USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sherborn > Sherborn past and present, 1674-1924 > Part 6
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A band-stand was erected on the Common, for open-air concerts. The concert given on August 8, 1866, when we were assisted by the Hopkinton Brass Band, was much enjoyed by the people.
Several members left town after a time and it was difficult to fill their places, and meetings were discontinued, though no vote to disband was ever passed.
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EARLY INDUSTRIES
SHOEMAKING
N early days the shoes of a New England family were made by an itinerant cobbler, who went from house to house, carrying his tools, and making or mending as the family needs required. Calvin Sparhawk was the last of these cobblers in this section, practicing his trade till about 1850.
Lemuel Leland (called familiarly "Slipper Lem," in distinction from another Lemuel, the gunsmith) lived in the southwest part of the town, and in the first third of the last century carried on a considerable business in making and mending for the people in the borders of Sherborn, Holliston, and Med- way. An old ledger gives a notion of his business and his prices:
"Oct. 1821. to Making shoes for boy $1.08
to footing Boots for you 2.67
Mch. 1822.
horse seven miles .42
to mending for wife .62
Jan. 1824.
to making for wife 1.50
Feb. to making Boots 3.25"
Most of the shoes made in Sherborn for export were heavy "brogans" or plow shoes, for the Southern trade. The sides were sewed by hand, and the lining, made of sheepskin, was put in by women in their homes. Putting in the lining was called "binding" the shoe. These shoes were pegged, and it is worth while to remember that shoe-pegs were invented by a man in Hopkinton, then a part of Sherborn. In early days the finished shoes were taken to Boston and bartered for leather; later the goods were sent direct to dealers.
There were a number of small shoe shops in the town,-little buildings, standing in a door-yard, where not more than two or three men could work. Curtis Coolidge had one, and trained a number of apprentices, some of whom afterward had shops of their own. Emlyn Sparhawk had a shop, and Smith Coolidge, and perhaps others.
The larger shops were those of Nathaniel Dowse, James and Joseph Bullard, and Lowell Coolidge. Nathaniel Dowse had been a whip-maker in early life, and for some years after he began to manufacture shoes he used the little shop at the rear of his house; but in 1859 he built a three-story shop at the head of the triangle between Main and Coolidge Streets. At times this shop employed as many as fifteen workers. At first all was hand work; then a stitching machine run by hand was introduced, and later other machines run by hand or foot power.
Lowell Coolidge was one of those who learned the trade from Curtis
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Coolidge. He was in company with Nathaniel Dowse from 1849 to 1854, when he built a large shop near his home, and carried on the work there, having twelve workers. His son, William H. Coolidge, continued the business after the death of his father. The last shoes made in Sherborn were made by him in 1908.
THE WILLOW INDUSTRY
BOUT the year 1855 a willow business was started in Sherborn by John Fleming, a retired pastor of the Unitarian church. He had four brothers settled in the town, with their families; these brothers had been brought up in that business in England, and were all employed by him. For several years he carried on a large business, and besides supplying the Boston market had customers in many parts of New England.
The Flemings fashioned a great many kinds of articles, such as cradles, baby carriages, clothes baskets, market baskets, bakers' baskets, counter baskets, lunch baskets, hampers, bassinets, work baskets, dolls' cradles, and others of various shapes and sizes. For some years they had a large business in baby carriages alone, both those made wholly of willow and those with willow body and enamel top. All these goods were transferred to the town of Natick by the good old-fashioned stage-coach, and from there to Boston by train. It was a unique sight to see the coach filled with passengers passing through the town, with the baskets tied to and hanging from the back and top, swaying to and fro with its motion.
After some years Mr. Fleming was asked to join a friend named Wake- field in a venture in rattan work. He did not feel that he could do this; but the development of the rattan industry (in the town afterward named Wake- field) absorbed Mr. Fleming's carriage work and some other of the coarser lines of his business; but he still retained the market for the finer work, and he and his brothers worked at it as long as they lived. It was an active busi- ness in the town for nearly forty years.
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BRAIDING WHIPS
[The Dowses were a family of leather-dressers, the trade having been followed by several successive generations. In the early eighteen hundreds, the three brothers, Benja- min, Joseph and Nathaniel Dowse, specialized in the manufacture of whips, and the two older brothers continued the trade for many years, Mr. Nathaniel Dowse turning later to the manufacture of shoes. The whip business declined with the passing of the stage- coach; but whips were braided in Sherborn as late as 1876. The following description of this early industry is condensed from a paper prepared by Miss Alice M. Dowse .- Eds.]
