USA > Massachusetts > Franklin County > Warwick > Warwick, Massachusetts; biography of a town, 1763-1963 > Part 10
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The old homestead now is empty but in the hands of Royal's son Christopher whose home is in Texas.
Hastings is a family name so common in Warwick in its early days that it is impossible for us to trace the several families who bore the name and so determine beyond all doubt what, if any, connection exists between them.
The first mention of the name is found on page one of the first book of Vital Statistics, when on August 28, 1743 Nathan, son of Benjamin and Mary Hastings, was born. When Gard- ner's Canada was abandoned, Benjamin and his wife and family are believed to have gone to Watertown. Nathan and his bride returned to Warwick, settled in the northwest corner of the town about 1768 and proceeded to raise a large family. His sons were Benjamin, 2nd, Jonas and Nathan, Jr. Nathan Senior had two nephews, William and Henry, who joined their uncle and cousins about 1800 and also located on the Richmond Road. The descendants of these Hastings were to be residents of Warwick for over a century.
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Another Hastings appeared in 1778, when Isaac Hastings set- tled on what is now the Athol Road about one half a mile from the center of the town. Later he built his second home where Stephen Clark's house now stands. One of his sons, Daniel, became the father of the Samuel Hastings who was to be prom- inent in Warwick for many years around the end of the nine- teenth century. Another son of Isaac was Caleb, and he and his son Caleb W. were to live on the Hastings Pond Road in the house now owned by Mrs. Bertha Coe.
A. Jarvis Hastings led a third family group to Warwick in the 1880's. They located on the high elevation overlooking town that now bears the name of Hastings Heights. The numerous Hastings clan has long since left Warwick, but the names they gave to the town's natural features remain.
Stevens is the only name which has been associated with the town from the beginning of Gardner's Canada down to the pre- sent day. Joseph was an original proprietor in 1735; his brother Samuel succeeded him and played an important role in the early settlement until its incorporation as a town.
Nathaniel Gove Stevens, 1716-1796, is known to have come to Gardner's Canada as early as 1761 and settled on Lot 26 in the first division. He brought four sons with him: Wilder, Mar- tin, Nathaniel Gove II, Abraham, and five daughters. Wilder built the Stevens "Old Red House" in 1770, and this is still in good condition today. His son Joseph was a leading citizen in Warwick in the 1840's and his great-grandson Joseph is a prom- inent resident today.
There were to be three men to carry the name of Nathaniel Gove Stevens, and all were to be identified with the ownership. of sawmills. Nathaniel E. Stevens was to own and operate a tannery until after the close of the Civil War.
Today the many descendants of the Stevens family are widely scattered but reunion gatherings still bring them together at the Stevens homestead, the "Old Red House."
The Cook family who trace their ancestry back to Sir Thomas Cook, Lord Mayor of London in 1463, played a prominent role in Warwick for about 100 years. Daniel Cook came to Warwick from Concord and owned Lot 28 in the first division as early as
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1767. Solomon and his son Nathan Cook were also early settlers, but we can find no connection between them and Daniel.
Daniel left his family of several small children to serve briefly in the Revolution in 1781 and then returned home to resume a prominent role in the town. He had eight children, one of whom, Ezekiel, carried on the farm and also raised eight children. Eze- kiel's son Ashabel was born in 1809 and lived on the old farm until 1867 when he moved to Barre. Ashabel and his wife, Emmeline Field of Northfield, raised ten children. Eight were sons who grew to be six feet tall, thus giving their mother the right to boast that she had "forty-eight feet of boys."
Many of these sons became prominent in widely separated places but it was through the loyalty of Rhoda, one of the two daughters, that the family still maintains a summer home in War- wick opposite the town hall. Rhoda taught school in Holyoke for many years then retired to Warwick, actively serving the town as a member of the school committee and a member of the board of library trustees. Intensely interested in the history of Warwick, she kept copious notes and volumes of newspaper clippings which have been of great assistance in compiling this history.
Her nephew George Cook of Springfield, a former county com- missioner of Hampden County, owns the Rhoda Cook house today and uses it as a country home. The family maintains a deep interest in the old town.
