Norfolk County, Massachusetts - Chapter 18: The Town of Franklin, 1918

Chapter 18: The Town of Franklin

LOCATION AND GENERAL DESCRIPTION - THE PRECINCT - SOME POINTED INSTRUCTIONS - THE TOWN INCORPORATED NAMING THE TOWN - FIRST TOWN MEETING - FRANKLIN'S PATRIOTISM - FIRST MILLS WATERWORKS - FIRE DEPARTMENT - POSTOFFICE - ALMSHOUSE - FINANCIAL - THE FRANKLIN OF THE PRESENT.

Franklin is situated in the southwestern part of the county. It is bounded on the north by the Charles River, which separates it from the Town of Medway ; on the east by the towns of Norfolk and Wrentham ; on the south by Wrentham, and on the west by Bellingham. The surface is an elevated plain, diversified by green meadows, sunny hills and shady valleys. From some of the highest points the Blue Hills of Milton, nearly twenty miles distant, can be seen, and on clear days the top of Mount Wachusett, in Worcester County, is clearly visible. Among the hills are a number of small lakes or ponds. The largest of these is Popolatic Pond in the northeastern part, on the line dividing Franklin from Norfolk, the waters of which find their way to the Charles River through Mill (or Stop) River. Beaver Pond and two smaller ones lie near the center of the town and are drained by the Mine Brook, a tributary of the Charles River. In the southeastern part is Uncas Pond, which derives its name from a tradition that the Mohegan sachem Uncas, in some of his hunting excursions or warlike expeditions against the Pequot Indians, was wont to encamp upon its shores.

The Precinct

The territory now comprising the Town of Franklin was originally a part of Dedham. It was included in Wrentham when that town was incorporated on October 15, 1673, an^ remained a part of Wrentham for more than a century. In June, 1736, a petition was presented to the General Court asking for the establishment of a precinct in the western part of Wrentham. That petition was signed by forty-eight resident freeholders, viz. : John Adams, Robert Blake, Ebenezer Clark, David Darling, John Failes, Nathaniel Fairbanks, Eleazer Fisher, John Fisher, Lineard (Leonard) Fisher, Nathaniel Fisher, Edward Gay, Edward Hall, Daniel Hawes, Josiah Hawes, Nathaniel Hawes, Ebenezer Hunting, David Jones, David Lawrence, David Lawrence, Jr., Ebenezer Lawrence, Daniel Maccane, Thomas Mann, Sr.. Eleazer Metcalf, Eleazer Metcalf, Jr., Michael Metcalf, Samuel Metcalf, Samuel Morse, James New, Ebenezer Partridge, Job Partridge, Samuel Partridge, Baruch Pond, David Pond, Ezra Pond, Ichabod Pond, Robert Pond, John Richardson, Benjamin Rockwood, Thomas Rockwood, Ebenezer

Owing to objections on the part of Wrentham, a delay of more than a year was experienced, but on December 23, 1737X Governor Belcher affixed his signature to the bill erecting the "Second Precinct of Wrentham." A few days later a warrant was issued to Robert Pond, John Adams, Daniel Hawes, David Jones and Daniel Thurston authorizing them to call a meeting for the election of officers and the organization of the precinct, ''in the house the inhabitants usually meet in for public worship." The meeting assembled at noon on January 16, 1738, and after electing officers adjourned to the 20th. At the adjourned meeting the sum of eighty pounds was voted for preaching and a committee appointed to secure a preacher. Another committee was appointed to provide materials for a meeting house "forty feet long, thirty-one feet wide, with twenty feet posts, toward which each may contribute his proportion." The meeting also voted to send a request to Wrentham "for the fulfillment of a promise made them ten years before, that money paid by them, amounting to one hundred and thirty pounds eleven shillings, towards its meeting house should be repaid to them." Wrentham at first refused to grant this request, but in May reconsidered the matter and the money was refunded.

