Worcester County, Massachusetts - Chapter 166: Dana, 1889

Dana was incorporated February 18, 1801. It was named in honor of Judge Francis Dana, who assisted in obtaining for its citizens the distinction of belonging to an independent municipality. It was composed originally of parts of Petersham, Hardwick and Greenwich. A boundary line was established February 12, 1803, but the boundary line between Dana and Greenwich was not permanently established until June 19, 1811. Parts of Hardwick and Petersham were annexed to the town February 4, 1842.

In 1839 a petition was signed by the inhabitants of one school district in the town of Prescott, in favor of annexation to Dana. The town promptly voted to accept the proposition and extended a cordial welcome to their neighbors. The Legislature, however, refused to change the boundaries of the towns, and the line on the west side of Dana remains the same as when the town was incorporated.

It is bounded on the north and east by Petersham, on the south by Hardwick and on the west by New Salem, of Franklin County, and Greenwich and Prescott, of Hampshire County.

It has two large natural ponds - one in the southwest part of the town, containing about one hundred and sixty acres, called Pottapaug Pond, and a large sheet of water in the north part of the town, called Neeseponsett, which has been from the memory of the oldest inhabitant a resort of piscatory parties, summer and winter.

Dr. Hitchcock, in his scientific State survey of Massachusetts, gives the geological structure of Dana as gneiss, and stratified with hornblende slate.

There was a settlement, probably, in the southwesterly part of Nichewaug (now Petersham) as early as 1734, which territory afterward, at the time of the incorporation, formed a part of the town of Dana.

Various reasons have been suggested why the inhabitants in this particular locality should wish to be incorporated into a township. And for lack of recorded evidence, there have been many guesses why the inhabitants yearned so ardently for a charter of incorporation. It should be remembered, however at this period of time all were taxed to support the preaching of the Gospel, however remote they might be from the place of worship; that the law permitted towns to build a meeting-house and assess a tax upon the citizens of the town to pay for its construction, and also levy another tax upon them to support the regular Congregationalist Church. Although this law was subsequently modified, so that if tax-payers paid to some designated religious society a sum of money, and furnished a certificate that they had complied with the statute, in such case made and provided, they were released from the " ministerial tax," .so-called; yet, at the time of the movement for incorporation, no such amendment or change existed in the law. It, therefore, seems probable that these reasons, and the distance of the locality from the meetings of the towns at their centres, and the obligation resting upon the militia to attend their trainings at a distance so remote, may all have had weight in producing the firm resolution to have a town for themselves and their descendants, and to have it called Dana. We have not available records to furnish all the names ot the citizens of the territory which afterward formed this township who took part in the great Revolutionary struggle, but it is safe to say, after an examination ot the records of Petersham and elsewhere, that Bezaleel Amsden, Ruggles Spooner, Thomas Stimpson, Jonathan Parkhurst, John Town, Elijah Babbitt, Stephen Johnson and Stephen Witt were soldiers for liberty from the old Bay State, and from the farms and plantations afterwards embraced in this township. Most of these names are now familiar ones in the nomenclature of the numerous families of their descendants. Most of the voters among the early settlers of Dana were believers in the Democratic political tenets of Thomas Jefferson, and opposed to the Federalists, so that the action of the citizens of this young municipality in the War of 1812 with England, coincided with a large portion of the inhabitants of Petersham, and the patriotic side was espoused by them.

Vote for Governor in 1801, the year of their incorporation, stood: Elbridge Gerry, 45 ; Caleb Strong, 4. Elbridge Gerry was elected Governor in 1810, and afterwards elevated to the high ofiice of Vice-President of the United States.

The records of the town of Petersham, covering the period of the War of 1812, have been burned, so that we are not able to find the names on record of those citizens who might have been subsequently annexed with their property, to Dana. There is evidence of one commissioned officer, by the name of Elisha Foster, who commanded a company as its captain.

The first town-meeting was opened by legal warning by Daniel Bigelow, a lawyer of Petersham, and a gentleman of the old school, very much respected by the citizens of his town and county.

A large share of the inhabitants of the new township felt that Mr. Bigelow, to some extent at least, belonged to them, being so prominent a man in their former town, and who had two sons, at that time members of the Williams College, Daniel, Jr., and Lewis, both of whom afterwards graduated in the class of 1803. Lewis was afterwards elected a member of the Seventeenth Congress.

The largest owners of land in this new township, in fee simple, as we learn from the records and tradition, were Seth Williams, Joseph Hendrick, Jeremiah Sibley, Elkana Haskins, Joel Amsden, Bezaleel Amsden, Jacob Amsden, Daniel Russell, Oliver Harris, John Town, Ichabod Town, Elijah Town, James Babbitt, Elijah Babbitt, William Bancroft, Dr. Jacob Whipple, Simon Whipple, Benjamin Skinner, Nathan Smith and Stephen Johnson. Mr. Johnson lived until 1855, dying at a very advanced age.

Several of the above, it is believed, owned land to the amount of five hundred acres each, or even more. At the first town-meeting Jacob Amsden, John Town, Jr., and Joseph B. Hendrick, the latter being one of the largest laud-owners in the new town, were chosen assessors, to determine the valuation of the property of the inhabitants, for the purpose of taxation.

