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 34
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Dea. Daniel Goddard came to Worcester from Shrewsbury in April, 1817, and opened a jewelry store, which he kept for nearly fifty years, most of the time in company successively with his father, (Elder Luther Goddard,) his brother Perley, and his son Luther D. His brother Perley came here in 1825, and Perley and Daniel Goddard built one half of " Goddard's Row" in 1823, and the other half in 1828, on the east side of Main street between Thomas and School streets, it being the first brick block for stores erected in Worcester, and in front of it was laid the first brick sidewalk in Worcester in 1828. Among the first apprentices of Dea. Daniel Goddard was the late Dea. Benjamin Goddard, jeweller, whose grandfather, Dea. Benjamin Goddard of Shrewsbury, was cousin of Dea. Daniel Goddard's grandfather, Daniel, both the present Dea. Daniel and the late Dea. Benjamin of Worcester being great-great- grandsons of the Edward Goddard, first, above mentioned, who married Susanna Stone of Framingham, and died in 1754. Lydia Goddard, born in 1791, (daughter of the Dea. Benjamin Goddard of Shrewsbury above mentioned, who died in 1834, aged 92,) was wife of the late Levi Howe, the well known blacksmith, formerly of Worcester, whose daughter is wife of Dea. S. N. Story of Worcester.
The late Benjamin Goddard, machinist and wire-drawer, of Worcester, father of Henry, Dorrance S., and Delano A. God- dard, was son of Samuel and Catherine Goddard of Royalston, grandson of Benjamin and Mary (Kidder) Goddard of Grafton, great-grandson of Benjamin and Martha (Palfrey) Goddard of
-
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Charlestown, and great-great-grandson of the original William and Elizabeth (Miles) Goddard, above mentioned, so their con- nection with the families previously mentioned, may be easily traced.
Lucius P., Sextus P., Joseph B., Emily L., Lucy L., and Theresa Goddard were children of Rev. Joseph B. and Lucy (Lincoln) Goddard of Petersham. Rev. Charles Grosvenor, settled at Hartland, Conn., Dea. D. B. Goddard and Wm. P. Goddard of Worcester, and J. Henry Goddard of Barre, brothers, are sons of Ashbel and Elizabeth S. (Grosvenor) Goddard of Petersham, grandsons of Joel and Anna God- dard of Petersham, great-grandchildren of Deputy Sheriff Robert and Elizabeth Goddard of Petersham, and great-great- grandchildren of Edward and Hepzibah (Hapgood) Goddard of Shrewsbury, the latter being the great-grandparents of Dea. Daniel Goddard of Worcester.
The original William and Elizabeth (Miles) Goddard's son Joseph, born in London in 1755, who married Deborah Tread- well, had a son Robert, born in Brookline, Mass., in 1694. This Robert settled in that part of old Sutton, now Millbury, and married Mehitable Spring, by whom he had Elisha, Mehit- able, Mary and Robert Spring. This Mehitable Spring, born March 7, 1721, was the wife of Nathaniel Moore, Jr., referred to on page 41, and having no children, they adopted Benjamin Heywood, (afterwards judge, etc., father of the late Dr. Ben- jamin F. Heywood of Worcester, see page 31,) and also adopt- ed Mehitable Goddard, daughter of Mrs. Moore's brother, Elisha Goddard of Sutton. Judge Benjamin Heywood after- wards married this Mehitable Goddard, and resided on the old family estate on Heywood street, east of the residence of the first Jonas Rice. Joseph and Deborah (Treadwell) Goddard's son John, born in Brookline in 1699, married Hannah (Jenni- son ) Stone, had three sons and one daughter, and removed to Worcester in 1745 with his son Samuel, the latter then thirteen years old, and settled on the old Goddard estate just below the Tatman estate on Greenwood street between Quinsigamond Village and Millbury. This Samuel Goddard, who died June 12, 1803, married Abigail King, and had three sons and nine
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daughters, of whom Joseph, born April 3, 1781, married Rebec- ca Newton, and resided on the paternal estate on Greenwood street in Worcester, below Quinsigamond Village. Samuel Goddard's sister Hannah, born July 28, 1736, who came to Worcester with her brother in 1745, married Abel Heywood, (see page 30,) and had Abel, Jr., Daniel and Hannah Hey- wood. After Abel, senior's death, his widow Hannah married Asa Ward, and had Asa, Artemas, (register of deeds,) and Olivia Ward.
