Leicester Town (part 1 of 6)

Leicester Town

Speak of living persons as I might wish, I could draw a ready iUustration, from the private history of this gentleman, of the success with which a diligent and honorable pursuit of this department of industry has so often been crowned in this community. The business went on in the same name, though Mr. Woodcock had sold his interest in 1813, till the next year; when Alpheus Smith withdrew, and John A. Smith, Esq., and Kufus, his brothers, took his place, and the style of the iirm became " James and John A. Smith and Company." Mr. Woodcock died about this time ; leaving three sons and two daughters, and a handsome competence earned in his business. His son John, with Hiram Knight, Esq., and Emory Drury, joined the firm of "James and John A. Smith" in 1825. Rufus Smith having died in 1818, Mr. Drury left it in 1829, Mr. John A. Smith in 1830, and Mr. James Smith in 1833. In 1848, Messrs. Woodcock and Knight took in their sons, Theodore E. and Dexter ; and the business is still continued in the name of " Woodcoclc, Knight, and Company."

Isaac Southgate and Henry Sargent, whose names stand prominent among the men whose enterprise and public spirit have done so much for the town, began business in 1810, under the firm of " Southgate and Sargent." In 1812, Col. Sargent withdrew from the firm, and in 1814 took in his brother, Joseph D. Sargent, as a partner. The latter left in 1819, and the former continued the business till the time of his death in 1829.

From 1812 to 1826, Capf. Southgate was in business alone, but in that year formed a connection with Joshua Lamb, Dwight Biaco, Joseph A. Denny, Esq., and John Stone, under the firm of " Isaac Southgate and Company." Mr. Stone died in 1827. Tn 1828, the partners erected the large factory now standing in rear of the Meeting-house. Mr. Lamb left the firm in 1831, and Capt. Southgate in 1843. In 1857, Charles A., the son of Mr. Denny, and George, a son of Mr. Bisco, became, and still are, partners with their fathers, under the firm of " Bisco and Denny."

Col. Joseph D. Sargent continned in business until his death in 1849 ; Silas Jones, Esq., Nathan Ainsworth, and William Eoggs, having been at different times associated with him.

After dissolving hia connection with James Smith in 1830, Mr. John A. Smith continued business alone until 1844 ; when Mr. Samuel Southgate, jun., and his son John S. Smith, succeeded him under the name of " Southgate and Smith ; " and in 1859 Mr. Southgate retired from the firm, and his place was taken by Horace Waite.

Cheney Hatch, Esq., began business in 1823, and continued it till 1856. He was then succeeded by Alden Bisco ; who, in a few months, sold to Henry A. Denny ; who carried it on till 1849, when he took in hia sons Joseph W. and William S. : and the firm of " Henry A. Denny and Sous " continued till 1854, when they removed to AVorcester, and their business passed into the hands of "White and Denny." This firm consists of Alonzo White and Christopher C. Denny.

Mr. White had been a partner with Mr. Josiah Q. Lamb from 1836 to 1846. After that, Mr. Lamb carried on business alone till his death in 1850.

Josephua Woodcock, son of the first Mr. John Woodcock ; Benjamin Confelin, jun., who had married one of his daughters ; and Austin Conklin, - began business under the firm of " Conklin, Woodcock, and Company," in 1828. In 1830, it was dissolved ; and Josephus, with his brother Lucius, took the business, under the name of "J. and L. Woodcock." The next year they took in Danforth Rice, who left the firm in 1836 ; and William P. White joined it in 1848.

After dissolving with James Smith, Alpheus carried on business extensively in his own name, in the building now the dweUing-housc of H. G. Henshaw, Esq., until 1823; when

Joshua Murdock, jun., bega.n business, in 1841, with Samuel Southgate, jun. On Mr. Southgate's withdrawing from the firm, Mr. Murdock took in his brother Joseph; and, in 1857, another brother, John N, : and they are still in business,

Reuben Meriam began business in 1821, and continued till 1831 ; having in the mean time had, as partners, Mr, George W. Morse and Henry A. Denny.

Samuel Hurd and Baylies Upham were in business, as partners, from 1825 to 1833. Then Mr. Upham carried it on alone until 1850, when he took in Erving Sprague. In 1855, Mr. Sprague left the firm ; and, in 1857, Mr. Upham removed to Worcester.

John H. and William Whittemore began business in 1843. In 1851, the senior partner was accidentally killed upon the Westeni Eailroad. His brother James had joined the firm in 1850; and it is still continued.

It is not in my power to mention all who have been engaged in the biisiness of manufacturing hand-cards. Among them were Mr, Daniel Denny, - son of Col. Samuel, and father of the gentleman, of the same name, now President of the Hamilton Bank in Boston, - who carried on business in Cherry Valley, in the house opposite the Southgate Place, in 1792; Capt. Wilham Sprague and Sons; Barnard Upham; Roswell Sprague, who, as is stated in another part of our work, was extensively engaged in the general manufacture of cards and merchandise, and afterwards removed to New York, where he has been a successful merchant; Samuel D. Watson, who was in prosperous business for several years at his place, lately owned by Silas Gleason, Esq. ; Aaron Morse, who afterwards kept the hotel opposite the Meeting-house ; Guy S. Newton ; Timothy Earle ; Samuel Southgate ; and

H. Scott. The largest establiehment now engaged in this department of the business is Joseph B. Sargent and Edward Sargent, sons of Col. Joseph D. Sargent, in the brick factory west of the Meeting-house ; who can manufacture more than two thousand doaen pairs of cards each week.

But, without going any further into details of the industry of the town, I will refer to statistics of the business done here at the several times, when, by order of the Legislature, returns were made from the several towns of the results of their productive industry.

In 1837, the woollen mills of the town employed three hundred and forty-four hands and a capital of $180,000, producing cloths valued at $319,450 ; there were seventeen manufactories of cards, employing a capital of $74,000, and producing $152,000 worth of cards annually; and the aggregate of the products of the several manufactures carried on in the town was |531,439 during that year.

The return for the year 184.5 showed a much less favorable state of business. Only a hundred and eighty-four were employed in the woollen mills, and the product of their labor was but $250,500 ; eighteen card-manufactories produced $154,700 value of cards; and the sum total of the manufacturing products of the town was only $452,065.

The return of 1855 presents a much more gratifying result. The woollen mills were employing three hundred and fortytwo hands, producing goods valued at $560,600 ; twelve card-manufactories produced $175,000; boots and shoes, the manufacture of which had been then recently introduced, amounted to $85,000 : showing an aggregate product of the mechanical and manufacturing business of the town of over $900,000.

The amount of business in the town and vicinity induced the Legislature to charter a bank here in 1826, with a capital of $100,000 ; which has since been increased to $200,000. It has been in successful operation since June of that year.

John Clapp, Esq., was its first president ; and John A. Smith, its cashier. Mr. Clapp was succeeded by Hon. N. P. Denny, and Mr. Smith by H. G. Henshaw, Esq. Joseph A. Denny, Esq., succeeded Hon. N. P. Denny as president, and D. B. Meriam, Esq., Mr. Henshaw as cashier, in 1845. Cheney Hatch, Esq., succeeded Mr. Denny, has been its president for several years past. It is a well-managed and prosperous institution.

In connection with the fecilities which they furnish for the transaction of business, it is proper to speak of the principal highways in the town. There are within the town probably more than seventy-five miles of ways, town and county, whose support is chargeable to the inhabitants ; but, heavy as this charge is, few are more cheerfully borne. The laying-out of these, when done by the town, fonns a part of its records ; and, by the objects referred to for the purposes of description, one can often read the changes that have taken place in the face of the country, and the condition of the people, since the earlier stages of their history. These go back to the time when the Meeting-house was closely hemmed in by the primitive forest, and the scattered settlers were at war witli the wild beasts that roamed through the wilderness.*

The present road to Paxton was laid out in 1721, and began at a " black-birch standing neai' a great red-oak, behind the Meeting-house and close by the same," and ran thence through the woods by marked trees.

In 1744, a road was laid out from the south line of the town, near the house of the late Mr. Thomas Parker, to Dr. Green's ; one of its bounds being the " said Green's wolf-pit," which was, as recollected by the older inhabitants, a little to the north-east of Mr. Parker's house, and was dug for the purpose of taking wolves, hj which the first settlers were much annoyed.

There was a communication, by land, Letween the settlements around Boston, and those at Hartford and Springfield upon Connecticut River, from the time of the emigration of the Rev. Mr. Hooker with his flock from Newtown in 1635. This journey required a fortnight for its accomplishment. Their route, probably, was through what is now Leicester. But a new line of travel was afterwards adopted, leading through the soutlierly part of Northborough, Westborough, and Grafton, which was called the Connecticut Path ; it being little more than a mere path which could be travelled on horseback. The principal coramnnication, for a considerable time after the settlement at Hartford, was by water ; and for many years after the destruction of Erookfield, and the dispersing of the settlement at Worcester, there were no inhabitants west of Marlborough, before reaching the settlements on the Connecticut. The direction of this line of communication was afterwards changed, so as to run through the centre of Northborough, Shrewsbury, Worcester, and Leicester, and was called the New Connecticut Eoad, though it still was but a rugged track through the forest.

