USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Maynard > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 8
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sudbury > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 8
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wayland > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 8
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sudbury > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland, and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 8
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wayland > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland, and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 8
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Maynard > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland, and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 8
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In considering the military service of the town in the Revolutionary War, we have only considered a part of her history. During that time important civ- il transactions were taking place also. There were de- privations to be endured by those at home ; the coun- try was burdened with debt, the currency was in a very unecrtain state, and, because of its depreciated condition, there was more or less confusion in com- mercial affairs. There was as much nced of sagacity on the part of the civilian in council, as of military men in the field, to direct the affairs of State and town. The town-meetings of those days were very important occasions, and, unless the people mct cmer- geneies there in a prompt and efficient manner, the fighting element in the field eould accomplish but little. In this respect the people of Sudbury were not deficient. We have heard of no instance where a Tory spirit was manifest nor where a patriotic purpose was want- ing. During the war a large share of the town war- rants set forth the needs of the county or town which were caused by the war ; and the town-meeting that followed was about surc to result in a generous re- sponse to the demand.
Another man who was prominent in military mat- ters was Col. Ezekiel Howe. He belonged to the old Howe family in Sudbury, and was a former proprie- tor of the Red Horse Tavern.
In 1780 the town was divided. The part set off was called East Sudbury, since Wayland.
In 1792 the town voted to sell the training-field in the southeast part of the town, and "the Committee formerly employed to sell the Work house " were ap- pointed to attend to the work. The same year measures were taken for the prevention of the small- pox. The article concerning it in the warrant was "To see if the town would admit the Small-Pox into sd town by Inoculation." " It passed in the nega- tive." The following year the selectmen were in- structed "to take measures to prevent the spreading of the small-pox, and to prosecute the persons who transgressed the laws respecting the disease." In- structions were also given "to make diligent search to see if there were any persons who had been in- oculated for small-pox contrary to law."
On Oet. 5, 1795, the town again voted "to build a new Meeting-House, that it should be ereeted on the common land near to the present meeting-house, and that the south and west cells of sd house should occupy the ground on which the south and west cells of the present meeting-house now stand upon, and that the enlargement of the meeting-house should ex- tend North and East. Voted to accept a plan drawn by Capt. Thomson which plan is 60 feet by 52 with a porch at one end with a steeple or spcar on the top of sd porch. Voted that the Commitee for building the house should consist of nine persons, and that they should receive nothing for their services." In 1796 it was voted that a bell should be purchased for the meeting-house. October, 1798, the building coin-
......
THE HURLBUT PARSONAGE, Sudbury Centre.
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mittee presented to the town the summary of receipts and expenditures which was six thousand twenty-five dollars and ninety-three cents.
In 1812 the number of soldiers reported to be in readiness was eighteen. "Voted to give them $1.25 per day while in service and doing actual duty." The following persons from Sudbury were iu service a short time during the war: Aaron Hunt, Jonas Tower, James B. Puffer, Josiah Puffer, John Carr, Cyrus Willis, George Barker, Leonard Dutton, Otis Puffer, Jesse Puffer, John Sawyer. Warren Moor was in the naval service on a privateer, was taken prisouer and spent some time in Dartmoor Prison.
In 1814, the town settled a new pastor, Rev. Jacob Bigelow having become infirm. In 1810 Rev. Tim- othy Hillard had been invited to preach as a candi- date, and June 1, 1814, he became colleague pastor at a salary of six huudred and fifty dollars and five hundred dollars to begin with.
Sept. 26, 1815, Mr. Hillard was dismissed. The next year Rev. Mr. Hurlbut was called to the pastor- ate. Sept. 12, 1816, Rev. Jacob Bigelow died. In 1823 a Methodist class was formed, which resulted in the formation of a Methodist Episcopal Church. A meeting-house was soon erected which was dedicated in 1836.
March 5, 1832, the town voted to buy a town-farm. In 1845, it voted to build a town-house.
In 1839, a new religious society was formed called the Sudbury Evangelical Union Society. The same year it voted to build a meeting house which was completed and dedicated Jan. 1, 1840.
May 11, 1839, Rev. Rufus Hurlbut died.
March 2, 1841, Rev. Josiah Ballard was installed his successor.
