USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sherborn > Sherborn past and present, 1674-1924 > Part 5
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Beyond Lowell Coolidge's is the ancient homestead of Samuel Clarke. It was the birthplace, and for forty years the home of Rev. Amos Clarke, the seventh minister of the First Church. He had a large family, seven sons and five daughters. A number of the sons were college graduates, one was a lawyer, two were physicians, all were types of good citizenship. The home is in the possession of the descendants, who often revisit it and value it above all price. Of Mr. Clarke's settled ministry I have no recollection, but can remem- ber him as preaching occasionally in later years. He was a constant attendant, and his venerable appearance is deeply impressed upon my memory. I know of his visits to the schools, and his counsels to the scholars. He was a good man, whose memory will ever be cherished with regard.
Eleazer Leland lived on the place which is now Geo. Carter's, then came the Jacob Cushing place; and up the road which goes off opposite Cushing's was the Elisha Barber place, Silas Stone's and the old Babcock place where G. W. Fleming lived,-Malachi Babcock's father lived there.
On Western avenue, Amos Leland's (now Henry Hawes') is a very old house. Eli Leland owned the house where Daniel Whitney lives; his daughter married Albert Ware and they lived there afterward. Geo. Whitney'st is an old place, and also the Twitchells'. The place lately owned by Dr. Ingraham} was the Ezra Morse place.
Returning to the main road,-Mrs. Flagg's house was the parsonage in Elijah Brown's day. Rev. William Brown boarded there also.
The old Centre Schoolhouse stood on the Common. It was moved away, and became James Bullard's shop. Mr. Norton, who married Emily Fleming, had a paint-shop there in the seventies, and at last Joshua Holbrook, Jr., bought it for a house.
Palemon Bickford built Dr. Blanchard's house. His father's house (Capt. Bickford's) was where Mr. Levine lives.
The Grout place has been the home of one family for a number of genera- tions. There are but few places you will find in town where the descendants live in the old home. The new house was built in 1859. I walked up to see it when it was being built, because it was considered a splendid house.
Then comes "Old Cap'n Sam's" place,-such a place for company! And
*The Coombs house-since burned.
+Mr. Geo. Dexter's.
ĮMr. Moses.
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the old man so happy! Many a time I have seen him coming along to church, -a short, thick-set man, with a beaver hat on, and a fresh complexioned smiling face, locking arms with his wife and carrying a rose in his hand. He would shake hands with the folks all around,-people do not seem so glad to see one another now. He had the third pew from the front, and when he had his grand-daughters with him (they were very handsome girls) he would sit down, and then lean forward to look at them with great satisfaction. He spent the whole year in Sherborn at the end of his life; before that, he lived in Boston except in summer.
The Asa Sanger* house is a very old house. On the Eamest place, Jonathan Eames and his son Jonathan have lived. The Greenwood place was owned by Jonas and Aaron Greenwood (now by Mrs. Harthertz) }.
The corner by Driscoll's used to be called Sparhawk's Corner for old Tim Sparhawk. Mrs. Hawes' house was built by Fred Leland, but was bought by Sam Hawes, the father of Jerry Hawes, called "Old Chilly." This house is older than I am.
Where the Town Home is, was Curtis Coolidge's house, now moved away and owned by Patrick McCarthy. I think it is an old house, and Joseph Sanger lived there before he built up-town. Mrs. Fleming's house was on land belonging to Curtis Coolidge, and he sold it to Cally, his sister. Afterward she sold her place, and lived with her son, Joseph Coolidge.
The Town Pound stands at the head of what was called "Pound Hill." It was used much more than it is now.
Wright's was originally a Holbrook place,-Joshua Holbrook lived there, and afterwards Squire Dalton Goulding. He was a man of education and natural ability, a wonderfully easy talker. He was a surveyor too, and a good townsman.
The next place on the other side was Capt. Louis Bickford's,§ a sea captain. Before he owned the place I do not know whose it was. I have an idea that it belonged to some of the Wares.
The next is the renowned Ware place. Squire Jo. Ware was a one-armed man, who lost his arm at the battle of White Plains. Professor Henry Ware, Sr., was born there. The house had formerly a gambrel roof, and there was a great elm there.
Mr. Saunders'|| place was the Braton Bullard place. Mr. Campbell's] was Vernal Barber's and the barn was opposite, where Frank Holbrook's ** house is.
*Mr. Jas. Farricy.
+Scudder.
¿Mr. Page.
§Mr. Levine's.
|Mr. Pais's.