In 1722, the town voted that the selectmen should apply to the Court of Sessions to have the Country Eoad laid out through this town. It had been previously laid out as a road; for, in a deed to the Rev, David Parsons, in March, 1721, it is called " the Country Road/ormerly laid out to Towtaid." But probably it had not been done by any competent body of men to constitute it a legal highway. The application to the County Commissioners in 1722 failed, and it was then laid out as a townway.* In a deed dated in 1727, the parcel granted bounds " northerly by the road as it was

The direction of this road through the town has been changed, from time to time, within the recollection of the present generation. It formerly passed from New Worcester, over the summit of the hill, and near to the dwellinghouse of Mr. John Sargent; and, from what is now Mr, Dickinson's factory, it passed up just above the house formerly of Matthew Watson, and along the brow of the hill to where the Waite Tavern used to stand. Another change was in its direction over Mount Pleasant. It passed directly up the hill, and along in front of the house formerly owned by Hon. N. P. Denny.

In 1806, the Worcester and Stafford Turnpike was laid out through the south part of the town ; and, by a singular kind of civil engineering then in general use, it was laid as nearly as might be in a direct line; though, to do so, it had to surmount the longest hills and steepest acclivities, from the summits of which the wearied travelled might see the pleasant and convenient valleys, along which, without an increase of distance, the way might originally have been laid.

Before the location of this road, the travel from Charlton was by the road which led by the mills in Greenville ; then on the road towards the Meeting-house, as far as the house of the late John King, Esq. ; and then by the road leading by the Henshaw Place into the Great Eoad, at what is now Dickinson's woollen mill.f Tlie travel from Sturbridge was by what was called the County Eoad ; coming into the Great

* Tliis TOSid was originally laiil out by the town, four rods wide. I infer from other ciroiim stances that it was laid ont by the county in lTa8. It must have tlien been very steep in its passage over the Meeting-housa Hill ; for 1 find the town, in ITTl, appropri.iting money "to iwaei' the hill called Meeting-honse HIil." And the exl«nt to Aviiich it has been reduced within fifty yeiirs pastjas many will remembei',htiB changed iU degree of elevation most essentially within that time.

t riiis road wsa laid ont by the town, in 1T3B, through lands then of SoHthgate, Steele (Henshaw's), Betliune (Tainter's), William Green (late John King's), "into the way that leads through Green's iand towards Uie Meeting-house."

There was a road early laid out from tlie Meeting-house to Gfreen's Mills, - now Greenville, - for the purpose of providing access to these, for the accommodation of the people. It varied somewhat from the road as at present travelled.*

In the winter of 1826, the subject of adopting railroads as a mode of transportation began to attract attention. The system was then in its infancy. A short one had been put into operation at the Quincy quarries, for the transportation of stone ; and, as no locomotive had then been invented, the only power applied was that of horses. In the June Session of the Legislature of that year, Abner Phelps, George W. Adams, and Emory Washburn, were appointed a Committee of the House, " to take into consideration the practicability and expediency of constructing a railway from Boston, on the most eligible route, to the western line of the county of Berkshire; in order that, if leave can be obtained of the government of New York, it may be extended to the most desirable point on the Hudson River at or near Albany."

As this was the first step ever taken in the inauguration of that enterprise which has been of such immeasurable advantage to the State, and as one of the Committee was then a representative from this town, it seemed a fit occasion to allude to the subject ; since the conclusions to which the Committee came, that they were " satisfied of the practicability and convinced of the expediency of constructing a railway from Boston to the Hudson," though much ridiculed at the time, were successfully and triumphantly carried out and accomplished before the year 1841.

The Boston and Worcester Eailroad was opened for use, July 6, 1835. In 1838, one of the Committee, whose judgment upon the subject had been so much sneered at in 1827, had the satisfaction, as chairman, on the part of the House, of a Committee in that year, to report in favor of a loan of the credit of the State to aid the Western Railroad to complete the same to Albany ; and, by the confidence which the measure had then obtained, the same was carried by a decided vote through both branches. In 1841, Dec. 27, the road was formally opened for the pubhe use. It runs through the south part of the town, and had been in use for some time before the entire work was completed.

The opening of this road wrought an entire revolution in the course of public travel through the town. It shortened the time of a passage to Boston from eight hours to three : but it put an end to the lines of stage-coaches, which, two or three times a day, used to keep alive the attention of the villagers by their an-ival and departure, and made the bar-room of the hotel, for a few moments every day, a kind of public exchange, where friends met to greet each other, news was told, politics discussed, and a free intercourse kept up with the outside world.

Besides these, there was a large amount of travel through the town in pleasure-can-iages, and especially by teams employed in transporting produce to Boston, and bringing supplies of goods for the country from that market.

Stage-coaches show a step in the progress of business in Massachusetts, aa marked in its day as that by railroads in onr own. The first line of these was designed to carry passengers between Boston and New York, by the way of Springfield and Hartford, It was estabhshed by Levi Pease, then of Somers, Conn., and Eeuben Sikes, then of Hartford, Oct. 20, 1783, running stage^oagom between HarEford and Boston.* They

- In 1783, June 13, an adTartisement was published in the " Spy ; " - "Stage-Coaoh ifBOM WoHCESTBR TO BoBTOH. - A genUemaii in Boston, who is pOFBfssed of o genteel stnge-ooaoh and a iyjan ^good horses, would wilhngly be concerned with a trusty [lerson, oapable of driving snid stage from Boston to Worcastar and from Worcester io Boston, wef%, and transiicting the business consequent thereon." But no one accepted the offer, and tile scheme was abiindoncd.

left Hartford at eleven o'clock, a.m., on Monday ; and reached Somers at night, stopping at Pease's Tavern: on Tuesday they reached Hice's, at Brookfield : on Weckiesday they reached Northhorough, at Martin's ; and arrived at Boston on Thursday evening. The retura stages left Boston on Monday, and reached Hartford on Thursday, The fare charged was fourpence per mile. This was the pioneer enterprise in the way of carrying passengers between these cities, and presents, in strong contrast, the time then occupied with that required by the present mode of travel, as well as the number of passengers to be carried. The traveller accomplishes now nearly as much in an hour aa he was then able to do in a day.*

The mail between Boston and New York was carried on horseback ; and a man, whom I knew, was living a few years ago in Charlemont, who used to " ride post " between these cities during the Eevolution. It was afterwards carried hj these stage-wagons. But the multiplication of post-offices is a thing of a much more recent date.

There was, I have reason to infer, a post-office established in Leicester in 1798 ; and, according to the recollection of an aged informant, Ebenezer Adams, Esq., was the first commissioned postmaster. Previous to that {in 1796), there was not, I believe, any post-office between Worcester and Springfield. He was succeeded in the ofKce by Col. Thomas Denny; and, upon his death, Col. Henry Sargent was appointed to the place. Upon his death, Mr. John Sargent succeeded to the office ; and the present incumbent (Mr. Henry D. Hatch), upon the death of Mr; Sargent, became his successor.

It would be of no practical utility to attempt to enumerate those who have at different times been engaged in the trade of merchandise in the town.

I find the name of William Larkin in a process in court in 1735, in which he is styled trader." He came from Boston, and owned the house which John Stebbings had built, where Mr. May's house now stands : and, if he carried on trade, it was probably in the same house ; for I have reason to believe that the first building erected especially for a store in town was that built by a Mr. Posgate in 1770. This was upon half an acre of land which he purchased of the Rev. Mr. Conklin, and stood nearly in front of the present Academy Building, close by the road. It was originally a small building, but was elongated from time to time, till it came into the occupa^ tion of Mr. Daniel McFarland in July, 1802.

Mr. Fosgate came from Bolton, and remained here but about a year. His immediate successor in trade was the Hon. Joseph Allen, who purchased the place in 1772, and soon after erected a dwelling-house upon the land. In 1777, Aaron Lopez purchased the estate, with an additional half-acre of land, and erected thereon the building which was afterwards occupied as the Academy, and in it cai-ried on an extensive trade. He was a man of large wealth ; and his stock of goods, at the time of his death, was appraised at twelve thousand dollars. His death took place in 1782.

Mr. Thomas Stickney removed from Newburyport to Leicester, and opened a store upon Mount Pleasant, about 1785. He owned the estate afterwards owned by Major Swan, - then of imposing elegance, - upon the south side of the Great Road; and his store adjoined his house. He died in July, 1791. John and Joseph Stickney, brothers of Thomas, carried on trade several years in the house, on Moimt Pleasant, which afterwards belonged to Jonathan Earfe, and subsequently to Hon. N. P. Denny. They both died in 1803: Joseph, Nov. 2; John, Dec. 5. Both were bachelors.

Col. Thomas Denny, about 1802, commenced and carried on business as a trader till his death, in a building which stood* upon the spot where the brick store, next east of the Tavern, stands, now occupied by the Bank. In 1792, Messrs. Wiitney and Hammond opened a store in this building, and continued business there a year or two. Mr, Phinehaa Waite then occupied a part of it a while for the same purpose.

About 1792, William S. Harris, from Boston, opened a store in the Fosgate Building; which was occtipied afterwards, a short time, by William Earle, a eon of Mr, Thomas Earle, iu 1795. Mr. Harris married Elizabeth Conklin, daughter of Eev. Mr. Conklin, and removed to the South, His brother Stephen, about the same time, engaged in the business of a bakery ; which he carried on extensively in the basement of the west part of Mr. Swan's tavern-house, where Capt. Knight's house stands. He married Sally Denny, daughter of Col, Samuel, and removed to Norfolk, Va.

