Townsend Town (part 6 of 7)

James N. Tucker, Esc^, was born in Brookline. New Hampshire, May 20, 1811. Although his advantages for learning were limited to the common school, he acquired a very good education. His mother, noticing his fancy for trading while he was a boy, predicted that he would sometime be a rich man. All his thoughts and tastes in boyhood looked tbrward to a mercantile life. He married Rosella Jewett, on the twenty -fifth day of December, 1835. I" the fall of 1836, he opened a store at West Townsend, and continued there, in trade, about three years. At that time, his cash capital was rather limited, but his credit was good, and he withstood the financial crash of 1837 and 1838. During the time he was at West Townsend, he did a profitable business. In 1839, ^e moved to Brookline, New Hampshire, his native town, where he built a very convenient store, and commenced the coopering business, employing from forty to fifty men, and paying them, as much as he could, in goods from his store. This was also a success to him. He was in trade at Brookline, about four years, when he sold out his business and moved to East Pepperell, where he was in trade only a short dme, when he returned to Brookline, New Hampshire, and retired from business. He moved to West Townsend, in 1853, and has remained here since that time, except a temporary residence in Boston, during 1876 and 1877. While at Brookline, he was postmaster under two different administrations, and he represented that town in the New Hampshire Legislature, during the years 1851 and 1852. He has invariably acted with the republican party.

In 1854, ^^1^6" die Townsend Bank went into operation, he was chosen one of the directors, which office he has held ever since. He was a notary public several >'ears, and one of the selectmen and assessors of Townsend, in 1864. For more than twenty-five years, he did nearl}- all the conveyancing and business required of a justice of the peace, at West Townsend. In 1864, in company with Walter Fessenden, he went to Europe, and \isited IJK' most important cities of England, Holland.

Prominent Individuals

James Hosley. The most prominent and influential among "the old heads" during the revolutionary war, and the best balanced man, in all respects, was James Hosley, who was born in this town, in 1734. The antecedents of his father are unknown to the writer, but the fact that he had a large family, and that all of its members were quite respectable, goes to show that he paid special attention to their moral and intellectual as well as their religious training. His father's name was James Hoslev. There is nothing in the town records about schools, till young Hosley was more than twelve years old, so that probablv he was thoroughly taught at his home fireside, by his parents, in orthography, reading, writing and arithmetic, to reverence the Deity, and to honor the king.

On his arrival at manhood, he held all the offices in the gift of his fellow-citizens, although he was never a demagogue or office seeker. The church recognized his amiable and worth}- character, by electing him deacon. In 1766, he was first chosen to serve on the board of selectmen, consisting of five members, all capable and enterprising men. From 1770 to 1781, he was either moderator, town clerk, one of the selectmen, or on a war committee, every year. In 1775, he was moderator at the annual town meeting, town clerk, chairman of the selectmen, and captain of the alarm list or minute-men. In 1776, when Brigadier-General Oliver Prescott reorganized the Middlesex countv militia, the officers for this town

H80 History Of Townsend

In September, 1777, the General Court passed a resolve calling for volunteers to go to the assistance of General Gates, who was confronting Burgoyne, at Saratoga. This call received an enthusiastic response from the men of old Middlesex county. Seventy men, forming one company, belonging to Pepperell, Townsend and Ashby, were soon in readiness to march. On assembling for the choice of officers, James Hosley was unanimously chosen captain. By reference to the revolutionary rolls, copied in this work, it well be seen that Col. William Prescott, and other military men of ability and notoriety, were in Captain Hosley's company. The estimation in which he was held as a military man, can be better understood from this position, tendered to him so unexpectedly, than in any other way. Prescott and Wood, or Major Stone, would never have been subordinate to any man unless he honored the office to which he had been elevated.

He was chosen representative to the General Court, in 1787, but he declined the office, and Daniel Adams was chosen to fill that position. He was a modest man, never dictatorial, courteous and obliging in his intercourse with his townsmen and neighbors. There is no record of his death to be found, either in any well-read old family bible or on any tombstone. Time has swept into the abyss of tbrgetfulness, those manly forms and brave hearts, \vhich dared to stand up against great odds and assert their freedom, but let the sons of Townsend, in all coming time, with fervent gratitude, remember James Hosley and his compatriots.

Walter Hastings, son of Col. Walter Hastings, was born at Townsend Harbor, December 9, 1814. He was only six years old at the time of his father's death. He was so promising a lad, that he was fitted for college by a private tutor ; but he decided not to enter college, preferring a life devoted to mercantile pursuits.

Through the influence of Hon. Amos Lawrence, he obtained a situation in the long-established house of Whitney & Haskell, where he remained till, or about the time he arrived at majority, enjoying the confidence of the firm and its numerous patrons.

Upon starting for himself, he was a partner in the firm of Spaulding, Rice & Hastings, in the dry goods business. In buying the goods for this house, he acquired an extensive acquaintance, which was much to his pecuniary advantage. He has held many positions of trust, which only a clear-headed, honest man, could fill.

He was treasurer of the Suffolk Manufacturing Company, the Tremont Mills, and the Merrimack Woollen Mills, each at Lowell - of all, at the same time. These corporations employed between three and four thousand operatives, the monthl}^ pay-roll of which amounted to about one hundred and twenty thousand dollars. For a number of years, he was treasurer of the York Manufacturing Company, Saco, Maine. Mr. Hastings has been a director in the Eliot Bank, from its formation, 185 1, to the present time ; and is also one of the directors in quite a number of manufacturing, fire and marine insurance companies. He is punctual to an appointment, and attends to all these interests with fidelit}'. By judicious investments, he has accumulated a large fortune, and he now ranks among the princely merchants of Boston, where he resides.

The career of this gentleman exemplifies to our youth, the importance of an early and decided choice of a pursuit, in which to engage, when the dawn of manhood shall sound the reveille for the battle with the world.

Hon. John Spaulding, son of Dea. John Spaulding, was born on Nissequassick Hill, in 1817. For three years he was in attendance at Phillips Academy, Andover, where he fitted for college. In 1842, he entered Yale College, with the freshman class, and remained at that institution until sometime during the senior year, when on account of ill health he left college. Not regaining his health sufficiently to return and graduate with his class, his Alf/m Afaler, without being solicited by any one, sometime afterward conferred upon him the degree of A. M., with all the rights and privileges of an Alumnus. Like many other country boys, he had to depend largely upon his own exertions, to support himself and gain a liberal education. Before the present days of numerous college scholarships, very materially aiding the impecunious student to fight the financial wolf from his door, young men of small means were obliged to work through the vacations, teaching school, and in other pursuits, to find the means to pay college fees and the other expenses of obtaining an education.

Mr. Spaulding entered the Law School, at Harvard Universit}', and pursued the course of study in that school, taking the degree of LL. B., in 1850. Subsequently he pursued his studies in the office of George F. Farley, a prominent lawyer at Groton Centre. In 1851, he was admitted to the bar. and opened an office at Groton Centre, wiiere he remained in practice only a short time, choosing

Prominent Individuals. 33

In 1872, he was appointed second special justice of the First District Court of Northern Middlesex, and since his induction into that office, he has held a seat on the bench in this court.

Judge Spaulding is neither a prominent politician, or an office seeker, his judgeship being tendered to him without his solicitation, either directly or indirectly. In exercising his right as a citizen he is identified with the republican party, while his religious associations, like most of the numerous Spaulding family, are with the orthodox congregationalists. As a lawyer, he is courteous to opposing counsel, and witnesses of the party opposed to him invariably leave the stand without feeling insulted. He has made the legal profession a pecuniarv success, which, considering the large number of learned and eminent members of the Middlesex bar, with whom he has had to compete, could never have been done without good discipline and a large amount of brain power. In 1862, he married Charlotte A., daughter of Alpheus Bigelow, Esq., of Weston. They have no children.