At this meeting all necessary town oflicers were chosen : a Board of Selectmen, the assessors hereinbefore mentioned and a long list of minor officers.

Daniel Stone, Esq., - who yet lives, a most respected and honored citizen, and, although upwards of eighty-two years of age, retains his mental faculties, in full vigor, and whose fiither, Elias Stone, a very worthy man and most enterprising citizen, and who moved to Dana in 1804 and afterwards became the owner of five hundred acres of land in Dana, whose son Daniel, carrying out his father's hopes and expectations, helped to prepare the way for the utilization of Swift River for manufacturing purposes, - says, speaking of one class of town officers, in an interesting historical sketch prepared by him many years ago, but never published : " It was the duty of the Tithingmen to keep order at Church, and, I remember when a boy, of hearing the heavy cane of the Tithingman fall with a loud rap, when the boys and girls played in meeting." And he quaintly adds: " Such officers are needed now."

It was the custom then for couples about to be married to be advertised. The town clerk, at the close of the service on Sunday, would call out the names of the intended bride and bridegroom in aloud voice, " marriage intended," etc.

The town was divided into five school districts by a committee chosen for the purpose at their first town-meeting, and money was raised for school purposes. For a short time after the incorporation only one school was kept, and that in the dwelling-house of Seth Woodward, near the centre of the town. While this state of things existed about forty dollars paid the school expenses for the year.

as the five school districts were all in running order, one hundred and fifty to one hundred and seventy-five dollars per annum was about the amount raised for the next twenty-five years for school purposes. Young men who had the reputation of being good teachers could be obtained for ten dollars per month in the winter, and female teachers at as low a price as fifty cents per week in the summer.

The teachers all boarded around, and each family furnished his share of the wood - a good ox-sled load of wood - so that no money was raised by taxation for board of teachers or for wood.

There was always, especially in the winter, a very large attendance of scholars - many of the scholars, both boys and girls, being over eighteen years of age. The old-fashioned spelling-schools were held, and the scholars enjoyed themselves hugely during the two months of the winter term, although the discipline of the schools was enforced by strict rules, of which the ferule was a very important factor.

There were not many letters written in those days, and postage was dear. It was as late as the year 1812 before the town had a post-office within its limits.

At a very early period of the settlement of this territory grist and saw-mills were constructed. The saw and grist-mills would be joined together, one mill doing both kinds of business, and with the same power and mill privilege.

Seth Johnson, Jr., after the incorporation, owned one of these double mills at the south part of the town, and Jacob Amsden, one of the first settlers, owned another similar mill, located in what is now called the Doubleday village.

The inhabitants, when they practiced any other mode of locomotion than the pedestrian, and used horses, always adopted the equestrian method.

A yeoman, who owned his acres mfee simple, and was entitled to the name in free America, would frequently be seen on horseback, his wife behind him and often two children in front. This practice of having a partner, both sexes being usually represented, existed with the young and old alike, whether going to church or to a dance.

Great curiosity and interest were manifesteil when one of the citizens, Elisha Sibley, bought a wagon, a vehicle without springs of any kind, and the first one on wheels for pleasure riding ever owned in the town. It was in very great demand, sometimes being engaged several weeks ahead; the cost was reported to have been sixty dollars.

The " One Hoss Shay," that " Hahnsum Kerridge," so fashionable in its day, had not made its appearance in Dana. The older men, however, continued to wear the costume of their fathers : cocked up hats, rolled up on three sides, in the form of a triangle ; breeches--, knee-buckles, long stockings, etc.

All the dwelling-houses at the time of the incorporation were one story and unpainted. Some of the chimneys were of stone, some of brick. The fireplaces for the kitchens were about six feet broad, and for the square rooms or parlors about three feet. The architecture was simple in the extreme, - a long kitchen on one side, with a pantry and bed-room at the end ; on the other side, two rooms, - one square, the parlor or best room, the other being made narrow, by the chimney, which was usually as large as the bed-room, at the end of the kitchen.

The soil produced large crops of rye in its virgin fertility, and the neighboring towns were accustomed to purchase rye of the farmers of Dana. This was especially the case in the year a.d. 1816. The author of this sketch has often heard his grandparents, who had relatives in Dana, describe the direful condition of this section of the State in the year 1816. There was almost a total failure of the grass crop in some localities, as well as a total loss of all the maize or Indian corn. A famine was dreaded. The only means of transportation then was by slow teams. The old inhabitants, who well remembered the dark day of 1780, felt that a more serious calamity then that was said to portend might befall them, when the glad news reached the communities that the plains of Greenwich and Dana would furnish an abundant supply of rye. The inhabitants of the neighboring towns, especially those east of Dana, were most glad to go to this " Egypt " and buy breadstuft". A kind feeling existed thereafter towards the young township, and she was immediately recognized as the equal of the older municipalities.