TChas. McCarthy's.
** Mrs. Porter's.
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Mrs. Larkin's* house was some shop which was moved there. Mr. Nelson's house was Jim Holbrook's, a blacksmith. Later his son, Franklin, lived there; he was Mrs. Larkin's father. Web. Daniels' was a Coolidge house, Deacon Lowell Coolidge's father.
The old South schoolhouse was a brick one, and when my sister Harriet taught there I walked down there, being then seven years old. Jason Leland's house is a very ancient one. Mr. Johnson'st house is the Jo. Leland place. The Howe place is an old place; the family name was Death or Dearth. The Richards farm was a Hill place, Samuel Hill, then Charles Hill. George Mann's house was the Tom Breck place; his wife was a Sanger.
Between Mary Lizzie Ware's and the John S. Bullard place was the Elijah Hill place, which was burned down. Mary Lizzie Ware's was always a Ware place; there was an older house, farther back. The John Bullard place has been in the family a number of generations,-John Bullard, Daniel Bullard and John Bullard again having lived there. There was an older house, nearer the river, and here we come to the town line again on the south.
Such was old Sherborn sixty or more years ago, and such were the men and women of the olden time, a substantial lot of men and women.
*M. F. Campbell's.
+Geo. Hartherz's.
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MEMORIES OF AN "OLD SETTLER"
REMEMBER when people had no cook stoves, but did all their work by the fire-place, with the cranes, hooks and trammels; and when they roasted the Thanksgiving turkey in a tin kitchen before the fire, and baked the Indian bannock on a board kept for the purpose held up before the fire with a flatiron. We banked up the fire every night. Father used to think that it required a man of good judgment to bank up a fire so it would be sure to keep; for if the wind blew and made a draft up the chimney, the fire would all burn out before morning, and if it was still and the fire was covered too deep it would go out. Then we had to depend on flint and steel or the tinder box. The tinder box was a tin case about eight or nine inches long and four or five wide. In this was kept a piece of steel with a hook on the end to hold it by. In the bottom were thick- nesses of paper that were partly burned. Father used to use the flints which he took out of his musket. On training day each man had to have a new flint, so the old flints were put in the tinder box. We would strike the flint upon the steel, and the spark would go into the tinder.
We had matches that we made ourselves. We took a straight grained piece of pine about a foot long and split it with a hammer and butcher knife. Then we melted brimstone and dipped one end of a splinter into it. Then when we struck the spark in the tinder we touched one of these matches to it, and then we could set the kindling afire.
I remember running down to grandfather's sometimes to borrow a coal of fire, because the fire had gone out. I would take it by the unburned end and swing it round and round and run home like an athlete, and then with the bellows we could start it up.
Then take the mail facilities. A four-horse coach ran from Milford to Boston, down one day and back the next. I used to meet it when I was going to school about nine o'clock and the next night I would meet it going back about four o'clock. It took all the mail. When you mailed a letter the postage was determined by the distance the letter was to go. It was six cents for fifty miles, ten cents for a hundred. I used to send letters to Watertown for six' cents, and to my cousins in New Hampshire for ten. The person who mailed the letter could pay the postage if he chose, and if he did the postmaster would put the amount paid in large figures on the outside with his quill pen. There were no stamps or envelopes. Letters were folded three cornered or any shape you chose. If the writer chose he could leave the postage to be paid by the person who received the letter. Nothing came in the mail but letters. No daily paper was taken here. Weekly papers were left at the store. Zibeon Hooker left some there, some at Captain Paul's, some at the store up town, and the rest he carried home for people to call for when they went to meeting Sunday.
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As to currency, there were silver dollars, half dollars and quarters, nine- pences, fourpence-hapennies. If you went to a store and asked the price of anything, the storekeeper might say two and threepence, three and ninepence, or four and sixpence, but they kept their books and made their bills in dollars and cents. The old State Banks were in existence then, and people were afraid to take a bank bill issued by any bank out of the State of Massachusetts, because there was more or less discount on them. There was a bank note directory published every month, but nobody had them but the storekeepers. I have been over to Captain Clark's store often for my father, to see if a bill was good.
