USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sherborn > Sherborn past and present, 1674-1924 > Part 4
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
Upon his death his daughter Judith inherited the farm, and immediately sold it by deeds dated Jan. 21, 1734-5, one half to Capt. Jos. Ware, one half to Richard Sanger.
The house is supposed to have been built soon after this date. [Morse.] It remained in the Ware family until 1872 when it was purchased and somewhat altered by the father of the present owner.
Capt. Jos. Ware had married a grand-daughter of Nicholas Wood, the first settler. Here they ended their days. He was prominent in the life of the town in his time, and very many of his descendants have been notably so in the community at large. Here were born and lived Joseph Ware, Revolutionary soldier who lost an arm at the battle of White Plains, later teacher, surveyor, town clerk; Henry Ware, minister, professor at Harvard, head of the Harvard Divinity School; Asher Ware, professor, lawyer, and judge of the U. S. District Court at Portland Me.
DR. JONATHAN TAY HOUSE
This house was built about 1700 by James Morse, son of Capt. Joseph Morse, on land which his father drew in a division of "common land" in West Sherborn. The site was long marked by an ancient elm which has recently been replaced by another. His daughter Ruth married Joshua Leland, grandson of Henry, the first settler of the name.
DR. JONATHAN TAY HOUSE
Page 39
---
THE DRISCOLL HOUSE
On the death of Joshua in 1722 the place was conveyed to Dr. Jonathan Tay, who came from Salem to make his home here, and married Mary Holbrook. He had an extensive practice, and in the room which served as his office the same wooden shutters are still at the windows that through their heart-shaped openings at the top shed light through the night for those who sought his door.
His daughter Betsey married Hopestill Leland, and their descendants have owned and occupied the place to the present day. The house still stands nearly in the original form, firm and strong, a sample of the good work done in those early days.
THE DRISCOLL HOUSE
This is one of the few houses of the lean-to type now remaining in Sherborn. No precise date of its erection can be given, but a noted New England antiquarian is of the opinion that it was built early in the eighteenth century.
It appears to have been owned by the family of Eleazar Leland from 1717 to 1791. His wife was Mary Lovet. Their youngest daughter Mehitable married Benj. Ware, and their son, Eleazar Ware, sold this place in 1820 to David Sanger. In 1840 Sanger conveyed the homestead to his son-in-law, Ira Mann, who in 1868 sold the place to James Driscoll.
The house formerly had a stone chimney 12 x 12, which was removed in 1872. The base of it still remains. Two lead framed windows were in position in 1868. Old residents related that the lean-to formerly extended the whole length of the house, with roof sloping to the ground, having been altered to its present appearance about 1825.
Page 40
THE MORSE HOMESTEAD
About 1656 Daniel Morse of Medfield purchased the Bradstreet Grant of 800 acres and immediately settled upon it. This grant extended from Charles River to the foot of Meeting House Hill, and was known and has ever since been continued to be called "The Farm." Morse, the historian, says of Daniel, "he was evidently a man of rank," a leader in securing the incorporation of the town, and "in all public meetings and elections precedence was uniformly yielded to him as long as he lived."
The site of the original house is thought to be somewhat back of, but near the present house. On the outbreak of Philip's war, it served as a garrison house. The following letter was found in the office of the Sec'y of State, supposed to have been addressed to Maj. Gen. John Leverett, Gov. "May it please your Worship,
Prostrating my humble service to your Worship, I made bold lately to request your help of four men to be a garrison at my house which is for my family and my sons with me, most being married men; I humbly prosecute my request that so it might be that I might have four men out of Medfield. That Edward West and Benj. Fisk [sons-in-law] might be two of them, they living in the remote part of Medfield next my farme and they being willing to come if liberty by authority were given. That they might be imprest by authority to be ready when I shall call for them. Thus I make bold, humbly begging the everlasting blessing and constant presence of the Almighty to be with your Worship. So prays Your humble servant,
Sherborne, 26, 11, 1675-6. "Granted for the present."
Daniel Morse, Sen. In the name of my sons." [Morse]
The place continued to be held by descendants of the name until 1902. The date of erection of the present house is not definitely known. This was considerably enlarged by the addition of ells during Dr. Walter Channing's occupancy. The estate is now the property of Mr. Richard Saltonstall.
Ord Sanger Hva
OLD SANGER HOUSE
Page 41
THE EMIGRATION FROM SHERBORN TO DUBLIN, N. H.
