Worcester County, Massachusetts - Chapter 164: Rutland - ( Cy«;'/««^a'. ), 1889

The early settlers were people of strong religious conviction, and a year prior to the incorporation of the town, in 1722, they erected a house of worship and selected Rev. Joseph Willard to be their minister, who was murdered by the Indians a few days before the time set for his installation. Mr. Willard had been an ordained minister in Sunderland, this State. The town remained without a settled pastor until the ordination of Rev. Thomas Frink, November 1, 1727. A strong Presbyterian element developed in the church, and about forty withdrew and built a house for worship at or near the junction of the Paxton and Spencer roads, not far from the house owned by the late Summer Putnam. Having certain privileges granted them, the house was taken down and set up in Rutland '' West Wing,-' or what is now Oakham. In consequence of so many withdrawing from the church Mr. Frink tendered his resignation. At first the church did not grant his request. His request was renewed and laid before the town September 8, 1740, which "voted that the town is willing that the Rev.

Mr. Frink should be dismissed from his pastoral relations to the church and do refer the manner of his dismission to the church." Thereupon the church " voted that the church do comply with the pastor's request, and accordingly dismiss him from his pastoral relation to the church and town, and recommend him to the grace of God and holy church fellowship." At a church meeting, November 17, 1741, it was voted to extend a call to Rev. Joseph Buckminster, in which the town concurred, December 9, 1741. He was ordained September 15, 1742. It was said at the close of his ministry that the town and the church were so well united in him that every person in town who paid any taxes, paid a part of his salary (which was sixty-five pounds in gold orsilver and the use of the ministerial lands). He died November 3,

1792, in the seventy-third year of his age and the fiftyfirst year of his ministry. Mr. Buckminster came from Framingham to Rutland, having graduated at Harvard University in 1739. He bought and lived on the south side of the road, a hundred rods west of the meetinghouse. It was said of him that "he had a dignified and ministerial appearance, wore a gray or white wig, cocked hat and white bands ; was a man of talents and learning, and set his face like a flint against immorality of every kind." In 1793 the church invited the Rev. Hezekiah Goodrich to settle with them in th^e gospel ministry, in which the town concurred,, April 15th. Mr. Goodrich, in his answer, said : "Permit me here to acknowledge my affectionate gratitude for the respect paid me in this act of yours. Permit me further to say that the several steps you have taken relative to this matter have not failed to gain my most serious attention. When I heard of the unanimity of the brethren of the church, and was presented by their committee with a vote expressive, as they said, of their sincere desire and earnest request that I should consent to settle with them in the gospel ministry, and when I was informed of the general harmony of the society in concurring with the same, and the comfortable provisions made for my supjjort (which was one hundred pounds per year), I could no longer remain inditf'erent to your wishes, etc." Mr. Goodrich's ordination occurred June 19,

1793, and he continued his pastoral relations with the church until his death, February 7, 1812. Mr. Goodrich was born in Wethersfield, Conn., and secured his education at Yale College. He bought and built an house-lot (32, which was originally laid out as the ministry lot, December 15, 1812. The church voted to invite Rev. Luke Baldwin Foster to take charge of the church. The town being legally warned and convened, voted "to concur with the church in the choice of Mr. Foster for their pastor." Mr. Foster was duly ordained February 24, 1813, and lived only about four years to dispense the gospel to this people. He died May 23, 1817, at the age of forty-eight years. The church voted unanimously, March 30, 1818, to invite the Rev. Josiah Clark to become their pastor.

aud on April 14th the town unanimously concurred, and he was ordained on June 2d of that year. Mr. Clark died July 11, 1815, at the age of sixty years. During his pastorate of twenty-seven years he won the hearts of all his people, and his memory is still dear to many of the older citizens of the town, who so well remember his labors among them. His portrait, life-size, is hung in the church at the rear of the pulpit, through the kindness of the Hon. J. W. Bigelow.

Eev. Daniel R. Cady was ordained October 29, 1845, and dismissed October 11, 1849. He afterwards settled at Arlington and Westboro', where his widow still resides. Rev. George E. Fisher was ordained February 27, 1850, and dismissed May 13, 1852. Rev. David Burt was installed January 10, 1856, and dismissed February 25, 1858. Rev. Clarendon Waite was ordained February 25, 1858, and dismissed March 13, 1866. Rev. Henry Curamings was installed September 5, 1866, and dismissed July 1, 1874. The five above-mentioned pastors were dismissed at their own requests. Rev. Geo. S. Dodge was installed December 27, 1877, aud, after a successful pastorate of nearly twelve years, is still in great favor with the people. Although there have been long intervals between the dismission and settlement of pastors, yet the deficiencies have been filled for the most part by able and learned clergymen. The above record is something of the history of those pastors who have been ordained or installed over the First Congregational Church in Rutland since 1721, who have, without exception, been able and eminent Christian men, under whose lead and direction the church and town have been greatly blessed. They have been able to "come in and go out before this people" in such a way as to rarely ever cause dissension or division in the church or community.