We have endeavored to mention a few of the family names that played a prominent role in the town from its early days down through many generations. There were many others such as the Robbins family, the Smiths, the Morses and the Atwoods.
At this time, space and information available makes it quite difficult to essay the relative importance of the many families. We can only offer apologies to those who question our judgement.
Now let us return to town affairs which we left at the close of Shays's Rebellion. The town slowly recovered as the currency became stabilized, but from the day of the Revolution whenever a new town treasurer was elected, the committee chosen to inven- tory the town treasury before transfering it to the new man would mention at the bottom of the list of assets a bundle of Continental
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currency without attempting to declare its value. Finally in 1791 the town voted to put it up to bids and it was sold for five pounds, 13 shillings and two pence.
The church society organized in 1779 to support the minister gave up the hopeless struggle in 1794 and the town voted to assume his salary once more, exempting all persons of other denominations from the ministerial tax. It was voted to pay Reverend Reed 70 pounds a year in silver at six shillings and eight pence per ounce, and provide him 20 cords of good mer- chantable wood. This arrangement was satisfactory to the par- son at first but in 1798 he asked for an increase to 100 pounds. Several attempts were made to secure the increase but each time the town refused. At the annual town meeting in 1800 his friends succeeded in increasing his salary, but 11 persons entered a pro- test. The meeting was adjourned and when the matter was debated again and voted with the names of those voting being recorded, the reverend lost his raise in salary by one vote; 39 Nay and 38 Yea. Reverend Reed then asked to be dismissed, but he was persuaded to reconsider and withdrew his request.
A committee chosen in 1793 by the town to investigate "what has become of the Ministry and School Rites of land in War- wick" reported that most of it had been sold. Eventually all of it was sold and a Ministry Fund and School Fund was created. The interest from the Ministry Fund was used to reduce the amount the town had to raise for the minister's salary. The inter- est received from the School Fund was divided among the school districts until they were abolished.
The first hearse was provided by the town in 1793 when Lieu- tenant Jonathan Gale was "empowered to provide a funeral car- riage." It was a two-wheel vehicle and doubtless received hard usage. Nevertheless it lasted 21 years when the town replaced it with one with four wheels in 1812.
The town still maintained the two militia companies, and the rivalry between them was intense. When a man became liable for military duty he had the choice of joining either company. Officers were elected not so much because of their military quali- fications as for their personal popularity. Each attempted to
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secure recruits by demonstrating his generous and tolerant nature, and the ease with which one opened his purse to treat his men was all-important.
In order to put an end to this situation it was voted in 1793 to divide the town into north and south companies. Deacon James Ball, Captain Mark Moore and Lieutenant Jonathan Gale were the committee to arrange the matter. They established the old north road from Northfield to the village and the road from there to Royalston as the dividing line.
Elections of officers were frequent and promotions were rapid. Judging from the records, when a man had attained the highest office he deemed possible he would resign after a brief period of service and create a vacancy for his subordinate. It was a period when titles of all kinds were eagerly sought as a mark of distinc- tion showing one's status in the community. These titles would be carried to the grave. Thus we find our old rural cemeteries filled with the gravestones of lieutenants, captains and colonels, many of whom had no war service.
The office of deacon in the church was a great honor, testify- ing to the excellent character of the recipient. To obtain the title of Squire a man had not only to be prominent in town affairs but he must have served as the town's representative in the State legislature, or to have filled the office of Justice of the Peace.
Wolves had long since ceased to be a menace to the farmers, but in 1796 wildcats had become such a pest that a bounty of 20 shillings was placed on their heads. The following year 30 pounds was raised to pay for the bounties of the previous year and the bounty was continued for several years. Crows too were so prevalent and destructive to the crops that they incurred the wrath of the farmers when in 1798 a bounty of one shilling six pence was voted for old crows and nine pence for young ones. Where the line was drawn to distinguish the young from the old we can offer no solution. Both of these bounties were voted annually for some 20 years.
The same year, 1798, the town voted that the tax on dogs could be paid by performing a day's labor on the roads for each dog.
