USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Medway > The history of Medway, Mass., 1713-1885 > Part 41
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This place was sufficient, with a small addition, to supply the needs of the community till within a few years, when some six acres of land were pur- chased of Mr. Simeon Cutler a little east of the former place. This tract was laid out into lots and soon sold for family burial places. Small addi- tions were made to this tract until more recently the entire tract lying be- tween this and the old burial-place was purchased by an association which caused the same to be laid out with walks and avenues. To this purchase and all the former ground was given the name of "The Evergreen Ceme- tery."
THE OAKLAND CEMETERY.
After a church had been established, business increased, and the popula- tion had become numerous in the Village, it was felt that grounds should be secured for burial purposes. In 1860 terms were obtained for the Lily Pond Lot, on Oakland Street, but the purchase was not made, as the War for the Union came on and absorbed the interest of the people.
In 1865, without conference with any one, a tract of land was bought by the Hon. M. M. Fisher, with the view of appropriating a portion of it for a cemetery. It was only after cutting out the dense undergrowth that it was seen by the public to be well adapted to such uses. The proprietor proposed to form an association to prepare the grounds and manage its affairs. Not
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meeting with a prompt and general response, upon the suggestion of Mr. Orion Mason, Sen., he assumed the burden alone. A petition to the town to allow a cemetery was drawn up and permission granted, and the sum of $300 was appropriated subsequently for a receiving tomb. The grounds were in part laid out and plans made by Mr. Herbert Fisher Keith, a civil engineer, and the cemetery was duly consecrated June 20, 1865, as the Oakland Cemetery, by appropriate religious services, as follows :
The singing of the following hymn :
We meet not now where pillar'd aisles, In long and dim perspective fade ; No dome, by human hands uprear'd, Gives to this spot its solemn shade.
Our temple is the hill and dale, It's shrines these grateful hearts of ours ; Our incense is the balmy gale, Whose perfume is the spoil of flowers.
Yet here, where now the living meet, The shrouded dead ere long will rest, And grass now trod beneath our feet, Will mournful wave above our breast.
Here birds will sing their notes of praise, When summer hours are bright and warm;
And winter's sweeping winds will raise, The sounding anthems of the storm.
Then now, while life's warm currents flow, While restless throbs the anxious heart, Teach us, Oh Lord, thy power to know, Thy grace, Oh Lord, our God, impart.
Then when beneath this verdant soll, Our dust to kindred dust is given ; Our souls, released from mortal coil, Shall find, with thee, their rest in Heaven.
The reading of the Scriptures by the Rev. D. Sanford ; a prayer of con- secration by the Rev. Jacob Ide, D. D. ; an address by the Rev. Jacob Roberts ; the singing of a hymn written by the Rev. C. C. Sewall :
With the heart's uplifted prayer, And the voice of plaintive psalm Rising softly on the air From an inward, holy calm ;-
With a firm and joyful trust That our spirits cannot die, We now consecrate the dust That shall o'er our loved ones lie.
Weep we not as they may weep, Who their dust to dust shall give With no hope that from death's sleep They shall rise again to live.
Jesus, from his broken tomb, Hath ascended up on high, And hath borne away the gloom Else would on the graveyard lie.
Here we calmly leave our dead, In the faith that angels keep Watch around the lowly bed Where they unforgotten sleep.
Hope we may to meet again - Love and joy in every heart - Where the saints in glory reign ; Where the ransomed never part.
These services concluded with the Benediction.
The Messrs. A. L. B. Monroe, George W. Ray, and E. C. Wilson, were the committee of arrangements and of the appraisal of the lots.
Immediately after the devotional services the several lots were sold, agreeably to certain rules and conditions which were to be kept on file with the plan in the hands of the clerk of the Congregational society of the Village.
The first burial in the cemetery was that of Mrs. Mary Darling, who died October 26, 1865, aged one hundred and two years, five months, and ten days ; interred in Lot No. 3, Section A, Wood Lawn Avenue.