About 1840 the Methodists began to hold meetings. They soon formed a church and society, and had stated preaching in the Town Hall till 1844, at which time they built a house of worship on the south side of Main Street, nearly opposite the Congregational Church. The society flourished for some time, but after about fifteen years, when many of the ablest members had died or left town, the society was given up aud the church building allowed to run down. In 1865 the house was purchased by James G. Read, of this town, who purposed to fit it up for tenements, but, owing to some dispute in the title, he never carried his plans into execution. In 1881 the Catholics, having held services at intervals in a house at the junction of the "Irish Lane'' with the Barre and Paxton road, in looking about for a site to build a church, finally bought this old building and put it in excellent repair, where they hold services every alternate Sunday. The Adventists in 1874 built a chapel at North Rutland, where they have held services regularly. The society, being poor, have not been able to employ a pastor, but have had to depend

The first church edifice that was built in Rutland was erected in 1720, and occupied in 1721, a year before the incorporation of the town. It was located near the southeast corner of the old burying-ground, and was forty and one-half feet long by thirty feet in width, with galleries. In 1759 a second house was built in front of the first, which was much larger, being sixty feet long by fifty feet wide, with posts twenty-four feet, and said to have been a well-finished house. The town in 1760 chose a committee to sell the old church. There is no record to be found of their report ; but, as the treasurer's report shows a credit to Colonel Murry, who was one of the committee, for £13 10s. it is to be supposed that he purchased and removed the building for a tenement on one of his estates. The second church was burned February 28, 1830, supposed to have taken fire from the stove, as it was discovered to be on fire about half an hour after the services ended on that Sunday.

About two-fifths of the society at this time signed ofl'. Those that remained rebuilt during the same year a house seventy-seven feet long by forty-eight feet wide and twenty-feet posts, with a tower. On October 11th of the same year the pews were sold within a few hours for enough to pay for the house and land it stood upon, after reserving a pew for the minister and six others for strangers. This house was burned January 7, 1849. The present house was built that year on the same spot, and dedicated February 15, 1850. The dimensions of the building are seventy-two feet long by fifty wide and twenty-fourfeet posta, with a handsome spire one hundred and twenty feet high. The house is quite an imposing looking structure. It was built at a cost of eight thousand dollars, and considered at that time one of the finestcountry churches in the country. The basement remained unfinished until 1876, when the Ladies' Benevolent Society, aided by contributions from friends, finished a very pleasant and commodious vestry, with ladies' parlor and kitchen adjoining, which is much enjoyed by the church and society. A clock was placed on the spire in 1885, the gift of former residents of the town.

The old burying-ground, lying west of the town hall, was laid out and given to the town by the Grand Committee, in 1743, containing about four acres. It was used for a public burying-place about one hundred years. In 1842, June 30th, Colonel C. G. Howe, with sixteen others, formed themselves into a corporation, under authority of the General Statute, with the title of the " Rural Cemetery Association of Rutland."

The first purchase of land contained about three and one-half acres, and a subsequent purchase was made of two acres and one-fourth - in all, five and three-fourths acres. Roads were built, lots located and the ground publicly consecrated October 8, 1842.

Rev. Josiah Clark delivered the address. The spot selected \Yas one-half mile east of the Centre, opposite the residence of O. C. Fairbank. The location is naturally adapted for this purpose, the soil being sandy and the surface diversified by gentle depressions and elevations. More than three hundred lots have been fitted up, and the many monuments, tablets and headstones evince that the living honor the memory of the dead. At New Boston (so called) is a cemetery still used for burial purposes. There is also a well-kept cemetery in West Rutland.

Rutland has been favored with educated and skilled physicians. The first doctor we have any records of was Dr. Hezekiah Fletcher, who lived fiftysix rods east of the meeting-house, and died in 1754. His son, Dr. Alpheus Fletcher, succeeded him, but died, after practicing twelve years, in 1766. Dr. John Frink, son of Rev. Thomas Frink, next succeeded to the pr.aclice, who, together with his son of the same name, practiced in town for more than eighty years. They lived on the Paxton Road, about one hundred rods south of the centre of the town, on the place now owned by R. C. Prescott. The following named gentlemen have practiced in town since 1836 : Drs. Clapp, Saltmarsh, Ordway, SaftVird, Warren, Tripp, Newell, Rood, Herbert, Slocum, Fellows, Shannon and W. E. Chamberlin, the present jthysician.

Of those who practiced the longest was Dr. B. H. Tripp, whose term commenced in 1849 and ended at his death, in 1873. He built up a large practice in this and adjoining towns, to which he closely applied himself. He was held in esteem by the fraternity, and was often called in counsel on important cases. Dr. Tripp, with twelve other petitioners to the Legislature, May 10, 1861), were granted power to locate and build the Massachusetts Central Railroad from Williamsburg, in Hampshire County, to Mill Village, in Sudbury, in Middlesex County. None of the projectors of this enterprise did more to organize and conduct the necessary preliminary work than he. Had it not been for his efforts this town might not have been favored with the good railroad facilities we now enjoy.

In comparing the business industries of fifty years ago with the present time, we find that there were in operation four grist-mills, six saw-mills, one chair liictory, one satinet factory and one shoe-peg factory. Now we have five saw-mills, two shoddy-mills, one box-mill, one turning-mill, one basket factory, two woolen-mills and one butter creamery. During this period there sprang up quite a flourishing boot and shoe business. M. S. P. Dean built a large shoeshop about three hundred feet in the rear of his hotel, where the " Muschopauge House " now stands, and carried on the manufacturing of boots and shoes for several years, employing thirty or forty hands.

