USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Royalston > The history of the town of Royalston, Massachusetts > Part 46
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53
Martha M. Farrar, daughter of Samuel S. and Martha (Evans) Farrar, was born Sept. 8, 1840. She married Henry N. Foster, and died in Athol Nov. 17, 1910. She was before her marriage a school teacher for several years. Her husband, born Oct. 21, 1823, died in Athol April 30, 1907. Their chil- dren were: Mattie Foster, born Oct. 3, 1872; Myrtie Foster, born July 4, 1878; and Willie Foster, born Nov. 4, 1884, and died when eight months old.
Edwin Evans Farrar, son of Salmon S. and Martha (Evans) Farrar was born March 15, 1844. He never married, and has always lived in South Royalston.
Helen Isabella Farrar, daughter of Salmon S. and Martha (Evans) Farrar, was born Sept. 28, 1846, and died, Dec. 14. 1847.
S. Ardella Farrar, youngest daughter of Salmon S. and Martha (Evans) Farrar, was born Feb. 17, 1850. She married Dec. 17, 1874, B. Warren Rich of South Royalston. She was a great help to her husband in his store, as she had acquired a good knowledge of business having been associated with her
CALEB W. DAY
523
THE SALMON S. FARRAR FAMILY
father in his business for some time. Her entire life was passed in the house where she was born, she having, on the death of her father, purchased of the remaining heirs their share of the homestead, upon which she made extensive improvements. She was a woman of strong character and was highly respected by a large circle of acquaintances. She died March 26, 1900,
CALEB W. DAY FAMILY
Anthony Day, the immigrant ancestor of Caleb W. Day, was born in England in 1616 and belonged to an ancient family. He came to Gloucester, Mass., and settled there permanently some time before 1657. John Day, the father of Caleb W. Day, was born in Richmond, N. H., Oct. 12, 1795. He settled in Richmond and married, Jan. 20, 1821, Sally Weeks, daughter of Caleb Weeks of Warwick, Mass. They had six children.
Caleb W. Day, son of John and Sally (Weeks) Day, was born in Richmond, N. H .. Oct. 12, 1827. When he was five years old his father died, and his mother married Lewis Fisher and removed to Warwick, Mass. The family were in poor circumstances and he received but a few terms of schooling, not more than a year of school terms, he says, in referring to those boyhood days. When but fourteen years old he came to South Royalston with but seventy-three cents in money and all his belongings done up in a bandana handkerchief, having walked from his liome, a distance of fourteen miles. He went to work in the woolen mill of Rufus Bullock, which was then a full fledged woolen mill employing about seventy-five hands. He received five dollars a month and his board. He worked there about five years, and during the last two years was overseer of the carding department, for which he received one dollar per day. He next went into the shoe peg shop of Bemis & Jones, and went with Mr. Bemis to Northfield, Mass., and installed a shoe peg business for Murdock & Johnson and took a contract to make shoe pegs by the bushel. After working at the shoe peg business about three years, he worked for Mr. Jones six years on contract, and bought an interest in the business, which continued three years. About 1862 he bought out the whole business, and later bought out the pine furniture business of Beckwith and Stockwell and run the business until 1885. He was engaged also in the brush wood business under the firm
.
524
HISTORY OF ROYALSTON
name of Upham & Day. His shop was destroyed by fire in 1885, and he resumed business after the fire in a factory which he hired, located in Winchendon near the New Hampshire line. He took his two sons, John W. and Charles L., in partnership with him under the firm name of C. W. Day & Co., and the business was carried on until July 1, 1908, when it was closed up.
He always retained his residence in South Royalston, and was always prominent and active in town, church and social affairs. He was for more than ten years in succession on the board of selectmen, was assessor ten years, and a member of the school committee nine years, and one of the overseers of the poor twenty years, and is a trustee of town and church funds at the present time. For many years he has been an active member and deacon of the Second Congregational church, and a director in the Millers River National Bank of Athol. He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1886. In 1890 he took a trip to Alaska. He was married Nov. 15, 1848, to Mary M. Upham daughter of John M. Upham of Templeton, Mass.
