BRIEF SKETCH 
 
 OF THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OP 
 
 LEICESTER ACADEMY. 
 
 PART I- 
 
 By EMORY WASHBURN. 
 
 BOSTON: 
 
 PHILLIPS, SAMPSON AND COMPANY, 
 
 No. 13 WINTER STREET. 
 
 1855. 
 
FRZrS 07 THS 
 
 J'ranftltn ^rintfng ^ous;, 
 
 Corner of Franklin and Hawley Streets, 
 
 BOSTON. 
 
Jfnfac*. 
 
 The circumstances under which this little work was undertaken, were 
 these : 
 
 In 1851, the trustees of Leicester Academy appointed a committee of 
 their number to prepare a brief history of the academy, including the Char- 
 ter, and, so far as able, a catalogue of the students, and such other matter 
 as they might deem proper for publication. 
 
 The writer of this report was placed at the head of that commission, and 
 as opportunity, among various pressing engagements, has enabled him so to 
 do, he has pursued the investigation, till he has put into form what is con- 
 tained in the following pages. 
 
 The work is far from being complete, but, to the extent to which it is here 
 presented, it has been intended that it should be entire. Whatever, there- 
 fore, may be to be added, will relate to topics not embraced in the present 
 publication. 
 
 This part of the work is now published, from the uncertainty when the 
 balance can be completed, and a desire expressed by many persons to be 
 possessed of it, even in its present imperfect state. 
 
 For the opinions and sentiments embraced in this report, no one of the 
 committee, except the chairman, is responsible. By none of them has a 
 page of it been read before publication. 
 
 He has availed himself of their aid, as he has of many other sources, in 
 gathering his materials, some of which are acknowledged in the body of the 
 work. Among those not otherwise named, he is happy to mention his 
 associates upon the committee, Rev. Air. Allen, Rev. Dr. Nelson, and J. A. 
 Denny, Esq., besides the Hon. Judge Morris, Dr. James Jackson, S. F 
 Haven, Esq., S. Jenison, Esq., and 0. Hutchins, Esq., formerly a preceptor 
 of the academy, as among those to whom he is indebted for the means of 
 accomplishing, thus far, his humble task. 
 
 Should the trustees, hereafter, by means of his leisure and opportunity 
 or otherwise, be able to complete this work, by adding anything like a full 
 catalogue of those who have shared in the instruction of the academy, it 
 would be found an interesting record of the wide-spread influence of an 
 institution which has hitherto been fostered by the public favor, and has 
 repaid, by its success, the debt of gratitude thereby imposed upon its officers 
 and teachers. 
 
 ■Worcester, July, 1855. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 >• 
 
 . . 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Co tfje Crustm of IToimfor ‘^cakinji 
 
 Gentlemen : Much time has elapsed since I was honored by your com" 
 mission to collect, for preservation, materials for the history of Leicester 
 Academy. 
 
 Circumstances beyond my control, as well as the nature of the duty, have 
 irresistibly led to this delay. 
 
 To such as are familiar with the process of collecting historical facts from 
 such sources as are open in an enterprise like the present, it is unnecessary 
 for me to explain the difficulties to be encountered, even in so humble a 
 work as that in which I have been engaged. 
 
 To one who has never made the effort, it would be difficult to make these 
 intelligible. And yet I should be doing injustice to the task in which I have 
 been engaged, if I failed to acknowledge the pleasure I have derived from it. 
 
 It has awakened anew the pleasant memories of the past, and called back 
 many, whom, in early life, I learned to regard with veneration and respect. 
 
 If no other good can result from the materials which I here offer for your 
 acceptance, they will serve to evince how earnest and sincere have been the 
 endeavors of its trustees and instructors to meet the increasing demands 
 of a progressive age, and how sedulously they have labored that the course 
 of instruction here pursued, should come up to the standard which an en- 
 lightened and expanded system of education in its advance has, from time to 
 time, required. 
 
 The end at which I have chiefly aimed is accuracy. Indeed, it would be 
 little better than hopeless to attempt to work into a homogeneous and con- 
 sistent, consecutive narrative, isolated parts and incidents gleaned from 
 scanty and imperfect records, paragraphs from newspapers or occasional 
 pamphlets, or the fading and indistinct recollections of aged persons. 
 
 My greatest difficulty has been to learn the names and history of those 
 who have been connected with the institution as benefactors, trustees, pre- 
 
VI 
 
 ceptors, or pupils. Many of those, from having never been in public office, 
 or from only a brief connection with the academy, have not left memorials 
 which I have been able to discover. I may, therefore, have unconsciously 
 done injustice to many who have merited a particular notice in a work like 
 this. 
 
 I cheerfully acknowledge my indebtedness to many gentlemen in the 
 accomplishment of my task, and among them I cannot omit to mention the 
 late Gov. Crafts, of Vermont, and Daniel Henshaw, Esq., of Boston, and 
 George Davis, Esq., of Sturbridge; their recollections of Teachers and 
 Pupils have aided me much. 
 
 The arrangement of the materials which I have obtained, which I propose 
 to adopt is : 
 
 I. The Origin and Organization of the Academy. 
 
 II. The System of Discipline and Instruction adopted from time to time, 
 including Text Books, Examinations, Public Exhibitions, etc. 
 
 III. The Condition of the Funds, from time to time, including the Real 
 Estate belonging to the Academy, the origin, application, and amount of 
 these Funds, and personal notices of some of its Benefactors. 
 
 IV. Personal notices of the several Trustees. 
 
 V. Personal notices of the Preceptors and Teachers. 
 
 VI. Miscellaneous notices, Commons, Stewards, Distinguished Men and 
 Pupils of the Academy, etc., etc. 
 
 ' In the hope that this may serve to snatch from oblivion incidents in the 
 history of this venerable institution, and the names and characters of some 
 of its benefactors, which are fast fading from memory, I have felt almost 
 as if I were performing a filial duty while executing the task in behalf of 
 the committee to whom you assigned this duty. 
 
 For the good it has already done, and the good it has yet in store to do, 
 Leicester Academy has a high claim upon the public gratitude and favor. 
 And if this sketch of her history shall do something to impress this upon the 
 public mind, the work mil not have been in vain. 
 
 I am happy to bear testimony to the fidelity of those with whom I have 
 had the honor to act in the management of the affairs of the Academy. 
 They have given, by their devotion to its interests, hitherto, an earnest that 
 nothing will be wanting on their part to render the institution what, in fact, 
 it has always been, an efficient aid in carrying forward the great cause of 
 
Yll 
 
 education in Massachusetts, and a blessing to the community who share its 
 privileges. 
 
 With this explanation, and with sentiments of high respect, I offer for 
 your acceptance this report of what I have done in behalf of the committee, 
 in obedience to your vote, towards collecting and preserving the history of 
 Leicester Academy. 
 
 EMORY WASHBURN. 
 
 Worcester, May, 1855. 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Mstcnuj of 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ORIGIN AND ORGANIZATION OF THE ACADEMY, 
 
 This institution had its origin in that dark period of the 
 history of the Commonwealth which immediately succeeded 
 the war of the Revolution. 
 
 Her resources had been exhausted in that struggle, and, 
 amidst its absorbing interests, the education of the young had 
 been neglected. In some towns, the schools had been 
 suspended, and in few of them had the system of popular 
 education maintained any thing more than a feeble existence. 
 
 Instances were, by nojneans, rare where youth of both sexes 
 passed through that interval from 1776 to 1783, without enjoy- 
 ing the advantages of schools, except, perhaps, for a few days 
 in the year, even in the more populous and wealthy neigh- 
 borhoods. 
 
 Education was consequently at a low ebb ; nor was the 
 apprehension entirely without foundation, that there would 
 not be sufficient general intelligence among the people to sus- 
 tain the free power of government, for the establishment of 
 which there had been so much blood and treasure expended. 
 
 The college at Cambridge had long been cherished by the 
 
 people of Massachusetts as an institution which had done 
 1 
 
6 
 
 much to educate a learned ministry, and sustain the charac- 
 ter of the other professions. 
 
 Two academies for the education of young men preparatory 
 to college, or a life of active business, had been chartered and 
 endowed. And these constituted the only seminaries of learn- 
 ing beyond the district school, or, perhaps, a few private 
 establishments in which the youth of the county might hope 
 to be taught. 
 
 As these academies were situate in the eastern part of the 
 State, a general want was felt for an institution in a central 
 position, to which the sons and daughters of the people of 
 that portion of the Commonwealth could resort for the pur- 
 poses of education. 
 
 It was in this state of the public feeling, and while the ex- 
 igency of the times demanded that something should be done 
 for the improvement and education of the rising generation, 
 that two individuals came forward, and, by their public spirit 
 and wise liberality, laid the foundation of an institution which 
 has now, for more than seventy years, been entirely devoted 
 to this great and holy work. 
 
 Leicester Academy owes its origin to the efforts and gen- 
 erosity of Ebenezer Crafts, of Sturbridge, and Jacob Davis, 
 of Charlton, and their names deserve to be associated with 
 the Dummers and Phillipses of an earlier day, the monuments 
 of whose munificence in the institutions they founded, are 
 among the most honorable of which our Commonwealth can 
 boast. 
 
 Dimmer Academy at Byfield was founded in 1756, though 
 not incorporated till after the revolution in 1782. And Phil- 
 lips Academy at Andover was commenced in 1777, and 
 incorporated in 1780. So that, in the order of incorporation, 
 the academy at Andover takes precedence, when, in fact, that 
 at Byfield was much earlier founded. 
 
 In tracing the history of Leicester Academy, every one 
 must be struck with the entire absence of self-interest on the 
 part of its founders in the inception and prosecution of the 
 
/ 
 
 enterprise. Neither of them had local pride to gratify, or 
 property to enhance in value by selecting Leicester as the 
 seat of such an institution. 
 
 The object they had at heart was to found an academy. Its 
 locality, became rather a matter of favorable accident than any 
 original design on their part. 
 
 The conception of such a work, as well as the first steps 
 towards accomplishing it, belonged to Colonel Crafts. He 
 was, as I shall have occasion to remark hereafter, a gentle- 
 man of liberal education, and broad and generous views, and 
 one who felt the importance and necessity of some measure 
 to provide a better system of instruction for the young than 
 they then enjoyed within the county. 
 
 Various plans for effecting this purpose suggested them- 
 selves to his mind. At one time, he thought seriously of 
 attempting to establish an academy in Sturbridge, where he 
 resided. But the need of suitable buildings, and the original 
 expense of erecting such, seemed to offer an impediment to 
 the enterprise too serious for him to surmount. 
 
 While his mind was thus exercised how to accomplish the 
 plan he had conceived, the death of Aaron Lopez, and the 
 removal of the families of J ews from Leicester, to which place 
 they had resorted from Newport to escape the hostilities which 
 the English waged upon that town, opened to Colonel Crafts 
 the means of carrying forward his favorite scheme. 
 
 Mr. Lopez was one "of the merchant princes of his day. He 
 was, at one time, extensively engaged in commerce, and pos- 
 sessed of great wealth. He was distinguished for hospitality 
 and benevolence, and his fine gentlemanly manners, united 
 with a character of irreproachable integrity, secured him the 
 respect and esteem of all who knew him.* 
 
 His place of business before the Be volution had been New- 
 port, then the commercial emporium of New England. In 
 
 * The inventory of his estate shows a property of nearly $100,000, including a stock in 
 trade of more than $12,000, and indicating, by the character of the furniture, and family 
 stores on hand, a style of living not common, at that day. in the country. 
 
8 
 
 the summer of 1777, 1 believe, he, together with several other 
 families of J ews, removed to Leicester, where they purchased 
 and occupied estates, and Mr. Lopez resumed, to a limited 
 extent, his mercantile pursuits. 
 
 To accommodate these, and to provide for his family a suit- 
 able residence, he erected what was then regarded as a spa- 
 cious and commodious dwelling-house, containing a large 
 centre room for the purposes of a store. I shall have occasion 
 to speak more particularly of this estate in another connection. 
 
 On the 20th day of May, 1782, Mr, Lopez started, with 
 his family, to visit Providence, they in a carriage, and him- 
 self in a gig drawn by one horse. In passing Scott’s pond, 
 in Smithfield, on his w~ay, he drove his horse into the w~ater, 
 as was supposed, to drink, when, by some means, he got 
 beyond his depth, upset the gig, and Mr. Lopez was drowned 
 in the very presence of his family, who could render him no 
 assistance. 
 
 This circumstance, together with the return of peace, in- 
 duced these families to return to Newport, leaving, however, 
 among the inhabitants of Leicester, a grateful remembrance 
 of their residence here, which was cordially reciprocated. 
 
 This train of events rendered it necessary to sell the estate 
 of Mr. Lopez, and the same was offered at auction. Colonel 
 Crafts regarded it as a favorable opportunity to obtain a 
 suitable building for an academy upon reasonable terms, and 
 proposed to Colonel Davis to join with him in the purchase. 
 
 There had not, however, been any previous concert between 
 them, nor had the idea of purchasing the estate occurred to 
 either, till they came together on the day of the sale, with 
 great numbers of people from the neighboring towns, which 
 the occasion attracted. 
 
 Colonel Davis, at once, came into the views of Colonel Crafts, 
 and the estate was bid off to Colonel Crafts, Colonel Davis, 
 and Asa Sprague, for the sum of five hundred and fifteen 
 pounds. 
 
 What the design of Mr. Sprague was, in joining in the 
 
9 
 
 purchase, does not appear. If he had any intention to aid in 
 founding an institution, he seems soon to have abandoned it ; 
 for, in September following the purchase, he conveyed his 
 interest in the estate to Colonel Crafts. 
 
 The original deed of the estate bears date May 7th, 1788, 
 and, on the fourth of July following, Colonel Crafts, with his 
 accustomed energy and promptness, commenced proceedings 
 which resulted in the accomplishment of his original design. 
 
 He addressed a petition to the legislature, of which the 
 following is a copy : 
 
 “ To the Honorable, etc. : The Petition of Ebenezer Crafts, of Sturbridge, 
 in the comity of Worcester, humbly sheweth, that he, the said Ebenezer, 
 together with Jacob Davis, of Charlton, Esquire, and Asa Sprague, of Spen- 
 cer, Gentleman, both in said county, some time in the month of April last 
 past, purchased a large and commodious building, with about one acre of 
 land, late the property of Aaron Lopez, deceased, lying and being in the 
 town of Leicester, in the county, etc., with intent and design to promote the 
 public benefit in the education of youth, as the said buildings are exceedingly 
 well calculated for an academy. And, having every reason to believe 
 your honors will encourage such laudable motives, do, with the greater free- 
 dom, request your honors to incorporate and establish the afore-cited prem- 
 ises, under the following trustees, viz., Ebenezer Crafts, Esq., Rev. Joshua 
 Paine, Timothy Newhall, Esq., of Sturbridge, Jacob Davis, Esq., Mr. Ca- 
 leb Amidown, of Charlton, the Rev. Benjamin Conklin, and Seth Washburn, 
 Esq., of Leicester, William Stearns, and Samuel Curtis, of Worcester, 
 Esquires, the Rev. Joseph Pope, Mr. Asa Sprague, of Spencer, Dwight 
 Foster, of Brookfield, all in the county of Worcester ; the Rev. Nehemiah 
 Williams, and the Hon. Timothy Danielson, Esq., both of Brimfield, in the 
 county of Hampshire. — 
 
 We, therefore, pray your honors to incorporate the aforementioned trus- 
 tees into a body politic,, for the purpose above mentioned, with such privi- 
 leges and advantages as are granted to the academy at Andover, whereby 
 the same may be made respectable, whereby the advantage of the education 
 of youth may be promoted; whereby advantages may arise not only to 
 individuals, but to the public in general, and prove a blessing to our land of 
 liberty.. 
 
 July 4th, 1783. 
 
 Ebenezer Crafts/ 
 
10 
 
 The enterprise which had thus been conceived found gen- 
 eral favor in the county, and enlisted the zealous and active 
 sympathy of many of its prominent citizens. Among these 
 was the late Isaiah Thomas, Esq., then the publisher and pro- 
 prietor of the Massachusetts Spy, who rendered efficient aid 
 to the work by the influence of that paper. 
 
 In the Spy of the 6th November, 1783, it was announced 
 that “ there would soon be opened at Leicester an academy 
 for the purpose of promoting the sciences, etc. ; ” and an ap- 
 peal was, at the same time, made to “ the people of this large 
 county ” “ to exert themselves to second the endeavors of 
 those gentlemen who have laid this generous and laudable 
 plan of another channel to public education.” 
 
 It was further stated, that “ This academy will be opened 
 in that large and elegant house lately occupied by Mr. Aaron 
 Lopez, a situation peculiarly advantageous for this purpose.” 
 
 In a subsequent number of that paper, an appeal was again 
 made to the public “ to set on foot a subscription through the 
 county, at least, in favor of our infant academy.” 
 
 It does not appear how generally this appeal was responded 
 to, but it is pleasant to record the ready compliance of the 
 Rev. Mr. Buckminster, of Rutland, with the suggestion, who, 
 at the close of his sermon on Thanksgiving day of that year, 
 addressed his congregation in strong terms, upon the import- 
 ance of lending their aid to the proposed institution. These 
 remarks were afterwards published by Mr. Thomas, in his 
 paper. 
 
 A brief notice is due to the memory of this early friend of 
 Leicester Academy. 
 
 Rev. Joseph Buckminster was a native of Framingham, 
 and was graduated at Cambridge, in 1739. He was ordained 
 over the church and society in Rutland, in 1742, and re- 
 mained the pastor of that church till his death, November, 
 1772, at the age of 72. 
 
 He was greatly respected as a man, and somewhat distin- 
 guished as a divine. 
 
 Several of his sermons were published. 
 
11 
 
 He was an active and efficient promoter of the cause of 
 learning, and a friend of literary institutions ; and his efforts in 
 favor of this academy in its infancy, were too sincere and dis- 
 interested to be overlooked when chronicling the names of 
 those who fostered its early growth, and sustained it in the 
 days of its adversity and weakness. 
 
 The amount contributed by Colonels Crafts and Davis may 
 seem, at first sight, to have been too inconsiderable to justify 
 the commendations paid to their munificence. But the time 
 and circumstances under which this was done should be 
 taken into consideration in judging of the act. 
 
 Whatever they did was a spontaneous act, prompted only 
 by a desire to have a seminary of learning established in the 
 county. And the difficulty which was encountered in obtain- 
 ing sufficient additional funds to render it expedient, in the 
 minds of the legislature, to incorporate the institution shows 
 that the pecuniary condition of the people rendered the pay- 
 ment of even a much smaller sum an act of acknowledged 
 generosity. Indeed, the difficulty in obtaining subscriptions 
 of sufficient funds at one time threatened to defeat the act of 
 incorporation altogether. 
 
 The petition above recited was presented to the Senate, by 
 Hon. Seth Washburn, then a member of that body, February 
 2d, 1784, and was referred to a committee, consisting of the 
 Hon. Mr. Baker, afterwards one of the trustees on the part 
 of the Senate, and Miv Phillips and Mr. Bartlett, on the part 
 of the House. 
 
 Athough these gentlemen were friends of the measure, and 
 readily reported in favor of bringing in a bill for the incor- 
 poration of the academy, they wisely appended a condition to 
 their report that, before the bringing in of such a bill, the 
 petitioners should make it appear to the General Court, that 
 a sum of one thousand pounds, exclusive of the real estate, 
 had been raised for the purposes of the academy, before it 
 should become a law.* 
 
 * Samuel Adams was the President of the Senate, and Tristram Dalton, Speaker of the 
 House of Representatives. 
 
Further proceedings were accordingly suspended in the 
 Legislature, and an effort to raise the requisite sum was suc- 
 cessfully made. So that, on the 23d March, 1784, a bill for 
 incorporating the academy was passed. 
 
 The preamble to the act recites the views of the legislature, 
 and the circumstances under which the act was passed. 
 
 Whereas the encouragement of literature in the rising generation has 
 ever been considered, by the wise and good, as an object worthy of the most 
 serious attention, as the safety and happiness of a free people ultimately de- 
 pend upon the advantages arising from a pious, virtuous and liberal educa- 
 tion : Whereas it appears that Ebenezer Crafts, of Sturbridge, in the county 
 of Worcester, and Jacob Davis, of Charlton, in said county, Esquires, for the 
 purpose of promoting piety and learning, have generously given the large 
 and commodious house, lands and appurtenances, in Leicester, lately occu- 
 pied by Aaron Lopez, deceased, for the use of an academy, and it further 
 appears, that the sum of one thousand pounds is generously subscribed for 
 the support of said academy, the interest thereof, together with what may 
 hereafter be raised by donations, with the income or rent of all real estate 
 to be appropriated for the use and benefit of the said academy, as trustees 
 to be appointed, shall think most expedient, etc. 
 
 The act names fifteen trustees, most of whom had been men- 
 tioned in the original petition of Colonel Crafts, of whom six 
 were clergymen and nine laymen. It declares the incorpora- 
 tion to be “ for the purposes of promoting true piety and virtue, 
 and for the education of youth in the English, Latin, Greek 
 and French languages, together with writing, arithmetic and 
 the art of speaking, also practical geometry, logic, philosophy 
 and geography, and such other liberal arts and sciences as 
 opportunity may hereafter permit, and the trustees hereinafter 
 provided shall direct.” 
 
 The deed from Colonels Crafts and Davis to the trustees of 
 Leicester Academy bears date May, 1784, and is stated therein 
 to have been made in consideration, besides a nominal pecu- 
 niary sum, of “ the regard the grantors bear to virtue and 
 learning, which they consider greatly conducive to the wel- 
 fare of the community.” 
 
 In order to compare with the standard of our own day, what 
 
IS 
 
 was so often spoken of as the “ large and elegant structure,” 
 — “ the large and commodious mansion house,” which was 
 thus dedicated to the purposes of an academy, I shall endea- 
 vor to describe, partly from recollection and partly from the 
 information of others, its dimensions and position. 
 
 The house was two stories high, having six rooms upon the 
 lower story, three in front, and three in rear. The middle 
 room in front had been used by Mr. Lopez, for a store room, 
 and occupied more space in length, than the other two rooms 
 in the south-east and south-west corners of the house. It 
 stood near the road fronting toward the south, and was sur- 
 mounted by a kind of cupola, in which hung a bell, the gift, 
 I believe, of Mr. Stickney of Leicester. 
 
 Upon the front of the building, were two outer doors, over 
 which were porches, supported by two pillars with corres- 
 ponding pilasters, to which it had been attempted to give 
 something like architectural proportions though without much 
 success. This was the only attempt at architectural ornament 
 upon the exterior of the building, whose front might have 
 been perhaps seventy-five feet in length. The stories were 
 not probably more than from seven to seven and one-half feet 
 in height. Its windows were made of panes of glass, six by 
 eight inches in size — and its general appearance and effect cor- 
 responded with what might be expected in a building of such 
 proportions, devoid of ornament, and thus lighted. 
 
 Dr. Pierce, in his aff dress before the academy in 1847, 
 speaks of the appearance of the building in 1793 as follows. 
 “ It was an oblong, barrack-looking building, erected by Jews 
 who had migrated from Newport, Rhode Island, and raised 
 this rough looking structure for mercantile uses.” 
 
 And yet, according to the standard of architectural taste of 
 the day, it was an imposing structure. Mr. Lopez was a man 
 of refined taste, ample fortune and liberal habits ; and can 
 hardly be supposed to have intentionally spared any reason- 
 able expense, in constructing a mansion house for himself. 
 
 The east and west wings or end of this building remain, hav- 
 
14 
 
 ing been removed and fitted up as dwelling-houses upon the 
 road leading to Charlton, within the present village of Leices- 
 ter, and it is only necessary to compare these with the propor- 
 tions and style of exterior finish of the better class of dwelling- 
 houses of our own day, to judge something of the progress 
 that has been made in the arts, both in respect to convenience 
 and luxury, during the last seventy-five years, in our country. 
 
 The building stood in front of the present academy, but 
 more westerly, and close by the road, and, at the time of 
 which I am speaking, there was, I believe, no dwelling-house 
 upon either side of the street east of it, except one occupied 
 by the Rev. Mr. Conklin, which stood upon the site of the 
 house now of the Rev. Mr. May. While towards the west, at 
 the distance of about a dozen rods, stood an old, dilapidated, 
 ill-proportioned meeting-house, with diamond shaped win- 
 dows, but without either porch or belfry. 
 
 Between these was the “ training field,” extending back 
 some eight or ten rods, from the north-east corner of which a 
 “ lane ” led to the remains of an old house, some twenty rods 
 distant, in which Mr. Parsons, the first minister, had lived ; 
 while in rear of the meeting-house was the original burying- 
 ground of the town, surrounded by a “ brush” fence, extend- 
 ing around to the north-west corner of the meeting-house. 
 
 These constituted the entire part of the village of Leicester 
 lying east of the road leading to Paxton, if we except a build- 
 ing standing opposite the meeting-house, upon the south side 
 of the road, where had been once a small shoe-maker’s shop, 
 which had, a few years before that time, given place to a 
 building of more imposing proportions, erected by Mr. Waite 
 for a tavern. 
 
 The first meeting of the trustees for the purposes of organ- 
 izing the corporation was notified on the 1st of April 1784, 
 and held on the 7th of that month. 
 
 The exercises and proceedings on that occasion were inter- 
 esting and impressive. 
 
 The trustees repaired in a body to the church where public 
 
15 
 
 exercises were had, consisting of a solemn prayer by the Rev. 
 Mr. Maccarty, and a discourse by the Rev. Mr. Conklin, from 
 Proverbs xi. £5, followed by prayer, singing, etc. After 
 this, the trustees, with a number of distinguished invited guests, 
 partook of an ff elegant repast, ” which had been provided in 
 the academy. 
 
 They then proceeded to elect the corporate officers, and 
 chose the Hon. Moses Gill, President, Rev. Benjamin Conklin, 
 Vice President, Rev. Joseph Pope, Secretary, Joseph Allen 
 Esq., Treasurer, and Colonel Crafts, “ Steward and Butler.” 
 The precise nature of the duties of this latter officer were 
 not defined, but, as he never resided at Leicester, it is pre- 
 sumed they consisted chiefly in procuring a suitable person to 
 take charge of the academy buildings, and provide e£ commons” 
 for the students. 
 
 Two committees were at the same time appointed, one to 
 procure a teacher who should instruct in the " Latin and 
 Greek languages, geography, logic, etc.” and the other to 
 procure a teacher of (e the English language, writing, arith- 
 metic, surveying, etc.” And if said instructors could be ob- 
 tained by the next meeting of the trustees, the school was to be 
 opened ee with all convenient speed,” “ provided such a num- 
 ber be offered to receive instruction as should be thought, by the 
 trustees, a sufficient encouragement to enter upon the work.” 
 The south-west “ parlor,” in the academy building, was 
 appropriated to the Latin department of the school ; and the 
 south-east parlor, for the English department ; while the in- 
 termediate room, upon the front of the building, was reserved as 
 common for both schools for declamations, and occasions when 
 the pupils of both schools were to assemble, and it served, 
 at the same time, the purposes of a (e Commons Hall.”* 
 
 The south-west chamber was appropriated to the use of the 
 preceptors, while the other parts of the building were set 
 apart for the use of the steward of the academy, and as lodg- 
 
 * Among the favors I have to acknowledge, Is a letter now before me, from an early pre- 
 ceptor of the English department, who thus describes his school-room. 
 
 “ I boarded in commons, assisted in carving and distribution, and never eat a meal of vie- 
 
16 
 
 mg rooms for such students as should take their board in 
 “ commons.” 
 
 Benjamin Stone was employed, under this arrangement, as 
 principal preceptor ; and the school was opened, under lib 
 charge and tuition, on Monday, the 7th of June, 1781. 
 
 No preceptor of the English department was employed 
 until the succeeding autumn, when Thomas Payson was 
 appointed to the place, and entered upon its duties. 
 
 The school commenced with three pupils, two from Sfcur- 
 bridge, and one from Leicester. Soon after, Eli Whitney, of 
 Westboro’, whose name has been so widely known, joined the 
 school, and the number of students, during the summer after 
 the academy was opened, increased to about twenty. Upon 
 the opening of the autumn term, with two preceptors, the 
 number rose to between seventy and eighty. 
 
 The names of the three who constituted the entire school 
 at its opening, were Samuel C. Crafts, Ephraim Allen, and 
 Samuel Swan. 
 
 Hon. Samuel C. Crafts was the son of Colonel Crafts, and 
 was born in Woodstock, Conn., in 1768, and, at an early age, 
 removed with his father to Sturbridge. 
 
 He fitted for college at the academy, and was graduated at 
 Cambridge, in 1790. After leaving college, he commenced 
 the study of the law, but abandoned it upon his removal with 
 his father to Vermont in the winter of 1790—1. From that 
 time, Craftsbury was his residence during the remainder of 
 his life. 
 
 There were few public offices, either in town, county, or state, 
 that he was not, at some time, called to fill, and in all acquit- 
 ted himself with honor and entire acceptance. As few men 
 ever shared more fully in public honors, no man ever com- 
 manded, more completely and justly, the public confidence. 
 
 He was the first town clerk of the town of Craftsbury, and, 
 
 tuals ia a calm, leisurely and undisturbed manner. I taught and lived in the old, rickety, in- 
 convenient, Jewish house. We had an old-fashioned box stove, no dry wood, all green and 
 wet ; teachers and students were infested and inflated all day with steam and smoke, — old 
 crowded seats— what would young persons now think, were they thus used ? ’’ 
 
17 
 
 for thirty-seven years, was re-elected annually to that office. 
 In 1793, he was a member of the convention that formed the 
 Constitution of Vermont. In 1796, he was a member of the 
 legislature, and, the two following years, clerk of that body, 
 and was frequently, after, elected a member. From 1800 to 
 1810, he was first* assistant Judge of the County Court ; and, 
 from that time till 1816, Chief Justice of that Court. 
 
 In 1816, he was elected to Congress, and held a seat in 
 that body for eight years. From 1828 to 1830, he was Gov- 
 ernor of the State. In 1842, he was appointed a Senator in 
 Congress, and, upon the resignation of Judge Prentiss, was 
 elected to serve out the balance of his term in the Senate. 
 He died, at the ripe age of eighty-five, November 19th, 1853. 
 
 It is no part of the purpose of this work to write eulogies 
 upon those of whom it becomes necessary to speak. And 
 yet a notice of Gov. Crafts cannot be otherwise than a eulogy 
 if it does any thing like justice to his character. He was a 
 man of a rare combination of good sense, sound learning, great 
 moral worth, and unpretending simplicity of manners. Pub- 
 lic honors and popular favor never disturbed the quiet cur- 
 rent of a blameless life. And he stood to those around him 
 in the relation of a sage counsellor and faithful friend, com- 
 manding the respect and esteem of all. It is pleasant to trace, 
 through a long life, the history of one who was, literally, of 
 this academy at its beginning, and, in every position, did 
 credit to his early training. He had watched its progress for 
 fifty-seven years, and always felt an interest in its success, 
 and, in writing its history, his name could not have been prop- 
 erly omitted. 
 
 Ephraim Allen was born in Sturbridge, and was graduated 
 at Cambridge, in 1789. He became a physician, and mar- 
 ried .a daughter of General Newhall, one of the trustees of 
 the academy, and settled in Salem, N. Y., where he resided 
 till his death, in 1816. He sustained a high reputation in 
 his profession, and was much respected. 
 
 Samuel Swan, the survivor of the three, was born in Leices- 
 
18 
 
 ter, in 1778, and the son of Reuben Swan, who, it will 
 appear hereafter, was one of the contributors to the original 
 fund of the academy. He was consequently very young when 
 he entered the academy. He remained, however, in the 
 school till fitted for college, and was graduated at Cambridge, 
 in 1799. 
 
 He studied law with Hon. N. P. Denny, Esq., in Leices- 
 ter, and settled in his profession in Hubbardston, where he 
 still resides, having, for some years, withdrawn from the 
 practice of his profession. 
 
 The salary of the principal preceptor was at first fixed at 
 £50, “ he being at the expense of his own support.” 
 
 Though there were periods, soon after the opening of the 
 academy, when its struggle for existence was of doubtful issue, 
 after surmounting its early embarrassments, it has never 
 failed hitherto to supply, to those who have resorted to it for 
 an education, the aid of a well-regulated and well-disciplined 
 school, under teachers of competent and often eminent quali- 
 fications. 
 
 It from the gratifying progress and improvement in our 
 system of common schools, there is less occasion for institu- 
 tions like this academy than there once was, and if, in con- 
 sequence of this, the number of its pupils may, at any time, 
 have seemed disproportioned to the encouragements it holds 
 out to those seeking an education, its friends claim for it that 
 it has generally kept pace with the growing wants of the age, 
 and met every reasonable requisition that has been made upon 
 it. How far it may be hoped that this will continue to be 
 true may, perhaps, be better inferred from an examination of 
 the system of discipline and instruction in use there, the con- 
 dition of its funds, and the character of its trustees and teach- 
 ers hitherto, which will form the subject of the future chapters 
 of this work. 
 
19 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE SYSTEM OF DISCIPLINE AND INSTRUCTION ADOPTED FROM 
 
 TIME TO TIME, INCLUDING TEXT BOOKS, EXAMINATIONS, 
 
 EXHIBITIONS, ETC. 
 
 In regard to the system of instruction adopted and pursued 
 at this academy, it may be generally remarked that the pol- 
 icy, on the part of trustees and instructors, has been to give 
 it a sound, practical character, rather than to adopt those 
 measures in which utility is too often sacrificed to popular 
 eclat.* 
 
 The consequence has been, that it has kept on the even 
 tenor of its way, without attempting to attract by new experi- 
 ments or ingenious speculations. 
 
 It lays no claim to haying been, to any considerable degree, 
 in advance of other similar institutions in its standard of 
 education. 
 
 While, for instance. Harvard College did not require, (as 
 v r e are assured, by the venerable Dr. Pierce, in his address 
 before the academy, w r as the case in 1789,) that a student, in 
 order to obtain an admission into College, should know any- 
 thing of arithmetic or geography, it would hardly be expected 
 that the standard of education in the academy in 1784 should 
 be veiy elevated. 
 
 Utility, therefore, rather than show, has been the leading 
 policy of the academy in its course of instruction. 
 
 Provision was at first made for procuring a “ Preceptor in 
 the Greek and Latin Languages,” and also a “ Teacher of 
 English, Writing, Arithmetic, etc.,” and that “ the youth to 
 he put under the care of such instructor should be personally 
 
 * The branch'es taught at first in the English department, were Reading, Writing, Arithme- 
 tic, English Grammar, and Public Speaking. Geography was not taught at all. 
 
20 
 
 examined by him, the Vice President, and the Latin and 
 Greek Preceptor, as to their acquaintance with the first rudi- 
 ments of learning, and whether they were qualified for 
 admission. 
 
 There is reason, however, to believe that this preliminary 
 examination, if ever employed, was based upon such extreme- 
 ly “ first rudiments ” as to amount to no check to the admis- 
 sion of students, for Mr. Swan could have been but a little 
 more than six years old when admitted. And in a pleasant 
 note, in answer to an inquiry upon the subject, the venerable 
 and excellent Dr. Jackson, who was English Preceptor in 
 1796, says, “the studies were not of the most elevated char- 
 acter. I believe that all my pupils had learned the English 
 alphabet before I saw them. I taught spelling, reading, 
 writing, English grammar, and arithmetic, and perhaps, to a 
 few of the pupils, some of the higher branches.” 
 
 Public examinations, as well as public exhibitions of the 
 students, were early adopted. 
 
 In a public notice of the Academy, June 25th, 1785, it is 
 stated that “ the Annual Meeting of the Corporation of Leices- 
 ter Academy is to be held on the first Monday of July, when 
 there will be a public Exhibition of the performances of some 
 of the students.” 
 
 Accordingly, on Monday, the 4th, “ it being the day of the 
 annual meeting of the Trustees of the Academy in Leicester, 
 the youth of that seminary entertained a large and respectable 
 audience with specimens of their literary improvements.” 
 
 The plan of these does not seem to have been uniform or 
 established by the Trustees until several years after this period. 
 
 The next notice that I have discovered of a public exami- 
 nation, was in October, 1785, when, as is stated, “ on Tuesday 
 last was the meeting of the Trustees and Overseers of Leices- 
 ter Academy, at which time the youth of that seminary were 
 examined as to their progress in classical knowledge, and gave 
 great satisfaction to a number of respectable gentlemen who 
 were present.” 
 
21 
 
 The taste, so generally prevalent in every community for 
 dramatic representations, early developed itself in the public 
 exhibitions of this academy. 
 