Mr. Daniel McFarland commenced trade in the building which had been occupied by Mr. Harris, in 1802; and continued there until the erection of a two-story brick store opposite the Academy, which has since been converted into a dwelling-house. He carried on business there until his death ; and was succeeded by his brother, Mr. Horace Mc- Tarland, wlio continued the business for a few years.

Mr. Boswel! Spi^ague erected a large store, in which he carried on merchandise and the manufactore of cards for several years, tiU his removal to New York. The same has since been owned, and occupied as a dwelling-houao, by Mr. Eeuben Meriam.

In later years, Mr, John Sargent, Mr. Danforth Kice, and, at a period contemporary with Mr. Daniel McFarland, Col. Ignatius Goulding, have been among those who were engaged in the business of trade in the town,* the villages have already been mentioned. That of Clicny Valley, in the east part of the town, came into general use after 1820 ; that of Clappville, about 1830 ; and that of Maunville, in 1856.

The name of Greenville has been applied, within a fewyears, to the village around the Baptist Meeting-house, and mills near it ; and is derived from Capt. Samuel Green, one of the first settlers of the town, who erected here the first sawmill in the town. He had also erected a gristmill upon the same privilege as early as 1724. The place was so favorable for such works, and their need to a new settlement so pressing, that three lots of thirty acres each, with the privilege of the stream, were granted, as has been stated, - two of them to Samuel Green, and one to Thomas Richardson, - upon the condition that they should erect mills thereon. It is believed that the condition was performed, and the land taken, wholly by Capt. Green ; who became one of the founders of a numerous family, - a man of wealth, and of great influence in the town.

It may, however, be stated in this connection, that this was not the earliest gristmill in the town. That was erected, at the outlet of Town Meadow, about 1722 ; and parts of the original dam and raceway remained there until the erection of the present dam of the brick factory belonging to Messrs. J. B. and E. Sargent. This mill was erected by Joseph Parsons in pursuance of a vote of the town, exempting it from all taxes if he would proceed speedily to erect it. And yet there is reason to believe that it could only have run in the winter months ; for the hay upon the meadow was too valuable to allow it to be destroyed by flowing the land in the summer season, and small parcels of the meadow continued to be regarded as valuable appendages to other lands many years after 1722.

Tlie last vestige of the tribe of Indians that inhabited here has long ago disappeared. It was a place of consequence enough to have a distinctive name and a separate sachem; but, beyond its name, literally nothing remains of them. Their story was that of most of the tribes in New England : they disappeared ; and the only memorials of the perished race are an arrowhead, a pipe, or a stone hatchet, occasionaJly turned up by the plough on the spots where they built their wigwams or planted their cornfields. The degenerate relics of a few of these tribes, here and there, still retain something of their color, and much of the habits of thriftlessness of the ancestors from whom they trace a questionable descent. One of these was the Hasnamiaeo or Grafton Tribe, One of the few remaining members of that tribe, by the name of Polly Johns, died here some fifty years ago. She was the last person in the town having Indian blood in her veins.

It is difficult to fix the number of uegmea who have been residents here at different periods, from the want of proper censuses in the early history of the town. In that of 1754, there were six; in 1764-5, seven; in 1790, eight ; in 1800, seven; 1810, twenty-three; 1820, two; 1830, four; 1840, six; and 1850, one. Their number at any time would not have called for any special notice, if with it there had not been connected, at one period, the question of tho existence and extent of slavery in the town.

That slavery nominally existed here is undoubtedly true. The census of 1754 shows the number to be six. But, had they seen fit to teat the question of their being held as such, it would probably have been found, that hy the provisions of the Body of Liberties in Massachusetts, of 1640, most of them were free by reason of having been born in the Province.* But they continued to be reckoned among the household property, partly from its being a traditional institution handed down to the people of the Colony from the mother-country, whose validity no one thought of questioning ; and partly because the mildness with which they were treated, in the families in which they were domesticated, gave little occasion for disBatisfaction or discontent on the part of the slave. In the country, they were accounted of little value in the way of traffic ; and we are told by Dr. Belknap that they were often given away in their infancy, like the young of many domestic animals, to those who were willing to take them, and rear them in their families. And what serves to show the character of their general treatment, and their own feelings in regard to it, better than any thing else, is the fact, that after it had been solemnly decided, in Quork Walker's case in this county, that, by the adoption of the Constitution in 1780, every slave in Massachusetts was declared free, a large proportion of them continued to reside in the families of their former masters as long as they lived.

Among the names of those known to have been held as slaves in Leicester were three belonging to Capt. Lyon, - C^sar, Quashi, and Prince, - to whom he gave their freedom. Titus belonged to Col. Washburn, and was freed at the age of twenty, though he Jived in the family tiU his death. Jenny, his mother, belonged to Mrs. Sergeant, who was a sister of Mr. Thomas Denny, and became the second wife of Col. Washburn in 1788. Jethro belonged to Mr. Joseph Sprague ; but, after his death, remained in the family of his son, Capt. William Sprague, as long as he lived. Though deaf and dumb, he was bright and intelligent. At his death, he was laid in the old hurying-ground behind the Meeting-house, - the It^t person buried there.

or arB aoH to us." Consequently, there never hHve been lawfully held as a slave in Mnssaohi Soc. OoaecHoas, Fonrtti Series, vol. iv. p. 334.

Aaron Lopez came from Newport, where slaves were more numerous than in the interior of Massachusetts, and brought with him three men, two women, and one boy. Mr. Rivera, who removed to Leicester with him, had three men and three women. Aii these, it is believed, went back with the families of their masters to Newport after the war.

Cain Bowman was the slave of Edward Bond, who had undoubtedly freed him before 1778: for I find him mustered that year, as a soldier in the army, by Col. Washburn ; who would have violated the law, had he done so while he remained a slave. One who had been a slave before the war, and resided here after it, by the name of Peter Salem, will be noticed, in another connection, as one of the historical personages of the day.

I should need no further proof of the estimation in which slaves were held here, if I were not able to refer to the recollection of living witnesses, than the case of a slave which Samuel Denny of Maine* conveyed to his brother, Gapt. Daniel Denny, - the first of that name in Leicester, -- in 1752. The boy's name was Richard, and he was then five years of age. By the conveyance, he was to be held until he was thirty, with a power in the grantor to dispose of him after that time by will. But the grantee was restricted from selling or disposing of him to any one except one of his own children, and never to sell him for gain or ^profit. In his bill of gift, he charged his brother " that he and they deal kindly by and with the poor boy ; that they look upon him as a poor orphan; and especially that they hold themselves engaged to bring him up in the fear of God, and do that to and for him that will bear a trial ; knowing he has a precious soul as

* Shtiiu-I D'niiy e^me from Kiiglitnil with liis brother Daniol, and his sister l[rs. P oe 1- fe ( R V Thomas Prince of the Olil South Cimroli, Boston. Ha scttipil in M ne nboit 1728 anil betiame h leadhig man in LinonJn County; being "first Judge of the Court of Plaaa" at the time of his death. Danuj-Bville, In that StiiCe, was Damsd froia him well as we." Capt. Denny bequeathed the boy, by his last will, to hts son Col. Samuel, for the balance of the time for which he was entitled to his service ; and he died while a member of the family of the devisee.

It is hardly necessary to remark, that, with views and feelings like these on the part of masters, slavery ia robbed of most of its odiousness, regarded as a personal relation of the parties. But there was a strong and growing sentiment in Massachusetts, before the war, adverse to the institution ; and when the war broke out, for the professed purpose of securing their liberties, there was such an obvious inconsistency in holding slaves, that many formally emancipated them.* Col. Timothy Bigelow did but speak the public eentiment when he declared, that, "while fighting for liberty, he never would be guilty of selling slaves."!

Nor was it by profession only that the owners of these slaves, so long as they retained them, showed their disposition to ameliorate their condition. They worked with them in the same field, ate at the same table, and the master's children grew up with feelings towards them of almost fraternal regard.

There was one black man here, who, if ever a slave, had become free and a freeholder in 1754. His name upon the records, as well as by his contemporaries, was "Black Tom." He lived in a house remote from any neighbor, in the south- t In the Instraotions lo thair represeulntiTe, Col. Tliomns Denny, in May, 1773, which will be foniid in the Appendix, is this noble deolamtioni " As we Imva the highest resiird for (sn even ns to revere ths iinnie of) liberty, «-e onnnot behold but with the gr&iteat nbhorrence any of onr fellow-orentures in a state of slavery. Therefore WB strictly enjoin you to use your utmost influeuce, that a stop may be pnt to the slaTa-trade by the inhabitants of this Province."

west part of the town. With ready ingenuity, Tom was able to turn his hand to various kinds of handicraft, hy which he gained a comfortable livehhood, and was thus enabled to cherish a happy temperament with which lie was bom. He became, in this way, a favorite among his lighter-complexioned neighbors. Tom was, withal, a sincere and humble Christian, and a careful observer of all his religious duties ; but, as he kept neither watch nor almanac, he sometimes unwittingly suffered secular work to interfere with holy time.