Hon. Levi Wallace was born, at or near the southeast corner of what was "Hathorn's farm," in Townsend, in 1833. While at the district school he was noted as a good scholar. For nearly three years he attended the Normal School, at Reeds Ferr}, a village in the town of Merrimack, New Hampshire. Professor William Russell was then at the head of this institution. He passed the years 1857 and 1858 at Appleton Academy, New Ipswich,

New Hampshire, during which time he fitted for college. He was a teacher in the Normal School, at Reeds Ferry, for about a year. In 1859, ^^^ commenced reading law, in the office of Hon. John Spaulding, at Ayer, and continued in that study till 1862, when he was admitted to the bar, and commenced the practice of law, at Pepperell. In 1868, he was a member of the house of representatives in the Massachusetts Legislature, for the towns of Groton and Pepperell. In 1872, he was elected a member of the Massachusetts Senate, for the Fifth Middlesex District ; and was re-elected to the same office in 1873. On the fifteenth day of August, 1873, he was appointed special justice of the First District Court of Northern Middlesex, and in February, 1874, ^^^ '^'^'^^ appointed standing justice of the same court.

The mother of Judge Wallace was a Spaulding. There have been frequent instances of intermarriage between these families in Townsend. He resides at Ayer, the location of the First District Court of Northern Middlesex. As a counsellor, he is deliberate and circumspect : as a justice, he is decided and sell-reliant; as a man, he is of fine personal appearance and good address. In 1863, he married Hannah F. Blaney.

Stillman Haynes, Esq^, the son of Samuel and Eliza (Spaulding) Haynes, was born on Nissequassick Hill, April 17, 1833. After receiving the usual training of the common and select schools of his native town, he was in attendance at Leicester Academy, and the Normal School, at Lancaster. In the last named institution, he was so fortunate as to receive rhetorical and elocutionar}" instruction from that master of these arts. Prof. William

Russell, and instruction in the natural sciences, from Prof. Sanborn Tenney. He was for some time, at New Ipswich Academy, an associate teacher, and student with Elihu T. Quimby, w^ho is at present Professor of mathematics and civil engineering, at Dartmouth College. He graduated at Kimball Union iVcademy, Meriden, New Hampshire, in 1859. I'^nking well both in character and scholarship. He excelled particularly in mathematics. During the years of preparatory study, he was successfully employed in teaching advanced village schools, at several places. As the income derived from teaching was sometimes inadequate to meet the expenses of his education, he resorted to manual labor to obtain funds to enable him to acquire a thorough education in ancient and modern languages, higher mathematics, engineering and literature. In 1859, ^^ entered the law office of Bonney & Marshall, at Lowell, as a law student, and was admitted to the Middlesex bar, in 1861. He commenced practice at Ashburnham, in 1862, but returned to Townsend, in 1863, and opened a law office. He continued the practice of law in Townsend, till 1868, when he removed to Fitchburg, and continued in that profession. While he was at Townsend, he was a member of the board of selectmen and served several years on the school committee. Since his removal to Fitchburg he has devoted himself exclusively to the practice of law, and by his thorough and patient examination of matters entrusted to him, combined with strict tidelity to his clients, he has attained a good standing and an honorable rank in his profession. He also enjoys the confidence of the citizens of his native town, more especially in matters pertaining to wills and trusts, and he is held by them in high estimation lor his integrity and legal ability. Mr, Haynes is the youngest, of the live sons of Townsend, who have chosen law for a profession. These men were all born on Nissequassick Hill, and in the same neighborhood. They are all among the living, except Mark Davis, and the three, whose leatures are lithographed and appear in this chapter, sustain very friendly relations to each other. Mr. Haynes married Hattie M. Kimball, of Temple, New Hampshire, October 8, 1863.

The ancestors of the Warrens, of Townsend, came over from England, in early colonial times. The direct descent of this family is traceable to Ephrairn Warren (born at Chelmsford, in 1731J, who came to this town from Chelmsford about 1760. His lather's name was Ephraim, and he was a brother of Thomas Warren, who was a captain in the continental army, and also represented Townsend in the General Court, and served on the board of selectmen for a number of years. The Ephraim, who settled here, married Mary Parker, sister of Lieutenant-Colonel Moses Parker, of the "27th Regiment of foot in the revolutionary war," and he lived on the Shirley road, about a mile southeast from the Harbor. He is represented, by tradition, as a man some below medium stature, of the Zaccheus-Napoleon type. He was the man who left his plow in the furrow, and started immediatelv, on horseback, when the alarm was given to the minute-men, on the 19th of April, 1775, mentioned in another part of this work. He died in 181 2.

Moses Warren, the oldest son of this patriot, born in 1755, was one of the most influential men, during his time, in this town or vicinity. He was an enterprising business man, trading in neat stock, lumber and land. He bought the place where the hotel now stands, at West Townsend, about 1793, of Israel Hobart. Only the west half of this building was made at that time, the east half being put on soon after the commencement of the present centur}'. This hotel, in Mr. Warren's time, was extensively patronized by travellers and market men.

In 1799, when the third New Hampshire turnpike, leading from Townsend to Walpole, New Hampshire, was being made, with much foresight and shrewdness, he purchased a large tract of land at its terminus in this town, and erected the hotel, now. standing on the west side of the river, at the centre of the town, intending to secure the custom of travellers at one or the other of the taverns, which he kept for a long time. He was a popular landlord, extensively known and respected. His tavern, at the Centre, was opened just before the ordination of Rev. Mr. Palmer, in 1800. On that festive occasion, he set tables in every room in his house, to which free access was given to every person who desired to enjoy his hospitality. In another part of this book, his name appears as a contractor for moving, setting up and finishing the old meeting-house, on the common.

He married (1776,) Martha Reed, of Townsend. The}' had five sons and five daughters. Seven of these lived to the age of more than three score years and ten. The oldest (Hannah,) lived to the age of eighty-two years, and the youngest (Martha, married Aaron Keyes,) is still alive at the age of nearly eighty years.

Levi Warren, the sixth child of this family, the picture of whom graces this volume, was born in 1788. He inherited the nervous, active enterprise of his father, who taught him that self-reliance which guided his course through life. Like his father, he also was not afraid of work. Before he was twenty years of age, being "master of his time," he went to Boston, and b}^ his industry and prudence, in a short time, he earned and saved money enough, so that he owned teams, and hired men himself; he prosecuted the teaming business, for a time, in a profitable manner.

In 1813, during the war with England, while British cruisers were hovering on our coast read}- to prey on our commerce, the government put him in charge of his own teams, and those of other parties, to convey boots and shoes, and other goods, needed in the south, to Charleston, South Carolina, and to return loaded with cotton, and other products of that section, needed in New England.

Subsequently, Mr. Warren was the proprietor of a wood wharf, in Boston, which was a source of wealth to him. Soon after the death of his father (1815), he bought different tracts of land, of his brothers, and from other parties, which, added to what he owned before, and what he inherited as his share of the estate of his father, made him the owner of more acres than most any man in town. A large part of the land in and around West Townsend was owned b\' the Warrens, of whom Levi was the largest proprietor.

He was the most public spirited man, of his time, in Townsend. When the baptists decided to have a meetinghouse, some of them wanted it located about half-wa\- on the road from the west village to the Centre. By the advice of Levi Warren this building was placed where it now stands, and, as has been heretofore stated he gave the land for the site of this edifice, and more than one-third of the money expended in its erection. In 1818, the hotel and two or three small dwellings, besides Mr. Jonathan Richardson's house, constituted most of the dwellinghouses in what is now the postal centre of West Townsend. This village is largely indebted to the Warrens, of two or three generations, and particularly to Levi, for its present cheerful appearance. Mr. Warren returned from Boston, and made West Townsend his place of residence, in 1837. The baptist church and the young ladies' seminary received his special attention, to the support of both of which he gave his money without stint or urging. In addition to his many acts of beneficence, it must be recorded that, in 1838, he gave the land for the cemetery, at West Townsend, for which the town returned to him a unanimous vote of thanks.

In other parts of this book, his name appears several times as a town officer, a military man, a representative to the General Court, and a benefactor to the institutions at West Townsend. In 1848, he moved to Newton, where he resided till his death, which occurred in 1864, when his remains were accompanied to Townsend for interment : and he now reposes within easy distance from the hum of industrv, and the joyous ringing of the church bells of the \illage, he founded and loved so faithfully.

Chapter Xiv Mi8Cellaxe0 Us Subjects

Town Library and its Origin - Fire Department - Odd Fellows - Townsend National Bank - The Ladies' Benevolent Society of the Orthodox Conjjregational Chnrch - Townsend Cornet Band - Post-Otfices and Postmasters.