 A venerable gentleman,* recently one of the trustees, has 
 told me that, while a member of the academy, which must 
 have been about 1790, he took part in the dramatic perform- 
 ances on occasion of one of these exhibitions, which occupied 
 the entire day and evening, and in which pupils of both sexes 
 took parts. And among the dramas acted on the occasion, 
 was Addison’s Cato, entire. 
 
 Dr. Pierce, who came there in 1793, describes one of these 
 exhibitions. “ Plays were acted in the meeting-house, which 
 was crowded to its full capacity. Scenery was constructed. 
 On one of these days, I distinctly recollect a play excited great 
 attention, entitled the f Scolding Wife,’ all parts of which 
 were well sustained, but the heroine of which acted her part 
 to universal admiration. At that time, a Congregational min- 
 ister in this county played behind the scenes, on a viol, the 
 bass of a song in the f Scolding Wife,’ which was a compo- 
 nent part of the play.” 
 
 The account which I find given in the papers of the day, 
 of the exhibition in 1793, is as follows: “May 31st, on 
 Wednesday last week, the Trustees of Leicester Academy 
 paid their annual visit to that institution. The students of 
 both sexes exhibited, on that occasion, a variety of theatrical 
 representations, interspersed with original composition, and 
 vocal and instrumental music. The performances in general 
 were highly entertaining, and must have impressed the minds 
 of the audience with sentiments peculiarly favorable both to 
 the performers and their instructors.” 
 
 These occasions were made agreeable holidays for people of 
 this and the neighboring towns, and, to a considerable extent, 
 have continued such up to the present time. 
 
 A public taste which would demand, or even be gratified, 
 by such performances on the part of pupils of a literary semi- 
 
 * Hon. A. Bigelow. 
 
22 
 
 nary, does not indicate that a very true estimate was enter- 
 tained of the purposes which such an institution should aim 
 to accomplish in the system of instruction it should adopt. 
 
 At length, the subject became of sufficient importance, in 
 the minds of the trustees, to require their special and deliber- 
 ate consideration. Messrs. Lincoln, Allen, and Sumner, 
 were appointed a committee “ to designate in general the sub- 
 ject matter, and the manner of performing the public academic 
 exhibitions, as also the general expenses of the public enter- 
 tainments on these occasions.” 
 
 They made a report, which was accepted, in October, 1795, 
 “ that the exhibitions aforesaid, in future, consist of Greek, 
 Latin or English orations, forensic disputations, dialogues 
 upon historical, scientific, sentimental, or moral subjects, and 
 specimens of reading in the English language, or such of the 
 above as may comport with the proficiency of the pupils in liter- 
 ature, and a reasonable length of time for the performances.” 
 The next direct action of the trustees on the subject was in 
 October, 1796, when they made provision for erecting a stage 
 for the performers on occasion of public exhibitions. 
 
 The trustees, at the same time, made provision for two 
 stated meetings of the body, one in July, and the other in 
 October, “ and, at the last aforesaid meetings, there shall be 
 an examination of the pupils by the trustees.” 
 
 This is the first action of the trustees that I find requiring 
 a public examination of the students by the trustees, and this 
 was limited to one in each year. 
 
 From that time examinations have been regularly had by 
 the trustees or committee of that body, increasing in number 
 from time to time, till they are now had at the close of each 
 term of the school. 
 
 The school appears to have been destitute of anything in 
 the way of “ apparatus ” till 1798, when measures were taken 
 by the trustees to purchase a “ set of globes,” a “ prospect 
 glass,” and a “ microscope,” and to ascertain the expense of 
 a telescope. 
 
Soon after, during the same year, a committee were author- 
 ized “to purchase an electrical machine, a thermometer, and 
 a set of instruments for surveying land.” 
 
 The globes and telescope have, I believe, come down to the 
 present day,* while the other articles have long since become 
 a matter of history, though the thermometer and instruments 
 for surveying have been in use within the memory of some 
 whose connexion with the school is somewhat modern. f 
 
 It is not easy to recall the text-books that have been used 
 in the school, in anything like the order of their introduction. 
 In 1796, Pike’s Arithmetic was the standard in that depart- 
 ment. At a subsequent period, Adams’ Arithmetic was con- 
 siderably used, and this was succeeded by Webber’s, which 
 was in use till 1815. Alexander’s Grammar, I apprehend, 
 was the text-book for some years, but was early superseded 
 by Murray’s, which was the only one upon that subject in 
 use for many years. 
 
 How early Scott’s Lessons for reading, parsing, etc., came 
 into use, I am unable to state ; but I presume, from the best 
 information I can obtain, it was adopted early in the present 
 century, and justly held its place in school for many years. 
 
 Some of the higher classes made use, at times, of some 
 English classic, like Cowper’s Task, for exercises in parsing, 
 and as a reading book. 
 
 The academy, by the way, always held a respectable, and, 
 at times, a high rank in the department of Grammar. 
 
 Blair’sPhetoric was early a text-book upon that subject. 
 
 The earliest geography of which I have any account, as 
 used in school, was “ Morse’s,” what was called “ Abridg- 
 ment;” and that was studied and recited memoriter without 
 the aid of maps. This mode of teaching geography was in 
 use as late as 1810 and ’ll, up to which time I have great 
 
 * The globes were in use in 1836, and it was then voted to repair them, or procure others. 
 
 1 1 shall have occasion to mention, in another connexion, the purchase of a philosophical 
 apparatus, at the expense of $500, in 1823. 
 
 In 1848, the trustees expended $100 more for the same purpose. 
 
24 
 
 doubt if an atlas, or collection of maps, had ever been seen 
 in the academy. 
 
 About the year 1813, Chemistry began to be studied a 
 little, and recitations were had from the “ Conversations,” the 
 only text-book for schools then accessible. But no experi- 
 ments or illustrations were had, except, perhaps, showing how 
 the flame of a taper would be extinguished by burning it 
 under a tumbler inverted over a cup of water. 
 
 In 1815, the subject of making this a regular study in the 
 academy, was first considered by the trustees. 
 
 In what I have said of text-books, I have chiefly confined 
 myself to the English department.* Of the Latin department, 
 I shall have to speak in another connexion. 
 
 To recur to the public exhibitions, the time occupied in 
 them was at length found necessary to be limited by the action 
 of the trustees. 
 
 In 1801, they provided that the exercises, upon days of 
 exhibition and examination, should commence at 10 o’clock 
 A. M., and be confined to a single session. 
 
 In 1802, the day of the annual exhibition was fixed to be 
 on Thursday preceding the last Wednesday in August, instead 
 of varying, as it had done before, from May to one of the 
 summer months. 
 
 How far these exhibitions, as a part of the academical exer- 
 cises, were expedient, seems to have been a matter of grave 
 doubt and discussion, from time to time, from the foundation 
 of the academy to the present time. 
 
 In 1809, a committee which had been raised the year pre- 
 vious, upon the subject, proposed that the school should be 
 examined at the end of the fall, winter and spring terms, by 
 a committee of five from the trustees, and, for this purpose, 
 they were divided into three standing committees. “ In 
 respect to public exhibitions, they have contemplated the 
 
 * Perry’s Dictionary was in general use, until superseded by Walker, about 1808 or ’10, 
 though Johnson’s was always regarded as the standard for spelling and definition till a much 
 more recent period. 
 
25 
 
 subject, and its influence on the immediate improvement of the 
 students, and upon public opinion, and they are constrained 
 to recommend the continuance of them.” 
 
 Whenever the question has been raised, the pressure of 
 the popular demand for something like a literary holiday in 
 the academy has been acknowledged, even when the wisdom 
 of continuing it as a school ceremony has been doubted. 
 
 It was again discussed in 1816, when the whole subject of 
 “ making further provision for the instruction of this acad- 
 emy ” and “ the expediency of dispensing with exhibitions ” 
 was brought before the board. 
 
 It was again voted to be inexpedient to dispense with the 
 exhibitions, though it was recommended “ to assign parts in 
 these exercises to those scholars, who will be most benefited 
 by public speaking, and while they (the government) have 
 some regard to the entertainment of a mixed audience in the 
 selection of pieces, the improvement of their pupils be a 
 primary object.” 
 
 In 1819, in order to carry out the views of the trustees, in 
 the selection of the pieces to be spoken at the exhibition, a 
 committee of that body was raised to assist the preceptors in 
 making selections. History does not record the success of the 
 experiment. But I do not find it repeated. 
 
 The expense of these exhibitions until 1821 had been sus- 
 tained by the students. - Nor were they inconsiderable, since, 
 among other contingent charges, it was always deemed essen- 
 tial to employ a band of music on the occasion. 
 
 In the latter year, the trustees assumed these expenses to a 
 considerable extent. 
 
 In regard to the text-books and mode of instruction adopted 
 in the Latin department of the academy, these were of course 
 conformed to the requirements of the leading colleges in New 
 England.* 
 
 *The text-books in use at the commencement of the academy were, Latin Grammar, Corde- 
 rius, Erasmus, Eutropius, Cicero’s Orations, Virgil, and a Treatise on “ Making Latin,” Greek 
 Grammar, and Testament. 
 
26 
 
 For some years, I am led to infer the pupils made free 
 use of translations of the classic authors, but they had been 
 generally disused before 1810. At any rate, the preceptors, 
 after that period, discouraged the use of them. But no action 
 was taken by the trustees upon the subject till 1815, when 
 they formally disallowed them as being “ unfriendly to a 
 thorough and critical knowledge of the learned languages.” 
 The restriction, however, did not extend to Corderius, Erasmus, 
 Eutropius, “ or books of that description.” In a report upon 
 the subject, on the occasion last referred to, they expressly 
 recognize the doctrine, that “ the prosperity of the academy 
 is in a great measure suspended upon its public reputation for 
 correct and thorough classical instruction,” and they urge 
 upon the preceptor great caution in recommending pupils for 
 admission into the colleges. 
 
 For several years previous to this time, the text-books in 
 use in teaching Latin, were Adams’ Grammar, iEsop’s Fables, 
 Eutropius, Virgil, and Cicero’s Select Orations. In Greek, 
 Gloucester Grammar, Greeca Minora, Greek Testament, and 
 portions of Graeca Majora, Ainsworth’s Latin Dictionary, and 
 Schreveli’s Greek Lexicon, with Latin definitions, were the 
 dictionaries in use. 
 
 Up to 18 IT, the division of the academical year was into 
 quarters, with vacations of a fortnight each. But, in the lat- 
 ter year, the plan was adopted of having but three terms. It 
 did not, however, find general favor, and, after a year, the 
 original arrangement was resumed. 
 
 The hours of study were, from time to time, regulated by 
 rules adopted by the trustees. It was originally designed that 
 the pupils should be constantly under the supervision of the 
 teachers. But, from a variety of causes, the stringency of the 
 rule was relaxed, till the custom of allowing the older and 
 more advanced scholars to study in their own rooms became 
 somewhat general, and the attention of the trustees was called 
 to the subject. 
 
 After fully considering the matter, they came to the conclu- 
 
27 
 
 sion that permission ought not to be granted to the scholars 
 “ to study in their private rooms, but in cases of necessity.” 
 And the propriety of the rule is too obvious to require illus- 
 tration, except in cases of pupils of sufficiently matured judg- 
 ment to appreciate properly the value and importance of time. 
 
 The number of hours during which the schools should be 
 taught were fixed, in 1820, at eight, viz., from eight to twelve 
 in the forenoon, and from two to six in the afternoon. In 
 1884, these were varied to from half past eight to twelve, and 
 from half past one to half past four, except in Summer, and 
 then from two to five P. M., and the hours of study in the 
 evening, from October to April, from seven to nine. 
 
 The system of public examinations, each term, by commit- 
 tees of the trustees was established in 1819, to take place at 
 the close of the term, except that, in the summer, when it 
 was to be had “ three weeks preceding the annual exhibition, 
 as that would tend to prevent an unreasonable devotion of 
 time to the latter object, and secure more attention to study 
 during the greater proportion of that quarter.” 
 
 It has been, more than once, incidentally stated, that the 
 pupils of the academy consisted of both sexes. This has been 
 the case from the commencement of the school. The trustees 
 and preceptors seem to have early understood, — what is now 
 so well settled, — that, in educational training, the same intel- 
 lectual processes were Jo be pursued with the one sex as with 
 the other ; and therefore adopted the same system of text-books 
 and instruction for each. And the success which always dis- 
 tinguished this system, so far as what has been called the 
 “ weaker sex ” is concerned, fully justified the wisdom of the 
 measure. 
 
 It might be invidious to select individual cases for illustra- 
 tion. But it may not be misplaced to make use of the testi- 
 mony of the Rev. Dr. Pierce, in the address to which allusion 
 has been made, upon this subject. Speaking of one of his 
 female pupils, he uses the following language : “ Though in 
 my class, while I instructed at the university, were Dr. Chan- 
 
28 
 
 ning, Judge Story, and other respectable scholars, yet I have 
 been in the habit of remarking that never have I known one 
 male or female of a more extraordinary mind than was evinced 
 by this gifted young lady.”* 
 
 Though the female pupils pursued with quite equal suc- 
 cess with the other sex the studies taught in the English 
 department, it was not till a much more recent period that 
 they engaged in the study of “ the languages,” which has 
 become so common, especially the Latin. 
 
 But whoever is able to recall the course of instruction in 
 our public schools, and especially of female education in New 
 England, for something more than a third of a century, will 
 understand the struggle against which the trustees of the 
 academy had to stand to render the system of instruction of 
 females in the academy more “ popular.” The prevailing 
 sentiment in the public mind seemed to be in favor of schools 
 where “ accomplishments ” and the “ polite branches ” should 
 hold a more prominent place in female education. 
 
 Many were the boarding schools which flourished for a 
 while, under the influence of this sentiment, and many were 
 the “wrought samplers” and “ painted mourning-pieces” 
 which were hung up in the parlors of our good citizens, as a 
 kind of certificate that their daughters had shared in the ben- 
 efits of one of those schools that once obtained a hold upon 
 the public mind, where the acquisition of the “solid” branches 
 of learning was mingled with most of the “fine” and “polite 
 arts,” and the whole accomplished in an incredibly short 
 period. 
 
 Erom 1815 to 1819, the idea of introducing some change 
 in the arrangement as to the female pupils of the school, 
 seems to have been suggested from time to time, till, in the 
 latter year, a committee of the trustees, having considered the 
 whole subject, made a report, which put the question at rest. 
 
 It had been proposed to have a separate department of the 
 academy as a district school for females, under the general 
 superintendence of the trustees. 
 
 * Miss Southgate, (afterwards Mrs. Boyd,) of Scarboro', Me. 
 
29 
 
 The committee discourage such a separation of the schools 
 on account of the want of sufficient funds, but do not enter 
 into the question of how far it is expedient to separate the 
 sexes, in our academies and high schools, which has of late 
 been somewhat discussed. 
 
 The custom of allowing the female pupils to take part in 
 the exercise of declamation was discontinued within a few 
 years after the establishment of the school. 
 
 In respect to the moral discipline of the academy, it has 
 always been the aim of the trustees, to fix as high a standard 
 as can reasonably be hoped to be sustained in its application. 
 A code of rules and regulations for the government of the 
 school, and the conduct of the pupils, was early adopted, 
 which has been modified, from time to time, to conform to 
 the condition and wants of the institution. 
 
 Without giving these in detail, it may be stated that an 
 attendance of the pupils upon morning and evening devotions 
 in the academy, and the public religious exercises upon the 
 Sabbath, and days of public fast and thanksgiving, have been 
 uniformly required.* 
 
 The penalties attached to a violation of the rules and 
 regulations of the school have been fines, admonitions, suspen- 
 sions and expulsions, though fines or expulsions have been of 
 rare application in the discipline of the academy. 
 
 In 1834, there was a revision of these laws, in which the 
 imposition of fines was abolished, and expulsion adopted by 
 the preceptors, only in concurrence with a committee of the 
 trustees. 
 
 By the original system of organizing the schools, the prin- 
 cipal preceptor was understood to be charged with the general 
 
 * From the erection of the meeting-house till an organ was obtained, about 1826, the stu- 
 dents occupied the seats in the gallery, from the center of the front around to the center of 
 the west gallery. After that, they occupied the seats in the east gallery. In 1802, the trustees 
 hired a seat, for the English preceptor, in a pew in the gallery belonging to N. Beers, overlook- 
 ing the students. The meeting-house was without any stove, or means of warming it, and an 
 extract from the same letter already quoted from, will give some idea of what “going to 
 meeting ” then was. “I shudder now, in June, with the cold, while thinking what I then 
 suffered on the Sabbath, when I was posted as a sentinel, in the north-west corner pew in the 
 church, to observe the students’ conduct in the time of worship.” 
 
30 
 
 management and direction of the institution, although I can 
 find few, if any, instances, where the Latin preceptor had 
 occasion to interfere with the discipline of the English depart- 
 ment. Dr. Jackson incidentally remarks that, while he was 
 connected with the academy, “the schools were conducted 
 quite independently of each other. I believe Mr. Adams 
 never entered my room, and that I never entered his.” “ He 
 gave me his advice very kindly, but I believe that he had no 
 right to control me ; certainly he never did.” 
 
 In order, however, to remove all questions of conflict of 
 jurisdiction, the subject was acted upon by the trustees in 
 1821, when it was expressly declared by them, that it was 
 the duty of the principal preceptor to superintend the govern- 
 ment of the English, as well as the Latin, school ; to arrange, 
 direct and regulate the studies of the English students ; to 
 acquaint himself with their proficiency, by occasional exami- 
 nations ; and, in common with the assistant, to watch over 
 their moral and general deportment. 
 
 The assistant had authority, concurrent with the principal, 
 to preserve order in the English school when under his im- 
 mediate care, and to inflict such punishments, when necessary, 
 as are consistent with the usages and laws of the academy. 
 
 Thus stood the respective powers and duties of the princi- 
 pal and assistant preceptors until 1824, when, in order to 
 conform to the spirit of the provisions of the last will and 
 testament of the late Mr. Waters, who had recently left a lib- 
 eral donation to the academy, a new system, as to the division 
 and management of the schools, was adopted by the trustees. 
 
 The institution was divided into an upper and lower school. 
 The upper school was to be under the instruction of the prin- 
 cipal of the academy. The other was to be under that of the 
 preceptor of the lower school, and “ to retain the same powers 
 and to hold the same relations to each other, that the principal 
 and his assistant do at present.” 
 
 The upper school was to embrace all classic studies prepar- 
 atory to admission into colleges, provided the student was, in 
 
31 
 
 the judgment of the two preceptors, prepared to begin Vir- 
 gil, Cicero’s Orations, and the Greek Testament. 
 
 Pupils in the English studies might be admitted into the 
 upper school if found, upon examination of the two precep- 
 tors, well acquainted with geography, English grammar, and 
 common arithmetic. 
 
 Reading and spelling were strongly recommended as a daily 
 exercise in the lower school, and as, at least, a weekly one in 
 the upper school. 
 
 It was under this arrangement that Mr. Richardson, 
 the Latin preceptor, was declared to be- the principal of the 
 academy. 
 
 A list of text-books was adopted, at the same time, for the 
 several schools, which, though rather formidable in numbers, 
 I copy here, as showing the books then in use in our better 
 classes of schools : 
 
 First Class Book, Worcester’s Ancient and Modern Geogra- 
 phy, Murray’s Grammar, Walker’s Dictionary, Colburn’s and 
 Adams’ Arithmetic, Adams’ Latin Grammar, Liber Primus, 
 Viri Romae, Caesar’s Commentaries, Valpy’s Greek Gram- 
 mar. 
 
 In the upper school, Cicero’s Select Orations, Clark’s In- 
 troduction, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, Sallust, Graeca Minora, 
 Worcester’s Geography, Virgil, Greek Testament, Neilson’s 
 Greek Exercises, Butman’s Greek Grammar, Lacroix’s Arith- 
 metic, Euler’s Algebra, Blair’s Rhetoric, Whelply’s Com- 
 pend of History, Hedge’s Logic, Legendre’s Geometry, Flint’s 
 Surveying, Conversations on Intellectual Philosophy, Wil- 
 kins’ Astronomy, Conversations on Chemistry, Watts on the 
 Mind. 
 
 These evidently do not constitute a regular or required 
 course of study, but are designed as elementary books for the 
 various pupils who might resort to the academy for longer or 
 shorter periods, and in view of a more or less systematic 
 course of instruction, according to their respective opportu- 
 nities or purposes for an education. 
 
32 
 
 In one respect, the trustees have ever shown themselves 
 liberal in their policy in regard to the school. They have 
 always supplied an adequate number of teachers to meet the 
 occasions of the pupils. And it is believed that, in no simi- 
 lar institution, has there been a larger, and, as a general thing, 
 more competent corps of instructors in proportion to the num- 
 ber of its pupils than that which this academy has supplied. 
 
 A brief sketch of many of those who have filled the place 
 of teachers in the academy will be found in another chapter 
 of this report. 
 
 Some practical difficulties having arisen in carrying out the 
 arrangements as to an “ upper ” and “ lower ” school, and 
 thereby conforming to the clause in the will of Capt. Waters, 
 which appropriated the fund thereby created “ for the purpose 
 of supporting an instructor or instructors of the Congregational 
 Calvinistic order, in the higher branches of literature,” in 
 November, 1825, the trustees made anew arrangement in the 
 schools, whereby that distinction was abolished. 
 
 Instead of that, there were to be two instructors statedly 
 employed, the first to be denominated the principal preceptor, 
 and the second the assistant preceptor. 
 
 The business of the instruction of the school was delegated 
 to these, with the understanding that the principal should have 
 the general superintendence of the school in respect to govern- 
 ment, and the division of the respective duties of the two 
 instructors, subject always to the direction of the trustees. 
 
 From that time, the assistant preceptor has been considered 
 as appointed upon the “ Waters foundation.” 
 
 Increase S. Smith was the first preceptor who received this 
 appointment, the trustees having voted that he was “ of the 
 Congregational Calvinistic order.” 
 
 The vexed question of the annual exhibition again came up 
 before the trustees in May of this year, and it was voted to 
 dispense with it, and a public examination substituted. 
 
 In May, 1827, it was voted that, in addition to the public 
 examination, there should be such declamations by the stu- 
 
33 
 
 dents as the preceptors should judge proper. And the same 
 course was pursued the next year. 
 
 But so strong was the public impression in favor of some- 
 thing like the former exercises, upon the day of the annual 
 exhibition, that they were at last restored, except that the 
 proportion of original declamations was much increased. 
 
 A veiy appropriate and pleasant addition to the public 
 exercises on these occasions was made in 1840, when it was 
 voted by the trustees that some former member of the acad- 
 emy should be annually chosen by the trustees to make an 
 address at the annual exhibition. 
 
 This custom has been continued, and has added much to 
 the interest of the occasion, as the names of those who have 
 made addresses would lead one to suppose. 
 
 The first of these was Hon. Charles Allen. In 1841, Em- 
 ory Washburn. In 1842, the address was by the president. 
 In 1844, Hon. Benjamin E. Thomas. In 1845, Hon. Thomas 
 Kinnicutt. In 1847, Bev. Dr. Pierce, of Brookline, whose 
 interesting address on that occasion has been more than once 
 alluded to, and a copy whereof is preserved in the archives of 
 the academy. In 1848, the address was by Hon. Ira M. 
 Barton, of Worcester. In 1849, by Hon. Pliny Merrick, of 
 Worcester. In 1850, by William Brigham, Esq., of Boston. 
 In 1851, by Bev. James W. Thompson, D. D., of Salem. In 
 1852, Dwight Poster, Esq., of Worcester, was prevented, by 
 unavoidable reasonsyfrom making the address, and, in 1853, 
 Hon. Charles Thurber delivered a poem at the public exhi- 
 bition. In 1854, Dwight Foster, Esq. made the annual 
 address. 
 
 Instruction in French had been introduced into the acad- 
 emy before 1828, and a regular tuition was then established 
 for it. In May, 1835, the trustees voted to employ a female 
 teacher, in addition to an assistant English preceptor, making 
 four teachers, besides occasional teachers in particular branches. 
 And this has been continued to the present time. 
 
 To secure a respectable standing for scholarship in the Eng- 
 
34 
 
 lish department^ the trustees, in 1834; adopted; as a regula- 
 tion; that no one should be received who could not read the 
 English language fluently, write a legible hand, parse simple 
 sentences in English grammar, and was not versed in the funda- 
 mental rules of arithmetic, and the elements of geography. 
 
 Occasional changes were made in the text-books used in 
 the schools, some of which are mentioned in the records. 
 Thus, in 1836, Andrews and Stoddard’s Latin Grammar, in 
 connexion with Gould’s, was introduced, and Burritt’s Geog- 
 raphy of the Heavens. 
 
 In 1839, Newman’s Rhetoric, Sophocles’ Greek Grammar, 
 and Felton’s Greek Reader. 
 
 In 1842, Davis’ Surveying instead of Flint’s. 
 
 In 1843, Colton’s Greek Reader was substituted for Fel- 
 ton’s, and other changes may have been adopted. 
 
35 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE FUNDS AND REAL ESTATE OF THE CORPORATION, WITH 
 
 NOTICES OF SOME OF THE BENEFACTORS OF THE ACADEMY. 
 
 As the first donation to the academy consisted of real estate, 
 it is proper to speak of that prominently, in giving an account of 
 the funds and resources of the academy, although the subject 
 has been briefly mentioned already, in a former chapter. 
 
 The estate given by Colonel Crafts and Colonel Davis, as 
 already mentioned, contained one acre of land, which, prior 
 to 1765, had belonged to the Rev. Joseph Roberts, for several 
 years the settled minister of Leicester. 
 
 He conveyed it, that year, to his successor, the Rev. Mr. 
 Conklin. In 1770, he conveyed one-half of it to Ezekiel 
 Fosgate, who erected a small building upon it for the pur- 
 poses of a store. This was the first store ever opened in the 
 town. 
 
 The next year, Fosgate conveyed his estate to Elijah Har- 
 rington, of Worcester, and, the year following, he sold the 
 same to Joseph Allen, Esq., who had removed from Boston 
 to Leicester, and engaged in mercantile business in that town. 
 
 The next year, 1774, Mr. Allen conveyed one-half the 
 estate to his partner, Henry Bass, of Boston, having erected a 
 dwelling-house upon a part of the land. 
 
 In 1777, they conveyed the estate to Aaron Lopez who 
 purchased the other half acre of Mr. Conklin, and erected, 
 partly upon both parcels, what was so generally regarded, as 
 has been said, “ the splendid mansion,” afterwards used for 
 the academy. 
 
 The conveyance, by the administrator of Mr. Lopez, to 
 Messrs. Crafts, Davis & Sprague, has already been mentioned, 
 as well as the conveyance of Mr. Sprague to Colonel Crafts, 
 
36 
 
 and the subsequent deed of the same from Messrs. Crafts & 
 Davis to the trustees of the academy, on the 18th May, 1784. 
 
 In November, 1804, Dr. Austin Flint gave the academy 
 a small parcel of land adjoining their other estate, of the 
 value of one hundred and sixty dollars, containing one hun- 
 dred and twenty-four rods ; and, in the same month, sold 
 and conveyed to the trustees, for the sum of $150, another 
 parcel adjoining the first, containing one hundred and seventy- 
 two square rods of land. 
 
 A plan of the land, as surveyed by John Southgate, Esq., 
 accompanies the deed from the estate of Mr. Lopez to Colonel 
 Crafts, etc., and is found upon the records in the Registry of 
 Deeds. 
 
 I transcribe the description of the half acre once owned by 
 Messrs. Allen & Bass, as contained in them deed to Mr. Lopez, 
 partly to make this report the more complete, and partly that 
 those, familiar with the present situation of the grounds in 
 front of the public buildings in Leicester, may judge some- 
 what of their condition in 1777. “ A certain parcel of land 
 
 in Leicester, etc., on the north side of the county road, east- 
 ward of, and near to, the meeting-house, bounded southerly, by 
 the county road, six rods eastwardly to a heap of stones ; from 
 thence by land of the Rev. Benjamin Conklin, by a line run- 
 ning N. 1° E. 11 3-4 rods, to a heap of stones on a rock ; 
 thence, turning W. 1° N. 5 1-4 rods to a stake and heap of 
 stones, by the lane leading from the meeting-house, to the 
 remains of a house formerly possessed by Israel Parsons, 
 deceased ; from thence, bounded westerly by said land in part, 
 and partly by the “ training field,” to the S. E. corner of the 
 place whereon the old school-house stood, and containing half 
 an acre by measure, together with a dwelling-house and shop 
 situate thereon. 
 
 The consideration mentioned in this deed, embracing land, 
 house, and shop, was £200, or six hundred and sixty-six dol- 
 lars. Probably tills house, erected by Mr. Allen, formed a 
 part of the larger structure, erected by Mr. Lopez, in 1778. 
 
O *7 
 
 o7 
 
 These, with, a parcel of land purchased by the trustees in 
 1804, for the purposes of the academy, constitute the lands 
 belonging to the corporation. But the changes that have 
 been made in the buildings belonging to the institution will 
 form a part of the history of its funds. 
 
 In respect to the funds of the academy, like too many of 
 the public institutions of our country, they have rarely been 
 adequate to meet the demands which the public have made upon 
 those who have charge of its interests. Indeed, the history of 
 the institution is a history of struggles which its trustees have 
 carried on, often under great discouragements, to sustain the 
 usefulness and reputation of the academy. 
 
 I have already had occasion to state the reluctance of the 
 legislature to grant an act of incorporation upon the petition 
 of Colonel Crafts, until something like an adequate fund, in- 
 dependent of the real estate, was provided. 
 
 An effort was, accordingly, made with success, to raise the 
 sum of one thousand pounds, wdiereupon the act of incorpo- 
 ration was granted. 
 
 We are able to ascertain, with some degree of accuracy, 
 the sources from which this amount was derived. The 
 promptness with which the £1,000, required by the Legisla- 
 ture as the condition upon which an act of incorporation 
 should be granted, was subscribed, was certainly commend- 
 able ; and, considering the general pecuniary distress through 
 the country, was creditable to the donors. The petition was 
 presented on the 2d February ; subsequent to which time, 
 the committee upon the subject made their report ; and it re- 
 ceived the action of both bodies ; and yet, before the 23d of 
 March, the requisite amount had been raised. 
 
 The Spy of that date states that this sum had been “ sub- 
 scribed by the town of Leicester and a few gentlemen of that 
 and this place ” (Worcester.) 
 
 The action of the town of Leicester upon the subject 
 deserves something more than a passing notice. 
 
 Though its soil was rugged, and difficult of cultivation, its 
 
 3 
 
38 
 
 inhabitants were chiefly engaged in agriculture. There were 
 no manufactures or mechanical employments beyond the ordi- 
 nary and necessary handicrafts for the convenience of such a 
 community. 
 
 It ranked only as the twenty-first town in the county, in the 
 scale of wealth or population, and the one hundred and eighth 
 in the state. It had borne its full share of the burdens of the 
 war, and, beyond the taxes which had been levied to sustain 
 the war and pay the war debt, its citizens had contributed, in 
 one form and another, over eighteen thousand dollars during 
 the last three years of that struggle, to help carry it on. 
 
 Its population could not have exceeded ten or eleven hun- 
 dred, and an appeal to these, with their limited wealth and 
 exhausted resources, might have been regarded as somewhat 
 desperate. But, when it was made, it found the people of 
 the town alive to their interest, and willing to venture upon 
 the exercise, of, to say the least, a doubtful authority, in assum- 
 ing the contribution, by a tax, of a liberal portion of the requi- 
 site sum. 
 
 On the 15th March, 1784, a town meeting was held, at 
 which the following resolution was adopted : “ Taking into 
 consideration the peculiar advantages arising to the community, 
 as well as particular societies, by encouraging the education 
 of youth in piety, virtue, and the several branches of good 
 literature in this, our rising nation, a proposal for establishing 
 an academy in this town being laid before the Great and Gen- 
 eral Court of this Commonwealth, founded by the generosity 
 of Ebenezef Crafts, of Sturbridge, and Jacob Davis, of Charl- 
 ton, Esquires, etc it then proceeds to appropriate “ the sum 
 of £500, of this State’s consolidated securities, the annual 
 interest thereof to be applied to the sole use of educating 
 youth as above named, so long as said academy or school shall 
 he continued in this town. But, upon failure or removal con- 
 trary to the true spirit and meaning of said vote of the town, 
 then the money or sum of £500 be refunded to the inhabi- 
 tants of said town.” 
 
39 
 
 And the Treasurer was, accordingly, directed to subscribe 
 that amount “ to the incorporation of said academy.” 
 
 I am not able to fix the names or amounts of those who 
 made up the balance of the £1,000. But we have the names 
 of these, and other donors to the funds, at or soon after its 
 incorporation, to the amount of £1,355, including the above 
 sum of £500, of which £867 was by the town and citizens of 
 Leicester. 
 
 The names of these early benefactors of the institution were 
 the Hon. Moses Gill, who gave £150; Thomas Denny, 
 Thomas Newhall, Rufus Putnam, and Jeduthan Baldwin, 
 each of whom gave £100 ; Reuben Swan £50 ; John South- 
 gate, Samuel Denny, Joseph Allen, Timothy Bigelow, each 
 £30; Isaiah Thomas, £20; Caleb Amidown, £18; Samuel 
 Green and Timothy Paine, £15 ; William Watson, £12 ; 
 Samuel Green, Peter Taft, Samuel Watson, John Pierce,* 
 Phinehas Jones, each £10. I have already mentioned the 
 gift, subsequently made by Dr. Austin Flint, of land of the 
 value of $160. And, in 1786, Mr. Gill made a second dona- 
 tion in books to the value of $260. 
 
 The value of the bell, which was given by Mr. Stickney, I 
 have no means of stating. 
 
 Of several of these donors, I shall have occasion to speak 
 in another connection, as Messrs. Gill, Denny, Newhall, Put- 
 nam, Allen, and Flint, were members of the board of trus- 
 tees. - 
 
 Of several of the others, I have been able to obtain brief 
 notices, though I can but regret that, of some of them, so 
 little is known. 
 
 Colonel Jeduthan Baldwin deserves a prominent place in 
 these notices on many accounts. 
 
 He became a contributor to the fund, in the sum above 
 stated, in 1786, to enable the institution to struggle with th e 
 embarrassments that grew more oppressive, as the currency of 
 
 * I have not ascertained the residence of Mr. Pierce, though I am led to believe he was a 
 citizen of Worcester. 
 
40 
 
 the country depreciated, and the general stagnation of busi- 
 ness paralyzed the industry of the citizen. For this generous 
 and opportune assistance, the trustees passed a vote of thanks, 
 May 23d, 1787. 
 
 Colonel Baldwin belonged to Brookfield. He was born in 
 1731, and died June 4th, 1788. A sermon, commemorative 
 of his character, was preached by the Rev. Mr. Foster, of 
 New Braintree, which was published. 
 
 He held, for many years, a prominent station in public life. 
 As a military man, his reputation was distinguished. In the 
 French war, at an early age, he held the commission of cap- 
 tain. 
 
 He took an active part in the measures of the Revolution, 
 and was a member of the first Provincial Congress that con- 
 vened in October, 1774. Its records shew that he took a prom- 
 nent part in its proceedings. 
 
 He was, moreover, a member of the convention of the com- 
 mittees of correspondence that met at Worcester, in August, 
 1774, being associated with Judge Jedediah Foster, and Cap- 
 tain Phinehas Upham on that occasion. 
 
 The importance of these trusts will be understood when it 
 is remembered that, to these congresses [and conventions, the 
 government of the province was practically committed for sev- 
 eral months after October, 1774, during which time the oppo- 
 sition to the mother country was assuming its form and con- 
 sistency. 
 
 He early took part, as a military man, in the revolutionary 
 struggle, and, upon the organization of the continental forces, 
 was promoted to the rank of colonel, in which, it is said, “ his 
 conduct procured for him the co-operation of the first charac- 
 ters, and received the general approbation and esteem of his 
 fellow-soldiers and citizens.* ” 
 
 From a notice of him, in the Spy of the 19th June, 1788, 
 
 * In General Lincoln’s expedition against Shays, in the winter of 1786-7, Colonel Baldwin 
 commanded a body of volunteers from Brookfield, of fifty men, under command of Colonel 
 Crafts. 
 
41 
 
 I quote that lie was “ not only a soldier and a patriot, but he 
 was a Christian.” “ He was a pleasant companion and a 
 faithful friend,” — “ the virtues of humanity were his.” 
 
 Surely his name should be held in grateful remembrance 
 by Leicester Academy for his friendship to her in her weak- 
 ness, and, in a sketch of her history, he deservedly holds a 
 place. 
 
