Groton Town (part 9 of 9)

"Its outlet was on the easterly side, and as it was the reservoir into which Cowpond brook poured its waters, a considerable mill-stream issued from it. The waters passed without any rapids for a considerable distance, affording no favorable site for a mill. The north end of the pond was bounded by a ridge of loose sand, rising but little above the surface of the water, and being about six rods only in width ; on the opposite side of which was a descent of about forty feet. Here, then, was an eligible spot for an overshot mill. At a town-meeting held May 21, IGS^a grant was made to Samuel Adams of a small pond near Buck meadow, and leave given to drain it by a brook running into ' Tyng's cove.' At the same meeting, for the encouragement of any who would set up iron-works at Massapoag, a grant was offered of the wood, on the easterly side of Unquetenassett brook. It is said that Adams, who is supposed to have accepted the grant, erected a grist-mill at the site'above mentioned, conducting the water across the sand-bank to the flume of his mill. At the time of a flood about the year 1700 (the precise time is not known), a breach was made across the sand-bank, and it being very loose and moveable, the whole bank was soon torn down by the water to the depth of more than thirty feet ; and consequently a sheet of water of that depth, where the pond was so deep, and where of less depth the whole water upon the surface, flowed suddenly off (all in one night), with irresistible violence. The mill, of course, was demolished, and the stones, though diligently sought for, and even the skill of the famous Moll Pitcher, of Lynn, employed in the search, have never yet been found. The bottom of the pond being uneven, fish in abundance were left in the cavities, which were easily taken, and the inhabitants of the neighboring towns, as well as of Groton, came and carried off loads ot them. Where the water formerly issued from the pond, a small brook now runs in, and the outlet is, at the place of disruption, called the 'gulf.' The water finds its way into the old channel, two or three miles from the pond, in a northwesterly direction from Dunstable meeting-house."

The name of Buck Meadow, which has been in use for more than two centuries, is firmly established, and the site well known. The -meadow lies near Lovewell's Pond, formerly within the limits of Groton, but now in Nashua; and Adams's mill stood undoubtedly at the outlet of this pond, where there is a small water-power. This theory would tally with the town records ; and furthermore a tradition is still extant that there w^as once a mill in the neighborhood. Lovewell's Pond is much smaller than Massapoag, and at that time probably had no designation. It was named after Captain John Lovewell, who was killed by the Indians on May 8, 1725. The following is the entry in the records : ^

"May : 21. 1688. The inhabitants of Groton Granted to Samull Adams y« pond that lyes neare buck medow which hath its outlet into the medow known by ye name of Tyngs Couee, and the swampy land adioyeng ther to prouided y^ sd land do not exceed fifteen accers ; " atest ; Josiah Pahker Clarke and sd adams hath liberty to drean the s^ pond at ye small brook that runes in to Tyng'sCoue prouided sd Adames macks good all dameges that shall be don ther by "

There are now three small brooks running into Massapoag Pond on the easterly side, and their fall is too great for any one of them ever to have been the old outlet to the pond. Furthermore, it would have been impossible for any of these brooks to drain the pond (which even at the present time covers fifty-six acres) without causing too great damage for Adams to make good. There is no indication along their banks that they have been much larger streams than they are to-day. While the formation of the banks at the mouth of the pond, or the " gulf," so called, is pecu- liar, there are no signs that the water-line was ever any higher than it is at the present time. None of the local antiquaries are able to identify Tyng's Cove, which is a name undoubtedly derived from Jonathan Tyng, one of the earliest settlers of Dunstable.

" Deed then b}' the maior uoat grant for the incoregment of such men as will set up loran works at masabog pond ; that thay shall haue y« ues & improument of the woods and timbr yt is now common one the est sid of uncuttanaset brook and so to nashua riuer and groton line est wai'd & south ward to good man greens' masabog medow. . . ,"

I give this extract from the town records in ord^r to show that the inhabitants at that period knew the pond by its present name ; and if they had seen fit then to grant Adams any special privilege connected with it, they would have called it *'Massapoag," and would not have said " y^ pond that lyes neare buck medow."

Hills. - Barralock Hill - is mentioned in the record of Samuel Woods' lands ; but I am unable to identify it. Perhaps it is the hill due north of Baddacook Pond.

Brown Loaf Hill - commonly called Brown Loaf - is a handsome, symmetrical hill standing alone, more than a mile from the village, near the Lowell road. Brown Loaf Hill Meadow is mentioned in the description of Joseph Parker's lands, December 2, 1664, which would imply that the hill was so named before ihat time. Brown Loaf Hill is also mentioned in the record of James Parker's lands made on July 6, 1666; and Brownloafe Playne and Brownloaf Hill are given in the record of James Fisk's lands in John Morse's handwriting, of which the date is absent, but which was certainly made at a very early period. The height of the hill is 448 feet above mean tide on the coast line.

