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 5
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
48
Reminiscences of Worcester.
penter in Worcester in 1723. The Joshua Bigelow, who was a prominent man in Worcester during the Revolution, as select- man, representative, delegate to Provincial Assemblies, &c., and John Bigelow, who was an innholder of Worcester for several years previous to 1740, and foreman of the Grand Jury in 1749, were probably sons of the first Joshua Bigelow ; and the late Hon. Abijah Bigelow, (son of Elisha Bigelow of Westminster,) who came here from Leominster in 1817, was undoubtedly of this branch of the family.
There was a Thaddeus Bigelow, born in Worcester about 1726, who is claimed by his descendants to have been a son of the original Daniel. He removed from Worcester to Rutland April 6, 1798, and died there Jan. 1, 1810, aged about 84. He married Rebecca Warren of Worcester, and had three children, Joseph, John and Lydia, of whom Joseph was the father of Hon. J. Warren Bigelow of Rutland. John married a Miss Howard and removed to Livermore, Me., where he has descend- ants. Joseph Bigelow, born in 1770, married Annis Pike of Worcester for his first wife, and Bathsheba Reed of Rutland for his second wife, and died in Rutland in 1854, aged 84. Jo- seph had ten children, of whom Levi, born in 1795, married Tabitha Maynard, and died in Rutland in 1863 ; Rufus, born in 1797, married Sarah Hill, aud resided in Boston ; Sally, born in 1799, married Rufus Buxton ; Betsy R., born in 1806, married Nathaniel Taylor ; John Warren, born in 1808, mar- ried Sarah Temple, and resides in Rutland, having been for many years past County Commissioner, and occupied other prominent positions ; Mary Ann, born'in 1812, married Calvin Stone.
THE GOULDING FAMILY.
Capt. Palmer Goulding came here from Boston, about 1718, and settled in the north precinct, afterwards Holden, where he died Feb. 11, 1770, aged 75, and was buried on the old Wor- cester Common burial ground. He was prominently engaged in the French and Indian Wars, and commanded a company at the reduction of Louisburg, June 17, 1745. Among their children were : 1st, Palmer, Jr., born about 1723, also captain, and father of Daniel Goulding ; 2d, Ignatius, who married
49
Reminiscences of Worcester.
Elizabeth, daughter of Zebadiah Rice, (son of James Rice ;) 3d, Peter, father of Clark Goulding, among the children of the latter, who resided near Tatnuck, being Henry, Eli, Peter, and Frederick Goulding of Worcester, the four last named being born between 1800 and 1823 ; 4th, Abel Goulding, born in 1738, who married Keziah Johnson of Southborough, resided on Millstone Hill in Worcester, and died in Shrewsbury in 1817. Among the children of the latter, is the venerable John Gould- ing, mechanical inventor, of this city, now in his 87th year, whose sister Martha married William Rice, brother of the wife of Clark Goulding above mentioned. John Goulding's sis- ter Lucy, married John Miller, father of Henry W. Miller. William Rice's cousin, Esther Rice, daughter of Lemuel Rice, keeper of the old stone jail and jail tavern at Lincoln Square, from 1790 to 1798, married in 1783, the celebrated Benjamin Russell afterwards of the Boston "Columbian Centi- nel," who previous to 1783 worked as a printer for Isaiah Thomas in Worcester, in the office of the Massachusetts Spy, where he learned his trade.
Clark Goulding, (mentioned above,) married Prudence, daughter of Luke Rice of Shrewsbury, and of their daughters, Abigail, born in 1799, married Elisha Chaffin ; Harriet, born 1801, married Ebenezer Dana; Lucy, born in 1807,. married Jason Chapin ; and Fanny, born in 1816, married Gardner Childs ; all residents of Worcester.
Capt. Palmer Goulding, Jr., who married Abigail, daughter of Dea. Daniel Heywood, resided east of the Common, on Front street, between Salem Square and Trumbull street. He built for his son Daniel, nearly one hundred years ago, the old Bigelow mansion on the opposite side of the street, but pecuni- ary embarrassments obliged the son to lose possession of it, and it was afterwards owned and occupied, among others, by George Merriam, father of George and Charles Merriam of Spring- field, who had a bookstore in Worcester for many years in the old " Compound," so called. The late Hon. Abijah Bigelow, formerly member of Congress, and for a long time Clerk of the Courts for this County, purchased the estate in 1817, and re- sided there until his death in 1860, aged 85 ; and his family 7
50
Reminiscences of Worcester.
lived there for many years afterwards, the old house being now occupied as a free dispensary by the city.