 Reuben Swan was of Leicester, a native of that town. 
 Though in no way distinguished among her citizens, he was 
 always respected as an upright and honest man, whose influ- 
 ence and example were always in the right direction. For 
 many years, he kept a respectable public house in the town,* 
 but the latter part of life was spent in independent retirement 
 upon his farm close by the village.f 
 
 His first wife was Rachael Putnam, of Sutton, and, among 
 his children, was the wife of Hon. N. P. Denny, one of the 
 trustees of the academy, and Samuel Swan, Esq., of Hub- 
 bardston, already mentioned as one of the earliest scholars in 
 the academy. Mr. Swan died May 2d, 1825, aged 77. 
 
 John Southgate was a native of Leicester, and a grandson 
 of the first settler of the name in that town, who came from 
 England, in 1715. The Hon. Robert Southgate, of Scar- 
 boro’, was an elder brother of the subject of this notice. 
 
 Mr. Southgate was a highly intelligent farmer, and was 
 much employed in public business, and as a surveyor, con- 
 veyancer, and general manager of business for his towns- 
 men. Like so many of his neighbors, he was early active in 
 the measures of the Revolution, and became adjutant of a regi- 
 ment of “ minute-men ” raised in and around Leicester, of 
 which Colonel William Henshaw was commander. 
 
 On the occasion of the alarm of the 19th April, 1775, he 
 proceeded forthwith to Cambridge, where he remained with 
 the army a few weeks, till the new organization of the troops 
 rendered his further services unnecessary. 
 
 * The house stood where the house of Hiram Knight, Esq., now stands, 
 t His house was the same now occupied by J. A. Smith, Esq. 
 
42 
 
 He was an extensive owner of land upon the Penobscot 
 River, near Oldtown, and was drowned in a branch of that 
 river, near the last mentioned town. His death was attended 
 with circumstances indicating that it was an act of violence. 
 
 The Maine branch of the family has been numerous and 
 distinguished in church and state. A son of John South- 
 gate, of the same name, died under peculiar circumstances, 
 in the lifetime of his father, in 1804. Two only of the 
 family now remain in Leicester. He resided in the easterly 
 part of the town, a short distance from the great post road, 
 as now travelled, and was possessed of a handsome estate. 
 
 He was cut off in the vigor of manhood, but left his bene- 
 faction to the academy among the evidences of his public 
 spirit as a citizen. 
 
 Samuel Denny was a native of the town, and son of Dan- 
 iel Denny, the first settler of the name in Leicester, who 
 came from England with Richard Southgate, in 1715. He 
 was born in 1731, and was brother of Thomas Denny, 
 who was a leading man in the province prior to the revolu- 
 tion, and died greatly lamented, in 1774. 
 
 Colonel Samuel Denny was a farmer, but was often called 
 into public life, and took an active part in the revolution. 
 
 He was first commissioned as a captain in 1767, but, in 
 1774, was lieutenant colonel of a regiment of minute-men 
 which was raised in Leicester and vicinity about the com- 
 mencement of the revolutionary war. 
 
 At the alarm of the 19th April, 1775, he repaired to Cam- 
 bridge, where he remained till the troops had been newly 
 organized. Among other services he performed, he com- 
 manded a regiment of militia in 1777, in an expedition to 
 Clavarack in New York. 
 
 In 1788, he was a member of the convention that adopted 
 the Constitution of the United States, having, the year pre- 
 vious, represented the town in the General Court. 
 
 He died at the age of eighty-six, in 1817, leaving several 
 children, one of whom married T. W. Ward, of Shrews- 
 
43 
 
 bury. Sheriff of the County. Another was the Hon. N. P. 
 Denny, and another the father of Henry A. and Joseph A., 
 members of the Board of Trustees. 
 
 He was a friend and patron of the academy, as was mani- 
 fested by his contribution to its funds. 
 
 Timothy Bigelow belonged to Worcester, and filled a more 
 important place in history than either of the persons already 
 named. Originally a blacksmith, he was found a ready and 
 strong champion for the rights of the colonies, and became an 
 honored associate with the leading patriots of the day. To 
 speak of all he did as a public citizen would be to recite the 
 early movements, public and private, in the county, towards 
 resisting the encroachments of the Crown, his marching at 
 the head of his company of minute-men on hearing of the 
 battle of Lexington, his leading one of the divisions as major 
 of the troops in that memorable expedition up the Kennebec, 
 and against Quebec, his being made prisoner in the attack 
 upon that city, his being promoted, on being exchanged, to the 
 office of lieutenant colonel, and subsequently to that of colo- 
 nel, and to follow him at the head of the 15th Massachusetts 
 regiment of the line to Saratoga, Rhode Island, Verplank’s 
 Point, Yalley Forge, and West Point, in all which fields he 
 bore an honorable part. 
 
 On his retiring from the army, he returned to Worcester, 
 and partially resumed his former avocation. He was one of 
 the original grantors-of the town of Montpelier in Vermont. 
 
 But, though his affairs were somewhat straitened, and he 
 encountered embarrassments in resuming a life for which his 
 connexion with the army for seven or eight years, had, in a 
 measure, unfitted him, he was one of the earliest contributors 
 to the funds of the academy, bearing testimony thereby of his 
 being as ready and willing to make sacrifices to sustain a free 
 government as he had been to achieve its establishment in the 
 field. 
 
 His descendants have been among the distinguished men 
 of Massachusetts. 
 
44 
 
 His son Timothy, afterwards of Medford, was many years 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives, an eminent lawyer, 
 whose son, John P., was, for some time. Secretary of the 
 Commonwealth, afterwards Mayor of Boston, etc., and whose 
 daughter married the Hon. Abbott Lawrence, late American 
 Minister to the Court of St. James. A grandson of Colonel 
 Bigelow is now one of the Judges of the Supreme Court. 
 
 Colonel Bigelow was a native of Worcester, the son of Daniel 
 Bigelow, and died March 31st, IT 90, at the age of 50. 
 
 His intellect was of a high order, and joined, as it was, to 
 an ardent temperament, a generous spirit, and the dignity 
 and grace of manner of an accomplished soldier, it gave him 
 a leading rank and position among the men of ’76.* 
 
 Isaiah Thomas was one of the earliest friends of the acad- 
 emy, and, to the hour of his death, regarded it with interest, 
 as was manifested by a generous legacy in his last will. 
 
 From a brief memoir of him in the History of Worcester, I 
 learn that he was a native of Boston, and was bom January 
 19th, 1749. 
 
 Bound an apprentice to a printer before six years of age, 
 his early education was neglected, and only supplied by his 
 own personal exertion and perseverance. 
 
 He worked, for some time, at his trade in Halifax, went 
 thence to Portsmouth, X. H., and then returned to Boston. 
 He was again absent at the south, but did not fix himself at 
 any place as a permanent residence. And, having returned 
 to Boston, he there established the “ Massachusetts Spy,” 
 March 7th, 1771. 
 
 He was himself one of the strongest writers for the paper, 
 which early took high and independent ground in the 
 approaching controversy upon the subject of the duties and 
 rights of the colonies. 
 
 In consequence of the hostility of the government, he was 
 
 * For this sketch of Colonel Bigelow, as well as for many other facts in this report, I am 
 indebted to the excellent History of Worcester, by the late Wm. Lincoln, Esq.., whose accuracy 
 and labor have saved me much time and trouble in gathering materials for this work. 
 
45 
 
 induced to remove his paper to Worcester early in 1775. 
 In September, of that year, he was appointed postmaster. 
 
 He became a very extensive book publisher, and had sev- 
 eral large bookstores ; among them, one in New Hampshire, 
 one in New York, and one in Maryland. 
 
 He established and sustained several periodical publica- 
 tions, which were distinguished for the ability of their con- 
 tributors. 
 
 In 1802, he gave up his extensive business, as printer 
 and publisher, and retired with a fortune. In 1810, he pub- 
 lished his elaborate work, the History of Printing. 
 
 In 1812, he was appointed one of the Justices of the 
 Court of Sessions, and held the office two years. 
 
 He was the founder of the American Antiquarian Society, 
 to which he was a munificent benefactor during his lifetime, 
 and by his last will. 
 
 He received the honorary degree of A. M. from Dartmouth 
 College in 1814, and LL. D. from Alleghany College, in 1818. 
 
 He died April 4th, 1831, at the age of 82. One of his 
 grand daughters is the wife of one of the judges of the 
 Supreme Court, who was fitted for college at the academy, 
 and a grandson, who was fitted for college at the academy, is 
 also a Judge of the same Court. 
 
 His friendship to the academy continued to the last, and 
 by his will, he left pecuniary legacies to the institution, 
 amounting to $4,686.36, besides some lands in Maine and 
 Vermont. 
 
 Caleb Amidown belonged to Charlton, and was of a class 
 of men which were once scattered through the country, whose 
 independence of thought and opinion gave character and con- 
 sistency to the public sentiment of the community at large. 
 Though these men had little other training than the develop- 
 ment which circumstances produced, the lack of education 
 was more than supplied by the strong common sense which 
 had been disciplined in the school of necessity. 
 
 Though the more immediate sphere of Mr. Amidown was 
 
46 
 
 circumscribed within the limits of a single town, yet bis influ- 
 ence was felt, and bis name and character were known, through 
 a much wider circuit. And as an early benefactor of the 
 academy, his memory should be preserved in the annals of its 
 struggles and success. He was born in 1736, in the town of 
 Dudley, but lived most of his life in Charlton. 
 
 He taught school in early life, and was afterwards much 
 employed as a land surveyor, and as such, was engaged by the 
 government, in surveying the confiscated estates of the “ refu- 
 gees,” in the revolution. For many years in succession, he 
 was a member of the legislature, and as such, was a strong sup- 
 porter of the government during the “ Shay’s war,” as it was 
 called. Among other responsible offices he was called to fill, 
 was that of “ Excise Master,” for the county of Worcester, 
 after the close of the revolution. 
 
 Mr. Amidown was a lineal descendant of the French 
 Huguenots, who fled to this country after the taking of 
 Kochelle, and arrived in Salem in 1630. He died in 1799, 
 at the age of sixty-three. 
 
 Samuel Green, called in the record “ Captain,” to distin- 
 guish him from his son of the same name, also a subscriber 
 to the funds of the institution, belonged to Leicester. They 
 were both farmers, living in the south part of the town, and 
 descendants of Samuel Green, one of the first settlers of 
 Leicester. 
 
 Captain Green was more generally known as “ Deacon,” he 
 having been a worthy officer in the Baptist Church in the 
 southerly part of that town. 
 
 He was a man of firmness and intelligence, and his name 
 is frequently found upon the committees who were appointed 
 previous to and during the revolution, to draw instructions to 
 the representatives of the town in the Provincial Congress. 
 He died Feb. 20th, 1811, aged eighty-one. 
 
 Peter Taft was, I believe, from Uxbridge, and, from 1781 
 to ’85, kept a public house in Leicester, in the house kept 
 for many years by Mr. Swan. 
 
47 
 
 He removed from Leicester after ceasing to keep a public 
 house, and died in Uxbridge. 
 
 William Watson was of Leicester, born in 1745, in Bar- 
 rington, R. I. 
 
 He was a substantial and respectable farmer, married 
 Susannah Bullock, of Rehoboth, 1769, and raised up a family 
 of children, all of whom have removed from Leicester. His 
 residence was about a mile from the academy, on the road 
 leading to Charlton, where he died, March 13th, 1828, aged 
 eighty-three. 
 
 Samuel Watson was also of Leicester, and lived in the 
 westerly part of the town. He married Ruth Baldwin of 
 Spencer, in 1772. One of his daughters married the Hon. 
 James Draper, of Spencer, and one of his sons still lives in 
 Leicester. 
 
 Phineas Jones was of Worcester, and resided upon the 
 great post-road leading to Leicester, where he kept a public 
 house. 
 
 Timothy Paine belonged to Worcester. He was a leading 
 and prominent citizen of that town, and I am indebted to Mr . 
 Lincoln for this notice of him. He was born in Bristol, R. 
 I., was graduated at Harvard College, in 1748. He held, 
 at different times, the offices of Clerk of the Courts, Register 
 of Probate, Register of Deeds, Councillor under the Province 
 Charter, a Mandamus Councillor, in 1747, and, besides these, 
 was Selectman, Town Clerk, and Representative of the town, 
 showing the estimate in which he was held in this community. 
 
 “ Solid talents, practical sense, candor, sincerity, affability, 
 and mildness, were the characteristics of his life, which closed 
 July 17th, 1793, at the age of sixty-three years.” 
 
48 
 
 At the first meeting of the trustees, they voted to accept 
 subscriptions in public securities, and appointed a committee 
 to prepare and send circular letters to the selectmen of the 
 several towns in the county, soliciting aid by subscriptions in 
 money, or public securities. 
 
 It was the original design of the trustees that the instruc- 
 tion of the pupils should be gratuitous. But, from an 
 apprehension that the income of the funds might prove insuffi- 
 cient to defray the expenses of instruction, it was voted that 
 the deficiency should be made up by tuition, at the rate of one 
 shilling per week, for those attending the principal, and 
 nine -pence for those who belonged to the English depart- 
 ment. 
 
 In August, of the same year, subscription papers were sent 
 to the several clergymen in the county, to be presented to 
 their congregations, for aid to the academy. And, in the 
 same year, the legislature granted it the aid of a lottery, a 
 very common mode of raising money in that day, for the pur- 
 pose of repairing its buildings, and making necessary addi- 
 tions to the same. 
 
 Xot content with all these efforts, the trustees, in 1785, 
 took it upon themselves to make personal solicitations of indi- 
 viduals, for contribution to the funds. 
 
 The moneys which had been subscribed by the town and 
 sundry individuals of its inhabitants in 1784, do not seem to 
 have been paid until July of the following year ; for I find a 
 vote at that time adopted, that, “ whereas the town of Leices- 
 ter have bestowed, to the use of the academy, the sum of 
 £500, and divers individuals of the same town have respect- 
 ively given sums of money for the use aforesaid, upon this 
 condition, viz.: that said academy should be and remain in 
 the town of Leicester, aforesaid, therefore that the treasurer 
 be, and he is hereby empowered and directed to give receipts 
 to the several donors aforesaid, agreeably thereto, and that 
 the principal of the several sums aforesaid should revert and 
 be refunded to the several donors aforesaid, and their respect- 
 
49 
 
 ive heirs and successors, if, at any time, the academy afore- 
 said should be removed from the town of Leicester.” 
 
 In July, 1786, the amount of funds of the academy was 
 £1128 10s. in public securities, £85 14s. 1 l-2d. interest 
 in arrear, and $433.85 in “ Pierce’s certificates,” the nature 
 or value of which is not stated. 
 
 This, however, was merely the nominal value of these 
 funds, for such was the fluctuating character of the public 
 securities that, with all the effort on the part of the gov- 
 ernment to sustain their credit, they were constantly depre- 
 ciating. “New tenor ” bills were worth, in 1781, but one 
 quarter as much as silver in the market, while the value 
 of “ old tenor ” bills was not more than one to forty. And, 
 in 1786, the fluctuation was so rapid that a person was 
 appointed by the inhabitants of the town of Leicester to 
 report weekly the value of paper money and public secu- 
 rities. 
 
 It will be borne in mind that the events which soon after 
 resulted in what is known as Shay’s Insurrection had been 
 developing themselves for some time. And, as we shall 
 have occasion to see, the condition of the national finances 
 was such that the funds of the academy were found inad- 
 equate to meet the current expenses of the institution. 
 
 It was only by a constant struggle that the trustees kept 
 it alive. __ 
 
 The building of the academy was, from the first, incon- 
 venient, and but poorly adapted to the purposes of the 
 school. In 1786, the trustees provided so far towards rem- 
 edying this defect that they adopted measures, and, in part, 
 procured materials, for building a more convenient house. 
 But they were compelled to abandon the enterprise, and 
 sold these materials. 
 
 Contributions to the amount of £834 were obtained during 
 the year 1786, which, I suppose, were included in the sums 
 already mentioned. Of these, £367 were from individuals 
 
50 
 
 in Leicester, and the balance from gentlemen from other 
 towns. 
 
 Still the institution was in debt ; and, in July, 1787, a 
 committee was raised to devise means by which the arrears 
 into which its finances had fallen might be discharged. The 
 committee reported that they had already expended £40 
 beyond their income, and recommended that one preceptor 
 should be dispensed with, and the tuition of the pupils should 
 be raised. 
 
 The funds, in October, 1787, consisted of £1128 10s. in 
 Cf State securities,” £99 12s. 8 l-4d. interest in arrear, and 
 $850 in “ Pierce’s certificates.” 
 
 In consequence of these embarrassments, and the reduced 
 number of students, Mr. Stone, the principal, was allowed 
 absence from duty, and the school went on under the charge 
 of Mr. Crosby alone. 
 
 The next year, 1788, the treasurer was instructed to dis- 
 pose of the depreciated interest upon the securities held by 
 him to enable him to pay the outstanding demands against 
 the corporation, so far as the proceeds would go. 
 
 At their annual meeting, in 1789, the trustees took meas- 
 ures to represent the condition of the institution to the pub- 
 lic through the newspapers in Boston and Worcester. But, in 
 October, although nominally possessed of public securities, and 
 “Pierce’s certificates” to the amount of £1534 13s 11 3-4d., 
 in consequence of the extent to which these had depreciated, 
 and the small number of its pupils, together with the amount 
 of debt which they had already incurred, it was voted that it 
 was not “ prudent to make further provision at present for an 
 instructor or instructors, unless other means can be obtained 
 for its support.” 
 
 As a last resort, a committee was raised to consider the 
 expediency of removing the institution from Leicester, and 
 to ascertain what encouragement could be obtained for such 
 removal, in the way of subscriptions, or proposals from towns 
 and individuals. 
 
51 
 
 The academy had come to a crisis. Further progress seemed 
 hopeless. The meeting of the trustees was adjourned for a 
 month, and the steward was requested to remain in the build- 
 ing, with an offer that, if he should be no longer employed 
 in that capacity, he might occupy it free of rent, until their 
 annual meeting in May then next. 
 
 In November, ’89, the adjourned meeting was held, when 
 the trustees declared it was their intention, when seeking 
 proposals in respect to the future location of the academy, to 
 embrace the town of Leicester. And the consideration of its 
 removal was postponed for the present. 
 
 A proposal was, at the same time, made to the town of 
 Leicester, that the trustees would employ a preceptor for the 
 term of one year, if the town would assume the responsibil- 
 ity of his salary, so far as the deficiency of the tuition of the 
 scholars might be. 
 
 This proposition was accepted by the town, and the sum 
 of £50 was voted for the purpose of making up the salary 
 of the preceptor, if so much should be necessary beyond the 
 amount received for tuition. And Mr. Sumner was accord- 
 ingly paid in part for his services as preceptor, the following 
 year, from the treasury of the town. 
 
 This was, indeed, a dark hour in the history of the acad- 
 emy. Sixty pounds a year, $200, was the utmost the trus- 
 tees dared to offer as a salary to the preceptor, and even this 
 sum was beyond their ability to pay. 
 
 This was during that gloomy period of the history of the 
 Commonwealth, and the country just prior to the adoption 
 of the Federal Constitution, when public credit was bankrupt, 
 and individual confidence and enterprise were paralyzed. 
 
 The horrors of a civil war had been just escaped, but the 
 government and its subjects were, alike, poor, and its councils 
 were distracted. 
 
 The adoption of the constitution was at once felt in all the 
 interests of the Commonwealth ; confidence revived ; credit 
 was restored ; business started into new life ; and the cause 
 
53 
 
 of education shared in the general impulse which this event 
 gave to the prosperity of the country. 
 
 The trustees, in 1791, applied to the legislature for per- 
 mission to raise £600 by means of a lottery, to enable them 
 to pay off their debts, and relieve the institution from the 
 embarrassments which had been occasioned by the deprecia- 
 tion of their funds. 
 
 At that day, the true character of lotteries never seems to 
 have suggested itself to moralists or legislators. Bad in 
 morals, and unwise in economy, they were resorted to with- 
 out hesitation or scruple as a means of raising money for the 
 most sacred and noble purposes, by appealing to that gam- 
 bling spirit which is so universally prevalent, and playing 
 upon the cupidity and weakness of a class of citizens who 
 ought to be protected, by the law, against their own improv- 
 idence, instead of being tempted into courses which nothing 
 but legislation, and the purposes sought to be accomplished, 
 would render respectable. 
 
 The best men in the land were constituted managers of these 
 schemes, and churches were built, and colleges endowed, by 
 moneys thus raised. 
 
 The lottery was granted, and, after a long delay, and no 
 inconsiderable difficulty, $1,419.22 found its way into the 
 treasury of the academy, as the proceeds of the scheme. 
 
 In 1793, the legislature made a grant of a township of 
 land in Maine to the academy, a part of which was sold in 
 1798, and a part the year following, and $9,200 was thereby 
 realised. 
 
 In 1794, the state of the funds shewed State securities 
 held by the trustees to the amount of £1,565 12s 7 l-4d, 
 with outstanding debts due them £426 12s 3 l-2d, while 
 they stood debtors to the treasurer for payments advanced by 
 him in specie on their account, £66 11s. 
 
 From this time the pecuniary condition of the institution 
 began to mend. In 1796, it had £1,565 11s. 7 l-4d. in State 
 securities, and £717 10 l-2s. in specie. Five pounds was added 
 
53 
 
 to the salary of each of the preceptors ; the trustees began to 
 take measures for the erection of a new building, and provided 
 a stage for the annual exhibitions, at the expence of £2 3s Id. 
 
 In 1797, while the State securities remained the same, the 
 specie value of the other securities held by the treasurer had 
 increased to £2,752 12s. l-2d. making, with arrears of interest, 
 a total of £4,519 11s. 4 3-4d. 
 
 In 1798, the treasurer’s statement is exhibited in the form 
 of federal money, and presents the amount, in that form, of 
 $15,367.93. 
 
 The funds continued to increase from that time onward, 
 till 1804, when they had amounted to $16,703.68. 
 
 Measures had been adopted, as has already been stated, from 
 time to time, from an early period, to supply the defects in 
 the accommodations for the school hv altering and enlarging 
 the academy building. An act, granting a lottery “ for the 
 repairing of Leicester Academy, and making additional build- 
 ings thereto,” was passed in June, 1785, limiting the sum to 
 be raised to £600, and constituting James Allen, Thomas 
 Xewhall, and Thomas Denny, the managers. 
 
 In January, ’86, a committee was raised to draw a plan for 
 a new building “ upon a construction as they shall judge the 
 most proper, convenient and elegant, considering the means 
 provided for the purpose.” 
 
 The same month, a plan was presented and accepted, for 
 such a building, seventy-eight feet long, thirty-six wide, two 
 stories high, with posts twenty-two feet. The school-room 
 to be thirty- six by eighteen feet, and a hall thirty-six by 
 twenty-six feet. 
 
 But, in October following, a new committee on the subject 
 of erecting a new house was raised. No report was made 
 until December 1799, when it was recommended to erect a 
 brick house eighty-two by forty feet, three stories high. 
 
 This report, slightly modified, was accepted, and measures 
 were taken to ascertain the cost of brick, etc., for the work. 
 
 The next October, the plan of the building was recoin- 
 
 4 
 
54 
 
 mitted, with a view of making some alterations therein, and a 
 new committee appointed to ascertain the cost of materials, 
 etc. 
 
 This committee on the plan recommended the one originally 
 adopted, except some slight difference in the height of the 
 building, and measures were adopted for procuring a work- 
 ing plan and specifications, that a contract might be entered 
 into for its erection. 
 
 Nothing, however, was actually done upon the subject ; 
 and when, in November, 1802, a special meeting of the trus- 
 tees was held to consider the subject of a new building, the 
 only vote adopted was to put the present building into “ decent 
 and comfortable repair.” 
 
 The original plan of erecting a brick structure, had been 
 abandoned, and in August, 1803, the trustees directed such 
 of their number as resided in Leicester, to obtain the plan of 
 a building of wood, and an estimate of its expense. 
 
 In November, of that year, a plan was proposed, but no 
 estimates of expense were furnished. In January, 1804, a 
 new report was made in favor of a building, eighty-seven by 
 thirty-five feet, with posts twenty-six feet high, with* a pro- 
 jection forty feet in length, four feet in front ; and estimates 
 of expense, both in wood and brick, were furnished. 
 
 The trustees voted that the building should be of wood, 
 and chose a committee to enter into a contract for the same, 
 at not exceeding $7000. 
 
 This committee consisted of Nathaniel Paine, Joseph Allen, 
 Thomas Denny, Ebenezer Adams, and Aaron Bancroft. 
 
 The plan of the building was drawn by the aid of Band 
 White, an architect, at an expense, which is stated for the 
 purpose of a comparison with modern prices, of $9.84.* 
 
 Another committee, consisting of Messrs. Denny, Howe, 
 Adams, Bancroft, and Stedman, was appointed, to locate the 
 
 * Mr. White belonged to Leicester, and died at the age of fifty-eight, September 20th, 1809, 
 and was spoken of, in the papers of the day, as one of “the best mechanics in Worcester 
 County.” 
 
new building, and purchase as much land adjoining that, 
 belonging to the trustees, as might be necessary to accommo- 
 date it. 
 
 Under this vote, land, of the value of $700, was purchased 
 of Mr. Dali, of Boston, in 1804.* And Messrs. Denny, 
 Adams, and Moore, were a new committee, to select the site 
 for the new building. 
 
 Measures had been so far matured in May, 1805, that, on 
 the 14th of that month, a public ceremony was had of laying 
 the corner-stone of the new academy, 'which was attended by a 
 large concourse of people. A procession was formed on the 
 common in the following order, viz. First. Artificers 
 employed in the erection of the building. Second. The 
 corner-stone drawn by seventeen horses. Third. A band of 
 music. Fourth. The President of the board, f the building 
 committee,^ and the trustees. Fifth. The magistrates of 
 the vicinity, the selectmen of Leicester, the citizens, and last, 
 the students of the academy. 
 
 In this order the procession moved through the street to 
 the site of the building, where the master workman deposited 
 the stone in its place. And the president, declaring the 
 design of the building, commended it to the Divine favor. 
 
 The procession then moved to the meeting-house, -where 
 the exercises consisted of music, prayer, etc. 
 
 The papers of the day confirm the juvenile impressions of 
 an eye-witness, that the occasion was one of interest and 
 imposing effect. And as the scene comes back from the sleep 
 of half a century, the stately form of the venerable president, 
 surmounted by an immense white wig, and triangular cocked 
 
 * This parcel lay directly east of the land given by Colonels Crafts and Davis, and contained 
 half an acre. It belonged, previous to 1788, to Joseph Sargent, and in that year was con. 
 veyed by John Southgate, his administrator, to Elijah Dix, subject to the right of Mr. Sargent’s 
 widow, to dower in the same. The same year, Dix conveyed it to Oliver Smith, of Boston, 
 who, in 1796, conveyed it to William Dali, of Boston, and he, in November, 1804, conveyed it 
 to the trustees of the academy. In all these conveyances, a small shop, standing on the 
 premises, known as “ Perrin's Hatter's Shop,” was excepted. 
 
 t Rev. Dr. Sumner. 
 
 + These were Messrs. Denny, Adams, Moore, Paine and Howe. 
 
56 
 
 hat, the dignified bearing of the other members of the board, 
 the numerous crowd of well-dressed, quiet, respectable 
 citizens, from this and the neighboring towns, as they moved 
 in a long array to the inspiring strains of music, rise in the 
 memory with a freshness, which many more recent and 
 important incidents can hardly awaken. 
 
 The annual exhibition was that year omitted 
 
 Dr. Flint generously gave a parcel of land adjoining that 
 purchased of Mr. Lopez’s estate, as has been stated, for the 
 accommodation of the new academy.* 
 
 Such was the progress in the work of the building, that, in 
 January, 1806, the rooms in it were assigned, the rents fixed, 
 and provision made for selling the old building. 
 
 The new building was three stories in height, surmounted 
 by a neat belfry and cupola, and presented a handsome, well- 
 proportioned facade and elevation. Its position was elevated, 
 and, in its architectural proportions and effect, its exterior was 
 a creditable work. Of the thoroughness or fitness of the 
 workmanship, for the comfort of its inmates, those who ever 
 occupied any of its rooms, and carried on the hopeless attempt 
 to get the mastery of the cold winds that were rushing in at 
 every crack, could bear testimony. 
 
 There were sixteen of these rooms, besides the school room 
 and hall over it, which occupied the entire front of the main 
 body of the building, and the dining room in the rear of the 
 school room, and of the same length. 
 
 Six of these rooms were in each end of the building, and 
 the other four in the two stories over the dining room. One 
 of these rooms w~as assigned for the use of the English Pre- 
 ceptor, twelve for the scholars, and the remainder for the use 
 of the steward. 
 
 At the same meeting in January, arrangements were made 
 for dedicating the house by appropriate services, to consist 
 of a prayer by the president, and an oration upon education 
 
 * A small parcel of land on which a part of the barn of the academy stood, was purchased in 
 November, 1825, for the sum of $8. 
 
57 
 
 by the Rev. Dr. Bancroft, to be accompanied by suitable 
 music. 
 
 On the 4th of July, 1806, a very appropriate day for such 
 a ceremony, the dedication of the house took place, accord- 
 ing to the previous arrangement, to the acceptance of a large 
 assembly, who convened to witness the exercises. 
 
 These took place in the following order : A procession, 
 consisting of a band of music, the students, preceptors, and 
 trustees of the academy, was formed at the old academy, and 
 moved to the new one, where formal possession was taken of 
 the building by the trustees, which was followed by an 
 address of the president. 
 
 Another procession was formed, consisting of the band, 
 students, preceptors, and trustees of the academy, donors to 
 its funds, selectmen of Leicester, civil and military officers, 
 and citizens, and repaired to the meeting-house, where, after 
 prayer by the president and singing by a choir, an oration 
 was delivered by Rev. Dr. Bancroft. This was followed by 
 other appropriate music, after which the trustees, donors, and 
 invited guests, dined together in the new academy. 
 
 The address by Dr. Bancroft was characterized by taste 
 and good sense ; and a vote of thanks was adopted by the 
 trustees to the president for his appropriate address, and to 
 the orator, with a request of copies of their productions for 
 publication ; and the same were published. 
 
 The defective manner in which the new academy was built, 
 was a source of constant expense and inconvenience to the 
 trustees, as long as it stood ; and every effort to render it 
 comfortable and secure was unavailing. 
 
 The old academy buildings were disposed of at auction for 
 $217, and the old store adjoining them for $6.50, show- 
 ing to what degree of dilapidation these buildings had reached 
 before a new academy was provided. The purchaser was 
 Col. Thomas Denny, who removed the wings or ends of the 
 building on to the south street, and fitted them for dwelling- 
 
58 
 
 houses, where they remained till recently ; but the main 
 body of the building was entirely taken down. 
 
 The cost of the new academy, exclusive of the land, was 
 found to be $9,054.36. 
 
 The trustees, in November, 1809, undertook to recover of 
 the contractors, for the erection of the new academy, damages 
 for its defective construction, but with what success does not 
 appear by the records. 
 
 Among the buildings originally belonging to the trustees 
 was a long, low structure, which had been occupied as a store 
 by Daniel McFarland, Esq., and stood east of the old acad- 
 emy, close by the highway, and in which Mrs. Joseph Sar- 
 gent held a right of dower. 
 
 In 1810, they thought best to dispose of this building, and 
 in 1812, the same was sold and removed on to the “ County 
 Road,” so called, where the same now stands, having been 
 converted into a dwelling-house by Luther Ward. 
 
 In order to present this part of the report in connected 
 order, I would add that, after struggling along till 1832, in 
 their endeavors to render the academy building comfortable 
 and convenient, the trustees, in June, of that year, unani- 
 mously voted to dispose of the same,* and erect a new 
 buildinsr. 
 
 O 
 
 Gov. Lincoln, Messrs. Denny, Burnside, Allen, and Mixter 
 were chosen a building committee. Mr. Elias Carter was 
 employed as the architect, and on the 25th of December, 
 1833, the present academy was completed and dedicated for, 
 use. 
 
 The exercises, on this occasion, consisted of prayer by Rev. 
 Mr. Stone, the vice president of the trustees, and addresses 
 by Rev. Mr. Allen and Mr. Wright, the principal preceptor, 
 the latter of which was published, together with a brief 
 nistory of the academy, f 
 
 * The old building was sold to Benjamin N. Child, for §400. 
 
 t This history I have had frequent occasions to refer to. It was prepared under direction 
 of the building committee, by rote of the trustees. 
 
59 
 
 This building was of brick ; the main part 42 by 40 feet, 
 with wings each 30 feet square. The first story of the main 
 building was appropriated to two school rooms. The entire 
 cost of the w^ork was about $10,000.* 
 
 Notwithstanding the care and skill employed in the 
 arrangement and construction of the building, it was found to 
 be practically inconvenient in some respects. And when, by 
 the munificent donation of Mr. Smith, and the other benefac- 
 tions to the funds of the academy induced thereby, had placed 
 the trustees in a condition to remedy these defects, several 
 material alterations in the building were made in its interior 
 construction, and the main body of it enlarged at a cost of 
 about $4200. 
 
 By this alteration, better accommodations for school and 
 recitation rooms were obtained, and a very beautiful hall in 
 the second story provided for lectures and general meetings 
 of the students on occasions which call -together the friends of 
 the institution. The walls of this hall are appropriately 
 decorated by portraits of several of the distinguished benefac- 
 tors of the institution, which, it is hoped, will be hereafter 
 multiplied as a suitable recognition of the memory of those 
 whose bounty has given to it its means of so far meeting the 
 wants of the community. 
 
 Upon the completion of these alterations and enlargements, 
 an address in every way suited to the occasion was delivered 
 by Mr. Washburn, the principal preceptor, which was pub- 
 lished. The re-dedication of the house took place on the 
 26th of October, 1853, in which the president, the Rev. Mr. 
 Bardwell, Hon. Mr. Kinnicutt, and Mr. Washburn, took part 
 in addition to the address of the principal, the exercises being 
 in the new hall of the institution. Since these alterations, 
 there is little to desire in the way of accommodation for the 
 ordinary wants of an academy. And it is to be hoped that 
 
 * An addition to the main building was found necessary, and, in 1834, provision was made 
 for erecting it at an expense not to exceed $1200, and the same was accordingly done. 
 
 In 1836, a vote was passed to add a.cupola to the building, and at an expense not to exceed 
 $300. 
 
60 
 
 the friends of the institution may hereafter find a more useful 
 and beneficial application of money than has been found 
 necessary during so much of its existence, in fitting and 
 repairing the buildings in which its operations have been 
 carried on. 
 
 To resume the history of the funds, it was found that there 
 remained, after the payment of the expenses attendant upon 
 the erection of the new academy, in 1806, $8992.21. 
 
 This sum grew less for several successive years after 1807. 
 But, in 1814, the principal fund amounted to $9000, and the 
 arrears of interest to $486.40. In 1816, the principal had 
 increased to $9866.60, and, in 1818, a committee was raised 
 to obtain more funds “ for promoting the usefulness and rep- 
 utation of the academy.” 
 
 The Hon. Mr. Allen resigned the office of treasurer, which 
 he had so long and so honorably held, in November, 1819, 
 when it was found that there were $9966.60 principal, and 
 $482.94 interest in arrears in his hands. 
 
 This gradually increased, so that, in 1822, the fund 
 amounted to $10,400.81. 
 
 This increase, however, was not, from the ordinary accu- 
 mulation of interest above the annual expenditure, on account 
 of the institution. In 1811, Capt. Thomas Newhall left 
 a legacy of $1000 to the corporation, and the interest of 
 another $1000 to be annually expended in defraying the 
 tuition of children in Leicester, living more than one mile 
 from the academy. The money from the first of these leg- 
 acies was received by the academy in 1814, as is stated in 
 the brief sketch of Leicester Academy prepared by the Hon. 
 Mr. Bigelow, and published in connexion with the address 
 of Mr. Wright. 
 
 From the same source, it would seem that the appeal 
 made by the trustees, in 1818, was not entirely fruitless, 
 as the sum of $150 was given in January, 1819, by Alpheus 
 Smith, and $50 by Hon. Dwight Foster. This was followed. 
 
61 
 
 in 1822, by donations from Henry Sargent, Esq., of $178.65 ; 
 Hon. Nathaniel P. Denny, $100 ; Dr. Austin Flint, $100 ; 
 James Smith, Esq., $55. 
 
 In 1823, the Commonwealth gave the institution a small 
 estate in Paxton, formerly the property of Archibald McDon- 
 ald, which had escheated to the State, of the value of about 
 $400, which was afterwards realized to them in the sale 
 thereof to Gardner Wilson in 1825. 
 
