Worcester County, Massachusetts - North Brookfield, 1889

North Brookfield

North Brookfield is substantially the Second Precinct of Brookfield, which was incorporated March 28, 1750. The petitioners for a separate precinct in the northeasterly part of Brookfield having failed to secure an act of incorporation in 1749, presented a petition at the next session of the General Court in 1750, in which they stated as follows :

Ttiat your petitioiiera under our unhappy and remote situation from the place of ])ublif worstiip in said town liaving often petitioned the town for relief either Iiy Ituilding a nieeting-liouse at or near tiie centre of tlie town as it now lies or to set us off as a distinct parish as per our former petitions may appear ; liut being often denied our request which we thought most rensonaltle ; the town at last made u grant to the inhabitants of the said part of the town that they with such as would join witii them - they entering their names or sending them to the town clerk in writing within the space of tliree months from the date of the gmnt, should be set off as a distinct Parish - provided they and their possessions di<l not exceed one-third part of said town for quantity and quality as per the vote or grant of the town may appear ; upon which vote or grant we agi'eed to build a handsome frame for the public worship of God ; and in April last we preferred a petition to this Honored Court so agreeable (as we thought) to the town's vote that none oppose it ; but to our surprise we found such opposition from the town and some of our petitioners that caused us todesist the proceeding » and being willing to do anything reasonable to satisfy our disaffected brethren we covenanted and agreed for their satisfiction to be at the cost of a committee of uninterested wortliy gentlemen mutually chosen who have been upon the spot and heard tlio pleas and viewed the proposed parish and have returned tlieir judgment that the house stands just and reasonable to accommodate them its well as ourselves as per their return and tlie covenants we entered into may appear. Therefore your pctitionel'S pray that this Honored Court will incorporate ua who have returned our names to the town clerk agreeable to the vote of the town into a distinct Parish and invest us with parish privileges; granting also a liberty of others joyneing with us (not to exceed one-third part of the town as abovesaid) for the space of two years or eighteen monllis or as this Honored Court shall think meet; And your petitit)nei-s further pray that one-third part of the hinds in said town sequestered to ministry and school use or the incomes thereof may be set over and secured to us . and also that the town of Brookfield abate or reimburse to your petitioners and such as join with them llieir proportion of a tax lately assessed on oiir j)oll8 and estates for the settlement and ordination charges of (he Itev l\Ir. Klislia Harding and the repairs of tlie old meeting-house amounling in the whole to about twelve hundred pounds old tenor currency more or less. And your petitioners as in duty bound ghull ever pray.

That the prayer of the petitioners be so far granted as that they with their families and estat-^s, together with such persons and their estates who shall within three months from this time signify that desire therefor under their hands to the clerk of the town of Brookfield, be and they hereby are set off a Distinct Parish and are endowed with all the privileges and subjected to all the duties which the other inhabitants of Pai'ishes are by the laws of the Province endowed with or subjected to - Provided their possessions do not exceed one-third part of the said town of Brookfield for quantity and quality.

After the incorporation of the Second Precinct the Second Parish was organized at the house of Jabez Ayres, Monday, May 21, 1750, by the choice of Capt. Wm. Ayres moderator, Capt. Wm. Ayres precinct clerk and Capt. Wm. Ayres, Capt. Ebenezer Witt, Samuel Gould, Noah Barns and Benjamin Adams precinct committee. Thomas Bartlett was chosen treasurer, Joseph Stone collector, and Wm. Ayres, Samuel Gould, Wm. Witt, Jason Bigelow and Moses Ayres were made assessors. The frame of a meetinghouse was reared April 5, 1749, before the act of incorporation had been secured, and, though occupied, it was not completed for some years. Rev. Eli Forbusli or, as he afterwards called himself. Rev. Eli Forbes, was invited to settle as pastor, and was ordained June 3, 1752. Mr. Forbes was born in Westborough in 1726, and graduated at Harvard in 1751. During his collegiate career he enlisted in the army to engage in the French war, but returned to Cambridge, and graduated seven years after he entered as freshman. During his pastorate he was for a time an Indian missionary, and established a church and school among the Oneidas. He was dismissed at his own request March 1, 1775, in consequence of certain indignities resulting from an undeserved suspicion of his disloyalty ta the patriot cause. He was installed over the First Church in Gloucester June 5, 1776, and died in his pastorate in that town December 15, 1804.