Jan. 5, 1845, Rev. Liuus Shaw was installed as pas- tor of the old parish, which position he retained till his death, Jan. 5, 1866. Since his death the follow- ing ministers have acted as pastors for the First Parish : Revs. Bond, Dawes, Webber, Knowles, Will- ard, Sherman, E. J. Young and Gilman. For several years the church has had preaching but a small por- tion of each year.
In 1852 Rev. Josiah Ballard was dismissed from the Evangelical Union Church ; and the following per- sons have been his successors : Reverends C. V. Spear, E. Dickinson, W. Patterson, P. Thurston, G. A. Oviatt, C. Fitts, D. W. Goodale, W. Richardson.
THE WADSWORTH MONUMENT .- An important event that occurred early in the last half of the present century was the erection of the Wadsworth Monu- ment. February, 1852, a petition was presented to the Legislature of this Commonwealth, in which, after a brief rehearsal of the events in connection with tbe Wadsworth fight, the petitioners say "that a small, temporary monument was erected many years ago by the Rev. Benjamin Wadsworth, President of Harvard College, over the grave of his father, Captain Wads- worth, and his associates in arms. Said monument
being in a dilapidated condition, it is desirable that it be rebuilt in a more durable form. Wherefore, at a legal town-meeting held for that purpose, your peti- tioners were chosen for a committee and instructed to petition your Honorable body for aid in erecting a suitable monument to the memory of said officers and men."
Signed, "Drury Fairbank and thirteen others."
Accompanying this report is the resolve, "That a sum, not exceeding five hundred dollars in all, be and the same is hereby appropriated towards defraying the expense of repairing or rebuilding, in a substantial mauner, the monument in the town of Sudbury, erected by President Wadsworth of Harvard College, about the year 1730, to the memory of Captain Samuel Wadsworth and a large number of other officers and soldiers and others in the service of the colony, who were slain upon the spot marked by the monument, . . . in the defence of that town against the Indians, the said sum to be expended under the direction of His Excellency the Governor, in connection with a committee of said town of Sudbury."
. Agreeable to the foregoing resolve, at a legal town- meeting held June 14, 1852, it was voted that Nahum Thompson, Drury Fairbank, Ephraim Moore, Enoch Kidder and J. R. Vose be a committee to superiutend the building of the Wadsworth Monument. It was then voted to appropriate a sum of money, sufficient to complete said monument and finish about the same, out of any unappropriated money in the treasury, said sum not to exceed five hundred dollars. His Excellency George S. Boutwell, then Governor of this Commonwealth, in connection with the committee of the town, " procured a handsome monument, consist- ing of three large square blocks of granite, one and one-half, two, and three feet thick, raised one above the other ; from the upper one of which rises a granite shaft, tapering towards the top; the whole being twenty-one aud one-half feet in height. On the front of the centre block appears the following inscription :
" This monument is erected by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the town of Sudbury, in grateful remembrance of the services and suffering of the founders of the State, and especially in honor of
CAPT. SAMUEL WADSWORTH, OF MILTON ; CAPT. BROCKLEBANK, OF ROWLEY ; LIEUT. SHARP, OF BROOKLINE ;
and twenty six others, men of their command, who fell near this spot, on the 18th of April, 1676, while defending the frontier settlements against the allied Indian forces of Philip of Pokanoket.
1852."
(The date of the fight as above given is incorrect, the true date being April 21st.)
SCHOOLS SINCE 1850 .- Wadsworth Academy .- In 1856, measures were takeu to establish an academy at South Sudbury. A corporation was formed, the object of which was to hold property, consisting of a build- ing, land and suitable fixtures for educational and re- ligious purposes. The design of the projectors of the enterprise was to erect a building, the upper part of
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which could be used for a school, and the lower part for social and religious services.
The first meeting was held March 11, 1857, and the following officers were elected : President, Dr. Levi Goodenough; directors, Roland Cutler, Samuel Puffer ; treasurer, Samuel D. Hunt. The land was purchased of Nichols B. Hunt, and the building was erected by Arthur Bowen, of South Sudbury. It was two stories high, had a colonnade in front and faced the west. It was named in honor of Captain Wads- worth.