 The year 1823 may be regarded as the turning point in the 
 history of this institution, when, by the liberal bequest of 
 Captain Israel Waters, of Charlton, it was placed in a condi- 
 tion to meet the new demands that were about to be made 
 upon it to keep pace with the schools and other institutions 
 in the Commonwealth. 
 
 With the constant tax to which the trustees had been sub- 
 jected to keep their buildings in tolerable repair, and their 
 inability to build new ones ; with the improved condition of 
 the common schools, which, in a few years after, became an 
 object of such general interest, which must materially have 
 withdrawn students from the academy, unless a correspond- 
 ing advance were made in the instruction furnished by this 
 academy, it is not difficult to see that this was a turning 
 crisis in its affairs. 
 
 But the same Providence that had hitherto sustained it 
 through adversity as well as prosperity, was pleased to incline 
 the heart of an excellent man to make the academy an 
 object of his bounty, and to save it from that fate which 
 so strongly threatened it. 
 
 Before speaking more at large of the legacy of Captain 
 Waters, I may recall a donation to the academy, the same 
 year, of $432, by sundiy individuals, mostly of Leicester. 
 
 The object of the gift was, to supply, in some measure, 
 the want of a philosophical apparatus for the academy ; and 
 in obtaining the subscription, no one was more active than 
 J ames Smith, Esq., who has already been alluded to 
 
The names and purposes of the donors are contained in 
 the following subscription paper, viz. : 
 
 “ Leicester, August 12th, 1823. 
 
 “ We, whose names are imdersigned, feeling desirous to aid the cause of 
 science, and feeling also deeply interested in the prosperity of the academy 
 in Leicester, of which town we are inhabitants, and believing that both these 
 ends may be promoted by procuring, for the use of that institution, an appa- 
 ratus for illustrating, by experiments, the principles of natural philosophy, 
 do agree, for this purpose, to pay the sums set opposite our names to the 
 trustees of Leicester Academy, on demand, upon the following terms and 
 conditions, viz. : The money subscribed shall be expended in the purchase 
 of such articles of a philosophical and astronomical apparatus as a majority 
 of the subscribers shall elect, proper regard being had to the wishes and 
 opinions of said trustees. The apparatus thus purchased shall be and remain 
 to the use of the academy, under the direction of the trustees, so long as 
 the academy shall remain located in Leicester. And, in case of the removal 
 of the academy from the town of Leicester, the property in said apparatus 
 shall revert to the subscribers, their heirs or assigns. 
 
 “ It is understood, as the wish of the subscribers, that the object and 
 terms of their subscription should be recorded in the records of said academy.” 
 
 The paper was headed by the name of Alpheus Smith, 
 with a subscription of $50. Henry Sargent subscribed $40. 
 John A. Smith $30. Phinehas S. (Thomas) Denny, Isaac 
 Southgate, Nathaniel P Denny each $25. Horace Smith 
 $15. Horace Me Farland, Whittemore & Howard, John 
 Woodcock, Adeline Denny, Emory Washburn, Cheney 
 Hatch and Edward Flint each $10. Eeuben Merriam, 
 Samuel D. Watson, John Nelson, Mr. Winslow of Portland, 
 Daniel P. Haynes, Joseph D. Sargent, Lyman Waite, Daniel 
 Upham, Thomas Bottomly, Joshua Lamb, William Sprague, 
 Barnard Upham, Abram Howe and John Sargent each $5. 
 Joshua Murdock $4. William Newhall, Hiram Knight, 
 Harvey Tainter, Bobert Watson, Increase S. Smith and 
 Ebenezer Dunbar, each $3, and Harry Ward, Benjamin 
 Conklin, Jr., Hemy A. Denny, Joseph A. Denny, Hori 
 Brown, Abel Bartlett, Daniel Kent, Emory Drury, Jona. 
 Trask, Amos Whittemore, Hosea Goldthwaite, William 
 Henshaw, and James B. Whitcomb, in various sums. 
 
63 
 
 The name of James Smith is not upon the above paper, 
 but as the whole apparatus purchased amounted to over $500, 
 and the above subscriptions show an aggregate of $432 only, 
 there is good reason to suppose that the difference was supplied 
 from his bounty. 
 
 In 1827, Professor Farrar, of Harvard University, made a 
 donation to the academy, of a series of text-books on natural 
 philosophy, called the “ Cambridge Course ” on that subject, 
 which the trustees duly acknowleged in a note of thanks to 
 that eminent philosopher and mathematician. 
 
 Of the several persons above named, little more could be 
 said, than that, according to their means, they were good 
 citizens, and the friends and supporters of good order, and our 
 social institutions. 
 
 Henry Sargent was a native of Leicester, the son of 
 Joseph Sargent, born November 16th, 1783. His mother 
 was a sister of Col. Thomas Denny, and, though left early an 
 orphan and without property, he rose to a commanding posi- 
 tion in wealth and influence in the town. He was a man of a 
 strong, well-balanced mind, sound judgment, and great energy 
 of character. He married, in 1812, a grand-daughter of Col. 
 Samuel Denny, whom I have before mentioned. He was a 
 merchant and manufacturer of cards, residing for many years 
 in a house afterwards destroyed by fire, at the intersection of 
 the south with the main street, in Leicester. In 1821, he 
 was a member of tli£ convention for amending the constitu- 
 tion, and, although not a debater, exercised a good degree of 
 influence in that most respectable body. He was conservative 
 in his views, upright and honorable in his dealings ; and 
 when the town lost the benefit of his services and influence, 
 there was a general feeling that it was a loss greatly to be 
 regretted. He died at the age of forty-six, in March, 1829. 
 Two of his sons, fitted for college at the academy, were 
 graduated at Cambridge, and are distinguished physicians in 
 Worcester. 
 
 Of J ames Smith, I shall have occasion to speak hereafter, as 
 
64 
 
 well as of Mr. Foster, Mr. Denny, and Dr. Flint, in their 
 connection with the board of trustees of which they were 
 members. 
 
 The hand of a kind Providence seems to have been dis- 
 played in favor of this academy in a remarkable manner, on 
 several occasions. Among these, was the devise of Captain 
 Israel Waters, of Charlton, to which I have already referred. 
 Considering the time, the then condition of the academy, and 
 the amount of his donation, it forms one of the most important 
 epochs in the history of the institution. He was a man who 
 had acquired a competency by his own industry, was without 
 children, and felt disposed to leave the bulk of his estate to 
 some public institution. His attention was directed towards 
 Leicester Academy, one of whose founders had resided in the 
 same town, and under his direction his last will was drawn 
 by his legal adviser, the Hon. N. P. Denny, one of the trustees 
 of the academy, long an active supporter of it. 
 
 The probate of the will was sharply contested by the heirs 
 at law of the testator, but finally established April, 1824. 
 
 It contained the following provision : 
 
 “All the rest and residue of said fund, arising from the sales of my estate, 
 as aforesaid, and all other of my estate of every description, I give and 
 bequeath to the Trustees of Leicester Academy, in the County of Worcester, 
 and to then* successors in office, with the following restrictions and limita- 
 tions, to wit : It is to be denominated the ‘ Waters Fund,’ for the purpose 
 of supporting an instructor, or instructors, of the Congregational Calvinistic 
 order, in the higher branches of literature, at the discretion of the said trus- 
 tees, in the town of Leicester forever, and at said academy so long as it 
 shall remain in said town. But should the said trustees aforesaid ever see 
 fit to remove the academy from said town of Leicester, and a removal of the 
 same should actually take effect, then and in that case it is my will that the 
 Waters Fund aforesaid be taken by the trustees belonging to said town, and 
 the interest thereof be expended in maintaining an instructor or instructors 
 as aforesaid, in a public school, to be called the Waters School or Academy, 
 in case an act for the incorporation of the same should be obtained to fix it 
 in the said town of Leicester. And in case the time should ever arrive in 
 which there should be no trustee of Leicester residing in and belonging to 
 said town, and said academy at such time should be removed therefrom, 
 then and in that event I give and bequeath the Waters Fund aforesaid to 
 
65 
 
 the selectmen of the town of Leicester for the time being, whom I appoint 
 trustees thereof, for them to expend the interest of said fund in the way and 
 manner aforesaid, in the town of Leicester forever.” * 
 
 He appointed Austin Flint and N. P. Denny, of Leicester, 
 and Asa Bacon, of Charlton, Esqs., executors of the will. 
 
 The will bears date October 4th, 1823. It came up for 
 probate at the December Court of the same year, and in 
 January, 1824, was approved by the Judge of Probate. An 
 appeal was taken by the heirs at law, to the Supreme Court, 
 and after a hearing in that court the same was approved in 
 April, 1824. The Hon. Levi Lincoln and Samuel M. 
 Burnside, Esqs., acted as counsel for the trustees in carrying 
 through the probate of the will, to the entire approbation of 
 the ti*ustees. 
 
 Col. Asa Bacon, who acted as one of the executors of 
 Capt. "Waters’s will, was a highly respectable and intelligent 
 citizen of Charlton, to whom the testator had been a patron 
 and friend. He died in 1854, having lived to see the 
 academy placed, by the benefaction of Capt. Waters, and 
 other distinguished friends of the institution, in a condition 
 which, we trust, leaves its permanence and success beyond 
 any reasonable doubt. 
 
 The reason that probably led to the provision in this will, 
 and the subscription paper to which allusion has been made, 
 by which the gift should cease if the academy should be 
 removed from Leicester, was, that about that time the project 
 for such a removal had been renewed, and articles favoring 
 such a measure had appeared in some of the papers of the 
 county. 
 
 The attention of the trustees was called to the subject in 
 1823, and a committee raised to consider the expediency of 
 removing it ; and in August, 1824, they appointed another 
 
 * A copy of this will is entered on record in the hooks of the academy, with a vote of the 
 trustees, expressive of a sense of acknowledgment on their part, and pledging the corporation 
 to observe the limitations and restrictions therein. 
 
66 
 
 committee to inquire into the history of the funds, and the 
 conditions upon which any part of them were obtained. 
 
 An able and interesting report was made, by which it 
 appears that, of the permanent funds of the academy, 03890 
 were conditional, and 06865 unconditional, while the build- 
 ings, and most, if not all, of the lands belonging to the 
 trustees, were held by an unconditional title. 
 
 This was prior to any payments into the treasury from the 
 legacy of Capt. Waters. 
 
 The average room rent and tuition paid by the students, 
 for the five previous years, had been 0703 annually. 
 
 With this amount of funds, and the increase from tuition 
 thus limited, and with a building unfit for use, and going 
 fast to decay, it is not difficult to perceive that when the 
 le^acv of Capt. Waters took effect, the institution was in a 
 condition to appreciate the munificence of that gift. 
 
 We call it munificence, and such it was when tested by the 
 amount of resources belonging to the academy, and the rank 
 and condition in life of the donor. 
 
 Capt. Israel Waters was the architect of his own 
 fortune. He was a native of Sutton, and began life with 
 very humble means, beyond the trade he had been taught, 
 and a strong resolution to succeed. He established himself 
 in business in the northerly part of Charlton, where he 
 carried on the manufacture of leather with great success, and 
 acquired a handsome estate. 
 
 The life of such a man has in it very little incident to give 
 interest to a biographical notice ; but his name will be 
 preserved and gratefully remembered as long as this institu- 
 tion, so distinguished as an object of his bounty, shall continue 
 to fulfil the high purposes for which it was created. 
 
 I am not able to state precisely the amount of Captain 
 Waters’s legacy to the academy, at the time of making his 
 wilL But from the statements of record in respect to the 
 Waters Fund, in 1828, 1829 and 1830, I infer that the 
 original amount was about 08000, exceeding that, perhaps. 
 
67 
 
 by three or four hundred dollars. In 1842, the principal of 
 the fund was declared to be $9200. 
 
 The next accession of funds by the academy was upon the 
 death of its early and constant friend, the Hon. Isaiah Thomas, 
 in 1831. 
 
 This was ascertained to be $4686.36, besides certain parcels 
 of real estate in Maine and Vermont, from which the trustees 
 afterwards derived a considerable sum more. 
 
 The executors of Mr. Thomas’s will, John TV Lincoln and 
 Moses Thomas, Esqs., having paid this legacy to the trustees, 
 they adopted the following vote : 
 
 u That the trustees receive with sentiments of gratitude the legacy of said 
 Thomas, and that the said legacy be faithfully appropriated in aid of the 
 objects for yrhich said academy was incorporated." 
 
 Almost simultaneous with the receipt of Mr. Thomas's 
 legacy, a legacy of $250 was paid to the trustees by Theoph- 
 ilus Wheeler, Esq., and Mrs. Rebehah Maccarty, executors 
 of the last will of Nathaniel Maccarty, Esq., late of Worcester, 
 deceased. 
 
 This sum was also received with expressions of gratitude 
 by the trustees, and a pledge on their part that it should be 
 faithfully appropriated. 
 
 Nathaniel Maccarty, for many years before Ms death, 
 was a gentleman of fortune, living retired from business in 
 Worcester. He was the son of the Rev. Mr. Maccarty, one of 
 the first board of trustees. For many years he was engaged 
 in mercantile business in Petersham, but returned to spend a 
 considerable portion of Ms life in his native town, where he 
 died in 1831. 
 
 In 1833, the total funds of the institution were $21,970.67. 
 In 1834, they were $20,525.57, out of wMch there was due 
 the sum of $5000, wliich the trustees had borrowed in the 
 erection of the new academy. In 1840, they were $14,496.13. 
 In 1844, they had diminished to the sum of $13,611.72. 
 
 In August, 1845, the trustees were informed that the late 
 Hon. Daniel W r aldo, for many years a trustee and patron of 
 
68 
 
 the institution, had, by his will, left them a legacy of 
 $6000. 
 
 A vote accepting this, and expressing to the relatives of 
 Mr. Waldo a sense of the obligation thereby created, was 
 adopted by the trustees, and an extract from his will entered 
 upon the records of the institution. 
 
 “ I give and bequeath to Leicester Academy, six thousand dollars, subject 
 to the following conditions, viz.: that the said six thousand dollars shall 
 constitute a permanent fund, to be called the Waldo Fund, and be invested, 
 as soon as may be, by the trustees of said academy, for the time being, in 
 personal obligations, with collateral security of real estate, in the County of 
 Worcester aforesaid; the actual value of which, in every instance, shall be, 
 at a fair appraisement, not less than three times the amount of the sum 
 meant to be secured thereby, and the interest only of the said sum of six 
 thousand dollars shall be annually appropriated and applied in payment for 
 able instruction, in the various branches of knowledge usually taught in simi- 
 lar institutions.” 
 
 The next accession to the funds of the academy was made 
 and communicated to the trustees, at a meeting held October 
 27, by James Smith, Esq., of Philadelphia, which is copied 
 here, as expressing, in excellent taste and appropriate language, 
 the views of the munificent donor, in bestowing his bounty 
 upon the institution. 
 
 “ Philadelphia, 12th October, 1852. 
 
 “ To the Board of Trustees of Leicester Academy : 
 
 “ Gentlemen : Feeling a deep interest in the cause of education generally, 
 and a particular regard for the welfare and prosperity of the town of Leices- 
 ter, I am induced to execute a design I have long entertained, of making a 
 donation to the funds of your institution, that it may be better enabled to 
 benefit the many youth of both sexes, who may feel disposed to avail them- 
 selves of the privileges it affords for their instruction. 
 
 “ On the condition that the sum of five thousand dollars shall be subscribed 
 by others, previous to the first day of January next, I propose to convey to 
 you a sum which shall, at that time, amount to ten thousand dollars, in secu- 
 rities. 
 
 “ That it may be made as beneficial as possible, and feeling entire confi- 
 dence in your board, that it will be so used, I am not disposed to encumber 
 the expenditure of this money with many restrictions. 
 
 “ Believing, however, that the academy is now located in as good a place as 
 it can be, for an institution of the kind, I wish to make it a condition of the 
 
69 
 
 donation that the amount so given shall be expended only in the town of 
 Leicester. And in case of the removal of the academy from that place, I 
 direct that the amount remaining unexpended of this fund, shall be appro- 
 priated, in conjunction with the “ Waters Fund,” so called, under the 
 direction of the trustees who may then be residents of the town of Leicester, 
 for the purpose of supporting a public school or academy in said town. 
 
 “ I would also express a desire that the interest, or income, of a sum not 
 exceeding two thousand dollars of this amount, should be annually appro- 
 priated, by the board, for paying the tuition and furnishing books for the 
 use of such pious, indigent young men as may be well recommended, and 
 deemed proper objects of such charity, and are desirous of preparing for the 
 ministry, believing that, if suitable beneficiaries should offer themselves, the 
 appropriation would not only be advantageous to them, but that it would 
 exert a good influence on the institution, and might be the means of advan- 
 cing the cause of Christianity generally. 
 
 “ With the hope that your institution may continue, as it has heretofore 
 been, a blessing to the town in which it is located, as well as to the commu- 
 nity at large, I remain, 
 
 “Very respectfully, yours, etc., 
 
 “JAMES SMITH.” 
 
 Upon receiving this proposal, the trustees adopted the 
 following preamble and votes : 
 
 “Whereas a proposal has been made to this board, under date 12th 
 October, instant, by James Smith, Esq., of the city of Philadelphia, to make 
 a donation of the sum of ten thousand dollars to this institution, upon the 
 condition ‘ that the sum of five thousand dollars shall be subscribed by 
 others, previous to the first day of January next,’ and upon certain other 
 conditions expressed therein, 
 
 “ Voted, That the proposal of Mr. Smith be, and hereby is, accepted by 
 the board, upon the conditions therein expressed. 
 
 “ Voted, That, "in accepting the proposition of Mr. Smith, this board desire 
 to express to him their grateful appreciation of the spirit of liberality and of 
 Christian philanthropy which has actuated him in making this munificent 
 donation, and their deep sense of the confidence reposed by him in the 
 government of this institution, in thus making them the almoners of* his 
 bounty, without restrictions upon their judgment and discretion ; a confi- 
 dence which they hope to justify by an administration of the fund which 
 will accord with his wishes, and redound to the advancement of the best 
 interests of this institution.” 
 
 The trustees took measures to obtain the requisite sum of 
 five thousand dollars to comply with the condition upon which 
 
70 
 
 the proposal of Mr. Smith was to take effect, and, in their 
 appeal to the friends of the institution, were met by contribu- 
 tions to the amount of $7130. 
 
 The names of these contributors are as follow : 
 
 George C. Shattuck, Boston, . $100 Eli W. Blake, New Haven, . $20 
 
 Myrick & Sugden, Spencer, . 20 Byron Sprague, Providence, . 5 
 
 Dwight Foster, Worcester, . 100 John A. Smith, Leicester, . . 500 
 
 Dana H. Fitch, ditto, ... 25 Joseph A. Denny, ditto, . . . 1000 
 
 Emoiy Washburn, ditto, . . 100 Josephus Woodcock, ditto, . . 100 
 
 Abijah Bigelow, ditto, . . . 100 Lucius Woodcock, ditto, . . 200 
 
 Stephen Salisbury, ditto, . . 1000 Baylies Upham, ditto, . . . 100 
 
 Thomas Denny, New York, . . 500 Mary H. Lamb, ditto, . . . 100 
 
 Thos. Kinnicutt, Worcester, . 50 Danforth Rice, ditto, .... 75 
 
 C. Flint, Spear, N. Y., . . . 100 Joshua Murdock, Jr., ditto, . . 100 
 
 Roswell Sprague, New York, . 100 Robert Watson, ditto, ... 10 
 
 J. Wiley Edmunds, Newton, . 500 Elizabeth Sargent, ditto, . . 100 
 
 Daniel Denny, Dorchester, . . 100 Leander Warren, ditto, ... 25 
 
 F. A. Jones, Boston, .... 25 Jonas L. Warren, ditto, ... 10 
 
 William C. Peters, ditto, . . 10 Reuben S. Denny, ditto, . . 100 
 
 Ichabod Washburn, Worcester, 500 A. C. Denison, ditto, .... 25 
 
 Alexander De Witt, Oxford, . 100 John Nelson, ditto, .... 25 
 
 William W. Stone, New York, 100 Oliver Smith, ditto, .... 20 
 
 Charles C. Burr, Boston, . . 100 Abigail Sargent, ditto, ... 25 
 
 Edward B. Westley, New York, 100 J. Sargent Smith, ditto, ... 20 
 
 Samuel Appleton, Boston, . . 100 Alonzo White, ditto, .... 100 
 
 John Brooks, Princeton, . . 50 Joseph Whittemore, ditto, . . 10 
 
 Anthony Chase, Worcester, . . 50 Henry A. Denny, ditto, . . . 100 
 
 Robert Earle, New York, . . 100 Jesse D. Dana, ditto, .... 10 
 
 George Chandler, Worcester, . 20 Nathan Craige, ditto, ... 40 
 
 William A. Smith, Worcester, . 10 Lucretia Denny, ditto, . . . 100 
 
 Sewail B. Bond, Boston, . . 5 A. H. Washburn, ditto, ... 50 
 
 Daniel Harwood, ditto, ... 5 Samuel Hurd, ditto, .... 25 
 
 Dexter S, King, ditto, ... 5 Samuel L. Hodges, ditto, . . 50 
 
 B. R. Keith, ditto, .... 10 Total, .... $7,130 
 
 In compliance with the suggestion of Mr. Smith, the trus- 
 tees, at their meeting, August 9th, 1854, voted to appropri- 
 ate the income of $2,000 from his donation to defray the 
 tuition of six students in the academy, who may be preparing 
 for college within the spirit and intention of the terms of said 
 donation, and a standing committee of the trustees was 
 
71 
 
 appointed to determine the claims of any applicant for such 
 allowance. 
 
 A statement of the condition of the funds was made by a 
 committee of the trustees, in May, 1854, by which, after 
 defraying the expenses incurred in the alterations and improve- 
 ments of the building before spoken of, it appears that the 
 amount of the 
 
 Waters Fund was 
 Waldo Fund, 
 
 Smith Fund, . 
 
 And the General Fund, . 
 
 $ 9 , 100.00 
 
 6,000.00 
 
 10 , 000.00 
 
 2 , 228.57 
 
 Making a total of 
 
 $ 27 , 329.53 
 
 Between that time and May, 1855, expenditures were 
 incurred for desks and other extraordinary charges as well 
 as ordinary, which reduced the general fund to $1141.05 
 leaving the other funds unimpaired. 
 
 Such is, in substance, the condition of the funds of the 
 institution at the time to which this report relates. 
 
 The trustees, in August, 1853, specially appropriated the 
 sum given by Mr. Smith as a permanent fund, under the 
 name of the “ Smith Fund,” which, with the Waters and 
 Waldo Funds, constitute a total of $25,100, the income of 
 which is subject to be expended for the purposes of the 
 institution. 
 
72 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PERSONAL NOTICES OF THE TRUSTEES. 
 
 In tlie petition for an act of incorporation, the names of 
 the persons to be constituted its trustees were given. But, 
 for some reason, other names were substituted for a portion of 
 these in the act. 
 
 Among them were Caleb Amidown, William Stearns, 
 Samuel Curtis, Asa Sprague, and Nehemiah Williams. 
 
 Caleb Amidown was of Charlton, and has been noticed in 
 another connection as one of the benefactors of the institution. 
 
 William Stearns was of Worcester, and a lawyer. He 
 was born in Lunenburg, and was graduated at Cambridge in 
 1770. He studied divinity, and preached awhile, but was 
 never settled. After studying law, he was admitted to practice 
 in 1776, and established himself in Worcester. He died in 
 1784, which will account for his name being omitted in the 
 list of trustees. 
 
 He is said to have possessed good sense, respectable learning, 
 lively wit, and much kindness of feeling. 
 
 Samuel Curtis also belonged to Worcester, and was a 
 highly respectable and influential man, especially during and 
 previous to the revolution. He lived in that part of the 
 town, embraced within the lines of the town of Ward, after- 
 wards Auburn, and was an independent and intelligent farmer. 
 
 Asa Sprague was of Spencer, and has already been 
 mentioned. For some reason his connection with the owner- 
 ship of the academy estate was early terminated, and, 
 probably from the same cause, his name was omitted in the 
 act creating the trustees. 
 
 Rev. Nehemiah Williams was a clergyman of Brimfield. 
 
He was the son of the Rev. Chester Williams, of Hadley, and 
 was graduated at Harvard in 1769. He was ordained in 
 1775, and died November 26th, 1796. He is spoken of as a 
 pious, devoted minister, and the author of a volume of sermons, 
 published after his death. 
 
 The Board of Trustees, as constituted by the act of incorpo- 
 ration, were : 
 
 Colonel Ebenezer Crafts, who held office till 
 
 . . . 1792 
 
 Colonel Jacob Davis, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 . . . 1786 
 
 Hon. Moses Gill, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 . . . 1800 
 
 Hon. Samuel Baker, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 . . . 1795 
 
 Hon. Levi Lincoln, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 . . . 1802 
 
 Hon. Seth Washburn, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 . . . 1794 
 
 Col. Rufus Putnam, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 . . . 1790 
 
 Hon. Joseph Allen, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 . . . 1819 
 
 Rev. Thaddeus Maccarty, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 . . . 1784 
 
 Rev. Joseph Sumner, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 . . . 1818 
 
 Rev. Joshua Paine, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 . . . 1800 
 
 Rev. Benjamin Conklin, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 . . . 1798 
 
 Rev. Archibald Campbell, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 . . . 1795 
 
 Rev. Joseph Pope, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 . * . 1816 
 
 Hon. Timothy Danielson, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 . . . 1786 
 
 They were succeeded by the following, viz. 
 
 1784, July 4, 
 
 Rev. Daniel Grosvenor, -who held office till . . 
 
 1815 
 
 1786, Nov. 
 
 Jonas Howe, Esq., 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 1813 
 
 66 
 
 u 
 
 Capt. Thomas Newhall, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 1814 
 
 1791, May 19, 
 
 Hon. Dwight Foster, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 1818 
 
 1792, Oct. 2, 
 
 Hon. Timothy Newell, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 1797 
 
 1794, July 7, 
 
 Col. Thomas Denny, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 1815 
 
 1795, July 9, 
 
 Rev. Nathan Fiske, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 1800 
 
 1797, July, 
 
 Eleazer James, Esq., 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 1814 
 
 “ July, 
 
 Hon. Elijah Brigham, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 1816 
 
 1798, July, 
 
 Rev. Zephaniah S. Moore, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 1812 
 
 1800, July 3, 
 
 Rev. Ephraim Ward, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 1815 
 
 66 
 
 u 
 
 Rev. Aaron Bancroft, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 1831 
 
 66 
 
 u 
 
 Hon. William Stedman, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 1817 
 
 1802, July, 
 
 Hon. Nathaniel Paine, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 1812 
 
 1812, August, 
 
 Rev. John Nelson, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 
 “ Nov. 
 
 Hon. Benjamin Heywood, 
 
 66 
 
 66 
 
 1817 
 
74 
 
 1813, August, 
 
 Hon. Aaron Tufts, who held office till . 
 
 
 1S33 
 
 1814, “ 
 
 Samuel M. Burnside, 
 
 U 
 
 u 
 
 
 1850 
 
 1815, “ 
 
 Rev. Nathaniel Thayer, 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 m 
 
 1826 
 
 U U 
 
 Rev. Micah Stone, 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 
 1836 
 
 u u 
 
 Dr. Austin Flint, 
 
 u 
 
 
 
 1831 
 
 u u 
 
 Hon. Nath’l P. Denny, 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 
 1845 
 
 1816, “ 
 
 Hon. Levi Lincoln, 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 
 1834 
 
 u u 
 
 Rev. Edwards Whipple, 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 
 1S22 
 
 1817, “ 
 
 Hon. Daniel Waldo, 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 
 1834 
 
 “ Nov. 
 
 Hon. Benjamin Adams, (declined.) 
 
 
 
 
 1818, “ 
 
 Hon. Bezaleel Taft, Jr., 
 
 
 u 
 
 
 1829 
 
 U U 
 
 Hon. Salem Towne, Jr., 
 
 u 
 
 ii 
 
 
 1826 
 
 1819, August, 
 
 Rev. Josiah Clark, 
 
 u 
 
 ii 
 
 
 1845 
 
 “ Nov. 11, 
 
 Hon. Abijah Bigelow, 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 
 1853 
 
 1823, August, 
 
 Rev. Samuel Clark, 
 
 “ 
 
 u 
 
 . 
 
 1837 
 
 1826, May 24, 
 
 Hon. Samuel Mixter, 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 9 
 
 1845 
 
 1827, “ 23, 
 
 Rev. Horatio Barwell, 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 m 
 
 1835 
 
 1830, “ 19, 
 
 Hon. George Davis, 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 
 1851 
 
 1831, Aug. 24, Rev. George Allen, 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 
 1852 
 
 “ Nov. 10, 
 
 Hon. Wm. B. Bannister, 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 
 1833 
 
 1833, Aug. 21, 
 
 Hon. Alfred D. Foster, 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 
 1849 
 
 “ Dec, 25, 
 
 James Smith, Esq., 
 
 * 
 
 u 
 
 
 1844 
 
 1834, Aug. 20, 
 
 Hon. James Allen, 
 
 u 
 
 u 
 
 
 1852 
 
 “ “ Joseph A- Denny, Esq. 
 
 1835, “ 19, Rev. Levi Packard. 
 
 1836, “ 17, Her. Horatio Bardwell, (2d time.) 
 
 1837, “ 9, Rev. William P. Paine. 
 
 1845, May 14, Hon. Emory Washburn. 
 
 1846, w Rev. Amos Bullard. “ “ . . 1851 
 
 1847, Aug. 10, John Sargent, Esq. “ “ . . 1850 
 
 “ “ Hon. Stephen Salisbury, 
 
 1850, May 15, Hon. Thomas Einnicutt. 
 
 “ “ Henry A. Denny, Esq. 
 
 1851, Aug. 13, Rev. Andrew C. Dennison. 
 
 “ “ Hon. Ebenezer Torrey. 
 
 “ “ Hon. William Hyde, (declined.) 
 
 1852, Aug. 1, Thomas Denny, Esq. 
 
 u Oct. 27, Hon. Waldo Flint, (declined.) 
 
 1853, May 11, Rev. Alonzo Hill, D. D. 
 
 1854, Aug. 9, Samuel A. Hitchcock, Esq., (declined.) 
 
 1855, May 6, Ichabod Washburn, Esq. 
 
The Presidents of the Corporation have been as follows : 
 
 Hon. Moses Gill, 
 
 Hon. Levi Lincoln, 
 Rev. Joseph Sumner, . 
 Rev. Aaron Bancroft, 
 Hon. Levi Lincoln, Jr., 
 R.ev. John Nelson, 
 
 from April, 1784, till 1800 
 
 « Oct 1800, “ 1802 
 
 “ July, 1802, “ 1818 
 
 “ Dec. 1818, “ 1831 
 
 “ May, 1831, “ 1834 
 
 “ ]Nlay, 1834. 
 
 The Vice Presidents have been as follows : 
 
 Rev. Benjamin Conklin,. 
 Rev. Nathan Fiske, 
 
 Rev. Joseph Sumner, . 
 Hon. Dwight Foster, . 
 Hon. Levi Lincoln, Jr., . 
 Rev. Micah Stone, 
 
 Samuel M. Burnside, Esq., 
 Hon. Emory Washburn, 
 
 from April, 1784, to 1798 
 “ July 5, 1798, to 1800 
 “ Oct 1800, to 1802 
 “ July, 1802, to 1818 
 « Dec. 18, 1818, to 1831 
 “ May 18, 1831, to 1836 
 “ Aug. 17, 1836, to 1850 
 “ May 14, 1850. 
 
 SECRETARIES. 
 
 Rev. Joseph Pope, 
 
 Rev. Zephaniah S. Moore, 
 Rev. John Nelson, 
 
 Luther Wright, Esq., 
 Joseph A. Denny, Esq., . 
 Rev. Andrew C. Dennison, 
 
 from April 7, 1784, to 1800 
 “ July 3, 1800, to 1812 
 “ Nov. 1812, to 1834 
 " May 21, 1834, to 1835 
 “ Aug 19, 1835, to 1853 
 “ May 11,1853. 
 
 TREASURERS. 
 
 Hon. Joseph Allen, 
 Hon. Levi Lincoln, Jr. . 
 Hon. Abijah Bigelow, . 
 Joseph A. Denny, Esq. 
 
 from April 7, 1784, to 1819 
 “ Nov. 11, 1819, to 1820 
 “ Aug. 23, 1820, to 1853 
 “ May 11, 1853. 
 
 Col. Ebexezer Crafts very properly holds the first 
 place in our notices of the several trustees of this institution. 
 And, in respect to him, as well as to others of that number, 
 my regret is, that I am, of necessity, obliged to be so brief and 
 unsatisfactory. His was a character that only required to be 
 known to be respected, and the better known the more it 
 commands respect. 
 
 He was bom in Pomfret, Conn., September 3d, 1740, and 
 
76 
 
 was graduated at Yale College, 1T59. Soon after this, he 
 engaged m mercantile business in his native town. At the 
 age of twenty-two he married Mehitable Chandler, and, soon 
 after, removed to Sturbridge, where he continued to pursue the 
 same business in which he had been engaged, and, by attention 
 and assiduity, acquired thereby a large estate. 
 
 At the commencement of hostilities, he held the command 
 of a company of cavalry, which he had raised and organized, 
 and joined the army with it at Cambridge, in 1775. He 
 remained in the service till the British troops evacuated 
 Boston, when he returned to Sturbridge, and was soon after 
 elected the colonel of a regiment of cavalry, which office he 
 held till his removal from the county. At the time of the 
 insurrection, known as the “ Shay’s Rebellion,” he marched, 
 with a body of one hundred men under Gen. Lincoln, in the 
 winter of 1786—7, into the western counties, where he 
 rendered prompt and essential service in suppressing that 
 alarming, but ill-judged outbreak. 
 
 With the enlarged and patriotic views of Colonel Crafts, 
 the importance of educating the rising generation early 
 attracted his attention. The people were about to assume the 
 solemn trust of self-government, and, to do this with success, 
 they should be able to understand and appreciate the wants 
 and duties of a free people. 
 
 The condition of the common schools was depressed ; the 
 number of public institutions for education was few ; and the 
 idea of establishing such an institution in this county occu- 
 pied his thoughts for some time before any measures were 
 taken to accomplish it. 
 
 He, at first, conceived the plan of founding an academy in 
 the pleasant village where he resided. But the opportunity 
 that presented, as has been already stated, for procuring a 
 suitable building in Leicester, and the cooperation of Colonel 
 Davis in the scheme, induced him to direct his efforts to its 
 establishment in that place, with the zeal and success which I 
 have already had occasion to notice. 
 
By his efforts in this, and other benevolent enterprises, and 
 that general revulsion of business, which, after the close of 
 the war, proved so disastrous to New England, he became 
 so much embarrassed in his affairs, that he was induced to sell 
 his estates here, and remove to Vermont, where he, in 
 company with Gen. Newhall, of Sturbridge, had purchased a 
 township of land, a few years previous. 
 
 This took place in the winter of 17 90—1, and the town, out of 
 respect to its founder, took the name of Craftsbury. In 1792, 
 he resigned his place as a trustee of the academy, up to which 
 time he cherished and promoted its interests, and shared in 
 its early struggles, against the same difficulties which were 
 embarrassing his own affairs. 
 
 In 1786, Colonel Crafts was honored with the degree of 
 A. M. from Harvard University. 
 
 It is not easy for the present generation to understand, how 
 new and unbroken was the wilderness into which Colonel 
 Crafts removed with his family. To the generation that were 
 upon the stage a half century ago, it was familiarly known as 
 the cc new State,” and, towards it, was the foot of the 
 emigrant from the older counties in Massachusetts directed 
 till that time. 
 
 Scarce a town in that region, that had not more or less of 
 its early settlers from the county of Worcester, and Colonel 
 Crafts had already been preceded by Colonel Davis at the 
 time of his removal:* 
 
 At that time, there was no road opened for more than 
 twenty miles from Craftsbury, and, it being winter, the 
 females of his family were drawn, that distance, upon hand- 
 sleds over the snow. 
 
 Here he gathered around him a number of excellent fam- 
 ilies from Sturbridge and neighboring towns, and a little 
 
 * The recency of the settlement of that part of Vermont cannot be more sensibly exhibited 
 than from a letter now lying before me, in relation to Colonel Jacob Davis, from Gen. Perly 
 Davis, dated 1848, who, with Colonel Davis, was among the very earliest settlers of Montpelier. 
 
78 
 
 community was formed, of which he was the acknowledged 
 head. 
 