THE TUCKER FAMILY.
Robert Tucker, who came from the west of England, about 1635, and settled in Milton, where his residence (in which he died in 1682, aged 80,) is still standing, had a son Benjamin, who had a son Ebenezer, and the latter had a son Jedediah, who settled in Shrewsbury about 1755 with his wife Joanna, and several children, of whom Daniel married March 11, 1777, Rachel, daughter of Samuel Noyes of Shrewsbury, and had Capt. Erastus Tucker, now of Worcester, born Oct. 13, 1793, who married in 1819 Mary, daughter of Nathaniel Gates of Worcester, and sister of Levi Gates. Capt. Tucker, originally a carpenter by trade, first came to Worcester from Shrewsbury in 1813, and worked on the first Baptist meeting-house, and the Baptist parsonage, then being erected, (see page 156.) Capt. Tucker, still hale and active in his 84th year, has a broth- er, Eddy Tucker, born Sept. 27, 1787, now nearly 90, residing on the old Noyes homestead in Shrewsbury.
Capt. Erastus Tucker has two sons: Erastus N., now of Chicago, who succeeded Clarendon Harris as bookseller in Worcester ; and Nathaniel G., plumber, of Worcester, whose wife is daughter of the late William D. Fenno, jeweller, and great-great-granddaugther of Capt. Thomas Stearns, who kept the old " King's Arms" tavern, (see page 58.)
Joseph Tucker, born in Milton in 1786, son of the above named Benjamin, (and grandson of the original Robert,) set- tled in Pomfret, Conn., and had a son Joseph, Jr., who died at the siege of Louisburg, June 13, 1745. The latter was father of Ephraim Tucker, born in Pomfret, May 1, 1745, and the
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latter was father of Calvin Tucker, born March 15, 1780, who removed from Pomfret, Conn., to that part of Oxford, now Webster, where his son, Ephraim Tucker, for many years past of Worcester, was born in 1821. The latter, who married Laurette Culver of Lyme, N. H., has four children : Ephraim, Jr., born in 1852; Elmer G., in 1854 ; Albert L., in 1861 ; and Nellie Maria, in 1866.
Benjamin Tucker, who died in Worcester in 1806, aged 73, (father of Enos Tucker, they being among the original mem- bers of the First Baptist Church, sce pages 155 and 209,) was son of Benjamin and Mary Tucker, among the earliest settlers in Leicester. They were undoubtedly descendants of the Robert Tucker above mentioned, though the connection has not been traced.
THE EATON FAMILY.
Thomas Eaton, born May 25, 1739, who came to Worcester from Sudbury, and married Susan, daughter of Adonijah Rice, (see page 41,) settled first in Holden, and then in the north part of Worcester, on Burncoat street, on the Kingsbury farm, just above the Walter Bigelow farm, and afterwards on Holden street, on the Wheeler farm, near the north end of North Pond. He died Aug. 25, 1783, and his wife died Oct. 25, 1773. They had six sons and two daughters, all born in Wor- cester, as follows : 1st, Alpheus, born Oct. 10, 1764, shoe- maker, resided on the southwest corner of Main and Austin streets, (see page 261,) father of Alpheus Eaton, Jr., and of Capt. Thomas B. Eaton, town sexton ; 2d, Wm. Eaton, county commissioner, senator, etc., born Sept. 10, 1766, (see page 258) married first Anna Gates, daughter of Capt. Wm. Gates, and married second Hannah Chadwick, daughter of David Chad- wick, Wm. Eaton, 3d, son of Wm. Eaton, Jr., now residing on the old homestead of his great-grandfather Gates on the corner of Plantation street and the Bloomingdale road, while the first William Eaton's daughter Sally occupies her father's old home- stead on Main street, (see page 285) ; 3d, Sally, born Jan. 1, 1769 ; 4th, Polly, born May 28, 1771; 5th, Amherst, born April 10, 1773, married first a Wise, and second a Mann of Hardwick, resided awhile on Mechanic street, and then went to
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Boston, where he kept the famous " Concert Hall Coffee House" on the corner of Court and Hanover streets many years, after- wards kept by Peter B. Brigham, his son Amherst Eaton, Jr., residing on his father's estate in Worcester on Mechanic street ; 6th, Thomas Eaton, Jr., born Oct. 21, 1776, went west ; 7th, Russell Eaton, born March 1, 1779, lived in Holden ; 8th, Nathaniel, hotel-keeper, &c., (see page 50,) born Dec. 21, 1781, married Mary, daughter of Capt. Simeon Duncan, they being parents of Mrs. Albert Brown, Mrs. Benjamin Walker, Mrs. Augustus Tucker, and of Frederick, Francis W., Charles, James, and Nathaniel Eaton, Jr., the wife of the latter being a daughter of John Foxcroft.