The next settled minister was Rev. Jo»eph Appletnn, of Ipswich, who was ordained October 3, 1776, and died in the pastorate July 25, 1795. Mr. Appleton came from a good stock. He was descended from Samuel Applcton, who was born in Little Waldingfield. County of Suffolk, England, in 1586, and was the seventh in descent from John Apulton, of Great Waldingfield, who was living in 1396. Samuel Appleton came to New England about 1635, and settled in Ipswich, where he had a grant of lands. He married JIary Everard, who came to New England with her husband and probably her children^ - John, Samuel, Sarah, Judith and Martha. Samuel, the second son, wa.i born at Little Waldingfield in 1624, and during the career of Andros, in New England, he took a definite and influential stand against him. He married

Hannah Paine, and had Hannah, Judith and Samuel. By a second wife, Mary Oliver, whom he married December 8, 1656, he had John, Isaac, Oliver and Joannah. Isaac Appleton, one of the above children, born in 16G4, married Priscilla Baker, and had Priscilla, Mary, Isaac, Elizabeth, Martha and Rebecca. Isaac Appleton, one of the above, born in Ipswich in 1704, married Elizabeth Sawyer, of Wells, in the State of Maine, and had Isaac, Francis, Elizabeth, Samuel, Thomas, John, Daniel, William, Mary and Joseph. Joseph, the youngest child, graduated at Brown University in 1772, and was settled in North Brookfield soon after he had completed his studies lor the ministry. He married Mary Hook and had the following children, all of whom were born in Brookfield - Phineas, born in 1779, who died in 1800 ; Joseph, born in 1781, and died in 1793; Abigail Ellery, born in 1784; William, Sarah Hook and Mary Ann. William, the youngest .son, was born in that part of Brookfield which is now North Brookfield, November 16, 1786, and died in Brookline, Mass., February 15, 1862. He came to Boston in 1807, and after a short career of preparation for mercantile pursuits he advanced step by step until he occupied a place in the front rank of Boston merchants. He was the president of the Branch Bank of the United States from 1832 to 1836 and a member of Congress from 1851 to 1855, and in 1861-62. He was also president of the Provident Association, aud was a large benefactor of the Massachusetts General Hospital. He was a benefactor also of his native town, and as a memorial of him therefore, as well as of his father, this sketch has been introduced into this nairative. On the 16th of March, 1859, he gave to the church and parish, over which his father had ministered, a considerable number of books and the sum of $5000 for the purpose of establishing a Parish Library. He provided that the sura of $2000 should be kept as a permanent fund, and that the remainder, with the income of the fund, could be expended in the purchase of books and paying the current expenses of the library. The parish accepted the gift, and voted that the library should be called " The Appleton Library." It was also voted that the pastor for the time being and four other persons, chosen by the parish, should compose a board of trustees to have the library in charge. The original board consisted of Rev. Dr. Thomas Snell, the successor of Rev. Joseph Appleton, Rev. Christopher Cushing, Charles Adams, Jr., Dr. Joshua Porter, Bonum Nye and Gideon B. Dewing. The chapel was enlarged to receive the library, and, at the present time, there are nearly five thousand volumes on its shelves. Rev. Thomas Snell, the succe-sor of Mr. Appleton, was ordained June 27, 1798, and continued as sole pastor until Septeniber 17, 1851, and senior pastor afterwards until his death, May 4, 1862. His salary, which was objected to by some at the time of his settlement as too large, never during the sixty-four years of his pastorate exceeded five hundred dollars. Dr.

Snell was an early and earnest advocate of the establishment of Amherst College, and in 1828 received from that institution the degree of Doctor of Divinity. He was born in Cummington, Mass., November 21, 1774, and graduated at Dartmouth in 1795. He taught an academy at Haverhill one year before going to Brookfield and was licensed to preach by the Tolland Association October 3, 1797. He delivered an oration at Brookfield July 5, 1813 ; a sermon on the completion of his fortieth year in the ministry in 1838, with a short history of the town ; a sermon on the fiftieth anniversary of his ordination in 1848; an historical address containing a sketch of North Brookfield in 1850, and another containing a sketch of his own church in 1852. During his pastorate a new meeting-house was built in 1823 and dedicated January 1, 1824. The house was remodeled in 1842, lengthened twenty feet in 1853 and re-dedicated January 18, 1854, and again remodeled in 1874.

Rev. Christopher Gushing was installed as colleague with Dr. Snell September 17, 1851, and after his death continued as sole pastor until his dismissal, September 17, 1868. Mr. Gushing was born in South Scituate (now Norwell), Mass., and after graduating at Yale in 1844, entered the Andover Thiological Seminary, from which he graduated in 1847. He became secretary of the American Congregational Union in May, 1867, sixteen months before his dismissal. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Amherst College in 1871 and died in Cambridge October 23, 1881.

The successor of Mr. Gushing was Rev. Gabriel H. De Bevoise, who was installed September 17, 1868, and dismissed in 1880. After leaving North Brookfield he was installed at Leominster in 1881.

Rev. Sedgwick P. Wilder, born at Newfane, Vt , May 28, 1847, graduated at Y.ale Theological Seminary in 1875 and was installed June 24, 1880.

No other religious society existed in North Brookfield before its incorporation as a town. The Congregational Church was the nucleus of the town, and in order to make its sketch complete it must necessarily include that part of its history which lies back of the incorporation. The act incorporating the town was parsed February 28, 1812. At a meeting of the parish held in 1810 it was voted to petition the Legislature for an act of separation and a committee was chosen for the purpose consisting of Daniel Gilbert, Jason Bigelow, Luke Potter, Aaron Forbes and Jacob Kittredge. Under the direction of this committee the following petition was drawn up and presented :

The Inhabitiints of the Second Precinct in Brookfield humbly pray that they may be set off from the other precincts in said town, and be incorporated into a Township by the name of North Brookfield ; and that the territorial limits of such incorporation may be the same as these, & hereby the said Precinct is now designated.

