USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Royalston > The history of the town of Royalston, Massachusetts > Part 40
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INDUSTRIAL
Next to the church and school the saw mill and grist mill were the early hand maids of New England civilization, and so the proprietors of Royalshire at one of their early meetings made provision for the mills, and their committee came here and selected the spot on the Lawrence, which to later genera- tions has been known as "Doane's Falls." Here Benjamin Marsh built a grist and saw mill and received a title to the "Mill Lot" south and adjoining the falls with other encourage- ment, and gave his bond to build and maintain suitable mill ac- commodations ; but failing to meet the conditions of his bond the proprietors recovered £200 in a suit at law, a part of which they afterwards remitted. He sold out and removed from town. Isaac Gale from Sutton succeeded him and probably the mills were not operated until Gale became proprietor ; previous to this bags of grain were carried on the shoulders of men through the wilderness to a neighboring town to be ground, and were brought back in the same manner they were carried. Isaac · Gale died in 1779, and Henry Nichols was the next owner who carried on the mills. William Nichols, known as "Miller Nichols" carried on the grist mill for some time.
There was also a clothier's shop in that vicinity, one Ben- jamin May having built as it is stated at "the base of the great Falls, but soon after moved up stream, to near the site of Amos Doane's unique concern," where he secured and made the home-mades of the people. After awhile his business pas- sed into the hands of Joel Nourse from Winchendon, about the beginning of the nineteenth century. Mr. Nourse built the dam north of the old red pail shop and carried on several kinds of business, erecting a blacksmith shop in which he had a trip- hammer, and a nail cutting machine. He also got under his control the oil-mill and Clothier's mill and became the leading
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AMOS DOANE'S MILL AT DOANE'S FALLS
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MERCANTILE AND INDUSTRIAL
manufacturer of liis day in town. After Joel Nourse left town, Benjamin Bragg became proprietor of this privilege and con- tinued for a while the clothier's business. He also built a wool carding mill, which was afterwards converted into a satinet factory, where quite a business was done for some time, and this became a lively section of the town. The mills of Mr. Bragg were burned in 1850. Sullivan Raymond carried on the manufacture of pails in this locality for several years, and since his business was closed up there lias been no manufacturing carried on with the exception of what has been done at the old saw mill at the head of the falls on the Athol road. Sometime in the seventies the mill came into the possession of John Ken- dall & Son, who made many improvements, putting in two turbine wheels and a circular saw mill, and engaged in getting out all kinds of turned chair stock. After they gave up business the property went through the hands of several owners and was purchased by Bolton and Stimson, who did general sawing for many years, and tlien sold to E. E. Dickinson of Buffalo, New York. The old mill which had been a landmark for nearly a hundred years fell down Jan. 3, 1911.
On the opposite side of the stream from this old mill Amos Doane commenced the erection of a large and rambling mill that remained for many years uncompleted, and which formed a unique and picturesque setting for the Falls and the deep gorge with its rocky sides. It was never used to any extent and finally was taken down a part at a time ..
Among the early builders of saw-mills was Capt. Pelatiah Metcalf from Wrentham, Mass., who built a saw-mill on the site of the mill later owned by Nathaniel Greeley, and now known as Cripple Creek.
Lieut. Jonas Allen, one of the early settlers, built a saw-mill which in 1865 was owned by Lyman Stone, and is now owned by Herbert O. Smith.
The saw-mill known for many years as the Leonard G. Moore mill on the Forbes Falls road, was built by Seth Holman, who after a while sold out to Baker and Underwood. Leonard G. Moore in company with his father, James G. Moore, bought the mill in 1866, and a large business was carried on there for upwards of twenty years, in getting out building timber, chair stock and pail and tub stock, and it was said that for several years the largest business was done at this mill of any one in
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HISTORY OF ROYALSTON
town except that of Colonel Whitney at South Royalston. The old mill was sold at auction in 1888, and has long since dis- appeared.
Old records state that in the early days of the town there were eight sawmills, three grist-mills, six tanneries, two brick yards, two potashes, the oil mill, the clothiers mill, and all the small shoe shops, smithies, cider mills, etc., seattered over the town.
The manufacture of potash was a thriving industry in the country from 1760 to 1800. By reason of its scarcity in England, Parliament remitted the duties in 1751 and encouraged its im- portation from Colonies where wood was plenty. In 1788 there were about two hundred and fifty potash works in Massachusetts. The woods chiefly employed were hickory, oak, beech, birch, elm, walnut, chestnut and maple.