There was a Jonas Eaton, (probably of the same family with the above a few generations back,) who came from South Read- ing, and settled on Pakachoag hill in Auburn about 1785, on the estate now owned and occupied by his grandsons, Thomas S. and Joseph P. Eaton. The estate previously belonged to Thomas Nichols, one of the early settlers there, it being south of the original Gershom Rice place. The original house stood on the east side of the road, the main part of that in which Thomas S. Eaton now lives being built by his grandfather soon after he came here. Jonas Eaton had two sons, William and Thomas, of whom William remained on the old homestead, and Thomas built the house in which his son Joseph P. Eaton now lives. Another son of Thomas, Daniel T. Eaton, lives in Auburn Centre.
A. M. Eaton, grocer, of Worcester, is son of Marson Eaton, who came to Worcester in 1835, the latter being son of Marson Eaton of Pelham. The father of the latter came from Lanca- shire, England.
How near any of the above families may be traced to the Joshua and Samuel Eaton here in 1742, remains to be seen.
THE HARRINGTON FAMILY.
Robert Harrington of Watertown, (selectman fifteen years,) who died there, May 17, 1707, married Susanna George, and had thirteen children, of whom Edward, born March 2, 1669, was married and had nine children, born in Watertown, 46
.
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the youngest son of the latter being Francis Harrington, born June 11, 1709, and died July 18, 1793, who married Nov. 16, 1736, Prudence Stearns, and removed to Grafton, and after- wards to Worcester, being here as early as 1740. He settled on the old Harrington homestead on what is now called " Har- ington Court," near the corner of Plantation street and the Bloomingdale road. He was father of Nathaniel Harrington, the latter being father of the late Francis Harrington, who was father of the present Francis Harrington. Nathaniel had also a son Jonathan, and the latter a son Benjamin ; the pres- ent Benjamin F. and H. A. Harrington being sons of Benjamin.
THE STOWELL FAMILY.
In addition to what is stated on page 53 of the descendants of Cornelius Stowell, his daughter Mary married John Adams of Boston ; and his granddaughter Eliza, daughter of Peter Stowell, married Thomas Howe, of Worcester, father of George S. and Albert J. Howe, wholesale druggists. The latter's sis- ter Eliza married Wm. A. Smith, and their sister Mary married Wm. A. Noyes, of the former firm of Noyes & Long of Worces- ter.
OTHER FAMILIES.
James Trowbridge, born in 1717, (son of Dea. William and Saralı Ward Trowbridge of Newton,) married in 1740 Jerusha Park, and settled in Worcester in what is now Trowbridgeville, where his son, Dea. William Trowbridge, grandfather of Wm. T., Francis T., and Alpheus M. Merrifield, (see page 43,) after- wards lived. This James was cousin of Judge Edmund Trow- bridge, James and Edmund being grandsons of Dea. James Trowbridge born in Dorchester in 1736, and great-grandsons of the original Thomas Trowbridge from Taunton, Somerset- shire, England, in 1734, ancestor of all of that name in this country.