Rebecca's husband had a little store in the middle town of Framingham, and when he died they wanted I should settle up his affairs. His father, who was quite a business man, a land surveyor and a surveyor of roads, wanted to ' go into the store and sell out what was left of the goods, thinking he could get a better return than an auction would bring. So he did so, and I used to go over Saturdays to see how he was getting along. I went one day and when he counted out his money he said, "There is a two-dollar bill. I have passed that lots of times, and it was good as long as it would go. If a man came in here and I had to give it to him, I would tell him, 'Some say that isn't good; but if you have any trouble passing it, next time you want any goods I will take it.' So it has brought me lots of custom. But one day I accidentally put it into some money I was going to deposit in the bank, and it came back stamped 'counterfeit,'-spoiling the darn thing!"
Every piece of land that bordered on the road used to be fenced, because cattle were allowed to run on the roads. All front yards had to have two gates for driveways. At one time there was a town officer called a hog reeve to keep hogs off the street. They used to choose the latest married man for hog reeve. I have heard my father tell a story about Priest Brown, who was fond of a joke. At a town meeting soon after his second marriage some fellows nomi- nated him for hog reeve for the fun of it, and he was elected. He got up and said he thanked them for tendering him the honor. He did not think they could get a man more fit for the office than he was, for he had had to control a company of hogs for twenty years.
There were watering places for cattle along the roads. There was a place just this side of where Ed. Smith lives, a rod wide clear down to the brook. There was another in Hunting Lane.
Not many men let their cattle go on the road, except that at morning and night they would turn them out for an hour. Squire Butler used to let his cow feed along the road, and I heard him tell about looking for it once, and when he found it there was a woman milking it. He went up quietly on the opposite side of the cow and pushed over the milk pail with his foot; but he would never tell who the woman was.
The old meeting-house was built perhaps two rods north of the present
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one; there was a driveway between the two where they drove in to unload lumber while the new one was being built. The old meeting-house had two rows of windows, with small lights, and there was a porch at the rear of the church. That porch my father bought when the meeting-house was disposed of, and moved it to the rear of his house to make room for a flight of back stairs. There were square pews, and a gallery on the south side only. The porch was two stories, and had an entrance to the gallery. The square pews had seats on three sides; and my father's pew, under the south gallery, had a seat (perhaps they all did) across the door. I remember one day it got unfas- tened and swung out into the aisle, and dropped me off, in meeting time.
When the meeting-house was torn down, I was at school in the old Academy building. The spire timbers were partly sawed off, I suppose,-at any rate, the top of it, as far as the bell-deck, was pulled over. The weather vane was an acorn with three or four leaves, gilded. The spire was pulled over towards where the town house stands, and the acorn broke off and flew down toward the schoolhouse. We boys ran and got it, but did not know what to do with it. Finally somebody proposed putting it into the teacher's desk. We got it in the desk, but could not shut the lid. While we were about it "Old Ball" came in. He caught me by the collar, "snaked" me off the plat- form, and ordered us to carry it out. We did so, and what we did with it I do not know.
Everybody went to church every Sunday, though there was no way to make any fire. Whole families came from the farthest parts of the town, hired men and maids and all. At noon some of them would go out on the south side of the church and eat their doughnuts or crackers and cheese or pie. Three horse sheds stood on the Common, down toward where the Academy building is now; these were open toward the south, and men who had their horses in there would go down there and sit in the sleighs and talk about the cattle and so forth. There were three more sheds down back of where our sheds are now; some would go down there. The old men would go down to Col. Sanger's store. There was an afternoon service, and a Sunday School between the two. It was a pretty long day for the children.
The pulpit was high, with quite a flight of stairs each side, and doors to shut; the minister would go in and shut himself in. On the floor of the pulpit there were three square blocks of wood: these were for the preacher to stand on. Priest Clark did not need them. We boys would go in there at noon and put them all three in place, and he would have to take them away. There was a big sounding-board over the pulpit, and backed up against the front of the pulpit were seats for the deaf old men. They would sit there and sleep all through the service.
The women and girls, when the sun shone, would eat their lunch by the south windows. I do not remember much about the choir; I sat right under
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the gallery so I could not see them. But I remember Capt. Eli Leland, who played the bass viol. John Coombs was one of the bass singers.
The church bell was cast by Holbrook of Medway. Old Squire Goulding told me that Holbrook said he put fifty silver dollars into the bell-metal, to give it a good tone. The bell was brought over and left on the Common, close to the meeting-house, for the people to test it. They gave us school-boys the chance to ring it at noon when school was out, and then they took out the tongue so it could not be rung. It stood there perhaps a week before it was raised into place.