In 1858, a book agent canvassed this town for the sale of a set of books, to make up an agricultural library, obtaining the names of some more than one hundred subscribers, who paid three dollars each, and became mutually interested in the enterprise. A farmers' club was talked about but never organized. A cominittee was chosen to select the books from a long catalogue. Most of the volumes selected were well worth}- of the attention of the farmer, but, a part of them, like Peter Pindar's razors, ''were made to sell." The books were read considerably, for a year or two, when it began to be discussed how to have more books and a larger library. In the winter of i860, a levee was given at the town hall, expresslv in the interest of the library, at which some over a hundred dollars were made after paying all expenses. During the next ten years, two or three gatherings of this kind were held, the object of which was to raise monev with which to buy books for the library. Each person.

Miscellaneous Subjects

having the benefit of this library, was taxed fifty cents a year, to help pay for a place to keep it in and secure the services of a librarian. The number of readers increased ; and at two or three times, when books were to be bought, a good degree of judgment was exercised in selecting standard literature, from the best authors.

In 1873, the shareholders and patrons of the library had an article inserted in the town warrant, to see if the town would take it oft' their hands, and make it a free library. The town voted to grant annually one hundred dollars for the support of the library ; and a committee has been chosen, each year, to expend the money. This money has all been expended for books, the running expenses having been paid the same as before, that is, by every reader paying fifty cents per annum. The influence of this institution has been excellent, in creating and fostering a taste and talent for reading and observation, and in giving to our youth pleasant thoughts and profitable culture. It contains at present more than one thousand volumes of history, poetry and belles-lettres.

Soon after the conflagration of the steam mill, owned b}' Walter Fessenden & Son, in August, 1874, ^ town meeting w-as called, to learn the opinion of the voters of the town in regard to the propriety of purchasing engines and appliances to extinguish fires. The voters turned out en masse to that town meeting, and after deliberation chose a committee, consisting of nine gentlemen, who resided at difterent parts of the town, to visit some of the cities and towns of this Commonwealth in order to ascertain what was needed, and to report at an adjourned meeting. The committee attended to that duty, and at the adjournment presented two reports to the town. The majority were in tavor of purchasing a third size tirst class Amoskeag steam fire engine, to be located at the centre of the town, a hand tire engine for West Townsend, and a chemical fire engine, called the Little Giant, for the Harbor. The minority reported that it was best for the town to purchase a hand machine for the Centre, two chemical engines for West Townsend, with hook and ladder apparatus, and one Little Giant, with hook and ladder apparatus, for the Harbor.

After a long and exciting discussion the town adopted the report of the majority of the committee. At that meeting the town voted to authorize this committee to purchase lands for engine houses, and to locate the same, to buy the engines, hose, nozzles, hose carriages, and every thing necessary for a regular fire department. This committee consisted of Alfred M. Adams, Anson D. Fessenden, E. S. Wilder, Jonas Spaulding, Jr., Alexander Craig, John E. Dickerman, S. W. Upton, William P. Taylor, and John M. Campbell. During the summer and autumn of 1875, the engines, and all the appliances necessary, were bought, and the engine houses were built. Tiie committee introduced first class engines, and built first class engine houses, it is presumed, on the principle that if an3'thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well. A company was soon raised, at the Centre, to man the steamer and hose carriage, and a company was organized at West Townsend, for the hand engine.

On the first of January, 1876, a 'fire department was tbrmally organized, by the choice of the following officers : Edwin A. Spaulding, tbreman of Steam Fire Engine Company, at Townsend Centre. Augustus Wilson, foreman of Eclipse Engine Company, at West Townsend.

Miscellaneous Subjects

Albert L. Fessenden, chief engineer, A. D. Fessenden, first assistant engineer, A. M. Adams, second assistant engineer, Wm. P. Taylor, third assistant engineer, at Townsend Centre ; Lewis Sanders, first assistant engineer, Samuel G. Wilson, second assistant engineer, Miletus Gleason, third assistant engineer, at West Townsend ; Jonas Spaulding, Jr., first assistant engineer, Noah Wallace, second assistant engineer, at Townsend Harbor.

Fortunately for the town, there has been no large fire since the inauguration of this department, whereby either the efficiency of these machines, or the skill of the firemen, has been particularly tested. It may be a question whether a town of some over tw^o thousand inhabitants, scattered over so large a territory, exercised good judgment in establishing a department of this kind, so expensive, inasmuch as the centre of the town, containing the best dwellings and the most expensive factories of any in town, are well protected b}- a force pump in the steam mill, and a force pump in the mill of A. M. Adams, either of which are powerful enough to throw water through a long stretch of hose and do good execution. The engines, houses, hose, and every thing connected with the fire department, cost the town, when it was established, about seventeen thousand dollars.

In December, 1866, M. W. Edmund D. Bancroft, grand master of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Massachusetts, and the officers of the grand lodge of this order, and J. L. Spring, M. W. grand master of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of New Hampshire, together with delegates from Fredonia Lodge, Shirley, Harvard Lodge, Harvard, and Custos Morum Lodge,

Miltbrd, New Hampshire, assembled at the hall above the auditorium, in the Universalist church building, at West Townsend, and instituted a Lodge of Odd FellovVs, and gave it the name of "North Star Lodge, No. 144." At this meeting, the following officers were chosen and duly installed : David Cram, N. G. ; Albert Howe, V. G. ; J. F. Stevens, secretary. The regular meetings of this fraternity were held at West Townsend until 1870, when a spacious and elegant hall was fitted up for its accommodation at the centre of the town. Apparently this institution is doing a good work in the cause of morality, sociability, and charity. At present this lodge has one hundred and nine members, a part of whom reside in the adjoining towns. In February, 1877, Albert L. Fessenden, a member of this lodge, was elected grand warden, and in August, 1877, he was elected deput}" grand master of the R. W. G. L. of Massachusetts, L O. O. F.

Albert L. Fessenden, the junior partner of the firm of Walter Fessenden & Son, was born on West Hill, in 1839. ^^^ heritage in his personal appearance and temperament is trom the side of his mother, whose name was Harriet E. Lewis, coming from a family noted for good health and a large amount of vitality. At a proper age he went to the academ}- at Wilbraham, where he remained about three years, ranking well in his studies, particularly so in mathematics. To him they were happy days, those that he passed at Wilbraham Academy. Wiien he was about nineteen years of age, and nearly fitted for college, he left the academy and decided to put in his lot with his father, in the manufacturing business. His first service rendered, consisted of a journey to Nova

Scotia and Newfoundland, as a drummer, to sell goods, with the promise that the proceeds of the sale of all the shocks which he sold over a certain number should be placed to his credit as a partner. He appeared at the objective points at just the right time, and the amount of his sales largely exceeded the expectation of either himself or his father.

The manufacture of shooks, during the first decade of the partnership of this firm, was an exceedingly bulky, as well as profitable trade. That a person outside of a coopering town may have some idea of what "shooks" are, it ma}^ be proper to put in a short description. The staves of a barrel, knocked down, and tied up in a bundle, after the cask is set up, levelled, howelled and worked off, would be a shook. Those made at that time were of hard wood, either maple, birch, or oak, with staves about twenty-one inches long, and heads, perhaps eighteen inches in diameter, and when set up and hooped, were "quarter fish drums." The heads to be used in these casks were fitted by a machine, and packed in drums to accompany the shooks, which, on arriving at their destination were set up, hooped with iron, and filled with dry fish ready for market. We nearl}' lost sight of the man in describing the shook. He conducts the correspondence and attends to the operatives, for the most part, while his father has generally been the travelling salesman. Since the erection of the steam mill, he has given his personal attention to the preparation of the stock, and the running of the engine and machinery. As a man, he is deliberate and circumspect, never excited under reverses, or jubilant over success. He is a good presiding officer at a public meeting, or can express his views before an audience in an acceptable manner. He is a prominent member of the masonic fraternity, and popular in that order, having passed the chairs in an intelligent and appreciable manner; besides, he is a "past eminent commander" in the order of knighthood, the degrees of which he conferred impressively. He is a bachelor, though not yet "an old bachelor."

The Townsend Bank was chartered in 1854. ^^ ^'""^ organization of the grantees, in September of that year, John M. Hollingsworth, of Groton, was elected president, and Edward Ordway, cashier. The following October. Mr. Hollingsworth 'resigned the office of president, i.nd Walter Fessenden was chosen to fill that office. Mr. Ordway was only nineteen years of age. Both of these officers have been at their post since that time, having gained and held the most implicit confidence of the business men of the Commonwealth, and in fact, of the government and nation.

