Sturbridge Town

By Levi B. Chase

Sturbridge is located in the southwest corner of Worcester County, bordering south upon the Connecticut line, and west upon the county of Hampden.

The upheaval of rock is mostly of the gneiss formation, the dip of the strata in some instances, as at the lead-mine, being almost perpendicular. Laterally, the trend of the strata is invariably northeasterly and southwesterly. The ridgts liave their uniformity broken up by differences in height, and the rounding and excoriating action of the glacial period.

Right across these formidable barriers, and from its entrance at the west to its outgo at the east line of the original town, nearly - if it held a direct course - at right angles with the rock system, the Quinebaug has its way, dividing the territory into two nearly j equal portions.

The streams affluent to the Quinebaug take the water-shed from both directions, their general course being governed by the same rule as the rock formation.

In the present town we have Breakneck Brook and Hamant Brook from the south, the former discharging at the south bend of the river, the other higher up, near the centre of the valley. On the north side is Hobbs, or Sugar Brook, which takes the flow from Walker Pond, passes near the Common, and with its long series of meadows forms a large portion and the lowest level of the Central Valley.

Cedar Pond Brook, near the Fair Grounds, and Long Pond Brook, near the western border, discharge the water of the respective reservoirs of the same name into the Quinebaug.

Allum Pond is a notable natural body of water situated about two miles northerly of Fiskdale Village. It is about one mile long and half a mile wide. It has Mount Toby upon the west of it, and is bordered by elevated land. The water is held in a rocky basin above the surrounding country. Fed by springs, its clear water abounding in fish, the salubrity of the air and the romantic scenery has given the shores of this pond a local reputation as a camping-ground.

Walker Pond, in old times called Salstonstal's Pond, is noted as a pleasure resort. Here the country road skirts the eastern border beneath tall trees, while upon the opposite side of the pond rises the abrupt precipices of Walker Mountain, over which winds the "mountain road," making up a drive which is highly appreciated by the people in the vicinity.

Shumway Hill throws out its northern point as if to stop the Quinebaug about two miles from the western border of the town. The river is forced to turn and go around the hill close under the northern slope. Along the northern hank of the river, just where it curves, are situated the factories and the village of Fiskdale. From the opposite slope of Shumway Hill the view of thi-< village is enchanting. From the pinnacle of the hill very fine views of rural scenery are obtained in every direction except the southward, where lie the wooded hills and rocky ridges that environ the lead-mine region. To the eastward lies the central valley of the town, and beyond the mited Fisk Hill.

Looking westward across the valley, the Quinebaug is seen emerging from Fiskdale along the base of Shumway* Hill, and seems to loiter idly along by grassy meadows and cultivated fields, winding abtmt in many a romantic nook and charming retreat - a blending of water, meadow and f )rest scenery seldom surpassed.

going a little more hurriedly until it turns and plunges eastward between high, rocky hills, and then turns again to the northward, washing the opposite side of the hill which turned it from its former course. The river is again turned eastward by a high, rocky precipice and by ihis time charged with power, which is utilized for the purposes of man along the villages of Southbridge. t

To the inhabitants of this town this valley has the additional charm of ancestral and historic associations - of being where are clustered the religious and secular institutions of civilization which gives value to life, and of being the resting-place of departed and loved ones. To those who have their home here it is the very centre of the world.

Tantous(jue in Nipnet. - In September, 1633, John Oldham, with three companions, passed through Nipnet to the Connecticut River, " lodging at Indian towns all the way."

While being entertained by the Indians at Tantousque, he was shown some specimens of what proved to be plumbago, or black-lead, and was shown, or told, where the substance was to be found in large quantities, near a pond called by the Indians Quassink. That this took place in the valley of the Quinebaug, in Sturbridge, is probable from following circumstances.

A path to the Connecticut River passed through here, and there could have been none siuth of it until beyond the abrupt ridges of the Breakneck region ; the extent of which tract would carry any southern route nearer, and probably south of the deposit of plumbago at the hill of Ocquebituque, "near the cornfield where one Namaswhat lives."

The last-mentioned lead-mine was known to John Pynchon some ten years later, but appears not to have been discovered by John Oldham in 1633. The hill of Ocquebituque is situated near the south line of Union, Connecticut, six miles or more from the Sturbridge mine. Hence, clearly John Oldham went by the Quinebaug Valley path through this town, about two miles north of the Sturbridge lead-mine, and about len miles from the cornfield where Namaswhnt lived.

William Pynchon established a trading-post for furs at Agawara (Springfield) in 1635.' He had a monopoly of the trade over a large territory, and for a number of years the profits were considerable. One of his first enterprises was opening a road to the Bay settlements.

Preserved in the archives of Sturbridge are records of roads whiih were used before the settlement, and afterwiirds until the town was incorfiorated. By plotting the toivn according to the original survey and

The one that will be described was called, upon the records, " The road from Brimfield to Oxford." From the west line of the town to Fiskdale there is no record ; from a point back of Bacon & Bates' store to No. 2 School-house ; from there to the lower crossing over Cedar Brook, near the residence of Mr. Geo. Wight, it was identical in location with the present road ; passed the south side of Mr. Wight's house, and a small pond-hole near Mrs. Kansom's, then across the present highway, and to where Mr. C. D. Russell now resides; then across to near Mr. W. T. Lamb's, and along there with the present road to Mrs. H. Plimptoo's ; then crossed Sugar Brook, where N. D. Ladd & Son's mill-dam now is, on over a field ; then through pasture and woodland (where the tracks are still to be seen) to the northwest mowing lot, on Mr. J. H. Lyon's farm ; thence through the north part of his farm, passing Mr. N. Eggleston's, to the southeast corner of Mrs. McGilpin's farm, to where there was a ford way over Mc- Kinstry Brook by old Oxford line, and may be traced in the direction of Dudley. It was the road used by the first settlers of Sturbridge when they moved from Medfield, Watertown and other places.

It is here suggested that this may be the exact location of a section of the road opened by William Pynchon, about 1635-38, and that it then followed the general course of a previous Indian trail, which, in its course westward, doubtless passed a little north of Fiskdale, near the wigwams of the Putikookuppogg Indians, and on to Ashquoash, in the north part of Brimfield.

Ten years later, 1648, Gov. John Winthrop writes in his journal (ii. 325): "This year a new way was found out to Connecticut, by Nashaway (Lancaster), which avoids much of the hill way." Thi.s new way is described by Mr. Temple (" Hist. North Brookfield ") as passing down the valley of the Quaboag and " struck the south trail east of Steerage Rock," in Brimfield. Other evidences of record furnish satisfactory proof that we have here the " Bay-Path " of Dr. J. G. Holland's admirable historical novel with that title.