At a town meeting held in 1780 it was voted to grant one William Jerrel, a hatter, liberty to build a hatter's shop on the common and occupy the ground so long as he continued the hatter's business thereon, and for many years he furnished the people with hats, and was also engaged in the fur trade.
During the first half of the last century the hollow north of the Common became quite a manufacturing locality. The waters of "Little Pond," west of the Common, were diverted from their natural outlet and carried around by a canal through the hollow, furnishing water power for several shops. The most important one was tbe cabinet shop of Joseph Sawyer, in which pine furniture was manufactured quite extensively for a number of years.
Joseph Sawyer belonged to the well known Sawyer family, noted as inventors, and of which Sylvanus and Addison M. Sawyer were members. He is said to have been the original inventor of a cane cutting machine, that, with improvements made upon it, revolutionized the rattan industry of the country, and which developed into the American Rattan Co. Mr. Saw- yer also invented the first automobile seen in this part of the country, and described by one who saw it as "a buggy with a wood burning steam engine for motor." Mr. Sawyer came up from Fitchburg with his newly invented vehicle, to the Centen- nial Anniversary in 1865, and as related by Mr. George E. Pierce, who was a witness to the event, he drove down the
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MERCANTILE AND INDUSTRIAL
Common at a good rate of speed until he collided with a tree and the machine was demolished.
After Mr. Sawyer left town, the manufacture of furniture was continued by Dea. Seth Holman, and after him by his son, Seth N. Holman, and Joseph B. Cardany, who became one of the prominent citizens of Athol.
Below this privilege a large carriage and wheelwright shop was erected, where quite a business was carried on for several years. After this business was given up the shop was used by Phinehas S. Newton and Charles H. Newton as a palm leaf shop, where they prepared the leaf, which was put out to be braided into hats and woven into Shaker hoods, and the teams of the Newtons distributed the leaf and collected the hats throughout the towns of Northern Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire.
Two plans of Royalston are on file in the State House at Boston. The first, known as the 1795 Plan, is on a scale of two hundred rods to an inch, was drawn March 13, 1795, and sur- veyed in the months of October and November, 1794, by Wil- liam Town, Surveyor. This plan states that there are seven saw mills in town, three grist mills and one fulling mill. By the Boston Road it is seventy-two miles to Boston, and it is thirty-eight miles to the Court House at Worcester. It gives the state line as 412 miles, 25 rods on Fitzwilliam and 334 miles and 35 rods on Richmond, making a total of 814 miles and 60 rods on the state line.
The second plan, known as the Plan of 1830, was surveyed and laid down upon a scale of one hundred rods to an inch : in obedience to a Resolve of the General Court, approved by the Governor March 1, 1830, by Jonathan Blake, Jr., Surveyor, Feb. 3, 1831. This plan gives six saw mills, three grist mills, two woolen factories, twelve school houses, two tanneries, three stores, two cabinet makers shops, six blacksmith shops, one machine shop, one clothiers, one potash.
In 1864 the saw. mills had increased to thirteen, and these, with the shops, were turning out merchandise from the forests according to statistics as follows : 1,440,000 feet of lumber pre- pared for the market, 280 cords of staves, fifty thousand shingles, 32,000 chairs, 36,000 pails, 6,000 bushels of shoe pegs, 1,585 cords of fire. wood and bark, 200 bushels of charcoal,
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HISTORY OF ROYALSTON
chair stock to the value of $5,650, brush-woods worth $10,866, and $12,000 worth of other wooden ware.
POPULATION
The growth of Royalston from its first settlement was rapid and in 1776 it numbered 617. From the opening of the Rev- olution to 1793 the number nearly doubled, and with a popula- tion of 1130 Royalston was then the most flourishing town of Northern Worcester, with the exception of Petersham, and one of the largest in the whole County, exceeding Ashburnham, Athol, Gardner, Templeton and Winchendon in population, having more than double the town of Gardner, which at that time had only 530, and being only 21 behind Fitchburg, which had 1151, and 60 behind Leominster, with 1190, and Worcester with a population of 2100 was only 970 ahead of Royalston.
In 1793 the polls of Royalston as compared with other towns of Northern Worcester were as follows : Royalston 263 ; Athol 206; Winchendon 234; Templeton 241; Gerry 177; Fitchburg 268; Petersham 390.
