WG'S CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THE History of Westborough. MASSACHUSETTS. Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028839756 THE History of Westborough, MASSACHUSETTS. mvt I. THE EARLY HISTORY. By HEMAN PACKARD DEFOREST. Part II. THE LATER HISTORY. By EDWARD CRAIG BATES. WESTBOROUGH: PUBLISHED BY THE TOWN. 1 891. F Copyright, 1891, By- C. S. Henry. ^SnttottEitg Press: John Wilson and Son, Cai;;ripgb. 1. 1. G. *Sf Y-V1<^ <^ b GENERAL PREFACE. ' I ''HE warrant for the town meeting of March 7, 1887, had an article, " To see if the town will print in book form the history of the town as gathered by Rev: H. P. DeForest and others, or act anything in relation to the same." At an adjourned meeting, held March 21, the town voted, " That the moderator appoint a com- mittee of three to take the matter into consid- eration, and report, with an estimate of the expense, at a future meeting." George B. Brigham, George Forbes, and Joshua E. Beeman were appointed as the committee. At a meeting held April 27 of the same year the committee reported that Rev. H. P. DeForest could furnish the earlier history, and some one here in town the later, but that they could give nothing definite in regard to the expense, as Mr. DeForest would leave the matter to the town to pay what they thought best. The committee made no recommendation, and no action was taken at this meeting ; but at a town meeting held Septem- IV PREFACE. ber 21 the committee reported further, recommend- ing that the town procure one thousand copies, and that the sum of ^800.00 be appropriated to cover the expense of printing and publishing the same. ■ The town voted " that the report be accepted and its recommendations adopted, and that the committee carry out its recommendations, and have power to fill any vacancy in the committee." Mr. George Forbes having died, Mr. Charles S. Henry was chosen as a member of the committee. Mr. DeForest was engaged to write the earlier history of the town, and Mr. Edward C. Bates to write the later history. Judge William T, Forbes has written a chapter on the early land-grants which is of great value. A few biographical sketches of men who have been prominent in town affairs have been pre- pared, and several portraits are given, also views of a number of our public buildings. The pictures are most of them the work of the Boston Photogravure Company, and the engrav- ing for the wood-cuts has been done by Mr. Al- bert E. Wood, of New York city, a native of this town. As we finish our book and present it to the town we regret that we must speak of the death pf Mr. George B. Brigham, the chairman of our committee, to whose efforts the publication of this History is due. He brought the subject before PREFACE. V the town, labored faithfully and untiringly to make the work thorough and accurate, and hoped to live to see the book published. We submit our work to the town, hoping that it may prove useful in preserving its records and stimulating our people to take a deeper interest in them. JOSHUA E. BEEMAN, CHARLES S. HENRY, Committee. Westborough, March lo, 1891. PREFACE TO PART I. ' I ^HE only motive which has induced me to give -*- this sketch of the earlier history of West- borough to the public is the conviction that the material which had been incidentally gathered in connection with my work and residence there ought not to be lost. There is that in the history of the earlier growth of all our New England towns which is of permanent interest to the historian, the ge- nealogist, and the student of social forces ; and it is desirable that every town should embody in some accessible form, for the benefit of i^s own people and their descendants, such facts of its early struggles and development as may be rescued from oblivion. Faulty as I know this sketch to be, it may serve such a purpose. The manner of its origin is as follows. In 1874 the Congregational church, of which I happened at that time to be pastor, celebrated the one hundred and fiftieth via PREFACE. anniversary of its organization. It fell to me to write the story of that period. In 1876, when all the towns kept the centerinial of Independence, I was requested to deliver the historical oration on the Fourth of July. Not long afterward the town voted a request that the material thus gathered might be prepared, with such other as I might be able to collect, for publication, and appointed a committee to that end. Busied with the care of a large parish, my time for such work was very lim- ited ; and it progressed very slowly until 1 880, when I was called away from the town, and the material was consigned to a drawer, where it remained un- touched for some eight years. But at that time a few citizens of Westborough who were especially interested in saving its history from oblivion, pro- cured the passage of a vote in town meeting calling for the history, and appointing a new committee to attend to the matter. At their urgent request, sec- onded by my own feeling as to the recklessness of consigning any historical material to destruction, I consented to undertake the difficult task of resus- citating my buried work, and finishing, at a distance from the locality, and with too much remoteness from the fresh memory of previous work, the task which I PREFACE. IX had been obliged to drop. It has been entirely re- written, some of it more than once. It represents, as all historical work must do, the study of many weeks and months, scattered through years which have been crowded with other duties. I have tried to write a continuous narrative, believing it more likely to be read than if divided, in the manner of many local histories, into disconnected sections. I am indebted to many helpers for assistance rendered, at many times and in various ways, since the inception of the work. I have consulted the local histories of the vicinity, especially Hudson's Marlborough, Peter Whitney's Worcester County, and Joseph Allen's Northborough, and have given credit where these have been quoted. To the late E. M. Phillips I am under many an obligation for reminiscence and story of the days of his boyhood. To the late Hon. Samuel M. Griggs, whose interest in the town and its history was always keen, and whose knowledge of facts and places was excep- tional, I owe more than to any one else in the earlier days of this study. Judge W. T. Forbes and Mrs. Forbes have rendered great service in the past year, and Messrs. J. A. Fayerweather and F. W. X PREFACE. Forbes have assisted much at various times. And finally, to the Committee of Publication, Messrs. Brigham, Beeman, and Henry, and my coadjutor, Mr. E. C. Bates, I owe many courtesies and helps. Of the town itself I have only the happiest memo- ries, and it has been pleasant to recall them in this gathering up of the threads of many years' work. H. P. De forest. Detroit, Mich., November, 1889. TABLE OF CONTENTS. Page Introdpction iii l^art I. Preface to Part I v CHAPTER I. Topography. — Indian History and Legend. — First White Settlers i CHAPTER II. Earliest Landholders within the Limits of the Pres- ent Town. — "King" Philip's War 15 CHAPTER III. Preliminary Movements toward a New Town. — Indian Troubles during " Queen Anne's War " 29 CHAPTER IV. Incorporation, and Beginnings of Town Life .... 42 CHAPTER V. How they secured a Minister 59 CHAPTER VI. Organization of a Church, and Ordination of the First Settled Minister 72 xn TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER VII. Page Records. ^ CauRCH Affairs. — Schools. — Earthquake. — Growth of the Town 87 CHAPTER VIII. The New County. — Beginnings of Division. — Church Music 103 CHAPTER IX. Church Order. — Phases of Church Life. — The Great Awakening. — An Anniversary Sermon 118 CHAPTER X. The First Precinct 131 CHAPTER XI. The French and Indian War. — Beginkikgs of the Re- volution. — Church Music again 146 CHAPTER Xn. In the Revolutionary War 158 CHAPTER XIII. Contemporary Matters of Local Interest. — Discus- sion OF Church Government. — Death of Mr. Park- man 176 CHAPTER XIV. From the Death of Mr. Parkman to the End of the Eighteenth Century 190 TABLE OF CONTENTS. XUl CHAPTER XV. Page Items of Progress. — Ecclesiastical Trials. — The Be- ginning OF Modern Improvements 208 CHAPTER XVI, Business Development. — The Diffusion of Intelligence 222 CHAPTER XVII. Later Ecclesiastical History 231 l^art II. Preface to Part II. ... , 244 CHAPTER I. The Civil War. — Action of the Town In the Field. — Soldiers' Sewing Society 245 CHAPTER 11. Records of Soldiers in the Civil War 274 CHAPTER III. The Soldiers' Monument. — Fires and New Buildings. — Celebrations 328 CHAPTER IV. Growth of the Town. — Population. — Agriculture and Manufactures. — Wealth 344 XIV TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER V. Fags Public Schools. — Willow Park Seminary. — Public Li- brary. — Poor-Farm. — Fire Department .... 372 CHAPTER VI. Newspapers. — Post-Office Banks. — District Court. — Lyman School. — Insane Hospital 391 CHAPTER VII. Prominent Societies 405 CHAPTER VIII. Waterworks. — Phenomena. — New Buildings. — Other Improvements 415 I. Biographical Sketches 431 11. Land Grants 454 III. Town Officers 465 IV. Representatives to General Court 470 V. Votes for Governor 472 VI. Rev. Ebenezer Parkman's History of Westbor- ough 479 Index 483 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. The Square Frontispiece Insane Hospital, across Lake Chauncy i8 The Whitney Place 36 Ebenezer Parkman 66 Breck Parkman 106 East Main Street J34 Eli Whitney 192 Old Arcade 208 Charles Parkman 218 Otis Brigham 226 Unitarian Church . 234 Congregational Church 238 Westborough, from Whitney Hill 245 Town Hall and Baptist Church 250 Soldiers' Monument . 274 Post-Office Block 332 Rev. Heman P. Deforest 340 Elmer Brigham 352 George B. Brigham 360 William R. Gould 368 The High-School Building 376 William Curtis 380 Christopher Whitney 388 John A. Fayerweather 396 Dr. N. Emmons Paine 402 Residence of John A. Fayerweather 412 xvi LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. Page Residence of Mrs. H. K. Taft 418 St. Luke's Church and Rectory 424 The Whitney House 426 Charles B. Parkman 432 Lyman Belknap 43^ Horace Maynard 442 Henry K. Taft 45° Daniel F. Newton 466 Map of Westborough i Floor-Plan of the First Meeting-House 55 Floor-Plan of the Second Meeting-House 138 The Original Marlborough, and the New Towns " set off " from it 4S6 The Original Chauncy, and some of the Territory afterward Annexed 457 Map of Westborough in 1766 463 THE EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. o (J f' / IS IJ___^_ \ ^ \\ LYMfll^ SCMOOi- f/ \ 3A0iN^ CffATTJS-Vr ^PO^Ii\ \ » C.S.ftCt/tf^TVJif LYMflV SCHOOL /'.■' / B.J.STove: ' » \r\. \ =^-fi- A */. 0atvn/ij*i S T. \ % M- LYoH M.reoHEff * \^ «/ ^.SauvMtfN •S.W/iggBMm " ^r^ ~ . B E l|- M 5 N T M.P.B^OiVN ' . \ S T. "^ A J,8Q0fNJOf\/ W^l^eS FOfBVSH S.f/jtstrsLi-m '-^.CL^fffr HflS.i MHS,J,/f£WT9M ■^'^V^Qi-jS \ « o^ MeWTQf/ S, tQJo*tMSOM J.P.VINAL -/ ' F,STACnP6LE^ ^.^No^a^,^ jf 'T />, p«*nTi£. H.ff. Tufts w/rH£fer j.S.sniTH fiAffWW*'!) ^.j^^^,;,;, AL-BHYNTON .'t bl/.H.JOHNSON j.e.MTnfi H,MOONy O.C0PP H.M.tfNOMn ''"^t ,'u**«. yfluyJ^\ •»/«' '*'^, ■<"»i f**K>eo '<* \f /\\»'''°i' ^-^—^ t.msiiy /, / /, SCHOOL e.s.ST O'CONHHU JMKLKCII J. Boms ' I j// mSMOIKK /ffJi.LiW I I Geo.H.^tilkiir 6c Co.Lith., SostortiMass. Scale wf feet. tr / ^ t I ^~\/ THE EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. CHAPTER I. To 1660. TOPOGRAPHY. — INDIAN HISTORY AND LEGEND. — FIRST WHITE SETTLERS. THE traveller from Boston toward Worcester by the Albany Railroad, after passing Cochituate Lake and Farm Pond, strikes the valley of the Sudbury River near Ashland, and following it for some eight miles beyond that village, through an uninteresting region broken by two small manufacturing stations and ending in a long and lonely stretch of wood and swamp, comes suddenly upon the central square of a busy town, with its brick blocks and tree-lined streets, its lumber-yards and factories, with church spires rising beyond the square. It is a good place to stop, — and to live, if one is looking for a coun- try home, with some charming scenery, and not too far from the whirl of life; with school, church, and library at hand, and easy communication with the appliances of civilization. The village of Westborough, which is in the centre of the town, is only ten miles due east from Worcester, and twenty-nine west-southwest from Boston, as the bird flies. It lies in the southern portion of a plain, which traverses the area of the town from north- 2 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. west to southeast, terminating in the cedar swamp through which the train passes. It belongs to-day in the highest class of New England villages ; its population is largely- descended from the native stock, — industrious, enterpris- ing,, and law-abiding; believing loyally in. New-England institutions, and not yet emancipated from the sway of conscience. The town, extending from two to three miles about the village in all directions, has numerous good and well-kept farms, with thrifty-looking buildings, and a delightful mingling of woodland, meadow, pond, and hill, which has endless charms for the lover of Nature. An irregular range of low green hills rises to the south and west, and another to the northeast. One never tires of the views they give in payment for an easy climb; and walks and drives of picturesque beauty are numberless; From the highest point of these hills one gets an inspiring view of Wachu- sett, twenty miles away, and of a line of sentinels that guard the northwestern horizon, comprising Monadnock^ Watatic, and the Temple Hills.. There are long reaches of meadow, lying between wood and knoll*, and terminating, perhaps, in a far-off glimpse of a church spire relieved- against the blue background of a hill. There are pictu- resque confusions- of hill and dale; — now shutting one into a sheltered nook; now, after a steep climb up a rocky slope, confronting him with a sweep of landscape that reaches to New Hampshire. There are walks through the woods, the path strewn with soft pine-needles; or rich brown oak-leaves. Here the road winds unexpectedly round a sharp curve, and runs down the hill to a rude bridge by an old mill; again, as it climbs a gentle slope, the well-tilled fields sweep away toward the town, with fringes of maple on the farther verge, which in October TOPOGRAPHY, $ burn with a hectic flush against the greens and browns of tb^ meadow. The water area of the town is comparatively small. There are no large streams, but brooks are numerous, and those which are fed from the western slopes of the bills gather themselves in the nordierly meadows into the Assar bet River ; while those that rise on the eastern slopes,, col- lecting in Cedar Swamp, form the Sudbury. These twe streams, receiving their names before they leave the towft area, separate widely, then flow together, and, uniting in the Concord, flow to the Merrimac, and! so to ^e sea. But if there are no rivers, there are ponds, of which Chauncy is king, and which unfolds its full' beauty only when seen from the slopes of the Hospital grounds, with the village spires in the distance, relieved against the back- ground of the southern hills. Hidden darkly at tfep f&ot ef the wooded hills to the west, its seclusion only just now broken in upon by a railroad cutting, lies Hoeco- mocGO, whose true and better name is Hobomoc. Down in the recesses of Cedar Swamp there lies another pond, as one may find in the winter if he will thread the mazes of the frozen forest. And high up on the southern hill- sides is still another, now enlarged by artificial dredging and embankment, which supplies. the water fpr the village, and has natural " head " enough to drench the village spires through a well-directed hose. Westborough is one of the " borough towns." That means, in local parlance> that it is a part of the arefi — now including ^So Marlborough, Northborough, Southborough, and a part of Hudson-^ which, about the time that Chfifles n. was proclaimed king of England, was incorporated ^s •* Marlborow.'' The present Westborough is the south- western part of the ancient '' plantacion," with some addir 4 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. tjons on the west and south. The story I am to try to tell runs back to the middle of the seventeenth century, and comes down to the middle of the nineteenth. It is the story of a quiet inland town, with few striking episodes ; of small importance to the history of State or nation ; not great in the arena of public affairs, but taking its share, without either fuss or flinching, in the movements that the times have thrust upon it. What I should be glad to do, if possible, is to " develop," as the photographers say, a few pictures that have long lain concealed in musty documents and half-forgotten traditions, and give them a little reality to the descendants of the men and women who subdued the wilderness, and made the pleasant life of to-day possible. In the earliest time of which we have any knowledge, — the time of Indian occupation, — this region was a border- land between two or three tribes. It is quite impossible to clear up the confusion which rests on the topography of Indian tribes, and leads nearly every writer on the subject to a different conclusion. They were still a nomadic race, to a great extent ; their boundaries were flexible, and the relative subordination of tribes and clans to one another varied from time to time. In general, it seems reasonable to adopt the statements of Major Gookin, the friend and helper of John Eliot, who travelled over the whole region and had friendly intercourse with all the tribes. Accord- ing to his division the Pokanokets, or Wampanoags, held southeastern Massachusetts, — including Bristol, Plymouth, and Norfolk counties, — as far north as Charles River. The Massachusetts occupied the district north of Charles River, and westward from Massachusetts Bay to the western boundary of Middlesex County. The Pawtuckets were INDIAN HISTORY AND LEGEND. S north of the Massachusetts, covering Essex County and part of north Middlesex, and extending into lower New Hampshire. Westward of these tribes were the Nip- mucks, whose principal domain was along the Nipmuck or Blackstone River, but also extended westerly toward the Connecticut. To this tribe belonged the Indians of Hassanemisco, whom Eliot had gathered into the sem- blance of a town on Grafton Hill. Near the junction of the Concord and Merrimac rivers, — now in Lowell, — the Wamesits, a clan of the Paw- tucket tribe, had their headquarters ; and to this clan be- longed the Indians of the Marlborough settlement The territory of the present Westborough, therefore, had the Nipmucks on the one hand and the Wamesits on the other, while the Massachusetts were close by on the east. It is uncertain which of the tribes built their camp-fires around these ponds, and gave them their names, and wove their superstitions about them, since they all alike belonged to the great Algonquin race and spoke its language. But they have left their traces in two or three localities. Chauncy Pond was to them Naggawoomcom, or " Great Pond ; " and the pretty sheet of water at the foot of what was then a serpent-haunted hill, hidden among thick trees, its waters always dark with shadows, its shores a lurking- place for wild beasts, received from these imaginative children of Nature the name of Hobomoc, — their Evil Spirit, to whose dwelling-place they believed it to be a hidden entrance. The late Horace Maynard, of Tennessee, who was a Westborough boy, made use, in his college days, of the old Indian traditions about this latter spot to weave a very pretty legend of the tiny lakelet, — a tale of love and strat- agem and revenge. There is a chief and a rival ; a dusky 6 EARLY HISTORY OP WESTBOROUGH. nisiden beloved of both, but soon to be wedded by the chief. There is a little skiff upon the lake paddled by the maid ; a dark figure plunging into the water, and swimming silently under the surface till he can pull the unsuspecting bride down to her death, so mysteriously that they who spy it from the shore attribute it to the evil Hobomoc him- self. Then, as a year is finished, comes a warning to the murderer, mysterious and dwful ; the second year, another ; the third, a vengeance, weird and terrible, sweeps him to his Watery doom beheath the dark surface of this mouth of hell. And thereafter when any of the tribe crossed the spot he dropped a stone into its depths, until the cairn rose above the surface. There would be little use in lookittg for the monument ta-day. But there are few spots that are the worse for a legend or two ; and this one lends itself to the purpose With a singular stiggfestiveness, as the imagihative youth from the old farm-house on the hill discovered. Besides the names they have left and the legends they have suggested, there is very little by which we fnay trace the oCcupanCy of the Indian proprietors. There is a measure of probability that we have such a trace in the ftame of the Jackstraw Pasture, beyond the house of Nathan M. Knowlton. This section was granted to one William Beeres about the time of the incorporation of Marlborough, and was then known as Jack Straw's Hill. This indicates a previous Indian occupation. In April, 163 1, Governor Winthrop was visited in BoStoh by Wah- girinacut, ^^ " a sagamore upon the River Quonehtacut [Connecticut], which lies west of Naragancet," -^ " with ■John Sagamore and Jack Straw, — an Indian who had lived in England, and had served Sir Walter Raleigh, and was how turned Indian again, ' — and divers of their INDIAN HISTORY AND LEGEND. 7 -sannops," who " brought a letter to the governour, etc." Whether this was the Indian who gave the name to the hill in question is uncertain, but it is not impossible. Accounts have been found of two Indians carried by Haleigh from his Roanoke colony to England ; and of these the only one who remained here was known as Man- teo. He was the ;firat Indian baptized by . the English colonists, and served them as scout and interpreter. He was made " king " of an island in Pamlico Sound, which still bears Ihe name of Manteo. Raleigh's expedition to this coast was in 1584; and a youth who was twenty years old at that time would be sixty-seven at the time of the interview with Governor Winthrop. There is not sufficient evidence to make any positive asser- tions, but the coincidence of statements is highly inter- esting. A hundred years later there were three Indians bearing the surname of Jackstraw Jiving in Hopkinton. They might easily enough have been the descendants of this Indian, as the Hopkinton line is not far from the locality which bears his name. How he came by so sin- gular a cognomen is not easily answered, but a curious extract from the " Narrative of Phineas Pratt," who came to this country in 1622, gives a possible hint. He says: — "Not long after the overthrow of the first plantation in the bay, Capt. Louit Cam to yer Cuntry. At the Time of his being at Pascataway, a Sacham, or Sagamor, Gaue two of his men, on to Capt. Louit, & An other to Mr. Tomson ; but on yt was ther said, ' How can you trust those Salvagis? Cale the nam of on Watt Tyler, & ye other Jack Straw, after ye names of the two greatest Rebills yt ever weare in Eingland.' " Pratt relates this out of the fulness of his heart, for he had suffered much at the hands of the Indians, and con' sidered them the most treacherous rascals alive. 8 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. There were other Indians in the vicinity, of whom the white men, on their arrival, purchased lands ; but they had already disappeared, to a considerable extent, before that time. For we remember that only eight years before the " Mayflower " touched Plymouth Bay there had been a pestilential fever all along the coast, which had decimated the tribes. And with the coming of the English the days of the natives were numbered. Not that the Pilgrims had any purpose of extermination, or even of conquest. They had even cherished the hope, as no small part of their object in coming to this wilderness, " to propagate and advance the Gospel of the Kingdom of Christ in those remote parts of the world." And no sooner were they freed from the necessity of using all their strength in se- curing a bare subsistence for themselves, than they took measures to civilize and Christianize the aborigines. As early as 1644 the General Court took cognizance of the matter, and ordered the county courts to take care of the Indians in their several shires. In the two succeeding years still more definite action was taken, looking toward the gathering of them into communities, and bringing them under religious instruction. John Eliot was the leading spirit in this movement, full of zeal for the Christianizing of the red men ; and as soon as the government indorsement was obtained, he began the work at Nonantum and Natick which has made his name a household word. By 1654 he had gathered the " praying Indians " into a colony at Natick, and was pe- titioning the General Court " that those Indians might be settled, who were scattered yet, in convenient places un- claimed by the English." The places indicated by him were some of them within or near the locality of our story. Naguncook was at Hopkinton; Hassanemisco, at Graf- INDIAN HISTORY AND LEGEND. 9 ton ; and a third settlement was on Okommokamesit ^ Hill, just north of the present village of Marlborough. These Indians were partially civilized, and quite different from the wild forest-rangers who named hill and lake and stream. They had lost their picturesqueness ; they had certainly gained something; but they were, at this stage in their development, a strange and uncouth compound of barbarism and civilization. Their teachers had committed the common mistake of trying to graft advanced English customs on undeveloped natures; and the result was a comical incongruity, like the blanket and silk hat of the modern Indian of the West. They had awakened their religious impulses, but their ethical knowledge was very slight, and they had no trained instincts. They had been forced to have a local government like that of the white men, in forgetfulness of the fact that it had taken the nur- tured English mind some centuries to arrive at the idea of self-government. They were organized into churches, and that too of the prevailing Congregational pattern, — which being a new thing, reasoned their teachers, and the best thing, must be the thing for the savage. They were taught to cultivate the land, — which was exactly the right thing, because the first in order in the development of the arts ; but they were bidden to live in houses like the white man, and wear his dress, and bear his English names ; and these things did not fit them as yet. The chief of this Okom- mokamesit town was Onomog, of whom Gookin says, in his Cromwellian phraseologj', that he was " a pious and 1 This name, like so many other Indian names, is spelled in various ways. Besides the above, which is the more euphonious, though probably a later form, I iind Ockoocangansett, Ogkanhquokamus, and Ogquomkong- quamesut. The early settlers had a pretty severe struggle with the ordi- nary spelling-book ; when it came to Indian names, they were apt to surrender at sight. 10 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. disefeet man, and the very soul, as it were, of that place." He died in 1674. But however earnestly the friends of the Indian were la- boring for his elevation in the scale of manhood, the Work- ihg of other inevitable forces that accompany and help to make social progress had begun, and the Indian was already passing away before the higher skill and the wider ambition of English training. The law of the survival of the fittest was to have a signal illustration. The leaders of the colonies had the best of intentions toward the na- tives ; Eliot and his assistants were unremitting in their efforts to do them good in body and soul, -^ but not all the colonists were like the leaders. We are too apt to gen- eralize vaguely concerning these ancestors of ours, and because the Plymouth Pilgrims were men of a high stamp, as statesmen and as Christians, to assume that all who came to the colonies were of the same type. But history does not bear us out in this assumption. There were adven-. turers among the immigrants. There were men who be- came mischief-makers in the new towns ; there were those who had to be sent back, to get them out of the way. And among those who remained, and who gradually pushed their way westward, there were those who cared little for any one's rights but their own, and who had as much share in making the life of the towns as those who were of a better mind. These men could not be made to look on the Indian as anything but an incumbrance, to be gotten rid of. The feeling that " the only good Indian is a dead Indian " did not originate in the Western plains, if the phrase did; and the broad meadows and produce tive "planting fields" of the civilized Indians were too strong a temptation to the white man, who very soon contrived to possess them, and not always by the method FIRST WHITE SETTLERS. II of lawful purchase. There were those Who protested against injustice; but even the brave and true men who have deserved only the gratitude of posterity were men who had been brotight up on the Old Testament ideas rather than on those of the New. They believed that God had given this land to his saints, as he did Canaan of old, -^ and they believed that they were the saints; and brave and true as they were, according to their age, they did not always ^^ especially when smarting from the cruel- ties of Indian warfare -^ see in the clearest'light the claims of the original propriStor. If, as We read the story, we are tempted to be harsh with them for this, we have sev- eral more modern stories, like that of the Black Hills, by which we may temper diir righteous wrath. John Eliot's little colony on Okommokamesit Hill very soon found that it was to have English company. In the very same year (1654) that Eliot sent up his petition to the General Court " that they might be settled in this, among othef places, unclaimed by the English," the first White man, one John How, is believed to have built his solitary -cabin a little east of their planting-field. He came from Watertown, led by what motives it might be hard to say, but bent on separation from society. He Was kind and friendly With his dusky neighbors, and from his superior knowledge came to be regarded by them as a sage and counsellor, and made a referee in their disputes. In Allen's "History of Northborough" an amusing illilst^atioh of this is cited. A dispute afose one day betweeft two of the natives concerning the own- ership of a pumpkin, which had ripened in the field of one of the parties, while the .vinfe that bore it had its roots in the other man's domain. Unable to solve so difficult a case of casuistry, they had recourse to Mr. How. He 12 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. gravely heard the case, put on his wisest countenance, and ordered the disputed property to be placed before him. Then calling for a knife, he cut the pumpkin in two, and gave half to each, — to the unbounded admiration of the litigants. But this life of patriarchal simplicity was of short dura- tion. It was only two years after the arrival of How (in May, 1656) that thirteen men of Sudbury — a town then eighteen years old — petitioned the General Court for a grant of land lying about eight miles to the westward. They had lived a good while in Sudbury, they said ; their children were growing up, and needing land ; their cattle were much increased ; and, in short, " wee are so straight- ened that wee cannot so Comfortably subsist as could be desired." There was no satisfying these pioneers in the matter of room. They felt crowded as soon as there were fifty families in a town. They could not find elbow-room on a farm of less than five hundred acres, even when they had in addition no end of meadow-land divided into lots for the common weal. Fifty years afterward the Haynes farm, lying to the west of Westborough, contained 1,686 acres in one place, and 3,200 in another; and yet the heirs were claiming from the General Court a modest settlement of 5,000 acres more. The settlers all cried with a naive literalness, — " No pent-up Utica contracts our powers, But the whole boundless continent is ours." As a consequence, the spread of new towns westward was rapid. Boston was incorporated in 1630, and on the same day Watertown, including at that time Waltham and Weston. Three years later Cambridge, including Brighton and Lexington, became a town under the name of Newtown. In 1635 Concord, containing Lincoln and FIRST WHITE SETTLERS. 1 3 Acton, began its history; and Sudbury, including the fu- ture Wayland, followed in 1639. Thus nine years from the founding of Boston, and nineteen from the landing of the Pilgrims, brought the Englishmen to the borders of the " borough towns." The population followed river-courses and sought the neighborhood of ponds, on account of the meadow-lands, which bore their crops of grass without cultivation while th« settlers were carrying on the slower work of subduing upland and woodland to the plough. So, climbing the hills to the westward, these restless spirits coveted the fair lands that sloped away toward the sunset, and sent in their petition in this year of grace 1656. They obtained their wish, too, to the extent of " a proportion of land six miles square, or otherwise in some convenient form equiv- alent thereto, at the discretion of the committee, in the place desired, — provided, that it hinder no former grant; that there be a town settled with twenty or more families within three years, so as an able ministry may be there maintained." Inasmuch, however, as this was found to interfere with the grant to the Indians through John Eliot two years be- fore, the Court ordered the planters to reserve six thousand acres for the red men, and suit themselves as well as they could with the remainder. This they were reluctant to do, and at first stoutly rebelled, and reserved only a part of the required area; but Eliot so successfully championed his wards that in 1658 the Court ordered " that the Indian plantation be enlarged northerly until they have their full 6,000 acres; " and .the English had to submit as best they might. The land thus granted to the settlers was not at once incorporated as a town, but became known as the Whip- 14 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. suppenicke, or, more commoijly, the Whipsufferadge Plantation, from the Indian name of the hill which lies a mile or so south of Okommokamesit. But on the 31st of May, 1660, in answer to a petition of the Whipsufferadge planters, the Court confirmed the former grant, and in- corporated the settlement as a town, to be called " Miarl- borow." It included what has since become Southborough, most of Westborough and Northborough, and a part of Hudson. CHAPTER II. 1660-1676. EARLIEST LANDHOLDERS WITHIN THE LIMITS OF THE PRESENT TOWN. — "KING" PHILIP'S WAR. 'T^O follow the history of Marlborough, which has al- ready been well written, is not in our purpose, except as it is interwoven with the first English occupa- tion of the lands which were afterward incorporated as Westborough. At the very beginning the settlers were attracted by its meadows and streams, toward the western part of their domain, even while they were trying to get possession of the Indian planting-field on the eastern hill. The thirteen families of 1656 had increased to thirty- eight in 1660, and a certain portion of the land, more or less centrally situated, was divided into " house-lotts>" containing from fifteen to fifty acres; while the coveted meadows were apportioned among all the proprietors. Some of the names given to the meadows at that time have survived, ^ Stirrup Meadow and Cold Harbor Meadow in Northborough, along the streams which bear those names; Middle Meadow, which still lies, in all its original charm, to the west of the Northborough road, along the beginnings of the Assabet, and reaches to the foot of the first hill west, of Westborough village; and Cedar Swamp Meadow, which was very likely at that time an open stretch to the east of the village. There were also a Crane Meadow and a Chauncy Meadow, whose situation, it is not difficult to conjecture: 1 6 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. The town business was begun, in September, 1660, in the usual manner of the time, by the order " That there bee a Rate made ffor Mr. William Brimsmead, Minister, to be collected of the Inhabitants and Proprietors of the town [for six months], at the rate of four pence per acre upon House Lotts, and three pence per pound upon Cattle." The next year a house was built for the minis- ter, and in 1662 a tax was imposed for building a meet- ing-house. But these orders were slow in taking effect. The people of the early settlements were chiefly eager to get their land subdued and their own houses built; being obliged by law to have a meeting-house and a minister at once, they conformed to the requirement by passing the proper votes at their first meetings, while they were often very slow in the fulfilment of them. More- over, in this particular case the proprietors had made some laws of their own, of undue severity, concerning the tenure of lands, requiring the owners to improve them within a very short time, and to pay heavy taxes, or else to forfeit their lands. Money was scarce, and the work of reclaiming the lands was arduous and slow; the result was an attempt to apply the law of forfeiture, which led to endless disagreement and litigation. It was not, therefore, till 1666 that a church was actually organized, over which Mr. Brimsmead, with some natural reluctance, was settled. But meantime the taking up of lands in the western part of the town was going on. The very earliest trace of individual ownership in this section is of unusual in- terest. It was in 1654, the same year that saw the first white man's cabin in Marlborough, that the Rev. Charles Chauncy, pastor of the church in Scituate, — formerly vicar of Ware, Hertfordshire, England, which parish he EARLIEST tANDHOLDERS; i; left on account of-Ms Puritanism, -^became the second president of Harvard' College. , The salary attached to the position was then exceedingly simall'j and in order- that he might- have the means of support, the General Court, poor in pounds sterling, but rich in lands, granted him several large tracts in the then unoccupied territory be- yond the settlements. Under such a grant he took up, in 1659, the year . previous to the incorporation of Marl- borough, certain lands lying about the pond that bears his name to-day, which are thus minutely described in ithe surveyor's creporf'to the General Court, Aug. 18, 1659: ? "Whereas John Stone and Andrew Belcher were appointed to lay out a farrhe for Mr. Charles Chauncy, President of Har- vard College, we have gone and lobked on a place, and there is taken up a tract of land bounded in this manner : On' the East a little swampe nearcan Jndjan wigwam, a plajne runing to a great pond,, and from thence to Assebeth River; and this Ijne is circular on the north side, the south Ijne runing circular to the south side of a peece of meadow called Jacob's meadoWj & so to continew till it reach to the sajd Assebeth River." The outlines of, this original "Chauncy Farm "cannot be traced to-day from ithis' description; the Indian wig- wam has disappeared, but the " great pond " ' — so named by the Indians — and "Assebeth River " remain, and suffi- ciently indicate the situation of the tract. When, in the following year, Marlborough was incorporated, the grant then confirmed to the .settlers included : this.i .farm of President Chauncy's ; and that .the resident . proprietors might not be prevented from occupying all the -land within the boundaries of the town, the Court ordered " that Mr. Chauncy be by them repaid all his charges: expended in laying out his farm in that place ;i and he hath liberty to lay out the same in any landsmot formerly 1 8 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. granted by this Court." Thus while the president's owner- ship passed away after a year's occupation, the name re- mained. Subsequently a settlement grew up about the pond, and was called Chauncy, or Chauncy Village, — which name it bore until it was incorporated as West- borough. It is singular that a century later all knowledge of this origin of the name had been lost, so that Mr. Park- man, the first minister of Westborough, could write as follows in I ^6^ : " This town was formerly a part of Marlborough, and called Chauncy. It is said that in early times one Mr. Chauncy was lost in one of the swamps here, and that from thence this part pf the town had its name. Two ponds, a greater and a less, are also called Chauncy, — most probably from the same cause." The Rev. Joseph Allen, of Northborough, first called atten- tion, in 1826, to the true origin of the name, which subsequent investigations of the State records have abun- dantly established. In 1662 the General Court granted, on account of services rendered to the colony by his son John, then deceased, one hundred and fifty acres to William Hol- loway; and he seems to have taken up a section of land which was afterward known as the Holloway and Wheeler Farm, in the extreme north of Northborough. Land situated still farther westward had been in the possession of settlers before this time. In 1657 John and Josiah Haynes and a Mr. Treadway bought of Mrs. Parnell Nowell, widow of Increase Nowell, who was for many years Governor's Assistant in the Massachusetts Colony, 3,200 acres which lay in what is now Shrews- bury, but adjoining Northborough on the west. In 1664' this land was surveyed and formally allotted to them. John Haynes also bought of Joseph Robin, an Indian s CO > H O w •x\ r > o a o en > w o X > O EARLIEST LANDHOLDERS. 1 9 proprietor, 1,686 acres adjoming Hassanemisco, and per- haps including some territory now in Westborough, be- yond the house of B. A. Nourse, on the New England Village road. In 1 67 1 the Marlborough young men began to sigh for more extended dominion, and sent up a petition to the General Court on the 31st of March, headed by Thomas King, and' containing among others the names of Thomas Rice, John Fay, and Thomas and John Brig- ham, asking for a grant of lands situated forty or fifty miles south or southwest of Marlborough. As this was outside the jurisdiction of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, their request could not be granted, and they were advised to seek other lands on the Connecticut River. Foiled in this project, several of the number contented themselves with taking up farms in the west part of Marl- borough, which now or soon after acquired its popular title of " Chauncy." John Brigham, afterward known as " Dr." Brigham, son of the Thomas Brigham who came from England, obtained a grant of land situated north of the present village of Northborough and including the meadows about Howard Brook. This was in 1672, when he was twenty-eight years old. On this brook he built a saw-mill; and there he lived alone among the savages until their hostility drove him away. In the same year a grant was made to Samuel Goodenow and Thomas Brigham (brother of the John Brigham above mentioned), situated in the easterly part of North- borough. Samuel Goodenow's house stood near the spot where Stirrup Brook crosses the road from North- borough to Marlborough. Thomas Brigham lived on the Warren Brigham place, on the south road between Northborough and Marlborough. Another grant was 20 EARLY: HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. made in 1672 to John Rediet, "west of Assebfith Riverj northwest of Chauncy Great Pondv bounded on the east by a spruce swamp," and another on " the Nepthuck road, that formerly led toward Coneticoat." The former of these grants, afterward the farm of Nathaniel Qake, who married John Rediet's daughter; belonged .at a later period to the Rev. John Martyn and the Rev. Peter Whitney., In the south part of ,Ghauncy, which is- now West^ borough, Thomas Rice is reported, to have been, the first settler.' His house stood in the rear, of the Christopher Whitney place. Just when he came is uncertain ; but he was here in 1675, and his house was garrisoned during King Philip's war. He was born June 30, 1654, and was the son of Edmund Rice, who camefrom England. His first wife, Mary, died in Watertown May. 13, 1677, and in 168 1 he married his cousin^ Anna Rice. He was twenty- one years old in 1675, ^"^^ it is probable that he married his first wife ;and built his rude dwelling at the foot of the hill but a very short time before that. Whether there were other settlers as early as this within the present hmits of Westborough is uncertain. The "Fay Farm," in the western part, — a portion of the irregular outline of . which has determined the shape of the town in that locality,-'^ was certainly occupied very early, and seems to have been in the possession of some of the Brighams before it passed into the possession of John and Samuel Fay; but as it had no garrison in 1675, there were probably at that time no dwellings on it. The year 1675 is memorable throughout this region. It saw the most serious clash that ever occiirred between the settlers and the aborigines in New England, and the set- tlement here received a check, that was almost fatal. . The KING PHILIP'S WAR. 21 relations between the : English? and the Indians on Okom- mokamesit hillhad never been severely strained up to this:tiine. The whites had, mdeed, always begrudged the Indians their allotment ofsix thousand acres, but they made no further' attempts. to encroach upon it, probably feehng sure that it would soOn fall to them for lack of inhabitants. For. while the English settlement was rap- idly- growing, the Indian town was passing away. In 1674 it contained only ten families and fifty persons. Major Gookin, in; his queer. Puritanic English, and with the grotesque use; of ^ Scripture then prevalent,: sums op the situation thus forcibly: "This town doth join so near to the English of Marlborough that it was spoken of by David in; type, i and our Lord Jesus Christ the antitype, ' Under his shadow ye. shall rejoicei; ' but the Indians here' do not much rejoice under the Englishmen's shadow, who do so overtop them in their number of people, stocks of cattle, &c., that the Indians do not greatly flourish or delight in their shadow at present." This, was inevitable. While the intelligence and skill of the Englishman: made him an unequal competitor in the- struggle for ; life, the. Indian was not yet ready for any 'large success as a cultivator of the soil. He could only rise to that: higher grade of life by slow degrees and with infinite, patience x>i training on the part of his teachers. This the. as?erage settler;; was by no means prepared to give. J.: The missionary work had to be done by a) few; enthusiasts," and they were unequal to the task. B>Bt a more serious collision than the; natural one be- tween ignorance and skill was impending. While no con- flict was likely to arise. with the Indians of the "praying towns,'' the rest of the aborigines were by no means 22 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. subdued. They had thus far dealt kindly enough with the new-comers, raising no objection to selling them all the lands they desired, for a few petty objects of barter which their simple barbaric souls craved. But Dr. Ellis has recently called attention to the probability that they did this with the idea that it was only a joint owner- ship that the white man sought. They were not in the habit of using their lands for tillage, and did not see why the two races might not live in peace on the same soil. It was a surprise to them to find that English owner- ship meant their exclusion. In 1643 and 1644 all but one of the sachems of eastern Massachusetts had formally submitted to the Government of the colony, so that all the territory from the Merrimac to Taunton River and west- ward to Brookfield was under colonial rule. But Philip of Mount Hope had never submitted. He alone saw that the sale of land to the English meant the driving out of his race. He and his Pokanokets had long been the terror of Plymouth Colony, and at length it was rumored that he had persuaded the Nipmucks to become his allies. If that were so, it was a serious matter for our pioneers. The new town of Marlborough was a frontier post con- taining not quite fifty families. Situated on " the Con- necticut road," it was the intermediate station between Boston and the settlements on the Connecticut River. Eastward were Sudbury and Concord, communicating, through Lexington and Watertown, with Boston. North- ward were only Lancaster and Groton. On the southeast the nearest town was Medfield. Southward was Mendon and the Indian towns of Hassanemisco and Maguncook. Westward the country stretched away unoccupied, save by Indians and wild beasts, to where the newly incorpo- rated town of Brookfield rose out of the wilderness. In KING PHILIP'S WAR. 23 case of attack, therefore, Marlborough was in a situation of extreme peril. In the summer of 1675 the Nipmuck Indians began to be seriously mistrusted. They had killed four or five people in Mendon, and alarmed the whole region. But the Government, still hoping to make alliance with them, sent a delegation, headed by Capt. Edward Hutchinson of Marlborough, to meet their chiefs at Quaboag (Brook- field) and hold parley. The end of that expedition every one knows, — a treacherous ambush, eight men killed, the town burned. Captain Hutchinson mortally wounded, and the expedition utterly routed. Captain Hutchinson's grave may be seen to-day in the old burying- ground in Marlborough. In October eight garrison houses were established in different parts of the town; these were surrounded by rough palisade work, and to them a few soldiers and a number of the neighboring inhabitants were assigned in case of attack. One of these was Thomas Rice's house. The town had already been made a military post and a depot of supplies; and in the struggle that ensued it became the headquarters of the army of defence. During the autumn Philip and his allies were engaged with the towns on the Connecticut, — Deerfield, Hadley, Northfield, and Springfield. In the February following there was trembling throughout all the region. On the loth the savages fell upon Lancaster, which then joined this town on the north, killing or capturing more than forty persons, among them brave Mrs. Rolandson and her children. They were checked in their career only by the arrival of a Marlborough company under Captain Wadsworth. Then passing southward, plundering as they went, hindered from attacking Marlborough only by its 24 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. ;extra defences, on the 2ist they fell upon Medfield, by a concerted movement setting fire to the houses before the break of day, and escaping with savage .swiftness' before the garrison was aroused. On this same day a special session of the General Court was held, when further measures. were taken for defence in a war which- was becoming atrocious, and began to : threaten ; the annihilation of the: settlements. Some of the orders issued that /day. , have a^pecial interest for us. ; For example, — " Major Gen" Denison is ordered to repair unto Marlborow, there to order and dispose the souldiers undfer their several X^aptaines, according -to the order of the General! Court, taking care that those who goe forth be able and fitt for' the sajd march, &, that the' comissarys doe send along> w* them the am- unitions & provisions; & that the troopers & so many of the foote soldiers as can be in a readiness do march away on the second day of the week, so as they may be at Quaboag on the third day according to the agreement of the comissioners. The supernumerary souldiers are to bfe disposed for the garri- soning of those frontier towns, as the Majbr Gen'' shall judge meet, excepting only Buch as for just reason or bodily infirmity he shall dismiss, special respect.. being. had to the garrison at Marlborow." There were also the following " Instructiorls fbr Mr. James Brajden, appointed comissary for ye army: — .'^'i. First, you are to speed away to iMarlborow & there to choose the flattest house you can finde to lodge the provisions and amunitions that is sent vnto you, and to cause it to be carefully secured & kept for the vse and service of the army as there shall be occasion. "2. You are to declare to the cheefe coffiander on the place that it is the Court's pleasure that he afEoord youi la suflScient guard for the securing the magazine. ; . KING. PHItlP'S. WAR. 2$ "3. You are toitake such assistance as may, be necessary to performe the service, comitted to you and to deliver, forth what is coiiiitted to you for the vse & service of the army & keeping carefull and particular accounts of all matters & yielding obedi- ence to such orders as you shall receive from the comander in I cheife or comittee for the war, and' ghre intelligence to the council or coinittee for y' army of all matters 'requisit fbr the publick service respecting yo' place." A. warrant was also directed to be "issued out to y° Comittee for y" army to. send awaysy^ provisions ordered to be at y*. headquarters at Marlborow by the last day of the week. Also tosend up some liquors arnd spice with a xompetency of canvass for a tent to. shelter y" provisions andcaniunttion, as -also the carpenters' tools, nayles, &c., to build, a quarter at Quaboag or elsewhere; which was done." Troops were ordered to scour the ^ country between Groton and Lancaster, aiid; Marlborough and 'Medfield, where the Indians were prowling about in small com- paniess : Suspicions began to arisej also, on both sides, against the praying. Indians, -^ on the. part of the whites, lest they were enemies in disguise, in secret communica- tion with Philip's iarmy ; on the part of the. hostile Indians, lest they were -aiding: the settlers. So between upper and nether millstones the poor fellows; who had really done no harm . whatever, were crushed out. Some Marlborough Indians having been: found in ' the woods, near what is now New Braintree,. with, the horde which a few days later ravaged Lancaster, the few remaining warriors of the Okommokamesit town (in all but fifteen) were ar- rested by troops, sent fromi: Governor Leverett, . and with their hands tied behind; their backs, and bound neck to neck with a cart-rope,. they. were driven to Boston; and 26 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. thence taken to one of the islands in the harbor, where they passed a winter of severe suffering. By the middle of March the woods to the west of the town were swarming with the savages. On the 1 3th they burned Groton, and the whole region was filled with terror. But troops being sent out against them, they fled to the Connecticut River. Thereupon Marlborough, not yet fully acquainted with the subtlety of the foe, breathed freely again, and the soldiers dispersed to their farms. That was the very thing the wily fellows wanted, and suddenly, on the 26th of March, being Sunday, as the people were unsuspiciously worshipping in their meeting- house, the terrible cry rang out, " The Indians are upon us ! " The congregation in wild confusion rushed to the nearest garrison house, and fortunately all reached it in safety, save one : brave Deacon Newton, delaying in order to help an old and infirm woman, was hit by a ball in his elbow, which crippled his arm for life. But he had nobly exemplified the Christianity of which he had been hearing that day, and proved himself a deacon that " had use.d the office well, and purchased to himself a good degree." The people were safe, but it was the hour of doom for the town; for when they emerged from their retreat they found meeting-house, parsonage, and homes burned, their cattle killed, their orchards ruined. After sixteen years of life and growth the little frontier settlement came to an end. They might, perhaps, have rebuilt, in spite of this, and gone forward with a brave determination. But when, on the 17th of April following, Sudbury was devastated, and several of the Marlborough men, who were defend- ing it, — including Captain Brocklebank, commander of the garrison, — lost their lives, the pioneers gave up the KING PHILIP'S WAR. 27 unequal contest, left the lands they had reclaimed, and retired to the older towns. But this war, which ended with the death of Philip on the 1 2th of August following, however seriously it weak- ened the English, broke forever the power of the Indian tribes of Massachusetts. It was their last struggle for life and the possessions of their fathers. And however much we may deprecate their methods, which were simply those of savage warfare everywhere, we cannot severely blame them for rising up to strike one desperate blow for the right to live, and roam their ancient huntirig-fields. Only cowards could tamely submit to dispossession and practical extinction. The Indians were not a specially noble race; they were apt, in the long contest between French and English for the possession of the land, to fight on the side that promised the best pay, without much sense of right or much manifestation of manhood. They were savages. But Philip, quicker than the rest to see the meaning of the steady encroachment of the whites upon his domain, with more of the true fibre of a man in him than most of his contemporaries, deserves the .credit that belongs to bravery and a true defence of the rights of freehold. We are not sorry he did not suc- ceed ; it was better that the higher race should hold the land; and we have nothing but horror for the treachery and cruelty of the warfare he waged : but we need not therefore forget that he fought and died, like many a nobler man, for the rights he defended, and the liberty and property which he saw vanishing from him, — not always by fair means And with him fell the last de- fender of the Indian inheritance. There were none left to strike a blow. Their hour had come, and they passed away like a morning cloud. We hear little more of the 28 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBO ROUGH. Massachusetts Indians., Those who at a later period strike terror into the people of this region; are ^of anothfer stock, and, as a rule, from the Canadian tribes- In Marlborough there lingered for some time an un- equal contest with the little remnant .of the settlement of praying Indians concerning their lands, which ended, as such contests always have in, this, country,'- in- the posses- sion by the white man of. the Indian's freehold'. Then they faded away. There is from this time no relic what- ever of the lOkommokamesit people- > Indians have lived in this vicinity since; the .Rev. Joseph Allen,! who wrote his sketch of Northborough im 1826, had been told by Capt. Timothy. Brigham, then in his ninety-first year, of one David ,Munnanaw,„whom Captain Brigham had seen in his boyhood, a survivor of Philip's war, who had taken part against the English. He lived.in a wig-wam on the $hore of a pond near the Gates House, in Marlbofough. One Abimelech David, supposedi to be his son, with sev- eral daughters* all .dissipated and thievish, lived afterward in a wretched hovel under an oak near the Warren Brig- ham place. But these were not Okommokamesit Indians, but stragglers from the Hassanemesits.: The site of an old Indian burying-ground is still visible near this spot. The land around it has been ploughed and planted many times,' but one little rectangular area has ' been kept sacredly-free from the touch of ploughshare to this days guarded by the tradition, that it contains the dust of red men. CHAPTER III. 1676-1711. PRELIMINARY MOVEMENTS TOWARD- A NEW TOWN. — INDIAN TROUBLES DURING " QUEEN ANNE'S WAR:" 'T^HE eclipse, of the new settlement occasioned by the war did not last long. The . pioneer spirit was strong, and the longing for new lands could not be sup- pressed. In two years from its .collapse Marlborough was on its feet again, and the town organization was re- sumed, with twenty-seven families as the nucleus. , A tem- porary meetiiig-house, which. sufficed them for the next eleven years, was raised on, the site of the. one burned by the Indians, an(d affairs went on as before., The western part of the settlement began to assume important propor- tions, and to have a strong vote and influence in. town affairs. It was growing up chiefly around Chauncy.Pond,; and had already taken the name of Chauncy. Village. When in 1688 Marlborough proposed to build a new meet- ing-house, the Chauncy people; protested against setting, it on the old spot, which was too far away for their con- venience ; and Chauncy was so much of a community that the following vote was carried in town meeting : — " That if the westerly part of the town shall see cause after- wards to build artother meeting house, and find itself able to" do so, and to maintain a minister, then the division to be made by a line at the cart-way at Stirrup "Broot, where the Connecti- cut way now goeth, and to run, a paralell. line with, the west line of the bounds of the town." . 30 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. This was essentially the line of subsequent divisiofa. The " Connecticut way " here referred to, built not long before Philip's war, ran from Marlborough town through the present territory of Northborough and Shrewsbury, crossing Lake Quinsigamond near its northern end, and leading to Brookfield and the Connecticut valley. It probably determined the subsequent course of the "country" (county) road of 1730, and corresponded, partially at least, to the present line of road from Marlborough to Worcester. The junction of this road with Stirrup Brook was near the Bartlett place, in the edge of Marlborough. It will be noticed that the vote above recorded has the expression, " where the Connecticut way now goeth ; " this means that there was an earlier " Connecticoat road," which, however, was only a bridle-path, which made a southerly detour near the present Marlborough line, pass- ing, according to Allen, through the easterly part of Northborough, over Rock Hill, east of Great and Little Chauncy ponds, and so southwesterly through Grafton. It has been substantially followed in Lyman and Main streets. This was doubtless originally the path between the two Indian settlements of Okommokamesit and Hassanemisco.; when Brookfield began to rise in the wilderness, the newer way was opened. At this time, two hundred years ago, in spite of the growth of Chauncy, the territory to which Westborough is now restricted was still lonely. If at that time one had climbed the hill above the Whitney place, and could have found an outlook through the forest that then cov- ered it, he would have seen little but unbroken wilder- ness. The same rounded hills lay about him as to-day ; the same wooded crests swept around to the north; MOVEMENTS TOWARD A NEW TOWN. 3 1 Chauncy Pond gleamed through the trees as fair as now ; the meadows were as green ; Wachusett and his dimly out- lined sentinels stood guard as proudly in the northwest: but the signs of human habitation were few. He might catch a glimpse of a number of houses that clustered around the great pond, — Thomas Rice.'s house, with its stockade, lay just at his feet. Perhaps, away to the left, hidden by the hills, were "the houses of the Fays," — alluded to in a plan of the territory made some years later. To the northeast rose the rude church of Marl- borough on the hill-top. And two miles or so away, a little west of north, he would have noticed two gently rounded knolls, partially wooded, — the one to the west sloping away to the green meadows that lined the As- sabet. On the slope of that little hill, forty years later, was to rise the little homely meeting-house of a new town, and close by it the homestead of its first pastor. The wilderness about him was not as safe to wander in as now. Five years before, Marlborough had paid a bounty for twenty-three wolves killed by the settlers. Rattlesnakes infested the western hills in such numbers that the town voted, in 1680, — " To raise thirteen men to go out to cil rattlesnakes, eight to Cold Harbor-ward, and so to the place they cal boston ; and five to Stony brook-ward [Southborough], to the places thereabout. John Brigham to cal out seven with him to the first, and Joseph Newton four with him to the latter j and they are to have two shillings apiece per day, paid out of a town rates." This " place they cal boston " is reputed to have been " Boston Hill," on the Shrewsbury line, beyond Hobomoc Pond; and tradition adds — though not with equal proba- bility — that the name arose from the circumstance that at some previous time as many snakes had been killed 32 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. on that; hill as: there were inhabitants ia the young village of Boston., '.-. There is nothing: to indicate that: the severe political trials through which the colony was passing at this time were greatly felt in thisfvicinity. i It seems as though the coastrtowns felt the influence of the mother-country quite as much as the frontier tawns were afifected-by the experir ences of ^ Boston. The . chief foes of the interior were , the wilderness, and its savages. These . men,', being farmers, lacked the opportunities, of: the coast-towns for making money by manufactures: and commerce. They were also saved from the burdens and losses. of heavy taxes, prohibi- tive tariffs, and : political intrigues. . The Jife was plain and simple, too much occupied with unremitting toil to leave time for great; concern with- the affairs of State. The journey to Boston,, which could be made, only on horse- back, was seldom undertaken, and; the Jads from this frontier would have looked on with utter amazement at the fine.sights and i:gay attire of the provincial city: Nor. were their, fathers more disturbed at the endeavors of royalists to import Church 'of England woi-ship, or at the appearance of new and ; strange forms of belief and practice, that sprang up in the coast-towns; for they were too far away to know much- about them. . Even the struggle with the English Government and the loss of the charter of the colony in 1684 -seem to have scarcely disturbed the quiet of the life here, which was wholly turned to the effort . required to regain the losses of the Indian war. Thus the years went -by, in patient struggle with the wilderness, for a quarter of a century from the time of the return. But at length Chauncy has attained a growth which makes it long for rights and privileges of its own. MOVEMENTS TOWARD A NEW TOWN. 33 There are more fair lands to the west waiting for occu- pancy, if only there were a meeting-house in the vicinity and enough of the privileges of a town to attract new settlers. Accordingly, the year 1702 saw the birth of a definite effort to found a new town. Chauncy had not forgotten the vote of 1688, above referred to, and the peti- tion which was sent up to the General Court was based upon it. This, which is called, for convenience, Henry Kerly's petition, was as follows : — "To her Maj''== Hon'"' Councill &c. Humbly Sheweth: — That whereas the town of Marlborough, in their first settlement of their Plantacion, seated their town towards the westerly end of said Plantacion, and since hath laid out a considerable por- tion of the land on the westerly part into Lotts : the inhabitants considering that much of their land, both upland and meadow, would be very Proper and Convenient for settling upon, only remote from any meeting, — " Therefore, for Jncouragement of people to settle there, the s* Town of Marlborough on the 21st day of May, 1688, did grant Liberty to build a Meeting House, and forthwith staked out bounds there for a village to be settled ; through which Jncouragement a considerable number of families are already settled thereon, who find a difficulty and inconveniency in the want of a Meeting House, and being so remote from any, and Likewise Considering y' there are several farms and Vacant Lands in the Country adjacent to it sufiicient to make a village, — "Therefore we your Humble Petitioners do pray for an Jn- largement; That from the Westerly bounds of Marlborough Town the said new settlement which is called Chauncy, may be extended to Consigamack [Quinsigamond] Pond, and to a parallel line to Marlborough west line while it comes to Has- sanessit, the Indian Plantation, and so to run the full breadth of five miles until it comes to Hassanessitt, and so cutting upon that Plantation j also a mile in breadth on the southerly side from Sudbury River to the Indian bounds before mentioned ; 3 34 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. we desiring all bounds of land to, stand as they are already settled, and the vacant lands to be for the benefit of the place, and the farms to do duty and take privelege amongst us ;. & y' Humble Petitioners shall forever pray &c, {Signed by) Henry Kerly Richard Barnes Nathan Brigham Samuel Brigham Jacob Rice John Mainerd Jr. Joseph Rice Anna Ward Increase Ward James Rice JosiAH Hawes ThoI Brigham Sam": Goodnow Eliezer How Edmund Rice David Mainerd Thomas ffurbush Joseph Witherby Sam": ffurbush 'Isaac Thomlin John ffay Samjjel ffay John Brigham. This tract included not only the present territory of Westborough and Northborough, but the whole of Shrews- bury and, the major part of Boylston, together with a wide strip from the northern section of Grafton, It was not all unclaimed land, by any means. More than five thousand acres beyond the present western line had tome into English hands. Of this the greater part was owned by the Haynes family, already mentioned, and at the very time of Henry Kerly's petition was in litigation before the General Court. The original Haynes brothers, who pur- chased the thirty-two hundred acres of Mrs. Nowell in 1657, having died, the property was divided among the heirs. John and Peter, sons of John, senior, petitioned the Court for the confirmation to them of additional land, which they claimed to have purchased of the Indians. John Brigham, who had married the daughter of Josiah Haynes, put in a counter petition, showing by a plan of MOVEMENTS TOWARD A NEW TOWN. 35 the territory that his access to, certoin meadow-lands would be- cut off if the petition, of the other heirs was granted. It may have been the unsettled state of these claims which prevented the granting of the Kerly peti* tion. At any rate, it was not granted, and the "village" of Chauncy remained as it had been, a part of the town of Marlborough, for fifteen years longer. One farther step was taken, meantime, by the grant, on the 13th of March, 1 709, from the Proprietors of Marl- borough, of fifty acres of land " for the benefit of the. Ministry in the westerly end of Marlborough, called Chauncy village." It consisted of forty acres of upland and swamp west of Chauncy Pond, and ten acres of meadow " at the west end of Great Middle Meadow,, near Habamoka pond." This remained a part of the "- minis- terial farm" until Westborough and.Northborough were divided, and was not sold until 1784. Shortly after the Kerly petition the perils of life in the wilderness received a new illustration. During the twenty- five years that had gone by since the war with Philip, the settlers had been unmolested. The heroes of that war had become veterans, and the children had grown, up and were cultivating farms, unterrified by the savage war-whoop. Life was hard enough, without that, to be sure; one woad.ers at the irrepressible desire that these, men had to maintain their struggle with the wilderness, and the utter absence of any wish to fall back upon the older towns, or try- the comparative luxury of life on tihe coast. But the pioneer fever was upon them strongly, and privation and danger seemed only to stimulate their hardy spirits. Now, however, came new troubles. Though the Massachusetts Indians had disappeared, there were forces at work in the far North creating deep- hostility in the 36 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Indian tribes of those regions ; and at about this period bands of them, instigated by the French, began to come southward, and to prowl about these settlements. It was an incident in the history of what is known as " Queen Anne's war," which was itself but an incident in the long struggle between England and France for the possession of the New World. The French in Canada made great use of the Indians, — as, for that matter, the English did also, as they found opportunity ; and it added untold hor- rors to the history of the struggle. After the disastrous failure of the attack of the New England forces on Que- bec in 1690, there was an outbreak of hostility from that quarter which made the New England settlers realize for the first time what they afterward became so wearily familiar with, — the terrors of a " French and Indian war." Queen Anne's war broke out in 1702 ; and two years later began that series of Indian raids which is so mem- orable in the annals of the time, when Deerfield and Haverhill were devastated with a cold-blooded barbarity which has never ceased to make men shudder. In July, 1704, a body of six or seven hundred French and In- dians, foiled in an attempt to destroy Northampton, came eastward and attacked Lancaster. Capt. Thomas Howe, of Marlborough, gathering what force he could, marched to the relief of his neighbors; but the English were defeated and driven into the garrison, and the town was desolated. On the 8th of August following, Chauncy had its share in the common terror. In the hot summer day some men and boys were at work in the field just this side of the Whitney place, spreading flax. The hill rose above them to the south, covered then with a thick growth of trees. Suddenly, before any one of them could turn himself H r > o INDIAN TROUBLES. n or know what had happened, a party of eight or ten In- dians had rushed down from the hill and seized the boys. Little Nahor Rice, only five years old, was summarily disposed of in true Indian fashion, by having his brains dashed out on a rock; four others, from seven to ten years old, were " captivated," as the quaint record has it, and carried off to the woods, while the rest of the party escaped in panic to the garrison-house of Thomas Rice, which was close by. Of the captives, Asher, aged ten, and Adonijah, aged eight, were Thomas Rice's sons ; the others, Silas and Timothy, nine and seven years old, as well as Nahor, who was killed, were sons of Edmund Rice, a second cousin of Thomas, who lived near what has since been called Willow Park. The little boy Nahor is said to have been the first English person buried within the limits of the present town. It was a sad day for these pioneers. Five tiny lads gone at a stroke, one to cruel death, the others to a captivity more dreaded than death ! There were grim faces around the firesides that night as the men thought and plotted for rescue and vengeance ; and the mothers, poor things, un- likely to get much soothing from the stern-browed men, and accustomed to regard all such calamity, in the Puri- tanic fashion, as the sign of God's ill-will to them, had many a long day of silent pain. The boys were taken to Canada, to wait for ransom, or to be trained in the Indian life and warfare. Measures were taken to rescue them, but without much fruit. Four years later, through the efforts of Colonel Lydius, of Albany, Asher was redeemed by his father, and returned home. He was, however, so broken by the shock he had received at the time of his seizure that he never fully recovered from it. He lived at home until he married, when he removed to Spencer. He was .38 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. a very eccentric man, " a little teched," as the phrase used to be. He spent a great deal of effort in making a grist- mill on a new plan, so that the upper stone jshould be fixed, wMle the lower one revolved. This, he insisted, was the only natural way, for in the human mouth, v/hich was evidently -the original corn^mill, -it was the lower jaw that did the work. But men laughed quietly at his oddities, for they pitied. him. Some remains of the Indian habits which he had gained in his four years life in a wigwam always dung to him. And the fear of the red-men never left him. Daily he dreaded the possibility of their approach; and long after all danger bad passed away, he built stockades, and tried to be prepared in case of an attack. He had a son Asher, born in 1734, who died in Spencer in 1823, in his ninetieth year; and he has, or had a few years ago, descendants still living there. Adonijah, his younger brother, was never redeemed, but grew up in Canada, though he did not remain all his life among the Indians. He became sufficiently one of them, however, to bear among -them the name of Asaundugoo- ton. Afterward he married twice, — r first a Frenchwoman, and the second time a Dutchwoman, — and became the owner of a good farm near Montreal, on the north side of the St. Lawrence. The two sons of Edmund Rice, Silas and Timothy, grew up in the Indian wigwams, lost their mother-tongue, and became essentially savages. Of Silas we kno-w nothing, except that he married, an Indian .squaw and was called Tookanowras. But Timothy, the seven-year-old boy, had qualities of his own, inherited from a sturdy igeneration, which eould not be consigned to oblivion even in an Indian wigwam, or under the rather discouraging name of Oughtzor6ngoughton. He was adopted in the place INDIAN TROUBLES. 39 of his own son, who had died, by a chief of the Cana- wagas, a tribe of the Iroquois converted by the French Jesuit missionaries, and settled near Morjtreal; and thus ^ had a better opportunity than often fell to the lot of a captive. The Rev. Ebenezer Parkman wrote in 1 769, after some acquaintance with the persons and the facts : — I'' "Timothy had much recommended himself to the Indians by His superior talents, his penetration, courage, strength, and war- - like spirit, for which he was much celebrated, — as was evident 6' to me from conversation with the late Sachem Kendrick and 'g Mr. Kellog when they were in Massachusetts. He himself, in process of time, came to see us. By the interposition of Colonel Lydius' and the captive Tarbell, who was carried away from Groton, a letter was sent me, bearing date July 23, 1740, certifying that if one of their brethren would go up to Albany, and be there at a time specified, they would meet him there, and one of them at least would come hither to visit his friends in New England. The chief abovesaid came, and the said Mr. Tarbell with him, as interpreter and companion. They arrived here September isth. They viewed the house where Mr. Rice dwelt, and the place from which the children were captivated, of both which he retained a clear remembrance, as he did likewise of several elderly people then living, though he had forgot our language. [It was thirty-six years after the capture.] His Excellency Governor Belcher sent for them, who accordingly waited on him at Boston. They also visited Tarbell's relatives at Groton ; then returned to us on their way back to Albany and Canada. Colonel Liydius, when at Boston not long since, said this Rice was the chief who made the speech to General Gage which we had in our public prints, in behalf of the Cana- "wagas, sobh after the reduction of Montreal." The Rev. Peter Whitney adds that " When the old In- dian sachem Ountassogo, chief of the Canawagas, at the conference with Governor Belcher at Deerfield, made a visit -to -Boston, he stopped a while in WestbOrough ; and Asher Rice saw him, and knew him to be one of 40 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. the Indians who rushed down the hill when he was taken by them." Another Indian raid occurred three years later, on the i8th of August, 1707, on the farm of Samuel Goodnow, who had settled on Stirrup Brook, on the north road from Northborough to Marlborough. Mary Goodnow, his daughter, and Mrs. Mary Fay, wife of Gershom Fay, whose farm was near by, were gathering herbs in a field, when twenty-four Indian warriors rushed from the woods. Mrs. Fay ran for the house of Mr. Goodnow, which was a garrison-house, and reached it safely. Mary Goodnow, being lame, was overtaken and made captive. The neigh- borhood was at once aroused, and so vigorous an attack was made that the Indians were quickly routed, and ran, leaving their twenty-four packs behind them. Enraged, however, by their defeat, and finding that the girl's lame- ness prevented her rapid flight with them, they killed and scalped her a few rods beyond Stirrup Brook. Her body was found by her friends shortly afterward, and buried where it fell. Mrs. Fay, on reaching the garrison- house, had found only one man there ; but by their heroic exertions, she loading and he firing, they kept the Indians at bay until help arrived. On account of these recurring dangers the town of Marlborough in 171 1 increased the number of garrison- houses to twenty-six, assigning to each a certain number of families in the vicinity, who were, in case of danger, to take refuge in them and defend them. Among these were the houses of Thomas and Edmund Rice, both within the limits of the present Westborough. Those of Samuel Goodnow and Thomas Brigham, which were also among those garrisoned, were within the precincts of the original town. INDIAN TROUBLES. 4 1 The spot where Nahor Rice was killed is still known approximately, and the grave of Mary Goodnow in Northborough definitely. It would help to preserve the early memorials of New England history if these spots were marked by a rude bowlder with the name cut in deep characters, and held sacred thereafter against the encroachments of the too irreverent enterprise of modern times. CHAPTER IV. 1711-1723. INCORPORATION, AND BEGINNINGS OF TOWN LIFE. IN 171 3 the peace of Utrecht put a temporary check on Indian depredations. The loss of the colonies, from 1675 to 1713, is estimated at nearly six thousand men; and yet they were by no means crippled. Still less was the brave pioneer spirit broken. No sooner was the im- mediate danger over than their enterprise broke forth again in the effort to establish new towns and push civili- zation westward ; and the years immediately following the establishment of peace were marked by an unusual num- ber of applications for incorporation. Among these was one from certain inhabitants of Marlborough, signed by Isaac Amsden and sixty-six others, which resulted soon after in the incorporation of Westborough. This petition was probably presented to the General Court at the session of 1716. The document itself is lost; but an undated plan of the territory, which probably ac- companied it, is in the archives at the State House. The petition asked for the erection of a new town out of the western part of Marlborough, and including some eighteen hundred acres west of Marlborough, afterward assigned to Shrewsbury. It immediately drew out a counter petition from John Brigham and thirty others, received in Court Nov. 23, 1716, praying for " ungranted INCORPORATION. 43 lands between Lancaster, Sutton, Marlborougli, Worcester, Hassanamisco, and Bridgham's farm, ... to be erected into a town." This was the first movement toward the incorporation of Shrewsbury. As these two petitions in- terfered with each other, it was ordered that Mr. Brigham and his fellow-petitioners should prepare a plan of the land desired, and that the Marlborough petition should be continued to the next session, in order that it might be determined more clearly what measures would best promote the public welfare. In the May following, John Brigham had his plan ready ; and Samuel Thaxter, John Chandler, and Jonathan Rem- .ington, Esq., were appointed a committee of the General Court "to view the land and inquire into the circumstances of the petitioners," etc., and to see "whether, if the petition of the Inhabitants of Marlborough for a Part of the said land be granted, the Remainder of the said tract will not be thereby disadvantaged for a Township." This was quite a necessary inquiry, for the land-seekers of that time had a shrewd eye to their own interests. The committee reported June 19, favoring the grant for Shrewsbury, — " provided the Court allow to the Westerly part of Marlborough a line to be continued from the Westerly bounds of Lieut. Rice's farm, until it meets with Fay's farm, and then to bound by said Fay's farm according to the lines thereof, until it meet with Sutton line on the Southward ; and from the Northwest corner of said Rice's land to run upon a strait line to a heap of stones, called Warner's corner, which is the most easterly corner of Haynes' farm, by the country road ; and including therein the land which the report of Samuel Thaxter, Esq., & dated June 19, proposes should be laid to them, and present it to this Court for allowance." In the House of Representatives, Oct 31, 1 7 17, the petition was read, — 44 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. " Shewing that a confiderable Number of the Inhabitants of the said Town have settled themselves in the Westerly Part of said Town, where they are at a considerable distance from the Place of publick Worship, and ill accommodated to attend it in the said Place, and therefore Praying that the said Westerly Part may be fett off as a Precinct or Township, and certain lands lying near them taken into the said Precinct or Township.'' It was — " Ordered that the Petitioners prepare a Plat, taken by an able Surveyor, of the Land which they desire, and [which] the town of Marlborough agree should be sett off & made a feparate Town- ship, including therein the Land which the report of Samuel Thaxter, Esq., &c.. Dated June 19, proposes should be laid to them, and present it to this Court for Allowance." A drawing of the territory desired had already been presented to the Court with the petition of Isaac Amsden ; but it was not drawn with exactness, and it claimed some eighteen hundred acres more than the committee recom- mended the Court to grant. A new survey was made by William Ward, correcting the boundaries and conforming to the committee's report, a copy of which is here shown. This plan represents the exact area originally incorporated. The record of incorporation is as follows : — Monday, Nov. 18, 1717. A plat of the Westerly Part of Marlborough, called Chauncy, presented by the Committee appointed by the General Court to view & make Report of the said Land unto the- said Court. In the House of Represent'^ Nov. 15, Resolved that the Tract of Land contained and described in this Plat be erected into a Township, & called by the Name of Westborough. The Inhabitants to have and enjoy all Powers, Privileges, & Immu- nities whatsoever, as other towns have and do enjoy, and that the ungranted Lands lying within the same (Containing about Three Thousand Acres), be granted to the said Inhabitants, BEGINNINGS OF TOWN LIFE. 4S They paying for the same as the Committee, appointed by this Court this session for settling the Lands of the new Township that is contiguous [Shrewsbury], shall order. And that out of the said lands there be reserved a suitable and convenient Lott for the first settled Minister, Which Lott the said Committee shall sett out. Sent up for Concurrence. Read and Concurred. Con- sented to, Sam'-'- Shute, This was the hundredth town in Massachusetts. The committee to whom was referred the matter of compensation, consisting of Samuel Thaxter, Jonathan Remington, and Francis Fulham, reported, Jan. 20, 1719, " that the inhabitants of Westboro pay for the land granted by the Court, besides 100 acres laid out for a minister, amounting, besides farms, to 2207 a., ;^8o lawful money. To be paid, in 4 equal payments, on or before the first day of June, 1723." So from this time there is a Westborough in fact as well as in prospect, and the days of "Chauncy" are numbered. No more slow toiling over the plain and up the hill to the Marlborough meeting-house on Sundays and town-meeting days. The settlers of this area would have a rallying place of their own, and employ their own preacher and levy their own taxes. They were not, indeed, looking for- ward, after the fashion of the modern town in the West, to a speedy arrival of long trains of immigrants, or to the erection of sumptuous court-houses and seven-storied hotels, or to an immediate rise in the value of corner lots that would make the original holders of land wealthy while they slept. The conditions of pioneering then and now had little in common. The buildings they were to raise were of the homeliest; the growth of the town would be very slow, — for more than thirty years the number of 46 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. families would not exceed one hundred ; nevertheless, with' the means at their disposal and the modest expectations they cherished, they had made a good step forward, and felt the thrill of new hopes and freshened ambitions. According to a statement by the Rev. Ebenezer Park- man, the first minister of Westborough,^ " the first families of Westboro were twenty-seven ; all the first settlers were about forty." On the fly-leaf of his Church-records he has recorded the names of the first inhabitants as follows: — Thomas Rice. Thomas Ne*ton. Charles Rice. Josiah Newton. John Fay. Hezekiah Howe. Samuel Fay. Daniel Warrin. Thomas Forbush. Increase Ward. David Maynard. Benjamin Townsend; Edmund Rice. Nathaniel Oakes. David Brigham. Samuel Goodnow, Capt. Joseph Byles. Gershom Fay. James Bradish. Simeon Howard. John Pratt. Adam Holloway. John Pratt, Jr. Thomas Ward. Joseph Wheeler. Young Men. — John Maynard, James Maynard, Aaron For- bush, Jacob Amsden, Eleazer Beaman, and Jotham Brigham.. This list gives but twenty-five heads of families ; the re- maining two were perhaps Isaac Tomblin and James Eager; It would be very interesting to determine the relative situation of each of these first families of Westborough ; but it can be done only partially .^ Thomas Rice, with his son Charles, were, as we have seen, a little south- \vest of the village. John Fay and his brother Samuel were on the " Fay farm," — the latter on the Miletus Henry place, the former on the Austin Howe place. The 1 Mass. Hist. Soc. Rec, ist series, vol. x. ^ See Appendix. BEGINNINGS OF TOWN LIFE, 47 exact spot where Thomas Forbush settled, I am unable to determine; his brother Jonathan, in whdse family the name became changed to Forbes, is not mentioned in this list of first settlers, but was here very early, joining the Church in 1727; he lived at first near Stirrup Brook. David Maynard's farm was somewhere near the line of the present Northborough Road; and John Maynard, his nephew, who married in 171 9, settled down near the first meeting-house. Edmund Rice was also near the old meeting-house. David Brigham held the farm which now constitutes the State hospital grounds, and five hundred acres besides; his house stood about sixty rods east of the hospital buildings. Capt. Joseph Byles was south of Chauncy Pond. John Pratt was assigned to Thomas; Rice's gai'rison, and lived on the " old ihill road." Thomas Newton is reputed to have held the JosiSah W. Blake farm. Daniel Warren was on the eastern border of " the Plain," and his farm included the land of the late George Harrington, Seleucus Warren, S. A. Harrington, and perhaps more. Increase Ward was in Northborough, on the river, where he had a saw-mill. Benjamin Towns- end, was near Chauncy Pond. Nathaniel Oakes lived in Northborough, on the farm afterward owned by John; Martyn and Peter Whitney.. Samuel Goodnow lived just west of Stirrup Brook, on the road to Marlborough. Gershom Fay was near by. Simeon Howard was near Northborough village. (Allen says " near the Morse house, on land of Mr. Asa Fay.") Adam Holloway was in the north part of Northborough. Thomas Ward was on the Asaph Rice place; Isaac Tomblin on the farm of Dea. Isaac Davis; Joseph Wheeler on the southern declivity of Ball's Hill. The vicinity of Chauncy Pond was both the natural 48 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. centre of the area of the new town, and also the most thickly settled portion. Here, for the first thirty years of its history, is laid the scene of chief interest. Nearly a hundred years later, when the great lines of stages made the turnpike busy, and Wessonville Tavern became the focus of activity, this same old centre seemed about to regain its prominence. But the necessity that the public buildings should be in the most convenient place for all the inhabitants, and later the construction of the railroad, have determined the permanent situation of the village where it is to-day. Standing on the pleasant slopes to the westward of the old meeting-house, one feels that something of picturesqueness and beauty has been given up in the change. But remembering the advantages to a town of having one village at its natural centre instead of half a dozen scattered over its territory, producing divided interests and jealousies, one is more easily recon- ciled to the exchange of picturesqueness for utility, and of the ancient Chauncy for the modern Westborough. A month after the incorporation of the town, the first warrant was issued for a town-meeting, which was held on the 15th of January, 1718. The quaint record is herewith literally transcribed : — " firstly, Refolved to Build a meetting house forth with. " aly. Voted, the meeting house to Be fourty foot Long, and thirty foot wid, and Eighteen foot Betwen Joints. "3ly. "Voted to Choufe a Committee to proced to Getting timber as may Be nefefsary, forth with to Be procured. " 4ly. John Pratt, Sener, Thomas Newton, and Daniel Warrin wear chofen a Committee for the work a Bove fd, and to Deter- mine the wages for men whom thay see meet to Imploy. " S'y- Voted to Chufe Committee to wait on the Re** Mr. Elmer, and to treat to Continue to Be our minifter, and to pro- ceed for his Comfortable Subfestenc, As thay Shal See meet. BEGINNINGS OF TOWN LIFE. 49 "61y. Isaac Tomblin, Thomas Newton, John fay, are Choufen a Commete for the work of the fifth uote. " 7ly. John fay was Chosen Town Clark. " Sly. Thomas Rice, Sener, Chose the first Seelect man ; John fay and Semeion Hayward, Sener, chosen Seelectmen; lastly, Dauied manayard chosen Constable." The first action of the town was thus mainly in the interest of its ecclesiastical institutions. It illustrates the uniform practice of the time. It was among the early laws of the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay, approved by King William in 1692, that every town should be constantly provided with " an able, learned, and ortho- dox minister, or ministers, of good conversation, to dis- pense the word of God to them." This merely expressed the profound conviction of the leaders in the colony that religion was the corner-stone of civil life. But they went farther than that. Sixty years before the passage of the law just cited, the General Court had ordered that " no man shall be admitted to the freedom of this body politic but such as are members of some of the Churches within the limits of the same." It was not only religion, but a Church, on which the State was to be built ; and not only a Church, but a particular form of Church, — that form, namely, which these reformers had in vain endeavored to be allowed to maintain in their English homes. This looks to us narrow ; and having seen what this mingling of Church and State led to at a later day, we are tempted to be unduly severe on the founders of the nation for their illiberal ideas. But it was a natural action under the circumstances. They had come to see, in their English homes, that a great danger to the kingdom of God lay in the organized and complicated system of order and worship which the Eng- lish Church, forgetting how recently it had itself sprung 4 50 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. forth as a protest against the same tyranny in the Church of Rome, had sought to impose upon all reli- gious life within its borders. Our fathers had sacrificed the comforts of civilization for a home in the wilderness in order that they might be free, themselves and their de- scendants, from this tyranny of a system. They felt that in order to keep the danger from encroaching, when it was least expected, they must bar it out by the firm es- iablishment of the simpler forms which they believed to spring from the New Testament. They did not see that in making conformity to this order a condition of participa- tion in the affairs of State they ,were only changing the difficulty,, not relieving it. They had not yet conceived. the modern idea of. religious freedom; they could not,-^suph conceptions are i the growth of ages. So for a long time membership in the Congregational Churches was the con- dition ., of civil influence; until, as was inevitable, men of .political ambition became unscrupulous as to the means :they used to get ' membership in the Churches, in order that they might vote and hold office. But we should be /unjust to charge these consequences of their action upon .the men whose only aim was freedom from those abuses of religious authority of which they had had experience. Their struggles for liberty have .given us our best privi- leges of to-day; their mistakes were corrected by the course of events as time went on. The second town-meeting was held on the third day of February, Thomas Forbush moderator, at which a com- mittee was appointed — "toGoon with the work of the metting house untill it Be Raised, Covered, and closed; viz., Namly: Thomas Rice, John Pratt, Thomas Newton, Daniel Warrin, William Holloway, chosen to Do the work Be for mentioned. Voted to Raise eighty Pounds in BEGINNIlSrGS OF TOWN LIFE. 5 1 work, Boards, and shingles, -and claboards. Voted y' the above sd. Committee shall have three Shilings per Dayuntill they have worked out their perticular Seats; and allso y' other Laboring men shall have 2-'-6''-per .Day j alsoSa man with .his team of four oxen, six shilings." February 14th, Thomas Rice, Samuel Forbush, John Fay, Thomas Newton, and James Bradish were appointed a committee "to wait upon the iGeneral Cort's- Committee to Sett out the minister's Lot." The proprietors of Marl- borough had already, as we have seen, on the 13th of March, 17 10, granted a portion of land "for the benefit of the Ministry in the westerly end of Maflborough, called .Chauncy Village." The committee appointed at this time seems to have made, in conjunction with the committee of the Legislature, an additional assignment of one hun- dred acres, in a narrow strip running across the town from east to west. This hundred acres was assigned to Mr. DanielElmer, to whom reference is made in the fifth article of the first town-meeting, and who was the .first minister of Westborough, though never ecclesiastically settled. Mr. Parkman makes the following record of hjs connection with the town : — " Mr. Daniel Elmer, a candidate for the ministry from Con- necticut River, preached here several years, and received a call from the people ; but there arose dissension, and though he built upon the farm which was given for the first settled minister, and dwelt upon it, yet ■ by the' advice of an ecclesiastical :Council he desisted from preaching, and a quitclaim being given him [by Mr. Parkman, dated Oct. 28, 1 724] of the farm, he sold it, and with his family removed to Springfield in 1724. He was afterwards settled at Cohanzy, in the Jerseys, and, I suppose, died there." The history of the connection of Mr. Elmer with the town is very meagre. There is nothing between the vote 52 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. of the town January 15, appointing a committee to confer with him, and make arrangements for his comfortable support, and this sketch by Mr. Parkman, unless it be a hint in the Diary of Judge Sewall, who, passing through here on his way from Springfield to Boston, dining at Leicester, Wednesday, July 25, 1718, and riding from there to Marlborough in the afternoon, wrote in his Journal the next day, " Have a Fast at Westborough this day, in order to settle a Minister." It is not unlikely that the " dissensions " to which Mr. Parkman refers had led to the appointment of this fast; but even that did not prove of sovereign virtue, for the minister was not settled. The farm on which he built ceased to be the " ministerial farm," as he sold it, March 5, 1725, to Benjamin Woods, of Marlborough, for ;^300. Mr. Parkman seems to have had only the fifty acres as- signed by the Marlborough proprietors in 17 10, together with such land as he subsequently bought for himself. On the 3d of March, 1718, was held the first in the series of " March meetings," which has come down un- broken to us to-day. At that meeting John Fay was chosen town-clerk, which office he held for eleven years. John Fay, James Bradish, Thomas Ward, Thomas Forbush, and Thomas Newton were chosen selectmen ; Edmund Rice, constable ; Samuel Fay and Gershom Fay, surveyors of highways; David Brigham, tithing-man; Samuel For- bush and Daniel Warrin, fence-viewers; Thomas Ward, sealer of leather ; Thomas Rice, town-treasurer ; and Isaac Tomblin and John Maynard, field-drivers. Four months of wintry weather passed, after the vote "to build a meeting-house forthwith," before anything whatever was done. At length, in April, they " agreed to put a place to vote to set ye meeting-House upon ; " and BEGINNINGS OF TOWN LIFE. 53 it was decided to set it "upon the northeast corner of John Maynard's lot." In May, John Maynard and Edmund Rice formally gave the town the desired land, — three quarters of an acre belonging to Maynard, and one quarter of an acre to Rice. This land was a few rods northwest of the farm-house on the grounds of the Lyman School, near the spring. The site obtained, the town at once voted to go on with the building. In the following October — " it was a Greed and uoted to Raise the meetting house uppon the 21* of the Jnstant October. " uoted to procuer Six Gallons Rhum and a Barrall and half of Syder for the raising the meetting house in s* Town." Doubtless the drink tasted Just as good as if it had been spelled in better form; at any rate, there was plenty of it. The good Puritans of that day were a thirsty folk, and they had no Sandra pond water. At every raising, ordi- nation, town-meeting, ministers' association, wedding, and funeral something enlivening was on tap, and had ample justice done it. No minister called at the houses of his parishioners without being offered the cup of courtesy, nor did he decline with thanks. The settlers brought the custom over with them when they came, and thought no more harm of it than a temperance* advocate of this day does of a cup of tea. Nor was there any great riot of drunkenness. There had as yet been no immigration of the disreputable classes from all the States of Europe to show what drinking comes to when it thrives unchecked among the lawless. So no thunder struck the meeting- house when its frame was raised to the chorus of well- moistened throats, and the work of building went on. Let us not imagine, however, that it went on with any 54 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. rapidity. The citizens had to do the work, in addition tb their own labors. Moreover, there isi no evidence that they felt in a great hurry about it. It was the law that they must build a meeting-house fortliwith, and they passed the vote accordingly; but then they rested. Time never was when, to the average man,, public interests were more dear than his own affairs. And these men, who put. off having schools as long as they could without being " pre- sented." at Court, were not going to be driven ini the matter of a meeting-house. We must distinguish, un- doubtedly, between the leaders of the movement that brought our fathers to these shores, and the rank and' file that followed them., Among these were good, bad, and indifferent. Efforts were made to get rid of the bad as fast as possible; but not alL who were so eager to take up the lands in these pioneer towns were equally anxious to set up the institutions of religion for their awn sake. They would do it, for it was the law; but they would not hurry; nor seriously neglect their own affairs for the sake of it. So it was two years and a half before they were ready to lay the floors, put in seats, hang the doors, and build a pulpit. On the 4th of November, 1720, the first town- meeting was held in the building, which was thenceforth the place for all town-meetings until the division of the town ; but it was not yet finished. A year later we read of an effort to stir up those who were delinquent in their subscriptions to provide boards,, plank, and " raials " for making seats, and a workman to do the work. In 1722, ;^40 were granted to finish the meeting-house and to pay those men who had contributed more than their share in work or materials; and not till Sept. 9, 1723, — five years from its commencement) — did thatown reach the important vote " to compleate finishing the meeting-house." \j3 '' r r 1 1 lKl.