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THE COUNTRY CHOIR
UR town has, I think, always furnished her full quota of musicians, both vocal and instrumental. About the first remembrance I have of church music was here in Sherborn, at the White Church, the scene laid about 1848. Then the minister was at one end of the church and the singers at the other; then they worshiped and praised the Lord all day on the Sabbath; then the choir consisted of all that could sing, and some that couldn't; then it was considered an honor to sit in the choir, no matter whether they could sing or not. They all counted one until called upon to sing some solo or duet in the absence of the leading singers; then they proved to be ciphers.
The country choir was usually led by stringed instruments. The Sher- born players at that time were William and Elbridge Sanger and Emlyn Leland, who played violins, more commonly called fiddles; Malachi Babcock, violoncello; Moses C. Babcock, double-bass viol. There were others at different times. I remember a man playing the flute; and I recall Capt. Eli Leland, when an old gentleman, coming down, no matter how hard it rained, to play the violoncello. How artistic the playing was I am unable to tell, but I heard Emlyn Leland say that he could play just as well with his book upside down! I recollect watching these musicians rehearse, during the noon hour, for the afternoon performance.
In case these were absent, the tune was "pitched" by the chorister. I remember Orrin Ranlett as chorister,-a tenor, and a good one. After the hymn was given out and read, the tune was played through; at the end of each verse the last line was played as an interlude. At the singing of the last hymn the congregation rose and faced the music. Of the choristers Elbridge Sanger served twenty-five years. He was followed by F. W. Cushing, who led, through thick and thin, for twenty-five years more.
At the advent of the pipe-organ, in the early fifties, these performers were put out of commission. I suspect they felt as if the service wouldn't be com- plete without their instruments, but they soon became reconciled to the change. Of course there were different opinions of the new organ: one lady said she would as lief hear it thunder. The organ was built and set up by a Mr. Stevens of East Cambridge: it was considered a very good organ for what it cost. Rev. Mr. Dowse's society installed their organ several years earlier, with Frederick Leland as organist for a long time.
The old-time singing-school, which has become wholly extinct, furnished the material and fitted the singers for the choirs. We had schools both sum- mer and winter. A. H. Leland taught a number; also Mr. Tilden of Medfield, O. B. Bullard of Holliston, Mr. Hartshorn of Ashland, and others. There was also a glee club, composed of members of both choirs, led by Augustus Leland, furnishing the singing at the annual May festivals.
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By way of variety also we maintained an orchestra, consisting of violin, cornet, clarinet, and piano, which was quite in demand to play at fairs, high school exhibitions, dramatic entertainments, etc .; and if anyone wished to trip the light fantastic toe we tried to accommodate them there.
Soon after the Civil War some one conceived the idea of holding a mam- moth Peace Jubilee in Boston. Invitations were sent out to musicians and singers everywhere to form musical societies and join the great chorus. The two choirs here held a meeting in April, 1869, and formed the Sherborn Musical Association, which continued for ten years or more. Dr. Geo. W. Dennett was president, Dr. Albert H. Blanchard secretary, Miss Isabella B. Cushing organist, Augustus H. Leland and F. W. Cushing first and second leaders. The members were: sopranos, Mrs. A. H. Blanchard, Mrs. Rose Everett, Miss Myra Butterfield, Mrs. Abbie M. Taber, Miss Jennie Sanford, Miss Barton; altos, Mrs. Henry Howe, Miss Mary C. Everett, Miss Caribel Bullard, Miss Mary Ann Coolidge, Mrs. Sarah E. Sanford, Miss Isabella B. Cushing; tenors, Augustus H. Leland, Wm. P. Green, A. A. Forbes, Ira B. Forbes, Elbridge M. Bickford, T. A. Butler, F. W. Cushing; bass, Henry Howe, Dr. A. H. Blanchard, Dr. G. W. Dennett, Frank E. Hooker. We first met in the Chapel, so-called, for a while, and afterward in the anteroom of the vestry of Pilgrim Church: if you go in there now, you will almost hear some of the strains of "Thanks be to God" and the "Hallelujah Chorus" reverberating around the ceiling. These singers served as part of the great chorus during the five days of the Jubilee, and again in the second Jubilee of 1872.
The Sherborn Musical Association gave the first Old Folks' Concert ever held in Sherborn. They sang at the dedication of Sawin Academy in Sept., 1874, among the selections being an appropriate hymn composed by Dr. Dennett. We had the distinction of holding together longer than any similar society in this part of the state.
THE "SHERBURNE BAND" OF 1839
HE journal of this early musical organization still exists, and from its pages these notes have been compiled.