EARS ago, before railroads were known, and when stage-coaches were the usual means of travel, an important industry flourished in Sherborn. As the times changed the industries changed also, and the making of stage-coach whips, to which I refer, has become entirely obsolete.
It took a great deal of skill to make a whip from fifteen to twenty-five feet long, that could be swung around and made to hit any horse at will. These whips used by coach drivers had a wooden stock, as it was called, about three feet long, and a braided leather lash, from twelve to twenty feet long.
In most of these old-time industries, they bought the raw material. In the case of whip-making, they bought the old horses, killed and skinned them, and tanned the leather, not trusting any other tannery to prepare the hides. Then the cutter began his work.
As the lashes were braided, the strips took up almost half in the braiding, so that a piece must be cut nearly twice as long as the lash was to be. It was not thought right to have two pieces sewed together, because "it wouldn't balance right." Then how could they get a twenty-five foot strip from one hide? The cutter started cutting a strip, about two inches wide, from the head end of the hide. He cut back and forth, lengthwise, from the hide, until he estimated that he had cut two-thirds of the lash. Of course the strip narrowed as he went along. Then the cutter made a "bulge" to weight the lash, and then the strip grew gradually narrower to the end. Then this wide strip was cut into narrow strands to be braided. A hole was cut in the wide end of the strip and it was hung on a strong hook in the wall. Now with a very sharp knife the cutter would stand and hold his hands around the leather, the knife pointing upward and his thumbs guiding it. Only the skillful and experienced worker could do this. Then the narrow strands were braided in a spiral braid; and when an experienced worker had braided as far as the bulge, the bulge in all the strands met at the same point.
In every whip shop there were needed two slabs of marble. One would be placed on a table and sprinkled with powdered chalk. The braided lash was placed on this, and rolled back and forth with the other slab. The chalk helped fill the spaces and make the lash perfectly round.
The last thing was to fasten the braided lash to the stock, which was made of hickory. A piece of pliable buckskin was pulled through the hole
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which had been made in the wide end of the lash, and was drawn down on each side of the stock. Strong linen thread was then wound over the buck- skin, and fastened with a peculiar knot that would never come undone.
After railroads were built, and stage-coaches were used less and less in the East, the industry dwindled away. It was about sixty years ago that the last order came, from Minnesota, where they were still using stage-coaches. Later than this, whips shorter than the stage-coach whips, but similar, were made for driving oxen, and also for driving two pair of horses.
GUN-MAKING
EMUEL LELAND, the first gunsmith in Sherborn, was my grand- father. His home was on the main street, the second house north of the "stone shop" (formerly Partridge's shop), and his gun-shop stood between the house and the brook. The shop was later made into a house, then removed to Lake Street, and finally destroyed by fire.
Lemuel Leland was twice married. He had two sons by his first marriage, only one living to manhood; by his second marriage he had seven sons, six living to manhood. I do not know much about his gun-making, but I have heard members of the family speak of his apprentices, so I suppose he taught the trade to others beside his sons.
The oldest of the group of six boys was William Leland, my father, born in 1817, who followed the business of gun-making with his father. He was married in 1839, and lived in his father's house till 1843, when he moved to West Sherborn, having purchased what was known as the "widow's thirds" of the Babcock farm, the place where I now live.
Here I remember my father making new guns and repairing old ones. He used to work for Boston firms, they sending the material out to him,-the barrels, the stocks, usually of black walnut wood, and the trimmings of brass or steel. It was quite a job to make a gun, filing the barrels to smoothness, working the wood down to the proper shape with shaves, files, and sandpaper, and fitting the trimmings and other parts into the wooden stocks. I remember his bringing the barrels into the house in cold weather, and putting them near the fire to dry the dressing on them.
His repairing business was considerable in those days, guns coming to him from quite a distance. Many times our yard would be full of teams, whose owners were waiting for their work to be finished.
I can remember hearing him tell of changing the old flintlock guns into those with tubes and caps. After breech-loading guns came into use, he did
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not try to repair them, his health not being good and his sight somewhat dim. At his death in 1888, he left several single guns of his making, and a rifle he made for himself.
