotel ) now owned and occupied by Rev. Elnathan Davis. The family for over 100 years owned the old Drury mills, (latterly the Dunn inills) recently burned. William H., Thomas A., and Enoch P. Drury of Worcester are sons of Alvah : and Mary A., who married Alvin T. Burgess and Wealthy II , who married Rev. Albert Tyler, were his daughters.
David Bancroft, died April 16, 1,82, aged 63 : his first wife Eunice Bancroft, Oct. 1, 1777, aged 58, and his last wife Ruth, Aug. 1, 1809, aged 94. His son. Timothy Bancroft, died March 4, 1834, aged 73, and the latter's wife, May 10, 1844, aged 84. The latter were parents of the late Harvey Bancroft, who was father of the present Euoch L. and Isaac A. Bancroft. Their ancestor, David Bancroft, was an influential man in town affairs during the revolution, as representative to the General Court, member of important committees, &c. His residence was a mile or more from the railroad depot on the road towards Millbury.
Dea. Jonathan Stone, Dec. 21, 1806, aged SI; and his wife Martha, March 2, 1811, aged 71. Their son, Lient. JJonathan Stone, Nov 24. 1809, aged 59; his first wife Mary, March 24, 1791, aged 37, and his last wife Sally, Sept. 16. 1853 aged 39.
Rev. Isane Bailey, the first pastor of the Auburn Church (originally Worcester South Precinct. per page 128,) died April 10, 1814, aged 61 : and his wife Elizabeth, Jan. 5, 1842, aged 87, with two infant children. His residence fronted the south-east corner of the Common.
215
Reminiscences of Worcester.
Wealthy, wife of Rev. Enoch Pond, D. D., (second minister,) died greatly beloved and lamented, in the midst of her days of usefulness, in the joyful hope of heaven, Sept. 15, 1824, aged 30, with four intant children. Dr. Pond still survives in Bangor, Me., in his 87th year. Ile was pastor here till 1828. His residence was north east of the Common.
Thomas Baird, April 29, 1782, aged 74, and his wife Elizabeth, April 23, 1790, aged 82.
Elizabeth, reliet of Jehn Boyden, died Jan. 6, 1812, aged 86. Samuel Boyden, son of the latter, died Sept. 18, 1847, aged 83, and his wife Sarah, Nov. 28, 1845. The latter, who resided on Pakachoag hill, a few rods south-east of the present residence of Charles F. Curtis, was father of the present Joseph, Jubal and Lewis Boyden of Worcester.
Sarah, relict of Benjamin Wiser, senior, Dec. 14, 1794, aged 76. Benjamin Wiser, Jr., July 1, 1794, aged 41, and his widow Dolly, May 4, 1829, aged 50. Dea. Benjamin Wiser, June 15, 1858, aged 78. Four generations of Benjamin Wisers resided in the old Wiser dwelling on the east side of Packachoag Hill, now ( 1877) the residence of J. F Beane.
Dea. David Gleason, April 29, 1833, aged 86, and his wife Lydia, Nov 27, 1838, aged 93.
SEXTONS AND UNDERTAKERS.
The principal sextons and undertakers from the first have been : Capt. Thomas Stearns, (see page 58 ;) Capt. Daniel Ward, (see page 21;) Capt. Moses Rice, (page 20:) Wm. Nichols ; and John Waters, who resided in the old Waters house fronting the south-east corner of the old Common. Those who officiated while there was but one church or parish in the town, had superadded the charge of " taking care of the meeting." Major Jedediah Healey, owner and occupant of the S. M. Burnside estate on Main street, was town sexton and undertaker for a long series of years preceding his death, Feb. 7, 1821, when he was succeeded by Thomas B. Eaton, and the latter by Samuel Harrington, who died May 28, 1842, aged 58. He died from crysipelas contracted while preparing a body for burial. His wife died the same day from the same disease taken in caring for him, and there was but one funeral service for both, and they were buried side by side in the same grave. He was succeeded as sexton by Mr. Eaton, who had been his predecessor, who served the town in this capacity for a brief period. Wm. G. Maynard and John Gates succeeded Mr. Eaton, Mr. Maynard acting till 1850, when he was succeeded by Geo. Sessions and Horace Mirick, the latter acting till 1857, and the former being now in his 28th year of service. Waldo E. Sessions has been in company with his father (George Ses- sions) in the business since 1867. George G. Hildreth has been city sexton and undertaker since 1857.