The school flourislied for some years, until the de- mand for its continuance ceased. The school-rooms in it were then used for one of the town's common schools. A few years later the building was destroyed by fire, and on its site was erected a Congregational chapel in 1880.
the centre of the town, the remaining houses were numbered in their regular order, closing with the new house near the residence of John Coughlin, which was numbered six. The town opened a new school at South Sudbury, and March 1, 1875, " voted to allow the proprietors of Wadsworth Hall $100 for rent of said hall for school purposes."
In 1881, a school-house was built in the Wadsworth District by C. O. Parmenter, at a cost of $2560.61. It was placed on a lot containing a half acre of land, which was purchased of Walter Rogers, and situated on the south side of the Sudbury and Marlboro' road, about midway between the Massachusetts Central and Old Colony Railroads.
THE GOODNOW LIBRARY .- In 1862, the town re- ceived the means of establishing a public library through the generosity of John Goodnow, of Boston. The gift came in the form of a bequest, which was set forth in his will as follows :
" First : I give, devise, and bequeath unto my native Town of Sudbury, in the County of Middlesex, the sum of Twenty Thousand Dollars, to be appropriated for the purpose of purchasing and keeping in order a Public Library, for the benefit of the inhabitants of that town."
"Second: I also give, devise and bcqueath to the said Town of Sudbury, three acres of land on the northerly part of the Sudbury Tavern Estate, adjoin- ing the land of Howe Brown, beginning at the Meet- ing-house road, and running with equal width with Brown's linc to the brook, for the purpose of erecting thereon a suitable building for a Library ; and the further sum of Twenty-five Hundred Dollars for the erection of such building; and whatever portion of said land shall not be needed for the purposes of said Library building, the said Town of Sudbury shall have full power and authority to apply to any other Town purposes, but without any power of alienation."
Important changes took place during this period in connection with the common schools. Old districts were divided, and new ones were formed ; old school- houses were moved and new ones built. A large share of the territory of the Northwest District was taken from Sudbury by the incorporation of Maynard; but in the districts that remained, the schools and school- houses remained. The Ceutre School-house, that had stood on the common, was moved to its present loca- . tion south of the Methodist meeting-house, and after its removal was fitted up for the use of two schools,- a primary and grammar. In 1868, the Lanham School-house was moved from the road corners by the Coolidge place to its present location, north of the Boston and Worcester highway, on land that once be- longed to the Goodnow farm. In 1869, eight hundred dollars was granted for repairs on the Southwest School-house. In 1870, the town voted to build a new school-house in the Northeast District, to be lo- cated at or near the junction of Puffer Lanc and the north road. The building was erected at a cost of $2884.82. The same year measures were taken for "At a legal meeting held at Sudbury, on the seventh day of April, 1862, the Town voted to accept the bequest contained in the first and second clauses of the last Will and Testament of John Goodnow, late of Boston ; and Messrs. James Moore, John H. Da- kin, and George Parmenter, Selectmen of the Town, were appointed and authorized to receive and receipt for the said bequest." At the same meeting it was voted to adopt the following resolution : " Resolved by the inhabitants of Sudbury, in Town meeting as- sembled, that we accept with thankfulness thenoble bequests given to the town by the late John Goodnow of Boston; and that, as an evidence of our gratitude, we pledge ourselves to endeavor to the utmost of our ability, honestly and honorably to carry out the be- nevolent intentions of the donor." the removal of the old Pantry School-house, and the result was that a new school-house was built in the southerly portion of the Northeast District, and the Pantry School-house was moved and became the depot of the Framingham & Lowell Railroad. The new school-house was located near the house of Alfred Thompson, and cost $3825.23. About the same time the town voted to build a school-house in the west part of the town in a locality where, hitherto, there had been none. It was erected on the Boston and Berlin road, near the house of John Coughlin, at a cost of $2508.77. The building committee rendered their report to the town March 4, 1872, and at the same meeting the committee appointed to number the school districts reported that plates had been pro- cured, lettered, and numbered, at a cost of $7.50, and July 14th, the town instructed the committee to erect a building for the library given by John Good- now, according to plan reported to them, the sum not to exceed $2500. April 4, 1864, the committee re- that commencing with the Centre District, which they designated as number one, the committee next pro- ceeded to the house in the Southwest District, which they numbered two. Thence, passing to the right of | ported the cost of the building, including $32.43 for
THE WADSWORTH ACADEMY,
SOUTH SUDBURY.