CIDER-MAKING
N the early days in Sherborn there was a cider mill at every house or at least at every neighborhood in town. The first presses were screwed down by hand on alternate layers of ground apples and rye straw. Some of the cider was purified for drinking, a great deal of it was drunk without being purified, and the rest was made into vinegar. There were several methods of purifying: the simplest was to "rack" the cider, or pour it from one barrel into another several times, each time leaving the impurities to settle to the bottom. Another method was to use isinglass, on which the impurities would collect, leaving the cider clear. The last "glassed" cider made in town was made by John Ives about fifty years ago at the house now owned by Luke Henderson.
At the Holbrook cider mill the cider was refined by "leaching" or strain- ing it through a thick bed of fine white sand. This cider was so pure that it could be and was shipped across the ocean; unless the cider is very pure the motion of the ship will cause it to work and burst the barrels. The Holbrook cider business which later became the largest refined cider business in the world was started in 1853 by Jonathan Holbrook. At first he made about 150 barrels a season, but as horsepower replaced hand, and steam replaced horsepower, by 1868, 6,000 barrels were made. At that time a survey was made for a railroad passing through the west part of the town. Mr. Holbrook was much interested and would be much benefited if the railroad passed near his mill so he had another survey made at his own expense. When it was found that this route would be a half mile shorter and $50,000 cheaper it was adopted and the road was built where it is now, directly through the center of Sherborn and past the cider mill. With greater ease of shipping due to the railroad, business increased, until in the years 1895, 1896 and 1897 over 40,000 barrels a season were produced.
After a fire in 1909 Eben M. Holbrook, son of Jonathan Holbrook and the last surviving member of the firm of J. Holbrook & Sons, sold out to M. H. Rourke of Natick, who sold in 1912 to P. McCarthy & Son, who now make cider and bottled soda at this location. Other good-sized cider mills in town were the Salisbury mill, opposite the post-office, which was burned about twenty-five years ago, C. A. Clark's mill, now Fred J. Dingley's place, Leland Brothers, at the farm now owned by Daniel L. Whitney and occupied by Ernest Tucy, and many others. At present the only cider mill besides McCarthy's is that of Harvey E. Davis, which has been run about sixty years.
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EXTRACTS FROM TOWN AND "GENERAL COURT" RECORDS
1674-At a General Court held at Boston, Oct. 7,-"In answer to the Petition of the Inhabitants and proprietors of Land near Bogestow, Oct. 21, granted the Petitioners the quantity of Six miles square, not exceeding eight miles in length, . . . And the name of the Town to be called Shearborn."
1674-5, Jan .- "Asembled for the ordering the afairs of Sherborn . . . Georg Fairbank, Thomas Eames, Thomas Holbrook, and Obediah Morse were chosen and deputed to take a view of the Land for Laying out of the Court's Grant."
Mar .- "Ensign Bullen, Thomas Eames, Daniell Morse, Sen., and Daniell Morse, Jr., ar desired and deputed to take a view of natick land for the exchange with them, in perfecting of the lines and bounds of the place . ."
1676, Jan .- "Then chose Obadiah Morse to keep the records of Sherborn."
"It is ye mind and desire of ye inhabitants that Captayn Fisher should be treated with that he would be helpfull orr undertake the settlement of the plantation. Daniell Morse, Sen. is chosen to provide for and intertayne the comity at ther coming." 1677-2-13-"They have chosen henry lealand to agree with thomas thurston to measure the land that is to be exchanged betwene Sherborn and natick."
3-9-" . . . it was voted and agreed on that ye place intended for a meeting house should be on a parcell of land joyning orr bordering upon the land of nicholas wood and Cap. Hull's farme."
". . . . it was voted and concluded that propositions should be made to Major googing and Mr. Eliot and to the indians in referring to the exchange of land betweene natick and Sherborn."
3-26-"In consideration of damages done in the seader swamps belonging to Sherborn by some in other townes . it was agreed on and an order made . . . that if any person fall downe any or carry away any of the seader timber belonging to Sherborn to any other towne, they shall pay twenty shillings to the use of the towne for every sutch ofence. Also that none of the inhabitants of Sherborn shall sell any of ther seader timber out of the towne with out order first from sutch men as are apoynted to take care about it, upon penalty of 5s a tree or the valer of it soaled out of the towne."
7 mo .- "If any of the inhabitants shall neglect to atend the towne meetings apoynted, and being warned of it, shall be under the peanalty of three shillings and four pence for every sutch ofence."
8-26-"Then was consultation and consideration in way of preparation for a Minister . . . "
11-1-"It was voted and concluded conserning the adition to the ten rates at Mead- field now called for by ther constables from us, that we will stand as one to deny it and to bear equall charge if distres be made on any partiqular person."