In the year 1818, Nathan Munroe died of the smallpox, in the precinct now known as North Dana. He, with his daughter, had just returned from a visit to the " West," and while at the house of a citizen, named Chamberlain, was suddenly taken very sick. Many of the neighbors visited him, and watched with him ; but when it was discovered that he had the small-pox, consternation and alarm spread like wildfire throughout the town. There were only two dwelling-houses then in this immediate locality, and all persons who had been "exposed " were compelled to occupy one of these houses, and submit to inoculation. The highways were fenced up in all directions and flags displayed.

Some time previous to this alarm on account of the small-pox, about 1810, a terrible epidemic visited the town, which physicians called spotted fever. Some died within twenty-four hours after being attacked, and it spread to some extent into the adjoining towns. Dr. John Flint, who was attacked while visiting a patient, died in his sleigh on his way home, A very simple remedy was finally discovered, and the medicine used could then be obtained at a reasonable price, and in perfect purity. It was French Brandy, and when administered, in doses large enough to kill several well men, to the sufferer, it conquered the dread scourge, and all, who were thereafter attacked recovered, in case the medicine had been administered to them at the proper time, and in sufficient quantity.

In the early years of the town's history it might be truly said that there were many manufacturers actively engaged in work. There was no large manufactory or factory building especially built for the purpose, but in nearly every dwelling-house, flax and wool, raised and produced by the farmers on their own farms, were spun, woven, dressed and made into wearing apparel, by the female members of each family.

There were also fullers' or clothiers' shops, where the various cloths for the clothes of the men and boys were dressed, dyed and pressed. The tailor or tailoress would then visit the old homesteads and superintend and assist in making up a year's stock of clothing.

The shoemaker went from house to house, the same as his brother craftsman, the tailor, and made boots and shoes. This was called " whipping the cat."

Many of the farmers with their own teams visited Boston in the fall of the year, carrying poultry and pork to "market," and purchasing a large stock of groceries, including molasses, fish, sugar, salt, etc., and never forgetting to buy a keg of good New England rum. Thus, the population was thrifty, and self-sustaining.

One of the earliest industries, outside of their regular avocations, was, probably, the business of preparing and making potash for sale. The huge fire-place produced a great quantity of ashes, and, as a few acres of the heavily-timbered land must be cleared each year by its owner, what was consumed in the fire-place was considered clear gain, and saved the necessity of burning it on the wood-land. Mr. Sione says : " I remember two such establishments in town, one at the brook, this side of Dana Common, where N. L. Johnson now works palm-leaf, potash has been made there since my remembrance. There was another near the spot where Henry Johnson's house now stands. I well remember its standing there, with all the leaches and apparatus necessary for making potash."

Setting card-teeth was also an industry in which the women and children, more or less, engaged. First in hand-cards, afterwards long sheets of leather and teeth for factories were furnished or " put out," the same as palm-leaf has been since.

was spun by machinery, the cloth being woven in hand-looms. One man, at least, in the town made it his business, for some lime, to furnish the thread to his various customers.

It is believed that straw bonnets were made in Dana as early as the year 1815. At one time it was carried on quite extensively. The very best quality of rve-straw for the bonnets was raised in this town, on "newly-cleared land, being cut for braiding before the seed or grain was full. The women and children found employment in braiding the straw. These bonnets became quite the fashion. The bonnet was almost as white as snow, and, when trimmed with ribbons, it was called very comely and pretty.

There was also a tannery in the town, and the farmers could get cider brandy by the distillation of their cider in the distillery established in Dana.

There was very early manifested by the inhabitants a spirit of enterprise and earnest desire to engage in, or have introduced into their little township, industries and employments other than tilling the soilprobably more so than in any other town in all this section of the State.

Many town-meetings were held for the purpose of building a meeting-house, which was then lawful for all towns to do, and pay for the same, as well as the support of the minister, by a tax assessed upon the inhabitants.

It had been the almost universal custom in Massachusetts, after the incorporation of a town, for the citizens to select a central location for the public buildings - a meeting-house, witha school-house near its side, and town hall. Also the largest store and the principal tavern were generally found in the " centre," so-called, and most of the mechanical business might be expected to be located in the same place.

But in Dana there was an old meeting-house which had been moved from the southerly part of Petersham, and located on Dana Common, and which was used as a place of religious worship by the Baptists for more than twenty-five years after the incorporation of the town, and until the Baptist Church ceased as a distinct organization. Some of the members of this organization were afterwards found connected with the Baptist Churches in Hardwiek, Petersham and Athol.

This building was finally bought, by the town, of the individual owners for a town hall and school purposes, about the time the annexation of the new school district, from Petersham and Hardwiek, took place. This annexation somewhat changed the controversy as to a central location for the public buildings. One chief reason, why Dana did not conform to the prevailing custom as to the building and location of a meeting-house and town hall, seems to have been from the fact that the inhabitants of the south and east parts of the town preferred Dana Common for the location of said buildings; while the citizens of the north and west portions were very much opposed to this arrangement, on the ground that it was not sufliciently central.