The number of inhabitants continued to increase at every census until 1840, when it had 1,667, the largest number in the history of the town. While the increase from 1810 to 1830 was only 78, the next ten years showed a gain of 174, which was due to the development of manufacturing industries in the vil- lage of South Royalston. The population at the times of taking the census has been as follows : 1800-1243; 1810-1415; 1820 -1424; 1830-1493; 1840-1667; 1850-1546; 1855-1469; 1860-1486; 1865-1441; 1870-1354; 1875-1260; 1880-1192; 1885-1053; 1890-1030; 1895-890; 1900 --- 958; 1905-903; 1910-792; 1915-866.
INCOME TAXES
During the time of income taxes in Civil War time, the in- comes of Royalston men were returned as follows : Incomes for 1864-
S. S. Farrar, $500; A. K. Josselyn, $8,730; Elilu Piper, $740; R. R. Safford, $3,209; George Whitney, $12,124.
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MERCANTILE AND INDUSTRIAL
Incomes for 1865-
Eber. W. Bullard, $53; Barnet Bullock, $904; S. C. Clem- ent, $46; Caleb W. Day, $134; Salmon S. Farrar, $300; Horace T. Hanks, $45; Jeffrey Lehy, $267; Sumner Marvin, $137; Chas. H. Newton, $400; Elihu Piper, $526; Roby R. Safford, $639; Edmund Stockwell, $560; Orrin Thompson, $404; John Whitmore, $128; George Whitney, $3,583; Lucien Webster, $657.
CHAPTER XVIII
ORGANIZATIONS
MASONIC FRATERNITY
Although Royalston never had a Masonic Lodge within its borders, yet there have been loyal members of this Fraternity in the town from the early days of Masonry in this part of the country to the present time. There were a few members from Royalston in Harris Lodge, which was instituted in Athol in 1802, just how many we are not able to state, but in 1834 when Harris Lodge was disbanded and the money in the treasury was divided, it is recorded that the Royalston Masons were paid thirty dollars as their share, and the two Royalston mem- bers at that time, Timothy Lewis and Jonathan Pierce, agreed to give their share for the support of preaching in the way they should think best.
Benoni Peck, who was actively interested in Free Masonry, and was a member of the order for nearly seventy years, must have been one of the very early members of the Fraternity in Royalston. He was secretary of the Orange Lodge in 1825, and Asaph Merriam, who was a Baptist minister in West Roy- alston, was at one time chaplain of the Orange Lodge. Amos Woodward was also a member. Among the early Masons from Royalston who were members of either Harris Lodge or Orange Lodge we find the names of Adam Streeter, Russell Wheeler, Thomas Cobb, Benjamin Bragg, James Bennett, Lov- ell Kelton, Stephen G. Kendall, Jeremiah Matthews and John Whitmore.
In 1864 Star Lodge was instituted in Athol and has through- out its history numbered among its members citizens of Royals- ton. Eri Shepardson was for twenty-five years treasurer of Star Lodge. Among those from Royalston who have been members of the Lodge are : Jay Davis, Caleb Cook, Rev. Lo- renzo Tandy, Franklin Richardson, Wm. W. Clement, Hosea D. Davis, Darwin F. Wheeler, Nathan S. Tandy, David W. Day, Caleb W. Day, George Woodbury, Horace Fisher, Leo-
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ORGANIZATIONS
nard G. Moore, B. W. Rich, Luke B. Shepardson, Calvin C. Chapin, Herbert Walker, Joseph Walker, Walter S. Chapin, Willard W. White, Charles W. Reed, Walter N. Farrar, Ever- ard B. Hanson.
ROYALSTON GRANGE, NO. 195
One of the most flourishing organizations in the town, and one which has contributed much to the social and intellectual life of the community, is the Grange. This was organized March 17, 1892, by State Master Elmer D. Howe of Marlboro assisted by W. H. Frost of Athol, with forty-two charter mem- bers.
On March 24th the first officers were elected as follows : Master, M. W. White; Overseer, J. M. Wheeler; Lecturer, A. D. Raymond; Steward, Calvin H. Wilcox; Assistant Steward, L. G. Forbes; Treasurer, W. H. Newton; Secretary, Carrie W. Raymond; Gate Keeper, C. H. Deland; Chaplain, L. E. Stew- art; Pomona, Hattie Moore; Flora, Stella V. Newton; Ceres, Lizzie Reed; Lady Assistant Steward, Cora Wetherbee; Orga- nist, E. J. Partridge; Chorister, H. M. Partridge.
These officers were installed March 30th, with the officers of Athol Grange in the chairs, and State Master E. D. Howe as installing officer. Members from six neighboring granges were present, and many words of congratulation and encouragement were given the brothers and sisters of the new grange.