One Sunday afternoon, a neighbor, passing by Tom's dwelling, was surprised to hear him singing, in a lo\id and unmistakable tone, a tune which had little of the psalm about it. Upon his going up to his door, he was stili more surprised to find him, in his working-day garb and with his coat off, busily engaged upon an ox-yoke, which he had nearly completed. Upon the neighbor's expressing his astonishment in finding Tom thus employed, and reminding him that the day was Sunday, Tom threw down his tools, and, after a moment's reflection, exclaimed, " Well, massa, Lord knows I didn't mean to cheat him ; and I won't : I'll keep to-morrow for Sunday instead." And he kept his promise.

Within the memory of some, there stood upon the County Hoad, so called, in the south-west part of the town, a email log-house, - the last of that pioneer class of dwellings in which the first settlers found shelter while they were erecting more comfortable habitations. The house, at the time of which I am speaking, was occupied hj Rose Finnemore * and her son Csesar Augustus. His brother Avcbelaus lived at that time at Harwood Place, about half a mile west of Mr, Eber Bond's. The family, as might be inferred from the names of the brothers, were much inclined to honor the memories of ancient worthies by adopting their names for family use. The scions of this illustrious stock became in time quite numerous ; and, upon Mrs. Caesar Augustus becoming a member of the church, it became proper that her household should be baptized. Some may remember - for, if they witnessed it, they would not readily forget it - the occasion when this goodly array of some half a score of children took their stand in the broad aisle, one in its father's arms, and approached the font. The eldest received the baptismal name of Romulus ; the next, Eemus ; and the others, in turn, rejoiced in equally illustrious names of Roman emperors, and heroes of olden time, till it came the turn of the baby. Here patriotism had gotten the better of the parent's love of classic renown, and crowned the little citizen - it was before the day of Dred Scott - with the name of James Madison, the then President of the United States. As this little episode, in the usual Sunday services in the church, took place while the beat of excitement between the old Federal and Pemocratic parties was at its height, soon after the election of Mr. Madison, there was something approaching a smile upon some of the countenances of the congregation, when this last little hope of the bouse received the name of that distinguished patriot and statesman upon his family escutcheon.

But the log-bouse soon after disappeared ; Rose was gathered to her fathers; and Ctesar and bis numerous household, one after another, stricken down by the hand of consumption, so fetal to the colored race in this climate, soon followed to the land of f

MUKlCd'AL AFFAIRS. - FIEST SETTLERS. - PECUNIARY EMBARRASSMENTS. - CURRENCY AND PRICES. - REPRESENTATIVES. - SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS. - LIBRARY, &c.

The first recorded town-meeting of the inhabitants of Leicester was held March 6, 1721-2 ; which, to correspond to the present style, would be March 17, 1722. But the record of that meeting shows that the town had already been organized, and provided with town-officers, by previous elections; for a Committee was raised on that occasion to settle with their treasurer. They had also then a meeting-house belonging to the town ; for, at this meeting in March, a person was appointed to take charge of it, and measures were taken toward finishing pews and seats in it. We are, consequently, at a loss to fix the precise date when the town assumed the functions of a body politic by its first election of civil officers. From the number of families that we are able to trace as being here in 1717, it is probable that they began to have meetings as early aa 1718. They were represented in the Genera! Court, in 1721 ; as appears by a vote in May, 1722, to pay Judge Menzies, who had served them in that capacity in 1721. From supposed or real informality in the early action of the town, they felt it necessary to apply to the General Court for authority to assess and collect their taxes, in June, 1722. After this, their proceedings seem to have been regular and uninterrupted as a town.

Among the families whom we find here in 1717 were Richard and James Soutbgate and Daniel Denny, who came into town in July of that year ; Capt. Samuel Green, and his eon Thomas, afterwards Dr. Thomas ; Jamea Wilson ; and, as the records render probable, Samuel Stebbins, the father of John and Joseph, who came here with him from England. Ralph Earlo came here in 1718 ; and Arthur Carey was probably here at as early or an earlier period. Ebenezer Elliot was here in 1719 ; and Daniel Livermorej as early as 1720. The same was true of the families of John Armstrong, Edmond Taylor, and Hezekiah Ruse. Thomas Newhall was still earlier in town, and Judge Menzies was carrying on his farm in July of 1719.

At the toivn-meeting in March, 1722, Samuel Green was chosen moderator, first selectman, first assessor, and grand juror, for the year. The other selectmen were John Smith, Nathaniel Richardson, James Southgate, and John Lynd. Nathaniel Richardson was chosen town-clerk ; Hezekiah Rusa and William Earie, constables ; Richard Southgate, treasurer ; Joshua Nichols, one of the assessors; Wiiliam Brown, one of the surveyors of highways ; Samuel Stebbins and Daniel Livermore, fence-viewers; and William Green and Rowland Taylor, tithing-men. I have given these names principally t-o show who, at that early day, were among the men of consideration in the town ; and among them will be recognized the ancestors of families, some of whom were formerly well known in town, and some are remaining at the present time.

Among the subjects that troubled the inhabitants for many years after the settlement of the town was how to meet the expenses incident to a town-organization.

In the first place, they had to provide a minister, and support him ; and this rendered it necessary to erect a meetinghouse. Their highways were a heavy charge; and in 1725, and again in 1729, they were indicted for not having erected a bridge over Seven-mile River.* They were, as will be shown hereafter, in constant trouble with their minister.

- This stream is in tho westerly purl of Spencer, and crosses tlia Great Post Road; being oue of the most considerable Btrenms in tluit tawn.

Iq 1731, for the first time, they iindertook to support a school, and contented themselves with a single one, kept, for the space of three months, in three different parts of the town. The total expense was £10. 10s. of the then depreciated currency : but even this trifle seems to have been felt as beyond their means ; for they made no provision for a school in 1732 ; and the consequence was, the town was indicted at the Quarter Sessions for the neglect. Finding it a better expenditure of money to support a school than to pay fines, the inhabitants provided one, next year, for reading and writing, for the term of three months ; and the same was kept at the house of Jonathan Sargent. He kept a public-house in a building, afterwards torn down, which stood opposite the Catholic Church.

But no measures were taken for procuring a achoolhouse before 1736 ; when it was voted to erect one, twenty by sixteen feet, and six and a half feet " between joynts," - to be placed " about ten rods north of the Meeting-house, in the most convenantest place." The spot finally adopted seems to have been close by the road upon the Common, a few rods east of the then Meeting-house.

These were some of the sources of expense which weighed heavily upon the town. There was, moreover, a difficulty in raising money by taxation, from the lands of the town being held in such large quantities by single proprietors, and so large a proportion of them being not only unimproved, but, many of them, held by non-resident proprietors. Thus, in 1737, John Lynde owned eighteen hundred acres ; Paul Dudley, five hundred ; Thomas Steel, five hundred ; Joseph Willard, a thousand ; Richard Southgate, seven hundred and seventy ; Jonathan Witt, four hundred ; John Clark, four hundred and ninety ; George Cradock, three hundred and forty-two ; Jonas

The whole Province was suffenng from embarrassments incident to the condition of a young State, with a sparse agri cultural population in the interior, and a limited and feeble trade and commerce oil the seaboard ; while upon such a community rested the burdens of frequent wars, from which they were not fully relieved till the fall of Quebec in 1759. Various schemes were suggested for obtaining relief in the Province, which elicited much discussion, and gave rise to strong partisan feelings, that divided the cotmsels of the government for many years. I allude to these here because the fruits of some of the measures to which they led appear on the records of the proceedings of the town.

The ill-fated expedition against Canada in 1690 created an expense of fifty thousand pounds to the Province of Massachusetts; and, to meet this extraordinary demand, the Province issued bills of credit, designed to pass as currency, to the amount of forty thousand pounds. Another issue, of ten thousand pounds, was made in 1702 ; a third, of thirty thousand pounds, was made in 1709 ; and ten thousand more, in 1711 ; which last issue was made in view of a second expedition against Canada to dislodge the French. This, like the former, was unsuccessful.

In 1714, three parties grew up in the Province : one in favor of returning to a specie currency ; one for establishing a land bank, as it was called, - being a private bank ; and the third for a system of loaning its own bills by the Province to its inhabitants, on interest. The latter project prevailed ; and fifty thousand pounds, in bills of the Province, were put into the hands of five trustees to loan at five per cent interest. Three of these trustees - Judge Davenport, Thomas Hutchinson, and John White - were proprietors of the town of Leicester. In 1716, a hundred thousand pounds was issued in government bills of credit, and put into the hands of county trustees, to be loaned on niortgage^ecnrity for ten years at five per cent. In 1720, the House voted another issue of a hundred thousand pounds ; which, however, was stopped in tlie Council : but, the nest year, a loan of fifty thousand pounds was granted, to he distributed among the towns in proportion to their respective taxes. In 1724, a new loan of thirty thousand pounds was issued ; and, though they had been received, for taxes and the like, into the treasury, there were outstanding, in 1725, over two hundred thousand pounds of these bills of credit. But although, for currency, they had depreciated to less than half their nominal value, in 1728 a new emission was made of sixty thousand pounds. They were issued to towns in proportion to their taxes. These were authorized to let this substitute for money at six per cent; accounting to the Province for four, and paying one to the trustees, - thus saving one towards town-charges, Leicester had the folly to accept their share of this loan ; and appointed trustees to take charge of it, with instructions not to let more than ten pounds, nor less than five, in any single loan.