The church was regularly organized on February 16, 1738, Rev. Joseph Baxter of Medfield acting as moderator. In November following Rev. Elias Haven was installed as the first pastor, but the meeting house was not completed until the spring of 1740. (See Church History.)

Some Pointed Instructions

Franklin continued as the Second Precinct of Wrentham for forty-one years. From 1740 to 1742 the subject of applying to Wrentham for permission to become a town was discussed, but no definite action was taken. On March 4, 1754, the people of the precinct presented a petition to that effect to the Wrentham town meeting, where it was voted down. Then came the dissensions with England that culminated in the Revolution and the question was dropped for nearly a quarter of a century, the inhabitants going to Wrentham to participate in the numerous meetings called from time to time to consider the condition of the colonies. At one of these meetings, held on June 5, 1776, the following instructions were issued to Benjamin Guild, Joseph Hawes and Dr. Ebenezer, representatives to the General Court :

"Whereas, Tyranny and Oppression, a little more than one century and a half ago, obliged our forefathers to quit their peaceful habitations and seek an asylum in this distant land, amid an howling wilderness surrounded with savage enemies, destitute of almost every convenience of life was their unhappy situation, but such was their zeal for the common rights of mankind that they (under the smile of Divine Providence) surmounted every difficulty, and in a little time were in the exercise of civil government under a Charter of the Crown of Great Britain. But after some years had passed, and the Colonies had become of some importance, new troubles began to arise. The same spirit which caused them to leave their native land still pursued them, joined by designing men among themselves. Letters began to be wrote against the Government and the first Charter soon afterward destroyed.

"In this situation some years passed before another charter could be obtained, and, although many of the gifts and privileges of the first charter were abridged by the last, yet in that situation the Government has been tolerably quiet until about the year 1763, since which time the same spirit of oppression has risen up. Letters by divers ill-minded persons have been wrote against the government (in consequence of which divers acts of the British Parliament made, mutilating and destroying the Charter, and wholly subversive of the Constitution). Fleets and armies have been sent to enforce them, and at length a civil war has commenced, and the sword is drawn in our land, and the whole United Colonies involved in a common cause; the repeated and humble petitions of the good people of these Colonies have been wantonly rejected with disdain; the Prince we once adored has now commissioned the instruments of his hostile oppression to lay waste our dwellings with fire and sword, to rob us of our property, and wantonly to stain the land with the blood of its innocent inhabitants ; he has entered into treaties with the most cruel nations to hire an army of foreign mercenaries to subjugate the Colonies to his cruel and arbitarary purposes. In short, all hope of an accommodation is entirely at an end ; a reconciliation as dangerous as it is absurd ; a recollection of past injuries will naturally keep alive and kindle the flames of jealousy.

''We, your constituents, therefore think that to be subject to or dependent on the Crown of Great Britain would not only be impracticable, but unsafe to the State. The inhabitants of this town therefore, in full town meeting, unanimously instruct and direct you (i. e. the representatives) to give your vote that, if the Honorable American Congress (in whom we place the highest confidence under God) should think it necessary for the safety of the United Colonies to declare them independent of Great Britain, that we, your constituents, with our lives and fortunes will most cheerfully support them in the measure."

These instructions have been reproduced in full as showing the trend of public sentiment in "the days that tried men's souls." It is interesting to compare the language used by this little backwoods settlement in Massachusetts with that of the Declaration of Independence adopted by the Continental Congress at Philadelphia a month later. And the sons of Franklin backed up their declarations with their deeds. Upon the first alarm from Lexington and Concord her Minute-Men were prompt to respond, and from that time until the British General Cornwallis handed his sword to General Lincoln on the field at Yorktown, October 19, 1781, they were upon the firing line in numerous engagements.