Perhaps nearly or quite as many more took out piece-work from this shop and other shops in adjoining towns. This industry has nearly all died out, and there are probably not more than a half-dozen persons in town who are in any way engaged in the business. There was also carried on, for nearly fifty years, by the late David W. Fletcher, on " Pound Hill," one mile east of the Centre, a large carriagebuilding and repairing business. He had skilled workmen employed to build new work or repair, and make good any broken or defective part. Mr. Fletcher received the larger part of the patronage from this and the adjoining towns, which he was able ' to keep until he was eighty years old, when declining years Ibrced him to give up the business. He died in 1877, in his eighty-fourth year. Mr. David F. Smith has a carriage repair-shop at the Centre, where all the business is done in that line that is now done in town. The basket business at West Rutland, started by C. & A. J. Pierce, has also sprung up, where ten or twelve men are employed, and steam-power is used. In 1886 quite a number of the citizens, mostly farmers, organized themselves into an association, for the purpose of making butter, under the title of the " Rutland Co-Operative Creamery Association.''

It had become quite a serious question with many farmers, who found it almost impossible to manufacture their dairy products at home, on account of the overworked housewife and the incompetency of servants, to find out the best way of disposing of this particular work. A good substantial building was erected and equipped, with suitable machinery and apparatus, and commenced the manufacture of butter the same year the company was organized. The services of Mr. E. J. Prouty, of this town, who had been a long time engaged in the business in the West, was secured to take the management of the business. The butter produced is uniform in quality and uniformly good, has a high reputation and so great is the demand that it is impossible to fill the orders. There are two stores at the Centre - one kept by F. A. Nichols and the other store, post-office and market by H. Converse. Two at West Rutland - one by J. W. Adams and the other store and nuvrket by F. B. Stearns ; also one store at North Rutland, kept by C. H. Young.

Rutland being an agricultural town, farming must be the leading industry. There are many well-kept farms, which testify to the good management of the owners. Although the condition of the farmer has very materially changed within the past forty or fifty years, yet his condition is not so deplorable now as some would have you believe. Many of the products which he then could raise with profit for the market are met with such competition from the West that he has to turn his attention to raising and producing such crops as find a ready market at good prices. Because fortunes are not made rapidly by farming, and the city affords greater attractions, only a few young men stay on the farm, yet, undoubledlyi a larger per cent, of those who do remain meet with success in life than of those who go away. The fatliers and mothers being left thus alone, or to carry on the farm ivith the assistance of such help as must be accepted, often become discouraged, and sell the " old homestead."

Many farms have changed ownership during the past few years. But very few have been deserted, however, and some of our best farmers are among those who have recently come into town. A " Favmers' Club " hiis been in successful existence for nearly twenty-five years, and its meetings afford excellent opportunity for the interchange of views on farm topics.

The same spirit was aroused at the commencement of the Civil War that possessed those who fought for our independence. At the breaking out of the war about fifty of our young and middle-aged men responded to their country's call, and at the subsequent calls for men Rutland was not behind in tilling the quota. She ftirnislied more than one hundred men for the war, about twenty-five per cent, of whom died in service or were killed in battle.

The town was ever ready to assist and remunerate those who served their country in time of peril. At a meeting of the town May 2, ISiil, the town voted, " In view of the present critical condition of our beloved country, and for the purpose of aiding and assisting such of our citizens as may, or have been, so patriotic as to volunteer their services in defence of their country, hereby resolve that we will make up their pay to one dollar per day with what they shall receive from Government, etc."

At a meeting called July 2(), 18G2, the town " voted to appropriate the sum of iflGOO, to be paid out as a bounty in sums of fl50, to those who will voluntarily enlist before the 1st of September next, to make up the quota to serve for three years under a call of the President July 2, 1SG2." It was voted in August of the same year " To guarantee the sum of .f 100 each, t(i be paid to such of our citizens as may voluntarily enlist and be sworn into the service of the United States before the Ist day of September next, to make up the quota of three hundred thousand men to serve for nine months under a call of the President August 4, 18G2." The town has generously disbursed aid to deserving soldiers and their families. It is said that every soldier who went from or belonged to this town had an honorable record.

Several of the returned soldiers applied for and obtained a charter July 1, 1870, to organize a " Post of the G. A. R., under the name of Major George C. Marshall Post No. 13(5." This organization numbers about forty members and is in a flourishing condition. In its early existence it started what was called the " Soldiers' Monument Fund,'' and for this object it labored several years, by holding fairs, having lec- tures, etc.; then uniting with the citizens under the title of the " Rutland Soldiers' Monument Association," with united effort and an appropriation of five hundred dollars from the town, erected in 1879 a handsome monument to perpetuate the memory of those who enlisted to put down the Rebellion, twenty-two of whom laid down their lives in the service. The monument is of Pittsford, Vt., marble, twentytwo feet high and five feet square at the base, surmounted by the full-sized statue of a soldier at '' parade rest," facing the south or street. It is located in the centre in front of the " Muschopauge House." It is a handsome specimen of artistic workmanship, executed by Murphy & Magone, of the "Boston Marble Works" of Worcester. Besides the names of the eighty-two soldiers engraved on its four sides are the names of some of the prominent battles in which they were engaged : " Antietam " and " Wilderness " on the south, " Kingston " and " Whitehall " on the east, " Newbern " and " Vicksburg " on the west and "Roanoke" and (ioldsboro' '' on the north. On the tront above the "die" is a finelychiseled representation of the national coat-of-arms, and on the pedestal or base, " Erected in 1879." It was erected at a cost of a little less than fifteen hundred dollars. The monument was dedicated July 3, 1879, the occasion drawing together from this and other places the largest number of people that ever congregated here. Had the day opened pleasantly a much larger number would have been present, many of the G. A. R. Posts being kept away by the threatening clouds of the early morning. As it was, fifteen posts were present, accompanied l)y four bands of music. The exercises of the day were delayed a considerable time beyond the printed programme on account of the weather, but the clouds broke away in season for a full carrying out of the programme, though at a later hour.