And the Kiid Inhabitants would beg leave further to state that from the extensive limits of said town, it being separated into three distinct precincts, together with the necessary mode of transacting the business of the same by annual rotation in each Precinct, they not only find the distance of travel burdensome, but in considering the transacting; of their parochial cuiicerus a two-fold labor and expense ; That tlie of. fleers of said town are of necessity distant from the centre, and that from the number of its inhabitants and the multiplicity of the business of the said town the terra of one day insufficient for transacting the eame.

This petition not meeting with success, another was presented to the Legislature April 15, 1811, which was signed by Jason Higelow, Wm. Ayres (2d), Ezra Batcheller, Luke Potter, Daniel Gilbert, Hugh Cunningham and Amos Bond, committee. As a result of this second effort, the following act of incorporation was passed February 28, 1812 :

Act Of Incoepokation

Sfct. 1. Be it enacted, etc. That all that part of the town of Brook field whicli hiis been heretofore called and known by the name of the Second or North Parish (excepting that part of said territory now lying eoulh of the post road leading from Worcester through Spencer to Springfield), together with tlie inhabitants thereon, be, and the same is hereby incorporated into a separate town by the name of North BttoOKFiEi-D. And the said town of North Brookfield is hereby vested with all the powers and privileges, and shall also be subject to all the duties to which other corporate towns are entitled and subjected by the consiitution and laws of this Oonmiouwealth.

Sect. 2. Be it further enacted, Tliat the inhabitants of the said town of North Brookfield shall be entitled to hold such proportion of all the personal property now belonging to and owned in common by the in^ habitants of the town of Urooktield, as the property of the said inhabitants of North Brookfield bears to the property of all the inhabitants of the town of Brookfield, according to the last valuation thereof.

Sect. 3. Bn if further enacted. That tJie inhabitants of the said town of North Brookfield shall bo boldon to pay all arrears of taxes due from them, together witli their proportion (to be ascertained as aforesaid) of all the debts now due and owing from the said town of Brook field, or which may be hereafter found due and owing by reason of any contract or other matter and thing heretofore entered into, or now existing.

Sect. 4, Be it further enacted, That the said town of North Brookfield shall be holden to support their proportion of the present poor of the town of Brookfield, whicli proportion shall be ascertained by the present valuation of the town ; and all persons who may hereafter bocome chargeable, as paupers, to the town of Brookfield and North Brookfield, shall be considered as belonging to that town, on the territory of which they had their settlement at the* time of passing this act, and shall in future be chargeable to that town only.

Sect. 5. Be it further enacted, That the said town of North Brookfield shall bp holden to pay their proportion of all State, town and county taxes assessed on the inliabitants of tlie said town of Brookfield, until a new valuation shall bo made of the said Towns. Provided, That the said town of North Brookfield shall be holden, until the further order of the Legislutun-, to pay to the town of Brookfield sneh proportion of any of the expenses of maintaining the bridges and causeways over the rivers in the town of Brookfield, as a committee of the Court of Sessions for ihe county of Worcester shall determine ; and eaid Court of Sessions are hereby authorized, on application of either of the inhabitants of Brookfield or North Brookfield, from time to time, to appoint a committee for the above purpose, whose report, made to and accepted by said court, shall be binding on the said towns.

Sect. G. Be it further enacted. That any Justice of the Peace for the county of Worcester, upon application therefor, is hereby authorized to issue his warrant, directed to any freeholder in the said town of North Brookfield, requiring him to notify and warn the inhabitants thereof to meet at such t'nie and place as shall be appointed in said warrant, for the choice of such officers as towns are by law required to choose at their annual town-meetings.

Be it enacted, that Austin Flint, of Leicester, Nathaniel Jones, of Barre, and Joseph Curaminga, of Ware, are hereby appointed a conmiittee to hear and consider the claim of Brookfield on the one part, and of North Biookfield on the other ; and finally to determine whether the town of North Brookfield ought in future to pay any part of the expenses of maintaining the bridges and causeways in the town of Brookfield. . . .

Sect. 2. Be it further enacted. That from and after the time the report of said committee, shall he filed in the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth, the said fifth Section of said Act incorporating the town of North Brookfield, shall be repealed ; and the duties and liabilities of said North Brookfield, resulting from the said section, shall altogether ceiise. . . .