 For twenty years, he stood to it in the relation of a patri- 
 arch, a friend and counsellor, whose intelligence all under- 
 stood, and whose friendship and fidelity all esteemed. His 
 generous hospitality, his energy of character, his calm dig- 
 nity, and his pure and Christian life, acting, as they did, 
 upon a well-educated, sympathizing community, exerted an 
 influence, and stamped a character upon the people and for- 
 tunes of the town he planted, which is plainly perceptible 
 to this day. 
 
 In this, he found a ready and efficient auxiliary in his son, 
 whom we have mentioned, and other members of his own 
 immediate kindred. 
 
 In this community he resided till his death, May 24th, 
 1810, at the age of 70, respected and beloved by a con- 
 stantly widening circle of friends and acquaintance. 
 
 The academy are in possession of an excellent likeness of 
 this founder of the institution, from an original portrait for- 
 merly in the possession of his son, the late Hon. Samuel C. 
 Crafts, in which it is not difficult to trace indications of that 
 character that distinguished him in the middle and more 
 active period of his life. 
 
 He was a man of great energy and firmness, and, though 
 liberal in his views and sentiments, he was inflexible in the 
 maintenance of principle, and, with the opportunities he 
 enjoyed, such a man would not fail to make his influence 
 widely felt. 
 
 But it is chiefly of this influence, as connected with this 
 institution, that it is proper to speak in this place. 
 
 As class after class of hopeful and educated young men 
 have gone out from this academy to perform their parts in 
 the various departments of life, they have unconsciously been 
 his agents in disseminating principles, upon the maintenance 
 of which depend the permanence and prosperity of the repub- 
 lic itself. And, in paying this brief and humble tribute to 
 
79 
 
 his memory, it is hoped that it may be regarded in the light 
 of meet though tardy justice to one who conceived and car- 
 ried out the plan of founding the institution. 
 
 His successor in the board of trustees was General Timothy 
 Newhall. 
 
 Jacob Davis was the son of Edward, and was born in 
 Oxford. He was the brother of Ebenezer Davis, of Charl- 
 ton, and General Jonathan Davis, of Oxford, who were lead- 
 ing and influential men in their day, the latter having been, 
 for many years, a member of the Court of Sessions in this 
 county. 
 
 Jacob removed to Charlton, where he occupied and car- 
 ried on a valuable farm, and, at one time, was possessed of 
 considerable wealth. 
 
 This was his condition when he engaged with Colonel 
 Crafts in undertaking to found an academy in Leicester. 
 
 He was, at that time, in the prime of life, active and enter- 
 prising, and enjoyed the confidence and respect of the com- 
 munity around him. 
 
 He entered extensively into the purchase of lands in Ver- 
 mont, then a new and unsettled region, and was one of the 
 original proprietors of the town of Montpelier. 
 
 Soon after the incorporation of the academy, the affairs of 
 Col. Davis became embarrassed, which gave rise to transac- 
 tions under which his^ character suffered to that extent, that, in 
 1786, the trustees of the academy felt compelled to dissolve 
 his connexion with that body. 
 
 Of the justice or merits of the measure, there is no occasion 
 to speak here. 
 
 In the spring of 1787, he removed to Montpelier, where he 
 settled upon a farm in what is now the village of Montpelier, 
 and erected a log house, into which he removed his family 
 the next winter. His daughter born there, was the first child 
 born in the town. Only one family had preceded him in the 
 settlement of the town. 
 
 Here he erected mills on the Onion river, and engaged 
 
80 
 
 extensively in business. Upon the incorporation of that 
 town, he was chosen its first representative in the legislature 
 of Vermont. 
 
 His life in A ermont was somewhat chequered as to his 
 success in business. He continued to reside upon the same 
 farm on which he settled, until his death. 
 
 His connexion with the academy was too brief to influence 
 its success materially ; but, in tracing its origin and progress, 
 it would be doing great injustice to one of its earliest patrons 
 if we failed to assign to him a prominent place in these notices 
 of those who have had charge of its interests. He was suc- 
 ceeded, in his place of trustee, by Thomas Xewhall. 
 
 Hox. Moses Gill was, as has already been stated, an 
 original benefactor of the academy, and was elected first 
 president of the board of trustees, upon the org aniz ation of 
 that body. 
 
 He was bom in Charlestown, January 18th, 1734, and was 
 bred to the business of a merchant, upon which he entered at 
 an early age, in Boston. 
 
 He was distinguished for integrity and devotion to business, 
 and by his industry and assiduity acquired competence and 
 public confidence. 
 
 His wife was a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Prince, the Xew 
 England annalist, and in her right he came into possession of a 
 large landed estate in Princeton, of which town her father 
 was a large proprietor, and to which he had given his name. 
 
 This estate he afterwards acquired in his own right, and if 
 we may judge of his fame and mansion house from the 
 description of them left by Dr. Whitney, in his History of the 
 County of Worcester, the latter must have been magnificent 
 in all its parts ; and the hospitality which he there dispensed 
 was of the most generous and attractive character. 
 
 His first wife died without children, in 1771, and he 
 subsequently married a sister of Thomas Boylston, whom 
 he also survived. 
 
 He took a decided stand in favor of the colonies, and from 
 1775 till his death, was constantly in public life. 
 
81 
 
 Although, not liberally educated, he was a decided friend 
 and patron of literary men and institutions of learning, and 
 engaged in the benevolent enterprises of the day. 
 
 Among other associations with which he was connected, 
 was the ancient and venerable Society for Propagating the 
 Gospel among the Indians, of which he was for many years 
 the president. 
 
 He laid the foundation for a public library in Princeton, 
 and, as has already been stated, made a liberal donation of 
 books to Leicester Academy, many of which were remaining 
 till within a few years, and contained some fine editions of 
 the Latin classics. 
 
 He commenced public life as a member of the Executive 
 Council of the Province, which answered, in many respects, to 
 the Senate under the present constitution. 
 
 This place he held, by annual election, until the organiza- 
 tion of the government under the constitution of 1780, when 
 he was again elected to the Executive Council. 
 
 He was re-elected to this office annually, with the excep- 
 tion of two years, till 1795, when he was chosen Lieutenant 
 Governor. 
 
 As the original design of the constitution was that the 
 Council should be chosen from the body of the Senate, he 
 was annually elected a Senator Lorn the County of Worcester, 
 while he held a seat at the council board. 
 
 In addition to thelrplace of councillor, he was, from 1775 
 to 1794, one of the Justices of the Court of Common Pleas 
 for the County of Worcester. 
 
 At the first election of representatives to Congress, under 
 the constitution of the United States, he was a candidate for 
 the office, but was defeated by the Hon. Jonathan Grout, of 
 Petersham. From 1795 to 1797, Samuel Adams was an- 
 nually elected Governor, and Mr. Gill Lieutenant Governor, 
 of the Commonwealth. And upon Mr. Adams retiring from 
 office, Mr. Gill and Judge Increase Sumner were competitors 
 for the office he had held. Mr. Gill was defeated in the 
 
82 
 
 election, but was chosen to the second place. He and 
 Gov. Sumner were re-elected for the years 1798—9, but, Gov. 
 Sumner dying on the 7th of June, of the latter year, Mr. 
 Gill became acting Governor, and continued to perform the 
 functions of the office until his own death. May 20th, 1800. 
 
 He died at the age of sixty-six, at his residence in Boston, 
 where his funeral was attended with solemnity and great and 
 imposing effect. His pall-bearers were the Hon. Mr. Jones, 
 Bev. D. Howard, Gen. Lincoln, Hon. Judge Dana, Hon. Mr. 
 Bobins, and Hon. Mr. Phillips, and a long procession of 
 State and United States officers and citizens followed his 
 remains to the place of burial. 
 
 An extract from an obituary notice of Gov. Gill, in one of 
 the papers of the day, indicates the estimation in which he 
 was held: 
 
 “ If patriotism has a claim to gratitude from the nation, the memory of 
 Mr. Gill will be embalmed. If industry, prudence, and integrity and real 
 goodness of heart, ever demand respect from the public, his tomb will be 
 adorned.” 
 
 He died without children, but he left the whole community 
 benefited by his having lived and having devoted his energies 
 in educating and elevating the generation in which he acted. 
 He continued to be a member of the board of trustees, and its 
 president, until his death, and was succeeded, in one office, by 
 Hon. William Stedman, and, in the other, by Hon. Levi 
 Lincoln. 
 
 Hon. Samuel Baker belonged to Berlin, and was named 
 as one of the original board of trustees of the academy. 
 
 He was a cotemporary with Gov. Gill, in public life, though 
 within a more limited sphere. 
 
 He was one of that class of men, so numerous in his day, 
 whose character was developed by the circumstances by which 
 he was surrounded, rather than by any training of schools. 
 
 He was a farmer, and, by his own industry, reared and 
 supported a numerous family. 
 
83 
 
 Dr. Whitney, the historian of Worcester county, gravely 
 states, in his account of Berlin, that Judge Baker erected 
 there “ a handsome large mansion house of stone.” 
 
 To the extent of his ability he was devoted to the cause of 
 the colonies, and in 1775 was appointed one of the Judges of 
 the Court of Common Pleas, for the County of Worcester, 
 which office he held till his death, May 13, 1795, at the age 
 of seventy-three. 
 
 Prom 1780 to 1787, he was annually elected to the Senate 
 from this county ; and, after the interval of a single year, he was 
 again elected for the year 1788, and, from 1790, was annually 
 elected to the same place till his death, having, the last year, 
 been a member of the executive council. 
 
 It will be recollected that, at the time he held these offices, 
 it was not deemed essential, even for a seat on the Supreme 
 Court Bench, that the incumbent should have been educated 
 as a lawyer ; and there was no incompatibility between the 
 offices of Senator and Judge of the Court of Common Pleas. 
 
 In speaking of the character of Judge Baker, a cotemporary 
 writer says : 
 
 “While we trace him returning from his unremitted exertions in the 
 senate, to the labors of the plough, we recall the manly virtues which dis- 
 tinguished the first Roman republican. In him were united the virtues of 
 the parent, the husband, the patriot, and the Christian.” 
 
 Judge Baker was~an active friend of this institution. As 
 has already been stated, he was chairman of the committee to 
 whom Col. Crafts’ original petition was committed, and 
 reported the act of incorporation. He continued, till his 
 death, a member of the corporation* and was succeeded by 
 Judge Brigham. 
 
 Bev. Joseph Pope, when appointed a trustee, was minister 
 of the Congregational Church in Spencer. He was elected 
 secretary of the board at its first organization, April 7th, 1784, 
 and faithfully performed the duties of the office for sixteen 
 years, when he was succeeded by Bev. Dr. Moore. 
 
84 
 
 He continued a member of the board of trustees till 1816, 
 when be resigned, and was succeeded by Rev. Edwards 
 Whipple. 
 
 Mr. Pope was bom in Brooklyn, Conn., then forming a 
 part of Pomfret, September 28th, 1T46, and was graduated 
 at Cambridge in 1770. He was then employed a year in 
 teaching school in Worcester, and had, for a pupil, among 
 others, the late Hon. Timothy Bigelow, many years Speaker of 
 the House of Representatives. 
 
 After that, he engaged in the study of theology, and, upon 
 being licensed to preach, supplied the pulpit in Uxbridge for 
 a few months. 
 
 He was settled as minister of the Congregational Church 
 and Society in Spencer, July 17, 1773, where he remained 
 till his death, March 8th, 1826. 
 
 For the last eight years of his life, he suffered from an 
 attack of paralysis to that degree that he was prevented from 
 performing the functions of his office. 
 
 He was a man of good taste and handsome literary acquire- 
 ments, and a faithful and useful member of the board of 
 trustees. 
 
 Upon his resigning the office of secretary, in 1800, the 
 trustees tendered him a vote of thanks (C for his long and 
 faithful services ” in that office. 
 
 He possessed, in an eminent degree, rare prudence and 
 sagacity. His manners were courteous and simple, and won 
 for him the respect and esteem of young and old. 
 
 Through a long life he sustained its varied relations with 
 honor and usefulness. A faithful parent, a devoted pastor, 
 and a Christian gentleman. 
 
 His wife still survives, having passed the rare climacteric 
 of an hundred years on the 16th December, 1851, with pow- 
 ers of mind and body still vigorous, and retaining the same 
 respect of the present which she won for herself among the 
 generation which she so long ago followed to the grave. 
 
 Rev. Thaddetjs Maccarty. Though one of the original 
 
85 
 
 trustees, he held the office but a short period, haying died on 
 the 28th July, 1784, at the age of sixty-three, only a little more 
 than three months after the organization of the corporation. 
 
 He was born in Boston in 1721, and was graduated at Cam- 
 bridge in 1739. He studied theology, and was settled as a 
 minister at Kingston, in 1742. He remained there three 
 years. 
 
 On the 10th June, 1747, he was installed over the Con- 
 gregational Society in Worcester, which was then the only 
 religious society in the town, where now they number at least 
 a score. 
 
 He remained pastor of this church until his death. And a 
 monument to his memory, erected by his people, bears testi- 
 mony to his amiable virtues, and his faithfulness and zeal in 
 the service of his divine Master. He was the father of Nathan- 
 iel Maccartv, Esq., whose legacy to the academy is mentioned 
 in another part of this work. 
 
 He was succeeded in his place at the board by the Rev. 
 Daniel Grosvenor. 
 
 Rev. Benjamin Conklin was the first vice-president of the 
 board, and held the office from the organization of the corpo- 
 ration till his death. 
 
 He was bom in Southhold, L. I., in 1733, and was gradu- 
 ated at Princeton College, New Jersey. 
 
 He succeeded Rev. Mr. Roberts as minister of the then 
 only church and society in Leicester, in November, 1763. 
 Here he married the widow of Dr. Pliny Lawton, of that 
 town. He remained the pastor of this church till June 30th, 
 1794, when the state of his health so far incapacitated him 
 from performing his duties in that office, that he was dis- 
 missed from it by his own consent. 
 
 The disease with which he was afflicted caused him great 
 suffering, from which he was only relieved by death, which 
 took place January 30th, 1798, at the age of sixty-five. 
 
 Mr. Conklin was not a brilliant preacher, but was distin- 
 guished for his sagacity and energy as a man. During the 
 6 
 
86 
 
 struggle of the revolution, and the subsequent troubles known 
 as “Shay’s War,” he took bold and decided ground in favor 
 of liberty and law, and more than once jeopardized his personal 
 safety by the fearless manner in which he maintained his opin- 
 ions. In this way, he exerted much influence in the com- 
 munity around him, in which he found many kindred spirits ; 
 for in no part of the State were there found truer men than 
 within the circle within which he moved. 
 
 Although I have no record of the fact, I have reason to 
 suppose that he, more than once, attended the troops which 
 were called into service from Leicester during the revolution 
 as chaplain of the regiment to which he belonged. 
 
 Such a man could hardly fail to render efficient aid to an 
 institution like the academy, in its early stages, and, as one of 
 its trustees, his services were highly valuable. It passed 
 through its darkest period while he was connected with it, 
 and much is doubtless due to his exertions as a trustee and a 
 citizen of the town, that it survived that crisis. 
 
 He was succeeded, as minister and trustee of the academy, 
 by the Rev. Mr. Moore. 
 
 Hon. Levi Lincoln was a member of the first board, and 
 held the office of trustee till 1802, when he was succeeded by 
 the Hon. Nathaniel Paine. 
 
 Upon the death of Gov. Gill, he was elected President of 
 the board, and held the office till he resigned the trust alto- 
 gether, and was succeeded by the Rev. Dr. Sumner. 
 
 The life and history of Gov. Lincoln was so widely and 
 intimately associated with the history, not only of the academy 
 but of the State and General Governments, that it would 
 extend these sketches altogether beyond their contemplated 
 length, if anything like a complete account were attempted. 
 
 He was born in Hingham, May 5th, 1749, and served an 
 apprenticeship as a blacksmith. Such was his desire, how- 
 ever, to obtain an education, that, after this, he fitted himself 
 to enter Harvard College, and was graduated in 1770. 
 
 He studied law, and entered upon the practice, in Worces- 
 ter, where he rose to the first rank in his profession. 
 
87 
 
 Among the offices which he held at different times, was 
 that of Clerk of the Courts, and Judge of Probate. In 1781, 
 he declined election to the Continental Congress ; but, in 
 1800, was chosen to represent this district in the Congress of 
 the United States. 
 
 The following year, he was appointed, by President Jeffer- 
 son, with whom he was on terms of intimate relation. Attorney 
 General of the United States, and held the office about four 
 years. 
 
 In the years 1807 and ’8, he was elected Lieut. Governor 
 of the Commonwealth ; and. Governor Sullivan having died in 
 December of the latter year, he performed the duties of Chief 
 Magistrate till the following May. 
 
 Upon the decease of Judge Cushing, of the United States 
 Court, Governor Lincoln was appointed to a seat on that 
 bench in 1811, but declined the place on account of a weak- 
 ness of sight, which compelled him to withdraw from public 
 life. 
 
 From that time, till his death, April 14th, 1820, at the age 
 of seventy-one, he lived in honorable and dignified retirement, 
 upon his estate, in the northerly part of what was then the 
 village of Worcester. 
 
 He was the last who held the rank and title of Barrister at 
 Law in Worcester County, and he has the honor of having 
 successfully carried through the cause of a negro who had been 
 a slave before the adoption of the constitution, and claimed, by 
 virtue of it, to be emancipated from the control of his master. 
 The cause was determined in 1783, and settled the question 
 in favor of liberty. 
 
 The last years of Governor Lincoln’s life were devoted to 
 science and literature, and the pursuits of agriculture, for all 
 which he had a decided taste and fondness. 
 
 He was one of the original members of the American 
 Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was the first President of 
 the Worcester County Agricultural Society. 
 
 If, in the angry discussions which were prompted by 
 
 
88 
 
 political and partisan feeling, remarks of a severe and censo- 
 rious character were indulged in, towards the subject of this 
 notice, he lived to see them forgotten, or remembered only 
 as the short-lived but bitter fruits of that party spirit which 
 has so often agitated this community. 
 
 His private character was above reproach, and the memorv 
 of his public life is preserved in the annals of our State and 
 National Governments. 
 
 His son, of the same name, who well sustained, if he did 
 not add to, the reputation of the father, at a subsequent period, 
 lent his aid and influence to the academy, as the father had 
 done in its infancy. 
 
 Hon. Seth TV ashboln was also of the original hoard of 
 trustees, and a strong and active friend of the institution from 
 the first. Being a member of the Senate at the time, he was 
 employed by Colonel Crafts to present his petition for its 
 incorporation, and lent his aid to the measure. 
 
 He continued a member of the board till his death, in 
 1794, when he was succeeded by Colonel Thomas Denny. 
 
 He was bora at Bridgewater, in 1723, and, at an early age, 
 removed to Middletown, Conn. From there he removed, 
 with his father, to Leicester, in 1750, where he married and 
 established himself in his trade as a blacksmith. 
 
 Though his education must have been very defective, he 
 seems to have had the power of convincing and controlling the 
 minds of others, to a more than ordinary extent. He early 
 took an active part in the measures of the revolution, and 
 was in command of a company of minute-men, with whom 
 he marched, on the afternoon of the 19th April, 1775, for 
 Cambridge, upon hearing of the march of the British troops 
 for Concord. 
 
 Upon the organization of the troops at Cambridge, he had 
 the command of a company in the regiment of Colonel TV ard, 
 and took an active part in the battle of Bunker Hill. 
 
 He continued in the service for the term of eight months, 
 when, the period of the enlistment of his men having expired. 
 
89 
 
 he returned to Leicester, where he was engaged in various 
 public duties connected with the war, till the return of peace. 
 
 He never, in fact, resumed his trade after leaving it in 
 April, ’75. After that period, he occupied a farm, and was, 
 much of his time, engaged in public life. 
 
 He often represented Leicester in the General Court, and, 
 for several years, was a member of the Senate, from the 
 county of Worcester. 
 
 In the management of the fiscal and economical concerns 
 of the academy. Colonel Washburn appears from the records 
 to have taken a leading and active part, and the influence 
 which he was able to command in the community was 
 employed in promoting its success. 
 
 He died at the age of seventy, leaving a large family of 
 children ; none of whom, or their descendants, now remain in 
 the town, though several of these have been educated at the 
 academy which their ancestor helped to found.* 
 
 Gen. Rufus Putnam, also of the first board of trustees, 
 belonged to Rutland. He was bom in Sutton, in 1738, and 
 was bred to the trade of a millwright. He at first settled in 
 Brookfield. 
 
 He served with great honor and distinction as an officer in 
 the revolutionary army, and was among the most distinguished 
 engineers in the army. As such, he is highly spoken of by 
 General Washington, in letters to the President of the Con- 
 tinental Congress. He possessed much of the confidence 
 of the commander-in-chief. 
 
 At the commencement of the war, he had the command of 
 a regiment, but, in January, ’83, was promoted to the rank of 
 Brigadier-general . 
 
 In 1782, the estates of Colonel Murray, a noted tory, 
 belonging to Rutland, having been confiscated by the govern- 
 ment, were sold, and one of his farms were purchased by 
 Colonel Putnam, to which he removed the same year. 
 
 * Among these, I may mention the Hon. Eeuben, of Ludlow, Vermont, once a Judge of the 
 Court of that county; Hon. Ebenezer D., a Judge in Alabama, in which State he died; and 
 Dr. Seth, a Physician, who died in Greenfield, grandsons of Colonel Seth. 
 
90 
 
 He was an early and active associate of the Ohio Company, 
 formed for the purposes of settling that, then, unexplored 
 region, and in 1789 removed to Marietta, of which city he 
 was the founder. 
 
 During his residence in Rutland, he shared freely in the 
 duties and honors of the municipal offices of the town, having 
 served as constable, collector of taxes, selectman, and repre- 
 sentative of the town in the General Court. 
 
 Upon the breaking out of the Indian war, in 1791, he was 
 again appointed to the command of a brigade of troops under 
 Gen. Wayne, in the army of the United States ; and his plan 
 for the campaign is spoken of in terms of decided approbation 
 in a letter from Gen. Washington to Gen. Kn ox, then 
 Secretary of War, in August, 1792. 
 
 The formation and accomplishment of the scheme of 
 settling Ohio, demanded much time and great energy and 
 perseverance on the part of Gen. Putnam. It was begun in 
 1786, but the first company of emigrants did not leave New 
 England till the spring of 1788, when, with forty others, he 
 began the settlement of Marietta. His selection of this 
 spot has been severely criticized, as the advantages of other 
 localities, which he might have chosen, have been developed. 
 But it should he remembered that the whole region was then 
 a wilderness, and he was moreover misled as to the quality of 
 the land, and the eligibility of the site, by the information he 
 acquired from others who had explored the country. 
 
 He removed his family; consisting of his wife and eight 
 children, one of them a married daughter, in 1789, and from 
 that period his interests became identified with those of that 
 thriving and prosperous Commonwealth. 
 
 And such was its rapidity of growth, that he lived to see 
 seven hundred thousand people occupy a region which he 
 entered as a pioneer, after having acquired a distinguished 
 reputation by a life of no inconsiderable length in his native 
 State. 
 
 In 1789, he was appointed Judge of the Superior Court of 
 
91 
 
 the North-west Territory, and, in 1795, was made Surveyor- 
 General of that Territory. 
 
 He was a member of the committee that formed the consti- 
 tution of the State of Ohio ; and lived to be the last surviving 
 general officer, with the exception of La Fayette, of the 
 revolution. 
 
 He died at the age of eighty-six. May 1st, 1824. 
 
 He was, as has been stated, a liberal benefactor to the 
 academy ; and, until his resignation of his place on the board 
 of trustees, upon his removal to Ohio, was an active promoter 
 of its interests. He was succeeded in that office by the Hon. 
 Dwight Foster. 
 
 If it was properly within the sphere of this report, it would 
 be pleasant to trace the indirect influence which has been 
 exerted upon the community founded by Gen. Putnam, now 
 one of the principal States of the Union, by an institution 
 which he helped to found here in the interior of Massachusetts. 
 Many of the men whose influence has been felt in the affairs 
 of that State, received their early education at this academy, 
 and thus it may be said of Gen. Putnam, as of other good 
 men, that his works have followed him. 
 
 Hon. Joseph Allen, one of the original board of trustees, 
 belonged to Worcester. He was born in Boston, September 
 2d, 1749, his mother being a sister of Gov. Samuel Adams. 
 
 He was bred to the business of a merchant, and, in 1771, 
 removed to Leicester, where he erected a dwelling-house 
 upon the spot afterwards occupied by the academy, and 
 engaged in trade in a store standing near it. 
 
 He was a fine English and classical scholar, and many of 
 the spirited resolutions that gave so much interest to the 
 town of Leicester, in the early part of the revolutionary 
 struggle, may be traced to the pen of Mr. Allen. 
 
 He was, from the first, a bold, resolute, and determined 
 Whig, and found in Mr. Conklin, the Henshaws, Dennys, 
 and other leading spirits of that town, a ready and hearty 
 cooperation. If there were any of a different sentiment 
 
92 
 
 there, they were too inconsiderable in number or influence to 
 mar essentially the harmony or efficiency of the action of these 
 patriots. 
 
 I know none of the best productions of the day which excel 
 the instructions and resolutions which were drawn by Mr. 
 Allen, upon the topics which were then agitating the public 
 mind. 
 
 In 1776, he removed to Worcester, and was made Clerk of 
 the Courts of the County, which office he filled with great 
 fidelity and acceptance until 1810. 
 
 He was a member of the United States Congress during 
 one term, 1809—10, but declined reelection. 
 
 From 1815 to 1818, he was a member of the Executive 
 Council, and was twice an elector of President. 
 
 In the performance of all his duties, Mr. Allen was dis- 
 tinguished for promptness, accuracy, and uncompromising 
 
 His connection with the academy was as honorable to 
 himself as it was useful to the institution. 
 
 Originally a donor to its funds, upon its organization he 
 was made its first treasurer, and continued to hold and 
 manage its funds till his resignation of the place of trustee in 
 1819. 
 
 This, of course, embraced the dark period of its early 
 struggles, when its finances were deranged, and the deprecia- 
 tion of the securities in which its funds were invested, had 
 well-nigh rendered the institution bankrupt. 
 
 Under circumstances like these, a spirit less resolute would 
 have shrunk from the irksome task of trying to sustain its 
 failing credit. 
 
 He lived to .see its affairs more prosperous, and upon 
 retiring from the place, had the satisfaction of knowing that 
 his services had been appreciated. The trustees, on that 
 occasion, adopted a unanimous vote, 
 
 “ That the faithful, valuable, and continued attention and services, from 
 the establishment of this institution to the present time, of the Hon. Joseph 
 
93 
 
 Allen, in the office of trustee, and in the gratuitous discharge of the arduous 
 and responsible duties of treasurer, by which the funds, and all accruing and 
 resulting interest, have been remarkably secured without loss or diminution 
 to the most inconsiderable amount, and by whose care and vigilance the 
 funds are now received at his hands unimpaired in value or security, deserve 
 the high regard and grateful acknowledgments of the corporation of this 
 institution. 
 
 “ Unanimously Resolved , That the above expression of sentiments of the 
 board, on this subject, be entered on the records, with an assurance of the 
 personal respect of the members of this board, and their great regret at his 
 resignation.” 
 
 This was but an expression of one portion of the commu- 
 nity of the respect which all felt, and which he continued to 
 hold in the public mind as long as he lived. 
 
 He died at the age of seventy-eight, September 2d, 1827, 
 retaining to the last the taste of a scholar, and the urbanity of 
 a gentleman. 
 
 Two of his sons were in part educated at the academy, 
 the Hon. Charles Allen and the Rev. George Allen, both of 
 Worcester, the latter of whom, as will hereafter appear, was 
 for many years a trustee of the institution. 
 
 Mr. Allen was succeeded in his office of treasurer by the 
 Hon. Levi Lincoln, Jr., and as trustee by the Hon. Abijah 
 Bigelow. 
 
 Rev. Joseph Sumner, D.D., was of the original board of 
 trustees, and belonged to Shrewsbury. In 1800, he succeeded 
 Dr. Fiske, as vice president of the board ; and in 1802 was 
 elected president, upon the resignation of Gov. Lincoln. 
 
 He held the latter office till 1818, when he resigned his 
 place at the board. 
 
 He was born in Pomfret, Conn., in 1739, and in 1762 
 settled over the Congregational Church and Society in 
 Shrewsbury. This relation he held, without any colleague, 
 until 1820 ; and from that time till his death, in 1824, 
 retained it in connection with a colleague, so that he held the 
 place of pastor for the almost unprecedented period of sixty- 
 three years. 
 
94 
 
 He was graduated at Yale College* in 1759* and in 1814 
 received the honorary degree of D. D. from Harvard and the 
 College of South Carolina. 
 
 As illustrative of his fidelity* as well as physical ability* in 
 the duties of his office* it is said that he was absent from his 
 pulpit* from sickness or absence from town* only seven 
 Sabbaths in fifty-seven years* and never on the occasion of 
 communion service* for the period of sixty-two years. 
 
 He belonged to that class of clergymen in New England 
 •who took a deep interest in the cause of the colonies* and 
 spared no occasion which offered for encouraging his people 
 to bear their share in the burdens of the war. And it is 
 difficult to measure* at this day* the extent of that influence 
 which was thus exerted. Others fought the battles, and won 
 the renown and glory of achieving the American independence* 
 but it is not too much to say that* had it not been for the 
 sacred fire which was kept alive upon the altars of the churches 
 and homes of New England* by its pastors and the wives and 
 mothers of those who were called into the field* that struggle 
 would have died away ingloriously. 
 
 Dr. Sumner was an ardent and consistent friend of the 
 cause of education* and devoted himself to encourage the 
 schools of his own town* as well as the academy with which 
 he was connected. 
 
 I have already spoken of his public services on more than 
 one occasion in connection with the academy. And I only 
 need add that he was ever ready and faithful in the perform- 
 ance of his duties towards the institution. 
 
 There was a dignity and grace in the manner in which 
 these were performed which could not fail to impress evqry 
 one with favor and respect. That venerable air* made more 
 striking by the immense white wig which he wore and was 
 once common to the elderly clergymen of New England* 
 marked him at once as belonging to an age that had well- 
 nigh passed away. 
 
 The estimation in which his services were held by his 
 
95 
 
 associates on tlie board of trustees was evinced by their votes 
 on the occasion of bis resigning the office of president. They 
 reciprocated the grateful recollection of bis intercourse with 
 them. They tendered . him their thanks for his faithful 
 services as their president, devoutly wished him, under the 
 infirmities of age, the consolation of that religion which he 
 had so long preached to others, and prayed that the labors 
 of the present life might be succeeded by a crown of immor- 
 tality. 
 
 His funeral sermon was preached by the Rev. Dr. Ban- 
 croft, his successor in the presidency of the board of trus- 
 tees, and was a fit tribute to his worth. 
 
 He was succeeded by the Rev. Josiah Clark in his place as 
 trustee. 
 
 One of his sons was successively preceptor of the English 
 department, and principal of the academy, and will be 
 noticed in another part of this report. 
 
 Rev. Joshua Paine, of Sturbridge, was of the original 
 clerical members of the board. He was five years the senior 
 of Dr. Sumner, was born in the same town, graduated the 
 same year, at the same college. Besides this, he received a 
 call to settle in Shrewsbury, before an invitation was given 
 to Dr. Sumner, which call he declined. 
 
 In 1761, he succeeded the Rev. Caleb Rice, as minister of 
 the CongregationalJSociety in Sturbridge, and held that office 
 until his death, December 28th, 1799, at the age of sixty- 
 five years. 
 
 He was a respectable preacher, and a faithful pastor, beloved 
 and esteemed by his people for his many amiable and excel- 
 lent qualities. 
 
 His ministerial life covered the eventful period of the 
 American war, the formation of the State and United States 
 constitutions, and the insurrection under Shays. 
 
 In all these events, he took a deep interest, and he volun- 
 tarily gave up a portion of his salary to enable his parishioners 
 to meet their share of the burden of the war, and, on one 
 
96 
 
 occasion, contributed a barrel of gunpowder from bis own 
 resources to aid on the struggle. 
 
 To men of this day, the secret is incomprehensible how the 
 clergymen of the last century were able, from their limited 
 salaries, to live so respectably, accomplish so much, and be, 
 in fact, so independent. Though not a worldly man, and 
 though devoted to his profession, Mr. Paine, upon a salary 
 of $ 222 , was able to support his family, and educate two of 
 his sons at college, one of whom became a minister, and the 
 other a lawyer. 
 
 He was an active friend of education, and was a useful 
 member of the board of trustees of this academy for fifteen 
 years. 
 
 There is little in the life of such a man to fill the pages of 
 a biography, and it is by the unconscious influence they exert 
 that they make themselves felt upon their generation. Mr. 
 Paine had his full share of this kind of influence, and the 
 world was better for his having lived. 
 
 He was a member of the trustees till his death, and was 
 succeeded by Rev. Dr. Bancroft. 
 
 Rev. Archibald Campbell was the minister of Charlton, 
 and the son of the Rev. John Campbell, a native of Scotland, 
 who was the first minister of Oxford. 
 
 He was graduated at Cambridge, in 1761, and in 1763, 
 was settled over a church and society in Easton, where he 
 remained for twenty years, when he was dismissed from 
 Easton, and settled in Charlton. Here he was regarded as pos- 
 sessed of respectable powers, good attainments, and consistent 
 religious character. But imputations unfavorable to his char- 
 acter having arisen, he was dismissed from his pastoral charge 
 in 1793, and left the Commonwealth. He resigned his place 
 at the board in 1795. 
 
 After leaving Charlton, he continued to preach, at first in 
 Cornish, N. H., then in Putney, Vermont, and afterwards, in 
 1801, removed to Stockbridge, Vermont, though he never was 
 settled as a minister. 
 
97 
 
 He outlived the reproach under which he was laboring 
 when he left Charlton, but misfortunes clouded his latter 
 days, and, poor and blind, he was left dependent upon public 
 charity for his support, for several years before his death. 
 He died in Stockbridge, in July, 1818, at the age of eighty- 
 two, leaving one daughter, now living in that town.* 
 
 The Rev Dr. Fisk succeeded him as a trustee of the 
 academy. 
 
 Hon. Timothy Danielson, of Brimfield, completes the list 
 of, what it is no exaggeration to call, the remarkable men who 
 constituted the first Board of Trustees of Leicester Academy. 
 
 Many of these would have been strong and prominent men 
 in any community, and under any ordinary circumstances. But 
 most of them had peculiar means of developing and calling 
 into exercise the qualities of their minds and character. 
 
 Of this class was Gen. Danielson. 
 
 He was born in Brimfield, and was graduated at Yale Col- 
 lege, in 1756. 
 
 I do not find that he studied any profession, but he early 
 came into public life, and acted a prominent part in the scenes 
 which rendered the period from his leaving college till his 
 death, so memorable in our history. 
 
 He was chairman of the convention of Hampshire County, 
 in 1774, and a member of the three Provincial Congresses, that 
 were convened in Massachusetts, in 1774 and ’5, in which he 
 held a commanding rank among the distinguished men of 
 whom they were composed. 
 
 Among other delicate and responsible duties, delegated to 
 him by that congress, was that of repairing to Connecticut in 
 April, 1775, to solicit the cooperation of that .colony with 
 Massachusetts in raising an army. 
 
 Gen. James Warren, at the same time, was chosen a delegate 
 to visit Rhode Island, and Hon. Elbridge Gerry to visit New 
 Hampshire, for the same purpose. 
 
 * I am indebted to Merrick Gay, Esq., of Stockbridge, for information as to the time of 
 Mr. Campbell's death. 
 
98 
 
 The same year, he was commissioned by Congress to com- 
 mand one of the regiments raised by this colony for the 
 service. 
 
 Upon the organization of the courts, after the adoption of 
 the constitution, he was made Chief Justice of the Common 
 Pleas, for the County of Hampshire. 
 
 In person, he was large and finely formed. His bearing 
 was that of a man fitted to command, and he was always 
 distinguished for firmness and energy of character. 
 
 Por many years he was Major General of the troops in the 
 County of Hampshire, when that office was deemed one of 
 honor and influence. 
 
 In whatever position he was placed, he exerted a command- 
 ing influence in advancing and improving society around him. 
 
 He was, in short, one of that class of bold and able men, 
 who were made for or by the circumstances in which they 
 were placed, to carry forward the war of the revolution, and 
 settle and establish a wise form of civil government, after the 
 struggle was over. And, as such, he left a decided and last- 
 ing mark upon the community in which he acted. 
 
 He died at the age of fifty-eight, leaving two sons ; and his 
 widow became the wife of the distinguished General Eaton, 
 whose services, in the war with Tripoli, in 1805, commanded 
 such general admiration. 
 