The first monument erected was that of the proprietor, the Hon. M. M. Fisher, upon Lot No. 1, Section A, Auburn Avenue.
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The remains of five children were removed from Evergreen Cemetery, April, 1866, and most of the early burials in the cemetery were removals of remains from the same place.
The price of lots has been so low that the enterprise has been far from remunerative to the proprietor, but, nevertheless, has been a source of much satisfaction to him and a great convenience to the public.
THE CATHOLIC CEMETERY.
The town, in 1876, gave permission to Mr. James O'Donnell and others to lay out a cemetery on Oakland Street, which was accordingly done, and duly consecrated to burial purposes.
The various cemeteries of the town are all receiving from year to year in- creased attention, until they are fast becoming spots not only hallowed with the tenderest sentiments of remembrance and love, but made beautiful and attractive, and as resorts they preach to hundreds who traverse their avenues of the vanity of life here, save as devoted to usefulness and a preparation for the immortal life beyond.
William J Adams
OLIEF OFTICI
BIRTHPLACE OF "OLIVER OPTIC."
THE BIOGRAPHIES.
WILLIAM T. ADAMS, EsQ.
To Medway belongs the honor of being the birthplace of this well-known author, whose nom de plume, "Oliver Optic," is a household word to the children of America. Mr. Adams is a writer of merit and popularity, hav- ing few equals even in these days when the writers of juvenile literature are as numerous
" As autumnal leaves that strew the brook in Vallombrosa."
WILLIAM T. ADAMS, son of Laban and Catherine (Johnson) Adams, was born July 30, 1822, in Medway, Mass. He descended from Henry Adams, immigrant, who came in 1632 to America from Devonshire, Eng- land, and settled in Quincy, Mass. Governor Samuel Adams, of the Rev- olutionary period, and the Presidents, John Adams and John Q. Adams, were of the same lineage. His more immediate ancestor was Edward Adams, one of the earliest settlers of Medfield, Mass., whose great-grandson was the grandfather of the subject of this sketch. Laban Adams, the father of Mr. Adams, first kept a public house in Medway, but removed about 1830 to Boston, Mass., and kept the Washington Coffee House, and subsequently the Lamb Tavern. In 1846 he erected the Adams House, which was named in honor of the Presidents. William T. Adams was educated in the public and private schools of Boston and vicinity, and when a mere lad showed a talent for writing. A school composition, which is a task to most pupils, was to him a delight. In 1841, at the age of nineteen, he published his first article in The Social Monitor, which was followed by others. For three years next succeeding 1842 Mr. Adams was the master of the Lower Road
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School in Dorchester, Mass., where he won the reputation of a good teacher. In 1846 he resigned his position to assist his father and brother in the man- agement of the new hotel, the Adams House, in Boston. This business was not suited to his taste, and was soon abandoned as the concern failed for the remarkable reason as given in court, " Because they kept too good a house." Mr. Adams resumed teaching in 1848 in the Boylston School, Boston, of which he became the master in 1860, and on the establishment of the Bow- ditch School he was transferred and held the position of master in that school until he resigned in 1865.