After Capt. Goulding's death in 1792, his son Daniel occu- pied the father's homestead until it was converted into a hotel about 1820, by Nathaniel Eaton, who kept it until his death in 1833, after which time the hotel there was continued by Aaron Howe, John Bradley, and Hiram Billings. The old building was removed previous to the erection of the Salem st. Church in 1848, and the old structure, built probably nearly a century and a half ago, now stands in a remarkably good state of pres- ervation on the westerly side of Tremont street.
The first Palmer Goulding, (who married Abigail, daughter of Timothy Rice, at Concord. in 1722,) was son of Peter Gould- ing, one of the proprietors of Worcester at the second attempt at settlement in 1684. After the dispersion here by the Indians, he resided at Sudbury, where he died in 1703. His estate, con- sisting of lands at Worcester and Hassanamisco, (Grafton,) and the usual personal property of a farmer at Sudbury, was appraised at £255, 17s. He seems to have been only a so- journer at Sudbury, waiting an opportunity to re-occupy in safety his land at Worcester, in the meantime following his business of farmer and shoemaker, when death arrived ten years before the beginning of the permanent settlement of Worcester. Peter Goulding married for his second wife, Sarah Palmer, sister of Thomas Palmer, who figured so largely as proprietor of lands, with Cornelius Waldo and others, in the early history of this town. By her he had twelve of his fifteen children, of whom the fifth, Elizabeth, born in 1673, married Judge William Jennison. The ninth, John, born in 1682, mar- ried Abigail Curtis, daughter of Joseph Curtis of Watertown and Sudbury, her father being the brother of the valiant and intrepid Ephraim Curtis, the first white settler in Worcester in 1673. John was a captain, a man of great size and almost superhuman strength, and died at Holliston in 1750. Another brother, Peter, was a blacksmith, and settled in Worcester in 1718, on a fifty acre lot on Plantation street near Bloomingdale road, which he occupied three years, and then removed to South Carolina. The youngest of these fifteen children was
51
Reminiscences of Worcester.
the first Capt. Palmer Goulding above mentioned, who was named for his uncle, Thomas Palmer. He was a "cordwain- er," came to Worcester just previous to the first organization of the town, and before settling in the north precinct, where he passed the latter portion of his days, built the house east of the Common where his son Palmer, Jr., and grandson Daniel, af- terwards lived. They all successively carried on the business of tanning, shoemaking, making malt, curing hams, &c., on an extended scale for those days. Their place of business was in front of their dwelling, occupying grounds between what are now Front, Mechanic, Church and Spring streets,* Daniel being also a manufacturer of earthen ware. In their dwelling, Rich- ard Rogers in 1732 was employed by the town to keep school. Tradition represents the earlier Gouldings to have been of ex- treme size, very ingenious, and " capable of doing anything."
As soon as the earliest settlers had completed their meeting- house, the first one standing on the site of the present Old South Church, Capt. Palmer Goulding, senior, was placed on a committee to seat the meeting, and was included with Adam Winthrop, Thomas Palmer, and thirteen others of the aristoc- racy to whom pews were allowed. He was repeatedly chosen to various town offices. Succeeding to the large estates of his father Peter here, he, as well as his son and grandson, were extensive landed proprietors, the two Palmers owning at one time immese tracts of land extending nearly all the way from Worcester Common and Pine Meadow to old Sutton line.
Capt. Palmer Goulding, Jr., had eight children, born between 1751 and 178), most of whom died young. Daniel, the oldest, was born Sept. 20, 1752, and died Jan. 12, 1834, aged 81. Among other positions he held was that of Selectman four years, and Town Clerk twelve years, between 1781 and 1798. He commanded a troop of cavalry under Gen. Lincoln, to put down the Shays Rebellion, in January, 1787.
* Previous to 1786, these works may have been located in the rear of the residence of the Gouldings, as the ministerial land originally included the spot alluded to in the text. In 1786, thirteen acres of this ministerial land, including all the territory north of Front street and west of Mill Brook, nearly as far as what are now Carlton, Norwich, Waldo and Exchange streets, was sold by the town the Gouldings being the heaviest purchas- ers.
52
Reminiscences of Worcester.
Ignatius Goulding, (brother of Capt. Palmer, Jr .. ) was a carpenter by trade, built the first Unitarian meeting-house* here in 1791, and died in Phillipston in 1814, aged 80. Of his four sons and five daughters, Patty, born in 1761, married Jonathan Moore of Holden ; William, born in 1768, married Lucretia, daughter of Dea. David Bigelow of Worcester, and was father of the late Charles Goulding; Lucretia, born in 1772, married William Dodge of Holden ; Col. Ignatius, Jr., born in 1774, married Abigail, daughter of Col. Samuel Damon of Holden, and was very prominent in town affairs, represent- ing Phillipston in the General Court, State Convention of 1820, &c.