<;r— ' I I 3 is < X LU •g C0 .uild the little barn of a meeting-house, it took no less to get the book that was to last long after the meeting-house had been forgotten. It was John Fay, the first "town dark," who attended to the business, and was granted, at a town meeting held Feb. 12, 1728, the sum of "2s. 6d. a day for transcribing the town's acts into this new book." The task was accomphshed in four days and a half, and -netted him i is. ^d. But much as there is of interest in these old documents, it is only after long familiarity with them that we come to feel the breath of the time upoji our faces, or to catch a glimpse of the men and women as they were. The men were as yet mostly hard-working farmers, and they had to subdue the untamed fields without the aid of modern tools and machinery. Nor bad they any wock- men to take the brunt of the labor off their own hands. The hoys had to begin early ; now and then a less thrifty -Kian " hired out ; " here and there one coyld afford to 90 EARLY HISTORY OF AATESTBOROUGH. have a negro slave. But there was little time for idleness, nor was it respectable. The one thing these men had no patience with was a shiftless body who could not be sup- ported without aid from the rest. The women had enough to do with the household and the rearing of the family and the spinning and weaving of the stuff for clothing; for he was a wealthy man who could afford anything other than homespun. There were great heart-burnings at one time owing to the attempt of one of the well-to-do matrons to outdo the minister's wife in the matter of a set of furs ; and thereafter the cats of the neighborhood walked cir- cumspectly, lest they should have post-mortem exaltation to the dignity of fur-bearing animals. In winter, when the farms lay idle, there was enough to do to cut and haul the wood for the year, for twenty cords would do little but go roaring up the vast fireplace, and twenty more were needed to do the warming and the cooking en route. The young men and boys, tough, hardy fellows, were fond of sports, as boys are everywhere; but there was little time for them, except by the way, on a public occa- sion, or after a meeting of some sort, when wrestling was the great thing in vogue, and the champion had a certain glory in the talk of the town. In the evenings — which were short, for the early riser must be o£E to bed with the chickens — there was the mug of cider in the chimney-corner, or the stronger flip ; and the toddy-stick was not without its use when the neighbors dropped in, or the minister cast a solemnity on the company with his dignity and his wig and bands and the magisterial authority that kept the young life in repression. The little church had not as yet more than half an ex- istence. It did not hold its first communion till the 7th of March, 1725, and it had at that time but fourteen mem- CHURCH AFFAIRS. 91 bers, with no woman among them, and no officers but the pastor. The vessels which were used on this occasion must have been from the household store of some one of them, for the first piece of service they owned was a flagon presented the same year to the church by " a friend of its welfare in Boston." It was fifteen years later before they had a baptismal basin, which, when it came, must have been a fixed font; for we read that in 173S, lOJ. was given for the purpose, and four years later los. more was added, " by the same person, who also bought the basin Dec, 1739, and devised it to ye Church's use," to- gether with " a frame for the basin, with its Shaft and Skrews, &c., price 20s.," which " was given and devoted by ye same." Another note of the time is seen in a bit of record in the minister's Diary in January; 1726. We have seen how slowly everything was accomplished in the way of public works, whether in the building of the meeting-house, or the purchase of a town-book, or the settling of a minister. The same deliberation infected the habits of the people on Sabbath morning. " I observe," writes the young minis- ter, " a general delinquency in our people in coming to meeting, through which I am obliged to wait near half an hour, or altogether, as it has sometimes proved, before I could begin the exercises of worship." Doubtless there are those who will take malicious comfort in finding such venerable antiquity attaching to this custom ; nevertheless it is the historian's duty to be truthful. An emphatic illustration of this lagging deliberation occurred in con- nection with the appointment of the first deacons. They had been nominated as early as February, 1725; but it had been difficult to assemble the little church for business, so that more than two years and a half elapsed 92 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. befoi?e any further action was taken. On the 5th of Octo- ber, 1727, a meeting was called' to "confirm the previous choice or make a new one, and also to consider the want of sufficient vessels to carry on the orderly celebration of the Eucharist ; " for as yet they had only the flagon pre' sented in 1725. Mr. Parkinan sayS: — " The meeting was opened with Prayer to the Supream Bishop of the Church for Divine Direction and Conduct in the Affair undertaken. The Address ended, the Ends proposed- were declared ; but Examining into the Number present, and Comparing them' with those that were not with us, we found there was but a minor Part of the Church. Wherefore, Con- sidering with' all the Importance of Every Such Matter in a Church (as hath reference to its officers), any proceeding to the Business mainly designed was by every one declined ; and since there must be a New Appointment, the other matter above men- tioned was likewise deferred to another Opportunity aftier it was somewhat discoursed about. So y' having again Suppli- cated a Benediction from God & appointed our Reassembling on this Day Se'nnight, the meeting concluded." Special pains were taken to notify the absentees, but at the adjourned meeting there were only eleven of the twenty-four male members' present. Considerable discils- sion arose as to the' validity of action by a minority; but they at length determined to proceed, and chose by writ- ten ballots, with a good degree of unanimity, John- Fay and Isaac Tomlin as deacons. They accepted the office in January, 1728. The meeting further assessed a tax of two shillin'gs on every male member, to purchase "d flagon holding' two quarts, and two Pint Tankafds, also a Bason for water of Baptism." On the 29th' and 30th of October New England was shaken by an earthquake of considerable force. "fhiS earth trembled perceptibly, and' the houses rocked. The EARTHQtJAKE. 93 effect upon the simple-hearted and religiously trained people was violent. They ran into the streets crying to God for mercy, sure that the calamity was a direct expression of His personal' displeasure for their sins; for so they were uniformly taught to regard all alarm" ing natural phenomena. The ministers everywhere "im- proved " the occasion, to warn the people of their transgressions, which were thus seen to be threatening them with the judgments of God. In December the Gov- ernor, appointed a fast on account of it; and as late as February, 1728, Mr. Parkman used it at a church meeting to enforce a due sense of the importance of such meetings, and of observing law and order in the conduct of them. The meeting was called to consider some charges against Josiah Newton, " military clerk," afterward deacon ; and- the address of the pastor, as indicating his strong con- victions regarding church government, and illustrating his style, is of sufficient interest to quote: — " The church had in y' Next place a serious and warm. Discourse offered by y" Pastor, tending to and pressing y' Consideration of y° Momentousness and authority of church meetings and y° very good or very Evil Aspect they may have in y' church : y° awfull account to be given in to y° great Lord, and Supream Bishop, of our Behaviour and management while together in this manner: The Fatal mischiefs of Divisions: ye Necessity of Caution in the Contentious Times, especially while under f awful Rebukes of Heaven : upon y° whole, y' we ought to keep ourselves under y" narrowest watch, and carefully ob- serve y" Rules of y* Platform of church Discipline, it being y' Foundation y* we (as yet) are upon." It provokes a smile to-day that men should sincerely believe that an earthquake was sent for the special pur- pose of warning men to observe the rules of church disci^ 94 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. pline; but the belief was honest, and their use of it regarded as entirely legitimate. Science had not yet il- lumined the general public, and " seismic force " was an unknown term. Mr. Parkman held the same theories for himself that he used to hold his people in leash, as is strikingly illustrated in the following year. In the begin- ning of 1729 he was taken ill, and the n;ialady proved long and serious. A fast was appointed in his behalf February 9th, but in the following November he was still unable to preach, and the town voted him ;£io extra, in spite of the " desents " of Samuel Fay and Samuel Forbush,^ and three weeks later voted to provide for " trainchant preaching." Even in the March following, the town is supplying the pulpit. An entry in Mr. Parkman's Diary, July 8, 1729, is of special interest for its quaintness of metaphor and its revelation of the working of his mind: — " I have warning from God by my Infirmities that I must re- move from my Temporal Possessions. This clay Tabernacle I now Inhabit Cracks, and threatens me y' it must Dissolve : 'T is but Earthen ware, and it doth not Sound whole. A little matter will dash it to pieces. " Now what do I know about any Right I have to an Eternal Inheritance, to a Building of God, an house not made with hands, wherein I may spend an happy Immortality, since I am upon the move I " So wrote the young man of twenty-five, in great physical depression. But youth and hardihood triumphed even over that long year's feebleness, and in the spring of 1730 he returned to work. 1 That Forbes and Forbnsh were originally the same name appears from a record in Mr. Parkman's Diary in 1727, Aug. 22: "Rode to Mr. Forhe^ and married Com. Cook and Eunice Forbush; so they will spell their CHURCH AFFAIRS. 95 One more incident illustrative of the times is in place here. On the 24th of May, 1730, not long after the pas- tor's return to his pulpit, Deacon Fay presented a brief confession to the church " for his irregular conduct on May 3d, when attempting a Speech to y' Congregation after y° usual exercises were finished ; " of which he says that " how zealously and innocently soever it could char- itably be supposed to be meant, it was nevery'less very imprudent and of ill tendency, for it was immediately answered by Lieut. Forbush. He again reply'' with ex- pressions of Passion and Threat, upon which issued much Disturbance altogether Criminall & Surprising upon the Lord's Day and after our holy imployment." Thus far the good deacon, whose spirit is most admirable and Christian. The lieutenant had not yet advanced so far in self-mastery, and refused to confess ; and it was not till July, 1734, more than four years later, that his confession came tardily in. In September, 1725, there had been a time of affection- ate interest and anxiety at the parsonage, as the frank and simple record of the Diary shows ; and on the 14th a daughter was born to the young couple. Five days later the wee thing was taken to the meeting-house and bap- tized with due solemnities, the father and mother of the young pastor being present, and his father holding the child for its own father's consecration. " I called it," says the young man, with the beautiful simplicity of affection, " by my wife's name, Mary." This was the first of sixteen new-comers that greeted Mr. Parkman during the thirty- six years following. The New England stock had not reached the time of its decline ; it had all the vigor and vitality of the old English blood. Not even the ancient Hebrew could outvie the Puritan in singing, — 96. EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. " As arrows in the hand of a mighty man, So are the children of youth. Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them : They shall not be ashamed, When they speak with their enemies in the gate.'' There were two brothers Fay, near the beginning of the eighteenth century, who liv^d on the "Fay Farm," and who had, as the years, went by, the one twenty-two, and the other twenty-four children. As they were cousins, and Hved near each other, it was desirable not to have the same names in the two families; and before the fOrty-six had all made their ddbut, it became comically difficult to find Scripture names, and the latest comers had to take what they could get. The next step fbrward was the establishment of a school. Thus far they had done without. The church must come first, by law as well as by conviction. And the towns were slow in the adoption of public measures. Had not the Colony spurred them up, there is no telling when the reputation of our fathers for zeal in education would have been born. As a whole, they were not eager for schools. The wisest of them saw the necessity, and pressed for them ; but they had to work hard to accom- plish their ends. It was well, therefore, that on the statute- book was this Act of 1647 : — "It being one of the chief projects of Satan to keep men from the knowledge of the Scriptures, as in former times keep- ing them in unknown tongues, so in these Iktter times by per- suading from the use of tongues, that so at least the true use and: meaning of the original might.be clouded and corrupted by false glosses of deceivers ; to the end that learning may not be. buried in the graves of our forefathers in church and common- wealth, the .Lord assisting our endeavors : "It is therefore ordered by this Court and authority thereof; that every- township within this jurisdiction, after the Lord hath THE SCHOOL. 97 increased them to the number of fifty householders, shall forth- with appoint one within their towns to teach all such children as shall resort to him, to write and read, whose wages shall be paid either by the parents or masters of such children, or by the inhabitants in general, by way of supply, as the major part of those that order the prudentials of the town shall appoint ; pro- vided that those that send their children be not oppressed by paying much more than they can have them taught for in other towns." The fine for non-compliance was fixed at j£io. Every town of a hundred families must also have a grammar- school. Failure to comply with' these laws was sure to be followed by the " presentation " of the delinquent town before the General Court. Westborough had already been presented once, for delay in providing the town pound, and encountiered the same annoyance in 1753 for not having a grammar-school ; but this time it acted promptly, and, the religious institution being well started, took the next step forward, and on the 3d of October, 1726, voted to have a school kept in the town six months, and chose Daniel Warren and Edward Baker school" committee. The former was one of the founders of the town, holding a large farm' east of " the Plain," part of which is still occu- pied by some of his descendants. He was one of the most prominent leaders in town affairs for a long time^ The latter was a young man of about thirty, who came afterward to have a leading influence, especially in edu- cational and religious matters. This committee was in- structed " to procure a suitable schoolmaster, to teach children to Read, write, and Sipher; and to provide en- tertainment for s"" schoolmaster during the s"" six months ; and also to provide a place or places for the school to be kept in." Edward Baker went to Brookfield, and found there a certain Joshua Townsend, whd for the modest 7 98 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. sum of ;£i8 (then about ;^35) was willing to teaeh six months in three different sections of the town, and who from that time for twelve or thirteen years at least, was the pedagogue of Westborough. It is greatly to be regretted that we have no materials from which to con- struct the portrait of Dominie Townsend. The school- master of that day had a simple task, requiring no erudition, only a " faculty " for instruction and for redu- cing the youthful mind to a proper state of reverence for authority. The school-room was in a private house, two months at a time in each of the three sections of the town, which, at that time including Northborough, was large. There were no school-houses for forty years after- ward. And even the scanty salary of ;^i8 was not always paid without grudging. In that winter of 1726-1727 the town was evidently a little disturbed at the bills which were presented in connection with this schoolmaster : ten shillings to Edward Baker " for fetching him from Brook- field;" £1 4s. to David Brigham for entertaining him one month; and £4 i6s. for entertainment elsewhere. Consequently, when the proposition came up, Aug. 28, 1727, to employ him another six months, the town voted to do so, paying £18 as before, but "he paying for his Diet." It would seem that he had some hesitation about accepting this, as well he might have ; but he was prom- ised an additional pound as a compromise by Joseph Wheeler, which the town ratified the next February, when it was in better mood. But in the following year (1729), Thomas Ward, one of the residents of the north end of the town, formally entered his dissent on the town records against paying the schoolmaster j£i8 for the last half year. Remembering the scarcity and costliness of books at THE SCHOOL. 99 this period, the absence of newspapers, and the seclusion of communities, it is evident that the student of that time was forced to curb his ambition within narrow limits. A pathetic little scrap of paper once fell in my way, in a pro- bate office of one of the counties of Massachusetts, which conveyed a very striking impression of the condition of these pioneers of New England education. It was the schedule of the library and effects of a Massachusetts schoolmaster in the reign of George II. It consisted, be- sides notes and bonds for money due him as a teacher and unpaid at his death, of a meagre bit of personal property : " Six linning shirts, a gown, a Broadcloth coate, a sadel and Bridel, Stockens, Briches, neckloaths, wescats, an old knife, and a come." So runs the execrable English of the poor Dominie's executors. The rest of the estate was a library of fifty-six- volumes; but how unappetizing! Thirty-three of the books were catechisms, psalters, prim- ers, and hymn-books ; the rest were such as " Mr. White- field's jurnel," "two books jntitled A preservation from Sin and folly," " Siance. of Being, with Its affections," " The young man's Best Companion," " ye youth's in- structed in ye jnglish tongue ; " with some sermons and tracts. No gleam of the world's best literature ; no scrap of the endless stores of knowledge which to-day make the task of selection so much more difficult than that of acquisition. The familiar oratory about the profound con- victions of the fathers who always " planted the meeting- house and the school-house side by side pn every hill-top," assumes too much. There were men who, like Edward Baker of Westborough, believed in education, and sacri- ficed a good deal to promote it. The makers of the Col- ony believed in it and fostered it. But the people generally had to be whipped up to the necessary expenditure, and J 00 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. the schoolmaster had a hard time. It was not because there was a popular demand for the school that the school came ; it was because the men who influenced public sen- timent — the best men in the Colony — led the people, and would take no refusal, that at last .the public feeling rose to the task of supporting the schpc>l. For though the gov- ernment of the towns was democratic, and every church member had his vote, the best men nevertheless took the place and the power which their education and capacity gave them, and dragged the lagging sentiment of the popu- lace up to the demands of the times. There is a valuably suggestion in the history of the early days of these New England towns for the exigencies of the present period. The town meantime was showing signs of outward growth and thrift. It even indulged in the modern luxury of a town debt for a short time ; but did not like it, and so, at a town meeting held Feb. 27, 1727, ^^14 was granted " to pay the town Debt and to buy a Burying cloth." The town lines were being carefully surveyed in con- junction with the authorities of adjoining towns. In 1727 the line between Ilopkinton and Westborough was " per- ambulated;" in 1728 the lines between the town and Framingham, Marlborough, Lancaster, and Shrewsbury were adjusted. It is not quite easy to understand where Framingham and Westborough could by any possibility join. Southborough was not incorporated until the July following, and Ashland was not born; but Framingham joined Marlborough, not Westborough, whose eastern line has always been the same as to-day. The line between Lancaster and Westborough was the same essentially as the present line between Northborough and Berlin, for Westborough included Northborough, and Lancaster included Bolton, Berlin, Clinton, and Sterling. GTIOWTH OF THE TOWN. 10 1 During the same year nineteen hundred acres were added to the town area on the south, from Sutton, on which there were ten familiea^ This area is essentially the angular southern projection of the present town ; the southern line originally running straight from the angle on the road between B. .A. Nourse's and Jasper Fay's to Cedar Swamp, and intersecting the Upton and Hopkinton roads a little below their junction. The incorporation of Southborough in July called for some readjustment of boundaries, which was finally made in 1730. This growth and accretion seems to have .filled the meeting-house quite to its present capacity, and we hear of a gallery and of extra pew-room granted. On the sth of February, 1729, the town gave "the vacant room be- hind ye front Gallery to Beriah Rice, Noah Rice, Phineas Hardy, Abner Newton, David Maynard, and Aaron Hardy, as far as ye south window, to build a .pew ; they making a good seat before their pew for ye Boys, and mending ye glass and barring ye casement of s'' window." In May the southwest corner of the gallery was granted to Thomas Bruce, Jonathan Fay, and Eliezer Rice for a similar pur- pose. Two other town institutions besides the meeting- house required attention at about the same time. The lease of the land granted by David Maynard in 1721 for ten years as a site for the town pound having nearly expired. Ensign Thomas Newton and Daniel Warren were directed, in 1730, to provide "a sufficient Pound and Stocks," according to law. And so the town is holding on its way, with provision for all its needs and with a ■prospect of increasing prosperity. There was one disadvantage, however, which by this time began to be severely felt, — the depreciation of the currency. In 1729 the Colony issued a new loan of 102 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. ;^6o,ooo, to be apportioned to the different towns in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The town voted to bear its proportion, and appointed Daniel Warren, Joseph Wheeler, and Thomas Forbush trustees, who should re- ceive the paper money and let it out to the inhabitants of the town in sums of not more than ten nor less than five pounds. Joseph Wheeler went to Boston for the money at the town's expense. But this paper currency was full of mischief. The interest was not paid regularly, and in June, 1730, the town voted "to call all the trustees to account for the interest money of both banks, and to look over Capt. Fay's account." The other "bank" or loan was that which the town had assumed its share of in 1 72 1, and of which Capt. John Fay, David Brigham, and Thomas Ward were the trustees. But the chief trouble was in the depreciation of this inflated currency. The notes of the former loan, now called " old tenor," were practically worth only about one tenth of the new bills ; and these in turn depreciated until, in 1731, it took ;^340 in currency to equal ;^ioo in coin; and in 1738 the ratio was five to one. The way-marks of this depression are strikingly seen in the votes regarding Mr. Parkman's salary. This was fixed in the beginning at ;^8o a year. In 1728 they added ;£'io to it; in 1729, during his illness, the same, but with two recorded " dissents; " in 1730 they added ;^30, and £,6 more for firewood; in 1733 they added ;£'6o, and in 1737 £^0, doubling the original salary : but as it was payable in currency, it would have been necessary, in order to make it really equal to the original sum, to have voted £ifX>. And yet this was only the beginning of sorrows in this direction. The war of the Revolution, with its financial bankruptcy, was to come. CHAPTER VIII. 1730-1744. THE NEW COUNTY. — BEGINNINGS OF DIVISION. — CHURCH MUSIC. FOR the first twenty years of its existence the town had little to do except to attend to its own affairs, with small reference to the larger business of the State. The first record of the choice of a representative is in the year 1738, when a town-meeting was called on the 22d of May " to choose a Debuty to sarve for and repre- sent them in a Great and General Court of this province, to be convened, held and kept for His Majesty's Sarvice in Boston, for the year ensuing, and Capt. James Eager was Elected and Deputed for the Sarvice above-men- tioned." " His Majesty " at this time was George II., George I. having died the previous year; and Jonathan Belcher was governor of the Colony. It was about this time that Worcester County was organ- ized, and courts and county roads became matters of local interest. The incorporation of the county dates from April 2, 1739. It included eight towns of Middlesex County, — Worcester, Lancaster, Westborough, Shrews- bury, Southborough, Leicester, Rutland, and Lunenburg; five in Suffolk, — Mendon, Woodstock, Oxford, Sutton (including Hassanamisco), and Uxbridge, with the land " lately granted to several petitioners of Medfield ; " and Brookfield, in the County of Hampshire. Three courts were to sit in Worcester, as the county town, — a " Court 104 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. of General Sessions of the Peace ; " an " Inferior Court of Common Pleas ; " and a " Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize, and General Gaol Delivery." The first of these courts consisted of all the justices in the county, and was presided over by one of the four judges of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas. . Besides attending to minor criminal cases, it had charge of the county affairs, such as laying out roads, Hcensing inns, and admitting freemen. It took the place of the General Court of the Province in enforcing the laws requiring towns to support a competent ministry and to have schools and pounds and stocks and other paraphernalia of law and order. The Court of Common Pleas had four judges. It was a court of appeals from the lower court, and had civil jurisdiction in the county. The Superior Court was a provincial body, and held annual sessions in each county, having charge of more serious civil and criminal cases, and hearing appeals from the lower courts. Westborough had appointed a committee in November, 1728, to act with other committees of towns in relation to the formation of the new county. The committee consisted of Daniel Warren, Jacob Amsden, and John Majnard. In 1730 a county road was laid out through the town, — corresponding probably for the greater part with the " Connecticut way " of fifty years earlier, which ran from Marlborough through Northborough and Shrews- bury to Worcester and Brookfield, and thence to Spring- field on the Connecticut. The same year we hear of constables, for whom the town voted " black staves," and whose duties, so far as recorded, seem to have consisted principally in preventing paupers from getting a settle- ment in the town. In February, 173 1, Jonathan Forbush was granted twelve shillings " for Entertaining and Trans- THE NEW COUNTY. lOS porting an Ainchant woman from Westboro to Marlboro constable." And for several following years an "old Mr. Jphp Green " was a sore trial to the thrifty farmers who had to " entertain " him by turns, and who appointed successive committees in town meeting to ascentain whether he belonged of right in town, and whether he had no relatives anywhere who could support or relieve him. This is a significant glimpse into the question of ,pauperism at that time. The sturdy yeomen, who had to work hard for their maintenance, had small sympathy for the helpless, who had no means of support. They would take care of them if they must, but had no fancy for the business, and made no adequate provision for it. The method was severely tonic in its effect. Pauperism as a hereditary disease belongs ±o a later time ; it could not develop well in the rigors of the early day. New Eng- land thrift was in part due to the irrepressible dread of " coming on the town " in old age. It is a fair question whether the sumptuous almshouses of to-day, to say nothing of luxurious jails and prisons, are not indicative of an opposite extreme, the effect of which is to coax pauperism and .shiftlessness with the bait of a fair asylum when helpless. In the parsonage a great change had occurred dur- ing these years. On the 29th of January, 1736, Mary, the young wife who had come with the minister to the wilderness in the days when Indians were prowling about, and had borne him five children, died, in her thirty-seventh year. The only record of her death, except that on the tombstone in the old cemetery opposite the town-hall, is the vote of the town in the following May to grant £50 to pay the expenses attendant on her sickness and death. The Diary of Mr. Parkman from 1731 to 1743 is not avail- I06 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. able. We know that she left at her death four children : Mary, the eldest, was ten ; Lucy, the youngest, one year and four months ; Ebenezer and Thomas were eight and six respectively; Lydia, born in 173 1, had died in 1733. Two years later Mr. Parkman brought a new bride to the parsonage, a fresh young maiden of twenty-one, — Hannah, daughter of the Rev. Robert Breck, the minister of Marlborough. She shared with him the rest of his life, bore him eleven children, and survived him nineteen years, passing away in 1801, at the age of eighty-four. In less than twenty years after the incorporation of the town the people began to feel crowded again, although the farms were large and there was plenty of wild land, which harbored some good game. As late as 1742 the town at its annual meeting appointed two " deer reeves ; " and there is reason to believe that it was not yet a merely nominal office. There were scarcely a hundred families in the whole section, including Northborough ; but the area of the town was long from north to south, and those who lived at the extremes, especially at the north end, found the meeting-house, which was also town-house, too far away. It was becoming crowded as well; and we have already seen how, in 1 729, a gallery was built, and seats were inserted wherever room could be found. There was also an increasing sensitiveness in regard to the appoint- ment of town officers, each section being jealous lest the other should usurp too many functions. As a result of this it happened that for several years more officers were appointed than were needed; five, and in at least one instance seven, selectmen being chosen at the annual meeting. These causes, and others less traceable, were gradually bringing forward the question of the division of the single town into two. ^>*''' , ^(■3. SM^m cm^. BEGINNINGS OF DIVISION. I07 One of the earlier signs of this movement which ap- pears in the records is connected with a town meeting early in 1736. The year previous seven selectmen had been chosen, in order to satisfy both sections. This year James Maynard was chosen constable for the whole town, who forthwith " Declared his Refusal to Sarve; " for which refusal he paid, in accordance with the law of the Pro- vince, a fine of ^5. Josiah Rice was then chosen in his place, and also refused, " and paid ye sum of five pound in money to ye Town for his non-Exceptance." This fine was one of the blessings derived from the Andros government. Under the old charter government it was fixed at twenty shillings ; but Andros raised it to £^. In the depreciated state of the currency this sum amounted to only about five dollars; but two thrifty farmers did not pay even that without a strong pressure, and the explanation is in the determination of the north end of the town to have a constable of its own, as the first move toward division. Yielding to the force of circumstances, the meeting finally appointed two constables, — one for the north, and one for the south part of the town. Next, the meeting-house became entirely inadequate, even with its gallery. Feb. 14, 1737, the town voted "to enlarge the room in the meeting-house by altering the seats in the body of the house below, and making more as they shall see good." Two weeks later it was determined " to build one seat Round in y° Gallery before y° seats y' are Built y already," and " to build a convenient seat for ye women in y° front gallery to Raing with y' young men's pew y' is built there already." This sufficed to quiet discontent for a time, but in November of the fol- lowing year three radical propositions came up in town- meeting, — only to be peremptorily rejected, it is true, but ro8 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. indicating the inevitable issue that was coming. The fitst was to enlarge the room in the meeting-house. This was declined, evidently because it came from the wrong quar- ter. It looks a little as though the party of separation was specially devoted to church attendance just now, in order to crowd the building and demonstrate the necessity for a' division, of the town. The second proposition was to build a new meeting-house, which probably no one ex- pected to carry, but which was made in a spirit of chaK lenge to the stronger party. The third proposal was a blunt motion " to set off part of this town to be a town- ship by themselves." So ended the meeting, without ac- complishing any definite result; but the gage of battle had been thrown, and henceforth the matter was not to rest until settled. The enlarging of the meeting-house was an actual necessity, and so in February, 1739, it was voted " to, shut up the Ally in the meeting house and improve it for y° men to set in ; " and five weeks later the additional step was taken of voting " to build three seats in the north- east corner of the meeting house, if the room will allow of it." The following year, in March meeting, the constable comedy was re-enacted, and three sturdy men in suc- cession marched up' and paid £$ rather than serve. So again, a month lciter,.the temper of the majority empha- sized itself in the vote "to build one good and sufficient Pound for the town's use, to be set on the land of Mr. David Maynard, a little south of his dwelling house." This was probably somewhat farther north than the old meeting-house, and near the line of the present North- borough road; This was 1740, and the town now had more than onei hundred' families, as appears from the fact that it was BEGINNINGS OF DIVISION-. K39 presented at Court this year for not having a grammar- school master ; and Edward Baker was sent to Worcester to appear before "the Hon. Court of Quarter Sessions" to answer to the charge. The defence was probably based on the divided state of feeling and the probability of actual separation at an early day. Two years later the first movement toward, school-districts was made, and the bounds of three were indicated. The following spring the north end had votes enough to defeat the motion to build one new meeting-house for the whole town. The motion was renewed in slightly altered form; to wit: " Shall the place where the meeting-house now stands be the place for one new meeting-house ? " and this also passed in the negative. Then once more, as in 1738,. the motion came up to set off the north part of the town with one half the area of the whole, and was again, de- feated. Thus matters stood in town-meetings till 1744, with the single gain for the north-end people that in 1742 a committee was appointed " to run a centre line east and west through the town as will best accommodate both parts of the town." This, however, accomplished little,, for in September, 1743, the town peremptorily refused, to run a centre line or to build two meeting-houses. But meantime more effective measures were being set in operation in another direction. About 1741 the nor^ therly residents began to absent themselves from public worship in the town meeting-house and to hold services by themselves in the house of Mr. Nathaniel Oake. This was a sore trial to Mr. Parkman, who felt that he had been settled as the minister of the whole town, and opposed the division tenaciously from first to last. But he could not stay the tide, and in 1743 the question of sanctioning this sectional gathering came before him in an unexpected no EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. way. He was asked to baptize seven persons at Mr. Oake's house, " where y° Publick Assembly of that Corner of y Town was Commonly held." After much hesitation and consultation he performed the service on the 3d of April. "But this was not done," says the cautious and reluctant minister, " before I had laid it before y° Chh. and Congreg" of y^ Town, and obtained their Concurrence ; nor was it till I had stopi y" Chh. members of y" North side of y' Town to make Enquiry into their meeting by themselves (that I might be certifyi of y° true Cause and -f manner thereof) and known of them that the Reasons of their so doing were not from Negligence, Disgust, &c., but because of y" inconvenient Dis- tance, and Difficulty of their and their Children's Travelling to y= Meeting House ; nor till it was known what faithfulness they had used in Improving y" means of public Instruction among them, & Dispensation of y' pure and holy Gospel of Jesus Christ. Yet it was intimated to them that y° chh. ought to have expected some Word Concerning their Absence, and that •f Neglect thereof was undoubtedly a breach of Church order ; inasmuch as by our own Chh. Covt we are expressly bound to Hold Commuijion in the word and Sacrament. Unto which y' Brethren manifested their concurrence, as well as that they Desired and Purposed to approve themselves Covenant people." This stern catechising at the hands of their spiritual head, now in the prime of manhood and wielding his sceptre with the strongest convictions of his divine right and of the necessity of maintaining strict order and disci- pline, was a sufficiently trying ordeal for the north-side people; but they, as well as he, had developed no little sturdy independence, and had no intention of giving up their purpose at anybody's dictation ; and so, while they yielded so far as to take their lecture patiently, Mr. Parkman saw no course but to give way to the tendency BEGINNINGS OF DIVISION. HI of events, and so gave their assembly the sanction of his priestly service in baptism. After that there was no going back. In February, 1744, Mr. Parkman recorded in his Diary that he had received information that " a number of North side people met those of y° South side last night at Capt. Fay's, to gather subscriptions to a petition to y° General Court that y° Town may be divided." " At y' same meet- ing," he adds, with characteristic irrelevance, " Eliezer Rice broke his legg by wrestling with Silas Pratt." Nine years later the same Eliezer Rice became a terror to all unruly youths by assuming the black staff of a constable. But this little act in the drama of separation, which ended with a broken leg, was succeeded by a movement which was likely to break the heart of the worthy minister. At the March meeting following, the north-side people refused to pay their rate toward the good man's salary, not from any dislike to him, but as a forcible measure to- ward separate incorporation. From that time he felt as if a part of his rightful parish had rejected him. He did not appreciate fully the necessities of the case, and only yielded to the inevitable with bitter disappointment. But now that matters had gone so far, the remaining steps toward a practical division were rapidly taken. The petition prepared at the house of Captain Fay was duly presented in General Court; the town appointed, in May, a committee consisting of Capt. David Warren, Capt. John Maynard, and Mr. Francis Whipple, to make answer thereto; and the result was that while no new town was yet created, nor was to be for more than twenty years afterward, the north side was made a separate pre- cinct, with power to elect its own officers and transact its local business, and to constitute a separate parish, while 112 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. the two precincts were to assemble for town meetings, to be held alternately in the meeting-houses of each precinct. This result was consummated on the 20th of October, 1744; and from that time the principal in- terest of our chronicle lies in the southern precinct, whose boundaries were essentially those of the present town of Westborough. Another episode, so characteristic of the period as to claim more than a passing notice, occurred six years after the organization of the Church. It is a curious but well-attested fact that the bitterest disputes in the ecclesiastical organism have arisen in regard to the least essential matters. The general tendency received a spe- cial emphasis in the history of psalmody and music in the New England churches. The struggle between pro- gress and conservatism was long and bitter ; party spirit ran high. On no subject was there such deep feeling. Never was there a more persistent clinging to that which was essentially bad on account of its age and venerable aspect. The Church at Westborough came into being at a time when the subject of singing in worship was undergoing a slow and tortuous but inevitable revolution. The Ply- mouth pilgrims had brought with them from England Ainsworth's version of the Psalms, and used it until 1640. It had its imperfections as a book of sacred poetry, as witness the following rendering of the first verse of the first Psalm : — " O Blessed man, that doth not in the wickeds counsel! walk, nor stand in sinners way, nor sit in seat of scornful ^/;J." Still more lame is the effort to conform to the exact words of Scripture in Psalm cxxxvii., — CHURCH MUSIC. II3 " I. By Babel's rivers there sate wee, yea wept : when wee did mind, Sion. 2. The willows that amidds it bee our harps we hanged them upon. 3. For songs of us there ask did they that had us captive led-along ; and mirth they that us heaps did lay: Sing unto us some Sion's song." Not less amusing to the cultured ear is the rendering of Psalm cxxxix., — "Jehovah, thou hast searched me and. known ; Thou knowest my rising and my sitting down ; Thou dost discreetly understand from far My c6g-i-ta-ti-6n £a-mil-i-ar.'' A verse of Psalm Ixxiv., of which the prose is as fol- lows : " Why drawest thou back thy hand, even thy right hand ? Pluck it out of thy bosom and consume them," was thus rendered, — " Why dost withdraw thy hand abacke, And hide it in thy lappe ? O, plucke it out, and be not slacke. To give thy foes a rappe." But these rude lines, to which long use made the earliest churches accustomed, became so sacred in their associations that when, in 1640, the Bay Psalm-Book was compiled by an association of New England min- isters, it met with great opposition. Salem would not give up Ainsworth until 1667, nor Plymouth till 1692. The questions raised in this discussion are curiosities of religious inquiry; for example, — whether the singing of the Psalms of David in a lively voice was proper in these New Testament days; whether it was proper for one to sing, and the rest to join only in spirit and in saying amen, or for the whole congregation to sing ; 8 114 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. whether it was proper for women as well as men to sing ; whether " pagans " — i. e., the unconverted — should be permitted to sing with the rest. But in due time the Bay Psalm-Book came into general use throughout the Colony. Whether the ideal of poetic form had therein been reached, we may judge by the following rendering of Psalm cxxxiii. in the Bay Psalm-Book : — " How good and sweet to see it 's for bretheren to dwell together in unitee : It 's like choice oyle that fell the head upon that down did flow the beard unto beard of Aron : The skirts of his garment that unto them went down ; Like Hermon's dews descent Si6n's mountains upon : for there to be the Lord's blessing life aye lasting commandeth hee." Couple with this style of rhythmic flow the lack of tunes " understanded of the people," of which there were, until 1690, only eight or ten, — and these sung in different churches in totally different ways, — and one may gain some conception of the need of a reform. One of those who was most vigorous in laboring for a change writes that " every melody was tortured and twisted as every unskilful throat saw fit ; ... it sounded like five hundred different tunes roared out at the same time." And the time was as bad as the tune. " I myself," he says, " have twice in one note paused to take breath " ! About 1720 there came a revolt against this sheer wantonness of conservatism; and in the reform the pul- CHURCH MUSIC. II5 pit led off, assisting those who tried to introduce written music and better performance. Singing-schools came into existence; musical notation was introduced. All this was done in the midst of the most strenuous oppo- sition from the deacons and the people who stood for the good old way. The new way, they said, was not so melodious as the old ! There were so many tunes, they never could learn them; it would lead to the use of instruments yet; the very names of the notes were blas- phemous. And a writer in the "New England Chron- icle" said: "Truly, I have a great jealousy that if we once begin to sing by rule, the next thing will be to pray by rule and preach by rule; and then comes Popery." In 1723 the Rev. Mr. Niles, of Braintree, suspended seven or eight of his church members for persistency in singing by rule. But the matter was taken up vigorously by the clergy, and sermons and pamphlets were preached and published in defence of the new way. The Rev. Thomas Symmes, of Bradford, was prominent in the contest, and the puissant Cotton Mather came to the front with a bristling array of arguments. Finally, in the revivals that preceded the "Great Awakening of 1740," the superiority of the new over the old was so completely demonstrated that the victory, so far as it had gone, was complete. In Westborough, as in some other places, it was the pastor who was the daring innovator. The earliest mur- murs of the strife have died away without record, but on the 7th of September, 1730, the town took the matter up, as indicated in the following unique record: — " Pursuant to an order from the selectmen, the town met. I note, Jacob Amsden chose moderator for this meeting; James Ball and Jacob Amsden enter their Decents against the suck- Il6 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. seading uote. 2ly, uote to see whether or no the town will sing the usual way, and the uote passed in the Affirmative." In the February following, a church meeting was held in relation to the matter, which had grown to serious dimensions. There was grave talk of discipline, if it could be found who the chief offenders were. James Ball and Jacob Amsden must have been a little uneasy in their minds just then. The pastor, who knows well enough that he is regarded as the most blameworthy, writes of it in his Journal with customary solemnity, but with a certain vagueness, as though' there might be more behind. " Upon Prospect of the season revolving, and therewith Hope of Opportunity for ye Holy Communion, it appeared needful, by Prayer and other suitable and Prudent endeavors, to prepare and dress our souls with a Wedding Garment, to meet our Glorious Lord thereat." The meeting, when it came, hardly fulfilled this spir- itual prospectus ; and there is a much more earthly ring, even in the pastor's voice, when the battle is fairly set. Opportunity was given for complaints, whereupon Thomas Forbush intimated, with an outspoken boldness that shows how heated the public mind had becomcj that the trouble was occasioned by the pastor's not falling in with the vote of the town. This was speaking out in meeting, and brought the minister to his feet without more ado. The town, he said, had not proceeded according to church rule or civil law or his own counsel ; nor yet had he opposed them, nor disturbed them in their singing, but had only appointed the person to read (/'. e., " line out ") the psalm and set the tune, and to say what tune should be sung. He proceeded to charge that the town meeting on an CHURCH MUSIC. 117 article of divine worship was irregular, if not positively sinful, and any church members who had a hand in it were then and there rebuked. So the parson stood at bay, defying the whole town. What happened thereupon? Did the people rise in their wrath and send him adrift, as they might in these degen- erate days? The minister of that time held his office by no such flimsy tenure. He simply proceeded to ask them — not as one who sought their suffrages, but rather as though they might be thankful that they got no more severe handling — if there was still any uneasiness; and no one responding, he treated them to a brief dissertation on love and unity, and dropped the matter. The victory was plainly his, by virtue of the divinity that did hedge about a minister in those days; and there is no farther disturbance recorded on that ground for forty years after- ward. It was the minister against the town, and the minister won, not so much by argument — though the argument was on his side — as by authority. That was the power of the early New England clergy; and it was fortunate for the people when, as in Mr. Parkman's case, the minister was disposed to use his power in the inter- est of popular progress. Westborough was not always so fortunate, as we shall see. CHAPTER IX. 1730-1744. CHURCH ORDER. — PHASES OF CHURCH LIFE. — THE GREAT AWAKENING. — AN ANNIVERSARY SERMON. IT would be interesting, if it were possible, to restore a glimpse of the religious life of that period, in order to the better understanding of the events which revolu- tionized it. The early part of the century was for several reasons a time of general religious decadence. Here in New England, as we have seen, the settlers were too much occupied with their own affairs to give much thought to the affairs of another world. Between " buying a piece of land " or " five yoke of oxen " or " marrying a wife," they were ready to excuse themselves from absorbing interest in the kingdom of heaven. And in England there was at the same period a time of general looseness and corrup- tion. The clergy lost their spirituality, the higher classes gave themselves up to frivolity, and the lower classes be- came profligate and debauched. It was the reaction from this state of affairs in the mother-country that produced the great Methodist awakening, which, with all its extrava- gances, was a real forward movement in the kingdom of God,' destined powerfully to affect two continents. Here, during the period of indifference, measures were adopted by the ministry and the more earnest leaders of the church which kept the truth from stagnation and pre- pared the way for better times. We cannot, indeed, restore what is of most value in the church life of that day; it CHURCH ORDER. 119 is not a matter of records and documents. The throbbing heart of spiritual life, which is the soul of all history, can- not live again in printer's ink. But there are one or two special phases of that life which demand a passing notice. The desire for religious stimulus, which expresses itself to-day in endless meetings, conventions, associations, and itinerant evangelism, was then forced, through lack of easy and frequent communication, to find vent in occasional fasts, to which the neighboring ministers were invited, and which consisted of awakening discourses and prayers by the ministers, with no lay help. Not only were the an- nual fast-days sacredly observed, but in connection with every unusual occurrence in Nature (every drought, every season of epidemics, and notably the earthquakes of 1727 and 1755), on every special occasion (the founding of the church, the illness of the minister, the separation of the north part of the town), and whenever the ministers felt that the people needed rousing, the inevitable means resorted to was a fast. It is an illustration of this that the Worcester Associa- tion of Ministers, organized in 1725, of which Mr. Park- man was the youngest member, voted in 1731 to turn the Association meetings into fasts "for the reviving of re- ligion, and imploring the Divine blessing upon the rising generation." For more than a year this was kept up, the ministers preaching in rotation. This was not, indeed, or- dinary ; it indicated the beginning of a movement which was soon to spread over all the region : but it marks the habit of the time. One of these meetings was held at Westborough Nov. 17, 1731, and Mr. Parkman adds to the record of the meeting in his Diary this characteristic utter- ance : " O that it may be a fast that He has chosen ! O that our offerings might be pleasant to the Lord our God, 120 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. and that the great designs of the fast might be answered ; that we might feel and see a happy influence thereof upon ourselves and our children ! " Another means of promoting religious life and nurture, which was not occasional but regular in its operation, was the catechising of the children and young people by the minister. This was infrequent, occurring regularly but once a year, but looked forward to and prepared for, and dreaded too, by all the children, from Dan to Beersheba. The ex- ercise took place in mid-winter in the cold meeting-house, the boys attending in the morning, and the girls in the afternoon. It was discomfort enough to sit in the unheated meeting-house, into which no stove was introduced for a century after the founding of this church ; but the children were used to that, for they had to attend on Sundays as well, and though the warmth disseminated from the audience made it a little more tolerable then, it was anything but com- fortable. On a cold Sunday in January, 1686, Judge Sewall wrote in his Diary: " So cold that the sacramental bread is frozen pretty hard, and rattles sadly into the plates ! " But the cold was a small trial to the hardy children be- side the dread of the ordeal of catechising and the awe of the benignant and dignified man in gown and wig, who was to them the embodiment of all the awful sanctities of religion. The man who could carry his will with the congre- gation, and whom no man dared answer except under the stress of excitement, was looked upon with profound rever- ence by the children. Yet this catechising, which was a bequest from the old English custom, was not without benefit. Setting aside the dread of it, and the more seri- ous objection that the children were taught things they could in no wise understand, which is always bad instruc- tion, there were elements in the custom of much vahie. It PHASES OF CHURCH LIFE. 121 connected the children definitely with the ordinances of the church; it taught them some things, in the way of Scrip- ture history, which it was good for them to know ; and it created a sense of responsibility in them that helped to make them sturdier men and women when they grew up. But one of the best outgrowths of the custom appeared here in the coming to the pastor voluntarily, in 1 741, of ten young women to confer respecting a further catecheti- cal exercise which they desired. A class was immediately formed, and the first lesson given out. It consisted of " three answers of the Westminster Assembly's Catechism, with proofs ; and to wait upon an exposition " of the same by the pastor. The next week, at the first recitation, four- teen more young women came, and the next month six more, — making a noble class, whose frequent gathering was a stimulus to the pastor, and full of promise for the future. A third aspect of church life peculiar to that day is indicated by the emphasis that was put upon church discipline. This was faithfully maintained, and with a punctiliousness which indicates how important it was considered. The early records of the church seem, on a hasty reading, to be made up almost wholly of cases of discipline. Confessions were required from even slight offenders before they were admitted to communion, and in cases whose triviality occasions a smile. The authority of the church was most strenuously insisted upon and ex- ercised, howbeit with an evident desire to use all charity and tenderness. Mr. Parkman seems to have been especi- ally courteous and kind in dealing with offenders, yet un- flinching in doing his duty as the executor of church law. It is a fact which looks rather startling at first, that within two and a half years from the organization of the church in this little town there occurred six public confessions 122 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. of some form of violation of the seventh commandment. It is also quite unintelligible to modern understanding that, in one case, a man was kept on trial, and suspended from the church some twenty-two years, before the final issue was reached. Yet in spite of exaggerations, this carefulness maintained, amid troublous times and among an independent and strong-willed people, a condition of comparative health and purity in the church, and gave to the world the conviction that the church believed most heartily in virtue, integrity, and order. These were the customary aspects of church life in that day ; but during the agitation concerning the division of the town there swept over the whole country a great wave of religious excitement, unprecedented in all its history, which constituted an era in the life of the church here, as it did everywhere. The year 1740 witnessed the beginning of the most marked demonstrations of what was known as *' The Great Awakening." It was the year in which White- field began his work in this country. Five years before, Jonathan Edwards had shaken Northampton and all the Connecticut valley with the terror of his delineations of the doom inpending over all his unconverted hearers. In the South, Gilbert Tennent had done a similar work in the Presbyterian churches. And now, under the eloquence of the young Whitefield, twenty-six years of age, impas- sioned, zealous, and becoming, under the influence of the success and flattery which followed him, intensely fanat- ical, a contagion of excitement spread all over the land. Crowds flocked to hear him. People neither ate nor slept. Strange physical phenomena manifested themselves every- where. Edwards had the sense to repudiate these mani- festations as in no sense a part of the real work of grace ; but not so Whitefield and his followers. Naturally it was THE GREAT AWAKENING. 1 23 not long before extremists arose, who cared only for these crazy freaks. That was the signal for a strong reaction. By 1743 protests against the extravagances of fanatics be- gan to come in from the leading ministers of the country and from the educational centres ; and when Whitefield re- turned to the country, after an absence, in 1744, he found a decided change in the atmosphere, and many pulpits closed to him. The movement had spent itself. It had done good. Violent as it was, it had cleared the atmosphere like a thunder-storm. It had been inevitable. It was the crisis of the conflict which had been going on for a century between the truth taught and the habits adopted. The failure properly to sift the membership of the churches; the adoption of the "halfway covenant; " and the belief in salvation by sacraments which followed naturally upon the rest, in connection with the study of Scripture and the Catechism, — had been preparing ex- plosive material; and this was the result. And with all the incidental evils which accompanied and followed the movement, there was this clear gain, that the church was thoroughly cured of those particular weaknesses which had previously threatened its integrity. During this time of universal excitement Westborough had not failed to be deeply stirred. Whitefield preaiched in Marlborough in the middle of October, 1740, on his way to meet Edwards at Northampton. In 1742 there were great manifestations of interest at Leicester and Grafton and other neighboring towns ; and Westborough felt the movement to a great extent. Jonathan Edwards preached here the 2d of February of that year, and again the 20th of October, with marked effect. There were here also, as elsewhere, the manifestations of over- wrought sensibilities. On the 13th of January, 1743, Mr. 124 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Parkman wrote in his Diary : " A number of children were supposed to be much filled with the Spirit, and carried out in spiritual joy last night at Mr. Fay's. An Indian girl in great distress for her brother, and Betty Fay in terrors." One Isaiah Pratt lay insensible for a long time, his pulse exceedingly slow ; and when he awoke, said he " had seen hell, and had also seen Christ, who told him that his name was in the Book of Life." Mr. Parkman counselled him wisely, gave him no encouragement to rely on his visions, and referred him to the plain word of God for direction. Amid all the excitements Mr. Parkman seems to have acted the part of a calm, wise man, rejoicing with joy unspeakable in all signs of the work of God, but pained and perplexed by the hysterical accompaniments, which nevertheless never carried him away from his discretion. When, in 1743, a protest was issued, signed by a large number of New England pastors, against the extrava- gances of the more fanatical evangelists, his name ap- peared among the rest. This was a second protest of the ministers, issued because it was felt that the first had been too radical for a politic paper. It was a wise, clear- headed document, whose positions time has but empha- sized. These ministers, while rejoicing in the good fruits of the great revival, protest against emphasizing impulses, to the detriment of the judgment and sense ; against en- couraging excesses of physical demonstration; against the invasion of the ministerial office by exhorters and irregular workers ; against the tendency to run away from the regu- lar church and ministry to seek excitements. It is good cause for congratulation to find the first minister of West- borough thus in harmony with the most judicious of his brethren. On the 9th of January of the same year he records the action of a church meeting, at which " the AN ANNIVERSARY SERMON. 125 present times, which are full of Religious commotions, were considered, and, that we might obtain ye blessing & avoid the snares, the church were very ready to vote, and did so, that we observe a Day of Solemn Fasting and Prayer, and that it be, God willing, this day sennight." This calm and steady endeavor to maintain caution and rationality in a time of great and general excitement was approved by the sequel. It was not long before the heated emotion died out ; and then from every place where there had been zeal without discretion there came reports of dissensions and divisions. Councils were constantly being called. Ordinarily the separatists, or " New Lights," were repudiated by the churches, and churches that had been harmonious were divided. Grafton was rent in pieces; Sudbury and Ipswich suffered severely; from Holliston, Rutland, and other towns came calls to Westborough to join in councils to settle difficulties; and the peace and comparative quietness which prevailed in this church was exceptional. Not that there had not been a deep and intense feeling here; not that there had not been dross mingled with the gold : but no one had been encouraged to mistake the dross for gold, and the truths of Scripture and reason had ever been held up as the guide, rather than the impulses of feeling. The results of the patient instruction of the twenty years of Mr. Parkman's ministry now appeared in full power. On the 28th of October, 1744, Mr. Parkman preached a sermon appropriate to the twentieth anniversary of his settlement and of the organization of the church. The identical manuscript from which he preached it lies be- fore me. It was not written out in full, and the notes of the last half are only headings. Like all his sermons and his Diary, it is written on small sheets of paper, now 126 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. yellow with time, measuring about six inches by four. The writing is not merely small, but minute ; and a margin of nearly an inch is left for the insertion of notes, the number- ing of heads, etc. It is not easy reading ; how he ever read it in the pulpit is a puzzle. He used, as was the custom then, a gr^at many abbreviations ; and as the lines are not more than an eighth of an inch apart, he succeeded in crowd- ing almost as much into a page as might have been printed in the same space. This sermon is numbered CCLXVIII. ; and the notes of it are contained in seven of the small pages. He took his text from Genesis xxxi. 38 : " This twenty years have I been with thee." The first two of the seven pages are occupied with introductory matter illustrating the " custom of the servants of God to take special notice of the remarkable periods of their lives " by the example of Jacob in the text, of Samuel, of Moses, of Joshua, and of " the holy apostle St. Paul." He then comes to the matter in hand, and divides the body of the discourse into two main heads : " What God has done for us, " and " What we have been, and done, in return." The first head is written quite fully ; the second, which is subdivided into five sections, mainly of a hortatory character, is only indicated by a few phrases. As the memorial portion con- tains some few points not found elsewhere, and also fur- nishes a good example of Father Parkman's style, it seems worth while to give it entire, as follows : — " We are again brought, my dear brethren, to the 28th of October, — a day, as you may have remarked, I liave been wont to take some singular notice of, being the day of our founding and ordination. But now, through the abundant mercy of God, we have arrived unto the twentieth year since ; and it is now our incumbent duty to consider seriously what God has done for us, and what we have been, and done, in return. " I. As to what the Lord has on his part graciously done for AN ANNIVERSARY SERMON. \2^ us (for indeed all that he has done for us has been very graci- ously and mercifully). Not only may we celebrate his wondrous love and pity to mankind in sending his dear and only begotten Son for the redemption thereof ; not only his inspiring the holy writers of the Old and New Testaments ; setting up the church in the world ; instituting his ordinances ; sending the gospel into Britain ; raising up his cause out of the darkness and super- stitions of popery (for the Reformation was like a resurrection). Not only the bringing the first fathers of this country, and plant- ing evangelical churches in this then howling wilderness ; but the Lord's great goodness and compassion towards the first set- tlers of this town, in supporting them under their great difficul- ties and hardships in their beginning this place, when they first came out of Marlborough to inhabit these woods ; and protect- ing them in times of great danger and troubles by the Indian wars, when some of their children were made a prey, and the rest of their lives were daily jeopardized, their toil and fatigue unspeakably sore, and their distresses many. Our ears have heard, and our fathers among us have told us, what great things the Lord has done in guarding and delivering them when but few in number, weak, and much exposed ; and as the most of them are (through the favor of God) yet alive, though some are fallen asleep, they can and ought to recollect and bear in mind, with highest gratitude, what a merciful and all-sufficient God did for you in those early days of this place, — succeeding and increasing you and yours from year to year. " But then again, it is not to be forgotten how the Lord was pleased to appear for the people, and extricated you out of great perplexity and temptation when you had fallen into hot strife and contention, and your attempts to settle the ordinances of Christ among you were rendered abortive.^ And doubtless it becomes us all to take a suitable, and that a very grateful, notice of the hand of God in erecting a church of our Lord Jesus Christ, — one of his golden candlesticks, — and setting up his ordinances here in this place, though it were after some time ; and that these things were done with so observable an unanimity and agreement on the part of the inhabitants. Nor would I fail 1 Referring to the trouble with Daniel Elmer. 128 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. to add, as St. Paul in I. Tim. i. 12, — a little varied, — that I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, the most unworthy, for that through his grace he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry. Nay, it would be injustice if I should not mention also, to the glory of God, the kind reception, the affectionate esteem, which Was generally manifested when I came to you, as well as the tolerable peace and harifiony which was then visible amongst yourselves.* " As to what has been chiefly remarkable, — since we cantiot but observe the sparing mercy and goodness of God to us from one year to another, and at Some particular periods very memor- ably; but especially,- we ought never to forget the year 1727. For then, we having stood three years, through the Divine indul- gence and patience, I conceived the Diviiie ftiind concerning us was to be gathered out of that passage In Luke xiii. 7.^ But then that very night, after those solemn warnings of God's word, came the Great Earthquake. But then On the next Lord's day (I think) I preached upon the words next follow- ing : ' Lord, let it alone this year also ' (as, when the year came about, I did oh those words, 'If not, theii after that thou shalt,' etc.) j- and how wondrously God has accordingly borne with us ! And what an assurance of God's goodness was the sparing my life,' and recovering me to my work when I was visited once and again with both fever and rheumatism! Let me never forget those benefits towards me ! " We must acknowledge with great thankfulness that we have had sundry very valuable outward mercies, which we ought not to overlook. In special, we have not only enjoyed much health all along, in this place, compared with some other towns, but we have also had, as far as has come to my knowledge for most of the years past, the favor of considerable peace ; and God has blessed you with no Contemptible temporal enlargements and substance. 1 The Word " then *' is inserted as an after-thought in the margin, as though the present trouble, resulting in the division of the town, were on his mind. ^ " Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none : cut it down," etc. ' In 1729. AN ANNIVERSARY SERMON. I29 "And as to what is much the most worthy of our notice atid observance, the internal influenced of the Divine Spirit and grace, we have not, as I humbly judge, been altogether without some good tokens hereof (though it is matter of great grief and mourning, as we shall hereafter more positively say, that there have been tio more Sigfis of grace and conversion among us). As we have been favored with the external means of grace, though most undfeserving, so there have been, at several times, ; some movings of the Spirit of God among us. But as to the . outward tokens thereof, by persons joining to the church, I have , 'not been very fond of promoting and countenancing great mul- ' titudes of these, when it has been plain to me either that it has been very much out of form, or when they have been too raw and unqualified, as being too unexperienced in the practical and spiritual part of religion, or not been so much as indoctrinated and instructed in the necessary principles of Christianity ; but yet, sometimes we have had five or six together. ... At or about two of those seasons in which we principally had awaken- ings among us, we had religious societies set up among us. Presently after the earthquake (besides the young men's society) the Family meeting was constituted ; and in the year '41 there were (I suppose) no less than seven different societies in town, of old and young, of one sex and the other, who from time to time used to meet for religious worship. But in very truth, the external form and bodily exercise profiteth little ; it is the Spirit that giveth life. This is what God would freely give, did we but duly ask, . . ," It would have been gratifying if this discourse had dealt more largely in the facts of the history of the tvirenty years; but that vi^ould not have been in accord with the prevailing ideas of the demands of sermons and of the house of God. It seems to us most singular of all that, inasmuch as it was written only a week after the division of the town into north and south precincts, it should make no definite allusion to that event. The explanation doubtless is that the subject was too deli- 9 130 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. cate, and the feeling too sore to allow safe allusions. But however meagre in historical data, the sermon is of no slight value as furnishing a glimpse into the life and thought of the time, and the considerations which took strongest hold of men's feeling. There has been much change since then, — knowledge has vastly increased; but the fidelity and reverence of those days was the good soil out of which our best fruit has grown. CHAPTER X. 1744-1766. THE FIRST PRECINCT. WE have seen that from the 20th of October, 1744, the town was divided into two precincts, of which the first and southernmost corresponded essentially to the present town of Westborough. Each precinct managed its own affairs and constituted a parish by itself; but both assembled for town-meetings alternately in the meeting- houses of the two sections. The whole town, at the time of the division, contained one hundred and twenty-five families, of whom only thirty-eight were set off in the second precinct, leaving eighty-seven in the first. The first precinct held its first meeting Jan. 3, 1745, to appoint precinct officers and to take measures to retain Mr. Parkman as minister, — that is, as the minister of the first precinct, and no longer of the town. He at first would hear nothing of it, charging that his contract, which was made with the whole town, was " shocked and violated" by the doings of the precinct meeting. He had come, in the first year of his manhood, to be the minister of Westborough; he had lived with them all, and shared their prosperity and adversity, until he was now in the prime of life and the full activity of his powers; and the thought of losing an important part of his parish, and becoming the minister of a mere section, was intolerable. But when at a second meeting, held the 22d of January, the people of the first precinct unanimously requested him 132 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. to remain their pastor, voted to pay his salary from Oct. 20, 1744, — the date of the division of the town, — and sent a committee to consult him as to the amount they should allow him for damages iji €ase the meeting-house should be removed, he was greatly mollified. On February 8th they voted to give him ;^SOQ„"old tenor," if the meeting- house should be removed more than three quarters of a mile from his house, so that he should be obliged to move, and to pay hiw £SS io bills " of the new tenor, not soldier money," as stated salary, To this he subsequently agreed, and so the compact was renewed, which was to last for thirty-seven years longer, In May, 1746, the process of division was farther carried forward by an ecclesiastical separation- Capt. James Eager had given a lot of land for a meeting-'house in the north parish, situated a little westward of the site of the pres- ent old meeting-house in N'orthborough. Thereupon five brethren asked to be dismissed fron^ the church, and five others from the same section, in conjunction with the deacons, called for a church meeting, in view of the serious matters pressing upon them, which was solemnly lield on the 7th of May, "to consider God's great naercy to us in bringing us into a church state, and his glorious patience and goodness in continuijig ys to this day;" and "to bewail our vinfaithfulness to God and to each other under our high and holy character, and under our sacred gibligations, — manifest in our unfruJtfulness, deadness, carnality, and worldly-minded- ness ; " and more to the same effect. And now, as in the first organisation of a church, the brethren go alone into the new body; not until August are any of the women dismissed, and then with a rather ungallant proviso "that something be inserted in their THE FIRST PRECINCT. 133 dismission touching their delinquency, which we have observed of late, with an Exhibition and Caution to them respecting ye time to come." Those who remained in the old church had now to con- sider the question of adapting themselves to the new state pf affairs. The meeting-house was in the ejctreme north of their area, and inconvenient for many of them. Yet the attachment to old landmarks, and the private rights of ownership in the building, served to avert any change for a year or two longer. The precinct had definitely re- fused, in May, 1745, to find its geographical centre or to build a new meeting-house. Thus matters remained until the beginning of 1748, when there was a proposal made to build a new meeting-house " on the Great Road within 30 rods of the Burying Place, easterly of said Burying Place." This was temporarily refused ; but measures were taken to find the centre of the precinct, and in April it was voted to build " on the north side of the Cuntry road where there is now a Pine Bush grows, about twenty-five or thirty rods easterly from the Burying Place in said Precinct." This burying-place was the old cenietery, opposite the present town- hall; and the meeting-house still stands near its original site, and is familiarly known as " The Old Arcade." Edward Baker, Thomas Forbush, Dea, Josiah Newton, Francis Whipple, and Abner New- ton constituted the building committee. In December, £600, old tenor, was appropriated toward the building. A piece of land five rods long and eight wide was pur^ chased in January, 1749, of Nathan Brigham, of South- borough, The house was to be fifty feet long by forty wide, with posts twenty-three feet high, In April it was ready for the raising; and accordingly the precinct voted, on the 17th, " to provide Half a barrel of Roum, by the 134 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. cost and charge of the precinct, for the Raising the frame of the meeting-house which the precinct voted to build. . . . Voted, Capt. John Maynard, Lieut. Simeon Taintor, Lieut. Abijah Bruce to be a committee to take care to provide the Roum for raising the frame of the meeting-house. . . . Voted, to underpin the sils of the meeting-house." They also refused to take down the old house and use the material in the new one. Four months later the opposition to taking down the old house was so far overcome that a vote was passed, August 10, with four " decents," to take it down, "and use and improve so much of the boards, nails, glass, and tim- ber of the s"" old meeting-house in closing and finishing the s* new meeting-house as will be profitable to s^ pre- cinct; the interest and property of particular men in their several and respective pews in s** old meeting-house excepted. Voted to take the pulpit and ministerial pew, and set them up in the new house. Voted to take the old meeting-house down at or before the second Monday of Sept. next ensuing." The first meeting was held in the new house the 3d of September, according to Mr. Parkman's Diary, — a sheer necessity, probably, from the demolition of the old one, for it could not have been more than barely covered in. On the 15th it was voted to sell the glass of the old house and so much of the timber as was not used. Mr. Parkman still lived in the parsonage beside the site of the old meeting-house, a little more than a mile away from the new one. On Sundays he had not time to go home for his lunch between services, — which was a great inconvenience; and as it was hardly consistent with the dignity that pertained to the office to carry it with him and eat it in the meeting-house, and as no one offered to > M PI THE FIRST PRECINCT, 135 invite him in, he was obliged, evidently, to pay for his meal, for he petitioned the precinct to assume the expense, and at a meeting on the 28th of November it refused the request. He next requested, very properly, that the pre- cinct would carry into effect its vote of Feb. 8, 1745, prom- ising him, in case the meeting-house were removed more than three quarters of a mile from his house, the sum of ;^S00, old tenor, to enable him to move. But, as usual, the event showed that it was much easier to vote a sum of money long in advance, when they were anxious to induce the minister to stay, than to pay it when called for ; for at a meeting held Jan. 15, 1750, the precinct curtly refused to " put the ;£^SOO into a rate to enable him to move his habitation to the new house, or to make provision for his moving in any other way." But he insisted that the pre- vious vote was binding, and a meeting was called a fort- night later, which, with the exasperating slowness of the time, adjourned another fortnight, and then, with a bad grace, faced the necessity and put the money into a rate. Meantime, in January, the neighbors had met to break ground for his new house " on the south road," near the new meeting-house, — the spot now occupied by the resi- dence of the late Dr. William Curtis. The frame was not raised, however, till the 7th of September following, and the building progressed very slowly. But the work was done thoroughly, if not rapidly ; for the house, afterward owned and occupied by Judge Brigham, is still standing, just beyond the High Street school-house. It was evidently considered a fine house, even somewhat extravagant, at the time, and there were not wanting those who found fault with the parson for his ambition to have as good a house as anybody. One day in June, 1751, as he rode down to inspect the windows and doors, which had just I3S EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. arrived, he was sharply rallied by Lieutenant Taintor about the pride of ministers, because his window-frames were so large. "And although I rebuked him," says the worthy divine naively, "for thus speaking, especially as there were many persons present, yet I was disturbed thereat; and the frames were larger than I had intended, and I would ra,ther they had been smaller." In the following August he remarks in his Diary that he is obliged to move at once, although the house is unfit to be occupied, — the hearth is unlaid, the banks of gravel on each side of the door are unlevelled, and moreover there is no pasture for a cow, and no grass or hay for the horse. But move he must ; and the register, less reticent than he, tells us why. We find that he moved in on the 20th, and that on the 22d a child Samuel appeared upon the scene, keeping up the regular succession, which for more than twenty years hardly failed to bring a new life into the par-^ sonage once in two years. The family was becoming nu' merous by this time, — Samuel was the twelfth child ; ^ and though two or three had died, there was need of consider- able house-room. Eben, as his father called hini, was now a young man of twenty-four, ^nd, to the regret of his par- ents, did not take kindly to a life of study, but obtained their reluctant consent to become a farper. There is little or no light on the family life during all these years, Mr. Parkman was busy with his parish and his farm, and Mrs. Parkman did not find time to keep a journal. There were four girls ; two others had died. Mary, the eldest, Tvas now twenty-six ; Susannah, the youngest, was six. Thomas was only two years younger than Eben; William was a restive boy of ten, of whom his father has to record that "Mr. Solomon Wood, Tything man, complains of [his] 1 He was the donor of the town bell in 1801. THE FIRST PRECINCT. 1 37 rudeness at church." There are besides two haby boys of two and four years, and now the new-comer. For some time there must have been great inconvenience in the anfinished bouse, and much to do to keep house and farm and parish in order. Mr. Parkman kept his stock for some time on his old place, riding back and forth daily. But if the minister's house grew slowly, the meeting- house crept toward completion at snail's pace. Although the first meeting had been held there in September, 1749, just after the old house was torn down, we find the precinct voting, three years later, in December, 1752, "to build the pulpit and ministerial pew, the gallery stairs, floors, and breastwork of the galleries, and to sell the pews; the highest payer in the two [?] years they were building to have the first choice. Chose a committee to mark out the pews and to dignify and set a price upon each pew. Voted that the pew room on the floor next the walls, and the room where the four hind seats should be, shall be called Pew- Room." Feb. 6, 1753, they voted to sell no pew-spot to non-residents; on the 12th they held the sale. Twenty-two pew-spots were sold, and the record of the sale is extant ; so that it is not difficult to re-seat the old meeting-house as it was in the year of grace 1753, The house itself was fifty feet by forty ; the front door was on the south side, toward the street, which was one of the longer sides ; the pulpit was opposite; there were also doors on the east and west ends. The pews were arranged round the walls, except in the two corners on the street, where were stair- cases leading to the galleries, — one for the women on the north side, and one for the men on the south. The centre was occupied by two rows of benches, — one for the men, and one for the women. The centre aisle was five feet wide ; the two side alleys and the rear alley were 138 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. three and a half feet; the alley before the pulpit was three feet nine inches " from ye deacons' seat." Pew-spots were purchased as follows : — " Capt. John Maynard ; pew in hind seats on right hand of the alley. Jeduthun Fay ; Pew-spot on right hand of ministerial pew. Jonas Brigham; on left hand of alley in men's seats, next the alley. Ja'. Grout ; second pew spot on right of east door. Benj. Fay ; second pew spot on left of west door. Edward Baker ; third pew spot on left of pulpit. Dea. Josiah Newton ; first on left of pulpit. Jonathan Bond ; second on left of pulpit. Samuel Harrington ; second on right hand of front door. James Maynard ; between east door and the women's stairs. Ensign Jas. Miller ; in hind seats on left hand on men's side. Charles Rice ; on left hand west door. Timothy Warren ; in north-east corner of meeting-house. Widdo Vashty Newton ; in hind seats on right hand, next women's door. Jonah Warren ; on right hand of east door. Hezekiah Howe ; right hand west door, next men's stairs. Nathaniel Whitney ; third spot on right hand front door, next women's stairs. David Maynard ; northwest corner of meeting house. Eliezer Rice ; third spot on left hand front door, next women's stairs. Lieut. Abijah Bruce ; second spot on left hand front door. Lieut. Stephen Maynard ; first spot on right hand front door. Jonathan Forbush, Jr. ; first on left hand front door (sold to E. Parkman)." The accompanying floor-plan will help in understanding the arrangement. The pew-spots were sold at a price ranging from £1 6s. Sd. to £$ 12S. gd. Still the completion of the house lingered. In March it was voted " to lath and plaster overhead," and in July c o o > z o T) H X M PJ n o s w H H 5 9 K o a tHE FIRST PRECINCT. 139 to do the same under the gallery floors. In November it was voted to provide materials and " finish the meeting- house." But it still remained unpainted, and in June, 1754, the precinct solemnly refused to "Culler the Out- side of the meeting-house," or to paint the breastwork of the galleries, but did allow itself to be overcome by the clamor for pomps and vanities to the extent of painting the pulpit. There was an article in the warrant for a meeting, Jan. 19, 175S, "To see if this Precinct will grant ye petition of Surviah Thurston, Persis Rice, Dinah For- bush, and others, who pray that they may have Liberty to hang a dore and set banesters on ye hind seat on ye women's side in ye long gallery in our meeting-house, and injoy it for their seat in s"* meeting-house." Whether the petition was granted does not appear. At last, in March, 1755, a committee was appointed to " seat ye meeting-house ; " and it was voted " that ye aged Fathers should be seated according to their age, and ye next set of men according to their age and pay, and by ye last Invoice With one head." So, after long delay, the first precinct was furnished for business so far as regards ecclesiastical relations* There was still one exception, in the case of the ministerial land, which continued to be the Subject of dispute and litigation until it was sold, in 1784. But the house was ready for all needs, and the minister was on the ground, in a new and better hotise than he had before ; and the points of difference between north arid south precincts were chiefly in other directions. Some minor changes, of considerable importance at the time, were adopted in the services of the new meeting- house. Chief among them was a change which sounds strange to . us of tO'day, '— ' the Scriptures began to be read in church. It is a remarkable fact that until near 140 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. this time the colonial churches were not in the habit of having the Bible read in public worship. It had been read, according to Hutchinson, for some years in Boston, but the custom was afterward discontinued. Sermons might be one or even two hours long without offence; prayers were not noted for brevity ; the execrable singing took up a good deal of time : but the Scripture was alto- gether omitted. The reason of the omission must doubt- less be found in the violent recoil from everything that marked the customs of the Church of England, — a recoil so extreme as to lead in many instances to absolute ab- surdity. Two considerations help us to understand this fanaticism. In the first place, the separatists had endured much trial and suffering in their struggle for liberty of worship, and the church which had persecuted them was sincerely believed by some of them to be in league with Satan. And furthermore, the human mind always has to make a strenuous effort to tear itself away from ancient custom and provide for itself a new environment. It is a phenomenon still observed with great frequency that those who feel themselves forced to change from one form of belief to another usually become more radical in the new faith than those who have been born and bred in it. So it is a mark of progress toward a calmer view of the necessities and proprieties of worship that on the i8th of September, 1748, Mr. Parkman records as follows: "We this day began the public reading of Scriptures. In the morning, after prayer, before singing, I read the first chap- ter of Genesis, and in the afternoon the first chapter of Mark." Of course where Bible reading savored in the minds of the people of ritualism, the observance of church festivals was looked upon with horror as a leaning toward popery itself. In the Laws of Massachusetts, published in THE FIRST PRECINCT. I4I 1672, the observance of any such day as Christmas was classed with dancing, playing shuffle-board, bowling, play- ing cards or dice, and was punishable by a fine of five shillings. This was afterward repealed, but the pbserv- ance of Christmas did not thereby become popular. In Shute's governorship the General Court, with unneces- sary obstinacy, met on Christmas Days, in spite of the Governor's churchly proclivities. He refused to attend; whereupon Judge Sewall said the Court could pass bills on that day anyway, and the Governor might sign them when he pleased. A note of the same conflict appears in Westborough about the time we are now considering. There is an un- wonted acidity in the point of the minister's pen in a re- cord made on Christmas Day, 1750: "I hear that several of my neighbors, particularly Eliezer Rice and his wife, are trapseing off to Hopkinton to keep Christmas there. Were any of them rationally and sincerely enquiring and examining into the grounds of the controversy between Prelatists and Dissenters, it were a different case ; but they manifest only a spirit of unsteadiness." It happened that the next year Rice had a child to baptize ; and of course the matter of his soundness came under discussion. It appeared on examination that he was below the mark in regard to the doctrine of original sin; that he sturdily denied, not only the imputation of Adam's sin, but the corruption of mankind as the result of it. Mr. Parkman, to his honor, was extremely kind, — labored with the delin- quent faithfully, and was willing to make any concessions which seemed to him reasonable, in order to perform the baptism; but Rice was rather stubborn, and at last the matter came before the church. Mr. Rice stated that " though not utterly denying the imputation of Adam's 142 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. sin to his posterity, yet he was apter to disbelieve it; " after which happy characterization of a laboring and un- certain mind, he was admonished to inform himself more fully on " those doctrines which he appeared to be so much in the dark about," and the matter was laid over. At a subsequent meeting the church refused to allow the baptism. The question of church music, which the pastor had taken so vigorously in hand twenty years before, began to break out with its chronic disorder again in 1753. This time it seems that there were those who desired to im- prove on the minister's improvement, which would not do; so the church came to the rescue, and voted that they "were satisfied in the pastor's having desired Bro. Ed'' Whipple to set the Tune, and in the Tunes which we have been wont to sing in this congregation." In May, 1752, the church gave a letter of dismission to Eli Forbush, son of Dea. Jonathan Forbush, who left to organize a new church " in the northeast part of Brook- field," over which he was to be pastor; and the church shortly afterward assisted at his ordination. This was the beginning of the First Church of North Brookfield. The year 1755 was long remembered in New England as the year of the great earthquake, which occurred on the 27th of March. Probably it was the most severe ever known in this region. Chimneys were thrown down every- where; the ends of brick buildings fell, as far down as the eaves ; springs which had long fed wells were stopped, and new ones were opened; and the people were every- where greatly terrified. Mr. Parkman says that in West- borough "it shook the house exceedingly, tossing and wrecking- as if all nature would fall into pieces." This, like its predecessor of 1727, was looked upon by all the THE FIRST PRECINCT. 143 people as a direct visitation of God, and for years after- ward faithfully "improved" by the ministers in their appeals to their congregations. It was some time before the relations between the two precincts were satisfactorily adjusted. Next to the meeting- house, the question of schools required careful handling. The bounds of three districts had been at least temporarily fixed in 1742, when the matter of division was only in the air. But ten years later, at the March town-meeting in 1752, when the project of building a school-house for a grammar-school was broached, a process of obstruction began which lasted for more than a dozen years. At that meeting it was voted " that they would Buld two Scool houses, and that they would set them as Near to the two meeting houses as they convenitly can ; " but a month later, owing probably to a desire to force the second precinct to build its own school-house, the town refused " to proceed to build the two school-houses." The result of that was that the town, having more than one hundred families, was again under presentment for not having a grammar-school. Thereupon it was voted " that the North precinct should be set off to be a district by themselves, if they see cause." But in the following April the town refused to let the second precinct draw money for its schools out of the common treasury; and the question was hung up again indefinitely. It recurred in 1756 and in 1758, resulting always in the same vote, — " Refused to build two school- houses." And it was not until 1765 that sufficient advance was made to appoint a committee to " squadron the town for school purposes, and regulate the length of school in each." This was the beginning of the school district system; each district or "squadron" was to determine, by majority vote, in what part of its section the school should 144 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. be kept. The two school-houses for the whole town were never built. The area of the south precinct had been increased a little during these years ; three farms from the northwest part of Upton (which was incorporated in 1735) having been added in 1754, and four from Shrewsbury applying for admission in 1762. The town voted to receive "the Shrewsbury corner families," if they would build a road from their houses to the great road that goes to Grafton. These farms were annexed by Act of the General Court on the 4th of June, 1762. That the town exercised some discrimination in the reception of new territory is apparent from a vote passed in April, 1754, when the three farms from Upton were admitted, refusing to re- ceive Zebulon Rice and Eben Miller, of Upton, with their lands, as inhabitants of Westborough. The reason is not assigned. In 1755 a new pound being required, one was ordered to be built of stones, and to be twenty-eight feet square within the walls. It stood near the present site of Bates' straw shop. In 1757 the " burying-place " was enlarged by the exchange of a piece of ground with Mr. Park- man, and the gift of " a litel strip of land " from Stephen Maynard. In 1759 it was voted "to fence the Burying place with a good four Rail fence on three sides, and the frunt on the Rhode with a good four feet wall." The pauper question was beginning to assume larger proportions as the town increased in size, and the ex- pense of boarding out those who were dependent became a troublesome item in town meeting. The reluctance to do any more than Was necessary for these incompetents did not lessen. There is a vote recorded in 1758 which modern overseers of the poor would sometimes like to THE FIRST PRECINCT, 145 follow in certain perplexing cases which our laws do not fully provide for; namely, that they would not appropri- ate a penny to support the wife of John Maynard, but that they would take measures to oblige John to support his own wife; and for that they granted two pounds. About 1763 a memorandum was begun in the town- records of persons warned out of the town limits accord- ing to law, to prevent their acquiring a residence, when it seemed likely that they might become dependent on the town. In the course of two or three years this list included thirty-eight names, many of them being those of heads of families. In 1765 it was voted to build a workhouse; and two years later a small building, thirty feet by sixteen, and one story high, was erected on land owned by Timothy Warren, at a cost of £26 13^. 