The Committee of Arrangements were C. R. Bartlett, A. K. Learned, A. B. Fisher, Major M. B. Bessey, Rev. G. S. Dodge, Jlrs. Mary J. Smith, Mrs. L. A. Baker and Mrs. E. W. Hubbard. The Committee on Reception were Hon. J. W. Bigclow, Dr. J. G. Shannon, William J. Stearns, Deacon R. B. Miles, and B. W. Potter, Esq., the latter representing Worcester. The Committee of Reception established their headquarters at the residence of Mr. Bigclow, nearly opposite the monument; it was profusely and handsomely decorated for the occasion with bunting and flags, with an evergreen archway over the gateway, enclosing the words, - " Reception Committee's Headquarters."

The exercises of the day began about noon with the moving of the procession from the vicinity of the Town Hall, where it had been formed as delegations from out of town arrived. The procession moved under the chief-marshalship of Captain C. W Dodge in the following order to the monument, around which the bands of music were encircled, and w'hile they played several patriotic airs, Mr. Murpliy, the builder, removed the veil just as the procession began to move. First in line were the fifteen Grand Army Posts, with over four hundred men ; next, invited guests in carriage.s ; thirty-eight young ladies representing the "Personation;" children of the public schools, visitors and citizens generally. The huge tent, which had been erected close by the monument, where the speaking exercises were to talfe place, was soon filled. The company was called to order by C. R. Bartlett, president of the day, who, after preliminary remarks, introduced the chaplain of the day. Rev. George S. Dodge, who read from the Scriptures and oflered prayer. The children of the public schools then sang under the direction of Mr. H. M. Lyon, of Holden, "Our Country, the Land of the Free;" after came the novel and exceedingly interesting exercise of the " Service of Personation " by thirty-eight young ladies in appropriate costumes, each representing a State of the Union. All were attired in white and arranged upon a pyramid of seats, surmounting the whole being the " Goddess of Liberty." This beautiful feature nf the day's program was under the direction of Mr. A. K. Learned, and was a very fine affair. At the conclusion of this " Personation " the audience sang with efl'ect the old hymn of "America," accompanied by the bands of music. Next came the dedicatory address, which was delivered by Rev. Joseph F. Lovering, of Worces- | ter, chaplain-in-chief of the Grand Army of the Republic. This was a very able and eloquent i)roduction, and well received. He began by referring to some of the principal points in the early history of the town, the important part borne by its citizens in the Revolutionary War and the War of the Rebellion. Emphasizing his confidence in a hopeful future, judging from the glorious record of the past in our country, he concluded by saying: "With this hope speaking from yonder statue, quickening the pulse-beats, I look with courage into the future; I see villages cluster on the hill-sides and on the distant prairies; I see lakes and rivers and seas populous with the freightage of states and nations; I see railroads and telegraphs enmesh the land ; I hear the hum of Briarean-armed industries along the country streams and within the populous cities ; I see homes bud and blossom and bear fruit, and virtue increase, and intelligence rise, and of all such progress there is no conceivable end. As I see the nation in its outgoings, and seek to survey its probabilities, I see no setting sun. It rises higher and higher still in its full-orbed meridian splendor. Let us go forth into that day. Let us rejoice that our nation is the nation whose feet walk in the path built of material stronger than New England granite, even New England righteousness and truth, whose arms renew their strength like the wings of its eagle, whose eyes look beyond its stars for the homes of its destiny. Let us rejoice in the hope that when it shall enter into the fulness of the day before it, it shall not only give honor to the heroism of the fathers or to the patriotism of the statesmen of the citizens, but it shall give honor, also, illustrious and well-deserved, because of his heroic patriotism, and his patient heroism to the immortal memory of the Union soldier." Dinner was served at two o'clock. The exercises of the afternoon commenced at three, with singing by the children, - " The Flag of our Country," after which the president of the "Soldiers' Monument Association," Mr. 0. R. Bartlett, in behalf of the association, presented, with appropriate remarks, the monument to the town, and it was accepted, in behalf of the town, by Mr. M. M. Smith, of the Board of Selectmen. Speeches then followed by Colonel Olin, of the Governor's staff'; Major J. B. Fairbanks, of Oakham ; B. W. Potter, Esq., of Worcester; Ledyard Bill, of Paxton; Deacon J. T. Everett, of Princeton; Captain J. H. Glea.son, of Holden, and others.

Prominent among the early settlers was Capt. Samuel Wright. He held the ofiices of selectman, assessor, clerk of the town, and moderator of its meetings for many years, justice of the peace, deacon of the church, captain of the militia and surveyor and committee in dividing the lauds of .six miles square, and recording the same in the proprietors' book, which he did in a very plain and legible hand. Many of the bounds and corners made more than one hundred and fifty years ago can now be found. Mr. Wright kept a tavern in front of the first meetinghouse, on the opposite side of the street, where much of the first business of the town was done. (The old records show that the town would frequently during the session of its town-meeting vote to "adjourn for fifteen minutes," which was quite suggestive.) This house was taken down or removed before the Revolution. He died January 15, 1740.