The first town-meeting was held on Tuesday, March 10, 1812, and Daniel Gilbert wiis chosen moderator, and Moses Bond town clerk. The destruction by fire of the town records renders it impossible to either present in this narrative a list of selectmen and moderators of town-meetings and other officers or to make such extracts as would be desirable in portraying the life of the town. The first town-house was built in 1833. Before that time town-meetings had been held in the Congregational Church, as was the universal custom in the early days of New England towns, when the town and the parish were one and the same. Indeed, the meeting-house derives its name from the fact that it was the general meetingplace of the people. The first t(twn-house in North Brookfield was not built by the town, but was owned by a company called the North Brookfield Town- House Company, and occupied by the parish and the town for town-meetings, schools and other purposes. This bouse was burned in the winter of 1846, and in 1847 a town-house was built by the town which was burned October 14, 1SG2, with all the records of the town and the books of the North Brookfield Savings Bank, whose treasurer, Hiram Knight, was also the clerk of the town. In 1863 the present building was erected at a cost of about twenty thousand dollars.

Though we are unable to furnish a list of town officers and thus show who, in the different generations, have been the men to whom the municipal interests have been confided, the following lii-t of representatives to the General Court, covering for the most part a period when offices sought the men and not men tlie offices, will, to a considerable extent, make up the deficiency. It is taken from the State Register and tbe manual of the General Court, and is believed to be correct,

By an amendment of the Constitution adopted by the Legislatures of 1856 and 1857, and ratified by the people May 1, 1857, it was provided that a census of the legal voters in the Cominoiiwealth on the 1st of May,

1857. should be taken and returned to the Secretary of the Commonwealth on or before the last day of June, on the basis of which the Legislature should provide for the creation of representative districts. Under this arrangement North Brookfield and Brookfield constituted the twelfth Worcester Representative District, and were represented as follows:

Under the appointment of 1866, based on the census of 1865, the towns of Brookfield, North Brookfield, West Brookfield, Sturbridge and Warren constituted the Eighteenth Worcester District, and were represented during the ten succeeding years as follows:

Under the apportionment of 1876, based on the census of 1875, the same towns constituted the Twelfth Worcester District, and were represented as follows:

Under the apportionment of 1886, based on the census of 1885, Brookfield, North Brookfield, West Brookfield, New Braiiitree, Oakham, Sturbridge and Warren constituted the Fifth Worcester District, and have been represented as follows:

Section 1. So much of the town of North Brookfield in the county of Worcester as lies soulherl.v of a line beginning at a stone monnment at the old post-road leading to Brookfield, a little noi-thwesterly of what is called W^olcott Mill, and running thence south seventy-seven degrees and thirty minutes east three hundred and seventy-five rods to a stone monument as now estiiblished in the line of Brookfield and North Brookfield on the easterly side of the Stevens Potid, so calU-d, with all the inhabitants and estates thereon, is hereby set off fro[n the town of North Brookfield and annexed to the town of Brookfield ; provided, however, that for the purpose of electing Representatives to the General Court to which the said town of North Brookfield is entitled until the next decennial census shall be taken in pursuance of the thirteenth article of amendment to the constitution, the said territory shall remain and continue to Ilea part of the town of North Brookfield, and the inhabitants resident therein shall be entitled to vote in the choice of such representatives, and shall be eligible to the office of representative in the town of North Brookfield in the same manner aa if this Act had not been passed.

Section 2. The said inhabitants and estates so set off shall be liable to pay all taxes that have been legally assested on them by the town of North Brookfield in the same manner as if this act had not been passed, and until the next general valuation of estates in thisCommonwealh the town of Brookfield shall annually pay over to the said town of North Brookfield the proportion of any State or county tax which the said town of North Brookfield may have to pay upon the inhabitants or estates hereby set off.

Section 3. If any persons, who have heretofore gained a legal settlement in the town of North Brookfield by reason of a residence on the territory set off as aforesaid, onby having been proprietors thereof or who may derive such settlement from any such resident or proprietor shall stand in need of relief or support as paupers, they shall be relieved and supported by the said town of Brookfield in the same manner as if they had gained a legal settlement in that town.

Section 4. The selectmen of the town of Brookfield shall annually until the next decennial census, fourteen days at least before the second Monday of November, furnish to the selectmen of North Brookfield a correct list, so far as may he ascertained from the records of the town of Brookfield or any of its ofiicers, of all persons resident on the territory hereby set off who shall be entitled to vote for representatives as aforesaid in North Brookfield.