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Prior to 1799 the office of tax collector was put up to bid at the annual town meeting and given to the man who would col- lect them for the least amount, his principal reward being one half of one percent of the taxes collected. The time had now come when this percentage amounted to enough so that the office was given to the man who would pay the town the highest sum for it provided he could secure satisfactory bondsmen. He would then be elected as constable to give him the necessary authority. In 1799 Peter Proctor, Jr. gave $8.75 for the office.
9 VIGOROUS YEARS, 1800-1825
THE ENGLISH MONETARY SYSTEM had been used in all finan- cial transactions until 1800, but with the start of the new century our American system of dollars and cents which was established in 1792 came into accepted use.
It was a period in the history of the town and the country when both were changing rapidly and in the process were experi- encing the growing pains of youth. As both developed, readjust- ments were required and demanded by many, and of course resisted by others. No doubt the same sentiments were expressed that we hear today. Youth cried out that they were living in a different world from that of their fathers, and the elders would remember the "good old days" and answer that this new world was not a better one. All changes brought strife and discord.
We have seen how the town became divided over the support of the established church, still at least in theory supported and controlled by the town. A radical change in the religious life of the people was occurring as various denominations came into being, each strenuously resenting being forced to support the town church. The Universalists were the most numerous but a small group who called themselves "Restorationists" also pro- tested.
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Turnpikes
The increasing population brought with it a constant demand for more roads to be laid out and built by the town. As a result the roads were crude and rough, often impassable during the mud season. In order to alleviate the situation and assist the towns to have better main roads to the eastern part of the State the legislature authorized corporations or stock companies to build turnpikes or private roads. These were to be used by the public on the payment of a toll, and toll gates were located on the turnpikes about ten miles apart to collect the tolls established by the legislature.
On March 1, 1799, the legislature passed an act establishing the Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike, stating
Whereas the highway leading from Northfield in the County of Hampshire through Warwick and Orange to Athol . . . is rocky and mountainous . .. be it enacted that Timothy Dut- ton, Elisha Hunt of Northfield, Caleb Mayo, David Mayo, Josiah Proctor of Warwick (and others from Orange and Athol) are constituted a corporation ... for the purpose of laying out and making a turnpike road from Captain Elisha Hunt's in Northfield through Warwick, Orange, Athol , to Leominster.
A second road was also authorized to be built from Green- field to Montague and to then follow the course of the Millers River to intersect the first road in Athol. This road ran through what is now the town of Erving and was designated the south turnpike road. (Mass. Special Laws, Vol. II, p. 295)
The north turnpike from Northfield entered Warwick between the present highway and the south county road now known as White Road. It met the present Northfield road where it crosses Grace Brook and followed the present road to where the Wendell road now meets it. Here the toll house, now owned by Earl Joslin, was located. The turnpike corporation built the road now known as Rouvere Hill to meet the Orange road, now Route 78. The tavern of David Mayo stood where Albert Ohlson's house now stands. From here the road ran across the south end of the
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town common land, across the present Fellows Athletic Field and continued east and southeast until it crossed the present Gale Road about one half mile north of Gale Pond. It continued east until it met the present Hastings Heights road, which the corpora- tion built to North Orange village. A few years later it aban- doned the road between the Gale road and the Hastings Heights road and extended Gale Road to the Orange line as a turnpike road.
In June, 1803 the corporation was authorized to build a turn- pike road from Winchester, New Hampshire, to the Warwick turnpike. (Mass. Special laws, Vol. III, p. 217) This road made use of existing town roads for the most part. The present Winchester road, Route 78, was followed south as far as where the cross road from the old Winchester road meets it at the pres- ent home of Oscar Doane, Jr. It then went up this road, crossed the old Winchester road, and then followed approximately the same route as where the old Robbins Road was to be laid out later. Meeting the Richmond road it ran south to Mayo's Four Corners and then over Hastings Heights to join the Northfield turnpike to Orange.