N the settlement of Sherborn pioneers came as early as 1649 from Boston, Watertown, Dedham, Salem, Medfield and Natick. Sherborn in turn sent out men to settle in many towns, among them Framingham, Hopkinton, Holliston, Mendon, Barre, Peru, Douglas, Warwick, Sangerville in Maine, and Dublin in New Hampshire.
The emigration to Dublin began about a hundred years after the settle- ment of Sherborn, or about 1762, though there is no definite information as to the exact date. Evidently men from Sherborn went into the wilderness, cut roads or pathways through the woods, and built cabins, before going there to live. It is known that between the years 1760 and 1762 Sherborn men worked on the roads in the District of North Monadnock, No. 3, as it was then called, from three to five days at a time.
The early history of Dublin is closely connected with that of Sherborn in many ways. The first permanent English settler was Thomas Morse, who was born in Sherborn in 1709, and moved to Dublin with his family in 1762.
Rev. Samuel Lock, fourth pastor of the church in Sherborn, rode to Dublin on horseback in the autumn of 1767, and preached the first sermon ever delivered in that town at the home of Eli Morse, one of the emigrants from Sherborn. On this occasion he also baptized Sarah, a daughter of Eli Morse,-undoubtedly the first Christian baptism ever performed in the town.
Two Sherborn men, Moses Adams and William Greenwood, were on the committee of three chosen to build the first meeting-house, and the building was erected under the direction of William Greenwood, who was a carpenter by trade.
The entire committee of five chosen to select a minister was made up of Sherborn men, namely, Eli Morse, Moses Adams, William Greenwood, Joseph Twitchell and Levi Partridge.
The Sherborn church was invited to attend the ordination of the pastor selected, Rev. Joseph Farrar, though it is not known whether the invitation was accepted, as no record of the ordination has been discovered.
When difficulties arose in the church during his ministry, the Sherborn church was one of five invited to form a council to hear the difficulties and give advice. This invitation was probably not accepted, as no mention of a Sherborn representative is made in the report of the council.
In the second year after the organization of the Dublin church, the church in Sherborn united with Mrs. Elizabeth Whitney in presenting to their Dublin brethren, as a token of their regard, a beautiful communion service of exquisite English pewter, which is still in an excellent state of preservation, and is used once a year as an affectionate reminder of the worthy founders of the church, and as a token of respect for the donors of the service. An inscrip-
Page 42
tion on one of the flagons reads, "Given by the Church in Sherborn to the Church in Dublin, Anno Domini 1774"; on the other, "The Gift of Mrs. Elizabeth Whitney of Sherborn to the Church in Dublin, Anno Domini 1774."
Of the early settlers of the town, by far the greater number came from Sherborn. The reason for this appears from the fact that Joseph Twitchell of Sherborn was the agent of the proprietors for the sale of the land. He himself purchased a large amount of land, and though he did not settle in Dublin, five of his sons were among those who went from this town.
The list of emigrants from Sherborn includes the names of Moses Adams, Amos and Ebenezer Babcock, Isaac Bond, James Chamberlain, Asa Fairbanks, William, Bela, Eli and Joseph Greenwood, Ebenezer Hill, Benjamin Learned, Benjamin, Thaddeus, Eli and Thomas Morse, Reuben, Ezra, John, Jonathan and Amos, sons of Thomas Morse, John Knowlton, Levi Partridge, Ivory Perry, Ebenezer Pratt, Caleb Stanford, Samuel, Joseph, Eleazer, Ezra, Abel, Gershom, Abijah, Ebenezer and Joshua Twitchell.
Capt. Thomas Morse, the first of the Sherborn emigrants, came to Dublin in 1762, and nearly all the others mentioned were in Dublin before the out- break of the Revolutionary War. Capt. Morse was one of the oldest, as well as one of the most prominent of the settlers from Sherborn. He was offered a commission as captain in the British army by the royalist Governor Went- worth, but indignantly refused it. On account of his age he remained at home, but five of his sons enlisted, and took part in many of the most important battles of the war.
Sherborn was well represented in this war, not only by a large number of men who went direct from the town, but also by sixteen others who enlisted in Dublin.
As Sherborn men were prominent in the early years of the town, so many of their descendants have gained distinction in later years.
Joseph Greenwood was Town Clerk from the incorporation of the town in 1771 for about twenty years, and was the most prominent business man in town. He was a Selectman for ten years, Town Treasurer for several years, and the first justice of the peace.