Chestnut Hills - the range lying northerly of Martin's Pond ; so called from the abundant growth of chestnut-trees on its sides. The highest hills in the town, their greatest elevation being 544 feet.

Gibbet Hill - a noted landmark overlooking the village on its easterly side. It is mentioned in the landgrant of Sergeant James Parker, which was entered in the town records of Richard Sawtell, the first town clerk \vho filled the office from June, 1662, to January, 1664-65. The tradition is that the hill was so called from the fact that once an Indian was gibbeted on its top. If this ever occurred, it must have happened before Sawtell's term of oflice. The town was incorporated by the General Court on May 25, 1655, but no public records are known to have been kept before June 23, 1662. Its height is 516 feet.

Indian Hill, or Hills - the range beginning near James's Brook, a mile south of the village, and running in an easterly direction on the south side of the Great Eoad to Boston. The height is 524 feet above mean tide. ^

Bidge Ifill, or The Ridr/es - the name of a peculiar ridge, three miles southeasterly from the village, along which the Great Road runs. It also gave the name to a tavern formerly kept in the immediate neighborhood.

Bocky Hill - there are two hills of this name, one lying northeasterly of Baddacook Pond, near the old District School- house No. VIII. (now the Trowbridge School), which is also known as the Rocky Hill School, and the other situated in the southeast part of the town, between Long Pond and the Ridges. A visit to either of these hills will show why it was so called.

Shepley Bill - lies west of the East Pepperell road, near Naumox. The name is rarely heard now' though it was in use as far back as February 28^ 1670, - evidently so called from the Shepley family.

Snake mill - in the south part of the town, but lies mostly in Ayer. Rattlesnakes have been killed on it within the memory of the present generation. Its height is 497 feet.

perhaps sixty acres, containing a small pond, - near the Townsend line. A map of Groton resembles a tea-kettle, the portion west of the Nashua River forming the spout, and the Throne comes in the spout. It is 484 feet high.

Meadows. - The early settlers of Groton, according to the town records, had many parcels of meadow allotted to them in the assignment of land. Sergeant James Parker owned in twenty diflferent meadows, and the other settlers also were large owners. It is probable that they did not attach the same signification to the word " meadow" which now belongs to it in Xew England, where it means low, swampy land, without regard to the mowing. They called by this name all grass-land that was annually mown for hay, and especially that by the side of a river or brook ; and this meaning of the word was and still is the common one in England, whence they brought their language. They sometimes spoke of a "swamp," meaning by it what we call a "bog;" but much of this kind of land has since been reclaimed, and is now known as "meadow." As a matter of fact, it happened that the lands which could be mown for the fodder were low lands; and it would require perhaps less than a generation to transfer the meaning of mowing lands to the low lands, which were nearly the only ones that could be mown in the early days of the Colony. This explanation will make clear the following vote of the town, passed on February 18> 1680-81 :

Accident ; Angle, in the northerly part of the town ; Big Spring, in the neighborhood of Hawtree Brook ; Broad, immediately west of the village ; Brook; Brown Loaf, east of the hill; Buck, now lying within the limits of Nashua, New Hampshire ; Burnt, in the vicinity of Baddacook Pond; Cow Pond, near the pond of that name; East; Ferney, near Brown Loaf; Flaggy, to the southward of the Baddacook road, near the pond ; Flax ; Great Flaggy, presumably near Flaggy, and perhaps the same; Great Half-Moon, the same as Half-Moon, which lies east of the village ; Little Buck, probably a part of Buck Meadow ; Little Half-Moon, a part of Half-Moon, being an offshoot from it; Lodge; Long; Maple; Massapoag, evidently near Massapoag Pond; New Angle; Pine; Plain; Pretty; Providence; Quasoponagon, "on the other sid of the riuer," near the Ked Bridge, through which Wrangling Brook runs ; Reedy, known by this name to-day, lying north of the Reedy Meadow Road ; Rock, south of Snake Hill ; Sallo, perhaps Sallow, a kind of willow ; Sedge ; Skull, through which Unquetenassett Brook runs, near the Dunstable line ; Sledge, north of Reedy Meadow, near the Sledges ; South ; South Brook ; Spang ; Spot ; Spring ; Spruce ; Swamp; Swan Pond; and Weavers.

Longley, town clerk, on July 6, 1666, reference is made to the " iland lying within the meadow called Litle Halfe Moone Meadow." This land now belongs to Governor Boutwell, and there is upon it a small knoll which is always spoken of as the island, undoubtedly a survival of the expression applied to it when more or less surrounded by w^ater.

Brooks. - Cold Spring Brook - a small brook, rising in Cold Spring " on y* Left hand of the high way that goe to Eeedy medow." It runs across the Nashua road, the East Pepperell road, through Hazen Swamp and Libby Lobby Moat, into the Nashua River.