Two important Indian paths, one from Providence and another from Norwich, united at Woodstock, and continued as one path through Sturbridge to Brookfield. The course was quite direct from Lebanon Hill to Fisk Hill, thence over Walker Mountain, south of the pond and onward to South Pond, a branch passing up the east shore to the ancient village of Quobagud, while the more important route skirted the west side of the pond, going on to Wickabo.ig (now West Brookfield). It will be again noticed farther along, when opened for an Englishman's road, about 1680-90.

The 13th of November, the same year, the General Court granted to John Winthrop, Jr., '"y" hill at Tantousque, about sixty miles westward, in which the black lead is, and liberty to pu/chase some land of the Indians." (Winthrop by Savage, vol. ii. p. 213.) He purchased some land of the Indians, as it appears.

A plot of land containing ten thousand two hundred and forty acres was surveyed for Major-General Waitstill Winthrop in 1715. Its east line ran across Saltonstal's two thousand acres, which had been surveyed the previous year, taking off nearly one-third. A reasonable inference is, that there was a prior claim, based upon a bargain between the ancestor, John Winthrop, Jr., and the Indians. In this town the bounds were by natural features, Indian style : from a rock in a meadow south of Leadmine Pond, to an angle in Quinebaug River, north of Geo. Wight's mills; then northward on the west side of Cedar Pond to a point against the north end of the original pond ; then west and onward, covering the site of Brimfield Centre; then southeastward to the rock in the meadow.

The bounds of the tract were located with the evident design of taking in the valuable lands along the " Old Springfield Road," and, if fixed in 1644, or in the days of John Winthrop, Jr., may be taken as evidence of the antiquity of said road.

The lead-mine was being operated in March, 1658, by employes of William Paine and Thomas Clark, of Boston. The gentleman last named, it is supposed, was the Captain Thomas Clark who, the latter part of the same year, obtained a grant of the southern mine of plumbago, or the hill of Acquebituque. It appears that the Boston merchants carried on the works at Tantousque for a share of the products, it being included in the bargain that they should have the owners' share at a stated price. A path was opened from the lead-mine, passing a little south of the house formerly owned by the late Otis Davis, through Holland and Brimfield to the Springfield road.

Richard Fellows kept a tavern, the site of which is in the northeast part of Monson, and he was " very willing to undertake to haul the lead to the waterside," past his own door, to Connecticut River.

In the great war of 1675-76, known as " King Philip's War," the Quabaugs were among the first to take arms against the English. The Quinebaug flowed between the land of the Wabbaquassets and that owned by the Quabaugs.

from Pocasset Neck, passed through Woodstock and Tantousque to Quabaug Old Fort. They were at that time pursued by Captain Henchman, aided by Oneko, son of Uncas, with fifty Mohegan warriors.

The fugitives crossed the Quinebaug and skurrled up the forest-covered slope of what is now known as Fisk Hill, in the land of their allies, the Quabaugs. Their English pursuers, looking up the broad expanse stretching away to the northward, knew that beyond were the Quabaug Ponds, and that somewhere about there were collected, in large numbers, their savage foes. Captain Henchman here ordered the pursuit to cease, and turned toward Boston.

Philip being reduced to a feeble following of forty men, and "women and children many more," was unwilling to advance in the direction of the English forces at Brookfield, and at Tantousque passed on to the Old Springfield Road, and arrived at Quabaug Old Fort on the 6th of August. Quabaug Old Fort, called by the Indians Ashquoach, was situated just north of Sherman's Pond in Brimfield. A few days later another party of Wampanoags, endeavoring to get on the Nipmuck path to follow their chief, was intercepted before it reached the Quinebaug River, and one hundred and eleven men, women and children were taken and delivered over to the English.

The spring of 1676 came on with smiling sunshine, awakening vegetation and the song of birds; but among the colonists was a feeling of gloom and discouragement. The Indians had been successful at every point.

A change, however, was approaching. About the middle of March the Indians were repulsed at Westlield, Northampton and Hatfield - a grievous disappointment. Many of them became tired of the war, and returned to their fishing-places and huntinggrounds. Admonished by recent suffering from scarcity of food, many a sunny slope was being planted with corn, beans and other crops. The old wigwam was patched up, and their desire was for peace.

But that was not to be ; they had carried the torch, the tomahawk and the scalping-knife to many a home of the white man, had commenced a war of extermination, had sown the wind, - the whirlwind was upon them.

Into the valley of the Quinebaug, beneath the green foliage, in the first week in June, 1G76, came Major John Talcott, of Connecticut, with two hundred and fifty mounted Englishmen, accompanied by Oneko, son of Uncas, with two hundred Mohegan warriors. They crossed the river in Dudley and coming up the Springfield Road, rushed in every direction upon the surprised inhabitants. Along the Quinebaug, by the shores of our ponds, or wherever the dwelling of a Quabaug might be, the Mohegans hunted them out

When the war was over some of the hostile Indians who had escaped drifted away in small parties and became absorbed into other tribes. Some went towards Maine, some to Canada, and some to the westward, near Albany.

Their corn-fields, wheth.er on the hillside or upon the plain by the river, were quickly seeded to pines, and thereon were standing when the settlers came here forests of fifty years' growth. Their wigwams entirely disappeared. Stone implements alone speak of former inhabitants.

Depopulated Tantousque was included in a tract of the Nipmuck country, which a remnant of the Indians, the former owners, made over to the Massachusetts government, February 10, 1681, for the sura of fifty pounds and a reservation of land five miles square, which is now in Dudley and Webster.

After the settlement of Woodstock, in 1656, and the second settlement of Brookfield, about the same time, a road from one place to the other, in their isolated and feeble condition, became a necessity, and was doubtless opened between these nearest neighbors at an early period. The Brookfield and Woodstock path came down on the west side of South Pond, and was essentially the " New Boston Road," so called, as far as Mr. C. D. Russell's, where it united with the Old Springfield Road, and followed that about a mile and a half to the old camping grounds, now the northwest mowing lot on Mr. J. H. Lyon's farm. Turning southward past where stands the Levins Fisk house, then by Hosea Cutting's house and into the present road west of Mrs. Emmon's house ; then down the hill and across by Mr. P. Bond's house, over by Mrs. Malcom Ammidown's residence, and down the slope by the brick-yard to the river, where a bridge was built of logs.

This was also near the fording-placeof the old Indian trail. The path is traced by record southward from the river to near the residence of Mr. Lewis Morse. The present Woodstock road by the " Brown brickyard,'" so called, was laid across this old path, not far from where Mr. Henry H. Wells' lane intersects it, and may have passed from there over Lebanon Hill.

This Brookfield and Woodstock path followed in a general way the previous Indian trail. Massachusetts acquired the title to these lands, with power to grant the same, in 1681, as has been stated.