At the end of the first year the membership had increased to fifty-three. The meetings of the first year were held in the Town Hall. During the year a hall was fitted up in the upper room of the school house, the first meeting in its new quarters being held Jan. 4, 1893. This was the home of the Grange for eleven years, when, the room being needed for school purposes, the meetings were again held in the Town Hall, which has been the place of meeting to the present time.
The largest number of members at any time was in 1895, when the year closed with one hundred and eight members. At the twentieth anniversary of the Grange it numbered ninety members, which was about one tenth of the population of the town.
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HISTORY OF ROYALSTON
The following have served the Grange as Master : M. W. White, I. H. Woodbury, C. A. Stimson, L. G. Forbes, L. E. Stewart, C. H. Brown, Myron Stockwell, C. E. Richardson, Eri Stewart. C. A. Stimson held the position at different times seven years.
The Grange has held two successful fairs, two field days which were largely attended, and made three exhibits at the annual fairs of the Worcester North West Society in Athol. It has been helpful to its members and the community in many ways, especially in times of sickness and trouble, having given among its members $320 in money, while it has liberally assisted enterprises outside the order.
CHAPTER XIX
CEMETERIES
The Royalston Memorial in describing the burial grounds of the town in 1865, says: "Of these there are nine in town, besides family yards and places where one or only a few bodies have been interred." The original burial ground projected by the proprietors occupied the east side of the public square. Several interments were made on this ground, but being found very unsuitable for the purpose, it was exchanged for a lot lying southwest of the original plot and on the south side of the Athol road near the Centre school house. Later the town added several acres to this lot and enclosed the whole with a stone wall. It has also a receiving tomb and a hearse-house fronting upon the road, and there for a century and a half have many of the dead of Royalston been conveyed to their last resting place.
Another of the very early grave yards is the old burying ground located near where the first Baptist meeting house was erected; it is sometimes called "the grave yard under the hill." It is nearly two miles from the centre village close by the road to Warwick. When it was first laid out the highway skirted its southern border; now the traveled road is several rods north of it. Originally this was three-fourths of an acre of land fenced in on all sides by a substantial stone wall crowned with posts and rails. It is the last resting place of a great many of the forefathers of the town. Stephen Grant, the first man to die after the settlement of the town commenced was buried here, and also the remains of Mrs. Estey, the first woman who died in town found sepulchre in the same ground. One of the earliest headstones that has an inscription was "Erected to the memory of Mary Ellis, wife of Mr. Paul Ellis, who died Jan. 22, 1786, 24 years of age." Among the tomb-stones stand- ing in this yard are those to the memory of the two Kenneys, Rev. Isaac Kenney who died in 1800, and Rev. Moses Kenney who died in 1801; also to Capt. Pelatiah Metcalf who died in 1807 and who contributed the land for this grave yard. under the hill.
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HISTORY OF ROYALSTON
When the Royalston Memorial described this yard in 1865 it was stated that "it now lieth waste, and the forest usurps the field of the dead." Some twenty years after, the late P. J. Forristall, his two brothers and Jacob Estey of Brattleboro, made some attempts to reclaim this cemetery from the forest growth, and the yard was re-fenced and cleared up. Rev. Albert Bryant, Royalston's centennial poet gathered one of his garlands from this old cemetery as he thus refers to it :
"To the grave yard come, below the hill, When the cares of busy day are still; And spell from broken stones the names That kindled Freedom's holy flames; The dewey pines a hundred years Have wet the ancient mounds with tears."
"Though breaking day its splendor weaves Along a million pointed leaves; Or moon-beams o'er the solemn wood At evening draw their shining hood; No light, at morn or evening, shines Upon the graves beneath the pines."
Shortly before the decease of Hon. Rufus Bullock in 1858 he became much interested in the establishing of a new cemetery near the centre of the town, and with other citizens was instru- mental in the purchase of a lot on the east bank of the Lawrence, a short distance south of the road leading to South Royal- ston, with which it is connected by an avenue. The grounds have been enclosed by a good fence, avenues and paths have been laid out and considerable attention has been paid to the ornamentation and beautifying of the grounds. Mr. Bullock was so much interested in having this cemetery kept in good condition, and not be allowed to become the waste and desolate place that many cemeteries are, that he made his gift of five thousand dollars for the benefit and use of the common schools of Royalston, conditional on the keeping of this cemetery in good order and condition by the town, for a clause in his will in which he bequeaths to the Town of Royalston the sum of five thousand dollars, the income of which shall be appropriated and paid over for the benefit and use of Common schools in the town; also says, provided, however, that whenever the said
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CEMETERIES
town of Royalston shall neglect to keep, or cause to be kept, in good state of repair the new cemetery now being established on the ground recently purchased of C. H. Maxam, that is to say, shall neglect to maintain in good order and condition the said grounds, fence, gate and receiving tombs therein, then this sum of Five Thousand Dollars shall revert to and be paid over to my children and their heirs by right of representation.