Cow Pond Brook - has its source in Cow^ Pond Meadows and Cow Pond, and empties into Massapoag Pond. Formerly there was a dam between the meadows and the pond, where there was a saw-mill ; and later on the same site a paper-mill, which disappeared about thirty-five years ago.

Jameses Brook - one of the longest brooks within the limits of the town. It takes its rise in Half-Moon Meadow, crosses Main Street in the village, and runs southerly and w^esterly for three or four miles into the Nashua River. At its mouth is the beginning of the line separating the town of Ayer from Groton. Formerly there was a tannery on the banks of the brook, near Indian Hill, known as Dix's tannery; and a mile below, on land of the late Benjamin Moors, east of the road, at one time there was a mill, - but now no traces of either are left, except some remains of the mill- dam. The stream took its name from an Indian, who was a famous hunter and trapper in very early times. It empties into the Nashua River, nearlyopposite to the mouth of the Squannacook.

Hawtree Brook - in the northerly part of the town, near Chicopee Eow ; after it unites with Walnut Run and two or three other small streams, it forms Unquetenassett Brook. In the early records of the town the Hawtrees are frequently spoken of, which refer to the neighborhood of this brook.

Reedy Meadow Brook - rises in Reedy Meadow and flows northerly, emptying into the Nashua River below East Pepperell. It is sometimes called Johnson's Brook.

Tuity Brook - contracted from Gratuity - a very small stream which rises near the head of Farmers' Row and runs through Hazle Grove into the Nashua River below Fitch's Bridge.

Unquetenassett Brook - often called Unkety - A stream formed by the union of Walnut Run, Hawtree Brook, and one or two small tributaries, and running northerly through Skull Meadow and that part of Dunstable formerly Groton into the Nashua.

Walnut Run - a brook issuing from the sides of Chestnut Hills and uniting with Hawtree Brook and one or two other streams, forms the Unquetenassett.

Wrangling Brooh - in West Groton, a mile and a half in length - meanders through Quasoponagon Meadow, and then empties into the Xashua a short distance below the Red Bridge.

Farmers' Row - applied to the road on the height of land west of the village. It begins at the west end of Pleasant Street, and runs in a southerly direction for two miles, passing by the GrotoH School.

Great Road - one of the principal thoroughfares between Boston and parts of New Hampshire and Vermont. The section of the road through the village is known as Main Street.

Martin's Pond Road - the highway from the site of the first meeting-house to the neighborhood of the pond, where it becomes the Baddacook Pond Road.

Tuity Road - a contraction of Gratuity Road - the road leading to Fitch's Bridge from the Great Road near the railroad bridge, half a mile north of the village. The name had its origin in the early history of the town, when grants of land were made to the inhabitants as gratuities. Tuity Brook, a very small stream, crosses this road and empties into the Nashua River, below Fitch's Bridge.

Miscellaneous. - Brickyard - on the north side of the Great Road, about a mile from the First Parish Meeting-house. It was much used during the last century ; and probably was the place where the bricks were made for the parsonage, as mentioned in the town-records, June 20, 1706. Only a few traces of it are now left, though a clump of elms by the roadside is a good guide to the site.

Community - the name of a district or neighborhood beyond the Groton School, where many of the residents formerly held similar religious views. It had its origin nearly fifty years ago, when the Second Adventists, or "Millerites," gave up their regular services in the village.

General Field - often mentioned in the early town, records, refers to land owned in severalty by the proprietors of Groton, who kept it as one field, for reasons not now understood. It was upland, and lay in the southwest part of the town, near the river. It appears to have been allotted to the proprietors, according to the number of acre-rights which each one owned. Perhaps it was land already cleared when the first settlers came.

TJie Hawtrees - mentioned several times in the early records, and referring, doubtless, to some native shrubs or trees ; for instance, Zachery Sawtell had meadow-land " Xeare the hawtrees " confirmed to him on November 18, 1670. It evidently became the name of a limited district or neighborhood in the north part of the town, and from it undoubtedly Hawtree Brook was named. The late Professor Asa Gray, the distinguished botanist, wrote me that there are three or four species of wild hawthorn in Massachusetts. He says : " One of the forms of the Black or Pear Thorn {Cratcegus tomentosa) would be the likeliest for Groton, of perhaps the Cockspur Thorn. The former has the more edible fruit, and would be sure to attract attention."

High Plain - on the north side of the Baddacook road, in the neighborhood of the pond. It lies in the angle of the roads, west of the house of John Johnson, Jr., as laid down on the map of Groton, made from a survey during the years 1828 and 1829.

Hog Swamp - \y\ng between the westerly side ot Martin's Pond and Martin's Poad Road. Governor BoutwelFs private way to the Chestnut Hills passes through it.

Hoyfs Wharf - t\i% name of a place on Cow Pond Brook where one Hoyt formerly kept his boat. It W^s near the house of Samuel Hazen, - as laid down on the map of Groton, made from a survey during the years 1828 and 1829, - nearly a mile north of Cow Pond.