Tracts of land, of whatever size, granted to an individual were called farms, - a name distinguishing such lands from grants made for towns. Individual ownership of land in Tantousque was established for the first time by lines and bounds November 24, 1714, the date of the survey of the Saltonstal farm. At an early date in the history of the colony the province of Massachusetts Bay gave to Sir Richard Salstonstal, Knight, one of the patentees named in the old charter, a tract of two thousand acres on the banks of Connecticut River. This property was handed down among liis descendants, and was owned in 1713 by his great-grandson, Rev. Gurdon Salstonstal, of Norwich, Connecticut.

An agreement entered into by the province of Massachusetts and the colony of Connecticut in the year 1713 established a new division line, south of which was found to be Mr.. Saltonstal's two thousand acres, as well as many other grants of Massachusetts along this border. In accordance with the terms of the agreement, Massacliusetts paid to Connecticut, for these former grants, an equal number of acres of land by other grants within her now undisputed territory ; and these new grants took the name, and for many years were known as, " equivalent lands."

The following year Rev. Gurdon Salstonstal, then Governor of Connecticut, agreed and accepted of the General Assembly of the colony the right to " take up to his own use the said quantity of acres, among the equivalents allowed to this Colony, where it shall best suit him, proviiled that the tract be taken up in one entire piece," May, a.d. 1714.

It suited His Excellency to select the tract now called the central Valley of Sturbridge. He obtained his first view of the valley upon his arrival at the camp, ing-ground, where the Woodstock road united with the Old Springfield. He made that point the eastern limit of his farm, the top of Shumway Hill the western extreme ; the bend of the river near Mr. A. J. Morse's was made a southern angle, and the north line of the old Bullock place, Mrs. Luther Hamant's and J. J. Shepard's, defines the northern bounds. It was called by his children Pineland.

The Demick Farm was west of and adjoined Salstonstal's farm. The origin of this grant is unknown. The most part of the village of Fiskdale is built upon this tract.

The Eliot Farm. - In "Ancient Plans,'' i. 285, is found a plot of John Eliot's one thousand acres, endorsed : "Purchased by Rev. John Eliot the 27th of September, 1655, of Wattaloowekin and Nakin, Indians - said 1000 acres of land lies Southward of, and contiguous to the township of Brookfield alias Quabaug, at a place called Pookookappog Ponds."

December 5, 1715, the title to this land was confirmed to the heirs of Mr. Eliot by the General Court. About eight hundred acres of the tract lie within the bounds of Sturbridge, owned by the following parties, viz. : Heirs of Mr. Austin Allen, Mr. G. H. Adams, Mr. Monahan, Mr. Griffin and Mr. S. F. Bemis.

Mr. Eliot petitioned the General Court in 16ii4, in ''. . . behalf of the Indiana of Putikookuppogg, . . ." and was granted "... a plant tion to the Indians not to exceed fower thousand acres . . ." It was not to interfere with any former grant, and the Indians were not to convey it away, or any part of it, without the consent of the General Court. This grant was in view of Rev. Apostle Eliot's plan of establishing a " praying town here, alter the model of th.it at

Natick." The consummation of this enterprise was prevented by the breaking out of King Philip's War, and the removal from this vicinity of the Putikookuppogg Indians. No survey of the laying out of this grant has been found.

Judge Wait Winlhrop, who inherited this property from his father, died 1718, intestate. He left two children - John Winthrop, of New London, Conn., and Ann, the wife of Thomas Lechmere, of Boston.

The son's claim under English law, that the real estate was entirely his own, and the claim of Mr. Lechmere, in behalf of his wife, under the colonial law, occasioned a suit which coijtinued ten years or more, being finally decided according to the colonial law.

The settlement of Brimfield was " hindered by the extent and uncertain tenure" of the Winthrop farm, and the committee for laying out the town petitioned the General Court in 1723 for a reform of the survey. This petition was refu.sed. But it was renewed in 1727, accompanied by one bearirjg the same request from Mr. Lechmere. The result was a new survey, which was accomplished and accepted by the General Court December 18, 1728. It was in a square form, four miles each way, with the Connecticut line for the southern boundary. The farm formerly owned by Mr. Lyman Janes occupies the northeast corner; the road by the residence of Mr. John Hamilton is on the east line. The farm extends into Holland one and a half miles, the north line of that town being identical with that of the farm.

It is presumed that the position and " uncertain tenure" of the Winthrop farm may have postponed decisive action of the General Court upon "The petition of several of the inhabitants of Medfield and sundry others," ..." lor a Grant of the Province Land between Oxford, Brimfield and Brookfield."

The first petition of 1725 called out the action of the court, in so far as to order, June 2, 1725, the lands to be surveyed. The repirt, one year later, was made by John Chandler, Jr. The survey was made the 1 1th, 12th and 13th of May, 1726 - Wm. Ward, surveyor; Ebenezer Learned and Joseph Plimpton, chairmen. The report gives thirteen tliou-and seven hundred and thirty-two acres as the amount of province land, exclusive of the liirms which have been described. The subsequent re-location of the Wiuthrop farm diminished that amount to the extent of about three thousand acres.

The second petition, with twenty-seven names, came up June 13, 1728, and was ordered to be referred to the next lull session ; iii the mean time a committee was sent to view the land and estimate the value, who reported it to be worth o.ne thousand pounds.

September 3, 1729, William Ward, Esq., and Joshua Morse, by petition to the General Court iu behalf of themselves and associates, obtained the object of several years of persistent effort, - the grant for

A New Township. - The evidence does not appear that the one thousand pounds were exacted by the General Court, but the grantees were put under certain obligations in^tead. They were "obliged in seven years' time from this date to settle, and to have aciually on the spot fifty families, each of which to build a house of eighteen feet square at least, to break up and bring to fit for plowing and mowing, - and what is not fit for plowing, to be well-stocked with English grass - seven acres of land; to settle a learned orthodox minister and layout to him a houselot, equal to the other house-lots, which house-lot shall draw a fiftieth part of the province land now granted, and to be accounted as one of the fifty that shall be settled." Following were suitable regulations for managing the business of the association.

Proprietary History. - The following are names of the grantees in the order by them established. Most of those whose residence is not here given were of Medfield.

Twelve at least of these became inhabitants of the new plantation. Many others of the Medfield pro- ])rietors sent their children and grandchildren. So many came from that town, that after calling the

Several early settlers became proprietors by purchase. Ezekiel Upham bought of John Shearman ; David Shumway of Ebenezer Learned; Hinsdale Clark one of the shares of James Denison ; John Harding had one of the shares of his " father, Abraham ;" Edward Foster bought of Joseph Plimpton ; Moses Marcy becoming acting proprietor in November, 1735, by power of atturney from absent members. Abraham Harding, of Medfield, served as clerk for the proprietors for many years.

At the first meeting, Novembers, 1729, a committee of five, viz. : William Ward, Esq., Joshua Morse, Capt. Ebenezer Learned, Capt. John Dwight and Abraham Harding, were empowered to act in all the affairs of the proprietors for the year ensuing.

