USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Franklin > Resident and business directory of the town of Franklin, Massachusetts 1890 > Part 4
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"3 We doe agre that said land shall be for a mill pond so long as the major part shall se fit. We du all agre that wone shall sell his part of said mill till he has first made a tender to the rest of the owners. We du al so agre that no wone shall sell his in the land til he has tendered it to the rest of the owners.
" Signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of
"' Ezra Pond
" Jonathan Wright his
" Robert Pond
" Daniel Hawes
"John Maccane
" Eleasar Metcalf
Robert X Pond mark
" Samuel Metcalf
On the back is the still further agrement
" To Pay out each man's loot as they are drawn-the first loot is to be gin four foot from the upper sil of the streak sil and so up unto the ind of the sleapers, and to devid it equal into fower loots & from the sleapers towards the road so as not to interrupt the road.
" Robert Pond
" John Maccane
"' Samuel Metcalt
" Daniel Haws
" Eleaser Metcalf
" Daniel Thurston March the 7 1717."
This first saw-mill came into and remained in the hands of the Whitings.
In the paying out of a surveyor's district, May 29, 1736, there is mention of " The Iron Works," said to be located near the foot of Forge Hill "Ben Work's saw-mill " and Adams' corn mill " at City Mills, sites now occupied by other works ; but of other mills or factories no record is preserved until the beginning of the present century.
MINISTERS OF THE FIRST CONGREGATIONAL CHURCL .- Rev. Elam Smalley was settled as the successor, not colleague, of Dr. Emmons, June 17, 1829. He was dismissed July 5, 1839, and installed September 19th, over the Union Church,
40
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN.
Worcester. He remained there until 1853, when he was dismissed to become pastor of the Fourth- Presbyterian Church, Troy, N. Y., but was soon compelled by failing health to give up his work and try a voyage to Europe, seek- ing restoration and strength; but without benefit, for he died soon after his return, in New York City, July 30, 1858, aged fifty-eight. Mr. Smalley was born in Dartmouth, fitted himself for college, and graduated at Brown University, 1827, whence he received D. D. in 1849. He studied the- ology with Rev. Otis Thompson, of Rehoboth. He supported himself while in college mainly by teaching singing-schools, in which he was eminently successful. His only son, George W., is the well-known London correspondent of the New York Tribune.
Rev. Tortius Dunning Southworth was installed the fifth pastor of the church Jan. 23, 1839, and dismissed April 25, 1850. After leaving Franklin he preached statedly in Lyndon, Pownall, and Bennington, Vt., nearly five years, teaching a school at the same time in his house. Thence he went to Pleasant Prairie, Wis., where he preached for ten years, part of the time under commission of the American Home Mission Society, until a rheumatic fever disabled him from further active service. He returned in 1869 to his early home in Bridgewater, N. Y., where he died Aug. 2, 1874. He was buried in a silken surplice given him by the ladies of Franklin thirty years before. Rev. Mr. South- worth was born in Rome, N. Y., July 25, 1801 ; graduated at Hamilton College, 1827; spent one year at Auburn Theological Seminary, N. Y., Oct. 7, 1832; installed at Claremont, N. H., June 18, 1834, remaining there until he came to Franklin in the summer of 1838.
Samuel Hunt was installed Dec. 4, 1850, and dismissed July 6, 1864. He next entered the service of the American Missionary Association in establishing schools among the freedmen in North Carolina. He became associated in 1868, as secretary, with Hon. Henry Wilson, afterwards Vice- President. He aided in preparing Mr. Wilson's work, " The Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America," and edited the last volume after Mr. Wilson's death. Mr. Hunt was born in West Attleborough, March 18, 1810 ; graduated
41
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN.
at Amherst College, 1832; studied theology 1836 to 1838 in Princeton, N. J. ; preached a year in Mansfield, Mass., and was ordained in Natick, July 17, 1839, whence he came to Franklin. He died in Boston, July 23, 1878.