Frequent town-meetings were held upon the subject, and in 1818 we find a record that the town voted to build a town hall, and chose a committee to decide upon the site. Very soon thereafter, however, another town-meeting was held, and the former vote was rescinded. As early as 1812 it was voted to build a meeting-house. Similar votes were subsequently made, but all were reconsidered, as no agreement could be reached for the location of the church edifice as the property of the town. The result was no meeting-house was built, while the law permitting the town so to do remained upon the statutebook. And, for the same reason, of non-agreement as to the best site, no town hall was constructed. It is apparent that very little was paid in the form of a "ministerial tax," and nothing for the building of a meeting-house.

It is a fact, however, that soon after the incorporation they voted to invite neighboring ministers to give preaching eleven Sundays during the year. And sometimes, while the law permitted, small sums were raised as a salary for a minister, - two hundred and fifty dollars being raised in some years.

It was the custom of Dana, like that of other towns, to "let out" the keeping of the town's poor, by bids, in the manner of auction sales, at their annual town-meetings, to the "lowest" instead of "highest" bidders, ;'. e., to those persons who agreed or made the lowest bids, to take care of the paupers for the least pay. But it ought to be said in this connection th.at Dana, earlier than some other towns, relinquished this practice, and provided a commodious and comfortable home for her unfortunate wards requiring pecuniary assistance.

There is good evidence to believe that some inhabitants lived in what is now called North Dana quite a number of years before the incorporation. In the middle of the old mill poud, a short distance above the village, there remains buried in the water the partial mole or bank of an old mill dam. It has been called the Martin Dam, but the oldest inhabitant does not recollect when the mill was in running order.

It. is believed that, as early as 1812, Thomas Stimpson built a saw-mill on the west side of the river, which mill ^id some business for many years, and on the east side of the river he raised a large frame for a projected factory, hoping to find some moneyed manufacturer who would utilize this good water iirivileffe and establish here an important business.

The War of 1812, and its effects upon the country in a business point of view, directly after the declaration of peace, when there was almost universal distrust of the currency - of the paper which had passed for money, and the impossibility of using gold and silver on account of its great scarcity - prevented any investment of capital for the purpose intended by Mr. Stimpson.

With the exception of what little business was done at this saw-mill, this good privilege remained useless until about the year 1830, when Daniel Stone, Esq., became interested in this valuable water privilege, and in 1836 became its sole owner. He rebuilt the saw-mill and put up a new grist-mill on the east side, thus utilizing the privilege, to some extent, on both sides of the river. He also bought three tracts of meadow and timber land to secure his right of flowage.

In 1845, Mr. Stone having in the mean time sold the property, with all the privileges and appurtenances thereto belonging, to Warren Hale; Allen Goodman and the .said Warren Hale invented and obtained a patent right of a machine for making and shaping the piano-forte, melodeon and billiard-table legs.

Nelson Bosworth, of Petersham, first commenced to veneer the legs. He resided in Petersham, and for a time took them to his factory there, returning them after the veneering process had been finished. For several years all the productions of the firm of Hale & Goodman were drawn by teams to Palmer Depot to be freighted to their various customers, a distance of twenty-two miles.

In 1846 Lorenzo Hale was admitted as a partner. A post-ofiice was established here the same year, called North Dana Post-office, and thereafter the village and post-office were called by the same name, having been called Stonesville for many years previous. Soon after Jonathan E. Stone, brother of Daniel Stone, Esq., and Hammond Doane became members of the company. In 1850 William Stimpson, Warren Stimpson and Charles N. Stimpson were joined as co-partners, and Jonathan E. Stone, Warren and Lorenzo Hale withdrew from the firm ; also, about this time, Hammond Doane left the company. New factory buildings were erected, and soon after Nelson Bosworth was made a partner in the company. The manufacture of veneered piano-forte, melodeon and billiardtable legs was now greatly increased.

In 1854 Silas F. Lindsay and George T. Johnson, two young men who had been very successful in mercantile business in the village of North Dana, drawing trade from the neighboring towns, joined the company, with their business and their own partnership property, and the name of the ol/i firm was changed to Johnson, Stimpson & Co. The business, under the new organization, was greatly enlarged and good dividends were realized. In December, 1856, their principal factory buildings were destroyed by fire, but in the spring of 1857 more commodious and convenient buildings were erected, and equipped with new and improved machinery, invented and designed principally by Allen Goodman. In the fall of 1857 another disastrous fire occurred, destroying several buildings connected with the works and burning a large amount of material and stock.

During the rebuilding of the factory buildings Allen CJoodman was called to New York City to defend some of his valuable patents, which were very essential to the success of the " Leg Company," as it was then often called.

While there, although past middle life, he commenced the study of medicine, which he pursued with very great earnestness until his death, seventeen years afterwards. He had at one time quite an extensive practice, and had gained the reputation of effecting remarkable cures in some cases of consumption, and in attacks of typhoid fever.

In 1859 Dr. Allen Goodman and Warren Hale obtained an extension of their patents for seven years on the leg machinery, and bought out the firm of John.son, Stimpson & Co., and formed a new copartnership under the firm-name of Warren Hale & Co., consisting of Warren and Lorenzo Hale and Dr. Allen Goodman. In January, 1861, J. Wesley Goodman, son of Dr. Goodman, was admitted as a partner. A profitable term of business followed, Jacob A. Towne having, in the mean time, joined the firm, of which he remained a member until his death, in 1872.