See pages_27 and 28.
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setting out shade trees, to be $2691.35. The building was enlarged several years ago by an addition on the west; and at present there is little, if any, unoccu- pied space. Four catalogues have been issucd ; the first, at the opening of the Library, when it contained less than 2300 volumes ; the second in 1867 ; the third in 1874, when it contained nearly 5000 volumes ; and the fourth in 1887, when it contained over 9700. The grounds about the library are ample, and taste- fully laid out, consisting of a level lawn adorned wirh shade trees. The building is reached by a circular driveway extending from the county highway. In the rear the land extends to Hop Brook.
John Goodnow, the donor of this library fund, was a son of John and Persis Goodnow, who lived at Lan- ham. He was born at Sudbury, Sept. 6, 1791, aud died in Boston, Dec. 24, 1861. His remains were placed in his tomb at Sudbury Centre.
RAILROADS .- No railroad passed through the pres- ent limits of the town until about the beginning of the last period of the present century. About 1870 the Framingham & Lowell Railroad was begun, and in the fall of 1871 the cars began passing through the town. A station was built at North and South Sud- bury and at the centre. The one at South Sudbury was built a little northerly of the junction of the Sudbury and Marlboro' and Framingham highways, and has since been moved.
July 22, 1870, it was voted "That the Town Treas- urer be authorized and instructed to subscribe for, take and hold Capital Stock in the Framingham and Lowell Railroad Company to the amount of Thirty thousand dollars. . . . Provided said Railroad shall not be located in any place more than half a mile from the last survey in the Town of Sudbury."
The road has recently been leased to the "Old Col- ony " Company, and is now known as the "Northern Branch of the Old Colony Road." In 1887 every station of this road within the limits of Sudbury was burned. Recently new and more commodious ones have been built on or near the sites of the former ones.
Massachusetts Central Railroad-In October, 1880, the first rails were laid at South Sudbury on the track of the Massachusetts Central Railroad, beginning at its junction with the Framingham & Lowell road. During the following winter the road was continued towards Hudson on the west and Boston on the east ; and July 22, 1881, nine car-loads of rails passed over the Central road, entering upon it at Waverly and going to Hudson. April 20, 1881, a train of cars passed over the road from Boston to Hudson; and October 1st, the same year, regular trains began to run. May 16, 1883, the cars stopped running, and commenced again Sept. 28, 1885, under the manage- ment of the Boston & Lowell Railroad. Recently the road was leased to the Boston & Maine Railroad corporation. The Junction Station is a fine one, and the town is now provided with excellent railroad facilities.
THE CIVIL WAR .- In the Civil War Sudbury was fully abreast of the average New England town in its promptness and zeal. The first war-meeting was a citizens' mass-meeting held in the Town Hall. The people did not wait for the slow call of a warrant. They assembled spontaneously to consult as to what was required of them, with fuil confidence that in a town-meeting to be subsequently called their acts would be ratified and made legal. This meeting was characterized by unanimity and enthusiasm. The spirit of the heroes of '75, when they were assembled on Sudbury Common, with arms in their hands as militia and minute-men, to start on their march to Concord, was evinced on this April evening nearly a century later, when the citizens of Sudbury were again met to defend their homes and native land.
The principal business of this meeting related to the fitting out of the "Wadsworth Rifle Guards." This was a company of State Militia which belonged to Sudbury, and was attached to the Second Battal- lion of Rifles, which was commanded by Major Eph- raim Moore, of Sudbury, uutil his death, which oc- curred some years previous. The following record of a legal town-meeting, held April 29, 1861, sets forth the business that was transacted at the mass-meeting, and its ratification by the town :
"The town voted to furnish new uniforms for the members of the Wadsworth Rifle Guards, Company B, Second Battallion of Rifles, M. V. M., forthwith ; also to furnish each member of said company with a revolver, in case said company is called into the ser- vice of the country, the revolvers to be returned to the selectmen of the town when the holders of them shall return home and be discharged from the service ; also the uniforms to be returned to the town if the members of the company are not held in service more than three months. Voted also to pay to each mem- ber of said company, in case they are called into ser- vice, a sum of money in addition to their pay re- ceived from the government, which shall make the whole amount of their pay twenty dollars per month while they are in such service, and that ten dollars of the above sum be paid to each member whenever he shall enter such service. Voted also that the families of those who may leave shall be furnished with all necessary assistance at the expense of the town, and the business of those who may leave it shall be prop- erly cared for by the town, and not allowed to suffer by their absence." "Voted, also, that each commis- sioned officer of the company belonging in town be presented with a suitable sword at the expense of the town, and that the other commissioned officers not belonging in town be furnished with the same, if they are not otherwise provided for." "Voted to grant the sum of one thousand dollars," for the purposes above mentioned.