The children of Caleb W. and Mary (Upham) Day are: Martha C., born Feb. 20, 1850, married J. E. Lyman of North- field, Mass. He is a railroad contractor and they reside in St. Louis, Mo .; Ellen, born Feb. 24, 1854, married L. M. Drury, proprietor of the Langdon hotel, Worcester; John W., born Dec. 11, 1853, and died June 4, 1911, married Nellie McColley. He was engaged in the brush wood business with his father and brother, Charles L., for nearly twenty-five years in Winchendon. Charles L., born May 4, 1855, married Sarah Smith of Deer- field, Mass., Feb. 9, 1878, there has been born to them four children; Annie M., born Jan. 9, 1879; Ethel, born July 15, 1883; Hattie W., born Sept. 1886, died in infancy; and Mil- dred R., born Feb. 22, 1888. He served the town of Winchen- don for six years as assessor and is now treasurer of the Winchen- don Co-operative Bank. He was for many years engaged in the manufacture of brush wood with his father and brother in Winchendon.
TIMOTHY LEWIS FAMILY
Timothy Lewis was a native of Athol where he spent his early life. He went to South Royalston where he became a
TIMOTHY LEWIS
MRS. TIMOTHY LEWIS
525
THE TIMOTHY LEWIS FAMILY
well-known citizen and spent the remainder of his life. He was one of the founders of the Methodist church in South Royal- ston and two of his sons became prominent ministers of that denomination. He was drowned in 1853, while attempting to save a child from drowning in Millers River near his home. He married Sally Wait Whitmore, a daughter of Capt. Enoch Whitmore, who served seven years in the War of the Revo- lution, Feb. 1, 1811. Their children were: Joseph Whitmore, born June 23, 1812; John Spaulding, born March 27, 1814; Sally Wait, born July 18, 1817; Alvin Whitmore, born Nov. 23, 1819; Whitman Taylor, born June 14, 1822; Hannah Dewine, born July 16, 1829; Enoch Thomas, born Sept. 6, 1830; Timothy Willard, Aug. 6, 1825.
Whitman T. Lewis, was a marble worker and carried on the business at Athol Centre for a number of years.
Alvin W. Lewis, married Hannah Richardson Jan. 10, 1844.
Hannah D. Lewis, married John H. Rowell May 18, 1848, they lived in Clinton, Mass.
Sally W. Lewis, married Dr. Horace B. Austin March 5, 1845; he was a physician practicing in South Royalston.
John Spaulding Lewis, married Louisa V. Utley, Sept. 28, 1843. They had two children: Maria L., born Nov. 10, 1845; and Sarah A., born Dec. 26, 1846. He was a shoe manufacturer and lived in Royalston, Washington and Athol. He died in Athol Aug. 10, 1905, his wife died March 16, 1878; the daugh- ters reside in Athol.
Rev. Joseph Whitmore Lewis was born in Royalston, June 23, 1812, being the oldest of nine children of Timothy and Sally (Whitmore) Lewis. When fourteen years old he began the work of shoemaking with his father and continued in it for six years. During his childhood and youth his reverence for the Bible, the church, and all religious things was very deep. He dated his conversion from Feb. 19, 1830, under the labors of Rev. Enoch Bradley of the Winchendon circuit and united with the Methodist church in Phillipston. He attended school in Athol and Royalston for several months and in June, 1832, entered Wilbraham academy where he remained six months, and then returned home and kept school in Templeton. He returned to Wilbraham in 1834 and pursued his studies there. He was re- ceived on trial by the New England Conference, at its sessions in Lynn, June 3, 1855, and was stationed on Rowe circuit with Rev.
526
HISTORY OF ROYALSTON
C. Haywood. As an outfit he had one hundred dollars, with which he bought a horse, saddle, bridle, a valise and a few books. He was ordained deacon at Nantucket in 1837 by Bishop Waugh, an elder in Lynn in 1839 by Bishop Soule.