Libby Lobby iVoat-^he\ow the Ox Bow, opening into the Nashua River. This word is probably another form of Loblolly, in use at the South, and denoting wet land.

Paugus Hole - in Paugus Brook, on the west side of Brown Loaf, where, it is said, the body of Paugus's descendant, who came to kill Chamberlain, was sunk, after he himself was killed.

Pine Plain - probably near the Nashua Eiver, and perhaps on the westerly side. In December, 1673, Joseph Morse had meadow-lands on the Pine Plain, "neare the fordway."

Sledges - the name of a meadow northeast of Reedy Meadow, mentioned in the early records, where John Lakin owned land. Mr. Butler, in his History (page 273), says that "this word seems to signify strips of meadow or parcels of low lands abounding in iron ore." Bog-iron is found in that quarter of the town, and in old times was worked by a company formed for that purpose.

Sodom - the district in the northwest part of the town, near the Townsend line. The name refers to the quality of the soil, and not to the character of the inhabitants.

Stony Fordway, or Wadlng-Place - near the site of the HoHiDgsworth Paper-mills, on the Nashua River, a mile and a half northwesterly of the village.

Swill Bridge - was between the homesteads of Eber Woods, Jr., and Joel Davis, - as given on Mr. Butler's map of Groton, from a survey made in the years 1828 and 1829, - a short distance west of the present railroad bridge. Originally it was a causeway, perhaps twenty rods in length, over the southerly end of Broad Meadow, though now it is a solid road.

Tobacco Pipe Plain - on both sides of the road from the Ridges to Sandy Pond, near Rocky Hill. It is mentioned in the "Bye-Laws of Groton relative to Schools ; and Instruction of the School Committee, 1805," and in old deeds.

Reflection of Light. - The reflection of the electric light in Boston and the surrounding towns can be seen from certain elevations at a great distance. When the atmospheric conditions are favorable, it is distinctly visible on particular nights from Indian Hill at Groton, in the neighborhood of Major Moses Poor Palmer's house, and from other places in the town. A slight haziness in the air is needed in order to receive the reflection. The distance from Boston to Groton in a straight line is about thirty miles, though the illumination is helped by the electric systems of Newton and Waltham, which are somewhat nearer. From different points in the village of Groton the reflection of the circuits

The illumination of the heavens during the great fire that occurred in Boston on the night of November 9, 1872, was distinctly seen by various persons in different parts of the town.

Biographical Abbott Lawrexce

The name of Lawrence is one of the earliest to be found among the Puritan settlers of Massachusetts. John Lawreoce, the first emigrant of the name, was established in Watertown as early as 1635.

Abbott Lawrence was the fifth son of Samuel and Susanna Lawrence. He was born in Groton on the 16th day of December, 1792. He received the family name of his paternal grandmother, Abigail Abbott, daughter of Nehemiah Abbott, of Lexington. His education, begun at the district school, was completed at the academy of the town, of which his father had been a trustee for many years. He enjoyed nothing in the way of educational advantages beyond this, but he evidently improved the time and turned all that he received to the best account. In 1808 he was sent to Boston and placed as an apprentice to his elder brother, Amos Lawrence, who had been for some years established there as an importer of English goods. By steady application and fidelity he pre- pared himself in this subordinate position tor the responsibilities which were soon to come upon him as a principal. In 1814 he was admitted to partnership with his brother. The times were by no means encouraging, as we were in the midst of our war with Eng-- land, and after a few months the prospect seemed so unpromising that Mr. Lawrence proposed to withdraw from the business and enter the army. He had previously been an active member of the New England Guards. He applied to the War Department for a commission, but before an answer could be received the news of peace arrived, and he abandoned all thought of a military life. He embarked in the first vessel that left Boston for England after the proclamation of peace to purchase goods Tor the market. " The passage was a short one. With characteristic ardor, he was the first to leap on shore, being thus, perhaps, the first American who touched his fatherland after the war was ended." He remained abroad for some time, on the occasion of this his first voyage to Europe, visiting the Continent, where he saw the allied armies immediately after the battle of Waterloo.

Messrs. A. & A. Lawrence soon engaged largely in the sale of cotton and woolen goods of domestic manufacture, and devoted all their energies to foster this great branch of the national industry. Mr. LawTence's interest in the work of railroad construction in New England was hardly less than in the establishment and extension of the manufacturing system. He was a large subscriber to the various railroads projected for the concentration of trade in Boston, and this from a feeling of patriotism rather than the expecta- tion of profit. Mr. Lawrence was chosen to represent Massachusetts at the Harrisburg Convention in 1827 and took a prominent part in its proceedings. In 1831 he was elected to the Common Council of Boston, hut declined a re-election. In 1834 he was elected to Congress. On taking his place he was at once put on the Committee of Ways and Means. On the expiration of his term his constituents testified their sense of his services by inviting him to a public dinner. This he declined in a letter in which he touches on the great questions of the day. He declined a re-election to Congress, although the members of the opposite party gave him the remarkable assurance that, if he would consent to stand, no candidate should "be brought out against him. Two years later he consented to accept a second nomination and again took his seat in the House. Shortly after his arrival he was attacked by typhus fever, so that for some time small hopes w^ere entertained of his recovery. He resigned in the following autumn.