A group of prominent Warwick citizens desired to have the turnpike from Winchester, which was to be the main road to Brattleboro, pass through the center of Warwick and extend south to intersect the south turnpike road from Greenfield to Athol in what is now West Orange. As a result of their efforts the legislature passed an act January 1, 1804, establishing "The Warwick and Irvings Gore Turnpike Corporation." The incor- porators consisted of Isreal Trask, Josiah Cobb, Jacob Rich, Oli- ver Chapin, Benjamin Tuel, Zackeriah Barber, Mark Moore, Andrew Burnet, Ebenezer Willson, William Cobb, Jr., Elias Knowlton, Josiah Pomeroy, Jr., Justus Russell, Joshua Bur- net, Joseph Williams, Bunyan Penniman, Samuel Melindy and James Blake. They were authorized to build a road from the Winchester line south to the meeting house and from thence by Benjamin Tuel's mills to the south turnpike. (Mass. Special laws, Vol. III, p. 289)
William Cobb, Jr., and Captain Simonds were given the con-
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tract for the north end of the road from the meeting house to the intersection of the Winchester turnpike to Orange, near the present residence of Oscar Doane, Jr. There is no record that shows that any attempt was made to extend this road south as a turnpike road. (Cobb Diaries, 1804-1827).
It would appear that the Fifth Massachusetts Corporation con- tinued to use the road it had built through Mayo's Four Corners and over Hastings Heights. Jonas Hastings opened a tavern in 1804 on this road where the turnpike met the present Richmond road ..
A new county road was laid out from Northfield through Warwick village to the Royalston line in 1800 by Nathaniel Gove Stevens. This road followed the Northfield Brook at approxi- mately the location of the present highway, but about 50 rods south of the old north county road, until it met the south end of the Flower Hill road. It then followed the old road skirting the south edge of Mount Grace until it met the Northfield turnpike road at Grace Brook. Then it followed the present road up the hill to Mayo's tavern in the upper village. From the tavern the road turned north until it passed the meeting house, then turned east and followed what is now the Athol road directly to Mayo's Corners. The Royalston road from Mayo's Corners remained as originally laid out and accepted in 1771, and has never been changed to the present day.
The increasing and shifting population as first one section of the town and then another grew more rapidly caused continual adjustments to be made in the district school system and the highway districts. The division of the school and highway appro- priations was a continual subject of controversy and impossible to solve to everyone's satisfaction. Well might the clerk write in the records as he once did that the committee was instructed to find the best solution "for the peace and tranquility of the town."
If local problems were not enough there were also those of the state and the nation. Political parties were coming into being, all dividing the people in a democratic way and contributing to progress but not to peace. The town was evenly divided between the Federalists, the party of Washington, Adams and Hamilton
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and the Anti-Federalists or Democratic Republicans of Jefferson, Burr, Madison and Monroe. Party politics do not appear to have played a prominent role in town affairs, but in the election of a town representative to the state legislature they did. To send a representative was a luxury the town could ill afford and occasion- ally it voted not to do so. However it was the highest honor the town could give, and it was eagerly sought and bitterly contested. Squire Blake gives an excellent description of the election to this office in 1805.
The law pertaining to state and national elections required that a citizen must be a resident for one year prior to the elec- tion and he must have a freehold estate within the town of the annual income of ten dollars, or any estate to the value of $200. Blake tells that on election day there were very few who could not show an estate of $200 although the day before and the day after you could not collect a just debt of five dollars. Each party or candidate canvassed the town and brought in every person possible, even the aged and the sick who could be persuaded to leave their beds and vote. The meeting was opened by reading and correcting the voting list, each party being distrustful of the other and each determined to win. The conduct of the presiding officers was watched with suspicious minds behind eagle eyes and there would be bitter imprecations on whatever decisions were made. The citizens from the district of Orange joined with those of Warwick and they too were equally divided.
We use the name Democratic Republican to designate the party in opposition to the Federalists. From 1796 the Anti- Federalists took the name Republicans until under Thomas Jef- ferson they became the Democratic Republicans. It is not to be confused with the present Republican party which was born just prior to the Civil War.