4^. In 1770 George Andrews, Timothy Warren, and Abijah Gale were chosen first overseers of the poor, and it was voted that the workhouse should be regulated according to law. This disposed of the question for twenty years. The history of the first precinct comes to an end in 1766, when the second precinct is incorporated as the town of Northborough, and the first becomes the town of Westborough, with its present boundaries. A division of common property was made by the selectmen of the two towns, with the exception of the ministerial lot, which remained a matter of dispute for eighteen years longer. The town had grown considerably during the process of division; for while in 1744 there were only one hundred and twenty-five families in the whole town, in 1767 West- borough had one hundred and twenty families, and North- borough eighty-two. CHAPTER XI. 1755-1772. THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. — BEGINNINGS OF THE REVOLUTION. — CHURCH MUSIC AGAIN. ' I ^HE eight years from 1755 to 1763 were full of public ■*- excitements and dangers. The long struggle be- tween English and French for the possession of the broad lands of the New World was passing through its culmina- tion. The draft upon the Colonies to furnish men and money for this struggle, which came to be known as " the French and Indian War " par excellence, was very severe. Massachusetts had put seven thousand men in the field in 1757, and was financially ruined. Not a town but must have felt the strain to be severe. There are, however, no records of the time in Westborough which throw any light on the part taken by the town in the eight years' struggle ; Capt. Benjamin Fay and Capt. Bezaleel Eager are said to have been in command of companies, but there are no muster-rolls which give their men. There is a roll in the State archives of a company in a regiment sent to Crown Point in 1755, under command of Col. Josiah Brown, of which one John Fay was cap- tain,^ containing three men from Southborough, six from Grafton, ten from Shrewsbury, ten from Marlborough, six from Upton, five from Uxbridge, and six from West- 1 If this John Fay was a Westborough man, he must have been the grandson of the original John Fay (who died Jan. 5, 1748), and was at this time only twenty years old. THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. 147 borough. The names of the Westborough men are else- where given as John Butler, Joseph Hudson, Henry Gashett, John Caruth, Adam Fay, and Thaddeus Warren. Charles Rice, of Westborough, is enrolled in 1755 in a company commanded by John Taplin. This was in the very beginning of the war ; and there were frequent levies afterward, until the young men had very generally ob- tained an opportunity to smell powder in the campaign. , In the absence of direct statements and statistics, we , have, in a sermon of Mr. Parkman's, a very good impres- • sion of the general feeling at the time, and the anxieties and burdens which were testing the fibre of the people. The sermon is in print, and a copy is in the library of Harvard College. It was a special sermon, preached at Southborough May 15, 1757, and dedicated as follows: " To the Rev. Mr. Nathan Stone, Pastor, and to the flock of Christ in Southborough, the ensuing plain Composure, but such as it is, in testimony of hearty gratitude for the kind acceptance of his occasional labors among them, is humbly inscribed by their affectionate soul-friend and humble servant, the Author." Its title is quaint enough: " Reformers and Interces- sors Sought by God, Who Grieves when they are Hard to be Found, as exhibited and applied in a plain but serious Discourse on Ezek. 22, ver. 30." The text reads : " And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it : but I found none." The whole sermon is quaint, and not lacking in force and pungency ; it has five heads, as follows : — " I. God is not o' mind to destroy the land of his peculiar covenant people, for whom he has had very special regard. " II. Gap-men, Reformers, and Intercessors are of great ser- vice to prevent the desolating judgments of God. 148 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. " III. When God sees destruction coming upon his people and upon the land he has peculiar regard to, he looks for a Gap-man that may prevent it. " IV. But he sometimes finds such are scarce. It is here said he found none. " V. When it is so, he laments it." There follows some discourse on the character of " gap- men," their influence as intercessors, etc., " as argued from the Scriptures and the nature of the Divine Being." Per- haps it is necessary to explain now, as it was not at the time, that the men he has chiefly in view as " gap-men. and intercessors " are the ministers of the churches. Mr. Parkman belonged to what was, even in his own day, the old rigime, — the Puritanism of the time of the first char- ter, which made the church the basis of civil society, and its ministers the most important men in the Common- wealth. And it must be said that he lent honor to his calling, even on this high estimate of it. The " application " of the sermon is a sample of the preaching for the times which was in vogue at that day. It also is divided into five heads, of which the last is subdivided into two : — " I. We are ourselves, here in this land, in covenant with God. " 2. Sin has made an awful breach, and opened a wide and horrible gap, at which all happiness is ready to depart, and numberless evils to rush in ; so that we stand in great need of reformers and intercessors. " 3. Does God ever seek those who will make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before him, for the land ? " 4. The number is too small, and many are dying.^ We may fear what God will permit the savages, with their insidious instigators to do in our sinning New England, when the Pious intercessors are removed. 1 This is a reference to the fact that " many ministers have lately deceased." THE FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR. I49 "5.- What reason we have to fear on account of our exposed- ness to Divine Resentments at this very time. " (a) As God's indignation has been poured out already in a variety of judgments upon us, and which, divers of them, are now upon us, so he will consume us with the fire of his wrath kindled up in the war we are so distressed by, and by other sore judgments which threaten, unless there is some suitable altera- tions among us. [This he illustrates at length from the history of the destruction of the Jews, and then proceeds.] Our sins are now nearly ripe. The kingdoms of Europe are greatly moved. Our own land is one of the principal theatres for ac- tion. The whole Protestant cause is in danger. He may suffer the anti-christian adversaries, aided by the hideous monsters of the wood, literally blood-thirsty, and whose even tender mercy is cruelty itself, to prevail over us. [This is still farther illus- trated from the fate of the ancient churches.] " (^) We are as stubble before this fiery indignation and wrath on account of our sins. [After this has been sufficiently dwelt upon, he ends the discourse by a few "closing incite- ments."] First, To the careless, impious, and flagitious, there is little to be said j the greater part of them, there is reason to fear, will be swept away in the flood of Divine indignation, and will be made eternal monuments of his unquenchable wrath. Secondly, To those more susceptible. Open your eyes ; see immoralities abound ; vices of all kinds ; principles esteemed very bad until now ; pernicious sentiments in religion. God is sure to execute his judgments. Think of what may be when our foes swfeep us away ! Homes burned, houses of God burned or turned into, Mass houses or temples for paganish rites, to the honor or great rejoicing of the Devil ; calamities on the feeble and defenceless, the aged and sick, on women and children ! " What a welcome you will have at the throne of grace on such an errand of intercession ! And may n't it tend to the Divine glory ? " It is easy to see what a profound impression such a ser- mon would make at a time of great fear and excitement, upon those who were taught to consider every public danger and' calamity as a direct indication of the fierce ISO EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. wrath of the God of whom they were sore afraid. To us it is interesting both as a sample of the way in which Mr. Parkman exercised the function of the prophet, and still more as a mark of the feeling of the time, and the strain under which the people lived during the contest with Catholic France for the possession of the Western valleys. Not a little was added to the burden of anxiety for the success of the English arms, and the heavier bur- dens of intolerable taxation and of the peril of sons and brothers at the front, by the religious conceptions of the Puritan age and the unspeakable dread of subjection to the domination of Rome. Mr. Parkman preached the annual sermon before the Convention of Ministers of the Province of Massachusetts Bay in New England in Boston, on the 28th of May, 1761, in which he alluded to " the remarkable success of our arms " [Wolfe's decisive victory had been won a year and a half before] ; " but especially the happy accession of His most sacred Majesty King George the Hid to the British throne," as " tokens of the Divine favor to constrain min- isters to be more diligent in his service." It is to be feared that there is a mild touch of syco- phancy in that last allusion, due to the presence in the Boston of that day of so many of His Majesty's retainers. But it was a great honor to the Westborough minister to be invited to preach the Convention sermon, and his heart was full of good-will. This is the first reference to the famous Anniversary week, which became afterward such a characteristic New England institution. It is to be hoped, though without over-confidence, that when Mr. Parkman preached it did not rain. We have now arrived at a period which was to test to the utmost the quality of the yeomen of these western BEGINNINGS OF THE REVOLUTION, 151 farms of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. George III. began his reign in October, 1760. The events immedi- ately following did not reassure those who, for the greater part of their Hves, hke their fathers for a century pre- vious, had been struggling under the burden of unjust taxation and of laws that discriminated against the Prov- ince. " The child Independence was born," said John Adams, " when, in 1761, James Otis, counsel for the British Admiralty, being ordered to defend the writs of Assistance, authorizing the searching of warehouses for goods that had not paid the prescribed duties, promptly resigned his office, and appeared in defence of the people, saying, ' To my dying day I will oppose, with all the power and faculties God has given me, all such instru- ments of slavery on the one hand, and villainy on the other.' " In March, 1765, was passed the odious Stamp Act, making all paper illegal for business purposes and printing which had not certain stamps affixed, the sale of which was to bring the Government rich revenue. As soon as the action became known, the greatest excitement pre- vailed ; and before the time had arrived for the Act to become law, the opposition to it was so well organized that it was never enforced. In Boston, on the 14th of August, a crowd of rebels thronged the streets, hanged Andrew Oliver, the revenue officer, in effigy, and forcibly entered his house. The news of the disturbance spread like wildfire. There was sympathy with the rioters in the back towns as well as on the seaboard. Mr. Parkman attended a meeting of the Ministers' Association in Marlborough a few days later, where he says, " All the talk was of the Stamp Act riots in Boston, and the hanging of Mr. A. O. in effigy," 152 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. la the October following the town gave some instruc- tions to its representative, Francis Whipple, the tenor of which was not likely to be misunderstood by His Majesty's servants. These instructions set forth, — That with all Humility, it is the opinion of the town that the Inhabitants of the Province have a Legal Claim to the Natural, Inherent, Constitutional Rights of Englishmen, Notwithstanding their Great Distance from Grate Britton ; and that the Stamp Act is an Infringement upon these Rights ; therefore we cannot be active in puting our Necks under such a Grevios Yoke ; and we think it proper in the present Conjunction of aiiairs to Give you, our Representative, the following Instructions, viz.. That you promote, and Readily Join in all such Dutiful Remon- strances and humble; Petitions to the King and Parliment, and other Desent measures as may have a tendency to obtain a Re- peal of the s** Stamp act ; and you are hereby Directed by no Means What So Ever, to do any thing that may aid the s* Stamp act in its operation, and you are hereby Directed to Dwo all in your power to Surpress and to prevente all Rioatus Assemblies and unlawful acts of Violence upon the Persons or Substance of any of his Majesty's Subjects ; and further more, you are hereby Instructed that you be not Aiding or assisting in Making any unusual Grants out of the Province Treasurie to Repear any Damiges which we of this Town had no hand in. (signed) Jonathan Bond, Moderator. To Francis Whipple, Representative, The temper of these instructions is admirable. No sub- mission to unjust oppression, no surrender of the rights of free-born Englishmen ; but, on the other hand, no mob- law, no rioting, nor — with a fine distinction — any paying for damages occurring through the riotous acts of others in which, whether sorry for them or not, the people of the town had no share. In November the church held a fast on account of the BEGINNINGS OF THE REVOLUTION. 153 distress in the Colonies. The prospect was not cheering. Every one felt the pressure of the time. The next few months were heavy with foreboding. But on the 17th of May, 1766, just after the division between Westborough and Northborough was accomplished, the welcome news reached town that the detested Act was repealed, and there was great rejoicing. There are no important records of the town relating to the affairs of the Province for the next six years, except that on the call for a convention of Massachusetts towns in Faneuil Hall in 1768, after Boston had refused to import any more British goods on account of newly imposed duties, Westborough responded promptly, and sent her leading man as delegate, — Capt. Stephen Maynard, afterward foremost in all military affairs ; and that not far from the same time the ministerial association of this vicinity held a fast in Westborough on account of the civil troubles. The next four years passed in com- parative quiet. Meantime the town was growing and prosperous. Not- withstanding the loss of the north precinct, the new meet- ing-house was already becoming too small. In September, 1768, the town took measures to increase the seating capacity, "to make more room especially for the men, who are very much crowded." Think of that, in these days when from two thirds to three fourths of the attend- ants at church are women! On the 14th of November the committee appointed made their report, which is worth preserving : — They are of opinion that ye Body of seats below be moved one foot forward, and that all ye seats Except ye foreseat be made three inches narrower, & take one foot out of ye alley behind ye PewS, either forward or Backward, that is before ye the comm. 1 54 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. alley as ye owners shall chuse ; that taking the hind seat there will be Room for 4 pews more in ye Body of ye house, and that their be a pew built over ye stairs in ye men's side wide enough for 3 seats ; or as wide as a workman shall think will not dis- commode ye passing up and down ye stairs ; & that ye parting in ye front gallery be Removed into ye women's end so far as there may be Room for 3 persons to set in each seat. WESTBOROUGH, Oct' ye loth, 1768. Francis Whipple, ■ JON*^ Fay, Jon* Bond, Timothy Warrin, Ye above report was accepted. This was ingenious enough ; but it indicated that there had been some lack of foresight when the meeting-house was built, only ten years before, or it would not have been already crowded to its utmost capacity. In the April following, the measures proposed by the committee were carried out; but the town continued to grow, and five years later more radical plans of enlargement were necessary. In 1772 a little relief was gained by the pro- vision " that ye women's front Gallery should be for ye men to sit in Except ye Front Pue, and to remove ye partition between ye men and women's seats to ye east end of ye women's seats." But this, though apparently leaving very little room for the women, was a very tem- porary relief; and the following year, in the midst of much public excitement concerning the affairs of the Province, the town chose " a Committy to Vue sum meeting houses that hav ben Cut in two & a pece put in ye meedel." The committee reporting favorably, " ye Town voted to split ye meeting house & put in 14 feet." It was farther voted to build three porches, and to CHURCH MUSIC AGAIN, 1 55 repair where needful. In April the work was so far on foot as to require the usual vote that the committee "should provide the necessary drink for the workmen and those that assist when they move and raise those parts of the meeting house which are to be moved and raised, & provide liquor for the carpenters and workmen when they shall work at the meeting-house." Certain vain persons appear to have aspired to a steeple; but that extravagance was rebuked by a very decided vote in June " not to build a steeple ; " and when those who desired it offered to be responsible for the expense, a still more emphatic answer was recorded in August that they would not have a steeple built free of cost to the town. The steeple was to come, but not till twenty- eight years afterward, when a bell was presented to them, and they must needs have a place to hang it.^ There is a way-mark of progress in the introduction, in 1 77 1, of a change in the service of song in the house of the Lord. On the 24th of February the church voted, " by a great majority, to use that Version of ye Psalms which was set forth by Dr. Brady and Nahum Tate, Esq., with the Addition of as many of Dr. Watts' Hymns as can conveniently be obtained." Only three members of the church failed to vote on this occasion, — two, because they wished to wait and see what the congre- gation would say; and one, because "he knew nothing about it, having never seen one of them in his Life." On the 1 2th of May the congregation was informed of the ' The three porches built at this time, though long ago removed from the building, are still in existence. One of them was transformed into the house now occupied by Mrs. Wilson, on Boardman Street ; another into the house of Mr. Arnold, on Heath Street ; and the third into the small house on the grounds of the " Blake Place," on West Main Street. IS6 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. vote of the church, and concurred " by a silential vote." It was then ordered that objections, if there were any, should be brought in before the next Sabbath or the Sab- bath after. On the 27th of June the church, " that we might have peace and harmony, . . . condescended that the Congregation, males of ye age of 21 years, might have liberty " to vote in the choice of leaders ; and accordingly they proceeded to the radical step of electing four leaders to conduct the singing. This is the second step, and an important one, in the history of the musical contest. The first was taken forty years before, and has been already mentioned. That was the adoption of the use of a greater variety of tunes, and of written music; since that time the psalm had been read, or " lined out," one line at a time, and the people had sung as best they could, but without much regard to time or melody. The present change was the enter- ing wedge of the much greater innovation which in due time introduced the choir. The adoption of the Tate and Brady version of the psalms, which had been pub- lished in England early in the century, but which a re- luctance to be indebted to English workmanship had kept out of use here hitherto, was an improvement in the quality of the psalmody ; and the introduction of some of Watts's hymns was a much greater step in ad- vance. But the most radical innovation of all was the appointment of four " leaders." It led in time to the disuse of the old custom of lining out, dear to the soul of many a deacon and clerk, and gallantly fought for in many a meeting-house in those days. The same step had been taken in Worcester the year before, and was part of a very general movement growing out of the increasing instruction and intelligence on the subject. CHURCH MUSIC AGAIN. 1 57 These four men were to sit together and lead off in the singing. It was not long before they and some others grew extremely tired of waiting after the singing of every line for the clerk to read the next ; so it came to pass that the next thing desired by .the party of progress was the dispensing with the function of reader. It was achieved, however, as so many things are, by indirec- tion. It was seven years aflerward that the first choir appeared in the Westborough meeting-house, and the innovation was indorsed by the following town-vote, re- commending " to those male persons who are disposed to sing the praises of God in publick to set as much together as they conveniently can, in ye men's front Gal- lery, without depriving those who usually set there of their places. And to those female persons who in like manner are disposed to sing, to set in ye women's front gallery for ye purpose aforesaid, and to Set there in a decent manner during ye town's pleasure." This action of 1778 seems to have been well up to the stage of progress then possible, and the permission to women as well as men to sing in the choir was in ad- vance of the prevailing custom. So far as the record shows, there was no serious opposition to the change. In 1 78 1 the west end of the men's gallery, as far as the alley, was appropriated " to those that were inclined to assist in the worship of singing on the Sabbath ; " and thus the church was fairly committed to the innovation of a choir. CHAPTER XII. 1772-1780. IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. THE year 1772 brought the affairs of the Colony to an alarming crisis. On the 2d of November Samuel Adams, in town-meeting in Boston, moved that a com- mittee of correspondence be appointed " to state the rights of the Colonists, and of the Province in particular, as men and Christians and as subjects ; and to communicate and publish the same to the several towns and the world, as the sense of this town, with the infringements and viola- tions thereof which have been, or from time to time may be made." Two weeks later the committee, through James Otis, its chairman, reported in a clear and unequivocal document, the substance of which was issued in a circular letter to the towns, calling for an expression of their opinion and sentiments in regard to the common danger. The response that came in from town after town was like the running fire of musketry. Suffolk, Essex, Middle- sex, Worcester, Cape Cod, and the West spoke unani- mously by all their towns. Westborough was not behind in patriotism, as the following record shows : — At a Legal meeting of ye Freeholders & other Inhabitants of ye Town of Westborough, on Fryday, ye First Day of Janu", 1773, the following Vote passed (viz.), that a Committy of 7 men be chosen To take into Consideration ye Rights as Stated by ye Committee of Correspondence of ye Town of Boston, & ye IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, 1 59 Infringements and Violation of ye same, & to make Report at the Adjournment of this meeting (viz.), on Monday ye 4 Instant. S""- Committy Taking into consideration ye State of ye Colo- nists, and of this province in particular, & a List of ye Infringe- ments & Violations of those Rights, & a Letter of Correspondence Voted by ye Freeholders & other Inhabitants of ye Town of Boston att their late Publick Town meeting, & by their Com- mittee of Correspondence Transmitted to this Town, — Having considered the Same, are of Opinion that the Rights of ye Colonists, & of this Province in perticuler, as men & as Subjects, are well Stated in s* List, as ye same are fully sup- ported & warranted by ye Laws of God & Nature & ye Royal Charter of this province. Under ye present critical and alarum- ing Situation of our publick afEairs There is a loud call to Every one to awake from Security, & in Earnest strive to secure his Liberty, lest he politically perish. That as ye Oppressions com- plained of are of ye utmost consequence, & if not confronted will soon Termanate in ye Ruin of this Province, — Especially ye Extorting our moneys from us without our consent by our Selves or our Representative, & applying it to Uses which we Judge is determental to this Province, — it Appears Necessary that Every member of this Community, Quallified to vote in Town affairs, should at all times have a proper sense of them, more especially as ye Futer happiness of his Family, as well as him self, Depends Greatly on their being removed. For no Bought ware tyrany is Exercised, Opposition becoms a duty. As our fathers could, so can we plead our Loyalty ; we have been, and now are. Ready to spill our Dearest blood in Defence of our King, Religion, & Constitutional Laws. We cannot but look upon it a hard Trial, yea greater than we can bear, if we cannot [be said to] Give full proof of our Loyalty Otherwise than by sacrificing those Rights & Liberties which we prize beyond Life itself. Therefore ye Inhabitants of this Town do Declare it to the world that they are far from being Easy under ye many Infringements and In- tolarable Violations of those Rights and priveleges ; first, we Do therefore Instruct our Representitive, when in General Cort assembled, that he use his Influence in Soliciting his Excelancy, ye Governor of this province, that [he] Joyne unitedly with this l6o EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. province, that my Lord Dartmouth and our most GraciousSov- erring may be fully acquainted with ye Real Uneasiness which so justly fills ye minds of us his most Loyal people. 2ly, our Representitive is hereby instructed to unite in such measures as shall pleas ye Governor of this province & ye Judges of ye Superiour Corts of the province, upon a constitu- tional Basis, & make them a Sutable Provision for their isupport; and that Nothing more seems Needfully by us to be Don, but to Leve ye Instructions given to ye prudant Manigment of our Representitive ; Reposing our confidence in him, that he will exert himself at all times, with ye other members of s** Court, ih such measures as may have a Tendency to ye obtaining a Redress of all such Grevences as are Justly complained of, & ye Procuring to this Loyal people ye peceful Enjoyments of their Just Rights. {Signed) Phineas Hardy, Chairman of ye Commiiy. Capt. Benj" Fay, Eben'' Maynard, Dan'- Forbes, Abij** Gale, Hananiah Parker, Dr. James Hawes. In 1774 measures were set on foot which resulted in the first Congress of the Colonies at Philadelphia in September. The General Court of Massachusetts ap- pointed its delegates, and authorized the payment to them of ;£^500 for expenses. This appropriation was of course vetoed by Governor Gage ; whereupon the Gen- eral Court, assembled at Salem June 17, sent out an ap- peal to the towns for the money. The share which fell to Westborough, and which was promptly paid, was £\ 9J. \d. Shortly afterward another appeal came from the people of Boston. Boston Harbor was blockaded, and the city in a state of siege. King George was trying "the heavy hand of power" to coerce the Colonies into obedience. The people appealed to their compatriots. " You, gentlemen," they said, " our friends, countrymen, and benefactors, may possibly look towards us at this crisis. We IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR.. l6l trust we shall not be left of Heaven to do any thing, derogatory to our common hberties, unworthy the fame of our ancestors, or inconsistent with our former professions and conduct. Though surrounded with a large body of armed men, (who, having the sword, have also our blood on their hands,) we are yet undaunted : We trust in the God of our fathers, and we feel the animating support of a good cause ; but while suffering a Double weight of oppression, and exasperated by a military camp in the very bowels of our town, our minds are not more in a temper to delib- erate than our bodies in a situation to move, as the perils and exigencies of the times may probably demand. "To you, gentlemen, our brethren and dear companions in the cause of God and our country, we apply ; from you we have received the countenance and aid which have strengthened our hands, and that bounty which hath occasioned smiles on the face of distress : To you, therefore, we look for that wisdom, advice, and example which, giving strength to our understand- ing, and vigor to our actions, shall, with the blessing of God, save us from destruction." In response to such appeals as this, a Committee of Cor- respondence was appointed, consisting of Jonathan Bond, Daniel Forbes, Hananiah Parker, Dr. James H'awes, Lieu- tenant Baker, Thomas Bond, and Joseph Harrington. At the same meeting, June 17, 1774, the committee was in- structed to confer with the committees of the towns of the county at Worcester, " in this dark and distressing time of perplexity." Still more warlike was the appointment of committees to buy " a field-piece, a four-pounder," and four hundred weight of ball, with ten half-barrels of powder and five hundred weigjit of lead and flints; and of another com- mittee to provision troops in case of an alarm. Then Capt. Stephen Maynard was appointed commander of all the soldiers in town in case of an alarm ; the existing artillery companies were authorized, and their officers l62 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. recognized by reappointment in town meeting; recruits were called for, and ordered to be armed and equipped as the law directed. Subscriptions were requested in ad- vance for arms and ammunition, and the response was prompt. Captain Maynard led off with a subscription of ;^22 lOJ. old tenor, and eight others followed on the spot with smaller sums. Dr. James Hawes, Jonathan Bond, and Capt. Stephen Maynard were appointed a committee to go to Concord and hear the report of the General Congress, — the rebel Congress, which General Gage could not disband, — and then the meeting adjourned. The whole town forthwith was full of military ardor. The cannon and ammunition were purchased ; seven men were appointed to learn how to handle the field-piece " in a warlike manner, so that they may know how to conduct and behave themselves if they shall be wanted for our defence." The town refused to grant any extra bounty to minute-men, on the ground that no more was expected of them than of other men ; every man was to be a minute man, and to do his utmost in the common peril, — they refused to make invidious distinctions. The old church was the rendezvous, and in due time, like the more famous Old South in Boston, witnessed the rallying of armed men within its walls, to march for the defence of liberty. At length, on the 19th of April, 1775, the swift courier brings to town the call to arms. Lexington and Concord are attacked by British troops ; the war has begun. There is no hesitation ; the minute-men are ready. " Swift as their summons came they left The plough mid-furrow standing still. The half-ground com grist in the mill. The spade in earth, the axe in cleft." They are drawn up in array at the meeting-house ; they receive their rations and arms, with a supply of powder, IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 163 bullets, flints, and hatchets, and are off and away, and ar- rive near Boston that same night by way of Lexington. The following is the roll of the minute-company, as prepared by Edmund Brigham, captain, Nov. 27, 1775 : Edmund Brigham, Captain. Thomas Bond, first Lieut. Moses Wheelock, second Lieut. Nathan 'Yo'ii'a&&aA, first Sear^- James Godfrey, second " John Harrington, third " John Ball, fourth Lieut. Joshua Chamberlain, _/?rj/ Corp, Edward Entwishill, second " John Fay, third " Caleb HdLmaglon, fourth " James Gon\d, first drummer. Richard Temple, second " Nathaniel Chamberlain, Fifer. Amasa Maynard. Thaddeus Warren. Solomon Maynard. Samuel Thurston. James Bellows. Joseph Bond. Eleazer Wheelock. Phineas Hardy, Jr. Fortunatus Miller. James Miller, Jr. Benjamin Ball. William Spring. Daniel Adams, Jr. Joseph Chamberlain. Asahel Bigelow. Henry Marble. Samuel Williams. Phineas Brigham. Phineas Gleason, Jr. Joseph McCuUoch. Edward Brigham. Barnabas Brigham. Eli Harrington. Samuel Bellows. Amsden Gale. Daniel Warren, Jr. Breck Parkman. Seth Brigham. Daniel Hardy, Jr. Simeon Forbes. Benjamin Whitney. John McCuUoch. The muster-roll in the State Records gives the same list, with one exception, — it substitutes the name of William Woods for that of James Miller, Jr. It also gives the following list of members of this minute-company who enlisted in the service of the United Colonies : — Thos. Bond, First Lieut. Richard Temple, Drummer. Moses Wheelock, Second do. James Bellows. Jas. Godfrey, Searg. William Spring. Joshua Chamberlain, ) Henry Marble. Edmund Entwishill, >- Corporals. James McCuUoch, John Fay, ) Daniel Hardy, Jr. l64 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH, Fortunatus Miller. Phineas Brigham. William Woods. Edward Brigham. Benj. Ball. Eleazar Wlieelock. Asahel Bigelow. John McCuUoch. The shock of April 19 woke up the country, as at a later day did the firing on Fort Sumter. Within twelve days New England put twenty thousand men around Bos- ton, shutting the British within the town ; and the Thir- teen Colonies were awake and ready for war. Some of the Westborough men were at Bunker Hill. Thirty-two en- listed under Capt Moses Wheelock for eight months, and went to Cambridge and Dorchester. Seventeen more went with Capt Seth Morse, in December, for two months ; and eighteen, in January, 1776, with Lieut. James Godfrey. They were in the gallant army that surrounded Boston in the ensuing March, and saw from the earthworks on Dorchester Heights the evacuation of the city. The British, driven from Boston, went by an indirect route to New York. General Washington was there to receive them ; and in his army was Lieut. James Godfrey, of Westborough, with twenty-two fellow-townsmen. It can hardly be otherwise than that in the defeat of the 27th of August some of them laid down their lives; but there are no records left to tell the tale. Meantime great events were happening. Massachusetts had already declared " that the happiness of the people is the sole end of government ; and the consent of the peo- ple is the only foundation of it in reason, morality, and the natural fitness of things. And therefore, every act of government, every exercise of sovereignty, against or with- out the consent of the People, is injustice, usurpation, and Tyranny." In accordance with this declaration, the Province had renounced allegiance to the Crown, and IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 1 65 established a government of its own, consisting of repre- sentatives elected by the people, and a council chosen by the assembly ; which though only a temporary expedient, adopted " until a Governor of his Majesty's appointment will consent to govern the colony according to its charter," was a step toward the final separation. The Virginia Convention, in June, 1776, declared: "All men are by nature equally free, and have inherent rights. . . . All power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people. . . . Government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit and security." When, therefore, the Continental Congress came to the question of inde- pendence, it had only to follow in the line already marked out by the separate Colonies. It was inevitable that the step should be taken by allj having been taken by each in reality already. It was taken, and the. Colonies cut loose from the Throne.. Westborough had stood shoulder to shoulder with the other towns. It issued its last town-meeting warrant, in His Majesty's name Feb. 13, 1776; the next, of May 13, was " in the name of the Government and People of Massachusetts Bay." On May 24 it instructed its repre- sentative to the Provincial Congress, Capt. Stephen May- nard, to conform to a resolve of the House concerning " Independentcy," in case the Honorable Congress should judge it most expedient for the safety and welfare of the Colonies. The people knew that such a course meant war to the bitter end, but they did not flinch. On July 2, 1776, a vote was passed that " every man should pay his just proportion iii supporting the war from April ye 1.9, 1775, and so forward." They would have no shirks. The demands were coming in, too, as fast as they could meet them with the help of every one. There were bounties to 1 66 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. pay to every enlisted soldier, ranging from £i to ;^io. In April, as we have seen, they had purchased a cannon and munitions of war, and sent provisions to Lexington and Cambridge. In May requisition was made for breadstuffs, and twice in the same month for blankets. .In June the Provincial Congress called for thirteen thousand coats, o which Westborough's proportion was forty-eight. In Jan- uary, 1776, came another call for blankets, which in those days were not turned off by the hundred in shoddy mills, but spun and woven by the women. These continued calls strained the endurance of the people to the utmost. The payment of bounties soon became very onerous. Dec. 30, 1776, the town voted, in a fit of desperation, "to stop raising soldiers by a tax ; and to receive back money from any who chose to return it." And evidently there were some who did so; for in the following March, when the continued demand forced the town to levy another bounty tax, and a bounty of ;£'30 was voted to three years men, those who had before paid back their money received it again. There were also special calls from time to time, of which we have a hint in the taking of a collection in church. May 18, 1777, "for Samuel Goodnow, of Elizabeth town, in ye Jersies, driven out of his home by Regulars ; " and another in April, 1778, "for John Forbes, driven off by ye enemy at Otter Creek." In September, 1779, there was a call for relief for Boston, asking for beef, cattle, sheep, butter, cheese, and rye, and Indian meal; but the largest demand recorded at any one time came in January, 1778, when the town voted to pay its share of ;£'400,ooo, to be put on loan by the State, which amounted to ;£^ 1,204. Of course there were then, as always, those who tried to take advantage of the demand created by the war to obtain an increase of wages and profits out of the strug- IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 167 gles of the patriots. The country could not stand that strain then as well as it could afterward in the war of 1861 ; and the effort was made to regulate prices, which, whether successful or not, is interesting to the student of the history of economics, and also throws a good deal of light on the occupations and customs of our fathers. In February, 1777, Westborough adopted the following list: — IS. 6d. a day. 2S. " 2s. 4d. " 3s. 2S. 4^. " IS. lod. " IS. (td. « IS. 2.S. 6d. 6s. 8d. 6s. IS. 2d. Price of day labor in January and February . " " in April " " May to June 15 . . . " " June 15 to Aug. 15 . . " " Aug. 15 through Sept. . " in Oct " " in Nov. and Dec. . . . For a carpenter who is a workman at the trade — For the best half of the year .... For the rest of the year Bedstead of maple A good stubble plough well made .... For a good Wrake For a plain setting chair, made of maple and bottomed, ' 3;. ^d. For botaming a chair with flags gd. For making a pair of cart wheels of good timber - £1 los. For a shoemaker making a pair of men's or wo- men's shoes, finding thread and heels as usual For a pair of good shoes for a man, made of good neat's leather , And other shoes in proportion, according to their Bigness and Goodness. For a Blacksmith shoeing a horse all round, with shoes well steeled, toe and heel .... And for shoeing all round without steel . . And for setting a shoe Good walnut wood per cord Good oak wood " Good swamp wood " All delivered at the door. For a doctor's journey, js. per mile, and other articles in proportion, according to the cost of medicines. ^• 7s. 6d. 6s. 4s. 4d. Ad. 7s. 6s. Ss. 4J. 1 68 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Good wheat, per bushel 6s. Sd. Good rye 4s. ^d. Good Indian corn 3J. 2(/. Good oats 2s. Good potatoes, per bush, in ye fall of ye year . . . is. At other seasons of ye year is. 4^. Good grass-fed beef 2j(/. lb. Good stall-fed beef 3^^/. « Good lump butter 9^. " New milk by grass i^d. qt. " hay 4^. « Good tobacco 6^. lb. For good Cyder in fall of the year 3j. 4(/. bbl. " " in spring and summer .... dr. " For a Tavern Iceeper pr. mug for Cyder .... 2^d. For a meal of Vitials of the best quality .... is. pr. meal. For their common Vitials Sd. " For a mug of flip, made of W. I. Rum loii. For New England flip Sci. For boarding, a man pr. weelc 4j. 4«?. For boarding a woman 2j. SaT. For spinning 4 skein yarn, 14 knots in a skein . . 4ei. pr. sk. For spinning good woolen warp, 7 knots in a skein . 2^d. pr. sk. For weaving 4.skein yarn, yd. wide 3^^. pr. ydi Good yard wide tow cloth 2j. 3• q each man 540 o o Feb. 26. 4 men to go to Rhode Island, ;£'90 each man, 360 o o June 8. 2 men to Rutland, ;£8o each 160 o o " 16. 4 men to guard at Rutland, ;£ 1 20 each man, 480 o o " 8. 5 men to Reinforce the Continental men for nine months, ;£6oo each 3000 o o Sept. 17. 3 men to man the works in and about Boston, ;£50 each man 150 o o Oct. 9. 10 men to Reinforce the Continental Army, for three months, ;^ 1 50 each 1500 o o 1780. Jan. 22. 14 men to Reinforce the Continental Army, ;^i27o each man 17780 o o The bounties, which began with £,\ per man, and reached at last the astounding figure of ;^i,270, illustrate in the most striking way the depreciation of the currency as the struggle drew toward its close. The difference is not so much in the amount granted as in the value of the money in which it was paid. The following table shows the amount granted each year, and the number of enlistments. Of course many of these were re-enlistments, and it is not certain that the men all belonged in Westborough ; but that a little town of less than one thousand inhabitants should enlist three hundred and eighty-one men in six years shows how the 172 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. necessities of the war drained the population, and -how cjesperately the men of that day fought their struggle. In I77S bounties were paid to 49 men. Whole amount 145 o " 1776 " " loi " " 512 2 " 1777 " " 99 " " 60s 19 " 1778 " " 81 " « 5,690 o " 1779 " " 37 " " 6,190 o " 1780 " " 14 « « 17,780 o Whole number - . . 381 Amount . . . ;£3o,923 o To this really noble record we must add, in our mental estimate, the thousand things that are only hinted at in any public documents : the prompt and brave responses of the " Home Guard," — fathers and mothers and sisters, who bore poverty and bereavement, and wrought patrioti- cally with fingers and spinning-wheels and looms to keep the army clothed and fed. Calls for supplies were inces- sant. Blankets, coats, stockings, shoes, were continually sent in answer to calls. Before the close of the war the suffering from lack of supplies became greater than from the enemy's bullets. There are two scraps of paper in the town archives that one does not read without a quick- ening of the pulse : they are only receipts for blankets, signed by Samuel Danforth and Henry Marble ; but they were signed in the, camp at Valley Forge, in that terrible winter whose record of suffering is among the most trying episodes of the long war. This last-named soldier was one of those who " enlisted for the war or for life," and saw with his own eyes the principal events in the eight years' struggle. Thirty-five years later he put on record the simple outline of his share in the scenes which at that time only the old men remembered, as follows : — IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 1 73 Statement of the Services of Henry Marble, late a lieutenant in the Continental Army, commanded by the illustrious George Washington, Esq. On the 19th day of April, 1775, I marched from the town of Westborough, state of Massachusetts, 34 miles from Boston, on the first alarm of war, and arrived near Boston the same day, by the way of Lexington, where the first blood was shed. I enlisted soon for eight months into a regiment commanded by Jona. Ward, Esq. On the 17th of June I was in the battle of Bunker Hill, 1776. I was two months with the army on the heights at Dorchester, south of Boston, and saw the British evacuate the town, blow up the castle, etc. I then enlisted soon after, as corporal, into a regiment commanded by a Colonel Smith, and marched to New York. I was on the city guards the day that the enemy took the place, and underwent all the fatigues of that campaign ; was in the battle of White Plains. 1777. I enlisted for three years in the isth Mass. Regiment, ist company, as sargeant; joined the northern army; was pre- sent at the taking of Burgoyne, and the battles that preceded it ; then marched to the south, and joined the army in Pennsyl- vania, cantoned at Valley Forge. 1778. In June marched in pursuit of the enemy, who had left Philadelphia ; on the 28th overtook them at Monmouth ; had a severe action. In the month of July the Brigade to which I belonged, commanded by Gen. Glover, was ordered to Rhode Island, to join the army under command of Gen. Sullivan. Was in all the hazard and fatigue of a seige against the town of Newport ; but failing in the expedition, made a safe retreat, and took winter quarters in the town of Providence. In the month of November I was promoted to the rank of ensign. 1779. On the 28th of June I was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. On the nth of July was marched to New York, and joined the army on the banks of the Hudson, cantoned near Fishkill. 1780. The number of regiments was reduced to that of ten in the Massachusetts line ; and I was incorporated into the 5th Regiment, commanded by Rufus Putnam ; soon after which I 174 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. was appointed adjutant of said regiment, and so continued to tiie close of the war in 1783. The foregoing is a true statement of facts according to the best of my knowledge. (Signed) Henry Marble, Ztate a Lieutenant and Adjutant in the Revolutionary A mty of the United States of A meriea. Dated at Montgomery this first day of March, i8i8, and forty-third of the Independence of the United States. Meantime the town kept its interest awake and active in regard to the political progress of the States. The Decla- ration of Independence was received, and recorded in the town records Sept. 16, 1776. The action of the Conti- nental Congress was fully accepted by the people of the town, and held as binding upon them in all subsequent action. The effort to devise a Constitution for Massa- chusetts was scanned with jealous earnestness, lest it should not fully secure the rights of the towns. In De- cember, 1776, the town refused to consent to the fram- ing of a Constitution of Government by the Council and House of Representatives then sitting, according to the Resolve of the General Assembly of September 17th; and in order to enforce their unwillingness, they refused to send another representative to the General Assembly. Again, in the May following they voted " not to give our consent that our Representative should have any hand in forming a Constitution of Government till there can be an alteration in the present form of representation." In March, 1778, a committeie was appointed to peruse the Constitution devised by the General Court, which had proceeded to the task in spite of the town's vigorous protest. There is no report of the committee recorded; but in May it came before the town, and received one affirmative vote against sixty-five in the negative. IN THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR. 1 75 The next year the representative was instructed to vote for a State convention, to form a new Constitution. When in the next autumn such a convention was to meet at Concord, Capt. Nathan Fisher was appointed delegate, with the following instructions : — " I. The people must have power to instruct their representative. " 2. There must be a prefatory bill of rights. "3. No one branch of the legislature must have the power of negative over the other. " 4. A printed copy of the constitution agreed upon must be immediately sent to the towns, that they may vote on it. " 5. The convention is then to adjourn, in order to hear from the towns. " 6. The constitution to be adopted by a two-thirds majority of the voters of the towns." So, vigilant for their rights, and ready to defend them, whether in council or on the battle-field, our fathers carried the town through the great crisis in a manner of which there is no occasion to be ashamed. Westborough's his- tory in the Revolution is a good one; if not specially conspicuous, yet indicative of the sturdy independence and heroic sacrifice which helped to make the newly born nation a success. CHAPTER XIII. 1775-178Z CONTEMPORARY MATTERS OF LOCAL INTEREST. — DIS- CUSSION OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT. — DEATH OF MR. PARKMAN. TOURING the eventful years of the Revolution, while _ public affairs absorbed the attention and called the sturdiest actors to other scenes, there were also some oc- currences of no small local interest in town and church. The temper of mind which made men unwilling to brook despotic authority in the State, produced natu- rally a like independence in matters ecclesiastical. In- deed, since the movement began with a struggle for religious liberty, it would not be strange if the people were especially sensitive in regard to their rights in the church. Puritanism had broken away from bishop and prelate; it had set up the Scriptures as the only rule of faith and practice ; but it had not yet established the doctrine — though it was even then in its birth-throes — of the supreme authority, within its own domain, of the local body of believers. There were remains of priestly power still lingering in practice; the minister was a po- tentate of no small significance ; his will was usually law, and all opposition had to stand the fire of his unsparing condemnation. Above all the rest of his prerogatives stood that of the veto, — the right absolutely to reject a decision of the church if it did not suit his views. In DISCUSSION OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT. \TJ 1774 the Ministerial Association of this vicinity had made a deliverance on this point, — which had come to be a rather sensitive one, — asserting the right of the veto, and designating a certain book as the standard of eccle- siastical law. There were those in the Westborough church who did not relish the assumptions of this paper, and eleven of the brethren had signed a protest against it. This protest was brought before the church at a meeting held the first day of January, 1775, and the ven- erable pastor, now seventy-one years old, and more than fifty years in this pastorate, made an address on the sub- ject. He urged "ye Unseasonableness of Disputes of this Nature at so distressing a time of public calamity; the Impropriety and Danger of arraigning such a Body of eminent and learned men as the Venerable Convetition, and condemning them who were verily ye Defenders of ye Congregational Plan, and therefore not desiring to have Solemn Testimony borne against them." After some debate, this meeting adjourned for two weeks. At the adjourned meeting the matter was again taken up. The pastor and some others desired to have the matter dropped, but the original movers were persistent. It was then proposed to reach the heart of the matter under discussion by passing resolutions on the subject without reference to the Association ; but that was not satisfactory, and the meeting adjourned. On the fourth of April the matter came up again, and two papers were presented ; but being roughly drawn up, they failed to secure action, and another adjournment was made for three weeks. This meeting was broken up by an alarm to march against the " regulars ; " but another was notified a month later, — May 23. At that time a paper was presented, signed by fifteen 178 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. members, of wftom nine were of the original eleven memorialists, which contained the fonowmg articles: " I. To see if it is the mind of this church that the Book called 'Observations upon the Congregational Plan of Church Government' be such in their opinion as they are willing to receive as a Rule to be governed by, when we do not know that this church or any other church had any hand in composing the same" In regard to this article, Mr. Parkman records, — " Among the brethren it passed in the negative, the pas- tor observing that he did not conceive it was expected so high a regard should be paid to it as to make it a Rule or Standard, — what was of Divine inspiration being our only rule in that sense; nor is it imposed, but ye contrary." " 2. To see if it is agreeable to the minds of the brethren of this church to break communion with any other church before admonition be given." To this a negative vote was given ; the pastor, how- ever, again differing from his church to this extent : that "when there is, with persons or with a church, matter of scandal, division, etc., and the cause is depend- ing, it is unfit that either party should offer themselves to the communion of other churches." "3. To see if it is ye opinion of this church that a pastor of a Congregational church has a legal right and authority to negative and make void the votes which such a church shall see cause to pass." This also was decided in the negative ; and this was really the point about which feeling centred. It was the point on which there had come to be a serious dif- ference of opinion between the old-fashioned pastor and DISCUSSION OF CHURCH GOVERNMENT. 1 79 his flock. Mr. Parkman replied to this last vote at con- siderable length, quoting synods and Fathers and author- ities numberless in defence of his privilege of veto, and concluding with a notable use of the privilege itself, in face of the vote of the church, as follows (I quote from his own record) : — "The Pastor, therefore, professing himself Congregational, & this Church having been settled upon that plan, & hitherto con- tinued [now fifty years] a Congregational Church, agreeable to ye Sacred Scriptures, the Church Covenant, the Platform afore- said for ye substance of it, the other writings of ye worthy Fathers who compiled it, with those also who have writ since in Defense of it, and ye general Practice in these Churches, did not Consent to the vote, but insisted that, in Conformity to our B. Lord & Sav" Mind & Direction, there must be in Church acts an agreement, that is, of both the Elders and the Fraternity. For this he says Expressly in Mat. 18: 'Whatsoever ye shall bind on Earth,' etc., and then immediately follow the words in ye 19th Ch., ' if you shall agree on earthy etc. Hence renowned Expositors say, ' Quod litigat, non ligat.' " Nothing could be simpler than this solution of the difficulty, — there must be an agreement. The church did not wish to side with the pastor, but the pastor would not agree with the church; therefore the church must yield, — and it did, seeing there was no help for it. There was a hasty adjournment at the close of the pastor's address, and there is no further record on the subject; but the pastor never yielded his right of veto. The church, out of veneration for their old pastor, kept silence during the remainder of his life, but took care to have an understanding on the subject with future candi- dates before installation. It is a singular circumstance that in the midst of the sore burdens and distresses of the war, when taxes were l80 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. enormous, and calls for supplies incessant, the first mis- sionary collection ever recorded from the church was raised. On the 22 d of September, 1776, two men of mark appeared in the pulpit of the Westborough church, - — the Rev. Ezra Stiles, D.D., two years later to be elected president of Yale College, and then pastor at Newport; and the Rev. Samuel Hopkins, soon to be famous as the author of a new doctrinal system, and destined to be more popularly known as the hero of Mrs, Stowe's " Min- ister's Wooing." These men were making something of a stir in their opposition to slavery and their sympathy for the negro. Hopkins was afterward the means of se- curing emancipation in Rhode Island. At this time they were making a tour of the churches in the interest of an African mission. Newport, where their pastorates lay, was in the hands of the British, and for the time they were forced to retire. Hopkins was greatly interested in a scheme, which he had originated, to send some of the negroes, who had been brought here as slaves, back to Africaj to begin a work of civilization and evangelization there. So it happened that on this Sunday the two preachers came together to Westborough. The cause was a new one, — it savored of romance as well as of piety; and so, in spite of the pressure of the time, there was a goodly response to their appeal. Mr. Parkman thus chronicles their visit : — " A contribution was made in compliance with an address of Rev. Dr. Stiles and Mr. Hopkins, of Newport, for ye Support and Encouragement of Missionaiys to Annamabo in Africa, It amounted to £^. 7. 10, & by Additions afterward to £^. 12, lawful money : which may God graciously accept through Jesus Christ ! " It is less agreeable to note that the town did not sup- ply the needs of its own venerable pastor at this time MR, PARKMAN'S appeal. i8i with equal alacrity. He was now seventy-three years old, and his salary, always meagre, was rendered quite inad- equate by the depreciation of the currency. In Decem- ber, 1776, he was obliged to make an appeal to the town to furnish his firewood. This had been a matter of dis- pute, more or less, during his ministry. It might not seem a large item to us, but we have to remember that the family of this pioneer minister was numerous. Six- teen children had been born into it in all, of whom thir- teen were living, — not all in the old home, of course, for some of them had homes of their own, and at least two of his sons were in the army. Yet the old house was far from empty. Moreover, the fireplace of those days was no dainty modern grate, and its demands were not to be despised. The annual allowance of wood for Mn Parkman, when the town furnished it, was ordina- rily thirty-five cords, and one year forty cords; and the estimated cost of it as the value of money decreased, was, in 1777, ;^42; in 1778, £6g; and in 1780, ^^450. This latter year his salary besides was ;£'4000, — which did not equal in purchasing power the ;£'8o of his origi- nal settlement; for corn was $50 a bushel, and rye $70; beef $400 a cwt., and sole-leather $22 a pound. So the petition for his firewood has some reason in it, and it is a touching revelation of the man and the time. It reads as follows : — • Westboeough, Decemb" ye 2, 1776. T0 the town at their meeting by adjournment this day : Gentelmen, — This is to manifest my very hearty sympathy with you in the common Distresses and grievous Burdens of the present Dark Day : that I have fully performed, according to my utmost ability, all such duty as has been requested of me in my office, agreeably to my age and circumstances, so that I 1 82 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. have not knowingly given offence to any person ; and I am still ready to do and to bear, as God shall assist me, whatever may be in any Reason desired of me. I rely upon your justice and honor to afford me subsistence in your service, as is in all equity to be expected. But my brethren, the article of getting my wood is utterly beyond my power, and you was sensible of this from the beginning, and you gave me reason to depend on you for it. It is plain I must unavoidably sufifer unless you will show so much compassion as to help me. I don't insist at all upon the manner of your doing it, so it be but just and equal and answer the end; whatever you do about other things, there is neces- sity of getting the Wood, or your own selves and Familys will suffer loss. I am, yours Affectionately, E. Parkman. The town should never have suffered such an appeal to be necessary. After fifty-two years of willing service, as his strength failed, he should have found a hundred hands to help in any need that beset him ; but " repub- lics are ungrateful," and so, more to their shame, are parishes sometimes. The remembrance of the past goes for little when, for any reason, those services can be no longer rendered. The year following the town did better, and also in 1778 and 1779. In 1780, as we have seen, the depreciation of the currency was greatest, and the appropriations were munificent in appearance, though small enough in reality. These were the darkest days ; and singularly, as though Nature herself felt a throb of sympathy for her brave and suff'ering children, on the 19th of May came the " dark day " of which men and women spoke with bated breath for half a century afterward. Dr. Jeremy Bel- knap, of Boston, has left a good description of it in a letter to a friend. There had been some thunder in the THE "DARK DAY." 1 83 morning, and all the forenoon was cloudy, though the sun occasionally broke through. About ten or eleven o'clock the clouds assumed a yellowish hue, reflecting a yellow light on all objects. An hour later the light began to fail, and by one o'clock the darkness had become so greafe that candles were lighted, and kept burning all the afternoon. The atmosphere was not simply dark, says the letter, but seemed fall of a vapor " like the smoke of a malt-house or a coal-kiln j" and there was a strong smell of smoke, as there had been for some days previous. The phenomenon excited great awe and foreboding, and was commonly regarded as something supernatural. One good minister assured his people that it was noth- ing less than the " pillars of smoke," prophesied by Joel, which were to accompany the "turning of the sun into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord come." Others said it must be the pouring out of the seventh vial of the Apocalypse. Others still, desiring to be somewhat more scientific, said that the earth was passing through the tail of a comet, or that the nucleus of a comet had got between the earth and the sun, and caused an eclipse. But Dr. Belknap, who was a man of keen observation in the phenomena of Nature, gives what is doubtless the true explanation, and his reasons for adopting it. For some time previous it had been unusually dry ; it was also the time of year when the farmers, breaking up new land, were in the habit of burning off the woods in order to plant corn. A vast cloud of smoke had thus been generated, which for several days had hung low, causing a strong smell of smoke, and specially notice- able at sunset, when the sun seemed to disappear in a dense bank half an hour before its setting. Some of the l84 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. swamps had been covered with a sort of thick scum; rain'water had been impregnated with smut; and every- thing pointed to the presence of a quantity of smoke, which, for atmospheric reasons, had not been blown away. On the day of the darkness the atmospheric con- ditions were such as to wrap this cloud of smoke thickly around this section of New England, and pack it close to the earth, so that all light must pass through it and take on a yellowish tinge. It is related that a woman in Middletown, Ct, began that day to iron her clothes, but found them looking so yellow that she put them away, intending to wash them over again ; but on looking at other things, and finding them all in the same condition, saw that it was occasioned by the quality of the light. The . smoke was less dense in that region, so that it was not dark, and the yellow quality of the light was more marked. Those of us who remember the "yellow day" in September, 1881, will see at once the identitj' of the phenomena. In view of the current depression, a State fast was observed on the 20th of July. But the light was begin- ning to break through already. On the 14th of Decem- ber following, the first warrant was issued in the name of the " Commonwealth of Massachusetts Bay ; " and on the 20th of the next February the form was changed to the " Commonwealth of Massachusetts." The war was approaching its close, — the town was classed for recruits for the last time Feb. 15, 1781. In October Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, and the result of the long struggle became assured. On the 13th of De- cember the thanksgiving day appointed by Congress was joyfully kept in Westborough, and an oflfering was made for the sufferers in the South. MR. PARKMAN'S last DAYS. 1 85 Mr. Parkman was beginning by this time to show unmistakable signs of breaking up. In September, 1781, he wrote in his Diary, "I am growing blind." He was obliged to add that it was sore times with him, — "My people have paid me no penny for fifteen months, and I know not what they will do." Both they and he were feeling the pinch of the times severely. There were, moreover, other than financial troubles. November iSth, Eben's son Elias died in hospital at Peekskill, aged twenty-four. It was all the men and women of that day could do to pull through to victory and peace ; for the old pastor, bowed with his seventy-nine years, the strain was too great to rally from. On the 16th of June, 1782, he wrote in his Diary, "It is fifty-eight years since I gave my answer to ye Town's call to ye ministry." Few men have ever been able to write such a sentence as that. What a gulf of years lay between those records in his Diary ! For the man, it spanned all the years be- tween the youth of twenty-one, fresh from his studies, preparing for his marriage and for the opening duties of his profession, to the old man of severity-nine, — facul- ties failing, limbs growing weak and tottering, the whole of his life behind him. For the town, it covered the growth from the pioneer settlement, when Indians lurked in the woods, and the roads were unbroken, to the day of schools and comfortable homes and well-tilled farms and strong civic life, — from the ninth year of George the First to the twenty-second year of George the Third, and to the accomplished independence of these Colo- nies, which put an end to all the Georges and all kings whatsoever for this land thenceforth. When he came, Chauncy Village had but just been absorbed in the town of Westborough ; it contained less than fifty families in 1 86 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. an area nearly twice as large as it has at present. He had seen it grow to double its population and divide into two, and the southern town become as large as both had been at the time of division. He had minis- tered in the first meeting-house during the whole of its existence, and in the new one until it had become too small, and had been enlarged and again overflowed. To the original thirteen members of his church he had added three hundred and eighty-one. He had baptized them all, married them all, and attended the funerals of those that had died. The whole life of the town was bound up with his life as it could never be again with the life of any one man. It owed to him more than it could ever again owe to any individual. On the 29th of August, 1782, a fast was held, "on account," as the venerable man notes it in the church records, "of the continuance of the war, the Drought, the Increase of vice and wickedness, & ye sorrowful decay of Religion." It was the last time he ever officiated on a day of civil appointment. He was still preaching, ac- cording to his Diary, in the early part of September; but his last entry was made in the church records on the 27th of October, and on the i8th of November the town voted to procure some one to assist him in preach- ing for the winter, appropriating for the purpose the sum of ;^30. A vote was passed at the same meeting making an addition to his salary; but as the actual grant was not made until the March meeting, it availed him nothing, for before he could derive any benefit from it he had gone beyond the need of town-grants. He died Dec. 9, 1782, aged seventy-nine years, three months, and four days ; the funeral service was held on Monday, the 1 6th. The Rev. Mr. Bridge, of Sudbury, DEATH OF MR. PARKMAN. 1 8/ preached the sermon from Psalm xii. i : " Help, Lord ; for the godly man ceaseth ; for the faithful fail from among the children of men." Mr. Parkman leaves on the student of his life the im- pression of a good example of the New England min- ister of the olden time. The Rev. Elisha Rockwood says of him : " His preaching was evangelical, his deportment dignified, and in his daily intercourse with his people he was distinguished for dropping those words which are like apples of gold in pictures of silver." It is greatly to be regretted that no good portrait of him survives, to give us a clearer conception of the outward aspect of the man. His bearing was always in keeping with the honorable position he occupied. He magnified his calling, and was careful not to lower its dignity; but he was at the same time kindly and courteous. He was not one of the arrogant and lordly class, sometimes found at that day, whose pastoral sway was a rough dic- tatorship. He was, indeed, a bishop who believed that it was for the highest interest of his flock that they should be ruled, and he ruled them; but his sway was gentle and reasonable, and his assertion of his rights not so effectual as to prevent his suffering some inconvenience, and in his old age some actual want, through the neglect of those who were in duty bound to provide for his necessities. His life was that of a man of simple tastes and habits, interested in common things, rising with some difficulty, perhaps, to the broad sympathies which take in great affairs. The pages of his Diary are full of the lights and shadows of daily life, while pervaded by the sturdy and reverent faith of the men of his time. He communed with himself much; he trusted in God, and imparted his own religious devotion to his people. There 1 88 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. is abundant evidence of his high conscientiousness and his reverent piety. His theology was such as the age produced. It could not be broad, for breadth of culture was an impossibility; but neither was it bigoted or unin- telligent. And in his ideas of practical administration he was abreast of the most thoughtful men of his time, as his attitude in the excitements of 1740 shows. His long pastorate was of high service to the town, as well as to the kingdom of God in New England; and in its contrast to that which immediately followed, made the long-suffering people sigh for the good old times. Those who have followed in the succession during the hundred years that have supervened, have found no obstacles in their way of his raising, and have been honored by their connection with so worthy a man as Ebenezer Park- man. By his patient labors, in season and out of season, through times that tried men's souls, he and the men and women who toiled with him wrought out a noble beginning for those who came after him. It would be a fitting tribute to his worth, and a lasting stimulus to succeeding generations, if some suitable memorial of him were erected in the church and town he served so well. In a higher sense, the town of to-day is his memorial, and the memorial of all who, like him, laid good foundations in that early day against the time to come. He was buried in the old cemetery, " and his tomb is with us unto this day." The inscription upon it is as ''follows : — INSCRIPTION ON MR. PARKMAN'S TOMB. 1 89 Here lies deposited the mortal part of that man of God the Rev. Ebenezer Farkman, A.M., Who was born Sept. 5, 1703 ; ordained the first Bishop of the Church in Westborough, October 28th, 1724 ; and died on the 9th of December, 1782 : having completed the 79th year of his age on Sept. 1 6th, & the 58th year of his ministry on November 8th, preceding. He was formed by nature and education to be an able minister of the New- Testament, and obtained grace to be eminently faithful in the work of the Lord : He was a firm friend to the faith, order, and constitution of the New-England Churches. He was a learned, pious, good man, and full of the holy Ghost, & faith unfeigned ; and answered St. Paul's description of a Scripture Bishop, being "blameless, vigilant. Sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach." Be thou faithful unto the death. And I will give thee a Crown of life. Says Christ. CHAPTER XIV. 1782-1800. FROM THE DEATH OF MR. PARKMAN TO THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. THE town was not ruined by the war, in spite of the hard drain upon it. According to Peter Whitney it had in 1791 a hundred and eighteen houses and nine hundred and thirty-four inhabitants ; and the people were industrious and wealthy, according to his standard, " as any one must naturally suppose from the appearance of their places and buildings." It is pleasant to know that Westborough's reputation for keeping its farms and build- ings in good order dates back so far. There were men here at this time who had accumulated wealth, lived in good houses, and kept a modest retinue of servants. Capt. Stephen Maynard was perhaps the wealthiest of all ; he lived in the house on the Northborough road now occupied by B. J. Stone, was a very prominent figure in the town, and one of the leaders in military affairs. A great-granddaughter has written of him : — " He was a rich old nabob and a stiff whig. He owned two negroes, a male and a female, man and wife, who had a child just about the age of Anne Brigham [a stepdaughter of Captain Maynard, who married the first Isaac Davis]. They were after- wards sold, and removed south; and my grandmother [Mrs. Davis] said she could well remember their departure. She was very much attached to the daughter." This is an interesting glimpse into the time, and makes us long for more. It is not impossible that the doughty PROMINENT MEN A CENTURY AGO. 191 captain was not altogether in sympathy with the appeal of those rank abolitionists of that early time, the Rev. Messrs. Stiles and Hopkins, when they came to West- borough in 1776 to raise money for their negro colony in Annamabo, Africa. But slaves were no novelty in New England at that day. Mr. Parkman had one himself, whom he brought from Boston;-' Mr. James Bowman' is known to have owned one; and there are traditions of others. There were other prominent men here in those days, of whom we can obtain only a glimpse, — Phineas Hardy, whose name heads the list of signers of the reply to the Committee of Correspondence ; Capt. Nathan Fisher, who was delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1779, and representative for many years ; Dr. James Hawes, who was always wanted for committees and important posi- tions; Lieut. Moses Wheelock, who rose to be Colonel Wheelock, and was a man of much force. These and many others gave character to the town, which at that time occupied an honorable place in the county. .Every one knows the small marble slab which stands by the road- side, on the way to Shrewsbury, just beyond the house of the late George Davis. It bears this inscription : " Capt. Bezaleel Eager was killed on this spot Oct. 31, 1787, aged 74. Erected by I. Davis." One day in 1874 I found in the Worcester Library an old copy of a mag- azine published in Worcester in 1787 by Isaiah Thomas, then the only newspaper of the region, which contained the following item from Northborough : — ' This slave was named Maro, and was purchased of Mr. Parkman's father in Boston in 1728 for the sum of ^Ti,. Mr. Parkman made the journey home on horseback, the negro running behind. A little more than a year afterward he wrote in his Journal that Maro was very ill, — at the point of death; and the next day made the following unique record : "Dark as it has been with lis, it became much darker about the sun-setting : the Sun of Maro's life Sat." 192 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. "Died at Northboro' Oct. 31, very suddenly, in the 74th year of his age, Capt. Bezaleel Eager, formerly a representative for the town of Westborough in the General Court. He was a per- son well known, and as well respected, and his death is much lamented. He was a sensible, honest, worthy man, and has left behind him a fair character and a good name. " The manner of his death -was as follows : retiring from a lecture [held in the house which stood just this side of the stone above mentioned], he mounted his horse in the view of a number of people ; but not being properly seated, and not having full possession of the bridle — as was supposed — his horse, lively and gay, immediately set out upon a run, and threw him against a stone wall, whereby his brains were instantly dashed out, perhaps not more than twenty rods from where he first mounted. Several persons ran to him as he fell, but discovered not the least sign of life in him, except the motion of the lungs, which continued nearly an hour ; and then he ex- pired, — probably without any s'ense of pain, as it was without the least motion of any limb or part of the body." So one of the heroes of the Revolution escaped the perils of war, to die by an accident at home. Meantime there was a boy growing up on one of the hills just southwest of the village who was to make a reputation for himself that would be national. Born in the same year that saw the rising indignation over the Stamp Act, and ten years old when the war began, Eli Whitney was now making the beginning of his higher education, and was off to Yale College in 1788. In ten years more, at the age of thirty-three, he had made his cotton-gin invention ; and having given up the useless task of trying to reap the profit of it, was making a contract with the Government for firearms, and laying the foun- dation of the prosperous factories at Whitneyville. The disposal of the "ministerial farm" of 1710, which THE MINISTERIAL FARM. 1 93 was now the joint property of Westborough and North- borough, had for some time been a question of consider- able perplexity, Northborough was disposed to claim a part of it for its own minister; and in September, 1768, the selectmen were directed to inquire " whether the min- ister in Northborough has any right to the ministerial land in Westborough." At the March meeting in 1770 a committee was appointed to survey the land, — doubt- less with the idea that it might some day be sold; and this committee made report to the town, May 21, as follows : — "The Line next to Fessenden's is 108 rods in Length, but by the old plan is set down 80; ye Southwest angle by the old plan is 24 Rods, but by our Messuer turns out but 14 Rods; the South next to Beaton's and Burns' is set down in the old plan 80 Rods, and we find by the Chan it is 96 Rods. The Easte Line Towards ye South Easte corner by the old plan is 48 Rods, by our Measuer is 53 Rods ; the other three angles agree nearly with the old Plan ; the North Line, called by the old Plan 56 Rods, but will not hold out but 30 rods and a half : so we find but 32 acers and i5 rod in the whole." This was the measurement of the section west of Chauncy Pond, which was called in the original grant from the Proprietors of Marlborough " forty acres of upland and swamp ; " there was also the ten-acre meadow lot near Hobomoc Pond. We hear nothing more of this land until 1782, when action is taken twice, in January and December, by the appointment of committees to confer with Northborough in regard to its equitable division. Nothing is, however, accomplished until Jan. 12, 1784, when the sale is actually made, and the first and larger lot goes to Jacob Broaders, and the other to Thaddeus Fay. The proceeds were of 194 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. course divided between the two towns, and that which fell to Westborough was set apart under the name of the " Parsonage Fund," and the income of it applied to the support of preaching. In August of the same year the town voted to buy some land around the meeting- house from the heirs of Mr. Parkman, in order to en- large the common. It was bought for twenty-three dollars an acre, and a wall was built around the common, three and a half feet wide at the base, and four feet and four inches high. A little later there was a grant of land for sheds near the meeting-house. There is little else on record concerning the life of the town for some time, except in matters ecclesiastical. There was a vote at the March meeting in 1786 to dispose of the paper money in the treasurer's office at the rate of 4J. per $100, — which shows the sad fate which be- falls an inflated currency. In December, 1787, the insur- gents in what was called " Shays's Rebellion " made an outbi-eak at Worcester and at Springfield. Westborough passed a vote disapproving of the measures taken by them, as it had in 1765 expressed its disapprobation of the " Rioatous Assemblies and unlawful acts of Violence " in connection with the Stamp Act. The town had so well imbibed the true idea of free civil government that while it was willing to sacrifice to the utmost for civil liberty, it would countenance nothing unlawful or disorderly, even in the name of liberty. No higher praise than this could be given to any civil body. In I78'5 the growth of the town required a new adjust- ment of the school districts. In 1742 there had been apparently but three districts in the whole town, which at that time included Northborough. Then came the long period of uncertainties, resulting in the division of OLD SCHOOL DISTRICTS, IQS the town. In 1765. the first effort had been made to " squadron " the town, and the system then adopted had lasted essentially for the twenty years following. But at this time the matter was taken up again, and numerous town meetings were held before any agreement could be reached, on account of the conflicting interests of differ- ent sections and families. A good many wished to have nine squadrons, and it was only by a small majority that it was at last voted to have six, as follows: No. i, in the centre; No. 2, westerly, toward Grafton; No. 3, easterly, toward Marlborough; No. 4, northerly; No. 5, south- erly, toward Upton; No. 6, the "Flanders road." The only real change effected by this action was the separa- tion of the Flanders from the east squadron, to be a district by itself But in 1789 a new division was made, resulting in what was essentially the district system, which has survived to the present generation A few changes were made in 1836, but they were unimportant. Inasmuch as the report of the squadroning committee of 1789 contains a complete list of the families in town at the time, as well as the situation of the several school- houses, it is herewith subjoined. Report of Committee chosen to Squadron out the Town. The Report of ye above Commitiee is as follows j viz. — Gentlemen, — We your Coramittee have attended the Busi- ness for which we weare appointed, and after Considering the Situation of our inhabitants have divided them out into Squad- rons as within mentioned, & pitched upon places for the School Houses to stand on in each squadron unless any squadron shall agree to sett them other where ; also that the money which shall be granted for Schooling be Divided According to the Number of Families in each squadron, & that Flander Squadron so called, remain as they are. , , 196 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. First Squadron. Joseph Baker, Esq. William Wood. John Baker. Col. Nathan Fisher. Dea. Benjamin Wood. James Hawes, Esq. Stephen Maynard. Elijah Brigham. Capt. Daniel Reed. Col. Moses Wheelock. Isaac Ruggles. Ebenezer Gay. Doct. David Tain tor. Breck Parkman. Oliver Nason. The school house to stand between the meeting house & Doct. Taintor's on the south side of the road. Second Squadron. Abijah Gale. Capt. Edmund Brigham. Solomon Leonard. Samuel Bellows. Asa Forbush. Abraham Beeman. George Andrews. George Andrews 2\ Fhineas Haskell,. Daniel Warren. Timothy Warren. The Work House. The school house to stand at the Great road, at the End of Asa Forbush's Lane. Third Squadron. Jonathan Forbes. Capt. Jonathan Fay. Lieut. Joshua Grout. Joseph Grout. Enoch Greenwood. Lieut. Benjamin Fay. Jeduthun Fay. Eli Whitney. Elijah Hardy. Thomas Twitchel. Thomas Twitchel a* Shadrach Miller. Daniel Robbins. Phineas Brigham. John Fay. Elijah Whitney. Daniel Nurse. Jonathan Child. Aaron Sherman. Widow Brigham. The school house to stand between the end of Elijah Hardy's lane and the top of the Hill toward Lt. Grout's. OLD SCHOOL DISTRICTS. Fourth Squadron. 197 Ensign Rufus Forbush. " James Miller. Joseph Harrington. John Harrington. Benjamin Ball. Isaac Adams. Stephen Bathrick. John Ball. Martin Pratt. Lt. James Bowman. Benjamin Bowman. The school house to stand at the end of Mr. Bowman's lane. Fifth Lieut. Thomas Morse. Capt. Seth Morse. Eben Miller. Ensign Aaron Warren. " Elisha Forbes. Benjamin Harrington. Stephen Cook. Squadron. Aaron Fisher. Butler & Mellen. David Morse. Asahel Biglow. Widow Biglow. Moses Pike. Phineas Forbes. The school house to stand at the end of Lt. Thomas Morse's lane where it meets the Upton road, between Mr. Eben Miller's and Ensign Warren's. Phineas Gleason. Ezra Seeker. Eleazer Rider. Isaac Cody. Joseph Green. Samuel Fay. Gershom Brigham. Amasa Maynard. Elisha Rice. Samuel Rice. Lt. Joseph Bond. Sixth Squadron. Thaddeus Warren. Capt. J. Godfrey. Samuel Fisher. Lt. Isaac Parker. Ebenezer Maynard. Jonathan Maynard. John Beeton. Capt. S. Maynard. Beriah Ware. John Fessenden. Benjamin Warren. Edward Cobb. The school house to remain where it now stands, between the top of the Hill and the River. 198 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Seventh Squadron. Lieut. Antipas Brigham. Jonathan Bathrick. David Brigham. Solomon Bathrick. Abraham Bond. Samuel Forbush. Richard Barnes. Ebenezer Forbush. Richard Barnes Jr. Thomas Andrews. David Bathrick. Lieut. Solomon Maynard. Daniel Wight. The school house to stand between Mr. Abraham Bond's and Jonathan Bathrick's. Flanders Squadron. Samuel Bellows. Joseph Belknap 2''. Stephen Belknap. Seth Woods. Daniel Chamberlain. Nathaniel Fay. William Johnson. Reuben Bellows. Elijah Snow. Eben. Chamberlain. Adonijah Rice. Daniel North. The above Report being accepted, the Meeting was dissolved. {Signed) Elijah Brigham, Moderator. A new phase of the pauper question occurred in 1790, when the workhouse, built in i y6'j, was sold ; and for the next quarter of a century the paupers were disposed of by being annually set up at auction, and knocked down to the lowest bidder. This saved the town some money, but was not particularly creditable to its humanity. Subse- quently they were all kept by Mr. Levi Bowman, who lived on the Upton road, until the Daniel Chamberlain place was purchased for a town farm, in 1825. During the six years following the death of Mr. Park- man, both town and church were continually agitated in regard to securing a successor. The town had voted, two weeks after the funeral, to provide £16 12s. id. to pay for SEEKING A NEW MINISTER. 1 99 the funeral expenses, and " to continue the Salary of our late Rev. pastor deceased for nine Sabbaths after his decease," if the pulpit is supplied by the neighboring ministers. At the same meeting it was voted " that the Committee be directed to provide Sum person of a Good Carracter to preach the gospel to us in this town." A fast was held to pray for a minister on the 20th of March fol- lowing, and in August it was voted " to give a privelege to all that is 21 years of age to vote for the choice of a min- ister." This was a step of more importance than at first appears, for it was the death-knell of the old and tenaciouls custom of requiring church membership as a qualification for voting in town affairs. And it is also worthy of note that the church, at a meeting the next October, voted to discontinue " the half-way covenant," — a measure which had been adopted as a compromise by the churches of that day, to allow some who were not ready to become members of the church in full standing to have a pseudo- relation to it which might give them a voice in civil matters. The effect of it had always been disastrous to the church, and the disuse of it was a long step forward, both for church and state. Meantime the town was taking measures to secure a new minister after a manner peculiar to the time. On the 20th of July, 1783, Adoniram Judson, afterward settled in Plymouth, where he is buried, preached in the West- borough meeting-house. The town thereupon voted to hear him longer " on probation." Thereupon for two months the young man stood up Sunday after Sunday, to be scanned and listened to with critical intent. That ought to have been long enough, one would think ; but at the end of the probation, Septem- ber 22d, the town, liking the sport, voted "to hear him 200 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. four Sabbaths more." That ordeal was over at last, and he might have hoped for an issue to all his trials; but the vote in October was simply " to hear him farther," with the somewhat sarcastic addition, " with a view to settle- ment." It must have looked like a dissolving " view " to him, and how long he held himself as the target for the indeterminate shafts of criticism is uncertain. He did preach two Sundays in the following February, and a church meeting was called for March i6, " to see if they will call him." Nothing came of that, however; but the following week at another church-meeting, at which thirty wpre present, he was called by a vote of twenty-two to eight, and a committee was appointed to wait on the selectmen and ask the town to call a meeting to see if it would concur. This began to look as though the nine months' trial might bear fruit; but the town- meeting held April 12 not only failed to concur in calling him, but added the unnecessary odium of passing over the article. Meantime, on the 20th of October, 1783, the church had introduced the question whether any future minister should have the veto-power; and though the article was passed over, — perhaps out of regard to the feelings of the Parkr man family, — it was becoming evident that it would not do for any younger man, who would be a stranger among them, to aspire to that position of authority which they had tolerated, though not without protest, ifl their old miriister. The next candidate for the vacant pulpit was Edmund Mills, who began to preach in May, 1784, and at a meet- ing of the town, August 20, was invited " to preach eight Sabbaths more, with a view to settling." On the 26th of September a fast was held by the church in relation to the subject of a minister, at which the churches in Shrewsbury, THE CALL OF THE SECOND MINISTER. 201 Grafton, Upton, Hopkinton, and Northborough assisted. Mr. Mills was consulted with regard to his opinions con- cerning the subject of the ministerial veto and baptism, with a result that was satisfactory. The church called him on the 2 1 St of October by twenty-nine votes; there being thirty-four present, and no one voting in the negative. On November 8 the town concurred by a strong vote, and offered ^^270 as "settlement," and ;^90 in silver money, at the rate of six shillings per ounce, as salary. But this time it was the candidate who was unwilling, and Mr. Mills declined to come. The town was very desirous of securing him, and voted, November 28th, to ask him to supply the pulpit still, and to settle, if he could be persuaded to do so; but without avail. Col. Moses Wheelock and others then tried to put for- ward Mr. Judson again, but did not succeed in persuading the town. Thus matters stood for nearly a year longer ; when in the summer of 1786 Mr. Judson was hired as a supply, and on September 6 the church again called him ; but the town refused to act, and so the matter ended, and the case of Mr. Judson was finally disposed of To the four years already elapsed since the death of Mr. Parkman two more were added before the vacant pastorate was filled. But at length, in the summer of 1788, Mr. John Robinson, who came from New Haven, preached with general approval ; and having, as they fancied, learned wisdom by experience, the people did not wait so long as heretofore, nor require so long a candidature, but made a leap in the dark which they afterward had con- siderable leisure to repent of. The church called him September 29, and the town unanimously ratified the call on the 13th of October. The salary was fixed at ;^8o, — a portion of which was provided for from the interest of 202 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. the " Parsonage Fund," — together with twenty cords of wood a year. ;^200 was granted as a " settlement." On the 30th of November his answer accepting the call was read to the church. Thereupon the people, with an eagerness whetted by six years of waiting, and by the fact that there had been no such notable occasion in the town for sixty-four years, proceeded to make preparations for an ordination. First, the town appointed Jan. 14, 1789, as the great day. Two days later the church confirmed the action by call- ing a council for that date, and appointing Dea. Benjamin Wood, Elijah Brigham, Dea. James Hawes, Abijah Gale, and Joseph Harrington a committee to make the arrange- ments. It was now the middle of December, and the preparations went on apace. The town, in view of the fact that something stronger than water would flow with unusual freedom on such an occasion, deemed it wise to appoint a strong committee of fifteen, headed by the con- stable, in all the dignity of office, to " keep the doors of the house, and see that there is no disturbance," and an- other to see that the house, likely to be crowded to its utmost capacity, is " properly propt up." The " body seats on the women's side " were reserved for the council, and " the men's body seats " for the church. Further, not having quite the modern conveniences of mails, the town voted " to send to New Haven for Mr. Robinson's dis- mission from that church, and the selectmen to procure somebody to go as soon as may be.'^ On the day appointed the council met, and proceeded with its duties. It was composed of the following churches : The Church of Christ in Shrewsburj', the Rev. Joseph Sumner. The Church of Christ in Upton, the Rev. Elisha Fish. The Church of Christ in Milford, the Rev. Amariah Frost INSTALLATION OF JOHN ROBINSON. 203 The Church of Christ in Northborough, the Rev. Peter Whitney. The Church of Christ in Marlborough, the Rpv. Asa Packard. The Church of Christ in Southborpugh [vacant]. The Church of Christ in Grafton [vacant]. The Church of Christ in Hopkintoh [vacant^. The Church of Christ in Franklin, the Rev. Nathaniel Emmons, D.D. The Church of Christ in Yale College, the Rev. Mr. Wales. The Church of Christ in Medway, the Rev. David Sanford. The Church of Christ in Berlin, the Rev. Reuben Puffer. The Church of Christ in Mendon, the Rev. Caleb Alexander. The Church of Christ in Southington, Ct. The Church of Christ in Lebanon, Ct. After the usual preliminaries the services of installation proceeded. Mr. Alexander, of Mendon, made the opening prayer ; Dr. Emmons preached the sermon ; David Sanford offered the ordaining prayer ; Mr. Fish, of Upton, gave the charge to the pastor ; Mr. Sumner, of Shrewsbury, gave the right hand of fellowship ; and Mr. Puffer, of Berlin, offered the closing prayer; " and," says the record, " Mr. Robinson was ordained." That meant much; but fortunately the good people as yet were ignorant how much. Mr. Robinson was given possession of the farm now known as the Whitney place, which he afterward sold to Mr. Josiah Bond, and he, in turn, to Major John Fayer- weather. Here the parson settled down for what was then expected to be a life-long residence, and the ecclesiastical machinery once more settled into its routine. The beginning of a new ecclesiastical administration was to some extent fruitful, as is usual, in changes of method. The first indication of this was in the regular appointment of the communion service, which had hitherto been, a varia- ble feast, for the second Sunday of each alternate month, beginning with February. The length of the intermission 204 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. on Communion Sundays was fixed, in 1791, at two hours. There was some improvement on foot in the singing also. The Tate and Brady collection had been in use since 1771, with some fugitive hymns of Watts. Since 1781 there had been, as we have seen, something like a choir. In 1789 there was an article in the warrant for the March meeting " to see if it Be the minds of this Town to have Dr. Watts' Psalms sung in the town," and the town voted " to have Dr. Watses Salms & Hymns sung in the Congrega- tion." In 1 791 the church nominated to the selectmen certain persons to lead the singing, and requested them to insert an article in the warrant in regard to encouraging singing by hiring a singing-master. Some years before, in 1784, the space in the meeting-house allotted to the singers had been enlarged, the men to have " the women's front gallery," and " the women singers the side gallery as far as to the ally that goes out at the east door." No change was made at this time in regard to this arrange- ment ; only the singers were requested " to attend public worship seasonable." The old custom of lining out the hymns was still in vogue here. Worcester had dispensed with it in 1779, though at the cost of a struggle. The Sunday after the church there had voted to discontinue the custom, it is re- lated that Deacon Chamberlain, to whom the duty of lining out had fallen, went to church resolved to die hard. When the hymn was given out, he read the first line, as usual. The choir sang it, but made no stop after it. He raised his voice and read on. The choir sang on; and they having the advantage of numbers and volume, he was soon overpowered, and seizing his hat, left the church in tears. The worst of it was that the majority could riot be content with their victory, but must needs put the poor deacon CHANGES IN CHURCH USAGES. 205 under censure, and suspend him from the communion for a long time, for " absenting himself from the public services of the Sabbath ! " Westborough, more conservative, kept the custom till i8c4, but dispensed with it then by vote of the town, without any serious convulsions following. Another change, agitated, but not carried out in 1791, had regard to the reading of " relations " of experience and belief by candidates for admission to the church. Thus far the church, in common with most others in New Eng- land, had propounded no creed to its candidates for ad- mission. They had, presumably, been instructed in the catechism, but farther than that they had only to assent to the covenant prepared by Mr. Parkman. But at a later period, perhaps only since his death, they had been re- quired to write out something like an individual confession of faith. One of these recitals of belief, dating from that period, has been preserved, and may be of sufficient inter- est to students of the growth of forms in the churches of New England to warrant us in bringing it from its sacred privacy to the light of day. It is as follows : — I desire to bless God that I was born in a land of Gospel light, and have been favored with a preached gospel ; but I would lament the mis-improvement I have made of my time and oppor- tunities. And I desire to bless God that He has been pleased to shew me that I am a sinner, and that the name of Christ alone is to be trusted for salvation. As to the Articles of my Faith, — I believe there is one God in three persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; and that the Scriptures were given by divine in- spiration ; and that all men are enslaved under sin, being fallen from God, and are justly condemned by His holy law. I believe Jesus Christ was constituted by the Father to be a Saviour to all. believers ; and that the ordinances are of divine appointment ; and that the Supper was instituted to be a standing memorial of the death and sufferings of my Blessed Lord. And I desire, 2o6 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. with a penitent and believing heart, to wait on God in His Ordi- nance, and to bless God that I was born of Christian parents, by whom I was early dedicated to Him in Baptism, and now would take my baptismal engagement on myself, and desire admit- tance to full Communion with the Church of God in this place ; and ask your prayers to God for me that I may be a worthy partaker at the table of the Lord. {Signed) Antipas Brigham. Westborough, October i6, 1785. In 1 793 Mr. William Johnson was granted " land for a noon-house, fifteen feet long and two rod wide ; s'd land is beyond ye pound." The pound stood near the present site of Bates's straw-factory. Here was built a small house, octagonal in shape, with a generous fireplace in it, where those who came to church from a distance could eat their dinner and warm themselves after the long, cold service in a church without a fire. It seems to have been removed afterward, perhaps in 1815, to the site of the blacksmith's shop across the railroad, and was taken down in 1818, after the need of it had ceased. This brings us to the close of the eighteenth century. We have seen the town grow from its first beginnings to comparative prosperity and an honorable position among the towns of the county. If it has had less share than some of the coast-towns in the political events of the cen- tury, it is only because of its position in what was then a remote interior. When its expression of opinion in regard to the pressing issues of the times has been asked for, it has been expressed with no uncertain sound. When action or sacrifice has been called for, it has responded with an alacrity and a devotion to the common weal that need fear no comparisons. In the counsels of the formative period that followed the Revolution it has been cool and wise, and has stood fast by the principles of civil liberty. PERIOD OF TRANSITION. 20/ If the church has seemed to be the most prominent insti- tution of the town throughout the preceding pages, it is only because it was so in fact and in the thoughts of the men and women of that time. We come now to a period of more rapid progress in material affairs. The coaching days are just at hand, and the railroad is not far off. The old church, which has been so large a part of the town, is soon to have its rivals. New institutions, the institutions of the nineteenth century, are coming; business is to find its entrance to a wider sphere ; and rapid changes will transform the Puritan town into the New England village, with its surrounding farms. The period which it has been most desirable to embalm in a permanent record, has been already treated. The more modern life may be told in briefer form, for the greater part of it is not beyond the reach of living memories. CHAPTER XV. ITEMS OF PROGRESS. — ECCLESIASTICAL TRIALS, —THE BEGINNING OF MODERN IMPROVEMENTS. 