They were " directed to lay out one hundred lots in the best of our land, adding to the poorest lots a quantity of acres according lo the best of their judgment to make them as equal in value to ihe best as they can." " None of the one hundred lots to be less than fifty acres." " And then to couple two lots togethtr and make them as equal in value, each couple or pair as they can." This was accomplished, and the drawing was carried out "July y° 9th, 1730."

This first division comprised nearly all the proprietors' lands north of Quinebaug River ; also south of the river the west side of Shumway Hill, and several lots where now are situated Globe Village and the centre village of Southrbridge.

As early as June, 1780, the " Committee^of Affairs " received a letter from the heirs of Governor Salstonstal containing proposals for locating the meetinghouse on their land. In the following November, Jonas Houghton, of Lancaster, and Ebenezer Learned, of Oxford, in behalf of the proprietors, obtained a deed - free gift - of "... "six acres of land to set a meeting-house upon, out of a farm or tract of land containing two thousand acres, lately granted to the Hon. Gurdon Salstonstal, deceased, by the General Assembly of y'^ said Province, lying in Pine-land, near or upon where y° road wliich runs from Brookfield to Woodstock meets with the road now used from Brimfield to Oxford." Land was given for highways four rods in width through their lands where most convenient, east and west, north and south.

This deed contained no description of bounds, and the locaticm within certain limits was left to the proprietors. This was well; and the names of William Ward, Esq., of Southborough, Jonas Hougliton, of Lancaster, Joseph Plimpton, Joshua Morse and Abraham Harding (last three of Medfield), who located the meeting-house, the common, and planned the tys- tern of roads which diverge therefrom, should be held in remembrance. The suitable place was found about one-fourth of a mile southeast of where the road from Brookfleld united with the road, as then used, from Brimfield to Oxford.

The heirs of Governor Salstonstal were four daughters, viz.: Elizabeth, wife of Ricliard Christopher; Mary, wife of Jeremiah Miller; Sarah, wife of Samuel Davis (all of New London, Conn.); and Catherine, wife of William Brattle, of Cambridge. The farm was divided, and Mrs. Christopher and Mrs. Miller had the eastern half, one thousand acres, which they sold, in 1732, to William Ward, Esq., who had been for two years preceding chairman of the committee for forwarding the settlement. He built a saw-mill on Sugar or Hobb's Brook, and the large pine trees found standing near by, perhaps on what is now Sturbridge Common, were cut and siwed into lumber, which was used in building the meeting-house in 1733-34, The meeting-house was built by John Comins, Jr., of Oxford, after a plan of one at Grafton. The first meetinghouse stood upon the site now occupied by No. 1 School and public library building.

The money, five hundred and twenty-five pounds, received for the seven supernumerous shares sold was, by vote, donated to the purpose of building the meeting-house. Twenty pounds were raised in November, 1733, "for y° completing and finishing y" meeting-house at New Medfield (-lo-called)." In January, 1734, it was not finished, but meetings were held the latter part of that year. A Mr. Cowell was paid twenty-eight pounds, and eight pounds for board. Ninety-eight pounds were raised for preaching in 1735, and a like sum for 1736. It was an assessment of forty shillings to each share per year.

Thesettlers in New Medfield made choice, in March, 1736, of Rev. Caleb Rice, who was accordingly "called" to be their minister. Preliminaries being arranged, Mr. Rice accepted the call in August, was ordained September 29th, and installed pastor of a church formed at that time.

In the matter of roads and bridges nothing whatever was done during the eight years that the public charges were paid by the proprietors. The members of the association, who were settlers, were a minority. From time to time - nearly every meeting - articles were inserted in the warrants asking for action about roads and bridges. A piece of road was laid out by the proprietors in 1736, and nothing expended upon its construction. A committee was appointed in 1731 to select the most necessary and convenient place or places for a bridge or bridges over Quinebaug River.

There is no record of any report of that committee. At a meeting of the proprietors. May 31, 1738, it was "Voted: That Joshua Morse shall have £1 : 16:0, for a journey to New Medfield in y" year 1736, to a

This policy of the association occasioned much inconvenience and hardship to the settlers. The Old Springfield Road and the Brookfield and Woodstock were the only ways of ingress and egress, and, besides those, such paths as individuals made for themselves.

The time specified in the grant of the township expired in 1737. The court's requirement in every respect having been fulfilled, the "Committee of Affairs" elected November 9, 1737, were instructed, by vote, " to petition y' General Court at their next session, that the settlers or inhabitants of New Medfield (so called) be invested with such privileges as other towns in this province by law Injoy."

The response of the Legislature, in May, 1738, was an "Act of Incorporation," entitled "An Act for Erecting a New Town in the County of Worcester, at a Plantation called ' New Medfield,' by the Name of Sturbridge."

The settlement having arrived at the dignity of a municipality, with the same privileges and rights of other towns in the province, the proprietors had no longer any oflicial power in her affairs.

All the lands which had been received from the heirs of Hon. Gurdon Salstonstal, also the meetinghouse, were given to be the property of the town, " for the use and benefit of the town of Sturbridge forever." This was voted at a meeting of the proprietors, April 10, 1740.

Sturbridge. - When first incorporated, no portion of "The Country Gore" was included. This was a tract often thousand acres, in the form of a gore, left between Oxford and Leicester, when the latter town was set off, which extended westward to a line running through Walker and South Ponds, the wide end of the gore.

In answer to a petition of John Davis, Caleb Child and others of the inhabitants, in 1741, the General Court annexed about one-third of the tract to this town. "Brookfield 500 acres" was annexed to that town in 1717, as compensation for the same amount previously laid out to Col. John Pynchon, on Coy's Hill, and occasioned the peculiar form of the lines between said town and Sturbridge.

Including what was called "The Neck," lying between Oxford or Dudley and Woodstock, the southern bounds of the original town extended east as far as Southbridge now does on the Connecticut line.

Those settlers who were inhabitants of New Medfield (so called), fulfilling the " Court's requirements" before the incorporation of the town, also the homesteads which they originated, are the following:

Moses Allen (brother of the preceding), born 1708. He was a proprietor. He began on the next lot north of his brother, now Henry Weld's. He had no family here, and removed from the town after a few years.

Joseph Allen, with the preceding, were the three sons of widow Miriam (Wight) Allen, who came with them from Medfield. He was born 1702 ; married, first, Abigail Gold; second, Sarah Parker; began the homestead long known as the " Squire Jabez Harding place." He and his family left the town after a few ears.

Nehemiah Allen (Joseph, James) born 1699; married Mary Parker. He came from Sherborn and settled the site called the " Old Allen Place," north of the Baptist Church in Fiskdale. He was a proprietor.

Joseph Baker, from Dedham, probably (wife Keziah) ; was a grantee, and settled lot 47, his own right. The homestead is abandoned, and now included in the farm of Mr. C. G. Allen.