J. Flint Peckham, and also Nelson Bosworth again joined the company in 1867. In June, 1868, the leg factories were again burned, but were rebuilt the same season.

Mr. Bosworth had died a short time previous to the death of Mr. Towne, a man of great usefulness to the company, and who had been connected with this important manufacturing industry almost from the very commencement. In 1872 Allen W. Goodman, a son of Dr. Goodman, bought the interest of Warren Hale in the firm, and the firm-name was changed to Hale, Goodman & Co., consisting of Lorenzo Hale, J. Wesley Goodman and Allen W. Goodman. At this time another important industry was added to the business - that of the manufacture of picture frames.

In 1873 the leg and picture-frame factories and thesaw-mill were all destroyed by fire. The leg factories and saw-mill were rebuilt the same year, and the company continued the business without discouragement. In January, 1876, J. AVesley Goodman bought out the good will and stock of this copartnership, and leased the factories and power and added to the former business (excepting the manufacture of picture frames) the construction of billiard-table frames and all the wood-work connected with the tables. Hfr continued manufacturing in North Dana for four years, when he removed his business to Athol.

able machinery, and established a satinet factory under the firm-name of A. W. Goodman, Scofield & Co., and were succeeded by Messrs. Dorr & Crawford. In April, 1S86, Pitts C. Tyler, a capitalist of Athol, bought the interest of Mr. Dorr, and formed ' a co-partnership with W. J. Crawford, the former member of the firm of Dorr & Crawford, under the firm-name of Crawford & Tyler, in the manufiicture of woolen goods. They now employ about thirty hands, and do a business of about forty thousand dollars per annum. Eddie Pitts Tyler, son of Pitts C. Tyler, is book-keeper, and the active member who resides in North Dana.

Among the industries of North Dana that are now in a flourishing condition may be mentioned the palm-leaf hat industry and straw braid business for hats of Henry W. Goodman, who does a business of about forty thousand dollars per year.

John E. Stowell is carrying on a successful business in the manufacture of boxes, in a shop that has recently been erected near the depot. Messrs. Goodman and Stowell both use steam-power.

A new and handsome hotel has also been erected near the depot, which contains a fine public hall and a store ; the hotel has been leased by the veteran landlord. Captain D. L. Richards.

It might be well, here, to speak briefly of the fires which have occurred in the town of Dana, some of which have been already incidentally referred to.

First, as to the village called Stonesville and North Dana. In 1839 a shop belonging to Daniel Stone, Esq., located at the east end of the bridge, used as a carriage-house and storage of valuable material for carriage-wheels, was burned with contents - loss, one thousand dollars and no insurance. The great fire of 1856 was the next fire in the village, when all the buildings on both sides of the dam were consumed, and also a building standing on the old site of the one burned in 1839. C. N. Doane and Mr. L. Wheeler lost heavily, without any insurance. Johnson, Stimpson & Co., who lost their principal factory buildings, were partially insured.

In August, 1857, the hotel buildings, occupied by George H. Gibbs, were entirely destroyed, with most of their contents - only partially insured. In September, of the same year the large finishing shops of Johnson, Stimpson & Co., on the south side of the highway, with a full stock of legs, veneered and ready for the market, were burned - partially insured. In 1868 there was another great fire, the big water shop, so called, was burned, the second time, with other buildings of the company, then bearing the firm-name of Warren Hale & Co. The loss was fully twenty thousand dollars.

In the fire of 1857 of the large finishing shops of the company, a dwelling-house, belonging to Franklin Blackmer, was burned. Subsequently the dwellinghouse, barn and shop of Charles F. Gleason were burned, also the house of Willard Blackmer.

The goods in the store have been twice damaged by fire ; once on account of removal, in the great fire of 1856, and once when the building had been struck by lightning.

In 1873 another great fire occurred in North Dana. The principal works of Hale, Goodman & Co., including the picture-frame factory and a saw-mill, were completely destroyed by fire. The loss was about fifty thousand dollars. In this year it is given in an official report that Dana ranked fourth in the amount of losses in the county of Worcester for the year 1873. About the same time the residence of Edson Cakes, with all the buildings connected therewith, was burned. In 1881 the barn of E. A. Albee, with contents, and a very valuable house were burned.

Outside of the village and immediate vicinity of North Dana the most disastrous fire which has occurred was the total destruction of the fine steam saw-mill of the brothers, J. Sullivan and Zenas W. Brown, the loss being estimated at twenty thousand dollars. This mill was not rebuilt, and was a heavy blow to the business in lumber, of the town.

During the year 1888 the dwelling-house of George W. Doane, south of the Common, was burned, with nearly all the furniture and clothing of the family, including a sum of money. Years previous an unoccupied house, owned and occupied at one time by Samuel Cakes, was burned.

In the act approved May 6, 1884, to establish the First District Court of Northern Worcester, the town of Dana was not included therein. A protest had been numerously signed by many of its citizens, and forwarded to the Legislature, against the measure, believing, with a majority of their fellow-citizens living in the proposed judicial district, that it was not advisable, under all of the then existing circumstances, to form such a court.