Timothy Merrifield, who married a cousin of Commodore O. H. Perry, came from Sherborn to Worcester about 1780, and resided in the last house towards West Boylston on the old Holden and Shrewsbury turnpike. He died in 1806. He was
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father of the late Dea. Alpheus Merrifield, who married Mary, daughter of Dea. Wm. Trowbridge, (see page 43,) and was father of William T:, Alpheus M., and Francis T. Merrifield of Worcester.
Cornelius Waldo, (grandfather of the last Daniel Waldo,) was one of the most extensive land owners in Worcester for several years after the first organization of the town. He had a store here as late as 1740. He had three sons, John, Samuel and Joseph, extensive landed proprietors previous to the revolution, but they do not appear to have resided here long. Another brother of the latter, the first Daniel Waldo, who came here in 1782, invested but little in real estate, though he was one of the two wealthiest citizens of his time in the town, his tax amounting in 1789 to nearly twenty pounds sterling, and that of the elder Stephen Salisbury to nearly eighteen pounds ; the next highest taxes at that being those of the elder Levi Lin- coln, a little over seven pounds ; Nathan Patch, a little over six and a half pounds ; John Nazro, a little over six and a quar- ter pounds ; Isaiah Thomas, a little over five and a half pounds ; Clark Chandler, five and one-third pounds ; and Charles and Samuel Chandler together, five and one-half pounds. Martha Salisbury, (a sister of the elder Stephen,) was taxed four and a quarter pounds ; and Daniel Waldo, Jr., a little over three and a half pounds. The total tax of the town was then about four hundred pounds sterling, there being about four hundred resident tax payers.
Gov. John Hancock, who succeeded to the possession of vast landed estates in the northern section of the town from his fa- ther, Thomas Hancock, who died in 1764, continued to hold a large portion of them until his own decease in 1793. As late as 1800, his heirs were taxed for 143 acres, a mile or two north of Lincoln Square. When the elder Stephen Salisbury came here in 1767, he purchased of Gov. Hancock the main portion of his farm, northwest of Lincoln Square, now in possession of his son. A portion of the Salisbury estate, just north of Lincoln Square, was purchased of Joseph Waldo, and some of that west of Lincoln Square previously belonged to Luke
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Brown and Isaiah Thomas. Judge William Jennison, who came here as early as 1725, originally owned nearly a thousand acres west and east of Lincoln Squre, (see page 56.)
The late Gen. George H. Ward, who died in the service of his country in the late war of the rebellion, in which he achieved a noble record, losing a leg at Ball's Bluff, and his life at Gettys- burg, was son of Col. Artemas Ward, 2d, and great-great- grandson of Major Daniel Ward, (alluded to on pages 21 and 31,) the latter being son of the original settler, Obadiah Ward, whose brother William Ward was grandfather of Maj. Gen. Artemas Ward of revolutionary fame. This ancestor Obadiah Ward was son of William and Hannah Ward of Marlboro', and grandson of the original William and Elizabeth Ward, who came from England, and settled in Sudbury in 1674. The late Gen. George H. Ward, who married Emily E., daughter of Dea. Wm. Mayo, left two sons, George W. and Robert L. Ward. His brother, Henry C. Ward, was with him in the ser- vice, as lieutenant, and now holds a captain's commission in the United States army.
Col. Ebenezer Lovell, of revolutionary fame, who came to Worcester before 1775, settled on the estate on May and Lovell streets, afterwards owned and occupied successively by Enoch P. Rice and James R. Pierce. His farm comprised some two hundred acres of land on both sides of Mill Brook. His daugh- ter Nancy was the first wife of the late Capt. Ephraim Mower. Another daughter was wife of Capt. Lewis Barnard, they being parents of the present Lewis Barnard, and of the late Gen. Ebenezer L. and Capt. John Barnard. The connection of Col. Lovell with the Lovell family alluded to elsewhere, has not been traced.
Capt. Thomas Cowdin, (whose daughter was wife of Dr. Thaddeus Maccarty,) came here about 1741, after having learn- ed the blacksmith's trade in Marlboro', and had a black- smith shop in the rear of Main street, between School and Thomas streets, it being the same shop afterwards owned and occupied by David Curtis, grandfather of George William Cur- tis, Capt. Cowdin having removed to Fitchburg.
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Reminiscences of Worcester.