In the Presidential campaign of 1840, Mr. Lawrence took an active part in favor of the election of General Harrison. In September, 1842, he was president of the Whig Convention which nominated Henry Clay for President on the part of Massachusetts.

In 1842 Mr. Lawrence was appointed by the Governor one of the commissioners on the part of Massachusetts to negotiate a settlement of our northeastern boundary, which had been a source of irritation for many years between the United States and England. Quoting Mr. Prescott's language : " It is not too much to say that but for the influence exerted by

Mr. Lawrence on this occasion the treaty, if it had been arranged at all, would never have been brought into the shape which it now wears." Mr. Nathan Appleton in his memoir confirms this statement in the following words : " It is the belief of the writer, who was then in Congress, that to Mr. Lawrence more than to any other individual is due the successful accomplishment of the negotiation which resulted in the important Treaty of Washington."

In July, 1843, Mr. Lawrence, accompanied by his wife and daughter, embarked from Boston for England in the steamer " Columbia." The following. day they were wrecked on Black Ledge, near Seal Island. After a week's detention on the island, they were transported to Halifax whence they proceeded on their voyage.

Mr. Lawrence's reputation had preceded him. He was received in England with marked attention, and the hospitality of many distinguished and influential people was extended to him.

In 1844 he was a delegate to the Whig National Convention and one of the electors at large for the State of Massachusetts. He was an ardent supporter of Henry Clay for the Presidency and deeply disappointed on his defeat.

In 1845 the Essex Company was organized and Mr. Lawrence was its president and the first and largest subscriber to its stock. The city of Lawrence, incorporated as a town in 1847, was named for him.

Most justly has it been said : " The broad comprehension, unwavering faith and large capacity of Abbott Lawrence should never be forgotten by dwellers in the city that bears his name."

In 1846 Mr. Lawrence addressed to the Hon. Wm. C. Rives, of Virginia, his celebrated letters on the tariff. Mr. Webster wrote to Mr. Lawrence from Washington : " Your letters to Mr, Rives have a very great circulation, as you are aware, and are highly praised by intelligent men. The second of them w411 form the substratum of what I propose to say (if I say anything) on the tariff subject." "These letters attracted much attention in all parts of the country and especially in Virginia, where they were re-printed and commented upon at length in the leading newspapers. So deep was the impression made in that State by them, and such a spirit of enterprise did they enkindle, that some of the leading citizens invited him to come and establish a manufacturing town at the Great Falls of the Potomac. This appeal on the part of a sister State for co-operation and leadership in the development of its industry and capital was a remarkable recognition and tribute to the ability and character of Mr. Lawrence. . . . But vast interests were at stake nearer home, and he could not allow himself to be diverted from this work by the projected enterprise on the shores of the Potomac, no matter how alluring the promise of results both to himself and to others."

Mr. Hill in his Memoir thus spoke of Mr. Lawrence : " His character, in all respects that of the pure New England type, was peculiarly so in the love and zeal which he always manifested in the cause of popular education. . . . We have an illustration of this in the letters written by him when he established the Lawrence prizes in the High and Latin Schools of Boston, (1844-45) giving to each the sum of $2000 - using his own language - the interest to be expended in medals, books, and other prizes among those pupils who may excel in the various branches of learning which are taught in those schools." In a like spirit he aided in the endowment of the Franklin Library at Lawrence which also received a bequest of $5000 at his death.

For several years he had felt (to use his own words) " the pressing want in our community (and in the whole country) of an increased number of men educated in the practical sciences." " He was satisfied," says Mr. Prescott, " that, however liberal the endowments of that institution " (Harvard University) " for objects of liberal culture, no adequate provision had been made for instruction in science." When, therefore, the Corporation of the University announced its purpose of organizing a school of theoretical and practical science, he responded by a gift in 1847 of fifty thousand dollars. In recognition of his munificence the institution was named the Lawrence Scientific School. Soon after its establishment. Professor Agassiz was appointed to the chair of Zoology and Geology. Mr. Lawrence endowed the school with a further like sum by his will.

Mr. Lawrence was a leader in the movement to supply the city of Boston wdth an abundance of pure water. He attended several public meetings held to promote that object, and made speeches in support of it. One of them may be found in full in " Hill's Memoir" of him. The project met with the strongest opposition. The first act of the Legislature (passed March, 1845) authorizing the city to take water from either Long Pond or Charles River was rejected at the polls by a large majority, but a second act, such had been the change in public opinion only eleven months later, was accepted by a still larger majority. Water was brought into the city from Long Pond in October, 1848, and Mr. Lawrence lived to see all his prediction? more than verified.