Dana has produced good men and true - fit representatives of the sterling qualities of New England's noble type of manhood; temperate, industrious, frugal and honest. " An help-meet for him " (Gen. ii. 18). The women of this township have fulfilled this injunction of Sacred Writ most faithfully, in times of prosperity and adversity. The social and unwritten history of the town demonstrates this fact, and the development of its agricultural and varied manufacturing interests prove the untiring industry at all times of the girls and women among its inhabitants.

Daniel Stone, Esq., is one of the old stock, born soon after the incorporation of the town ; he has lived to an advanced age, a life of great usefulness ; has represented the town two years in the Legislature ; is one of the oldest magistrates in this section of the State; has been trial justice. The author of this sketch well remembers a case he had before him, in which he appeared as attorney, nearly a generation ago, and the decision was most just, and characterized by a keen sense of theequities involved.

He has always, since the great Civil War, been a true friend of the soldier, and has assisted many widows, orphans and dependent fathers and mothers to secure their rights under the pension and other laws. He has done an extensive insurance business for many years, and is still engaged therein, having his son associated with him ; is one of the oldest of tlie alumni of New Salem Academy, Major Warren Horr, of Athol, being his senior only by a few years ; he and his noble and amiable wife, at the celebration of theirgolden wedding, were honored with the heartiest expressions of esteem and respect by numerous friends at home and abroad. At his eighty-first birthday in September, 1887, members of the family representing four generations were present. The author is indebted to him for many facts of interest in the town's history.

A son of Dana, who has attained wealth and honor while remaining a resident of his native town, is Hon. Nathaniel L. Johnson, who has been for many years in the palm-leaf goods trade, and has done a business, on an average, of twenty-five thousand dollars to thirty thousand dollars per annum. The palm-leaf business, in its various forms, has been a prominent industry in Dana for many years. It was, probably, first established about sixty years ago, and has been successfully and extensively prosecuted by many different individuals and firms.

Since 1882 the business has been declining, on account of the importation from Europe and Eastern Asia of straw braid, and palm-leaf hats are being supplanted by straw hats, which can be made cheaper. Mr. Johnson has almost closed this branch of his business. He was a member of the House of Representatives in the Legislature of 1857-60 and 1871, and a member of the Senate in 1873-74, and was elected presidant of the First National Bank in Barre in 1883, which position he now holds. His mother, Martha Johnson, - relict of Nathaniel Johnson, who represented the town in the Legislature in 1835, - a woman honored and beloved by all, died October 24, 1883, aged ninety-two years, two months and ten days, the oldest person in town at that time.

James Madison Stone is a native of Dana and son of James H. Stone and Azubah Stone, both deceased. His venerable mother died December 6, 1888, aged eighty-six years and nine months. Nine children, eighteen grandchildren and twelve great-grandchildren survived her. She was a remarkable woman, well read and possessing much information upon general topics. She viewed the last great change with perfect composure and declared her unshaken belief in "Angel Ministry.''

A painting by her son, James Madison, in the exhibition of the Paint and Clay Club of Boston, a few years ago, drew out appreciative notices from the art-critics. It was a half-lengtli seated figure of a young girl, wearing a hat and looking out of the canvas. "The cheek is susceptible of pressure, and there is blood in the veins - trite facts, when stated of nature, much too infrequently observed in a portrait. There is something of Rembrandt's simplicity and surety of eft'ect in this head - it at once suggests that artist's portrait of Soskia van Uhlenburg, in the gallery at Dresden, as well as those more eleg!intly-garmented figures of her in Cassel and St. Petersburg."

Among those who have served the town in positions of public responsibility, as town officers, may be mentioned Alpheus J. Nye. He was born in Enfield, Mass., and came to Dana, when a young man, as a teacher. His sterling character and excellent judgment were .soon recognized by his fellow-townsmen, who called him repeatedly to positions of trust and honor. He was a member of the School Board for more than fifteen years, and also served on the Board of Selectmen, as assessor, overseer of the poor and as road surveyor.

He served as a faithful soldier, in Co. B, Fifteenth Regiment Mass. Vols., in the Grefit Civil War, and died, of disease contracted in the service, at Athol, Mass., Dec. 17, 1888.

Dec. 10th, only seven days before his death, the author received from our noble Commissioner of Pensions, General Black, notice, in prompt answer to a request, which liad been made for the purpose, that Mr. Nye's claim for pension had been made special. It was immediately communicated to him, and his expressions of joy, gratitude and thanks were most sincere and' emphatic. Reference is made to this fact to show one trait in this worthy man's character. Although enfeebled by disease contracted in the service, and repeatedly advised by his friends to apply for a pension, he steadily refused so to do from principle, as he regarded it, until he was no longer able to perform manual labor, requisite to provide support for himself and his wife.

Silas F. Lindsay, who died in 1887, a little over sixty years of age, was for a long time one of the most active and prominent business men of the town, and was always considered a good adviser on business matters. For a number of years he kept the store at North Dana, in connection with George T. .lohnson, and was a leading business man of the town until increasing infirmities obliged him to retire from active duty.