Up to 1737, the purport of the bills issued had been, that they should " be in value equal to money, and be accordingly accepted by the treasurer, &c., in all public payments." In that year, an emission was made in the usual form ; and another, of nine thousand pounds, in a different form, - the tenor and effect of which were, that they should " be in value equal to three ounces of coined silver, troy weight, of sterling alloy i or gold coin, at the rate of £i. 18s. per ounce ; " &c. This new emission took the name of " new tenor," the former being known as " old tenor ; " and the proportion of value between them was fixed at three to one. But the practical value, as allowed in business, was four to one: that is, one of the new was worth as much as four of the old tenor bills.*

There is a votej on the records of the town in 1741, to take "manufactory bills "for all town-rates, except the minister's salary ; and another for receiving " land-hank " bills, and turning them into " old money." These bills were issued by a private banking company in direct opposition to the government. The stockholders gave security, to the amount of their stock, upon real estate, - for which they received these bills, intended to pass as currency ; and were to pay three per cent interest annually, in -mamtfactures of a specified character, - such as hemp, flax, wool, &c., - at such prices as should he fixed by the directors. As these bills depended upon public favor alone for their currency, many of the towns adopted votes similar to that of Leicester in order to sustain them. There seems to have grown up a paper-banking mania in Massachusetts about 1740, which no efi'ort of the government could repress. It appears that the people of Leicester shared the common mania in the Province to engage in the scheme of a bank of issue : and I find among its citizens who were held responsible as shareholders, and against whom legal process was issued in 1744, the names of James Jackson, assessed eighty pounds ; Benjamin Johnson, forty pounds ; and Ichabod Merritt, Joseph Sbaw, and Josiah Eobinson, the amounts of whose assessments are not stated.

Without taking up any more time upon this subject, - which has been introduced by way of explanation, - I may remark, that the substitution of such a currency in the Province led to the sending abroad of all the gold and silver to pay debts and make purchases, where those bills would not pass : and the consequence was, they went on depreciating ; so that when the Province received from the mother-country, in part of the expenses incurred in the Louisburg expedition in 1745, £183,649 in gold and silver, it was employed in redeeming these bills, at the rate of one specie dollar for forty-five shillings old-tenor bills; and, for new tenor, eleven shillings and threepence. The amount redeemed was the incredible sum of £1,792,236. This was in 1750; and all debts contracted after that were payable in silver at Gs. 8d. per ounce, which took the name of " lawful money." The effect of this dfipreciafion in the currency was one of the causes of the unhappy controversies that grew up between the town and their minister (the Eev. Mr. Parsons), which will be spoken of more at iengtii hereafter.

To recur to the subject of schools. I have little more to add than what may be found in an able and interesting report upon the subject, from the pen of Joseph A. Denny, Esq., which I have ventured to add as an Appendix to this work.

John Lynde, jun., the first schoolmaster, was the son of John Lynde of Maiden; was bom in 1710, and removed to Leicester with his father. The family were connected with the Greens by the marriage of Dr. Thomas with a sister of the father. From the son being but twenty-one years old when be first kept the school, and his father, though a large landholder, having been a farmer, it is not probable that he coxild have had many advantages for an education ; since he probably came to Leicester when he was less than ten years old, and there had never been a school there which he could have attended. He settled and became a substantial citizen in Leicester, where he married, and raised up a family. As he was, by the vote of the town, a schoolmaster " to reed and Wright" merely, the want of a finished education seems not to have stood in the way of his being employed as such two or three subsequent years.

Joshua Nichols, the second schoolmaster in order, was employed to keep a school in two places, in 1736, for one month each; but, for some reason, completed only a single month. He was a tailor by trade, and came from Maiden. He married a daughter of Capt. Samuel Green, - sister of Dr. Thomas, - and probably was in mature life when he removed ; for we find him elected an assessor at the first recorded town-meeting, in 1722. He had a family of six children, the oldest of

I do not find that Mr. Cooledge, Mr. Gibbons, or Mr. Bullard, - who were early schoolmasters here, - were ever residents in town, except to keep the school for shorter or longer periods, as stated in the report referred to ; nor have I been able to learn any thing of their personal history.

After these, Pliny Lawton, who will be noticed among the physicians of the town, was employed during 1747 and a part of 1748. Solomon Parsons, who will be noticed in the same connection, was employed in 1751; and Dr. John Honeywood, in 1753.*

There was an organization of the town into school-districts, in 1776; which I shaU have occasion to notice in another connection, for the purpose of giving the names and residences of the fiimilies then dwelling in the town.

- I h«Te meiianiied the time of Braotion and the locality of tha first sohoolhottaa. The second whb built upon the north sida of the Great Road, where tlie brick factory Btaiids, formerly of Col. J. D. Sargant. This wss some time bofore 1782. Tha next eehoolhouse in the Centre DiBtriot was erected in 1781, and was plnced about six rods east of the house of J. A. Smith, Esq., opposite what waa oslled tha Crossmftu lioad, where it enters tlia Great Post Eoad. So lonj; ns I attended school tbeie, - though it was improved afterwards, - it was the perfection of discomfort, and of ill adaptation for its purpose. The outside had originally bean painted with Spanish brown, mnoli of which had baen washed off by the weather. The outer door opened into an entry that mn sIolr the west side of the house, - wholly unfinished, - in which wood waa stored for the fire, and into which the chimney for warming the honse projected its bare briclt walls. The house was warmed - so far as such a thing was possible - by a huge wood-iire, built in an immense firaphioe! around wliich seme of the scholars were always gathered to warm their feet, which gi'ew cold again tlia moment they had talien their seals. This kept up a constant circulation between the seats and the iire in cold weather. These seats, or henoiiea, were naiTow, and intolerably hard; and estended the whole length of the building, witli tha exception of passage-ways in the middle and at each end. In tliese oramped-np, crowded pens, the pupil wrote, ciphered, and studied, without ever associating any thing but aching limbs aud stiffened joints with the acquisition of a schoolboy's knowledge. The condition of what were called the "little scholars" was even worse. Thay were ranged around tlie open area in front of the fiie, - upon low, narrow seota, the backs of wliich were tha fronts of the deslts above them, - with nothing Co lean upon. My boues still ache at tives to the General Court that have been chosen by the town. It should be remembered, that, until a late period, each town paid its own representaiive. The consequence was, that towns often refused to be represented, and were occasionally fined by the General Court for the neglect. Sometimes a hard and sharp bargain was driven with a candidate, to reduce the price at which he was to serve them.

Their first representative (in 1721) was Judge Menzies, who will be mentioned hereafter. When, the following year, the town voted to pay him for the service, he declined accepting compensation ; and they thereupon voted him to be their representative for the year 1722. He was again elected, in 1723; and was paid by a vote of thanks, as he declined any pecuniary satisfection.

The town then voted, that whoever should be chosen the year 1724 should be paid the same as Judge Menzies ; and Lient. Thomas Newhall was elected to serve " on the conditions aforesaid,"

The next year (1725), Judge Menzies was again chosen; but from that time to 1733 they were not represented. This covered the time while the town was subjected to constant annoyance and expense in consequence of their difficulties with their minister, which may account for their being unwilling to incur any additional expense.

In 1733, Josiah Converse was chosen for a single year. He was the son of John Converse, a blacksmith ; and came with his father from Woburn. He lived in the westerly part of the town, upon a farm which he exchanged with Christopher J. Lawton, Esq., in 1735; and removed to Brookfield, where he afterwards lived.

The following persons have been members of the Senate of Massachusetts while residents in this town : viz., Seth Washburn, 1780 and '81-'84, '85, '86, and '87 ; Nathaniel P. Denny, 1823 and '24 ; Waldo Flint, 183&-6.

- Ospt. Brown ia more than once mentioned in this worli. He hud held a enplaiti's commission in the Fi'eiioh Wnr; tooli pnrt in the liikinK of Lonisbnvg, Hnd, at that tima, paid a iflrge tivx for iiis property ; represented the town twelve years with great ncceptnnoe ; toob: a leading part dnring tbe ReTolutlon, and hnd three sons in the »ec- Tioe. It ia painful, therefore, to read tlie record of a meetinf; of the town, enlled in 1778 to sea if they would redeem a certain mortgage, in order to " indemnify themselves from the maintenance of Ciipt. John Brown." He was then eiglity-five years old. His wife whs the nnnt of Hon. John CofSn Jones: but pi-oliably, lilie many of his contempornrjes, he had devoted heait nnd hiiiid to win a nation's independence

The delegates from the town to tlie Convention which formed the Constitution in 1779 were Seth Washburn and William Henshaw. Col, Samuel Denny was their delegate to the Convention that met to consider the question of adopting the Constitution of the United States, in January, 1788. Col. Henry Sargent was their delegate to the Convention which met in 1821 for revising the State Constitution; and Hiram Knight, Esq., of that for its second revision, in 1853.

As the proprietors' half of the town was much more slowly settled than the eastern half, though they continued to form one corporation, great complaint was made that the settlers' half enjoyed more than a fair share of the offices, while a full proportion of burdens fell upon the western half.

But, though the majority appear not to have hesitated in exercising their legal powers, there does not seem to have been any disposition to retain this power; for, in 1741, the town voted to consent to the westerly half being set off into a new town. A petition was accordingly presented to the General Court, who passed a Bill to that effect; but the Governor (Shirley) refused his assent to the Bill, and the measure failed. It was renewed in 17i4, and resulted in the incorporation of the westei-n half into a 2>recinct.