He then went abroad and traveled through the countries of Europe. From this time dates his career as an author. Mr. Adams' nom de guerre, " Oliver Optic," originated on this wise : he wrote a poem in 1851 for " The Boston Young Men's Total Abstinence Society," which was published in The Flag of Our Union under the heading "1951. A Poem. Delivered before the Mutual Admiration Society, by Oliver Optic, M. D." The name Optic was suggested by a character in a drama at the Boston Museum, called Dr. Optic. To this Mr. Adams prefixed Oliver, with no thought of ever using it again. But not long after two essays appeared in The Waverly Magazine by " Oliver Optic," which were so well received that he con- tinued to write under this pseudonym until it became impracticable to aban- don it. From writing stories for newspapers the transition was easy to the writing of books. The following list embraces the different volumes he has written, in the order of their publication :
1853, Hatchie, In Doors and Out ; 1854, The Boat Club ; 1855, All Aboard ; 1856, Now or Never; 1857, Try Again; 1858, Poor and Proud, The Student and School- mate, 9 vols. (1858-1866) ; 1860, Little by Little; 1862, The Riverdale Books, 12 vols. ; 1863, Rich and Humble, A Spelling Book, In School and Out; 1864, Watch and Wait, The Soldier Boy, The Sailor Boy; 1865, Work and Win, The Young Lieutenant, The Yankee Middy, Fighting foe; 1866, Hope and Have, Haste and Waste, Brave Old Salt, Outward Bound, The Way of the World; 1867, Oliver Optic's Magazine, 9 vols. (1867-1875), Shamrock and Thistle, Red Cross, The Starry Flag, Breaking Away. Seek and Find; 1868, Dikes and Ditches, Palace and Cottage, Freaks of Fortune, Make or Break, Down the River; 1869, Down the Rhine, Our Standard Bearer, Through by Daylight, Lightning Express, On Time, Switch Off; 1870, Brake Up, Bear and Forbear, Field and Forest, Plane and Plank; 1871, Crin- gle and Cross-tree, Desk and Debit, Bivouac and Battle, Up the Baltic; 1872, North- ern Lands, Sea and Shore, Little Bobtail; 1873, The Yacht Club, Money Maker, Cross and Crescent; 1874, The Coming Wave, The Dorcas Club, Sunny Shores; 1875, Ocean-Born, Going West; 1876, Living too Fast, Vine and Olive; 1877, Out West, Fust His Luck, Isles of the Sea, An Historical Sketch of Union Lodge, Dorchester; 1878, Lake Breezes; 1879, Going South; 1880, Down South, Our Little Ones, 4 vols. (1880-1885) ; 1881, Up the River, Robinson Crusoe (edited) ; 1882, All Adrift; 1883, Snug Harbor; 1884, Square and Compass; 1885, Stem to Stern.
In all, more than one hundred volumes, the aggregate sale of which exceeds a million copies ! This has had no parallel in the annals of juvenile literature.
The elements of this author's popularity lie in his long and varied school experiences. At one time he had 1,200 scholars and twenty-five teachers under his immediate control; for twenty years he was a teacher, and twelve years a superintendent of a Sabbath School. Few writers have been brought so directly in contact with the rising generation, or have
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enjoyed such varied observations of child-life. It is doubtless true, also, that Mr. Adams' books owe much of their interest and value to his quick and keenly appreciative mind. In a word, he appeals directly to the living, earnest sympathies of the young ; his narrative is sprightly, his incidents true to actual life, and his moral pills are so well sugared that they are taken greedily by the young patient. He aims to impart the lessons of truth and morality, without creating in the mind a distaste for such reading.
It is evident from a perusal of his writings that he constantly aims to make goodness attractive and vice odious ; he never allows an unrepentant bad character to appear in any other than a true light. His readers are taught to hate the mean and unworthy, and to love and strive for the good. He once gave, in conversation, as his motto in writing for the young, " First God, then country, then friends."
In 1867 Mr. Adams was elected a member of the school committee of Dorchester by every vote but one, which he cast himself; he served till the town was annexed to Boston, and was elected a member of the Boston School Committee in 1870. He was chairman of the Dorchester High School Committee six years. In 1869 he was elected a member of the Legislature for the town of Dorchester, but declined a re-nomination. In 1870 he went to Europe a second time, and traveled through all the countries of Europe not previously visited, and the books which he has since published show the result of his observations.
Industry and genius are seldom allied ; the man of talent seldom plods ; he who achieves a moderate success is only too apt to rest upon his laurels rather than keep hard at work for still higher ends, still greater renown. In briefly viewing the leading points in the life and labors of Mr. Adams, we find that he unites these unusual traits in a remarkable manner, and that to- day he is still the same untiring worker as when, a younger man, he had the great future before him, with talent, ambition, and industry as his threefold capital.
Mr. Adams, at the age of sixty-three years, is actively engaged in literary pursuits, his vigor as a writer unabated, and is still the favorite author of young readers in America and in Europe. Vid. The Men of the Time.