It was decided that the voters should leave the meeting house and form in two separate parallel lines behind their leaders. Then the Selectmen carried the ballot box to each man in the lines so all could see that no one voted more than once. It could hardly be considered a secret ballot for all knew how his relatives, friends and neighbors voted from the line they joined. Ebenezer
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Williams, Esq., the candidate of the Democratic Republicans, received 148 votes and Caleb Mayo, Esq., the Federalist, received 154. The following year Mayo was defeated by Josiah Cobb, Esq. (Blake, History, p. 89)
Yes, indeed, life in Warwick was not humdrum. Turning to William Cobb's diaries we find the year 1804 particularly excit- ing. On February 10 Cobb and the selectmen discovered the tax collector had made alterations in his accounts. Arrested and released on his father's bond he had promptly absconded.
March 2: New England blizzard leaves 14" more snow which together with previous storms now is estimated to be five feet on the level.
July 4: The day being the birthday of our Independence the inhabitants of Warwick, Winchester, Northfield and Or- ange, having agreed to a suspension of all political sentiments and party spirit, mutually assembled and partook of the festive joy of the day. A procession was formed at Ebenezer Willson's tavern and was escorted to the meeting house by Capt. Gale and twenty-four men in complete uniform attended by instru- mental music ... The solemnities were introduced by prayer and an Oration truly impressive was given by Samuel C. Allen, Esq., after which the procession returned and partook of a dinner prepared for the purpose, and drank nineteen toasts offered by Ebenezer Williams. At the close of each toast a platoon was fired and a tune from the band.
It was the practice to rotate this annual celebration among the four towns. The following year it was held in Winchester.
"Sept. 6: E. Willson set out for Boston with a drove of cattle."
It seems that Ebenezer Willson, who owned the large tavern in the upper village, in common with all rural tavernkeepers turned his efforts in any direction that promised a financial reward. Country taverns, while common, were usually a side- line to accommodate occasional travelers. The presence of the head of the house was not required. Ebenezer also owned a farm, but he found that buying cattle and other live stock and driving the herd over the dusty road to Boston for sale to the slaughter houses was a profitable occupation.
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The "drover" with his assistants and dogs would drive the herd during the daylight, pasture them at night at some prear- ranged place, and proceed the following day. The average trip to Boston took ten days. It was a rugged trip filled with many anxious moments and requiring unrelenting vigilance. But on the return trip home the drover had to be even more on his guard because the fact that he was carrying a well-filled purse would be known to many desperate characters.
His drive in September being successful, early in October Will- son sold his farm and went to Shoreham, Vermont, where he bought 122 "fat cattle." He arrived in Warwick with his large herd October 11 and left the following day for Boston. On October 22 he returned home saying that he had "lost his pocket- book containing $1300 in bank notes ... he soon found it but it was destitute of money." His many angry and suspicious creditors secured writs of attachment on his property but, fore- warned, Willson "cut down his tavern sign and shut his house." A few days later the sheriff, watching an opportunity, slipped into the tavern and attached his property. Two months later another drover, Ebenezer Jewell of Winchester, New Hampshire, was robbed of $420 in Leominster. The final ending to the story is found under the date July 25, 1805, when Cobb records "Stephen Ball and James Holden take over the tavern formerly owned by E. Willson."
"Sept. 11, 1805: informed by Representative Chapin that the papers for establishing a Post Office in Warwick were in his hands to be delivered to such a person as he should appoint and gave me the offer to take them which I accepted." Thus Cobb became Warwick's first postmaster, a service that was to continue for 48 years.
We give a few more items because they portray life in the early 1800's so concisely.
"Sept. 30, 1805: Nine children lie dead this morning in Rich- mond and the corner of Winchester and Warwick." In the next few days five more children in Warwick died of "disentery." "Nov. 19, 1805: William Dike set out for Boston with a load of chestnuts." This is the first mention of an enterprise that was
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described in a diary kept by James Goldsbury, Jr., a district schoolteacher in 1857. He bought the chestnuts gathered by the school children and shipped them to Boston by the bushel and sold them at a handsome profit.
Cobb's principal business was his store and post office, but he passed up no opportunity to earn a dollar. His wife took in boarders and doubtless ran the store and post office in his absence. Aside from his office of town treasurer he took an exceedingly active interest in town politics and church and school affairs. He was the supply sergeant for the militia companies, built roads for the Fifth Massachusetts Turnpike Corporation, wrote legal pap- ers, established a carding manufacturing business which failed, acted as an agent for several inventions and sold fire insurance.
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