The part which North Brookfield took in the suppression of the Rebellion was what might have been expected in view of the character of its leading men. The spirit and energy displayed by these men, some of whom were largely engaged in Southern trade, but whose patriotism controlled and suppressed every unworthy and selfish motive, deserve a commendatory reference in this narrative. A public meeting was held on the evening of the 19th of April, 1861, on the reception by telegraph of I lie news of the »ttack on the Sixth Regiment in Baltimore, "to see if North Brookfield will respond to the call of the President by raising a company of volunteers to offer their services to the government." The meeting was called to order by W. S. Phelps, who was chosen chairman, and it was addressed by J. E. Green, Freeman Walker and others. An enrollment list was opened for signatures, which was headed by Joseph C. Fretts and Charles Perry, whose example was soon followed by others. It is a singular fact that these two men, whose promptness to enlist in the cause of their country inspired the young men of the town to enter the service, should have both been killed at the battle of Antietam. After the adoption of appropriate resolutions the meeting was adjourned to the next evening of Saturday the 20th, and on that occasion the town hall was filled by citizens of North Brookfield and the adjoining towns. The enrollment of volunteers continued and the selectmen were requested to call a meeting of the town at the earliest practicable day. The meeting called by the selectmen was held on Monday, April 29th, and before that time the spirit of the town had been thoroughly aroused by the passage of troops on the railroad bound to the front. At' this meeting it was voted that each volunteer who shall serve in the company now being raised in the town until mustered into the military service shall receive one dollar a day while engaged in drilling and when mustered in shall be supplied with a substantial unifoim and a good revolver, and while engaged in active service his family shall receive eight dollars a month. Freeman Walker, John Hill and Augustus Smith were appointed a committee to procure the supplies voted by the town. At a subsequent meeting these gentlemen resigned and Charles Adams, Jr., J. F. Hebard and A. Woolworth were chosen in their place. On the 3d of June it was voted to pay State aid to the families of volunteers in accordance with an act of the Legislature which had just been passed. On the 3d of March, 1862, it was voted to pay State aid to families of volunteers to the amount the State promises to refund, and on the 3d of July it was voted to pay a bounty of one hundred dollars to each volunteer who shall enlist for three years and be credited to the quota of the town before the 1st of August, and on the 22d of August it was voted to pay the same bounty to volunteers for nine months' service. On the 8th of December, 1863, James Miller, Charles Adams, Jr., and T. M. Duncan were chosen to aid the selectmen in the work of obtaining recruits. On the 5th of April, 1864, the bounty to three years volunteers was increased to one hundred and twenty-five dollars, and on the 26th of June it was voted that a bounty of one hundred and twenty-five dollars be paid for ene year's men, two hundred and twenty-five dollars for two years' men and three hundred and twenty dollars for three years' men. The amount of money appropriated and expended on account of the war was $34,825.55, of which the sum of $17,886.47 was expended in State aid and refunded by the State. The following list covers the various enlistments of Brookfield men, some of whom re-enlisted and whose names therefore appear more' than once on the list:

Henry R. Bliss, killed at Antietam, Sept. 17, 18G2. Thomas S. Bates, died in Washington, Feb. G, 1864. Wm. Bates, killed in the Wilduiness, May 13, 18G4. James P. C'oolidge, killed at Winchestt-r, Sept. 19, 1804. Wm. Clark, killed in Georgia, Liec. lo, 18(34. N. S. Dickinson, died of wounds, Aug. 18, 1804. Peter Devlin, died at Nashville, June 5, 1865. Joseph C. Fretts, killed at Antietam, Sept. 17, 1862. Andrew J. Fisher, died Aug. G, 18G3. John W. Gilmore, died at Newhern, April 13, 18G2.

Lyman H. Gilbert, killed at Petersburg, Sept. 30, 1864. Thomas Griflin, died at Salisbury, Dec. 7, 1864. Albert T. Hulman, died at Newborn, Sept. 23, 1862. John A. Hughes, died May 16, 1SG3. Wm. F. Hill, died in Virginia, Aug. 28, 18C3. James Heiidei-soii, died at Newbern, Oct. 3, 18G4. J. U. Jenks, killed at Cedar Creek, Oct. 19, 1SG4. James A. Knight, died Aug. 10, 1863. John F. Lamb, killed at Petersburg, June 29, 1864. David S Monlton, killed at Fredericksburg, Dec.13, 1862. N. B. Maxwell, died at Andersonvilie, Aug 23, 1804. Timothy McCarthy, died at Andersonvilie, Sept. 2, 1864. Henry H. Monlton, died at Andersonvilie, Jan. 23, 1865. Charles Perry, killed at Antietam, Sept. 17, 1802. Albert F. Potter, died at Newbern, Jan. 28, 1863. George S. Prouty, killed at Piedmont, June 2, 18154. George L. Sherman, killed at Spottsylvania, 3Iay 12, 1864. Lyman Tucker, died at Alexandria, Sept. 11, 1801.

It has been stated, in an earlier part of this narrative, that the Congregational Church was the onlychurch ia the precinct at the time of its incorporation as a town. Not an inconsiderable number of its people were connected with a Baptist society in Brookfield ; but to that organization outside of the limits of the town, no special reference will be made.

The foundation of the Methodist Episcopal Society seems to have been laid about the year 1829. From that time until 1833 Sabbath services were held, with some intermissions, in the Old Congregational Church. In the latter year, on the 30th of January, a new meeting-house was dedicated, and in 1834 North Brookfield was made a station under the charge of Rev. Henry Mayo. The society, for many years after 1840, held services in the town-hall and other available places until their present church was dedicated, May, 1861. The following list of preachers up to 1885 is given by Mr. Temple in his history :

On the 29th of October, 1853, a second Congregational Society was formed, called the " Union Congregational Society." The church was organized June 7, 1854, and on that day Eev. Levi F. Waldo was installed. After his dismissal, June 13, 1856, the society remained without a pastor until the installation of Rev. William H. Beecher, June 3, 1857. Mr. Beecher remained until May 14, 1801. After a short supply of the pulpit by Rev. J. E. Tower, Rev, Luther Keene was installed in 1862, and continued in the pastorate until April 29, 1867, Rev. Johu Dodge supplied the pulpit about three years and a half from December 2, 1867, and was followed in a supply by Rev. Charles E. Coolidge for about a year and a half. On Sept. 6, 1876, Rev. George W. Wilson was ordained, and remained until June 1, 1878. Rev. John W. Hird was installed March 28, 1879. The meeting-house of this society was built in 1854.