Joseph Cheney (Josiah, Joseph), from Medfield ; born 1709 ; married Margery Mason ; settled the | Cheney place on Shuraway Hill ; now abandoned.

Henry Fiske (Nathan, Nathan, Nathan), from Watertown ; born 1707 ; married Mary Stone; house Bite upon E. T. Brooks' farm on Fiske Hill. He was a grantee.

Daniel Fiske, brother of the preceding; born 1709; married, first, Dilliverance Brown; second, Jemima Shaw ; located next north of his brother.

Henry Hooker (Henry), from Medfield ; married, 1733, Mary Parker, of Needham ; first settler on the Brackett place ; site now owned by Mrs. F. W. Emmons.

Joseph Smith (Nathaniel, Samuel, Henry), born 1707 ; married Abiel Hamant. He was the first who stayed through a winterin this town, probably 1730-31. His location was between W. H. H. Ormsby's on the north and the George Plimpton place on the south.

Daniel Thurston (Daniel, Daniel, John), born Medfieid, 1702; was in Marlborough 1732, in New Medfield (Sturbridge) in 1737 ; wife Miriam - -.

From items of record, gathered here and there, the foregoing are known to have been here before the town was incorporated. They constituted the main portion of those who fulfilled the court's requirements.

There were a few more, probably, on the ground, whose names cannot now be given. The number of families were increased to over one hundred in about twenty years, and after that, by the formation of new families by the sons and daughters of the early settlers, the town continued rapidly to increase in population during the period previous to the Revolution.

Many new names appeared. As founders of wellknown families here, the following may be mentioned : John Weld, Nathaniel Walker and Jabez Nichols were brought into our limits by the annexation of over three thousand acres of the "Country Gore," in 1741 or '42. Rowland Clark, Benjamin Hyde, John Marsh, Benjamin Robbins, Jeremiah Streeter, Nathaniel Smith and Daniel Plimpton were here 1745. Ralph Wheelock,,. William McKinstry and Jabez Harding in 1755 ; Gershom Plimpton, 1759 ; James Plimpton, 1764. James Gibbs and the Howards settled in the lead-mine district before 1770. David Wight moved here in 1774.

The first meeting for the choice of officers for the organization of this town was held the 18th of September, 1738. The freeholders and other inhabitants qualified to vote in town affairs were assembled at the meeting-house, which was new and unpainted. The house was fifty feet long, forty wide, and twenty feet between sills and plates. It had three doors, east, west and south ; and galleries along the same three sides; the north side of the hall being occupied by the pulpit. The pews had not at this time been made. The house stood on a knoll, and all about the slopes and the small plain to the eastward were the slump?, half-trimmed logs, broken snags, bushes, and the usual appearances of a recent clearing ; beyond which was a small saw-mill on the brook, and two or three houses and some cleared land along the slope of the rising hill farther on. For two miles westward, and about one mile north and south, lay an unbroken forest - Salstonstal's Farm, held for rise in value. There were no highways. A path cut through the woods northward by where the cemetery now is to the "Old Springfield Road," and such ways as individuals made for themselves, was all that appeared.

Those who emerged from the woods and gathered at the meeting-house, upon the day above mentioned, were all young men, sanguine, full of the romance of life and the excitement and novelty of their position, They, upon that day, organized a municipal government, and began the following list of officers, reaching down to our time.

The names of moderators, town clerks, treasurers, selectmen and representatives will here be given. Other officers elected by the town have been : Assessors, constables and collectors of taxes, wardians - an office of ecclesiastical character, ranking in secular authority next after the minister. They were first elected in this town in 1762, and dropped after 1790. Two, sometimes three or four, were chosen each year. " Informers of the breaches of the lavy for the preservation of Deer," called later deer-reeves, were elected annually as late as 1825. Tythingmen were elected until 1840 or later, "Clerk of the Market," until 1775, after that called sealer of weights and measures. Haywards were elected at first, and the office was continued under the name of field-driver. Surveyors of highways, fence-viewers, hog-reeves, sealers of leather, surveyors of lumber, measurers of wood and bark.

It is designed in the following town officer lists that no individual should appear more than once under the same office, the name of each citizen being followed (1) by the first and last years of his election to that oftice; and (2) by the total number of times elected for annual terms of service during the intervening years. The first years after each name, reading downwards, show the order of elections in regular sequence.

In reference to Representatives previous to 1771, particular record has not been found. It is believed that Moses Marcy, Esq. (Capt., Col.), served in that capacity anterior to that time. The dates given in the following list are the years in which the election occurred :

Thirty-five years after the incorporation of this new town the central valley was still, for the most part, wild, unoccupied land. Five hundred acres adjoining Sturbridge Common on the northeast and northwest sides, extending to the brow of Fisk Hill on the one hand, and to the fair grounds on the other, and northward to the " Old Pauper farm " and Mrs. Hamant's, was owned by Dr. Francis Borland, of Boston, and so remained for fifteen years afterwards. West of that, and southward, was one thousand acres of unoccupied land owned by Mr. William Brattle, of Cambridge, which was purchased in 1774 by Mr. David Wight.

Good roads had been made each way through this central valley, and in all other parts of the town highways had been constructed, all tending toward the meeting-house, or the "great road." Large and productive farms had been wrought from the wild land, and more than a hundred homesteads, many of them commodious and substantial, had been built.

Two hundred times had sympathizing neighbors gathered at the house of mourning. The story of hardship and privation is told by the records of mortality among-women and children.

Of the seventy early settlers mentioned on a preceding page, ten only had passed away. These were : Adam Martin, Noah Mason, Solomon Rood, John Streeter, Rev. Caleb Rice, Deacon Isaac Newell, Nathaniel Bond, Samuel Freeman, George Watkins and Jonathan Mason. Most of the first settlers who, when young men, had organized the municipality, were still active in the affairs of the town.

Their early assumption of responsibilities without the presence and support of elder men, their practical and long experience in the affairs of social government, bred self-reliance and a positive and strong feeling repellant of all foreign intervention.

The spirit and the enlarged view taken here upon the affairs of the public in the time of the Revolution are abundantly shown by the following extracts from the records. At a meeting called by the selectmen "y* 27th day June, 1774, to consider of some measures proper to be adopted for the safety and defence of the Province in this distressed condition by reason of several late Acts of the British Parliament." After solemn prayer to God for direction, they proceeded after this manner, the selectmen to preside in the meeting - Deacon Daniel Fisk, speaker. " After considerable debate ..." it appeared to be the mind of the town, universally, " not to purchase anything which shall be imported from Great Britain after the time stipulated and agreed to." " After making some small alterations" in the Worcester and Berkshire covenants, both were at that time signed, " universally."