Rev. George A. Pelton was installed for one year, Aug. 9, 1865, but withdrew during the year following for a Western field.
Rev. Luther Keene, the eighth regularly installed pastor of the old church, was installed Oct. 9, 1867, and died sud- denly in the midst of his days April 17, 1874, aged forty- four. His last public service was April 5th. He was born in Milo, Me., Jan.30, 1830 ; graduated at Amherst College 1859, and at Bangor in 1862. He was first settled in North Brookfield, in October, 1862, as pastor of a Union Congre- gational Church. After five years he resigned to come to Franklin. His ministerial labors, though short, left per- manent results. The membership of the church was nearly doubled, and a new meeting-house and a commodious par- sonage near it were built. Rev. Mr. Keene was the first occupant of the parsonage, and dedicated the new church Jan. 4, 1872, preaching from John xii. 5.
After Mr. Keene's death the church remained without a settled pastor, depending on the broken and evanescent im- pressions of transient supplies, until the wiser conclusion of the church led to the installation of the present efficient pas- tor on Dec. 8, 1880.
Rev. Geo. E. Lovejoy, now in office, is a native of Brad- ford, Mass., and was resident licentiate at Andover, 1873. His pastorate previous to Franklin was in Bedford, Mass. Since his ministry here between sixty and seventy have been added to the church, increasing its present membership to two hundred and ninety-two.
The present Congregational Church was built during 1871, as has been mentioned. Its sight was bought, bordering the southeast corner of the Common, and the building committee in charge pushed the work through with business-like energy. They were Messrs. Davis Thayer, Jr., Henry M. Greene, Albert E. Daniels, Osman A. Stanley, Dr. George King, E. H. Sherman, and Frank B. Ray. John Stevens was the architect, and Hanson & Hunnewell the builders. The organ
42
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN.
was built by Stevens, of Cambridge. The dimensions of the main building are 100 by 60 feet; audience-room 60 by 80, and 29 feet high ; chapel attached to the rear, 45 by 55 feet ; two wings 25 by 14 feet; height of steeple 164 feet ; whole cost of the house furnished, $36,000. It has 650 sit- tings in the main audience-room, and 100 in the gallery. The chapel will seat 500, and the dining-room 400.
OTHER CHURCHES AND HOUSES OF WORSHIP .- South Franklin Congregational Church .-- Through the summer of 1855 meetings were held on alternate Sundays in the South Franklin district school-house. A Sunday-school was formed, and a library given by friends. The scattered fam- ilies of that region showed so much interest in meetings near their homes, that a council of churches was called Aug. 20, 1855, at the house of Willard C. Whiting. As a result, September 13th, a church of eighteen members was organ- ized. During the spring following fifteen hundred dollars were secured by subscription for a meeting-house. The corner-stone was laid Sept. 5, 1856, and the house was dedicated July 25, 1857. This church has not yet felt strong enough to enjoy a settled ministry but has been sup- plied by acting pastors to the present date.
GRACE CHURCH, UNIVERSALIST .- On Oct. 4, 1856, a Uni- versalist parish was organized. At first their services were held in the town hall, but under the inspiration of a generous offer from the late Oliver Dean, M. D., it was determined to build a house. This was located close upon Main Street, and was consecrated May 5, 1858. The cost, besides the land, was about seven thousand dollars. The building was used until June, 1874, when it was sold to the Baptist, and removed to School Street. In 1873 the parish built the present " Grace Church " directly in the rear of its first building. This graceful and beautiful house of worship is one of the architectural attractions of Franklin. It cost, with all its appointments, furniture, organ, and steam-heating appratus, fifty-two thousand dollars, of which sum Dr. Dean originally gave two thousand dollars. Rev. A. N. Adams was the first settled pastor. He was installed May 5, 1858, and on the same day in which the first church building was
13
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN.
dedicated, and was dismissed in 1860.