 The connection of General Danielson with this academy 
 was but brief, and his health, during that time, was such, 
 that he took but little part in the duties of a trustee. He 
 resigned his place in 1786, and died September 19th, 1791. 
 He was succeeded by Jonas Howe, Esq., in the board of 
 trustees. 
 
 If, as we trace the names and characters of those who have 
 successively filled the places once occupied by the men of 
 whom I have spoken, we find men less prominent, or less 
 generally known, than these, it should not lead us to conclude 
 that they have therefore been less able and devoted guardians 
 
99 
 
 of the institution. Institutions of the kind have multiplied, 
 and each has, to some extent, attracted a local interest to itself, 
 and called to its aid the men of influence in its neighborhood. 
 Besides, the effect of this and similar institutions, and the 
 improvement in our schools, have done so much to diffuse 
 education through the community, that there is a much less 
 marked distinction between men than there once was. Not 
 that the men of eminent capacity are fewer than they once 
 were, but the masses generally have been brought up more 
 nearly to a level with the leading minds in the Common- 
 wealth. 
 
 But, while it may not be in good taste to institute compari- 
 sons between those who now constitute the board, and those 
 of a former period, I may with confidence say, while speaking 
 of the past, that the academy has little cause to regard the 
 successors of the first body of her trustees as having failed to 
 sustain the reputation which that board justly possessed. 
 
 The first one elected to fill a vacancy at the board, was in 
 the place of the Bev. Mr. Maccarty. This was the 
 Rev. Daniel Grosvenor, July 4th, 1785. 
 
 He then belonged to Grafton. He was born in Pomfret, 
 Conn., 1749, and was graduated at Yale College in 1769, so 
 that three of the reverend trustees of the academy that were 
 then associated, were natives of the same town, and graduates 
 of the same college. 
 
 In 1774, he was settled over the church and society in 
 Grafton, and remained there until 1788, when he was dis- 
 missed from his charge, on account of his failing health. 
 
 In 1794, having regained his health, he was again settled 
 over the church and society in Paxton, and remained there till 
 180£, when he was again dismissed. 
 
 At a period somewhat subsequent to this, he removed to 
 Petersham, where he resided till his death, July 22d, 1834, 
 at the age of eighty-five. Among the incidents which serve 
 to illustrate his character as a man, when the alarm of the 
 march of the British troops on Lexington reached Grafton, 
 
100 
 
 the company of minute-men which had been raised, and of 
 which Mr. Grosvenor was a member, marched at once for the 
 scene of action, and, shouldering his musket, he as promptly 
 took post in its ranks, and marched with them to Cambridge. 
 It was of such stuff that the revolution was made. And, 
 doubtless, from the camp of that company, there went up, 
 morning and evening, as sincere prayers, and from as devout 
 hearts, as were ever heard within the walls of a sanctuarv. And 
 if this was a reminiscence of 5 75, instead of a literary institu- 
 tion, I might speak of another of its trustees, who, when 
 leading his company into the fight of the 17th June, called 
 them together, while the balls were heard whistling thickly 
 around them, and, calmly offering up a prayer, as he had often 
 done in their hearing at home, pointed to the place in the line 
 where he proposed to post them, and, at the same time, gave 
 permission to any one then to withdraw from the field. It is 
 hardly necessary to say, that no one availed himself of the 
 permission. 
 
 Mr. Grosvenor was a respectable preacher and useful 
 pastor. His health prevented his attaining eminence in his 
 profession. 
 
 He resigned his place at the board of trustees in 1815, and 
 was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Stone. 
 
 The late Jonathan P. Grosvenor, Esq., of Paxton, and Rev. 
 Cyrus P. Grosvenor, were sons of the subject of this notice. 
 
 Thomas Newhall, Esq., of Leicester, succeeded Col. 
 Davis, in November, 1786. 
 
 He was a native of Leicester, bom 1732. He was an 
 intelligent, independent farmer, and lived upon a farm now 
 owned by Mr. Robert Watson, adjoining the town of Spencer, 
 upon the great post road. 
 
 He was, as we have seen, an original contributor to the 
 funds of the academy, and was always a friend of the institu- 
 tion. He was an active and useful member of the board, 
 from his election till his death, in 1814, and illustrated in his 
 life, how useful and honorable may be the career of a man of 
 
101 
 
 respectable natural powers, even though limited to the sphere 
 of private life, who is willing to devote his efforts in advancing 
 the cause of learning and the improvement of his fellow-men. 
 
 He was possessed of considerable wealth, and having no 
 children, he made the academy and his native town objects of 
 his bounty. I have mentioned the sums he left by will to 
 the institution ; and as generation after generation of the 
 children of that town share in the provision he made for their 
 instruction, in the academy, humble as it was, his name will 
 be retained in grateful remembrance. 
 
 He died at the age of eighty-five, and the epitaph upon his 
 tomb-stone, unlike most such compositions, does no more 
 than justice to his character : 
 
 “ Generous and patriotic through life, at an advanced age he became a 
 liberal benefactor of the inhabitants of this town, and to the literary institu- 
 tion established therein.” 
 
 He was succeeded, in the place of trustee, by Dr. Austin 
 Flint. 
 
 Jonas Howe, Esq., of Rutland, was chosen to succeed 
 Gen. Danielson, in November, 1786. 
 
 He was born in that town, November 6th, 1743, and was 
 the son of Moses Howe. 
 
 He was a farmer, and a highly respectable and useful 
 citizen. His fellow-citizens manifested their respect for him 
 in electing him to most of the offices, in succession, within 
 their gift. Thus, *at different times, he was a selectman, 
 assessor, treasurer, and representative in the General Court, 
 and in 1775 a member of the second Provincial Congress. 
 In all these places he commanded the respect and confidence 
 of the public. He was a deacon of the church, and an active 
 magistrate in the county ; and, to quote from an obituary 
 notice of his character, “ in all his walks in life manifested a 
 love of virtue, of truth and religion.” 
 
 The records of the trustees show that he was an active and 
 useful member of that board. In matters of business, where 
 
102 
 
 good sense and sound judgment were required, his services 
 were often called into exercise. 
 
 He died at the age of sixty-nine, in 1812, and was suc- 
 ceeded by Hon. Aaron Tufts. 
 
 Hon. Dwight Foster was chosen to fill the place of Gen. 
 Putnam, May 19th, 1791. He belonged to Brookfield. 
 
 He was the son of Hon. Jedediah Foster, one of the 
 Judges of the Supreme Court, and brother of Hon. Theodore 
 Foster, a Senator in Congress from Rhode Island, from 1790 
 to 1803. 
 
 He was graduated at Brown University, in 1774, at the 
 age of seventeen ; and having studied law he commenced the 
 practice of the profession in Providence, but removed to 
 Brookfield in 1779, and was soon largely engaged in business. 
 
 In 1792, he was appointed sheriff of the county, and held 
 the office for one year. 
 
 In 1793, he was chosen to Congress, and held a seat in that 
 body till 1801. 
 
 In 1799, he was appointed Chief Justice of the Court of 
 Common Pleas, and held the office two years. 
 
 In 1800, he was elected to the Senate of the United States, 
 for the balance of a term, and held the place till 1803. 
 
 In all these various offices, he brought to the performance 
 of their duties great assiduity, diligence and fidelity, and won 
 the confidence and favor of his fellow-citizens. 
 
 In his person, he was of a large and commanding figure ; his 
 bearing was mild and dignified, and, in his associations with 
 all, he was distinguished for urbanity and amenity of manners. 
 And the various offices of honor and trust which he was 
 successfully called to fill, were evidence of the high estimate 
 in which he was held by the people of the Commonwealth. 
 
 He was a useful member of the board of trustees of the 
 academy, and always had a lively interest in its success. 
 
 After leaving the bench of the Court of Common Pleas, 
 he resided in retirement, at his seat in Brookfield, till 1818, 
 when, for a single year, he was a member of the Executive 
 Council. 
 
103 
 
 The same year he resigned his place as a trustee, and died 
 April 29th, 1823, at the age of sixty-six. 
 
 He was the father of the Hon. Alfred Dwight Foster, who 
 subsequently was a member of the board of trustees, and fully 
 sustained the character and reputation of the father. 
 
 Judge Foster was succeeded at the board by Gen. Salem 
 Towne. 
 
 Hon. Timothy Neyvhall, of Sturbridge, succeeded Col. 
 Crafts, as a trustee, October 2d, 1792. 
 
 He was born in Needham, in 1742, and removed early to 
 Sturbridge, where he was, for many years, employed as a 
 mechanic. 
 
 He subsequently engaged in trade, which, with agriculture, 
 were afterwards the business of his life. 
 
 He had, naturally, a strong and active mind, and, though 
 wholly self-taught, he acquired a store of useful knowledge, 
 which, with good, practical common sense, for which he was 
 distinguished, enabled him to meet the demands which were 
 made upon his services, in various responsible offices, with 
 acceptance and success. 
 
 He commanded a company of minute-men, at the com- 
 mencement of the war of the revolution, but entered the army 
 as brigade major, and rose to the rank of colonel before quit- 
 ting the service. 
 
 During the “ Shay’s Rebellion,” as it was called, he was 
 again called into acTive service, and proved himself a firm and 
 efficient supporter of the government. 
 
 From 1791 to 1794, he was a member of the Senate from 
 the County of Worcester, and in 1807 was a member of the 
 Executive Council. 
 
 He resigned his place at the board of trustees in 1797, and 
 died at the age of seventy-six, February 5th, 1819. 
 
 General Newhall was a man of no ordinary powers, and his 
 influence was widely felt in the County and the State. 
 
 His countenance was noble, his person fine, and his man- 
 ners and whole bearing dignified and imposing. 
 
104 
 
 He was a most agreeable and entertaining companion, as 
 bis memory was stored with the stirring scenes and events of 
 a long and busy life. His sentiments and opinions were 
 always sound and patriotic, and his interest in passing events 
 continued actively alive till the hour of his death. 
 
 Though I am indebted to another * for most of the particu- 
 lars of this brief sketch of Gen Newhall, his memory, as a 
 public man, is a part of the history of the county and of the 
 Commonwealth. 
 
 He had a son and seven daughters. The son, a young 
 man of great promise, died young. One of his daughters 
 married Dr. Ephraim Allen, of Salem, N. Y., whom I have 
 had occasion to mention in another part of this report, and 
 another married the Hon. C. J. Savage, of the Supreme Court 
 of New York. 
 
 General Newhall was succeeded, as a trustee, by Eleazer 
 James, Esq. 
 
 Col. Thomas Denny, of Leicester, was elected July 7th, 
 1794, to fill the place of the Hon. Seth Washburn. 
 
 He was a native of Leicester, and was born May 15th, 
 1757. 
 
 His father, Thomas Denny, was one of the most prominent 
 and active patriots in Massachusetts at the commencement of 
 the revolution. He was a brother of Colonel Samuel Denny, 
 who has been mentioned in an early part of this report, the 
 sons of Daniel Denny, who. was one of the early settlers of 
 Leicester, and whose sister married the historian and annalist. 
 Dr. Prince. 
 
 The father of Colonel Thomas Denny died at the early age 
 of forty-nine, in 1774, while a member of the first Provincial 
 Congress. 
 
 Colonel Denny, early in life, engaged in active business 
 with great energy and success, and soon became a prominent 
 and leading citizen of the town. 
 
 Upon the resignation of Colonel Crafts, in 1791, of his 
 
 * George Davis, Esq. 
 
105 
 
 command of the regiment of cavalry which he had raised in 
 the county. Colonel Denny was elected its lieutenant-colonel, 
 then a place of great honor and respect. 
 
 He was, the same year, elected a representative of Leicester 
 in the General Court, and frequently afterwards represented 
 that town. 
 
 He was extensively engaged, for many years, in mercantile 
 and manufacturing business, and, at the time of his death, 
 was the wealthiest man in town. 
 
 As a resident trustee of the academy, he was a most useful 
 and efficient member of the board. His services were always 
 in demand whenever practical business talents and experience, 
 and sound common sense, combined with energy of character, 
 were required. And no one was more faithful than he in the 
 performance of his duties to the institution. 
 
 He died very suddenly, December 5th, 1814, at the age 
 of fifty-seven, in the midst of his usefulness, and to the uni- 
 versal regret of all who knew him. 
 
 One of his sons, of the same name, was afterwards preceptor 
 of the English department of the academy, and is now one of 
 its trustees. One of his daughters is the wife of its most 
 distinguished benefactor, and, at one time, one of its trustees, 
 James Smith, Esq. 
 
 Colonel Denny was succeeded, at his death, in the board 
 of trustees, by Hon. Nathaniel P. Denny. 
 
 Lev. Nathan Fiske, D. D., was elected to the place made 
 vacant by the resignation of Mr. Campbell, July 9th, 1795. 
 He was then minister of Brookfield. He was born in Weston, 
 November 24th, 1733, and was graduated at Cambridge, in 
 1754, in the same class with Gov. Hancock. In 1758, he 
 was ordained over the third precinct of Brookfield. Here he 
 remained until his death, November 24th, 1799. His death 
 was very sudden, having preached twice on that day, and 
 walked from his house to the church in apparently good 
 health. 
 
 He was a fine scholar, and an interesting and impressive 
 
106 
 
 preacher. He was distinguished, as a writer, for the neat- 
 ness and correctness of his style. 
 
 His cotemporaries speak of him in terms of great respect 
 and esteem on account of his fine domestic and social qualities, 
 and the dignity, faithfulness, and conscientiousness with which 
 he performed all the duties of life. 
 
 His connection with the academy was brief, but the estima- 
 tion in which he was held, by his associates, may be inferred, 
 from his being elected to succeed Rev. Mr. Conklin, as vice 
 president of the board, in July, 1798. He received the 
 honorary degree of D. D., from his Alma Mater, in 1792, 
 when such a mark of distinction was more regarded than it 
 has sometimes since been. 
 
 The Rev. Ephraim Ward was Dr. Fiske’s successor in the 
 board of trustees. 
 
 Eleazer James, Esq., of Barre, took the place of Gen. 
 Newhall, July, 1797. 
 
 He was born at Cohasset, 1754, and was graduated at 
 Cambridge, in 1778. 
 
 From 1781 to 1789, he was a tutor in that college. After 
 that, he preached for a while, but was never settled over any 
 parish. 
 
 He then gave up the profession of divinity, and studied 
 that of law. Having been admitted to practice, he opened 
 an office in Barre, where, for many years, he pursued his 
 profession with great success. Towards the close of his life, 
 his daughter having married the Hon. Charles Allen, he 
 removed to Worcester, to reside with them, and remained 
 there till his death, April 14th, 1843, at the age of eighty- 
 nine. 
 
 Although never distinguished as an advocate, and rarely, if 
 ever, taking a leading part in the management of important 
 causes, he was regarded as a good lawyer, a discreet coun- 
 sellor, and an agreeable and intelligent gentleman. 
 
 In some respects, his history and experience were peculiar, 
 compared with most of his associates at the bar, for he 
 
107 
 
 acquired a handsome estate by his profession, and died in a 
 condition of pecuniary independence. 
 
 He remained, for seventeen years, a member of the board 
 of trustees, and lent the institution the benefit of his counsels 
 and his personal influence. He resigned his place in 1814, 
 and was succeeded by Samuel M. Burnside, Esq. 
 
 He left three daughters, one of whom married Bev. Dr. 
 Young, late of Boston ; another, Bev. Dr. Thompson, of 
 Salem, who received his early education at the academy ; and 
 the other, Hon. Mr. Allen, as already mentioned. 
 
 Through a long, quiet, and unobtrusive life, he commanded 
 the respect of the public, and enjoyed the esteem of a wide 
 circle of friends ; and if his name does not appear among the 
 men in public political life, in his day, it was because his 
 taste and inclination were averse to entering such arena. 
 
 Elijah Brigham was a native of Northboro’, and was 
 graduated at Dartmouth, in 1778. Upon leaving college 
 he commenced the study of divinity ; but, after two years, 
 abandoned it, and entered into mercantile business, in West- 
 boro’, in connection with his brother-in-law, Breck Parkman, 
 Esq. 
 
 He represented that town in the General Court, in 1791, 
 and, in 1795, was elected a Senator for the County of Wor- 
 cester, and held the office two years. 
 
 In 1795, he was appointed a Judge of the Court of 
 Common Pleas. In 1803, he was a member of the Executive 
 Council, and in 1810, was elected to Congress. He con- 
 tinued a member of that body until his death, in 1816, April 
 22d. This took place at Washington, while in attendance 
 upon Congress, at which time he was sixty-five years of age. 
 His death was very sudden, having been occasioned by an 
 attack of croup. 
 
 It is hardly necessary, after reciting the various high and 
 responsible offices which Judge Brigham was called to fill, to 
 add, that he was a man of strong native powers of mind, 
 and of high personal character. 
 
108 
 
 He held a seat upon the bench of the Court of Common 
 Pleas, at a period when legal learning was not regarded as an 
 essential requisite for the office. 
 
 Engaged as he was, during all this time, in extensive 
 mercantile operations, he must, in his judicial capacity, have 
 depended rather upon his sound judgment and good sense, 
 than upon any knowledge which he had gathered from the 
 books. 
 
 He proved himself to be such a man as the circumstances 
 of the time demanded ; and the uniform respect with which he 
 was regarded in the public mind, was evidence that his claims 
 upon the confidence of the community were properly appre- 
 ciated. 
 
 He was chosen to fill the place of Judge Baker at the 
 hoard of trustees, July, 1T9T, and was succeeded by Hon. 
 Levi Lincoln, Jr., having held the office till his death. 
 
 Rev. Zephaniah Swift Moore, D. D., was elected to 
 fill the vacancy at the board, occasioned by the decease of Mr. 
 Conklin, July, 1798. 
 
 He was born in Palmer, Mass., and in early life removed 
 with his father to Wilmington, Vt., where he grew up, 
 laboring upon his father’s farm, until he was eighteen years of 
 age. He entered Dartmouth College, and was graduated in 
 1793. He was then employed for a year in teaching the 
 academy at Londonderry, N. H. 
 
 After that, he studied theology with the Rev. Dr. Backus, 
 of Somers, Conn., and, on January 10, 1798, was settled 
 over the church and society of Leicester. 
 
 He continued in this relation till 1811, when he was 
 appointed to the professorship of languages in Dartmouth 
 College, and removed to Hanover. 
 
 Lie filled this office with great ability and acceptance, till 
 1815, when he was elected President of Williams College, 
 and removed to Williamstown. 
 
 In 1821, he was elected President of Amherst Collegiate 
 Institute, afterwards Amherst College, and removed to 
 
109 
 
 Amherst, where he resided till his death, June 29th, 1823, at 
 the age of fifty-three years. 
 
 The character of Dr. Moore has become so well known, 
 from the prominent position he held, and the ability and success 
 with which he performed the duties of these offices, that it . is 
 only necessary to speak of him in connection with this and 
 other literary institutions. 
 
 He remained one of the trustees till his removal to Hano- 
 ver, and the institution has great cause to remember his ser- 
 vices in its behalf, with gratitude and respect. 
 
 Upon the resignation of Mr. Adams as preceptor of the 
 academy, in 1806, Dr. Moore was appointed his successor, 
 and held the place for one year. He did not, however, sus- 
 pend his connection with the parish during this period. 
 
 In the government and management of a body of pupils, 
 whether in an academy or college. Dr. Moore had few equals, 
 and no superior. He combined, to a remarkable degree, 
 with mild, winning and persuasive address, the most unwaver- 
 ing firmness, and consistency of character and purpose. 
 
 He was, moreover, extremely sagacious in the knowledge 
 of personal character. 
 
 He was an accurate scholar, a clear and profound thinker, 
 and a writer of great neatness and purity of style. 
 
 As a pastor and minister, few exerted a more marked 
 influence, or left a stronger feeling of veneration and attach- 
 ment on the part of the people with whom he was connected. 
 
 He married a daughter of the late Thomas Drury, Esq., of 
 Auburn, who still survives, retaining the respect and esteem 
 of her former associates and friends, as well as commanding 
 that of the community in which she has made her home. 
 
 Rev. Ephraim Ward was of Brookfield, (now West 
 Brookfield,) and was elected to fill the vacancy in the hoard, 
 in place of D. Fiske, in 1800, and remained a member of it 
 till 1815, when he resigned the place. 
 
 He was a native of Newton, and was born in 1741, and 
 was graduated at Harvard University, in 1763. 
 
110 
 
 He was settled, as pastor, over the church and society in 
 the then First Parish in Brookfield, October 22d, 1771, and 
 remained in that relation, till his death, February 9th, 1818, 
 at the age of seventy-seven. 
 
 During this unusual period of ministerial life, he faithfully 
 and acceptably performed the duties of his office, without any 
 assistant, until about eighteen months before his death, when 
 the Bev. Mr. Phelps became his colleague. 
 
 He has left the reputation of having been a plain, practical, 
 and evangelical preacher of the Gospel. 
 
 “ In private and social life, his amiable and obliging temper, bis benevo- 
 lent and social feelings, courteous manners, and catholic spirit, united with a 
 remarkable degree of forbearance, meekness, and candor, rendered him an 
 agreeable companion and friend, and endeared him to a numerous acquaint- 
 ance.” * 
 
 He left several printed sermons, which had been delivered 
 on special occasions. 
 
 His name and his amiable virtues are still fresh in the 
 memory of the people to whom he so long ministered in his 
 holy calling. 
 
 He was succeeded in the board of trustees by Bev. Dr. 
 Thayer. 
 
 Bev. Aaron Bancroft, D. D. The life of this long- 
 tried and faithful friend of the institution, remains to be 
 written. 
 
 It has been hoped that some one would do justice, as his 
 biographer, to his claims upon the public respect. 
 
 The most I can hope to do, is to borrow from Mr. Lincoln’s 
 History of Worcester, to which I have been greatly indebted, 
 in preparing this work, for an outline of some of the principal 
 events in his life. 
 
 He was born in Beading, November 10th, 1755. He 
 resolved to obtain an education, and, under circumstances of 
 great embarrassment and discouragement, was able to enter 
 Harvard College in 1774. 
 
 Massachusetts Spy, February ISth, 1818. 
 
Ill 
 
 The events of the revolution following so soon after, he, 
 with the other students, were obliged to abandon the college 
 for a while. But, in 1778, he received his degree, and, soon 
 after, commenced the study of theology, in his native town. 
 
 After spending three years in Nova Scotia, he was invited 
 to Worcester, in 1783, to supply the pulpit of the Bev. Mr. 
 Maccarty, during his illness. From that time, till his return 
 to Worcester, in 1784 or 5 85, he was employed in several 
 different places. But, having been invited to settle over the 
 Second Parish, in that town, he accepted the invitation, and 
 became their pastor, in February, 1786. 
 
 The connection, thus formed, ended only with his life. 
 For the last few years of his ministerial labors, he found an 
 able and acceptable assistant in the colleague with whom his 
 duties were divided. 
 
 Besides his devotion to his parochial duties. Dr. Bancroft 
 became a successful and popular author. His Life of Wash- 
 ington was a popular and widely-circulated work. 
 
 Many of his sermons and writings upon theological subjects 
 were published and extensively read. And a sermon, which 
 he preached at the close of the fiftieth year of his ministry, 
 was printed, at the particular desire of his people, and contains 
 many valuable and interesting reminiscences. 
 
 Dr. Bancroft was connected with many public benevolent, 
 literary, and scientific associations ; and, in 1810, was honored, 
 by his Alma Mater~with the degree of Doctor of Divinity. 
 
 His connection with the academy was long, and useful to 
 the institution. He succeeded the Bev. Mr. Paine, as a 
 trustee, in 1800; and, in 1818, became the president of the 
 board, upon the resignation of Dr. Sumner. 
 
 In tracing the history of the institution, I have already 
 been led to mention the part he took, on more than one 
 occasion, in its public exercises. His address, at the opening 
 of the new academy, in 1806, was published, and received 
 with much favor. 
 
 He retired from the institution in 1831, and was succeeded 
 
112 
 
 by the Rev. George Allen. On this occasion, the trustees 
 adopted resolutions, which were entered upon their records, 
 expressive of their high sense of his character, and his long 
 and faithful services in the cause of the academy. 
 
 He survived till 1839, when, at the age of fourscore and 
 four years, he closed a life of eminent industry and distin- 
 guished usefulness, having outlived whatever feeling of ani- 
 mosity or unkindness may have grown out of the separation 
 of an old religious society, and the sundering of ties that such 
 an event too often occasions. 
 
 Hon. "William Stedman, of Lancaster, succeeded the Hon. 
 Moses Gill, July 3d, 1800. 
 
 He was a graduate of Harvard College, in 1784, and was 
 admitted to the bar in the county of Essex, in 1787. 
 
 In 1802, he represented Lancaster in the General Court, 
 and, in the following year, was elected to Congress, and held 
 a seat in that body till 1810, when he was appointed Clerk 
 of the Courts in the County of Worcester, and resigned his 
 seat in Congress. 
 
 Upon receiving this appointment, he removed to Worces- 
 ter. But a political revolution in the State threw him out 
 of office the following year. In 1812, however, he again 
 received the appointment, which he was obliged to resign in 
 1816, and, about the same time, gave up his connection with 
 the trust of Leicester Academy, in consequence of a vote of 
 the trustees, which they saw fit afterwards partially to oblit- 
 erate. 
 
 He thereupon returned to Lancaster, and resumed his 
 profession, in which he occasionally engaged, and remained 
 connected with the bar till a short time previous to his death, 
 when he removed to Newburyport. He died there, Septem- 
 ber, 1831, at the age of sixty-six. 
 
 His place, at the board of trustees, was filled by the Hon. 
 Bezaleel Taft, Jr., Mr. Adams, who was first elected, having 
 declined the place. 
 
 Hon. Nathaniel Paine was elected a trustee in place of 
 the Hon. Levi Lincoln, Senior, in July, 1802. 
 
113 
 
 He was a native of Worcester, and resided there most of 
 liis life. His father, Timothy Paine, Esq., I have had occa- 
 sion to mention, among the early benefactors of the academy. 
 
 He was graduated at Harvard, in 1TT5, and was admitted 
 to the bar in 1781. 
 
 At first, he commenced practice in Groton, but, after a few 
 years, returned to Worcester. Here he held, for some time, 
 the office of County Attorney, the prosecuting office for the 
 county of Worcester. 
 
 He was, several times, a representative in the General 
 Court from the town of Worcester, and, in 1801, succeeded 
 Judge Dorr, as Judge of Probate. 
 
 He held this honorable and responsible office for thirty-five 
 years. 
 
 He resigned his place at the board of trustees, in 1812, and 
 was succeeded by the Hon. Benjamin Heywood. 
 
 He died, October 7th, 1840, at the age of eighty-two years. 
 
 With some peculiarities of temperament. Judge Paine was 
 an estimable friend, and an upright and excellent citizen. 
 
 Forming, as he did, one of the few connecting links then 
 existing between the ante-revolutionarv generation, and one 
 which had come upon the stage, and was itself passing away 
 during his long life, his reminiscences of public men who had, 
 during that period, been actors in the events that had ren- 
 dered our history so memorable, often gave to his conversa- 
 tion great interest, and rendered him an agreeable, as well as 
 an instructive companion. He held, at one time, a prominent 
 place at the bar, but, in the enjoyment of an independent 
 competence, he had withdrawn from practice many years 
 before his death. 
 
 Hon. Benjamin Heywood was elected a trustee, in the 
 place of Judge Paine, in November, 1812. He was a native 
 of Shrewsbury, and, in early life, worked at the trade of a 
 housewright. Having, however, a strong desire to obtain an 
 education, he prepared to enter college, and became a member 
 of Harvard University, in 1771. The classes, however, were 
 
114 
 
 dispersed, by tbe coming on of the revolution, before the 
 time of his graduation. He received his degree in regular 
 course, although he was commissioned as a lieutenant in the 
 provincial service in May, 177j5, and the next year received a 
 commission in the continental service, as captain, which rank 
 he retained through the war, although much of the time he 
 performed the arduous and responsible duties of paymaster in 
 the army. 
 
 He soon acquired a distinguished reputation as an officer, 
 for prudence, firmness, and a familiarity with the details of 
 business, and was often entrusted with delicate and important 
 commissions, in connection with some of the ablest men in the 
 army. 
 
 After the peace, he returned to Worcester, and devoted 
 himself to agricultural pursuits. 
 
 Such, however, was his capacity for business, and so strong 
 was his hold upon public confidence, that he was soon called 
 to more public duties, as well as the execution of private 
 trusts. 
 
 In 1802, he was appointed a Judge of the Court of Com- 
 mon Pleas, and held the office till 1811. Besides this, he 
 was twice chosen an Elector of President of the United States, 
 and held many other places of honor and trust in the county. 
 
 He died in 1816, at the age of seventy-one years, “leaving 
 the reputation of unstained integrity and extensive useful- 
 ness.”* 
 
 He was succeeded at the board of trustees by the Hon. 
 Daniel Waldo. 
 
 Hon. Aaron Tufts succeeded Jonas Howe, Esq., in 
 August, 1813. He was a native of Charlestown, but for 
 most of his life resided in Dudley, where he at first studied 
 medicine, with Dr. Eaton of that town, and practised in that 
 profession for a few years ; but afterwards became extensively 
 engaged in manufactures, and acquired a handsome fortune. 
 And there, in possession of a beautiful estate, he maintained a 
 
 * Lincoln's Distory of Worcester. 
 
115 
 
 generous hospitality, and gathered around him the essentials 
 of a pleasant home. 
 
 Few men, in his day, exerted a more commanding influence 
 in the county. Though not what is called a man of “ liberal 
 education,” his strong, good sense, his great sagacity and broad 
 experience, rendered such an education the less necessary, and 
 more than supplied it, in the practical business of life, both 
 public and private. 
 
 He often represented the town of Dudley in the General 
 Court, and from 1819 till 1825, was a member of the Senate 
 from this county. 
 
 In 1819, he was appointed a “Sessions Justice” of the 
 Court of Common Pleas, as then constituted, and, when that 
 court was newly organized, in the same year, he was appointed, 
 by the Governor and Council, a Justice of the Court of Ses- 
 sions. 
 
 Those who recall the long and difficult struggle, by which 
 anything like a protective tariff* was obtained from Congress, 
 will remember how important it was deemed, that the wisest, 
 most discreet and experienced friends of American industry, 
 should be employed to present their views before the commit- 
 tees of Congress. 
 
 Of the men selected for this purpose, was the subject of 
 this notice ; and no one, who knew him, doubted of the wis- 
 dom of the selection. 
 
 By the opportunities thus offered. Dr. Tufts became widely 
 and very favorably known in the country. 
 
 In addition to this, there was, with all his energy and 
 decision of character, an urbanity of manner at once dignified 
 and refined, which rendered him an agreeable companion in 
 social life, and won the confidence of those around him. 
 
 The evening of his days was saddened by the death of an 
 only son, in whom his hopes had justly centred. He was 
 educated -at this academy, was graduated at Cambridge, in 
 1818, had obtained a commanding position at the bar, and 
 
116 
 
 had been a member of the Senate for the county, when he 
 w r as stricken down by disease, and died universally lamented. 
 
 Dr. Tufts survived till September 17th, 1843, when an 
 honorable and useful career was closed, at the age of seventy- 
 three years. 
 
 He was, for twenty years, a member of this board of trust, 
 and proved himself a useful and efficient friend of the insti- 
 tution. Upon his resigning, he was succeeded by James 
 Smith, Esq., of whose munificent contribution to the funds 
 of the institution, I have already spoken. 
 
 Samuel M. Burnside, Esq., w^as elected to the board 
 August, 1814, as successor to Mr. James, and upon the 
 resignation of the Bev. Mr. Stone, became vice president of 
 the board. 
 
 He remained a member of this body till his death, perform- 
 ing, with great diligence and punctuality, whatever duties 
 were required of him in the office. His knowledge of the 
 classics and his critical taste, fitted him peculiarly for the place. 
 And in bringing these into exercise, he found pleasure com- 
 bined with duty, to no small degree. 
 
 Mr. Burnside was born in Northumberland, N. H., and 
 was graduated at Dartmouth College, in 1805. After this, he 
 was employed two years as a teacher in the academy at 
 Andover, and the scholastic habits and tastes which he there 
 cultivated, he retained through life. 
 
 He studied law with the late Chief Justice Ward, of 
 Boston, and was admitted to the bar in 1810. 
 
 He commenced business in Westboro’, but soon removed 
 to Worcester, w T here he ever afterwards resided. 
 
 He always took a great interest in schools and the cause of 
 education generally, and to his exertion, while a member of 
 the legislature, the public w^ere indebted for reducing our 
 school laws to something like a system, in a bill which he 
 drafted and carried through the legislature. 
 
 He was a learned lawyer, and at one time commanded an 
 extensive business in his profession. 
 
117 
 
 For several years, however, before his death, his circum- 
 stances were such as to render devotion to any profession 
 unnecessary, and he had chiefly withdrawn from practice. 
 
 He married a daughter of the Hon. Dwight Foster, and, 
 consequently, a sister of the Hon. Alfred D. Foster, and thus 
 added one more to a family to which Leicester Academy has 
 been greatly indebted for the good management of her 
 interests. 
 
 He died at the age of sixty-seven, in the year 1850. 
 Happy in his family, and independent in his circumstances, 
 he was enabled to indulge his tastes in literary studies and 
 profound speculations, which embraced the subject of theology, 
 for which he had a great fondness. 
 
 After so long and so useful a connection with this institu- 
 tion, his loss could not fail to be sensibly felt ; and the 
 trustees, by appropriate resolutions, acknowledged the debt of 
 gratitude which was due to his services, and their sorrow for 
 his loss. 
 
 Rev. Nathaniel Thayer, D. D., belonged to Lancaster, 
 and was chosen to succeed the Rev. Mr. Ward. 
 
 He was born at Hampton, N. H., in 1769, and was grad- 
 uated at Cambridge, in 1789. From 1792 to 1793, he was 
 a tutor in Harvard College. Upon the termination of his 
 connection with the college, he was employed to preach at 
 Lancaster, and in the same year was ordained over the church 
 and society in that tpwn. He retained this connection until 
 his death. 
 
 He is described, by those who knew him well, as possessing 
 highly respectable and well-disciplined intellectual powers. 
 
 “Clearness of thought gave clearness of expression. “His discourses 
 were calm, plain, practical, and solid : not the issues of a fertile imagination, 
 to which he laid no claim.” “A clear and distinct enunciation, with great 
 gravity and solemnity in the conduct of the service, gave power to the 
 devotional spirit, and additional weight and authority to the spoken word.” * 
 
 * Willard’s Lancaster Address. 
 
 8 
 
118 
 
 Among the ministers of the Unitarian denomination he was 
 held in high esteem, as a divine. And he was justly popular 
 with all, from his dignity of manner, courteous bearing, and 
 the kindly feelings which distinguish the gentleman, in his 
 intercourse with others. 
 
 He was often called upon for occasional discourses, more 
 than twenty of which were published. 
 
 He remained a member of the board, till 1826, when he 
 resigned the place, and was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Bardwell. 
 
 Dr. Thayer died very suddenly, on the 23d of June, 1841, 
 at Rochester, N. Y., where he had arrived a few hours 
 previous, on a journey, in apparently good health, at the age 
 of seventy-one years. 
 
 He was honored with the degree of Doctor of Divinity, in 
 the year 18 IT. 
 
 Rev. Micah Stone was born in Reading, in 1770 ; was 
 graduated at Cambridge, in 1790; and, for one year, was 
 tutor in that university. In 1801, he was settled over the 
 church and society in South Brookfield. 
 
 He was the son of a clergyman, and was obliged to struggle 
 with embarrassments in obtaining an education, from the 
 limited means of his father to aid him. But, in so doing, he 
 developed the strong and vigorous traits of character which 
 distinguished him, even in the somewhat circumscribed 
 sphere in which he moved. 
 
 His last sermon was delivered at the age of eighty, on the 
 fiftieth anniversary of his ordination, and gave pleasing but 
 unmistakable evidence that age had done little to impair an 
 intellect originally strong and well-balanced. 
 
 To borrow the language of another : 
 
 “ Few, indeed, after so long and responsible a life as his, will be able to 
 look back upon it with so little to regret; of duties unfulfilled, or with so 
 much satisfaction of having ever, even under the most trying circumstances, 
 endeavored to do bis duty.” 
 
119 
 
 He is represented, — and those who knew him will recognize 
 the description as true, — as having been uniform in the kindness 
 and warmth of his disposition, upright, honest, and open in 
 his dealings, an affectionate kinsman, neighbor, and friend. 
 
 He died without children, September 20th, 1853, aged 
 eighty-three. 
 