Capt. Peter Davis, although not a proprietor, was an early settler of Rutland, and was one of the most enterprising inhabitants. He was a large landholder, his lands extending from Mill Brook to Hubbardston line, four miles, on that line five hundred and seventy-five rods. In 1759 his taxes were the highest on the list except Colonel Murry's. He was not only a large land-holder, but did a large business at North Rutland, where, previous to 1759, he built a saw and grist-mill, which was a great convenience to the people of this and adjoining towns. He was a very industrious man, an early riser, and not only interested in his own concerns, but filled many offices in the proprietary, town and militia. Colonel John Murry, with his mother and several others, sailed from Ireland and arrived in America in the early settlement of Rutland. When he stepped on shore he was not only penniless, but in debt for his passage. For a short time he tried manual labor, but he was too lazy to work. Through the assistance of a friend he commenced peddling, ihen kept a small store, and was afterward a purchaser of cattle for the army. By enterprise and good fortune he became the most wealthy man in Rutland in his day. He owned lands from east of the meeting-house to the bounds of Publin and Ne'i* Boston. He married after his arrival a lady with whom he sailed to America, Elizabeth McClanathan, by whom he had ten children. Mrs. Murry died in 1761. He then married Jliss Lucentia Chandler, of Boston, by whom he had one child. The second Mrs. Murry died, and he married, in 17(i9, Miss Deborah Brindley, of Boston, by whom he had one child. The wives of Colonel Murry were buried in Rutland. He placed horizontally over the jii'aves large, handsome stones, underpinned with brick, with appropriate inscriptions. It was said that on representation day all his friends that could ride, walk, creep or hobble were at the polls, and if any went home dry it was not his fault. He represented the town twenty years in succession. One writer, in speaking of him, said that " After he had ascended the pinnacle of honor he fell nut of the United States." Because of his sympathizing with the British rulers, he was threated with violence, and tied the country. His lands were confiscated and sold. Alexander, his oldest son, did not leave town, but entered the service of his country and was wounded. One of his father's farms was reserved for him by the Government, which also granted him a pension. Colonel Murry was said to be a large, fleshy man, and when dressed in his regimentals, with his gold-bound hat, made a superb appearance. The house in which he lived wa.s seventy-five rods west of the church, on the south side of the street, and was torn down about thirty years ago, having become very much dilapidated. Nothing but the cellar-hole remains to mark the spot.

General Rufus Putnam was born in Sutton, Mass., April 9, 173S. His father died when he was seven years old; he then went to live with his grandfather, where he lived about two years, until his mother again married, and he lived with his step-father till 1753. He had few advantages of schooling and few books of his own. Through perseverance he got pennies euiough together to buy a spelling-book and an arithmetic. With these two invaluable articles, the foundation of all, even the most profound learning, he soon made considerable progress in the rudiments of education. At the age of sixteen he was bound as an apprentice to the millwright trade, under his brother-in-law. Daniel Matthews, of Brookfield. There he was not refused the use of candles to pursue bis studies during the long winter evenings. His attention was chiefly turned to arithmetic, geography and history. During this portion of his life, from sixteen to nineteen years, he was busily occupied in acquiring the practical art of the millwright. It required some knowledge of geometry to form perfect circles, divide them into numerous equal portions, and lay out the exact angles necessary in building water-wheels. He thus gradually enlarged his knowledge of mathematics. His physical frame grew full as rapidly as his mind, and at the age of eighteen he was a large muscular man of .six feet.

The war between Great Britain and France commenced in 1754. The accounts of the several battles and the exploits of his relative - then Captain Israel Putnam - led him, in his nineteenth year, to enlist as a soldier; his term of service was a little short of a year. Being determined to see more of military life, he joined a corps of Rangers to reconnoitre the southern extremity of Lake Champlain. During this campaign he endured many hardships and uuiny privations. After passing the winter at borne and forgetting the suft'erings of the last campaign, he again enlisted in the provincial service. Thus far the war had been a continued scene of disgrace and disaster to the crown. He again enlisted April 2, 1759, and was now advanced to the post of orderly sergeant. During this campaign Putnam rendered important service in the erection of fortifications, which totally demolished the French power on the lakes and led to their final expulsion from North America. He returned to Brookfield on the 16th of December. He took an active part in the campaign of 1760, first as recruiting officer and later as ensign in Colonel AVillard's regiment.

In 1761 Mr. Putnam bought a mill and tools on Horse Pond Brook in North Brookfield, where he lived and carried on the mill and a farm connected with it till May, 1781, when he bought one of Colonel Murry's confiscated farms in Rutland for nine hundred pounds, whither he removed and where he made his home till his removal to Ohio, in 1787. He married, in 1761, Elizabeth Ayers, of North Brookfield, who died the same year, leaving an infant, which survived but a few months. In January, 1765, he married Persis Rice, daughter of Zebulon Rice, of Westboro', by whom he had a numerous family of children.

Mr. Putnam entered the Revolutionary War as lieutenant-colonel of Colonel David Brewer's regiment. His regiment was stationed at Roxbury, in General Thomas' division of the army, soon after the battle of Lexington. The general and field-officers of this division, after the battle of Bunker Hill, met in council to determine the best course to pursue in their present almost defenceless situation, exposed at any time to an attack of the enemy without any better protection than a board fence. It was decided that lines should be thrown up for the defence of the town. When this was decided the difficulty arose where to find a man capable of directing the works. Military engineers were rare among the colonial troops. At length it wa-s mentioned to General Thomas that Colonel Putnam had seen some service in that line in the late war against Canada, but upon being solicited to undertake the work he frankly told the commander that he never had read a word on that branch of science. The general would take no denial, and Colonel Putnam reluctantly set about tracing out lines in front of Roxbury, towards Boston and various places in the vicinity, especially at Sewel's Point. While thus engaged Generals Washington and Lee came over to view the condition of the troops. They so highly complimented his works that he was encouraged to persevere. All the defences of Roxbury, Dorchester and Brookline were of his construction.