After his appointment at Rowe he had appointments at twenty-four places extending over a period of forty-one years, during which time he was disabled by sickness only three Sun- days, and had only six vacation Sundays. During the first eight years of his ministry his salary averaged one hundred and sixty-five dollars per year, mostly paid in provisions and fuel. One year he received nearly all his salary in palm-leaf hats, which he exchanged at the store for goods. In 1876 his name appears in the superannuated list of the New England conference, where it remained till his death which took place in Clinton, Mass., Jan. 17, 1889. He preached the first Metho- dist sermon in Enfield, Mass., and also in Clinton. The last years of his life were passed in retirement at his home in Clinton. He was married three times; first, to Miss Rowena E. Lennett of Blanford, Mass., who died in 1852, they had one child, a daughter, who died in infancy. He was married, second, to Miss Dorcas K. Heywood of Princeton, Mass., and they had three children: Rev. Edward S. Lewis, D. D., who was presi- dent of Chattanooga University, Tenn .; Dora R. Lewis, who was an efficient and popular teacher; and Joseph W. Lewis, who was engaged in business. This wife died in 1863, and he married, third, Lucy H. Sawyer of Lancaster, March 10, 1864.
Rev. T. Willard Lewis, was born in South Royalston Aug. 6, 1825. He was converted in 1842. He went to Fitchburg the same year to learn the scythe maker's trade, and there he joined the Methodist Episcopal church. In 1844 he began his studies preparatory to entering the ministry. In this he was entirely dependent on his own exertions for support. He fitted for college in Wilbraham academy and then spent two years at Union college, New York. He did not graduate, but received in after years the honorary degree of M. A. He was licensed as a preacher in Schenectady in 1847. Having joined the New England conference, he was appointed to Leicester in 1849, where he remained two years. His next pastorate was in Hop- kinton. Here his wife died and he went to Clinton in the spring of 1852. During his first year there his duties as the head of the building committee of a new church were added to his
ENOCH T. LEWIS
527
THE TIMOTHY LEWIS FAMILY
regular pastoral duties. During his second year in Clinton he acted as secretary of the school committee. He is said to have been endowed with a warm, tender heart, a large and active imagination and good sound judgment .. He was an interest- ing preacher, seldom profound and never dull. After leaving Clinton in 1853, he had appointments in Marlboro, Waltham, Boston, South Boston, Hopkinton and Worcester. In 1863 he took charge of the missions of the Methodist Episcopal church in South Carolina and Florida. The work that he laid out for himself was prodigious, church after church was organized, and it is said that in eight years, he saw the mem- bership of his conference in Florida alone increase from nothing to thirty thousand with eighty-eight churches. He founded Claflin University. When he was in Charlestown his work was prosecuted with such unfaltering energy that his colleagues in labor could with the utmost difficulty persuade him to aban- don the fever-stricken city. When at last he was forced to go it was too late to save his life. He died at Sullivan's Island Sept. 30, 1871.
Enoch T. Lewis, son of Timothy and Sally Wait (Whitmore) Lewis, was born in South Royalston Sept. 6, 1830. He went to Athol when a young man and learned the trade of a marble worker of his brother Whitman T. Lewis at Athol Centre. After learning his trade he worked in Laconia and Marlboro, N. H., about four years and then returned to Athol and started a marble business of his own, which he conducted successfully for twenty years when he sold out to L. M. Wellman in 1873. He was appointed sexton in 1853. and engaged in the under- taking business in 1869 which he continued until 1884. It is said that as sexton and undertaker he officiated at the burial of more than eighteen hundred persons. In 1862 he enlisted in Co. E Fifty-third Massachusetts regiment, and on Oct. 17 of that year was made sergeant and went with his regiment to Louisiana; he was in the fight at the capture of Fort Bisland and in all the marches of the regiment and its engagements at the capture of Port Hudson, and returned with his regiment in health, Aug. 24, 1865. He was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1863, and by successive appointments served until his death. He was also made a Notary Public in 1874, and was a Trial Justice from 1878 to 1884, when the First District Court of Northern Worcester was established, and was also a coroner
528
HISTORY OF ROYALSTON
from 1870 to 1877. He served the town of Athol in various town offices having been constable nineteen years, tax-collec- tor seven years, auditor three years and town treasurer one year. He was one of the enumerators of the United States Census of 1880 and the state census of 1875. Mr. Lewis was prominent in the Worcester-Northwest Agricultural society, having served as a secretary from 1864 to 1880, with the excep- tion of one year, and was president in 1882; he also represented the society as delegate to the state board of agriculture for three years. After retiring from the undertaking business in 1884, he was engaged in the settling of estates and looking after his extensive real estate interests. He married Almira M. Jennison, daughter of Austin and Judith (Shaw) Jennison of Prescott, Mass., who was born Sept. 7, 1834; the wedding took place at the First Unitarian church, Athol Centre, July 4, 1852. They observed their golden wedding anniversary at Grange hall, Athol Centre, July 4, 1902, when the hall was filled with upwards of four hundred persons gathered to extend congrat- ulations to the worthy couple. They had one daughter, Etta J. Lewis, who married Dr. E. Ward Cooke, June 16, 1875. He is a dentist who commenced practice in Athol in 1875, where he remained for eight years going to Cambridge in 1883, and becoming a prominent dentist of that city. Mr. Lewis died Aug. 5, 1905.