The first board of directors consisted of Walter Fessenden, Daniel Adams, Charles B. Barrett and Samuel Adams, of Townsend, John M. Hollingsworth, of Groton, Stephen Wyman, of Ashby, Luther Tarbell, Jr., of Pepperell. Nelson Howe and Edwin C. Bailey, of Boston. It had one hundred and Iburteen shareholders, and one hundred shares was the largest amount taken by one person. The capital stock is one hundred thousand dollars. It has literally been the people's bank, quite a number of the stockholders owaiing less than ten shares. It was changed to a National Bank, in April, 1865. While it was a state institution, its bills contained some cunningly drawn figures and sparkling embellishments, calculated at a glance to reveal the contents of the notes of the different denominations.

In 1869, burglars made an attempt to rob this bank. They succeeded in opening the outer door to the vault, but the inside door, made of steel, foiled their plans, and they could go no further. They applied gunpowder to the doors, probably by placing it between them, expecting to drive the inside door into the vault," but without the desired effect. The explosion awakened the neighborhood, and the would-be burglars took to their teams and fled. The direction which they took being soon learned, they were followed by a gentleman, with a fast horse, and their sweaty and panting team, consisting of a pair of fleet horses, was found, just put up in one of the stables in Lowell. The bank now has a surplus fund of about forty thousand dollars.

The Ladies' Benevolent Society, consisting of ladies worshipping with the congregationalists. is deserving of a special notice. Many a thankful heart has bestowed a secret blessing on the efforts of these persons, in their labors of love and philanthropy. Their work has been done ver}' quietly, without any passwords, ostentation, regalia, or high-sounding titles. Without doubt, this passage of the divine word has been kept constantly in view : " And the King shall answer and say unto them ; verily I say unto you ; Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these mv brethren, ve have done it unto me."

"In ancient Scripture times - when events occurred which the people wished to keep in mind, we are told they arranged in some wav as many large stones as they could conveniently move, and let them stand as a memorial ol the event, leaving it to those who knew, to explain from time to time to others. We are invited at this time to bring something to serve the purpose of memorial stones, with reference to our Ladies' Benevolent Society.

"One afternoon, during the spring of 1826, a large company of voung ladies trom ditTerent parts of our town, assembled in the Centre school-room. The motive which brought them together, may be best learned by those records, which have been handed down to us: 'We, the subscribers, believing it to be the duty of all to assist in the great work of spreading the gospel, and feeling it likewise to be a privilege to aid so noble a cause, do agree to form ourselves into a societv, and subscribe to the following articles. First - This society shall be called The Young Ladies' Reading and Charitable Society of Townsend - whose object shall be to meet at stated times and places, for the purpose of braiding straw, knitting and sewing, the avails of which shall be appropriated to some benevolent purpose, expressed by the members of the society.' After the six articles of the constitution are recorded, we find the names of the officers, and the names of the sixty ladies, who were present at that first meeting ; very few of whom are now among the living. In 1828, we find this resolution adopted at the annual meeting : 'Any individual neglecting to meet with the society as often as once a quarter, and making no return of work at the annual meeting, shall no longer be considered a member.' Labor with a purpose, was evidently a ruling motive in the early years of this society, though the avails of their labor were necessarily small. The channels of communication, with every part of our own country, were not open as now, and they sent their money or boxes directly to the missionary rooms, in Boston, to aid in foreign work. In 1833, Mrs. William M. Rogers w^as chosen president; Miss Caroline Wright, vice-president; Mrs. John Bertram, secretary. After this year, until 1838, we find the labors of the society, as such, suspended, and the efforts of the ladies mainly directed to purposes of local interest. They prepared and kept on hand for the purpose of loaning to the needy sick, articles of bedding, wearing apparel, etc. The first record of a box sent west by our society, was made in 1841, when one was sent to Michigan, valued at fifty-four dollars. During this 3^ear, a vote was passed to invite the gentlemen to attend the meetings and co-operate in the efforts of the society.

''In 1844, Mrs. Luther H. Sheldon became our president and secretary, which position she held tor twelve years - a longer period than any other person. The American Home Missionary Society organized the same year as our own, and later, the American Missionary Association, have afforded facilities for aiding the laborers on our western frontier, and also the freedmen of the south. The exact number of boxes and barrels sent west and south, by our society, we are not able to state; but responses have come to us of such a character, as should stimulate to continued and increasing effort.

''In 1870, Mrs. George H. Morss was chosen president, and Mrs. Asa K. Tyler, secretary and treasurer. Since that date, our financial record appears better than in any part of our history for the same period of time. Our donations in money and clothing, for home missions and the freedmen, being nearly $450, with a parsonage fund of $1,400. The society took its present name in 1845, when the constitution was amended.

"As the years have rolled on, we find attention turned from time to time to local interests - sometimes in repairs about our house of worship - sometimes in assisting needy families. At different times we find a committee appointed in the school districts, to see if there were children needing aid to fit them out for Sabbath service. During the war, the soldiers received quite a large share in the interest and labors of this society. While we have not intentionally overlooked home interests, in our efforts for those abroad, we have desired to act on the principle that one should be done - the other not left undone.''

Miss Mary Palmer, the president of this society at its inauguration, is still among the living. She is nearly an octogenarian, in the full possession of her intellectual faculties, "of sound mind and memory," and has furnished the writer with many facts embraced in this work. She is the daughter of Rev. David Palmer. The secretary at that time. Miss Mary Adams, daughter of Dea. Joel Adams, now the widow of John Bertram, M. D., is also alive, and as active in the service as in the days of yore. Miss Myra Proctor, daughter of Dea. John Proctor, was an efficient member of this organization. For the past seventeen years she has been a missionary, stationed at Aintab, Syria. She translated Cutter's Physiolog}* into the Armenio-Turkish language, published at Constantinople, in 1868. She has much energy of character, is genial, and possesses excellent culture. But not to particularize further, it must be acknowledged that all these ladies have been benefactors to their race. "Who can tind a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies."

Townsend has every reason to feel proud of its musical ability, both vocal and instrumental. Prominent among the latter, stands the Townsend Cornet Band, consisting of eighteen pieces, under the direction of Stephen A. Tyler. The band was organized, in 1838, with Luther Adams, as leader. Previous to this time, quite a number of musicians had met together, at ditl^erent times, for the purpose of practice, but without any regular organization. At lirst the band consisted of tw^enty members, and without- varying much from that number, it has passed down through subsequent years, under the successive direction of George Warren, Adams Reed,

William Taylor, and Henry L. Butler, to the year 1865, when the present leader, Mr. Tyler, was chosen. He has held the position since then, with the exception of about eight months, during which time his place was tilled by his brother, A. Parker T^der. The band has acquired, as it justly deserves, more than a local recognition, receiving calls from the neighboring cities and towns, whenever an occasion, demanding music, arises. It has numbered among its instructors, Messrs. S. E. Hopkins, M. G. Gilpatrick, and Alonzo Bond. The following is the present membership of the band : Stephen A. Tyler, E flat clarionet ; Eugene Wetherbee, B flat clarionet ; Fred A. Larkin, E flat cornet; A. Parker Tyler, solo B flat cornet; Charles E. Robinson, first B flat cornet; Augustus A. Gerrish, second B flat cornet; Wallace L. Maynard, solo alto ; Andrew Drum, first alto ; W. L. Bartlett, second alto; John Arlin, B flat tenor; John Boutelle, baritone; Charles Cram, B flat bass ; Martin Whitcomb, tuba ; A. K. T3'ler, tuba ; William Coflee, bass drum ; Edward Gonier, snare drum ; Elmer Winn, cymbals.

During the past year an orchestra was formed, composed of members of the brass band, with the exception of Charles Cox, Edward A. Walker, and Edward Walker, violinists, consisting of ten pieces. This orchestra discourses sweet music and is well united.

Communications in writing, among the people, at a distance, one hundred years ago, were circulated and travelled much slower than one would suppose. Most all the letters, written in New England, were sent by the market men and teamsters to a general post-office in

Boston, and most of them were advertised in the Boston Gazette, a newspaper duly authorized for that purpose. There were some subscribers to that paper in this town, at that time. In 1777, among the letters advertised in a copy of that paper, is one for a man in Lyndeborough, New Hampshire, one for Colonel William Prescott, of Pepperell, and one for "Mary Reed, of Townshend."