Cyrus Chamberlain, son of Captain James Chamberlain, held the office of Town Clerk for twenty-eight years, and was the first postmaster in the town, the post-office being located in the barroom of his hotel, where strips of tape tacked to the wall served to hold the letters.
Benjamin Learned and Eli Morse, both emigrants from Sherborn, were the first deacons of the church, and James Allison, a descendant of both these men, was a deacon of the same church for forty-four years, his period of service being exceeded only by that of Deacon Learned, who served for forty-six years. Henry D. Allison, a son of Deacon James Allison, served two terms in the State Legislature, and was nominated by the Progressive Party as car didate for governor. 2
Pa 43
Rev. John C. Learned, a descendent of Deacon Learned, was for twenty- three years pastor of the Church of the Unity in Saint Louis, and one of the most eminent clergymen of the Unitarian denomination.
Dr. Amos Twitchell, son of Samuel Twitchell, was one of the most promi- nent physicians of his time, and was at various times offered professorships in four New England colleges, which, however, he declined, preferring to practice his profession rather than teach.
Many other descendants of the Sherborn emigrants to Dublin have served as town officers, and have represented the town in the State Legislature. It is impossible to enumerate them all here. Suffice it to say that the record of the men who went to Dublin from this town, and that of their descendants, is one of which Sherborn may well be proud.
A NOOK ON FARM POND
44
SHERBORN IN THE FORTIES
(Written in 1913)
MAY call these recollections "Sherborn in the Forties." That was the time when I was a school-girl, and I have tried to describe the town as it looked to me then, giving most space to that which came naturally within my observation.
Beginning, then, at the Natick line, on the "old road" or South Natick road, the first house is the picturesque Woodcock house, nestled into its hill. This was an old building which William Woodcock moved there. His mother lived with him till he was married.
The Horace Barber place, later the Tyler place, was built some eighty years ago. The Morses built it. Mr. Barber sold his estate and went to the West in the sixties. His three daughters are now living in the state of Kansas, Mrs. Morse, Mrs. Rankin and Miss Harriet A.
The house on the other side, now Edgar Smith's, was built for Wetherbee Chamberlain.
Where Hazen Auringer lived was the Adam Leland place. He gave the land for the burial ground, and he had Lot No. 1 in recognition of the gift. There was a place in the wall of the burial ground where they could go out and in from his land. His place was owned afterward by Amory Babcock, Sr., who built later where Mr. Green lives.
The "new road" to Natick was made about 1857; it was when I was in school, and there was a great deal of talk about it, and about its sinking because of quicksand. Susan Morse taught our school then. It was a long time before the commissioners accepted it, because there was such a bad place through the Swamp. Before this, people went to Natick by the West Natick road or by Rockland street.
Mr. Bartlett's* house was built by Sam Sanger. Asa Read, who had worked for Joseph Dowse, bought it about 1853. The lane opposite the burial ground, now Rockwood Lane, led to the poor-farm, where George Hooker formerly lived. It was originally a Rockwood place.
The house next the burial ground was built by Charles Dowse later than the time I write of; opposite that stood the Michael Clark place, which was sold afterward to Oliver Barber. He kept house by himself, and made whips.
The Joseph Dowse place came next (now Dr. Cushing's) with the little whip-shop next the road. The Henry Dowse place came next and then the Nat Dowse place. I do not remember the old house on this place. Nathaniel Dowse held many offices here and was a good, honorable man. He was on the board of assessors many years. My father used to work with him, and he said,
*Mr. Cousineau's.
Page 45
"Nat Dowse is the quickest and most correct at figures of anyone I ever worked with."
Joseph Dowse, Jr., built in 1846 on land that had belonged to his father. He lived first in "Widow Rice's" house, now Bert Holbrook's. "Widow Rice" took girls to bring up. She had sons and a daughter, but they did not live here with her.
Nelson Coolidge's place and the Ellis Sparhawk place, afterward Horace Stratton's, were both burned.
The Abijah Stratton place, afterward Aaron Stratton's, could be seen from our house. The low red house with its big elm tree, nestling under the shadow of Peter's Hill, was the prettiest picture of a New England home that one can imagine.
George Davis's house was at first a Perry place, owned by Nat Perry, a cooper by trade, commonly called "Cooper Perry." The old house was torn down about 1869, and Amanda Davis built the present one, as later she built the one where Alden Adams lives.
John Merriam's* house has been moved from the original site. It belonged to Deacon William Tucker, and farther back was a Perry place. Deacon Tucker sold it to Galen Bowditch, the father of Mrs. Edmund Dowse, in 1835.