'T^HE beginning of the new century saw some improve- A ments in the equipment of the town. Samuel, the twelfth child of the Rev. Mr. Parkman, went to Boston and entered mercantile life there. He prospered well ; and in 1 80 1, when he was fifty years old, he remembered his native town by the present of a bell. Thus far no spire or tower of any kind had risen above the humble roofs of the village. In 1722 the town had voted, evidently in a some- what spiteful temper, not to build a steeple on the meeting- house, and not to do it even without expense to the town. But now the time had come when the building of some kind of tower was not merely a matter of vain ornament, distressing to the Puritan soul, but a sheer necessity; and without more discussion the town voted, May 4, 1801, "to build a belfry, or steeple, to be set at the west end of the meeting house." At the same meeting a vote of thanks to Mr. Parkman was passed. In the following November rules were adopted for the ringing of the bell, as fol- lows : " On Sabbath day morning the bell to ring at 9J^ o'clock ; second bell at twenty minutes past ten o'clock, to ring five minutes; then stop from three to five min- utes, or till the minister is in sight ; then toll till he gets into the pulpit." This tolling of the bell, which is now a mere customary form, was then the measured accom- NEW FEATURES EST THE MEETING-HOUSE. 209 paniment of the minister's approach to his pulpit, and the announcement to the congregation, at its beginning that he was on the way, and by its cessation that he had arrived and the hour of solemnity had actually begun. It was six years after the present of the bell, — in No- vember, 1807, — that the town voted leave to certain indi- viduals to ring the bell every night at nine o'clock at their own expense; thus originating the custom that has come down to contemporary times. This same bell is now in the belfry of the Baptist church. In 1837 the old meeting- house passed into private ownership, and the bell, which really belonged by gift to the town, was sold with it. The same year it was loaned to the Baptists, and about 1849 they purchased it In 1806 a clock was procured by individual subscrip- tions and presented to the town. This also went with the old meeting-house when it was sold, but was purchased by the town in 1842, and put in the new town-hall. In 1809 there began to be talk about a church organ; and at length, in November of that year, the town voted " that Guardner Parker be allowed to place the organ in the meeting-house on the following conditions ; viz., that said Parker be allowed to cut the ends of the seats in the front Gallery so as to let the organ in, and leave room for people to pass into their seats; arid to repair the same decently ; the organ to remain there six months ; then if the Town does not like to have it remain there any longer, said Parker is to take it away, and to repair and make good every part of the meeting-house that he has altered, the same as before any alteration was made as aforesaid." This was a very early introduction of the organ as an aid to church music, and Westborough was never afterward without one. 210 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. A military company was organized about the same time, which afterward attained to some local fame, and con- tained in its ranks some of the cream of the community. The war with Great Britain, commonly called the War of 1 812, began soon after, and the company was ordered to Boston. It was still in camp there in 18 14, and some im- portant church meetings had to be postponed on account of the absence of prominent members who belonged to the company. The necessity in 18 10 of purchasing a new burial-lot is a way-mark in the growth of the town. The one lying between South and School streets was bought in that year, and was the principal one in use from that time until 1 844, when the present cemetery was opened. Thus far the only burial-ground for the later Westborough, or for the south parish of the old town, had been the one now oppo- site the town-hall. This dates back to the early part of the seventeenth century. For a long time the dead were borne to their resting-place on a bier. The first hearse, and the first building to keep it in, date from 1801. While Northborough and Westborough were one, there was a common burial-spot, situated near the present North- borough road, on the first cross-road leading to the right beyond the Westborough line. It is now wholly grown up with trees and underbrush ; but a few names of the earlier settlers can still be read. These are : Mr. Adam Holloway, Sr., who " Dec"" June ye 7th, 1733, in ye 80th year of his age ; " Joseph Wheeler, his wife Elizabeth, and their son Aaron, all of whom were buried in 1747 and 1748. It is a pity that this old burial-place should be left to the rapid obliteration of time and neglect. It is in the territory of Northborough, it is true; but Westborough has a vital interest in it, and by the action of the two towns some ECCLESIASTICAL TRIALS. 211 fitting care might be given to it, by which its preserva- tion to future generations would be insured. The other old cemetery, opposite the town-hall, has had its vicissitudes. A powder-house was built in the corner of it in 1818, and stood there till 1849. Another building, originally the school-house of the first district, has been erected within its limits, and its original boundaries have been changed in other ways. Not far from the time of the building of the powder-house it was proposed to cut down the oak-trees for firewood; but Mr. Charles Parkman earned the thanks of succeeding generations by purchasing the trees himself, and giving them as a sacred legacy to posterity. At a later day many of the old stones were removed from the graves they marked, and piled up in the rear corner of the lot, — to the great regret of all good citizens. The recent formation of an Historical Society in the town is the best assurance yet presented that all such valuable relics of the past shall have due respect paid them in the future. It was in the first years of the new century that both the church and the town were greatly disturbed by a conflict which was peculiar to the time when ministers were settled for life, and owned their freehold. Mr. John Robinson had been installed in 1789, as we have seen, with great cere- mony. Thereafter very little is recorded of him until the outbreak of great dissatisfaction in 1806. He lacked both the wisdom and the spirit of his honored predecessor, and proved at last the worst investment the town had ever made. The origin of the difficulty lay in his very outspoken utter- ances on political subjects when party spirit was running high. After the Revolution there came to be a good deal of difference of opinion as to the basis of popular gov- ernment. There were those who felt the necessity of a 212 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Strongly centralized government, with abundant power to enforce order ; while, on the other hand, a large portion of the people, having had the taste of a broader liberty, were inclined to emphasize State rights and more popular rule. Washington, Adams, and Hamilton represented the former, and their party came to wear the name of " Federalists ; " while the opposing party, of whom the most prominent representative was Jefferson, was called, first Republican, and afterward Democratic. The period was one of much political turmoil. The French Revolution began in the year 1789, and its influence was felt far and wide. In 1801 Jefferson was chosen President, and the Democrats became the party in power. Four years later, when he was re- turned for a second term, there was naturally a good deal of excitement. It was in this year, at a town meeting or a popular gathering on the Fourth of July, that parson Rob- inson destroyed his influence over the good people of West- borough. In a strong speech, not marked for self-restraint, he advocated stiff Federalist opinions, and paid his respects to the Democrats in language unmistakable, calling them, among other things, " knights of the halter." The major- ity were' probably his political opponents, and the others saw that he had gone too far. There followed a sharp de- bate /ro and con ; but the deed was done, and the parson's fate was settled. They did not move with rapidity in those days, especially against a minister of the Gospel; but in December, 1806, a petition, signed by twenty-nine men, was presented in town-meeting, looking toward his dismis- sion. The town forthwith appointed a committee to wait on him and ascertain on what terms he would agree to leave ; for in those days the people were accustomed to put themselves under contract to keep and support their minister until he died, and they could only get rid of him ECCLESIASTICAL TRIALS. 213 thereafter by his own consent. But in this instance the minister fell somewhat unwarily into the trap by promptly naming his terms, which were as promptly accepted; and as a venerable citizen, who remembered the excitement in his youthful days, once said to me, "he was forthwith made to sign his own warrant for dismission." He was to be regularly dismissed by council in nine months ; he was to retain his " settlement money," which was ;^200 ; and he was to receive his salary to the end of his time of service. The town indorsed the action of the committee in accept- ing his terms, and then, at a meeting held Jan. 8, 1807, asked the church, which had as yet taken no action, to concur. After a good deal of delay it did so in the follow- ing September, and the town hastened to support its ac- tion by a very large majority. The dismissing council was appointed for the 1st of October following, and advised the confirmation of the action already taken. On the same day the church gave a formal letter of dismission to Mr. Robinson and his wife, which was signed " John Robinson, pastor, in the name and by a vote of the brethren ; " and the pastor formally "signified his acquiescence with the Church and Town in his dismission from the work of the Gospel Ministry in this place." At half-past eleven in the morning the church, having transacted this business, adjourned till one o'clock in the afternoon. The council was still in session when they reassembled, but in due time came in with its report, as thus chronicled in the records : — At half past three o'clock P. M. October the first, One Thou- sand Eight Hundred and seven, the Council went into the Meet- ing House, where the result of the Council was read, and the Moderator of the Council called upon the Church to know if they accepted the result of the Council, which passed in the 214 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH, affirmative. He then asked the pastor if he acquiesced, which he signified that he did. Attest : John Robinson, Pastor. So ended the first act in the Robinson drama, and the people breathed freely, not knowing the sequel. No very long time intervened between the dismission of Mr. Robinson and the settlement of the Rev. Elisha Rockwood, whose memory remains in honor to this day, and whose pastorate was the last which was con- nected with the official action of the town.. He was called in May, 1808. The town, having concurred with the church in extending the call, appointed a committee to see what "encouragement" it would be proper for the town to give him. They offered him, for the first year, $1,000, and for his annual salary thereafter $600. And then, with painful remembrance of the recent troubles, they tried to provide against their recurrence by inserting a proviso in the call that he " shall take up his connection with this people whenever two thirds of the voters shall request it, and have the right to leave the people when he chooses, on condition of refunding to the town $400," the amount of " settlement money," twelve months' notice being required in either case. But in July this action was wisely revoked, and the settlement made without limita- tion. In September he sent a favorable reply, and prepa- rations began for the ordination, which, as before, was to be " an high day." It was to be on the 26th of October; and the town appointed a committee "to preserve order and to secure the meeting house" against damage. In addition to the features of previous occasions, a band of music was engaged, which preceded the procession from the hotel to the church, opening ranks on arrival at the church for the passage of the dignitaries. ECCLESIASTICAL TRIALS. 215 The pastorate of Mr. Rockwood, though eminently suc- cessful, was destined to have serious disturbances. The first came in the shape of a sequel to the Robinson episode. This crabbed member of the church militant, angry that another should have his place, tried to wreak a petty and puerile vengeance on the young pastor. In 1814 the matter became so serious that Deacon Chamber- lain presented charges before the church, calling for an ecclesiastical trial of the former pastor. The record is as follows : — 1814, Aug. 10. After lecture the church was stayed to hear a communication, of which the following is a copy : — " Westboro', August 8th, 1814. " To the Chh. of Christ in Westborough. " It is with deep regret that the conduct of Mr. John Robin- son, once Pastor of the Chh. of Christ in Westborough, hath been such as to constrain the Subscriber to state to you the following misdemeanors and oifeuces against the rules of Christianity which he hath been guilty of. " I. Of writing & sending me two Letters which were highly abusive not only to me, but to the Chh. and others, & were inde- cent and unchristian, for the particulars of which, I refer to the letters, one dated December 9th, 1809, and the other Feb. 19, 1810. " 2. Of incommoding Mrs. Chamberlain in her own seat in time of public worship, & by rude & indecent behaviour in the house of God in time of Public worship at sundry times ; insulting & disturbing Judge Brighara's family & others in time of public worship by his behaviour in the hind seat, after having been repeatedly requested to desist; in disturbing the wife of Mr. David Fay at the communion in February last ; of making unnecessary disturbance in time of public worship by scraping or thumping his shoes or boots by the side of his pew before he entered in, so as to cause the speaker to stop at two diiferent 2X6 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. times in the month of February last ; Of making a disturbance in time of Public worship by stepping out of his pew into the broad alley, and with his tools making a place for his inkstand on the 19th of June last. " 3. His uniformly attending public worship at a very late hour. " For these offences, which are all aggravated by the consid- eration of the office he once sustained in the church, every lover of the rules of Christianity & friend of Chh. discipline has rea- son to be offended and grieved." (Signed) Daniel Chamberlain. All the charges were sustained in the trial by a vote of about twenty to one or two. There was no doubt what- ever about their correctness, and there seems to have been no more than one, besides the redoubtable Robinson him- self, — who was present at the meetings and voted on his own case, — who cared to oppose the verdict. All regard for the man had long since vanished, and not even the deep respect which at that time prevailed for the office he had formerly held availed much in his behalf. It is related on the authority of a venerable man, not long since de- ceased, who as a boy was an interested witness of these proceedings, that at a town-meeting held in one of these years the question of keeping the organ in church came up; whereupon one citizen remarked that he had noticed that Mr. Robinson, who hated the organ, never came to meeting till the first singing was over, and always left before the last hymn, — and he was of opinion that an instrument that had the power of casting out devils was worth keeping. The town seemed to agree with him, at least so far as to retain the instrument. During his trial before the church, which lasted some time, Robinson was twice requested by the church to refrain from partaking of the sacrament. He paid no attention to the request, and was at length peremptorily refused the bread and wine; ECCLESIASTICAL TRIALS. 21/ whereupon, nothing daunted, he brought his own, and had a meal by himself. At last, after a weary time and many church meetings, he made a " sort of oral confession," which was not satisfactory to the church, but which, being revised at a later meeting, was accepted. On the nth of December, 1814, his letter of confession and a letter of admonition were read in public, and the church took a long breath. Some time after this he removed to Leba- non, Conn., and the trouble seemed to be well over. But it was only a treacherous lull in the storm. In 1818 the church received a letter from the church in Lebanon, de- clining to accept him on the strength of a letter from this church, on account of his conduct while with them. Then came a desperate effort to get rid of the business; the Lebanon church insisting that the Westborough church must discipline him, and the Westborough church throw- ing back the responsibility on the other. Finally the mat- ter was taken before the Consociation of Windham County, Conn., and then before the Harmony Conference in this county; and it was decided that Westborough must dis- cipline him. Then, with the taste of the old experience still in their mouths, the church began to prepare for the unpleasant task, when, to their infinite relief, they received a letter from Lebanon saying that the respondent, prob- ably remembering too well his former experience here, had made confession and been received to membership, adding that the matter was satisfactory to Lebanon if it was to Westborough. The church in Westborough voted, with some emphasis, that it was satisfactory; and the clerk added, with pious exultation : " Thus happily was this try- ing case terminated; and to the Great Head of the Church belongs the praise ! " Meantime the church had been rising to a new position 2l8 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. and a new life under Mr. Rockwood's earnest efforts. After the departure of his tormentor to Connecticut the pastor, feeling somewhat as the Master did when Judas had gone out, called the church together and instituted special prayers and efforts, which were not fruitless in the coming years. It was in 1816 also that another modern feature of church life was initiated by a few young ladies. They had endeavored to interest the church in the matter of a Sunday-school, but were met with general and violent op- position. Only the pastor and two of the brethren — one of whom was Breck Parkman — gave them any aid or com- fort. But they were not disheartened, and the next year they determined to make a beginning. Mr. Parkman offered them a room in his house, and at the first appoint- ment they found seventy pupils waiting; and the enter- prise was assured, in spite of the unreasoning opposition of the conservative church. It was long before the church approved, — longer before it assumed the school as a part of its own work ; but the institution had come to stay, and its adoption was only a question of time. In 1827 there was a little discussion in the church on the new question of temperance in drink, and in March it voted to use no more ardent spirits at funerals or at ordi- nary social visits, and that it would use its influence to prevent the immoderate use of liquor. That was radical action for those days. In 1832 the town followed suit, in- dulging itself in the mild self-denial of refusing any longer to furnish rum to its paupers, except on a physician's pre- scription. Three years later it took a step so radical for that day as to need explanation, by refusing to grant licen- ses to sell liquor at retail or in public-houses. An event that was for a time of great importance was the building of the Boston and Worcester turnpike in 18 10. (3ftaA-SlJ (/OM'fly^n/Xi^^, THE BEGINNING OF MODERN IMPROVEMENTS. 219 It took its course, like ail the turnpikes of that period, in a bee-line toward its point of destination, passing over all the hills, and scorning all obstacles. Its coming made an era, — the era of the stage-coach and the wayside tavern. Scores of coaches used to rattle by in a single day along these great through lines, and the bustle and excitement at the baiting-places was great. It brought the outside world, with all its news and budgets, past the little towns that had lived without it for so long. The earliest tavern in Westborough was at the corner of the turnpike and what is now Lyman Street. In 1827 Captain Wesson built another, not far from the site of the old meeting- house ; and for a time it looked as if the old Chauncy was to be revived, under the less euphonious name of " Wes- sonville." Not long afterward, Nathan A. Fisher built a thread-factory near by, and Fisher & Lothrop opened a " store." Heretofore business had been carried on on a very small scale. The earliest village store was started by Breck Parkman, the eleventh child of the old minister, who was born on the 27th of January, 1749. When he arrived at man's estate he built a small structure be- tween the meeting-house and the parsonage, living in one part of it and conducting a small business in the other. This building is still in existence, on South Street, and is occupied by Patrick Chronican. Mr. Parkman afterward built a new house for himself, and converted the whole of the old one into a store, which was at a later time removed a little way up Summer Street. This new house, afterward enlarged and raised to three stories, is now the rear building of D. W. Forbes's sleigh-factory. Subsequently Breck Parkman and Judge Brigham built the store on the south side of Main Street (the old building now in the rear of S. M. Griggs & Co.'s 220 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. block), and removed the business there. After their sons became of age they dissolved partnership, and Mr. Park- man built the old store formerly on the site of Post- office Block, where he and his sons transacted business for many years. A hotel was built at the centre in the early part of the century, on the site of the present Westborough Hotel, and was enlarged in 1824. It was first known as " Gregory's Inn," and was kept by Capt. Daniel Gregory, whose daughter became the wife of Lowell Mason. It was afterward kept for a long time by Dexter Brigham. It was quite early in the history of business growth that " Piccadilly," on the Hopkinton road, came into promi- nence as a manufacturing point, — owing to the existence of a good water power, — and for a time vied with the centre of the town in importance. But at the time of the staging excitement both Piccadilly and the centre seemed likely to become secondary to Wessonville. So long, indeed, as the meeting-house was at the centre, it would remain the gathering place for one day in the week, and retain a dignity that other sections lacked. But during the six working days it could not successfully compete with its rival farther north. It was off the stage route, and its quiet was unbroken. It only heard, far away, the rattle of busy life. There were both trade and manufacture at the new centre, but even the gossips had no more use for the old store, since all the news had gone away. For a good while this change seemed likely to be permanent; but at last, in 1835, a strange iron horse went roaring past between the old meeting-house and the parsonage, the rattle of wheels and the crack of the whip died out along the turnpike, and the glory of Wessonville faded. The centre regained its natural advantages, with all the BEGINNING OF THE TOWN'S SECULAR LIFE. 221 added opportunities which the railroad brought, and the modern era had fairly begun at last. Meantime, in 1825, the town ceased to act as an eccle- siastical parish, and the First Congregational Society was organized on the 14th of March. E, M. Phillips was the first clerk. The first recorded business had relation to the heating of the meeting-house, which thus far had been guiltless of stoves. Steps were taken toward putting them in soon after this; but the evident necessity of a new meeting-house at an early day put a stop to the proceed- ings, and the good people still went cold in church, except for the feeble help obtained from foot-stoves. CHAPTER XVI. 1830-1860. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT. — THE DIFFUSION OF INTELLIGENCE. ' I "HE coming of the railroad, and the consequent in- -■- crease of business and manufacture, marks the be- ginning of a new era ; and the period of which we have tried to tell the story is rapidly drawing to a close. There will be no more pioneer life. The quiet seclusion of the little town is broken up. The dominant influence of the old church is no longer possible, and already there are the beginnings of schism. No more will the old-time parson rule his flock from his pulpit as from a throne: his gown and wig are gone; his veto power has per- ished; the sceptre has fallen from his hands; and he is become as other men. The old fireplaces that con- sumed so royally their forty cords of wood a year are vanishing, and will soon be only a thing to tell of. The bad spelling is going out of the records, and the flavor of the ancient days is departing. The old meeting-house will soon be only " The Old Arcade ; " bell and clock and tower will disappear; the very porches will be car- ried off, to be transformed into dwellings, and the habits of a hundred years will suffer change. Of the modern town another will speak ; our concern has only been with that vanishing period which, unless its memories are speedily embalmed in some permanent form, will be- come an unknown era. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT. 223 But there are still a few things to be noted before we close the record. The railroad was built as far as West- borough in 1834. The next July it was formally opened, and two fussy little engines, of English manufacture, or at any rate in the English style, drew the train of twelve cars, filled with the directors and stockholders, from Bos- ton to Worcester. The trip took three hours. The cars were small coaches of English pattern, with doors at the sides, and of light draught. One of the original con- ductors of the road, Thomas Tucker, was still living in Westborough but a few years ago. The location of the railroad seriously interfered with the usefulness of the old meeting-house. The society demanded $1,000 damages for the land taken and other disadvantages, but were unable to get so much. Other influences were also at work which hastened its disuse. Differences of theological opinion had for some time been assuming threatening proportions, and before the railroad came, another ecclesiastical society had been or- ganized. As early as 1831 there had been some action taken toward the building of a new house; but the di- vided state of feeling rendered it impossible. In March, 1832, a vote was passed to sell the old meeting-house, and a committee, of which Otis Brigham was chairman, was appointed to carry the vote into effect A year later there were some carefully prepared proposals from Charles Parkman for the building of a house at his ex- pense, to be afterward conveyed to the society on speci- fied conditions, one of which was that the choice of a minister should always be determined by the vote of pews, each piew having one vote. This, in the dispute whether the Unitarians should be allowed a share in the supply of the pulpit, was too significant, and the meet- 224 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. ing adjourned without action. The following year, when the division of the society had been consummated, the First Society voted to accept $15 a year from the town for the use of the meeting-house for town meetings, to pay part of the expense of ringing the bell, taking care of the clock, etc. This year stoves were actually put into the old house, which continued to be the place of worship of the First Society till 1837, when it was sold to Luther Chamberlain. The business of the place felt the coming of the rail- road and its facilities at once, though it did not increase with the rapidity of later times. In 1833 John A. Fayer- weather opened a store in the Elijah Burnap house, and a year later started a stove and tin shop on the site of the present Unitarian church. In 1836 he removed his variety store to the old Parkman building, on the north side of Main Street, and continued to do business there, with various changes in the firm, until 1858. It greatly astonished the good people of that day when Mr. Fayer- weather, in the first store he opened, undertook to sell meal. It was an unheard-of thing that any one should think of buying meal anywhere but at the mill. Every- body said it would be a failure ; but it proved a great convenience, and soon superseded the old way. The boot and shoe business was begun here in 1828 by J. B. Kimball & Co., whose first shop was on the land of Major Fayerweather, near the Whitney place. About 1836 they built the brick shop at the corner of Main and Milk streets, where their business remained till 1859. In 1844 the lower part of this shop was converted into a store, and occupied by W. L. G. Hunt, afterward by Fay & Brigham, Warner & Brigham, Oulton & Peters, Homan & Peters, Homan & Child, etc. In 1840 Daniel F. Newton BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT, 22$ began to manufacture boots and shoes in the factory on Cross Street, employing, mostly out of the shop, some three to four hundred workmen, and continuing the busi- ness there for twenty years. In 1858 George B. Brigham, who had been superintendent in Newton's factory for eight years, began to manufacture for himself, — as he still continues to do, though with far different methods and facilities from those in vogue when he began. His first factory was on Milk Street. Sleighs had been manufactured here for a long time, in a small way; but the first large building for the pur- pose dates from 1857, and business was begun in it by the firm of Burnap, Forbes & Co., who made about five hundred sleighs a year. As early as 1836 some movement was made toward the providing of a town-hall. The old meeting-house was still in use; but as the First Society was anxious to sell it, some substitute had to be provided. There was some delay before the enterprise could be undertaken, but in 1839 it was voted to put up a building of one story, with a basement of brick. The work proceeded at once, though it was not until 1842 that the hall was ready for occupancy. A bell and a clock were needed, and Otis Brigham, Abijah Stone, and Gardner Cloyes were appointed a committee to provide them. The old meeting-house clock was to be bought, " if it can be had for money," and a bell must not cost over 1^300. The old clock had been sold in 1837, with the old meeting- house, to Luther Chamberlain, and the old bell hung in the belfry of the new Baptist church near by. The old clock was finally repurchased, and a new bell procured, which still does duty melodiously. In 1833 an attempt was made to carry a vote to pro- 226 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. cure a fire-engine ; but none was purchased until March, 1839, for which room was provided in the basement of the town-hall. The town subscribed $200 toward this engine, provided $200 more was raised by subscription. It was a small affair, but lasted till the Chauncy engine was purchased, in 1850. The progress of education since 1836, when the school districts were adopted in their modern form, has been marked. There was still for a time some indifference to the matter in the town meetings, as there always has been on the part of a section of the community ; and as late as 1844 there is recorded a refusal to have a gram- mar-school, for the lack of which the town had been " presented " nearly a hundred years before. But this was evidently only the last struggle of the conservative element against the rising tide of popular intelligence; for ten years later the high school came, at first as an ungraded school, but affording, nevertheless, advanced opportunities. As early as 1839 the better class of people had en- deavored to provide for their children within the limits of the town; and the "Westborough School Associa- tion" was formed, to provide better facilities than the town was ready to supply. The}' started a school, first at the centre, and afterward at the old Wesson tavern, which was refitted for the purpose. This school con- tinued for a good while, and had a high reputation. Other means of culture and the diffusion of intelli- gence began to come in with the growth of the century. The beginnings of the town library date back to the early part of the century. It was in 1807 that a few of the leading men of the town, feeling the need of some lit- erary privileges, began to raise the question of a library. LIBItA.RY. S27 Fifteen of them met, on the 25th of March, at " Greg- ory's Inn," and organized " The Union Library Society." The Rev. Elisha Rockwood, who came to the town in the following year, took a great interest in the organization, and was president of it from 181 1 to 1828. It was scarcely a popular society, its admission fees ranging from $5.50 to $15. Its rules of admission and its de- crees in regard to the care of books were very strict. Books were scarce and costly even then, as compared with the present time, and readers were much fewer. Persons not members were allowed the use of books at the reasonable rate of $2.00 a year. Meetings were held at first five times a year. Funds were raised by the fees above mentioned, and by a tax of twenty-five cents as- sessed on the members at each meeting. Mr. Charles Parkman presented several volumes to the society, and it purchased in addition the following: "Rees' Cyclo- paedia," in forty-one volumes ; " Mavor's Voyages and Travels ; " " The Life of Washington," by Bancroft; " The Life of Washington," by Marshall, in six volumes, with atlas ; two volumes " Silliman's Journal ; " " Silli- man's Tour," and " Dwight's Travels." This society lasted until 1839, when it was merged in the Mechanics* Association. The latter was organized in 1838, after manufactures had obtained a strong footing; preceding the Mechan- ics' Association of Worcester by four years. It had on its rolls at the outset forty-six names. It purposed to have lecture-courses, as well as a library, and discussions upon current topics. Mr. George Denny gave it $40, and in a year from its organization it had raised $86 more toward a library. In this same year the Union Library Society made over its books and property to the 228 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. new association, on condition that such books as needed it should be rebound, and that the members of the old organization should be allowed to draw books without a fee. Ten years later the library contained four hundred and seventy-five volumes, and printed its first catalogue. In 1857 the library was transferred to the town, and has since been supported by an annual appropriation. The same year, 1839, saw the beginning of the West- borough Agricultural Society ; the farmers seeing no rea- son why they should not keep abreast of the mechanics in the means of information and discussion. The pre- liminary meeting is stated in the history of the society to have been " accidental ; " but it was united in the opin- ion that meetings for mutual discussion would be profi- table, and Nahum Fisher was thereupon chosen chairman of the meeting, and George Denny secretary. Commit- tees were at once appointed, and measures taken for organization; and in a few months the society was in active operation. Lovett Peters was the first president, and George Denny, Curtis Beeman, and G. C. Sanborn succeeded him up to i860. The original membership included many whose names are familiar, though only five or six of them are now living. The first attempt at a local newspaper was made here in 1849 by the publication of the " Westborough Messen- ger," a weekly quarter-sheet, edited and printed in Boston by C. C. P. Moody. A copy of the first issue lies before me. It is printed on a page nine and a half by thirteen and a half inches, in four columns, with only two columns of advertisements, headed by Samuel Griggs, dealer in stoves and tin-ware. This was Dr. Griggs, who had a store in the old brick school-house, next to Post Office Block. The only Westborough news is to the effect that STATE REFORM SCHOOL. 229 the " Orthodox " church is being repaired, and the old burying-ground is to be renovated and provided with walks, trees, etc., the old stone wall to be removed and an iron fence substituted, together with the report of three temperance meetings in the lower town-hall, in which several prominent citizens figured. This news- paper enterprise did not prove a success, not being indigenous, and in a few months was suspended. The next aspirant for editorial honors was Benjamin Winslow Packard, of North Bridgewater, who published, Sept. I, 1855, the first number of "The Westborough Sheaf." This also was printed in Boston, though the editorial headquarters were in Westborough. It came to grief in less than a year. In i860 the " Marlborough Journal " undertook to print a Westborough edition, to be called the "Westborough Transcript," of which, for the first eighteen months, C. H. Pierce was the local editor. This survived two years and a half, and was the last at- tempt of the kind until a printing-office was established in the town after the War of the Rebellion. In 1846 a plan was organized for a State Reform School for boys, and a site was chosen for it on the beautiful northern slope of Chauncy Pond. The Legis- lature authorized the expenditure of only ten thousand dollars; but the project of an institution that should be reformatory rather than penal so commended itself to the late Hon. Theodore Lyman that he at once gave ten thousand more, and subsequently, by personal gift and legacy, increased the amount to $72,500. It was not known until after his death from whom these gifts had come, so quietly had the matter been arranged, and so great was his shrinking from notoriety. But the insti- tution would scarcely have been possible without him; 230 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. ^nd it is a satisfaction that at this late day, remodelled more in accordance with his own ideas, and in its new location, it has been rechristened the " Lyman School." The first building was erected in 1848, at an expense of $52,000, and had accommodation for three hundred boys. The first year saw three hundred and ten boys in the institution, and in 1852 an enlargement was made, so as to accommodate two hundred and fifty more. In 1859 an inmate set fire to the buildings, which were nearly destroyed. The boys were temporarily removed to Fitchburg and Concord jails until new quarters could be provided. But it was felt that a sufficient discrimi- nation had not been made between the younger and the more hardened criminals, and an effort was made, by es- tablishing a school-ship in Boston Harbor for the worse cases, to conform more nearly to the original idea of the founders. Three houses were also provided on the grounds of the Reform School, where the most trustworthy boys were kept, in families of twenty-five or thirty, and allowed a good deal of freedom. This secured better re- sults, and promised well for the future. It happened, however, in the capricious working of the political machine, that the school-ship was sold, the precocious criminals were again sent here, and the school passed through various vicissitudes, the recountal of which belongs to another part of the history. The superintendents in its earlier years were William R. Lincoln, 1848-1853; James M. Talcott, 1853-1857; William E. Starr, 185 7-1 861. CHAPTER XVII. LATER ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. OF the ecclesiastical history of Westborough since the rise of denominations, it is necessary to speak briefly. The earliest form of departure from the tradi- tions of the village church was the Baptist As early as May 29, 1796, James Hawes, Jr., and Asa Haskell were immersed at Chauncy Pond by Samuel King, of the Bap- tist Church in Sutton. Shortly afterward there is evi- dence of some Methodist sentiment ; though the fact that it soon passed away without producing fruit in an organization, makes it doubtful whether it was anything more than a convenient method of avoiding the parish tax, which was required by law of all voters, unless they brought certificates that they belonged to some other per- suasion. From 1798 to 1802 Fortynatus Nichols, Joseph Nichols, Phineas Hardy, and Shadrach Miller were ex- empted on the certificate of a Methodist elder. But that is the last heard of Methodism for forty-two years. The Baptists, though for a long time very few, and sub- jected to much derision and Indignity, held on steadily, and in 1811 a society was organized, and raised a small sum annually to support occasional preaching. In 18 14 a church was organized, consisting of thirty-nine mem- bers. Thomas Conant was the first pastor, who remained in service about two years, receiving for his work less than a hundred dollars a year, and eking out the stipend by farming and teaching. In 18 16 they built their first 232 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH, meeting-house, near the corner of East Main and Lyman streets. This was afterward removed to Woodville. Pas- torates were irregular and of brief duration until after 1835, when the new church was built upon the site of the pres- ent one. From this time the life of the church has been assured and prosperous. In 1868 the present church building was erected, and the old one sold^to the Roman Catholics. A parsonage had been presented to the society in i860, but was afterward sold, and the present onq erected on land given by Dea. Lyman Belknap, in 1868 or 1869. The longest pastorate has been that of Adiel Harvey, who was here from 1839 to 1845 • One of the most marked and best remembered at the present time is that of A. N. Arnold, D. D., from 1858 to 1864, — a man of scholarly habits and fine abilities, previously Professor of Ecclesi- astical History in the Seminary at Newton, and after- ward connected with similar institutions in Hamilton and Chicago. In 1868, during the building of church and parsonage, C. W. Flanders, D. D., became the pastor, and remained some two years, making himself, as Dr. Arnold had done, an important factor in town as well as church, beloved of all. Ill-health compelled him to retire after this brief term. The pastorates of the church have been as follows : — Thomas Conant, 1814-1816. William Bowen, 1831-1833. Alonzo King, April to November, 1835. Otis Converse, 1836-1838. Adiel Harvey, 1839-1845. Silas Bailey, 1845-1847. William L. Brown, 1847-1851. Nathaniel Harvey, 1851-1853. William H. Walker, 1855-1858. A. N. Arnold, 1858-1864. LATER ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 233 J. A. Goodhue, 1 864-1 867. C. W. Flanders, 1868- 18 70. Stephen H. Stackpole, 1871-1873. Benjamin A. Greene, 1875-1882. J. H. Parshley, 1883-1884. N. Newton Glazier, 1 884-1886. George F. Babbitt, 1886. In 1823 there was a Restoratlonist Society in Shrews- bury, to which some Westborough people attached them- selves. Their names were John Leland, Martin Bullard, Jesse Rice, Barnabas Newton, Coolidge Forbush, Joseph Wood, Leonard Maynard, Samuel Forbush, John Andrews, Nathaniel Andrews, and Nathan A. Fisher. David Fay was in the same year entered as a member of the second Universalist Society of Boston, of which Hosea Ballou was pastor. This was just at the time when Mr. Ballou was at the beginning of his strong influence, and the older Universalism was receiving its new impulse and its new interpretation. It never became strong enough in Westborough to organize a church, but at the outset it met with considerable individual response. It was not long after the organization of the First Society, to take the place of the town as the ecclesiasti- cal corporation, that differences of opinion became mani- fest which were destined, as in so many other cases at that period, to result in the division of the oldest eccle- siastical body. There had come to be a sharp division between Trinitarian and Unitarian theories, and the ques- tion of the exchange of pulpits between ministers who held the different beliefs was one of the first causes of disturbance. Mr. Rockwood, who held the pulpit at this time, was a man respected by the whole town; but the differences of opinion were becoming so sharp that other 234 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. considerations were, forgotten by both parties in the de- sire to maintain their theological positions. Mr. Rock- wood was not adapted for a healer of the division, having himself very strong convictions, which he felt it to be his solemn duty to maintain at all hazards. In March, 1829, there was an article in the warrant for the meet- ing of the society "to see if the society will request the Rev. Elisha Rockwood to make exchanges on the Sab- bath with all the Congregational ministers in regular standing who live in towns situated at a convenient dis- tance, without regard to their particular tenets in the- ology." The article was passed over ; but it reflects the state of feeling. There were a good many in the society of the new way of thinking, but they were as yet in the minority. Their next effort was to secure Unitarian preaching a part of the time; but this also was voted down. Meantime, the necessity for a new meeting-house was growing imperative, and lent a new aspect to the struggle. Some members of the society wished to build a house in which both forms of faith might have equal rights; others were determined to restrict its use to the older form. The difference of opinion simply preverited the building of any house on the existing basis of rep- resentation. The outcome of it was that in 1833 a part of the members of the society seceded, and formed a new society, which they called " The Congregational Cal- vinistic Society." The church then held a meeting, at which forty members were present, and voted, thirty- two to four, to separate from the old society and unite with the new. This looked as if the matter had reached a settlement; but there were a number of those who still held the views of the body of the church who were not yet ready to take the radical step of divorce; and so, THE UNITARIAN CHURCH, LATER ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 235 to solve the difficulty, it was determined to try the Con- gregational method of a council. Accordingly, on th£ 7th of January, 1834, an ecclesiastical council was con- vened at Dexter Brigham's hotel, and gave a patient hearing to the case, continuing its session till late at night, and then adjourning until the next morning. Its final decision was to advise that "the members of this church unite with those in the community whom they may associate with them in forming a new religious soci- ety." As this was a practical ratification of the action already taken, the church lost no time in accepting it. We hear no more of the " Calvinistic Society ; " but there is a reorganization throughout, and the " Evangeli- cal Society " appears, with which the old church in a body, with only one or two exceptions, connects itself. On the 29th of January fifty-six members withdrew from the First Society to join the new body, and on the loth of February nine more. A formal effort was made to cement the difficulty, even at this stage of affairs, by the offer on the part of the Evangelical Society to pay its part toward the expenses, provided Mr. Rockwood could be retained as pastor; but this must have been foreseen to be impossible. The breach was complete, and thence^ forth there are two societies. Mr. Rockwood's contract was with the First Society, which was the lineal successor of the town in the transac- tion of ecclesiastical business. Of course the events which had occurred left the society a unit in regard to the question of retaining his services. Inasmuch as he made no movement in regard to the matter, the society, at its meeting on the loth of February, voted " that as the division of the society has left it composed mostly of those who entertain views and opinions different • from 236 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. those entertained by Rev. Elisha Rockwood, and as it has become the wish of the society that the relation be dissolved," a committee be appointed to obtain such infor- mation as should enable them to act definitely and under- standingly on the subject. The final outcome of this action, after some parley and some bitter words on both sides, was the peremptory dismission of Mr. Rockwood as minister of the First Society. As the result of this division, the meeting-house and other ecclesiastical property of the First Society was re- tained in its possession, while the records of the church and the plate of the communion service was, after some discussion, held by the church. The old society at once took measures to supply preaching more in accord with its views, and in August called the Rev. Hosea Hildreth to the pastorate. He was installed in October, but resigned in the following April (1835); ^nd services in the old meeting-house ceased. The proximity of the railroad made the situation undesirable for church purposes, and the house was sold, as has been already stated, in 1837. Ten years went by without religious services on the part of the old society, but in 1848 a lot was purchased, and the church erected on its present site. It was for a long time a hard struggle for existence ; pastorates were brief, and changes frequent : but with outside aid the debt was lifted in i860, and the society entered on better days. Some twelve years ago a parsonage was built by the side of the church. The pastorates have been as follows : Hosea Hildreth, 1834-1835. William O. Moseley, 1850. Nathaniel Gage, 1851-1857. H. A. Cook, 1858. Benjamin Huntoon, 1859. LATER ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 237 Gilbert Cummings, 1860-1863. George N. Richardson, i864-j868. W.G.Todd, 1868-1870. J. L. Hatch, 1871. C. A. Allen, 1872-1875. C. W. Emerson, 18 75-1876. Granville Pierce, 1877. J. P. Forbes, 18 78-1882. E. C. Abbott, 1 884-1 886. E. A. Coil, 1 888-. Meantime the old church with its new society proceeded to the erection of a new meeting-house, the one which still stands, though enlarged and beautified, on the original spot. The energy and promptness with which this house was built contrasts in the most striking way with the slow, creeping pace at which the previous church buildings had struggled into existence, and indicates the dawn of a new era. It was on the loth of February, 1834, that the vote was passed "to build a meeting-house similar to the one in Grafton ; " and on the 1 7th of December of the same year it was dedicated. The church, meantime, had worshipped part of the time in the Baptist church on the plain, and part of the time in Union Hall, south of the old West- borough hotel. The organ had been left behind, and some other means must be provided for sustaining the musical part of the service ; so it was voted on the 29th of December to purchase a double-bass viol, and a com- mittee was appointed to procure a leader of the choir. Mr. Rockwood was considered as virtual pastor, inasmuch as it was the society, and not the church, which was new ; but the struggle through which all had passed, the bitter- ness of which was to last for years, rendered it impossible that the relationship, long and fruitful though it had been, should continue. A year after the dedication of the new 238 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. house the pastor tendered his resignation, which, after some demur, was accepted, and his dismission by council followed on the i ith of March. There was some delay in supplying his place, and the first incumbetit who succeeded him — Barnabas Phinney — proved a very bad investment; so that it was not till 1837 that the church settled down to a stea;dy progress under the ministration of Charles B, Kittredge. This pastorate lasted for more than nine years, during which time the Sunday-school became distinctly connected with the church, a creed was formulated to meet the necessities of that con- troversial period, and a complete list of the membership, from its organization in 1724, was made, at the cost of great labor and care. A very brief pastorate — that of Henry N. Beers — followed ; but in 1849 Daniel R. Cady accepted the post, and began a pastorate which lasted till ill-health compelled him to resign it in 1856, and which left behind it influences and associations of tender and lasting value. He was immediately succeeded by Luther H. Sheldon, whose genial and sensible ministry of eleven years is still fresh in many memories. In 1869 the church building was entirely remodelled, and enlarged to its present dimen- sions. It was re-dedicated in February, 1870, during an interval between pastorates. In October, 1871, Mr. Albert W. Smith, who Jiad removed here some time before from Boston, and had been a warm friend of the church and an unremitting supervisor of the repairs on the meeting-house, left by will the sum of $2^000 toward the building of a parsonage; and the present house was erected the fol- lowing year. The pastorates since that of Mr. Sheldon have been — Artemas Dean, 1S67-1869. Heman P. De Forest, 1871-1880, a a < > o r o > r o X G o ^ LATER ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY. 239 F. A. Thayer, 1880-1882. William Mitchell, 1 883-1884. W. Walcott Fay, 1888. Reference has been made to the existence of a trace of Methodism here as early as the latter part of the eighteenth century. But there was not enough of it to crystallize into a church until half a century later. In the spring of 1844 the First Methodist Episcopal Church was organ- ized, — not ye't, however, as an integral church, but as a branch of the church in Holliston. In the two following years it was connected in a similar way with the church in HopTcinton, whose pastor sometimes came over to preach in the Centre school-house, — the building now standing at the north end of the old burying-ground. In 1847 it was again connected with the Holliston church, and so remained until 1858, when it became an indepen- dent station, and had a pastor of its own. At that time it worshipped in the lower story of the High School-house. Six years later the present house of worship was built, and the church assumed its place with the rest in the commu- nity. The pastors have been — J. E. Cromack, 1858-1859. W. P. Blackmer, 1860-1861. S. B. Sweetser, 1862-1863. J. B. Bigelow, 1864-1865. W. M. Hubbard, 1866-1867. W. A. Nottage, 1 868-1 869. B. Gill, 1870-1871. Burtis Judd, 1872-X874. J. S. Day, 1875. Z. A. Mudge, 1876-1878. J. H. Emerson, 1879-188 1. E. A. Howard, 1881-1884. John R. Gushing, 1884-188 7. A. W. Tirrell, 1887. 240 EARLY HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. St. Luke's Church — Roman Catholic — was instituted about 1850, but for twenty years was under the charge of pastors of the surrounding parishes. In 1868 the old meeting-house of the Baptist Society was purchased, and removed to Milk Street, where it accommodated the parish for eighteen years, when, on the 4th of April, 1886, it was burned to the ground. A temporary chapel was built on Ruggles Street, where the church worshipped till the recent completion of its present house on Main Street. The presbytery adjoining was built in 1881. The church now has some two thousand people under its supervision. Previous to 1871 it was under the charge of six different priests, — Fathers Gibson of Worcester, Farley of Milford, Sherrin of Uxbridge, and Cuddy, Welch, and Barry of Hopkinton. The resident priests have been, R. J. Dono- van, 1871-1873; R Egan, 1873-1878; C. J. Cronin, 1878- 1884; R. S. J. Burke, 1884-1886; J. J. McCoy, 1886-. Father Cronin died in charge of the parish, and is buried in the Catholic cemetery. In 1859 the Second Adventists organized, and built the chapel on Church Street, which they have occupied with varying fortunes since. Episcopal services began to be held in Henry Hall in 1878, and were continued for some time at intervals. In 1885 regular sessions were begun in the Unitarian Chapel, under the charge of the Rev. John Gregson, of Wilkinsonville. That part of the history of the town which I have un- dertaken to set forth closes with i860. The remainder, from the beginning of the Civil War to the present time, is in charge of Mr. E. C. Bates. I have, however, at his request brought the sketch of ecclesiastical history down CONCLUSION. 241 to the present year. Nine years of personal acquaintance with the town in the last decade impressed me strongly with its thrifty and healthy growth and its wholesome char- acter. Events and persons are vividly before me of which it would be a pleasure to speak ; but that is not within my present purpose. It is, however, not with the spirit of the antiquarian, but rather from a personal interest in the place and the people, that I have filched such time as I was able from the hours of a busy life to save the story of the earlier days from complete oblivion. If not a romantic story, it is an honorable one, and a good heritage to hold from the past as a stimulus to future achievement ; and my hope is that the telling of it, imperfect as it is, may encour- age the rising interest in the past history of the place, and stimulate others to develop that which is here begun. THE LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. PREFACE TO PART II. To the many persons who have aided me in the pleasant task of preparing the second part of the His- tory OF Westborough, I am deeply grateful. I am under special obligations to a valuable file of the " West- borough Chronotype" in the Public Library, and to the long and careful labors of the late Hon. Samuel M. Griggs, who, as town clerk of Westborough from 1856 to 1886, not only kept the records during that time in the most excellent manner, but made a valuable index of the records from the beginning. EDWARD C. BATES. Westborough, November, 1890. __ ^.amm4 V ^ B'wi^wKaL-aft" "* VIEW OF WESTBOROUGH FROM V\^HITNEY HILL. THE Later History of Westborough. CHAPTER I. 1860-1865. THE CIVIL WAR. — ACTION OF THE TOWN. —IN THE FIELD. — SOLDIERS' SEWING SOCIETY. THE story of the growth and development of West- borough now turns from matters strictly local to her humble, though loyal and earnest, share in suppress- ing a great rebellion. At the outbreak of the war the town had increased to a population of about three thou- sand. Agriculture was still the main occupation of her people, though the manufacture of sleighs, and of boots and shoes, was to some extent carried on. It was a quiet village. The busy hum of machinery was little heard, and the era of " modern improvements " in buildings, highways, sidewalks, and the rest had not yet begun. But while the people of Westborough were quietly at- tentive to their various local interests, — their farms and shops, churches and schools, — stirring events were occur- ring in the great world outside. The cloud of Seces- sion, which had been lowering over the country for nearly half a century, was growing blacker and more threaten- ing. Slavery was the cause of the disturbance. As long as the cherished institution of the South had been 246 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. confined to its original boundaries, the indulgent North had made little protest. But with the rapid growth of the South in industrial importance and wealth,^ — follow- ing Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton-gin, which made cotton "king," and slave labor profitable, — the extension of slavery became the question of the day; and the extension of slavery into new territory aroused vigorous opposition. The solution of the troublesome question was delayed for a while by a series of hu- miliating compromises ; but the increasing power of the slaveholders made each demand more bold, and more dangerous to grant. A sectional war was inevitable. The pecuniary interests of the South were too great to be voluntarily surrendered, and the moral judgment of the North could never sanction the growth of slav- ery as a national institution. The weak and vacillating administration of President Buchanan gave the South an opportunity to prepare for the approaching conflict. Arms and ammunition were sent to Southern forts; ships of war were despatched to distant parts of the world; the army was weakened and scattered; in fact, before the grand crisis arrived, every possible means had been taken to make secession an easier task. In the Presidential election of i860 the Republican party presented as its candidate Abraham Lincoln, and pledged itself to oppose the further encroachment of slavery. The Democratic party, which was more friendly toward the system, became hopelessly divided. The more moderate Democrats nominated Stephen A* Doug- las, while John C. Breckenfidge represented the extreme slavery sentiment of the South. In the midst of the excitement, a party favoring conciliation and compro- mise nominated John Bell. On the 6th of November, THE CIVIL WAR. 247 Abraham Lincoln was elected President. His election was hailed with joy in the North, and with bitterness and rage throughout the South. The Slave States had boldly threatened that they would secede from the Union in case of Lincoln's election, and it was soon seen that their threats were more than idle bluster. Qn the 20th of December South Carolina passed her ordinance of secession; and before the. inauguration of President Lin- coln, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia^ Louisiana, and Texas had followed her example. The first act of open hostility took place on January 9, 1 86 1, when the steamer "Star of the West," bearing supplies to the Federal garrison, was fired upon off Charleston harbor. On April 12, Fort Sumter, which was garrisoned by eighty men under Captain Anderson, was bombarded by South Carolina troops. Two days later — Sunday, April 14 — the fort surrendered. The next morning came President Lincoln's famous call for seventy-five thousand men for three months' service. The attack on Sumter aroused the North as no event had done since the stirring days of 1775. The cold and unemotional New Englander again glowed with patriotic ardor. "The instant effect produced," says one histo- rian, "was that of solemn silence, — that silence which in the resolute man is the precursor of irrevocable de- termination ; and then there arose all through the coun- try, from the Canadian frontier to where the Ohio, rolling his waters westwardly for a thousand miles, separates the lands of freedom from those of slavery, not the yell of defiance, but the deep-toned cheer." The patriotism of the people of Westborough was stirred in unison with the general thrill. Slavery and secession found little sympathy. The sentiment of the 248 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. town was shown in the election of i860, when two votes were cast for Breckenridge, forty-four for Bell, ninety- seven for Douglas, and three hundred and one for Lincoln. But the prompt and earnest action of the town in response to the President's appeal, and the spon- taneous and vigorous protest of the people against any sign of sympathy with the seceding States, are perhaps better evidence of the loyal spirit which animated the community. On Wednesday, April 1 7, — two days after the call for troops, — a warrant was issued by the se- lectmen, G. C. Sanborn, B. B. Nourse, and S. B. Howe, calling a town-meeting for April 25, "to see if the town will grant or appropriate any money toward rais- ing a military company in the town, or act anything in relation to the same." The excitement was intense, and warlike talk and preparations did not wait for the official sanction of the town. On the 19th of April the news of the attack on the Sixth Regiment in the streets of Baltimore added fuel to the flames. Patriotic enthu- siasm could no longer endure opposition or indiffer- ence. The postmaster, who had spoken rather too freely, it was thought, in expressing his sympathy for the South, was its most prominent victim. On the after- noon of the outrage in Baltimore a crowd of excited men appeared before the office, — at the corner of South and Main Streets, near where G. M. Tewksbury's jewelry store now is, — and presenting him with the flag of his country, demanded that he raise it at the office door. This he refused to do. Fifteen minutes were given him to change his mind ; and when it was announced that the allotted time had nearly expired, a friend of the postmaster, with the excuse that " the easiest way is the best way," avoided further trouble by nailing the THE CIVIL WAR. 249 flag to the door-post. There it remained for months, until the wind and rain had reduced it to tatters, inspir- ing loyalty and rebuking indifference. At the town-meeting held April 25, in accordance with the warrant mentioned above, T. A. Smith, C. P. Winslow, J. F. B. Marshall, Benjamin Boynton, and John Bowes were chosen a committee to consider the matter of raising a company, and to report the necessary ex- pense. They reported the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted : — " Resolved, — That the town appropriate five thousand dollars, to be expended in the purchase of uniforms, pay of men while drilling, and for pay in addition to the amount paid by the Government, when called into active service. " Resolved, — That a committee of five be chosen, whose duty it shall be to attend to the expenditure and disbursement of all moneys hereby appropriated ; and no bills shall be contracted for or paid without the approbation and approval of said committee." No petty bickering marred the unanimity with which the people of Westborough responded to the call of the President. After the unanimous adoption of the above resolutions, it was immediately voted that "the treas- urer be authorized to borrow $5,cx)0, the selectmen issuing town script therefor, to fall due $1,000 per annum after the present issues ; " and further, that the selectmen, — G. C. Sanborn, B. B. Nourse, and S. B. Howe, — with J. F. B. Marshall and Patrick Casey, be the committee called for in the second resolution. The Military Committee, as it was called, having organ- ized by choosing B. B. Nourse chairman and J. F. B. Marshall secretary, immediately set about its task, A company was organized, known as the Westborough 250 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Rifle Company^ and was chartered on April 29 as Mas- sachusetts Volunteer Militia. It numbered seventy-nine men. But before the time of going into camp, the an- nouncement came that the Government could accept no more volunteers for three months' service. The com- pany was accordingly re-organized, with a view to enlisting for three years. It lost, in consequence, nearly half its members ; but recruits kept joining from day to day, and before its departure the company contained one hundred and one men. Of the total number, Westborough fur- nished fifty-six men; Southborough, eighteen; Upton, nine; Shrewsbury, nine; Hopkinton, eight; and North- borough, one. Several weeks were spent in drilling and equipping the company, during which it made marches to several of the surrounding towns. "Sumptuous dinners, patriotic speeches by town magnates, and the blessings of the fathers and mothers," in the words of one of their num- ber, " were everywhere showered upon the volunteers." Calvin Chamberlain, a resident of California, but a native of Westborough, showed his interest in their welfare by presenting each man with a dagger ; and on the company's visit to Upton, each member was presented with a drrnking- tube by the Hon. William Knowlton. The work of preparing uniforms was undertaken by the women. On April 26, the day following the town- meeting at which it was voted to raise a military company, a meeting was held in the Town Hall to organize a Soldiers' Sewing Society. After prayer by the Rev. Mr.CummingE, of the Unitarian Church, J. F. B. Marshall explained the objects of the meeting. It was voted to organize a society, and the following officers were chosen: president, Mrs. E. M. Phillips; secretary, o > r > z d X H Cd > T3 CO o G M O THE CIVIL WAR. 251 Miss M. J. Marshall; directors, Mrs. J. F. B. Marshall, Mrs. S. B. Lakin, Mrs. A. N. Arnold, Mrs. J. A. Fayer- weather, and Mrs. Salmon Comstock. There was plenty of work awaiting the society; and in accordance with a notice read in all the churches on the previous Sunday, two hundred ladies, with their needles and thimbles, met at the Town Hall Tuesday morning, April 30, at ten o'clock. After prayer by the Rev. Dr. Arnold, of the Baptist Church, and the singing of a hymn, the different garments, " consisting of four dozen blue-flannel shirts and four dozen pairs gray-flannel drawers," were dis- tributed. The work progressed steadily for four or five hours, until the allotted task was completed. This work was for the State. Subsequent meetings for preparing uniforms for the Westborough company were frequently held until the 20th of June. The result was the thor- ough equipment of the company (the town furnishing the material, and J. A. Trowbridge, who then had a tailor's shop, attending to the cutting) with uniform, fatigue-suit, havelock, thread-bag, towels, handkerchief, soap, and comb for each soldier. After weeks of preparation, on the 29th of June the Rifle Company departed to Fort Independence, Boston Harbor, and on the i6th of July was mustered into ser- vice for three years as Company K, Thirteenth Regi- ment, Mass. Vols. The following Westborough men were in the ranks : — William P. Blackmer, Captain. John Jones, Corporal. William B. Kimball, First Sergeant. William H. Sibley, " Abner R. Greenwood, Sergeant. Alfred L. Sanborn, " William W. Fay, " Melzar G. Turner, " William R. Warner, " Sidney Barstow. Augustus Allen, Corporal. Isaiah H. Beals. 252 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Charles R. Brigham. Harrison M. Brigham. Francis A. Brigham. Emory Bui lard. John S. Burnap. Thomas Copeland. John Copeland. John H. Crowley. Wallace H. Cushman. Ira L. Donovan. George R. Douglas. Charles Drayton. George F. Emery. Joseph H. Fairbanks. Hollis H. Fairbanks. Henry A. Fairbanks. Charles M. Fay. John Fly. William H. Forbush. John Glidden. George C. Haraden. Frank A. Harrington. Lyman Haskell. Hiram G. Hodgkins. John Lackey. Edward Lee. Alden Lovell. Michael Lynch. Chandler Robbins. Harvey C. Ross. John W. Sanderson. James Slattery. Frank L. Stone. Melvin H. Walker. Stephen Warren. Charles H. Williams. In Company C. Spencer Chamberlain. George B. Searles. In Company E. John Burns. At the time of its organization the company had made choice of the following officers, who had been duly com- missioned by Governor Andrew; captain, William P. Blackmer, the pastor of the Methodist Church ; first lieutenant, Charles P. Winslow; second lieutenant, Ethan Bullard ; third lieutenant, John W. Sanderson ; fourth lieu- tenant, Abner R. Greenwood. As only two lieutenants were allowed in the United States service, changes in the roll of officers soon became necessary. Captain Blackmer retained his commission, but resigned Octo- ber i6, and was succeeded by Captain Charles H. Hovey. The positions of first and second lieutenants were given THE CIVIL WAR. 253 respectively to William B. Bacon, of Worcester, and Charles B, Fox, of Dorchester. Lieutenants Winslow and Bullard withdrew temporarily from the service; Lieu- tenant Sanderson enlisted in Company C of the same (thirteenth) regiment, was appointed orderly sergeant, and afterwards was promoted to first lieutenant; and Lieutenant Greenwood remained as second sergeant in Company K. The company remained at Fort Independence until July 29, when it was ordered to the scene of war. The train containing the regiment passed through Westbor- ough; and as it rolled slowly past the station, hundreds of citizens were in waiting to catch a last look of their friends and cheer them on their way. The regiment proceeded to Williamsport, Md., and re- mained in that vicinity during the remainder of the year. Death twice visited the camp. John S. Burnap died of exposure December 10, and George C. Haraden of heart-disease December 22. Their remains were for- warded to their friends at home, and their funeral ser- vices, under the charge of the selectmen, were conducted by clergymen of the different churches, and attended by a large number of citizens. Places of business were closed, and every mark of respect was shown to the memory of the first soldiers of Westborough who during the Civil War died in their country's service. In sending to the field its first military company, the work of the town had just begun. It was found that the citizens had acted without authority in the meeting of April 25, and another meeting was held July 27, at which the following resolution was adopted : — " In consequence of the illegality of the proceedings relative to raising money for military purposes at a town meeting held 254 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. the 2Sth day of April last ; and whereas since that meeting the Legislature having passed an Act authorizing towns to raise money to defray expenses already then incurred, and to fulfil existing contracts to a certain extent with members of the volun- teer militia of this State, — It is therefore Resolved^ That this town do now raise, by the issue of town-scrip, the sum of thirty- five hundred dollars to defray the expenses already incurred, and in carrying out any contracts already made in raising and fitting out the military company in this town known as the Westborough Rifle Company, composed of citizens of this and adjoining towns." It was further "voted unanimously that the Military Committee be authorized to carry out any contracts which they have made with any members of the Westborough Rifle Company to the extent of the provisions of the law." And in order that the families of volunteers should suffer no hardship, it was voted " that the select- men be authorized and directed to aid the families of the inhabitants of Westborough who, as members of the volunteer militia of this State, may have been mustered into or enlisted in the service of the United States, — to each wife, parent, or child, dependent on such inhabitant for support, the sum of one dollar per week, provided the whole sum given to the family of any one person so enlisted shall not exceed the sum of twelve dollars per month ; and the selectmen are authorized to render such further aid to the families of volunteers enlisted as afore- said as they shall deem necessary for their support, and that this additional aid shall be charged to the military account ; " and to carry out the provisions of this vote the treasurer was authorized to borrow $1,500. In accordance with votes of the town, the Military Committee expended, in providing the company with uni- forms, and in equipping ofBcers, $1,647.66; in pay to THE CIVIL WAR. 255 men while drilling, $1,057.55 > i^i o"^ month's additional pay to forty members, $400; and in incidental expenses for music, drill-master, rent, etc., $290.39 : making a total expenditure in 1861 of $3,395.60. Of this sum West- borough actually expended $2,814.20, the balance being made good by Southborough, Upton, and Shrewsbury. The selectmen, during the year 1861, aided families of volunteers to the extent of $1,238. In addition to those already named, the close of the year found many Westborough men in the army. The Twenty-second Regiment Band, mustered in October, contained eight, as follows : — John S. Bond. Marshall S. Pike. William Dee. Solomon J. Taft. Frederick W. Kimball. Austin Wallace. Charles C. Nichols. Salem T. Weld. In other regiments mustered during the first months of the war were, — Charles W. Blanchard. Charles Greenwood. Charles B. Burgess. Henry A. Harris. Jackson Donovan. John W. Haraden. Thomas B. Dyer. Abner W. Haskell. Edward S. Esty, Charles L. Harrington. John W. Fairbanks. Daniel B. Miller. George J. Fayerweather. Edward Roberts. William Fisher. George H. Stone. James H. Sullivan. The first year of the war came to a gloomy close. The prophecies of those who believed in a speedy end- ing of the conflict were as false as the croakings of those who regarded success as hopeless. Little had yet been done toward crushing the great uprising. In the few con- tests that had taken place, the Union army had suffered 2S6 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. severely. Bull Run had filled the North with humiliation and rage that was far from soothed by the monotonous report of " all quiet along the Potomac." The country clamored for an advance; and in March, 1862, General McClellan began his famous " Peninsular Campaign," which reduced the magnificent army of one hundred and sixty thousand men to a discouraged band of fifty thousand. Such was the condition of the Union army, July 2, 1862, when President Lincoln, almost heartbroken by the long series of failures, issued a call for three hundred thousand volunteers for three years' service. The quota assigned to Westborough was thirty-two. The grand en- thusiasm that had swept the country on the fall of Fort Sumter had subsided to a much calmer feeling. Men thought of the consequences before enlisting. It was found desirable, therefore, for the town to encourage enlistments by offering bounties. At a meeting held July 23, 1862, it was voted that "the selectmen be authorized to draw upon the treasurer for a sum sufficient to pay each recruit, who shall enlist from this town, the sum of one hundred dollars, which shall be paid as soon as he shall be mustered into the United States service ; " and further, that the poll-taxes of volunteers be remitted. Under the stimulus of these inducements, thirty men enlisted for three years, each of them receiving the offered bounty. Of this number, twenty-two were enrolled in the Thirty- fourth Regiment, Mass. Vols., under Col. George D. Wells, of Boston, and were connected with Company C. Their names were as follows : — Minot C Adams. William H. Blake. William M. Aldrich. Charles E. Brigham. Charles W. Bacon. Dexter P. Brigham. THE CIVIL WAR. 257 Charles S. Carter. Francis E. Kemp. George S. Chickering. John Mockley. Byron Donovan. Michael Powers. George A. Ferguson. Amos Rice. Henry C. Ferguson. J. Frank Sweeney. Charles P. Fisher. Lyman S. Walker. George F. Hale. Cephas N. Walker. Charles H. Hardy. Frederick A. Wiswall. Hardly a month had passed before another call (August 4) for three hundred thousand men for nine months' service was issued, and an enrolment of the militia was directed. In accordance with this order, all male citizens of the town between the ages of eighteen and forty-five, not visibly and permanently disabled, were enrolled, — a total of three hundred and ninety- eight men. The approximate number which Westbor- ough was required to raise in order to fill her quota was forty-one, and two men were still wanting to fill the quota under the previous call. The selectmen, who now attended to military affairs, had no difficulty in procur- ing enlistments. The volunteers received bounties to the amount of $8,200, — $200 to each man. As the town had no legal authority to raise money for paying bounties, although disposed to do so most cheerfully, four prominent citizens, — Abijah Wood, A. J. Bufnap, J. A. Fayerweather, and Zebina Gleason, — loaned the town $10,000, a large number of citizens signing a bond to indemnify them in case the town should not be legally able to assume the debt. In responding to the call of August 4, the following Westborough men were mustered in Company E of the Fifty-first Regiment : — Charles P. Winslow, First Lieut. Dexter W. Bennet George T. Fayerweather, Sergt. Francis A. Brigham. Festus Faulkner, Jr., Musician. Martin BuHard. 2 5 is LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Henry A. Burnap. John W. Johnson. Andrew P. Carter. Robert S. Lackey. Theodore L. Davis. Charles E. Long. Henry S. Foster. Charles Q. Lowd. John A. Foster. Charles O. Parker. Francis Harrington. James F. Robinson. Myron J. Horton. Samuel O. Staples. Edward Hudson. George W. Warren. William H. Johnson. Edwin D. Wood. In Company A, of the same regiment, John W. San- derson served as first lieutenant, and in Company C, Joseph G. Longley as corporal. In Company I of the Fiftieth Regiment, mustered late in September, were the following : — James Burns. Michael C. Hannon. Thomas Cary. Thomas Keevan. Patrick Casey. Thomas Martin. John Dee. Thomas Murphy. Michael Dolan. Michael McCoy. Bernard Fannon. Patrick McCarthy. In August, the names of the following Westborough men were added to the rolls of Company K, Thirteenth Regiment : — Lorenzo A. Chapman. » George E. Hartwell. William H. Edmands. John M. Hill. Alfred L. Trowbridge. Owing to the fact that citizens enrolled in the militia did not manifest the same zeal as was shown in other places in securing exemption from service, the quota of West- borough was soon found to be sixty-seven instead of forty-one. But by securing the names of Westborough men who had been wrongly credited to other towns, the selectmen reduced the number to forty-nine. The pay- THE CIVIL WAR. 259 merit of $700 procured from Worcester seven of her surplus men, who, with one otherwise procured, filled the quota. Later in the year, certificates of exemption having been procured for eighty-three citizens, the quota was reduced to nineteen. The town thus had a surplus to her credit of thirty men, which was further in- creased by the enlistment of the Rev. Gilbert Cummings, pastor of the Unitarian Church, who was commissioned chaplain of the Fifty-first Regiment. The seven men secured from Worcester were returned, ten were trans- ferred to the credit of Shrewsbury on payment of $1,250, and the remaining fourteen would likewise have been transferred, had not an order been issued forbidding this practice of " selling " men. In addition to those already named, the following Westborough men entered the United States service in 1862: — Lewis H. Boutelle. Thomas R. Hazzard. Warren L. Brigham. James Mahoney. Patrick Burns. John Morin. Patrick Burns (2). George B. Morse. Allen W. Cross. Henry G. Rice. George L. Davis. John Rice. William Denny. Charles A. Rice. James Doherty. John W. Sanger, Benjamin N. Fairbanks. J. Henry Stone. William Fisher. George H. Stone. Charles O. Greenwood. Frank A. Stone. Francis Hanley. Samuel Woodside. On the field of battle during the year 1862 the men from Westborough had suffered severely. James H. Sul- livan was the first to fall. He had enlisted August 12, 1 86 1, in Company K, Twenty-first Regiment In the battle of Newbern, N. C, March 14, 1862, he was shot 260 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. through the neck and killed. On August 30 the second battle of Bull Run took place; and there the Thirteenth Regiment, which had been engaged in picket duty be- tween the Rappahannock and Manassas, suffered con- siderable loss. Among the killed were two Westborough men, — Thomas Copeland and Hollis H. Fairbanks ; and four, Alden Lovell, William Forbush, Isaiah H. Beals, and Wallace H. Cushman, were among the wounded. Upon receiving news of the battle, B. B. Nourse, accom- panied by J. F. B. Marshall, was despatched to Washing- ton with hospital stores furnished by the Soldiers' Sewing Society. . The wounded men were found in the hospitals, and reported themselves well cared for. The delegates paid a visit to the camp of the Thirty-fourth Regiment at Alexandria, Ya., and to that of the Thirteenth Regi- ment at Leesboro', Md. The Westborough men in the former regiment, they reported, were "well and in a cheerful condition ; " but those in the Thirteenth were " quite destitute." They had lost their knapsacks at Bull Run, their clothing was unfit for wear, and the heat and dust gave them a "very uncomfortable appearance." A few days later the regiment took part in the battle of Antietam, and several Westborough men — among them George E. Hartwell, William H. Sibley, William W. Fay, Henry A. Fairbanks, and Abner R. Greenwood — were wounded. The year 1862 had passed without bringing any signs of a speedy ending of the war, and the first months of 1863, before the successes at Vicksburg and Gettysburg, brought nothing to relieve the general depression. A considerable party was clamoring for peace on any terms, and their evil counsels became louder and louder. The horrors of war, too, were beconjing more manifest. It THE CIVIL WAR. 261 became week by week more difSficult to secure recruits for the armies. In July, when the President issued another call for troops, a resort to drafting became necessary. The quota of Westborough was forty-four. Although the town claimed to have furnished twenty- four men more than her just proportion, there was no way of having the claim allowed. One hundred and sixty- five of her citizens had already gone to the war. The stirring appeals of orators at public meetings, and the offer of generous bounties, were ineffectual in securing more. Harsher measures seemed necessary ; and sixty-six men were accordingly drafted into the service. Thirty of these reported themselves and were accepted, of whom twenty-six paid commutation, and four went into the army. In October came another call for three hundred thou- sand men for three years' service, and a little later a call for two hundred thousand more. The quota of the town was thirty-two. The courage and enthusiasm of the people had been renewed by the more hopeful outlook, and the patri- otic young men, coming forward to enlist without any pe- cuniary inducement from the town, filled the quota. Six enlisted in the Brigade Band, Corps d'Afrique, which served in Louisiana until the close of the war. Their names were as follows ; — ^ Charles R. Brigham. Solomon J. Taft. John Laflin. John C. Wheeler. Francis H. Sandra. Charles H. Williams. Eight enlisted in the Fifty-sixth Regiment, but were afterwards transferred to the Fifty-seventh Regiment, where • several of their friends were serving. The list of West- borough men in Company B, Fifty-seventh Regiment, was as follows : — 262 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. George S. Ballou. John A. Hart. Albert Brigham. James H. Holland. Calvin L. Brigham. Antonio Joan. Francis W. BuUard. Charles A. Kirkup. David N. Chapin. Edward Lowell. Patrick Crowe. William Magner. Henry C. Flagg. Timothy G. Sullivan. Willis A. Forbes. Harris C. Warren. Myron D. Green. Harlan F. Witherby. In other companies of the same regiment were, — Herbert W. Bond. Charles Q. Lowd. John Copeland. Jeremiah W. Marsh. John Crowe. John W. Sanderson. John Little. Herbert O. Smith. During the year 1863 other enlistments accredited to Westborough were as follows : — Walter Bailey. Edwin A. Dudley. William Berryhill. George W. Fairbanks. Jefferson K. Cole. William H. H. Greenwood. Reuben Delano. William Mortimer. In July, 1863, the men who had enlisted in the Fifty- first Regiment, and in August those in the Fiftieth Re- giment, — forty-three in all, — returned to their homes without the loss of a single Westborough man. The Fifty- first had been stationed in the vicinity of Newbern, N. C, where it had suffered much from disease ; and the Fiftieth had taken part in the siege of Port Hudson in Louisiana. Although originally enlisting for nine months, at the end of that period both regiments had volunteered to remain longer if their services were needed. The Government had gladly accepted their offer, and it was nearly a year after their enlistment when they returned home. As for the other regiments, the Thirteenth, which contained at THE CIVIL WAR. 263 this time about thirty Westborough men, took part in the battle of Gettysburg, July 1-3. John Fly died from the effects of injuries there received, and Harvey C. Ross and Melvin H. Walker were severely wounded. The Thirty- fourth Regiment had been engaged in garrison, guard, and escort duty near Washington and Alexandria from its mus- tering until July 7, 1862, and had earned a wide reputation for its proficiency in drills, its excellent discipline, and its neat quarters. July 14, having driven out the enemy, it took possession of Harper's Ferry ; and although engaged in no important battle during 1863, it did valuable duty in that vicinity. In April, 1864, — only twenty-nine of the sixty-six men drafted in July, 1863, having been accepted, — the select- men went to Washington, D. C, and succeeded in procuring recruits to make up the deficiency of twelve in the quota of the town. These were secured by the payment of $125 bounty per man, and $50 for the services of other persons. During these early months of 1864, General Grant, who had begun his famous campaign against General Lee, was slowly advancing toward Richmond. In order to draw him from his course. General Lee planned an invasion of Maryland and Pennsylvania and an advance toward Washington. The invasion was eventually repelled by General Sheridan; but in May, when the danger was at its height, it was decided to strengthen the defences of Washington by sending forward all veteran troops who were stationed in the North. The State militia were or- dered out to relieve the veterans. The company in West- borough, under command of Captain Charles P. Winslow, promptly met the call, — many of the members, much to their pecuniary loss, leaving their business at the shortest notice. The company, which was known as the Sixth Un- attached, M. V. M., was stationed at Readville, Mass., during 264 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. the whole of its term of service, — from May 4 to Aug. 2, 1864. It contained the following Westborough men: Charles P. Winslow, Captain. John Jones, First Lieutenant. William W. Fay, Second " George W. Warren, First Sergt. George B. Searles, Sergeant. Gilbert Cummings, Jr., " George T. Fayerweather, " Squire S. Tidd, " William M. Blake, Corporal. Israel H. BuUard, '« William M. Child, " Ezra Churchill, " David B. Faulkner, " Albert A. Arnold. Warren Bartlett. George N. Bellows. Hiram C. Bemis. Peter Boulie.. Alden L. Boynton. Ellison L. Braley. Frank G. Braley. Silas H. Brigham. Warren L. Brigham. Henry A. Burnap. Frederick D. Chase. Napoleon Chevalier. Charles E. Clark. Walter demons. William H. Drummond. Patrick Dunn. Charles A. Fairbanks. Freeman Fairbanks. Henry A. Fairbanks. Festus Faulkner, Jr. Waldo L. Fay. William C. Fletcher. Alonzo G. Forbush. John A. Gilmore. Charles A. Goss. Charles A. Harrington. Edwin F. Harrington. Charles B. Haskell. Bowers C. Hathaway. Charles S. Henry. Myron J. Horton. Charles S. Howe. John W. Howe. Edward Hudson. Elijah C. Janes. Samuel R. Jones. Charles W. Kidder. Charles T. Lackey. Joseph Lebeau. William C. Loker. Charles O. Longley. George A. Longley. Josiah W. Miller. William A. Miller. John W. Moody. Thomas Murphy. Frank A. Newton. Augustus F. Nichols. Charles O. Parker. Charles H. Pierce. Arthur W. Robbins. James F. Robinson, John T. Robinson. John G. Sargent. George W. Searles. Foster Shambeau. Alfred L. Trowbridge. George A. Walker. Charles A. Ware. THE CIVIL WAR. 265 Just before the return of the Westborough men from Readville, the President issued a call for five hundred thousand men to serve one year. The quota of West- borough was forty-six. On the return of the militia com- pany, Captain Winslow, having obtained permission from the State officials to raise a company in Westborough, quickly secured sixty-two enlistments. Men from other towns eagerly embraced the opportunity to enlist in it, and Captain Winslow reported at Worcester with full ranks. It was known as Company E, Fourth Heavy Ar- tillery, Mass. Vols. The company had been raised for coast defence, under the assurance that it would not be called beyond the limits of the State. Early in August, however, it was ordered to the defence of Washington, and remained in the neighborhood of the capital until its discharge, — June 17, 1865. The volunteers from Westborough were as follows : — Charles P. Winslow, Captain. John Jones, First Lieutenant. William W. Fay, Second " George R. Douglas, Q.M. Sergt. George N. Bellows, Sergeant. Freeman Fairbanks, " Alonzo G. Forbush, " Patrick Heaphy, " Charles M. Howe, " Edward Hudson, " Frank G. Braley, Corporal. Silas H. Brigham, " James Crowe, " Michael Dolan, " Bernard Fannon, " Charles A. Goss, " George A. McKendry, Corporal. Prescott Sibley, " Daniel T. Witherbee, Corpl. George B. Lakin, Musician. David M. Bailey, Artificer. George A. Walker, " John Q. Adams. George S. Aldrich. Warren Bardett. Robert Black. John Blanchard. John W. fiowman. George C. Brigham. William Brown. William J. Card. Michael Cavey. James Conroy. Victor Coolidge. Michael Crowe. James F. Durgin. 266 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Willard W. Fairbanks. Andrew Morrissey. Patrick Flinn. S. Whitney Nourse, Edward Keevan. Michael O'Dea. John Kelly. Edmund H. Priest. Charles W. Kidder. Martin Quinn. Patrick Kilkenny. Henry V. Richards. Charles H. Lamson. Arthur W. Robbins. Richard Loughlin. Thomas Russell. Samuel W. Mann. Patrick J. Sheehan. William McCoy. Thomas Slattery. Timothy McCue. Silas P. Squier. Thomas McHough. Jeremiah Staples. Lowell P. Mitchell. George A. Walker. John W. Moody. Robert Woodman. In Company F of the same regiment were — George T. Fayerweather, Captain. William C. Loker. Samuel W. Mann, First Lieutenant. Andrew Sullivan. In November, 1864, came the national election^ The Republican party, having declared in its platform that no terms should be given to the rebellious States but uncon- ditional surrender, renominated President Lincoln. The Democratic party declared the war a failure, and favored a cessation of hostilities. Its candidate was Gen. George B. McClellan. The vote in Westborough showed an in- creased majority for President Lincoln, the Republican electors receiving three hundred and twenty-three votes, and the Democratic electors one hundred and thirty-one. The result of the contest was the triumphant re-election of President Lincoln, and the continuation of the war. The last call for volunteers came December 19, 1864, when three hundred thousand men were wanted to fill deficiencies in former quotas. The quota of Westborough under the former call for five hundred thousand men having been forty-six, it was thought that under the pres- THE CIVIL WAR. 267 ent call the quota would be about three fifths of that number; and as the selectmen had received an official statement from the Provost- General of the State that the town had a surplus of thirty-five men to its credit, they were surprised to learn that, owing to a reduction of the number of years' service for three years' men, the town would be required to furnish twelve more recruits. This number, partly from enlistments and partly from other sources, was with some difficulty procured. In addition to those previously named, the Westborough men who enlisted in 1864 were as follows: — William F. Blake. Waldo L. Fay. Timothy Driscoll. George A. Lackey. Irving E. Walker. The following were procured from out of town to fill quotas : — George L. Call. Frederick Harrenslayer. John Calverly. John K. Harrison. James D. Carter. Thomas R. Hazzard. Edward Clements. James S. Kirkup. George L. Davis. Robert H. Lowheed. Godfried Delevenne. John McCarthy. James Fanin. Richard McNulty. George W. Fletcher. John Murphy. Roland Graham. John Roberts. William Stevens. The year 1864 was especially severe for the soldiers from Westborough. In the terrible battles of the Wil- derness, early in May, and in those that followed around Petersburg, the Fifty-seventh Regiment, which was in the Ninth Corps under General Burnside, suffered great loss. In the list of killed, wounded, and missing, were the names of two hundred and fifty-one men. Of the West- 268 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. borough boys, Sergeant Herbert W. Bond, Jeremiah W. Marsh, and William H. H. Greenwood were killed ; John A. Hart was mortally wounded; Francis W. BuUard, who had enlisted the preceding November, when scarcely sixteen years old, lost a leg ; and Albert Brigham, Tim- othy G. Sullivan, Calvin L. Brigham, Charles A. Kirkup, William Magner, Daniel McCarthy, Myron D. Green, Antonio Joan, Patrick and John Crow, and Captain John W. Sanderson were wounded. The Fifty-seventh Regi- ment, although in active service less than a year, had the third highest percentage of killed of any regiment in the war. The veterans of the Thirteenth Regiment were also in the thick of battle in the Wilderness and near Petersburg, and two Westborough men, Lyman G. Haskell and Michael Lynch, were wounded. The regiment had seen hard ser- vice since its departure from home in the summer of 1 86 1, but its hardships were nearly over. Early in July, 1864, it was ordered home, and on the morning of July 21, as the cars slowly passed the station at Westborough, the veterans joyfully threw their knapsacks to the plat- form. There was a short delay in Boston, and on the 22d of July the three years' service was over. The men had done " honor to themselves and the town they so well represented," say the selectmen in their report, "... and were cordially and heartily welcomed by their friends and fellow-citizens." Other regiments had also suffered, and men from West- borough had tasted the horrors of Andersonville and Florence. The records show that eight, — Herbert O. Smith, William H. Blake, George S. Chickering, Charles S. Carter, Minot C. Adams, Frank E. Kemp, John Cope- land, and Irving E. Walker, — died of " starvation and THE CIVIL WAR. 269 neglect" in Southern prisons. In the hospital at Wash- ington, Timothy Driscoll died of wounds on July 12, and Abner W. Haskell, August 29, at Beverly, N. J. But the war was nearly over; and in 1865 the calls for troops were no longer heard. There were, however, a few enlistments accredited to Westborough in the early weeks of the year, as follows : — Aimer R. Fairbanks. William E. Rogers. Henry A. Freeman. Frank S. Stone. James Hayward. Edgar V. Stone. Erastus M. Lincoln. Joseph W. Wright. The spring brought the surrender of General Lee and General Johnston, and the end of the war. In responding to the calls of the President, Westbor- ough had willingly and faithfully done her share. The following summary shows her contribution of soldiers : Number sent under call of May 3, 1861, July z, 1862, Aug. 4, 1862, Oct. 17, 1863, Feb. 24, 1864, I March 14, 1864, i to Readville, April 4, 1864, under call of July 18, 1864, ' " Dec. 19, 1864, I Whole number sent in response to calls 373 There were also eleven men from Westborough in the navy, as follows : — Ira Barker. Samuel N. Brigham. David N. Chapin. Patrick Crowe. William H. H. Greenwood. 82 for three years. 36 (( it u 43 " nine months. 45 " three years. 13 a tt u 73 " ninety days. 68 " one year. 8 " three years. S " one year. Albert E. Harlow. Samuel B. Kinders. Albert L. Lowd. Daniel McCarthy. William A. Smith. Caleb Tarr. 270 LATER HISTORY OF WESTSOROUGH. The total number of men supplied by Westborough (four serving in both army and navy) was three hundred and thirty-seven ; but many enlisted twice, and some three or four times, so that the total number of enlistments accredited to the town was three hundred and eighty- four.^ According to the official figures, Westborough furnished forty-five men over and above all demands. Seventeen of her soldiers were commissioned officers. Twenty-five lost their lives in defending their country^ and sixty-two were more or less severely wounded. Of the dead, fourteen died from wounds, eight of " starvation and neglect " in Southern prisons, and three others from disease. The bodies of only five, ■ — William H. Blake, John S. Burnap, George C. Haraden, William C- Loker, and Daniel B. Miller, — were brought home. The names of the Westborough soldiers who died in their country's service are as follows : — Killed. Herbert W. Bond. Francis E. Hanley. Thomas Copeland. Henry A. Harris. Timothy DriscoU. John A. Hart. Hollis H. Fairbanks. Abner W. Haskell. John Fly. Jeremiah W. Marsh. William H. H. Greenwood. Daniel B. Miller. James H. Sullivan. Died in Prison, Minot C. Adams. John Copeland, William H, Blak«. Francis E. Kemp. Charles S. Carter, Herbert O. Smith. George S. Chickering. Irving E. Walker. 