In 1860 a church was organized, also a Sunday-school, and the other auxiliaries which help to sustain vigorous church work. The pastors have been Rev. A. N. Adams, 1858-60; Rev. N. R. Wright, 1861-62; Rev. S. W. Squires, 1862-66 ; Rev. H. D. L. Webster for a few months, succeeded by Rev. Richard Eddy, 1867-69. After being without a pastor for nearly three years, Rev. A. St. John Chambre (D. D. 1878) was installed July 1, 1872. He closed his pastorate in 1880, and was followed by Rev. L. J. Fletcher, D. D. deceased, succeeded by W. C. Selleck the present pastor.
THE BAPTIST CHURCH was organized in 1868 with thirteen members. Its pastors have been Rev. J. W. Holman, M. D. succeeded by Rev. George Ryan in May 1873. In 1876 the church was disbanded. September, 1881, Rev. A. W. Jefferson, from Poultney, Vt., was sent into this field to awaken anew the denominational interest. As a result of his labors the church was reorganized in June, 1882, and now number thirty-five, with a Sunday-school of about sixty-five. This society first held their services in the town hall until a neat chapel was built on East Street during the pastorate of of Rev. Mr. Rounds. In 1874 the society purchased the building in which they now worship of the Universalists, moved it to School Street, and made some alterations.
CATHOLIC CHURCH .- In 1851 the Catholics were given the use of the town hall for a service, conducted monthly by Rev. M. X. Carroll, from Foxborough. Inf 1862 he was succeeded by Rev. M. McCabe, of Woonsocket. From 1863 to 1873, Rev. P. Gillie, of Attleborough, held occasional services. From 1872-76, Rev. Francis Genesse, of Walpole, had charge of the parish. In February, 1877, Rev. J. Griffin became pastor. Rev. J. H. Mulcahy is pastor at the present time. In 1871 the society bought the old Congrega- tional Church, and remodeled its interior for their forms of worship. A large and commodius parsonage has been built directly west of the church.
THE METHODIST CHURCH .- As early as 1853 a Methodist meeting was held in the town hall by Rev. John M. Merrill. He gathered quite a large congregation. In 1855, Rev.
44
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN.
Pliny Wood succeeded him. In 1856, Rev. M. P. Webster took up the work, but the enterprise failed so rapidly that the Conference decided in 1857 to suspend the services. In 1871meetings were again started under the charge of Rev.John R. Cushing, of Boston. He organized a Sunday-school and gathered a good congregation. In April, 1872, the Confer- ence sent Rev. E. P. King into the field. He organized a church of thirteen members, and laid the corner-stone of a church building Oct. 3d. The house was dedicated June 25, 1873. The same year the church membership increased to sixty-six. April, 1874, Mr. King was transferred, and Rev. J. N. Short became pastor for three years. He was followed in 1878 by Rev. William Wignall, 1878-79 ; Rev. O. W. Adams, 1880-81; Rev. A. C. Godfrey, 1882; Rev. M. D. Hornbeck 1883 ; Rev. J. M. Driver 1884 ; Rev. A. P. Sharp 1886; Rev. R. H. Howard is the present pastor.
TOWN LIBRARY .- Mention has been made of the library presented by Dr. Franklin to the town as a birthday-gift. With its one hundred and sixteen volumes was afterwards connected a private library of one hundred and twenty-five volumes for the use of its share-holders. At first the use of the public library was limited to members of the parish ; but in 1791 it was " opened to the whole town, until the town should order otherwise." These antiquated books became so little esteemed, that in 1840 they were found stowed away in their venerable book case in a barn. In 1856 a library association was formed to which the town by vote gave in charge the old Franklin and Social Library.
These libraries were formed into a free town library to which the town has appropriated money annually for its increase and support; in addition to this town grant, amounting now to five hundred dollars, the library has the income of three thousand dollars, a legacy of Dr. Dean, for the purchase of books.