At the Davis place the "new road" to Framingham branches off from the "old road." The house on the right on the new road was a Kimball place, where Mrs. George Hooker was born.
Mr. Thompson's place was a Phipps place, but I do not remember any house there. It was Mrs. Joseph Sanger's home, and Mrs. Louis Holbrook's; there were several Phipps sisters, said to be very handsome.
The house where the Wests live is the Deacon Aaron Coolidge place, where Rev. Amos H. Coolidge was born. Mr. Crane's was a Hill place. Amos Hill's wife was a Bowker, sister to Mrs. Wetherbee Chamberlain.
There was a pretty little brook, which people used to drive through, near where the West Natick road turns off. The Bean place is the old Daniel Coolidge place; that place is said to have been bought from the Indians, and many generations of Coolidges lived there.
Returning now to Dowse's Corner: Lake street was laid out about 1852. William Dowse built the first house on it in 1856.
Lowell Coolidge, before he was married, boarded at Nathaniel Dowse's and afterward built his own house. I do not know whether that or Mrs. Church's was built first, but they were not far apart in years, about 1850 or 1851. He bought the land of Ben Dowse.
Benjamin Dowse'st place stood back from the road, with a high bank wall in front. He owned a place first below the Woodcock place, and there he lived when he was first married. Rev. Edmund Dowse was born there.
*Mr. Kaufmann's.
+Dr. Travis.
Page 46
Emlyn Sparhawk's house has always been there since I can remember. Deacon Fisk used to live where Miss Lizzie Coolidge did, and built afterward the house opposite. His tannery was near where the store burned down. I used to sit in school and watch Deacon Fisk come out and tack up hides, and we could see the old horse going round and round in the mill where the bark was ground.
Captain Clark's house and store was a good deal like the Paul house, with the store in the south ell. The old house was occupied by three genera- tions of Clarks, Deacon William Clark, his son Alpheus and his grandson Charles. There was a store there for a hundred years. In 1876 they tore down the old house, moved away the store and built the new house that is occupied by Mr. Dingley. A store was built which was burned in 1881.
From school, too, we could watch the teams riding through the brook and watering the horses. Lemuel Leland had a gun shop near the brook, and his house still stands just beyond. My father owned a flintlock gun which bears Lemuel Leland's initials and the date 1817.
The Plain Schoolhouse was a little farther south than it is now. It has been moved two or three times. Hiram Jones of Dover built it; he also worked on the First Church.
The Col. John Bigelow place, originally a Newell place, was where the Marriners* now are. It stood cornerwise to the road, as the C. O. Littlefield house does. Elijah Leland lived there afterward.
Malachi Babcock's blacksmith shop was near the stone shop. I cannot tell just when the shop was torn down, but it was there when we went to school, and it was so cheerful to hear the sound of the anvils. Mr. Babcock was one of the happiest men I ever saw. He was a singer, and used to play the bass viol in the church.
The "stone shop" was Capt. Partridge's fork manufactory, and his house was on the hill where Dr. Poort lives.
Opposite that house is Butler Road, where our house is. It has always been occupied by our family. My father, Jeremiah Butler, was born in Hopkinton; his first teacher in the public school was Hannah Adams, the his- torian. He learned the wheelwright's trade at Watertown, and it was while working as a journeyman that he first came to Sherborn, and was so pleased with the place that he made it his home. He worked at his trade, but in later life had much to do in the drawing of wills, settlement of estates and care of orphan children. He was a Democrat in politics, a Universalist in his faith, an ardent Freemason, a man strictly temperate in everything, self-taught, but according to his opportunities he acquired a great deal. He was a great pedestrian; there was no railroad line, and he never kept a horse. He often
*Houghton.
+Mr. Macfarland.
Page 47
walked to Framingham Centre, where the Probate court was held, and back before noon, and this even when he was past seventy. In the lifetime of his parents he often walked to Hopkinton to see them, coming back the same day.
He was much interested in history and in natural scenery. He took his children to Sudbury, Lexington and Concord, and he used to take all his guests up on Brush Hill. He had a spyglass and set up a post on Brush Hill to sup- .+ port it. He knew all the landmarks within twenty miles, and liked to point them out.
While he was a young man a cousin at Harvard College told him of "a little instrument to measure heat, called a thermometer." Learning that there was one at Framingham Academy, he turned aside on his walk from Hopkin- ton to Watertown, and went to see it. When he had a home of his own, he bought one of these new instruments; and Mrs. Ware remembered that people used to call to look at it as a curiosity.