September 28, 1774, in accordance with an article in the warrant, the town chose " military officers for the companies, and for their movements," viz.: Daniel Plimpton was chosen major ; Timothy Parker, Timothy Newell and Ebenezer Crafts were chosen captains. The same day the town voted to provide four half-barrels of powder, five hundred pounds of lead and five hundred flints. Also a committee of seven, viz.: Ensign James Johnson, Captain Joseph Cheney, Lieutenant Henry Fiske, Mr. Hinsdale Clark, Captain Ezekiel Upham, Mr. Stephen Gerould and John Marsh, were appointed to make provision for the men in case they should be called into the service, and a vote was passed " by a great majority," to pay the men, if called, for the service rendered.

Voted, November 17, 1774, unanimously, " that the constibles of this town pay the Province tax to Henry Gardner, Esq., of Stowe ; and his receipt therefor shall ever hereafter opperate as an effectual discharge to them for the same."

The November meeting was adjourned " to Monday, December 1st, at ten o'clock A. M., with the request that all the men in town, from sixteen years old and upwards, then assemble at the meeting-house with arms and ammunition, in order for reviewing." The old men formed a company of " alarm men." The young men were organized in companies called " minute men." They were marshaled and marched into the meeting-house in military order. After ap-

A revival occurred in the early part of the ministry of the Rev. S. M. Reed, resulting in the addition of some thirty new members to the church, including two or three admitted by letter.

Persons named in the following list have served as deaci>ns of this Baptist Church: Daniel Fiske, John Newell, Jonathan Phillips, Henry Fiske, John Phillips, Jonathan Lyon, Moses Fiske, Priuce Bracket, Rufus F. Brooks, Edward Richardson, P. L. Goodell, Jonah Giflord, D. W. Harris, N. Underwood, E. T. Brooks, H. A. Chamberlain. Deacons Goodell and Chamberlain hold office at this time, 1888.

First Unitarian. - This society was organi«ed in 1864, June 3d. Theapplication to E. L. Bates, Esq. justice of the peace, requesting him to issue his warrant to call a meeting for the organization of a re. ligious society for the support of liberal preaching was signed by Eliakim Adams, Liberty Allen, Nathaniel Upham, Wm. H. Upham, Bowers S. Chace, Levins Hooker, E. W. Moffitt and Wm. H. Skerry. The society started with about forty male members. The next year, 186.5, the invitation of the National Convention of Unitarian Churches was accepted, and Emerson .Johnson and Bowers S. Chace were chosen delegates to attend the convention with the pastor. A tasty and comfortable house of worship was built in 1872, and dedicated December 11th. A parish committee is chosen annually, and the following persons have served in that office: Nathl. Upham, Chas. N. Allen, Eliakim Adams, Saml. M. Edgerton, Ethan Allen, Farnum Southwick, Bowers S. Chace, Wm. H. Skerry, A. C. Morse, H. W. Nichols, Henry Weld Edw. Nichols, Wm. H. Upham, Emery L. Bates' (Jhas. V. Corey, G. Norval Bacon, .Jonas Rice, Alvin B. Chamberlain.

Hectors. - Rev, Samuel Spear, 1870-72; Rev. Levi Boyer, 1873-76 ; Rev. De Estaing Jennings, 1877, and continued several years; then the services were dropped.

Catholic - The Fiskdale mission was instituted as early as 1872. The Irish and the Canadian-French have always had their separate meetings, and while a mission, they were attended by the priests of their respected nationalities, who had charge at Southbridge. Two very tasty and well constructed churches were erected in 1885, and in 1886, September 1st, the Fiskdale Mission was made a distinct parish. The Reverend Father Jules Gratton was placed in charge as priest. The census of the parish in 1886, was: Irish, 45 families and 175 souls; French, 110 families and 610 souls.

Educational. - Rev. Joseph S. Clark, in his centennial address of 1838, says: "The first step towards the advancement of common education in this place was the establishment of four schools at the average expense of £5 per school. The names of the four teachers who had the honor of laying the foundation of learning among us (peace to their venerated dmt I) were Margaret Manning, Mary Hoar, the wife of Jeremiah Streeter, and the wife of John Stacey, 1742.

Five school districts were formed in 1761, and referring to that, Mr. Clark says, such indeeil, is the present law of the Commonwealth, but the plan was devised and adopted by the citizens of this town long before our law-makers had suggested such a thought.

The School Committee of 1825, Rev. Z. L. Leonard, chairman, made a report of the schools - the first on record in this town. In that report it is found that " The whole number that have attended school the winter past is five hundred and sixty, of which a respectable number in each school have attended to the higher branches of study." There were twelve school districts. The age of attendance at common schools was at that time extended at option to twenty years, more or less.

From the 1888 printed reportof theSchool Committee of this town, we find that " the .school year of thirtythree weeks was divided into a spring, fall and winter term, of ten, eleven and twelve weeks, respectively."

Public Library. - In 1873 "The Quinebaug Library Association " gave their librnry of between four and five hundred volumes to the town, " on condition that the town appropriate not less than $100 annually for its increase and support and proper accommodation for the public." The town accepted the gift and the conditions, and the public library has been well cared for and increased to over 3000 volumes. It is located in the upper story of the Centre School-house build, ing. In the year ending March 1, 1888, the number of persons drawing books was 352. Total number of books drawn, 6041.

Industrial. - The first saw-mill in the town wsia built in 1732 by William Ward, Esq.,of Southborough, upon Hobb's Brook, not far above the crossing of the

Fiske Hill road. In 1795 the number of saw-mills upon the Quinebaug and tributaries had increased to fifteen. There were nine in 1837, and at the present time six. A large share of the sawing is now done by portable steam mills. Nehemiah Allen's corn-mill is mentioned upon our records iu 1769, and may have been in operation at an earlier date. It wa.s located near where the large dam owned by the Fiskdale Mills has been constructed. Moses Marcy's corn-mill, which accommodated the early settlers, was over the line in Oxford (Charlton after 1754). In 1795 there were four grist-mills in the town ; in 1737, three ; and at the present time, one - that owned by Mr. George Wight, which accommodates this and the borders of adjoining towns.

A tannery was established near the site of the first saw-mill by Mr. Samuel Hobbs, a native of Weston, and a member of " The Boston Tea Party," who came to this town about 1780. Samuel Hobbs & Sons, Josiah Hobbs, P. B. & J. B. Johnson, Southwick & Tyler, and Nelson Bennett have successively owned and operated the tannery. The business has been dropped in that locality and the buildings are taken away.

The "Old Tannery," at Fiskdale, was established not far from the year 1780 by Abuer Allen, who carried on the business about fifty years. Mr. Liberty Allen (living 1888), grandson of Abner, succeeded to the business in 1830, and has carried it on fifty-eight years. Henry Allen, father of Liberty, was a pumpmaker.