In 1794, a man by the name of Balch was a courier between Keene and Boston, travelling on horseback. He came through Townsend, and was an expressman, in a small way, for two or three years, carrying letters and messages, and doing errands.

The Boston and Keene stages began to run in 1806. making three trips a week, at first, but soon after they commenced changing horses so frequently, that the entire distance was made daily. The horses were changed at Concord, Groton, New Ipswich (at the Wheeler tavern,) and Jaffrey, New Hampshire. The coaches met at about noon, in this town, and during a part of the time, the horses were changed and the passengers dined at West Townsend.

The monotony of the long, summer days, in these rural towns, was very pleasantly broken by the noisy axle-trees of these vehicles ; and the busy husbandmen and toilers, in the roadside fields, would pause in their labors, to catch a view of those messengers of civilization as they moved briskly along. Some of the stage drivers are well remembered at the present time. Kimball Dantbrth was very popular, and later, Walter Carlton and Stephen Corbin were for a long time in the service. These men studied to make every thing agreeable to their passengers.

and were very accommodating to all wishing to send errands or packages. Their hardships in occasionally encountering the deep snow-drifts on the hills, and the pinching northwest winds which January sweeps over the Townsend plains, are not forgotten. After the railroads were made, some of these drivers were placed upon the cars, as conductors, but they always appeared out of their element, and as though they greatly preferred the excitement afforded by their pet animals, rather than the unnatural snort of the iron horse.

There was a mail route established between Lowell and Worcester, in 1832, which gave the Harbor a postoffice, at this early date, that point being on the route.

The post-office at Townsend Centre was discontinued in 1834, frt)m the cause, that the returns to the department were not made as promptly as was required, so that all mail matter for this town, from October 1834, to April 11. 1835, came to the Harbor.

Town Officees

Some EeiDiirkable Votes of the Town - Good Sense of the Town About Taxes - Names of the Town Clerks. Moderators. Selectmen, and Eepresentatives, from the Time the Town was Chartered to 1879 - Justices of the Peace - County Eoad Throug-h Groton - Deer Eeeves - Hog Eeeves - Tithing-Men.

The names of the town officers, from the date of its incorporation to 1879, ^^^ contained in this chapter, and it is hoped that they are arranged in a manner that will be agreeable to the reader. These men all entered upon the discharge of their several duties, clothed with a solemn oath, and it is due to each and every one of them, to assume that their best abilities were enlisted in the interest of the town. Their acts have passed into history, and the relative position that Townsend now holds, compared with her sister towns in this Commonwealth, in the scale of wealth, morality or religion, is traceable to the manner in which they have discharged the duties committed to their trust. A tinge of melancholy has shaded the records, during the generations, as able and experienced boards of officers have fallen behind to give place to others, who also in their Itn-n have melted into the shadow}- past.

Town Officers

-'And others rise to till our places; We sleep, and others run the races; And earth beneath and skies above Are still the same ; and God is love.''

For more than a century, after the town received its charter, the selectmen charged nothing and received nothing for their services, except the honor of being the "fathers of the town." One instance on record where pay was received for services rendered is as follows : In 1771, (town records, page 138,) "Voted to give Thomas Hubbort two pounds for a peculiar favor he has shone the town." What that peculiar favor, was is unknown, this being the entire record on that subject. It may be inferred that it was of considerable consequence to the town, for although the amount Mr. Hobart received would appear insignificant in the eyes of a public servant of the present day, he undoubtedly regarded it as a goodly amount of " the filthy lucre." It was customary to pay the assessors a small sum for their services, who, during the time above mentioned, constituted a board entirely separate from the selectmen.

The practical good sense and judgment of the people who were here more than one hundred years ago, appeared in the act of the town, in 1777, when the money was appropriated by the town to pay the revolutionary soldiers, and different quotas were awarded different amounts ; after the several sums were agreed upon by the assembled citizens, "Voted that all the above estimates be made into a rate on the several inhabitants of this town, and that the polls pay one-half of said i-ate." This has the appearance of fair play and justice, and is more consistent than the present method. A poll-tax for some time past has been, and is at present, . two dollars. The tax on a male animal, of the canine species, is two dollars ; that on a female animal, of the same species, is five dollars ; so that occasionally a man will pay two and onehalf times as much for the existence of a worthless pet dog, as he has to pay for his ov\ai head and all the advantages of good roads, good schools, and every thing that makes civilized life superior to barbarism. The polls in Townsend for some time have paid about one-sixteenth of the entire tax, when one-tifth would have been a fairer proportion.

It will be observed, in the following catalogue, that Townsend omitted to send a representative to the General Court, many times during the lirst lifty years after the acquisition of our national independence. Probably this may be accounted for from the fact that each town for most of that time, paid its own representative, and the neglect was regarded as economy. A law suit (James Locke vs. The inhabitants of the town of Townsend,) was commenced in 1786, concerning a bill which James Locke brought against the town for services as a representative. The town considered the charges, in his account, excessive, and refused to pay it, which after the usual delays of the law was finally compromised and adjusted.

Townsend has guarded her interests invariably with a jealous eye, and maintained her legal rights, "asking for nothing but what was right, and submitting to nothing that was wrong."

The records for 1732 are lost, so that it is impossible to give the officers for that year. Samuel Manning was the town clerk, as appears from a part of the record, for that

Town Officers. 3 60

Selectmen - ^James Hosle^^ Isaac Farrar, Thomas Warren, Daniel Emery, Richard Wyer. Representative in the Provincial Congress, Israel Hobart.

Selectmen - James Hosley, Isaac Farrar, Daniel Emery, Richard Wyer, Zacheriah Emery. Representative in the Provincial Congress, Israel Hobart.

*In 18-27, "Voted that the town will abolish the custom of receiving a treat from their representative when chosen." Townsend commenced early in the temperance cause. Aaron Warren, this year, instead of furnishing the Ihiuors, jiresented an expensive pall or burying-cloth to the town. This might liave licen intended as a symbol of public opinion which was preparing to bury His Majesty, King Alcohol.

1852. Moderator, Levi Sherwin ; Clerk, Qiiinc}' A. Sylvester. Selectmen - Quincy A. Sylvester, Levi Sherwin, Nathaniel F. Cummings. Sent no Representative.

1857. Moderator, Eliab Going ; Clerk, Rector T. Bartlett. Selectmen - Henry Sceva, Albert Howe. Benjamin E. Wetherbee. Representative, Frederick A. Worcester, of Townsend.*

*In 1867, Townsend, Ashby and Shii-ley, constituted a representative district. Middlesex county was entitled to forty-one of the two hundred and forty members of the House of Representatives.

1873. Moderator, Ithamar B. Sawtelle; Clerk, Christopher Gates. Selectmen - Abel G. Stearns, Benjamin Brown, Joshua S. Page. Representative, Alonzo A. Carr, of Ashby.

1874. Moderator, Albert L. Fessenden ; Clerk, Christopher Gates. Selectmen - Charles Osgood, Eliot Moore, Ephraim S. Wilder. Representative, Edwin A. Spaulding, of Townsend.

1875. Moderator, Albert L. Fessenden; Clerk, Christopher Gates. Selectmen - Charles Osgood, Ephraim S. Wilder, George A. Upton. Representative, Samuel Longley, of Shirle\'.

The town, in the choice of its officers, especiall}' during the early part of its existence, invariably put the right men in the right place. For example, in 1735 ^ the town "chose Capt. John Stevens to appear at the General Court to get the lands subjected," that is, have a law passed whereby non-residents' land should be taxed. "Voted that he shall ask the Honorable Court for two pence an acre for the first year, and one penn}- for the next two years." John Stevens was a field surveyor, and had a large acquaintance in Middlesex county.

The court granted the request of the town, and for a long time the tax on non-residents' lands was a penny an acre. The payers of this tax, living in the oldest settled towns in the province, were men of wealth, and some of them were members of the Assembly, which acceded to the request of the town, made through Capt. Stevens. Thirty pounds of the penny acre "rait" were appropriated "toward finishing some part of the meeting house."