THE LUTHER HARRINGTON FAMILY
Luther Harrington was born in Kirby, Vt., Oct. 21, 1809, the son of Daniel and Mary (Forrestall) Harrington. He was of the seventh generation in descent from Robert Harrington. His father died in early manhood leaving Luther and two younger children to the care of their widowed mother. At the age of six years he went to live with Col. Josiah Wheeler of South Royalston, whose wife was a sister of his mother. At the age of eighteen he apprenticed himself to Daniel Hubbard of Royal- ston to learn the carpenter's trade, and he became a builder, but later was a manufacturer of pine furniture employing from four to ten hands.
He married in Holden, Mass., Jan. 2, 1834, Sarah Nourse, who was born in Townsend, Vt., Aug. 13, 1812, the daughter
SARAH (NOURSE) HARRINGTON
DEA. LUTHER HARRINGTON
CAROLINE E. (HARRINGTON) DEAVITT
HENRY M. HARRINGTON
529
THE LUTHER HARRINGTON FAMILY
of William and Olive (Bragg) Nourse. She was of the sixth generation in descent from the immigrant ancestor Francis Nourse, whose wife, Rebecca, was a martyr of the Salem witch- craft delusion. When the Second Congregational church in South Royalston was organized in 1837, Mr. and Mrs. Harring- ton were among the first members. The Sunday school was or- ganized three years before, and Luther Harrington was its first treasurer and librarian, and as pupil, teacher or superintendent he had some part in its entire history as long as he lived. The church building was erected in 1837, and he was chairman of the building committee. He was early chosen as a deacon and continued so until his death for more than forty years. Sarah (Nourse) Harrington died Nov. 30, 1858. He married(2), in 1860, Mrs. S. T. F. Burrage, and after her death, he married Mrs. Harwood, who survived him. He died in South Royalston Dec. 8, 1886. The children of Luther and Sarah (Nourse) Harrington were: Henry Martyn and Caroline Ellen Harrington.
Henry Martyn Harrington, son of Luther and Sarah (Nourse) Harrington, was born in South Royalston, Mass., Dec. 27, 1837. He received his early education in the schools of his native village, and finished his preparation for college at the academy in Brattleboro, Vt. He entered Middlebury college in the fall of 1856, where he remained two years, when he went to Amherst college as a junior and graduated with his class in 1860. After graduation he engaged in the work of teaching and upwards of a year was principal of New Salem academy. In the spring of 1862, he was elected principal of the Spencer, Mass., high school where he remained four years, when he was appointed principal of one of the grammar schools of Worcester, Mass. In 1874 he was elected superintendent of schools at North Adams, Mass., where he remained two years, when he resigned to accept the superintendency of the schools of Bridge- port, Ct., which position he held until 1891, a period of fifteen years.