Dr. Daniel Lindsay, who died in 1887, at the age of ninety-three years, was one of the oldest physiscians in Western Massachusetts, and for many years was the doctor of the town. Dr. Lindsay and his wife enjoyed a married life of seventy-two years ; she still survives in her ninety-fourth year, and is the oldest person in town.

Theodore S. Johnson, counselor-at-law, and clerk of courts for Worcester County, whose efficiency and courtesy have never been surpassed by any official, holding the responsible office of clerk of the highest courts of Massachusetts, is the son of Theodore \V. Johnson, who moved to Worcester, from Dana, not many years ago. Charles R. Johnson, another son of Theodore W. Johnson, is also a member of the Worcester County bar, in good practice.

During the last few years North Dana has lost several of its old and re.spected citizens by death, among whom were Solomon G. Towne, aged seventyeight ; Orson Towne, seventy-six, and Albert Amsden, the two latter having represented the town in the Legislature, and held various town offices.

Another event, not of frequent occurrence, was a golden wedding in 1S86, when the fiftieth marriage anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Clark Miller was duly celebrated by their relatives and friends at the old homestead.

The medical profession is represented in Dana by Stephen Witt, M.D., who has practiced medicine for the last ten years, and is adescendantof one of the old families of the town ; and G. M. Foskett, M.D., who is a graduate of Amherst College and has had extended study and experience in the medical schools of Philadelphia, New York and Burlington.

By an act passed by the Legislature in 1886, the number of polls, the amount of property and the tax of one thousand dollars, including polls, at one-tenth of a mill each, for each city and town in the several counties of the Commonwealth, as contained in a schedule of said act, constitute a basis of apportionment for State and county taxes during the decade ending in the year 1805, or until another is made and enacted by the Legislature.

According to this schedule, the tax of Dana was 17 cents, and on the valuation of i!293,47.3, Dana was assessed to pay the sum of $255 of the amount of $1,500,000 State tax. A new apportionment made by the tax commissioner has been presented to thepresent Legislature.

In the county of Worcester, in the apportionment of 1886, each of the towns of Boylston, New Braintree, Paxton and Philipston, has a les-i number of polls than Dana, and both Paxton and Phillipston less property.

The railroad, which passes from Springfield to Athol, through North Dana, has been bought by the Boston & Albany corporation, and is now a branch of that company. Improvements are being constantly made in its rolling-stock and everything connected with it, which is of great benefit to the towns located on this route, especially those having large and increasing manufacturing interests like Dana.

Swift River Lodge of Good Templars, which was organized in October, 187.3, is one of the most fiourishiug temperance organizations in this section of the State, and has a membership of about one hundred. The society has exerted a powerful influence in the community, and has been a prominent factor in the | politics of the town, as is indicated by the fact that for several years the prohibition vote of Dana was of 1887 for Governor giving Ames, Republican, fortythree ; Lovering, Democrat, thirty, and Earle, Prohibitory, thirty-eight; the vote of 1886 gave Ames thirty-seven, Andrew thirty-one, and Lathrop, Prohibition, thirty.

Another important and flourishing organization is that of Garfield Grange, which was organized in 1882, and is also located at North Dana, where they have recently moved into a fine new hall in Doubleday Block. This organization has done much for the agriculture of the town.

The census report of 1885 gives the value of the agricultural property at 8243,596, of which the land amounts to $117,270, the farm buildings to $102,095, and domestic animals to $24,231. There are one hundred and twenty-six farm-houses ; the dairy products amount to $10,986 ; hay, straw and fodder to 816,383, and wood to $11,420. Of the 11,591 J acres of land in the town, 5632, or nearly one-half were covered with wood in 1885; 980 acres of which were woodland of over thirty years' growth.

One of the most attractive places in the town is Richards' Grove, at North Dana. Here, within a short distance of the railroad station, is a beautiful grove, situated on the border of a line of ponds, three miles in length ; these ponds teem with pickerel, perch and other fish, and during the summer are covered with most beautiful pond lilies. Cottages have been erected here, and during the hottest summer days cool and refreshing breezes play around them. A spring of the coolest and purest water flows from the hillside, while for those who desire mineral waters a spring, strongly impregnated with iron and sulphur, is near. This has become a favorite resort during the summer months for parties from Worcester, Springfield and other places. A fine pavilion has been erected by Captain D. L. Richards, the proprietor, and the grounds are in great demand for picnic parties.

During the first twenty years after the incorporation of Dana, itinerant or local Methodist preachers occasionally visited the town, and a class of Methodists was organized, consisting mostly of people living in the easterly part of the town. Among the members of this first class were : Uriah Doane, Benjamin Woods, William Tolman and Ebenezer Grosvenor. Among the preachers who visited the place and preached at different periods, were the noted Lorenzo Dow, Joshua Crowell and Jefferson Haskell. But it was not until 1830 that regular Methodist preaching commenced, when a small society, known as the Liberal Congregational Society, held meetings in a hall in the dwelling-house of Justice Woods, whose father was an earnest Methodist. These meetings were conducted by students from Wilbraham Academy, and were continued in the hall until 1833, when Erastus Otis and William Gordon were appointed by the New England

The preaching at Dana was in a school-house near North Dana, which was at that time a small village, known by the nameof Stonesville. Prayer and classmeetings were held weekly, and occasional grovemeetings were held.