In the Presidential canvass of 1848 the name of Mr. Lawrence was prominently associated for the oflSce of Vice-President with that of General Taylor for President, and at the convention in Philadelphia he wanted but six votes of being nominated for that office. This result was owing to the peculiar and unexpected course of some of the delegates from his own State. He, however, heartily sustained the nomination of Taylor and Fillmore. Immediately after the inauguration of General Taylor, Mr. Lawrence was offered a seat in his Cabinet, but declined it ; soon after he was nominated to the mission to England, which he accepted. After serving three years his private affairs obliged him to return, and in October, 1852, he resigned. No minister from the United States was ever more respected or left behind him a more enviable reputation. The Rev. John Cumming, in dedicating the American edition of his " Apocalyptic Sketches " to Mr. Lawrence, says: " I regard this as an opportunity of expressing a conviction shared and felt by the good and great of this country how much they appreciated your presence in London, as the representative of your magnificent nation, and how deeply, - I may add universally, - they regretted your departure. We never had so popular a minister from

After his return from England, Mr. Lawrence held no public position, though he still maintained a warm interest in public affairs. He vigorously opposed the new State Constitution of 1853 and made numerous speeches against it ; but with this exception and his efforts in the " canvass for General Scott as President, he took no active part in politics. He showed the same zeal as ever in the cause of education, and watched with the deepest interest over the rising fortunes of the Scientific School which he had founded at Cambridge."

Mr. Lawrence married, on the 28th of June, 1819, Katharine, the eldest daughter of the Hon. Timothy Bigelow, the distinguished lawyer. He died in Boston on the 18th of August, 1855, and was buried with civil and military honors.

Recognizing Mr. Lawrence's hearty and generous interest in the cause of education, as well as his valuable public services, Williams College in 1852 and Harvard College in 1854 conferred on him the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws.

Moses Poor Palmer is a son of Moses Harriman and Mary Harriman (Hale) Palmer, and was born at Derry, N. H., on May 1, 1830. His parents were cousins, and in the ylar 1832 the family removed to East Bradford

(now Groveland), where the son received his early education, attending school at Merrimack Academy, in that village. During the summer months he worked upon his father's farm, and in the winter on the shoemaker's bench, as was the custom of young men at that time in his neighborhood. He learned the trade of shoe-cutting at Marlborough ; and in the year 1854 he came to Groton in order to superintend a shoe factory that had just been started. It was organized by Messrs. Bigelow and Eandall, in a building that had then only recently been given up as a tavern, and situated near the Congregational meetinghouse. On December 19, 1855, the establishment was burned, and then the business was transferred to the building previously used as a bakery and situated at the corner of Main and West Streets. Here young Palmer remained until 1858, when, in partnership with his brother, he began the manufacture of shoes at Marlborough, where he continued until the breaking out of the Rebellion in the spring of 1861. He then recruited a company of riflemen at Marlborough, and, on May 6th of that year, was commissioned as captain. In the mean time the quota of men asked for by President Lincoln was filled, and for that reason the company was not at once accepted, but was assigned afterward to the Fourth Battalion of Rifles, which became the nucleus of the Thirteenth Massachusetts Volunteers. On June 25th this organization was ordered to garrison Fort Independeuce, Boston Harbor, where it was soon recfuited to ten companies ; and on July 16th Palmer was commissioned as first lieutenant. On July 30th the regi- ment left for the seat of war, and, on August 16, 1862, Lieutenant Palmer was promoted to a captaincy, although he had been in command of the company during most of the time since the regiment left Boston. In the campaign of 1862 he was in command through all the principal battles of the Army of the Potomac, notably the second battle of Bull Kun, where he was wounded three times, - one of which wounds was a very severe one, a bullet passing through his neck and lower jaw, - and also slightly wounded at Fredericksburg. He took part in Bolivar Heights, Front Royal, Thoroughfare Gap, Chaucellorsville, and various other battles and skirmishes.

During the fight at Gettysburg on July 1, 1863, while in the First Corps (Reynolds'), he was severely shot in the right knee and crippled for life, and on March 9, 1864, was honorably discharged from the military service. Owing to this wound he has lost the entire use of his knee, and is compelled to walk on crutches. On May 10, 1866, for gallant and meritorious services in the field, he was breveted major of volunteers.

After his discharge from the army Captain Palmer returned to Groton, the home of his wife, and bought a farm, situated on the Great Road to Boston, about a mile from the village, where he now lives, much respected in the community. For twelve years (1877- 89) he served the town as selectman, assessor and overseer of the poor, and for four years was the chairman of the board. He has been commander of E. S. Clark Post, No. 115, Grand Army of the Republic; master of Grange No. 7, Patrons of Hus- bandry ; an officer of the Groton Farmers' and Mev:hanics' Club, and a member of the Middlesex North Agricultural Society at Lowell, having been for many years one of its vice-presidents and trustees. He has been a justice of the peace since March 30, 1881, and is now treasurer of the New England Milk Producers' Union. His success as a farmer shows what can be accomplished by skill and application, and furnishes a good example for young, men to follow.