He was the first superintendent of the Bridgeport schools. Previous to that time the schools had been conducted on the district plan, with eleven districts, each independent of the others with its own system of management. As the executive officer of the board of education of the city he organized the schools under one system with a high school at the head after the Massachusetts plan. Since his retirement from the super-
530
HISTORY OF ROYALSTON
intendency of the Bridgeport schools, he was engaged in various lines of business enterprises in that city. He had always taken an active interest in the public affairs of the city or town where he lived, although he never accepted any political office. He was interested in the religious activities of the Congregational churches where he lived, transferring his relation to the church in the place of his residence, and served as superintendent of Sunday schools in North Adams and Bridgeport. He was prominent in the Royal Arcanum, being a charter member of the Seaside Council of Bridgeport, and a Past Grand Regent of the Grand Council of the order in the state of Connecticut. On Aug. 22, 1861, he married H. Maria, daughter of Addison and Jane M. (Greenwood) Lovell of West Boylston, Mass.
They had three children: Jessie, born at Spencer, April 28, 1865, and Mabel, born at Worcester, Nov. 26, 1866, are both dead. Rosa Gertrude, born at Worcester Aug. 28, 1873, married Dec. 11, 1913, to Dwight M. Banks of Greenfield Hill, Ct., where they now reside. Henry Martyn Harrington died in Bridgeport, Ct., in 1915.
Caroline Ellen Harrington was born in South Royalston, Sept. 26, 1841. After attending school in her home village, she went to Kimball Union academy, Meriden, N. H., where she graduated in 1862. She afterward attended Glenwood seminary at West Brattleboro, Vt., where she graduated with highest honors. She taught in the Orange county grammar school, before that became the Randolph, Vt., normal school and later in a woman's college in Ohio. Her pupils remember her as a teacher of unusual ability and a loyal friend. She married Thomas J. Deavitt of Montpelier, Vt., Jan. 19, 1870, and their residence was in Montpelier. Five children were born to them: Edward Harrington Deavitt, born Dec., 1, 1871, married Dec. 25, 1901, Mary E. Trumblee, he has been state treasurer of Vermont; Henry M. Deavitt, born Sept. 18, 1874, married Sept. 11, 1905, Grace P. Hugette, he resides in Chicago and is a chemist with. large manufacturing interests; Carrie E. Deavitt, born Feb. 28, 1876, she is unmarried and lives at home in Montpelier ; George T. Deavitt, born May 2, 1880, he is a stenographer in New York; William J. Deavitt, born Oct. 2, 1883, is a mining engineer in Mexico. All are college graduates, four from the University of Vermont. Although a devoted wife and mother,
531
THE LUTHER HARRINGTON FAMILY
Mrs. Deavitt never lost her deep interest in her church or in affairs of state and nation. She died Jan. 17, 1915, and her funeral was held Jan. 19th on the 45th anniversary of her mar- riage.
THE HALE FAMILY
Silas Hale, the first one of the family to settle in Royalston was of the fifth generation from the immigrant ancestor, John Heald, which was one of the ancient ways of spelling the name. He was a son of Jacob Hale, and was born in Stow Oct. 13, 1748, and died in Royalston in 1832, aged 83 years. He settled in the South Village at the corner of the Templeton and Phillip- ston roads. The farm used to be in Phillipston and later was in Royalston. It became the property of Silas Hale, Jr., and later of Anan Stockwell, who married a daughter of Silas Hale, Jr. Her sister married Dr. Gould, a physician of South Royal- ston. The history of Royalston mentions a magnificent elm planted on the homestead by his son, Stephen, about 1790. The farm was owned for many years by Mr. Sylvander B. For- ristall.
Silas Hale was a soldier in the Revolution. He married first at Stow, Lydia Stow in July, 1778, she died June 5, 1800, at Phillipston, He married, second, Hopa Rich at Royalston, Oct. 3, 1801. His will was dated Oct. 27, 1818, and was filed Oct. 3, 1832, and mentions his wife Hopa, his sons Stephen and Silas, and his daughter Lydia. He gave to Stephen the farm on Prospect Hill, above the village of South Royalston, since known as the Hale place, which he had bought of Ebenezer Newell, who succeeded David Fisher the original settler on this location, to Silas he gave the home place and to Lydia the Beals farm which he had bought of John Pierce.