1 General Schonler, in his "Massachusetts in the Rebellion" (vol. ii. p. 693), says that " Westborough furnished three hundred and forty men for the war, — which was a surplus of forty-five over and above all demands." The number of men, however, was not secured from official sources, and apparently refers to the number of individuals rather than to the number of enlistments. THE CIVIL WAR. 2^1 Died from Disease. John S. Burnap. George C. Haraden. William Denny. William C. Loker. But the sacrifices were not all made by the men who entered the army. Some were kept at home by duty, others by age or infirmity; and there were few citizens, it is safe to say, who did not make costly offerings for their country's safety. The amount of money expended by the town for war purposes, exclusive of State aid, was $23,920; and nearly $18,000, which was afterwards repaid by the State, was spent in assisting soldiers and their families. The duties of the "town fathers," especially, were greatly increased by the necessity of procuring en- listments and caring for the families of volunteers. During 1861 and 1862 the selectmen were, Greenleaf C. Sanborn, Benjamin B. Nourse, and Silas B. Howe; 1863, Edwin Bullard, Baxter Forbes, and George H. Raymond; 18,64, Edwin Bullard, George H. Raymond, and George W, Parker; 1865, Edwin Bullard, George H. Raymond, and Greenleaf C. Sanborn. The women, and even the children, who had their society for picking lint and winding bandages, gave freely of their time and labor. In the earlier p^es of this chapter I spoke of the work of the Soldiers' Sewing Society in preparing uniforms for the first recruits. In the fall of 1861, in re- sponse to an appeal from the Sanitary Commission, their work began again. Frequent meetings for providing sup- plies and raising funds were held until the close of the war. During the year ending April i, 1862, the society collected $76.97; 1863, $391-90; 1864, $305.67; 1865, $562.55,— a total amount of $1,337-09. In addition, during the year ending April i, 1862, the society sent seven [pack- ages, containing about five hundred articles of clothing, 2/2 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. to the Sanitary Commission ; fifty-six pairs of mittens to Company K, Thirteenth Regiment; and twelve pairs of socks to prisoners at Richmond. The following year it sent nine boxes of clothing and five boxes of other articles suitable for hospital use to the Sanitary Com- mission ; one barrel of clothing and one of stores to the Massachusetts Relief Association at Washington; and two boxes to Company K, Thirteenth Regiment. The contributions during 1863 were three barrels of cloth- ing to the Sanitary Commission, more than fifty pairs of socks to soldiers in various regiments, and one hun- dred towels to the Second North Carolina Regiment. In the last year of the society's existence it forwarded eight boxes of clothing, containing eight hundred articles, to the Christian Commission, one hundred handkerchiefs to the Thirty-seventh United States Colored Troops, and nineteen and one half barrels of vegetables to the Sani- tary Commission. The officers of the society for the year 1861-62 are given in another place. Mrs. E. M. Phillips declined a re-election to the presidency in 1862, and Mrs. S. Deane Fisher occupied the position until the organization came to an end at the close of war. Miss M. J. Marshall, the secretary, resigned on removing from town, Nov. 2, 1863; Mrs. A. N. Arnold was her succes- sor; and Miss Mary E. Greene served as secretary and treasurer during the last year. The summer of 1865, throughout the North, was a joy- ful time. The great war was over, and the men, young and old, who had left the farm, the factory, or the shop to endure the privations and dangers of army life, once more responded to the call of duty, and became THE CIVIL WAR. 273 peaceful and industrious toilers among their relatives and friends. The men from Westborough had performed their duty wherever they had been placed. If none had risen to high rank, at least none had brought discredit on the town which sent them to the war. The license and hardships of army life, it is true, had unfitted some for the pursuits of peace ; but, with few exceptions, the men who honored Westborough in the war have done her equal honor by their orderly, industrious, and useful lives since its close. CHAPTER II. 1861-1865. RECORDS OF SOLDIERS IN THE CIVIL WAR. THE following record of each soldier furnished by .Westborough during the Civil War has been com- piled mainly from records kept by the town and from the published records of the State. Every effort has been made to have the chapter as complete and accurate as possible ; but in some cases the authorities are conflicting, and in others information is lacking. Where no rank is given, the soldier served as private. MiNOT C. Adams, unmarried j son of Alvin T. and Bethiah L. ; enlisted, July 15, 1862, for three years; mustered, July 31, 1862, in 34th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Born, Upton, Mass., Sept. 24, 1,842 ; occupation, farmer. He was taken prisoner near Martins- burg, Va., in May, 1 864 ; was carried to Andersonville, Ga., and thence to Florence, S. C, where he died, Nov. i, 1864, of star- vation and neglect. John Q. Adams, married ; son of James and Hopeful ; enlisted, Aug. 8, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Bom, Southbridge, Mass., Jan. 2, 1825 ; occupation, mechanic. He had his leg accidentally broken ; was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. William M. Aldrich, unmarried; son of Hannibal S. and Mary B. ; enlisted, July 17, 1862, for three years; mustered, July 31^ 1862, in 34th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Born, Westborough, May 2, 1844 ; occupation, farmer. He was discharged at Rich- mond, Va., June 16, 1865, at the close of war. B cn O r d S o G RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 275 George S. Aldrich, unmarried j son of Hannibal S. and Mary B. ; enlisted, Aug. 9, 1864, for one year ; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Bom, Westborough, Jan. 20, 1846; occupation, farmer. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Augustus Allen, unmarried; enUsted, June 29, 1861, for three years J mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. ; rank, corporal. Born, Franklin, Mass., Oct. 13, 1835 ; occupation, farmer. He was discharged at Washington, D. C, Sept. 5, 1862, by reason of disability. Albert A. Arnold, unmarried ; son of Albert N. and Sarah A. ; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Bom in Greece, 1846 ; oc- cupation, student. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Charles W. Bacon, unmarried ; enlisted July 26, 1862, for three years ; mustered, July 26, 1862, in 34th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. ; wagoner. Bom, 1841 ; occupation, hostler. He served as bugler after March, 1 864 ; was discharged at Richmond, Va., June 16, 1865, at expiration of service. David M. Bailey, married ; enlisted, Aug. 8, 1864, for one year ; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born 1832; occupation, carpenter. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Walter Bailey, unmarried ; son of Walter and Joanna ; enlisted, July 12, 1863, for three years; mustered, Sept. 2, 1863, in i6th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bom, Haverhill, N. H., July 2, 1834 ; occupation, farmer. He served in Army of the Potomac; was engaged in nine battles; was transferred, July 11, 1864, to nth Regt. ; was detailed as fifer in December, 1864 ; and was dis- charged at Readville, Mass., July 14, 1865, at expiration of service. George S. Ballou, married ; enlisted, Dec. 9, 1863, for three years; mustered, Jan. n, 1864, in 5 7th Regt., Co. B, Mass. Vols. Born, 1839 ; occupation, bootmaker. He was absent, sick in hospital, when his regiment was mustered out, but was discharged Aug. 8, 1865, by order of War Department. 276 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Sidney Barstow, unmarried ; enlisted, June 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Eom, Hanover, Mass., 1842 ; occupation, clerk. He was dis- charged at Washington, D. C, March 27, 1863, by reason of disability. Warren Bartletp, married ; son of William H. and Hannah ; enlisted, Aug. 8, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Bom, Bolton, Mass., Jan. 20, 1839 ; occupation, mechanic. He had previously served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2, 1864) in the 6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Isaiah H. Beals, married ; son of Micah and Jerusha ; enlisted, April 19, 1 86 1, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bom, Liverpool, England, March 7, 1830; occupation, shoemaker. He was engaged in four battles; was wounded in the head at the battle of the Rappahannock, Aug. 22, 1862 ; was discharged at Philadelphia, Pa., Oct. 5, 1862, by reason of disability caused by wound. Dec. 5, 1863, he was mustered as corporal in 5 9th Regt., Co. H ; was engaged in two battles; was transferred to the 57th Regt., June i, 1865, and was discharged at Delaney House, D. C, July 30, 1865, at the close of war. George N. Bellows, unmarried ; son of Newell and Emily ; en- listed, Aug. 9, 1864, for one year ; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. ; rank, 2d sergeant. Born, Westborough, June 16, 1835 ; occupation, butcher. He had previously served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2, 1864) as private in 6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. He was dis- charged, Feb. 21, 1865, by reason of disability. Hiram C. Bemis, unmarried; son of Willard and Eleanor; en- listed, April 28, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Bom, Hopkinton, Mass., Nov. 7, 1 844 ; occupation, shoemaker. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of term. RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 277 Dexter W. Bennett, unmarried ; enlisted, Aug. 27, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 25, 1862, in 51st Regt, Co. E, M. V. M. Bom, 1841 ; occupation, teamster. He was discharged at Newbem, N. C, March 3, 1863, on account of disability. William Berryhill, of Pennsylvania, procured by the select- men to fill quota ; enlisted for three years. It is not known what organization he joined. Robert Black, married; son of Joseph and Isabella; enlisted, Aug. 8, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born in Ireland, 1820 ; occupation, farmer. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war, William P. Blackmer, married; enlisted, June 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt, Co. K, Mass. Vols.; rank, captain. Bom, Norwich, Ct., 1830; occupation, clergyman. He resigned Oct. 17, 1861, and his resignation was accepted Nov. 7, 1861. William M. Blake, married ; son of Joseph and Eliza ; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia ; rank, corporal. Bom, Roxbury, Mass., Oct. 2, 1820 ; occupation, mechanic. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. William F. Blake, unmarried ; son of William M. and Emily H. ; enlisted, Aug. 13, 1864, for one year; mustered, Sept. 15, 1864, in 2d Regt., Co. E, R. I. Vols. Born, Boston, Mass., April 29, 1848 ; occupation, clerk. He served in Anny of the Potomac ; was engaged in five battles ; and was discharged at Hall Hills, Va., July I, 1865, at the close of war. William H. Blake, unmarried ; enlisted, July 24, 1862, for three years ; mustered, July 25, 1862, in 34th Regt, Co. C, Mass. Vols. Bom, 1844; occupation, wheelwright He died while prisoner of war at Hairisonburgh, Va., June 5, 1864, of wounds received May 15, 1864. Charles W. Blanchard, unmarried; enlisted, Oct. 25, 1861, for three years ; mustered, Oct 25, 1861, in Co. I, 25th Regt, Mass. Vols. Born, 1842 ; occupation, pedler. He was wounded 278 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. in the hand at the battle of Newbem, N. C, and was discharged at Boston, Oct. 20, 1864, at expiration of service. John Blanchard, enlisted for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Bom, 1832. He was dis- charged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at expiration of service. John S. ^Bond, married ; son of Leonard E. and Harriet ; en- listed, Sept. ir, 186 1, for three years ; mustered, Sept. 23, 1861, in bdhd of 2 2d Regt. Born, Portland, Me., Aug. i, 1828; occupa- tion, barbef; He served in Army of the Potomac j and was dis- charged at Washington, D. C, June 1 1, 1862, by reason of disability. Herbert W. Bond, unmarried ; son of Leonard E. and Harriet ; enlisted, Dec. 14, 1863, for three years ; mustered, Jan. 4, 1864, in 57th Regt., Co. H, Mass. Vols. ; rank, sergeant. He was wounded in the breast at battle of Wilderness, Va., May 6, 1864, was re- ported missing, and probably died on the field. Peter Bouue, unmarried ; son of Frank and Florence j enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Mihtia. Bom, St. John, Can., July 16, 1844; occupation, shoemaker. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Lewis H. Boutelle, married ; enlisted, Sept. 15, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 26, 1862, in 45th Regt., Co. A, M. V. M. Bom, 1826 ; occupation, lawyer. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, July 7, 1863, at expiration of service. John W. Bowman, married ; son of Emory and Susan ; enlisted, Aug. 8, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born Westborough, Dec. 27, 1838 ; oc- cupation, shoemaker. He was dischalrged in Virginia, Juhe 17, 1865, by reason of the close of war. Alden L. Boynton, unmarried ; son of Reuben and A. H. ; en- listed, April 30, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Bom, Westborough, Jan. 2, 1844 ; occupation, clerk. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was dischatged, Aug 2, 1864, at expiration of service. RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 279 Ellison L. Braley, married ; son of Gibbs and Levina ; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Born, HoUiston, Mass., June 29, 1834 ; occupation, click. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Frank G. Braley, unmarried ; son of Gibbs and Levina ; en- listed, Aug. 8, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. ; rank, corporal. Born, Holliston, Mass., March 19, 1842 ; occupation, shoemaker. He was dis- charged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. He had previously served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2, 1864) in 6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. Charles E. Brigham, unmarried ; son of Elmer and Betsey C. ; enlisted, July 14, 1862, for three years ; mustered, July 31, 1862, in 34th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Bom,, Westborough, March 14, 1842 ; occupation, machinist. He was promoted corporal ; was discharged, in the field, Jan. 14, 1865, that he might accept pro- motion to ist lieutenant in 25th U. S. Colored Troops; and was afterwards made captain. Calvin L. Brigham, unmarried ; son of Elmer and Betsey C. ; enlisted, Nov. 23, 1863, for three years ; mustered, Jan. 4, 1864, in 57th Regt., Co. B, Mass. Vols. Born, Westborough, July 30, 1844; occupation, farmer. He was wounded before Petersburg, June 24, 1864, in left foot, and was discharged at Worcester, Mass., June 26, 1865, at the close of war. Dexter P. Brigham, unmarried; son of Dexter (2d) and Martha W. ; enlisted, July 11, 1862, for three years; mustered, July 31, 1862, in 34th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Bgrn, Westbor- ough, Oct. 14, 1843 j occupation, farmer. He was engaged in sixteen battles ; was wounded in left foot at battle of Stickney's Farm, Va., Oct. 13, 1864; was promoted to corporal; and was discharged at Richmond, Va., June 15, 1865, at the close of war. Albert Brigham, unmarried ; son of Dexter (2d) and Martha W. ; enlisted, Nov. 25, 1863, for three years ; mustered, Jan. 4, 1864, in 57th Regt., Co. B, Mass. Vols. Bom, Westborough, July ri, 1845; occupation, farmer. He was wounded in left arm at battle of Spottsylvania, Va., May i, 1864, and was discharged at 28o LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Washington, D. C, June lo, 1865? on account of disability caused by wound. Charles R. Brigham, unmarried ; son of Harrison F. and Susan T. ; enlisted, June 29, 1861, for three years ; mustered, July 16, 1 86 1, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bom, Boston, Mass., 1842 j occupation, shoemaker. He was discharged in the field, May 23, 1862, by reason of disability ; afterwards served twenty- two months in Brigade Band, Corps d'Afrique, stationed in Louisiana. George C. Brigham, unmarried ; son of Harrison F. and Susan T. ; enlisted, Aug. 8, 1864, for one year ; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Bom, Westborough, Jan. 3, 1849 ; occupation, mechanic. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Harrison M. Brigham, unmarried ; son of Jonas B. and Lu- cinda ; enlisted, June 27, 1861, for three years ; mustered, July i6, 1 86 1, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, Grafton, Mass., Feb. 4, 1838 ; occupation, farmer. He was transferred to Veteran Reserve Corps, Feb. 15, 1864; and was discharged at Washing- ton, D. C, July 16, 1864, at expiration of service. Silas H. Brigham, unmarried ; son of Jonas B. and Lucinda ; enlisted, Aug. 9, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born, Grafton, Mass., Jan. 5, 1844 ; occupation, farmer. He was promoted to corporal, and was dis- charged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. He had previously served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2, 1864) in 6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. Francis A. Brigham, son of Lincoln and Susannah M. ; enlisted, June 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bom, Westborough, Nov. 6, 1838; occupation, carpenter. He was discharged in Virginia, April 2, 1862, by reason of disability. He was afterward mustered. Sept, 25, 1862, in 51st Regt., Co. E, M. V. M. He served in North CaroUna and Maryland ; and was discharged at Worcester, Mass., July 27, 1863, at expiration of service. Warren L. Brigham (enlistment accredited to Chicopee, Mass.), unmarried ; son of John W. and Martha E. ; enlisted, Sept. 9, RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 28 1 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 25, 1862, in 46th Regt., Co, D, M. V. M. Born, Oakham, Mass., Jan. 25, 1846 ; occu- pation, clerk. He was discharged at Newbem, N. C, May 28, 1863, by reason of disability. He afterward served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2, 1864) in 6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. William Brown, enlisted, Aug. 8, 1864, for one year; mus- tered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born in Ireland, 1844; occupation, currier. He was discharged in Vir- ginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Emory Bullard, married ; son of Martin and Nabby ; enlisted, June 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bom, Westborough, 1824; occupation, shoemaker. He was discharged in the field, May 10, 1862, on account of disability. Israel H. Bullard, married; son of Samuel A. and Mindwell; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia; rank, corporal. Born, Saxonville, Mass., March 31, 1825 ; occupation, carpenter. He was stationed at Readville, Mass, and discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of term. Martin Bullard, unmarried; enlisted, Aug. 28, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 25, 1862, in 51st Regt., Co. E, M. V. M. Bom, 1844 ; occupation, carpenter. He was discharged at Worcester, Mass., July 27, 1863, at expiration of service. Francis W. Bullard, unmarried; son of Abner W. and Annette ; enlisted, Nov. 19, 1863, for three years ; mustered, Jan. 4, 1864, in S7th Regt., Co. B, Mass. Vols, Born, Westborough, Aug. 23, 1847 ; occupation, farmer. He was wounded and taken prisoner at battle of Wilderness, Va., May 6, 1864; had left leg amputated by Southem surgeons, May 8, 1864 ; was kept in Lynch- burg from June 2 to Sept. 24, and in Richmond from Sept. 24 to Oct. 7, 1864 ; was paroled Oct. 7, 1864 ; had leg re-amputated at Dale U. S. General Hospital, Worcester, Mass., July 7, 1865 ; and was discharged at Boston, Nov. 23, 1865, by reason of disability. Charles B. Burgess (enlistment accredited to Abington, Mass.), enlisted for three years; mustered, Sept. 21, 1861, in 24th Regt., 282 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Co. B, Mass. Vols. Born, 1839; occupation, hostler. He was discharged, Dec. 18, 1863, to re-enlist. John S. Burnap, unmarried ; son of Albert J. and Sarah E. ; enlisted, June 29, 1861, for three' years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bom, Westborough, Aug. 18, 1840; occupation, painter. He died at Williamsport, Md., of exposure, Dec. 10, 1861. Henry A. Burnap, unmarried ; son of Albert J. and Sarah E. ; enlisted, Aug. 25, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 25, 1862, in sist Regt., Co. E, M. V. M. Bom, Westborough, 'Nov. 3, 1843 j occupation, clerk. He was discharged at Worces- ter, Mass., July 27, 1863, at expiration of service. He afterward served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. z, 1864) in 6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. John Burns (procured from Abington, Mass.), unmarried; en- listed, June 29, 1861, for three years ; mustered, July 16, 186 1, in 13th Regt., Co. E, Mass. Vols. Bora, Ireland, 1840 ; occupation, hostler. Deserted at Sharpsburg, Md., Aug. 23, 1861. James Burns, unmarried ; son of James and Catherine ; en- listed, Aug. 13, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 29, 1862, in 50th Regt, Co. I, M. V. M. Born in Ireland, April 14, 1839; occupation, shoemaker. He was discharged at Wenham, Mass., Aug. 24, 1863, at expiration of service-. Patrick Burns, married ; enlisted for three years ; mustered, July 3, 1862, in 25th Regt., Mass. Vols. Born in Ireland, 1835; occupation, shoemaker. The State records do not account for him after his enlistment. Patrick Burns (accredited to Manchester, N. H.), married; son of Michael and Mary ; enlisted, Aug. 15, 1862, for three years ; mustered, Sept. i, 1862, in loth Regt., Co. F, N. H. Vols. ; -rank, corporal. Born in Ireland, March 15, 1833; occupation, shoe- maker. He served in Army of the Potomac ; was wounded across the back at the battle of Fredericksburg, Va., Dec. 13, 1862 ; and was discharged at Washington, D. C, on account of disability caused hy wound. He afterward enlisted (accredited to 'Wind- ham, N. H.) in the nth N. H. Infantry; was engaged in eight batties ; was wounded at Drury's Bluff, Va , in left hip ; and was RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 283 discharged at PhUadelphia, Pa., Jan. i, 1865, on account of dis- ability caused by wound. George L. Call (procured by the selectmen from Charlestown, Mass., to fill quota), enlisted for three years. It is not known what organization he joined, John Calverly (procured by the selectmen from out of town to fill quota), enlisted for three years. It is not known what organization he joined. William J. Card, married ; son of George and Sarah C. ; en- listed, Aug. 8, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born Nova Scotia, Dec. 12, 1823 ; occupation, blacksmith. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Andrew P. Carter, married ; son of Nehejniah ; enlisted, Sept. 8, 1862, for nine months ; mustered, Sept. 25, 18.62, in 51st Regt., Co. E, M. V. M. Bom, 1838; occupation, pairjter. He was discharged at Worcester, Mass., July 27, 1863, at expiration of service. Charles S. Carter, unmarried ; son of George and Nancy ; (enlisted, July 14, 1862, for three years; mustered, Aug. 2, 1862, in 34th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Bom, Lancaster, Mass., July 23, 1843 ; occupation, clerk. He was taken prisoner at battle of Newmarket, Va., May 15, 1864 ; was carried to Andersonvijle, Ga., and thence to Florence, S. C, where he died, Oct. 26, 1864, of starvation and neglect. James D. Carter (procured by the selectmen from out of town to fill quota), enlisted for three years. It is not known what organization he joined. Thomas Gary, married; son of John and Joanna; enlisted, Aug. i3j 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 29, 1862, in 50th Regt., Co. I, M. V. M. Born, Ireland, 1835; occupation, shoemaker. He was discharged at Wenhara, Mass., Aug. 24, 1863, at expiration of service. Patrick Casey, married ; son of John and Mary ; enlisted, Aug. 13, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 29, 1862, in 50th Regt., Co. I, M. V. M. Bom in Ireland, June, 1828 ; occupa- 284 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. tioii, shoemaker. He jiras discharged at Wenham, Mass., Aug. 24, 1863, at expiration of service. Michael Cavey, married ; son of Connors and Joanna ; en- listed, Aug. 12, 1864,, for one year;, mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., M. V. M. Bom in Ireland, April 16, 1830; occupation, farmer. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Spencer Chamberlain, unmarried ; son of William and Betsey ; enlisted, June 29, 1861, for three years ; mustered, July 16, 1861, in. 13th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Born, North Woodstock, Ct, Sept. 9, 1828 ; occupation, boot-treer. He was on extra duty in Chief Q. M. Department after March 29, 1862 ; and was discharged at Boston, Aug. i, 1864, at expiration of service. David N. Chapin, unmarried; son of Marvel and Caroline; enlisted, Dec. 31, 1863, for three years; mustered, Jan. 4, 1864, in 57th Regt., Co. B, Mass. Vols. Bom, Westborough, Sept. 12, 1837; occupation, painter. He was promoted to corporal; and was discharged at Washington, D. C, July 7, 1864, by reason of disability. Lorenzo A. Chapman, married ; son of Adams A. and Betsey ; enlisted, Aug. 14, 1862, for three years ; mustered, Aug. 15, 1862, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, Princeton, Mass., April 30, 1825 ; occupation, shoemaker. He was discharged at Boston, Aug. I, 1864, at expiration of service. Frederick D. Chase, unmarried; son of David and Sylvia; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Bom, Graflon, Mass., Oct. 4, 1 846 ; occupation, clerk. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged Aug. 2, 1 864, at expiration of service. Napoleon Chevalier, enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Mihtia. Bom in Canada, 1846 ; occupation, shoe-finisher. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. George S. Chickering, unmarried ; enlisted, July 31, 1862,. for three years ; mustered, July 31, 1862, in 34th Regt., Co. C, Mass. RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 285 Vols. Born, 1844 ; occupation, shoemaker. He died at Florence, S. C, while prisoner of war, Nov. i, 1864. William M. Child, married ; son of Thomas and Abial ; en- listed, April 30, 1864, for ninety days; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia ; rank, corporal. Born, Ux- bridge, Mass., March 13, 1827; occupation, merchant. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Ezra Churchill, married ; son of Isaac and Mary G., enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia ; rank, corporal. Born, Plympton, Mass., Jan. 18, 1827 ; occupation, shoemaker. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Charles E. Clark, unmarried ; son of Franklin and Mariette ; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Born, Springfield, Mass., Dec. 24, 1840 ; occupation, farmer. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Edward Clements (procured by the selectmen from out of town to fill quota) ; enlisted for three years. It is not known what organization he joined. Walter Clemons, unmarried, enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days; mustered, May 4, 1862, in 6th Unattached Company, Mili- tia. Born, Worcester, Mass., 1846 ; occupation, farmer. He was stationed at Readville, Mass.; and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Jefferson K. Cole, married ; enlisted for three years ; mustered, July 14, 1863, in i8th Regt., Co. G, Mass. Vols. Bom, 1839 ; occupation, teacher. He was transferred to i8th Mass. Battalion, July 19, 1864, and thence to 32d Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols., Oct. 26, 1864, and was discharged at Washington, D. C, June 29, 1865, at the close of war. James Conroy, unmarried; son of Peter and Elizabeth; en- listed, Aug. 9, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born in Ireland, Nov., 1845 ; 286 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. occupation, crimper. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of wax. Victor Coolidge, married; son of Mayttard and Mary; en- listfed, Aug. 6,. x864-, for one year; mustered, Aug. iz, 1864, in. Co; E, 4th H. A., Mass; Vbls. Bom in Canada, Jan. 31, I'SsS ; occupation, shoemaker. He was discharged in Virginiaj June 17, 1865, at the close of war. John Copeland, unmarried ; son of Thomas and Ann ; enlisted, May 10, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, i86r, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born in Ireland, Aug. 10, 1840; occupation, farmer. He was taken prisoner at second battle of Bull Run, Aug. 30, 1862, and paroled five days after, and was discharged at Alexandria, Va., Jan. 7, 1863, by reason of disability. In April, 1864, he enlisted in 5 7th Regt., Co. A, Mass. Vols. ; was wounded' in arm and thigh, and taken prisoner, at battle of Wilderness, Va., May 6, 1864 ; was sent to Richmond, Va., and thence to Georgia, where he is supposed to have died of starvation. Thomas Copeland, unmarried ; son of Thomas and Ann ; en- listed, April 19, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, i85i, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vbls. Bom in Ireland, Nov. 13, 1842 ; occupation, farmer. He was shot twice through the body at the battle of Centreville, Va., Aug. 30, 1862, and died seven' hours after in an unoccupied house near the field; Allan W. Cross, married ; son of Thomas W. and Mary ; enlisted, Aug. 7, 1862, for three years; mustered, Aug. 27, 1862, in 36th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born at Hanover, N. H., Aug. 7, 1837 ; occupation, farmer. He served in armies of the Poto- mac, the Ohio, and the Tennessee ; was engaged in fifteen battles ;. was promoted corporal, sergeant, ist sergeant, and ist lieutenant ; and was discharged at Alexandria, Va., June 8, 1865, at the- close of war. Patrick Crowe, unmarried ; son of Michael and Ellen ; enlisted, Dec. 29, 1863, for three years; mustered) Jan. 4, 1864; rank, corporal. Born in Ireland, 1842 ; occupation, mechanic. He served in Army of the Potomac ; was wounded in left leg and spine RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 287 at battle of Wildemeiss, Va., May 6, 1864; and was discharged at Delaney House, D. C, July 30, 1865, at close of war. Michael CroWe, unmarried; son of Michael and Ellen; en- listed, Aug. 9, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Bom in Ireland ; occupation, boot- maker. H'e was discharged in Virginia, June 1 7, 1865, at the close of war, James Growe, unmarried ; son of John and Aiin ; enlisted, Aug. 9, 1864, fbr one year; mustered, Aug. iz, 1864, in Co. Ej 4th H'. A,, M. V. M. ; rank, corporal. Bom in Ireland, Aug. 18, 1842 ; occupation, shoemaker. He was discharged in Viirginia, June 1 7, 1865, at the close of war. John Crowe, unmarried ; son of John and' Ann ; enlisted; March 17, 1864, for three years ; mustered, April 6, 1864, in 5 7th Regt., Co. I, Mass. Vols. Born in Ireland, March 10, 1843; occupa- tion, sailor. He was wounded at battle of Wildemess, Va., May 6, 1864, in right hand, and in the same member at Fort Steadmari, Va., March 29, 1865. He was discharged at Delaney House, D. C, July 30,, 1865, at close of war. John H. Crowley, unmarried ; son of Peter and Margaret M. ; enlisted. May, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 186 1, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bora, East Boston, January, 1839; occupation, mechanic. He was discharged at Boston, Aug. i, I.864, at expiration of service. Gilbert Cummings, Jr., married; enlisted, November, 1862, for nine months ; mustered, Nov. 14, 1862 in 51st Regt., M. V. M. ; chaplain. Bom, Boston, Mass. ; occupation, clergyman. He served in North Carolina, and was discharged at Worcester, Mass., July 27, 1863, at expiration of terra. He afterward served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2, 1864) as sergeant in 6th Unattached Com- pany, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. Wallace H. Cushman, unmarried ; son of William C. and Sarah ; enlisted, June 29, 1 861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. ; rank, corporal. Born; Phil- lips, Me., Feb. 26, 1841 ; occupation, shoemaker. He was wbunded at Centreville, Va., and was discharged at Newark, N. J., March 23, 1863, by reason of disability. 288 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Theodore L. Davis, unmarried; enlisted, Aug. 26, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 25, 1862, in sist Regt., Co. E, M. V. M. Born, 1840; occupation, farmer. He was dis- charged at Worcester, Mass., July 27, 1863, at expiration of service. George L. Davis is said to have enlisted in the 12 th Regiment, but his name does not appear on the rolls. William Dee, unmarried ; son of Matthew and Alice ; enlisted, Sept. 25, 1 861, for three years; mustered, Oct. 5, 1 861, in band of 22d Regt., Mass. Vols. Bom in Ireland, Jan. 19, 1829 ; oc- cupation, shoemaker. He served in Army of the Potomac ; was engaged in five battles ; and was discharged at Harrison's Land- ing, Va., Aug. II, 1862, by order of War Department. John Dee, unmamed ; son of Matthew and Alice ; enlisted, Aug. 13, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 30, 1862, in 50th Regt., Co. I, M. V. "m. Bom in Ireland, March 2, 1838; occupation, bootmaker. He was discharged at Wenham, Mass., Aug. 24, 1863, at expiration of service. Reuben Delano, enlisted, Nov. 25, 1862, for three years; mustered, Dec. 5, 1862, in 59th Regt., Co. A, Mass. Vols. Born, 1840 ; occupation, sailor. He was transferred to 5 7th Regt., Co. A, Mass. Vols., and was discharged at Delaney House, D. C, July 30, 1865, at expiration of service. GoDFRiED Delevenne (sccured from out of town to fill quota), enlisted for three years in Veteran Reserve Corps. William Denny, unmarried ; enlisted for three years ; mus- tered, Aug 28, 1861, in 19th Regt., Co. H, Mass. Vols. Bom, 1843; occupation, laborer. He died, June 10, 1862, in Carver Hospital, of typhoid fever. James Doherty (accredited to Milford), married; enlisted, July 17, 1862, for three years; mustered, Aug. 6, 1862, in 33d Regt, Co. C, Mass. Vols. Bom, 1830; occupation, shoemaker. He was missing after Feb. 14, 1865, and is supposed to have been burned to death while foraging near Columbia, S. C. Michael Dolan, unmarried ; son of Timothy and Betsey ; en- listed, Aug. 13, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 29, 1862, RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 289 in soth Regt., Co. I, M. V. M. Born in Ireland, Sept. 8, 1841 j occupation, farmer. He was discharged at Wenham, Mass., Aug. 24, 1863, at expiration of term. He afterward served ten months (Aug. 12, 1864, to June 16, 1865) in Co. E, 4th H. A., M. V. M. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Ira L. Donovan, unmarried; enlisted, June 29, 1861, for three years ; mustered, July 16, 186 1, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. ; wagoner. Born, Hookset, N. H., 1839 ; occupation, laborer. He was on extra duty in Q. M. Dept. during entire term, and was dis- charged at Boston, Aug. i, 1864, at expiration of service. Jackson Donovan, unmarried ; son of Jeremiah and Mary ; en- listed, Nov. 18, i86i, for three years ; mustered, Nov. 18, 1861, in 32d Regt., Co. A, Mass. Vols. Born, Canton, Pa., July 14, 1839; occupation, farmer. He served in Army of the Potomac ; was en- gaged in twenty-two battles ; was prisoner two days at Appomattox Court House, Va. ; and was discharged, Jan. 4, 1864, to re-enlist. Discharged at Boston, July 14, 1865, at the close of war. Byron Donovan, unmarried ; son of Jeremiah and Mary ; en- listed, July 28, 1862, for three years ; mustered, Aug. 2^ 1862, in 34th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Born at Canton, Pa., July 11, 1842 ; occupation, farmer. He was engaged in three battles ; was detailed as chief orderly at Annapolis, Md. ; and was discharged at Annapolis, July i, 1865, at the close of war. George R. Douglass, unmarried ; son of George and Helen B. ; enlisted, April 29, 1861, for three years ; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, New York, N. Y., Nov. 5, 1840 ; occupation, clerk. He was detailed as clerk in Gen. Com. Dept. ; and was discharged at Washington, D. C, Jan. 29, 1863, by reason of disability. He afterward served eleven months as Q. M. Sergeant in Co. E, 4th H. A., M. V. M. He was dis- charged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Charles Drayton, unmarried ; son of Thomas and Jane ; en- listed, June 29, 186 1, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, M. V. M. Bom, North Bridgewater ; occupa- tion, painter. He served in Army of the Potomac ; was promoted corporal, Sept. 12, 1862 ; and was discharged at Washington, D. C, March 30, 1863, by reason of disability. 290 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Timothy Driscoll (of Holliston, Mass.), unmarried; son of James and Ella ; enlisted, Jan. 4, 1864, for three years ; mustered, Jan. 14, 1864, in 59th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Born, 1845 j occupation, shoemaker. He died at Washington, D. C, July 12, 1864, from the effects of an accident on the field of battle. William H. Drummond, unmarried ; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Born, Thomaston, Me., 1845 ; occupation, seaman. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. a, 1864, at expiration of service. Edwin A. Dudley (enlistment accredited to city of Boston), unmarried j son of Curtis and Olive; enlisted, Sept. 1 7, 1863, for three years ; mustered, Oct. 8, 1863, in Co. F, 2d H. A., Mass. Vols. Bom, 1845 ; occupation, farmer. He was discharged, Sept. 3, 1865, at expiration of service. Patrick Dunn, unmarried ; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Bom, Ireland, 1842 ; occupation, shoetnaker. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. James f . Durgin, unmarried ; enlisted, Aug. 11, 1^64, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A-, Mass. Vols. Bom, Eaton, N- H., 1844; occupation, farmer. He was dis- charged, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Thomas B. Dyer, unmarried ; enlisted, July 19, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 19, 1861, in 21st Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bom, 1842 ; occupation, printer. He was discharged, Jan. i, 1864, to re-enlist. He re-enlisted for three years, Jan. i, 1864; was transferred to -Co. K, 36th Regt., Mass. Vols. ; was transferred, June 8, 1865, to 5 6th Infantry ; and was discharged, June 12, 1865, at the close of war. William H. Edmands, married ; son of William and Margaret ; enlisted, Aug. 14, 1862, for three years; mustered, Aug. 14, 1862, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bom, Taunton, Mass., April 8, 1837 ; occupation, blacksmith. He was discharged at Portsmouth Grove, R. I., June 11, 1863, by reason of disability. RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 291 George F. Emery, unmarried ; son of George B. and Abigail ; ealisted, April 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bom, Fairfiel^, Me., Nov. 8, 1843 ; occupation, carpenter. He was promoted corporal; was detailed in Reg. Q. M. Dept. ; and was discharged at Boston, Aug. I, 1864, at expiration of service. Edward S. Esty (enlistment accredited to Southborough), mar- ried; enlisted, Sept. 9, 1861, for three years; mustered. Sept 17, 1861, in Co. B, ist Mass. Cavalry. Born, 1S22 ; occupation, teamster. He deserted, Jan. 8, 1862. Joseph H. Fairbanks, married ; son of Isaiah and Patty<; en- listed, April 29, 1861, for three years ; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt, Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, Shrewsbury, Mass., Feb. 24, 1806 ; occupation, sleigh-maker. He was discharged at Cat- lett's Station, Va., May 11, 1S6.2, by reason of disability. John W. Fairbanks (residence, Roxbury), unmarried; son of Joseph H. and Ann E. ; enlisted, April 17, i86r, for three years-; mustered, May .24, 1861, in ist Regt., Co. D, Mass. Vols. Born, Westborough, Oct. 12, 1843 ; occupation, clerk. He was wounded in left side at battle of Williamsburg, Va,, May 5, 1862 ; and was discharged at Fort Wood, N. Y. Harbor, March 20, 1863, by rea- son of disability caused by wound. He afterwards served ,nine months as ist lieutenant, 8gth U. S. Col. Inf., in Louisiana, and was mustered out of service at Port Hudson, La., Aug. 12, 1864, by reason of discontinuance of the regiment Freeman Fairbanks, married ; son of Isaiah and Patty ; enlisted, Aug. s, 1864, for one year; Tnustered, Aug. 12, ,1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born, Westborough, Aug. 8, 1815 ; occu- pation, carpenter. He was promoted sergeant, Aug. 16, 1864, and was discharged in Virginia, June 1 7, 18650 at the close of war. He had previously served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2, 1864) in .6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. Houjs H. Fairbanks, unmarried ; son of Freeman and Me- linda ; enlisted, April -29^ 1861, for thise years ; mustered, July 16, j86i, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, Shrewsbury, April 9, 1843.; occupation, shoemaker. He .was killed at the second battle of Bull Run, Aug. 30, 1862. 293 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Hknry a. Fairbanks, unmarried ; son of Freeman and Melinda ; enlisted, April 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, Shrewsbury, April 9, 1843 i occupation, mechanic. He was wounded at the battle of Antietam, Md., Sept. 17, 1862, in right side and left hand; and was discharged at Boston, Mass., April 23, 1863, by reason of dis- ability caused by wounds. He afterward served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2, 1864) as corporal in 6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. George W. Fairbanks (enlistment accredited to city of Wor- cester), unmarried; son of Freeman and Melinda ; enlisted, Sept. 18, 1863, fo'^ three years ; mustered, Oct. 8, 1863, in Co. F, 2d H. A., Mass. Vols. Born, Westborough, May 10, 1846 ; occupation, farmer. Discharged Sept. 3, 1865, at expiration of service. Willard W. Fairbanks, unmarried ; son of Freeman and Me- linda; enlisted, Aug. 8, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born, Westborough, Dec. 8, 1846; occupation, mechanic. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Almer R. Fairbanks (enlistment accredited to city of Worcester), unmarried; son of Freeman and Melinda; enlisted, Feb. 15, 1865, for one year; mustered, Feb. 16, 1865, in 6ist Regt., Co. I, Mass. Vols. Born, Westborough, March 3, 1841 ; occupation, farmer. He served in Army of the Potomac ; was engaged in battle of Petersburg, Va., April 2, 1865 ; and was discharged in Virginia, July 16, 1865, at expiration of service. Charles A. Fairbanks, married ; son of Corning and Harriet ; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Bom, Westborough, July 28, 1836 ; occupation, mechanic. He Was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Benjamest N. Fairbanks, unmarried ; son of Coming and Har- riet; enlisted, Feb. 24, 1862, for three years ; mustered, Feb. 24, 1862, in 32d Regt., Co. F, Mass. Vols. Born, Westborough, Oct. 20, 1843; occupation, mechanic. He was wounded in right shoulder at Hatcher's Run, Va., Feb. 6, 1865 ; and was discharged at Boston, March 13, 1865, at expiration of service. RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 293 James Fanin (secured from out of town to fill quota), is said to have enlisted for one year in 1st H. A., Mass. Vols., but his name does not appear on the rolls. Bernard Fannon, married; son of Luke and Catherine; enlisted, Aug. 13, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 29, 1862, in 50th Regt., Co. I, M. V. M. ; rank, corporal. Bom in Ireland, Nov. 3, 1832 ; occupation, shoemaker. He was discharged at Wenham, Mass., Aug. 24, 1863, at expiration of service. He afterward served ten months, as corporal, in Co. E, 4th H. A., M. V. M., and was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, ^' ^^^ '^'ose of war. Charles M. Fay, unmarried; son of Joel W. and Lucy D. ; enlisted, April 16, i86i, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, Montague, Mass., April 16, 1844. He was taken prisoner at Spottsylvania Court House, May 22, 1864 ; was wounded three times ; was confined six months in Libby Prison, Andersonville, and Milieu's Landing; and was discharged, Jan. 26, 1865. He re-enlisted, March 22, 1865, in U. S. Veteran Vols., and was discharged, March 22, 1866. WiLixAM W. Fay, unmarried; son of Joel W. and Lucy D. ; enlisted, April 16, 1861, for three years ; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. ; rank, sergeant. Bornj Ber- nardston, Mass., April 30, 1836 ; occupation, shoemaker. He was wounded in right arm at battle of Antietam, Md., Sept. 17, 1862 ; was taken prisoner, and paroled at hospital in Chambers- burg, Pa.; and was discharged at Boston, Mass., Dec. 18, 1862, by reason of disability caused by wounds. In 1864 he served ninety days (May 4 to August 2) as 2d lieutenant in 6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. He afterward served ten months (Aug. 12, 1864, to June 17, 1865) as 2d lieu- tenant in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols., and was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Waldo L. Fay (enlistment accredited to city of Worcester), unmarried ; son of Joel W. and Lucy D. ; enlisted, Sept. i, 1864, for one year ; mustered in Co. E, 2d Mass. Cavalry. Bom, West- borough, Jan. 30, 1847 ; occupation, wheelwright. He served in Army of the Shenandoah ; was wounded in wrist in a fight with guerillas; and was discharged at Boston, Mass., June 18, 1865, at 294 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOIiOUGH. expiration of service. He had previously served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2, 1864) in 6th Unattached Company, MiUtia, stationed at Readville, Mass. George J. Fayekweather, .unniarried ; son of John ftnd Sarah ; enlisted, Oct. .28, 1861, for three years ; mustered, Oct. 30, 1861, in 25th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vpls. Born, Westborongh, Oct. 25, 1816 ; occupation, farmer. He served in armies of North Carolina and the Potomac ; was engaged in five hattles ; was wounded in iright arm in front of Petersburg, Va.,.May g, 1864 ; was discharged, Jan. 18, 1864, ;to re-enlist; and was ifinajly discharged at Greensboro', N. C, May 9, 1865, by reason of disability. George T. Fayerweather, unmarried ; son of Thomas H. and E. A. ; enlisted, Aug. 27, 1862, for nine months ; mustered, Se'pt. 25, 1862, in sist Regt., Co. E, M. V. M. ; rank, 4th sergeant. Born, Westborough, Aug. 27, 1840 ; occupation, clerk. He was discharged at Worcester, Mass., July 27^ 1863, at expiration of service. In 1864 he served ninety days (May 4 to August 2) as sergeant in 6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Read- ville, Mass. He afterward served ten months (Aug. 17, 1864, to June 17, 1865) as captain, Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols., stationed in the defences of Washington, D. C. ; and was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. His last re-enlistment was accredited to West Boylston, Mass. Henry E. Fayerweather, unmarried ; son of Thomas H. and E. A. ; enUsted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Born, Westborough, April 26, 1843 ; occupation, mechanic. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. David B. Faulkner, married ; son of Festus and Roxy B. ; en- listed, April 28, 1864, for ninety days; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia ; rank, corporal. Borq, West KiUingney, Ct., June 23, 1828.; occupation, carpenter. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Festus Faulkner, Jr., unmarried ; son of Festus and Roxy B. ; enlisted, Aug. 25, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 2$, RECORt>S OF SOLDJtERS. 295 1862,, in 51st Regt., Co. E, M. V. M. i musician. Bom, Web- ster, Mass., May 3, 1842; occupation, carpenter. Jle w^ 4is- charged at Worcester, Mass., July 27, 1863, at expiration of service. He afterward served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2, 1864) in 0th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. George A. Ferguson, unm?irried ; son of Samuel B. and Eme- linej enlisted, July 14, 1862, for three years j mustered, July 31, 1862, in 34th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Born, Trpy, Me,, Jan. 13, 1844; occupation, farmer. He was engaged in twenty batdes; was wounded in left arm at Cedar Creek, Oct. 19, 1864; was taken prisoner at same time, and carried to Richmond; was paroled, Feb. 16, 1865 ; and was discharged, June 15, 1865, at Annapolis, Md., at expiration of service. Henry C. Ferguson, unmarried ; son of Samuel B. and Eme- line ; enlisted, July 14, 1862, for three years; mustered, July 31, 1862, in 34th Regt,, Co. C, Mass. Vols. ; drummer. Born, Troy, Me., Jan. 19, 1847 ; occupation, farmer. He was discharged at Richmond, Va., June 16, 1865, at the close of war. Charles P. Fisher, unmarried ; son ,pf Nahum J. and Lucy P. ;; enlisted, July 29, 1862, for three years; mustered, July 31, 1862, in 34th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. ; rank, corporal. Born, April 6, 1843; occupation, clerk. He was discharged, Jan. 14, 1864, to accept promotion to 1st lieutenant, 2Sth U. S. Colored Troops; and was afterward promoted to captain. William Fishei^ unmarried ; enlisted for three years ; mustered, Aug. 9, 1862, in 25,th Regt., Mass. Vols. Born, 1841 ; occupa- tion, clerk. After his enlistment the State records do not account for him. Henry C. Flagg, unmarried; son of Elijah and Sarah E. ; en- listed, Nov. 30, 1863, for three years ; mustered, Jan. 4, 1864, in 5 7th Regt., Co. B, Mass. Vqls. ; rank, sergeant. Born, Westborpugh, Jan. 25, 1842 ; occupation, shoemaker. He was discharged, June 13, 1,865, by reason of being rendered supernumerary by the con- splidation of the 57th and sgtb Mass. Vols. William C. Fletcher, unmarried ; son of Noah and Caroline E.; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, MiUtia. Born, Grafton, Sept. 296 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. 21, 1843; occupation, mechanic. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. George W. Fletcher (secured from out of town to fill quota) ; enlisted for three years. It is not known what organization he joined. Patrick Flinn ; enlisted Aug. 10, 1864, for one year ; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Bom in Ireland, 1842 ; occupation, farmer. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. John Fly, married; enlisted, April 19, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, Me ; occupation, blacksmith. He was wounded in hip at the battle of Gettysburg, Pa., July i, 1863. After lymg in the field three days, he was taken to the hospital, where he died, July 26, 1863. Willis A. Forbes, unmarried ; son of Ephraim and Harriet C. ; enlisted, Nov. 30, 1863, for three years ; mustered, Jan. 4, 1864, in S7th Regt., Co. B, Mass. Vols. ; rank, corporal. Born, West- .borough, Jan. 25, 1846 ; occupation, clerk. He was promoted ser- geant, June 1, 1864 ; and was discharged at Delaney House, D. C, July 30, 1865, at expiration of service. Alonzo G. Forbush, married; enlisted, Aug. 7, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born, Westborough Dec. 28, 1832; occupation, mechanic. He was promoted sergeant, and was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. He had previously served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2, 1864), in 6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. William H. Forbush, unmarried ; son of Orestes and Mary W. ; enlisted, April 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bom, Westborough, Jan. 16, 1843 ; occupation, sleigh-maker. He was wounded in left hand at second battle of Bull Run, Aug. 30, 1862 ; was transferred to Co. C, 3d U. S. Artillery, Jan. 15, 1863, and was discharged in Vir- ginia, July II, 1864, at expiration of service. Henry S. Foster, unmarried; enlisted, Sept. 6, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 25, 1862, in 51st Regt., Co. E, M. V. M. RECORDS OF SOLDIERS, 297 Born, 1837; occupation, mechanic. He was discharged at Wor- cester, Mass., July 27, 1863, at expiration of service. John A. Foster, unmarried ; enlisted, Sept. 13, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 25, 1862, in 51st Regt., Co. E, M. V. M. Born, 1844; occupation, mechanic. He was discharged at Worcester, Mass., July 2 7, 1863, at expiration of service. Henry A. Freeman, enlisted for three years; mustered, Feb. 10, 1865, in Co. C, 2d Mass. Cavalry. Bom, 1843. He was dis- charged, June 19, 1865, at expiration of service. John A. Gilmore, unmarried ; son of John F. and Mary A. ; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Bom, Westborough, June 5, 1838 ; occupation, farmer. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. John Glidden, unmarried ; son of Joseph and Rhoda ; enlisted, April 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, Alton, N. H., Sept. 16, 1840 ; occupation, farmer. He was detailed in regimental pioneer corps in 1862 ; and was discharged at Boston, Mass., Aug. i, 1864, at expiration of service. John H. Goddard, enlisted for ninety days ; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Bom, 1843. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Charles A. Goss, unmarried ; son of Alfred and Rebecca ; en- listed Aug. 9, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. ; rank, corporal. Born, Boston, June 12, 1844; occupation, fanner. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. He had previously served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2, 1864) as private in 6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. Roland Graham (secured from out of town to fill quota) ; en- listed for three years. It is not known what organization he joined. Myron D. Green, unmarried ; son of Charles P. and Hannah W.; enlisted, Nov. 23, 1863, for three years; mustered, Jan. 4, 298 LATER HISTORY GF WESTBOROUGH. 1S64, in S7th Regt., Co. B, Mass. Vols. Bom, Westborough, Aug. 20, 1848; occupation,, farmer. He was wounded in right hand before Petersburg, Va., June 24, 1864 ; and was discharged at Washington, D. C, May 11, 1865, by order of War Department. Charles Gree>iwoodj married ; son of Joseph and Betsey ; enlisted; Aug. 28j 1S61, for three years; mustered, Aug. 30, 1861, in 20th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bom, Medfield, Mass., July i, 1815. He served in Army of the Potomac ; was taken prisoner below Petersburg, Va., July 16,. 1864; was paroled Dec. 7, 1864, and was discharged at Boston, Mass., Jan. 26, 1865, at expiration of service. Charles O. Greenwood, unmarried ; son of Charles and Char- lotte B. ; enlisted,. Aug. 5, 1862, for three years; mustered, Aug. 27, 1862, in 3i5th Regt.,,Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bora, Douglas, Mass., Nov. 16, 1838; occupation,, seaman. He served in Army of the I'otomac ; was engaged in battle of Antietam ; was transferred to Co. E, 2d U. S. Flying Artillery ; afterward served in Army of the Cutnberland ; was engaged in ten battles ; was wounded in left leg at battle of Cold Harbor ; was detailed as orderly on General Fry's staff; and was discharged at Readville, Mass., June 8, 1865, by order of War Department. William S. H. Greenwood, unmarried ; son of Charles and Charlotte B. ; enlisted, Nov. 20, 1863, for three years ; mustered, Dec. g, 1863, in ggth Regt., Co. A, Mass. Vols. Bom, West- borough, March II, 1840; occupation, bootmaker. He served in Army of the Potbmac. He was instantly killed, shot through the chest, at the battle of Wilderness, Va., May 6, 1864; Abner R. Greenwood, unmarried ; son of Charles and Char- lotte B. ; enlisted', April 29., 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1 86 1, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. ; rank, sergeant. Bom, Ashland; Mass., Oct. 6, 1841 ; occupation, shoemaker. He was wounded at battle of Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862, in right shoulder and knee ; was taken prisoner at Chambersburg, Pa. , and released a forthight after ; and was discharged at Geraiahtbwn, Pa., Oct. 27, 1863, by reason of disability. He afterward re-en- listed in Veteran Reserve Corps as ist sergeant- in 13th Regt., Co. K. RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 299 George F. Hale, untnamed ; son of Sumner ; enlisted, July 24, 1862, for three years ; mustered, July 31, i&6z,. in 34th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Bora, Fitchburg, May, 1845 ; occupation; student He was discharged, June 16, 1865, at expiration of service. Francis Hanley (enlistment accredited to NorthboroUgh), mar- ried'; enlisted, Jan. 27, 1862', for lliree years; mustered, Jan. 27, 1862,' in 15th Regt., Co. H, Miass. Vols. Bornv 1835; occupa- tion, farmer. He died of. wounds, July 5, 1862-. Michael C. Hannon, unmarried ; enlisted, Aug. 13, 1862, for nine months ; mustered, Sept. 30, 1862, in 50th Regt., Co. I, M. V. M. Bom, 1840; occupation, farmen He was dis- charged at Wenham, Mass., Aug. 24, 1863, at expiration' of service. JO^N W. HaradEn, unmarried; son of Thomas and Tem- perance; enlisted, Sept. 16, r86i, for three years; mustered, Oct; 30, 1861, in 25th Regt., Co, G, Mass. Vols. Bom, Dor- chester, Dec. 28, 1808 ; occupation, shoemaker. He was disr charged, Sept. 25, 1862, by- reason of disability. George C. Haraden, unmarried ; son of John W. atid Eliza N. ; enlisted, June 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bom,.Westborough, July 10, 1843 ; occupation, shoemaker. He died of heart-disease at Williamsport, Md., Dec. 22, 1861. Charles H. HarUy, unmarried ; son of Charles S. and Susan M. ; enlisted, July 14, 1862,, for three years; mustered, July 31, 1862, in 34th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Born, Westborough, March 19, 1844; occupation, blacksmith. He was engaged in sixteen battles; and was discharged; at Richmond, Va., June 16, 1865, at expiration of service. Frederick Harrenslayer (secured from out of town to fill quota) ; enlisted for three years. It is not known What organiza- tion he joined. Charles A. Harrington, married ; son of Samuel A. and Catherine ; enlisted, April 28)- 1864, for ninety days ; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Bom, West- 300 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH, borough, June i6, 1831 ; occupation, mason. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expira- tion of service. Francis Harrington, married ; enlisted, Aug. 26, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept 25, 1862, in 51st Regt., Co. E, M. V. M. Born, 1820 ; occupation, carpenter. He was de- tailed as regimental carpenter ; and was discharged at Worcester, July 27, 1863, at expiration of service. Frank A. Harrington, unmarried; son of Francis; enlisted, June 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bom, South Boston, 1843 ; occupation, mechanic. He was discharged at Boston, July 20, 1864, at ex- piration of service. Edwin F. Harrington, unmarried; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Com- pany, Militia. Bom, Boston, Mass., 1845 ; occupation, carpenter. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Charles L. Harrington, unmarried; son of Lawson and Lovicy W. ; enlisted, Nov. 16, 1861, for three years; mustered, Nov. 25, 1861, in 32d Regt., Co. A, Mass. Vols. Bom, West- borough, April 7, 1839 ; occupation, mechanic. He was dis- charged at Harrison's Landing, Va., July 29, 1862, by reason of disability. Henry A. Harris (enlistment accredited to HoUiston), un- married; son of Rufus and Elvira G. ; enlisted, May 20, 186 1, for three years; mustered, July 2, 1 861, in i6th Regt., Co. B, Mass. Vols. Bom, Westborough, May 19, 1840; occupation, clerk. He served in Army of the Potomac ; was wounded in left leg at battle of Gettysburg, Pa. ; was promoted Q. M. sergeant, April 4, 1862 ; 2d lieutenant, June 4, 1863, to date Nov. 30, 1862 ; was promoted ist lieutenant. May 4, 1863 ; and resigned as 2d lieutenant at Georgetown, D. C, Dec. 19, 1863, by reason of disability caused by wounds. John K. Harrison (secured from out of town to fill quota), en- listed for three years. It is not known what organization he joined. RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 301 John A. Hart, unmarried ; enlisted, Nov. 24, 1863, for three years ; mustered, Jan. 4, 1864, in 57th Regt, Co. B, Mass. Vols. Occupation, baker. He was wounded at battle of Wilderness, Va., May 6, 1864, in breast and both arms, in consequence of which he died at Heywood Hospital, Washington, D. C, May 26, 1864. George E. Hartwell, married ; son of Leonard and Abigail ; enlisted, Aug. 14, 1862, for three years ; mustered, Aug. 14, 1862, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols'. Born, West Boylston, Mass., March 24, 1824; occupation, carpenter. He was wouilded at Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862, in left elbow; was taken prisoner at Chambersburg, Pa., and exchanged, Dec. 8, 1862 ; and was dis- charged at Boston, Jan. 9, 1863, by reason of disability caused by wounds. Lyman Haskell, unmarried ; son of Asa and Achsa C. ; en- listed, June 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, i86r, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, Westborough, Nov. 7, 1 83 7 J occupation, shoemaker. He was wounded in the breast at battle of Wilderness, Va., May 5, 1864; and was discharged at Boston, Mass., Aug. i, 1864, at expiration of service. Charles B. Haskell, unmarried ; son of Asa and Achsa C. ; enlisted, April 30, 1864, for ninety days; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Bom, Westborough, Oct. 14, 1844; occupation, shoemaker. He was stationed at Read- ville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Abner W. Haskell, unmarried ; son of Asa and Achsa ; en- listed, Dec. I, 1861, for three years ; mustered, Dec. i, 1861, in 24th Regt, Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, Westborough, Oct. 29, 1839 ; occupation, mason. He served in North Carolina, Florida, and Virginia. Died, Aug. 29, 1864, at Beverly, N. J., from the effect of a wound in the thigh received at battle of Deep Run, Va., Aug. 16, 1864. Bowers C. Hathaway, married ; son of Ennis and Clarissa C. ; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Born, Freetown, Mass., March 18, 1823 j occupation, carpenter. He was stationed at 302 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. James Hayward, enlisted for three years ; mustered, Feb. 8, 1865, in 58th Regt., Co. H, Mass. Vols. Bom, 1846. He was discharged, July 14, 1865, at expiration of service. Thomas R. Hazzard, enlisted for nine months in a Maine regiment. Patrick Heaphy, unmarried; enlisted, Aug. 11, 1864, for one year ; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols, j rank, corporal. Born in Ireland, 1844 ; occupation, mechanic. He was promoted sergeant, Feb. 24, 1865, and was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at close of war. Carlos T. Heath, enlisted, Aug. 9, 1864, for one year; mus- tered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Bom, 1843 ; occupation, farmer. He was discharged, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Charles S. Henry, unmarried ; son of Samuel G. and Pennilia ; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Bom, Oakham, Mass., July 2, 1844 ; occupation, clerk. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. John M. Hill, unmarried ; son of Levi and Lucy M. ; enlisted, Feb. 17, 1862, for three years; mustered, Feb. 17, 1862, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bora, Westborough, March 25, 1829 ; occupation, shoemaker. He was transferred to 39th Regt., Mass. Vols., July 13, 1864, and was discharged, Feb. 17, 1865, at expira- tion of service. Hiram G. Hodgkins, unmarried ; enlisted, June 29, 1861, for three years ; mustered, July 16, 186 1, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Rank, corporal. Bom, VVaterville, Vt, 1837 ; occupation, shoemaker. He gave up his warrant as corporal in 1861 to accept detail in Q. M. Dept. ; and was discharged at Boston, Aug. i, 1864, at expiration of service. James H. Holland, unmarried ; son of James F. and Sarah S. ; enlisted, Nov. 25, 1863, for three years ; mustered, Jan. 4, 1864, in 5 7th Regt., Co. B, Mass. Vols. Born, Boston, Sept. 10, 1847 ; RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 303 occupation, clerk. He was discharged at Boston, Aug. z, 1865, at close of war. Charles M. Howe, son of Silas and Persisj enlisted, Aug. 9, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. ; rank, sergeant. Bom, Holden, Mass., Jan. 27, 1841 ; occupation, watchman. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war, Charles S. Howe, unmarried ; son of Silas and Maiy E. ; en- listed, April 28, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Bom, Westborough, Aug. 26, 1848 ; occupation, farmer. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. John W. Howe, unmarried ; son of John and Mary C. ; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Bom, Boylston, Mass., July 8, 1845 ; occupation, farmer. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. MvRON J. HoRTON, enlisted, Aug. 27, 1862, fornine months; mustered, Sept. 25, 1862, in 51st Regt., Co. E, M. V. M. Bom, 1841 ; occupation, salesman. He was discharged at Newbem, N. C, Jan. 16, 1863, by reason of disability. He afterward served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2, 1864) in 5th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. Edward Hudson, unmarried ; son of Nathan and Orrilla ; en- listed, Aug. 26, 1862, for nine months ; mustered, Sept. 25, 1862, in 51st Regt., Co. E, M. V. M. Bom, Upton, Mass., Sept. 18, 1840; occupation, shoemaker. He was discharged at Worcester, Mass., July 27, 1863, at expiration of service. In 1864 he served ninety days (May 4 to August 2) as private in 6th Unattached Com- pany, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. He afterward served ten months as sergeant in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols., and was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Elijah C. Janes, unmarried ; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Bom, Sturbridge, Mass., 1833 ; occupation, farmer. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. 304 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Antonio Joan, unmarried ; enlisted, Nov. 24, 1863, for three years ; mustered, Jan. 4, 1864, in 57th Regt., Co. B, Mass. Vols. ; rank, sergeant. Bom, Sicily, July 4, 1845,; occupation, black- smith. He was wounded in right hand at battle of Spottsylvania Court House, Va.., May 18, 1864, and was discharged at Dekney House, D. C, July 30, 1865, at expiration of service. John W. Johnson, married ; son of John and Jemima ; enlisted, Sept. 25, 1862, for nine months ; mustered, Sept. 25, 1862, in 5i9t Regt., Co. E, M. Y. M- Born, Shrewsbury, June 21, 1822 ; occupation, farmer. He was discharged at Worcester, July 27, 1863, at expiration of service. William H. Johnson (of Northborough), unmarried j enlisted, Aug. 20, 1862, for nine months ; mustered, Sept. 25, 1862, in 51st Regt,, Co. C, M., V. M. Bom, 1840 ; occupation, engineer. He was promoted corporal, Dec. 24, 1862 ; and was discharged at Worcester, Mass.., July 27, 1863, at expiration of service. John Jones, unmarried ; son of Stephen and Mary ; enlisted, April- 16, 1861, for three years ; mustered, July 16, r86i, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. ; rank, corporal. Bom, Lebanon, Me., June II, 1837; occupation, carpenter. He was discharged at Alexandria, Va., Jan. 9, 1863, by reason of disability. In 1864 he served ninety days (May 4 to August 2) as 1st lieutenant in 6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at ReadviJle, Mass. He afterward served ten months as ist lieutenant in Co. E., 4th H. A., Mass. Vols., and was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. The last, enlistment was accredited to Chicopee, Mass. Samuel R. Jones, unmarried ; son of Stephen, and Mary ; en- listed, April 28, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Bom, Lebanon, Me., February, 1840; occupation, farmer. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged,, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Edward Keevan (of Worcester), unmarried; son of John and Nora; enlisted, Aug. 9, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Bom in Ireland, Novem- ber, 1842 ; occupation, mechanic. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at expiration of service. RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 305 Thomas KeevaN, married; son of John and Nora; enlisted, Aug. 13, 1862, for nine months j mustered, Sept. 30, 1862, in 50th Regt., Co. I, M. V. M. Born in Ireland, Aug. 22, 1828 ; occupation, bootmaker. He was discharged at Wenham, Mass., Aug. 24, 1863, at expiration of service* John Kelly, unmarried; enlisted, Aiigi r2, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born in Ireland, 1844; occupation, farmer. He was discharged in Virginia, June 1 7, 1865, at the close of war. Francis E. Kemp, unmarried ; son of Asa and Mary A. ; enlisted, July 14, 1862, for three years; mustered, July 31, 1862, in 34th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Born, Boston, July 2, 1843 ; occupa- tion, mechanic. He was wounded in left thigh and taken prisoner at battle of Lynchburg, Va., June 18, 1864, and was carried to Andersonville, Ga., where he died, Oct. 24, 1864, of chronic diarrhoea. Adjutant-General's report says that he died at Millen, Ga., Nov. I, 1864. Charles W. Kidder, unmarried ; enlisted, Aug. 9, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 13, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Bom, Boston, Mass., 1845; occupation, clerk. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. He had previously served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2, 1864) in 6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville Mass. Patrick Kilkenny, married ; son of Michael and Catherine A. ; enlisted, Aug. 7, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A.j Mass. Vols. Bom in Ireland, March 16, 1832 ; occupation, mechanic. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. William B. Kimball, married ; son of James and Emily ; enlisted, June 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July i6, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. ; rank, ist sergeant. Born, Oakham, June 2, 1833 ; occupation, farmer. He was promoted commissary sergeant, March i, 1862 ; 2d lieutenant, May 25, 1862 ; 1st lieutenant, Feb. 27, 1863 ; and captain, Oct. 4, 1863. Dis- charged, Aug. 1, 1864, at expiration' of service. Frederick W. Kimball, married ; son of Noah and Martha W. ; enlisted for three years; mustered, Sept 11, i86i, in band of 306 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. 2 2d Regt., Mass. Vols. ; musician. Born, Grafton, Mass., Feb. 8, 1833 ; occupation, mechanic. He served in Army of the Potomac, and was discharged, Aug. 11, 1862. Jan. 24, 1865, he was com- missioned 2d lieutenant, 5th Mass. Cavalry ; was promoted to ist lieutenant and asst. com. serg.. May 26, 1865 ; and was discharged, Oct. 31, 1865, at expiration of service. Charles A. Kirkup, unmarried ; son of James and Elizabeth ; enlisted, Nov. 30, 1863, for three years j mustered, Jan. 4, 1864, in 57th Regt., Co. B, Mass. Vols. Born, Newton, Aug. 7, 1848; occupatioHj bootmaker. He was wounded in left leg and taken prisoner at battle of Wilderness, Va., May 6, 1864 ; was recaptured eight days after ; and was discharged at Baltimore, Md., July 30, 1865, by reason of disability. Alvah B. Kittredge, unmarried ; son of Charles B. and Sarah B. ; enlisted, July 7, 1864, for one hundred days ; mustered, July 17, 1864, in Co. B, 6th Regt., M. V. M. Bom, Westborough, Feb. 3, 1845 > occupation, student. He was stationed at Arlington Heights and at Fort Delaware, and was discharged, Oct. 27, 1864, at expiration of service. George A. Lackey (enlistment accredited to Easton, Mass.), married; son of Asa and Miranda W. ; enlisted, Feb. 11, 1864, for three years ; mustered, March i, 1864, in 58th Regt., Co. D, Mass. Vols. ; rank, sergeant. Bom, Hopkinton, Mass., May 22, 1838 ; occupation, machinist. He served in Army of the Potomac ; lost left leg at batde of Spottsylvania Court House, Va., May 12, 1864, and was discharged, March 11, 1865, by reason of disability. He had previously served nine months (Sept. 23, 1862, to June 26, 1863) in 3d Regiment, and one year in 7th Regiment. Robert S. Lackey, unmarried ; son of Asa and Miranda W. ; enlisted, Aug. 26, 1862, for nine months ; mustered, Sept. 25, 1862, in 51 St Regt., Co. E, M. V. M. Bom, Westborough, Sept. 17, 1841 j occupation, hostler. He was discharged at Boston, July 27, 1863, at expiration of service. Charles T. Lackey, unmarried ; son of Asa and Miranda W. ; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Bom, Westborough, March 30, 1845 ; occupation, mechanic. He was stationed at Read- RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 3°? ville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1865, at expiration of service. John Lackey, unmarried ; son of Simeon and Harriet M. ; en- listed, April 29, 1861, for three years j mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, Hopkinton, Dec. 29, 1835 ; occupation, farmer. He was detailed as teamster, and was dis- charged, Aug. I, 1864, at expiration of service. George B. Lakin (of Worcester), unmarried; son of Ansel and Susan B. ; enlisted, Aug. 9, 1864, for one year ; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. ; drummer. Bom, Worces- ter, Oct. 2, 1847 ; occupation, student. He was discharged, June 17, 1865, at expiration of service. Charles H. Lamson, unmarried ; son of William P. and Eliza ; enlisted, Aug. 9, 1864, for one year ; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. a., Mass. Vols. Born, North Brookfield, Mass., April 2, 1843 j occupation, farmer. He was discharged in Vir- ginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. John Laflin, married; enlisted, Nov. 23, 1863, for three years; mustered, Nov. 28, 1863, in Brigade Band, Corps d'Afrique ; leader. Occupation, click. He served in Louisiana, and was discharged at New Orleans, Aug. 12, 1865, at the close of war. Joseph Lebeau, unmarried ; son of Joseph and Christiana ; en- listed, April 27, 1864, for ninety days; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Born, Montreal, Canada, Jan. i, 1842 ; occupation, shoemaker. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Edward Lee, unmarried; enlisted, June 29, 186 1, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bom in Ireland, 1 83 1 ; occupation, tailor. He was wounded near Spottsylvania Court House, Va., May 9, 1864, and was discharged at Boston, Aug. i, 1864, at expiration of service. Erastus M. Lincoln, enlisted for three years ; mustered, Feb. 15, 1865, in 32d Regt., Co. D, Mass. Vols. Born, 1828. He was discharged, June 29, 1865, at the close of war. John Little, unmarried ; son of George W. and Mary ; enlisted, Dec. 10, 1863, for three years; mustered, Jan. 11, 1864, in 57th 308 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Regt, Co, H, Mass. Vols, Born, Haverhill, Mass., Aug. 2, 1845 ; occupation, painter. He was discharged at Delaney House, D. C, July 30, 1865, at expiration of service. William C. Loker (enlistment accredited to Blackstone, Mass.), unmarried; son of William and ; enlisted, Aug. 22, 1864, for one year ; mustered, Aug. 22, 1864, in Co. F, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born, Natick, 1846 ; occupation, farmer. He died at Falls Church, Va., Jan. 9, 1865, of typhoid pneumonia. He had previously served ninety days (May 4 to Aug, 2, 1864) in 6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass, Charles E. Long, unmarried ; son of William R. and Mary S. ; enlisted, Aug. 25, 1862, for nine months ; mustered, Sept. 25., 1862, in 5 ist Regt., Co. E, M. V. M. Born, Northborough, Oct. 2, 1840; occupation, mechanic. He was discharged at Worcester, July 27, 1863, at expiration of service. Joseph G. Longley, unmarried; enlisted, Aug. 20, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 25, 1862, in 51st Regt., Co. C, M. V. M. ; rank, corporal. Born, 1823 ; occupation, teacher. He was discharged at Worcester, July 27, 1863, at expiration of service. Charles O. Longley, married ; son of Jonas and Susan ; en- listed, April 30, 1864, for ninety days; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Born, Westborough, July 20, 1824; occupation, mechanic. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. George A. Longley, unmarried ; son of James A. and Harriet A. ; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Bom, Westborough, Dec. 31, 1847 ; occupation, painter. He was stationed at Read- ville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Richard Loughlm, unmarried ; son of John and Ellen ; enlisted, Aug. 8, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Bom in Ireland, Dec. 8, 1841 ; occupa- tion, farmer. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 309 Alden Lovell, married; son of Moses and Sally j enlisted, April 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bom, Worcester, Sept. i, 1831 ; occu- pation, shoemaker. He was wounded in right arm at second battle of Bull Run, Aug. 30, 1862 ; and was discharged at Alexandria, Va., Feb. 14, 1863, by reason of disability caused by wound. Charles Q. Lowd, unmarried ; son of Leavitt and Betsey ; en- listed, Aug. 26, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 25, 1862, in 51st Regt., Co. E, M. V. M. He was discharged at Newbern, N. C, Jan. 16, 1863, by reason of disability. March 23, 1864, he enlisted in S7th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. ; was detailed as clerk at ist Division headquarters ; and was discharged at Delaney House, D. C, July 30, 1865, at expiration of service. Edward Lowell, unmarried ; son of Bonaparte and Lucretia ; enlisted, Dec. 14, 1863, for three years; mustered, Jan. 4, 1864, in S7th Regt., Co. B, Mass. Vols. Bom, Lanesborough, Mass., Feb. 18, 1847 ; occupation, farmer. He was promoted corporal, May 7, 1864 ; and was discharged at Delaney House, D. C, July 30, 1865, at expiration of service. Robert H. Lowheed (secured from out of town to fill quota) is said to have enlisted for three years in ist Mass. Battery, but his name does not appear upon the rolls. Elisha S. Lucas, unmarried; enlisted, Sept. 22, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept 23, 1862, in 4th Regt., Co. I, M.V. M. Bom, 1839 ; occupation, farmer." He was discharged at LakeviHe, Mass., Aug. 28, 1863, at expiration of service. Michael Lynch, unmarried; enlisted, June 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bom in Ireland, 1841 ; occupation, boot-fitter. He was dis- charged at Boston, Aug. i, 1864, at expiration of service. William Magner, unmarried; son of James and Ann ; enlisted, Dec. 4, 1863, for three years; mustered, Jan. 4, 1864, in 57th Regt., Co. B, Mass. Vols. Bora, Boston, Sept. 22, 1845 ; occu- pation, farmer. He was wounded at battle of Spottsylvania Court House, May 12, 1864; was promoted ist sergeant, Jan. i, 1865 ; and was discharged at Delaney House, D. C, July 30, 1865, at expiration of service. 3IO LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. James Mahoney, unmarried ; son of Michael and Ann ; enlisted, Aug. 4, 1861, for three years; mustered, Aug. 7, 1861, in 15th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Born, Fall River, Dec. 25, 1842 ; occu- pation, fireman. He served in Army of the Potomac ; was engaged in twelve battles; was wounded in head, face, and legs at Get- tysburg, July 2, 1863 ; was promoted ist sergeant, Nov. 30, 1862 ; and was discharged at Baltimore, Md., Sept. 26, 1864, by reason of disability. Samuel W. Mann, unmarried ; son of Ichabod and Sarah ; en- listed, Aug. 9, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born, Landgrove, N. H., Oct. 30, 1839 ; occupation, currier. He was promoted ist lieutenant, Co. F, Aug. 17, 1864; resigned at Fort Ward, Va., March 28, 1865, by reason of disability caused by old wounds. He had previously served as private, sergeant, and 2d lieutenant in 20th Regt., Mass. Vols., and as captain in 54th Regt., Mass. Vols. While in the latter regiment he was wounded at Fort Wagner, S. C. His enlistments in 20th and 54th Regiments are accredited to Boston. Jeremiah W. Marsh, married ; son of Jeremiah and Nancy ; enlisted, March 31, 1864, for three years; mustered, April 6, 1864, in 5 7th Regt, Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, Exeter, Me., Oct. 18, 183 1 ; occupation, carpenter. He died of wounds, May 6, 1864. Thomas Martin, married; enlisted, Aug. 13, 1862, for nine months ; mustered, Sept. 30, 1862, in soth Regt., Co. I, M. V. M. Born, 1822 ; occupation, laborer. He was discharged at Wenham, Mass., Aug. 24, 1863, at expiration of service. Patrick McCarthy, unmarried; son of Jeremiah and Mary; enlisted, Aug. 13, 1862, for nine months ; mustered, Sept. 29, 1862, in soth Regt., Co. I, M. V. M. Bom, Boston, Sept 22, 1844; occupation, bootmaker. He was discharged at Wenham, Mass., Aug. 24, 1 864, at expiration of service. Daniel McCarthy, unmarried ; son of Jeremiah and Mary ; enlisted, March 16, 1864, for three years; mustered, April 6, 1864, in 57 th Regt., Co. B, Mass. Vols. Born, Boston, May 19, 1840; occupation, mechanic. He was wounded in right hand at batrie of Spottsylvania, Va., May 12, 1864; was promoted corporal, RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 3" Jan. I, 1865 ; and sergeant, May i, 1865 ; and was discharged at Delaney House, D. C, July 30, 1865, at expiration of service. John McCarthy (secured from out of town to fill quota) , en- listed for three years. It is not known what organization he joined. Michael McCoy, married; enUsted, Aug. 13, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 30, 1862, in soth Regt., Co. I, M.V. M. Born, 1840; occupation, bootmaker. He was discharged at Wen- ham, Mass., Aug. 24, 1863, at expiration of service. William McCoy, unmarried ; son of John and Mary ; enlisted, Aug. 8, 1864, for one year ; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born in Ireland, March 12, 1846; occupa- tion, shoemaker. He was discharged in Virginia, June 1 7, 1865, at close of war. Timothy McCue, unmarried; enlisted, Aug. 8, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born in Ireland, 1845 ; occupation, farmer. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Thomas McHough, enlisted, Aug. 12, 1864, for one year; mus- tered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Bom in Ireland, 1841 ; occupation, farmer. He was discharged in Vir- ginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. George A. McKendry, married ; son of Albert G. and L. V. ; enlisted, Aug. 9, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A, Mass. Vols. ; rank, corporal. Bom, Dorchester, Mass., Oct. I, 1837 ; occupation, caqjenter. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Richard McNulty (secured from out of town to fill quota), enlisted for three years. It is not known what organization he joined. Daniel B. Miller (of Boston), unmarried ; enlisted, May 24, 1 86 1, for three years; mustered, May 24, 1861, in ist Regt., Co. D, Mass. Vols. Bom, Westborough, 1834 ; occupation, driver. He was appointed regimental wagon-master; and was killed at Groton, Conn., June 15, 1861, by being thrown under the cars while the regiment was on its way to Washington, D. C. 312 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. JosiAH W. Miller, married ; son of Joel and Mary ; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Bom, Cambridgeport, July 29, 1 823 ; occupation, click. He was stationed at ReadvUle, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. William A. Miller, unmarried ; son of Asa R. and Hannah T. ; enlisted April 28, 1864, for three months; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Bom, Westborough, Feb. 2, 1846; occupation, farmer. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Lowell P. Mitchell, unmarried ; son of William W. and ; enlisted for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. He was discharged in Virgmia, June 1 7, 1865, at the close of war. John Mockley, unmarried; son of John and Catherine V.; enlisted, July 24, 1862, for three years ; mustered, July 25, 1862, in 34th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Born, Albany, N. Y., July 5, 1845 > occupation, student. He was wounded in the leg at battle of Charlestown, Va., Oct. 20, 1863 ; was taken prisoner at battle of Newmarket, Va., May 15, 1864; was carried to Andersonville, Ga., thence to Florence, S. C. ; and was discharged at Richmond, Va., June 15, 1865, at expiration of service. John W. Moody, unmarried ; son of Israel and Rachel ; enlisted, Aug. 9, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Bom, South Boston, May 19, 1845 ; occu- pation, farmer. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. He had previously served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2, 1864) in 6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. John Morin (of Worcester), married ; enlisted for three years ; mustered, July 23, 1862, in ist Regt., Mass. Vols. Born, 1836 ; occupation, shoemaker. There is no account of him on the rolls after his enlistment. Andrew Morrissey, enlisted, Aug. 12, 1864, for one year; mus- tered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Bom in Ireland, 1837 ; occupation, currier. He was discharged in Vir- ginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 313 George B. Morse, married ; son of Berriah and Betsey ; en- listed, July 19, 1862, for three years; mustered, Aug. 10, 1862, in gth Light Battery, Mass, Vols. Bom, Wilmot, N. H., March S, 1831 ; occupation, blacksmith. He served in Army of Potomac ; was engaged in thirteen battles ; and was discharged at Boston, June 6, 1865, at expiration of service. William Mortimer (secured from out of town to fill quota) ; enlisted for three years. It is not known what organization he joined. John • Murphy (of Boston) is said to have enlisted for three years in ist Mass. Battery, but his name does not appear on the rolls. Thomas Murphy, married ; son of Timothy and Margaret ; en- listed, Aug. 13, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 30, 1862, in soth Regt., Co. I, M. V. M. Born in Ireland, May 26, 1836 ; occupation, shoemaker. He was discharged at Wenham, Mass., Aug. 24, 1863, at expiration of service. In 1864 he served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2), in 6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. He was mustered, Sept. 3, 1864, in 4th Mass. Cavalry ; was wounded in thigh at High Bridge, Va., and was discharged at Richmond, Va., May 22, 1865, at expiration of service. His last enlistment was accredited to. town of Oxford, Mass. Frank A. Newton, unmarried ; son of Daniel F. and Amy A. ; enlisted, April 30, 1864, for ninety days; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Bom, Roxbury, Mass., Nov. 19, 1845 ; occupation, student. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. z, 1864, at expiration of service. Augustus F. Nichols, unmarried ; son of Fortunatus and Irene ; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Born, Westborough, July 24, 1847 ; occupation, farmer. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Charles C. Nichols, unmarried ; son of Fortunatus and Irene ; enlisted for three years ; mustered, Sept. ir, 1861, in band of 2zd Regt., Mass. Vols, Born, Westborough, Dec. 8, 1840; occupa- 314 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. tion, farmer. He served in Army of the Potomac ; and was dis- charged by Act of Congress, Aug. ii, 1862. S. WnrrNEY Nouese, unmarried ; son of Rufus and Ellen B. ; enlisted, Aug. 9, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Bom, Southborough, Dec. 10, 1848 ; occupation, farmer. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Michael O'Dea, enlisted, Aug. 8, 1864, for one year; mus- tered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Bom in Ireland, 1843 ; occupation, currier. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Charles O. Parker, unmarried ; son of George W. and Euse- bia; enlisted, Aug. 22, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 25, 1862, in 51st Regt., Co. E, M. V. M. Born, Westborough, Aug. 6, 1841 ; occupation, clerk. He was discharged at Worcester, July 27, 1863, at expiration of service. In 1864 he served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2), in 6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. Charles H. Pierce, married ; son of John H. and Eliza; en- listed, April 28, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia; rank, corporal. Born, West- borough, Aug. I, 1832; occupation, civil engineer. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Marshall S. Pike, unmarried ; enlisted for three years ; mus- tered, Sept. II, 1861, in band of 22d Regt., Mass. Vols. Bora, 18 18; occupation, musician. He served in Army of the Potomac, and was discharged, Dec. 25, 1862. Michael Powers, unmarried ; son of Richard and ; en- listed, July 25, 1862, for three years; mustered, Aug. 15, 1862, in 34th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Bora in Ireland, June 27, 1843 > occupation, student. He was taken prisoner at Newmarket, Va., May 15, 1864 ; was carried to Andersonville, Ga., and was paroled after six months. He was discharged at Richmond, Va., June 16, 1865, at the close of war. Edmund H. Priest, married ; son of Abel and Eunice M. ; en- listed, Aug. 8, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 31S Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Bom, Westborough, April 23, 1821 ; occupation, mechanic. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Martin Quinn, unmarried ; son of John and Bridget ; enlisted, Aug. 9, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born in Ireland, 1 844 ; occupation, bootmaker. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Amos Rice, married ; son of Josiah and Charlotte B. ; enlisted, July 14, 1862, for three years; mustered, July 31, 1862, in 34th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Bom, Framingham, April 6, 1819 ; occupation, bootmaker. He was discharged at Richmond, Va., June 16, 1865, at expiration of service. Charles A. Rice (of Boston), unmarried ; son of Charles P. and Jane N. ; enlisted, Aug. 28, 1862, for nine months ; mustered, Oct. II, 1862, in 43d Regt., Co. A, M. V. M. Born, West- borough, April 26, 1840; occupation, clerk. He was stationed in North Carolina ; was engaged in three battles ; was promoted corporal, Aug. 28, 1862 ; and was discharged at Readville, Mass., July 30, 1863, at expiration of service. Henry G. Rice, unmarried ; enlisted for three years ; mustered, Nov. 7, 1861, in 30th Regt., Co. D, Mass. Vols. Born, 1834; occupation, bootmaker. He was discharged, Dec. 8, 1862, by reason of disability. John Rice, married, son of John and Mary; mustered Aug. 18, 1862, in 36th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Born in Ireland; occu- pation, laborer. He was transferred to Invalid Corps, Aug. 18, 1863, and was discharged, June 12, 1865, at expiration of service. Henry V. Richards, enlisted, Aug. 9, 1864, for one year; mus- tered, Aug, 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born, Hopkinton, 1841 ; occupation, hatter. He was discharged in Vir- ginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Arthur W. Robbins (enlistment accredited to Northborough), unmarried ; son of Chandler and Frances ; enlisted, Aug. 25, 1864, for one year ; mustered, Aug. 25, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born, Westborough, Dec. 23, 1848 ; occupation, mar- 3l6 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. ble-worker. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. He had previously served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2, 1864) in 6th Unattached Company, MiUtia, stationed at Readville, Mass. Chandler Robbins, married; son of Chandler and Eleanor; enUsted, April 29, 1861, for three years ; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, Plymouth, Feb. 11, 1819 ; occupation, mechanic. He was detailed as hospital steward ; was taken prisoner at Fitzhugh Hospital, opposite Fredericksburg, Va., June 15, 1863, and escaped, June 30, 1863. He was discharged at Boston, Aug. i, 1864, at expiration of service. Edward Roberts, unmarried; enlisted, Sept. 22, 1861, for three years; mustered, Oct. 7, 1861, in 25th Regt., Co. E, Mass. Vols. Born, 1839 ; occupation, shoemaker. He was discharged, Jan. 2, 1864, to re-enlist; re-enlisted, Jan. 3, 1864, and was dis- charged, July 13, 1865, at expiration of service. John Roberts (secured from out of town to fill quota) is said to have enlisted in the 54th Regiment, but his name does not appear on the rolls. James F. Robinson, unmarried ; son of James and Lydia ; en- listed, Aug. 25, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 25, 1862, in 51st Regt., Co. E, M. V. M. Born, Brookline, Sept. 8, 1838 ; occupation, farmer. He was discharged at Worcester, July 27, 1863, at expiration of service. In 1864 he served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2) as corporal in 6th Unattached Company, Mihtia, stationed at Readville, Mass. John T. Robinson, unmarried ; son of James and Lydia ; en- listed, April 28, 1864, for ninety days; mustered. May 4, i8&4,.in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Born, Brookline, Aug. 17, 1845 ; occupation, farmer. He was stationed at Readville, Mass-, and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. William E. Rogers, enlisted for three years ; mustered, Feb. 7, 1865, in 25th Regt., Co C, Mass. Vols. Bom, 1837. He was discharged, July 13, 1865, at expiration of service. Harvey C. Ross, married ; son of Elijah and Clarissa ; enlisted, April 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 5^7 Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, Walpole, N. H., Nov, 22, 1835 ; occupation, bootmaker. He was wounded in side and arm at battle of Gettysburg, July i, 1863; was taken prisoner and re- leased on third day ; was again a prisoner four days at battle of Wilderness, Va. ; and was discharged at Portsmouth Grove, R. I., July 16, 1864, at expiration of service. Thomas Russell, enlisted, Aug. 8, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born in Ireland, 1844; occupation, currier. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Alfred L. Sanborn, married ; son of Greenleaf C. and Eleanor J.; enlisted, June 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 186 1, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols.; rank, corporal. Born, Boston, July 28, 1835 ; occupation, farmer. He was taken pris- oner at Gettysburg, July i, 1863, and paroled, July 4, 1863 ; was promoted sergeant; and was discharged at Boston, Aug. i, 1864, at expiration of service. John W. Sanderson, unmarried ; son of John and Eliza ; en- listed, April 19, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 17, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Born, Brooklyn, N. Y., Feb. 22, 1832 ; occupation, wire-worker. He was promoted first lieutenant, Oct. 16, 1861 ; resigned, July 19, 1862, by reason of disability. He afterwards served eleven months as first lieutenant in 51st Regt., Co. A, M. V. M. He then served one year as captain in 57th Regt., Mass. Vols.; was wounded in left leg at Spottsyl- vania Court House, Va., May 12, 1864; and was discharged at Washington, D. C, Nov. 16, 1864, by reason of disability caused by wound. Francis H. Sandra, married ; son of Francis H. and Mary J. E. ; enlisted, Nov. 23, 1863, for three years ; mustered, Nov. 28, 1863, in Brigade Band, Corps d'Afrique. Born, Boston, March 17, 1844 ; occupation, mechanic. He served in Louisiana, and was discharged at New Orleans, Aug. 12, 1865, at close of war. John W. Sanger (of Hopkinton), married; enlisted for three years; mustered, Feb. 24, 1862, in ist H. A., Mass. Vols. Born, 1834; occupation, shoemaker. He was discharged, Feb. 27, 1865. 3l8 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. John G. Sargent, enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Born, Aroostook County, M&., 1843 ; occupation, farmer. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. George B. Searles (enlistment accredited to Boston), unmar- ried ; son of Curtis and Abigail ; enlisted, June 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Born, West Newton, Jan. 9, 1839 ; occupation, clerk. He was discharged at Portsmouth Grove, R. I., March 27, 1863, by reason of disability. In 1864 he served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2) as sergeant in 6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. George W. Searles, unmarried ; son of Andrew and Elizabeth ; enlisted, April 29, 1864, for ninety days; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Born, Palmer, Mass., Dec 4, 1845 ; occupation, shoemaker. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Foster Shambeau, unmarried ; son of Jake and Mary ; enlisted, April 30, 1864, for ninety days; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia. Born, Montreal, Canada, AprU 3, 1844; occupation, shoemaker. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Patrick J. Sheehan, unmarried ; son of John and Mary ; en- listed, Aug. 6, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born in Ireland, Sept. 12, 1842 ; occupation, tailor. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Prescott Sibley, married ; son of James and Cleora ; enlisted, Aug. 9, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. ; rank, corporal. Bom, Westborough, June 13, 1832 ; occupation, mechanic. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. William H. Sibley, married ; son of Silas and Lorinda ; enlisted, April 29, 1S61, for three years ; mustered, July r6, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, Westborough, April 2, 182 1 ; oc- RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 319 cupation, wheelwright He was wounded in left knee at battle of Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862 ; was taken prisoner and paroled at Chambersburg, Pa., Oct 10, 1862 ; and was discharged at Boston, Aug. I, 1864, at expiration of service. James Slattery, unmarried; enlisted, June 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1 861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bom in Ireland, 1841 ; occupation, shoemaker. He was dis- charged at Boston, Aug. i, 1864, at expiration of service. Thomas Slattery, enlisted, Aug. 8, 1864, for one year; mus- tered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born in Ireland, 1822 ; occupation, laborer. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Herbert O. Smith, unmarried ; son of Timothy A. and Corelia M. ; enlisted, March 31, 1864, for three years; mustered, April 6, 1864, ill S7th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bom, Gloucester, Mass. ; occupation, farmer. He was wounded in the face at battle of Wilderness, Va., May 6, 1864; was taken prisoner at North Anna, May 24, 1864 ; and died in prison at Andersonville, Ga., Aug. 28, 1864, of chronic diarrhcea. Silas P. Squier, married ; son of Solomon and Lovica ; enlisted, Aug. 9, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born, Canada, May 23, 1828 ; occupa- tion, carpenter. He was discharged at Worcester, May 25, 1865, at expiration of service. Jeremiah Staples, married ; son of Nathaniel and Abigail ; en- listed, Aug. 9, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Bora, Temple, Me., Sept. i, 1821 ; occupation, farmer. He was discharged in Virgiiua, June 1 7, 1865, at the close of war. Samuel O. Staples, unmarried ; son of Samuel B. and Lucerne ; enlisted, Aug. 25, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 25, i86z, in sist Regt., Co. E, M. V. M. Bom, Temple, Me., April 6, 1 843 5 occupation, shoemaker. He was discharged at Worces- ter, July 27, 1863, at expiration of service. William H. Stevens, non-resident of the town, secured by the selectmen to fill quota ; enlisted for three years. It is not known what organization he joined. 320 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Edgar V. Stone, unmarried; son of Liberty and Mary; en- listed, March 16, 1865, for one year; mustered, March 16, 1865, in 6ist Regt., Co. G, Mass. Vols. Bom, Upton, Aug. 21, 1850; occupation, mechanic. He served in Army of the Potomac, and was discharged at Baltimore, Md., June 9, 1865, at the close of war. Frank A. Stone (residence, Toulon, 111.), unmarried; son of Jonas and Achsah; enlisted, Aug. 12, 1862, for three years; mus- tered, Sept. 20, 1862, in 1 1 2th Regt., Co. F, Illinois Infantry. Born, Westborough, March i, 1844; occupation, butcher. He served in Army of the Ohio ; was engaged in twenty-five battles ; and was discharged at Chicago, 111., July 6, 1865, at close of war. Accredited to town of Toulon, III. Frank L. Stone, unmarried ; son of Jonathan and Hannah ; enlisted, June 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July r6, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Bom, Westborough, July 14, 183s ; occupation, mechanic. He was promoted corporal ; and was discharged at Alexandria, Va., Sept. 5. 1862, by reason of dis- ability. He was commissioned second lieutenant in 35th U. S. Colored Troops in May, 1863 ; was promoted first lieutenant and quartermaster in 39th U. S. Colored Troops in Oct., 1863 ; and was discharged in Sept., 1865. Frank S. Stone, unmarried ; son of Elisha J. and Elizabeth A. ; enlisted, Feb. 8, 1865, for one year; mustered, Feb. 8, 1865, in 6ist Regt., Co. I, Mass. Vols. Born, Hopkinton, April 7, 1848 ; occupation, shoemaker. He served in Army of the Potomac; and was discharged June 20, 1865, at the close of war. He had previously served one hundred days (Aug. 16 to Nov. 26, 1864) in 23d Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. George H. Stone (residence, Toulon, 111.), unmarried ; son of Jonas and Achsah; enlisted, for three years; mustered in 19th Regt., Co. B, Illinois Infantry. Bom, Westborough, Oct. 4, 1840 ; occupation, butcher. He served in Army of the Cumberland ; was discharged at Chicago, 111., June, 1864, at expiration of ser- vice. Accredited to town of Toulon, 111. J. Henry Stone, married ; enlisted for three years ; mustered, Feb. 25, 1862, in Co. A, ist Battery H. A., Mass. Vols. Bora, 1829 ; occupation, farmer. He was discharged, Feb. 27, 1865. RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 321 James H. Sullivan, unmarried ; son of Michael and Ellen ; en- listed, Aug. 12, i86i, for three years ; mustered, Aug. 12, 1861, in 2ist Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, Westborough, March 10, 1845 ; occupation, farmer. He served in North Carolina, and was killed at battle of Newbem, N. C, March 14, 1862, by a bullet through the neck. Timothy G. Sullivan, unmarried ; son of Michael and Ellen ; enlisted, Dec. i, 1863, for three years ; mustered, Jan. 4, 1864, in 57th Regt., Co. B, Mass. Vols. Bom, Westborough, June 8, 1846 ; occupation, miller. He was wounded in left foot at battle of Wil- derness, Va., and was discharged at Washington, D. C, May 11, 1865, by reason of disability. Andrew Sullivan (accredited to city of Worcester) ; unmar- ried; son of Michael and Ellen ; enlisted, Aug. 13, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 15, 1864, in Co. F, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born, Westborough, March 7, 1848 ; occupation, farmer. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. J. Frank Sweeney, married ; enlisted, July 24, 1862, for three years ; mustered, July 31, 1862, in 34th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. ; bugler. Born, 1838. He was discharged at Frederick, Md., July 17, 1864, by reason of disability. Solomon J. Taft, married ; son of John W. and Sabrina ; enlisted, Sept. II, 1861, for three years ; mustered, Sept. 23, 1861, in band of 22d Regt., Mass. Vols. Born, Williston, Vt, Aug. ig, 1828; occupation, mechanic. He served in Army of the Potomac ; was discharged at Harrison's Landing, Va., by Act of Congress, Aug. II, 1^62. He afterwards served twenty months in brigade band, Corps d'Afrique, stationed in Louisiana, and was discharged at New Orleans, July 20, 1865, by reason of disability. Squire S. Tidd, unmarried ; son of William and Luthera ; enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days; mustered. May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia ; rank, third sergeant. Bom, Wobum, Feb. 17, 1822 ; occupation, currier. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expiration of service. Alfred L. Trowbridge, unmarried ; son of William and Ange- line; enlisted, March 21, 1862, for three years; mustered, March 322 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. 21, 1862, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, Westbprough, 1844 ; occupation, wheelwright. He was discharged at Washing- ton, D. C, May 24, 1862, by reason of disability. In 1864 he served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2) in 6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. Melzar G. Turner, unmarried ; son of Sidney S. and Mary L. ; enlisted, April 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt, Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, New Portland, Me., June 29, 1842; occupation, mechanic. He was promoted cor- poral; and was discharged at Washington, D. C., Sept. 4, 1862, by order of President Lincohi. Cephas N. Walker, unmarried ; son of Nathan S. and Mary A. ; enlisted, July 15, 1862, for three years; mustered, July 31, 1862, in 34th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. ; rank, corporal. Born, Barre, June 3, 1843 ; occupation, farmer. He was wounded in right foot at Winchester, Va., Sept. 19, 1864 ; was promoted sergeant, Jan. i, 1863; and was discharged, July 6, 1865, at expiration of service. George A. Walker, enlisted, Aug. g, 1864, for one year; mus- tered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Bom, Claremont, N. H., 1834; occupation, mason. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Irving E. Walker (accredited to city of Boston), unmarried; son of Silas, Jr., and Louisa A.; enlisted, March 28, 1864, for three years; mustered, March 28, 1864, in 19th Regt., Co. A, Mass. Vols. Born, West Boylston, Aug. 2, 1839; occupation, farmer. He served in Army of the Potomac; was engaged in seven battles ; was taken prisoner at Petersburg, Va., June 22, 1864, and carried to Andersonville, Ga. ; thence to Florence, S. C, where he died, Nov, 1, 1864, of starvation and exposure. Lyman S. Walker, unmarried ; son of Nathan S. and Lydia C. ; enlisted, Aug. 4, 1862, for three years; mustered, Aug. 15, 1862, in 34th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Bom, Barre, May 9, 1840; occupation, farmer. He was promoted corporal, Jan. iz, 1865; and was discharged at Richmond, Va., June 16, 1865, at expira- tion of service. Melvin H. Walker, unmarried ; son of Silas, Jr., and Louisa A.; enlisted, April 25, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 323 in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols- Born, Barre, Jan. 23, 1842 ; occupation, farmer. He was wounded in right foot at battle of Gettysburg; was a prisoner three days at the same time; was promoted corporal, then sergeant ; and was discharged at Boston, Aug. I, 1864, at expiration of service, Austin Wallace, married; enlisted for three years; mustered, Sept. 23, 1861, in band of a2d Regt., Mass. Vols. Born, 1831 ; occupation, bootmaker. He served in Army of the Potomac, and was discharged by Act of Congress, Aug. 11, 1862. Charles A. Ware, enlisted, April 28, 1864, for ninety days ; mustered, May 4, 1864, in 6th Unattached Company, Militia, Bom, Oakham, 1846; occupation, shoemaker. He was stationed at Readville, Mass., and was discharged, Aug. 2, 1864, at expira- tion of service. William R. Warner, unmarried ; son of George G. and Jane E. B. ; enlisted, April 29, 1861, for three years ; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. ; rank, 4th sergeant. Born, Walpole, N. H., May 6, 1842 ; occupation, clerk. He was pro- moted second lieutenant, June 30, 1863, first lieutenant, May i, 1864, and was discharged at Boston, Aug- i, 1864, at expiration of service. George W. Warren, unmarried ; son of William and Betsey C. ; enlisted, Aug. 26, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 25., 1862, in sist Regt, Co. E, M, V. M. ; rank, third sergeant. Born, Hopkinton, April 20, 1840; occupation, clerk. He was discharged at Newbern, N. C, March 3, 1863, by reason of dis- ability. He had previously served three months in Co. D, 3d Battery Rifles, stationed at Fort McHenry, Md. In 1864 he served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2) as ist sergeant in fith Unat- tached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville, Mass. Harris C. Warren, unmarried ; son of Isaac F. and Martha A. ; enlisted, Dec. i, 1863, for three years ; mustered, Jan. 4, 1864, in Syth Regt., Co. B, Mass. Vols. Born, Westborough, May 5, 1846 ; occupation, farmer. He was wounded in face and left shoulder in fi-ont of Petersburg, Va., Oct. 8, 1864 ; was taken prisoner, March 25, 1865 ; was exchanged March 30, 1865 ; and was discharged at y\jinapolis, Md., May 24, 1865, by order of War Department. 324 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Stephen Warren, unmarried; son of Josiah and Elizabeth; enlisted, April 29, 1861, for three years; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, Westborough, Oct. i, 1833 ; occupation, farmer. He was detailed in Frederick City, Md., Hospital, and was discharged at Boston, Aug. i, 1864, at expiration of service. Salem T. Weld, married; son of Willard and Mary C. ; enlisted for three years ; mustered, Sept. 11, 1861, in band of 2 2d Regt, Mass. Vols. Born, Holland, Sept. 19, 1830; occupation, musician. He served in Army of the Potomac, and was discharged at Alex- andria, Va., March, 1862, by order of the colonel. John C. Wheeler, married ; son of Ephraim and Charlotte ; enlisted, Nov. 23, 1863, for three years; mustered, Dec. 6, 1863, in Brigade Band, Corps d'Afrique. Bom, Fletcher, Vt., Sept. 14, 1833 ; occupation, musician. He had previously served ten months (Oct. 5, 1861, to Aug. 11, 1862) in band of 22d Regt., Mass. Vols. Charles H. Williams, married ; son of William and Mary ; en- listed, April 29, 1861, for three years ; mustered, July 16, 1861, in 13th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, New York, April 5, 1829 j occupation, carpenter. He was transferred to Regimental Band, Aug. 7, 1 861 ; and was discharged at Warrenton, Va., Aug. 27, 1862, by reason of Act of Congress. He afterwards served twenty- two months in Brigade Band, Corps d'Afrique, stationed in Louisiana. Charles P. Winslow, married ; son of Theron and Phebe I. ; enlisted, Aug. 25, 1862, for nine months; mustered, Sept. 25, 1862, in sist Regt., Co. E, M. V. M. ; rank, first lieutenant. Born, Stockholm, N. Y., Sept. 22, 1831 ; occupation, grocer. He was discharged at Worcester, July 27, 1863, at expiration of ser- vice. In 1864 he served ninety days (May 4 to Aug. 2) as cap- tain, 6th Unattached Company, Militia, stationed at Readville. He afterwards served eleven months as captain of Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols.; and was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. His last enlistment is accredited to the town of Chicopee. Frederick A. Wiswall, unmarried ; son of Amasa C. and Cla- rissa; enlisted, July 31, 1862, for three years ; mustered, Aug. 2, RECORDS OF SOLDIERS. 325 1862, in 34th Regt., Co. C, Mass. Vols. Bom, 1842 ; occupation, farmer. He was discharged for promotion to second lieutenant in 75th U. S. Colored Infantry, Nov. 13, 1863. Daniel T. Witherbee, unmarried ; son of Silas and Lois ; en- listed, Aug. 8, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. ; rank, corporal. Born, Essex, Vt., Nov. 24, 1823 ; occupation, click. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Harlan F. Witherbv, unmarried ; son of Rufus L. and Mary A.; enlisted, Dec. 2, 1863, for three years; mustered, Jan. 4, 1864, in 57th Regt., Co. B, Mass. Vols. Born, Grafton, Feb. 11, 1846 ; occupation, farmer. He was 4)romoted corporal. May i, 1865, and sergeant, July i, 1865 ; and was discharged at Delaney House, D. C, July 30, 1865, at expiration of service. Edwin D. Wood, married; enlisted, Aug. 26, 1862, for nine months ; mustered, Sept. 25, 1862, in 51st Regt., Co. E, M. V. M. ; rank, corporal. Born, 1841 ; occupation, mechanic. He was discharged at Newbern, N. C, Jan. 16, 1863, by reason of disability. Robert Woodman, married ; son of George and Ann ; enlisted, Aug. 8, 1864, for one year; mustered, Aug. 12, 1864, in Co. E, 4th H. A., Mass. Vols. Born in England, March 30, 1823 ; occu- pation, mechanic. He was discharged in Virginia, June 17, 1865, at the close of war. Samuel Woodside, married ; son of Samuel and Margaret ; en- listed, Aug. 5, 1862, for three years; mustered, Aug. 27, 1862, in 36th Regt., Co. K, Mass. Vols. Born, Calais, Me., Sept., 1820 ; occupation, carpenter. He served in Armies of Potomac, Ohio, and Tennessee ; was engaged in six battles ; was wounded in right thigh at battle of Rice's Station, Tenn., Nov. 16, 1863 ; and was discharged at Alexandria, Va., June 8, 1865, at expiration of service. Joseph W. Wright, enlisted for one year ; mustered, Feb. 8, ■ 1865, in 6ist Regt, Co. I, Mass. Vols. Bom, 1844. He was discharged, June 7, 1865, by order of War Department. 326 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. RECORD OF SEAMEN AND OFFICERS — NAVAL SERVICE. Ira Barker, of Westborough, is said to have enlisted in the navy j but no such name can be found on the rolls as accredited to Westborough. Samuel N. Brigham, unmarried; son of Harrison F. and Susan; entered service, April 7, 1863, as landsman on the •' Henry Brin. ker." Born, Westborough, Nov. 23, 1843; occupation, mechanic. He was engaged in blockade service; and was discharged at Nor- folk, Va., April 9, 1864, at expiration of service. David N. Chapin, unmarried ; son of Marvel and Caroline ; entered service, June 13, 1861, as private in U. S. Marine Corps. He served on the " Potomac " and the "Brookline." Born, West- borough, Sept. 12, 1837; occupation, painter. He was engaged in the battle of New Orleans, and was discharged at Chelsea Naval Hospital, Mass., March 16, 1863, by reason of disability. Patrick Crow, unmarried ; son of Michael and Ellen ; entered .service, July 29, 1861, and served as private in U. S. Marine Corps on the " Congress," the " Powhattan," and the "Vermont." Born in Ireland, 1842 ; occupation, mechanic. He was engaged in the battle between the " Congress " and the ironclad " Merri- mac " near Fortress Monroe, Va., March 8, 1862 ; was on the ves- sel when she went down, and swam ashore. He was discharged at Brooklyn, N. Y., Dec. 3, 1862, by reason of disability. William H. H. Greenwood, unmarried ; son of Charles and Charlotte B. ; entered service, July, 1862, as able seaman on the "Albatross." Born, Westborough, March 11, 1840; occupation, whaler. He served in siege of Port Hudson and other actions, and was discharged at New Orleans, July, 1863, at expiration of service. Albert E. Harlow, unmarried; son of Asa and Betsey; en- tered service, Sept. 23, 1864, as able seaman. Born, Windsor, Vt., May 30, 1840 ; occupation, mariner. He was engaged in battle at Fort Fisher, N. C, Jan. 15, 1865 ; was wounded in left hand and body; was promoted captain of maintop, Nov. 11, 1864; RECORDS OF SEAMEN AND OFFICERS. 327 and was discharged at Chariestown, Mass., July 19, 1865, at close of war. Samuel B. Kinders, unmarried ; son of Samuel and Nancy ; entered service, May 16, 1863, as landsman. He served on the " Henry Hudson," the " Midnight," and the " Somerset." Bom, Framingham, Sept. 17, 1845. He was engaged in battles of Fort Fisher, Fort Morgan, and St. Andrews; was promoted seaman; and was discharged at Brooklyn, N. Y., June 11, 1865, at expira- tion of service. Accredited to town of West Roxbury, Mass. Albert L. Lowd, unmarried ; son of Leavitt and Betsey ; en- tered service, Oct. 18, 1863, as landsman on the " Hendrick Hud- son." Born, Boston, Oct. 5, 1847; occupation, laborer. He was engaged in the blockade service, and was discharged at New York, Nov., 1864, at expiration of service. Daniel McCarthy, unmarried; son of Jeremiah and Mary; entered service, Feb. 15, 1862 (being transferred from 36th N. Y. Infantry), as seaman on the " Cincinnati." Born, Boston, May 19, 1840 ; occupation, mechanic. He was engaged in battle of Island No. 10, Fort Pillow, and Vicksburg; acted as second- class fireman ; and Was discharged at Cairo, 111., Dec. 20, 1862, in accordance with medical survey, William A. Smith, unmarried ; son of Timothy A. and Corelia M. ; entered service, June 21, 1862, as third assistant engineer. He served on the " Sonora " and the " Philadelpliia." Bom, Glou- cester, March 23, 1836; occujiation, civil engineer. He was engaged in six battles ; was promoted second assistant engineer, July 30, 1864. Caleb Tarr, formerly a Gloucester fisherman, enlisted in the navy from Westborough. CHAPTER III. 1866-1876. THE soldiers' MONUMENT. — FIRES AND NEW BUILD- INGS. — CELEBRATIONS. "" I ^HE war had scarcely come to an end before the patriotic citizens of many Northern towns sought, by some appropriate memorial, both to express their gratitude to the heroes who had died in defending their country, and to perpetuate the memory of their sacrifice. The people of Westborough took action with commend- able promptness. At the annual town-meeting in March, 1866, it was voted to erect "a granite monument in mem- ory of our soldiers who have fallen in the late war, to be placed in the cemetery opposite the Town Hall; " and a committee,' consisting of John A. Fayerweather, Lyman Bel- knap, and John Homan, was instructed to select a suitable design. The committee reported in favor of a monument similar to one which had just been erected at Newton, and its report was accepted by the town, April i, 1867. Another committee was immediately chosen to superin- tend the building of a memorial in accordance ^Vith the design selected. It consisted of John A. Fayerweather, Zebina Gleason, and Lyman Belknap ; but on account of Mr. Fayerweather's resignation and Mr. Gleason's death, Reuben Boynton and Timothy A. Smith were added to the committee before the completion of the work. The location of the monument was for some time a matter of contention. Many citizens were in favor of THE soldier's MONUMENT. 329 erecting it in the Square ; and a vote so to do was passed, but was afterwards rescinded in favor of the cemetery opposite the Town Hall. The material selected was finely hammered Concord granite. The monument was completed in 1 869. Its cost was about $4,300, It is by no means an elaborate memorial, but plain, unpreten- tious, and tasteful. The total height is twenty-eight feet. The base, sub-base, and plinth are three feet and nine inches high ; the die is six feet ; and over all is a square shaft, with chamfered corners and sunk panels moulded. On the front of the monument is the inscription, — THE SOLDIERS' MONUMENT. ERECTED BY THE TOWN, 1868. PRO PATRIA MORTUI SUNT. Chiselled on its granite tablets are the names of the fallen soldiers : — Minot C. Adams. William H. H. Greenwood. William H. Blake. Francis E. Hanley. Herbert W. Bond. George C. Haraden. John S. Burnap. Henry A. Harris. Charles S. Carter. John A. Hart. George S. Chickering. Abner W. Haskell. John Copeland. Francis E. Kemp. Thomas Copeland. William C. Loker. William Denny. Jeremiah W. Marsh. Timothy Driscoll. Daniel B. Miller. Hollis H. Fairbanks. Herbert 0. Smith. John Flye. James H. Sullivan. Irving E. Walker. The dedication of the monument took place on June 17, 1869. It was a beautiful day; and the deep interest of the occasion attracted a large gathering. A platform, for the committee and those who participated in the exer- 330 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. cises, had been erected near the entrance of the cemetery. The exercises began at two o'clock, when Dr. William Curtis, president of the day, called upon the Rev. W. G. Todd, pastor of the Unitarian Church, to offer prayer. Then came the singing of an appropriate ode, under the direction of S. Dexter Fay. Lyman Belknap, in behalf of the committee, made a report, and, after relating the history of the enterprise from beginning to completion, formally surrendered the monument to the town. Charles P. Rice, chairman of the board of selectmen, made a fit- ting speech in acceptance. Then followed the dedicatory address by the Rev. C. W. Flanders, D.D., pastor of the Baptist Church. He referred to the great antiquity of monuments, their meaning and purpose, and emphasized the truth that they should keep green the memory of great deeds, and should never immortalize vice. This monument, which they were dedicating, he said, was a tribute appropriate and well deserved ; for it was in mem- ory of noble young men, once residents of the town, whose valor, as they went forth to fight and fall in a cause ap- proved of God, won the sincerest admiration. At the conclusion of Dr. Flanders's address, the as- semblage crossed to the Town Hall, where the remaining exercises were held. Dr. George B. Loring, of Salem, the present Minister to Portugal, had been invited to deliver the oration. He was somewhat late, but impromptu addresses by Abijah Wood, a former resident of Westborough, Who had moved to Grand Rapids, Mich., and by S. Taylor Fay, filled the interval before his arrival. The oration aroused much enthusiasm. After eulogizing the character of Washington, and paying an impressive tribute to the stern patriotism of Revolutionary heroes, the orator set forth in vivid language its modern counterpart, as exem- NEW BUILDINGS. 331 plified in the sacrifices of the dead soldiers in whose mem- ory the monument was erected. At the close of his eloquent tribute, the singing of a hymn, written for the occasioH by Miss Eliza Evans, brought the exercises to an end. The spring of 1869 saw the completion of another im- portant undertaking, — the building of Post-Office Block. The old Parkman Store, which had stood on the site for seventy years, was burned to the ground on the night of March 28, 1868. Aid from Northborough and from Woodville saved adjoining property from destruction. The burned building was an old wooden two-story structure, interesting for its associations, but, like many other land- marks, no great ornament to the village. John A. Fayer- weather, who had owned it wholly or in part for thirty-twO years, in company with Albert J. Burnap and George O. Brigham, immediately set about the erection of the brick three-story block now standing oii the site. It was com- pleted in the following spring, and in June the Post-Office was moved from the corner of Main and South Streets to the new building. It has remained there ever since, and given the building the name of Post-Office Block. This was the first of the modern business blocks erected in Westborough, and the general sentiment on the occasion is interesting. " Without doubt," said the Saturday Even- ing Chronotype and Weekly Review, — to give the local paper of the day its official name, — "it is one of the best and Completest structures of the kind in this vicinity, and it is metropolitan in style throughout As we have re- marked, it is a gratifying index to our prosperous town, destined, as we confidently believe, to be the largest man- ufacturing village in this vicinity. Ten years ago the want of such a building could hardly be said to exist, but now 332 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. it is otherwise, and as a community we have a right to pride ourselves on the munificent manner in which the want has been met and filled." The town had already begun to feel its change from a farming to a manufacturing community, and the decade from 1866 to 1876, in addition to Post-Office Block, saw considerable building in the centre of the village. Among the important changes was the remodelling of the Town Hall, in 1867. The work was under the direction of a committee consisting of Greenleaf C. Sanborn, Curtis Bee- man, Albert J. Burnap, George B. Brigham, and George H. Raymond. The change consisted in raising the build- ing twelve feet, and putting an addition of twenty-six feet on the rear. The alterations cost about ;^ 18,000, and, although the expense was heavy, Westborough was pleased with the result ; but the poet at the dedication of North- borough's excellent Town Hall a year later, was able to twit the mother town in the following fashion : — But one thing you have done, depend upon it I On this I ought to write a sonnet. You 've stirred up envy in each neighboring tovm, And on you, for a season, they '11 be " down." At first, they asked, " What do these feeble Jews ? " Their bold derision only could amuse. " Is little Northborough, youngest of the flock Of ' Borough ' towns, to beat the parent stock? " True, Mother Westborough has given her hall a dressing. But she will give her daughter such a blessing ! The pert young minx, to go and build of brick. And humble thus her mother's pride so slick 1 But " her mother's pride " has never been sufficiently strong to cause the erection of a new hall. In 1868, Reuben Boynton erected his block on Main Street, and moved his market from the basement under D. S. Dunlap & Son's present store to the street floor of the new building. Meat had hitherto been sold only in 13 O O o w a f o o 00 438 1840 1,658 1850 2,371 Year. Population. ISSS 3>oi4 i860 ...... 2,913 1865 3,141 1870 3,601 187s S>i4i 1880 5,214 1885 4,880 1890 S.263* The population has undergone a great change in the past forty years, accompanying the development of the town from a farming to a manufacturing community. 1 This is the estimate of Supervisor Wadlin. The reader should bear in mind that the State census of 1885 was taken in May, and that the United States census of iSgo was taken in June. Had the latter been taken a month earlier, — before the busy season at the straw shops had ended, — the population would have been about four hundred more than the figures indicate. In 1880 the Reform School contributed 235 to the population, in 1885, 121, and in 1890 (the Lyman School) 229. The Westborough Insane Hospital, established in 1886, added 606 to the population o£ 1890. 346 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Until the middle of the present century, the inhabitants were nearly all of native birth, — the descendants of set- tlers who came to this country between 1630 and 1675. The immigration of Irish and other foreign nationalities began about 1850; but as early as 1855 nearly one sixth of the population was of foreign birth. In 1885 the parenr tage of the people of Westborough, as compiled from the census, was as follows : »— PARENTAGE. Total population of Westborough, May I, 1885 4,880 Number both of whose parents were native 2,899 Number both of whose parents were foreign Ii7i6 Number whose father was native and mother foreign . . 115 Number whose father was foreign and mothw native . . 119 Number with one or both parents unknown 31 Number born of Irish parentage 1,144 Of whom there were foreign born 426 The remainder, native born 718 Number born of British^ parentage 282 Of whom there were foreign born 210 The remainder, native born 72 Number of Canadian (French) parentage 163 Of whom there were foreign born 76 The remainder, native born 87 Number born of other foreign parentage 127 Of whom there were foreign born 56 The remainder, native bom 71 The principal employments in which the people of Westborough have been engaged during the past thirty years are agriculture and the manufacture of boots and shoes, sleighs, and straw goods. The earliest, as we have already seen, and until recent ' Including England, Scotland, and all the British possessions except Canada. AGRICULTURE. 347 years the prevailing, occupation was farming. The fer- tility of the rich meadow-lands around Chauney Pond attracted the first settlers from Marlborough and Sud- bury. Year after year the hardy pioneers and their descendants wrestled with the wilderness, gradually clear- ing away the trees and preparing the soil for cultivation and pasturage. During the first century after the settle^ ment of the town, farming was almost the only occupa- tion ; even the minister and the doctor could not depend wholly on their professions for support. The iqnumerable trades and occupations of modern times had not, as the saying is, been specialized. The farmer was often his own blacksmith, his own carpenter, and his own shoemaker. His wife not only attended to the dairy and the kitchen, but knit socks, spun cloth, made clothing, and, in short, usurped the functions of half a dozen different trades. Occasionally some rare genius would devote more than ordinary attention to trading or to mechanical pursuits; but farming was generally the basis of whatever prosperity he enjoyed. It was a hard occupation, but a healthful and a manly one. To the independent, outdoor life which it made necessary, the descendants of old New England stock owe much of their vigor of mind and body. The sturdy manhood which it developed, indeed, was of greater importance and value than its more material pro- ducts. The implements which the farmer could secure were at best rude and clumsy, the seasons were not always mild and favorable, and often he was exposed to severe hardships and privations. The results of his industry ap- pear in the well-cleared and well-cultivated farms of to-day, and in the comparative prosperity of his descendants ; but the immediate enjoyments which he secured from his labors, and the pecuniary value of his products, were very meagre. 348 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. The earliest official source from which it is possible to judge of the nature and value of agricultural products is the Statistics of Industry in Massachusetts, compiled in 1837. It is a very unsatisfactory report, however, and regarding Westborough agriculture it merely states that there were one hundred and thirty-seven merino sheep, producing five hundred and fifty pounds of wool, valued at ^275. Incomplete and almost worthless as these early statistics are, they indicate, in this case, at least, one change in the conditions of farm life. The transfer of the industry to other parts of the country has made sheep-raising only a tradition among the farmers of this section. Twenty years before these statistics were com- piled, the sheep in Westborough could have been counted by the hundred. One flock containing over two thou- sand, owned by Major John Fayerweather, grazed on the hills of the present Pollard farm. In 1845, however, the number of sheep reported was only thirty, and in 1885 the census-taker found none. From the Statistics of Industry I have compiled the following table, showing the changes in farm property since 1845 : — Agricultural Property. 1845. 1855. 1865. 1875. 1885. Number of farms, 184 '55 $399,680 ISS Value of buildings, [ $125,576 $263,605 Value of land, $553.04^ »402,73S Milch cows, number, 897 885 1,055 Heifers, 170 181 159,468 343 Value of cows and heifers, $29,970 $30,663 146,133 Horses, number. ig6 242 276 235 239 Value, $9,780 $19,360 $24,659 $27,140 $22,362 Oxen and steers, number, 228 'S' 48 29 Value, $12,750 $4,507 $3,810 $2,115 Swine, number, 272 395 404 372 494 Value, $1,450 $3.95° S3.8I7 $4,042 $3,100 STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 349 The more important products, and their value, are shown in the following table : — Agricultural Products. 1845. 1855. 1865. 1875, 1885. Milk produced, gallons, 377.192 193,7361 2^7,^.(21 451,591 521,268 Value, 834,04s $24,217 $/305 16,159 3,489 3,093 Value, $15,140 $38,710 $63,987 $53,503 Potatoes, bushels. 21,000 ig,2oo 12,972 14,460 Value, $4,200 $9,600 $13,799 $9,611 $8,351. Eggs, value, $773 1 $2,089 $3,920 Other poultry products. $6351 «779 $1,349 The rapid decrease in the number of oxen is perhaps the most noticeable feature of the first table. The number of cows, it will also be noticed, has only slightly increased, the increase from 1845 to 1885 being less than eighteen per centum. The quantity of milk produced, however, has increased thirty-eight per centum, — a rate which indi- cates a great improvement in the quality of stock, as well as better methods of keeping it. The tables are sugges- tive in other ways, and will enable the careful examiner to make many useful comparisons. For the present condition of agriculture in Westborough the census of 1885 furnishes much information. Of the one hundred and fifty-five farms reported, thirty .were less than twenty acres in size; forty-eight were between twenty and fifty ; thirty-seven were between fifty and one 1 Amount sold. 350 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. hundred ; thirty were between one hundred and one hun- dred and fifty ; three were between one hundred and fifty and two hundred ; three were between two hundred and three hundred ; and two were between three hundred and four hundred acres. The cultivated land on these farms is divided as follows : — 2,763 acres used for hay 889I 5 212 318I " principal crops . " marlcet gardens •' nurseries . . " orchards . . . '• other purposes . Total, 4,205^ acres value, $147,131 42,518 863 200 9,421 10,668 $2io,8or The uncultivated land is divided as follows: • 4,774! acres for permanent pasture 442 " additional unimproved 63!- " unimprovable . . . 2,472j " for woodland . . . Total, 7,7S3f acres value. $108,073 IL 6,589 (( 1,314 " 78,958 $194,934 The number of persons engaged in agricultural pursuits in 1885 was three hundred and fifty-five. One hundred and thirty-six of these owned farms, two hundred and two were laborers, and seventeen were not classified. The result of their labor appears in the following table, which gives in detail the agricultural products according to the census of 1885. Animal products (manure and hides) $19,568 Boots (including " work on ") ..... . 3,024 pairs. 277 Dairy products : — Butter (for sale, 9,165 lbs.; for use, 4,813 lbs.) . . . 4,438 Milk 521,268 gals. 67,574 Cheese (for use) 64 lbs. 6 STATISTICS OF AGRICULTURE. 35 1 Food products : — Ice 1 . 4,799 tons. $2,489 Vinegar (for sale, 5,139 gals.; for use, 597 gals.) . . 778 Other food products - 216 Greenhouse products 6; Hothouse and hotbed products 21 Liquors and beverages (cider and wine) 734 Nursery products 2)S40 Poultry products : — Eggs 17,387 doz. 3,905 Dressed poultry, etc. 1,369 Wood products : — Firewood (for use, 695 cords ; for sale, 508 cords) . . 4,188 Other wood products (lumber, railroad sleepers, etc.) . 374 Other products (hops, seeds, etc.) 45 Cereals : — Indian com 18,511 bush. 11,384 Other cereals (oats, rye, pop-corn, etc.) 846 Fruits, berries, and nuts : — Apples 10,494 bush. 4,003 Strawberries 7,494 qts. . 895 Other products 1,736 Hay, straw, and fodder 69,948 Meat : — Beef 25,596 lbs. 1,725 Pork 38,608 lbs. 2,485 Veal 13,863 lbs. 1,138 Vegetables : — Potatoes 14,460 bush. 8,351 Tomatoes 73,635 lbs. 1,334 Carrots ... 1 27,199 heads 1,300 Other vegetables 4,426 Total products $218,508 The production of milk, as the foregoing tables show, has been an important element in Westborough agriculture for the past fifty years. The farmers began to supply it for the Boston market only a few months after the opening of the railroad, in 1834. A man named Thurston, who lived in the southern part of the town, was the first to 352 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. collect milk and send it to the city. He did a small busi- ness in a haphazard way, and after a year or two left town without paying his bills. It is worth noting, however, that from his disappearance until the fall of 1889 no West- borough farmer ever lost a cent through the failure of milk contractors. After Thurston's unsuccessful venture, Jason Chamberlain arranged to run a short freight car on the morning passenger train to Boston, in which milk from Westborough and Southborough was sent to the city. For a time the car was drawn to the present South- ville station by horses, so that Winchester's milk for the Quincy Market might be put on board before the pas- senger train came along. Rufus W. Whiting, who now lives in Framingham, also went into the business at an early day, but in 1839 sold out to George N. Fisher. Mr. Whiting was afterward in the business for many years; and Mr. Fisher has continued in it ever since, receiving his milk, until a few months ago, from Westborough dai- ries. He now owns a route in Boston, but procures his supply from C. Brigham & Co. The Westborough Milk Company, which was organ- ized about 1840 by John A. Fayerweather, George Denny, Abijah Wood, Elmer Brigham, and Col. Josiah Brigham, did a large business. For twenty-five years, S. Deane Fisher was its agent in Westborough. About 1852, the company's business passed into the hands of George O. Brigham, who had been its Boston agent, and Daniel and Stephen F. Forbushj It was afterwards divided, and was eventually absorbed by C. Brigham & Co. The Boston Milk Company, which was formed soon after the Westborough Company, was composed of some half- dozen Boston milk-dealers, who had separate routes, but combined in bringing their milk to the city. Another AGRICULTURE. 353 company was the Milk Producers' Association, which was organized in 1865 by farmers who were dissatisfied with the contractors' prices. For a few years it did considera- ble business. In 1866 it built the " Old Cheese Factory," as it was formerly called, now occupied by George E. Fitch & Co. for a beef refrigerator, and for a short time used its surplus milk for making butter and cheese. The enterprise was on a co-operative plan. It failed to be profitable, and in 1873 came to an end. The milk business, so far as Westborough is concerned, is now almost exclusively in the hands of C. Brigham & Co., though other dealers take a small quantity. This concern, which has the largest milk business of any com- pany in the world, amounting to more than a million dollars per year, was organized in 1859 by Cyrus Brig- ham, a native of Westborough, and Whittemore Rowell, for many years a resident. One car-load of milk per day was at first sufficient for their business; but it has now become so extensive, that the firm receives eight car-loads each day, amounting to ten thousand cans. About seven hundred cans are sent from Westborough. This quantity of milk, however, is not all provided by local dairies, for routes from Shrewsbury, Grafton, Upton, and Hopkinton help to fill the Westborough car. The greatest quantity of milk was sent about ten years ago, before Northborough had a separate car for producers in that section. Twenty- five hundred cans per day were then frequently supplied. The present daily supply, amounting to about seven hun- dred and fifty cans, comes from one hundred and fifty dairies, which contribute from one to thirty cans each. The contractors now take, at a somewhat lower price than when the supply was limited, all the milk which the farmers produce, using the surplus for butter and cheese. 354 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH, In the method of shipment and of distribution, too, the business has greatly changed during the last few years, and it is now managed on a systematic plan, in striking contrast with the old methods. The contractors insist upon a good quality of milk, condemning such as after a careful analysis falls below a certain standard. The prices vary from twenty-one to twenty-five cents per can in summer, and from twenty-seven to thirty-five cents in winter. For the past season the average has been twenty- seven cents per can. In years gone by, the prices have fluctuated considerably, at one time, about 1840, being as low as sixteen cents per can, and at another time as high as fifty cents. The farmers have often found fault with the prices offered, and have tried other ways for disposing of their milk. In 1885 they formed the Westborough Creamery Association, having a capital of ^5,000, and two hundred and twelve stockholders, and erected the creamery on Fisher Street; but the venture proved un- profitable, and the farmers are once more sending the usual amount of milk to the Boston market. At the conclusion of this review of the agricultural in- terests of Westborough, it is interesting to note that the town, ranking sixty-fourth in population, stands fiftieth among the towns and cities of Massachusetts in the value of agricultural products. It is situated in a fertile part of Worcester County, which rivals Champlain in Illinois and Lancaster in Pennsylvania as the leading agricul- tural county in the United States. With a population of 244,039, farm property amounting to $39,3S3'72S' and 847,280 acres devoted to agriculture, its fifty-seven towns, in 1885, raised agricultural products to the value of $9,385,744, the proportion of products to property being 23.85 per centum. MANUFACTURES. 3SS The position of Westborough in the county appears in the following table, which shows the relative standing, according to the census of 1885. of the ten leading agricultural towns and cities : — Population. Cultivated land, acres. Total agri- cultural products. Total agricul- tural property. Percentage of products of property. Worcester, 68,389 7,114 620,756 2.677.579 2315 22.58 Fitchburg 15.375 3.676 294.558 1,304,227 Barre, 2,093 6,398 289,738 1,016,642 28.50 Charlton, 1,823 6,189 265,657 1,096,400 2423 Sterling, 1,331 4,632 329,860 1,010,065 22.76 Harvard, 1,184 4,807 229.533 1,143,001 20.08 Southborough, 2,100 3.375 220,904 1.053.959 20.96 Westborough, 4,880 4,205 218,508 835,666 26.15 Grafton, 4,498 4,267 218,022 882,985 24.69 Spencer, 8,247 4.463 215,658 928,635 23.22 The agricultural interests of Westborough, as regards both the number of persons employed and the value of products, long since yielded the first place to manufac- tures. The latter had established a 'foothold early in the present century. During the Revolutionary War Eli Whitney, who afterward achieved renown by inventing the cotton-gin, did a small but profitable business making nails ; and even earlier than this, Gardner Parker, of " Par- ker's Folly" fame, was making clocks. About 1815 a man named Corbett, who lived in the southern part of the town, near the present residence of James A. Parker, began to make axes. Lawson Harrington, who succeeded him in 183 1, continued the business until 1865. At Piccadilly Joshua Mellen and his son, Joshua N. Mellen, during the early part of the century carried on a similar occupation, — making hoes, axes, and scythe-snares. A brass-worker, Ezra Winslow by name, some sixty years ago made and repaired brass clocks in a little shop on Mount Pleasant. 3S6 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Sleigh-making, which furnished work to carpenters and blacksmiths during the dull winter seasons, was an early occupation. The tanning of hides was a former industry. Isaac Davis, before the memory of men now living, had a tannery in the meadow south of Bela J. Stone's residence on the Northborough road. Another tannery, near the Witherby place, on West Main Street, was carried on by Jonas A. Stone from 1826 to 1854. The currying of leather also became an important business. From 1 849 to 1874 Austin Underwood had a currier's shop in the rear of Memorial Cemetery ; but this industry, like tanning, has now disappeared. About 1830 — to go back a little — Nathan A. Fisher started a small and short-lived thread- factory at Wessonville, where steam-power was used for the first time in Westborough. Between 1833 and 1840 Tris- tram Libby, with two assistants, made piano movements, in Horatio Warren's old sleigh-shop on South Street, for Timothy Gilbert, of Boston, a somewhat famous manu- facturer. There were a few other small manufacturing ventures during the period at which we have glanced, but those already mentioned illustrate their nature and scope. The earliest event of much importance in the industrial development of Westborough was in 1828, when J. B. Kimball & Co. began to manufacture boots and shoes in a little shop near the residence of the late James M. Kim- ball on West Main Street. In 1832 they made goods to the value of $25,000; and Jonas Stone, who was the sec- ond to enter the business, did nearly half as much. Five years later, when the first statistics of industry were com- piled, the manufacturing interests of Westborough made a creditable showing. The making of boots and shoes employed four hundred persons, and the value of goods produced was $148,774.40. Leather was tanned to the STATISTICS OF MANUFACTURES. 357 value of $7,800. Three men were employed in making twenty-nine hundred and forty axes, which were valued at $2,870. Sleighs worth $3,840 were the result often men's labors. The other manufactured products reported were twelve hundred straw hats, valued at $2,800; chairs and cabinet-ware, valued at $1,500; bricks, valued at $1,160; harnesses, valued at $517; and forty ploughs, valued at $275. This was in 1837. The growth of the leading in- dustries from that year to 1885 is shown by the following table : — Statistics of Manufactures. 1837 1845 1855 1865 1875 1885 Boots and shoes, pairs Value Men employed Women " Capital invested Straw goods (hats and bonnets) . . . Value Men employed Women " Capital invested Wagons & sleighs, Value Men employed. . Capital invested Hides, tanned and curried Value of leather Men employed . . Capital invested 140,748 $148,774 360 214 1,200 $2,800 $3,840 10 $3,000 3,300 $7,800 3 $800 140,820 $84699 200 75 3,000 $1,500 [13,222 jSi.ooo 597,000 $421,000 400 100 $15,000 20 $3,000 2,300 $4,925 $129,000 2 3 $500 $2,500 357.000 $450,683 286 . 58 $40,000 42,300 $34,000 17 262 $4,700 $28,250 22 $17,775 17.245 $77,000 27 $8,000 $871,014 481 $150,000 $585,600 355 $201,560 $1,112,020 146 278 $337,000 $73'9oo 24 $48,150 $1,013,212 197 398 35 The manufacture of boots and shoes has undergone great changes since J. B. Kimball & Co. started their little shop. The first step toward the modern industry had been taken in 18 18, when Joseph Walker, a Hopkinton 358 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. man, invented the process of pegging, instead of sewing, bottoms; but for many years afterward all the work continued to be done by hand, and the processes were slow and toilsome. The cutting, crimping, and treeing employed the few men in the shop; the bottoming, siding, and binding gave employment to many men and women outside. The small, narrow shops, still standing near many of the older farm-houses, are relics of the time when machinery was little used, and work was taken out by " teams." But the introduction of machinery, in nearly every department of the business, has now brought all the processes of manufacture under one roof. J. B. Kimball & Co. were among the first in adopting the new methods ; but in spite of constant improvements in machinery, their facilities failed to keep pace with the growing demand for their goods. Remaining but a short time in their original shop, they moved to another on the Witherby place, nearer the village, and soon afterward built a shop nearly opposite the Blake place. In 1836 their quarters had again become too small for their increasing business, and they erected a brick building, now known as Cobb's Block, at the corner of Main and Milk Streets. Here they continued to manufacture until i860, when the present Kimball factory — which had been erected in 1848, and used for a box- factory by George Denny, and afterward for a chair-factory by R. G. Holmes — was fitted up for their use.- In 1866 the building connected with the " old steam-mill " was erected, and the concern occupied the whole establishment until its failure in 1878. The firm of J. B. Kimball & Co. stood high in the esti- mation of the trade, and during its fifty years of manufac- turing in Westborough did a large business. It reached its maximum in 1868-69, when two hundred and fifty MANUFACTURES, 3S9 hands were employed, and- the daily prpduct was thirtj'- six hundred pairs of boots and shoes. The second to enter the business in Westborough was Jonas Stone, who began to manufacture soon after J. B. Kimball & Co., in a small shop on Mount Pleasant. His brother, Thomas Stone, after manufacturing a short time in the David Nourse house on School Street, in 1839 built' a shop on Cross Street, now used for a tenement-house. Moses Newton, who with George B. Brigham occupied a building on the site of J, S. Nason & Co.'s grain-store, was an early manufacturer. The building, that was moved away to make room for Grand Army Block, on South Street, was occupied as a boot-shop before the war by Willard Bragg. His brother, Urial Bragg, manufactured in the " Old Arcade." Otis Newton was connected with the business for nearly forty years before his death in 1870. From 1840 to i860 Daniel F. Newton did an ex- tensive business in the old shop on Cross Street. In more recent years J. H. Pierce, as well as his successors, Griggs & Jackson, manufactured in Smith's Block; and George Forbes was engaged in manufacturing at various times between 1857 and 1880. An old factory at the corner of Cottage and Elm Streets was occupied by C. M, Holmes & Co. several years before its destruction by fire, April 15, 1876. The factory which stood at the corner of Milk and Phillips Streets, originally built for a sleigh-shop in 1869, was occupied by Grain, Rising, & Co, from 1879 to 1881 ; and by George B. Brigham & Sons, and Smith, Brown, & Co. from 1 882 until it was burned in r886. In the old Kim- ball factory there have been several attempts at manufac- turing during the last ten years, but with doubtful success. Hunt & Kimball purchased the buildings and machinery when J. B.' Kimball & Co. gave up business in 1879, and 360 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. manufactured a short time for C. B. Lancaster, of Boston. Frederick W. Kimball occupied the factory at different times in manufacturing for various parties; Fogg, Shaw, Thayer, & Co. were there from 1883 to 1885 ; H. A. Royce & Co. from 1885 to 1887; and Brooks & Wells from 1887 to the fall of 1889. The shop, which is now owned by the Kimball Factory Association, has been unoccupied since the latter date. A stock company is just forming, how- ever, to resume manufacturing at this well-known site. At present there are two firms manufacturing boots and shoes in Westborough, — George B. Brigham & Sons, and Gould & Walker. The former had its origin in 1858. The senior partner, George B. Brigham, was one of the first to enter the business in Westborough. In 1838 he superintended Thomas Stone's factory, and from 1840 to 1844 manufactured in company with Moses Newton. In 1850, having temporarily abandoned the business, he became superintendent of Daniel F. Newton's shop. After eight years' service in this position he bought out George Forbes, — who then occupied the old Union Block, — and has continued a leading manufacturer to the present time. He remained in Union Block four years, occupied the Cross Street factory two years, and since 1864 — with the exception of three years in the Milk Street factory and a year at Southville, while his factory was leased to Gould & Walker — the firms of which he has been the head have occupied the present factory on Cottage Street. It has meanwhile been enlarged to several times its original size. The junior members of the present firm are John L. and Horace E. Brigham, sons of the senior partner. The firm employs one hundred and fifty hands, and manufac- tures goods (twenty-four thousand cases) to the value of about $325,000 each year. MANUFACTURES. 361 The Other firm, Gould & Walker, occupies the new and commodious factory at the corner of Milk and Phillips Streets. It was organized in November, 1883, by Williani R. Gould and Melvin H. Walker, both of whom had pre- viously manufactured with George B. Brigham. From the fall of 1883 to February, 1887, when they moved to their present quarters, Gould & Walker occupied the Brigham factory on Cottage Street. In December, 1889, Mr. Gould, on account of failing health, withdrew from the firm, and M. V. Dunning, who had been salesman, became a partner. The firm employs three hundred hands. Its annual product is about thirty-five thousand cases, valued at $500,000. The manufacture of sleighs is another Westborough industry that began early in the century. The first to make them were Nathaniel Fisher, a painter, and Gardner Cloyes, Levi Bowman, Noyes Bryant, James Cochrane, Jonas Longley, and Corning Fairbanks, carpenters and wood-workers, who built houses in summer and sleighs in winter. It was customary, before the business became an independent industry, to make sleighs on a co-operaitive plan. The carpenter, after spending the early part of the winter in doing the wood-work, would send his lot of sleighs to the blacksmith for the shoes and braces. The blacksmith was entitled to a portion, generally two out of five, for his work and material ; and the painter, to whom they were next sent for the finishing touches, would re- ceive another for his pay. The sleighs having in this way been completed, on the appearance of snow strings of six or eight, drawn by a single horse, would be sent to the various markets, — Boston, Providence, Worcester, Lowell, and other places. The number of sleighs made in 1832 was four hundred, and their value was about $8,000. The average from 1870 to 1880 was over three thousand per 362 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. year ; but at present, owing principally to the unfavorable seasons, the number is much less. For many years the quality was rather poor, but answered the demand for a plain, substantial, inexpensive sleigh. In recent years, however, it has greatly improved, and " Westborough sleighs," which bring from twenty to sixty dollars each, according to the style of finish and upholstering, now stand well in the market The first persons to make a special business of sleigh* making were two brothers, Baxter and Daniel W. Forbes, who built a shop abou.t fifty years ago in the forks of the road near the " No. 4 " School-house. During their first year in business they made two hundred sleighs. In 1858 Albert J. Burnap and Edward E. Brigham, both of whom had been engaged in the business several years, became partners with the Forbes brothers, and the new firm of Burnap, Forbes, & Co. built the front part of the present shop on Summer Street. From 1865 to 1875, Nahum Fisher and Daniel W. Forbes carried on the busi- ness under the firm name of Forbes & Fisher. The present firm is composed of Mr. Forbes and his son, Forrest W. Forbes, who manufacture under the name of D. W. Forbes & Son. They are said to be the oldest sleigh manufacturers in the United States. In ordinary seasons their product is about twelve hundred sleighs, which find a ready sale, mostly in the West. W. H. & F. Sibley, who make about three hundred sleighs per year, have occupied their present shop on Parkman Street since 1844. For many years they paid special attention to hiaking and repairing wagons, and did very little sleigh-making until after the war. They now have a large jobbing business, and in addition to sleighs continue to make wagons. manufactures'. 363 At Piccadilly Corning Fairbanks, one of the earliest sleigh-makers, carried on the business until his death in 1887. His son, Benjamin N. Fairbanks, succeeded him, and makes about one hundred and fifty sleighs per year. John O'Brien 2d, who has a shop in the rear of Guild's stable, has been engaged in sleigh-making since 1864, and makes about the same number as Mr. Fairbanks. Patrick Maguire, on Summer Street, began to make sleighs in 1883. He makes about one hundred per year. The individuals and firms who have in years past made sleighs in Westborough are numerous. In 1871 there were nine manufacturers.. Bacon & Williams, who occupied the shop at the corner of Milk and Phillips Streets from 1869 to 1873, made nine hundred and fifty sleighs, besides doing a large box business. W. H. & F. Sibley made two hundred and fifty, and the remaining firms between one hundred and one hundred and fifty each. Among the more prominent sleigh-makers not already mentioned have been Edward Spaulding, Joseph H. Fairbanks, Frank Brigham, and Wilder F. Brown. The manufacture of straw hats and bonnets, at present Westborough's most important industry, was established in 1863. The braiding of straw, however, and the sewing of hats from domestic braid were early and common oc- cupations for women and children. The winter rye was cut in June, the straw was scalded and cured, the part within the sheath was whitened by brimstone fumes, and after being split was ready for braiding. Country trades- men took the braid, and sometimes the home-made hats, in exchange for goods. There was a cash price and a straw price for their various commodities, — the former, of course, being somewhat lower than the latter. The im- portation of braid from China, Italy, and other countries 364 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. long since put an end to the home production; and the invention of a machine for sewing braid, some twenty- years ago, gave the death-blow to another common house- hold industry, — the sewing of hats by hand. A Con- necticut inventor, named Baldwin, introduced the first machine ; and soon afterward Samuel S. Turner, a West- borough man, brought out the " American " straw sewing- machine, which, although now superseded like the others by the Wilcox & Gibbs, was used for several years. One of the machines now in use does the work of about thirty sewers under the old system. In other departments of the business, too, great improvements in the process of manu- facture have taken place. As in so many other industries, the result has been an enormous increase in the quantity of goods produced, and a great reduction in their cost. The industry, which was for a long time confined to this part of Massachusetts, began in the adjoining town of Upton as early as 1825. A large number of sewers were required; and for many years before the business was established in Westborough, " stock-carts " brought braid from Knowlton's shop in Upton to be sewed into hats by women in this town. The manufacture was begun here in 1863 by Bates, Parker, & Co., who occupied an old boot-shop standing on the site, and forming part, of L. R. Bates's present factory. During the first season the firm employed twelve men and thirty girls in the shop, and two hundred and fifty sewers outside. In 1870 the junior partner, James E. Parker, withdrew from the firm, and the senior partner, L. R. Bates, manufactured alone until 1875. During the two following years Theodore B. Smart, at present a manufacturer at Stamford, Conn., was a partner, and from 1877 to 1885 Mr. Bates was again alone. From 1885 to 1888 the firm was Bates, Wightman, MANUFACTURES. 365 & Beaman; and from July, 1888, to July, 1890, Mr. Bates, of the original firm, and Willard W. Beaman carried on the business under the name of Bates & Beaman. Mr. Bates now manufactures alone. His factory on South Street has undergone many alterations, having been enlarged in 1866, and afterward in 1875 and in 1876. Before the introduc- tion of machinery the business employed seven hundred sewers in Westborough and the neighboring towns. At present seventy operatives and machines much more than supply their place. One hundred and twenty-five hands are employed, and goods are manufactured to the value of about $125, coo each year. The second straw-shop was started in 1864. Chauncy Mitchell, who had previously done a small business mak- ing " Shaker " hoods, began to make straw hats in the old shop on Cross Street. A year later George N. Smalley became a partner. In 1866 the present Union Building on South Street was fitted up for another straw-factory, and occupied for two years by Snow & Fellows. In 1870 A. J. Snow, who owned the shop, formed a partner- ship with Jeremiah Hewins, and the new firm continued to make straw goods until 1872. Mr. Mitchell became insolvent, and ceased to manufac- ture, in 1868. In that year Mr. Smalley had withdrawn from the firm, and after manufacturing a short time with Willard Comey, entered into partnership with Henry O. Bernard, a New York salesman. The new firm, under the name of H. O. Bernard & Co., began business in a shop on Cottage Street. It soon proved to be inadequate for their growing trade, and in the winter of 1870 the main building of H. O. Bernard's present factory was erected. During the following season the firm employed eighteen hundred hands, and their sales amounted to $6oo,oco. In 1 873 their 366 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. factory, by the addition of wings, was enlarged to nearly double its former capacity; and in 1878 the brick building connected with the old factory was erected. Mr. Smalley withdrew from the firm in 1875, but had charge of the manufacturing for several years afterward. In October, 1885, the concern was reorganized, and incorporated under the laws of New York as the H. O. Bernard Manufacturing Company. Its capital is $200,000. H. O. Bernard has been president of the company from the beginning. H. K. Taft was vice-president, and had charge of the manufac- turing, until his death in May, 1887. The present vice- president is Paul D. Bernard. F. W. Patterson is secretary and treasurer. The company, which has one of the largest and best-equipped straw-factories in the world, does a business of over a million dollars per year. It employs between eight and nine hundred hands. It will be remembered, from the statistics of 1837, that bricks were then manufactured in Westborough to the value of $1,160. They were made at the brick-yard now owned by Stephen A. Gilmore, which had just been started by Abijah Wood. Work was carried on at intervals until 1869, when the yard was leased for the purpose of making brick to build Post-Office Block. The business has since been conducted more regularly by the Gilmores, who have made from one million and a half to two million bricks per year, and employed from twenty to thirty men. The box-factory and lumber-yard of C. Whitney & Co., where fifteen men are now employed, was started by Mr. Whitney in 1873. The first location was on the site of the Whitney House ; but in 1 875 a box-shop was erected near the present one. Frank V. Bartlett and George L. Smith, who became members of the firm in 1883, have car- ried on the business since Mr. Whitney's death in 1889. MANUFACTURES. 367 The firm handles each year three million feet of box boards, and a million feet of building lumber. The straw sewing-machine invented by S. S. Turner led, in 1869, to the incorporation of a company with capital of $300,000. Mr. Turner and Willard Comey were the West- borough men prominent in the enterprise. In 1871 the com- pany built the shop near the railroad at the head of Summer Street, and manufactured for a short time. The invention of a superior machine put an end to the business. An industry which still exists, but was formerly more flourishing, is the manufacture of trellises. Benjamin B. Nourse began the business about twenty-five years ago. His shop was over D. S. Dunlap & Son's present store. George K. White became a partner in 1866, and the firm of Nourse, White, & Co. continued the industry. In 1870, their business having outgrown the old shop, Mr. Nourse's present shop on Summer Street was erected. In 1871 the firm employed fifteen men. Their specialties were Nourse's Folding Plant Stand and Wardian Flower Cases, which in 1870 were awarded high honor at the Cincinnati Indus- trial Exposition. The business is now carried on at Mr. Nourse's shop by P. A. Angier & Co. The manufacture of bicycles was begun in the spring of 1889. The White Cycle Company, incorporated under the laws of Maine, with a capital of $150,000, has a large number of Westborough citizens among its stockholders. It has a new and excellent shop on Beach Street, where ninety men are now employed. The president of the com- pany, and inventor of the " Broncho " bicycle, is Frederick White. The other officers are Frank F. Denfeld, vice- president ; George O. Brigham, treasurer ; Frank E. Peck, secretary; Frederick White, Frank E. Peck, Frank F. Den- feld, Frank W. Fprbes, Emerson Law, William A. Reed, 368 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. and Murray V. Livingston, directors. At present the company's works are leased to Murray V. Livingston, of Boston. The " Broncho " is a chainless " safety " bicycle, and its ingenious construction has won high praise from both English and American wheelmen. Since December, 1889, the old sleigh-shop at the head of Summer Street has been converted into a factory for the manufacture of pianos. It is occupied by the Leicester Piano Company, which was incorporated under the laws of Michigan in 1880, Its capital stock is $150,000. The officers of the company are G. V. Leicester, president; W. W. Johnson, vice-president; J. A. Trowbridge, trea- surer ; and William J. Gray, secretary and assistant trea- surer. The business at present employs fifteen men. The total value of Westborough's manufactured prod- ucts in 1885 was $2,004,887. Ranking sixty-fourth among the towns and cities of Massachusetts in population, and fiftieth in the value of agricultural products, this town stood sixty-second in the value of manufactured goods.. The following table shows its standing among the ten principal manufacturing towns and cities of Worcester County : — Number of Establish- ments. Amount of Capital invested. Value of Stock used. Value of Goods made and Work done. Number of Persons employed. Total Wages , paid. $ $ $ . $ Worcester 772 18,344,408 15,016,756 28,699,524 18,454 7,o6o,73S Fitchburg 202 5,477,446 3,658,502 6,231,866 3^396 1,271,329 Spencer 84 1,580,794 2,422,788 3,627,467 2,234 694,908 Clinton 93 5.547,145 1.949,713 3,624,663 3.305 1,070,933 Blackstone 31 i]4o8i628 2,361,676 3,422,522 1,930 690,700 Webster 52 2,122,413 2,888,063 1,718 484,203 Milford 1,143,534 1,213.693 2,289,030 1,882 599.852 Gardner 68 2,487,051 914,005 2,046,343 2,009 707.145 Westborough 53 874,635 1.355.337 2,004,887 1,827, 474,345 Southbridge 74 2,615,056 1,061,416 1,968,107 1,956 626,655 ,^.6^iml(^' OCCUPATIONS. 369 This review of Westborougli industries roughly indicates the occupations of the people. A more exact classification, given in the census of 1885, is as follows: — Population of Westborough, May i, 1885, — 4,880. Occupations. Males, 2,299. Clergymen 12 Merchants and Dealers 54 Bookkeepers and Clerks 57 Teamsters 23 Steam Railroad Employees .. . 17 Farmers 136 Farm Laborers 202 Boot and Shoe makers 355 Box-makers 22 Carpenters 47 Masons 19 Painters 13 Carriage-makers 17 Sleigh-makers ... 18 Blacksmiths 15 Straw-workers 197 Scholars and Students 464 Retired 46 At home 238 Other occupations ■ . 347 Females, 2,581. Teachers 27 Housewives 931 Housework 346 Servants (in families) 103 Boot and Shoe makers 45 Dress-makers 6 Milliners 8 Straw-workers 398 Scholars 395 At home 240 Other Occupations 82 It is hardly possible to estimate the increase of wealth which has accompanied Westborough's industrial develop- ment. Throughout the world the last century has seen a marvellous improvement in the comforts of life; and ya. this general advance, it is safe to say, the people of West- borough have enjoyed and performed their share. The town contains no persons of great wealth ; but there is, on the other hand, very little poverty. The diffusion of pros- perity is unusually uniform. Although this prosperity is beyond our means of measuring, the assessors' reports furnish some interesting and suggestive comparisons. At three different periods, for example, the residents paying the highest taxes, and the amounts they paid, were as follows : — 370 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. In 1830. Charles Parkman $72.44 Benjamin Fay, Jr 44-iS Elijah Gleason • 30.28 Heirs of John Sanborn $29.09 Benjamin Fay 27,42 Asahel Warren 25.55 In i860. Daniel F. Newton $108.95 Estate of George Denny 90.09 Zebina Gleason S9.99 Curtis Beeman $77-25 J. W.Blake 75.89 Timothy A. Smith 72.77 H. O. Bernard M'f'g Co $944.36 Mrs. Abbie Whitney, adm'x.. 761.84 John A. Fayerweather 595-SO In 1890. Gould & Walker $518.10 Hannah Spaulding 487.59 Estate of William K. Gould, 482.86 The amounts raised by taxation at these different peri- ods were as follows : — 1830. State tax, i^izg ; county tax, $269.82 ; highways, $600 ; schools, $600; support of poor, $900; contingencies, $275. Total, $2,773.82. i860. State tax, fesoj county tax, ;Sti,27S.s6; highways, $1,200; schools, $2,600; support of poor, $1,400; contingencies, $1,200; reducing town debt, $2,050 ; overlayings on taxes, $333-25. Total, $10,408.81. 1890. State tax, $2,292.50; county tax, $1,885; highways, $3,500; schools, $12,500; supportof poor, $3,700; contingencies, $1,000 ; reducing town debt, $3,000; overlayings on taxes, $636.51; ob- servance of Memorial Day, $150; interest of town debt, $1,950; cemeteries, $500 ; school-house sinking fund, $800 ; water sinking fund, $2,000; engine-house sinking fund, $1,040; fire department, $2,300; salaries of officers, $1,575 ; police, including night-watch, $850 ; interest in anticipation of taxes, $500 ; concrete sidewalks, $500 ; judgments against town, $2,300 ; hghting streets and town house, $2,500; new bridge, $1,080. Total, $46,479.01. POLLS AND PROPERTY. 371 The following table, compiled from the assessors' re- ports, indicates the changes in certain kinds of property, etc., since i860 : — Year. Number ofPoUs. Houses. Horses. Oxen. Cows. Rate of Taxation. Taxable Property. i860 1865 1870 1875 1880 1885 1890 647 Ul 1,169 1,204 1,202 ".389 447 517 658 717 IS ■322 465 SH 477 510 "96 30 '887 1,040 998 1,126 971 I.231 $7-8o 16.15 13.00 16.50 13.00 14.20 15.70 $1,210,022 1.392.478 1,916,041 2,450,658 2.357.183 2,552,487 2,783.504 CHAPTER V. 1860-1890. PUBLIC SCHOOLS. — WILLOW-PARK SEMINARY. — PUBLIC LIBRARY. — POOR-FARM. — FIRE DEPARTMENT. THE evolution of the public schools from the district system to the well-organized graded schools of the present time has nearly all taken place during the past thirty years. The " three R's," which were deemed suffi- cient for the average man or woman a generation ago, have given place to a broader and more thorough educa- tional training. The old school-houses, with their rude benches and rough walls, are supplanted by well-built structures, heated, lighted, and ventilated after the most approved sanitary arrangements. The methods, too, have changed. The schoolmaster, with his birch and ferrule, is no longer the typical pedagogue; for the gentle " schoolma'm," prepared for her duties by special train- ing, has effectually usurped his place. Under the old system of school management the town annually chose its general school-committee, consisting usually of three persons, who examined and " approbated " the teachers, selected the text-books, and made periodical visits to the several schools. In each district the " prudential " com- mittee — usually one man, chosen by the voters of the dis- trict — had charge of the school so far as to provide it PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 373 with fuel, and, with the approval of the town-committee, to select a teacher. The district system was hardly the most economical or the most valuable; but it was not until the March meeting in 1867 that the "prudential" committee was abolished, and the general committee given complete authority over all the schools. The duty of car- ing for so many districts, however, soon proved burden- some, and in 1873, in accordance with the committee's frequent recommendations, the town voted to employ a superintendent. T. Dwight Biscoe, the first superintend- ent of schools, was appointed in March, 1873. He re- signed in September, 1874, and John E. Day, who had been for three years principal of the High School, took his place. On Mr. Day's resignation, in 1875, Henry Whittemore, who had succeeded him as principal of the High School, assumed the superintendence as well. He successfully performed the duties of both positions until, in the fall of 1883, he resigned, to become superintendent of schools at Waltham. James Burrier was his successor. Since the expiration of his term, November 30, 1885, Dr, Edwin B. Harvey, who has been prominently connected with the schools for more than twenty years, has performed the duties of superintendent. The present division of the town into eight districts has been only slightly changed since 1836. At that time one school, in the building now occupied by D. S. Dunlap & Son, accommodated all the pupils in the centre of the town. In i860, besides an ungraded High School established six years before, there were four " departments " in the " centre district," occupying the two school-houses on Grove Street. A grammar-school was established in 1865. In 1 868 a new school-house — the fourth in the centre of 374 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. the town — was erected on High Street. It was burned, May II, 1872, and the present building was soon afterward erected on the site. During the same year a French roof was added to the older Grove Street school-house, and the High School building was considerably enlarged. The second school-house on School Street was erected in 1876, and the Phillips Street school-house in 1883. The latter was built from plans made by Dr. Harvey, the chairman of the school-committee, who supervised the work of its construction. It cost about $11,000. The building is built of brick, is steam-heated, and contains accommoda- tions for four schools of fifty pupils each. It has a front entrance and halls for girls, and two side entrances and halls for boys. The school-rooms, which are all on the ground-floor, are large and well furnished. In the base- ment are two large exercise or play rooms, one for the boys, and one for the girls. The building is considered a model school-house. In 1 87 1 the town tried the experiment of supporting an evening school for the instruction of persons over fifteen years of age. It opened in March, and continued, three evenings a week, for ten weeks. Over fifty persons regis- tered as pupils, but the average attendance was less than twenty-five. The second term, which began in December, was discontinued after eighteen evenings. " The attend- ance was very irregular," the committee reported, " and a great majority of those who did attend, evidently came for purposes other than to study and to profit by the privi- leges of the school." The following table, which is compiled from the annual reports of the school-committee, shows the growth of the schools since i860: — PUBLIC SCHOOLS. 375 1860 1865 1870 1875 1880 1886 1889 Number of Children be- tween ages of 5 and 15. 490 ■ire 681 71° 837 845 839 Number of Schools 12 '3 15 16 18 21 20 Number of Teachers .... 12 14 16 17 20 23 23 Number of Weeks taught, in Common Schools . 29 '■^6 30 V 32-36 34 37 in Grammar School. . 1,6 39 39 39 • 40 40 in High School 31 40 39 39 39 40 40 Appropriation for Schools $2,600 $3,000 $5,835 $7,275 $8,000 $13,000 $12,800 The High School was estabhshed in 1854. At the March meeting in 1853 the town voted in its favor, and Draper Ruggles offered to give an acre of land upon which to erect a building. The town accepted the gift with due gratitude, and had the rear portion of the pres- ent High School-house ready for use the following year. The only facilities in the village for advanced instruction up to this time had been afforded by- private schools in the old " Armory " building — where Grand Army Block now stands — and in the Town Hall. The new school, which was ungraded, differed from the other public schools only in teaching higher branches. The number of pupils during the first term was fifty-nine. The studies pursued were " grammar, geography, book-keeping, mental phi- losophy, natural philosophy, chemistry, physiology, im- provement of the mind, rhetoric, astronomy, arithmetic, algebra, geometry, trigonometry, surveying, history, Latin, Greek, composition, and declamation, — in all which branches," the committee reported, " very good profi- ciency has been made." The man who taught these numerous studies, on a salary of $600 per year, was Silas C. Stone. It is pleasant to note that his salary was raised a hundred dollars in 1855. Mr. Stone remained until 1861, when he closed, in the words of the committee, " his long 376 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. and successful labors as principal." The two young men who came after him, each remaining a few months, failed to maintain good order ; and in the winter of 1861 the Rev. Dr. Arnold, a member of the school-committee, took charge of the school with gratifying results. Andrew J. Lathrop — with a salary of $500 from the town and $100 from private subscriptions — had charge of the school from the spring of 1862 until he obtained a more lucra- tive position, in March, 1863. L. S. Burbank, E. P. Jack- son, and W. J. Holland each occupied the position for two or three years. In 1871 John E. Day became principal at a salary of $1200 per year, and retained the position until he became superintendent of schools in 1874. During 1869 and 1870 the High School underwent a great change. " From an ungraded school of less than thirty scholars, irregular in attendance, not adhering to- gether in classes," said the committee in their report for 1 87 1, " it has become a school of nearly fifty pupils, organ- ized into classes or forms, pursuing a prescribed course of study, either English or classical, possessed of scholarly ambition, and occupying the time and skill of two liberally, educated teachers, — in a word, it has been wrought into a High School that will compare favorably with other schools of corresponding grade in this Commonwealth." The first class graduated, containing three members, was in 1872. In 1874 Henry Whittemore, who remained at the head of the school for nine years, succeeded Mr. Day as principal. Miss Jennie J. Robinson, who had been an assistant-teacher, after his resignation had charge of the school for a short time. In December, 1883, James Bur- rier was elected to the principalship. E. H. McLachlin succeeded him in 1884, and in 1889 resigned to become principal of the Brattleborough (Vt.) High School. The w- '^:^Y^ m X Q w o o o r PRIVATE SCHOOLS. 377 present principal is A. W. Thayer. There are two assist- ant-teachers. The whole number of pupils during the past year (1889) has been sixty-eight. Twenty-seven were in the English department, and forty-one in the classical. The number of graduates of the High School from 1872 to the present time is one hundred and sixty-two, — eighty-seven young women, and seventy-five young men. The number graduated at the school, however, is no test of its usefulness, for hundreds who have not completed the course have enjoyed its benefits for a longer or shorter time. More than half of the. graduates have continued their education at higher institutions. Twenty-seven have graduated from college, — eleven from Amherst, seven from Brown, five from Wellesley, two from Harvard, one from the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and one from the Massachusetts Agricultural College at Amherst. Among the private schools in Westborough, the twft which were at Wessonville — Wessonville Seminary and Willow-Park Seminary — have been the most prominent. The former, a day and boarding school, with about forty pupils, was established in Captain Wesson's old tavern soon after 1840. A school under the same manage- ment — the Westborough School Association — had pre- viously been maintained in the village. The seminary at Wessonville lasted, about twelve years. In 1852 Dr. Butler Wilmarth and Dr. J. H. Hero purchased the old tavern and converted it into an institution for the treatment of chronic diseases. Dr. Wilmarth was killed soon afterward in a railroad accident, but Dr. Hero con- tinued to carry on the establishment. Among the numer- ous improvements which he made was the filling of a swampy triangle south of the building, where he planted a heart-shaped grove of willow and maple trees. An icy 378 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. season some fifteen years later destroyed the willows ; but the name of " Willow Park " still clings to the locality. Besides the usual hydropathic treatment which marked the institution as a " water cure," Dr. Hero employed other agents, — such as electricity, Swedish movements, oxygenized air, light gymnastics, and finally the Turkish, or hot-air baths, — by which many forms of chronic dis- ease were treated with marked success. In 1866 and 1867 further changes and extensions in the buildings were made, and in the fall of 1867 Dr. Hero opened the Willow-Park Seminary, — an institution for both the physical and men- tal training of young women. Young men were not ad- mitted until 1872. The first principal was Prof. Albert B. Watkins, the present vice-president of the New York State Board of Regents (New York University). One who was familiar with the institution both as pupil and instructor writes as follows : — " The one main idea of the founder was to combine physical with mental culture, — mens sana in corpore sano ; and the beneficial results of such a system of education were exemplified in a wonderful manner. Very many students of delicate constitu- tion, who had been utterly unable to remain long at school else- where, were always in attendance at Willow-Park Seminary ; and there was not one of them who did not improve rapidly in health, while doing thorough work in the class-room. The means em- ployed (together with plain wholesome food) were Dr. Dio Lewis's system of light gymnastics and the Turkish bath. The physical exercises and the health department were under the personal supervision of Dr. Hero, whose previous experience of nearly twenty years as a practitioner and proprietor of a health institu- tion at Athol, and of the Willow-Park Cure, made him eminently qualified to render invaluable service in a school of this kind. Frequent talks upon hygiene were given, and 'right living' was a duty ever as urgently enjoined as correct speaking and clear reasoning.'' PUBLIC LIBRARY, 379 The school grew rapidly, and in the course of a few years a private dwelling near by was taken for extra dormitories. The usual number of students was about thirty-five; the total number of names on the rolls was about four hundred and fifty. Many of the pupils came from distant parts of the country. The hard times follow- ing the crisis of 1873, which seriously affected all private schools not well endowed, made it necessary to close the institution in 1876. Next to the schools in educational value comes the public library. The nucleus of the present collection of books, as Mr. De Forest has already shown,^ came into the possession of the town in 1857. The first board of trustees consisted of the Rev. Luther H. Sheldon, the Rev. William H. Walker, and Samuel M. Griggs. They re- ported in the spring of 1858 that the number of books catalogued was three hundred and seventy-five, but that many, which " were found to be worthless, from their peculiar character and antiquity," were packed away in boxes. In 1864 Miss Jane S. Beeton, who retained the position for twenty-five years, was appointed librarian. The library remained in the rear of the old Parkman Store until 1868, when it was removed to a room in the Town Hall. In 1879 the town received from a former resident, William R. Warner, of Fall River, the gift of one hundred and seventeen volumes. In 1880 the library was closed for three months, and a new catalogue was prepared. The fol- lowing year saw the addition of a reference department and reading-room. In 1888 Miss Clara S. Blake was appointed assistant-librarian, and on Miss Beeton's resignation in 1889 became her successor. The second librarian is Miss Mattie J. Eastman. The library was formerly open only 1 See p. 227. 38o LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons and evenings, but is now open daily from one o'clock to half-past eight. It has increased in usefulness very fast. In 1859 the number of volumes was reported as four hundred and ninety-six, and- the number taken out during the year preceding was thirty-six hundred. In 1889 the number of volumes was reported as eight thousand one hundred and sixty-five, and the number taken out was over twenty-three thousand. For many years the town has appropriated the income of the " dog fund " — a sum of three or four hundred dollars — for the support of the library, and for the past few years there has been an extra appropriation of five hun- dred dollars for salaries. A further income is expected from the estate of Dr. William Curtis, who at his death in 1887 not only made the town a legacy of $1000 for constructing a gate at Pine Grove Cemetery, but left the remainder of his property, after payment of debts and legacies, to trustees for the benefit of the public library. The sum, the income of which is to be expended for books and magazines, amounts to about $14,000. The trustees of the Curtis Fund are Louis E. Denfeld, Charles S. Henry, and Frank W. Forbes. The care of the poor caused the community, in its ear- lier days, much perplexity and expense. It was custom- ary here, as in other places, to intrust the paupers to the tender mercies of the man who would contract to board them at the lowest rate. Such a plan, in these days, would probably not result in high living or an attractive life. But in May, 1825, a committee, consisting of Lovett Peters., Joel Parker, Silas Wesson, Joshua Mellen, and Otis Brig- ham, who had been instructed by the town to report " the best way and means of supporting the poor,'' made the following statement : — / L^y^ Lj'. TOWN POOR. 381 "In the year 1819 this town granted 1700 dollars for the sup- port of their poor, and it was said that the sum was not sufficient. In 1820 we granted S1400. We had at that time something like 20 permanent paupers, about one to every 65 inhabitants, — a greater proportion, perhaps, than any other town in the commonwealth can boast of; and we have a fair prospect of having as great a proportion again not long hence. It may be said that we are in no danger of having so great a number again at any one time. In answer to this, let any man who can remember this Town 30 years ago look over it now, carefully and candidly, and then ask himself whether the number of those who spend one half of their time in idleness, and the other half in drinking out what they earn in the one half, is not greatly increased ; whether he would see so many intemperate, idle, and ragged men, idle and ragged children, growing up, not only to be paupers, but mere pests of society, — for what good can rationally be expected to come from children who are brought up in idleness, where they see their parents daily drunk, and as often fighting, with every usual accompanying vice ? The prospect is a discouraging one. It must be discouraging and truly provoking to an industrious young man to see these idle drunkards, who are laying up nothing, to think and to know, in all human probability, that a part of his hard earnings must go to support such vile characters, — who, by the way, are not entitled to a very genteel support. " Another advantage [of a poor-farm], and not an inconsider- able one, is the law having made a poor-house a house of correc- tion for a certain description of persons, of which description we have too many. It is believed that if the town had a farm, and a few examples were made of certain characters, it would be a terror to evil-doers ; to such as say by their conduct, and sometimes in words, that when they cannot maintain themselves any longer Westborough must maintain them, and without work too. There have been repeated instances in this town of paupers [saying], ' The town pays for my board, and I will not work except I have the benefit of it myself.' This is an error which needs to be corrected." The committee presented strong arguments in favor of a "pauper establishment." They cited several towns to 382 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. show the probable saving in expense. " The Town of Worcester," says the report, " saved one half the first year. Doct. Lincoln states that they now save three quarters, — that is, it costs but one quarter as much now as when they were boarded in families." These, with other arguments, had their proper effect. At the March meeting, in 1825, the paupers, twelve in number, were " struck off," as usual, to Levi Bowman, who promised to support them at the rate of ninety-seven cents per week. At a meeting held May 2, however, the following action was taken : — "Voted, to purchase a farm for a Pauper establishment; also, voted, to choose a committee of seven, by ballot, to purchase a farm for the more comfortably and economically supporting the Poor of said tovra. The votes were called for by the moderator, and the following were chosen, viz. : Lovett Peters, Esqr., Capt. Silas Wesson, Joshua Mellen, Deacon Jonathan Forbes, Benjamin Fay, Jr., Capt. Daniel Chamberlain, and Jesse Woods. Voted, and authorized this committee to borrow money as much as may be necessary to pay for the said pauper establishment on the credit of the town of Westborough, to be paid by instalments." The farm of Capt. Daniel Chamberlain, on the Flanders road, was immediately purchased by the committee. Its area was one hundred and ninety-six acres. The price paid was $4,600. It remained the " town farm " until 188 1, when the town voted to erect the present excel- lent house for its paupers on the Sandra farm, which had been purchased by the water commissioners in 1879. The old farm was sold for $6,750 to George P. Bingham, of Boston. The following table, which is compiled from the re- ports of the overseers of the poor, shows some interest- ing changes in their department during the past thirty years : — FIRE DEPARTMENT, 383 Year ending Number of Persons at Farm. Appropriations for Support of Poor. Appraised Value of Farm and Property. March i, i860 Feb. 23, 1865 Feb. I, 1871 Feb. I, 1875 Feb. I, 1880 Feb. 1, 1885 Feb. I, 1890 13 16 23 12 19 17 12 Si, 400 1,400 1,000 900 6,000 4,5°o 3,500 $7,276.64 9,136.01 11,230.00 12,262.00 11,444-95 10,057.90 10,693.10 From this table it will be seen that although the town has nearly doubled in population during the past thirty- years, the number of paupers at the town-farm remains about the same. Some of the appropriation, of course, is spent in assisting the poor at their homes ; but the increase in the amount of the annual appropriation is chiefly due to the improved accommodations granted to the inmates of the town farm. A fire department was formally organized in West- borough in the spring of 1842. About twelve years pre- vious,ly, however, Capt. Charles Parkman, the leading tradesman of the town, had procured a small hand-engine, or "tub," and a fire company had been organized from the members of the old military company which had just disbanded. It was a private organization, and received no aid from the town. The machine was a small affair, with a few feet of leading hose, and the water which it threw was supplied by pails instead of by a suction-pipe. In 1832 the town, on being asked to build an engine-house for its protection, voted, as so frequently in later years, "to pass over the article." In November, 1834, an article, " to see if the town will take any measures to provide a fire-engine for the use of the town," shared the same fate ; but when the matter came up again in November, 1838, 384 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBO ROUGH. the town not only chose a committee, consisting of Abijah Stone, Tristram Libbey, and Jonas Longley, to ascertain the cost of an engine and apparatus, but also voted to put at their disposal, provided an equal amount could be raised by private subscription, the sum of two hundred dollars. The committee accordingly circulated a paper, and secured the signatures and promises of sixty-six citi- zens. George Denny gave forty dollars, and the others from one dollar to twelve dollars each. At a town-meeting held March 11, 1839, Jonas Longley, in behalf of the com- mittee, submitted the following report: — " Your committee . . . report they 'have received a subscrip- tion of individuals amounting to $288, which accompanies this report. They also received |iS20o from town treasurer, as appro- priated by the town. They have purchased an Engine & ap- paratus, the whole cost of it being J486.18, including ^5 for freight on Railroad, which was a gift to the fire department of Westborough." The engine was a Thayer " tub," and did its duty for about ten years. Gardner Cloyes was the first foreman of the company which manned it. The old " tub " was given to the Woods, who owned the mill at Woodville. In the winter of 1839 the Legislature passed an Act authorizing towns to establish fire departments with en- gineers. An efi'ort was made to have Westborough take advantage of the privilege thus conferred, but the ma- jority were against it. On March i, 1842, however, the Legislature passed an Act establishing a fire department -in Westborough, which the voters at town-meeting, April 1 1 , accepted. The selectmen appointed engineers, and Jonas Longley, who held the office for ten years, was chosen chief. A year after his election he made the following report to the selectmen : — FIRE DEPARTMENT. 385 "The members of the department are nine engineers and thirty-five engine-men. " The apparatus consists of one engine, 24 feet of suction-hose, 123 feet leading hose, one hose-carriage, 4 buckets, 2 axes, one signal lantern, one torch, 3 ladders, one large tub for reservoir for water, one sled for engine, 6 oil-cloth dresses for hosemen. "The original cost of the above articles was $608.20. $294.00 paid by subscription. $314.20 paid by the town. $608.20." It was probably not a matter of much regret to the engine-men when their " tub " finally disgraced itself by refusing to work. This occurred in January, 1850. John W. Fairbanks, then a boy, had accidentally set fire to his father's shop, and when the engine was brought to the scene it was found to be out of order and useless. At the town-meeting in November preceding there had been an article in the warrant to see if the town would repair, sell, or exchange their engine. The subject had been referred, with full power to act, to the engineers of the fire de- partment, — George Denny, Corning Fairbanks, Gardner Cloyes, Benjamin F. Forbush, Anson Warren, Joseph H. Fairbanks, Payson H. Perrin, and Jonas A. Stone. They acted with moderation; but on June 5, 1850, they voted to sell the old machine for $356. A new one, with appa- ratus, was bought of Hunneman & Co. for $946. It was a hand-tub, known in after years as " Chauncy," and remained in use until six years ago. In March, 1868, the burning of the Parkman Store again showed the town that its facilities for extinguishing fires were inadequate. On April 13 following, a committee was chosen to investigate the subject of purchasing a new engine. It consisted of Lyman Belknap, Josiah Jackson, 386 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. and Israel H. BuUard. At a later meeting, April 27, Wil- liam M. Child and Reuben Boynton were added to the committee. The town instructed them to buy a steamer, hose, and hook-and-ladder carriage, with apparatus; to prepare suitable houses for the new equipment; and to build such reservoirs as seemed to them expedient. The committee accordingly purchased from Hunneman & Co a steamer, — which was named in honor of the Chief En gineer, Josiah Jackson, and still forms part of the depart- ment, — and had a ladder-carriage, costing, with ladders hooks, axes, and the rest, about $240, built by W. H & F. Sibley. In regard to reservoirs, the committee re- ported that there were six already built in different parts of the town, and recommended the construction of six more, — all of them to be built of brick and cemented, with a capacity of two hundred hogsheads each. Their recommendations were adopted by the town. The first annual report of the engineers of the fire de- partment was made in 187 1. In their second report, dated Feb. I, 1872, they made the following statement regarding the condition of the department : — " The apparatus in active service at this date is as follows ; viz., one hand engine, one steamer, one hose-carriage, one hook-and- ladder truck, two hose-reels, one hundred and twenty -four (124) feet of ladders, and two thousand (2000) feet of hose, all in good condition. The department now organized consists of ninety-five (95) men, divided as follows : — " Chauncy Engine Co. No. i, 42 men ; Steamer Jackson No. 2, 20 men; Hook and Ladder No. i, 17 men; Hose-Carriage, i man ; Fire Police, 10 men ; Engineers, 5 men : total, 95 men. " In connection with the above is the Young America Bucket Company (an independent company), consisting of twenty mem- bers, with fifty feet of ladders and twenty-four buckets, with suit- able truck for carrying the same ; this company are always on the FIRE DEPARTMENT. 387 alert, and at the first sound of the alarm are at their post, ready and willing to render all the assistance in their power." The efficiency of the fire department was increased in 1879 by the introduction of Sandra water. The head, one hundred and thirty-eight feet, gives sufficient force to throw a dozen streams on the roof of any building about the Square. Hydrants, now numbering seventy-nine, were set in various parts of the town, and a hose company, with a new carriage named after Dr. William Curtis, was added to the fire department. In 1886 the town adopted an electric fire-alarm, with box at the corner of Main and South Streets, and strikers on the bells of the Baptist and Congregational Churches. The new truck of the Rescue Hook and Ladder Company was purchased, at a cost of $800, in 1887. In 1888, after many years of urging, the town voted to build an engine-house. An appropriation of $13,000 was made, and a committee was chosen, con- sisting of the engineers, — Henry L. Chase, George T. Fayerweather, James McDonald, Fred J. Taylor, and Hazon Leighton, — with Anson Warren, George O. Brig- ham, and William T. Forbes. The Maynard place, at the corner of Milk and Grove Streets, was purchased as the site, and the new engine-house was ready for public in- spection in January, 1889. The Chronotype gave the fol- lowing detailed description of the new structure : — " The building is of brick, with granite trimmings and slated hip- roof, and bears in granite figures ' 1888 ' upon its front. It is a handsome and imposing-looking building on its exterior, and the interior is also handsome, roomy, and convenient. The building is 45 X 50 feet, with four front doors nine feet wide, and eleven and one half feet high, through which to pass with the machines. There is a side door of smaller dimensions for daily use. The lower story has but one room, twelve feet high, and it is sheathed in ash to the 388 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. height of six feet, with walls above the sheathing in hard finish. This room will contain all the apparatus of the department, — a steam fire-engine, hook-and-ladder carriage, hose-carriages, etc. It has six large windows, 4X7 feet,. and windows in all the doors. In the left-hand rear corner a long sink offers an opportunity for the ' boys ' to ' wash up,' and a rear door opens into the tower, where a well, four feet in diameter and as many feet deep, is for washing hose ; and above it the tower runs up to a height of fifty-five feet. Double stairs by the centre of the rear wall lead up to a landing and a turn to ascend several more steps to the second story, where in the centre is the upper hall, 10 x 25 feet, with doors leading into the engineer's room, 10X12 feet, a front room at the end of the hall, two corner front rooms, 17^ X 18 feet, two rooms in their rear of the same size, and the rear rooms are a store room, 8X15 feet, and a bath-room, 8 X 15. The bath-room has a nice tub, set-bowl, etc., and a chest of drawers, and presents a very attractive appearance. The rooms in this story are ten feet high, finished in ash, and the walls partially sheathed, as in the room below. There are transoms over all the doors. The cellar and the wide side- walks are concreted, and show the remarkably good work for which the Westborough concreters have acquired an enviable reputation. Outside and inside doors lead to the cellar. All the rooms are well lighted. Picture mouldings now adorn the walls, but the fur- niture and pictures will not be in position until the first of next week. The building is heated by the Spence hot-water system, — the lower room being piped, and the upper rooms having radiators^ The supply of hot and cold water will be ample at all times for cleanliness and neatness to prevail at these headquarters for our ready and gallant firemen." In 1889 members of the fire department organized the Firemen's Relief Association, having for its object " the relief, care, and assistance " of its sick and disabled members. The principal fires since 1870, the number of alarms each year, the losses, etc., are shown in the following table. It is compiled from the reports of the engineers of the fire department : — ctujd^^^ FIRE DEPARTMENT.. 389 Year. No.of Alarms. Total Loss. Principal Fires.' 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 187s 1876 1877 1878 1880 I88I 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 4 5 2 8 7 9 4 II 9 6 9 14 Small. $40,000 42,000 4,000 1,000 44.250 2,800 2,050 Small. 1,000 4,250 1.450 3.300 400 930 42.525 10,100 i.goo 10,500 April 14, Union Block May II, High Street School-house Feb. 8, Dwelling of J. Marrotte, Ch's. St. June 17, Central Block, Eagle Block, Protective Union Store May 3, " No. 4 " School-house June 3, Reuben Boynton's Barn April 15, C. M. Holmes's Factory Aug. 2, J. Prescott's Barn April 24, Nourse Place April 29, G. B. Brigham's Farm-house . . Jan. 24, J. Prescott's Barn May 21, Fisher's Mill April 17, C. D. Cobb & Co.'s Grain Store March 22, C. Fairbanks's Box-factory. . . April 5, Milk St. Boot-factory and Cath- olic Church Sept. 28, A. Robinson's House and Barn, Feb. 23, John Dolan's House and Barn . June 10, L. R. Bates's Straw-shop {30,000 5,000 1,500 40,000 1.500 2,500 40,000 3,000 1,600 1,200 2,000 1,000 2,850 1,500 42,000 10,000 3,900 4.225 The following is a list of the chief engineers of the fire department since 1 870 : — Urial Montague 1870-73 William M. Blake 1873-75 George T. Fayerweather .... 1875-77 Bowers C. Hathaway 1877-79 Charles E. Smith 1879-80 Israel H. BuUard 1880-81 Bowers C. Hathaway , 1881-82 Charles E. Smith 1882-83 David B. Faulkner 1883-84 George T. Fayerweather .... 1884-86 George L. Smith 1886-87 Henry L. Chase 1887- ^ This includes all fires where the loss was over |i,ooo. 39° LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. The manual of the department at present is as follows : Chief Engineer i Assistant Engineers 4 Chauncy Hose No. i 15 Jackson Steamer Co. No. 2 16 William Curtis Hose Co. No. 2 .... 20 Rescue Hook and Ladder Co. No. i . . 30 Union Hose Co. No. i 2 Number of men 88 Since 1881, the Rescue Hook and Ladder Company has taken part in several racing contests. From October 18, 1882, when it beat the "Excelsiors," of Leominster, to August 26, 1887, when it was beaten by the "J. N. Grouts," of Spencer, the Westborough company held the championship of the United States. CHAPTER VI. 1860-1890. NEWSPAPERS. — POST-OFFICE. — BANKS. — DISTRICT COURT. — LYMAN SCHOOL. — INSANE HOSPITAL. THE first attempts at founding a local paper in West- borough have been described by Mr. De Forest in a previous chapter.^ After the Westborough Transcript was discontinued, in 1863, the community struggled along without a paper for over three years. Late in 1866 a print- ing-office — the first one in town — was established by W. A. Hemenway; and in September following, Charles H. Pierce, at present a well-known engineer in Providence, R. I., entered into partnership with him for the express purpose of publishing a local paper which should be printed, as well as edited, in Westborough. The firm, having procured a new outfit, on October 12, 1867, issued the first number of The Saturday Evening Chronotype and Weekly Review. It was a small, four-column quarto, with a heading so elaborate as to occupy nearly a third of the first page. There were four or five items of local news in the first issue, much general reading matter scattered in various departments, and a few small advertisements. The editorial announcement, as may be seen from the fol- lowing extract, contained an interesting glance at former journalistic efforts in Westborough : — 1 See p. 228. 392 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. " On the 13th day of October, 1849, C. C. P. Moody, a well- known Boston printer who had formerly resided in this town, commenced the publication of a weekly quarter-sheet, called the Westboro' Messenger. It was unpretentious in style, as in size; its make-up consisting mainly, of course, of local items and cor- respondence, with the usual display of * original poetry ' blossom buds. In fact, native talent improved its opportunity and secured thorough ventilation. But though nominally a Westboro' paper, the Messenger was edited and printed in the office of Mr. Moody, in Boston^ and sent here for distribution. The local character of this enterprise was, therefore, in one sense, a pleasant fiction ; and necessarily so, since with only two fifths of our present popu- lation and wealth, and one fifteenth our present volume of manu- facturing business, no press could then be sustained here. After a brief trial, the enterprise proving less profitable to the publish- ers than entertaining to its patrons, it was abandoned. " In the month of August, 1855, a hirsute stranger made his appearance among us and announced his intention of showing how' the thing ought to be done. Accordingly, on. the first of September following he issued the first number of his paper, now known to fame as the Westboro^ Sheaf. Coarse paper, battered type, shallow prose, and wishy-washy poetry entered largely into its composition. Its local' character was only one remove less imaginary than that of its predecessor; for though its editorial manager had his headquarters in town, the composition and press- work were done in Boston, on contract, by another printer. The Sheaf languished through a miserable existence of less than a year, with little comfort to itself, and of no use to its friends, and then shared the fate of the unfortunate being in the clown's pathetic narrative, who lay down on his back, opened his mouth, and let the wind all out of him. " In December, i860, Geo. Mills Joy, an erratic genius, came to our neighboring town of Marlboro', and in connection with Edwin Rice, of that town, commenced, the newspaper publishing business on a novel plan. By suitable changes of heading and dates, and local correspondence from the several towns in the vicinity of Marlboro', they made the same matter answer for a NEWSPAPERS. 