Peter Goulding, (brother of Palmer, Jr., Ignatius, senior, and Abel,) was a carpenter, and was killed by falling from a building he was framing, July 17, 1790, aged 53. He married Lucy Brewer, and of their four sons and six daughters, Clark, born in 1768, died in 1829 ; Lucy, born in 1770, married Na- than Gates ; Patty, born in 1772, married Clark Johnson ; Lucinda, born in 1774, married Timothy Johnson ; Sally, born in 1780, married Reuben Scott : Zurilla, born in 1781, married a Mr. Coleman ; Levi, born in 1787. married Sally Harrington, and removed to New Orleans.
Col. John Goulding, tanner, born in 1726, who married Lucy Brooks of Concord and settled in the northeast part of Graf- ton, where he died in 1791, was another son of the senior Capt. Palmer Goulding. Col. John's son, John, Jr., born in 1760, married Ruth Chamberlain ; and his daughter, Molly, born in 1762, married Aaron Kimball.
The present John Goulding, born in 1791, a nephew of Capt. Palmer, Jr., is deserving of mention as a man of remarkable genius for mechanical invention. His patents date baek as far as 1826, and he is still getting up new and important ones at his advanced age, being yet vigorous as a man twenty years his junior. He is the inventor of power machinery for working all kinds of fabrics, particularly woolen goods, and the appli- cation of his inventions has entirely changed the method of making woolen goods, and enabled the manufacturers of this
*Now the Summer St. School House.
53
Reminiscences of Worcester.
country to sustain themselves and compete with the old world. In 1862 he had an immense law suit with certain heavy manu- facturers who infringed his patents, got his case, and realized $75,000 by a sale he was obliged to make. Since that time, parties using his patent have realised nearly a million dollars therefrom, while he is left in very moderate circumstances as compared with his deserts. Mr. Goulding is now engaged on an important invention for the manufacture of cotton goods.
THE STOWELL FAMILY.
Cornelius Stowell, who came here soon after the town was organized, married Sevilla, sister of the second Capt. Palmer Goulding, and located near him, on the west corner of Park and Orange streets, residing on the very spot still occupied by his granddaughters. Cornelius Stowell was a clothier by trade, and started more than a century ago that business in Worcester, in all its branches, his shop being on the opposite corner of Orange street, in the building afterwards owned and occupied as a dwelling by the late Willard Brown, now stand- ing on the west side of Washington street, to which place it was removed when Mr. Brown erected his new dwelling upon its site, now occupied by his son. Cornelius Stowell afterwards took his sons, Peter and Ebenezer, into partnership with him, about 1790, when they began the business of manufacturing woolen goods, and printing calicos, making a specialty of weav- ing carpets, dyeing and dressing woolen goods at the same time. They had two fulling mills, and dyed fine scarlet and deep blue colors in the best manner. They also built shearing machines. At one time they had six looms of their own inven- tion and construction in operation. The quality of their work may be judged by the fact that they made the first carpets used in the present State House in Boston. Peter's brother, Abel, the old clockmaker of the last century, who made the present clocks in the Old South Church tower and in the old Worces- ter Bank, had his residence and shop on the west corner of Park and Salem streets. Peter and Abel Stowell married sis- ters, daughters of Capt. Israel Jennison, and the latter's son Wil- liam married a daughter of Cornelius Stowell. The house occu-
54
Reminiscences of Worcester.
pied by Abel Stowell was afterwards owned and occupied by the late William Harrington as a hotel from about 1820 to 1836 when Mr. Harrington, who married a daughter of Peter Stowell, built his new residence on Portland street, where he afterwards resided. The hotel occupied by Mr. Harrington was continued a short time by N. R. Tilton and others, and then occupied as a dwelling, other structures having long since occupied its site.
Cornelius Stowell was born in Watertown Sept. 13, 1724, being the youngest son of Samuel Stowell, clothier, who mar- ried in Watertown, in 1714, Sarah -, had three sons and six daughters, and died March 12, 1748, in that part of Water- town now Waltham. Cornelius, who came to Worcester sev- eral years previous, was married here March 22, 1749, at the age of 25. He died here Jan. 3, 1804, aged 79, and his wid- ow Sevilla June 7, 1812, aged 82. They had six sons and five daughters, born between 1751 and 1774, of whom Peter, who married Betsey, daughter of Capt. Israel Jennison, died July 10, 1810, aged 48 ; and Abel, who married Relief, sister of his brother's wife, died Aug. 3, 1818, aged 66. Ebenezer, born in 1768, after being in company in business here for several years with his father and brother Peter, removed to Sheldon, Vt., where he died Jan. 14, 1849, aged 81, having never married. Another brother, Thomas, born in 1756, who married Anna Stone from Newton, resided on the old Stowell homestead at Northville, which has since been in possession of the family for three generations, now owned and occupied by his grand- son Frederick T. Stowell. Thomas, who had three sons, Thom- as, Samuel, and William, died in 1799, aged 43.