PUBLIC SCHOOLS .- The first grant of money by the town for the support of schools was £200, voted May 20, 1778. This was divided in proportion to the number of children living in each school district between the ages of four and sixteen. The grants of money in succeeding years have steadily increased with the increase of school attendance.
45
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN.
In 1782 it was only £80, and varied but little till 1796, when it was $320; increasing till in 1814 it was $600, and in 1839, $1000. In 1873 it reached $6000. It has increased largely each year, till the appropriation for 1889 was $1080. These sums include the total annual grant for schools.
In 1795 the number of children in town required six school- houses, whose location was decided by a committee chosen for the purpose. Now the town supports ten mixed schools, exclusive of the High School. The Central School is graded into four departments and six schools.
At first the clergyman visited and catechised each school annually. As the notice of his coming visit was announced from the pulpit the previous Sunday, great were the prepara- tions for it. After the close of Dr. Emmons' ministry this duty of examination by law developed upon the school committee and with them it now rests.
A high school was established by the town in 1868. It was opened on May 20th with twenty-two scholars, Miss Mary A. Bryant, principal. She was succeeded by Miss Annie E. Patten and Thomas Curley. Lucien I. Blake, of Amherst College, was principal in 1877-78 followed by Theodore Parker Farr, a graduate of Tufts College. The present principal is Clarence A. Brodeur, assistant Grace C. Whiting.
PRIVATE SCHOOLS .- At the request of many parents, Mortimer Blake, a graduate of Amherst College, began in September, 1835, at his own charges, a private school of a higher grade than the town public schools. He occupied first the Central District school-house with fifty-six scholars, fourteen of whom came from other towns ; but within the first year of this school's existence a large two-story building was erected at the western foot of the Common by a stock company with accommodations for one hundred pupils, besides recitation rooms and exhibition hall. This building was in after-years used for a store and straw-shop alternately; till now-minus the cupola-it is used entirely for tenements. The bell now hangs in the belfry of the South Franklin Church. The school continued for several years, and during the first principal's connection with it its term-rolls often numbered one hundred scholars. It included the names of
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN.
many scholars since well known, and not a few renowned as educators and heads of important institutions of instruction as well as lawyers, physicians, and ministers. The academy gradually subsided under the rise of public high schools, although the succeeding principals, Bigelow and Baker, en- deavored faithfully to maintain it.
A KINDERGARTEN was opened a few years since by Miss Lydia P. Ray, a graduate of Vassar College, in a building fitted especially for the purpose. It is now taught by Mrs. J. C. Blaisdell, and numbers about twenty little children.
DEAN ACADEMY .- At the annual session of the Massachu- setts Universal Convention, held in Worcester, Oct. 18 20, 1864, the subject of a State denominational school, to be of the highest grade below that of colleges, was brought before the Council by Dr. A. A. Miner, president of Tufts College. A committee was appointed with full discretionary powers, Rev. A. St. John Chambre, of Stoughton, chairman, Dr. Oliver Dean offered a tract of eight or nine acres which he had bought of the estate of Dr. Emmons, and $10,000 towards a building, besides $50,000 as a permanent fund, and his offer was accepted. May 16, 1867, the corner-stone of Dean Academy building was laid with appropriate public ceremonies. As the work of building went on, Dr. Dean increased his donation to nearly $75,000. The style of the edifice was French Lombardic, and its total cost exclusive of furniture and gas apparatus, was $154,000. It was two hundred and twenty feet front ; the main centre fifty by sixty feet deep, of four stories ; and two wings, each fifty-eight by forty-four feet in depth, with still other wings in the rear and three stories high. It was dedicated May 28, 1868, Rev. E. C. Bolles, of Portland, giving the address. The school had been commenced with forty-four pupils, Oct. 1, 1866, in the vestry of the Universalist Church under Mr. T. G. Senter, principal. The summer term of 1868 was opened in the new edifice.