In 1738, "Voted that Capt. John Stevens appear in the name and behalf of the town, to desire of the town of Groton, that the bridge over the great river, in said town, be forthwith rebuilt, or upon their refusal to make application at Quarter Sessions next to be holden at Concord, that a county road may forthwith be laid out through Groton."

For a time, this was delayed ; but the Townsend people were determined to have a county road laid out from this town to Groton, which would require a bridge over the Nashua, where the Fitch bridge now stands. James Locke, Jr., with suitable assistance, surveyed a route for this road, and drew a plan of it, which was presented to the Court. (This plan may now be seen in the office of the Secretary of State, volume 4, page 51, ancient plans and maps.) A county road, according to the plan, was ordered by the Court. Groton felt aggrieved because the town was obliged to build and maintain so many bridges, and claimed that Townsend should be compelled to bear one-half of the expense of the bridge, according to Locke's survey, which was greatly for the benefit of Townsend.*

Groton had as many bridges over the Nashua, in 175 1, as at the present time, and in nearly the same places. The present road between Tovvnsend and Groton, after entering the limits of the town of Pepperell, is situated further north than the one surveyed and accepted for the county road, at that time, which is now discontinued. Considerable feeling was manifested between the citizens of the two towns. The people of Townsend accomplished their object, whether justly or not, through the adroit management of two or three sharp men.

It appears that wild animals, either ferocious or timid, were not numerous here, when the town was settled. The bear and the wolf had receded from the sound of the woodman's axe. Occasionally one of these animals would make a raid on the flocks and herds. Eldad Bailey, a truthful old gentleman, now eighty-seven years old, says that he saw Capt. Zacheriah Hildreth shoot a bear near his (Mr. Bailey's) house, when he was a boy. The animal had a piece of a log chain-link in his body, which he probably received from the gun of an Ashb}- man who shot at him with that ammunition, a considerable time previous to his capture. Deer in pairs, and in small herds, were seen at times. An effort was made, for a long time, to protect these animals from the pitiless marksmen. Two officers were annually chosen, called deer-reeves, whose duty it was to inform if any one molested the deer at certain times during the 3'ear, and to assist in punishing the offenders against the regulation of the town concerning that animal.

In 1734, the town chose three hog-reeves. The duty of these officers was to take care of the hogs, which were allow^ed to run at large for more than eighty years after the incorporation of the town. The hogs "were rung," as it was called ; that is, a piece of wire was put through the upper part of the hog's snout, bent in the form of a ring, and twisted together at the ends. When the creature commenced subsoiling, the wire would cause pain and prevent the operation. The animals were prevented from going through fences, by a wooden yoke. If the citizens neglected to put this regalia on their porcine workmen, the hog-reeves were obliged to do it for them for which a regular fee was allowed. A little mirth always attended the election of these officers. The three latest married men were sure to be chosen on this board. No one ever became angry, or considered himself insulted, bv being honored with the office, but patiently waited to see how much fun he could have with his successors.

During the time that the town constituted one parish, tithing-men were chosen, at each annual town meeting, whose duty it was to see that the Sabbath was properly observed, and particularly that people attended public worship on that day. At the present day, and for the last twent3'-tive 3'ears, the tithing-men of Townsend have been elected from that class of persons who seldom or never attend sanctuary services, or trouble themselves, in the least, about what is done on the Sabbath dav.

The following account of the marriages of Townsend people was drawn from various sources and different records. It contains every marriage, of w^hich there is any record to be found, performed within the tirst hundred years after the incorporation of the town. The records made by the Rev. Mr. Hemenway concerning baptisms are very full, but the names of many parties joined in wedlock by him, are not on record. Mr. Dix and Mr. Palmer have both left a complete record of the marriages performed by them. The orthography of the christian names has been preserved, so that Rebecca, Sibyl, and other names, will be found spelled differently. Should this chapter appear too long to the reader, let it be borne in mind that marriage is the key to domestic life. Perhaps genealogists yet unborn will run it over with interest.

These are all the marriages on record, performed by Rev. Mr. Hemenway. Twelve leaves have been cut out of the first book of church records, apparentlv with some dull instrument, and in a very rough manner. Whether these leaves contained marriage records is unknown, but the presumption is that they did, for the ministers of those times kept these records.

"The church's book ot" Records," commencing 1800, contains the following marriages, performed by Rev. David Palmer, and recorded by him. Where no place of residence of either party is recorded, the presumption is that they belonged to Townsend. An exact cop}- of Mr. Palmer's records is here presented : -

The following catalogue of marriages was received and recorded by Daniel Adams, town clerk of Townsend, agreeably to the act of 1857, chapter 84, section 4 : -

Eecorcl of the Descendants of Daniel Adams, who settled in Townsend, in 1742 - The AVhitne}' Family as Benefactors and Business Men - Genealogy of some of tlie Townsend Whitneys.

People by the name of Adams are nearly as numerous as those by the name of Brown, or Smith. Up to 1875, the number of graduates, at Harvard College, by the name of Smith, was one hundred and two, while there were ninety-six graduated b}- the name of Adams. Adamson was the original name, of which Adams is an abbreviation. The name was veiy common, in England, at the time of the settlement of the colonies. As many as four different lamilies by the name of Adams, claiming no relationship, setded in the province of Massachusetts.

The name of Adams was quite common in early provincial times. At present there are several genealogists by that name, who are making great efforts to collect the facts in regard to their ancestors, with the view of an "Adams Memorial." The lineage of so many persons, must, from the nature of the case, remain a matter of much uncertainty in numerous instances. From the present

Joseph Adams, the progenitor of a part of those by the name of Adams who have made Townsend their place of residence, came from England, about 1685, and settled in Cambridge, in what is now Arlington. Little is known of his family, except that he was the father of one Daniel Adams. The Genealogical Register has the following : -

This Daniel Adams, and one Ephraim Jones, both of Concord, cut a road from Townsend to the Ashuelot River, in 1737, and asked the General Court to pay them for their work, but they never received anything from the province, for their services. The old road to Ashby is known in the Townsend records as tiie "Ashuelot Road ;" and it is substantiallv over the same route that Adams and

Descendants Of Daniel Adams

Jones cut their way through, to facilitate the communication between the Middlesex county towns, near the coast, and Keene, which was granted by Massachusetts, and settled in 1735.

Daniel Adams, ^ {Daniel^- yose^h,^) was born in Concord, in 1720, and moved to Townsend, in 1742. Of the place where he located, the reader may learn by turning to the sketch of Seth Davis, in this work. Married, first, Keziah Brooks, of Concord, 1743; she died, 1754.

He married, third, Sarah Phelps, of Lancaster, June 30, 1784, who survived him, and was well provided for by the will of her husband, who died in 1795, aged seventy-five years. There are twenty-eight lines of poetry on the large slate gravestone, erected at the east side of the old burying-ground, to perpetuate his memory. He was a man of much influence, - was town clerk for several years, served on the board of selectmen many times, and represented Townsend in the General Court. He was a man of industrious habits, and amid all the trials and cares of rearing the largest family ever in town, known to the writer, he accumulated a large property which he distributed by his will about equally among his children.

Rebecca, his daughter, married, December 21, 1769, James Campbell, of (Raby) Brookline, where they lived and reared four children. He represented Mason and Raby in the Legislature of New Hampshire, while these towns were classed.

Keziah married John Sherwin, in 1782. About 1800, he built what is now the Townsend almshouse, for a tavern, and kept tavern there several years. This was a public house a large pai't of the time till 1834, ^vhen the town bought it for $1,400.

Elizabeth married Joshua Smith, of Raby. They had sons and daughters, and their descendants are now among the inhabitants of Brookline and Townsend.

Mary married John Giles, who was a prominent man , and a deacon of the church in this town. Two of their sons graduated at Harvard College and are sketched in another part of this work.

Phebe married Solomon Jewett, 1795. They reared a famil}-, and among them was Solomon Jewett, Jr., whose name appears with the Townsend traders, in another chapter.

Descendants Of Daniel Adams

This was a remarkable family. They lived on the east side of Hathorn's meadow, in the house now occupied by two Bohemian families. The father was a deacon of the church, and a justice of the peace ; his son Daniel was a noted author; Joel was a deacon of the church, and a justice of the peace ; Lydia was a lady of intelligence and refinement (married Asa Kendall, of Lunenburg, October 15, 1807) ; and Jonathan Stow was a deacon of the church, in Groton, and a justice of the peace. They were all born in Townsend. Daniel Adams, the father of this family was a good townsman, and held most of the town offices. He fully appreciated the importance of education, and gave all his children good advantages in that direction.