There still remained sources of difference between the two parts ; one of which was a complaint on the western part, that the town would not lay out roads for the accommodation of the people residing there. The eastern half answered, that, when the lands in that part of the town were laid out, sufficient of these had been appropriated for roads; whereas no such reserve had been made by the proprietors of the other half when it was divided among them. The matter came before the Legislature in 1749, and a new Act, incorporating the western half, was passed; but was again vetoed by Lieut.-Gov, Spencer Phipps, because the effect of it would be to increase the number of representatives in the General

Court. Nor was the separation effected between the two parts of the town until 1753, when an Act was passed, creating the second precinct into a district ; which was, in effect, a town to all intents, except having the privilege of sending a representative to the General Court, for which purpose it still remained united with Leicester.

Bnt the attempts to dismember the town did not meet with the same fevor, when, in 1743, a petition was presented by several to have a town set off from "Worcester and Leicester, substantially as Ward (now Auburn) subsequently was; and another, to set off a part of the town to Rutland as a precinct. The town voted to oppose these, and were succesafui in so doing.

In 1761, an attempt was made to have a new town - Paxton - created out of the north part of Leicester, and the soutli part of Rutland, upon the petition of John Smith ; and the same thing was moved again the following year, upon tlie petition of Oliver Witt. Both of these petitions were resisted by Leicester, and, for a while, with success. But, the following year, the town favored the movement : and it resulted in the incorporation of Paxton in 1765,

A vote of the town in 1754 is not vory intelligible without some explanation ; for which I avail myself of the first volume of the Collections of the American Statistical Association, prepared by Mr. Felt. The vote was " unanimously to disapprove of the Excise Bill passed hy the Assembly at their last sitting."

The taxes at this time had become heavy ; and the House were desirous of relieving, as far as they could, the polls and estates from this burden ; and, to do this, contrived a plan for laying an excise upon wines and spirituous liquors consumed by the people. The Council refused to approve of it. Gov. Shirley sent for the House into the Council Chamber, and there stated hie objection to the measure, that it wonld be inconsistent with the natural rights of every private family to be subjected to keep and render an account of the quantity of excise liquors which they consumed in tlieir private

The House immediately ordered the objectionable part of the Bill to be printed, and sent to every town for consideration ; which led to the above vote of this town. The towns voted, - some, that it was contrary to their liberties; and some, that it was not. The measure, however, was dropped for a short time ; but passed, with some amendments, in December, 1754.

Out of this grew a memorable pamphlet, styled " The Monster of Monsters," attacliing the Bill and the House. The latter voted it a scandalous libel, and imprisoned the publisher, after having ordered the pamphlet to be burned by the common hangman. For this imprisonment, the speaker, the messenger of the House, and the jailer, were sued ; and the Province employed Edmund Trowbridge, James Otis, and Jeremy Gridley,^ - -three of the best and most learned lawyers in the country, - to defend them ; and the suit resulted in the acquittal of the parties charged.

The prices which certain things bear at different periods are a subject of curious and interesting inquiry, as serving to test the comparative value of the circulating medium in eases where the relation of supply and demand shall be the same. Laws have, for this purpose, been passed at times, fixing arbitrary prices to labor, wheat, corn, wool, and the lilie ; as if legislation were as strong as the imperative laws of trade. But still they may serve as an approxunate test of the value of the common medium of exchange, - whether gold and silver, or issues of paper promises ; and, at the same time, the comparative value of the same things at different periods of time. A few only of these, however, can I give ; and, such as they are, they may not be very satisfactory.

In 1733, the pay of the schoolmaster was four pounds ten shilhngs per month. This was in a depreciated currency ; and, in 1737, the price was six pounds per month: which, at the rate of calculation between new and old tenor money, would be, in the former year, about twenty shilling - nominally three dollars and a third - per month, though considerably less, in fact, in silver money.

In 1720, the town paid Mr. Parsons, their minister, seventyfive pounds per annum, salary. In 1736, they were to pay Mr. Goddard three hundred pounds, with one hundred pounds settlement ; which was but about the same as that paid Mr, Parsons, allowing for depreciation, if the salary of the latter was calculated upon money at par. In 1753, they fixed the salary of Mr. Roberts at .£133. 6s. 3d., silver money, at 6s. 8d. per ounce ; whereas, when Mr. Goddard was settled, silver was worth 27s. 6d. per ounce, and had risen, at tlie time of his death, to 60s., - or, what is the same, the paper currency had depreciated in that time more than a hundred per cent. Mr. Conblin's salary, in 1763, was fixed at the same as that of Mr. Roberts ten years before. Dr. Moore's salary, in 1797, was fixed at four hundred dollars. But, to show, somewhat, the rate of depreciation in the paper money in the mean time, the town added, in 1779, five hundred pounds to Mr. Conklin's salary for a single year ; which was, in fact, but a hundred dollars in value.

In 1779, a convention of delegates from the towna met at Concord, - of which Mr. Henry King was a member from Leicester, - for fixing the prices which might be charged for the common necessaries of life. Among these were corn, £3, 12s. per bushel; laborinhusbandry, ^2. lis. per day; beef, per pound, 2s. 6d. ; wool, ^£1. 4s. ; and men's shoes, JG6 per pair.*

I have before me a bill for time and expense of an officer "in getting along the six-months' men" in 1780 ; and among the items are seventy dollars for an advertisement in the Worcester paper, and thirty dollars for too dinners.

In 1776, the town allowed their delegate to the Provincial Congress five shillings per day ; and the same price was paid to their representative in 1786.*

In 1793, a Social Library was formed in town ; and its proprietors held their first meeting, Dec. 10 of that year, at the house of Dr. Austin Flint. The number of volumes in this library, however, has never done justice to the character of the town as a reading people.

In 1812, the members of the Fire-eugine Company, then recently formed, commenced a new library with much spirit, and for a while with good success ; but it was soon after merged in the old organization.

In 1829, another library was commenced, consisting of more modern works. For many yeara it was used by its proprietors; but, in 1858, it was, like the former one, merged in the

3(1. and 43. per poand; whaat, Ts. ad. per busliel; cotton, 35, per pound by the bflft, - S''. 8d. per single pound, - at the port where tirat lunded from tlie Weit IttMei; Kngliah h«7, 65. per hnndred weight; West-India rum, 6s. ed. per gidlon hy the hogshead, - 73, 8d, single gnlion; wool, 2a. per pound. The scale of depreciation in 1778 wa5 based upon assuming the prices of some of theee nrades as the par, upon which the depi'Bciation aliould be onlculnted.

- I hare jnemoranda of the travelling expenses of the member of the convention in 1779 from Leicester, and of the repreaaotative from that town in 17B8; which I give for sereral pnipoaes; first, to show tlie nominal value of money at theae times; secondly, the mode of performing the joumeji and, thirdly, the habits of the moat temperate men of that day.

" Set out for Cambridge to the convantior, Oct. 27, 1779. An account of what I spent! To oils, 68,; to dinner, IBs.; to flip, 9s.; to snpper and lodging and horeekeepiiig,^l. 10a.; to breaklnst, 12s. ; to shaving, Cs. ; to flip, 93. j paidboardl5days,i*6,4s."

The piiy per day of the repreaentntive in 1788 was four shillings, Mny 37, 1T88, Ret ont from Leicester to Boston to Court, Got down by six o'clock that day. Spent a-going down! To sling in the morning, 6d.; to lialf a bowl of toddy, 6d.; to a mess of oata, 4d.; to dinner. Is.; to bating my horse, idi; to toddy, 6d.; to oats, id.; to grag,-'!d."

I should be ghid to speak iu this connection, if I had proper data, of a Literary Association, which was organized, and pursued its purposes for many years with admirable spirit and brilliant success, among the younger ladies of the town. It had its origin some fifty years since. It was what it professed to be, - a literary association ; holding meetings at regular brief intervals, in which the amenities of kindly social intercourse were united with the fruits of a refined taste and a cultivated intellect; and tradition has done no more than justice to the high rank to which, in its day, it helped to elevate the female society of the town. The records of the Association have shared the fete of the many bright thoughts and sage reflections to which its social hours gave utterance ; and both are irrecoverably lost. History can only now record the fact that it once existed, flourished many years, and disd by Google finish which it was voted to adopt. TJie town still continued to sell " pew-grounds " for the erection of new pews, and fixed the prices to be paid for the same; the highest being twelve pounds, old tenor, - something less than ten dollars of our currency.

In 1754, the town voted to put up a " sounding-board " over the pulpit. It must have been, however, because a meetinghouse, at that day, was not deemed complete without this appendage, - or because, as I suppose was the case, the interior was open to the rafters of the roof, - that the town incurred the charge of such a structure in a house of no larger dimensions ; and the impressions we thus derive from the records of the town, as to the character of this house, were more than confirmed by the statements of one who had been familiar with it in childhood.

The contemplated enlargement was made ; but most of the principal upright timbers which had supported the north side of the house remained standing and exposed to view in its new arrangement, and formed striking objects of notice, if they did not add to the architectural symmetry of the design.* Uough, uncouth, and uncomfortable as this structure must have been, it was the only meeting-house belonging to the town until 1784, when the present one was erected.

It was, moreover, the scene of gatherings and discussions of the deepest local interest ; and, in later days, of high-toned eloquence and patriotism, that would have honored a nobler temple and a wider sphere.