The amount of money actually expended in fitting out this company was $987. About the time of the holding of the first war-meeting there were enlist-
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nents into the Sudbury company, with the expecta- tion of soon being called into the service for three months, and the company for a time continued to drill. No call, however, came for this term of ser- vice. The emergency had been met, Washington for the time was safe, and it was at length discovered that the company as such would not be received into any existing regiment for the terni of three months. The next demand was for soldiers to serve for three years or the war, and the " Wadsworth Rifle Guards " were soon ordered to Fort Independence that they might enlist in the Thirteenth Regiment for this length of time. Twenty-five of them enlisted, and July 30th the regiment left the State. This was the largest number of Sudbury inen who enlisted at any one time, and they have the honor of being the first Sudbury soldiers who enlisted from the town.1
From the time of the first enlistments there were repeated calls for troops. "Three hundred thousand more " became a familiar term, and at each new call the town took measures to fill its quota. July 4, 1862, the President issued a call for volunteers for three years, and July 28th the town " voted to pay a bounty of one hundred and twenty-five dollars to each volunteer who has enlisted or may enlist into the ser- vice of the U. S. . . . to the number of fourteen." Also, "Voted to instruct the selectmen to look after and provide for any sick or wounded volunteer be- longing to the Town of Sudbury." In August of the same year a call came for soldiers for nine months' service ; and Ang. 19, 1862, the town "voted to pay the sum of one hundred dollars to each person who voluntarily enlists into the service of the United States for the term of nine months, on or before the first day of September next, to a number not exceed- ing the quota of their town."
Dec. 17, 1862, the town voted to fill up their quota by paying one hundred and forty dollars bounty. December 22d the committee reported at a town- meeting held in the evening, "that they had pro- cured sixteen men to fill up the town's quota for the military service of the United States, that said men had been accepted and sworn into the said service, and had been properly accredited to the town of Sudbury, and that said committee paid the sum of one hundred and thirty dollars for each man."
Oct. 17, 1863, the President issued another call for three hundred thousand men, and December 7th the town " voted to authorize the selectmen to use all proper and legal measures to fili up the town's quota of volunteers, agreeable to the call of the President of the United States for three hundred thousand volun- teers, dated Oct. 17, 1863."
March 14, 1864, the President issued a call for two hundred thousand men, and March 22d the town ap- pointed a committee "to take all proper and legal
measures to fill the quota of the town" under this call. June 9th the town voted to " raise money suffi- cient to pay one hundred and twenty- five dollars to eachi volunteer who shall culist into the service of the United States and be duly accredited as a part of the quota of the Town of Sudbury in anticipation of a call from the President to recruit the armies now in the field, and that the selectmen be required to use all proper measures to procure said volunteers." It was voted also " that the selectmen be authorized to pro- cure not less than seventeen men." At the same meeting "the committee appointed by the town at a meeting held March 22, 1864, to take all proper and legal measures to fill the quota of the town under the call of the President of the United States for two hundred thousand meu, dated March 14, 1864, re- ported that the town's quota was ten men ; that there had been seven nien accredited to the town by volun- teer enlistment at an expense of nine hundred and ten dollars, and that the remaining three were drafted and accepted."
Nov. 8, 1864, it was "voted to grant the free use of the Town Hall for the Soldiers' Aid Society." This was an organization formed in the war period for the purpose of assisting the soldiers. May 29, 1865, it was " voted to refund all money contributed by individuals to fill the quotas of the town of Sud- bury in the year 1864."
LIST OF CASUALTIES .- The fatal casualties that oc- curred to persons who were accredited to or natives of Sudbury, as we have found them recorded in the town-book or the adjutant-general's printed report, are as follows :
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