 He was elected a member of the board of trustees in 
 August, 1815, in place of Rev. Mr. Grosvenor, and proved to 
 be a faithful, efficient officer. In May, 1831, he succeeded 
 Gov. Lincoln, as vice-president of the board, and resigned the 
 trust, in 1836, when he was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Bardwell, 
 elected a second time to the board. 
 
 Dr. Austin Flint was of Leicester, and was elected to 
 fill the place of Thomas Newhall, Esq. 
 
 He was born in Shrewsbury, January 4th, 1760, and was 
 the son of Dr. Edward Flint, of that town. 
 
 Both father and son were not only surgeons and physicians, 
 but as eminent, as patriots, as they were in their professions. 
 Both, at times, were engaged in the revolutionary war, as 
 surgeons in the army ; and, among other periods of service, I 
 find the name of the son on the roll of Colonel Drury’s regi- 
 ment, at West Point, in 1781, at which time he was only 
 twenty-one years of age. 
 
 Soon after the close of the war, he settled in Leicester, and 
 married the daughter of Colonel William Henshaw, a distin- 
 guished officer in the revolution. 
 
 He was, for many years, the only physician in the town of 
 Leicester, and deservedly held a high rank in his profession. 
 
 He was a man of great energy of character, and, so long as 
 he continued in active life, exercised a commanding influence 
 in that community, who had learned to appreciate the accuracy 
 of his judgment, the soundness of his principles, and the hon- 
 esty of his purposes. 
 
 He carried, through life, in the opinions he entertained, 
 and the fearlessness with which he manifested them, the 
 results of that early training which he received during the agi- 
 
120 
 
 tations and trying scenes of the revolution, in which he so 
 early took a part. 
 
 He was an early and constant friend of the academy, and 
 his contributions to its funds have already been spoken of. 
 
 Being a resident in town, his services and advice were often 
 put in requisition. 
 
 One of his sons, Joseph H., who was educated here, was an 
 eminent physician, and died before the father. 
 
 Another, who was also fitted for college here, was, at one 
 time, preceptor of the English department, and subsequently 
 declined an election to the board of trustees ; while a third 
 succeeded the father in the business of his profession, upon his 
 retiring from the practice. 
 
 Dr. Flint often represented the town in the legislature, 
 and was, for many years, an active magistrate, performing its 
 duties with much ability and unquestionable integrity. 
 
 Few men had stronger claims upon the regards of his 
 friends and associates, than Dr. Flint. With a good knowl- 
 edge of men, a large fund of anecdote, and a cheerfulness and 
 good-humor ever ready and ever playful, he was a welcome 
 visitor at the bed-side of the sick, and at the firesides of his 
 friends. No child passed him without a kind word of recog- 
 nition, and no one of his townsmen, when in need of counsel 
 or advice, but sought it gladly of him. 
 
 If this were an occasion to indulge in the expression of a 
 grateful memory, I might venture to speak more in detail of 
 one who filled up a life of ninety-one years with duty and use- 
 fulnesss ; and had a right to indulge the consciousness that 
 the world was better for his having lived. 
 
 He died August 29th, 1850. He had resigned his place 
 as trustee, in 1831, and been succeeded by the Hon. William 
 B. Banister. 
 
 Bev. Edwards Whipple was successor to the Bev. Mr. 
 Pope, in 1816. 
 
 He was born in New Braintree, in 1778, and was gradua- 
 ted at Williams College, in 1801. He was settled over the 
 
121 
 
 Congregational church and society in Charlton, in 1804, and 
 was dismissed from that charge in 1821. On the 26th Sep- 
 tember, of the same year, he was installed over the church 
 and society in Shrewsbury, as a colleague with Dr. Sumner. 
 He died on the 22d September, in less than a single year from 
 his installation, at the age of only forty-four years, in the full 
 vigor of his intellect and his manhood. 
 
 Dr. Nelson preached an able and interesting sermon at his 
 funeral, which was published, and paid a just tribute to his 
 eminent qualities of mind and heart as a gentleman and a 
 Christian minister. 
 
 Mr. Whipple was a universal favorite, kind and bland in 
 his manners, cheerful in his intercourse with all, an interest- 
 ing preacher, and a devoted pastor. Nature and grace seemed 
 to have united to fit him for the sacred office in which he 
 ministered. 
 
 His person was finely proportioned ; his voice remarkably 
 sweet and musical ; and his whole bearing and intercourse 
 were such as to win the confidence and respect of all who 
 knew him. 
 
 He was a member of the board of trustees at his death, 
 and was succeeded by the Rev. Samuel Clark, then of Prince- 
 ton. 
 
 Hon. Daniel Waldo was chosen a trustee in August, 
 1817, in place of Judge Heywood. 
 
 For the brief notice of this liberal and excellent friend of 
 Leicester Academy, I am indebted to a note appended to a 
 just and appropriate discourse by the Rev. Dr. Sweetzer, 
 preached on the occasion of his death. 
 
 Mr. Waldo was born in Boston, January 20th, 1763. He 
 was the son of an eminent merchant, who removed from that 
 city, and came to Worcester in 1782. 
 
 He was educated as a merchant, and pursued that avoca- 
 tion for many years, with great intelligence and success. 
 
 Nor did he relax his diligent attention to his own affairs 
 after he had acquired an entire independence, although he 
 
had, for many years before his death, ceased to be engaged in 
 mercantile transactions. 
 
 He was a member of the Senate from the year 1816 to 
 1819. He was one of the founders of the Worcester County 
 Agricultural Society, and, for four years, was president of the 
 society. 
 
 He was a useful and excellent member of the board of 
 trustees of Leicester Academy, and evinced his continued 
 interest in its success by a liberal legacy bequeathed to the 
 institution in his last will, of six thousand dollars, which has 
 already been noticed. 
 
 This was but one of the many bequests, and some of them 
 princely ones, which Mr. Waldo made at his decease. 
 
 He was a man of great purity of life, systematic in all his 
 measures, benevolent in his feelings, energetic in accomplish- 
 ing whatever he undertook, and upright in all his ways. 
 
 He died July 9th, 1845, at the age of eighty-two, with his 
 faculties and powers unimpaired by age. He resigned his 
 place as a trustee in 1834, and was succeeded by Hon. James 
 Allen. 
 
 Hon. Bezaleel Taft, Jr., was the son of a distinguished 
 gentleman of Uxbridge, of the same name, who, for many 
 years, filled an important place in the affairs of the county, 
 having been successively a representative in the General 
 Court, Senator, and member of the Executive Council, besides 
 occupying other places of responsible trust. 
 
 The son was born in Uxbridge, and was graduated at Cam- 
 bridge in 1804. 
 
 He studied law, and settled in Uxbridge, where he resided 
 till death, in 1846, at the age of sixty-six. 
 
 Unfortunately for his eminence in the profession, he had 
 no particular taste for its pursuits, and he felt no necessity of 
 depending upon its emoluments for his support. 
 
 He was thus able to indulge a fondness for rural life, which 
 he enjoyed in the management of a beautiful farm on the 
 banks of the Blackstone. 
 
123 
 
 lie often represented his native town in the legislature, in 
 1825, was elected to the Senate, and was afterwards a mem- 
 ber of the Executive Council. 
 
 When the State Lunatic Hospital at Worcester was erected, 
 a commission was created by the Governor and Council to 
 plan and superintend its construction, of which Mr. Taft was 
 a member. 
 
 He became a trustee of the academy in 1818,* and resigned 
 it in 1829, being succeeded in the office by George Davis, 
 Esq. 
 
 For many years, the condition of Mr. Taft’s health com- 
 pelled him to withdraw from public life, though he continued 
 to take a lively interest in the passing events. 
 
 Though not a scholar, he was a man of good general intel- 
 ligence, of agreeable manners, and fine social qualities. 
 
 Agriculture was his favorite pursuit, and he took an early and 
 lasting interest in the success of the Worcester County Agri- 
 cultural Society, of which he was a prominent and active 
 member. 
 
 Iiis life was rather one of dignified quiet than stirring inci- 
 dent, and, in the enjoyment of personal independence upon 
 his own estate, it could furnish but few subjects for an 
 extended biographical notice. 
 
 Rev. Josiah Clark w r as born in Northampton, in 1785, 
 and was graduated at Williams College in 1809. The same 
 year, he was employed as English preceptor of the academy, 
 and succeeded Mr. Wilson as principal in March, 1812, when, 
 having in the mean time pursued the study of theology, he 
 was settled as minister over the Congregational church and 
 society in Rutland. He held this place till his death, in 1845, 
 at the age of sixty, on which occasion the trustees adopted 
 
 * Mr. Taft was elected in place of Mr. Stedman, or, rather, of Hon. Benjamin Adams, of 
 Uxbridge, who declined election. Mr Adams was a lawyer by profession. He was a grad- 
 uate of Brown University in 1788, and, from 1816 to 1821, was a member of Congress. He 
 was previously a member of the State Senate, a gentleman of great worth and integrity, and 
 much respected. He died March 28th, 1837, at the age of seventy-two years. 
 
124 
 
 resolutions expressive of their high sense of his services to 
 the academy, and his claims upon their grateful remembrance. 
 
 In 1819, he became successor to Dr. Sumner as a member 
 of the trustees of the academy, and remained a member 
 until his death. 
 
 Mr. Clark was a faithful and acceptable teacher and principal 
 of the academy. He was a respectable scholar, devoted to 
 the interests of the school, and his ready sympathies and 
 kindly feelings made him a favorite with the students. No 
 one who remembers him in that relation will hesitate to accord 
 to his memory this tribute of personal respect and attach- 
 ment. 
 
 The institution was prosperous under his management, and 
 the interest he then acquired in its success, he retained during 
 life. 
 
 As a pastor, Mr. Clark was equally faithful and devoted to 
 his trust. He was a good writer, a ready and fluent speaker, 
 and a popular preacher. He was a willing counsellor and a 
 faithful friend, in his parish, as well as a spiritual guide. 
 
 He could not, in his nature, have an enemy, and though he 
 may not have held a rank among the great men of the land, he 
 had the more enviable character of a good one, and few have 
 gone down to the grave with better assurance of having ful- 
 filled his mission, than the subject of this notice. 
 
 If, in this brief sketch, the language may seem to be bor- 
 rowed from sentiments of personal regard, it is simply because 
 the relation of a friend furnished the best opportunity for 
 knowing his characteristic qualities, as a Christian and a man. 
 
 His son was, at a subsequent period, successively preceptor 
 of the English and Latin departments of the school, and sus- 
 tained the reputation of the father, as a teacher. 
 
 Hon. William Bostwick Banister, elected a trustee in 
 place of Dr. Austin Flint, in November, 1831, was a native 
 of Brookfield, and was born November 8th, 1773. He was 
 graduated at Dartmouth College, in 1797. 
 
He studied law, and pursued his profession in Newbury - 
 port, where he spent the greater .part of his life. 
 
 lie removed to Brookfield about the time of his election to 
 the board of trustees of the academy, and remained there a 
 few years, after which he returned to Newburyport, where he 
 died July 1st, 1853, at the age of seventy-nine. 
 
 Among his public duties, he represented Newburyport in 
 the legislature, and was, for some time, a member of the Sen- 
 ate from Essex county. 
 
 Though not a brilliant man, he was a man of a good deal 
 of influence in his county, and took a leading part in the 
 religious and benevolent movements of the day. Among 
 other trusts of this kind, he was one of the trustees, and 
 afterwards of the visitors of the theological seminary at Ando- 
 ver, a trustee of Amherst College, and a trustee of the Put- 
 nam Free School in Newburyport. 
 
 His connection with Leicester Academy was too brief to 
 have produced any marked influence upon its success. He 
 resigned his place at the board in May, 1833, and was suc- 
 ceeded by lion. A. D. Foster. 
 
 For many years, the enjoyment of wealth relieved him from 
 the necessity of laboring in his profession. But his powers 
 were not suffered to lie dormant, and his interest in the cause 
 of education and morals gave employment to time and ener- 
 gies. 
 
 In this way, though retired from the active scenes of life, 
 he was able to make his influence felt, and his death was a 
 public loss. 
 
 Hon. Alfred Dwight Foster was the son of Hon. Dwight 
 Foster, already mentioned as one of the distinguished mem- 
 bers of this board of trustees. 
 
 He was born at Brookfield, July 26th, 1800. He was, in 
 part, fitted for college at this academy, and, at the age of 
 fifteen, entered Harvard College, and was graduated, with a 
 good reputation for scholarship, in 1819. 
 
 He studied law with Mr. Burnside, who, it has already been 
 
126 
 
 mentioned, had married his sister, and was admitted to the 
 bar in 1822. 
 
 After the death of his father, in 1823, Mr. Foster removed 
 to Worcester, where he spent the remainder of his days. 
 
 He was engaged in the practice of his profession for about 
 two years after his removal, but from that time he withdrew 
 from all connection with the bar, and devoted his life to liter- 
 ary pursuits, and the calls of public duty and private benevo- 
 lence. He filled in succession many of the municipal offices 
 of the town, was a representative in the General Court, a 
 member of the Executive Council for three years, and a 
 member of the Senate in 1848. 
 
 Yet, though so often called into public life, it was without 
 any inclination or desire for office. In accepting this, he 
 yielded only to the urgent wishes of his fellow-citizens, and 
 a sense of duty he felt to devote his powers to the good of 
 his fellow-men. 
 
 He was a member of the original board of trustees of the 
 State Lunatic Hospital, and, for fourteen years, its treasurer. 
 He was early engaged in the enterprise of founding the School 
 of Reform of the young at Westboro’, and was the confiden- 
 tial medium through whom Gen. Lyman communicated his 
 munificent proposals to the legislature, which resulted in the 
 establishment of that noble charity. 
 
 Mr. Foster was placed at the head of a commission to fix a 
 locality for the school, and afterwards at the head of another 
 commission, superintending the plan and erection of its build- 
 ings. 
 
 He was, for fourteen years, a trustee of Amherst College, 
 and for many years an active member of the American Board 
 of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. 
 
 To all places of trust and responsibility which he was called 
 to fill, Mr. Foster brought untiring industry and fidelity, as 
 well as great sagacity and good sense. Modest and self-dis- 
 trustful to a fault, he unconsciously commanded the confidence 
 
and respect of all, and exerted an influence which is awarded 
 to merit alone. 
 
 Yet there was nothing of timidity or misgiving when duty 
 called upon him for action. At such times, the world’s favor 
 and the world’s frown were alike disregarded. And he shrunk 
 not from exposing, and often in terms of indignant eloquence, 
 vice, sophistry, or falsehood, in whatever quarter they were 
 detected. 
 
 In private and domestic life, few had less faults. He was 
 faithful and sincere as a friend, upright and honorable in all 
 his transactions, and unwavering in his integrity in all things. 
 
 He left but few public writings, but he was neat, strong 
 and clear in his style, and, in whatever he wrote or uttered, 
 he was earnest, truthful and sincere. 
 
 He passed through life without doing justice to his own 
 unconscious powers, but acted up, in all things, to the highest 
 claim of conscience and duty upon his judgment and under- 
 standing. 
 
 He was chosen to succeed Mr. Banister as trustee of the 
 academy in 1833, and resigned the place in 1849, and was 
 succeeded by the Hon. Judge Kinnicutt. 
 
 Mr. Foster died August 15th, 1852. 
 
 Rev. Amos Bullard was chosen a trustee in place of the 
 Rev. Mr. Clark, in May, 1846. He was born in Medway, 
 was graduated at Amherst College, in 1833, and studied 
 theology at Andover. 
 
 In November, 1839, he was elected assistant preceptor, on 
 the Waters Fund, and held the place till 1841. 
 
 He was ordained over one of the Congregational societies 
 in Barre, October 26, 1843, and died August 21st, 1850, 
 aged forty-three. 
 
 He was succeeded, as trustee, by Rev. Andrew C. Dennison, 
 of Leicester. 
 
 Mr. Bullard was a fine classical scholar, and a writer of 
 great beauty, and greatly excelled in metaphysics. 
 
 His early death was deeply felt by his people, and mourned 
 
128 
 
 as a loss by the institution. Having been an instructor, he 
 knew its wants, and felt interested in its success. His widow, 
 after his death, became, and still is, the female assistant 
 teacher in the academy. 
 
 John Sargent, Esq., was born, and lived, most of his 
 life, in Leicester. 
 
 For several years before his death, he was engaged in 
 mercantile business, and was postmaster of Leicester. He 
 held the office of town clerk, and other places of trust, in the 
 town. 
 
 He succeeded the Hon. N. P. Denny, as trustee, August 
 10th, 1846, and proved to be a faithful and useful member of 
 the board. 
 
 Mr. Sargent died February 13th, 1850, at the age of fifty- 
 three, in the midst of a life of usefulness, leaving the character 
 of an excellent citizen and good man, if it had not been his 
 mission to achieve a name beyond the circle in which he was 
 personally known and respected. 
 
 He was succeeded by H. A. Denny, Esq., in the board of 
 trustees. He had been a pupil at the academy, in his earlier 
 days, and, in 1821, was employed, for a while, as an assistant 
 teacher in the English department. 
 
 This completes our brief notices of the men, to whom, in 
 part, the interests of this institution have been committed. 
 
 It would have given the writer of this, unfeigned pleasure 
 to have spoken, as he wished, of others whose names are 
 borne upon the lists of its trustees. But delicacy to the 
 living hardly admits of this being done. And he leaves to 
 others to do justice to these names when they shall be added 
 to that honorable and honored roll, whose influence still lives, 
 and whose memory ought to be dear to every friend of 
 literature, religion, and humanity, in the Commonwealth. 
 
 Long may it be before another shall be called upon to 
 complete a work which has been thus imperfectly begun. 
 
 And yet it cannot be concealed that, to several of these, has 
 
129 
 
 already been accorded a length of years, and a generous share 
 of life’s duties, and the world’s honors. 
 
 For the term of forty-three years, has the venerable presi- 
 dent devoted his best energies to the success of the institution, 
 and others yet remain, whose official connection with the 
 institution began nearly as early as his. Surely may it be 
 said, if the academy has not been all that was desired, it has 
 not been from any want of interest, zeal, or effort, on the part 
 of its trustees. 
 
130 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 
 PERSONAL NOTICES OF THE PRECEPTORS AND TEACHERS OF 
 THE ACADEMY. 
 
 The following is believed to be a correct list of those, in 
 the order in which they were employed : 
 
 PRINCIPAL PRECEPTORS. 
 
 Benjamin Stone, 
 
 
 
 from June, 1784, 
 
 to Oct. 
 
 1787 
 
 Amos Crosby, . 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 Oct. 1787, 
 
 “ July, 
 
 1788 
 
 Samuel Sumner, 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 Oct. 1788, 
 
 “ July, 
 
 1790 
 
 David Smith, . 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 July, 1700, 
 
 “ May, 
 
 1792 
 
 Ebenezer Adams, 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 May, 1792, 
 
 “ July, 
 
 1806 
 
 Zephaniah S. Moore, 
 
 
 
 a 
 
 July, 1806, 
 
 “ Oct. 
 
 1807 
 
 Simeon Colton, 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 Oct. 1807, 
 
 “ Feb. 
 
 1809 
 
 Luther Wilson, 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 Feb. 1809, 
 
 “ Aug. 
 
 1812 
 
 Josiah Clark, 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 March, 1812, 
 
 “ Aug. 
 
 1818 
 
 Bradford Sumner, 
 
 
 
 
 1 term, 1818, 
 
 u 
 
 1819 
 
 John Richardson, 
 
 
 
 « 
 
 Feb. 1819, 
 
 “ Aug. 
 
 1833 
 
 Luther Wright, 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 Aug. 1833, 
 
 “ Aug. 
 
 1839 
 
 Joseph L. Partridge, . 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 Aug. 1839, 
 
 “ Nov. 
 
 1845 
 
 Josiah Clark, Jr., 
 
 
 
 u 
 
 Jan. 1846, 
 
 “ Jan. 
 
 1849 
 
 Burritt A. Smith, 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 July, 1849, 
 
 “ Aug. 
 
 1852 
 
 Alvan Hyde Washburn, 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 Aug, 1852. 
 
 
 
 ASSOCIATE 
 
 OR 
 
 ENGLISH 
 
 PRECEPTORS. 
 
 
 Thomas Payson, 
 
 
 
 
 from 
 
 1784 to 
 
 1786 
 
 Amos Crosby, 
 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 1786 “ 
 
 1787 
 
 Samuel Sumner, . 
 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 1788 « 
 
 1788 
 
 Ebenezer Adams, 
 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 1791 « 
 
 1792 
 
 Thomas S. Sparhawk, . 
 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 1792 “ 
 
 1793 
 
 Samuel Crossett, 
 
 
 
 
 1 quarter, 
 
 
 1793 
 
 John Pierce, 
 
 
 
 
 . from 
 
 1793 « 
 
 1795 
 
 Theodore Dehon, 
 
 
 
 
 66 
 
 1795 “ 
 
 1796 
 
 James Jackson, . 
 
 
 
 
 2 quarters 
 
 1796 « 
 
 1797 
 
 Samuel Hunt, Jr., ? 
 John Dixwell, > 
 
 * 
 
 
 
 2 quarters, 
 
 
 1797 
 
131 
 
 "William M. Richardson, 
 Thaddeus Fairbanks 
 Timothy Boutelle, 
 Timothy Fuller, 
 
 Eleazer Foster, 
 
 George C. Shuttuck, 
 
 Otis Hutchins, 
 
 William J. Whipple, . 
 Luther Wilson, 
 
 John Field, 
 
 John Nelson, 
 
 Josiah Clark, 
 
 Amos Nurse, 
 
 Waldo Flint, 
 
 Ezra Hunt, 
 
 John F. Adams, . 
 Emory Washburn, 
 David Brigham, . 
 Bradford Russell, 
 Thomas Fiske, 
 
 Increase S. Smith, 
 Alonzo Hill, 
 
 Thomas Denny, 
 
 Increase S. Smith, 
 Henry D. Ward, 
 Charles Sprague Henry, 
 Albert Spooner, 
 
 Joseph L. Partridge, . 
 Amos Bullard, 
 
 Josiah Clark, Jr., 
 
 John N. Putnam, 
 Burritt A. Smith, — . 
 William W. Rice, 
 Hanson L. Reed, 
 
 from 
 
 1797 to 
 
 1798 
 
 ii 
 
 1798 
 
 a 
 
 1800 
 
 it 
 
 1800 
 
 u 
 
 1801 
 
 U 
 
 1801 
 
 tt 
 
 1802 
 
 ii 
 
 1802 
 
 tt 
 
 1803 
 
 ii 
 
 1803 
 
 it 
 
 1804 
 
 a 
 
 1804 
 
 tt 
 
 1805 
 
 if 
 
 1805 
 
 tt 
 
 1806 
 
 it 
 
 1806 
 
 tt 
 
 1807 
 
 u. 
 
 1807 
 
 u 
 
 1808 
 
 1 quarter, 
 
 
 
 1808 
 
 . from 
 
 1808 
 
 u 
 
 1812 
 
 « 
 
 1812 
 
 tt 
 
 1814 
 
 a 
 
 1814 
 
 a 
 
 1815 
 
 u. 
 
 1815 
 
 tt 
 
 1817 
 
 3 quarters, 
 
 1817 
 
 it 
 
 1818 
 
 1 quarter, 
 
 
 
 1818 
 
 1 quarter, 
 
 
 
 1819 
 
 . from 
 
 1819 
 
 tt 
 
 1820 
 
 from 1820 to June, 
 
 1821 
 
 . from 
 
 1821 to 
 
 1822 
 
 from 1822 to April, 1824 
 
 1 quarter, 
 
 
 
 1824 
 
 . from 
 
 1824 
 
 to 
 
 1826 
 
 from May, 
 
 1826 
 
 n 
 
 1828 
 
 from 
 
 1828 
 
 u 
 
 1829 
 
 u. 
 
 1829 
 
 a 
 
 1833 
 
 u 
 
 1833 
 
 tt 
 
 1830 
 
 a 
 
 1839 
 
 tt 
 
 1841 
 
 from 1841 to Nov. 
 
 , 1845 
 
 . from 
 
 1846 to 
 
 184T 
 
 from 1847 to July, 
 
 1849 
 
 . from 
 
 1849 
 
 to 
 
 1851 
 
 a 
 
 1851. 
 
 
 
 Besides the above, the following gentlemen have been em- 
 ployed as temporary assistants, or, under the present arrange- 
 ment of the schools, as permanent assistants in the instruction 
 of the academy : 
 
 1785, . 
 1791, . 
 1799, . 
 1802, . 
 
 Phinehas Bruce. 
 Stephen Ball. 
 Alpheus Stone. 
 Charles Bulfinch. 
 
1802, . 
 
 . 
 
 . 
 
 
 James Ray. 
 
 1802, . 
 
 
 . 
 
 
 Joel Davis. 
 
 1803, . 
 
 
 
 
 Edward A. Selfredge. 
 
 1808, . 
 
 
 
 
 Joseph Sprague. 
 
 1812, . 
 
 
 
 
 Penuel Corbet. 
 
 1814, . 
 
 
 
 
 John W. Hubbard. 
 
 1815, . 
 
 
 
 
 Amos Hunting. 
 
 1816-17, . 
 
 
 
 
 Seth "Washburn. 
 
 1817, . 
 
 
 
 
 Amon,’ Hunting. 
 
 1818, . 
 
 
 
 
 John Goulding. 
 
 1819, . 
 
 
 
 
 George W. Livermore. 
 
 1821, . 
 
 
 
 
 John Sargent. 
 
 1822, . 
 
 
 
 
 John Jennison. 
 
 1823, . 
 
 
 
 
 Amos D. Wheeler. 
 
 1828, . 
 
 
 
 
 Dexter S. King. 
 
 1834 to 1845, 
 
 
 
 
 Luther Haven. 
 
 1834, . 
 
 
 
 
 Charles C. Jewett. 
 
 1846 to 1848, 
 
 
 
 
 Francis A. March. 
 
 1848 to 1849, 
 
 
 
 
 William W. Rice. 
 
 1849 to 1851, 
 
 
 
 
 Hanson L. Reed. 
 
 1851 to 1852, 
 
 
 
 
 Jonathan L. Jenkins. 
 
 1852 to 1854, 
 
 
 
 
 Jacob Ide. 
 
 1854, . 
 
 FEMALE 
 
 . Charles R. Bliss. 
 
 TEACHERS. 
 
 1835 to 1848, 
 
 
 
 
 Miss Elizabeth Holmes. 
 
 1849, . 
 
 
 
 
 Mrs. Mary G. Smith. 
 
 1850, . 
 
 
 
 
 Miss Elizabeth F. Bardv 
 
 1850, . 
 
 
 
 
 Miss Margaret B. Smith. 
 
 1851, . 
 
 
 
 
 Mrs. Marianne Bullard. 
 
 Benjamin Stone, Esq., was the first teacher and preceptor 
 employed in Leicester Academy. He was a native of Shrews- 
 bury, and was graduated at Harvard, in 1776. He entered 
 upon his duties, in this academy, June 7th, 1784. His 
 salary, at first, was £60 a year, which "was increased, the 
 following year, to £85. Even this, how T ever, was in arrear, 
 at times, in consequence of the embarrassed state of the 
 finances of the academy. And, in 1787, in consequence of 
 the reduced number of students in the academy, it was 
 concluded to employ but a single teacher. Mr. Stone was 
 voted a leave of absence, to return when the number of 
 students should require his services. 
 
133 
 
 His engagements, elsewhere, probably prevented bis resum- 
 ing bis engagement, for he docs not appear to have acted as 
 preceptor after this time. 
 
 After leaving Leicester, be was preceptor of AVestford 
 Academy, for some time. But, for many years before his 
 death, lie resided in Shrewsbury, in great retirement, upon a 
 farm, in feeble health and impaired spirits. 
 
 lie, however, retained, to the last, a lively interest in this 
 academy, and often spoke, with great pleasure, of the period 
 when he was at its head. 
 
 There can be, of course, but little in the life of such a man 
 to record. Those who remembered him, and there were 
 many, till a few years since, in his capacity of teacher, spoke 
 of him as faithful, and devoted to his office, and well qualified 
 for its duties. 
 
 He lived to see the first boy who entered his school, the 
 Governor of a neighboring State, and the sons of Leicester 
 Academy scattered, and making their influence felt, in almost, 
 if not every, State in the Union. Such has been the harvest 
 of that seed, that was sown in weakness, within the memory 
 of a few still living witnesses. Mr. Stone died in 1832, at 
 the age of seventy-six. 
 
 Amos Crosby, Esq., succeeded Mr. Stone. He w r as 
 assistant preceptor, in 1786, and, in October, 1787, was 
 elected principal preceptor of the academy. This office he 
 held till July of the' following year. 
 
 Mr. Crosby was a native of Brookfield, and was graduated 
 at Cambridge, in 1786. 
 
 After leaving Leicester, he was a tutor in Harvard College, 
 for four years ; after which, he was employed, awhile, as 
 principal preceptor of Westford Academy, succeeding Mr. 
 Stone there, as he had done at Leicester. 
 
 Upon giving up teaching, he studied law, and settled in 
 Brookfield, where he remained till his death. 
 
 He was a man of great quickness, and ready wit, with 
 convivial tastes and habits. 
 
 9 
 
As a scholar, lie held a creditable rank, and his early 
 success in life gave an earnest of an honorable and distin- 
 guished career. 
 
 But the tastes and habits which rendered his society 
 attractive, in early and middle life, obtained a mastery over 
 him, in more mature years. And, though his life was 
 protracted, it added nothing to the reputation and rank he 
 held, upon entering the profession he had chosen. 
 
 He died June, 1836, at the age of seventy-five. 
 
 Rev. Samuel Sumner followed Mr. Crosby, in the office 
 of preceptor. 
 
 He was first appointed English preceptor, in July, 1788 ; 
 and, in October of that year, on account of the straitened 
 circumstances of the academy, he was put in charge of both 
 schools, and continued to conduct them as long as he 
 remained connected with the academy. In July, 1790, lie 
 was succeeded by David Smith. 
 
 Mr. Sumner was the son of the Rev. Dr. Sumner, of 
 Shrewsbury, and was born September 24th, 1765. 
 
 He was graduated at Dartmouth, in 1786. After leaving 
 Leicester, he studied theology with his father, and was or- 
 dained over the church and society in Southboro’, in June, 
 1791. In 1797, he was dismissed, and removed to St. Albans, 
 Vt., where he continued to preach, although not settled over 
 any society. 
 
 From St. Albans he removed to Bakersfield, Vt., about the 
 year 1803, and preached there for a while. After that, he 
 removed to Troy, Vt., where he died, at the residence of his 
 son, in the year 1837, at the age of seventy-two. 
 
 It is said that he often expressed the belief that he had 
 mistaken his mission in selecting the pulpit for his sphere of 
 duty, and no particular success seems to have distinguished 
 his career after leaving the academy, where he had proved 
 himself an acceptable teacher, though his temperament disin- 
 clined him to active effort in any calling. 
 
 Rev. David Smith. Of this gentleman, who succeeded 
 
Mr. Sumner in July, 1790, and held the place of preceptor 
 till May, 1792, 1 am in possession of fewer facts tlian I could 
 have wished. From the kindness, however, of friends,* I am 
 enabled to give the following : 
 
 lie was the son of Gol. Isaac Smith, of Ipswich, Mass., born 
 July 23d, 1761, and w r as graduated at Harvard in 1790. He 
 immediately afterwards engaged in teaching at Leicester Acad- 
 emy, as has been mentioned. While thus* employed, he was 
 engaged in studying theology, and, upon leaving Leicester, 
 pursued the study w ith the Rev. Dr. Joseph Dana, and in 
 January, 1795, was settled in the ministry at Amesbury, Mass. 
 In 1802 or 3, having dissolved his connection with his people, 
 in May, 1800, he was employed as a missionary in the western 
 part of New York, whose settlements w r cre then new and 
 sparse. Here he lost the use of his voice to such a degree 
 as to incapacitate him from preaching, and to compel him to 
 abandon the ministry. Before engaging as a missionary, he 
 had been employed in teaching school in Salem. 
 
 In 1807, he removed to Bath, N. II., where, and in Fran- 
 conia, he resided nineteen years, having, during that time, 
 charge of the iron w orks at Franconia in that State. 
 
 In 1826, he removed to Portland, Me., where he died. May 
 19th, 1837, at the age of seventy-six, leaving a family of sons 
 and daughters. In person, he was tall, slender, and well 
 formed, his countenance handsome and intelligent, his voice 
 pleasant, and his deportment and manners bland and dignified. 
 
 Ebenezer Adams, Esq., became the English preceptor in 
 May, 1791, upon the revival of the school, and the employ- 
 ment again of separate teachers in the respective departments. 
 He taught in this department till May, 1792, w r hen he suc- 
 ceeded Mr. Smith as principal. 
 
 This place he held till July, 1806, wdien he resigned it, and 
 removed to Portland, Maine, to take charge of an academy 
 there. He remained there, I believe, but a single year, when 
 
 * 0. Carlton. Esq., of Salem, and I. Goodall, Esq., of Bath, and Dr. J. A. Palmer. Boston. 
 
lie was appointed to the head of the mathematical department 
 of Exeter Academy, and held that place two years. 
 
 In 1809, he was appointed professor of the languages in 
 Dartmouth College, of which college he was an alumnus, and, 
 in 1811, was transferred to the professorship of mathematics 
 and natural philosophy, for which he was admirably fitted by 
 taste as well as culture. His professorship he retained till 
 1833, when he resigned it, and lived in retirement till his 
 death, in 184S, at the age of seventy-seven. 
 
 The connection of Prof. Adams with this academy deserves 
 something more than a passing notice. It was to his exertions 
 and his skill and learning as a teacher, more than anything 
 else, that the institution acquired the high reputation which it 
 held under his administration, and may be said to have held, 
 with perhaps unequal prominence at times, ever since. 
 
 He was a native of New Ipswich, N. II., and was born in 
 1765. He was graduated at Dartmouth College, in 1791, so 
 that he entered upon his duties, as a teacher, before he had 
 received his diploma as a graduate from college. 
 
 He was, at that time, of the mature age of twenty-six 
 years ; and he entered upon the duties of the place, as a 
 profession which he was to pursue for life, and he brought 
 to it strong powers and a willing spirit. 
 
 While at Leicester, he was appointed a Justice of the 
 Peace, and was, I believe, the first postmaster of the town. 
 This was in 1805. 
 
 Mr. Adams was fortunate, also, in those who were asso- 
 ciated with him, as the preceptors in the English department. 
 And I have only to mention Dr. Pierce, Bishop Dehon, Dr. 
 Jackson, Chief Justice Richardson, and Hon. Timothy Bou- 
 telle, as among the number, to be justified in the remark. 
 
 When, in 1798, Dr. Moore became the minister of the 
 parish, he found him, at once, a congenial spirit ; and an 
 acquaintance which had begun in college, ripened into an 
 intimate friendship, which ceased only with their lives. 
 
 Under these circumstances, it was fortunate for Professor 
 
Adams, as well as the academy, that he was employed to 
 developc and direct its early character. 
 
 i 1 is mind was remarkably clear, his knowledge accurate, 
 and his skill and judgment in the management and discipline 
 of a school, rarely surpassed. 
 
 This justly gave him a strong hold upon the respect of his 
 pupils ; and the urbanity of his manners, united to the fear- 
 lessness with which he maintained his opinions, won their 
 confidence and esteem. 
 
 Many of the early pupils of the academy remember Mr. 
 Adams ; and, as an evidence that I do not speak from 
 impressions derived from an intimate knowledge of him in 
 after years, I quote, w r ith pleasure, from one of the many 
 letters I have received, in which expressions of a kindly 
 remembrance are indulged, the following, from one of his 
 former pupils : 
 
 “ Do you remember that highly-respected, strong man, Ebenezer Adams ? 
 lie was a man of great intellectual powers, although there was no manifes- 
 tation of it in his deportment. He exerted a good and powerful influence 
 over those under his charge. I remember him with feelings of gratitude 
 and profound respect.” 
 
 The sentiments of the trustees, in respect to his character 
 and qualifications, for the place he had held, are preserved in 
 the letter upon their records, addressed to him, in reply to 
 one tendering his resignation : 
 
 “ Permit us, sir, to express our unreserved approbation of your conduct 
 in the government and instruction of the academy, and to tender you our 
 sincere thanks for your long, vigilant, and faithful services in those trusts.” 
 
 I add to this testimonial, an extract, from the address of 
 Dr. Pierce, to which I have so often referred : 
 
 “ Here I became intimately associated, in the instruction and government 
 of this institution, with Ebenezer Adams, the principal, whose name I cannot 
 recall without deep emotions of respect and affection ; with whom I was in 
 habits of increasing intimacy, so long as he was spared to the world.” 
 