It was here that the people met to elect and settle their first minister; it was here that they came together so often afterwards to adopt measures to rid themselves of their " bondage " to him ; and it was here that the fickle tide of favor ebbed and rose in the popular mind towards one who stood towards them at one time aa the pastor of a Chi-istian flock ; and, at another, as the bitter and vindictive adversary, who again and again put at nought the instructions of the apostle, as to going to law witli his own church and his own people.

The man selected by this church and people for their first minister was the Eev. David Parsons. He then belonged to Maiden, and had been settled there as a minister for twelve years. He was brother of Eev. Joseph Parsons, who had been a considerable landholder in Leicester ; and he had himself become a proprietor of the town.* His attention had thus been directed towards it ; and his interest in its people had been excited by the removal of several families from Maiden, and their settling in the town. A difficulty, moreover, had grown up between him and the society over which he was settled; and when, therefore, by the recommendation probably of his former townsmen, he was invited to settle over the church and people of Leicester, he readily accepted the call.

For the history of his connection with the society, I propose to confine myself almost exclusively to the recorded proceedings of the town. I shall, in that way, be in less danger of doing injustice to his memory, than by depending upon traditions in respect to the unhappy controversies which

* Josapl! ana David wcra the gi'andaons of Joseph, the first of the iinme in tl:o country. Ha was in Sprinfifleld in 1636, and removed to Northampton in 16S6, where the Joseph here referred to was born in 1671. Ha was graduated at Harvard, 1697; and was probably brought into connection with the Leicester propriotors by marrying Elizabatli Thompeon of Eoxbury. He was settled us a miniatar in Lebanon, Conn.; bnt left bis parish before 1714, and removed to Boston, where he engnsred extensively in land specnlstione, was a grantee of Rutland, nnd pncbasad BiohanJ Draper's shaie in Leicester. He was one of the grantees in the settlern' half of the town, as propriBtof of lot No. 23. He was the owner of several other lots, on one of whioli he caused a KriBtmJll to be erected, - tha first built in town, - upon the ontlet of Townmaadow Brook. He never resided in Leicester. About 1718, be was agiun settled as a miniater in Salisbury, Mass., where he remained till his death, in 173B, at tbe age of sisty-nine. His son of the same name was the minister of North Brookfiald. - ffiai. C'eaeal Reyislsi: imbittered the relation between them. These controrersieB were chiefly of a personal character, and do not seem to have partaken in the least of differences in religions opinions, in imputations upon his moral character, his ability as a preacher, or of the strife of political party. It would be singular if there were not faults on both sides.

At the time of his removal to Leicester, he was about forty years of age. He came there under the most flattering auspices ; and there seems to have been no misgiving upon the part of the people in settling him, as was the usual mode at that time, for life.

The first vote on the subject is recorded upon the first page of the town-records, in choosing a Committee " to lay out tlio vacant land, lying northerly from Mr. Carey's, to Mr. Parsons, if he settles among ua." This land was upon the North Road, leading over Carey Hill, and north of that hill, next to land laid out to Arthur Carey ; and was afterwards the ministerial land of the town.

There had been, as the vote implies, a previous action ou the part of the town upon the subject of settling Mr. Parsons ; and in the History of Spencer, by Mr. Draper, we find the copies of two letters addressed to Mr. Parsons, which contain a statement of the votes which had been adopted at a meeting of the town, Nov. 28, 1720, about three months prior to the vote above mentioned. It had been then " voted that the Eev. David Parsons be our gospel minister ; tliat Mr. Parsons have the forty-acre lot next the Meeting-house, and the right, in CLuantity and quality, as other forty-acre lots drawn in after division ; that Mr. Parsons have sixty pounds' settlement ; that Mr. Parsons have sixty pounds' salary."

The second of these letters was addressed to him two days after the passage of the above votes by six of the principal men of the town, - Thomas Newhall, William Brown, James Southgate, Balf Earle, Daniel Denny, and Nathaniel Eicliardson, - and contrasts singidarly with the sentiments which, at

" Rev. Sir, - We, with our heart anci consent, do call and invite you to be our settled minister in the work of the gospel amongst us, if you see cause to accept, and see your way clear to remove. But, alas ! if we reflect back upon ourselves, we cannot hut see we are unwortliy of so great a blessing. But, if j'ou have such a blessing fo bestow on LIS as we hope you will be, we desire for ever to praise His name for his goodness to us ward."

This " blessing " was " bestowed " upon the town. Let its own records tell how they enjoyed it. In 1732, this same Ralf Earle stands at the head of the list recorded as " of the persuasion of those commonly called Quakers."

Mr. Parsons replied to the call of the town ; but his letter, though it encouraged the hope that he might be induced to accept, sxiggested such difficulties in the way, that thirty individuals of the town addressed him a letter, in January, 1721, wherein they engaged to add forty pounds to his settlement, and fifteen pounds a year to his salary ; and conclude their appeal to him by saying, " We do humbly beg a brief and speedy rehef under the difficulties which we have labored under a long time." This seems to have overcome any remaining scruples in Mr. Parsons's mind ; for a meeting was had, upon the 30th of March following, " to come to an agreement with the Rev. Mr. David Parsons as to his settling in the work of the ministry among us, having formerly had a call to it."

Mr. Parsons, it appears, wsk then in waiting at the publichouse kept by Nathaniel Eichardson, which stood where Capt. Hiram Knight's house now stands. The meeting was, accordingly, adjourned from the Meeting-house to that place, " to discuss and agree with Mr. Parsons." - " It was proposed, whether the town be of the mind now to come to an agreement with the Rev. Mr. Parsons, you having formerly voted him to be your minister. It passed in the affirmative." - "Mr. Parsons being called in, it was desired that he would show how far his way was clear to leave Maiden ; upon which he prodaced and read the judgment of a couucil of clerlis favoring his remove." - " It was proposed to Mr. Parsons, whether he was ready to give his answer. Mr. Parsons did then show his resolution, God assisting in giving opportunity, to serve the town in the work of the ministry here at Leicester." The town then proceeded to vote htm the proposed forty-acre lot " behind the Meeting-house," seventy-iive pounds' salary, and a hundred pounds " gratis," and to be at the expense of removing his family and goods to Leicester. Every thing seems to have passed harmoniously, and in the most hopeful and contented spirit.

Soon after this, at Mr. Parsons's request, the town changed the direction of the road leading north from the Meeting-honse, - which at iirst lay through the middle of his lot, - so as to run along the west end of it, where it now is. This lot he continued to own till just hefore his death ; and, hj his own direction, he was buried near the middle of it. His house stcod upon the south-east part of it.

But the town was poor, a considerable portion of the land belonged to people residing abroad, and it was no easy matter to provide for its current espenses. They apphed to the General Court to abate their share of the county-tax; and every thing in their history, at that time, goes to show that they found great difficulty in keeping up their town-organization and meeting their engagements. It is not to be wondered at, therefore, that they suffered their minister's salary, at times, to be in arrear.* In 1726, it had been i

* To show that Mr. Parsone himself so understood the delays on the part of the town in tha payment of his sftlary, I tmnscribe a petition of his to tlie Legialatara, which is foand in the pi'int«d journal of its proceedings under date of Dec. 7, 1726 ; -

"A petition of Mr. Bsvid Parsons of Leicester, in behalf of himself and family, showing that, by reason of the present Indian war, the said town of Leicester is reduced two years in arrear ; and they then proposed to give him a bond for his salary for the year 1724. Among the extraordinary expenses which they had been obliged to incur for his protection and their own, was to erect a " garrison " around his and some other hoiises, to guard against the threatened attack of the Indians upon the town.

But the salary did not come. Hard feelings, and doubtless hard words, ere long ensued between the parties ; and in January, 1727, the town had a meeting "to see if the town will raise Mr. Parsons's salary, or otherwise to see if they will be willing that he should remove out of this town," It was voted, " that the town be willing that Mr- Parsons should remove and remain out of this town."* But Siubad, in the story, might as well have attempted to rid himself of the Old Man of the Sea by a vote, as the people of Leicester to free themselves from the burden they had assumed, by a hint like this. Mr. Parsons had no idea of quitting either the town or the ministry, or even relaxing his claim upon them for the means of continuing both.

He accordingly memorialized the Legislature upon the subject, though it is not easy to see what they could do in the matter. The town, on their part, in 1727, voted to raise hia salary ; appointed a Committee to answer his memorial ; and apphed, themselves, to the General Court for authority to assess a tax of a penny an acre upon all the lands in the

All nllowanee of ten ponntts waa made ont of tlie pnblio treasury to the petitioner, " the better to enisle him to OHiry on the work of the ministry, and snpport Ills tamily, in Leicester."

- This WHS in consaquenee of a new memorial of Mr. Parsons to the Legislature, ~ pcesentsd Deo. 2, 1726, - praying that tlie money heretofore raised for the ministry there might be applied for the use for which it was granted, and that he might hare present support granteil. The town wna noHiied to show causa why the money granted had not been piUd. A hearing was hod before a Oomraitteei who reported, in June, 1727, that there was a snm in arrear from the town to Mr. Parsons, but that he hnd a Bpffioient remedy for tliat by law; and recommended that the petition should be eastern part of the town, divided and undivided, towards defraying tlie town's charges. They proposed, moreover, to Mr. Parsons, by way of settlement, to pay one-half his arrearages {thirty-seven pounds ten shillings) in two months, and the other half in four. Of these arrears, forty pounds were for the years 1724 and 1725; and they proposed to prosecute the collector for his neglect in not having collected the tax of 1726.