Stephen Hale was born in Stow June 6, 1779, and married in Phillipston Feb. 7, 1802, Susan Waldron, a daughter of Col. John Waldron of Dover, N. H. He settled on the home farm given him by his father, and which was in the Hale family for more than a century. He was proud of his alliance with a daughter of the famous Revolutionary officer and statesman, and named his first child John Waldron Hale, born April 1, 1804. The other children of Stephen and Susan (Waldron)
532
HISTORY OF ROYALSTON
Hale were: Eliza, born Nov. 30, 1805, married Abel Manning June 22, 1820; Mary Rebekah, born Aug. 24, 1807, married Silas Hale of Stowe, April 8, 1835; Stephen, Jr., born Jan. 16, 1813, died June 26, 1815; Susanna, born June 26, 1815, married Arnold Wilson; a daughter born April 16, 1821, died the next day. Mrs. Susan (Waldron) Hale died Oct. 2, 1835, aged fifty-three; Stephen married, second, Mary G. Brooks, who survived him. He died Feb. 6, 1855, aged seventy-six.
John Waldron Hale, the first child and only surviving son of Stephen and Susan (Waldron) Hale, was born at South Roy- alston, and married March 27, 1839, Betsey Evans of Rocking- ham, Vt., a daughter of Randall and Betsey (Walker) Evans. He settled on the home farm and continued the pursuit of general farming. The children of John and Betsey were: John Randall, born May 27, 1840; Charles Silas, born Jan. 30, 1842, died March 7, 1899; Stephen Winn, born Jan 22, 1844, died Jan. 21, 1899; Emma Jane, born March 14, 1852, and Samuel Walker, born Sept. 10, 1854, died 1888. John Waldron Hale died July 3, 1878, aged seventy-four. Betsy (Evans) Hale died April 15, 1901, aged eighty-one.
John Randall Hale, oldest child of John and Betsey Hale, was born in South Royalston, May 24, 1840, and died there March 17, 1905. He followed farming with his father in his early life, and succeeded his father on the home farm. He became a highly prosperous farmer, also a well-known auctioneer, his services being in great demand at auctions all through this section of the state. He was a typical New England farmer of the Joshua Whitcomb type and had the respect and confidence of his fellow townsmen, serving the town as overseer of the poor, assessor and was a member of the board of selectmen for eight years. He was a member of the Tully Lodge of Odd Fellows of Athol. He married Dec. 23, 1868, Edna Elvira Boynton, daughter of Alfred Boynton. They had one son, Alfred Randall Hale, born at South Royalston, Aug. 4, 1875. He attended the schools at South Royalston and graduated at Cushing academy. He followed farming in early life and removed to Springfield, Mass., April 1, 1906. While in Royalston he was active in town affairs and was a member of the school committee from 1899 until he removed from town. He married Carrie Graham of Richmond, Quebec, Canada. They now reside in California. On the death of his mother, in 1907, he sold the
533
THE HALE FAMILY
farm, and this place, the home of four generations of Hales, became the property of others. The other sons of John and Betsey Hale removed from town and married, but no children survive them.
Emma Jane Hale, an only daughter, became a teacher at the age of sixteen, and conducted the district schools of South Royalston and in Stowe. She entered the state normal school at Bridgewater where she graduated in January, 1873. She immediately obtained a fine position in the schools of Cambridge, Mass., but within a year, however, she married Frederick Orin Ellis, master of the Bigelow school in Boston and removed to Swampscott, Mass., The first child of this union, Walter Fred- erick Ellis, was born, April 4, 1876, at the ancestral home of his mother's parents in Royalston. He graduated from Harvard college with the class of 1900, and has been for several years connected with a Boston banking house. He married Nov. 17, 1905, Florence Emma Hirt of New York city and has one daughter, Sidonia Hirt Ellis: Other children of Emma (Hale) Ellis born near Boston are: Robert Hale, born April 4, 1876; Anna Hale, born June 3, 1883; and Miriam, born May 18, 1888.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.