He was a farmer and lived on the premises now owned and occupied by Stillman Adams, and Sarah Jane, his sister. He was a man of good natural abilities - was a selectman and a representative to the General Court.

Capt. Joseph Adams lived on the farm where he was born, described on page 237 of this work. He was an exemplary man, leading a strictly puritanical life. Although he kept a large stock of cattle, and his sons were taught the habits of industry, he never allowed his stable to be cleaned out on the Sabbath.

Jonathan Stow Adams-' {Daniel,^ Daniel ^-^ Daniel ^^ Joseph,^) married Betsey Wood; no children. He was a trader and did business in Groton. He was a deacon of the church, a justice of the peace, and very decided in his opinions.

Capt. James Adams was a farmer. He was a man of a pleasant disposition, a kind husband and father, and he was much respected. James Edson, his son, w^as a very active Boston merchant. He left a large amount of property.

Joseph Adams is still alive. He has been postmaster at the central village - a hotel keeper and a trader - is now an old gentleman, retired from business. Joseph A., his son, married Adelaide Gilbert, 1868. No children.

Mr. Adams was a trader at Townsend Centre for many years, doing business in the brick store, built by Samuel Stone. He was town clerk quite a number of years. In the latter part of his life he was engaged in the coopering business, having sold out his store. He died January 9, 1873.

He lived on the farm owned by his father and grandfather. He owned and occupied a mill, at one time, situated near the Brookline road. This farm, at his decease, went out of the possession of the Adams family, "no son of his succeeding." He died December 6, 1852.

meadow, where he died in 1858. He was a prominent, influential man, as a citizen and member of the orthodox church. Besides holding, at different times the several town offices, in 1858 he represented this senatorial district in the General Court. He probably exerted the greatest influence, of any Townsend man, in getting the railroad through this town.

He was born at Townsend Centre, in 1835. While at the district school he was always free from trouble, either with his teachers or school-fellows. What he lacked in brilliant scholarship, he made up in good deportment and politeness towards his parents and superiors. When he was about fifteen years of age, he was a student at New Ipswich Academy, where he remained nearh' three years, during which time he applied himself diligently to his studies. He then left that school, and went to Westfield Academy, where he continued about the same length of time. On leaving the academy he went to Boston, and was a clerk in a wholesale carpet store about two years.

The firm of Adams & Powers was dissolved, by the death of Mr. Powers, in 1856. On the first day of January, 1857, Mr. Noah Adams, the surviving partner,, and father of A. M. Adams, bought out the interest of the widow and Charles E. Powers, the only heir. Mr. Noah Adams, being out of health, and feeling the pressure of business, was very anxious to have his son return from the city and assist him ; and he made so liberal an offer to him that he complied with his father's wishes. In December, 1859, Mr. Noah Adams died. Soon after his death, Alfred M. Adams bought the interest of his mother, sister and brother, in the property, and has continued business, at that place, ever since.

The short apprenticeship which he served with his father was of incalculable benefit to him, as he thereb\' formed the acquaintance of his father's customers, and learned the routine of the business. As a successful manufacturer, his record will not appear to disadvantage, when viewed in connection with the efforts of men of larger experience and equally favorable surroundings. Since he has been proprietor he has made some important improvements in the mills, and extended the business considerably. He employs a good many men, and is one of the heaviest tax payers in town.

His life has exemplified the exception rather than the rule, in the descent of property from one generation to another. Generally, when a young man, not knowing how to earn a dollar with his hands, has a large property left to him, he loses it about as easily as he obtained it ; and then, perhaps he will make an effort to ascertain the value of money by earning some himself. This gentleman has kept all that he inherited, and added largely to that amount. Mr. Adams is a prominent member of the republican party, and, as such, he represented the Thirty-Fifth Middlesex District in the General Court in 1877. Everything around his residence, shops, storehouses, and mills, shows a controlling influence, emanathig from a man of taste, prudence, and enterprise.

Darwin Adams" {Daniel^' Daniel,'^ Daniel^'' Daniel.;' yoseph,^) married Catherine Smith, of Hollis, N. H., 1828 ; she was the daughter of Rev. Eli Smith.

He is a graduate of Dartmouth College, class of 1824, and is a retired congregational minister, residing at Groton, and is well worthy of being the son of Daniel Adams, the author.

He is a graduate of Yale College, 1835. ^^^ took the degree of M. D., at Harvard College, in 1838. He practiced medicine in the City of New York, about twenty years. He is at present located at Ridgeheld, Connecticut, where he continues in the medical profession.

He is engaged in business in the City of New York, in partnership with Alden Warner, son of Samuel Warner, of this town. He passes part of the time on the farm where he was born, which he and his sister, Sarah Jane, still own and occupy.

He lived in Cavendish, Vermont. Died September 9, 1875. Calista (French) Adams, his wife, died February 13, 1875. Their children were born at Cavendish, Vermont. He was a farmer.

Their children were all born at Cavendish, Vermont. This Benjamin was a farmer. He and his family moved to Ohio, in 1840. Died at Akron, November 22, 1849.

Samuel L. Adams" {Samuel/' Bcnjamm,^ Daniel^^ Daniel,^ "Josef h,^) married Betsey M. Parker, July 2, 1848. No children. He is a grocer, and resides at Saint Charles, Kane County, Illinois.

This gentleman is a farmer, and resides at Chester, Vermont. The author of this work is indebted largely to him for the foregoing account of most of the descendants of Benjamin Adams, his grandfather.

Frank Adams, brother of Washington Adams, is a large manufacturer of sewer pipe. He is a resident of Akron, Ohio, living with his second wife. He has two children by each wife - one son and three daughters.

There are only two or three male descendants of Daniel Adams, during his six consecutive generations, whose names are not contained in the tbregoing memorial of this branch of tlie family.

Shadrack Whitney, son of Jonathan Whitney, and brother of Amos, the giver of the Townsend parsonage, was born in Watertown, in 1698. He was in Townsend before it was chartered, in 1732. The Groton records contain his marriage: "Jan. 5, 1731-2, Shadrack Whitney of y^' North Town to Prudence Lawrence." He was rather a prominent man, and served on several committees, appointed by the proprietors, to la\- out and apportion the undivided lands equally among them. He lived in that part of the town, which was left in Mason, by the running of the province line. It appears that in 1753, he had "a house and barn, and about twenty acres cleared and fenced, and a young orchard,"* in that tow^n. He owned lands in Mason, Townsend and Groton. In August, 1733, the Townsend proprietors held a meeting "at y'' publick meeting house," the principal object of which was "To see if y*^ said proprietors think it convenient to grant a recompense ( to Ephraim Sawtell ) for any land which may be flowed by erecting a dam upon Squannoocook River, near y*' house of John Patt in order to Sett upp mills for the benefit of said Proprietors." A grant of land was awarded to said Sawtell, at that meeting. The following record, in connection with that vote is here presented : -

Sometime in the latter part of his life, he moved from Mason to Groton, where, on the twentieth of July, 1764, he made his will, which was proved, approved and allowed, on the fourteenth of the following August. After making several bequests to relatives and friends, he gave the town of Groton forty pounds, to be put upon interest

"in such a way and manner as they shall think lit, so that the interest thereof may be improved and applied to the support of the ordained minister of the town of Groton, from time to time, forever hereafter."

The Whitneys, from that time to the present, have been noted for their liberal donations, both to religious and scientific objects. As in the flowage case cited, they have always done their own thinking, and were always ready to place themselves squarely on record.

Levi Whitney was the eldest son of Daniel Whitney, who was brother of Shadrack. He was born (probably) in Shrewsbury, December 5, 1739. He came to Townsend about the time he arrived at majority. He married, first, Rebecca Clark, daughter of Deacon Samuel Clark, December 19, 1764.

in Milford, N. H. ; afterwards he removed to the State of Maine, where he died. Tradition says he was a large and powerful man, six and onehalf feet in height.