Another burial ground, which is the last resting place of many of the families of the West part of the town, is situated upon an eminence near the Warwick line, and southwest from the old Baptist common. This has been kept in better condition than some of the old burial grounds, has a receiving tomb and is well fenced. One of the early grave yards is situated near the Richmond line. A neat and well kept neighborhood cemetery which was laid out in the early sixties is located near the farm of Selectman Luke B. Shepardson. There are also family lots in several sections of the town.
EPIDEMICS
Rev. Joseph Lee in his half-century discourse says that in 1777 "the dysentery prevailed and more than forty were carried off with it. It was computed that about one-twelfth part of the souls in town were taken away by that and other disorders in that year, the whole number of deaths being fifty-two."
In 1795, also, the canker or throat distemper in its various forms prevailed here, of which sixty-six persons died and twenty of other diseases in the same year making eighty-six in all. He also stated that before his settlement, which was in 1768, "that he understood there were eight deaths." One of these was an aged widow, two others were brothers by the name of Win- ship, the first of whom perished in the cold, and the other killed by the falling of a tree. Stephen Grant, the first man to die after the settlement of the town died Sept. 4, 1764.
CHAPTER XX
OLD TAVERNS AND STAGE COACHES
The late Daniel Davis in an article on "Taverns in West Royalston" published in 1890 says: "The first tavern opened in West Royalston was located a few rods east of the first bridge that spans the quietly flowing Tully above Long Pond, where Mr. Elisha Rich built the first house in that part of the town. The late Capt. Asahel Davis is authority for saying that he, with others, stopped there for refreshments about the time of the closing up of the Revolutionary war, and that Uzziah Green was landlord at that time." The late Mrs. James Walker said that when a girl she used to go down by the river to meet- ing Sunday noons. The girls would walk over the bridge for water to drink at the tavern, would stop and chat on the porch which extended the entire frontage of the house, and admire the natural and beautiful meadow just across the road, and its western boundary, the winding river; William Crawford lived there then. The old porch-front tavern disappeared long ago, and little remains to mark the ancient site.
At a later period Deacon Jacob Estey was a genial Boni- face, and dispensed substantial entertainment to weary travelers and administered to the customary wants of the townspeople. His hostelry was the last house as you climb the western slope of the dividing ridge, known as Jacob's Hill.
In the early years of the 19th century Peleg Kingsley hung out a sign on the west side of the road at the City, so that hungry and thirsty travelers, benighted at his door, often entered in to eat and drink, and find shelter until the next morning. His successors as far as known at this time were Calvin Peck, Arba Reed and John Chamberlain, Jr. Chamberlain closed out about 1826.
On the opposite side the highway was another roadside inn, where the wayfarer found a traveler's home, and where on festive occasions the mug, overflowing with toddy passed merrily around the customers. James Buffum and Dana Rich are two of the landlords who entertained at that inn, the latter retiring in 1832. About two miles south of the city, where
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OLD TAVERNS
Myron W. Sherwood now lives, in 1815 on the east side of the road stood erect a painted pole at the corner of some horse- sheds, and from a start sprung out near the top, was hinged a signboard swinging in the breeze and decorated on either face with the familiar name Simeon Jacobs, and the original date of 1806. About 1826 a raising was held at David Cook's, since known as the Tandy place, when a polished shaft was raised and secured in position and a sign board hung in its place, where it remained until nearly 1840, when the last of the tavern emblems disappeared from the local highways.
Among the early taverns in other parts of the town was the half-way house of Joseph Priest near the easterly line of the town where he dispensed hospitality to those who passed that way to and from the French wars. Capt. Gad Pierce when he settled in Royalston opened a public house on the west bank of the Lawrence, and Capt. Peter Woodbury had a tavern on the Athol road. Henry Nichols, known as "Landlord Nichols" had a public house on what was known for many years as the Maxam place.
In the southwest part of the town, which is now included in the town of Orange, Nathan Goddard from Shrewsbury, built a public house, tannery and saw mill and carried on an extensive business. In the north part of the town on what was known for some years as the Miles place, Elisha Cheney kept a tavern and store.
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