The Town Incorporated

During the Revolutionary war the demand for town meetings became more urgent and the business to be transacted more important. Between January, 1773, and February, 1778, no fewer than thirty-one meetings were held in Wrentham. To attend these meetings, the people of Franklin had to travel from five to ten miles over bad roads in all kinds of weather, but their loyalty and sense of duty impelled them to make the frequent tiresome journeys. On

December 29, 1777, another petition was brought before the town meeting asking "for liberty to be set off into a distinct township, according to grant of Court that they were first incorporated into a precinct," etc. Deacon Jabez Fisher, Jonathan Metcalf, Asa Whiting, Dr. John Metcalf, Capt. John Boyd, Joseph Hawes and Samuel Lethbridge, "chief men of the precinct are put in charge of the matter."

Wrentham appointed a committee of nine to confer with the "chief men" above mentioned, and on February 21, 1778, reported in favor of the petition. Then followed the work of dividing the town property, etc. The quota of soldiers recruited for service in the Continental army were proportionately accredited to each section; firearms, military stores, the supply of salt allowed by the General Court were satisfactorily adjusted; the five paupers were also assigned - three to Wrentham and two to the new town - and the public revenues were duly adjusted. All this having been attended to, a petition was presented to the General Court, which resulted in the enactment of the following bill :

"Whereas, the Inhabitants of the Westerly part of the Town of Wrentham in the County of Suffolk have Represented to this Court the Difficulties they Labor under in their present situation, and apprehending themselves of sufficient Numbers & Ability, request that they may be Incorporated into a separate Town.

"Be it Therefore Enacted by the Council & House of Representatives in General Court Assembled, & by the Authority of the same, That the Westerly part of said Town of Wrentham separated by a line, as follows, viz : Beginning at Charles River, where Medfield line comes to said river ; thence running south seventeen degrees and a half West until it comes to one rod east of ye Dwelling House of William Man ; thence a strait line to the eastwardly corner of Asa Whiting's barn ; thence a strait line to sixty rods due south of the old cellar where the Dwelling House of Ebenezer Healy formerly stood ; thence a Due West cource by the Needle to Bellingham line, said Bellingham line to be the West Bounds and Charles River the Northerly Bounds, be and hereby is incorporated into a Distinct and Separate Toen by the name of franklin, and invested with all the powers, Privileges and Immunities that Towns in this State do or may enjoy.

"And be it further enacted, by the Authority aforesaid, That the inhabitants of the Town of Franklin shall pay their proportion of all State, County and Town charges already granted to be raised in the Town of Wrentham and also their proportion of the pay of the Representatives for the present year. And the said Town of Wrentham and Town of Franklin shall be severally held punctually to stand by & perform to each other the Terms & Proposals Contained and Expressed in a vote of the Town of Wrentham passed at a Publick Town Meeting the sixteenth day of February, 1778, according to ye plain and obvious meaning thereof.

"And Be it also Enacted by ye Authority aforesaid, That Jabez Fisher, Esq., Be & he hereby is Authorized & Required to issue his warrant to one of the Principal Inhabitants of said Town of Franklin, authorizing & requiring him to Xotifie & warn the Freeholders & other Inhabitants of said Town to meet together at such time and place as shall be Expressed in said warrant, To choose such officers as Towns are authorized by Law to Choose, and Transact other such Lawfull matters as shall be expressed in said Warrant.

"And be it further Enacted, That the Inhabitants living within ye Bounds aforesaid who on the Late Tax in the Town of Wrentham were rated one-half part so much for their Estates and Faculties as for one single Poll shall be taken & Holden to be Qualified and be allowed to Vote in their first Meeting for the Choice of officers & such other meetings as may be Called in said Town of Franklin until a Valuation of Estates shall be made by Assessors there.