REV. JASPER ADAMS, D. D.
JASPER ADAMS, son of Jasper and Anna (Rounds) Adams, was born Aug. 27, 1793, in East Medway. He fitted for college under the Rev. Luther Wright, and graduated in 1815 from Brown University, Rhode Island. Mr. Adams studied theology for two years in Andover Theological Seminary and taught in Phillips Academy. He was a tutor in Brown University in 1818- '19, and ordained to the ministry, Aug. 4, 1820, in the Episcopal Church. For five years prior to 1824, he was professor of mathematics and natural philosophy in Brown University, Rhode Island. Professor Adams married, May 16, 1820, Miss Mercy D. Wheeler, of East Medway, who died Nov. 11, 1821, while they resided in Providence, R. I. In 1824 he was called to the Presidency of the Charleston College, S. C., and soon after married Miss Mayrant, of that city. In 1826 he resigned his position to accept the Presi- dency of Geneva College, N. Y., which he held until 1828, when he re-
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sumed the Presidency of Charleston College, where he remained until 1836, when he was appointed chaplain and professor of ethics in the United States Military Academy at West Point, N. Y. In 1840, circumstances making it desirable for him to reside South, he resigned his position. pur- chased an estate in Pendleton, S. C., for his home, and preached in an Episcopal Church in that vicinity. He received the degree of D. D. in 1827, from Columbia College, N. Y. He was a fine scholar and a writer of ability. He published a book on moral philosophy, and was recognized as a man of eminence in the literary world. Several of his occasional addresses and sermons were printed. The Rev. Dr. Adams died after a brief illness; Oct. 25, 1841, at the age of forty-eight years. His sister, Mrs. Elizabeth (Adams) Bigelow, widow of Dea. Calvin Bigelow, of Dover, Mass., now resides with her son, Charles A. Bigelow, Esq., of Millis, in vigorous health, and in the full enjoyment of her mental powers, having passed her ninetieth birthday, Sept. 26, 1885. She is the last survivor of her father's family.
REV. EZRA ADAMS.
EZRA ADAMS, son of Ezra and Abigail (Partridge) Adams, was born Aug. 28, 1809, in West Medway. He graduated in 1835 from Amherst College, Massachusetts, and in 1838 from the East Windsor Theological Seminary, Connecticut. He was ordained to the Gospel ministry, and in- stalled April 28, 1840, pastor of the Congregational Church in Surry, N. H. After a ministry of three years he removed to Roxbury, N. H., where he labored from Jan. 1, 1843, to 1850, when he commenced preaching in Gilsum, N. H., where he was installed, March 19, 1851, pastor of the church, in which office he continued until his death, which occurred at the age of fifty- four years, March 20, 1864. As a minister of the Gospel he has been spoken of as faithful and persevering in his work and discreet in all things, the crown- ing excellence of the man being his cheerful spirit and self-sacrifice for the Master. As a preacher he was clear and forcible, his sermons being the plain and practical presentations of the truth. The pastorate of the Rev. Mr. Adams in Gilsum, N. H., continued through a period of nearly fourteen years. He was beloved by his people, much respected in the town as a wise counsellor and a man of tact in business affairs. He was superintend- ent of schools for thirteen years. His ministry was one of usefulness, and his life a great public good. " Of few men could it as well be said ' Behold an Israelite, indeed, in whom is no guile.'" Vid. The History of Gil- sum, N. H.
REV. EDWIN AUGUSTUS ADAMS.
EDWIN AUGUSTUS ADAMS, son of Newell and Abigail Fales (Blake) Adams, was born Oct. 21, 1837, in Franklin, Mass. His parents soon after became residents of Medway. He graduated in 1861 from Amherst College, Massachusetts. In 1861-2 he was a teacher in West Boylston, Mass. Mr. Adams pursued his professional studies in Union Theological Seminary, New York, and in the Theological Seminary, Andover, Mass. He was ordained and installed, Sept. 3, 1868, pastor of the church in North Manchester, Conn. In 1872 he was appointed a missionary of the
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American Board, and stationed in Prague, Austria, where he labored for ten years. He then returned to this country, and succeeded to the pastorate of Northboro', Mass., then recently made vacant by the death of his younger brother, the Rev. George B. Adams. He remained in Northboro' some two years, and then removed to Chicago, Ill., and became the pastor of a church of the Bohemians in that city.