Major Palmer was a member of the House during the session of 1S84, and a member of the Senate during the sessions of 1888-90, a period of three years, a longer term of service than has ever been accorded to aay other Senator from his district.

On July 7, 1861, he was married to Martha Green, daughter of Joshua and Matilda (Prescott) Eaton, of Groton ; and they have one son and two daughters.

For a period of twenty-eight years, from 1855 to 1883, Charles Harrison Waters was one of Groton's most capable, efficient and respected citizens. He possessed in a marked degree the qualities which make a strong character ; and his usefulness was equal to his energy.

He was the oldest son of Horace Waters and Euth Hovey, of Millbury, Mass., where he was born July 31, 1828. His school days were not protracted, ending with a term or two at an academy. At the age of fifteen he was a factory boy ; at eighteen, an overseer in a mill, already with an aim in life, and to the end of his busy career he pursued, in the main, the way of his father before him, that of a successful manufacturer.

Dec. 21, 1854 he married Mary J. Farnsworth, daughter of James Farnsworth, of Groton, where, in the following year, he took up his residence, at first, on the Farnsworth estate in the west part of the village, and, subsequently, purchasing and remodeling for his occupancy the house owned by Mr. John Peabody on Main Street (North). There were born to him three children, two of whom remain.

Mr. Waters was a man of action ; his was an alert mind, his a ready hand. He could not be of the number of those " who merely exist in a state of benumbed torpor, not finding it needful to be more than half awake." He must be up and doing. And so he worked and over-worked until he broke down. Warning came to him some five years before, and he gave it heed just long enough to make a flying trip to Europe, but only to gird on the harness again as soon as he got back.

Mr. Waters had the genius of an inventor. Problems of natural philosophy, physics, books of science had to him far more attraction than other subjects.

He was still a young man only twenty-three when he went to Jewett City, Connecticut, and engaged in the manufacture of rope and twine, introducing original methods. Much of the machinery now in use in the extensive works of the Clinton Wire-cloth Company (of which he was first the agent, then the general manager, then vice-president, and finally president.

In prosecuting the new enterprise known as the Avery Lactate Company, and while personally superintending the construction of the building at Littleton, from the walls of which he was descending when attacked by paralysis, he either made himself, or caused to be made, some important and original investigations in chemistry. Had his life been spared it is not impossible that this business venture would have been successful.

Undoubtedly the quality of efficiency would be mentioned as his chief mental characteristic. By virtue of his natural executive ability it was his right to lead - not simply to have his own way, but to have things done and well done. He used his power for good. And underneath that large, forceful brain there was also an equally large and benevolent heart. The charity that emanated from his house was widely recognized, his own kindness of heart being seconded by that of his estimable wife. As a citizen, he was public-spirited in an eminent degree. He was in favor of improvements, whether it was to have better schools or better roads. In the beautiful village of his residence, w^hatever gives attractiveness to the place, or character and dignity to the people, is due as much to his personal effort as to that of any other man of his generation. His religious affiliation was with the L^nitarians. His attendance on the ministrations of the house of God was as regular and constant as the return of the Sabbath. His mind recognized a Supreme Intelligence, and bowed with reverence and adoration to an authority

For several years he was the president of the North Middlesex Conference of Unitarian and other Christian churches. He died March 13, 1883, aged fiftyfour years.

Luther Blood

Luther Blood was born at Groton, October 21, 1810, and is a son of Luther and Sally (Cook) Blood. His grandfather, Caleb, married Hannah Holden, November 1, 1753, and Elizabeth Farnsworth, March 3, 1774. He had twenty-seven children, of whom Luther was the twenty-fifth. Elizabeth, the grandmother, was a member of the old Farnsworth family, whose name was among the first settlers of the town. Caleb was born November 23, 1734, and was the son of John and .Joanna (Nutting) Blood, who were married July 13, 1712. The first ancestor in Groton of Luther Blood was probably James, who was one of four by the name of Blood who early went to the township and became original proprietors, and are mentioned as petitioners for a plantation at that place. The family name is a familiar one ; and while some who bear it have become widely scattered in the land, there have yet been those who have continued it in Groton and the adjacent places, which were formerly a part of the ancient town. The old homestead, where the subject of this sketch was born, is situated in West Groton, near Fitch's Bridge. It is on the west side of the Nashua

Kiver, and is now owned and occupied by Augustus Blood, a brother of Luther. This estate has for many years been in the possession of the Blood family. The grandfather of Luther came into possession of it when it was wilderness land, and by his industry and thrift it became a smiling homestead, where successive generations of the family have been reared. On this farm the subject of this sketch spent his early years, where his life was in accord with the customs and ways of the rural and sparsely-peopled places of our old Xew England towns. There was plenty of hard, rough work on the farm, and that substantial and wholesome fare, which may have been a condition of the robust health which he, at his advanced age, now enjoys. The education he received was at the humble school-house in what is still known as District No. 4, and consisted in what could be obtained in a course of six or eight weeks each year.