Samuel Stowell, who succeeded to the old homestead of his father in Northville, now owned and occupied by his son, Fred- erick T., died Feb. 20, 1849, aged 79. His wife was a sister of the late Henry Heywood, and the latter married a sister of Samuel Stowell. Frederick's brother, Francis P. Stowell, who married a daughter of the late Willard Brown, resides on the corner of Salisbury and Forest streets, on what used to be the Willard Moore place, and site of the old " Cow Tavern."
Thomas Stowell, Jr., was a clothier, continuing the business of his father for a while at Northville, after which he carried
55
Reminiscences of Worcester.
on the same business for a short time at South Worcester, sold out about 1818 to John Hubbard and others, and went to Bur- lington, Vt., where he afterwards resided and died about fif- teen years ago. His brother William, who married a daughter of Jacob Chamberlain of Millbury, started over sixty years ago the business of building carding machines, in a building still standing on the south side of Lincoln street between the Curtis farm and the French Catholic Cemetery. He afterwards removed his business to South Worcester, in the old fulling mill previously occupied by his brother, where he was engaged with Joshua Hale and others. He removed his machinery thence to New Worcester, on the site afterwards occupied L. & A. G. Coes. After carrying on the machinery business at the latter place for a while, Willliam Stowell sold out nearly fifty years ago to William M. Bickford and others, who removed the business to School street. Mr. Stowell afterwards turned his attention to removing buildings, and resided on the southwest corner of Main and Austin streets, where he died, Aug. 7, 1853, aged 63.
There was also a Benjamin Stowell, (son of John Stowell,) who came to Worcester several years after Cornelius, and one or two generations back may have been of the same family, from Watertown. Benjamin married here, Oct. 23, 1755, Elizabeth Parker, daughter of Moses Parker of Framingham, and located on Granite street, residing until his death, Aug. 6, 1803, on the estate afterwards owned and occupied by his son, Dea. Nathaniel Stowell, now in possession of his grandson, Benjamin F. Stowell.
The first Benjamin Stowell, whose wife Elizabeth died March 26, 1821, had six sons and two daughters, born between 1756 and 1776, of whom the three oldest sons, William, Daniel, and Elias, resided in Paris, Me., on farms given them by their . father, from the extensive grants of land given to him by the government for services rendered in the revolutionary war. William died in 1829, Daniel in 1828, and Elias in 1839. Elias married a sister of the late Capt. Lewis Barnard.
Of the three other sons of this Benjamin Stowell, the oldest was the late Dea. Nathaniel Stowell, who died April 27, 1860. at the great age of 90. He had been deacon of the First
56
Reminiscences of Worcester.
Baptist Church thirty-eight years, being chosen to that posi- tion in 1822 at the same time with our venerable fellow-citizen, Dea. Daniel Goddard. Besides filling other prominent posi- tions, Dea. Stowell was six years a member of the board of Selectmen from 1816 to 1821, and representative to the Gener- al Court in 1830, with Capt. Lewis Bigelow, and Otis Corbett. He married in 1792 Katy Bixby, their children being : Leonard W. Stowell, who married a sister of Dea. Daniel Goddard ; Sophia, who married Capt. Lewis Bigelow ; Almira, who mar- Capt. Zenas Studley ; and Amelia, who married James S. Woodworth. By his second wife, Lucretia Willard, Dea. Stow- ell had two sons, David D. and Benjamin F. Stowell. David D., who resided upon a portion of the ancestral estate with his brother, Benjamin F., died several years ago. Maria, daughter of Capt. Lewis and Sophia Bigelow, is wife of Mason H. Morse. Dea Stowell's brother David, born in 1773, married a daughter of the late Aaron Flagg, and went west, where he died in 1802. His youngest brother, Benjamin, was a graduate of Williams College and practised law in Natchez, Mississippi, where he died unmarried, leaving his property to his brother Nathaniel.
There was also a Hezekiah Stowell, who married in Worces- ter Nov. 24, 1758, Persis Rice, (daughter of Adonijah Rice, the first white person born in Worcester,) but he did not prob- ably remain here long.
THE JENNISON FAMILY.