Naming The Town

Mortimer Blake gives the following account of the manner in which the name of Franklin was selected for the town: "In the original draft of the charter, as preserved in the State Archives, the name of the new town is written as 'Exeter.' Why its name was first written Exeter is a conundrum, whose answer is inaudible among the echoes of the past. Why it was changed to Franklin is apparent. After the Declaration of Independence in 1776, Benjamin Franklin with two others was sent forthwith to France to arrange for a treaty of alliance with Louis XVI. The king dallied with the ambassadors until the close of 1777, when the capture of Burgoyne settled his doubts, and a treaty of amity and commerce was formed with them in January, 1778. News of their success reached this country while the petition of the new town was waiting decision. The charter was doubtless amended in honor of that event and 'Exeter' was changed for the honored name of 'Franklin,' the first of twenty-nine towns in our states who have since followed her example in calling themselves by the same name."

First Town Meeting

Shortly after the act of incorporation was passed by the General Court, Jabez Fisher, a justice of the peace, issued his warrant for a town meeting to be held in the new town on Monday, March 23, 1778. At that meeting the only business transacted was the election of town officers and the choice of a "Committee of Correspondence," to look after military matters. Jonathan Metcalf, Samuel Lethbridge. Joseph Hawes, Asa Whiting and Hezekiah Fisher were elected as the first board of selectmen; Asa Pond, town clerk; Asa Whiting, treasurer; and Joseph Hawes, representative to the General Court. The "Committee of Correspondence" was composed of Capt. John Boyd, Lieut. Ebenezer Dean, Capt. Thomas Bacon and Daniel Thurston.

It must be remembered that Franklin was born in the midst of the Revolutionary war, when every man was expected to be for or against the cause of the American colonies. There were no neutrals. The committee on correspondence looked sharply after the enemies in their midst and a town meeting voted that all tories should be reported to the proper court. Every demand for men or money on the Town of Franklin was promptly met. A town meeting directed that "soldiers' families shall be supplied with the necessaries of life at a stipulated price at the town's expense," and voted not to deal with any persons whose scale of prices did not conform to that recommended by the Concord convention of 1779. Within eighteen months the town furnished its proportion of beef to the Continental army - 33,908 pounds - almost robbing the town of its cattle. When the credit of the new Government of the United States hung in the balance, Franklin recommended all who had money to lend "to avoid lending it to monopolizers, jobbers, harpies, forestallers and tories, with as much caution as they would avoid a pestilence, and lend it to the Continental and State treasuries." It was patriotism of this type that made the American Republic possible and placed it upon a sound financial basis.

First Mill

The first mill for grinding corn for the early settlers was built near the foot of Eagle Hill by John Whiting in 1685, nearly one hundred years before the Town of Franklin was incorporated. That mill was owned by members of the Whiting family for over a century. The first boards used in the construction of dwellings were split in the form of "puncheons" or sawed with a whip-saw. In 1713 the settlers in the North Precinct of Wrentham, anxious for a mill nearer to them, induced Daniel Hawes, Eleazer Metcalf, Robert Pond, John Maccane and Samuel Metcalf to build a saw-mill at the falls of Mine Brook. The contract, or articles of association, signed by these men is here reproduced as a literary curiosity: "Wrentham, Feb. the 7. 1713.

"We hose names are hereunto subscrib'1 doe agree to build a Saw Mill at the place called the Minebrook : Daniel Hawes wone quarter John Maccane wone quarter Eleazar Metcalf and Samuel Metcalf wone quarter & Robert Pond Sen wone quarter. We doe covenant & agree as follows :

"1 We doe promis that we wil each of us carry on & doe our equal proporchon Throught in procureing of irones & Hueing framing of a dam & mill & all other labour throught so faire as the major part shall see meat to doe then to com to a reckoning:

"2 We doe agre that all of us shall hav liberty for to work out his proporsion of work & in case aney wone of us neglect to carry on sayd Work till it be done & fit to saw & he that neglects to carry on his part of sayd mill shall pay half a crown a day to the rest of ye owners that did says Work:

"3 We doe allsoe agre that sayd Land shall bee for a mill pond soe long as the major part shall se fit. We doe Allsoe agre that no wone shall sell his part of sayd mill till he has first made a Tender to ye rest of ye Owners We doe allsoe agre that no wone shall sell his part in ye land till he has tenderd it to the rest of ye Owners.