"Dec. 18, 1838, the undersigned met at the hall of Daniel Leland & Son in Sherborn, for the purpose of forming themselves into a musical Band. Daniel Leland, Jr., was chosen moderator, Bowen Adams secretary.
"Daniel Leland, Jr.
Bowen Adams
Frederick Leland
Orrin J. Randlett Henry Partridge William Leland 3d
Henry W. Bullard
Moses C. Babcock Amos Leland
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Wm. P. Green Abner M. Leland Benjamin W. Leland Alfred A. Leland
Augustus Leland
Emlyn Leland
Luther Broad, Jr.
Hamlet Barber
Willard Broad
Seth C. Hawes
Addison Boyden
James C. Austin
Willard G. Flagg
William Sanger
James Salisbury"
The journal does not tell, but Mr. Joseph Dowse remembered that Frederick Leland, William Leland and Henry Bullard played the bugle, Abner Leland the cornet, Orrin Randlett and Benjamin Leland the clarinet, Augustus Leland the fife, Henry Partridge, James Austin and William Green the trom- bone, Bowen Adams the drum, Moses Babcock the bass drum, and James Salisbury the cymbals. Surely it argues much spirit and energy in the little town that twenty-four men were found ready and able to join in such a band.
This initial meeting went on to choose Col. Seth C. Hawes to be the master of the band, Frederick and Augustus Leland first and second leaders, Daniel Leland treasurer and Bowen Adams clerk. A committee was appointed to prepare by-laws; and finally it was "voted, that the symballs be the property of the Sherburn Band," which seems to indicate that the other instruments were already owned by individuals.
The report of the treasurer to the first annual meeting, Jan. 6, 1840, records the receipt of $12.06 "for concert at Natick," and $13.50 "for the services of the Band at Medway." The next year he reports money received from concert at Canton $3.37, at Stoughton $7.46, at South Dedham $25.00, South Natick, $8.38, at Unionville $1.41; "for the services of the Band at the Sherborn Temperance Celebration, $25.00; and "from the Whig ladies of Sherborn, as a present, 75c." And in the clerk's record of the annual meeting of January, 1842, appears a vote "that the Newton money be spent for a bass drumb, and that the Band own it," which shows that our Sherburne Band could hold its own in towns "down below."
In 1842, $50 was "received for services of the Band at Worcester," "at Framingham" $30, and "at Roxbury" $75.00. The total receipts of that year were $160.77. No mention is anywhere made of uniform: no doubt each member provided his own. One suit at least was long preserved-a black tail- coat trimmed with gold braid, and a cap to match.
One more annual meeting was held, but the journal records no more appearances at concerts or celebrations, and apparently the band ended its active career with the triumphs of 1842. Capt. Adams' daughter, Mrs. Dowse, remembered that once in her childhood there was a reunion of the members at her father's house, and that she helped serve the good dinner which her mother prepared for them. Captain Adams to the end of his life cherished the drum which he had played in the band (which now rests in our collection) and liked nothing better than to put on the uniform coat when his grand- children visited him, bring out the drum, and show that he could still play the "long roll."
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THE SHERBORN CORNET BAND
In the late fall of 1864 several young men of Sherborn met for the study and rehearsal of instrumental and martial music. We organized under the name of the Sherborn Cornet Band, Geo. A. Leland being chosen leader, J. Eames clerk, and E. P. Hartshorn teacher and director.
We first met in a vacant room which is now used for the post-office. (The post-office at that time was in the building opposite Unity Hall.) We after- wards met in the Chapel (which stood on the northeast corner of the meeting- house common) and later in the Town Hall.
The band made good progress, as leading parts were taken by those of some experience, and could soon handle most of the music arranged for such bands. They furnished music for entertainments, fairs, picnics, etc. They also serenaded newly married couples: the ministers of both societies, Rev. William Brown and Rev. Edmund Dowse, were among the number.
The first concert given by the band was on March 24, 1865, with twenty pieces, as follows: Geo. A. Leland, E clarinet; L. S. Bridges, F. Whittemore, E cornet; J. Eames, R. Frail, W. R. Bigelow, B cornet; J. A. Cleale, E. M. Bickford, G. H. Hooker, alto; L. A. Leland, Frank Bigelow, B. A. Burbeck, tenor; W. P. Green, B. F. Wyman, baritone; Geo. W. Leland, B bass; F. W. Cushing, E. Morse, E bass; Erastus Leland, bass drum; G. T. Jones, side drum; Frank Hooker, cymbals.
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