St. Joseph's Parish, the Catholic Society, began to hold services in June, 1851. Soon after that date North Brookfield became a mission church of that in Webster, and later of that in Ware, during which period it was under the charge of the pastors in those towns. While under the charge of Rev. William Moran, of Ware, the present church was begun in October, 18G6, and completed in July, 1867, and placed under the charge of Rev. Edward Turpin. After the death' of Father Turpin, at the close of a single year's service. Rev. Henry M. Smyth was placed in charge, whose pastorate also vtas terminated b}' death at the end of three years.

Rev. Michael Walsh followed, and remained thirteen years, until his death, when Rev. James P. Tuite was transferred from Clinton to North Brookfield. The society has a parsonage, with fifteen acres of land, a church and a cemetery of four acres, and is free from debt. Its membership numbers nearly twenty-three hundred.

The schools of North Brookfield have not been under the care of the old town of Brookfield since the incorporation of the Second Precinct, in 1750. In 1756 the town of Brookfield voted that the schoolmoney raised in each of the three precincts should be expended within said precinct according to its pleasure. The Second Precinct, under this vote, assumed the right to levy and collect a tax within its own limits for the support of its own schools, and this right was always exercised during its life as a precinct. In 1760 the Legislature confirmed the right, and the precinct built its school-houses, appointed teachers, and raised money for the support of schools.

In 1791 the precinct was divided into seven school districts, and, until 1805, chose a School Committee to take charge of all the schools in the precinct. During the four years after that date each district chose its own committee, but in 1809 the old practice was resumed. It is beliered that the districts as formed in 1791 continued until the final abandonment of the school district system, in 1869, except that in the mean time the central district had been divided into two, thus making eight instead of seven. On the abandonment of the district system, the school-houses which had been built at the expense of the districts were appraised at ten thousand dollars, and that sum was raised by tax, and each taxpayer credited with his due share. According to the last report of the school committee there were, at the close of the last year, nineteen schools in the town, including the high school, which was opened August 19, 1857, under the care of 0. W. Whitaker, a graduate of Middlebury College. The high school house, built in

1856-57, was burned May 14, 1878, and a new brick building was erected on the old site. For the year 1887-8 the sum of $8500 was appropriated for schools, in addition to the Dog Fund of $401.28 and the State Fund of S202.95.

The population of North Brookfield, in the early years of its municipal life, did not rapidly increase. In 1820 it was 1095 and in 1840 had only reached 1468. In 1875 it was 3749, in 1880 4459 and in 1885 4201. The advance in population was owing to the introduction and gradual enlargement of the manufacture of boots and shoes in the town. Oliver Ward, of Grafton, first began the business in 1810, and in his shop many of those who, in later years, carried on a large business, served their apprenticeship. Mr. Ward's business rapidly increased, but in the panic of 1837 was so extended and incurred such serious losses that he abandoned and never resumed it.

In the mean time, the well-known firm of T. & E. Batcheller, both of whose members, Tyler and Ezra, had been brought up by Mr. Ward, started in business. The business of this firm was begun in a small way by Tyler Batcheller in 1819, who in 1825 took his brother Ezra into partnership and established the firm above mentioned. In 1830 Freeman Walker was admitted into the firm as a partner and the firm-name was changed to T. & E. Batcheller & Walker. Mr. Walker, however, retired in 1834 and the firm resumed its old name. In 1852 Charles Adams, Jr., Alfred H. Batcheller, Wm. C. King and Hervey I. Batcheller were admitted as partners, and the firm's name was changed to T. & E. Batcheller & Co. In 1848 Tyler Batcheller removed to Boston to take charge of the business, for the transaction of which, in connection with their manufacture, a store had been opened; and in 1860 Mr. Adams retired, followed soon after by Hervey J. Batcheller, and by Mr. King in 1865. Losses in Southern trade during the war caused a temporary suspension of the firm, from which, after the payment of all its liabilities, it soon recovered, and during which Ezra Batcheller died, October 8, 1862. The present firm-name is E. & A. H. Batcheller, and by the employment of not far from one thousand hands the annual product of the concern is not far from two millions of dollars.