The contract was "signed, sealed and delivered in the presence of Ezra Pond, Robert Pond, Jr., and Jonathan Wright," and notwithstanding its peculiar phraseology and great number of misspelled words, it seems to have answered the purpose just as well as a more elaborate document, drawn up and attested by a notary, would have done. On March 7, 1717, the following supplementary agreement was indorsed on the back of the original :

"We doe agree to lay out each man's loot as they are drawn the first loot is to be gin four foot from the upper sil of the streak sil & soe up unto the ind of the sleapers & to devide it equal into four loots & from the sleapers towards the road so as not to interupt the road."

This was signed by the five original projectors of the mill and Daniel Thurston, who it appears had in the meantime been taken into partnership. Subsequently the mill and all its appurtenances passed into the hands of the Whitings, who continued to operate it for many years. Many of the early buildings in Franklin were constructed of lumber sawed at the Mine Brook Mill.

In 1876 the town employed Percy M. Blake to make a survey with a view of establishing a system of waterworks to supply the inhabitants with water for domestic purposes and as a protection against loss by fire. Mr. Blake made his report, but no action was taken until the town meeting in March, 1883. Then Joseph G. Ray, Asa A. Fletcher and William E. Nason were appointed a committee "to ascertain the cost and all other necessary information relative to the introduction of a water supply." While this committee was making its investigations, the Legislature on May 16, 1883, passed an act incorporating the Franklin Water Company and authorizing it "to issue bonds to the amount of $75,000, payable in thirty years, and to take water from Beaver Pond." Among the incorporators of the company were James P. Ray, George W. Wiggin, Rev. William M. Thayer, James M. Freeman, Homer V. Snow and Henry R. Jenks.

In 1906 the works constructed by this company were taken over by the town and bonds issued to pay for the plant. At the close of the year 1916 the amount of these water bonds outstanding was $218,000. The water commissioners, in their report for 1916, give the number of gallons pumped during the year as 120,384,469. The supply is taken from both open and driven wells. There are 145 public and 24 private hydrants and about eleven hundred customers.

Fire Department

Previous to the establishment of the waterworks, the Franklin Fire Department consisted of only two hand engines of rather antiquated pattern with the completion of the waterworks and the purchase of a supply of hose, the department was greatly improved. In their last annual report the water commissioners said : "The town now has about as good a Fire Department as it is possible to get from call firemen, yet in order to make it more efficient hydrants should be established in several places where property is not well protected. Under the policy your commissioners adopted several years ago, to ask no appropriation from the town, except hydrant rentals, same as were paid to the Franklin Water Company, we have had no funds to extend the mains in all the streets where it might be useful for fire protection, but will extend and improve the system as our funds allow."

At the close of the year 1916 the equipment of the department consisted of one steam fire engine, two motor combination trucks, one hook and ladder company, and three hose companies. During that year the department answered fifty-two calls, in which the value of property involved was $149,500 and the loss was $17,040. Ernest L. Metcalf was then chief of the department. The engine company, known as "Ray Engine No. 3," received a gift of a high-powered searchlight, which was presented by Charles N. Barnard.

In the early years of the Nineteenth Century mail for the inhabitants of Franklin was left at the Wrentham office by the carriers on the mail route between Providence and Boston, who made their trips three times a week. About 1812 some of the people of Franklin made up a fund and hired Herman C. Fisher, then a boy of fifteen, to go to the Wrentham office every Saturday and bring the mail. This arrangement continued until 1819, when Eli Richardson built the stone store at City Mills (now in the Town of Norfolk) and succeeded in having a postoffice established there. This brought mail facilities a little nearer to Franklin, where Mr. Richardson attended church, and every Sunday morning he would take the Franklin mail, which was left at the store of Davis Thayer, to be distributed Monday.