REV. GEORGE BURTON ADAMS.
GEORGE BURTON ADAMS, son of Newell and Abigail Fales (Blake) Adams, was born Oct. 4, 1841, in Medway, Mass. He graduated in 1875 from Amherst College, Massachusetts, and in 1876 from the Hartford Theological Seminary, Connecticut.
He was ordained and installed Nov. 19, 1879, pastor of the Congrega- tional Church in Northboro', Mass. He married, Oct. 26, 1880, Emma C. Noble, daughter of James and Eliza Ann (Smith) Noble, of Hartford, Conn. He had entered upon a useful ministry, and was much beloved by his people, when he died Aug. 25, 1881. He was succeeded by his elder brother, the Rev. Edwin Augustus Adams, recently returned from a mission to Prague, Austria.
HON. PHINEHAS ADAMS.
PHINEHAS ADAMS, son of Phinehas and Sarah W. (Barber) Adams, was born June 20, 1814, in Medway.
His father was a manufacturer, and started, in 1814, the first power-loom in this country, in Waltham, Mass. Mr. Adams learned his father's business. In 1829, leaving school, he went to work in the Merrimack Mills, Lowell, Mass., where he soon held the position of an overseer. In December, 1833, Mr. Adams removed, and was an overseer in the mills of which his father was then the agent, in Hooksett, N. H. Subsequently he was an overseer in the mills in Pittsfield, N. H., and later he returned to Lowell, Mass., where he was for some time a clerk in the counting-room of the Merrimack Mills. In 1846 he left Lowell and became the agent of the Old Mills at Amoskeag Falls, N. H., and Nov. 6, 1847, he was appointed agent of the Stark Mills, Manchester, N. H. This position he held for more than twenty years. Mr. Adams was a director in several banking institutions in Manchester, also a director of the New England Cotton Manufacturers' Association. In 1872 he was elected a Presidential Elector for New Hampshire, and in 1872 and 1873 he was chief on the staff of Governor Straw, with the title of colonel. His only daughter married Daniel C. Gould, Esq., paymaster of the Stark Mills, Manchester, N. H., and his only son was Phinehas Adams, Jr., a partner in the cotton business of E. C. Bigelow, Esq., of Boston, Mass.
"Mr. Adams was a man whose life was based upon the highest ideas of right and wrong. Kindly and affable, of remarkable generosity, he was highly respected by all his fellow-citizens, and his personal popularity would have insured his election to any office in their gift, if he could have been induced to accept it." " His death was a great public loss." Vid. The History of Manchester, N. H.
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DEA. SAMUEL ALLEN.
SAMUEL ALLEN, son of Abijah and Abigail (Maxcy) Allen was born March 15, 1778, in Franklin, Mass., the first male child born in the town after its incorporation. As a boy he developed great versatility of talent. Before twelve years of age he had constructed various articles for use or pleasure ranging from a windmill to a cheese press. His first invention of importance was a washing machine which was a curiosity, used for a time in the family of Dr. Nathaniel Miller. During an apprenticeship of three years with Colonel George Hawes, of Wrentham, Mass., such were his habits of industry, with an aptitude for drawing, that in his leisure hours he acquired a knowledge of architecture, and fitted himself for a draftsman of the most intricate machinery. In 1804 he moved to Newburyport and opened an office as an architect and building contractor, where he remained ten years, when on account of the death of his wife, losses by fire, and general depression in business he returned with his family to Franklin, Mass. He was employed for a year in Medway Village, then for three years in West Medway in com- pany with Captain William Green, manufacturing bass viols and other musical instruments. Afterwards he turned his attention to machinery, man- ufactured cotton cards and other cotton machinery, and for many years had charge of this department of the Cotton Manufacturing Company in Medway Village, making some valuable improvements. He was a great reader, draw- ing upon the town library for books of useful information, besides keeping himself posted with the current news. He was a man of great self-control and uniform cheerfulness, made many friends, and seldom an enemy. He was not exhilarated by prosperity, nor depressed by adversity, but maintained a quiet, peaceful deportment through a long and useful life. He was a dea- con in the Village church many years. Deacon Allen died Jan. 15, 1866, at the house of his son-in-law, Darius D. Buffum, Esq., in Newport, R. I.