The Batcheller family is descended from Joseph Batcheller, who came to New England from Canterbury, England, in 1636, and settled in Wenham. By his wife, Elizabeth, he had Mark, John, Elizabeth and H?nnah. John, the second child, married, in July, 1661, Mary Dennis; and second, in May, 1666, Sarah, daughter of Robert Goodale, of Salem. His children were Joseph, born in 1660 ; John, born in January, 1666-67 ; Mark, born in 1678; Elizabeth, Ebenezer, Hannah, Mary, Sarah and David. David, the last-mentioned child, married Susannah Whipple and had David, 1710 ; Susannah, 1712 ; Joseph, 1713; Nehemiah, 1716; Abraham, 1722; Amos, 1727; and Susannah again, 1731. Abraham, one of these chil- dren, removed from Wenham, the old family home, to Westborough, and theoce to Sutton, and married Sarah Newton. Her children were Abraham, 1752; Abner, 1755; Vashti, 1757; Joseph, 1759; Benjamin, 1762; Ezra, 1764; Sarah, 1706; and Amos, 1768. Ezra Batcheller, one of these children, moved from Sutton to Brookfield in 1802, and married, in 1789, Mary, daughter of Daniel Day ; and second, in 1814, Widow Ann Mayo. His children were Willard,born in 1789, and died in North Brookfield in 1853; Daniel, born in 1791 ; Tyler, born in Sutton, December 20, 1793; Alden, born in 1796; Orra, born in 1799; and Ezra, born in 1801. Tyler Batcheller, one of the above sons, was the founder of the Batcheller business in North Brookfield. He married, April 6, 1819, Nancy Jenks, of North Brookfield ; and second, October 8, 1829, Abigail J. Lane, of North Brookfield. His children were Mary Day, born September 12, 1821, who married Abel Harwood, of North Brookfield; Martha Ann, born December 7, 1823, who married Aaron D. Weld, of North Brookfield ; Emeline, born December 22, 1826, who married Wm. C. King, of North Brookfield ; and Hervey Jenks, who was born in 1828.

Ezra Batcheller, brother of Tyler and his partner, many years, born in Sutton July 21, 1801, married first, April 7, 1824, Kelutia Parks, of North Brookfield, and second, March 25, 1851, Lutheria Cummings, of Ware. His children were Lucius Edwin, born July 6, 1825; Elizabeth Henry, born December 17, 1826; Alfred Hubbard, born July 23, 1830; George Ezra, born December 14, 1833; Mary Eelutia, born October 16, 1835, and married Josiah W. Hubbard, of Boston; George Ezra, again, born December 6, 1838; Sarah Cheever, born October 3, 1844, and Frank Arthur, born October 15, 1852.

Among the corporations and institutions in North Brookfield may be mentioned the North Brookfield Savings Bank, the North Brookfield Free Public Library and the North Brookfield Railroad Company. The Savings Bank was incorporated March 3, 1854, and, according to its last report, its deposits were 1519,427.02. Its officers at the same time were: S. S. Edmands. president; Bon um Nye, treasurer; and Bonum Nye, clerk.

The Free Library may date its origin May 17, 1879, when, at a town-meeting, it was voted to accept various sums of money for its establishment. These sums created a fund to which the past and present scholars of the high school and citizens generally subscribed five hundred dollars; William H. Montague, one hundred dollars; Theodore C. Bates, five hundred dollars, and Alfred ii. Batcheller one thousand dollars, with which trustees, appointed by the town, organized the enterprise. The library, with a readingroom, was opened November 26, 1879. The town makes an appropriation annually for its maintenance, and its shelves now contain about four thousand volumes.

The railroad company was organized January 14, 1875, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollar.s - ten thousand dollars of which was subscribed by individuals, and ninety thousand dollars by the town. The road was opened January 1,1876, and a lease for ten years, which has been renewed for an additional term of fifty years, was made to the Boston and Albany Railroad Company, that company supplying the rolling stock. During the time of the first lease of ten years the company received under its lease $24,443.74, or, in other words, a dividend on its stock of an average of little less than two and a half per cent, per year.

In addition to Oliver Ward and the members of the Batcheller family, who have been prominent in the alfdirs of the town since its incorporation, may be mentioned: Hiram Ward, the firms of Johnson & Edson, and Dewing & Edmands, C. & D. Whiting, Whiting & Haskell, Whiting, Lowe & Co., Bond & Jenks, H. B. & J. N. Jenks,Woodis & Crawford, Jenks & Miller, Gulliver & Jenks, Gulliver, Duncan & I Howe, Gulliver & Stone, P. K. Howe, Fullnian, Livermore & Montague, Olmstead & R. Walker and A. & E. D. Batcheller, all of whom have engaged at various times in the manufacture of shoes for long or short periods. Nor must mention be omitted of Theodore C. Bates, Amasa Walker, Freeman Walker and Charles Adams, jr., all of whom have been not only prominent and useful citizens, but well known and influential in the walks of public life. Of Mr. Bates, who is still among the living, it is not proposed here to specially speak. It is sufficient to say that he is not only honored and esteemed amoiig his neighbors and immediate friends, but has been deservedly the recipientof public honors whose measure, if his life and health be preserved, it is safe to predict, is not yet full.