Mr. Adams married Alice, daughter of Doctor Russel, 
 who died at the age of thirty-seven, in 1800, leaving five 
 children, all but one of whom fell victims to that insidious 
 disease, consumption, that seems to mark the fairest and 
 brightest of our race for an early grave. His son, once a 
 preceptor of the English department, alone survives. But 
 two children, by a second marriage, are living ; one of them, 
 the wife of Professor Young, his successor, as a professor, in 
 Dartmouth College. 
 
 Professor Adams retained, through life, an undiminished 
 attachment to the place and people with whom he was so 
 long associated. And, whenever he re-visited them, as he 
 sometimes did, he found these feelings cordially reciprocated 
 by all who had known him there. 
 
 He was succeeded, as preceptor, by one, who, perhaps, 
 better than any other, could carry out that system of discipline 
 and instruction which, under Mr. Adams, had raised the 
 reputation of the academy so high — the Rev. Dr. Moore — 
 of whom I have already spoken, in my notices of the trustees 
 of the academy. 
 
 Of Mr. Colton, and Mr. Wilson, happily I am spared the 
 occasion to associate their names with any but the living 
 memorials of the school they once taught. And of Mr. 
 Clark I have already spoken, in his character as trustee. 
 
 Mr. Sumner, too, is still among us. 
 
 John Richardson became preceptor, in August, 1819, 
 and held the place four years. He was a native of Woburn, 
 and was graduated at Cambridge, in 1813. He was an 
 accurate scholar and a good instructor. After resigning his 
 place, at Leicester, he removed to Andover, and died in 1841. 
 
 There is less occasion to dwell upon the connection of Mr. 
 Richardson, with the academy, from the extent to which I 
 have already had occasion to notice the important changes 
 that took place, under his administration, about the time of 
 the accession to the funds of the academy, by the legacy of 
 Capt. Waters. 
 
As all the remaining preceptors of the academy are still 
 living, I recur to those, who, on their part, have aided in 
 sustaining the English department of the school. 
 
 Thomas Payson, Esq., was the first of these, having 
 entered upon the duties of his office, in August, 1784. If a 
 man were willing to labor for worldly renown alone, the life 
 of a teacher would be one of the last in which he would 
 engage, lie sows seed which but begins to germinate in his 
 own day ; and the generation that comes after him only 
 knows the true fruits of his toils. And yet it is not the meed 
 of popular applause that he then wins, and he must be 
 content with the consciousness of a noble duty, well done, 
 and the assurance that his memory will be gratefully cherished 
 by a few, while, to most of the world, the fact of his having 
 lived will have hided aw'ay. 
 
 Mr. Payson is not a rare illustration of what I have found 
 true, in my investigations for the materials of this report. 
 Not a few were still living, who had been his pupils at 
 Leicester Academy, and who, one and all, spoke in terms of 
 affection and respect of their early teacher ; but, of his fate 
 and his fortune, after that period, they could not inform me. 
 
 Fortunately, I applied to Dr. Joseph Palmer, whose dili- 
 gence in storing facts, especially in the “ necrology ” of the 
 graduates of Harvard, is only surpassed by the kindness and 
 liberality with which he contributes of the results of his 
 labors to others ; and, through him, and a note of great 
 delicacy and propriety, which he procured from a daughter 
 of Mr. Payson, I am able to give a brief outline of his life. 
 
 He was born in Boston, on the 28th of October, 1764. 
 He was fitted for college at Andover, and was graduated at 
 Cambridge, in 1784, and immediately afterwards entered 
 upon liis engagement at Leicester. Here he remained two 
 years, and, during that time, was engaged in the study of 
 theology, and he subsequently preached occasionally, but was 
 never settled. 
 
 After leaving Leicester, he removed to Worcester, where 
 
140 
 
 he was employed in teaching, for two or more years ; and, 
 afterwards, for several years, was engaged in trade, in that 
 town. From Worcester he removed to Charlestown, where, 
 in 1797, he again resumed the business of teaching, as pre- 
 ceptor of the Russel Academy. Here he remained four years, 
 and then removed to Boston, where he again engaged in 
 mercantile business. He relinquished this business, however, 
 after a few years, and, in 1809, was made master of the 
 Franklin Grammar School, as it was afterwards called, which 
 place he held for fourteen years. In 1826, he removed to 
 Peterboro’, N. H., where he resided till his death, April 20, 
 1844. 
 
 He was a man of liberal sentiments, kindly feelings, and 
 ready sympathies. Being a good scholar, with a taste and 
 tact for instruction, he could hardly fail to be a successful and 
 acceptable instructor. He had, too, a frown, and a manner, 
 that awed the disorderly or disobedient, as well as the cheerful 
 look of encouragement, and sunny smile, that won the favor 
 and affections of the young, and qualified him for what he so 
 long was — a teacher. 
 
 Thomas S. Sparhawk, Esq., became English preceptor, 
 in May, 1792, and held the office a little more than a year. 
 
 He was the son of Rev. Ebenezer Sparhawk, of Templeton, 
 and was graduated at Dartmouth College, in 1791, a class- 
 mate of Mr. Adams, whom he succeeded as preceptor of the 
 English school. 
 
 He afterwards studied law with Silas Lee, Esq., in Wis- 
 casset, Me., and established himself in his profession, at 
 Bucksport, in that State. 
 
 He occasionally represented that town in the legislature, 
 and was gaining a good business and reputation, as a lawyer, 
 when he was cut off, at the age of thirty-seven, in the year 
 1807, leaving a family of children, a portion of whom still 
 survive. 
 
 Of Samuel Crossett, who held the place of English pre- 
 ceptor, for a single term, in 1793, I have only been able to 
 
141 
 
 ascertain that he was graduated at Dartmouth, in 1792. Of 
 his subsequent history, I have no knowledge. 
 
 Rev. John Pierce, D. D. The memory of this excellent 
 man and accomplished teacher, is still so fresh in the minds 
 of the people of Massachusetts, that it seems almost a work of 
 supererogation, to attempt to write his history. 
 
 He was preceptor of the English department, for two years 
 from July, 1798. After a period of more than fifty years, 
 when that hair, of which he spoke, had become whitened with 
 age, he was invited to come and make the annual address at 
 the public exhibition. This address was listened to, with 
 great delight, by a large audience. It is now before me, and 
 I have already borrowed freely from the facts it embodies. 
 Nor can I better present the well-stored memory, the genial 
 and kindly feelings, the freshness, sincerity, and singleness of 
 heart, which made Dr. Pierce so universally beloved, in a 
 better form, than to copy, from this address, his account of 
 the condition of the academy when he taught there, and the 
 part he took in the management and instruction of the school : 
 
 “ From the circumstance that I am in the very front rank of living 
 instructors in this academy, it seems peculiarly appropriate, to ‘ narrative 
 old age/ to recount a few of the multifarious reminiscences, which rush into 
 my mind whenever I ascend ‘ Leicester Hill.’ For here, on leaving Harvard 
 University, on the very week which completed my twentieth year, I began 
 to breathe the air of freedom. I was left to be my own director, and, what 
 was more arduous still, I had the instruction of pupils, both male and female, 
 for two successive years, committed to my care, a considerable portion of 
 whom were my seniors. One had himself been an instructor before my 
 remembrance, and, while under my tuition here, received from the Governor 
 and Council, a Justice’s commission ; so that I had the pleasure, the day he 
 left us, of addressing him, in the presence of my pupils, as ‘ Esquire Fay.’ * 
 
 “ Here, the purpose entertained from early youth, was confirmed, of 
 becoming a preacher of the Gospel of Peace, of truth, and of love ; and a 
 precious opportmiity was afforded, by the small, yet well-selected library, 
 which a generous individual had presented to this academy, t 
 
 * The gentleman referred to by Dr. 1’. was Nahum Fay, Esq., of Northboro’. He was 
 married in 1779 ; had been many years employed as a school teacher, and, wishing to acquire 
 a more accurate knowledge in some departments, he came to the academy, in his own 
 carriage, driven by a son thirteen years old. He lived to be eighty-four years of age, and died 
 in 1841 
 
 t Gov. Gill. 
 
142 
 
 “ For the first year of my instruction here, my salary was £60, or $200. 
 
 “ At first thought, tills seems a scanty pittance, but its comparative value 
 will be more justly estimated, when it is stated that the board in ‘ commons ’ 
 was then but os. 6d. per week. 
 
 “ The second year, my salary was £7 5, or $250. 
 
 “ During that period, the compensation to school teachers, from the under- 
 graduates of Harvard University, ranged from eight to ten dollars per month, 
 exclusive of board. 
 
 “ On first coming here, it seemed, to my youthful imagination, a long 
 journey.* I had never been so far from home by several miles. According 
 to the costume of the times, I then wore a cocked, or three-cornered hat. 
 My hair was queued with a ribbon, halfway down my back. I had silver 
 knee-buckles at my knees ; my plated shoe-buckles covered more than half 
 of my insteps. 
 
 “ Over the Latin school, was a chamber, in which the principal and myself 
 occupied the same bed, for the two years we were together. Not only so, 
 when a college friend was to pass the night with us, we all three slept 
 together.” f 
 
 I should gladly borrow other extracts, if I did not fear, 
 by so doing, that I should extend this report beyond the plan 
 as originally entertained in preparing it. I have given enough 
 to show, that age never chilled, nor length of time dampened, 
 the warm heart and lively sensibilities with which he had first 
 gone out into the world. 
 
 He retained an interest in the academy as long as he lived. 
 
 After leaving Leicester, he became a tutor in Harvard Col- 
 lege, and was ordained over the church and society in Brook- 
 line, in 1797, in which he continued to minister till his death, 
 July, 1849, at the age of seventy-six. He received the hon- 
 orary degree of D. D., from his Alma Mater, in 1822. 
 
 Bev. Theodore Dehox, D. D. succeeded Dr. Pierce in 
 
 * His native place was Dorchester. 
 
 t I cannot forbear one more extract, illustrating the change that has taken place in the 
 means of inter-communication, between city and country, since that day : 
 
 “ On the morning of I9th July, 1793, 1 embarked, very early in the morning, in Pease's 
 stage, from Boston, spending the previous night in town, that I might be in season. Pease, 
 himself, of Shrewsbury, drove the carriage. We breakfasted in Weston, dined in Wor- 
 cester, and, late in the afternoon, arrived at Leicester. 
 
 “ But this was expedition, compared with my first return home, when we started at 9| from 
 Leicester, dined in Worcester, supped and lodged in Marlboro", the next morning we break- 
 fasted in Weston, and arrived at Boston the second day, at 121.” 
 
143 
 
 the English school, and was, in every way, worthy to suc- 
 ceed so excellent a man. He was horn in Boston, December 
 8, 1776, and was of that noble Huguenot stock, second only, 
 if at all, to the Puritan and the Pilgrim. 
 
 He was graduated at Harvard, in 1795, at the age of 
 eighteen, with high honor as a scholar. The next year, 
 though but nineteen years of age, he took charge of the Eng- 
 lish department of the academy, in which he acquitted him- 
 self with great approbation and success. 
 
 Upon leaving Leicester, he entered upon the study of the- 
 ology, and was admitted to the order of Priest in the Epis- 
 copal Church, in 1800. He, at the same time, became rector 
 of the church in Newport, where he remained till 1809, 
 when, in consequence of impaired health, he removed to 
 Charleston, S. C., and was made rector of St. Michael’s 
 Church in that city. 
 
 In 1812, he was unanimously elected bishop of the dio- 
 cese of South Carolina, and sustained the office with great 
 dignity and ability, till his death, August 6th, 1817, when he 
 fell a victim to the yellow fever. 
 
 For one dying at the early age of forty-one, he had accom- 
 plished much, and left the memory of a life filled with use- 
 fulness and honor. 
 
 In 1809, he was honored with the degree of D. D. from 
 the college of New Jersey. 
 
 He published occasional sermons and addresses during his 
 lifetime, and, after his death, two volumes of his sermons 
 were published. 
 
 Few remember Bishop Dehon as a teacher after the lapse 
 of near two generations, but the tradition that has come down 
 to us from his pupils and associates is that, though young in 
 years and small in stature, maturity of intellect supplied the 
 one, and dignity, energy and promptness made one forget 
 the other, in his presence. He was a popular teacher, and 
 shewed as great a readiness in teaching others as he had in 
 the development of his own scholarship in college. 
 
144 
 
 Dr. John Dixwell, under the name of Samuel Hunt, Jr., 
 succeeded Dr. Jackson, as English preceptor, in January, 
 1797, Dr. Jackson having been called away from the acad- 
 emy after half a year’s service. 
 
 He was a native of Boston, and a classmate of Dr. Jack- 
 son in the class of 1796, at Harvard. He only remained the 
 balance of the year, and was succeeded by Hon. W. M. Rich- 
 ardson. 
 
 He was well spoken of as a teacher, though not engaged 
 long enough to be distinguished. 
 
 His father was a master of one of the Boston schools, and 
 his mother a direct, lineal descendant from the famous Colonel 
 John Dixwell, the Regicide, he having, as it will be remem- 
 bered, fled to this countiy after the restoration, and married 
 late in life in New Haven, where his grave now is. 
 
 Out of respect to the memory of this illustrious ancestor, 
 Mr. Hunt was permitted to take the name which he ever 
 afterwards bore, leaving descendants who still sustain the 
 family name. 
 
 He studied medicine, and earned for himself, in that pro- 
 fession, a reputation which was independent of traditionary 
 fame. 
 
 He died, at the age of fifty-seven, in the year 1884. He 
 is remembered, when at the academy, as of medium height, 
 handsome form, and careful and neat in his person and his 
 dress. 
 
 Hon. William Merchant Richardson became the Eng- 
 lish preceptor, in July, 1797, and filled the place for one 
 year. As such, he made an impression upon his pupils which 
 seemed to anticipate the eminent rank he afterwards attained 
 in life. 
 
 He was born in Pelham, N. H., January 4, 1774, and 
 worked upon his father’s farm till he was fifteen years of age. 
 
 He was graduated at Cambridge, in 1797, and immediately 
 became a teacher at Leicester. 
 
 After leaving here, he became principal of the Groton 
 
145 
 
 Academy, while he was engaged in studying law in the office 
 of the late Chief Justice Dana of that town. 
 
 He commenced the practice of his profession in the same 
 town, and, in 1811, was chosen to Congress from that district 
 and served a part of two terms. 
 
 In 1814, he removed to Portsmouth, N. H., where he 
 resumed his profession with good success. 
 
 The following little anecdote, which was told by an early 
 friend and admirer of Chief Justice Richardson, illustrates 
 either a premonition in his own mind, or one of those fortunate 
 foretellings which is not prophecy. 
 
 Chief Justice Parsons had died in 1813. Such w r as the 
 veneration for his name as a jurist, that the possession of a 
 book which he had owned and studied, was a thing 'which 
 almost any lawyer would desire. One of these w r as sold, 
 among other books, at auction, and purchased by Mr. P. 
 “ There,” said he, “ I am going up to New Hampshire, and 
 with this book I am going to become Chief Justice of that 
 State in tw T o years.” 
 
 Probably the book had very little to do with the event, 
 but, in 1816, he was appointed to the place of Chief Justice 
 of the Supreme Court of that State, and held the office as 
 long as he lived. 
 
 He received the honorary degree of LL. D. from Dart- 
 mouth College, in 1827. 
 
 In 1819, he removed to Chester, where he resided till his 
 death, in March, 1838. 
 
 Chief Justice Richardson was a learned lawyer and a strong 
 man. His legal opinions, extending through a period of 
 twenty-tw^o years, are monuments of diligence, faithfulness, 
 and learning. He was a scholar of refined and cultivated 
 taste, and, in social and private life, is always spoken of as 
 a pleasant companion and a valuable friend. In person, he was 
 of a figure above the ordinary size, and of dignified bearing. 
 
 While residing at Leicester, he readily adapted himself to 
 the tastes and sympathies of the people as well as of his pupils, 
 
146 
 
 and, among the illustrations of these, was the zeal and spirit 
 with which he conducted the sacred music at the ordination 
 of Dr. Moore, when an ordination was one of the great 
 events of the year, and the leader of the choir for the occasion, 
 was scarce inferior in importance to the preacher of the ordi- 
 nation sermon. 
 
 These recitals may seem to partake rather of the character 
 of gossip than grave biography. But it is by unimportant 
 personal anecdotes, often, that the true character of a man is 
 read. 
 
 Dr. Thaddeus Fairbanks succeeded Chief Justice 
 Bichardson, in 1798, and remained connected with the 
 academy till 1800. 
 
 He was born in Shelburn, Mass., in 1772, and was 
 graduated at Yale College, in 1796. 
 
 He is said to have been “ a popular and successful teacher, 
 though of somewhat gay and fashionable manners.” “ He was 
 loved, respected, and cheerfully obeyed by his pupils. He 
 had a happy faculty of illustrating his instruction, and of 
 infusing into his scholars a spirit of emulation. He would 
 be facetious or grave, as the state of things demanded. He 
 left the academy with a high reputation as a teacher.” 
 
 In borrowing thus the language of an early pupil and friend 
 of Mr. Fairbanks, I am sure that I am but doing him justice. 
 
 After leaving the academy, he studied theology, and preached 
 for a while, but, though often “ called,” was never “ settled” 
 as a minister. 
 
 After this, he studied medicine, and practised that profes- 
 sion for some time in what is now Southbridge. The last 
 years of his life he pursued the practice of his profession in 
 Brimfield, where he died, in 1826. 
 
 His forte, however, was as an instructor. This was his 
 appropriate sphere, and in it he ought to have remained. 
 
 Hon. Timothy Fuller was English preceptor for one year, 
 1801-2, as successor to Dr. Fairbanks. 
 
 He was born in Princeton, in 1778, the son of the Bev. 
 
147 
 
 Timothy Fuller, of that town, and one of a somewhat nu- 
 merous family of sons, who have been distinguished in the 
 Commonwealth, the last of whom (Elisha) recently died in 
 Worcester. He was graduated at Cambridge in 1801. 
 
 Of his character as a teacher, I speak by authority of one 
 who knew him in that capacity. He is described as haying 
 been 
 
 “ A correct and thorough scholar, under whose instruction the pupils made 
 good improvement, although by temperament less patient at times than 
 desirable, and consequently less popular than he otherwise would have been.” 
 
 He was afterwards a successful lawyer in Suffolk and Mid- 
 dlesex. He resided at Cambridge, and represented that dis- 
 trict in Congress, from 1817 to 1825. He was also one year 
 Speaker of the House of Representatives in the Massachusetts 
 legislature. 
 
 For the last -few years of his life, he resided in Groton, 
 where he died, October 1st, 1835, at the age of fifty-seven. 
 
 A son of his is a respectable clergyman in Boston, and was 
 one of the chaplains of the legislature in 1854. His daughter, 
 the Countess D’Ossoli, better known as Margaret Fuller, 
 achieved too wide a fame as a writer to need anything more 
 than the mention of her name. Her sad fate, with that of 
 her husband and child, awakened a deep sympathy through 
 the whole community. 
 
 Eleazek Foster, Esq., was preceptor of the English school 
 in 1802—3. He was born in Union, Conn., June 4th, 1778, 
 and was fitted for college at this academy. He was graduated 
 at Yale, in 1800. He studied law, and established himself in 
 New Haven, where he rose to distinction by the industry, 
 integrity and ability which he brought into the practice of his 
 profession. 
 
 He was, for some time before his death, the victim of dis- 
 ease, which was aggravated by his devotion to business. 
 
 He died at the early age of forty-one, May 1st, 1849, uni- 
 versally respected and beloved. 
 
148 
 
 I have before me a sketch of Mr. Foster’s character, by the 
 late Judge Bristol, of the United States District Court, in 
 Connecticut, in which he speaks of him in terms of warm 
 admiration and respect. 
 
 “The deep concern felt at his illness, and the still deeper regret visible 
 through all classes of our citizens at his death, form the best eulogy upon 
 the character, and, at the same time, demand a tribute of respect to the vir- 
 tues, of this excellent man. For the higher stations of a magistrate, and 
 representative in the legislature, he was guided by that uprightness and 
 impartiality, which fully evinced his love of justice, and his sacred regard to 
 the true interests of the public.” 
 
 His was a delightful, consistent character, in which the 
 scholar, the Christian, and the man of business were blended 
 in a manner to dignify and adorn his life, and endear his 
 memory. 
 
 Dr. George Cheyne Shattuck. As we thus follow along 
 the catalogue of those who have filled the place of which I am 
 speaking, it is pleasant to find, at so many stages of our his- 
 tory, men not only successful in the sphere which, for a greater 
 or less time they occupied, in connection with the academy, 
 but great in whatever walk they chose in life, and eminent for 
 qualities that command the respect and veneration of all. 
 
 We have already before us, on these pages, enough to justify 
 this remark, and, were I at liberty to speak, as every one would 
 think, of the living as of departed worthies, I should have no 
 fear that I need qualify it. The name of one, the cotemporary 
 and professional associate of Dr. Shattuck, comes up at once 
 before me in this connection, but long may it be before, within 
 the rule I have prescribed for these notices, his worth shall be 
 recorded in the form of history. 
 
 Dr. Shattuck was one of the class of men to whom I have 
 just alluded. 
 
 He was born in Templeton, in 1784, the son of Dr. Benja- 
 min Shattuck, and was fitted for college at this academy. He 
 was graduated at Dartmouth in 1803, and came at once to the 
 academy as preceptor of the English department. Here he 
 
149 
 
 remained till August, 1804, when he commenced the study 
 of the profession to which he devoted his life. 
 
 His fidelity and success as a teacher were such as those who 
 knew him in after life would have presumed from this uniform 
 trait that distinguished his character. 
 
 I have never found one of his pupils who did not speak of 
 him in terms of affection and respect. And to the generation 
 that were upon the stage in Leicester as citizens, and knew 
 him while resident there, his name and his subsequent history 
 were always familiar. I have before me a letter from one of 
 his pupils, who speaks of him, at that time, as an agreeable 
 young man, a good scholar, of studious habits, very much 
 beloved by the students, and a very successful instructor. 
 
 Of his life and success in his profession, I have no occasion 
 to speak, in a community where he has so recently formed one 
 of its prominent men. 
 
 Having acquired the means of indulging a spirit of liberal 
 generosity, which formed one of the traits of his character, 
 the history of his charities would disclose private and public 
 benefactions creditable alike to his heart and his judgment. 
 His Alma Mater shared liberally in his bounty. Harvard 
 University has cause for gratitude for what he did for her, and 
 the regard he always entertained for this academy was shown, 
 on a recent occasion, by a voluntary contribution to make up 
 the requisite sum to secure the proposed donation of Mr. 
 Smith. 
 
 I have more than once heard him speak, with interest, of 
 the pleasant memories which he cherished, of scenes and per- 
 sons and events, which were associated with his connection 
 with the academy. 
 
 He received many literary honors, from several of the 
 American colleges ; among them, the degree of LL. D., from 
 his Alma Mater, in 1853, and was a member of the American 
 Academy of Arts and Sciences, and President of the Massa- 
 chusetts Medical Society. 
 
 He died in 1854, at the age of seventy, with intellect unim- 
 10 
 
150 
 
 paired, and sympathies and affections unblunted by the wear 
 of time. 
 
 William J. Whipple, Esq. was the preceptor of the 
 English department, from August, 1805, to 1806, and suc- 
 ceeded Mr. Hutchins. 
 
 He was a native of Uxbridge, and was graduated at Cam- 
 bridge, in 1805. He came to the place with the reputation 
 of a respectable scholar, and, without any distinguished emi- 
 nence as a teacher, sustained himself well in that situation. 
 
 After leaving Leicester, he studied law, with the Hon. D. 
 A. White, then of Newburyport, and established himself in 
 Dudley. He remained here a short time, and then removed 
 to Cambridge, where he resided and practised law during the 
 remainder of his life. He was several times a representative 
 of that town in the General Court, where he held a good rank 
 for diligence in business, and soundness of iudgment. He 
 died in 1850. 
 
 Rev. John Field was of a class of men by no means small, 
 who, with great diligence, great conscientiousness, and very 
 respectable talents, are never particularly successful in life. 
 He was a native of Oakham, and was graduated at Williams 
 College, in 1807, at the age of twenty-seven. The next year 
 he was employed as English preceptor of the academy. He 
 had all the maturity which even many more years than he 
 had seen, could ordinarily give one, and, after the close of his 
 engagement here, he devoted himself to the study of theology, 
 a profession which, from the first, he had intended to pursue. 
 He was licensed and ordained over the church and society in 
 North Wrentham. After a few years’ connection with this 
 people, he was dismissed, and removed to Ohio, where he 
 continued to preach, though I have not ascertained that he 
 w r as ever again settled over any society. 
 
 He died, at the age of forty-eight, in the year 1828. 
 
 David Brigham finds a place' here, although he was pre- 
 ceptor of the English department for, I believe, a single 
 term only, in 1819. 
 
151 
 
 He was a native of Shrewsbury, born August 15th, 1786, 
 and graduated at Cambridge, 1810. After graduating, he 
 was employed awhile as tutor at Bowdoin College. 
 
 He studied law, and practised his profession in several dif- 
 ferent towns, at first, I believe, in New Braintree. From 
 there he removed to Leicester in 1817, where he remained 
 something over two years. He removed to Greenfield, and 
 became a copartner with the Hon. Samuel C. Allen. There 
 he married a daughter of Jerome Bipley, Esq. He removed 
 to Shrewsbury, and, after a few years, removed again to 
 Fitchburg, where he still continued his profession. After 
 some time spent here, he was induced, by strong encourage- 
 ment held out to him, to remove to Iowa, where he died, in 
 1848, at the age of 57. 
 
 Mr. Brigham was a fine scholar, a good writer, a sound 
 lawyer, and a pleasant and agreeable companion. Yet his 
 success in life was never such as these qualities are ordinarily 
 calculated to secure. Nor did he lack industry in his devo- 
 tion to business. He was a man of a good degree of wit and 
 humor, a little specimen of which was often repeated at the 
 bar. Awaking, one night, at his boarding-house, where his 
 fellow-lodgers were somewhat free in their manners, he found 
 himself between two of his brethren in the same bed. Almost 
 gasping for breath, he remarked, “ Sure enough, the profession 
 is crowded ,” and yielded, for the rest of the night, the privilege 
 of such a place of "repose. As a teacher, both at Bowdoin and 
 at Leicester, he was acceptable and successful, and, had he 
 adopted that as his pursuit in life, perhaps greater eminence 
 would have repaid his devotion to his calling. 
 
 Whether others of the English or associate teachers of the 
 academy ought to be noticed here, I am not fully informed. 
 They are not intentionally omitted. 
 
 Of some of those who were assistants for a short period, I 
 have the means of presenting a brief notice. 
 
 Hon. Phinehas Bruce was the earliest of those. He was 
 a native of Leicester, and was born in 1762. His father, 
 
152 
 
 George Bruce, once kept a public house upon what is called 
 “ Mount Pleasant.” The son, while a member of Yale Col- 
 lege, was employed, in 1785, as an assistant of Mr. Payson. 
 He was graduated in 1786, studied law, married a sister of 
 the Hon. James Savage, of Boston, and commenced practice 
 in Machias, Maine. He was an uncle of the Hon. George B. 
 TJpton, of Boston. He rose to considerable eminence in his 
 profession, and, in 1803, was elected to Congress, and subse- 
 quently a second time, but never took his seat, being stricken 
 with that dreadful malady, insanity, from exposure, and over- 
 tasking his jpowers in the business of his profession. And, it 
 being before the light of modern discoveries in the science 
 of mental disease, he was never fully restored. 
 
 He was a man of fine, prepossessing manners, good abilities, 
 and possessed, to a high degree, the respect of the public, and 
 the confidence and esteem of his friends. 
 
 He never so far recovered as to be able to resume his 
 profession. 
 
 Before his election to Congress, Mr. Bruce had been a 
 member of both branches of the legislature of Massachu- 
 setts, and, in every place which he was called to fill, he 
 acquitted himself with great credit, and was universally 
 esteemed as a man of fine powers, and of those qualities 
 which could not fail to commend him to public favor. He 
 died October 4th, 1809. 
 
 Du. Stephen Ball was of Northboro’, the son of a 
 physician of the same name. 
 
 He was employed, as an assistant, under Mr. Adams, a 
 short time, in 1791. After leaving the academy, he became, 
 himself, a physician, and, through a long life, sustained a 
 high reputation in his profession, in his native town, where 
 he always resided. 
 
 James Day, Esq., was an assistant of Mr. Foster, in the 
 English school, in 1802, for nearly a year. 
 
 He was born in Wrentham, December 19, 1778, and, ten 
 years afterwards, removed to Paxton. He was fitted for 
 
153 
 
 college at this academy, and was graduated at Cambridge, in 
 1806, in the same class with several who had fitted at 
 Leicester Academy, among them, Daniel Henshaw, Esq., 
 whose name has often been referred to in this report. 
 
 After leaving college, Mr. Day taught the Derby Academy, 
 at Hingham, one year. He then studied law with Chief 
 Justice Ward and Judge Prescott, in Boston, and commenced 
 business in his profession, in that, then, town. After four 
 years, he removed to Roxburv, where he was engaged, as a 
 teacher, for three years. After that, he was seven years 
 engaged, as a teacher, in Salem, and subsequently, for three 
 years, he taught a private school, in Boston. The balance of 
 his life he spent in retirement, upon his farm, in Paxton, 
 where he died, December 16th, 1853, at the age of seventy- 
 four years. If the life of a good schoolmaster is one of 
 usefulness, Mr. Day may have been regarded as a public 
 benefactor, as he was an excellent private citizen. 
 
 Edward A. Selfridge was an assistant of Dr. Shattuck, 
 in 1803. He was brother of Thomas O. Selfridge, Esq., and 
 was born in Hubbardston. Both brothers fitted for college 
 at the academy. Edward was graduated .at Dartmouth, in 
 1805. 
 
 He was a good scholar, of a strong and vigorous mind, and 
 w T ell calculated to become eminent in the profession — the 
 law — which he had chosen. But he was cut off while 
 engaged in his studies, and left only the memory of early 
 hopes and bright promises eclipsed. 
 
 Joseph Sprague, Esq., who was an assistant, in 1808, 
 for a short time, was a native of Leicester, the son of Capt. 
 William Sprague. He was, for many years, a prominent 
 citizen of Brooklyn, N. Y., and mayor of the city, at one 
 time. He died in the year 1854, at the age of seventy-one. 
 
 Dr. Seth Washburn was an assistant, in 1816. He 
 was a native of Leicester, the son of Joseph Washburn, and 
 "rand-son of the first trustee of the name. He studied his 
 profession partly with Dr. J. PI. Flint, already mentioned, 
 
154 
 
 and died in the midst of a full professional practice, at Green- 
 field, in January, 1825, at the age of thirty-four. 
 
 Of the female assistants, one only, I believe, has died. 
 
 Miss Elizabeth Holmes was the daughter of Dr. Jacob 
 Holmes, an eminent physician, formerly resident in Athol, 
 where she was born, and, during the latter years of his life, 
 in Leicester. 
 
 She was educated at that excellent school whose reputation 
 was so long sustained, and at which so many of the best- 
 trained minds in New England were educated, Miss Eiske’s, 
 at Keene. 
 
 She was a woman of strong, quick powers of mind, refined 
 by cultivation, and strengthened and disciplined by study and 
 reflection. 
 
 The extent to which these, and her services in the academy, 
 were appreciated by the trustees, will appear from resolutions 
 adopted by them, in view of her death, in 1849 : 
 
 “ The board of trustees have learned, with deep regret, the decease of Miss 
 Elizabeth Holmes, for the last thirteen years an accomplished and esteemed 
 teacher in Leicester Academy, and that they tender then- sympathy to the 
 mother of the deceased, in her sudden and great bereavement” 
 
 She died at the age of thirty-five. 
 
 The employment of a female assistant teacher, was some- 
 what of an experiment when Miss Holmes was selected for 
 the place ; but the success which attended it, under her 
 administration, left it no longer an experiment. 
 
 In closing this chapter of this little work, I cannot forbear 
 indulging in grateful reflection, as I recur to even these brief 
 notices of the men who have successively filled the chairs of 
 instruction in this academy. Here are names of which any 
 institution may be proud ; not confined to the mere school- 
 room, or the round of the teacher’s duty, but associated with, 
 and eminent in, every profession. 
 
 They came to the institution, many of them in the freshness 
 
155 
 
 and vigor of early life ; and they gave to it the best energies 
 and warmest aspirations of a young man’s mind. And their 
 success, as teachers, was often but the earnest of them success 
 in the wider and more exciting arena of active life. I could 
 have wished that a more able pen, with far more leisure to 
 perform the work, had undertaken the task of preserving the 
 memorials of these men, in their connection with the academy. 
 May he who carries out this record, as one after another of 
 these men shall he gathered to an honorable grave, bring to it 
 a capacity equal to the desire of him who has gone thus far, 
 to do the work well. 
 
156 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The form of a new chapter, for the closing pages of this 
 part of this little work, is adopted rather to indicate the point 
 at which it stops, than the contents, which, as a distinct 
 chapter, it is to contain. 
 
 The list of stewards, so far as I have ascertained them, is 
 as follows : 
 
 1785, . 
 
 . . . . Jonas Stone, Esq. 
 
 1807, . 
 
 . . . . Amos Smith. 
 
 1808, . 
 
 . . . . Capt. Daniel Hubbard. 
 
 1813, . 
 
 Daniel Upham. 
 
 1816, . 
 
 . . . . Joseph Maynard, 
 
 1819, . 
 
 . . . . Hiram Knight. 
 
 1822, . 
 
 . . . . Charles King. 
 
 Since which time, Mr. John Loring, Billings Hobart, 
 Delphos Washburn, and others, have held the place. 
 
 In respect to what properly forms a part of the subject of 
 this chapter, the distinguished men and women who have 
 once been pupils of the academy, the topic is too broad to 
 attempt it at present. 
 
 There is no complete catalogue of the students of the 
 academy, preserved ; nor can one, at this late day, be made. 
 
 It is, therefore, only by personal appeals to others, aided by 
 my own recollection, for something less than half a century, 
 that I have been able to gather up the names of some of those 
 who would be embraced in the category of distinguished 
 pupils. 
 
15V 
 
 But the very catalogue before me, gathered, in no small 
 degree, from the recollections of Daniel Henshaw, Esq., 
 reminds me that the completion of this work must be the 
 result of the patient and extended labor of a future hour. 
 
 Among those whom I have not named already, of the living 
 as well as the dead, we find the sons of Leicester Academy — 
 those who, at some time, have been members of the institu- 
 tion — men eminent in every calling and profession of life — 
 the professions, the army, the navy, the halls of Congress, 
 the Senate of the United States, and the judicial and executive 
 chairs of government, have each had their representatives 
 from this academy. 
 
 Among these I name, almost at random, — 
 
 The Hon. William L. Marcy, now Secretary of State of the 
 United States ; the Hon. William Upham, late a Senator in 
 Congress, from Vermont; Rev. Dr. Spring, of New York; 
 Hon. John Davis, Governor of the Commonwealth, and Sena- 
 tor in Congress ; Hon. Ebenezer Lane, late Chief Justice of 
 Ohio ; the gallant Col. Aspinwall, formerly of the L T nited 
 States army, and for many years consul at London ; Augustus 
 White, who fell on the deck of the Chesapeake ; Hon. David 
 Henshaw, once Secretary of the Navy ; Hon. Pliny Merrick, 
 and Hon. Benjamin F. Thomas, Judges of the Supreme Court 
 of Massachusetts ; Dr. Hedge, the learned Professor in Har- 
 vard College ; Hon. Virgil Maxv, the gifted and eloquent 
 advocate, who, while Solicitor of the Treasury, fell by the 
 same catastrophe that destroyed Secretary Upsher on board the 
 Princeton ; Milton Maxv, his brother, more than his equal in 
 brilliancy, — the student of Alexander Hamilton; Henry B. 
 Stone, Esq., so many years the President of the Suffolk Bank ; 
 Nathan Guilford, Esq., late of Cincinnati, deceased ; Rev. Dr. 
 Brazer, late of Salem ; and Rev. Dr. Church, late of Pelham, 
 N. H. And if to these I were to add the names of those 
 once pupils of the academy, who have made their influence 
 felt, as the graceful, and dignified, and gifted wives and 
 mothers of the leading men of their day, the task, though a 
 11 
 
158 
 
 pleasant one, would require a degree of time and labor which 
 is not now at my command. 
 
 Whether, in carrying out the original plan of this work, 
 this or another hand shall be employed to trace the history of 
 any of these, they will ever be among the jewels of which the 
 academy may be justly proud. 
 
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