Carriage and Harness Shop at the Centre Village. - Mr. Henry Haynes, then called junior, started in the business here in March, 1834. Mr. Melvin Haynes, a brother, was admitted a partner in 1844. H. & M, Haynes continued until 1861, when Melvin sold his interest to his nephews, Henry D. and John P., and the firm took the name of H. Haynes & Sons. John P. sold his interest in 1865, and the final letter s was taken off the firm-name. The number of hands employed has varied from one, at first, to fifteen or six. teen at the highest. Since carriage-making, in later years, has gone into larger concerns, H. Haynes & Son have reduced their force, and confine their attention to orders and repairing. The senior member of the firm, who is still active, has been in the business fifty-four years.

Boot and Shoe Business at the Centre. - Elisha Southwick, having obtained permission, and a lease of the ground from the town, built a shoe-shop on the Common in 1850, and went into business. In 1859 he leased to Henry Merrick and Charles N. Allen, but soon afterwards bought in, and when Mr. Merrick and Mr. Allen left the firm, continued the business alone until he gave it up to his son-in-law, Mr. A. C. Morse, about 1868. Mr. Hiram Carter bought an interest in 1869, and the firm of Morse & Carter did a business of about $120,000 a year. Mr. Carter withdrew, and Mr. Morse went on alone until the business was closed, about 1877.

Mr, Charles N. Allen, after leaving the firm of Southwick & Allen, did a large business on the opposite side of the Common. He operated for the greater part of the time between 1865 and 1875, usually doing a business of $100,000 a year.

At Fiskdale. - Mr. Emery L. Bates, in connection with Mr. Judson Smith, began in the boot and shoe business about 1846. The firm of Sessions Bates & Co. was formed about 1850, and did a business which, at the maximum, amounted to over $300,000 a year. The firm dissolved before the war, and Mr. Bates continued the business here. His trade was largely Southern, and the cloud of the Rebellion covered about $80,000 of his as^sets, of which he finally realized only about $10,000. Mr. Bates then discontinued the manufacture of boots and shoes, and organized the Snell Manufacturing Company, as described in another place.

The Ladd's Shop Privilege. - Mr. David K. Porter, iu the spring of 183(!, built a dam across the ancient " Sugar Brook," exactly where the " Old Springfield Road," which was opeued in 1635-38, had passed, and flowed what was known to the wayfarer along this route, before the settlement of the town, as " Knotch Meadow." A very durable and valuable water-power was obtained, it being situated upon the outlet of Walker Pond, which is improved as a reservoir. Gibbs, Tiflany & Company, composed of Enoch K. Gibbs, Brigham Gibbs, Lucian Tiflany and Dr. John Seabury, began the manufacture of pistols here as the first enterprise. Town & Chafl'ee, from Rhode Island, began to make augers and bits here iu 1841, the first made in this town. Mr. Sumner Packard began to make awls and general shoe-kit tools in 1846, and was succeeded in 1855 by Mr. Charles Varney, who commenced to make cutters and dies in 1857. He sold to F. W. & H. Slayton in 1863, who transferred a third interest to Mr. Noah D. Ladd in 1804, and the whole property to Ladd & Wight the next year. In 1867 Mr. Daniel R. Wight went out, and Mr. Ladd, taking his son Henry J. into the business, has continued under the firm-name of N. D. Ladd & Son. The shop was burned in June, 1878, and they had it rebuilt and running in sixty-one days after the fire. They manufactured shoe-knives, awl-hafts and a variety of small tools until about 1875; since that time they have given their attention principally to cutters and dies for cutting cloth, paper, rubber, veneering, leather, etc.

At Westville there is to be seen the ruined foundation of an old mill ; also a canal and a broken-down dam. This is the site of the first cotton -factory in the town - including Southbridge. It was built by the Sturbridge Manufacturing Company in 1812. This asaociation was incorporated the 5th of December, 1811, with the following names: Kev. Zenas L. Leonard, Stephen Newell, Lieut. John Plimpton, Moses Fiske, Jephthah Plimpton, Ziba Plimpton, Moses Newell, Eleazer Rider, Comfort Freeman, Nathaniel Eider, Franklin Rider.

The factory building was thirty feet by forty-five, and three stories in height, with preparations for manufacturing cotton yarn. The mill began to run for the company in the fall of 1812, and continued to run with profit until the close of the war, when British manufactures were introduced below the cost of any similar production in these States. Southbridge was set oft' in 1816, and although the factory building was on the Sturbridge side of the river, it was subsequently owned and occupied by Southbridge parties. The mill was unoccupied a number of years ; then it was struck by lightning and burned about 1882.

Charles Hyde's Box-Shop is on the Quinebaug, about half a mile above the ruins of the old factory. This mill site was first utilized for a saw-mill owned by Dea. Edward Foster at an early period, and came into the possession of Mr. James Plimpton about 1770, who had a saw-mill and a grist-mill there. The place was called "Plimpton's Mills" for a period of fifty years or more. Stephen Bracket had a cottonbatting mill there; then it was "Bracket's Mills." Pails were made there a few years. Sawing of lumber, planing and matching, and the making of packing-boxes is the business now carried on there.

Wight's Mills. - Above the box-shop the Quinebaug may be followed nearly two miles in its winding, quiet course, before another mill-site is found ; and that was originally found by the boys who followed the path the cows made going down through the bushes to drink. The river ran into a pocket surrounded by sand-hills, and had to go back and flow quietly out at the door. David Wight, Jr., built a dam across the door, or place of outflow, dug through the sandbank and made a canal to conduct the water away down through the meadow to the river again, and thus obtained a very valuable water-power, which has been used by three generations of his descendants. A grist-mill, saw-mill, planing and matching is the business now carried on there.

Snell Manufacturing Company's Works. - In 1798-99, Mr. Alpheus Wiglit excavated a canal about half a mile in length, conducting the water from the Quinebaug, where a dara was constructed, to a convenient locality near "the great road," and established a water-power tliere, which has been of great public, as well as private utility. In his day it was utilized for a saw-mill, a grist-mill and a fulling-mill.

The manufacture of augers and bits was commenced at Wight Village, in the old fulling-mill building, as early as 1845, by Towne, Snell & Co. The following year Lauriston Towne went out, and the firm-name became Smith, Snell & Co., until 1850, when Lucius Snell bought out Judson Smith. The firm was then composed of Mr. Melville Snell, and two of his nephews, Thomas O. Snell and Lucius, and took the name of Snell & Bros. The old mill was burned in 1852, after which the firm bought the privilege and built the first stone mill, one hundred feet by thirtytwo, and two stories in height. Then Dea. Thomas Snell, the father of Thomas O. and Lucius, sold his shop in Ware and removed his business to Sturbridge, went into partnership with his brother and two sons, and the firm-name was changed to Snell Bros. They built two stone mills in 1853, one thirty-six by fortysix, and the other one hundred by forty-five feet ; the latter three stories in height. About seventy-five workmen were employed in 185-1.