James Barber, father and son, resided on the estate on Brooks street, near the corner of Burncoat street, afterwards owned and occupied by Isaac Iamb. The first James Barber, who was son of the original Robert Barber, was father of the second Dr. John Green's wife. Joseph Barber, brother of the first James, resided on the original Barber homestead in North- ville, now owned and occupied by his grandson, William T. Barber.
Gen. William Greenleaf, from Lancaster, sheriff of the coun- ty from 1778 to 1788, married Sally Quincy, cousin of Josiah Quincy, and sister of Mrs. Gov. John Hancock. Their son Daniel Greenleaf, born Oct. 9, 1778, married Mary, daughter of Dea. John Chamberlain of Worcester, and had William, John C., and Dolly Ann Greenleaf, the latter now the widow of James H. Jerauld.
Jeffrey Hemenway, son of Ebenezer and Hepzibah (Cross- man) Hemenway, who came to Worcester from Framingham in 1778, settled on May street, on the estate he then purchased of Col. Ebenezer Lovell, now owned and occupied by his daugh- ter Hannah Hemenway. The present Ebenezer Hemenway is a son of Jeffrey, who died in 1819, aged 80.
There have been three generations of the name Thomas Drury, Thomas Baird, Jonathan Stone, and Benjamin Wiser, in Auburn, beginning over one hundred years ago, each of the three residing on the same ancestral homestead, respectively, as indicated on the map, on the territory belonging to Worces- ter previous to 1778. The first Thomas Baird was brother of the Daniel Baird, (sometimes spelled Beard,) who first kept the old Baird tavern on the road from Worcester to Grafton. Capt. Simeon Duncan, second one of three generations of that name, lived in Auburn as long ago as 1780 on the place now owned and occupied by Joseph S. Clark. His sons resided elsewhere in Worcester .*
* The Drurys lived on the estate now owned and occupied by Rev. Elnathan Davis ; the Wisers on the estate now owned and occupied by J. F. Beane ; the Stones on the estate now owned and occupied by Emery Stone; and the Bairds on the estate afterwards owned and occupied by Dea. Swan Knowl- ton, now of Worcester.
FRAGMENTARY GATHERINGS.
CHAPTER XXI.
THE OLD WORCESTER FIRE SOCIETY.
The " Worcester Fire Society" was organized Jan. 21, 1793, with the following original twenty-two members :
Joseph Allen, John Nazro, Leonard Worcester, Nathaniel Paine, Samuel Chandler, Ezra Waldo Weld, Dr. John Green, Samuel Braser, Thomas Pay- son, Edward Bangs, Dr. Elijah Dix, William Sever, Theophilus Wheeler, Dr. Oliver Fiske, John Paine, Samuel Allen, Stephen Salisbury, Charles Chandler, John Stanton, Dr. Abraham Lincoln, Daniel Waldo, Jr., and Isaiah Thomas.
April 1, 1793, the following additional members were ad- mitted :
Capt. Samuel Bridge, Maj. Ephraim Mower, Col. Daniel Clapp, and Col. Samuel Flagg.
In subsequent years, new members were admitted as follows :
Thomas Chandler, Gardner L. Chandler, Wm. Caldwell, and Dr. William Paine, in 1794 : and Joseph Allen, Jr., in 1795; Isaiah Thomas, Jr., in 1796 ; George Merriam, and James Wilson, in 1797; and Levi Lincoln, in 1806.
The members added in subsequent years have been from among the leading citizens of the town and city. Hon. Stephen Salisbury, admitted in 1824, is now the oldest living member.
The founders of this organization were induced to their ac- tion, in the words of the preamble to their by-laws, " by a sense of social duty, for the more effectual assistance of each other and of their townsmen, in times of danger from fire."