393 local paper in each of these towns. We in this tovra were served with the Westboro' Transcript; and the editor of this paper under- took the ' local ' work, and persevered (under difficulties, at times) for eighteen months, when other duties interfered and he retired. The publication of the Westborough edition continued about a year longer ; but it never after had a regular local editor, and the interest formerly felt in the paper gradually decreased until its suspension." The new paper established itself at once in popular favor, and became, as it has since remained, a prominent and useful institution of the town. With the exception of four weeks after its office was destroyed by fire at the burning of Union Block, April 14, 1872, its regular weekly publication has been uninterrupted. It has undergone, meanwhile, many changes and improvements. At pres- ent it is a nine-column folio, — frequently with a large supplement in addition. Its name has been altered to Westborough Chronotype. The paper remained under the editorial management of Mr. Pierce imtil November i, 1869, when he retired to accept the position of Assistant- Engineer on the Providence Water- Works. H. H. Stevens, who had previously bought the interest of Mr. Hemen- way, became sole publisher and editor, and so remained until his death, September 26, 1871. Dr. Edwin B. Harvey, while Mr. Stevens's estate was being settled, conducted the paper for about six months. Its office was destroyed by fire, April 14, 1872. On May 18 following, A. J. Pres- cott & Son, having bought the subscription list .and good- will, began the publication of the paper in its present quarters. The senior partner of this firm was a woman. With her son, W. W. Prescott, she continued the busi- ness until May i, 1874, when R. F. Holton and C. H. Thurston, the present proprietors, purchased the paper 394 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. and printing-office. Under their management the Chrono- type has improved and flourished. About two years ago there seemed to be room in West- borough for a second paper, and William D. McPherson, of South Framingham, established The Westborough Trib- une. The first issue was dated November 29, 1888. The paper met at the outset with considerable encourage- ment, but from various causes — chiefly, perhaps, from the fact that it was printed out of town — interest in the enterprise declined. In the spring, Mr. McPherson gave up the personal oversight of the paper to Thomas Tresilian. The Union Publishing Company, however, — the owners of the Framitigham Tribune, with which Mr. McPherson was connected, — remained the proprietors. In July, 1889, when the paper was on the verge of ruin, it was taken from their hands by some Westborough men who considered it advantageous to the community to have the paper live. They soon placed it on a more profitable basis, and made efforts to secure the proper persons to manage it. In January, 1890, Ira M. Beaman and Albert E. Hoyt, young men from northern New York, bought the subscription-list and good-will. They established an excellent printing-office, and began a series of great im- provements in the paper. It was immediately enlarged from a seven-column folio to a six-column quarto, and all its interests were promoted with skill and energy. It is now issued from the office in Davenport's Block every Friday morning. The Westborough post-office was established March 6, 1 81 1. Nathan Fisher was the first postmaster. The office, it is said, was in the house now occupied by Miss Hannah Peters, on South Street. The second postmaster. Captain POST-OFFICE. 395 Silas Wesson, who was appointed December i6, 1820, moved the office to his tavern at the corner of the turnpike and the road now known as Lyman Street, and subse- quently to his new tavern near Willow Park. He remained postmaster until July 23, 1833, when his barkeeper, Daniel Baird, succeeded him. The name of the office had been officially changed to " North Westborough " in 1832, and a few months later to " Wessonville." This was on account of the establishment of another post-office in the centre of the town. Mr. Baird remained postmaster at Wesson- ville until March 25, 1836; Onslow Peters served from that time to May 27, 1836; and Captain Wesson, again be- coming postmaster, held the position from Mr. Peters's retirement until September 6, 1838. On that date — the building of the railroad through another part of the town having deprived the turnpike village of its importance — the post-office at Wessonville was discontinued. The first postmaster of the office in the centre after its re-establishment was Charles Parkman, the propri- etor of the village store. His appointment was dated March 16, 1832. Charles P. Jones succeeded him Octo- ber 18, 1834, and remained postmaster until August 31, 1835. On that date Daniel Holbrook was appointed. Although he held the position but two months, it is likely that he moved the office — probably not a very difficult task — from the Parkman Store to his own store across the street. Charles B. Parkman, however, who was appointed October 30, 1835, doubtless had it back in its old quarters without delay. Milton M. Fisher, who was appointed April 23, 1838, and his successor, Wel- lington L. G. Hunt, who was appointed November 5, 1839, had the office in the present Cobb's Block, then known 396 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. as the " Brick Block." Ethan Bullard succeeded Mr. Hunt December 30, 1847, and moved it back again to the old Parkman Store. Mr. Bullard's successor, appointed June 2, 1849, was John A. Fayerweather. Mr. Fayerweather states that during his term the annual income of the ofBce was between four and five hundred dollars. One mail in each direction arrived, and one departed, every morning. The boxes which were then used are now in the post-office at Southborough. In 1853 there was a change in the politics of the administration at Washing- ton, and Mr. Fayerweather gave place to Josiah A. Brig- ham, a staunch Democrat. The new postmaster moved the office to Corner Block (the site of the present Central Block), where it remained sixteen years. Josiah Childs succeeded Mr. Brigham April 22, 1861, and served until the appointment of Frank W. Bullard, April 22, 1869. Six weeks, after his appointment Mr. Bullard moved the office across the street to the new block which had been erected on the site of the Parkman Store. The new struc- ture thus became " Post-Office Block," — a name that it has not yet had occasion to change. At this time the number of mails each day had increased to six, — three arriving, and three departing. Mr. Bullard, whose loss ol a leg in the Civil War gave him a title to the consider- ation of the authorities, held the office until after the election of President Cleveland. His successor, Dennis D. Dinan, was appointed March 29, 1886. Three years later, — March 7, 1889, — the Republican party having again triumphed, President Harrison restored Mr. Bullard to the office which he had held so long. The Westborough post-office is now rated in the third class. There are twenty -two mails each day, — eleven BANKS. 397 "in," and eleven "out." The postmaster's salary is $1,900. During the last fiscal year, ending June 30, 1890, the in- come of the oflSce was over eight thousand dollars- There are two banks in Westborough, — the First Na- tional Bank and the Westborough Savings Bank. The former was chartered May 11, 1864. Its capital at the beginning was $100,000. It was afterwards increased to $150,000 for a few years, but is now at the original amount. John A. Fayerweather has been president since the bank was organized. Samuel M. Griggs was cashier two years, and since his retirement George O. Brigham has held the position. William A. Reed has been assis- tant-cashier during the last two years. The bank' had rooms in the old Corner Block until the erection of Post' Office Block, in 1869. Its present quarters were taken at that time. The Savings Bank was incorporated February 9, 1869. Cyrus Fay was president until his death, in 1 884 ; Edwin Bullard, the present president, was his successor. George O. Brigham has been treasurer from the beginning. The bank has done a large and growing business in a manner highly creditable to its managers. Its depositors last year numbered twenty-three hundred and thirteen. The following figures are from the Treasurer's Report for 1889: — Amount of deposits, Jan. 1, 1889 $667,701.86 " " received during the year . . . 179,391.12 " " withdrawn 142,971.13 " " Jan. I, 1890 704,121.85 Increase of " 36,419.99 The First District Court of Eastern Worcester '— which sits at Westborough Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, 398 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. and at Grafton Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays — was instituted by Act of the Legislature in 1872. It has juris- diction over the towns of Westborough, Grafton, North- borough, and Southborough. James W. White, of Grafton, was the first justice of the court. Mr. White died in Octo- ber, 187s, and William T. Forbes, of Westborough, the present judge of probate for Worcester County, became his successor. On Mr. Forbes's resignation, in 1879, Dexter Newton, of Southborough, was appointed justice. He died in September, 1890, and was succeeded by Ed- ward C. Bates, of Westborough. For the past fifteen years there have been two special justices. Benjamin B. Nourse, of Westborough, who still holds the ofRce, and Hubbard Willson, then of Southborough, were the first appointed. On Mr. Willson's resignation, in 1879, Luther K. Leland, of Grafton, became his successor. The judge's salary, when the court was instituted, was $800. It was cut down to $700 in 1879, but was afterwards re- stored to the original sum. It has since been increased to $1,000 per year. There are two State institutions in Westborough, — the Lyman School for Boys and the Westborough Insane Hospital. The Lyman School, which was known until four years ago as the State Reform School, was established — as Mr. De Forest has already stated -7- in 1 846.^ In that year the Legislature authorized a commission "to select and ob- tain, by gift or purchase," a site for a manual labor school for juvenile offenders, and authorized the Governor to draw his warrant for a sum not exceeding $10,000, to defray the expenses. This novel idea — that the State, as ^ See p. 229. THE LYMAN SCHOOL, 399 a body politic, should undertake the reformation, rather than merely the punishment, of youthful offenders — won the sympathy and support of many earnest and philan- thropic persons. Among them was the Hon. Theodore Lyman, of Brookline, who, deeming the appropriation in- sufficient for the object contemplated, gave $10,000 to- wards the general expenses. In the fall of 1846 the Board of Commissioners — which consisted of Alfred Dwight Fos- ter, Robert Rantoul, and Samuel H. Walley, Jr. — pur- chased, with General Lyman's gift, the Peters farm, on the north side of Lake Chauncy, in Westborough. In 1848 General Lyman provided money for buying additional land, and also made another donation of $io,coo. At his death, in 1849, he left $50,000 for the institution, — making a total contribution of $72,000. So persistently had he enjoined secrecy, and so well had the secret been kept, that " it was only when he was beyond the reach of human flattery or praise that the friends of the institution were apprised to whose great heart and generous hand they were indebted for its success." The original building was erected, at a cost of $52,000, in 1848. It had accommodations for three hundred boys. At the end of the first year the inmates, widely differing in age and length of sentence, numbered three hundred and ten. The institution from the outset was overcrowded. In 1852 the Legislature authorized an enlargement to accom- modate two hundred and fifty boys. The expense was $54,000. At the close of 1855 the number of inmates was five hundred and fifty-nine, and the average age twelve years and six months. The number remained about the same until 1859. In the summer of that year one of the inmates set fire to the institution, and it was partially 400 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. destroyed. The loss was about $50,000. This event, un- fortunate as it seemed, had a material effect upon the char- acter of the institution. During the first half of the decade already sketched, according to the Report of the Trustees for iS^6, "there was a school of three hundred boys, occu' pying a common yard and sitting at a common table | in the second half, a school of twice the number, having two yards for play and two dining-rooms: but there was no classification of the boys according to character, and the system known as 'the congregate system' alone prevailed. But the fire furnished the opportunity, as the reformation 6f the boys had previously the demand, for a separation of the! inmates into classes." In pursuance of this plan, the Legislature, following the urgent recommendations of Governor Banks, authorized the purchase of a ship, popu- larly known as " the school-ship," for the more hardened offenders. It also authorized the re-arrangement of a portion of the school into family groups of about thirty boys each, and reduced the maximum age of commit- ment to fourteen years. The new buildings were dedicated October lO; i860. In July, i860, fifty boys were transferred to the school- ship " Massachusetts." The courts sentenced the older bffenders to the ship, and the average age of boys com- mitted to the Reform School was reduced to eleven years. In 1865 the State purchased another school-ship, larger than the " Massachusetts," and named it in honor of George M. Barnard^ who contributed $5,000 towards its purchase. The school-ships, however, were sold after a few years, older boys were again sentenced to the Reform School, and in 1873 the average age of commitment had risen to fifteen years. The effect was disheartening. " It THE LYMAN SCHOOL. 4OI is now several years," said the Trustees in their Report for 1873, "since the adoption of a policy by which the char- acter of the institution has been gradually changing, — by which it is losing its character as a Reform School for Boys and becoming a place of confinement for criminals." They protested vigorously against the evils arising from the contact of the older and more vicious with the younger boys, but with no other effect than the appropriation of $90,000 in 1875, and $25,000 in 1876, for the erection and furnishing of additional buildings. In 1884 the maximum age of commitment was reduced from seventeen to fifteen years. The number of boys, from this cause and on ac- ppunt of the establishment of a reformatory at Concord, became smaller, and in April, 1885, — the Legislature having transferred the buildings for use as an insane hos- pital, — the school was moved to Willow Park. There were at this time about one hundred inmates. Their new home, beautifully situated on the southerly slope of a commanding hill, is unsurpassed as the site of a public institution. Here the State erected new buildings admi- rably adapted to the new conditions. The name of the school was changed to " The Lyman School for Boys." In their Report for 1887 the Trustees said: — "It is now two years since the old Reform School at West- borough was reorganized into the Lyman School and established in its present quarters. The reorganization consisted in more than' a change in location. The old congregate system, with its rule of bolts and bars, was changed into the family system in open houses, and the age of admission limited at fifteen instead of seventeen, as previously. . . . The school now consists of a farm of ninety- nine acres, on which stand farm buildings and four houses, entirely apart from each other. A family, consisting of master, matron, teach- ers, laundress, and about twenty-five boys, live in each house. Boys 402 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. of separate families are allowed to have no intercourse. They work when out of doors, each family under the supervision of its own mas- ter ; and each house has its own playground. The boys rise at five, have an hour in school from half-past five to half-past six, then break- fast, and work at housework, or on the farm, or in shops, from seven to half-past eleven. Dinner is at twelve. From one to half-past two is work again, then recreation for half an hour, and school from tliree to six ; after that, supper, recreation, and prayers, and bed-time at eight o'clock. In winter they get up at half-past five instead of five. Thus the division of the day is six hours for work, four for school, five for meals and recreation, and nine for sleep. The housework is done entirely by the boys, the oificers doing lit- tle but supervise ; and the prevailing order and cleanliness, and the cheerful faces of the little workers, are always pleasant to see. The boys are as efficient in the laundry and sewing-rooms as in the kitchen. During the year, 108,778 pieces have been washed and ironed, and 15,646 garments have been made in the sewing-room, besides much mending. Eight or nine boys are usually employed in the inside work. They prefer it to out-door work, and consider it a place of honor. But no boys are kept at inside work for more than three months." In 1888, the Wilson farm was purchased, and the house was refitted for another family of boys. This estate, sit- uated on the main road from Westborough to North- borough, adjoined the Lyman School farm. Another building, for which the appropriation was $16,000, is now being erected. The number of boys at the institution, June I, 1890, was one hundred and ninety-four; the number of officers, thirty-seven. The Superintendents have been as follows : — - William R. Lincoln . . 1848-1853 Allen G. Shepherd . . . 1873-1878 James M. Talcott . / . 1853-1857 Luther H. Sheldon . . 1878-1880 William E. Starr . . . 1857-1861 Edmund T. Dooley . . 1880-1881 Joseph A. Allen . . . 1861-1867 Joseph A. Allen . . . 1881-1885 Orville K. Hutchinson . 1867-1868 Henry E. Swan .... 1885-1888 Benjamin Evans . . . 1868-1873 Theodore F. Chapin . . 1888- ^C: (B^^uM^L^^z^ iyzi^^i^^ INSANE HOSPITAL. 403 The following Westborough men have served on the Board of Trustees : — ^ Nahum Fisher .... 1847-1849 George Denny .... 1847-1851 Daniel H. Forbes . . . 1851-1854 John A. Fayerweather . 1856-1859 Benjamin Boynton . Edwin B. Harvey . Lyman Belknap . . Melvin H. Walker . 1862-1864 1873-1878 1878-1884 1884- The Westborough Insane Hospital, a homoeopathic in- stitution, occupies the former site of the Reform School. It was incorporated June 3, 1884. The Legislature directed the transfer of the farm, comprising about two hundred and seventy-five acres, and the remodelling of the build- ings. On September 9, 1884, the Governor appointed the following Board of Trustees : Charles R. Codman, Henry S. Russell, Lucius G. Pratt, Francis A. Dewson, Archi- bald H. Grimke, Phoebe J. Leonard, and Emily Talbot. The Trustees selected as Superintendent Dr. N. Emmons Paine, of Albany, N. Y., who had been four years assist- ant physician at the Middletown (N. Y.) Hospital, — the first homoeopathic hospital for the insane in the United States. For making the necessary additions to the in- stitution, the Legislature authorized the expenditure of $150,000; but the plans were afterwards changed, and in May, 1886, it made an additional appropriation of ^180,000 for completing and furnishing the buildings. The hospital was opened for the reception of patients December i, 1886, when it received about two hundred inmates from the over-crowded institutions at other places. Though designed for the accommodation of four hundred and five patients, there has been a large excess over that number since the beginning of 1 889. At one time there were five hundred and seven inmates. The Report of Dr. Paine for 404 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. the year ending September 30, 1890, gives the following general statistics : — Patients in the Hospital, Sept. 30, 1889 Admissions within the year Whole number of cases within the year Discharged within the year viz. : as recovered much improved improved unimproved 4 Deaths Patients remaining Sept. 30, 1890 viz.: supported as State patients. . " town " " private " Number of patients in the year Daily average of patients Males. Females. 196 307 1 133 177 329 484 131 174 49 ss 26 so 18 29 . II 14 ; 27 26 ' 198 310 70 88 III 198 i 17 24 , 326 474 184.28 290.41 Total. S03 310 813 305 104 76 47 25 5? 508 158 309 41 800 474.69 The present officers are N. Emmons Paine, M. D., super- intendent; George S. Adams, M. D., Edward H. Wis wall, M. D., George O. Welch, M. D., and Ellen L. Keith, M. D., assistant physicians ; Willard D. Tripp, steward. Frank W. Forbes, of Westborough, is treasurer. The monthly pay-roll contains upwards of one hundred and fifty names. CHAPTER VII. 186O-1890. PROMINENT SOCIETIES. AMONG the institutions in Westborough are several societies which, on account of their age, size, or object, deserve some atttention in a history of the town. The number of benevolent, social, literary, and other organizations, considering the size of the place, is un- usually large. In the Annual Report of the Bureau of Statistics of Labor for 1880, where careful attention was given to the social condition of the various towns in the Commonwealth, Westborough, sharing the distinction with Milford, stood first in regard to social advantages among the towns of Worcester County; and among the two hundred and fifty-three towns and cities of the State which sent returns, it stood among the fifteen assigned to the first rank as "excellent." Since the publication of this Report a large number of societies with widely differing objects have been added to the list. The organization which for many years enjoyed the distinction of being the oldest, excepting, of course, the religious associations, was the Thief-detecting Society. It was formed March 6, 1839. On that date, as its records state, " a respectable number of the inhabitants of West- boro' met at the hotel of Dexter Brigham to take into consideration the importance of forming a society 406 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGp. for the detection of thieves and the recovery of stolen property." The directors of the society were authorized to offer rewards ; and there was a " detecting, or pursu- ing, committee" to follow and capture thieves. Nahum Fisher was the first president, and Milton M. Fisher the first clerk. Before the days of the railroad and the tele- graph, when the country was thinly settled, the organi- zation was very serviceable in recovering stolen property; but the improved means of communication long since de- prived the society of its original usefulness. Its roll of membership contains one hundred and forty-four names. In 1887, making a praiseworthy effort to keep abreast of the times, it changed its name to " The Westborough Park Association," and instead of chasing thieves, made the purchase of a public-pleasure ground its object. The officers are as follows: President, Dr. Francis E.Corey; vice-president, M. Gilman Davis; clerk, William A. Reed; treasurer, Charles S. Henry ; trustees, George O. Brigham, Edwin BuUard, and Alden L. Boynton. The society has about sixty members. The amount in its treasury is over four hundred dollars. A close second to the Thief-detecting Society in age was the Westborough Agricultural Society, the origin of which — in 1839 — has already been mentioned by Mr. De Forest.^ Its founders, as the records declare, were " convinced that a society of agriculturalists can more easily as well as more expeditiously than individuals col- lect and distribute such information as cannot but tend to increase the products and improve the soil." The original signers of the constitution, twenty-seven in num- ber, were as follows : — 1 See p. 228. PROMINENT SOCIETIES. 4^7 Lovett Peters, Nahum Fisher, Elmer Brigham, Elijah Brighain, James Leach, Charles B. Parkman, George Denny, Abijah Stone, Jabez G. Fisher, Jonathan Forbes, Holway Brigham, Sanford Ruggles, Luke Blake, Samuel Chamberlain, S. Deane Fisher, Hartwell Bullard, Otis Brigham, Abijah Wood, John R. Fay, Asa Sherman, Nathan E. Fisher, George O. Brigham, Ephraim T. Forbes, John A. Fayerweather, Aaron Sherman, Charles P. Rice, Josiah Brigham. The society holds frequent meetings for the discussion of agricultural topics, and also, at intervals of one or two years, fairs for the exhibition of stock and produce. Its fifty years of valuable service seems in no way to have decreased its usefulness and vigor. Another society, which is well supported by farmers and their families, is the Westborough Grange, No. ii6, Patrons of Husbandry. Its object is both social and edu- cational. It was instituted some six years ago, and has a membership of one hundred and thirty. Among the literary associations in Westborough, none has been more prominent, and none has done more for the good of the town, than the Westborough Young Men's Debating Society. Though it is now apparently nearing its end, its record has been too creditable to pass unno- ticed. The society was organized December 29, 1 870, with a membership of seventeen young men. Its object was to train its members in parliamentary practices and to give them experience in debate and literary exercises. 408 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. The meetings were held every Monday evening from Oc- tober to June. A " public debate " was generally held at the first meeting in every month, and for many years attracted a large audience. A paper, known as The Uni- versal Disputant, added spice to the other exercises on these occasions. The society had a library of a hundred and fifty volumes. A good part of it was the gift of Dr. William Curtis, a staunch friend of the society, who left at his death a legacy of two hundred dollars for its ben- efit. The society's roll of membership contains the names of over two hundred young men, many of whom are now achieving eminence in the pulpit, at the bar, and in poli- tics, where their early training in the Debating Society is showing its value. For many years the society conducted a course of lectures and entertainments in the Town Hall. Under its auspices have appeared Wendell Phillips, Wil- liam Parsons, Archibald Forbes, Schuyler Colfax, Mary A. Livermore, De Witt Talmage, and other eminent lec- turers. The society's annual dramatic entertainment was a feature of the season, and its annual reunion was always an enjoyable and successful event. The organization, how- ever, was encroached upon by many newer societies. It has recently given up its rooms and sold its furniture. Another society which formerly flourished was the West- borough Reform Club. It was organized August 7, 1876, for the purpose of assisting in the reform of those who were addicted to the use of intoxicating liquors, and to arouse public sentiment to a realizing sense of the evils of intem- perance. During its earlier years the club made a vigor- ous fight against the liquor traffic. To the agitation which it caused is due much of the peace and prosperity of Westborough at the present time. The club held many PROMINENT SOCIETIES. 409 meetings for the discussion of tlie " rum question," and entertained many of the famous temperance agitators of the day. Mrs. Malloy, of IlUnois, the well-known lec- turer, was a valuable assistant of the organization in its earlier struggles. The Reform Club has gradually died out, though not on account of indifference towards the temperance question. In addition to temperance societies in the churches, there is at present the Welcome Lodge, No. 1 50, In- dependent Order of Good Templars. Its rooms are in Grand Army Block. The lodge was instituted March 9, 1883, and has about seventy members. The most prominent secret societies, it is perhaps need- less to say, are the Odd Fellows and the Masons. The former were the first to obtain a foothold in Westborough. Hockomocko Lodge, No. 79, I. O. O. F., was instituted July 15, 1845. Meetings were held for some time in the third story of the "Old Arcade," but March 9, 1847, the Lodge gave up its charter. It was re-instituted March II, 1875. From 1875 to 1880 its meetings were held in Masonic Hall. In the latter year its quarters in Daven- port's Block were completed and dedicated. The mem- bership of the Lodge is over two hundred. Connected with it is the Hockomocko Relief Association, established March 27, 1882, for the purpose of assisting members in case of sickness, and their families in case of death. Its membership is about one hundred. Laurel Degree Lodge, No. 44, Daughters of Rebecca, — a society for the wives, daughters, and sisters of Odd Fellows, — was instituted March 11, 1885. Its membership is one hundred and fifty. Siloam Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, was insti- tuted in 1866. For two years its rooms were in the old 4IO LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. Union Block, but since 1869 it has occupied half of the third story of Post-Office Block. It has one hundred and thirteen members. Bethany Chapter, No. 13, Order of the Eastern Star, which is composed of Masons and members of their families, was instituted March 9, 1883. Its mem- bers number one hundred and seventeen. Division No^ 20, Ancient Order of Hibernians, which has a membership of about sixty, was instituted April 9, 1875. Its rooms are in the upper story of the building occupied by D. S. Dunlap & Son. The Village Improvement Society was organized Novem- ber 8, 1878, with the following officers : President, George O. Brigham; vice-presidents, John A. Fayerweather and George N. Smalley ; secretary, John W. Brittan ; treasurer, Charles S. Henry. It was modelled after the Laurel Hill Association, of Stockbridge, a full account of which was given in Scribner's Magazine, May, 1877. Its object, as stated in the constitution, is as follows : — " The object of this association shall be to improve and orna- ment the streets and public grounds of the village by planting and cultivating trees, establishing and maintaining walks, grading and draining roadways, establishing and protecting good grass-plots and borders in the streets and public squares, securing a proper public supply of water, establishing and maintaining such sewerage as shall be needed for the best sanitary condition of the village, providing public fountains and drinking-troughs, breaking out paths through the snow, lighting the streets, encouraging the formation of a library and reading-room, and generally doing whatever may tend to the improvement of the village as a place of residence." The town has attended to many of these matters, but the society has found ample field for its exertions. The reports of the treasurer show that over two thousand dol- INSURANCE ORDERS. 41 1 lars has been expended for improvements. Among the society's most important work have been the setting out of nine hundred shade-trees in different parts of the town, the erection of a fountain in front of the Soldiers' Monu- ment, the grading and fencing of the triangles at the junc- tion of School and South Streets and at the junction of Church and Milk Streets, and the placing of drinking- fountains in the Square and at the head of School Street. Perhaps more important than all is its success in arousing interest in the subject of local improvements and in stimulating citizens to individual exertions. The past few years have seen the organization of many insurance orders. At present six of them are represented in Westborough, as follows : — Parkman Council, No. 297, Royal Arcanum, instituted in 1879, has sixty-eight members. Westborough Lodge, No. 91, Order of United Working-men, instituted October 26, 1887, has fifty members. Chauncy Lodge, No. 130, Fraternal Circle, instituted July 11, 1889, has thirty-five members. Westborough Lodge, No. 24, Order of ^gis, instituted Septem- ber 21, 1889, has about twenty members. Arcadian League, No. 11, American Protective League, insti- tuted in 1889, has one hundred and six members. Mount Pleasant Commandery, No. 13, Order of the Golden Grail, instituted June 14, 1890, has forty-four members. There was a post of the Grand Army of the Republic, known as John Sedgwick Post, No. 21, G. A. R., organized in Westborough, September 24, 1867. It was named in honor of the gallant General Sedgwick, Commander of the Sixth Corps, who fell at Spottsylvania. The Post existed about four years. On June 18, 1881, the present orga- 412 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. nization, Arthur G. Biscoe Post, No. 80, G. A. R., was formed, with fifty-one charter members. It was named in honor of a comrade in the ranks, afterwards a prominent •Westborough lawye'r, who served in Company E, Fifty- first Regiment, M. V. M. The membership of the Post is one hundred and twenty-three. It has excellent rooms in the new Grand Army Block on South Street. Its relief fund amounts to about twenty-three hundred dollars. The Woman's Relief Corps, an auxiliary organization, was formed January i, 1887. Its membership is about one hundred. The Frank L. Stone Encampment, No. y6, Sons of Veterans, named after Dr. Stone of Westborough, was organized May 12, 1887. It has a membership of thirty-six. Of the " labor organizations " in Westborough, the largest, oldest, and most prominent is the Westborough Assembly, 4,191, Knights of Labor. It was organized September 9, 1884. Its membership at one time was over seven hundred, but at present it is less than three hundred. The Assembly has over a thousand dollars in its treasury. Connected with the Knights of Labor in a league, offen- sive and defensive, is the New England Lasters' Protective Union. This organization has a strong and well-organized branch in Westborough. It was formed August 10, 1887, and has nearly a hundred members. A branch of the Boot and Shoemakers' International Union, which has at present two hundred members, has recently been organ- ized. There has been comparatively little trouble in Westborough, it may be well to add, between the manu- facturers and their employees. The Young Men's Christian Association was organized B m o til o 1] tpq a BOARD OF TRADE. 413 August 8, 1888, with the following officers: Winfield P'. Porter, president; G. Milton Fisher, vice-president;, Charles B. Tewksbury, secretary; and Charles H. Howard* treasi^rer. Its object, as stated in the constitution, is; " th:e improvement of the spiritual, mental, social, and physical condition of young men." Winfield P. Porter is the general secretary. There are over a hundred members; The Association has pleasant rooms in Grand Army Block. It has a library of two hundred and fifty volumes:. The reading-room is well supplied with papers, and the amusement room with games. The Association con^ ducts a course of lectures and entertainments each winter. Among the presents which it has received is the income . of $1,000 from the late William R. Gould. The Aux- iliary Association, which was formed May 24, 18819, has one hundred and seventy members> The Westborough Board of Trade succeeded the Busi- ness Men's Association, organized May 10, 1886, whicJi had failed to meet the expectations of its founders. It was formed January 27, 1890. Its object, as stated in the constitution, is as follows : — " The object of the association shall be to encourage and pro- mote the growth of manufactures and other industries within the town of Westborough ; to acquire, preserve, and disseminate in- formation regarding the industrial advantages, opportunities, and developments of the town and vicinity ; and to assist in all lawful and honorable ways in the cultivation of a spirit of harmonious progress, and a disposition to intelligent co-operation on the part of all citizens for whatever will conduce to the general interest and welfare of the community." The Board of Trade has eighty-thfee members. Its officers are as follows : President, Melvin H, Walker ; vice- 414 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. president, Bowers C. Hathaway; secretary, Eugene E. Dunlap; treasurer, Frank V. Bartlett. There are stand- ing committees on manufactures, railroad matters, trade, reception, soliciting and advertising, and sanitation. The Westborough Historical Society is one of the re- cent organizations. It was incorporated February 28, 1889, with twenty- three charter members. The present membership is about forty. The following officers have served since the Society was organized: President, John A. Fayerweather ; vice-president, Benjamin B. Nourse; secretary and treasurer, Charles S. Henry; directors, William T. Forbes, Edward C. Bates, and Abbie F. Judd. The object of the organization is " the investigation of matters of local history, the collection of objects of his- torical and scientific interest, and the maintenance of a library." The Society has already acquired many inter- esting relics, and as soon as it has secured proper quarters it is expected that its collection will show rapid growth. CHAPTER VIII. 1876-1890. WATERWORKS. — PHENOMENA. — NEW BULDINGS. — OTHER IMPROVEMENTS. THE most important of the public improvements which have marked the past fifteen years was the introduction of Sandra water in 1879. For a dozen years or more, the need of a better supply of water, especially for fire purposes, had frequently been brought to the attention of the town ; but the first record of any public action is in the report of a town-meeting held August i, 1870. The tenth article in the warrant read as follows: " To see if the tovra will take any measures to obtain water from Mr. Christopher Whitney's hill, or any other source more practi- cable, for the use of the village, or act anything thereon." The matter was referred to the engineers of the fire department, but no further action resulted. The burning of Union Block, April 14, 1872, again brought the subject into prominence. At a meeting held May 20, 1 872, there was an article in the warrant to see if the town would take measures to introduce water from outside the centre of the village. It was voted that the selectmen, — Daniel F. Newton, William M. Child, and B. Alden Nourse, — with Charles H. Pierce and Sherman Converse, be a committee to investigate the subject. At an adjourned meeting, June 41 6 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. 17, the selectmen were instructed to petition the Legisla- ture at its next session for authority " to bring water from any of the streams or ponds within the limits of the town ; " and the committee previously chosen were authorized to expend a sum not exceeding five hundred dollars in further investigation. The petition of the selectmen was duly presented to the Legislature, and an Act was passed, -^ approved March I Si 1873, — granting the desired authority. The committee chosen May 20, 1872, issued a printed report, in which the whole matter of a water-supply was thoroughly and ably discussed. The engineer, Charles H. Pierce, recommended Sandra Pond and Jackstraw Brook as the best source of supply. So strong was the opposition at the town-meeting, April 11, 1873, that be- sides accepting the Act of the Legislature, no action was tak-en. At a later meeting, July 2, — shortly after the dis- astrous fire on South Street, — the town chose as water commissioners Reuben Boynton for three years, Sherman Converse for two years, and Josiah Childs for one year, and instructed them to prepare and report a plan for a better supply of water for fire purposes. At an adjourned nle'eting, July 30, the commissioners submitted two plans. Neither was satisfactory to the town. The wisdom of intro- ducing water for fire purposes only was generally doubted, dhd f-eceived little support from the commissioners. During the two following years various plans were pro- posed, but no important action was taken until July 8, 1875, when the broad question of a waiter Supply for all purposes came before the town. After another long dis- cussion, the commissioners -^ Reuben Boynton, Sherman Converse, and George N. Smalley — were instructed to WATERWORKS. 417 procure the services of a competent engineer for making further surveys and estimates. At an adjourned meet- ing, August 4, the commissioners presented the report of Phinehas Ball, of Worcester, the engineer whom they had chosen. After considering all the plans, Mr. Ball recom- mended Sandra Pond and Jackstraw Brook, ^ — just as Mr. Pierce had done in 1873. The expense, according to his estimate, would be about $40,000. The report of the commissioners came before the town for action August 21 ; but a motion to construct waterworks in accordance with Mr. Ball's recommendations was laid on the table by a decisive vote. For three years the town took no further action. • The .subject, however, was frequently discussed, and its, import- ance became more and more manifest. In 1878 there was a favorable opportunity for carrying out the project. Iron and other materials were exceptionally low, and labor was plenty. At a town-meeting held September 16, it was finally voted, on motion of George O. Brigham, that "The water commissioners be and they are hereby authorized and directed to contract for the works necessary to supply this town with water from Sandra Pond, so caUed, substantially in accordance with the plan of Chas. H. Pierce, civil engineer, which I, herewith present, with such changes and modifications as may in the progress of the work appear advisable, provided the sum stipu- lated to be paid for the same shall not exceed the sum of J3 1,000, exclusive of land and water damages, and that said water commis- sioners have full power to take and hold according to law, for the town of Westborough, any and all lands, waters, and Water rights which may be necessary for the construction of said works, and to •enable the town to obtain the full benefit of the 77th chapteriof the Acts of the Legislature for the year 1873, and that saidcoiji- missioners have power to perform such other acts in the name, of 41 8 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. the town as may be necessary to obtain the benefit of said chapter, and that the bonds of the town of Westborough, payable in thirty years from this date, with interest payable semi-annually at the rate of five per cent per annum, to be denominated 'Westborough Water Bonds,' signed by the town treasurer and countersigned by the majority of the selectmen, be issued to an amount not exceed- ing in the whole $30,000, to pay for the construction of said water works and land and water damages connected therewith, in accord- ance with the provisions of said 77th chapter, and the said water commissioners and the town treasurer be a committee for the sale of said bonds, and that said committee be hereby authorized to sell said bonds in behalf of the town at public or private sale at such times, in such amounts, and for such prices as the said com- mittee may deem expedient." Mr. Pierce's plan, as stated in his subsequent report to the town, was as follows : — "This scheme contemplated putting Sandra Pond in suitable condition for present use as a reservoir; constructing a gate chamber ; laying a leading main from the reservoir to the junction of South and School Streets, and supply mains in South Street, and in East and West Main Streets, the latter extending from High to Church Streets ; and setting the proper number of hydrants upon the contemplated mains. All appurtenances necessary to efficient service, both immediate and future, were to be provided ; and the mains were to be of sufficient capacity to meet the respec- tive demands upon them whenever the supply should be generally extended. In short, the proposed work was to be considered and treated as a part and basis of a future completed system, however disproportionate to immediate requirements it might seem to be." The pond chosen for a reservoir is situated about two miles from the Square, in the southern part of the town. it was formerly flowed sufiEiciently for mill purposes. The present upper basin served as a cranberry- meadow. Many 3) M I— I d m Q M O a WATERWORKS. 419 persons, who " always lived in the neighborhood of the pond," foreboded lack of water in dry seasons; but the engineers made no mistake in promising an abundant supply. The pond is fed from a watershed of six hundred and seventy-five acres, providing in the dryest seasons 275,000,000 gallons of water.- Its height above the level of the Square is one hundred and thirty-eight feet. The work of putting the pond in proper condition began at once, and on November 23 the reservoir was ready to receive water. The remainder of the work was postponed until spring. On January 16, 1879, the contract, covering material and labor for mains, gate, hydrants, and other appurtenances, complete and ready for service, — includ- ing a guarantee to maintain the integrity of their work for one year, — was awarded to R. D. Wood & Co., of Phila- delphia. The amount to be paid was $14,550. The con- tractors began work April 28, and June 20, when water was let into the mains and the hydraulic-pressure test applied, the undertaking was practically accomplished. The works had been built at a peculiarly favorable time. The cost for material and labor a year later, according to the commissioners, would have increased the outlay forty per cent. Under authority granted by the town March 3, 1879, the water commissioners bought the Sandra farm, con- taining about thirty-one acres, for $2,374. The water privileges bought amounted to $4,248.75 ; and the amount of damages awarded was $14,689.28. Some fault was found with the quality of the water for a year or two after the completion of the works. In the summer of 1880 it was unfit for use. By vote of the town, the commissioners drew off about four fifths of the 420 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. "WJE^ter-, and cleaned the 'basin and margin of the pond. The water was again bad during the hot weather of 1882. -The commissioners consulted a civil engineer, Percy JVL iBlake, who recommended the building of a dam between the uppef and lower basins. The same remedy was again suggested for the scarcity of water in 1886. Phinehas Ball was the engineer consulted. In accordance with his plans, a dam was built between the two basins, raising the water in the upper pond five feet above the former high- water mark. The result, with reference both to the quan- tity and quality of water, has been a complete success. The pipes have been extended in all parts of the town. The mains are twelve miles in length, and the number of service-pipes — supplying houses, factories, and the rest — is over six hundred. There are seventy-nine hydrants. The total cost of the water works is. about $195,000.:; the income has been about $75,000. The net cost is therefore about $120,000; but this sum by no means represents the valiie of the waterworks in convenience, in protection from fires, and in the prevention of disease. On Se|^tember 6, 1881, the people of New England enjoyed, or at least experienced, a repetition of the phe- nomenon which had so impressed their forefathers a cen- tury before. I refer to the " yellow " day. There had be-en great forest fires to the north and west, and smoke again wrapped this section of the country in a dense cloud. The sun rose like an orb of bronze. Early in the fore- noon a strange darkness — not merely making the sur- roundings dim, but giving everything a ghastly, lurid hue — began to settle upon the earth. The effect in Westborough is described in the following contemporary account, clipped from the Chronotype: -^ THE "yellow" day. 421 "The dark day i of 1780 has been often spoken of, but the dark day of 1 88 1 must take its place with it, and pass into [history as a phenomenon of our time. So dark was it that in this and other towns hereabouts the schools were dismissed, and business in the manufacturing establishments quite suspended. Lamps were lighted, which had the appearance of electric lights. All Nature seemed to put on a new dress, and in some instances the scene was enchanting. The air was so still that hardly a leaf moved, and the atmosphere was very oppressive. The heavens seemed to have donned a new dress, of a greenish yellow, as far as the eye could reach, without a break to relieve the monotony. Astonishment was pictured on many a countenance, and people were out in all directions, beholding the sight with great wonderment. Various were the interrogatories as people met on the street, the more common being, 'What does all this mean?^ 'Did you ever see the like before?' 'Is the world coming to an end?' etc. No fiilly satisfactory answer has been given to the question, 'What caused it?' Many theories are advanced, but the one generally believed is that .it was because of extensive forest fires in Canada. It is known that on that day a conjunction of the planet Uranus and the sun took place, and some attribute it to that fact. Others thought the comet's tail had switched itself defiantly into the world's face. The day following was one of intense heat, — such heat as has rarely been experienced in this latitude. Whether the one had anythipg to do with the other, is a question for scientists to decide. If so, then the smoke theory would have to stand aside. But whatever was the cause, it was a remarkable sight, such as has not been witnessed before by the oldest inhabitant, and probably will not be again for a long time to come." There have been other occurrences in recent years that deserve mention. On August 10, 1884, an earthquake, which jarred the whole Atlantic coast, gave Westborough a perceptible shake. In the fall of the same year — owing, many scientists affirm, to volcanic dust from the eruptions at Krakatau, near Java, during the preceding spring — 422 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. there was a period of the most gorgeous red sunsets. On March I2, 1888, and the two following days, occurred the great blizzard, which interrupted communication by rail or .wire and caused great damage to property and business. It was even more disastrous than the great storm of March 21, 1868. The latter is chiefly memorable in West- borough from the fact that it required six yoke of oxen to drag a hearse, mounted on an ox-sled, from the poor- farm to the cemetery in the village. These storms, as well as the earthquake and the sun- sets, were shared with the outside world ; but on October 10, 1884, the people of Westborough had a phenomenon of their own, which produced hardly less wonder than the more general events. It is remembered as " the dark morning." A large area of sprout and woodland in Cedar Swamp had been burning for several days, and one of its results was thus described by the Chronotype: — " The smoke from the fires was more or less disagreeable dur- ing the early part of the week, particularly to sleepers with open chamber windows ; but the height of the calamity was reached on Wednesday morning, when even the earliest risers found the vil- lage enveloped in smoke, accompanied by a light fog. The sun rose and shone on other points in regal splendor, but nearly the whole of our village was even then in total darkness. The old saying, ' Could n't see my hand before me,' was almost literally true, for a person five feet away was wholly concealed by the dense smoke. A familiar voice a few feet distant would tell that an acquaintance was near, but no one in sight. Milkmen were un- able to find their customers, tin-horns were used for safety-signals, but few teams ventured out, and even at a walking gait collisions occurred. One man lost his team, being unable to find the spot where he had hitched his horse, and another led his horse to an- other man's bam on East Main Street, thinking it was his own, "THE DARK MORNING." 423 that stood half a mile away. Another could not find his boarding- house in going from his lodging rooms, and still another was lost in front of the Westborough Hotel. The engineer of a morning down-train said he entered the fog and smoke at the first railroad bridge above the village, and he then ' slowed up ' and ran slowly until passing into clear atmosphere at Cordaville. The smoke- cloud extended to the north end of the village, to the Blake Place on West Main Street, and on East Main Street to Selectman Harrington's. At 8 o'clock a. m. the mists began to roll away, and at 8.30 the bright sunshine and a summer atmosphere heralded one of the most delightful days of the season. Tliroughout the darkness, in rooms with closed windows, the morning papers could be easily read without artificial light. With all the great difificulty of locomotion outdoors, there was much fun in the novel situation of things, and no accidents occun-ed." Early in the morning of April 5, 1886, occurred the only disastrous fire since the introduction of Sandra water. Owing partly to the headway which the fire had obtained, and the combustibility of the buildings, and partly to the smallness of the pipe which fed the hydrants in the neigh- borhood, the large shop on Milk Street and the Catholic church were burned to the ground. The loss was esti- mated at $42,ocx). The shop, which was occupied by George B. Brigham & Sons, and Smith, Brown & Co., boot and shoe manufac- turers, was owned by the Westborough Factory Associ- ation. Strenuous efforts were at once made, and the present building, occupied by Gould & Walker, was soon erected in its place. The destruction of the Catholic church hastened the erection of the present edifice at the corner of Main and Ruggles Streets, where a lot had been purchased in 1873. The rectory had been built some years before, and the 424 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. members of the church had long looked forward to the building of a new house of worship. Shortly after the fire, more land was purchased, and the present gymnasium was fitted up for a temporary chapel. On August i, 1888, the corner-stone of the new church was laid, Avith .apprqpriate services. Bishop Keane, rector of the Ca- tholic University at Washington, delivered the sermon. Through the untiring energy of the Rev. John J. McCoy and the faithful support of his parishioners, the building was completed in the spring of 1889. The ceremonies of dedication — which took place. May 30, the Feast of the Ascension — were conducted by the Rev. Thomas Griffin, chancellor of the diocese, assisted by a large number of th^ clergy. The Rev. Father Griffin, with the Rev. Edmund D. Casey, of Williamstown, as deacon, and the Rev. Patrick Boyle, of Beverly, as sub-deacon, celebrated the solemn high mass. The master of ceremonies was the Rev. J. F. Redican, of Cordaville. The sermon, a forcible and effec- tive discourse, based on the first chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, was delivered by the Rev. Francis McCarthy, S. J., of New York. The church is a beautiful structure. Its design and finish are admirably set forth in the follow- ing description from The Messenger : — "The church, though in part a wooden structure, and on the outside. running to simple architectural lines, is yet in its interior finish a model of massive strength, combined writh exquisite har- mony of color, tone, and decoration. Indeed, so striking is this prevailing tone of harmony, so perfect is each effect in keeping with every other and with the whole, that one feels forced to bor- row the words of Sir Walter Scott and describe the result in its still, harmonious beauty as being like frozen music. The church is finished in Romanesque style, the .prevailing dharacteristlc of which CD H r a w o a a o > d a o o NEW CATHOLIC CHURCH. 425 is the founded arches as distinguishedi fEom the pointed arches of the Gothic style. Two rows of massive square columns divide the church into three aisles. Each column is surmounted by an ela- borate capital somewhat resembling the Corinthian in ornamenta'- tion ; from each of these spring four arches, those of the centre aisle rising to an imposing height and giving as one enters the edifice an appearance of strength and grandeur that is particularly striking and appropriate. In the spaces on the ceiling between the main arches are paintings of great beauty and unusual artistic merit, representing in the order named: the Annunciation, the Nativity of our Lord, the Adoration of the Wise Men, Christ bless- ing Little Children, the Crucifixion, and the Ascension. In the sanctuary on either side of the high altar are beautiful life-size paintings of the Last Supper and the Marriage Feast of Cana of Galilee. " The frescoing of the church is very fine and deserving of special notice. In addition to the paintings above mentioned, the spaces on the ceiling of the side aisles are decorated with special and appropriate designs, emblematic of the sacraments of the Church, while the walls and columns are finished in soft tints of brown, relieved with judicious ornamentation of gold and lighter colors. The pews are of a dark-brown color and are very handsome in design, the backs being of open work of an ornamental character. " The altars, three in number, are very chaste and beautiful,, and in their rounded lines and subdued tints of cream and gold harmo- nize perfectly with the general character of the sacred edifice. The high altar especially, with its background of beautiful paintings, Stained glass windows representing Saint dornelius, Saint Luke, and Saint Margaret, and the graceful lines of the sanctuary, supported by carved angelic figures, forms a picture that not only satisfies the artistic perceptions, but lifts the soul to the contemplation of Him in whose honor the beautiful edifice has been erected and to whose service it is now forever dedicated by the solemn ritual of His Holy Church. "The windows are of stained glass finely executed, and are embeUished with pictures of saints and religious symbols. The windows are gifts to the church from Rev. Thomas Griffin, Rev. 426 LATER HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. J. J. McCoy, Hubbard Willson, Patrick Brady, Patrick Murphy, John Dee, Joseph Wheeler, T. McEnany, and other members of the congregation. A beautiful sanctuary lamp was presented by ladies of Worcester." In addition to the introduction of Sandra water and the erection of new buildings, the past fifteen years have seen numerous improvements in the appearance and condition of the town. The extension of concrete sidewalks, the setting out of hundreds of shade-trees, and the better care of highways, have done much to increase its attractiveness. Since 1887 — when the Westborough Electric Light Company was organized by Christopher Whitney, William T. Forbes, Henry K. Taft, George O. Brigham, and Thomas T. Robinson — electric lights have come into use for light- ing the streets, the town hall, several of the churches, many stores and offices, and some dwellings. In 1887, Dr. William Curtis left a legacy of $1,000 each to the town and to the Catholic church for the construc- tion of gateways at the entrances of Pine Grove Cemetery and the Catholic Cemetery. The work at each place has been well performed. The new buildings which have been erected, — dwell- ings, factories, and business blocks, — are for the most part ornamental and substantial structures. The new engine-house, the school-house on Phillips Street, the new home for paupers, and some other buildings have already been mentioned. In 1880, Alvan Davenport erected his four-story brick block on Summer Street. The Whitney House, erected by Christopher Whitney in 188 1, is a hand- some four-story brick block, with stores on the ground- floor and hotel above. The town had long felt the need of a new hotel, and Mr. Whitney's enterprise and public M HI O NEW BUILDINGS. 42/ spirit in erecting such an excellent building deserve a word of praise. In 1882, Mrs. M. L. Bragg built a three- story wooden building next to her residence on South Street. Park Building, an excellent brick block, was erected by Charles S. Henry, in the same year. C. D. Cobb & Co. erected their brick store-house on Milk Street in 1886, using the site of an old wooden building, which was burned in 1881. In 1884, the Methodists erected their excellent parsonage at the corner of Church and Heath Streets. Gould's Block, on Milk Street, was erected by William R. Gould in 1887. In 1888, John E. Day, of Worcester, removed the old Parker house on South Street, and erected Grand Army Block on the site. In 1889, he erected Curtis Block — three one-story stores — on East Main Street. The " Old Arcade " at last, after a hundred and forty years of service, has yielded to the demands of trade. Alvan N. Davenport is erecting on the site of the old meeting-house a handsome brick block, — " Arcade Building " it is to be called, — more ornamental and serviceable, if not more interesting, than the familiar landmark which it displaces. APPENDIX. APPENDIX. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. THE Committee in charge of the town history have thought it advisable to supplement the preceding pages with brief sketches of citizens who have been active in making the town's history what it is. Prominence in town affairs — in both munici- pal and business matters — has been the general test in making a selection ; but it is unavoidable that sketches of many worthy men, whom their friends deem not less prominent than some whose names appear, should be omitted. All will agree, however, that the men whose biographies are here given deserve the honor, and that sketches of their lives make the history more complete. Ebenezer Parkman. For an account of the life of the Rev. Ebenezer Parkman the reader is referred to the early pages of the preceding history. His life was too intimately interwoven with town and ecclesiastical affairs to be treated apart from them. Breck Parkman. The eleventh child of the Rev. Ebenezer Parkman was Breck, so called after the family name of his mother, Hannah, daughter of the Rev. Robert Breck, of Marlborough. She was Mr. Parkman's second wife, whom he had married in 1737. Breck was born January 27, 1748. His youth was spent in farming, and in learning the carpenter's trade. In 1777 he married Susanna, daughter of Col. Levi Brigham, of Northborough, and soon afterwards established the first village store. The 432 APPENDIX. building which he occupied — using one part for his store, and the other for his dwelling — now stands at the corner of South and Cedar Streets. It originally stood between the meeting-house and the parsonage. Subsequently Breck Parkman, in company with Elijah Brigham, afterwards prominent as a judge and mem- ber of Congress, built a store on Main Street. The building now stands in the rear of Central Block. Afterwards, their sons having become of age, the partnership was dissolved, and Mr. Parkman built the old structure on the site of the present Post- Office block. It was known, until its destruction by fire in 1868, as the "Parkman Store." Breck Parkman died Fdbruary 3, 1*25 ; his wife, Susanna, died November 10, 1834. Their children were Hannah Breck, Susanna Brigham, Charles, Robert Breck, Anna (or Nancy), Mary Augusta, and Charlotte Sophia. The "latter became the wife of George Denny, a prosperous Boston merchant and the president of the Granite Bank. He resided for many years in Westborough on the estate now owned by tJie Rev. J. D. Potter. Chari.es Farkmai^. Charles Parkman, the third cjiild and old- est son of Breck ^nd Susajjna Psrkm.ai}, was born in Westborough May 26, 1785. He graduated from Harvard College in 1803, and entered his father's store in Westborough. On January 26, 1810, he was married to Joanna Phillips Fay, daughter of Jonathan Fay, Egq., of Concord, Mass. She was born October 27, 1784, and died December 3, i82;6. The children of Charles and Joanna iParknnan were Joanna Fay (Rising), Charles Breck, Mary Augusta, Lucy Prescott (Fisher), Susan Brigham, Hannah Sophia (Taft), Samuel, and Maria Denny Parkman (Leach). On his father's death, in 1^25, Charles Parkman succeeded him, and carried on the store until he died, September 13, 1834. He was postmaster from ■ the rerestablishment of the post-office at Westborough, March 16, 1832, until his death. For many years he was captain of the Light Infantry Company. In 1829 he served as j'epresentative to the General Court. From i8r6 to 1829 he was treasurer of the town. In all local matters he took a prpminent and influential part. ^J^ ' :;?*: ^if ^^ ?«""^^% •*\\\x djttUJ, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 433 Charles B. ParkmaN. Ofi the death Of Charles Parkman, in 1834, his son Charles B. succeeded him, and earried on the store for a few years. This son, who Was bOfn in Westborough June 13, 1813, had graduaited from Harvard College iii June, 1834, *^ about thtee mo&ths before his father's death. The I'oSs of his father making it necessary for him to abandon all thoughts of studying for a profession, he devoted his time to settTiJng the estate. From October 30, 1835^ to April 23, 1838^ he was postftiaster at West- borough. After spending only a few years in this town he moved West. He resided successively in St. Louis, among the miners in California, at Madison, Ind., and finally in Indianapolis. There he became secretary of the indianapolis RoUing-Mill Company, hold- ing this position for some twenty years before his death, which occurred June 26, 1885. Mr. Parkman was an exceptionally gen'- erous and warm-hearted matn, with qualities that endeared him to hosts of friends. Elijah Brtgham. AmOng the sons Of David Brighafti, one of the pioneer settlers, was Levi, who was bom in 17 16. He mar- ried Susanna Grout, and settled on the northern part of his father's extensive farm. He was a selectman Of WestborOugh in 1763^ and after the division of the town (his farm lying to the north of the dividing line) he held the same office for many years in Northbor- oughi Breck Parkman married his daughter Susanna. Levi Brig- ham had nine children. Elijah, the subject of this sketch, who was born July 7, 1751, was the fourth. He gradtiated from Dart^ mouth College in 1778 and began to study law. He changed his plans before being admitted to the Bafj and settled in Westborough as a merchant. In 1780 he married Ann Sophia, daughter of the Rev. Ebenezer Parkman. At het death, three years later, she left two children, Anna Sophia and Elijah. In 1:786 Mr. Brigham mar- ried Mrs. Sarah Hammock, of Marlborough, Who, dying a yeaf later, left one child, Sally. His third Wife, to whom he was married in 1792, was Sarah, daughter of the famous patriot. Gen. Artemas Ward, of Shrewsbury. She lived until 1838. • Her children were Ann Maria, who married Ebenezer M, Phillips, Sally Sophfonia, Dana Ward, Susanna Waltet, and Catherine Martha Birighatri. 434 APPENDIX. Mr. Brigham, who is better known from his subsequent title as " Judge " Brigham, took an active part in public affairs. In 1785, and from 1789 to 1796, he served as selectman. He represented Westborough in the Legislature in 1791 and 1793. He also served twelve years in the Massachusetts Senate, and two years on the Governor's Council. For sixteen years he was a judge of the Court of Common Pleas for Worcester County. He was a mem- ber of Congress from 1810 until his death, which occurred at Wash- ington, December 22, 1818. " Of this man," says the Rev. Abner Morse, in his history of the Brigham family, " I cannot speak in justice to convictions and escape the suspicion of extravagance among strangers, while among his acquaintance who survive, noth- ing would fail of a hearty response which I might say commenda- tory of his social and domestic virtues, his commercial integrity and honor, his great common-sense and refinement, his patriotism and political integrity, his wisdom and benevolence, his fidelity to every official and important trust, and his services in the advance- ment of the moral, civil, and educational interests of the community in which he lived." Eli Whitney, the inventor of the cotton-gin, was bom in West- borough, December 8, 1765. On the maternal side he was de- scended from John Fay, one of the earliest settlers of the town. His paternal ancestors were among the most respectable farmers of Worcester County. In his youth Whitney displayed many indica- tions of mechanical genius. Becoming dissatisfied with the limited educational advantages of his native town, in May, 1 789, at the age of twenty-four, he entered the freshman class at Yale College. He graduated in 1792. In the fall of that year, having been engaged as tutor in Georgia, he travelled from New York to Savannah. Among his companions on the journey were Mrs. Greene, the widow of the famous Revolutionary general, and her family. On arriving in Georgia, Whitney found the place which he expected to occupy already filled. His friend Mrs. Greene offered him a home while he was carrying out his project of studying law. He accepted her generous offer, and remained in her family many months. Shortly after his arrival — the story is familiar — his attention was BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 435 called to the great need of a machine for separating seeds from the cotton fibre. The industrial progress of both England and America was retarded by the lack of such a contrivance. Whitney forsook his law-books, secured a sample of cotton, made his own tools, and in the spring of 1 793 had invented the machine " which," it is said, " has done more for cotton-growers, manufacturers, commerce, and civilization than any other one machine that was ever invented." The result upon the prosperity of the Southern States, in fact of the whole world, was marvellous ; but the inventor, in spite of his patent and his heroic struggles to secure his rights, received for his labors little reward. In 1798, however, he made a large contract with the United States government for the manufacture of fire-arms, and in this business, which he carried on at Whitneyville, near New Haven, he amassed considerable property. By ingenious inventions and processes he revolutionized the clumsy mechanical methods of the times. The "uniformity system," for example, which is now used in the manufacture of all sorts of tools and machinery, was one of his ideas. In January, 1817, Mr. Whitney was married to Henrietta F. Edwards, daughter of the Hon. Pierrepont Edwards, of New Ha- ven, Conn. He had four children, — three daughters and one son. The last, named after his father, is still living. The death of the inventor occurred in 1825. His body is buried at New Haven, Conn. Mr. Whitney was not only one of the greatest inventors which America has produced, but also a man of extremely interest- ing and attractive life and character. His career, which it is unnecessary to describe more fully here, is admirably set forth in Professor Denison Olmsted's Memoir of Eli Whitney, Esq., published at New Haven in 1846. His great invention and its effects are described by Edward Craig Bates in " The Story of the Cotton-gin," which appeared in The New England Magazine for May, 1890. Otis Brigham, the eldest of the nine children of David and Lucy (Harrington) Brigham, was bom in 1 788. His boyhood was spent upon his father's farm, neai- the present Insane Hospital. 436 APPENDIX. Otis Brighatn fras eiig^aged in farttiifig ; and though his inclina- tions and endowttieflts strongly tempted him to enter the ministry, he continued in agricultaral pursuits, " thinking, perhaps," says his biographer! " that the wotds ' do good ' had not always been syno- nymous with ' preach the gospel,' and that he might do something to restore their former meaning." * Captain Brigham was prominent in both church and town affairs. On the establishment of a Sunday- school in 1817 he became both superintendent and teacher, and held these positions for more than forty years. His name is found On nearly all the important committees Of the church. In civil affairs he was also active. He served for fourteen years as selectman and overseer of the poor ; for twenty years he com- monly acted as moderator of the town-meetings; and during two years, 1839 and 1840, he represented Westborough in the Legislature. Captain Brigham served in the War of 181 2, and took an active part in raising Westborough's quotas during the Civil War. Captain Brigham was married to Abigail Bates, daughter of Zealous Bates, of Cohasset, and sister of the Rev. Joshua Bates, D. D., President of Middleborough College; On the death of his first wife he married her sister, Adeline Bates. He had ten children, as follows : Henrietta A. (widow of Samuel M. Griggs), George Otis, Sereno Leroy, Ivers Jewett, Joshua Bates, Abigail Adeline (Hutchinson), Lucy Harrington, Ann Frances, Mary Jane, and Daniel Edward Brigham. Elmer Brigham, a native and life-long resident, was " a distin- guished citizen of Westborough," says the Rev. Abner Morse, in his history Of the Brigham family, " where, like his senior brother [Otis Brigham], he has long enjoyed the entire confidence and esteem of the community." He was bom September 8, 1798. His parents were David and Lucy (Harrington) Brigham. He received his education at Bradford Academy, Bradford, Mass. For several years he taught school in Westborough and the neighboring towns. He was married to Betsey, daugh- ter of Joel and Hannah (Bond) Parker. He carried on his 1 Rev. Abner Morse, in his history of the Brigham family. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 437 father's farm, near the present Insane Hospital, for several years, but afterwards followed the occupation of farmer on his own account He became a member of the church at the age of twenty-five ; and from 1848 until he resigned, in 1869, he served the Evan- gelical Church as deacon. During his whole life he took an active part in town affairs. He held many town offices and served on many important committees. During three terms he represented Westborough in the Legislature. He was also a member of the Senate and of Governor Gardner's Council. In matters of public interest he always displayed commendable interest, energy, and integrity. Deacon Brigham died in Westborough March 3, 18 71. The names of his children are as follows: Ellen Elizabeth (Hill), Hannah Janette (Howe), Merrick Putnam, Anna Parker (Harrington), Sophia Augusta, Susan Parker, Charles Elmer, and Calvin Lloyd. John A. Fayerweather is one of the oldest and most promi- nent residents of Westborough. He was born March iz, 1808, and is now, although in his eighty-third year, an active and use- ful citizen. This is his native town. His father, Major John Fayerweather, a man of considerable property, was a prosperous farmer. His mother, Sarah Wheelock, was a daughter of Col. Moses Wheelock, who was prominent in local a&irs during Revolutionary days. Mr. Fayerweather enjoyed more than the ordinary educational advantages of his day, having studied at Brown University when collegiate education was much rarer than now. On returning from college he carried on for a few years his father's farm, and in 1833 began mercantile life by opening a store in the house now belonging to Elijah Bumap, on West Main Street. A year later he started a store and tin-shop on the site of the Uni- tarian Church. In 1836 he bought the old Parkman store, and with various changes in the firm, carried on the business until 1858. For the succeeding five years he was in the wholesale grocery business in Boston. Since retiring from this enterprise, 438 APPENDIX. Mr. Fayerweather has been engaged in the insurance business. For the past three years he has been president of the Worcester Mutual Fire Insurance Company. In addition to this office, Mr. Fayerweather has held many posi- tions of trust and influence. Always interested in agricultural mat- ters, he has been a member of the Westborough Agricultural Society since its organization, in 1839, and has served as president of the Worcester County Society. He has been a representative to the General Court, selectman, treasurer of the town, and over- seer of the poor. He has been president of the First National Bank since its incorporation in 1861. From 1856 to 1859 he was a trustee of the State Reform School. In the management of public affairs and in the encouragement of local enterprises Mr. Fayerweather has had an influential and helpful part. He was married in 183 1 to Sarah Augusta Tyler, daughter of Dr. John E. Tyler, of Boston. She died April 15, 1875. They had two children. One died in infancy ; the other is Mrs. Sarah Fayerweather Gould, widow of William R. Gould. Lyman Belknap, a prominent business-man in Boston and a prominent resident of Westborough, was born in this town March 21, 1809. He was descended from John Belknap, one of the ear- liest settlers, who owned a farm on the Flanders road. His parents were John and Ruth (Fay) Belknap. " In the school of adversity during his youth and early manhood," writes one who knew him, " were developed those qualities of mind and heart that in maturer years secured for him the high esteem and confidence of all who knew him. While quite young he united with the Baptist Church, of which he afterwards [in 1856] became deacon. In his Christian character he was zealous and consistent, and was always a cheerful giver, showing his faith in his works. In a quiet, unostentatious way he sought the poor and needy and relieved their necessities." Mr. Belknap's business career began in 1830, when, at the age of twenty-one, he opened a market in Westborough. He made frequent trips to Boston for the purpose of selling meat and pro- duce at Quincy market. This business he continued eleven years, and then established a produce and commission house in Boston. ^ ^AT-O^ >?T^> BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 439 After several changes, in 1848 he opened a store at 12 and 14 Clinton Street, where he remained until a short time before his death. During his whole life Deacon Belknap retained his residence in Westborough, where he was an honored and respected citizen. He held many town offices, including the positions of selectman and overseer of the poor. His strong sympathy for the needy and un- fortunate made the latter position particularly to his liking. He was a director of both the First National and the Savings Bank. From 1878 to 1879 ^^ was a trustee of the Reform School, and from 1879 (when the plan of management was changed) to 1884 he was a member of the Board of Trustees of State Primary and Reform Schools. He declined a renomination on account of failing health. His death occurred January 22, 1886. Deacon Belknap was married in 1833 to Martha Morse, daugh- ter of Elisha and Patty (Howe) Morse, of Hopkinton. She died February 18, 1890. There were two children of this union, — Ellen M., widow of the late Calvin M. Winch, and Lyman A. Belknap, of Andover. Daniel F. Newton, son of Barnabas and Lucy (Godfrey) New- ton, is a descendant from some of the earliest settlers of West- borough. For three generations at least, the family homestead was what is now known as the Blake place, on West Main Street. Mr. Newton was bom October 10, 181 1. During his youth he attended the public schools and worked on his father's farm. At the age of nineteen he was apprenticed to Joel Bullard, the black- smith, with whom he remained four years. He afterwards worked on the farm for two years, and then began work in the boot and shoe shop of Thomas Stone, who occupied at that time a portion' of the "Old Arcade." In 1840 Mr. Newton began to manu- facture for himself, and for the succeeding twenty years carried on an extensive business in the old Cross Street factory. He retired from manufacturing in i860, and with the exception of a few years, when he was in the brokerage business with his son at Worcester, he has not been engaged in private business since. 440 Appendix. Mr. Newton has held almost every town office, having been selectman, overseer of the poor, assessor, treasurer, collector, etc. From 1852 to 1873 he was deputy-sheriff, and during a portion of this period served as court office* at Worcester. For two or three years during the war he Was government assessor and collector. In politics Mr; Newton was a strong Whig, and on the breaking tip of that party drifted into the Democratic ranks. In 183 1 Mr. Newton was inarried to Amy A., daughter of Levi Brtwman, of Westborough. Mrs. Newton died in 1884. There were four children of this maftiage, two of *hom, Abbie F., wife of Wilbur E. Forbes, atld Frank A. Newton, of Bostoliv are stiH living. Samuel Gates Henry, the only son of Samuel and Polly (Gates) Henry, was bom in Oakham, Mass., February 14, 181 3. He had two sisters, Nancy (Henry) Foster and Mary (Henry) Gould, the letter being the mother of the late William R. Goiild, of this town. He received the educational advantages afforded by the common- schools of that period, and when a young man engaged in the busi- ness of harness-making and carriage-trimmings Subsequently he studied dentistry, and opened a small store for the sale of drugs and medicines. Upon removing to Westborough, in ^85 5, he opened an office for the practice of dentistry in the building which was then on the corner of Main and South Streets. The same year he bought a half-interest ift "Eagle Block," then in process of constructiont and iipon its completion, in 1856, opened the first drug-store in Westborough, and removed his dental rooms to the same building. He continued in these two branches of business until failing he^alth compelled hirn to forego active life. He Was a public-spirited citizen, until his death maintaining an unflagging interest in the advanceftient and prosperity of his adopted town. It was lairgely through his efforts while upon the board of road cdmmissioners that Main and South Streets were straightened and widened. This irtiproVement, now recognized as both wise and timely, necessitated the moving of Central and Eagle Blocks, BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 44I which were ithe» enlarged and remodelled. When, in 1873, Eagle Block was destroyed by fire, with characteristic energy he at once set to work to erect on the same site the much larger and fine* block that is now known by his name. IJe bought pjid laid out Chauticy Grove, which was opened as a pleasure-grou,nd in the year 1876. Dr. IJenry was universally esteemed for Y^is kindly spirit and thprpyigh integrity. Reared under .Calvinistic theology, he was led in e^irjy life, by his pwa thought and study, to embrace the liberal ^aith, and upon making Westborough his home, united with the Unitarian Church, of which he was ever a steadfast and liberal supporter, Jn hjs home life he was affectionate, tender, and sympathetic, pa/tient under suffering and trial, bowing with trust- ing subjnission to the inevitable. His first wife, to whom he was married in 1836, was Nancy JJavis French, of Oakha,m, Mass. She died in 1853, leading five children, all of whom, exgepting the youngest, who died in isfaiicy, are now living, — Mrs. Qeprge H. Raymond, of Oakdale P^k., Mich. ; Mrs. William R. Warner, of Fall E4ver, JVIass, ; Charles S. Jlenry, pf this tpwn j and Mary C. Henry, teacher in Fall River. In 1854 he was married tp Pamelia Gates, pf Petersham, Mass., jsirhp died in 1872. He was again married, in 1875, tP Mrs. MjHy B. Conai^, of Dedham, jMass. After an illness pf m^y months, he died, April 17, 1877, at the age pf sixty-fpur years. Horace Mavnard, tjie eminent statesman and lawyer, was bpm in Westbcffpugh August 30, 1814. He was a lineal descendant of twp fampus Puritans, — Sir Jphn Maynard pn his father's side, and the Rev. Jphn Cpttpn pn his mpther'^. As a boy he was studious and ambitious. In 1838, having worked his own way, he graduated at Amherst CpUege with the highest honors. He rempved tp Knpxville, Tenn., where frpm 1839 tp 1843 he was instructor in East Tennessee College. In the latter year he was chosen pro- fessor pf mathematics and natural histpry. During this peripd he was studying law, and in 1844 was admitted tP the bar. His practice sppn became large and l\icrativg. 442 APPENDIX. Mr. Maynard's political career began in 1852, when he was a del- egate to the National Whig Convention at Baltimore. In the follow- ing year he was the Whig candidate for Congress, but was defeated. He carried his district, however, in 1857, and remained in Congress until 1863. All his speeches, votes, and efforts were in favor of preserving the Union, In the great discussion on the state of the country in 1860-61, Mr. Maynard took an active part. He occu- pied middle ground between the anti-slavery men of the North and the secessionists of the South. There was no reason, in his view, why the States should not remain half slave and half free. When war began he at once became an ardent supporter of the Union cause, and suffered both loss of property and exile from his State for his loyalty. At the close of the session of 1863, there being no provision for the election of Congressmen in Tennessee, Mr. Maynard accepted the position of Attorney-General under Andrew Johnson, the military governor of the State. When Mr. Johnson, on the assassination of Mr. Lincoln, succeeded to the Presidency, he offered Mr. Maynard several important positions ; but the latter preferred a seat in Congress, where he served from 1866 to 1875. In March of the latter year President Grant appointed him minis- ter to Turkey, and he proved, it is said, to be one of the most competent of American representatives abroad. He resigned in 1880, and in August entered President Hayes's cabinet as Post- master-General, serving until March, 188 1. His death, resulting from heart-disease, occurred May 3, 1882. Mr. Maynard was married, August 30, 1840, to Miss Laura Ann Washburn, daughter of the Rev. Azel Washburn, of Royalston, Vt. They had seven children, three of whom died in infancy. The eldest, Edward Maynard, after serving in the army throughout the war, died in July, 1868, while U. S. Consul at Turk's Islands. The remaining three, Washburn Maynard, Lieut.-Commander U. S. Navy, James Maynard, and Mrs. Ann Mary M. Kidder, reside in Washington, D. C. William Curtis. For some thirty years before his death, in 1887, Dr. William Curtis was prominent in Westborough both as a physician and as a public-spirited citizen. He was the son of BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 443 Jonathan and Lucy (Mason) Curtis, of Sturbridge, Mass., where he was bom June 29, 18 16. During his boyhood he resided in Sturbridge with his parents, and attended the public schools. He was afterwards a pupil at Monson Academy. Having selected the medical profession for his life-work, he studied with Dr. Myrick, of West Brookfield, and afterwards began practice in that town. At the age of twenty-five he was married to Charlotte M., daughter of Col. Nymphas Pratt, of Shrewsbury. Mrs. Curtis died in 1885. The doctor, with his wife, came to Westborough about 1854, and here he became well known as a successful physician and a liberal public-spirited citizen. He held many town offices. In religious belief the doctor was a Unitarian ; in politics, a man of indepen- dent views. As a man he was extremely genial and open-hearted. He was a member of many societies and interested in many direc- tions. His liberality will long be remembered by the recipients of his kindness, and the citizens of Westborough have cause for grati- tude for the gateways which he provided at Pine Grove and St. Luke's Cemetery, and for the legacy of $14,000, — the remainder of his estate, — which he left to trustees for the benefit of the public library. Benjamin B. Nourse was bom in Berlin, Mass., March 31, 1816. His parents were Theophilus and Lois Nourse. In 1825, soon after his father's death, Mr. Nourse came to Westborough, and lived for nearly five years in the family of the late Dea. Elmer Brigham. The next two years he lived in Marlborough. Then, having returned to Westborough, he was ap- prenticed to the late Jonas Longley to learn the carpenter's trade. Mr. Nourse followed this business until i860. In that year he began on a small scale the manufacture of plant-trellises ; this business he carried on until a year ago. Mr. Nourse has been prominent in town affairs, having served on the board of selectmen more years than any of his townsmen in this generation, and having filled many other town offices. In politics he has been a Democrat since the dissolution of the old Whig party. For many years he was an acknowledged leader of the party in this town. 444 APPENDIX. In 187s Governor Gaston appointed Mr. Nourse a special justice of the First District Court of Eastern Worcester. In religion, Mr. Nourse is a Unitarian. He served as one ot the building committee in the erection of the present church in 1849. ;Mr. Nourse was married in 1843 to Mary Elizabeth, daughter of the late Jonas and Susan Longley. Four children have been born to them, — Henry B., Frank I,., Walter B., and Emma S. Nourse. Only the two latter are now living. George 3. Brigham, who has been a leading boot and shoe manufacturer in Westborough during the past fifty years, was bom in this town October 4, 18 18. His fether, George B. Brigham, was a natiwe of Waterford, Me^ whither a portion of the family had emigrated from Westborough. His mother was Nellie (Fay) Brigham. Mr. Brigham remained with his parents until he was nine years old, when be went to Uve with Elijah Forbes on the farm near the reservoir, now owned by the town. At the age of sixteen he became a member of David Warren's family. Mr. Brigham took advantage of such educational advantages as were then afforded. He attended the public schools nine or ten weeks in the year, and at the age of eighteen attended the Worcester Manual Labpr School. His experience in the boot and shoe business began in 1837, when — a youth of nineteen — he began to superintend Thomas Stone's factory. Two years later he formed a partnership with Moses Newton, with whom he manufactured during the succeeding four years. In 1843 he entered the grocery and produce busi- ness in Boston, with Silas O. Brigham, of Boston, and Elijah Morse, of Westborough, but at the end of a year sold out to his partners. During the next five years Mr. Brigham resided in Sherborn and in Westborough, dividing the time between farming and trading. From 1849 to '^57 ^^ superintended Daniel F. Newton's factory, and aiso, in company with John H. Pierce, car- ried on fhe wood and lumber business. In 1858 Mr. Brigham began to manufacture boots and shoes on his own account, and BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 445 with his sons, John L. and Horace E. Brigham, still continues the business. Mr. Brigham has been a member of the Baptist Church since he was seventeen years old. In politics he is a strong Republican. He has held various town offices, and in 1887 represented this district in the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Mr. Brigham has been twice married. His first wife, to whom he was married April 10, i844,was Caroline Jones Leland, of Sher- bom, the daughter of John Leland and Sally (Bickford) Leland. She died February 14, 1858. On January 9, 1859, Mr. Brigham married his present wife, Mary Phipps Homer, the daughter of Michael Homer and Susan (Phipps) Homer, of Hopkinton. Mr. Brigham had six children by his first wife, — Ella Lucile, Ather- ton Fontenelle, Carrie Georgiana (Barr), John Leland, George Bickford, and Bertram Fay Brigham ; and five by his second wife, — Frank Fontenelle, Horace Eugene, Lillie Josephine, Marion Homer, and Ernest Phipps Brigham. Saimuel M. Griggs. Few faces have been more familiar to the people of Westborough for the last thirty years than that of Mr. Griggs, and few lives have been as closely interwoven with the later history of the town. As the head of the firm of S. M. Griggs & Co., as the town-clerk, as one of the leaders of the Evan- gelical church and society, and at two different periods the repre- sentative of the district in the State Legislature, he moved, always quietly and unassumingly, in the sight of all the people, known and respected by all. He was born in Grafton, Vt, September 10, 1822. When he was only two years old his parents removed to Berlin, Mass., where his childhood was passed. He obtained his education there and at Leicester Academy, and at the age of six- teen came to Westborough as a clerk in the store of Fayerweather & Leach. Here he showed qualities which in a few years admitted him to the firm, where he remained until he set up business for himself, founding the house which still bears his name. On July 6, 1855, he was elected town-clerk, and held the office thenceforward, in spite of all whirlings of the political machine, for thirty-one years. In this position he was not merely an efficient 446 APPENDIX. officer ; the town records during its whole history were mastered by him, and he acquired a rare familiarity with the past, with the precedents of town action, and with historic places and men. Always a reader and a student, he had an acquaintance with books and a general information which made him tlie peer of more liberally educated men, and an intelligent leader and guidei He was always closely connected with the welfare of the public library, not merely as trustee, but as a warm friend of its best interests. As a business man he was unremitting in his attention and fidelity, and was always connected, in one way or another, with both the banks. In local and district politics he was always a leader. His famil- iarity with the political history of the State and nation was excep- tional, and he had a keen insight into men and motives, with a shrewd sense in debated questions which made him a good guide. He was not an orator, and made no speeches ; but affairs moved more safely when his hand was on the helm. In 1862 and 1863 he was the town's representative in the State Legislature, and ten years later sat for the corresponding term in the senate. While there he was appointed State Treasurer of the Lyman Fund for the Reform School, — an ofiSce which he retained some years. His connection with the Evangelical Church dates from 1841, when, a young man of nineteen, he brought to it a letter of transfer. From that time for more than forty-five years he was a stanch supporter of it. He was not a talker in the religious sphere any more than in civil affairs ; but he had a strong interest in the church and in the kingdom of God, and his presence and influence were always ready. He had a keen judgment of men, and clear convictions as to religious theories and methods. His common- sense, mingled with a ready tact, proved the solvent of many a difficulty. He furnished an element which every church needs, and which is not always estimated at its true value until it is missed. He married in 1848 Henrietta A., daughter of Otis Brigham, who with his only daughter, the wife of Henry S. Knight, M. D., of Worcester, survives him. He died November 7, 1886. His death carried sadness to the whole community. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES, 447 Christopher Whitney was a prominent business man in West, borough for nearly forty years before his death, which occurred March 2, 1889. He was bom June 16, 1827, at Halifax, Vt. His parents were Alpheus and Sarah (Stowe) Whitney. On coming to Westborough in 185 1, Mr. Whitney first engaged in the bakery, flour, and grain business, which he continued for seventeen years. He afterwards was engaged in the lumber business at Natick for a year, and then began the same business in Westborough. He was successful in this, as in his other business projects, and built up a large and lucrative trade. His son-in-law, Frank V. Bartlett, and George L. Smith still continue the business under the firm-name of C. Whitney & Co. In 1882 Mr. Whitney built the "Whitney House," which stands as a monument to both his enterprise and his public spirit. Through his various undertakings Mr. Whitney amassed consid- erable property, — the result of honest, intelligent, and energetic business management. He was a generous, philanthropic man in a quiet, unassuming way, and many shared in his prosperity. In 185 1 Mr. Whitney was married to Abbie Morse Thomson, of Bellingham, Mass. They had three children, — Frank C, Abbie M., wife of Frank V. Bartlett, and Nellie E., wife of George H. Woodman. William R. Gould, son of Rufus and Mary (Henry) Gould, was bom in New Braintree, Mass., April 20, 1832, where he lived until he was about twelve years old. At that time his parents removed to Oakham, where Mr. Gould remained until 1854. In that year or a little later he, with several ambitious school friends, went to the gold mines of northern California. He accumulated ' considerable money, and removed to San Francisco. After six years and a half in California, Mr. Gould returned to Massachusetts for a visit. In i860 he came to Westborough, and during two or three years carried on the retail boot and shoe business in this town. He then bought out the dry-goods store of Mr. Penniman and; formed a partnership with Henry Chamberlain, of Southborough. 448 APPENDIX. Later he was in the hardware business. During all these years he had been seeking an opportunity to go into manufacturing, which occurred in April, 1879, when he formed a partnership with George B. and John L. Brigham for the manufacture of boots and shoes, under the firm name of Brigham, Gould, & Co. In 1882 the partnership was dissolved, whereupon Mr. Gould, with Melvin H. Walker, formed the firm of Gould & Walker. Mr. Gould remained in the business until shortly before his death, which occurred March 25, 1890. Mr. Gould held the town offices of selectman, overseer of the poor, and water-commissioner. For a number of years he was a director of the First National Bank and a trustee of the Savings Bank. In 1866 Mr. Gould was married to Sarah, daughter of John A. Fayerweather. Edwin Bayard Harvey, son of Eben and Rozella (Winslow) Harvey, was born in Deerfield, Rockingham County, N. H., April 4, 1834. He received his early education in the common schools. Sub- sequently he attended the Military Institute, Pembroke, N. H., and the New Hampshire Conference Seminary, Northfield, N. H. In 1857 he was graduated from the Wesleyan University, Middle- town, Conn. The year following he taught in Poultney Academy, Poultney, Vt., and in i860 became principal of Macedon Acad- emy, Macedon, N. Y. This position he resigned after two years service in order to accept the professorship of natural science in Wesleyan Academy, Wilbraham. In 1864 he entered the Harvard Medical School. He received his degree in 1866, and immediately began practice in Westborough. Here he has since resided. In 1872 Dr. Harvey visited several of the principal universities in Europe in the study of his profession. He is widely known as a skilful practitioner, has a large consultation practice, and is recognized as the leading surgeon in this locality. For fifteen years he has been councillor of the Massachusetts Medical Society, and has held the presidency and other offices in the Worcester District Medical Society. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. ,449 For nearly twenty years Dr. Harvey was a member of the School Committee in Westborough, and for two years was super- intendent of schools. He is president of the Board of Trustees of the public library, and a trustee of the Westborough Savings Bank. In 1873 he was appointed trustee of the State Reform School, and was reappointed in 1876, serving sk years. In 1884 and 1885 he represented this district in the Legislature. He served on the committee on Public Charitable Institutions, and during his second term was chairman. During his first year in the Legis- lature he introduced the free text-book bill, and it was largely through his efforts that the bill became law. In both State and -local politics he has taken an active interest. Dr. Harvey was married in Concord, N. H., in i860, to Abby, daughter of Eldad and Sarah E. (Fellows) Tenney. Arthur G. Biscoe. Among those who have served the town in a public capacity as well as honored it by the record of a useful and manly life, it is a pleasure to mention the name of Arthur G. Biscoe, whose early death deepened the aifection felt for him by the community. He was the son of the Rev. Thomas C. Biscoe, — for many years pastor of the Congregational Church at Grafton, and still living at HoUiston, — and was born in Grafton on the 26th of May, 1842. He entered Amherst College at the age of sixteen, graduating in the class of 1862. The war was at that time in its second year, and the call of the nation sounded loudly in the hearts of its young men. Mr. Biscoe enlisted soon after graduation, and served nine months in Co. G., sist Massachusetts Regiment. On his return he studied law in the office of William F. Slocum in Grafton, and in 1864 was admitted to the Bar of Worcester County. He began practice at once in Westborough, and here spent the remainder of his life. In 1867 he was married to Helen, daughter of Hon. A. M. Bigelow, of Grafton. Mr. Biscoe very speedily identified himself with the town in all its best interests, and came to be one of the leaders of public opinion, trusted alike for his ability and his probity. He soon 450 APPENDIX. found himself wanted in positions of trust, and filled various town offices, as well as other posts of importance in business and banking. Remarkably quick in insight and action, he made one of the most efficient of moderators at town-meetings and other gather- ings. In 1 87 1 he was chosen representative from the district, and from 1877 to 1879 was a member of the Republican State Central Committee. In his profession he won the confidence of his associates by the keenness of his penetration and the unflinching honesty and integrity of his conduct of cases. He was intensely active in professional work, as in everything he undertook ; but he never sought to gain an end against his best convictions, and always strove to persuade clients to a private settlement rather than a public trial, where it was possible. A sincere and manly Christian, Mr. Biscoe was always actively associated with the Evangelical Church and society. He was not afraid of his own convictions, and sometimes rendered high service by their utterance ; while his modesty and courtesy saved Jiim from the appearance of partisanship. To those who knew him intimately, there was a charm in his playful humor, his quick flashes of wit, and his quiet but strong affection, which made his companionship a delight. There was withal an unflinching loyalty to truth and a soldierly firmness which made it impossible to trifle with his deeper feelings. The iron qualities beneath the surface of his gentler aspect came out in full development in the long struggle with disease which at last overtook him, and in the heroic un- selfishness of his last days. He died at Lynn, whither he had gone for the benefit of the sea air, on the 28th of August, 1879, at the early age of thirty seven, leaving his wife and two sons. The whole community mourned for him. The Grand Army Post No. 80, Department of Massachusetts, organized here June 18, 1 88 1, was named after him. He was only beginning a career of great usefulness in town and county and State ; but he had lived long enough to exercise great and healthy influence on the town life in the present generation. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 451 Henry K. Taft was vice-president of the H. O. Bernard Man- ufacturing Company, and general manager of the manufacturing part of the business. He was born in Upton Nov. i8, 1842, and died of pneumonia at his home in Westborough May 29, 1887. At an early age Mr. Taft began work in the straw-shop at Upton, and afterwards followed the same occupation in Boston. He came to Westborough in 1867, and took charge of the blocking-room of George N. Smalley's factory. . A year later he was transferred to the stock-room ; and when the firm of H. O. Bernard & Co. — the National Straw Works — was established, he retained the same position. In 1875 he became a member of the firm. When the H. O. Bernard Manufacturing Company was incorporated, in 1885, Mr. Taft became vice-president and general manager of the fac- tory. He died two years later. Mr. Taft was a man of unusual executive atildty, and from long experience possessed an intimate knowledge of the business in which he was engaged. In the man- agement of the factory and of the employees, numbering at times nearly a thousand, he showed rare tact and judgment. Mr. Taft was married in 1869 to Annie E. Clarke, of Walpole, who, with one son, George H. Taft, survives him. William Trowbridge Forbes, bom in Westborough May 24, 1850, is the son of Ephraim Trowbridge and Catharine (White) Forbes. His grandfather, Jonathan Forbes, was the fourth Jona- than in descent from Dea. Jonathan Forbes, who built a saw-mill at the outlet of the town reservoir, and was annexed with others from Sutton in 1728. He attended the public schools until sixteen years old, and completed his preparation for college at the classical school of the Aliens at West Newton and at the private school of Rev. James Tufts, of Monson. He graduated from Amherst Col- lege in 1871, where he took the first prize in mathematics in his sophomore year, a prize scholarship in German in his junior year, was one of the editors of the "Amherst Student," a member of the senior crew in the regatta of 1870, and class historian. In 1 87 1 be was appointed instructor in mathematics at Robert College, Constantinople, where 'he remained three years. With the president of the college. Rev. George Washburn, D.D., he 452 APPENDIX. made a geological survey of the country in that vicinity, collecting about two thousand fossils, of which many were new varieties, and some were exhibited at the Vienna Exposition. On returning to this country in 1874 he studied law with the firm of Bacon, Hopkins, & Bacon, of Worcester, and was appointed standing justice of the First District Court of Eastern Worcester in 1875, — a position which he filled for about three years. He resigned in 1879, and practised law in Westborough until appointed judge of the courts of Probate and Insolvency for this county, which position he now holds. In 188 1 and 1882 he was a member of the Legislature, serving on the committees on the liquor law, on probate and insolvency, and for the consideration of constitutional amendments. He rep- resented the second Worcester senatorial district in 1886 and 1887, was chairman of the committees on education and on elec- tion laws, and a member of the committee on the judiciary. In 1888 he introduced and secured the passage of Acts abolishing taxation for parish purposes, and one providing for the incorpora- tion of churches. He has served on the school committee six years, was selectman four years, and has held other town offices. He wrote a sketch of Westborough for the History of Worcester County, published in 1889. In 1884 he married Harriette Merri- field, daughter of William T. Merrifield, of Worcester. They have four children. Nathaniel Emmons Paine, who has been superintendent of the Westborough Insane Hospital since the institution was estab- lished, was born, July 14, 1853, at the home of his grandfather. Dr. John A. Paine, in New Hartford, Oneida County, N. Y. His father, Horace M. Paine, M. D., was a physician at Albany, N. Y. ; his mother, Charlotte (Mann) Paine, was a daughter of Salmon Mann, of Norfolk, Mass. Dr. Paine was a pupil at Albany Academy, and afterwards studied with Prof. Lewis Collins until he was admitted to Hamilton College in 1870. He graduated with high rank, and entered the Albany Medical College, — a department of Union University. His training at the medical school was supplemented by continu- BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 453 ous experience with his father. For a year after his graduation Dr. Paine studied in Germany, — chiefly at Vienna, Returning to America in 1877, ^^ accepted a position as assistant-physician at the Middletown (N. Y.) Homoeopathic Asylum for the Insane. He spent three years and a half at Middletown, when, in 1880, his health failed, and he was forced to seek its restoration in treatment and travel. In December, 1884, he was appointed superintendent of the Westborough Insane Hospital, and after visiting the institu- tions of other States came here in May, 1885. He was in con- stant attendance during the remodelling of the buildings, and furnished many valuable suggestions. Since the opening of the institution, in 1886, he has been busily absorbed in managing the interests committed to his charge. In the fall of 1887 the doctor was appointed lecturer on insanity in the Medical School of Boston University. Dr. Paine was married, June 5, 1879, to Harriet, the youngest daughter of the late Wilham Gould, of Albany, N. Y. Dr. and Mrs. Paine have two children, — Alice and Nathaniel Emmons Paine,' Jr. 454 APPENDIX. II. LAND GRANTS. Bv WILLIAM TROWBRIDGE FORBES. THE territory included within the present limits of West- borough contains, according to the survey of Nahum Fisher made in the year 1837, 13,340 acres. If we trace back the suc- cessive owners of the farms and village lots which make up the town, to the time of its first settlement, we find two classes of pro- prietors. About a thousand acres was granted to individuals by the General Court in return for services rendered to the colony, and the rest was granted to companies of men who were called Proprietors, and who received from the colony most of the ter- ritory included in the five towns from which Westborough has been formed. The Indian title to the land was extinguished by the payment of small sums of money after King Philip's War. There was no Indian settlement of importance here, although there were three of Eliot's praying-towns north, east, and south of us. The south- erly part of the town, including all taken from Sutton and Upton, was claimed by an Indian named John Wampas, alias White. He resided for a while in Grafton (Hassanamisco), moved to Boston, became, a sailor, and bought a house and lot on the east side of the Common, where Tremont Street now is. During his absence his enterprising wife, Anne Wampas, sold his house. On his return in 1677, in consideration of ;£'20 he confirmed the sale. When in London he met Edward Pratt, of St. Paul's, Shadwell, a victualler, and deeded to him land between Mendon, Worcester, New Oxford, Sherborn, and Marlborough, and claimed to own in all fourteen miles square. His claims were not admitted by the General Court or the other Indians in the Nipmuck country. William Stoughton and Joseph Dudley, commissioners, gathered the Indian "clay- mers " at Cambridge, and with the assistance of Ehot purchased LAND GRANTS. 455 one thousand square miles, principally in the southern part of this county, from Black James and sixty-five other Indians, and Waban and twenty-one others, for ;^so and some small presents. In 1684, the town of Marlborough paid ^^31 to twenty-five Indians, then hving in Natick and Wamesit, for a deed of all the land included within its bounds. At a time when so many pro- minent white men "made their marks," it is noticeable that six Indians signed their names, including the two witnesses. The early settlers not only paid the Indians for this land to secure their good-will and stop their complaints, but were carry- ing out the repeated commands of the original patentees to the first settlers in the colony. So long as he remained friendly to the white settlers, the Indian's right to hunt, fish, and occupy his ancestral domain was recognized. In the first letter of instructions fi-om the Governor and Deputy of the New England Company to the colonists who had already arrived in 1629, we find the following: " If any of the salvages pretend right of inheritance to all or any part of the lands granted in our patent, we pray you endeavor to purchase their title, that we may avoid the least scruple of intru- sion." The Indians living within the present limits of Massachu- setts were so few that most of the territory included in townships of from five to eight miles square were deeded by from one to five Indians. It is probable that there are more persons of Indian descent in this commonwealth now than when the Puritans first landed in Massachusetts Bay. MAYHEW GRANT. As early as 1643, Thomas Mayhew, a merchant from Southamp- ton, England, later a preacher with Eliot to the Indians, presented " a charge about a bridge by Watertown Mill ; " and the colony granted him three hundred acres of land without locating them. In 1 666, Mayhew assigned this grant to the executors of Edward How, in part payment of his indebtedness to How's estate. June 18, 1 708, a committee from the General Court found a strip of land north of the Sudbury, between the present westerly line of Ashland and Rocklawn Mills, which was so rocky and unattractive that no one had occupied it, although it was very near older settle- 456 APPENDIX. ments. The town of Marlborough formally disclaimed ownership, and prominent citizens of Framingham certified that it did not belong to their township. Even the Indians on Maguncook hill made no claim to it. The committee, however, laid this out as the "'•it?^ kO^" ^ ^^' ,0^ ^> ,f^>^' ^N .^V^' ,0 ;^Q 4^' \ =,00"^' V\BO^Q 00/ >- >4vjt' s^*' D?» THE ORIGINAL MARLBOROUGH, AND THE NEW TOWNS " SET OFF " FROM IT. Mayhew grant, and report that of this " Fiddleneck," of three hun- dred acres, some " was good, some bad, some pine and some oak land and some meadow in it." Later, the water-power developed by the falls of the Sudbury increased its value, and the manufectur- LAND GRANTS. 457 ing villages of Southville and Cordaville were built on this tract of land. Three years after this grant was laid out, Col. Joseph Buck- minster, of Framingham, lessee of the greater part of that town under the Danforth grants, claimed that the " Fiddleneck " belonged THE ORIGINAL CHAUNCY, AND SOME OF THE TERRITORY AFTERWARD ANNEXED. to Framingham. His claim was sustained by the General Court, and the Mayhew grant was re-located at Whitehall, in what is now Hopkinton, and near the pond of that name. So it came to pass that Westborough was bounded on the east by Framingham 4S8 APPENDIX. until the year 1786, when the " Fiddleneck " was atinexed to Southborough. John Belknap, of Westboroiagh, lived near the disputed territory In 1778, when he finally induced this town to choose a committee, to meet with Southborough and Marlborough, "to settle the line between Framingham and Westborough that Mr. John Belknap has been a contending about so long." It was not till fifty-seven years later that this controversy was finally settled by the General Court. Sixteen acres of the Fiddle- neck, probably including the Abner Prentiss mill-site, were annexed to Westborough. About a century and a half ago there was a mill at this point, and for ages before, the beavers had constructed dams across the Sudbury and its tributaries, — thus aiding in the construc- tion of a large area of what were designated on the first plan of Marlborough as " Seader Swamps.'' THE BOSWORTH GRANT. Edward Bosworth and family were brought to Boston from Eng- land at the expense of Henry Seawall. The General Court, finding them unable to repay the costs of their transportation, fixed the sums to be paid by each, including the son Benjamin, and the times of payment, and further ordered that the " fore-named parties shal be bound, one for another, for the payment of the said somes att the several dayes of payement." ^ Benjamin Bosworth, like so many emigrants since, soon emerged from poverty and obscurity, and in 1658 we find the duty of warn- ing the freemen of Hull to vote on election-day resting upon him. The day arrives, Bosworth neglects to call the meeting, and is fined forty shillings. He appeals to the General Court to remit the fine ; and as the election in Hull was not so important then as now, and as he had to pay ten shillings for the entry of his petition, the fine was remitted. His brother Nathaniel becomes a depuify and magistrate to solemnize marriages in Hull, and Benjamin himself, in 1675, heads the list of petitioners who were granted the town- ship of Stow. In 1686 he is still basking in the favor of the court, and receives a grant of two hundred acres of land, which was laid out between 1 Court Records, i. 152. LAND GRANTS. 459 the old west line of Marlborough and " The Farms," which were later included in Shrewsbury. Bosworth moved from Stow to Boston, and sold these two hundred acres to Thomas Harris, vic- tualler, whose widow, Rebecca, sold it to Gershom Rice, of New London, Conn., planter. Gershom Rice was later one of the founders of the permanent settlement at Worcester. Sixteen years before Westborough was incorporated, Dea. Caleb Rice, of Marlborough, planter, bought it for £21 ; and this Bos- worth grant thereafter became famous in early plans and records as the "Deacon Caleb Rice farm." The northern and larger por- tion of this tract of land became part of the new town of North- borough in 1766, while the southern part is at Boston Hill, in the northwesterly part of Westborough. The westerly line ran on the present Shrewsbury line two hundred rods southerly "towards a snake hill [now Boston Hill], ending at a black oak tree, thence 25° north of east over the end of the rattle Snake hill, one hun- dred and sixty rods, ending at Marlburrough west line."* EATON'S GRANT., Fay's or BrighanCs Farm. Gov. Theophilus Eaton, of Connecticut, founded the colony of New Haven in 1638. He was one of the original patentees of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and landed in Boston in 1637. He had been a prominent merchant in England, and was agent of King James at the Court of Denmark. He advanced ;^5o to the Massachusetts Colony, which had not been repaid at the time of his death. June II, i68oj the General Court "judgeth it meet to grant to the heirs of that worthy gent", Theophilus Eaton> Esq., five hundred acres of land in any part of our jurisdiction free from former grants, and not prejudicing plantations." John Haynes sur- veyed and plotted the five hundred acres, and the grant was " con- firmed as laid out, provided that it exceed not fivety more than the five hundred granted them, and that the same be reduced tO' a square or rhomboyds, and doe not prejudice any former grants." A few months later, the plan and survey were confirmed to the heirs of Governor Eaton, although they described a tract of very 1 Deed of Gershom to Caleb Rice, Feb 25, 1701-1702. 460 APPENDIX. irregular shape, its western extremity forming the north half of the^ part of Westborough now extending into Shrewsbury. About two years later, the Eaton heirs sold this farm to John Brigham, the surveyor, doctor, miller, and land speculator, Thomas Brigham his brother, and John and Samuel Fay, sons of their sister Mary, for ;^25, or just one half of what the colony owed the gov- ernor's heirs, not including interest. Each Brigham owned one third, and their nephews, the Fay brothers, one third together. The southeast corner of this farm was a little northeast of the house, on the Eli Whitney hill, now occupied by William H. John- son. From this point it extended a little south of west one hun- dred and eighty rods towards the F. J. Adams place. The stone wall on the west side of the Whitney pasture hill, which can be seen distinctly from the former home of the inventor of the cotton-gin, is described in old deeds as " Sutton line — ." The long lines of stone walls extending a little west of north towards the Assabet River are parallel to " Marlboro' old line," the most easterly of them being the former west line of Marlborough, which extended in the same course, a little easterly of Hockomocco pond, to the northwesterly part of Northborough. The east line of this farm passes near a spring used by the Fays and their successors which is southeast of the S. A. Howe house, where John Fay, the first town-clerk of Westborough, made his home. His brother Samuel erected his " mansion house " on the opposite side of West Main Street, near the North Grafton road. The two Fay farms are now owned by M. and J. E. Henry, who live in the Samuel Fay " man- sion." The " houses of the Fays " are indicated on the map of Chauncy and farms adjoining, before this town was incorporated. The third of the " Eaton Grant," next west of the Fays, was assigned to the heirs of Thomas Brigham, and remained in the Brigham family until the third Jonathan Forbes, who had married Moses Brigham's daughter, made it the Forbes homestead about a century and a quarter ago. The most westerly portion was taken by John Brigham, who soon sold it to his son-in-law, Oliver Ward. The latter erected the upper mill on the Assabet River, and sold the former farm to Joseph Grout. For more than a century it remained the Grout homestead, and is now owned by James McTaggart. The Assabet LAND GRANTS. 461 meadows — to secure which the Eaton grant had been extended westerly in such irregular fashion — and the swamps were divided up at different times among the original owners and their succes- sors. If the present maps of the town are approximately correct, the surveyors must have made liberal allowance for the " sag of the chain," as this five-hundred-acre farm extends more than a quarter of a mile farther west Uaan the distances in the grant indicate. BEERS'S GRANT. The south line of " Old Marlboro' " extended from the Sudbury River southwesterly on the present line between this town and Hop- kinton, and in the same course through the first road connecting the two streets to the town reservoir, nearly west of the Talbot or Dea- con Morse place, to a point a little southwest of the Eli Whitney house, and about forty rods southeasterly from the southeast corner of the Eaton grant. In early deeds of land near Piccadilly, this old south line of Marlborough is described as " Jack Straw's Old Line." When the General Court was considering the incorporation of West- borough, a plan was prepared. It did not indicate a hill within the proposed limits of the new town. Near the southwest boundary, however, are the words "Jack Straw's Hill at Sutton." Jack Straw brook is still well known by that name, and " Jackstraw pasture " annually appears in the printed report of the assessors. The road extending south from the house of N. M. Knowlton passes directly over Jack Straw's hill. A cellar and a well in the pasture on the left, and a cellar and an immense stone chimney on the right, indicate deserted farms, — the former once occupied by Daniel Forbes, and the latter by James Miller. The earliest Indian trail, known as the " Connecticut Road," trod by Oldham the hunter and Rev* Thomas Hooker, passed from Ashland through Hopkinton and Woodville, and near this hill to the Indian village in Grafton. Ac- cording to tradition, the home of the famous Indian Jack Straw was on the summit of this hill, which always bears his name in old deeds as well as in records before the coming of white settlers. His home was so well known to the early colonists in the Massachusetts Bay that a grant of three hundred acres of land to the relict and chil- dren of Captain Richard Beers was laid out, forty years before the 462 APPENDIX. incorporation of Westborough, "at a place called Jack Straw's HiU." Capt. Richard Beers, in his petition for a grant of land, describes himself as one of the first planters of this colony, and says that he served this country in their wars against the Pequots twice. He had been many times employed as commissioner by the Gen- eral Court to settle disputes between towns, and locate land grants. He was appointed one of the prudential committee to manage the new settlement at Quansigamond, now Worcester. Although advanced in years, he pushed boldly to the front in King Philip's War, and fell, in 1675, in the disastrous fight at Deerfield. His widow and children had lost the land laid out for him near Dover, as it had been included in earlier grants. In 1692, John Brigham, by direction of the General Court, laid out another farm of three ' hundred acres at Jack Straw's Hill. Jack Straw must have been a long time dead. The only Indian of that name mentioned in contemporary works, so far as now discov- ered, accompanied a party of Connecticut Indians on their way to Boston to secure aid from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He had been in the employ of Sir Walter Raleigh, whose Roanoke colony had failed more than forty years before, and had lived in England, but " was now turned Indian again." Wahginnacut and his san- nops from Hartford could hardly secure a better interpreter or inore uifluential advocate than this venerable Indian, living so near his path to Boston. In 1676, three Indians surnamed Jackstraw, of Hopkinton, were hanged in Boston for their share in the massacre of the Eames family in Framingham. This tract of land was sold by the Beers heirs to Samuel How, of Sudbury, for £1^! and he sold it in 1698 to Thomas Rice, of Marlborough, for ;£'2 2. The latter owned all the land from his residence on East Main Street, near the present village of Westborough, to District Number Five School-house. This grant extended, on the south line of Marlborough, from near Mount Pleasant to a point on the west side of the EU Whitney pasture hill. It also extended easterly so as to include the town reservoir. LAND GRANTS. 463 ELIJAH WHITNEY ANNEXATION. When most of the farms in the " Shoe " were annexed to West- borough, in 1762, Thomas Whitney, living on the North Grafton road, refused to be detached from Shrewsbury and was left behind MAP OF WESTBOROUGH IN 1 766. with his forty acres of land, entirely surrounded by Westborough. He lived in the house on the south side of the road next easterly 464 APPENDIX. from the residence of B. A. Nourse. We do not know whether he loved Shrewsbury more, or Westborough less; but the Gen- eral Court, with more regard for individual wishes than in town divisions of the present day, allowed his farm to remain a part of Shrewsbury. His son, Elijah Whitney, bought the farm, and in the year 1792 petitioned for annexation to Westborough. He says that his farm of forty acres is situated in Shrewsbury, but " is incircled with land within the limits of the Town of Westborough, whereby your peti- tioner is subject to the Evil of passing through some part of West- borough in Order to appear in the Town of Shrewsbury, to attend his Municipal dutys in said Shrewsbury, as well as that of travelling as much as two miles further than it is to the centre of said West- borough. Y' petitioner therefore humbly prays the honorable Court to take under consideration his singular local situation and afford him relief, by setting off the afforesaid premises from Shrews- bury and annexing the same to said Town of Westborough, which would have taken place many years since, when the adjacent Farms were set off from Shrewsbury and annexed to Westborough, had not said Whitney's predecessor, then Resident on said Farm, Re- fused to be thus set of. . • ." The selectmen of Westborough and Shrewsbury indorsed their assent, and this Shrewsbury oasis became part of Westborough, March 12, 1793. III. TOWN OFFICERS.! THE following lists give the principal town-oiBcers in West- borough from 1 71 7 to 1890 : — MODERATORS AT MARCH MEETINGS. John Fay, 1719, 1721. John Pratt, 1722. Thomas Ward, 1723. James Eager, 1725, 1742, 1743, 1749. Jacob Amsden, 1726. Thomas Rice, 1727. Eleazer Bowman, 1728. Edward Baker, 1729, 1740, 1744, 1745, '751-53. 1755-57. 1759-60- Oliver Ward, 1730. Joseph Wheeler, 1731. Simon Tainter, 1732. Josiah Newton, 1733, 1739, 1741, 1746-4B, 1750, 1754. Aaron Forbush, 1734. Abijah Bruce, 1735. Jonathan Whipple, 1736. Daniel Warren, 1737, 1738. Jonathan Livermore, 1758, 1764. Bezaleal Eager, 1761. Francis Whipple, 1762, 1763, 1766, 1768, 1770. Phinehas Hardy, 1765, 1767, 1769. Jonathan Bond, 1771-73, 1777. George Andrews, 1774-76, 1778, 1784. Joseph Baker, 1779, 1780, 1785-88. Nathan Fisher, 1781. James Hawes, 1782. Abijah Gale, 1783, 1792. Elijah Brigham, 1789-91, 1793-96, 1798, 1799. Daniel Chamberlain, 1797, 1802, 1803, 1805, 1806, 1808, 1809, 1S11-14. Andrew Peters, 1800, 1801, 1804. Charles Fisher, 1807. Solomon Fay, 1810. Asaph Warren, 181 5-17, 1823. Jonathan Forbush, 1818, 1821, 1822, 1823. Phinehas Gleason, 1819. Lovett Peters, 1820, 1824, 1838, 1839. Joel Parker, 1826, 1829, 1834. Otis Brigham, 1827, 1828, 1830-33, 1836, 1843. Joseph Lathrop, 1835. George Denny, 1837, 1840, 1841, 1850. Curtis Beeman, 1852. Elmer Brigham, 1844. S. Taylor Fay, 1845, 1849. Jonas Longley, 1846, 1847. Daniel F. Newton, 1848, 1853, 1856, 1857, 1859, 1861-65, 1867, 1868, 1870-73. Ethan Bullard, 1851, 1852, 1854. Benjamin Boynton, 1855, 1858. Timothy A. Smith, i860. John W. Brigham, 1866. John A. Fayerweather, 1867, l877i Arthur G. Biscoe, 1874-76, 1878. Sherman Converse, 1879. William T. Forbes, 1880-88, 1890. Louis E. Denfeld, 1889. ' Where two dates are connected by a hyphen (as 1722-27) both years are included in the term of service. 466 APPENDIX. SELECTMEN.! Thomas Rice, Jan. s to March 3, 1718J 1727. John Fay, Jan. 5 to March 3, 17 18; 1718-21, 1723, 1725-27, 1732-34, 1736- Simeon Hayward, Jan. 5 to March 3. 1718. James Bradish, 1718. Thomas Ward, 1718, 1721, 1722. Thomas Forbush, 1718. Thomas Newton, 1718, 1719, 1722, 1725, 1729. Edmund Rice, 1719, 1722. Daniel Maynard, 1720, 1725, 1728. Oliver Ward, 1720, 1723, 1727, 1729, 1733- Isaac Tomblin, 1720, 1727. John Pratt, 1722. Daniel Brighara, 1722, 1728. Samuel Forbush, 1723. Josiah Newton, 1723, 1739-41, 1743- 47. 1749. 1752-54- Samuel Robinson, 1723. Daniel Brigham, 1725. Daniel Warren, 1725, 1728, 1731-33. 173s. 1737-39. 1743-48. Charles Rice, 1726. James Eager, 1726, 1728, 1730, 1732- 36, 1738, 1740-43. 1748-54- Joseph Wheeler, 1726, 1729, 1737, 1745, 1746. Edward Baker, 1726, 1730, 1734-38, 1740-42, 1744, 1749, 1751-54. 1756. 1757. I7S9. 1760. Thomas Forbush, Jr., 1727, 1728, 1730-33. >73S. 1738. 1739. 1743-5'. 1755- Jonathan Forbush, 1729, 1734. Eleazer Beeman, 1729. John Maynard, 1730, 1734, 1736, 1737, »743, 1744. 1748, 1750, 1755, 1756- James Ball, 1730, 1740, 1749. David Brigham, 1731, 1737. William Halloway, 1731, 1735, '739. 1741, 1742, 1748. 1751. 1753. 1759- Jacob Amsden, 1731, 1739. David Maynard, 1732, 1767. Jonathan Whipple, 1735. Charles Rice, 1735. Joseph Grout, 1736. James Miller, 1738, 1742. Nathaniel Whitney, 1739-42, 1751. Jonah Rice, 1745, 1750, 1757, 1758. Nathan Ball, 1746. Jacob Rice, 1747, 1756, 1757, 1761-63. Jonathan Livermore, 1750, 1755, 1758, 1764. Bezaleal Eager, 1752, 1755, 1756, 1760-62, 1765, Francis Whipple, 1752-58, 1762, 1763, 1765. 1770. Samuel Wood, 1754, 1759, 1760. Daniel Forbush, 1757, 1758. Phinehas Hardy, 1758, 1763, 1765, 1770. Benjamin Fay, 1759, 1760, 1769, 1774, 1777, 1786, 1789, 1790, 1790-92. Jonathan Bond, 1759-64, 1766-75. Stephen Maynard, 1761, 1762, 1768- 73, 1781, 1782. Ebenezer Maynard, 1761, 1766, 1768, 1770, 1772-74, 1778, 1780. Levi Brigham, 1763. Benjamin Wood, 1764-67. Timothy Fay, 1764, 1765. Jonas Brigham, 1764, 1766-69, 1771, 1772, 1775-77- Ebenezer Chamberlain, 1766. * It was the custom from 1717 to 1820 to choose five selectmen each year ; but from 1820 to 1890 — with the exception of the years 1822-26,1828-33, 1836, 1851, and i8j8 — it has beenlhe custom to chose three. In earlier years the selectmen attended to many duties now performed- by the overseers of the poor and other boards. TOWN OFFICERS. 467 Zeduthun Fay, 1767. Joseph, Baker, 1768. Jonathan Fay, 1769. Phinehas Maynard, 1771. Moses Wheelock, 1771. Timothy Warren, 1772, 1780. Solomon Baker, 1773-76. Samuel Forbush, 1773, 1774, 1787, 1788, 1791, 1792. James Hawes, 1775-77, 1782, 1783, 1786. George Andrews, 1775-77. Thomas Bond, 1776, 1777. Jonathan Grout, 1778. Joseph Harrington, 1778, 1779, 1782- 85, 1787, 1788. Barnabas Newton, 1778-81. Abijah Gale, 1778-80. Seth Morse, 1779, 1781-92. Edmund Brigham, 1779, 1787, 1788, 1791-93- Eli Whitney, 1780, 1781, 1785, 1786, 1789, 1794-1800. Aaron Warren, 1781-83. Phinehas Gleason, 1783, 1784, 1787, 1788. Daniel Chamberlain, 1784, 1789, 1790, 1793-1801, 1805, 1807-10, 181 5, 1836. Joseph Green, Jr., 1784, 1785. Elijah Brigham, 1785, 1789-95. Antipas Brigham, 1790, Nathan Fisher, 1793-1806, 1819. Simeon Bellows, 1 793-1800. Thomas Morse, 1796-1800. Jonathan Forbes, 1801, 1802, 1809, 1815-18. Andrew Peters, 1801, 1803, 1804. Samuel Fisher, 1801-4, 1809. David Fay, 1802-4. Rufus Forbush, 1802, 1803. Phinehas Forbes, 1804. John Sanborn, 1805-8, 18 10. Joshua Mellen, 1805-11. Solomon Fay, 1805-14. Isaac Forbush, 1806. Thomas Andrews, 1807, 1808. Isaac Ruggles, 1810-12, 1814, Joseph Brigham, 1811, i8i2, 1S14. Abner Warren, 1811, 1812, 1814, 181 5. Daniel Bellows, 1812, 1814. Moses Grout, 1813, 1815. Asaph Warren, 1813, 1817, 1820-23, 1826, 1827. Benjamin Nourse, 1813. Luther Maynard, 1815, 1816. Joseph Nichols, i8i6. Benjamin Fay, Jr., 1813, 1816-19. Samuel Forbush, Jr.,1816-19. Samuel Grout, 1818, 1819. Silas Wesson, 1818-24, 1826, 1S27. Elijah Corbett, 1820, 1821. John Wadsworth, 1822-24. Martin BuUard, 1822-24, 1826, 1827, 1832. David P. Mann, 1822, 1823, 1825, 1833-36. Jesse Woods, 1824, 1825, 1827-31. Daniel Fay, 1824. Lovett Peters, 1825. Otis Brigham, 1825, 1828, 1832. John Warren, Jr., 1825. Nahum Fisher, 1827-31, 1833, 1834. Phinehas Gleason, 1828-31. Daniel Holbrook, Jr., 1828-31, 1833- 35- Samuel Harrington, 1829, 1831. Abijah Stone, 1832, 1837. Joshua N. Mellen, 1832. Gardner Cloyes, 1835, 1836. Elmer Brigham, 1836, 1841. Abijah Wood, 1836. Curtis Beeman, 1837, 1854. Nathaniel E. Fisher, 1837-41. Lyman Belknap, 1838-40, 1842, 1843, 1850, Josiah Fay, 1838. Jbsiah Brigham, 1839, 1840. Moses G. Maynard, 1841-45. Jabez G. Fisher, 1842. Hartwell Bullard, 1843, 1844. 468 APPENDIX. Albert J. Burnap, 1844, '851-53. John A. Fayerweather, 1845-47, 1867 Lawson Harrington, 1845-48. Charles P. Rice, 1846-50, 1856, 1857, 1869-71, 1876. Daniel F. Newton, 184S, 1849, 1854, 1868, 1872-74. Edwin Bullalrd, 1849-51, 1863-65, 1870, 187 1, 1876. Otis Newton, 1851, 1852, 1858. Lowell Belknap, 1851. Ethan BuUard, 1851-53. Baxter Forbes, 1853, 1855, 1863. Lowell Forbush, 1854. Benjamin Boynton, 1855. Joseph W. Forbes, 1855. Joel Forbush, 1856, 1857. Samuel Chamberlain, 1856, 1857, 1877, 1878. Noah Kimball, 1858. Timothy F. Hastings 2d, 1858, 1859. Anson Warren, 1858, 1859. . Greenleaf C. Sanborn, 1858-62, 1865, 1866. Benjamin B. Nourse, 1860-62, 1866, 1868, 1880-85. Silas B. Howe, 1S60-62. George H. Raymond, 1863-65. George W. Parker, 1864. George Forbes, 1866. William M. Child, 1867, 1872-75. Charles H. Pierce, 1867, 1869. ' Charles P. Winslow, i868, 1869. Henry A. Burnap, 1870. J. Brainard Putnam, 1871. B. Alden Nourse, 1872-75. William Curtis, 1875-79. William R. Gould, 1877, 1878. William M. Blake, 1879. Israel H. Bullard, 1879. Reuben Boynton, 1880-82. William T. Forbes, 1880-82, 1887. Alden L. Boynton, 1883-85. Fred G. Harrington, 1883-85. Samuel M. Griggs, 1886. Harding Allen, 1886-90. Thomas H. Reilly, 1886-89. Joshua E. Beeman, 1888, 1889. John E. Henry, 1890. Boners C. Hathaway, 1890. TOWN CLERKS. John Fay, 1718-27. Thomas Forbush, Jr., 1728-32, 1738, 1742-51. Edward Baker, 1733-37, I739-41. Francis Whipple, 1752-58, 1765, 1770. Samuel Wood, 1759. Jonathan Bond, 1760-64, 1766, 1768, 1769. 1773-75- Zebulun Rice, 1767. Moses Wheelock, 1771, 1772, 1778- 82, 1786-95. James Hawes, 1776, 1777, 1783, 1784. Elijah Brigham, 1785. Nathan Fisher, 1795-1814. Daniel Bellows, 1815-17, 1819-22. Asaph Warren, 1818. Fhinehas Gleason, 1823-34, 1837. Nahum Fisher, 1836, 1838-41, Elijah M. Phillips, 1842-47. Otis Newton, 1848, 1849. Jabez G. Fisher, 1850. Hannibal S. Aldrich, 1851-54. Samuel M. Griggs, 1856-86. Frank W. Bullard, 1887-89. Henry L. Chase, 1890- TOWN OFFICERS. 469 TOWN TREASURERS. Thomas Rice, 1718. Edmund Rice, 1719. James Bradish, 1720. Thomas Forbush, 1721. John Fay, 1722. Edward Baker, 1728-32. Seth Rice, 1733, 1738, 1740, 1741. Thomas Forbush, 1734, 1737. Josiah Newton, 1735, 1736,1748, 1750, 1752. I7S3- Abner Newton, 1739, 1746, 1747. Benjamin Fay, 1742, 1743, 1766-68. Francis Whipple, 1744. Ebenezer Maynard, 1745. Stephen Maynard, 1749. Jacob Rice, 1754-58. Benjamin Wood, 1759-64. Timothy Fay, 1765. Seth Morse, 1769-77. Eli Whitney, 1778. Barnabas Newton, 1779-81. George Andrews, 1782, 1786, 1787. Breck Parkman, 1783-85. Jonathan Forbes, 1788-96. James Hawes, 1797, 1798. Samuel Fisher, 1799, 1800. Andrew Peters, 1801-4, 1809, 1810. Thomas Andrews, 1805, 1807, 1808, John Sanborn, 1811-14. Elijah Brigham Jr., 181 5. Charles Parkman, 1816-29. Caleb W. Forbush, 1830-32. John A. Fayerweather, 1833-42. Hiram Haven, 1843-46. Otis Newton, 1847. Josiah Childs, 1848-54, i860, 1861. Samuel M. Griggs, 1855-59. Daniel F. Newton, 1862-67. George O. Brigham, 1868- IV. REPRESENTATIVES. THE following is a list of Representatives from Westborough and the district including Westborough, to the Massachusetts House of Representatives. Until 1858 the town was entitled to send one representative each year. From 1858 to 1887 West- borough and Southborough constituted the district. In the latter year the State was again re-districted. Westborough is now in the twelfth Worcester district, with Northborough, Southborough, Berlin, Shrewsbury, and Grafton. This district is entitied to two representatives. James Eager, 1738. Edward Baker, 1741. Francis Whipple, 1746, 1753, 1756, 1762, 1763, 1765. Thomas Forbush, 1759. Bezaleal Eager, 1760, 1761. Jonathan Bond, 1764-66. Stephen Maynard, 1768-77, 17S5-89. Daniel Forbes, 1777. James Hawes, 1778-80. Joseph Baker, 1781. Hananiah Parker, 1782. Elijah Brigham, 1791, 1793. Nathan Fisher,i794-99,i8oi-ii,l8i6. Simeon Bellows, 181 2, Moses Grout, 1813. Lovett Peters, 1824. Phinehas Gleason, 1827, 1828, 1830, 183s Charles Parkman, 1829. Joshua Mellen, 1831-34. Nahum Harrington, 1832. Silas Wesson, 1833. Elisha Rockwood, 1836. Jonathan Forbes, 1837. Otis Converse, 1838. Otis Brigham, 1839, 1840. Nahum Fisher, 1841. Nathan E. Fisher, 1842, 1843. Josiah Brigham, 1844. M. A. Maynard, 1845, 1846. Lawson Harrington, 1847, 1848. Elmer Brigham, 1849-51. Daniel H. Forbes, 1852. Abijah Wood, 1853. Josiah Child, 1854. Benjamin Boynton, 1855. Charles P. Rice, 1856. Clark R. Griggs, 1857. Otis Newton, 1858. Jonas Fay (of Southborough), 1859. Albert J. Burnap, i860. Dexter Newton (of Southborough), 1861. J. F. B. Marshall, 1862. Samuel M. Griggs, 1863. Curtis Newton (of Southborough), 1864. Reuben Boynton, 1865. John A. Fayerweather, 1866. Henry S. Wheeler(of Southborough), 1867. REPRESENTATIVES. 471 Samuel Appleton (of Southborough), i£68. William M. Child, 1869, 1870. Arthur G. Biscoe, tSjt, Francis Fisher (of Southborough), 1872. William H. Buck (of Southborough), 1873- Reuben Boynton, 1874, 1875. B. Alden Nourse, 1876. Dexter Newton (of Southborough), 1877. George O. Brigham, 1878, 1879. Leander W. Newton (of Southbo- rough), 1880. William T. Forbes, 1881, 1882. Fitch H. Winchester (of Southbor- ough), 1883. ;ws- > 1 Edwin B. Harvey, 1884, 1885. Horace F. Webster (of Southbo- rough), 1886. George B. Brigham Samuel I. Howe (of Shrews- \ 1887. bury) .... J. H. "Robinson (of Southbo. j rough) ....... > i888. Albert L. Fisher (of Grattoni 3 Alden M. Bigelow (of Graf- \ Samuel Wood (of North- 1 '^^" borough ' John W. Fairbanks . j Lyman Morse (of Berlin) J ^' John W. Fairbanks . . . \ Edward C. Howe (of Shrews- > 1891. bury) ) V. VOTES FOR GOVERNOR. FOLLOWING is the record of Westborough's vote in every election for governor since 1782. The first governor under the Constitution was chosen in 1780 j but there appears to be no record of Westborough's vote in that or in the following year. In both those years John Hancock was the successful candidate. In the following record the name of the candidate who was elected is printed first. The date given shows the year in which the governor served, not the year of election : — 1782. John Hancock 24 Azor Orn 9 Scattering 3 — 36 1783. John Hancock 33 Azor Orn ....<.. 2 Benjamin Lincoln .... 2 — 37 1784. John Hancock 22 Azor Orn 4 Benjamin Lincoln .... I — ^27 1785- James Bowdoin . . -4 Thomas Gushing .... 22 Azor Orn 15 Scattering 8 — 49 1786. James Bowdoin .... 27 John Hancock 7 Scattering 2 — 36 1707 John Hancock . James Bowdoin . . . 100 • • 7- -107 1788 John Hancock . . . 90 1789 John Hancock James Bowdoin . Samuel Adams . . . . 80 12 . . 2— ■94 1790. John Hancock . . James Bowdoin . . Samuel Adams . . . . 65 . . I . . I— 67 1791. John Hancock . . . . 76 1792. John Hancock . . Samuel Phillips . . Azor Om .... . . s6 • • 7 . . I— 64 VOTES FOR GOVERNOR. 473 1793 John Hancock Samuel Fhillips . Samuel Adams . 1794. Samuel Adams . William Gushing . Elbridge Gerry . 1795 Samuel Adams . William Gushing . Elbridge Gerry . 1796. Samuel Adams . Increase Sumner . Elbridge Gerry . 1797. Increase Sumner . Moses Gill ■ ■ Edward H. Robbins Scattering . . . 1798. Increase Sumner . Moses Gill . . . E. H. Robbins . 1799, Increase Sumner . E. H. Robbins . 1800. Caleb Strong . Elbridge Gerry Moses Gill • . 1 801 Caleb Strong . Elbridge Gerry 49 6 1-56 47 14 I — 62 42 7 5— S4 30 48 3—81 IS 20 18 5-58 69 4 3—76 69 2 — 71 37 41 8—86 62 36^ ISCB. Caleb Strong . Elbridge Gerry . . Edward H. Robbins 1803. Caleb Strong . . . Elbridge Gerry . . Edward H. Robbins 1S04. Caleb Strong . . . James Sullivan . . Edward H. Robbins 1805. Caleb Strong . James Sullivan Elbridge Gerry 1806. Caleb Strong . James Sullivan 1807. James Sullivan Caleb Strong . i8o3. James Sullivan . Christopher Gore Scattering ■ . . . 1809. Christopher Gore Levi Lincoln . Scattering . . . 1810. Elbridge Gerry . Christopher Gore Harrison G. Otis 1811 Elbridge Gerry . Christopher Gore 63 31 2 — 96 63 9 I— 73 58 33 I— 92 70 93 1^-164 82 S— 170 103 90—193 99 77 2 — 178 .87 "3 2 — 202 . 116 . 86 1-203 100 85-iSs '47.4 APPENDIX. I8l3. Caleb Strong 99 Elbridge Gerry 1813. Caleb Strong . . Joseph B. Varnum . Aaron Dexter . . 1814. Caleb Strong Samael Dexter 113 — 212 119 no 1—230 117 120 — 237 I815. Caleb Strong no Samuel Dexter .... 95 — 205 1816. John Brooks 93 Samuel Dexter .... 113—208 1817. John Brooks 100 Henry Dearborn . . . 85-185 1818. John Brooks 95 Benjamin W. Crowninshield 8i Charles Parkman . . . i — 117 i8ig. John Brooks 108 Benjamin W. Crowninshield 87 — 195 1823. William Eustis .... 100 Harrison G. Otis . . . 88—188 1824. William Eustis .... 100 Samuel Lothrop . . . 98 — 198 1825. Levi Lincoln ii2 Marcus Morton .... I Josiah Quiiicy .... I — 1 14 1826. Levi Lincoln 70 Samuel Hubbard ... 81 James Lloyd 5 — is4 1827. Levi Lincoln 132 Marcus Morton .... 3— 135 1828. Levi Lincoln 118 Scattering 3 — 121 1829. Levi Lincoln . . Marcus Morton . Samuel Lothrop 79 10 I— 90 1820. John Brooks . William Eustis 68-157 1821. John Brooks 79 William Eustis .... 66—145 1822. John Brooks 98 William Eustis . . . . 77— '75 1830. Levi Lincoln 121 Marcus Morton .... 9 — 130 1831. Levi Lincoln 144 Marcus Morton .... 3 Samuel Lothrop ... 3 Scattering 4 — 154 1832. Levi Lincoln ..... 131 Samuel Lothrop ... 37 Marcus Morton .... 4 — 172 VOTES FOR GOVERNOR. 475 1833. Levi Lincoln 128 Samuel Lothrop ... 61 Marcus Morton .... 3 — 193 1834. John Davis 80 John Quincy Adams . . 91 Marcus Morton .... 8 Scattering 3 — 181 1835. John Davis 170 John Bailey ... .24 Marcus Morton .... 11 — 205 1836. Edward Everett Marcus Morton . . 1837. Edward Everett Marcus Morton . . 1838. Edward Everett Marcus Morton . . 1839. Edward Everett . Marcus Morton . . 1840. Marcus Morton . . Edward Everett . . William Jackson . 156 22—178 160 33—193 191 22 — 213 218 51—26 72 222 I— 29s 1841. John Davis 290 Marcus Morton . . . 50—240 1842. John Davis 241 Marcus Morton .... 54 Scattering 12 — 307 1843. Marcus Morton . . John Davis . . . Samuel £. Sewall . 1844. George N. Briggs . Samuel E. Sewall . Marcus Morton . . 1845. George N. Briggs . Samuel E. Sewall . George Bancroft . 1846. George N. Briggs . Samuel E. Sewall . Isaac Davis • . . Scattering .... 1847. George N. Briggs Samuel E. Sewall Francis Baylies . Scattering . . . George N. Briggs Caleb Gushing . Samuel E. Sewall Scattering , • • 1849. George N. Briggs . Stephen C. Phillips Caleb Gushing . . 1850. George N. Briggs . Stephen C. Phillips George S, Boutwell 71 76—336 186 97 73—376 210 99 63— 37* 188 87 16—347 190 83 40 33—346 181 29 27 20—257 '39 176 18—233 J43 147 22 — ^3»2 476 APPENDIX. i85i. 1859. George S. Boutwell . . 16 Nathaniel P. Banks . . 222 Stephen C. Phillips . . 183 Erasmus D. Beach . . • SI George N. Briggs . . ■ iSS Amos A. Lawrence . ■ is- -288 Scattering . 10—364 i860. 1852. Nathaniel P. Banks . . 220 George S. Boutwell . . 29 George N. Briggs . . . 63 John G. Palfrey . . . . 206 Benjamin F. Butler . . 46-329 RobertC. Winthrop . . 168- -403 1861. 1853. John A. Andrew . . . 298 John H. Clifford . . . 168 Erasmus D. Beach . . . 96 Horace Mann . . . . 205 Amos A. Lawrence . . 46 Henry W. Bishop . . • 14- -387 Scattering 2- -442 1854. 1862. Emory Washburn . . . 167 John A. Andrew . . . 210 Henry Wilson . . . • 203 Isaac Davis .... 72- -282 Bradford L. Wales . ■ 32 Scattering 19 — 421 1863. John A. Andrew . . 238 1855- Charles Devens, Jr. . . 184- -422 Henry J. Gardner . . , 238 Emory Washburn . . • 77 1864. Henry Wilson . . . • S9 John A, Andrew . . 208 Scattering • 27- -401 Henry W. Paine . . 73 Alexander H. Bullock 2- -283 1856. Henry J. Gardner . . . 87 1865. Julius Rockwell . . . • 177 John A. Andrew . . 320 Erasmus D. Beach . . . 96 Henry W. Paine . . 130 Scattering ..... . 56—416 Robert C. Pitman . . I- -4SI 1857. 1866. Henry J. Gardner . . . 220 Alexander H. Bullock 276 Erasmus D. Beach . . • S7 Darius N. Couch . . 6s- -241 Luther V. Bell . . . • SI Scattering • s- -333 1867. Alexander H. Bullock . 287 1858. Theodore H. Sweetzer • 72- -359 Nathaniel P. Banks . • 23: Henry J. Gardner . . . 112 1868. Erasmus D. Beach . . • S3 Alexander H Bullock. ■ 363 Scattering I- -297 John Quincy Adams . . i6s- -S28 VOTES FOR GOVERNOR. 477 1869. 1878. William ClaBin . . . 388 Alexavider H. Rice . . • 341 John Quincy Adams . 123- -5" William Gaston . . . Robert C. Pitman . . 1.79 • 84 1870. Scattering 2- -606 William Claflin . . . 278 John Quincy Adams . 108 1879. Edwin M. Chamberlain 49 Thomas Talbot . . 447 Scattering .... 4- -439 Benjamin F. Butler . Alonzo A: Miner . . 258 • 25 1871. Scattering • ^- -732 William Claflin . . . 200 Wendell Phillips. . . . 102 1880. John Quincy Adams . 72- -374 John D. Long . . . Benjamin F. Butler . • 446 213 1872. . John Quincy Adams . 19 William B. Washburn 222 Scattering 9- -687 John Quincy Adams . 95 Robert C. Pitman , . 41 1881. Scattering 42- -400 John D. Long . . . Charles P. Thompson 544 229 1873. Charles Almy . . . 13- -786 William B. Washburn 471 Francis W. Bird . . 88- -559 1882. John D. Long . . . 283 1874. Charles P. Thompson . 97 William B. Washburn 263 Charles Almy . . . 16 William Gaston^ ■ . 93 Scattering 2- -39S Scattering 2- -358 1883. 1875. Benjamin F. Butler . 280 William Gaston . . . 219 Robert R. Bishop . . 423 Thomas Talbot . . . 353- -572 Charles Almy .... ■ 10—713 1876. 1884. Alexander H. Rice . . 324 George D. Robinson . 532 William Gaston . . . . 241 Benjamin F. Butler . 384 John I. Baker . . . 56 Charles Almy . . . 9- -92s Scattering 4-625 1885. 1877. George D. Robinson . 540 Alexander H. Rice . . 502 William C. Endicott . 260 Charles F. Adams . . . 232 Matthew J. McCaiferty 79 John I. Baker . . . 33—767 1 Scattering 28-907 478 APPENDIX. 1886. George D. Robinson . . 329 Frederick O. Prince . . 192 Thomas L. Lothrop . . 15 — 536 1887. Oliver Ames 383 John F. Andrew . . . 285 Thomas L. Lothrop . . 6—674 1888. Oliver Ames 372 Henry B. Lovermg . . 265 William H. Earie . . . 26—663 1889. Oliver Ames . . . William E. Russell William H. Earle . i8go. John Q. A. Bracken William E. Russell John Blackmer . . i8gi. William E. Russell John Q. A. Brackett John Blackmer . . 477 348 7i-«9C 316 264 123—703 301 278 108—687 VI. REV. EBENEZER PARKMAN'S HISTORY OF WESTBOROUGH. THE following sketch of the History of Westborough appears in the Massachusetts Historical Society's Collections, Second Series, vol. x. p. 84. It is entitled " An Account of Westborough (Mass.), by Rev. Ebenezer Parkraan, Jan. 28, 1767." This town was formerly part of Marlborough,, and called Chauncy. It is said that in early times one Mr. Chauncy was lost in one of the swamps here, and that from thence this part of the town had its name. Two ponds, a greater and a less, are also called Chauncy, — most probably from the same cause.* Marlborough was divided by an Act of the General Court Nov. 19, 1717, and with the addition of three thousand acres of Province land, and some farm lands, this township was erected. In the fall of the next year, the first meeting-house was raised. The first families were twenty-seven. All the first settlers were about forty. In June, 1728, a part of Sutton land, about nineteen hundred acrfes, having ten settlers upon it, was laid to us ; and there have been some small additions of land from other towns since ; from places from the southeast part of Shrewsbury ; and three from the northwest part of Upton. ^ There are six ponds here ; the largest of them, or great Chauncy pond, is in the midst of the township, as originally granted, and is about a mile in length. It was by the Indians anciently termed Naggawoomcom, or Great Pond. There is another pond, which was called Hobbamocke, from some sup- posed infernal influence, which a man was unhappily under nigh that pond, from morning till the sun sat. The River Assabet ( I never knew the meaning of that name) flows through this town. Its source is a little above us. Pas- sing through several other towns, at length it fills into Merrimack. 480 APPENDIX. A church was gathered here Oct. 28, 1724 ; there being twelve members besides the writer, who was that day ordained the pastor. Rev. Mx.John Prentice, of Lancaster, preached from 2 Cor. xii. 15. He also gave the solemn charge ; and Rev. Mr. Israel Loring, of Sudbury, the right hand of fellowship. The number of families when I come here was fifty-eight.^ October 20, 1744, the town of Westborough, consisting of 125 families, wasi by an Act of the General Court, divided into two precincts, the north part being indeed very small. April 30, 1745, the north meeting-house was raised. May 21, 1746, a church was gathered in the north precinct, and Rev. Mr. John Marty n was ordained the pastor. [Rev. Mr.] Parkman preached on that occasion from Heb. xiii. 17 ; Rev. Mr. Prentice aforesaid gave the charge ; and Rev. Mr. Gushing, of Shrewsbury, the right hand. May 3, 1 749j the meeting-house in the first precinct was raised ; and Sept. 3d following we first met in it. In the year 1765 the north precinct wasj by an Act of the General Court, made a district by the name of Norfhboroughi The number of communicants in Northborough is twenty-one males and twenty-three females. The present number of families here, in the town, is 120; of church members, including those who occasionally communicate with us, as members of other churches, and a number who, living so contiguous to us as to be nigher here than to their own meeting-house, have therefore joined to our church, but without counting many who are gone into various parts of the country and are not dismissed from us, 130. Male members who dwell here 42 ■j do. who dwell on the borders . 3 > 48 Occasional who dwell here 3 ) I Mr. Daniel Elmer, a candidate for the ministry, from Connecticut River, preached here several years, and received a call from the people ; but there arose dissention, and though he built upon the farm which was given for the first settled minister, and dwelt upon it, yet by the advice of an ecclesiastical council he desisted from preaching here; and a quit-claim bfeing given him of the- farm, he sold, and with his family removed to Springfield in 1724. He was afterwards settled in the ministry at Cohanzy. in the' Jerseys, and I suppose died there. MR. PARKMAN'S history OF WESTBOROUGH. 48 1 Educated at Harvard College were, — Rev. Eli Forbes, Pastor of Second Church in Brookfield. Asaph Rice Westminster. Jonathan Livermore Wilton. Joseph Bowman Oxford. Thomas Rice, Esq., who is at Pownalborough. Ebenezer Rice, A. B. Jacob Rice, A. B. Among the Remarkable Providences has been the mischief by the Indians. On Aug. 8, 1704, ten Indians rushed down from an hill upon a number of boys who were with divers persons that were spreading flax on the plain below ; they slew one of the boys immediately, and captivated four, three of which continued and grew up in Canada. One of them^ was a sachem many years ago, and well known to Hendrick, the Mohawk chief, when he was here. Colonel Lydius, of Albany, informs me that he is the present principal sachem of the Caghnawaga tribe, near Montreal. 1 Timothy Rice ; his Indian name was Oughtzorongoughtou. INDEX. Abbott, Rev. Edward C, 237. Adams, Charles F., 477. Jr., Daniel, 163. Frank S., 340. George S., 404. Isaac, 197. John, 151, 212. John Q., 265, 274. John Quincy, 475, 476, 477. Minot C, 256, 268, 270, 274, 329, Samuel, 158, 472, 473. place, the F. J., 460. Adrentists', Second, 240. Agricultm'e, 245, 346-355. Agricultural Society, 228, 406-407, 438. Aid, Soldiers', 254, 271. Ainsworth's Psalm-book, 112. Aldrich, George S., 265, 275. Hannibal S., 468. William M., 256, 274. Alexander, Rev. Caleb, 203. Alexandria, Va., 260, 263, Allen, Augustus, 251, 275.. Rev. C. A., 237. Harding, 468. Rev. Joseph, 18, 28. Joseph A., 402. Aliens, the, 451. Almy, Charles, 477. American Block, 333. Straw Sewing Machine Co., 333, 367. Ames, Oliver, 478. Amherst College, 377, 441, 451. Amsden, Isaac, 42. Jacob, 46, 62, 104, 115, 465, 466. Anderson, Captain, 247, Andersonville, Ga., 268. Andrew, John A., 252, 476. John F., 478. Andrews, George, 14;, 196, 465, 467, 469. 2d George, 196. John, 233. Andrews, Nathaniel, 233. Thomas, 198, 467, 469. Andros, Governor, 107. Angier & Co., P. A., 367. Anniversary, Church, 335-336. sermon, Mr. Parkman's, 125-130. week, 150. Antiquarian Sodety, Worcester, 88. Appleton, Samuel, 471. Appropriations, 370. Armory building, 375. Arnold, Mr., 155. Albert A., 264, 275. Rev. A. N., 232, 251, 376. Mrs. A. N., 251, 272. Ashland, i, 100. Assabet River, 3, 17, 31, 460 j 479. Awakening, the Great, 115, 122-125. Axes, manufactured, 355, 357. Babbitt, Rev. George F., 233. Bacon, Charles W., 256, 275. William B., 253. Hopkins & Bacon, 452, & Williams, 333, 363. Bailey, David M., 265, 275. John, 475. Walter, 262, 275. Rev. Silas, 232. Baird, Daniel, 395. Baker, Edward, 63, 97, 98, 99> '09. '33. 138, 466, 468, 469, 470. John, 196. John I., 477. Joseph, 161, ig6, 465, 467, 470. Solomon, 467. Baldwin, Mr., 364. Ball, Benjamin, 163, 164, 197. James, 81, 115, 466. John, 163, 197. Nathan, 466. Phinehas, 417, 420, 484 INDEX. Ball's Hill, 47. Ballou, George S., 262, 275. Rev, Hosea, 233. Baltimore, 248. Bancroft, George, 475. Bank, First National, 397. Westborough Savings, 397. Banks, Nathaniel P., 400, 476. Baptist Church, 209, 225, 231-233, 240, 333- Barker, Ira, 269, 326. Barnard, George M., 400. Barnes, Richard, 34, 198. Jr., Richard, 198. Barre, 355. Barry, Father, 240. Barstow, Sidney, 251, 276. Bartlett, Abbie M., 447. Frank V., 366, 414, 447- Warren, 264, 265, 276. place, the, 30. Basin, baptismal, 91. Bates, Abigail, 436. Adeline, 436. Edward C, 240, 398, 414, 435. Rev. Joshua, 436. Lucius R., 333, 364, 389. Zealous, 436, & Beaman, 365. Parker's Co., 364. Wightman & Beaman, 364. Straw factory, 206, 364-365, 389. Bathrick, David, 198. Jonathan, 198. Solomon, 198. Stephen, 197. Bay Psalm-book, 113, 114. Baylies, Francis, 475. Beach, Erasmus D., 476. Beals, Isaiah H., 251, 260, 276. Beaman [or Beeman], Eleazer, 46, 466. Ira M., 394. WillardW. 365. Beeker, Ezra, 197. Beeman, Abraham, 196. Curtis, 228, 332, 370, 465, 467. Joshua E., 468. Beeres, William, 6. Beers, Rev. Henry N., 238, 335. Capt. Richard, 461, 462. Beers's Grant, 461. Beeton, Jane S., 379. John, 197. Belcher, Governor, 39, 103. Andrew, 17. Belknap, Ellen M., 439. Dr. Jeremy, 182, 183. John, 438, 458. 2d Joseph, 198. Lowell, 468. Lyman, 232, 328, 330, 333, 403, 467 ; biographical sketch, 438. Lyman A., 439. Ruth, 438. Stephen, 198. Bell, John, 246, 248. presented to town, 208 ; new 22;. Bellows, Daniel, 467, 468. James, 163. George N., 264, 265, 276. Reuben, 198. Samuel, 163, 196, 198. Simeon, 467, 470. Bemis, Hiram C., 264, 276. Bennett, Dexter W., 257, 277. Bennington, 169. Berlin, 100, 203, 470. Bernard, Henry O., 365, 366. Paul D., 366. &Co., H. O., 365, 451. , Manufacturing Co., H. 0., 366, 370, 45 >• Berryhill, William, 262, 277. Bicycles, manufacture of, 367. Bigelow [or Biglow], Widow, 197. Alden M., 470. Asahel, 163, 164, 197. A. M., 449. Helen, 449. Bingham, George P., 382. Biographical Sketches, 431-453- Bird, Francis W., 477. Biscoe, Arthur G., 341, 412 ; biograph- ical sketch, 449; 465, 471. T. Dwight, 373. Rev. Thomas C, 449. Bishop, Henry W., 476. Robert R., 477. Blake, Clara S., 379. Black, Robert, 265, 277. Blackmer,,Johi), 478. Rev. W. P., 239, 251, 252, 277. Blackstone, 368. Blake, J. W., 370. Li^e, 407. Percy M., 420. Willikm F,, 267, 268, 270, 277. William H., 256, 277, 329. William M., 264, 277, 389, 468. Blake place, the, 47, 155, 358. Blanchard, Charles W., 255, 277. INDEX. 48s Blanchard, John, 265, 278. Blizzard, the great, 422. Board of Trade, 413. Bolton, 100. Bond, Abraham, 198. Herbert W., 262, .268, 270, 278, 329. John S., 255, 278. Jonathan, 138, 152, 154, 161, 162, 465, 465, 468, .470. Joseph, 163, 197. Joslah. 203. Thomas, i6r, 163, 169, 170, 467. Boot and Shoemakers' International Union, 412. Boots and shoes, manufacture of, 224, 356-361. Boston (in 1720), 65-66 ; 150, 151, 153, 158, 160; siege, 164; 268. Harbor, 251. Hill, 31, 459. Bosworth, Benjamin, 458. Edward, 458, Nathaniel, 458. Grant, 458-459. Boulie, Peter, 264, 278. Bounties, 169-172, 256, 257, 271. Boutelle, Lewis H,, 259, 278. Boutwell, George S., 475, 476. Bowdoin, James, 472. Bowen, Rev. Williani, 232. Bowes, John, 249, Bowman, Amy A,, 440. Benjamin, 197. Eleazer, 465. James, 169, 170, igt, 197. John W., 265, 278. Joseph, 48X. Levi, 198, 361,382,440. Boyle, Rev. Patrick, 424. Boynton, Alden L., 264, 278, 406, 468. Benjamin, 249, 403, 465, 468, 47a. Reuben, 332, 386, 389, 416, 468, 470, 471. Boylston, 34. Brackett, John Q. A., 478. Bradish, James, 46, 51, .52, 62, 81, 466, 469. Brady, Dr., 155. Patrick, 426. Bragg, Mrs. M. L., 427. Urial, 359. Willard, 359. Brajden, James, 24. Braley, Ellison L., 264, 279. Frank G., 264, 265, 279. Breck, Hannah, 106, 431. Rev. Robert, 81, 106, 43'. Breckenridge, John C., 246, 248. Bricks, manufacture of, 357, 366. Brick Block, the, 396. Bridge, Rev. Mr., 186. Briggs, George N., 475, 476. Brigham, Widow, . 1 96. Abigail A., 436. Albert, 262, 268, 279, Ann F., 436. Ann M., 433. Anna P., 437. Anna S., 433. Anne, 190. Antipas, 198, 206, 467. Atherton F.,445. Barnabas, 163. Bertram F., 445. Calvin L., 262, 268, 279, 437. Carrie G., 445. Catherine M., 433. Charles E., 256, 279, 437. Charles R., 252, 261, 280. Cyrus, 353. Dana W., 433. Daniel, 466. - Daniel E., 436. David, 46, 47, 52, 55, 57,81,98, 102, 198- 433. 436. 466- Dexter, 220, 235, 405. Dexter P., 256, 279, 338. Edmund, 163, 169, 170, 196, 467. Edward, 163, 164. Edward E., 362. Elijah, 135, 196, 198, 202, 219, 407, 432 ; biographical sketch, 433 ; 465, 467, 468, 470. Jr. Elijah, 469. Ella L., 445, Ellen E., 437. Elmer, 352, 407 {.biographical sketch, 436) 443. 465. 4§7. 470. Ernest P., 445. Francis A., 252, 257, 280. Frank, 363. Frank F., 445. George Ball, 225, 332, 359, 360, 361 ; biographical sketch, 444 ; 448, 471 ; farmhouse, 369. George Bickford, ,445. George C, 265, 280. George O., 331, 334, 352, 367, 387, 397. 406, 407, 4">, 4'7. 426; 436. 469, 471. Gershom, 197. 486 INDEX. Brigbam, Hannah J., 437. Harrison M., 252, 280. Henrietta A., 436. Holway, 407. Horace E., 360, 445. IversJ., 436. Jesse, 67. John, 19, 31, 34, 42, 43, 460, 462. John L., 360, 445, 448. John W., 465. Jonas, 138, 466. Joseph, 467. Joshua B., 436. Josiah, 352, 407, 467, 470. Josiah A., 396. Jotham, 46. Levi, 431, 433, 466. LilUe J., 445. Lucy H., 436. Marion H., 445. Mary, 460. Mary J., 436. Merrick P., 437. Moses, 460. Nathan, 34, 133. Nelly F., 444. Otis, 223, 225, 380, 407 i biographical sketch, 435 ; 446, 465, 467, 470. Fhineas, 163, 164, 196. Sally, 433. Sally S., 433. Samuel, 34. Samuel N., 269, 326. Sereno L., 436. Seth, 163. Silas H., 264, 265, 280, 338. Silas O., 444. Sophia A., 437. Susan, 437. Susanna, 431. Susanna W., 433, Thomas, 19, 34, 40, 460. Capt. Timothy, 28. Warren L., 259, 264, 280. & Co., C, 352-354. Gould & Co., 448. farm, the, 459. place, the Warren, 19, 28. Brimsmead, William, 16. Brittan, John W., 410. Broaders, Hiram L., 341. Jacob, 193. Brocklebank, Captain, 26. Brookfield, 22, 30, 103, 104, 142. Brooks, John, 474. Brooks & Wells, 360. Brown, Col. Josiah, 146. Wilder F., 363. William, 265, 281. Rev. William L., 232. University, 377. Bruce, Abijah, 134, 138, 465. Thomas, loi. Bryant, Noyes, 361. Buchanan, President, 246. Buck, William H., 471. Buckminster, Col. Joseph, 457. Bull Run, 256, 260. Second, 260. Bullard, Edwin, 271, 397, 406, 468. Emory, 252, 281. Ethan, 252, 396, 465, 468. Francis W., 262, 268, 281, 396, 468. Hartwell, 407, 467, Israel H., 264, 281, 386, 389, 468. Martin, 233, 257, 281, 467. Bullock, Alexander H., 476. Bunker Hill, 164, Burbank, L. S., 376. Burgess, Charles B., 255,281. Burgoyne's defeat, 169. Burial lots, 210. Burke, Rev. R. S. J., 240. Bumap, Albert J., 257, 331, 332, 362, 468, 470. Elijah, 224, 437. Henry A., 258, 264, 282, 468. John S., 252, 253, 271, 282, 329 Forbes & Co., 225, 362. Bums, James, 258, 282. John, 252, 282. Patrick, 259, 282. ' Bumside, General, 267. Burrier, James, 373, 376. Butler, Benjamin F., 476, 477. John, 147. & Mellen, 197. Byles, Capt. Joseph, 46, 47. Cady, Rev. Daniel R., 238, 335, 336. Canawagas, the, 39, 481. Call, George L., 267, 283. Calverly, John, 267, 283. Cambridge, 164. Card, William J., 265, 283. Carter, Andrew P., 258, 283. Charles S., 257, 268, 270, 283, 329. James D., 267, 283. Caruth, John, 147. Cary, Thomas, 258, 283. Casey, Rev. Edmund D., 424. INDEX. 487 Casey, Patrick, 249, 258, 283, Cavey, Michael, 265, 284. Cedar Swamp, 3, 101, 422. Celebration, church, 335; centennial, 336-343- Cemetery, appropriations for, 370. Centennial Park, 334. Central Block, 334, 389, 396. Chairs, manufacture of, 357, 358, Chamberlain, Calvin, 250. Daniel, 198, 204, 215, 216, 382, 465, 467. Ebenezer, 198, 466. Edwin M., 477, Henry, 447. Jason, 352. Joseph, 163. Joshua, 163, Luther, 224, 225, Nathaniel, 163. Samuel, 407, 468. Spencer, 252, 284. Champney, Hannah, 71. Mary, 71, 105. Samuel, 71. Chandler, John, 43. Chapin, David N., 262, 269, 284, 326. Theodore F., 402. Chapman, Lorenzo A., 25S, 3S4. Charleston, S. C, 247, Charlton, 355. Chase, Frederick D., 264, 284. Henry L., 387, 389, 468. Chauncy, Charles, 16, 17, Engine, 226, 337, 385, 386. Farm, 17. Hose Company, 390. Meadow, 15. Pond, 3, 5, 18, 29, 31, 47, 193, 229, 23'i 338, 399, 479- Village, 18, 29, 33, 48, 185, 479. Cheese factory, 353. Chevalier, Napoleon, 264, 284, Chickering, George S., 257, 268, 270, 284, 329. Child, Jonathan, 196. Josiahj 470. William M., 264, 285, 386, 415, 468, 471. Childs, Josiah, 396, 416, 469. Choir, the first, 157. Christian Commission, 272. Christmas, 141. Chronotype, the, 331, 391, 393, 420, 422. Church government, 177-179; life, pha- ses of, 120; music, 112-117, 142, 155-157; order, 118-120; records, 46, 87, 236. Churchill, Ezra, 264, 285. Civil war, cause, 245-246; beginning, 247 ; Westborough in, 248-273; records of soldiers in, 274-327, Claflin, William, 477. Clark, Charles E., 264. 285. Clarke, Annie E., 451. Clements, Edward, 267, 285. demons, Walter, 264, 285. Cleveland, President, 396. Clifford, John H., 476. Clinton, 100, 368. Clock presented to town, 209, 225, Clocks, manufacture of, 355. Cloyes, Gardner, 225, 361, 384, 385, 467. Cobb, Charles, D., 333, 427. Edward, 197. & Co.'s grain-store, C. D., 389. Cobb's Block, 224, 358, 395. Cochrane, James, 361. Codman, Charles R., 403. Cody, Isaac, 197. Coil, Rev. E. A., 237. Cold Harbor Meadow, 15. Cole, Jefferson K., 262, 285. Colfax, Schuyler, 408. Collins, Prof. Lewis, 452. Comey, Willard, 337, 365, 367. Committee of Correspondence, 158. ! Common, the, 194. Communion Service, 203, 236. ComstQck, Mrs. Salmon, 251. Conant, Mrs. Mary B., 441. Thoma\23i, 232, Concord, 22, 162. Congregational Calvinistic Society, 234. Society, First, 2*1, 224, 233, 235. Congress, Continental, 160, 162, 165, «74, 338, 339- Connecticut road, the, 22, 30), 104, 461. Conroy, James, 265, 285. Constable, first chosen, 49 ; 52, 10;, i68> Constitution, state, 174, 175. Constitutional convention, 175, 191. Converse, Rev. Otis, 232, 470. Sherman, 340, 415, 416, 465. Cook, Rev. H. A., 236. Stephen, 197. Coolidge, Victor, 265, 286. Copeland, John, 252, 262, 268, 270, 286, 329- Thomas, 252, 260, 270, 286, 329. Corbett, 355. Elijah, 467. 488 INDEX. Cordaville, 457. Corey, Francis E., 406. Corner Block, J34, 396, 397. Comet Band, 337. Comwallis' Surrender, i84> Cotton, Rev. John, 441. Cotton-gin, 192, 246, 355, 435. Couch, Darius N., 476. County, Worcester, road, 104. tax, 370, Court, General, 8, 17, 24, 42, 49, 57, 141, 160. First District, of Eastern Worcester, 397-398. 444. 452- Courts, 104. -Covenant, Westborough Church, 82. Crain, Rising & Co., 359. Crane Meadow, 15. Creamery Association, 354. Cromack, Rev. J. E., 239. Cronican, Patrick, 219. Cronin, Rev. C. J., 240. Cross, Allen W., 259, 286. Cross Street factory, 359, 360. Crowe, James, 265, 287. John, 262, 268, 287. Michael, 265, 287. Patrick, 262, 268, 269, a86, 327, Crowley, John H., 252, 287." Crowninshield, Benjamin W., 474. Cuddy, Father, 240. Cummings, Jr., Rev. Gilbert, 2J7, 250, 259, 264, 287. Currency, Colonial, 57-58, 102, 168, 171. Currying, 356. Curtis, Charlotte M., 443. Jonathan, 443. Lucy M., 443. William, 135, 330, 338,-34i, Jgo, 387, 408, 426; biographical sketch, 442 ; 468. fund, 380. Hose Company, 387. Cushing, Rev. Mr., 480. Caleb, 475. Rev. John R., 239. Thomas, 472. William, 473. Cushman, Wallace H., 252, 260, 287. Danforth, Samuel, 172. grants, 458. Dark day, the, 182-184. morning, 422. Dartmouth College, 433. Daughters of Kcibecca, Laurel Degree Lodge, No. 44, 409. Davenport, Alvan, 333, 426. Alvan N ., 427. David, Abimdech, 28. Davis, George, 191. George L., 259, 267, 288. Isaac, 47, 190, 191, 356, 475, 476. John, 475. M. Gilman, 406. Theodore L., 258. 288. Day, John E., 373, 376, 427. Rev. J. S., 239, L. P., 338. Deacons chosen, 92. Dean, Rev. Artemas, 238, 335. Dearborn, Henry, 474. Dee, John, 258, 288, 426. William, 255, 288. " Deer reeves," 106. Deerfield. 23, 36. De Forest, Rev. Reman P., 438, 335, 3381 340, 344. 379. 398, 406. Delano, Reuben, 262, 288. Delevenne, Godfried, 267, 288. Democratic party, 212, 246, 266. Denfeld, Frank F., 367. Louis E., 342, 380, 465. Denison, Major-General, 24. Denny, George, 227, 228, 352, '358, 384, 385. 403. 407. 43", 464. estate, George, 370. William, 259, 271, 288, 329. Devens, Jr., Charles, 476. Dewson, Francis H., 403. Dexter, Aaron, 473. Samuel, 474. Diary, Rev. Ebenezer Parkman's, 88, 91, 94. '05, "', "4. Dinan, Dennis D., 338, 396. Districts, school, 109, 143. Division of town, 107-112, 480. Dbherty, James, 259, 288. Dolan, Michael, 258, 265, 288. John, 389. Donovan, Byron, 257, 289. Ira L., 252, 289. Jackson, 255, 289. James, 338. Rev. R. J., 240. Dooley, Edmund T., 402. Dorchester, 164, 169. Dorr, Rev. Joseph, '81,85. Douglas, George R., 252, '26;, 289. Stephen A., 246, 248. INDEX. 489 Drayton, Charles, 252, 289, Drafting, 262. Drinking habits, early settlers, 5,3. DriscoU, Timothy, 267, 269, 270, 290, 329. Drummond, William H., 264, 290. Dudley, Edwin A., 262, 290. Joseph, 454. Dummer, William, 65. Dunlap, E, E., 414. & Son, D. S., 332, 367, 410. Dunn, Patrick, 264, 290. Dunning, M. V., 361. Durgin, James P., 265, 290. Dyer, Thomas B,, 255, 290. Eager, Bezaleal, 192, 465, .466, 470. James, 46, 55,, 63, 67, 103, 132, 465, 466, 470. Eagle Block, 334, 389. Earle, William H., 478. Earthquakes, 92, 128, 142, 421. Eastern Star, Order of, Bethany Chap- ter, No. 13, 410, Eastman, Mattie J., 379. Eaton, Gov. Theophilus, 459. grant, 459-461. Edjnands, William H., 258, 29a. Education, colonial days, 96-100. Edwards, Henrietta F., 435. Rev. Jonathan, 122, 123. Pierrepont, 435. Egan, Rev. P., 240, 341. Election, Presidential (i860), 246, 248 ; (1864), 266. Gubernatorial, 472-478. Electric lights, 426. Eliot, Jacob, 62, 63, 69. John, 4, 5, 8, 10, II, 13. Elmer, Rev. Daniel, 48, 51, 59, 127, 48a. Elwell, Louis J., 337. Emerson, Rev. C. W., 237, 340. Rev. J. H., 239. Emery, George F., 252, 291. Emmons, Rev. Nathaniel, 203.. Endicott, William C, 477. Engine-house, 387-388, 426. England, Church of, 140. Enlistments (in Revolution), 169; (in Civil War), 269-270. Entwishill, Edward, 163. Episcopal services, 240. Esty, Edward S., 255, 291. Eustis, William, 474. Evangelical Society, 235, 237-239,333, 335- Evans, Benjamin, 402. Eliza, 331. Everett, Edward, 475. Exposition, Centennial, 336. Factory Association, 423. Fairbanks, Aimer R., 269, 292. Fairbanks, Benjamin N., 259, 292, 363. Charles A., 264, 292. Coming, 361, 363, 385, 389. George W., 262, 292. Freeman, 264, 265, 291. Henry A., 252, 264, 292. Hollis H., 252, 260, 270, 291. John W., 255, 291, 385, 471. Joseph H., 252, 291, 363, 385. Willard W., 266, 292. Faneuil Hall, 153. Fanin, James, 267, 293. Fannon, Bernard, 258, 265, 293. Farley, Father, 240. Faulkner, David B., 264, 294, 389. Jr., Festus, 257, 264, 294. Fay, Adam, 147. Asa, 47. Benjamin, 138, 146, 160, 196, 370, 466, 469, Jr., Benjamin, 370, 382, 467. Betty, 124. Charles E., 338. Charles M., 252,.293, Cyrus, 397. David, 233, 467. Daniel, 467. Elizabeth, 82. Gershom, 40, 46, 47, 52. Jasper, 101. Jeduthun, 138, 196. Joanna Phillips, 432. John, 19, 20, 34, 46, 49, 51, 52, 55, 57, 62, 66, 81, 89, 92, 95, 102, 146, 163, 196, 434, 460, 465, 466, 468, 469. John R., 407. Jonas, 470. Jonathan, loi, 154, 196,, 432, 467. Josiah, 467. Mrs. Mary, 40. Nathaniel, 198. Samuel, 20, 34, 46, 52, 94, 197, 460. Solomon, 465, 467. S. Dexter, 330, 339, 340. S. Taylor, 330, 465. Thaddeus, 193. 490 INDEX. Fay, Timothy, 466, 469. Rev. W. Walcott, 239. Waldo L., 264, 267, 293. William W., 251, 264, 265, 293. Zeduthun, 467. & Brigham, 224. farm, the, 20, 43, 46, 96, 459. " Fays, houses of the," 460. Fayerweather, George J., 255, 294. George T., 257, 264, 266, 294, 337, 387- John, 203, 224, 437. John A., 224, 2S7, 33'. 352. 370, 396, 397. 403. 407. 410, 414 i bio- graphical sketch, 437; 448, 465, 468, 469, 470. Mrs. John A,, 251. Sarah, 438. Federalists, 212. Fence-viewers, 52, 56. Ferguson, George A., 257, 295. Henry C, 257, 295. Fessenden, John, 197. " Fiddleneck," 456, 457. Field-driver, 52. Fire department, appropriations for, 370, 383-390- engine, purchased, 226. Fires, 331, 334, 423. Fish, Rev. Elisha, 202. Fisher, Aaron, 197. Albert L., 471. Charles, 465. Charles P., 257, 295. Francis, 471. G. Milton, 413. George N., 352. Jabez G., 407, 467, 468. Milton M., 395, 406. Nahum, 228, 362, 403, 406, 407, 467, 468, 470. Nathan, 175, 191, 196, 394.465. 467. 468, 470. Nathan A., 219, 233, 356. Nathan E., 407, 470. Nathaniel E., 361, 467. S. Deane, 352, 407. Mrs. S, D., 272. Samuel, 197, 467, 469. William, 255, 259, 295. & Lothrop, 219. Fisher's Mill, 389. Fitch & Co., George E., 353. Fitchburg, 355, 368. Flagg, Henry C, 262, 295. Flanders, Rev. C. W., 232, 233, 330. Flanders road, 19;. Fletcher, George W., 267, 296. William C, 264, 295. Flinn, Patrick, 266, 296. Florida, 247. Fly, John, 252, 263, 270, 296, 329. Fogg, Shaw, Thayer & Co., 360. Forbes, Archibald, 408. Baxter, 271, 362, 468. Catherine W., 451. Daniel, 160, 161, 461, 470. Daniel H., 403, 470. Daniel W., 333, 362. Rev. Eli, 481. Elijah, 444. Elisha, 197. Ephraim T., 407, 451. Frank W., 367, 380, 404. George, 359, 360, 468. Harriette M., 452. John, 166. Rev. John P., 237. Jonathan, 196, 382, 407, 451, 460, 467, 469, 470. Joseph W., 468. Phineas, 197, 467. Simeon, 163. William T., 387, 398, 414, 426 ; bio- graphical sketch, 451; 434, 463, 468, 471. Willis A., 262, 296. & Fisher, 362. & Son, D. W., 362. name, the, 47, 94. sleigh factory, 362. Forbush, Aaron, 46, 465. Abigail, 82. Alonzo G., 264, 263, 296. Asa, 196. Benjamin F., 383. Caleb W., 469. Coolidge, 233. Daniel, 466. Dinah, 139. Dorcas, 82. Ebenezer, 198. Eli, 142. Isaac, 467. Joel, 467. Jonathan, 47, 104, 142, 463, 466. Jr., Jonathan, 138. Lowell, 468. Rufus, 197, 467. Samuel, 34, 51, 52, 94, 198, 233, 465, 467- Jr., Samuel, 467. INDEX. 491 Forbush, Thomas, 34, 46, 4?, 50, 52, 33, 81, 102, 116, 133, 466, 469,470. Jr., Thomas, 466, 468. William H., 252, 260, 296. Foster, Alfred D., 399. Henry S., 258, 296. John A., 258, 297. Nancy H,, 440. Fourth of July, 336. Fox, Charles B., 233. Framingham, 81, 100, 457. Tribune, 394. Franldm, 203. Benjamin, 61. James, 61. Freeman, Henry A., 269, 297. French, Nancy D., 441. Revolution, 212. Fulham, Francis, 45. Gage, General, 39, 160, 162, Rev. Nathaniel, 236. Gale, Abijah, 143, 160, 196, 202, 465, 467. Amsden, 163. Gardner, 368. Henry G., 476. Garrison houses, 23, 40. Gashett, Henry, 247. Gaston, William, 477. Gates, General, 169. Famelia, 441. Gay, Ebenezer, 196. George III., king, 150, 131, Georgia, 247. Gerry, Elbridge, 473, 474. Gettysburg, Pa., 260, 263. Gibson, Father, 240. Gilbert, Timothy, 356. Gill, Rev. B., 239. Moses, 473. Gilmore, John A., 264, 297. Stephen A., 366. Glazier, Rev. N. Newton, 233. Gleason, Elijah, 370. Fhinehas, 197, 464, 467, 468, 470. Jr., Fhineas, 163. Zebina, 237, 32S, 370. Glidden, John, 232, 297. Godfrey, Capt. James, 163, 164, 170, 197. Lucy, 439. Good Templars, Welcome Lodge, No. 150, 409. Goodhue, Rev. J. A., 233. Goodnovr, Mary, 40, 41. Goodnow, Samuel, 19, 34, 40, 46, 47,166. Gookin, Major, 4, 9, 21. Gore, Christopher, 473. Goss, Charles A., 264, 265, 297. Gould, Harriet, 433. James, 163. Mary H., 440, 447. Rufus, 447. Sarah F., 448. William, 453. William R., 361, 370, 413, 427, 438, 440 ; biographical sketch, 447 ; 468. & Walker, 360, 361, 370, 423,448. Gould's Block, 427. " Gov. Lincoln," steamer, 334. Governor, votes for, 472-478. Grafton, 5, 8, 34, 123, 125, 146,201, 203, 237,353.355.3981454.470. Graham, Roland, 267, 297. Grammar School, 226, 373. Grand Army of the Republic, John Sedg- wick Post, No. 21, 411 ; A. G. Biscoe Post, No. 80, 412. Grand Army Block, 359, 375, 413, 427. Grange, No. 116, P. of H., 407. Grant, General, 263. Graves, G. W., 338. Gray, William J., 368. Great Middle Meadow, 35. Green, John, 105. Joseph, 197. Jr., Joseph, 467. Myron D., 262, 268, 297. Greene, Rev. Benjamin A., 233, 339, 341. Mary E., 272. Mrs. Nathaniel, 434. Greenwood, Abner R., 231, 252, 233, 298. Charles, 233, 298. Charles O., 239, 298. Enoch, 196. William H. H., 262, 268, 269, 270, 298, 326, 329. Gregory, Daniel, 220. Gregory's Inn, 220, 227. Gregson, Rev. John, 240. Griffin, Rev. Thomas, 424, 425. Griggs, Clark R., 470. Samuel, 228. Samuel M., 87, 3.'?4, 335, 379, 397, 436 ; biographical sketcli, 443 ; 468, 469, 470. & Co.'s Block, 219. Grimke, Archibald H., 403. Groton, 22, 26. Grout, James, 138. Jonathan, 467. 492 INDEX. Grout, Joseph, 460, 466; Joshua, 169, 196. Moses, 467, 470. Samuel, 467. Susanna, 433. Grove Street school-houses, 374. Hadlev, 23. Hale, George F., 257, 299. Halloway, William, 466. Hammock, Mrs, Sarah, 433. Hampshire County, 103. Hancock, John, 472, 473. Hanley, Francis, 259, 270, 299, 329, Hannon, Michael C, 258, 299. Haradeh, George C, 252, 253, 271, 299, 329- John W., 255, 299. Hardy, Aaron, loi. Charles H., 257, 299, Jr.„Daniel, 163, Elijah, 196. Fhinehas, loi, 160, igj, 231, 465, 466. Jr., Phineas, 163. Harlow, Albert E., 269, 326. Harmon, Captain, 68. Harmony Conference, 217. Harnesses, manufacture of, 357. Harper's Ferry, 263. Harrenslayer, Frederick, 267, 299. Harrington, Benjamin, 197. Caleb, 163. Charles A., 264, 299, 337. Charles L., 255, 300. Edwin F., 264, 300. Eli, 163. Francis, 258, 300. Frank A., 252, 300. Fred G., 468. ' George, 47. John, 163, 197. Joseph, 161, 197, 202, 467. Lawson, 355, 468, 470. Nahum, 470. Samuel, 138, 467. S. A., 47. Harris,. Henry A., 255, 270, 300, 329. Thomas, 459. Harrison, President, 396. John K., 267, 300, Hart, John A., 262, 268, 270, 301, 329. Hartwell, George E., 258, 301. Harvard, 355. Harvard College, 17, 61, 147, 377. Harvey, Abby, 449. Rev. Adid, 232. Eben, 448. Edwin B., 373, 3^4, 393, 403 ; bio- graphical sketch, 448 ; 471. Rozella W., 448. Haskell, Abner W., 255, 269, 270, 301, 329- Asa, 231. Charles B., 264, 301. Lyman, 252, 268, 301. Phineas, 196. Hassanemesits, the, 28. Hassanemisco, 5, S, 19, 30, 103, 454. Hastings, 2d Timothy F., 468. Hatch, Rev. J. L., 237. Hathaway, Bowers C, 264, 301, 389, 414, 468. Haven, Hiram, 469. Haverhill, 36. Hawes, James, 160, 161, 162, 191, 196, 202, 465, 467, 468, 469, 470. Jr., James, 231. Josiah, 34. Hayden, John, 337. Haynes, John, 18, 34, 459. Josiah, 18, 34. Peter, 34. farm, the, 12, 34, 43. Hayward, James, 269, 302. Simeon, 49, 466. Hazzard, Thomas R., 267, 302. Heaphy, Patrick, 265, 302. Hearse, first, 210. Hemenway, W. A,, 391. Henry, Charles S., 264, 302, 380, 410,414,427,441. John E., 468. Mary, 440. Mary C, 441. M. & J. E., 460. Nancy, 440. Polly G., 440. Samuel, 440. Samuel G., 334; biographical sketch, 440. Block, 334. place, the Miletus, 46. Hero, Dr. J. H., 377, 378. Hervey, Rev. Nathaniel, 232. Hewins, Jeremiah, 365. Hibernians, Ancient Order of. Division No. 20, 338, 410. Hides, tanned and curried, 356, 35,7. High School, 2z6, 373, 375-377.- house, 239. INDEX. 493 Highways, appropriations for, 56, 370. Hildreth, Rev. Hosea, 236. Hill, John M., 258, 302. Historical Society, Westborough, 211. Hobomoc, 5, 6, 479. Hockomocko Lodge No. 79, 1. O. O. F., 409. Pond, 3, 193. Relief Association, 409. Hodgkins, Hiram G., 252, 302. Holbrook, Daniel, 395, Jr., Daniel, 467. Holland, James H., 262, 302, 333. W. J., 376. Holliston, 125, 239. Holloway, Adam, 46, 47, 210. William, 18, 50, 63. and Wheeler farm, 18. Holmes, R. G., 358. & Co., C. M., 359. factory, 389. Holton, R. F., 393. Homan, John, 328. & Child, 224. & Peters, 224. Hooker, Rev. Thomas, 461. Hopkins, Rev. Samuel, 180, 191. Hopkinton, 7, 66, 69, 100, 201, 203, 239, 250. 353. 357. 457- Horse-neck, 169. Horton, Myron J., 258, 264, 303. Hotel erected, 220. Westborough, 220. Hovey, Charles H., 252. How, Colonel, 69. Eliezer, 34. John, II. Samuel, 462. Howard, Charles H., 413. Rev. £. A.i 239. Simeon, 46, 47. Brook, 19. Howe, Charles M., 265, 303, Charles S., 264, 303. Edward ,C., 471. Hezekiah, 46, 138. John W., 264, 303, Samuel I., 471. Silas B., 248, 249, 271, 468. Capt. Thomas, 36. place, Austin, 46. " Silas, 334. house, the S. A., 460, Hoyt, Albert E., 394. Hubbard, Samuel, 474. Rev. W. M,, 239. Hudson, 3, 14. Edward, 258, 264, 265, 303. Joseph, 147. Hull, 458. Hunt, Wellington L. G., 224, 395, 396- & Kimball, 359. Huntoon, Rev. Benjamin, 236. Hutchinson, Capt, Edward, 23. Orville K., 402. Hydrants, 387, 420. Independence, Declaration of, 174, 339. Fort, 251, 253. Indian history and legend, 4-9; names, 5, 9 ; treatment by earliest settlers, 10- II ; character, 21, 27 ; attack on Marl- borough, 25; attadc on Chauncy village, 36, 481 ; murder of Mary Goodnow, 40 ; titles, 454. Insane Hospital, Westborough, 345, 403- 452. Insurance Orders, 411. Ipswich, 125. Jackson, E. P., 376. G. J., 338. Josiah, 386. William, 475. No. 2, Steamer, 338, 386, 390. Jackstraw Brook, 416, 417, 461. hill, 6, 461, 462, old line, 461. pasture, 6, 461. Jacob's meadow, 17. James, Black, 455. Janes, Elijah C, 264, 303. Jaquith, O. C, 337. Jefferson,. Thomas, 212. Joan, Antonio, 262, 268, 304, 334. Johnson, John W., 258, 304. William, 198, 206. William H., 258, 304, 460. W. W., 368. Johnston, General, 269. Jones, Charles P., 395. John, 251, 264, 265, 304. Samuel R., 264, 304. Journal, Marlborough, 229. Joy, George M., 392. Judd, Abbie F., 414. Rev. Burtis, 239. Judson, Rev. Adoniram, 199, 201. 494 INDEX. Keane, Bishop, 424. Keevan, Edward, 258, 266, 304. Keith, Ellen L., 404. Kellog, Mr., 39. Kelly, John, 266, 305. Kemp, Francis E., 25^, 268, 270, 305, 329. Kendrick, Sachem, 39. Kerly, Henry, 33, 34, 33. Kidder, Mrs. Ann M. M., 442, Charles W., 264, 266, 305, Kilkenny, Patrick, 266, 305. Kimball, Frederick W., 255, 305, 360. James M., 356. Noah, 468. William B., 251, 305. & Co. J. B., 224, 356, 357-358, 359. factory, the, 358, 359. Factory Association, 360. Kinders, Samuel B., 269, 327. King, Rev, Alonzo, 232, Samuel, 231. Thomas, 19, Kirkup, Charles A., 262, 268, 306. James S., 267. Kittredge, Rev. Charles B., 238, 335, 336. Knight, Dr. Henry S., 446. Knights of Labor, Westborough Assem- bly, No. 4191, 412. Knowlton, Nathan M., 6, 461. William, 250. Knowlton's shop, 364. Krakatau, 421. Lackey, Charles T., 264, 306. George A., 267, 306. John, 252, 307. Robert S., 258, 306. Laflin, John, 261, 307. Lakin, George B., 265, 307. Mrs. S. B., 251. Lamson, Charles H., 266, 307. I.ancaster, 22, 25, 81, 100, 103. C. B., 360. Land-owners, earliest, 15-20, 454-464. grants, 454-464. Lathrop, Andrew J., 376. Joseph, 465. Laurel Hill Association, 410. Law, Emerson, 367. Lawrence, Amos A., 476. Leach, James, 407. Leather, Sealer of, 52. Lebanon, Conn., 203, 217. Lebeau, Joseph, 264, 307. Lee, General, 263, 269. Lee, Edward, 252, 307. Leesboro', Md., 260. Leicester, 103, 123. G.V., 368. Piano Co., 333, 368. Leighton, Hazon, 387. Leland, John, 233. Luther K., 398. Lenard, Mr., 67. Leominster, 390. Leonard, Phoebe J., 403. Solomon, 196. Leverett, Governor, 25, Lexington, 22, 166, Battle of, 162. Libby, Tristram, 356, 384. Library, Public, 226-228, 379-380. Society, Union, 227. Lincoln, Dr., 382. President, 246, 247, 248, 256, 266. Benjamin, 472. Erastus M., 269, 307. Levi, 473, 474, 475. William R., 230, 402. Little, John, 262, 307. Livermore, Jonathan, 465, 466, 481. Maty A., 408. Livingston, Murray V., 368. Lloyd, James, 474. Loker, William C, 264, 271, 308, 329. Long, Charles £., 258, 308. John D., 477. Longley, Charles O., 264, 308. George A., 264, 308. Joseph G., 258, 308. Jonas, 361, 384, 443, 465. Loring, George B., 330. Rev. Israel, 81, 86, 480. Lothrop, Samuel, 474, 475. Thomas L., 477. Loughlin, Richard, 266, 308. Louisiana, 247. Lovell, Alden, 252, 260, 309. Lovering, Harry B., 478. Lowbeed, Robert H., 267, 309. Lowd, Albert L., 269, 327. Charles Q., 258, 262, 309. Lowell, Edward, 262, 309. Lucas, Elisha S., 309. Lunenberg, 103. Lydius, Col., 37, 39. Lyman School for Boys, 53, 229-230, 338, 398-403. Theodore, 229, 399. Street, 30. Lynch, Michael, 252, 268, 309. INDEX, 495 Magner, William, 262, 268, 309, 338. Maguire, Patrick, 338, 363. Maguncook Mill, 456. Mahoney, James, 259, 310. Mails, 396. Main Street, 30. Mainerd, Jr., John, 34, Malloy, Mrs., 409. Mann, Charlotte, 452. David P., 467. Horace, 476. Salmon, 452. Samuel W., 266, 310, 337. Manteo, 7. Manufactures, 355-356; statistics of, 357, 368 ; boots and shoes, 357-361 ; sleighs, 361-363; straw hats, 363-366; bricks, 366 ; boxes, 366 ; sewing-machines, 367 ; trellises, 367 ; bicycles, 367-368 ; pianos, 368. Marble, Henry, 163, 172, 173, 174. March meetings, 52 ; moderators of, 465. Marlborough, 3, 5, 9; early history, 15- 34; 40,81,100,104, 123,127,146,151, '93, 203. 39^1 455. 458, 459- Maro, 191. Marrotte, J., 389. Marsh, Jeremiah W., 262, 268, 270, 310, 329- Marshall, J. F. B., 249, 250, 260, 470. Mrs. J. F. B., 251. Miss M. J., 251, 272. Martin, Thomas, 258, 311. Martyn, Rev. John, 20, 47, 480. Maryland, 263. Mason, Lowell, 220. Masons, F. and A.,Siloam Lodge, 409-410. Massachusetts Agricultural College, 377. Historical Society, 479. Indians, 4, 5. school-ship, 400. Mather, Cotton, 115. Mayhew grant, 455-458. Thomas, 455. Maynard, Amasa, 163, 168, 197. Ann M., 442. Daniel, 466. David, 34, 46, 47, 49, 56. 59, 81, loi, 138, 466, Ebenezer, 160, 197, 465, 469. Edward, 442, Horace, 5; biographical sketch, 441. James, 46, 107, 138, 442. Sir John, 441. John, 46, 47, 52, 53, 55, 62, 67, 104, III, 134, 138, 145, 466. Maynard, Jonathan, 197. Leonard, 233, Luther, 467. Moses G., 467. M. A., 469. Phinehas, 467. Solomon, 163, 198. Stephen, 138, 153, 161, 162, 165, 190, 196, 197, 466, 469, 470. Washburn, 442. place, the, 387. McCafferty, Matthew J., 477. McCarthy, Daniel, 268, 269, 310, 327, Kev, Francis, 424, John, 267, 311. Patrick, 258, 310. McCIellan, General, 256, 266. McCoy, Rev. J. J., 240, 424, 426. Michael, 258, 311. William, 266, 311. McCue, Timothy, 266, 311. McCulloch, John, 163, 164. Joseph, 163. McDonald, James, 387. McEnamy, T., 426. McHough, Thomas, 266, 311. McKendry, George A., 265, 311. McLachlin, E. H. , 376. McNulty, Richard, 267, 311. McPherson, William D., 394. McTaggart, James, 460. Mechanics' Assodation, 227. Medfield, 22, 24, 103. Medway, 203. Meeting-House, vote to build, 48, 50 ; land given, 53; description, 54-55; gallery built, 101 ; vote to enlarge, 107; new meeting-house, 133-139, 153, 162, 480; steeple, 155, 208; new fea- tures, 208-209 ; sold, 223-224. Mellen, 197. Joshua, 355, 380, 382, 467, 470. Joshua N., 355, 467. Memorial Cemetery, 356. Mendon, 23, 81, 103, 203. Merrifield, Harriette, 452. William T., 452. Messenger, The, 424. Westborough, 228. Methodist awakening, 118. church, 231, 239. parsonage, 427. Middle Meadow, 15. Middlesex County, T03. Milford, 202, 368, 405. Military committee, 249, 254. 496 INDEX. Military company, 210, 249, 251. Militia, enrolled, 257, 258 ; ordered out, ^63. Milk business, 35 1-354' Company, Boston, 352. " Westborough, 352. Producers' Association, 353. Street boot-shop, 360, 389, 423. Mill site, Abner Prentiss's, 458. Miller, Daniel B., 255, 270, 311, 329. Eben, 144, 197. Fortunatus, 163, 164. James, 138, 197, 461. Jr., James, 163, 465. Josiah W., 264, 312. Shadrach, 196, 231. William A., 264, 312. Mills, Rev. Edmund, 200, 201. Miner, Alonzo A., 477. Minister, colonial days, 60-62, 70, 84, 117, 176. Ministers' Association, 151, 177. wooing, Mrs. Stowe's, 180. Worcester Association of, 119, Ministerial farm, 35, 4;, 51, 52, 59, 192, 194. Minute-men, 162. Missionary collection, first, 180. Mississippi, 247. Mitchell, Chauncy, 365. Lowell P., 266, 312. Rev. William, 239. Mockley, John, 257, 312. Moderators, March meetings, 465. Montague, Richard, 339. Urial, 389. Monument, Soldiers', 328-330. Moody, C. C. P., 228, 392. John W., 264, 266, 312. Morin, John, 259, 312. Morrissey, Andrew, 266, 312. Morse, Rev. Abner, 436. David, 197. Elijah, 444. Elisha, 439. George B., 259, 313. Lyman, 471. Martha, 439. . Patty, 439. Seth, 164, 169, 170, 197,467,469. Thomas, 197, 467. house, the, 47. place. Deacon, 461. Mortimer, William, 262, 313. Morton, Marcus, 474, 475. Moseley, Rev. William O., 236. Moses, F. W., 337. Mount Pleasant, 359, 462. Mudge, Rev. Z. A., 239, 338, 339, 342. Munnanaw, David, 28. Murphy, John, 267, 313. Patrick, 426. Thomas, 258, 264, 313. Music, church, 112-117, 155-157, 204, 209, 237, 242. Naggawoomcom, 5, 479. Naguncook, 8. Nails, manufactured, 355. Nason, Oliver, 196. & Co., J. S., 359. Natick, 455. National Straw Works, 451. New Braintree, 25. New England Lasters' Protective Union, 412. New Haven, 201, 202. New York, 164. Newbera, N. C, 259, 262. Newspapers, colonial days, 60-61 ; mod- em, 228-229, 391-394. Newton, Deacon, 26. Abbie F., 440. Abner, 101, 133, 469. Barnabas, 233, 439, 467, 469. Curtis, 470. Daniel F., 224, 359, 360, 370, 415; biographical sketch, 439 ; 444, 465, 468, 469. Dexter, 398, 470, 471. Frank A., 264, 313, 44a. Joseph, 31. Josiah, 46, 63, 93, 133, 138, 465, 466, 469. Leander W., 471. Lucy G., 439. Moses, 359, 360, 444. Otis, 359, 468, 469. Thomas, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 81, loi, 466. Vashty, 138. Nichols, Augustus F., 264, 313. Charles C, 255, 313. Fortunatus, 231. Joseph, 231, 467. Niles, Rev. Mr., 115. Nipmuclcs, the, 5, 23, 454. " No. 4" school-house, 334, 389. Nonantum, 8. Noon-house, 206. North, Daniel, 198. INDEX, 497 North Bridgewater, 229. Northborough, 3, 14, 15, 18, 19, 30, 34, 35. 47. 'oo. '04, 106, '45. '53. '9'. •93. 194, 201, 203, 210, 250, 331, 332, 334, 353. 398. 459, 470, 480. Northfield, 23. Nottage, Rev. W. A., 239. Nourse, B, Alden, 19, loi, 415, 464,468, 471. Benjamin, 467. Benjamin B., 248, 249, 260, 271, 367, 398, 414 ; biographical sketch, 443 ; 468- David, 359. Emma S., 444, Frank L., 444. Henry B., 338, 444. Lois, 443. S. Whitney, 266, 314, Theophilus, 443. Walter B., 444. White & Co., 367. place, the, 389. Nowell, Increase, 18. Mrs. Pamell, 18. Nm:se, Daniel, 196. Oakes, Nathaniel, 20, 46, 47, 109. O'Brien, 2d, John, 363. Occupations, statistics of, 369. Odd Fellows, Hockomocko Lodge, No. 79. 409- O'Dea, Michael, z66, 314. Okommokamesit Hill, 9, it, 14, 21, 25, 28, 30. " Old Arcade," The, 56, 133, 222, 359, 409, 427. Oldham, 461. Olmsted, Prof. Denison, 435. Onomog, 9. Ordination, Rev. E, Parkman's, 84-86. Rev. E, Rockwood's, 214. Rev. J. Robinson's, 202, Organ, in church, 209, 216, 237. Om, Azor, 472. Orthodox Church, 229. Otis, James, 15, ^58. Harrison G., 473. Oughtzorongoughton, 38, 481. Oulton & Peters, 224. Ountassogo, 39. Oxford, 103. Packard, Rev. Asa, 203. Benjamin W., 229. Paine, Alice, 453. Charlotte M., 432. . Henry W., 476. Horace M., 452. John A., 452, N. Emmons, 403,404; biographical sketch, 452. Jr., N. Emmons, 453. Palfrey, John G., 476. Parentage, statistics of, 346. Park Association, 406. Building, 427. Parker, Charles O., 258, 264, 314. Gardner, 209, 355.' George W., 271, 468. Hananiah, i&o, 161, 470, Isaac, 197. Joel, 380, 465. J- Em 333. 364- Parker's Folly, 355. Parkman, Ann Sophia, 443, Anna, 432. Breck, 163, 196, 218, 219, 220; bio- graphical sketch, 431 ; 433, 469, Charles, 211, 223, 227, 370, 383,395; biograpliical sketch, 432, 469, 470, 474- Charles B., 395, 407, 432 ; biograph- ical sketch, 433. Charlotte S,, 432. Rev. Ebenezer, 18, 39, 46, 51, 52, 55, 62 ; chosen minister, 63-64 ; jour- ney to Westborough, 66 ; estab- lishing church, 66-74, 81-84 ; ordination, 84-86 ; church records and diary, 87-89 ; in church affairs, 90-9; ; salary, 102 ; opposes divi- sion of town, 109-1 1 1 ; church music, 115-117; 119; anniversary sermon, 125-130; minister of first precinct, 131-132, 134; family matters, 136; 140; sermon, 147- 150 ; 177 ; asks for fire-wood, 181 ; health, 185 ; death, 186 ; charac- ter, 187-188 ; epitaph, 189 ; 191 , 431 ; history of Westborough, 479- 481. Jr., Ebenezer, 106, 136, 185. Elias, 65, 66, 185. Rev, Francis, 69. Hannah B,, 432. " S., 432. Joanna, 432. Joanna F., 432. Lucy, 106. Lucy P., 432. 498 INDEX. Parkman, Lydia, ia6. Mary, wife of Ebenezer, 82, 95, 105 ; daughter of Ebenezer, 106, 136/ Maria D., 432. Mary A., 432. Robert B,, 432. Samuel, 136, 208, 432. Susan B., 432. Susannah 136, 432. Susannah B., 432. Thomas, 106, 136. William, father of Ebenezer, 63 ; son of Ebenezer, 136. Building, 220, 224. store, 331, 379, 432, 433, 437. Parshley, Rev. J. H., 233. Parsonage fund, 194, 202. Parsons, William, 408. Patterson, F. W., 366. Paupers, 144-145, 198. Pawtuckets, the, 4. Peck, Frank E., 367. Peninsular Campaign, 256. Penniman, Mr. 447. Pennsylvania, 263. PerriB, Payson H., 385. Peters, Andrew, 465, 467, 469. Miss Hannah, 394. Lovett, 228, 380, 382, 407, 465, 467, 470. Onslow, 395. farm, the, 399. Petersburg, 267, 268. Philip, King, 27. Philip's War, King, 21-28. Phillips, Elijah M., 221, 468. Mrs. E. M., 250, 272. Samuel, 472, 473. Stephen C, 475, 476- Wendell, 408, 477- Street school-house, 374, 426. Phinney, Rev. Barnabas, 238. Piano movements, manufacture of, 356. Pianos, manufacture of, 368. Piccadilly, 220, 355, 363. Pierce, Charles H., 229, 264, 314, 391, 393. 4i5>4i6,4'7. 468- Rev. Granville, 237. J. H., 359, 444- & Jackson, 359. Pike, Marshall S., 255, 314. Moses, 197. Pilgrims, the, 8, 112. Pitman, Robert C, 476, 477. Ploughs, manufacture of, 357. Plymouth, 199. Pokanokets, the, 4. Polls, number of, 371. Poor, appropriations for, 370, 381, 383; care of, 380 ; overseers of, first chosen, '45- Population, statistics of, 344-345. Port Hudson, La., 262. Porter, Winfield P., 413. Postoffice, 248, 331, 394-397. Block, 220, 228, 366, 39(5, 397, 410. Potomac, 256. Pound, the town, 56, loi, 144, Powder-house, built, 211. Powers, F. W., 337. Michael, 257, 314. Pratt, Bathsheba, 82. Charlotte M., 443. Edward, 454. Isaiah, 124. John, 46, 47, 48, 50, 56, 465, 466. Jr., John, 46. Lucius G., 403. Martin, 197. Col. Nymphas, 443. Phineas, narrative of, 7. Silas, III. Precinct, the first, 131. second, T45. Prentice, Rev. John, 81, 85, 480. Prentiss, Abner, 458. Prescott & Son, A. J., 393. W. W., 393. J-, 389- Prices, regulation of, 167-168. Priest, Edmund H., 266, 314. Prince, Frederick 0., 478. Printing-office, 391, 394. Protective Union Shoe, 334, 389. Providence, 169. Prudential Committee, 372, 373. Psalm-book, Ainsworth's, 112: Bay, 113- 114. Psalms, Tate and Brady's, 135-156. Puffer, Rev. Reuben, 203. Putnam, J. Brainard, 468. QUABOAG, 23. Quinn, James E., 338. Martin, 266, 315. Quinsigamond, 462. Railroad, Boston & Worcester, 220, 223. station, 335. Raleigh, Sir Walter, 6, 7. Rantoul, Robert, 399. INDEX. 499 Rasle, Sebastian, 68. Rattlesnakes, 31. Raymond, Charles £., 342. George H., 271, 332, 333, 342, 468. Mrs. George H., 441. Readville, 263, 265. Redican, Rev. J. F., 424. Rediet, John, 20. Reed, Daniel, 196. William A., 367, 397, 406. Reform Club, 408. Reform School (see Lyman School). Regiment, Fiftieth, 258, 262. Fifty-first, 257, 258, 259, 262, 412. Fifty-seventh, 261, 262, 267, 268. Fifty-sixth, 261. Fourth (H. A.), 265, Second N. C, 272. Sixth, 248. Thirteenth, 251-253, 258, 260, 262, 268, 272. Thirty-fourth, 256, 260, 263. Thirty-seventh (U. S. colored troops), 272. Twenty-first, 259. Twenty-second, 255. Reilly, Thomas H., 468. Relief Association, Firemen's, 388. " Hockomocko, 409. " Massachusetts, 272. Religion, in colony, 49-30, 74-81, 147- 150. Remington, Jonathan, 43, 45. Representatives, 470-471. first chosen, X03. Republican party, 212, 246, 266. Rescue Hook & Ladder Co., 387, 390. Reservoirs, 386. Restorationist Society, 233. Revolutionary War, beginning of, 150- Rice, Adonijah, 37, 38, 198. Alexander H., 477, Amos, 257, 315. Anna, 20, 81. Asaph, 47, 481. Asher, 37, 38, 39. Beriah, loi, Caleb, 459. Charles, 46, 138, 147, 466. Charles A,, 259, 315. Charles P., 330, 407, 468, 470. Ebenezer, 481. Edmund, 20, 34, 37, 40, 46, 47, 52, 53, 81, 466, 469. Edwin, 392. Rice, Eliezer, 67, loi, iii, 138, 141. Elisha, 197. Gershom, 459. Henry G., 259, 315. Jacob, 34, 466, 469, 481. James, 34. Jesse, 233. John, 259, 315. Jonah, 466. Joseph, 34. Josiah, 107. Mary, 20, Nahor, 37, 41. Noah, 101. Persis, 139. Samuel, 197. Seth, 469. Silas, 37, 38. Thomas, 19, 20, 23, 31, 37, 40, 46, 47. 49. 50. 5». 52, 55. 462. 465. 466, 469, 481 - Timothy, 37, 38, 39, 481. Zebulon, 144, 468. Richards, Henry, 66. Henry V., 266, 315. Richardson, Rev. George N., 237. Rider, Eleazer, 197. Rifle Company, Westborough, 250, 251, 254. Roads, 334. Robbins, Arthur W., 264, 266, 315. Chandler, 252, 316. Daniel, 196. E. H., 473. Robert College, 451. Roberts, Edward, 255, 316. John, 267, 316. Robin, Joseph, 18. Robinson, A., 389. George D., 477, 478. James F., 258, 264, 316. Jennie J., 376. J. H., 471. Rev. John, 201 ; dismissed, 211-214 ! trial, 215-217, 335. John T., 264, 316. Samuel, 5;, 466. Thomas T., 426. Rockwell, Julius, 476. Rockwood, Rev. Elisha, 187, 214, 218, 227, 233-237 ; dismissed, 238 ; 335, 470. Rogers, William E., 269, 316. Roman Catholics, 232, 240, 333, 423-426. Ross, Harvey C, 252, 263, 316. Rowell, Whittemore, 353. Royce & Co., H. A., 360. 500 INDEX. Ruggles, Draper, 375. Isaac, 196, 467. Sanfoid, 407. Russell, Henry S., 403. Tbomas, 266, 317. Waiiam E., 478. Rutland, 103, 125, Sagamore, John, 6. Sanborn, Alfred L., 251, 317. Greenleaf, C, 228, 248, 249, 271, 332, 468. John, 467, 469. " heurs of, 370. Sanderson, John W., 252, 262,268, 317. Sandra, Francis H., 261, 317. farm, 419. pond, 3, 416, 417, 418, 419. water, 387. Sanford, Rev. David, 203. Sanger, John W., 259, 317. Sanitary Commission, 271, 272. Sargent, John G., 264, 318. Moses H., 336. Sawyer, J. H., 338. School Association, Westborough, 226, 377- Schools, act of 1647, 96 ; system, 97-100 ; districts, 194-198, 226, 373 j 372-379 ; evening sdiool, 374 ; appropriations, 370, 375 ! statistics, 375. Schouler, General, 270. Scriptures, first read in church, 139. Searles, George B., 252, 264, 318. George W., 264, 318. Seawall, Henry, 458. Secession, ordinance of, 247. Sedgwick, General, 411. Selectmen, first chosen, 49; 52, 107; list of, 466-468. Settlers, first white, 13, 46-47 ; 54, 479. Sewall, Samuel E., 475. diary of Judge, 52, 120. Shaker hoods, 365. Shambeau, Foster, 264, 318. Shattuck, Mr., 66. Shays' s Rebellion, 194. Sheaf, The Westborough, 229, 392. Sheehan, Patrick J., 266, 318. Sheldon, Rev. Luther H., 238, 335, 336, 379. 402- Shepherd, Allen G., 402. Sheridan, General, 263. Sherman, Aaron, 196, 407. Asa, 407. « Shoe," the, 463. Sherrin, Father, 240. Shrewsbury, 18, 30, 34, 42, 43, 100, 103, 104, 144, 146, 191, 200, 202, 233, 250, 255. 259. 353. 459. 460, 470, 479. Shute, Samuel, 45, 65, 69. Sibley, Frescott, 265, 318. William H., 251, 318. " & F., 386. Sidewalks, appropriation for, 370; con- crete, 334. Sinking funds, appropriation for, 370. Sixth Unattached Company, 263. Slattery, James, 252, 319. Thomas, 266, 319. Slavery, in colonies, 66 ; 246. Sleighs, manufacture of, 225, 356, 357, 361-363. Slocum, William F ^ 449. Smalley, George N., 365, 366, 4iq, 416, 451. Smart, Theodore B., 337, 364. Smith, Albert W., 23S, 333. Charles E., 338, 389. George L., 338, 366, 389, 447. Herbert O., 262, 268, 270, 319, 329. Timothy A., 249, 328, 370, 465. William A., 269, 327. Brown & COi, 359. Block, 359. Snow, A. J., 365. Elijah, 198. & Hewins, 365. Societies, 405; Thief-detecting, 405-406; Park Association, 406; Agricultural, 406; Grange, No. 116, P. of H., 407 ; Young Men's Delating Society, 407 ; Reform Club, 408 ; Welcome Lodge, No. 150, 1. 0. G. T., 409 ; Hockomocko Lodge, No. 79, I.e. O. F.,409 ; Hocko- mocko Relief Association, 409 ; Laurel Degree Lodge, No. 44, D. of H., 409 ; Siloam Lodge, F. & A. M., 409-410; Bethany Chapter, No. 13, O. E. S. 410 ; Division No. 20, A. O. H., 410 ; Village Improvement Society, 410 ; In- surance Orders, 411; John Sedgwick Post, No. 21, G, A. R., 411; A. G. Biscoe Post, No. 80, G. A. R., 412; Woman's Relief Corps, 412 ; F. L. Stone Encampment, No. 76, S. of V., 412 ; Labor Organizations, 412 ; Young Men's Christian Association, 412-413 ; Board of Trade, 413 ; Historical Soci- ety, 413. Soldiers' Sewing Society, 250, 251, 260, 271-272. INDEX. 501 Sons of Veterans, F. L, Stone Encamp- ment, No. 76, 412. South Carolina, 247. Southborough, 3, 14, 100 ; incorporated, loi ; 103, 146, 147, 203, 250, 255, 352, 355> 396, 398, 458, 47°- Southbridge, 368. Southington, Conn., 203. Southville, 360, 457. Spaulding, Hannah, 370. Spaulding's Block, 333. Spencer, 37, 38, 355, 368, 390. Sprmg, William, 163. Springfield, 23, 51, 104, 194. Squadrons, 195-198. Square, the, 329, 333. Squier, Silas P., 266, 319. St. Luke's Church, 240, 389, 423-426 , rectory, 240 ; cemetery, 240. Stackpole, Kev. Stephen H , 233. Stamp Act, the, 151-153, 192, 194. Staples, Jeremiah, 266, 319. Samuel O., 258, 319. 337. Star of the West, steamer, 247. Starr, William £., 230, 402. State tax, 370. Steam-mill, old, 358. Steeple for meeting-house, 155, 20S. Sterling, 100, 355. Stevens, H. H., 393. William H., 267, 319. Stiles, Rev. Ezra, 180, 191. Stirrup Brook, 19, 29, 30, 40, 47 ; meadow, 15. Stocks, the town, 56, loi. Stone, Abijah, 225, 384, 407, 467. Bela J., 190, 356. Edgar V., 269, 320. Frank A., 259, 320. Frank L., 252, 320, 412. Frank S., 269, 320. George H., 255, 259, 320, J. Henry, 259, 320. John, 17. Jonas, 356, 359. Jonas A., 356, 385. Rev. Nathan, 147. Silas C, 375. Thomas, 359, 360, 444, Storms, 422. Stoughton, William, 454. Straw, Jack, 6-7, 462. hats, manufacture of, 357, 363-366 ; braids, 363. Straw-sewing machine, 364, 367, Strong, Caleb, 473. Sudbury, 12, 13, 22, 26, 81, 125. River, 3, 456. Sullivan, Andrew, 266, 321. G. W., 338. James, 473. James H., 255, 259, 270, 321, 329. Timothy G., 262, 268, 321. Sumner, Increase, 473. Rev. Joseph, 202. Sumter, Fort, 247, 256. Sunday-school, first, 218, 238. Sunsets, red, 422. Superintendents, school, 373. Sutton, loi, 103, 231, 454, 479. Swan, Henry E., 402. Sweeney, J. Frank, 257, 321. Sweetzer, Rev. S. B., 239. Theodore H., 476. Swift, Rev. John, 81. Symmes, Rev. Thomas, 115. Taft, Annie E., 451. George H., 451. Henry K., 366, 426; biographical sketch, 451. Solomon J., 255, 261, 321 Tainter, Simon, 465. Taintor, David, ig6. Simeon, 134, 136, Talbot, Emily, 403. Thomas, 477. place, the, 461. Talcott, James M., 230, 402. Talmage, De Witt, 408. Tanneries, 356. Taplin, John, 147. Tarbell, Mr., 39. Tarr, Caleb, 269, 327. Tate, Nahum, 155. & Brady's Psalms, 155, 204. Tavern, first, 219. Taxation, 370, 371. Taylor, Fred J., 387. Temperance, 218, 229, 408. Temple, Ridiard, 163. Tennent, Gilbert, 122. Tenney, Eldad, 449. Sarah E., 449. Tewksbury, Charles B., 413. George M., 248. Texas, 247. Thacher, Rev. Peter, 69, 82. Thanksgiving Day, 184. Thaxter, Samuel, 43, 45. Thayer, A. W., 377. Rev. F. A., 239. 502 INDEX. Thief-detecting Sodety, 405-406. Thomas, Isaiah, 191. Thomlin (or Tomblin), Isaac, 34, 46, 47, 49. 52. 8». 9^1 466- Jr., Isaac, 81. Thomson, Abbie M., 447. Thompson, Charles P., 477. Thread factory, 219, 356. Thurston, Mr., 331, 352. Charles H., 342, 393. Samuel, 163. Surviah, 139. Tidd, Squire S., 264, 321. Tirrell, Rev. A. W., 239. Tithmgman, 52, 136. Todd, Rev. W. G., 237, 330. Tookanowras, 38. Topography, 1-3. Town clerks, list of, 468. hall, erected, 225 ; 250, 251, 375 ; re- modelled, 332 ; 379. lines, perambulated, 100. meeting, first, 48 ; second, 50 ; third, 52 ; 54- officers, 465-469. records, 56, 89, 145. treasurers, 52, 469. Townsend, Benjamin, 46, 47. Joshua, 97. Nathan, 163, 169, 170. Transcript, the Westborough, 229, 391, 393- Treadway, Mr., 18. Tresilian, Thomas, 394. Tribune, Westborough, 394. Tripp, Willard D., 404. Trowbridge, Alfred L , 258, 264, 321. J. A., 251, 368. Tucker, Thomas, 223. Tufts, Rev. James, 451. Turner, Melzar G., 251, 322, 337. Samuel S., 364, 367. Turnpike, B. & W., 218-219. Twitchel, Thomas, 196. 2d, Thomas, 196. Tyler, Sarah A., 438. John E., 438. . Underwood, Austin, 336. Union Block, 333, 360J 393, 415. Building, 365. HaU, 237. Hose Co., No. i, 390. Publishing Co., 394. Unitarians, 223, 224, 234, 236-237. Universal Disputant, the, 408. Universalist Society, the, 233. Upton, 144, 146, 201, 202, 250, 255, 353, 364, 454, 479. Utrecht, peace of, 42. Uxbridge, 103, 146. Valley Forge, 172, Varnum, Joseph B., 474. Veritas Redux, 73-80. Vicksbiirg, Miss., 260. Village Improvement Society, 334, 410. Virginia Convention, 165. Waban, 455. Wachusett Mountain, 2, 31, 83. Wadsnrorth, Captain, 23. John, 467. Wahginnacut, 6, 462. Wales, Rev. Mr., 203. Walker, Cephas N., 257, 322. George A., 264, 265, 266, 322. Irving E., 267, 268, 270, 322, 329. Joseph, 357. Lyman S., 257, 322. Melvin H., 252, 263, 322, 338, 340, 361, 403, 413, 448. Rev. William H., 232, 379. Wallace, Austin, 255, 323. Walley, Jr., Samuel H., 399. Wamesit, 455. Wamesits, the, 5. Wampanoags, the, 4, Wampas, Anne, 454. John, 454. War, King Phillip's, 21-28; Queen Anne's, 36; French and Indian, 146- 149; Revolutionary, 150-153, 158-176; War of, 1812, 210 ; Civil, 245-273. Ward, Anna, 34. Artemas, 433. Increase, 34, 46, 47. Oliver, 460, 465, 466. Sarah, 433. Thomas, 46, 47, 52, 57, 69, 98, 102, 465, 466. William, 44. Ware, Beriah, 197. Charles A., 264, 323. Warner, William R., 251, 323, 379. Mrs. William R., 441, & Brigham, 224. Warner's Comer, 43. Warren, Aaron, 197, 467. Abner, 467. Anson, 383, 387, 468. Asahel, 370. INDEX. 503 Warren, Asaph, 465, 467, 468. Benjamin, 197. Daniel, 46, 47, 48, 50, 52, 62, 97, lOI, 102, 104, 196, 465, 466. Jr., Daniel, 163. David, III, 444, George W., 258, 264, 323. Harris C, 262, 323, Horatio, 356. Jr., John, 467. Jonah, 138. Levi, 169, 170. Seleucas, 47. Stephen, 252, 324. Thaddeus, 147, 163, 197. Timothy, 138, 145, 154, 196, 467. Washburn, Rev. Azel, 442. Emory, 476. Rev. George, 451. I.auta A., 442. William B., 477. Washington, General, 164, 169, 212. (city), 260, 263, 265. Water Cure, 378. Watertown, 22. Water-works, 415-420. Watkins, Albert B., 378. Watts' hymns, 155-156, 204. Webster, Horace F., 471. (town), 368. Weights and measures, ;6. Welsh, Father, 24a George O., 404. Weld, Salem T., 255, 324. Wellesley College, 377. Wells, George D., 256. Wesson, Silas, 219, 377, 3S0, 382, 395, 467, 470. Wesson's tavern, 48, 219, 226, 377, 395. Wessonville, 48, 219, 220, 356, 377. Seminary, 377. Westborough, situation, i ; topography, 1-3, 31 ; Indian history and legend, 4-1 1 ; first white settlers, 11-14 ; earli- est land-owners, 15-20; King Phillip's War, 21-28 ; movements toward form- ing town, 29-35 ! Indian troubles, 36- 41 ; incorporation, 42-45 ; beginnings of town life, 45-59; securing a minis- ter, 59-71 ; church organized, 72-74, 81-84 ; town records, 89 ; church affairs, 90-95; schools established, 87-100; new county, 101-104; beginning of division, 107-112; church music, 112- 117 ; the first precinct, 131-146 ; French and Indian War, 146-149; beginnings of Revolution, 149-153; church music, 153-158; in the Revolution, 158-176; church government, 1 76-180 ; old school districts, 195-198 ; pauper question, 198, 380-382 ; second minister, 198-204 ; church usages, 204-206 ; improvements, 206-211,218-221; ecclesiastical trials, 211-218; business development, 222- 226 ; library, 227, 379-380 ; local papers, 228-229, 39''394 ! '^t^*^ ecclesiastical his- tory, 231-241 ; the Civil War, 242-273 ; soldiers' records, 273-327 ; monument, 328-331 ; fires and new buildings, 331- 335, 423-427 ; centennial celebration, 336-344 ; statistics of population, 344- 346; agriculture, 346-355; manufac- tures, 355-369 ; occupations, 369 ; wealth, 369-371 ; schools, 372-379 ; care of poor, 380-383 ; fire department, 384-390 ; banks, 397 ; societies, 405- 414; water-works, 415-420; phenom- ena, 420-423 ; land grants, 454-464 ; town ofiicers, 465-469 ; representative?, 470-471 ; votes for governor, 472-478 ; . Parkman's history of Westborough, 479-481. Weston, 81, 85, Wheeler, Aaron, 2ro, Elizabeth, 210. Henry S., 470. John C, 261, 324. Joseph, 46, 47, 55, 81, 98, 102, 210, 426, 465, 4§6. Wheelock, Eleazer, 163, 164. Moses, 163, 164, 169, 191, 196, 201, 437. 4671 468. Sarah, 437. Whipple, Edward, 142. Francis, 111, 133, 152, 154, 465, 466, 469, 470. Jonathan, 465, 466. Whipsufferadge plantation, 14. Whipsuppenicke, 13. White, Frederick, 367. George K., 367. James W., 398. Cycle Co., 367. Whitefield, 122, 123. Whitehall, 457. Whiting, Rufus W., 352. Whitney, Mrs. Abbie, 370. Abbie M., 447. Alpheus, 447. Benjamin, 163. C, 366, 415, 426 ; biographical sketch, 447. 504 INDEX. Whitnej', Eli, 192, 246, 355 j biographical sketch, 434. Eli (not inventor), 196, 467, 469. Elijah, 196, 464. Frank C, 447. Nathaniel, 138, 466. Nellie E., 447. Rev. Peter, 20, 39, 47, 190, 203. Sarah, 447. Thomas, 463. & Co., C, 366. Annexation, Elijah, 463. Hill, Eli, 460. House, the, 366, 426, 447. place, the, 20, 30, 36, 203, 224. Whittemore, Henry, 373, 376. Whood's Mr., 69. Wight, Daniel, 198. Wilderness, 267, 268. Willard, Rev. Mr., 335, Williams, Rev. Mr., 81, 85. Charles H., 252, 261, 324, 337. Samuel, 163. Williarasport, Md., 253. Willow Park, 395, 401. Seminary, 377, 378. Wilmarth, Butler, 377. Willson, Hubbard, 398, 426. Wilson, Mrs., 155. Henry, 475. farm, the, 402. Winch, Calvin M., 439. Winchester, Mr., 352. Fitch H., 471. Windham County, Consociation of, 217. Winslow, Charles P., 252, 253, 257, 263, 264, 265, 324, 468. Ezra, 355. Winthrop, Governor, 6, 7. Robert C, 476. Wiswall, Edward H., 404. Frederick A., 257, 324. Witherbee, Daniel T., 265, 325. Witherby, Harlan F., 262, 325. Joseph, 34. place, the, 356, 338. Wolfe's victory, 150. Wood, Abijah, 257, 330, 366, 407, 467, 470. Benjamin, 196, 202, 466, 469. Edwin D., 258, 325. Joseph, 233. Samuel, 466, 468, 471. Solomon, 136. William, 196. &Co., R. D., 419. Wood for minister, 181. Woodman, George H., 447. Nellie E., 447. Robert, 266, 325. Woods, Benjamin, 52. Jesse, 382, 467. Seth, 198. William, 163, 164. Woodside, Samuel, 259, 32;. Woodstock, 103. Woodville, 232, 331, 334, 384. Worcester, 30, 66, 103, 104, 156, 191, 194, 204, 227, 259, 331, 334, 355, 368, 382. County, incorporated, 103-104 j agri- cultural statistics, 354-355; manu- facturing statistics, 368. Mutual Fire Insurance Co., 438. Polytechnic institute, 377. Work-house, the, 198. Wrentham, 66. Wright, Joseph W., 269, 325. Yale College, 180, 192, 203, 434. Yellow day, the, 184, 420. Young America Bucket Co., 386. Young Men's Christian Association, 412- 413- Debating Society, 338, 339, 4o?-4o8. Yorktown, 184.