ALDIS SAMUEL ALLEN, M. D.
ALDIS SAMUEL ALLEN, eldest son of Dea. Samuel and Sarah Wood (Aldis) Allen, was born Nov. 13, 1803, in Newburyport, Mass. He pursued his preparatory studies with the Rev. Dr. Jacob Ide, of West Medway, and in Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. He graduated in 1827 from Yale College, Connecticut, and studied medicine in New Haven, while teaching music, penmanship and gymnastics in a school for boys, under the charge of Dr. Sereno Dwight. He practiced medicine three years in Bridgeport, Conn. He married Eliza M. Weeks, of Jamaica, L. I., and died Aug. 9th, 1833, in Jacksonville, Ill. He is remembered by those who knew him, for his musical talent, pleasing manner, social disposition, and Christian spirit.
CHARLES COFFIN ALLEN, M. D.
CHARLES COFFIN ALLEN, son of Dea. Samuel and Sarah Wood (Aldis) Allen, was born Nov. 30, 1807, in Newburyport, Mass. He inherited much of his father's mechanical ingenuity, and when not in school, was fond of working with tools in a machine shop in the Village. Here he made a large brass clock, under the eye of his father, and completed it before he was
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eighteen years of age, which was placed upon the meeting-house in West Medway, where it gave correct time to the citizens for many years. When nineteen years of age he commenced the study of medicine while teaching school, afterwards attending lectures in New Haven, and graduated from the Medical College in Pittsfield, Mass. He practiced a short time in Uxbridge, but finding dentistry more congenial as well as more remunerative, he settled in 1835 as a dentist in Norwich, Conn. In 1840 he removed to New York City and took a high stand in his profession. He was the editor of The Den- tal Recorder, and a member of the Dental Society, of New York. He mai- ried in 1854, Mary Behean, and died May 24, 1857, leaving a widow and one daughter.
DR. ELIAB METCALF ALLEN.
ELIAB METCALF ALLEN, son of Dea. Samuel and Julietta (Metcalf ) Alleu, was born June 16, 1818, in Medway. After leaving school he was a clerk for several years in Norwich, Conn., and in Worcester, Mass. After- wards he studied dentistry with his brother, and in 1845 went to Georgia. He married, Aug. 5, 1847, Eliza C. Park, of Greensboro', Ga., and resided in Marietta, Ga. His only son was a dentist and died in 1877. His only daughter married and resided in Marietta, Ga.
DR. WILLIAM HENRY ALLEN.
WILLIAM HENRY ALLEN, son of Dea. Samuel and Julietta (Metcalf) Allen, was born July 2, 1821, in Medway. In early youth he exhibited a desire to learn dentistry, and after receiving an academic education he en- tered the office of his brother, Dr. C. C. Allen, in Norwich, Conn., whom he succeeded in that city, and after Dr. C. C. Allen's death, in 1857, he suc- ceeded to his practice in New York City. He was a skillful operator and a high-minded man. He was one of the founders of the New York College of Dentistry, filling the chairs of president and professor, and was for several years president of the board of trustees of said college. He inherited an in- ventive and mechanical talent from his father, which served a good purpose in his practice. He married, May 10, 1853, Lizzie R. Bently, of Norwich, Conn., who died, and he married, in 1872, a second wife, Linda M. San- gree. He died Oct. 23, 1882, leaving a widow, but no children.
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