As a result of this work conversions multiplied, additions were made to the churcli, and general prosperity and great harmony prevailed among the brethren.

Although the school-house was the only place of public worship at Stonesville until 1840, the little band had grown to a church of more than forty members.

During the year 1840 the importance of a more suitable place of worship was discussed, and Elias Stone, a farmer in the neighborhood, though not a member of any church, became interested and subscribed five hundred dollars for the construction of a church edifice. During the year the building was completed, tlie money all being raised by subscription, and was dedicated, free I'rom debt, as a Union Church, and the right to use the church a share of the time was guaranteed to other denominations. The church continued to increase and prosper until about the year 1846, when Simon E. Pike, a local preacher, who had joined the new church called True Wesleyan, came into the town and formed achurch of that order, which drew from the Methodist Church about onehalf of its members. The division did not last many years, however, and the meeting-house, although called a Union Church, has been for the larger part of the time occupied by the preachers of the Methodist denomination.

Among those who have been pastors of this church are Thomas Marcy, Joseph W. Lewis, Amasa Taylor, Houghton S. Booth, C. E. Seaver, E. P. Gibbs, Thomas Martin, J. J. Woodbury and S. A. Bragg.

The doctrine of universal salvation was preached in Dana during the last years of the last century by one of the founders and most noted preachers of the Universalist denomination in the United States. Here was the first pastorate of the Rev. Hosea Ballon, and to the people of Dana he first proclaimed the doctrines of universal salvation as a pastor. This was his home and the scene of his labors for nearly seven years.

Another eminent divine and leading minister of the Universalist denomination, who served the Dana church as pastor in the early days of the town, was Rev. Lucius R. Paige, D.D., who is still living in Cambridge at the age of nearly ninety years. With an undimmed eye and still vigorous mind, he has devoted much of his later life to historical and literai'y

Other ministers of this denomination who have been pastors in Dana are Jared Bushnell, Joshua Flagg, James Babbitt, Massena Ballou and John Willis.

Although there are a considerable number of those who believe in the doctrines taught by Father Ballou living in Dana, there is no permanent pastorate or society in existence at the present time.

An Orthodox Congregational Society was first organized about 1832 as a mission station by Dr. Storrs, of New Braintree, and continued as such until 1852, when, on the 10th of July, the Orthodox Congregational Church and Society was organized with eleven members, and in 1853 a church edifice was built near the Common. The first pastor of the newly-organized church was Rev. .John Keep, who served as pastor until 1861, when he was succeeded by Rev. William Leonard, who remained three years.

Since that time the church has been supplied by various ministers, among whom are Rev. Henry M. Rogers, Rev. O. Russell, Rev. Mr. Soule, Rev. E. P. Gibbs, Rev. E. W. Merritt, who was acting pastor for six or seven years ; Rev. John W. Haley served during 1885; Rev. Edwin S. Wight, D.D., in 1886; Rev. Mr. Haley again in 1887 ; and from July, 1887, to the present time. Rev. Josiah S. Willis has been the pastor.

The Orthodox Congregational Church and Society is united and prosperous, though not large in num- bers, and reckons among its members some of the descendants of the old families and substantial citizens.

Other religious doctrines have, at different times, had their adherents, and some quite prominent citizens united with the Shakers, while the sect called " Christians " had, at one time, about one hundred members, but they were not all residents of Dana.

The cause of education has always received support by the citizens of Dana, and the schools of the town, as a whole, have ranked well with those of other towns of similar size and population. The town was quite early divided into five school districts a;;d afterwards another district was added to the eastern part of the town by annexation of territory. There are now five schools in the town, those in North Dana being graded into primary and grammar, and for the year 1888 seven hundred dollars was raised for their support. The committee for that year were E. C. Haskins, Stephen Witt and Miss M. J. Richardson.

Although small in territory and population, Dana has never lacked in patriotism, and her sturdy sons have ever been ready to battle for the cause of country and freedom.

A goodly number of names of her early settlers appear among the Revolutionary soldiers, some of whom we have mentioned, while in the War of 1812 her men rendered valiant services; and when, in later times, the summons came for defenders of our flag and the perpetuity of the government and Federal Union, that were trembling in the balance, the sons of Dana were among the foremost to march to the rescue.

Few towns can show a better record. Eighty-eight soldiers and sailors enlisted under the various calls of the government, and thirteen citizens of the town were enrolled in the Union army and credited to other places. Of the eighty-eight that were enrolled and went to the front, four were killed in battle and fourteen died of disease and wounds while in the line of duty. The town also expended eight thousand seven hundred and eighty dollars towards the expenses of tlie war.

The citizens of Dana, its brave men and patriotic, sympathetic women, have received most complimentary notices from many quarters, and the good record ofthetown, in the assistance rendered for the preservation of the Union, has been highly praised in official documents and records. State and Federal.