Such a system was not satisfactory, and in 182 1 a movement was started to secure a postoffice at "Franklin Centre." It was successful and the office was setablished in 1822, with Maj. Davis Thayer as postmaster. The postmasters since that time have been as follows : Spencer Pratt, Theron C. Hills, David P. Baker, Cyrus B. Snow, Charles W. Stewart, David P. Baker, Smith Fisher, J. A. Woodward, Oliver H. Ingalls, James M. Freeman, Henry A. Talbot, Matthew F. Conroy, Henry A. Talbot. Mr. Talbot died on January 1, 1903, and Miss Catherine L. Healy, the present assistant postmaster, served as acting postmaster until the appointment of E. B. Sherman, who was succeeded soon after President Wilson's inauguration by B. F. Callahan.

On July 1, 1898, the office was given authority to issue international money orders, and on July 1, 1901, it was made a second class office. Rural free delivery was established at that time and some of the country postoffices in the vicinity were discontinued. On March i, 1902, the town appropriated $400 to pay for numbering the houses for the purpose of free local delivery, which was introduced on the first of September following. At the close of the fiscal year on June 30, 1917, the office reported annual receipts of about eighteen thousand dollars, and that a total of twelve people were employed.

Almshouse

For more than half a century after Franklin was incorporated, little cost was imposed upon the people in caring for the poor. The selectmen looked after the few paupers, furnishing them with provisions, the town making an appropriation for clothing and medical attendance. In 1835 the annual town meeting voted to purchase the farm and dwelling house of Alpheus Adams for an almshouse, at a price of $3,000, which sum was appropriated for the purpose. The house was destroyed by fire in 1868, but a new one was soon afterward built a short distance east. This property is now known as the "Town Farm" and is valued at $7,000.

Financial

In their report for the year 1916, the assessors announced the total valuation of the property in the town as having been fixed at $5,835,812.50. The value of property belonging to the town as a corporation on April 1, 1916, was as follows:

These values, as fixed by the board of assessors, are considered by local financiers as conservative. At the same time the town treasurer reported the town's liabilities to be as shown in the following table :

Thus it will be seen that the corporate property of the town is equal in value to more than 75 per cent of the public debt. The principal expenditures for the year 1916 were as follows:

Of the fund expended on the waterworks, $20,495.98 was received from the sale of water, and in the poor account $1,731.59 came from the sale of produce from the town farm and $1,216.82 from other towns.

The Franklin Of The Present

In 1910 the United States census gave Franklin a population of 5,641, and the state census of 191 5 reported it to be 6,440, a gain of 799 in five years. Franklin is established upon the firm business basis of a number of substantial manufacturing concerns, which produce cotton and woolen goods, felt and straw hats, shoddy, rubber goods, pianos, knit goods, carriages, etc. There are two banks, a semi-weekly newspaper (the Sentinel), steam and electric railway lines that afford ample transportation facilities, churches of various denominations, a fine public library, hotels, mercantile establishments, and many handsome residences. Social life is well represented by a thriving country club and a Young Men's Christian Association. The Dean Academy, one of the best known educational institutions in Eastern Massachusetts, is located here. Unionville and Wadsworth, the only postoffices in the town outside of Franklin Village, are thriving business centers.

The principal town officers at the beginning of the year 1917 were: Fred E. Mason, Jacob F. Geb and Palmer A. Woodward, selectmen; Michael J. Costello, clerk ; Albert H. Martin, treasurer and tax collector ; Lawrence J. Kelley, Ernest L. Metcalf and Edward L. Cook, assessors; George A. Allen, David W. Corson and George E. Emerson, overseers of the poor; Walter E. Morse, auditor ; Bradley M. Rockwood, Fred P. Chapman and Harry T. Hayward, water and sewer commissioners; James R. Hosford, William Hodge and George- W. Wiggin, school committee.