Deacon Thomas Snell was the son of Thomas Snell, of Ware, who originated the Snell auger and bit, the first of the kind made in this country. Thus, the hereditary skill and long-established business (from 1790) being transferred to this locality, when Mr. Emery L. Bates, of this town, formed a copartnership with Messrs. Clarke & Wilson, an old hardware firm in New York, and purchased the entire business in 1862, they very appropriately took the firm name of The Snell Manufacturing Company. Mr. Bates has been the business manager to the present time. In 1883 they-added the business of making ship-augers, of which there is but one other manufactory in this country ; and with improved machinery and skilled mechanics are said to make the finest goods in the world.

It is now a corporation with a capital of sixty thousand dollars and employing about one hundred and thirty workmen, manufacturing auger-bits and carbits, millwright and nut augers, boring machines and boring machine augers, ship-builders' augers and the various kinds of augers and bits used for power machines, producing about one hundred and fifty thousand annually.

FiSKDALE AND FiSKDALE MiLLS. - Nchemiah Allen, who was one of the proprietors and drew lands in various parts of the town, bought of Moses Allen, who had bought of Shubael Goram, original proprietor, the " Dimick Farm " and " lot No. 25, west," adjoining it on the north, now known as the "old' Benson place," and also lot No. 37, now owned by Mr. Liberty Allen, the Fiskdale Mills (Taylor Place) and others, which bounded said " Farm " on the west. The south line of Demick's was identical with the north bounds of Mr. C. G. Allen's farm, and the eastward the same as the west line of J. D. Underwood's and D. W. Wight's pasture-lands on the hill, and continued the same course after crossing the river, northeastward to the lot 25 west above mentioned. The line last described was between the Salstonstal and Demick " Farms."

upon the homestead, " Captain Jacob " had the south part of the lot No. 37, and the grist-mill, and originated the liomestead called the Taylor Place. Abner had the north end of 37, and built the house now the residence of his grandson. Liberty AUe'n; also originated the tanning business there.

In the third generation Moses Allen succeeded his father, John Allen, on the origin.al homestead, having for a farm that part of Demick's north of the river. Dr. Abraham Allen had the real estate of his father. Captain Jacob, and Henry succeeded Abner.

These men of the third generation had become old, their family had had peaceable possession and quiet for over ninety years, when two brothers, Henry and Josiah J. Fiske, sons of David, of Fiske Hill, and grandsons of Henry (see grantees), bought Moses Allen's farm, erected the first factory and laid the foundation of the village that bears their name. Moses Allen's farm was deeded to Henry and Josiah J. Fiske in 1826. Hon. Josiah J. Fiske was a lawyer residing in Wrentham, but was largely interested in the Quinebaug Company, the iirst company formed for operating at this point on the Quinebaug River. Henry Fiske became resident proprietor here and erected the first brick mill and a suitable number of tenement houses in 1827-28, and to him is due the credit of performing the pioneer work of founding this village. The dimensions of this first cotton-mill were eighty-four feet by forty, and five stories high. It was put in operation in May, 1829, under the superintendence of Mr. Harvey Hartshcrne, of Wrentham. The Quinebaug Company constructed the upper dam in a thorough manner and began the erection of the ''stone mill " in 1S.34. Henry Fiske retired from the concern, and the old Quinebaug Company was merged in the Sturbridge Cotton-Mills, which was incorporated in 1835 with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars. It v.'as through the efforts, the energy and perseverance of Hon. Josiah J. Fiske that the Sturbridge Cotton-Mills Company was formed and the construction of these mills carried to completion. After the retirement of his brother, he gave more of his personal attention to affairs here, residing here more or less, and died at Fiskdale in 1838. These first mills had ten thousand spindles and two hundred looms. Mr. Simeon A. Drake was the agent from 1832 to 1854, followed by Mr. Wm. B. Whiting.

In 1859 Mr. James C. Fisk, of Cambridge, was chosen treasurer, and assumed charge of these mills, with Mr. Bowers S. Chace as agent. Mr. Fisk held the office of treasurer until his death, in 1885. The corporate name of the Sturbridge Cotton-Mills was chanyed by an act of the Legislature in 1869 to Fiskdale Mills; and an increase of capital stock to five hundred thousand dollars was authorized.

When the property first came under the management of Mr. James C. Fisk the buildings were in a dilapidated condition, tilled with old and worn-out machinery. The corporation houses were in equally as bad shape, and the general appearance of the mills and village was that of a run-down and worn-out concern.

Mr. Fisk tore down the old mills and built new ones ; put in new machinery, remodeled the houses, - and to-day the village of Fiskdale stands as a monument to the energy and success of this man who has made it as pretty, healthy and successful a factory village as can be found ; with its large and well-built mills, comfortable and neat houses, well-kept yards, and large farms, keeping some forty head of stock and twelve horses, it can well be called a model village.

The Fiskdale Mills property consists in part of two mills, the machinery of which is operated by one Hercules wheel of -100 horse-power, and one of 250 horsepower. These mills run 34,000 spindles, and 800 looms ; using some 6000 pounds of cotton daily ; producing some ten and a quarter million yards of 64x64 standard print cloths in a year.

Mr. James L. Fi.sk, son of the late Mr. James C. Fisk, is now (1888) president of the company; Mr. C. Curry, the treasurer, and Mr. O. B. Truesdell the agent.

Agricultttee. - As early as the beginning of the century the " Massachusetts Society for Promoting Agriculture," sent to all parts of the State a series of questions relative to the then existing condition of agriculture. In the report of the Massachusetts Society mention is made that replies had been received from "Sturbridge, where there is a Sucieli/." Aulograph rejdies, written in the blank spaces between the printed questions, are under the name of Erasmus Babbitt, and the pamphlet bears the date of 1800. Mr. Babbitt reports a medium-sized farm in Sturbridge to be "130 acres, divided: one-third pasture - one-fifth mowing - one-fifteenth tillage - ^onethirtieth orchard and one-third woodland; the orchards are generally increasing and yield a competent supply of cider." That "this farm will keep 15 head of n cat cattle, 2 horses, and 15 sheep." "All the coarse fodder and meadow hay is fed to tlie cattle in the yards." "Provender is little used except for horses that work hard, or creatures fatting." On this medium farm "about 7 acres are planted or sown to grain." "Average crop of corn is 25 to 30 bushels to the acre;" potatoes, "130 to 150 bushels to the acre" - "12 or 15 bushels for seed," and "the largest are thought to be best." "About J of an acre of potatoes is planted on a medium farm." We have the rose-back species of swine of the largest kind - killed twenty months old, weigh two hundred and forty pounds. The product of a cow, all the cream being churned, is seventy pounds of butter, and about as many pounds of skimcheese can be made from the same cow.

The foregoing presents the main points of the replies to the questions of the Massachusetts Society, of Erasmus Babbitt, Esq., a lawyer then residing in this town and probably an officer of that early Agri-