Four years later, during the night of July 31, 1872, this magnificent building with nearly all its contents was destroyed by fire. The young school became suddenly homeless, and Principal Senter resigned. The Franklin House was bough and the school resumed in it, with C. A. Daniels as principa .
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN.
for one year, and Dr. J. P. Weston for five years. After two years of labor and great anxiety, a second and the present edifice was completed and dedicated June 24, 1874. It occupies substantially the same foundations and differs but little from the previous one except being in Gothic style.
In the year 1877, Dean Academy was open to both sexes ; but the demand for a young ladies school led the trustees to limit it accordingly. The new arrangement opened in 1877- 78, with about fifty pupils, under Miss H. M. Parkhurst, principal. After two years' trial the limitation was removed, and the school is now open to both sexes. Professor Lester L. Burrington, from the Illinois State Normal University, became the principal in 1879, and the school is still under this faithful and devoted teacher.
COLLEGE GRADUATES .- The interest of the town in educa- tion is further indicated by its long roll of college graduates and professional men. Few towns can show a larger ratio of educational men and women. Since its incorporation as a precinct, fifty-three of its young men and one lady are known to have graduated from college. The honorable women of the town who married professional men are not a few. The total number Blake's " History of Franklin " gives is one hundred and twelve.
MATERIAL PROGRESS .- The table, page 48, compiled from the earliest reliable sources, exhibit the growth of the town.
This tables indicates that the progress of the town has in late years been rapid for staid New England. The impulses of this growth are found in the development of business, as the facts following indicate. They have been carefully gathered from original sources.
LATER INDUSTRIES. - The beginning of the present century marks the introduction of the straw business, in which the town still holds a foremost rank. The braiding and making of rye-straw into bonnets came from Providence, R. I. A milliner of that city, Mrs. Naomi Whipple, and her assistant, Miss Hannah Metcalf, unravelled a piece of imported braid and learned the secret of its plaited strands. She made and sent a case of bonnets, from braid of her own manufacture,
48
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN.
TABLE
SHOWING THE GROWTH OF THE TOWN.
Year
Polls
Valuation
Houses
Barns
Horses
Oxen
Cows
Sheep
Total
Popula'n
1786
253
£2401 18s
127
119
132
198
570 856 1100
1790
274
2803 14s 6d
143
131
139
270
788
1101
1800
296
$13,294 40
169
157
180
275
729
1255
1810
288
17,318 95
180
178
163
265
733
1398
1820
328
15,524 75
210
180
143
274
599
1630
1830
286
343,124 00
234
208
149
274
562 301 1662
1840
372
417,978 00
262
227
183
191
448 129 1717
1850
384
648,436 00
304
240
185
192
493
12
2043
1860
545
811,636 00
379
269
245
142
508
5
2172
1865
543
1,116,660 00
402
269
573
10 2510
1875
717
1,433,635 00
464
331
466
4 2983
1880
1,736,370 00
632
320
448
40
393
14 4051
1885
3983
1889 1124 2,246,035 00
780
407
521
29
697
7
19
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN.
to New York, which sold with the rapidity of foreign goods. Sally Richmond,a scholar at Wrentham Academy in the sum- mer of 1799, taught the art of braiding to the ladies where she boarded, and thus came the new industry to Wrentham and Franklin. The storekeepers at first exchanged their goods for the braid ; but as it accumulated, they began to make it into bonnets, carrying it with wooden forms from house to house to be sewed into shape by the farmer's wives and daughters. The bonnets so made were gathered and pressed at first with common hand-flats, afterwards with jack-presses worked by the foot. So grew up the great industry which now employs thousands of people in this region.