In the winter of 1770, while General Washington was deeply engaged in )naking an altack on the British array in Boston, he invited Colonel Putnam to dine with him. They discussed the matter freely of storming the city. It was agreed that if they could maintain themselves on that neck of land, the command of the town and harbor would be such as would compel the enemy to leave the place. The cold weather that had made a bridge of ice, so that a passage was opened for them to advance upon Boston, had also frozen the earth to such a depth in the open country of Dorchester Neck as to make it impossible to throw up a line of earthworks. However, Washington told Colonel Putnam to consider the matter and report to him immediately. He describes what follows as providential. "I left headquarters in company with another gentleman, and on our way came by Gen. Heath's. I had no thought of calling until I came against his door, and then I said, ' Let us call on Gen. Heath,' to which he agreed. I had no other motive than to pay my respects to the General. While there I cast my eye on a book which lay on the table, lettered on the back, 'Muller's Field Engineer.' I immediately requested the General to lend it to me. He denied me. I repeated my request. He again refused, and told me that he never lent his books. I then told him that he must recollect that he was one who at Roxbury, in a measure, compelled me to undertake a business which, at the time, I confessed I never had read a word about, and that he must let me have the book. After some more excuses on his part, and close pressing on mine, I obtained the loan of it.''

In looking at the contents his eye was caught by the word "chandelier,'' a new word to him. He read carefully the description and soon had his plan ready. The chandeliers were made of stout timbers ten feet long, into which were framed posts five feet high and five feet apart, placed on the ground in parallel lines, and the open spaces filled in with bundles of fascines strongly picketed together, thus forming a movable parapet of wood instead of earth. The men were immediately set to work in the adjacent orchards and woodlands cutting and bundling up fascines and carrying them, with the chandeliers, on to the ground selected for the work. They were |)ut in their place in a single night. When the sun went down on Boston on the 4th of March, Washington was at Cambridge and Dorchester Heights as nature or the husbandman had left them in the autumn. AVhen Sir William Howe rubbed his eyes on the morning of the 5th he saw through the heavy mists the entrenchments, on which, he said, the enemy had done more in a night than his whole army would have done iu a month. Howe took prompt measures to attempt to dislodge the Americans the next night, before their works were made impregnable. But, by another providence, a " fearful storm at night" made it impossible to cross the bay until the American works were perfected. And thus, no doubt, the first great military success or achievement of this kind of the Revolutionary War was due to Rufus Putnam. Senator Hoar, in a recent centennial address, said : " The veteran British army, aided by a strong naval force, got out of Boston before the strategy of Washington, the engineering of Putnam, and the courage of the untried yeomen.'' In August, 1771), Congress appointed him engineer, which was announced by General Washington to him as follows :

Sir : - I have the pleasure tu inforui yuu that Congress has appointed you au engineer witli the ranlt of Colonel, anii pay of sixty dollars a month. I heg of you to hasten the sinking of vessels and other obstructions in the river at Fort Washington, as fast as possible. Advise Gen. Pntnani constantly of the kind of vessels you want and other things, that no delay that can possibly be avoided may happen, I ami sir, your assured friend and servant,

Colonel Putnam was placed in charge of the important fortifications at West Point. He took an important part in the capture of Hurgoyne, and on the 8th of January, 1783, was commissioned a brigadiergeneral in the army of the United States.

Before the war broke up a petition of two hundred and eighty-eight otficers was sent to Congress for a grant of lands north and northwest of the Ohio River to the veterans of the army in redemption of the pledges of Congress. General Putnam was the leader in this movement. A year later he renews his request to Washington for aid in this project, to which Washington replied that he has exerted every power with Congress that he is master of, but Congress adjourned without action. In 1785 Congress appointed General Putnam one of the surveyors of the northwestern lands. He says in his letter, accepting this office, that " a wish to promote emigration from among my friends into that country, and not the wages stipulated, is my principal motive." His engagements were such that he could not leave Massachusetts that year, having been appointed by the Legislature one of a committee for the sale of the eastern lands held by the Commonwealth, and also superintendent of the surveys to be made that year. At his reque.st General Tupper, an old associate, was appointed by Congress in his stead one of the surveyors of lands lying northwest of the Ohio River. In January, 1787, he volunteered to assist General Lincoln in suppressing Shays' Rebellion. Iu April he was appointed justice of the peace, and in May of the same year was chosen

Representative of the town of Rutland. After the return of General Tupper from his partial survey of the Ohio country, he visited his old friend and comrade General Putnam, at his home in Rutland, and during this visit, on the 9th of January, 1786, a conversation occurred between General Rufus Putnam and General Benjamin Tupper, as they sat before the great fire-place in Putnam's farm-house during that winter evening. They conversed long and earnestly of their long-cherished plans. The old soldiers so strengthened each other's faith in the future that they could no longer rest inactive. They joined in a brief address to the people, proposing a plan of organization. This first appeared in the newspapers of Boston January 25th, under the caption of "Information,'' signed by Rufus Putnam and Benjamin Tupper, and dated Rutland, January 10, 178G. The subscribers stated that they took " this method to inform all officers and soldiers who have served in the late war, and who are by a late ordinance of the honorable Congress to receive certain tracts of land in the Ohio country, and also all other good citizens who wish to become adventurers in that delightful region, that from personal inspection, together with other incontestable evidences, they are fully satisfied that the lands in that quarter are of much better quality than any other known to the New England peoj^le; the climate, seasons, products, etc., are, in fact, equal to the most flattering accounts that have ever been published of them ; that, being determined to become purchasers, and to prosecute a settlement in that country, and desirous of forming a general association with those who entertain the same ideas, they beg leave to propose the following plan, viz.: That an association by the name of the Ohio Company be formed by all such as wish to become purchasers, etc., in that country who reside in the Commonwealth of Mass. only, or to extend to the inhabitants of other states, as shall be agreed on." It was further proposed that in order to bring such a company into existence all persons who wished to promote the scheme should meet in their respective counties at places designated, on the 15th of February following, and choose delegates, who should assemble at the "Bunch of Grapes Tavern," in Boston, on Wednesday, the 1st day of March, 1786, and there determine upon a plan of association.