Nothing, however, seems to have come of Mr, Parsons's memorial, or this offer of compromise ; and the next step was a complaint to the Quarter Sessions by Mr. Parsons against the town for neglecting his support. It was attended with the ordinary fruits of most lawsuits, - ill blood and retaliatory measures. The town met in January, 1729, to see if they would any longer continue to support Mr, Parsons in the work of the ministry in the town ; and, if not, " then to see if the town will coQCur with the church in deposing Mr. Parsons from the ministry in this place ; and to see what steps and method the town will take for the upholding, supporting, and the orderly and peaceaMe dispensation, of the gospel ministry in this place." They thereupon voted not to support him any longer, and that they would concur with the church in deposing him ; and they voted to take measures to supply the pulpit. But Mr. Parsons does not seem to have been any more moved by their vote not to support him, than he had been by so long a practical neglect to supply him the means ; and he seems, moreover, to have been ono of tliose spirits which it is not easy to lay. This vote to depose him produced no effect.

They next tried more peaceable and persuasive measures ; and, in March of that year, met "to see what steps they should take to settle and make up with Mr. Parsons." But he would neither he deposed, settled with, nor " made up with," by them ; hut, instead of that, brought a civil action for the recovery of his salary, and attached the property of Lieut.

Newhall (whose name stood first upon the letter above quoted, asking for " so great a blessing " ) to respond the judgment he should recover. This was followed by a second complaint (in 1730) against the town to the Quarter Sessions.

The town, at last, grew nearly desperate. They met in February, 1731, "to see if the town will take into their further consideration the complaints of Mr. [the Reo. is carefully omitted] David Parsons, exhibited to the Quarter Sessions, against this town ; who and which have caused a great deal of disturbances, and have been greatly prejudicial to the peace of this town, and very hurtful both to the civil and religious interests thereof." Nothing seemed to be left for them to do but to appeal for relief to the General Court, "under the difficult circumstances which we labor under at this time."*

One source of embarrassment, however, grew out of a schism that was growing up in the town itself. No quarrel, iu which considerable numbers are concerned, can be carried on, any great length of time, all on one side. A part of the inhabitants took sides with the minister: and, that it might appear how they stood numerically upon the subject, it was voted that a list should be prepared in two columns, to be sub-

- In Unrch, 1751, tbey nccordingly petitioned the Legblnfiire; aiid Mr. Parsons msde an a lawei TLe Council voted, in Jnne, to dismiBB the petition ; bnt tlie Honsa voted to bear tiie parties; and a hearing wns aooordinglj had before that body, and tlie ooneideration of the petition postponed. At a. aubseqnent time, they lieord tha pnrtie" »p\m upon the same subject, and then referred the mntter to a Comniitlee of which Mr. Lyiide (nftevwflrds Chief-JustJoB Lynde) whs obairman. On the 33d Jnne, 1731, the Committee reported a resolve; upon wbioh the House adopted a vote with a long preamble, reoiti[i({ that difBcultiea had arisen of long standing, and had " proceeded to such a degi-ee as greatly to pr^judlee the interest of religion, and ditiwte the ends of the gospel miniBlry," &c.; and that application hadheen made in the name of the town, and of a jtreat nnmber - if not a mB,ior part - of tiie brethren of the church, for relief. The vote provided for perraittinf; any who conscientiously dissented from Mr. ParaonB's minisiiy, respeoHng points either of doctrine or diseipiiue, to Bigahy tha same to Joseph Wilder, Esq,,* and be exempt from tiixalion on his account when they should have provided an orthodox minister, or diligently attended public worship in nDigliboringtowns.-eavlngMr.Parsons'srigbtto two hundred acres of land; &c.

scribed by all the inhabitants, - indicating whether they were for or against "his continuing in the work of the ministry," - " to be laid before his excellency, to inform him how many in this town is for Mr. Parsons's continuing in the work of the ministry, and how many against it ; " and Daniel Denny and Samuel Green were to be despatched to the Governor for that purpose. The subscription-paper was begun upon the spot : and, as the record shows, " after all persons that signed against Mr, Parsons, the moderator made proclamation to desire any person, that had been persuaded to sign to the subscription contrary to their judgment and conscience, if any there were, to come and take their names out again; but they refused, for they said they had acted conscientiously in the matter."

But the fates were singularly against the town in their struggle to escape from the persevering pursuit of their uncompromising pastor. The General Court passed a resolution relieving them from any longer supporting Mr, Parsons ; but the Governor refused to approve it, and a Committee of the town wag appointed to address him upon the subject. But it was nothing new for Gov. Eelober to differ from the popular branch of the Legislature, and Mr. Parsons probably felt himself safe beneath the shelter of prerogative.

These events took place in 1731 ; and Mr, Parsons had, in the mean time, obtamed a judgment against the town upon his complaint before the Quarter Sessions ; but the town, instead of submitting, held a meeting to consider whether they should apply to the General Court to allow them to appeal from this judgment, " that so the town may havo the privilege of a trial in the common law,"*

The Court of Quarter Sessions was one having criminal jurisdiction, held by all the justices of the peace in the several counties, - every second man not being then a justice ; and trials took place before a jury, with a right of ajjpeal to a higher court. It had also civil powers, - such as laying out highways and taking charge of the financial matters of the county ; wherein it did not act as a common-law court. By the law as it then existed, if a town neglected to support their minister, he might apply, by complaint, to this court, who had authority to provide an effectual remedy, and impose a fine upon the selectmen for this neglect ; and there was no provision for any appeal, or trial by jury, in such a case.*

The General Court, however, had been prorogued before the petition of the town reached them. But another meeting was held by the town, in December of the same year, " to see if the town would put in a memorial to the General Court for to revive a petition which the town had put in, in hope of being relieved from Mr. Farsons's bondage ; or to see if the town would proceed in any other way to put an end to the differences which we are under in ail our affairs." I

By one of those sudden revolutions in public sentiment so . common under democracies, whether small or large, - where the man most berated to-day becomes the idol of to-morrow, and vice versd, without, quite as often as with, cause, - the whole tone of the votes of the town was changed. They voted " not to send a memorial to revive said petition ; " " that the former vote concerning Mr. Farsons's salary be reconsidered;" " that the former vote concerning Mr. Farsons's not being paid should be null and void," and " that the vote passed Jan. 21, 1728-9, that the town would no longer support Mr. Parsons in the work of the ministry, be null and void ; " that

"the arrears of his salary be paid with all convenient speed;" and that, " notwithstanding the vote passed the 26th January, 1728-9, Mr. Pai-sons is esteemed to be the regular settled gospel minister in this town." They further voted to raise money to satisfy the execution against the selectmen for neglecting to pay Mr, Parsons's salary ; but, being unwilling to countenance those who had opposed Mr, Parsons, they excepted from this appropriation " the fine laid upon said selectmen for their neglect." The selectmen were accordingly left to pay out of their own moneys the penalty for carrying out the votes of their constituents.

It might be more satisfitctory to witness this retrocession of the town, in their controversy with their minister, if there was not pretty strong evidence that his friends and partisans took his opponents by surprise in carrying tliis measure.

The meeting was adjourned ; and, when it was again convened, there seems to have been a general rally of the forces on both sides. The record says, that, upon the foregoing votes being read, "there appeared a number of men, and desired to know how those votes came to be passed, and desired to hear the warrant read. Some of them said they never had been warned to such a meeting. Tlie warrant being read publicly, Capt. Green said he had not been warned to the meeting, and that they had voted that that was not set forth in the wan-ant; and he, with several other men, desired that the moderator would see if the town would not reconsider of those votes that were acted contrary to warrant, as Capt. Green declared that he would enter his dissent against the meeting as illeg-al. But the moderator wholly refused, and said he would not put no such thing to vote, without giving any other reason than ' I will not.' Then the moderator, with other of the inhabitants, desired some particular men to draw up some proposals to lay before the town, and they would adjourn the meeting to hear these proposals and consider on them."

All adjournment was accordingly had; and then,"tlie town being convened and the proposals being read, Mr. Moderator and Mr. Parsons, with some others of their company, made some unhandsome rei^ections, by reason that the proposals did not suit them; and so the moderator dissolved the meeting."

These certainly look like rather high-handed measures. The moderator who thus played the part of aiitocrat over this little republic was Mr. Josiah Converse, and the triumph of "their company" was short-lived. In April, 1732, the town voted that they would not raise any money to pay Mr. Parsons's salary for the year 1731." But within a few months the scale turned, and Mr. Converse was again chosen moderator of a meeting, called, among other things, " to see what method the town will take to call in the town's money, so that Mr. Parsons's arrears may be paid."

Before reading this article, the meeting was adjourned; and the town-clerk, who had made so full and circumstantial a record of the action of the moderator at the former meeting, probably anticipating what would be the action of the adjourned meeting, staid away from it, and withheld his book of records.

The people came together at ten o'clock ; and, in the words of the record, "they tarried until about one of the clock: and the town-clerk, who was Mr. Joshua Nichols, neglecting his duty in bringing or sending the town book and papers that was then in his hands, there could be nothing further done in tbeir affairs; and so the moderator dissolved this mectmg."