Thomas Maginnis was the first Catholic sexton and under- taker, from 1855 to 1869, the MeConville Bros., M. A. Power and others, succeeding him. John Fay, who began in 1872, and Andrew Athy, are the present ones.
COURTS, COURT HOUSES, COUNTY OFFICERS, JAILS, HOUSES OF CORRECTION, ETC.
CHAPTER XIV.
THE COURTS AND COUNTY OFFICERS.
As the Courts have always been held in Worcester since the organization of the county, and the officers have been mostly residents in Worcester, an account of the constitution of the county Courts and of the successive officers connected there- with, properly belongs here.
The act incorporating the county of Worcester was passed April 2, 1731, before which time eight of the fifteen towns of which this county was originally composed, belonged to Mid- dlesex county, and five (including the town of Worcester) to Suffolk county. The first Court of General Sessions and Infe- rior Court of Common Pleas for the new county was held at the old meeting-house in Worcester, occupying nearly the site of the present one upon the Common, Aug. 10, 1731, when the Rev. John Prentice of Lancaster preached a sermon at the opening of the Court, taking his text from King Jehoshaphat's charge to the Judges of Judah, 2d Chron. 19: 6 and 7 : "Take heed what ye do, ye judge not for man, but for the Lord," &c. The first commissioned officers of this Court of Common Pleas, (all its judges being confined to residents of the county until the year 1811, when the system of County Courts of Common Pleas was abolished,) were as follows: John Chan- dler of Woodstock,* chief justice ; Joseph Wilder of Lancaster, William Ward of Southborough, and William Jennison of Wor-
* The town of Woodstock was included within the county of Worcester until 1749, when it was set off to Connecticut.
217
Reminiscences of Worcester.
cester, judges ; John Chandler, Jr., of Worcester, (son of the first judge, ) clerk ; and Daniel Gookin of Worcester, (son of Gen. Daniel Gookin, so distinguished in the earliest acts for the settlement of the town,) sheriff.
For a long time after this period, Lancaster, Mendon, Brook- field and Sutton were larger than Worcester, and when it was proposed to make Lancaster the shire town, the inhabitants there objected, on the ground that it would demoralize them.
After the death of Chief Justice John Chandler in 1740, Joseph Wilder of Lancaster was promoted chief justice, and Joseph Dwight of Brookfield appointed the additional judge. Upon the death of Judge Jennison in 1741, Samuel Willard of Lancaster was appointed in his place. In 1745, Nahum Ward of Shrewsbury (father of Maj. Gen. Artemas Ward,) was commissioned in place of William Ward of Southborough. In 1752, Maj. Jonas Rice of Worcester was constituted judge, in place of Samuel Willard of Lancaster, deceased ; and in 1750, Edward Hartwell of Lunenburg, in place of Joseph Dwight of Brookfield. In May, 1754, John Chandler of Worcester, who had from the beginning been clerk of the courts, was appoint- ed judge. In 1755, Thomas Steel of Leicester was appointed judge in place of Jonas Rice, deceased. In May, 1757, upon the death of Judge Wilder, a re-arrangement of the judges was made, in the following order : John Chandler, Edward Hart- well, Thomas Steel, and Timothy Ruggles, the latter from Hardwick. Upon the decease of Chief Justice Chandler in 1762, the court was constituted as follows: Timothy Ruggles of Hardwick, Thomas Steel of Leicester, Joseph Wilder of Lancaster, and Artemas Ward of Shrewsbury. These con- stituted the court until June 5, 1774, when the controversy with the mother country put a stop to the exercise of all judicial powers held under the king of England, and the whole province remained in this situation until Oct. 17, 1775, when under the authority of the executive council of the Provincial Legislature, the court was constituted as follows, three of the four members of the previous court siding with the mother country : Maj. Gen. Artemas Ward of Shrewsbury, chief jus- tice ; Jededialı Foster of Brookfield, Moses Gill of Princeton,
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.