The delegates at that historic meeting were Manassah Cutler, of Essex County ; Winthrop Sargent and John Mills, of Suffolk ; John Brooks and Thomas Gushing, of Middlesex ; Benjamin Tupper, of Hampshire ; Crocker Sampson, of Plymouth ; Rufus Putnam, of Worcester ; .Telaiel Woodbridge and John Patterson, of Berkshire; and Abraham Williams, of Barnstable. It was decided to raise a fund of not less than one million dollars, in shares of one thousand dollars each.

After about a year another meeting was held at Brackett's Tavern in Boston, and it was reported that, although only twfi hundred and fifty shares had been subscribed for, there were many in Massachusetts, also in Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire, who were inclined to become adventurers, and who were only restrained by the uncertainty of obtaining a sufficient tract of country collectively for a good settlement. It was now decided to make direct and immediate application for the purchase of lands in the territory northwest of the Ohio River, and as an agent to negotiate with Congress, the association chose one of their own number, Rev. Manassah Cutler, pastor of a little Congregationalist Church in the hamlet of Ipswich (now Hamilton), Mass. Dr. Cutler labored most zealously for the cause, especially with the Southern members, and so won their friendship, by his genial, hearty manner, that the ordinance was passed.

The contract exceeded by far any ever before made in the United States. It contained one million five hundred thousand acres upon the Ohio, at the mouth of the Muskingum.

In December, 1787, the advance detachment was sent out under command of Major Haffield White, being sent ahead to build boats upon the Youghiogheny, a small affluent of the Mouongahela, in Western Pennsylvania. Another party started ,Tanuary 1, 1788, which General Putnam would have commanded but for business, which led him to New York ; he, however, joined them on the 24th in Eastern Pennsylvania, and at length, after three months of hardship and misfortune, they reached what is now "Marietta," and thus was begun, by forty-eight men from Massachusetts, the State of Ohio and of the Northwest Territory.

The contract price of the " Ohio Purchase" was one million dollars. The total valuation ef real and personal property for taxation in 1880 was forty-six million five hundred and eighty-one thousand two hundred and ninety-two dollars, showing an annual increase fin that price of fifty per cent. It is said that there is no other colony in the whole AVest in which the original and distinguishing characteristics are so distinctly preserved as in Marietta, Ohio. It has a peculiarly Eastern or New England aspect ; the substantial buildings, the stately elms, the spacious door-yards offer a pleasant suggestion of the New England village.

It is hard to refrain from saying more concerning this distinguished man, who, for five years and more, made his home in Rutland. The old house in which he lived is still in fine condition, and is owned by Mr. E. F. Meade. It is really the most historic place in town, and perhaps deserves the space we have given to it. About fifty persons emigrated or followed General Putnam from Rutland to Ohio.

recommending an adjustment of the difficulty without the help or exercise of the law. He was a man in whom the people had great confidence, and many persons who were at variance became reconciled, and were also saved expensive lawsuits, by heeding his counsels. His son, Mr. George A. Putnam, has held the office of town clerk for twenty-five years successively.

Deacon Jonas Read, author of " Read's History of Rutland," was born April 21, 1759 ; died June 2, 1839. No historian writes his own biography. Mr. Read was one of Rutland's most valued and useful citizens. He built thirty-two of the seventy parts of the forty-three miles of turnpike built from Amherst, through the towns of Pelham, Greenwich, Hard wick, New Braintree, Oakham, Rutland, Holden, Worcester, to the great road in Shrewsbury, and had charge of a portion of this turnpike for many years. He held many offices of public trust, and collected and arranged a valuable historical work up to the year 1836, which was reissued with a supplement up to 1879, by Daniel Bartlett, of this town. From this history many quotations are brought into this work, for which the above authors are entitled to due credit.

The following persons belonging to Rutland have held offices in the county: William Caldwell, Esq., sheriff from 1793 to 1805 ; Moses White, sheriff from 1811 to 1812 and justice of the Court of Sessions in 1807 ; Daniel Clap, Esq., from 1784 to 181G; Francis Blake, clerk of the court, 1816 and '17; J. Warren Bigelow, County Commissioner from 1862 to '77.