Amasa Walker was born in Woodstock, Conn., May 4, 1799. He was descended from Augustine Walker, who was in Charlestown in 1641, and was the son of Walter and Priscilla (Carpenter) Walker, who removed while Amasa was yet an infant to the Second Precinct of Brookfield (now North Brookfield). He was educated in the common schools of North Brookfield, and in 1814, at the age of fifteen years, he entered a store in that town and afterwards one in South Brookfield, and finally the store of Moses Bond in North Brookfield. During most of the time from 1817 to 1820 he taught .school, and in the latter year went into business in West Brookfield, continuing his interest until 1823. For a short time afterwards he was the agent of the Methuen Manufacturing Company, and in 1825 he removed to Boston, where he remained until 1840, a partner in the house of Carleton & Walker until 1829 and during the remainder of the time in business alone. In 1833 he delivered an oration before the Young Men's Society in Boston, in 1839 was president of the Boston Temperance Society, and in 1840 retired from business. In 1843 he returned to North Brookfield and in 1844 delivered a course of lectures at Oberlin

North Beookfield

College. In 1848 he was a member of the Free Soil National Cjuvention at Buffalo and was the successful candidate of that party for the State Legislature. In 1849 he was chosen to the Senate and in 1851 Secretary of State. In 1853 he was a member of the convention for revising the Constitution of the Commonwealth and in 1854 was chosen president of the North Brookfleld Savings Bank at the time of its organization. In 1859 he delivered a course of lectures on political economy in Amherst College and in 1862 was chosen a Representative to Congress. In 1867 he received the degree of Doctor of Laws from Amherst and died at North Brookfield, October 29, 1875. He married, July 6, 1826, Eraeline, daughter of Jonathan Carleton, of Boston, who was at that timehis partner in business. On the 23d of June, 1834, he married Hannah Ambrose, of Concord, N. H., whose three children survived him.

Francis A. Walker, of Boston, is one of these children and was born in Boston, July 2, 1840. He removed with his father to North Brookfield in 1843 and was educated in its public schools preparatory to his admission to Amherst College in 1856, from which institution he graduated in 1860. He studied law with Charles Devens and George F. Hoar, then in partnership in Worcester, and in 1861 wag made sergeant-major of the Fifteenth Massachusetts Regiment of Volunteers, under the command of Colonel Devens. On the 14th of September, 1861, he became assistant adjutant-general on the staff of General Darius N. Couch, and on the 23d of December, 1863, a colonel on the staff of the Second Army Corps. In 1865 he was breveted brigadier-general. He was wounded at Chancellorsville. captured at Ream's Station and confined in Libby Prison, and on his exchange left the service on account of impaired health. After his discharge he taught two years in the Williston Seminary, was then for a time connected with the editorial department of the Springfield Republican, and in 1870, after having had charge for a time of the Bureau of Statistics, was made Superintendent of the National Census of that year. He is now at the head of the Institute of Technology in Boston.

Freeman Walker was the brother of Araasa, and born in North Brookfield December 12, 1803. He was educated in the public schools of his native town, having, in addition, the advantages of one term in the Monson Academy. In the winter of 1822-23 he taught school in Western (now Warren), and in 1823 entered as clerk the store of Newell & Taintor. In the latter part of that year he went to Methuen to take charge of a store connected with the Methuen Manufacturing Company, of which his brother Amasa was agent. In 1826 he joined his brother in Boston, and became a clerk in his employ, in which po.-ition he continued until January 1, 1830, when he became a partner in the shoe manufacturing company of T. & E. Batcheller & Walker at North Brookfield. In 1834 he retired from this firm, and in 1835 began manufacturing shoes on his own account, and so continued until 1842. As moderator, selectman and overseer of the Poor he commanded the respect and confidence of his fellow-citizens, and as Representative to the General Court in 1840 and 1841, and as Senator in 1852, 1853 and 1861 he had opportunities of a wider field of action, He married, June 3, 18iJ0, Mary, daughter of Amos Bond, of North Brookfield, and died July 13, 1883.

Charles Adams, Jr., was descended from Henry Adams, who came from England and settled in Braintree. He was the son of Charles Adams, a physician in Antrim, N. H., and was born January 31, 1810. He received his education partly from the public schools and partly from private instruction under the care of Rev. John Bisbee, of Brookfield, and Rev. Josiah Clark, of Rutland. He went to North Brookfield in 1832, and entered the business office of T. & E. Batcheller, where he remained twenty years as book-keeper. In 1852 he became a partner in the firm and so continued until his retirement in 1860. Besides holding various town offices he was a Representative to the General Court in 1850-51-.52and 1862; a State Senator in 1865-68 ; a member of the Excutive Council in 1867-68-69-70, and treasurer and receiver-general of the Commonwealth from 1871 to 1875 inclusive. He received the degree of Master of Arts from Dartmouth College in 1878, and died at North Brookfield April 19, 1886.

With these sketches, this narrative, short as it is, must be closed. The writer is aware of its imperfections, but they are such as must be attributed to the scantiness of material essential to its completion. As was stated by him in his sketch of Brookfield, he has been indebted in its preparation to Mr. Temple, the historian, who has so thoroughly gathered the harvest that little has been left to th(,se coming after him but the satisfaction of entering his granaries and filching from his store.