1678-11-1-"Voted that five men be chosen as selectmen, Daniell Morse, Sen., Georg Fairbank, Edward West, Thomas Eames, Obadiah Morse."
"Voted and concluded that the first-second day of ye week in January should be from year to year held to be a publiq meeting for the publiq afairs of Sherborn."
1679-"Resolves of the People," or Social Compact adopted.
1-14-All swine allowed to run on common land to be "yoaked and ringed" owners not complying fined,-if no owners appear "to impound them."
Articles of agreement between Natick and Sherborn, signed, reserving 12 acres "at a place called Brush Hill" to Peter Ephraim.
"Sherborn granteth to sutch as shall make a saw mill on a brook about half a mile on this side the corner rock that was natick bounds the sum of fifty acres of
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upland adjoyning that brook, and 3 or 4 acres of meadow if it may be found near that brooke . . . also 10 acres of swamp the seader timber excepted, and this saw mill to be built by the end of twelve months time, the time this saw mill shall be con- tinued three years time, or as the Selectmen then in being and the owners shall agree, so the land to be settled to the owners."
7-18- conserning the place they have determined for the settled place for the meeting house . .. the place voted and therby determined on a hill. Mr. the' comity and the inhabitants made a second stand to look about on that acount near Edward's plain."
8-13-"Voted that a twelve acre lot shall be the lowest that shall be granted forr a home lott and 30 A. the hiest."
" . . . in referance to the setling of the minister it was voted and concluded that we shall pay to the mayntinance of the minister forty pounds by year . . . , twenty pound in money and twenty pound in good country pay as most suitable to the minister, and to build a suitable house." .
8-29-"Then was chosen four men to be undertakers orr overseers in building A suitable house forr a minister, . .. these to call others to assist in that work as they ' shall se meet and as men are capiable to help."
11-29-"Thomas Sawin is accepted as one of the new inhabitants at chestnut brooke to take up a first lot as may be convenient for the building a saw mill on it."
Feb. 2-"And concerning the ministers house that is to be built its voted and concluded that it shall be built ... the length 38 foot, the breadth 20 foot . .
"It was also agreed that the place concluded upon by the comity for the Meeting House near edwards plain be reserved for the accomodation thereof to the quantity of 20 rods square."
Feb. 9-"Thomas Eames to procure 5000 ft. boards, making brick and building chim- nies, and stoning the sellar, underpining the house for the minister's house."
1680, June 2-" ... the inhabitants did then agree . .. and engadg to lay down of ther lands forr needful hieways for the use of the towne, and to choose a comity to lay them out."
Oct. 12-"Reckoned with Thomas Sawin for his work about the Meeting House for framing, providing Boards, Shingles and Clapboards and making Windows and Doors according to bargain. £50-0-0
for Boards and his work laying the Floor. .3-0-0"
1681, Apr. 29-Articles of Agreement signed with Rev. Daniel Gookin.
May 30-"Voted that ye money for ye attaining a towne stock of Amunition (according to the law and comittes report) shall be raised."
July 4-"George Fairbank resigns from Sherborn."
8-27-"Voted by the Inhabitants that there shall be a division of . . . common land If our honored comity approve of it."
The Com., Thomas Savage, John Richards, Wm. Stoughton, recommended "that the common land be first divided into 4 parts, "to lye to eatch quarter of the town according as they shall find it most convenient as to vicinity, respect being had to the quality of the land that there may be equality as much as may be, then eatch quarter or squadron of the town to divide their part amongst themselves by lot, . . . " 1682, Jan .- "Also the constables and some of the Selectmen that were assistance to the constables, this day being attached for the Illegall taking a horse as part of what was due from Georg fairbanke to the minister's maintenance.
It was voted by the towne that we shall bear them out in their charges in the first sute, which is to be 12 of the ps month."
"Chosen A comity to p'fect the hieways ... who shall call the Inhabitants to worke
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or pay ther p't sometime in the year when sutch work may best be done . . . and shall Allow to a man forr a day's work 2 shillings; forr 4 oxen A man and carrt 5s, and 2 oxen A man and cart 4s ye day."
"Also propositions being made to the towne by Thomas Holbrook for a small p'cell of land near wheare the meeting house is to stand, for to set a house and to have yard forr convenency on Sabath dayes, the answer of the town was to leave it to the selectmen."