Rutland was the residence, for a few years, of the late " Madame Jumel," who died in New York in 1865. In 1794 a poor vagrant family, consisting of a young girl, her sister, mother and step-father, came into this town. They had been shipped from "pillar to post," having been helped by the authorities of one town over the line into another, coming from North Brookfield to Rutland. The names of the girls were Polly and Betsey Bowen, the mother's name Phebe and the step-father's name Jonathan Clark. It is said that their " manner of life" previously may be inferred from what it was in Rutland. They lived in a small one-story cabin, partly under ground, about fifteen or twenty feet in area, built into the southerly side of a hill, called " Goose Hill,'' in what is known as " New Boston." The site of their house is now included in the town burying-ground, and stood where the gate now stands. It had but one room, which the whole family occupied in common, with a single chimney on one side ; with two doors, leading respectively to the ro.ad and to the roof. Just within the front door, opening upon a road now discontinued, Clark used to sit on his bench and work at his trade of shoemaking. His wife worked out in the families of their neighbors, to whom she not unfrequently complained of the crossness of her husband. He had been formerly a captain in the Revolutionary War, but had become very much dissijiated. The family did not go to meeting, nor the girls to school, and some incidents related by the older people, who in 1834 recollected the family, indicated that the reputation of the young women was not above suspicion.

After living in town a little more than three years, they removed to North Carolina, where Mr. and Mrs. Clark were carried ofl' by an epidemic in 1798. The two girls in some way managed to get to Washington, and afterwards to New York, where Betsey, who possessed great beauty and an attractive manner, captivated the very wealthy French merchant, Stephen Jumel, and became his wife about 1804. Thus the lowly-born, uneducated Betsey Bowen rose from her obscurity and poverty and became the wife of one of the merchant princes of New York, the possessor of wealth and everything that wealth could command. They lived together until 1832, when Jumel died, having settled upon his wife a large estate, and she was designated as " Madame Jumel." But she was destined to fill a nuich higher and more distinguished social position.

Late in the same year, 1832, she was married to Aaron Burr, who had been Vice-President of the United States from 1801 to 1805, the first term of President Jefferson's administration. This was an ill-advised, unhappy and brief union. He was then seventy-six and she about fifty-five. They separated in 1833, and she applied for a divorce. It is not on record that she obtained a divorce, but she took the name of her first husband, and ever afterward was called " Madame Jumel."

Having unlimited means at her disposal, she spent much of her time in France, and was very much flattered at the French court on account of her wealth and beauty. She was for many years well known in Saratoga, where it is said "that she bought and took possession of a large establishment in one <lay.'' Here she made great displ.ay of her dress and equipage, riding in a chariot drawn by eight magnificent horses.

The estate settled on her by her first husband consisted largely of real estate in New York City - on Broadway, Seventh Avenue, &c. ; a large tract of land on Washington Heights, including the historic mansion of the English Colonel Morris, at one time Washington's headquarters, overlooking Harlem River, in which she resided at the time of her death, being over ninety years of age. After her death her will was admitted to probate, giving the bulk of her estate to the Episcopal Church and its rector at Washington Heights. The members of her family, consisting of a nephew and niece, children of a daughter of her sister Polly, whom she had adopted, and their father, Nelson Chase, Esq., a lawyer of New York City, all of whom resided with her, and had reasonably expected to succeed to her estate, were obtained, and summoned Mr. Reuben Walker and his sister, both very aged people, who lived neighbors to the Bowens, as witnesses, and they went to New York to give testimony in the case.

MuscHOPAUGE House. - The Muschopauge House stands in the centre of the town, on the spot where the parsonage was built for the first minister in Rutland in 1723 by Rev. Joseph Willard, who was killed that year by the Indians in a meadow about half a mile north of the centre. In 1762 an addition was built to the west end of the parsonage and opened for a tavern, which was kept for more than a hundred years for a " Wayside Inn." In 1880 it was purchased by the present owner, having become untenable by being so much out of repair. In 1883 the present house was built by given but little. The late celebrated Charles. O'Conor was retained on their behalf, and he brought suit to annul the will. It was in the course of the preparation for the trial of this case, which engrossed all his great learning, and which he intended making the crowning effort of his professional career, that the early history of " Madame Jumer'was hunted up, and the clouds of romance which surrounded it were dissipated.

The will was set aside, and Mr. Chase and his children became possessed of the estate. Two or three other suits were brought by pretended heirs, and the estate has been involved in great litigation. Finally there was a compromise eftected with the heirs of Steven Jumel, in France, and Mr. Chase became possessor of " Jumel Mansion " in 1882, where he has since lived.

Messrs. L. Q. Spaulding and C. R. Bartlett, to satisfy a want of more ample accommodations for summer visitors upon the delightful hills of Rutland. The good patronage the house has received since its opening, .Tune, 1884, attests the appreciation of the guests for such accommodations. This house, unlike many summer hotels, is thoroughly and substantially built, well appointed in every respect, both as to the arrangement and furnishing of rooms and the table, which receives the best attention that experienced cooks and the market aftbrds.

From the observatory can be seen several mountain peaks seventy-five and eighty-five miles distant - Everett, Greylock, Stratton, Dorset, etc. - while in comparatively near view are Monadnock, Watatic, Wachusett, etc., which are clearly seen to their very base. Church spires from fourteen town centres can be distinctly seen. The almost innumerable smooth and well-rounded hills, and the valleys cutting into each other in every direction, with here and there a lake, a winding stream or roadway, first seen, then lost to view, as it enters a belt of woodland in the valley below, then coming out again on a neighboring hillside, only to disappear once more, and the whole landscape, dotted over with villages and farmhouses, making one of the finest views in New England. The house has nearly four hundred feet in length of piazza, by ten in width. The lawns surrounding the house are large and attractive, comprising more than two acres of ground. The house has accommodations for about one hundred guests. It is under the management of the owner, Mr. C. R. Bartlett, who bought out Mr. Spaulding's interest in 1887.