At the age of eighteen he left home and learned the carpenter's trade. Two school buildings still stand which were erected under his supervision, and which, by their contrast, suggest the rapid improvement in our educational means. One of these is a small, unoccupied, brick school-house, in District Ko. 4, built in 1835 ; the other the beautiful Lawrence Academy, erected in 1870.

May 2, 1844, Mr. Blood married Sarah Park Stone, of South Groton, now the town of Ayer. Miss Stone's birthplace was about a mile from Ayer Junction ; but her later home was the "Stone Place," on the old road from Ayer to Groton. Mr. and Mrs. Blood have no children. Their residence is pleasantly situated on High Street, near the Lawrence Academy and the Unitarian Church. Mr. Blood was an old-time Whig, till the breaking up of that party, since which time he has been a Republican. His habits have been simple and regular. He has been temperate and industrious, and bears the marks of well-developed old age.

Samuel Abbott Green was born in Groton, Mass., March 16, 1830. He graduated at Harvard in 1851. After receiving his medical degree, in 1854, he spent several years in Europe. On his return he began the practice of his profession in Boston. May 19, 1858, he was appointed by Governor Banks surgeon of the Second Massachusetts Militia Regiment, and at the breaking out of the Rebellion he entered the service as assistant surgeon of the First Massachusetts Regiment, and was the first medical ofiicer in the Commonwealth mustered in for three years' service. September 2, 1861, Dr. Green was promoted to surgeon of the Twenty-fourth Massachusetts Regiment, a position which he occupied until November 2, 1864. During this time he was on the stafts of various cavalry officers. On the Burnside expedition to Roanoke he had charge of the hospital-ship " Recruit," and later, of the hospital-ship " Cosmopolitan," on the South Carolina coast. He was also chief medical officer at Morris Island during the siege of Fort Wagner. He was appointed post-surgeon at Jacksonville and

St. Augustine, Fla., iu October, 1863, and from this point went to Virginia, and was with the army when Bermuda Hundred was taken. After the surrender of Richmond Dr. Green was appointed acting staff-surgeon in that city, where he remained three months.

In 1862 he was successful in organizing Roanoke Cemetery, one of ihe first regular burial-places for Union soldiers, which was dedicated, with appropriate ceremonies on February 23, 1862. Dr. Green was faithful to his trust, and those characteristics which have marked his later life shone resplendent in the service, and in 1864, for gallant and distinguished services in the field, he was breveted lieutenant-colonel of volunteers.

At the clo^e of the war he returned to Boston, where he has filled various positions of trust and responsibility. From 1865 to 1872 he was superintendent of the Boston Dispensary. He was a member of the Boston School Board in 1860, '62, '66 and '72 ; trustee of the Boston Public Library from 1868 to '78, and acting librarian from October, 1877, to October, 1878. In 1870 he was appointed by Governor Claflin on the commission to care for disabled soldiers. He was city physician from 1871 to 1880, and also, in 1878, he w^as chosen a member of the board of experts, authorized by Congress to investigate the yellow fever. He is now serving his fourth term as an Overseer of Harvard College, and is also one of the trustees of the Peabody Education Fund, which was established by the late George Peabody for educational purposes at the South.

While Dr. Green has been active and prominent in the affairs of Boston generally, the distinguishing feature of his career, perhaps, is the time and research he has given to historical studies, and the various works which he has prepared and printed - many of them privately - form an invaluable addition to the historic literature of the Commonwealth.

Among his works may be mentioned the following : "My Campaigns in America," a journal kept by Comte William de Deux Fonts, 1780-81 ; translated from the French manuscript, with an introduction and notes (Boston, 1868) ; "An Account of Fercival and Ellen Green and Some of their Descendants," (printed privately, Groton, Mass., 1876); "Epitaphs from the Old Burying-Ground in Groton, Mass." (1879); "The Early Records of Groton, Mass, 1662- 1677" (1880); " History of Medicine in Massachusetts," a centennial address delivered before the Massachusetts Medical Society, June 7, 1881 (Boston, 1881); "Groton during the Indian Wars" (Groton, 1883); " Groton during the Witchcraft Times " (1883); "The Boundary Lines of Old Groton" (1885); " The Geography of Groton," preserved for the use of the Appalachian (Mountain) Club (1886); "Groton Historical Series," thirty-seven numbers, 1883-1890, and the " History of Groton," in this work.