William Jennison, one of the Judges of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the Peace from the first organization of the County in 1731 to his death in 1744, was one of the early settlers of Worcester, and a town officer for many years from 1726. He came here from Watertown with his brother Samuel, (who was great-great-grandfather of the late Samuel and William Jennison of Worcester,) and pur- chased an extensive tract of many hundred acres of land on both sides of the country road in the vicinity of Lincoln Square, including all Court Hill and much farther west and both sides of Belmont street. He gave the land on which the first Court House was built in 1732. The old mansion in which he lived,
57
Reminiscences of Worcester.
afterwards the residence of Dr. Oliver Fiske, (uncle of the late Samuel and William Jennison,) stood a few feet northwest of the present residence of Harrison Bliss, from which spot it was removed in 1846 when State street was opened. This an- cient architectural relic of 150 years ago, possesses additional distinction from a portion of it having been used as the first county jail, the first prison for malefactors being in its rear part, where, with the consent of the owner, a " cage," so called, for prisoners, was constructed in 1731, and used for that pur- pose until the following year, when the "cage " was removed to a chamber in the tavern-house of Dea. Daniel Heywood, corner of Main and Exchange streets, another old landmark of the past, before referred to, now occupied as a dwelling on Salem street. In this building the " cage " remained until the first jail was built on Lincoln street, in 1733, about opposite the old gas house.
Judge Jennison married Elizabeth Goulding, sister of Capt. Palmer Goulding, senior, and had one son and five daughters. His son was Rev. Samuel Jennison, born in 1701, who preached as a candidate in Rutland in 1721, and died unmarried in 1729. His daughter, Lydia, born in 1706, married Luke Brown from Sudbury, who began, about 1745, keeping the old tavern on the west side of Lincoln street, afterwards known as the " Hancock Arms," which was continued in the family for three genera- tions. The first Luke died of small pox in 1772, aged 58 ; his son Luke and grandson Samuel, continued the hotel till near the close of the century, after whom Benjamin Butman, senior, Joel Howe, William Chamberlain, Capt. Simeon Duncan, and others kept it. After being unoccupied for several years, the old structure was burned in 1824. The name formerly given to it was in consequence of its being the headquarters of the patriots during the stormy times just preceding the Revo- lution, before public sentiment had become united here. just as the name of " King's Arms" was given to the hotel kept in another place by a brother-in-law of Luke Brown, because of its being for a time the headquarters of the tories, before the aroused indignation of the people had caused a destruction of the obnoxious sign, and obliged the proprietor to change the 8
58
Reminiscences of Worcester.
name of the hotel. The name latterly given to the old " Han- cock Arms " hotel, was the " Brown & Butman " tavern, from the names of those who longest kept it.
Judge Jennison's daughter, Mary, born in 1708, married in 1729, Capt. Thomas Stearns, son of John Stearns, an original settler here, who was the son of Charles Stearns, an early set- tler of Watertown. Thomas and Mary Stearns had ten chil- dren, of whom one, William Jennison Stearns, owned and occupied the old Rejoice Newton farm one mile out towards Tatnuc, and his daughter, Sarah, married Daniel Fenno, father of the late William D. Fenno. Capt. Thomas Stearns, who appears to have been the first sexton and grave digger in Wor- cester, began about 1735, keeping a public house in an old wooden structure which stood nearly on the site of the present Lincoln House, and subsequently called the "King's Arms." Capt. Stearns died in 1773, and the hotel was continued by the widow until her decease in 1784, when the estate comprising about eighty acres of land, extending west from Main street as far as Sever street, and bounded northerly by land of Enoch and Elisha Flagg and Nathaniel Maccarty, was purchased by William Sever, who came to Worcester about that time from Kingston, and married Mary, daughter of the last Judge Chandler. Mr. Sever died in 1798, and Mrs. Sever in 1821. The late Hon. Levi Lincoln, who married their daughter, Pen- elope Winslow Sever, inherited the estate in right of his wife, and erected a little southeast of the old dwelling, some sixty- five years ago, the main part of the present Lincoln House, which he occupied as his residence until he built on the sum- mit of Elm street, which he then laid out, his last elegant man- sion now owned and occupied by his son, Hon. Daniel Waldo Lincoln.
This William Jennison Stearns, who married a relative of Samuel Adams, afterwards resided upon the estate on " Bige- low Lane," east of Lake Quinsigamond, where the dwelling- house was recently burned. His farm of 240 acres on Pleasant street, including Newton Hill and land on both sides of it, was subsequently owned successively by Hon Levi Lincoln, father and son, and Maj. Rejoice Newton, and is now in possession of
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.