The "Widow Wyeth" lived where Mr. Willis lives. She carried on the farm and did dressmaking-a very energetic woman.
Hunting Lane ran up Brush Hill to the John Perry place.
The Paul place was originally the Daniel Whitney place. Old records speak of Daniel Whitney coming here from Watertown, and settling "south of Rocky Hill." The name was probably given to the summit just north of the house. Only the main house was built then, and there was a barn at the north, and they used to go in and out at that door. Daniel Whitney was the wise counselor here, but his sons were not so good. Old Deacon Clark, George Clark's grandfather, married one of Squire Whitney's daughters. Mrs. Emlyn Sparhawk was a grand-daughter of Squire Whitney. I have not been able to find the date of that house, but it must be quite old. Captain Paul came here in 1825, and bought the Whitney place; he put on the south ell for his store. The back part was the old Centre schoolhouse, which had stood about where Mr. Stone's* house is. In 1834 the district was divided and the Plain school- house built. The north ell of the house was put on in Edwin Paul's lifetime; afterward it was moved away to Eliot street.
The "new road" across the Plain, now Eliot street, has been there ever since I can remember. My mother remembered its being cut across there after she came to Sherborn.
Where Miss Andersont lives was the Charles Rockwood place, and the next place was "old Ben Bullard's." He built it in two tenements, for himself and his son.
The next place was the Eleazer Dowse place; he was a Revolutionary soldier. His daughter Polly married Elbridge Mann, and they lived there after the old folks were gone. "Eb." Mann was a carpenter, a very nice work- man. He built Colonel Sanger's house, Joseph Sanger's, Aaron Greenwood's,
*Mr. Bardwell's.
+Mr. Geo. Fleming.
Page 48
Lemuel Leland's and Captain Goulding's, where the Shillabers* are. Mrs. Mann in her young days worked as a tailoress. She told me once the rule her mother gave her when she began to go about from house to house working at her trade: "Polly, never tell at the house where you work this week what you sow or heard at the house where you worked last week. A great many things are said and done in every family, which are all right in the family, but are not right to be told of outside."
The Bullardt house was a Perry place originally, but I remember Harry : Bullard there, and afterward his sons George and Nason. They were Squire Whitney's great-grandsons.
The house where Charles Bickford lives used to be on the land where Mr. Douglas lives. When James Bullard came home from the South, where he had been dealing in shoes, he had the old house moved off and built the new one in which Mr. Douglas lives now. Amasa Lathrop lived in the old one.
Beyond the Mann house was the malt-house, on the ground where Mrs. Miller and Mrs. Everett live. And a little house beyond the malt-house was Andrew Bullard's cabinet shop. It stood in the wall, close to the road, a little to the south of Mrs. Miller's house. It was moved away, and is now Mrs. Peckham's house.
Pine Hill Cemetery was laid out later. There was no railroad, of course. Neither Mr. Stone's house nor George Clark's was built. The next house was the one Mrs. Onion§ lives in. In Linden Court there was no house, but a path to drive cattle.
The old Sanger house, owned by Samuel Sanger, the father of Colonel Sanger, came next-a very old house, long and low. Here Washington is said to have stopped. On the other side was the Joseph Sanger house and his store. George Clark took the store in 1846.
Dr. Everett built the Everett house. He was a very successful physician, with a great deal of practice, kept three horses and had plenty for them to do. He was very jolly, full of jokes and stories; it helped the sick just to see him. He did not live to be old, but died at fifty-three. It was a great loss to the town. His body was the first one laid in the new cemetery.
The Colonel Sanger place is a grand old home. It used to be the resort for a great deal of New York company, so stylish and grand that people went to meeting to see them come in. They would fill a number of pews.
Robert Leland's house was Colonel Sanger's store, but I do not remember that. It was let for a time to different families-noisy families whom we could hear as we sat in church.
*French's.
+The Misses Wiggin.
#Gilmore.
§D. L. Whitney.
Page 49
The First Church is the mother church, where all our ancestors were brought up.
Going up the West Sherborn road, Richard Sanger's place was where Georgiana Holbrook lived. He used to keep six or eight dogs. None of the houses that were built by the Flemings were there at the time I write of. But I remember the Ed. Holbrook place-now McMurtrie's*, and an old house where Lowell Coolidge lives (I think Elbridge Mann lived there once).
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.