June 8-"And then was chosen 4 men as surveyors for the mending and making nedfull wayes in Shearborn, the men chosen, John Hill for that corner of the towne; John Death for that corner of the towne; Jonathan Whitney for the playne and that part of the towne; Daniell Morse forr his farme; and they to call their severall quarters to help as nede may be."
1683-First highways laid out.
Jan. 7-"Joseph Morse to take 14 A of land between Mr. Hul's farm and Eleazer Wood's farm in Compensation for the use of his house for to meet in, the time that the town made use of it."
Thomas Sawin "to seat the meeting house and make the pulpit and the first set of Galleries, seated fully fit to use for it, the lower seats and ye pulpit to be finisht at or before the last of May next, the Galleries to be finisht against the town stand in need of them, with stairs to goe up to them."
1684, May 17-"In answer to the petition of Tho. Holbrooke, Edward West, selectmen for the towne . . ., it is ordered that the grant of land unto the inhabitants and others at or near Boggestow shall be and hereby is confirmed unto them." [Natick exchange land] ". , and it is ordered that the name of the towne be Sherborne." G. C. Rec.
May 27-"Also then was voted that al the land between the house lot of Mr. Gooken and Edward West to the way called Eames way and to the way leading from Mr. Huls farm to the plain past the Meeting House, except about the meeting house is set apart for the ministry. As also that tract of land between Jonathan Whitney and Benoni Learned on the Rocky hil on the back side of sd Whitney's house, and that land Northward of Benoni Learneds land al that is comon between Nath. Morse, John perry, Danniel Morse highway and Hill on the plain is stated for a scole for ever."
Lt. Ed. West, Obadiah Morse, Thomas Reed, Jonathan Whitney, Jno. Fay, and Jno. Coller are appointed a committee to lay out highways leading from Sudbury, Sherborn, Marlborough and Framingham and the Falls as may be most convenient for the ac- comodition of travelers from Town to Town, both man and beast."
1685, Jan .-* Voted yt Mr. Gookin's sallery shall be augmentated ten pound by year in country pay provided he keep a lecture every month, to begin ye next rate."
1694, Mar. 7-Voted "that the pound shall be set upon that place at the - of the causey against Mr. Gookin's land."
June 4-"Edward West chose scol master for Sherborne."
July 11-"Jonathan Whitney, Sr. chose Pound Keeper."
Voted "to choose A comity of five men to take circumference of that land that Tho. Eames lived on formerly which is included in the exchange of land between Shear- borne and Natick .. ., and also to Answer the Indians with so much land at the uper end of our towne bounds as that shall be or to satisfaction."
*Note. A petition dated Mar. 19, 1684, was discovered in London by Professor Stowe "for the pecunniary Incouragement of the Pastor at Sherborn, Mr. Gookin, son of Maj. Gookin," for lecturing regularly to the people, an interpretor translating his words to the Indians." Sixteen Indian names were signed, among them the older Waban, Thomas Waban, and Daniel Takawampbait.
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1695, Mar. 14-Benoni Learned chosen "Clark of the Market."
Apr. 4-"This meeting is Ajourned untill the next lecture day after lecture, 17 Instant Aprill, that the towne may the better consider in what way to Answer the Indians for the exchang of land, and raysing of the ten pounds in money."
1696, Mar .- "In answer to a request of our Reverend pastor, Mr. Daniell Gookin, to explain and confirm the prices of graine to be paied in his sallery, because it was in our covenant to be paied as it passed from man to man.
The answer of the towne is that the price of grain shall be 5s a bushell for wheat, 4s a bushell for ry, and Indian at 3s a bushell, all to be merchantable; and those that canot pay in corne ther corne part, to pay that corne part in money, without abate- ment."
1700, July 11-Part of Sherborn annexed to Framingham.
1701, May 19-"Then was granted Ten Pounds and Sixteen shillings in money to pay Deacon Morse who Represented sd Towne of Sherborne at the Great and Generall Court in ye yeare 1700."
July 14-Com. chosen to appear at the Gt. and Gen. Ct. "in reference to their Town- ship and rights of Lands &c."
"Joseph Sherman of Watertown, Surveyor, with all convenient speed to take and complet a true and Plaine Plott of the Township of Sherborne, so farr as is needfull of all those Rights of Land granted to the first Inhabitants, and those since purchased by Exchange with the Indians of Natick so as it may be in Readyness . . to present to the Court at their next session.
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