As an index of the quality of the members of this organiza- tion, it may be stated that ten of its members have been mayors of Worcester, three have been governors of the State, three
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have been speakers of the House of Representatives, five have been judges of the Supreme Judicial Court, five have been judges of the Superior Court or Court of Common Pleas, ten have been members of Congress, one has been a foreign minis- ter, and a large number of them have been councillors, senators and representatives in the General Court. This society was modeled after that organized by Benjamin Franklin in Phila- delphia in 1735, which was in existence when this was formed. The late Gov. Lincoln gave reminiscences of the twenty-two original members in 1862 ; Hon. Isaac Davis gave a written account of the next succeeding fifteen members in 1870; and Hon. Benjamin F. Thomas in 1874 gare a graphic biography of the next fifteen members, beginning with Gov. Lincoln, and ending with Edward D. Bangs. And Col. Davis, a member since 1827, has also added an interesting biographical sketch of the members from Edward D. Bangs, who died in 1838, to the oldest living member.
A similar organization was instituted the year previous (1792) in Boston, called the " Charitable Fire Society of the Common- wealth of Massachusetts," composed entirely of citizens of Bos- ton, the original membership of which comprised the following persons, the first on the list being a brother of Isaiah Thomas of Worcester, and the last a relative, others being also prob- ably relatives of many belonging to the Worcester Society :
* Joshua Thomas, Shubael Bell, * Wm. Allen, Alexander Young, * John Bridge, Oliver P. Holyoke, Abraham Ew ards, Ebenezer Niles, Benjamin E. Haggar, John Staples, John Collar, * Richard Gridley, Jr., Thomas Godfrey, Wm. Woods, Jacob Emmons, Edward Cole, * Wm. Crosby, * Nathaniel Johnson, Joseph Baxter, Benjamin Richardson, David Marston, Samuel Etheridge, * Daniel Weld, Gad Kelley, * Ebenezer Eaton, John Minot, * Wm. B. Eaton, Joseph Dickman, Win. Woart, Mamay Mason, Isaac Carnean, Ephraim Bell, Peter Cades, John Dodge, D. Frederick Enslin, Charles Clement, John Jatan, John H. Meckell, * Thomas K. Thomas.
*Probably relations of Worcester families.
Before the organization of the fire department here in 1835, the Worcester Fire Society was relied upon as the only organ- ized instrumentality for aid in the extinguishment of fires. Its members were supplied with buckets which were placed at their respective dwellings and places of businesss, so as to be reached on the earliest alarm being given. The old organiz- ation is still kept up, its members, comprising the descendants
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of the solid men of the town, meeting four times a year for festival and social purposes.
The immediate cause of the formation of this society is sug- gested to have been the destruction by fire of the weavers shop of Cornelius & Peter Stowell, on the corner of Park and Orange streets, Jan. 4, 1793, and it is also probable that the fact that the dwelling-house of one of the original members, Col. Samuel Flagg, on the corner of Main and Park streets, was burned Jan. 26, 1786, when there was no fire engine in the town, called the attention of the citizens to the need of some public efforts for protection against the devouring ele- ment, as the town records show that in March, 1786, a commit- tee was appointed to " take the request of Capt. [afterwards Col. ] Samuel Flagg and others mentioned in the tenth article in regard to the town granting a sum of money to purchase a fire engine, and make a report at the adjournment of this meet- ing what the cost of one would be." This committee consisted of Dr. Elijah Dix, Daniel Waldo, Jr., Col. Samuel Flagg, and Hon. Benjamin Heywood, all but one of whom were original members of the society. Although a favorable report was made by this committee, the town voted that it was inexpedient to pur- chase an engine. However, in 1790, Dr. Elijah Dix, Col. Sam- uel Flagg, Stephen Salisbury and Capt. John Stanton, members of the Fire Society, were appointed by the town fire wardens. January 14, 1793, a few days after the Stowell fire, the first appropriation was made by the town for the purchase of a fire engine, although there had previously been one for a short time owned by private individuals, called the " Proprietors' engine." At a town meeting in November, 1793, it was voted to pay for the engine which had been purchased by a committee consist- ing of Col. Flagg, Dr. Dix and Judge Nathaniel Paine, original members of the Fire Society. The first ladders in the town were also owned by this society, six of which were purchased by authority of a vote passed at its first meeting, and at the April meeting in 1793, the places where the ladders were put, were assigned, as follows : One short one on Judge Nathaniel Paine's garden fence, on Pleasant street, near where the Bap- tist Church now is ; one long one on the Court House ; one short one on the fence near the engine house, on land given
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