The first straw manufactory in Franklin was begun in 1812 by Asa and Davis Thayer. After the death of Asa Thayer, in 1816, a partnership was formed between Davis Thayer and Herman C. Fisher, to which, in 1825, Albert E. Daniels was admitted. Another early firm was Asa Rock- wood & Son. The trip to New York, where their sales were made, was not to these first merchants a night ride in a steamer. They went with a horse and wagon to Providence and thence in a sailing vessel, whenever a cargo and wind and tide were ready, waiting sometimes two weeks for a favorable wind. When they should return to their factories was still more uncertain. Between the two termini of their business, their lives were drawn in unequal and indefinite lengths which unusual patience alone could equate.
Thayer, Fisher & Daniels after a while separated into individual firms. Thayer became Thayer, Gay & Co., then D. Thayer, Jr., & Bros., until their final transfer to Hubbard, Snow & Co.
Herman C. Fisher became Fisher & Norcross, then H.C. Fisher alone a few years, afterwards Fisher & Adams, and, after the death of Mr. Simeon Adams, Fisher again until he was succeeded in the business by Horace M. Gowen. This. line is now extinct.
Albert E. Daniels became Daniels & Green, then Daniels & Son, when the business was transferred to Green & Baker, then to Henry M. Green alone; again it became Farmer & Sherman, then Bassett, Sherman & Co., then Oscar M. Bas-
50
HISTORY OF FRANKLIN.
sett & Co. The factory was burned in June 1889. Other firms have also engaged in the straw business .- Hartwell, Morse & Co,, for twenty years ; Horace S. Morse & Capron, for twelve years, in the old academy building ; Foster, Pratt & Day, and Gen. Sumner & Co., about 1855-60. In 1869 no less than seven manufactories of straw goods were in active operation, making a million hats and bonnets per year. These were at that time all made, pressed, and finished by hand ; but about 1872 the hydraulic press was introduced, and in 1875 sewing-machines came into use. They greatly increased the amount of production, but with a large decrease of employes as well as a reduced value in products. Two firms only are now manufacturing straw goods in Franklin, as below.
Snow, Bassett & Co., who succeeded Hubbard, Snow & Co., in 1887, and now occupy the large building known as the Davis Thayer factory situated on Dean Ave. They employ four hundred hands ; and manufacture eighty thous- and dozen hats annually. Erickson, Stewart & Thayer who employ one hundred and fifty hands, and manufacture from fifty to seventy-five thousand dozen hats annually.
Felt, Satinet, and Cassimere Manufactures have become another leading industry in Franklin, Col. Joseph Ray came with his family to Franklin in 1839, and engaged in making cotton goods. One of his sons, Frank B. Ray, started the first woolen-mill in town at Unionville, a village a mile and a half west of the Centre. He at first prepared wool shoddy to sell to others, using probably the first shoddy picker in the country.
In 1870 he started the first felt machinery in town. This enterprise of felt manufacture grew rapidly by the forming of new firms and the addition of cassimere and satinet goods. Morse & Waite, in 1871, were followed by Rays, Rathburn & Mckenzie, and the Franklin Felting Company-Enoch Waite, James P. and Joseph G. Ray. The Ray Woolen Company, formerly the firm of J. P. & J. G. Ray are run- ning three mills. Two at Nason's Crossing and one at Unionville. They employ three hundred hands, and run sixteen sets of machinery ; manufacturing two hundred and fifty thousand yards cassimere, thirteen hundred thousand
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HISTORY OF FRANKLIN.
yards satinets, and thirteen hundred thousand pounds of shoddy annually. Their wool and waste trade amounts to $300,000 annually.
The Norfolk Woolen Company, incorporated 1887, have mills at Unionville, Bellingham, Mendon and Norfolk; for the manufacture of fine wool shoddies and extracts. The Ray Fabric Company, Unionville employs forty hands, and runs six sets machinery, capacity five hundred yards felting, and from five hundred to one thousand yards lining and underwear per day. Manufacture one hundred and fifty thousand yards per year. Prepare one thousand pounds stock per day for market.
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