The Whitney Family

During the revolutionary war, Levi Whitney was an officer in the commissary department, with the rank of lieutenant. He was a man of much mechanical ingenuity, and a manufacturer of agricultural tools. His children were all born in Townsend.

Amos Whitney, the son of Levi, married Anna. Brown, of Concord, August 16, 1789. He was in the coopering business, at Chelmsford, now Middlesex Village, where he lived and where he acquired a large property in that trade. He died October 2, 1854.

Asa Whitney, the son of Levi, married Mary Wallace, February 25, 1790. He was a blacksmith and resided in this town. He died December 27, 185 1, aged eighty-four years ; she died February 11, 1846.

The father of this family was an upright, hardworking man, but possessed of little financial ability. These sons and daughters were all born on Nissequassick Hill.

Asa Whitney, oldest son of Asa, married Clarinda Williams, at Watertown, Jefferson County, New York, on the twenty-second day of August, 1815. She was' the daughter of Ralph Williams, of Groton, Connecticut.

These sons and daughters were all born at Brownville, New York. Asa Whitney, the father of this family, at the age of thirteen years sought employment in Boston ; after some months returned home, and, after attending school for a time, returned to his father's blacksmith shop, and having learned the trade, he went to Swanzey, New Hampshire, where he worked on cotton mill machinery, for two years or more. In 1813, he went to Brattleboro, Vermont, and engaged in the same business, but was burned out and lost all his earnings. Soon afterward he went to Brownville, New York, where he resided several years. For a time he lived at Schenectady, and again at Albany, New York. He was then superintendent of the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad. At one dme he held the office of Canal Commissioner. His reputation as a railroad engineer, at one time, was so high that he was consulted on the question of the gauge of the Erie Railroad, then being built. He gave an elaborate opinion in favor of the four feet eight and one-half inch gauge, which, had it been adopted then (as it has been recently), would have saved the railway millions of dollars. From 1842 to 1847, with M. W. Baldwin, he was engaged, in the City of Philadelphia, in the manutacture of locomodves, on an extensive scale. In 1847, he commenced the manufacture of car wheels, and founded the establishment still carried on, at Philadelphia, by the firm of "A. Whitney & Sons." Before his death, this firm manufactured about 75,000 car wheels annuall}^. He was a man of great benevolence, giving liberally through life, and at his death he left by his will $50,000 to found a chair of dynamical engineering, in the University of Pennsylvania, and about $40,000 to other charitable purposes. He left a princely fortune to his family, and was probably the only millionaire among the sons of

This man is noticed on page 251 of this book, as the inventor of the planing machine, now used extensively. He possessed a great amount of inventive and mechanical skill, but was deficient in matters of business. He moved to Waltham, where he died, in November, 1870.

Sewell Whitney, another brother, never married. He died October 26, 1818, aged twenty-two. He was the only one of the family who worked on wood, the others being disciples of Tubal Cain. He made bowls, bottles, and trays. His gallon bottles were made of poplar, one piece of wood, turned inside and outside, while the wood was green. Seasoned heads of the same wood were then put in and when dried, they were air-tight. Many a thirsty haymaker has been refreshed from these hoopless samples of woodenware.

Amos Whitney, the son of Amos and Anna (Brown) Whitney, born 1790, never married. He was a man of exemplary character, without being particularl}' enterprising. In 1854, ^^^^ father died, and left him a large amount of wealth which w^as acquired in the coopering business. His pecuniary means were ample without this additional inheritance. He left a will at his decease, devising about $20,000 to his relatives, $2,500 to the "Old Ladies Home," a charitable institution, at Lowell, and made Tufts College the residuary legatee. The amount of his wealth, at his death, was over $50,000. He died at Middlesex Village, October 19, 1873.

There is not a person, at present, by the name of Whitney, among the inhabitants of Townsend. A granddaughter of Lydia (Price) Whitney, the widow Rebecca (Wallace) Simonds, a few of her descendants and the descendants of the late Benjamin Wallace, are the onlv persons claiming the least relationship to the descendants of Levi Whitney, the ancestor of the people by that name formerly in Townsend. No record of the birth of any of the Whitne}' families herein described, can be found in the town records. The family bibles and moss-covered gravestones have sacredly preserved what few dates are here presented, concerning the births and deaths of these inventors and philanthropists, their children, and those whom they loved.

Source changes here: from History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : Containing Carefully Prepared Histories of Every City and Town in the County, by Drake, Samuel Adams, published 1880; 4,669 words in this source stream.

List Of Illustrations, Plans, Etc

Munroe's Tavern .... Statue op the Minute Man of 177 Statue op the Soldier of 1861 Statue op Samuel Adams . Statue op John Hancock The Battle Monument Plan op Nashobah .... Ancient Sign of the L.\wrence Tavern Portrait of Nathan Appleton Portrait of Kirk Boott . BooTT Cotton Mills, Lowell The Netv Canal .... PivE Cents Saving Bank Building

St. Anne's Church, Chapel, and Parsonage Eliot Congregational Church .... John Street Congregational Church . Church of the First Parish, ISiS, Malden Boston Rubber Shoe Company's Works A Settler defending his Children . The Gates House, Marlborough .

each otlier in ofRce, are William Stevens, Zacliariah Hildrith, Timothy Fessenden, Eliiib Cioing, Hezekiah Richardson, William Archibald, Isaac Spaulding, James Adams, and Isaac Kidder ; and of the North Company are John Campbell, Jonathan Wallace, Samuel Brooks, Joseph Adams, Walter Hastings, John Waugii, and George Wallace. Tliese were prominent townsmen in their day, wjien it meant something to be the commander of a military company. In 1817 Levi Warren, Walter Hastings, and others petitioned for the charter of an independent company, which was granted; and soon after it was organized under the name of the Townsend Light Infantry, which was kept alive till 1S5£. It was a well-disciplined, fine-looking corps. It invariably appeared on parade with excellent music, and received on muster-days many compliments from military men during the thirtyfive years of its existence. The organization of this company left the number of soldiers in town liable to do military duty so small that they were enrolled in one company. The military spirit in Massachusetts began to wane about 18£5, previous to which time the training and muster days were forward to with much interest. In 1837 the legislature passed a law making all military duty voluntary, which resulted in the disbanding of the entire un-uuiformed militia of the commonwealth.

There was little interest manifested in military affairs until 1861, when the life of the nation was threatened by the Southern slaveholders. The part taken by Townsend in that terrible civil war was very creditable, both to its young men who enlisted and entered the service, and to the taxpayers who poured forth their treasures without stint hi the cause of patriotism and for the preservation of the Union. The town sent to the field three commissioned officers, and, including one drafted man and substitutes, two hundred and sixty-seven men, of whom one hundred and sixtyone were voters in this town at the time when they volunteered. Of the Townsend men included in this number thirty-four lost their lives, - twelve in action, and twenty-two by starvation in Rebel prisons, by disease, or other casualties of war. In Company E, 33d Massachusetts Regiment of Volunteers, were twenty-six Townsend men, twelve of whom were either killed in action or died in the army. At present there is no military company in towii and, in fact, the commonwealth itself is in about the same defenceless condition as when the guns were pointed towards devoted Sumter in 1S61. Our legislators and the people profess the most profound respect for the memory of Washington, forgetting his parting advice : " In time of peace prepare for war."

The ecclesiastical history of Townsend, like that of most New England towns, is replete with interest. There were settlers here, in the easterly part of the town, two or three years before a church was gathered, who were acustomed to attend public worship at Groton. The extreme poverty of these men, together with the long controversy with Old Dunstable (before mentioned), is supposed to be the principal reason why Townsend did not receive its charter about the same time that Lunenburg was incorporated (17^8). The meeting-house was built in 1730, and probably there was occasional preaching in it for some time before a church was gathered. There is nothing left on record concerning the religious status of the town previous to 1734, when a call was extended to Phineas Hemenway to become the town's minister. A copy of Mr. Hemenway's acceptance of this call is in the town records, dated July 22, 1734. He was ordained on the 16th of October, at which time the church, consisting of sixteen male members, was gathered. The names of these members are Phineas Hemenway, Joseph Stevens, William Clark, Nathaniel Tailor, Daniel Tailor, Joseph Baldwin, Joim Stevens, James McDonald, John Wallis, Samuel Manning, Jacob Baldwin, Samuel Clark, John Slowen, Benjamin Tailor, Isaac Spaulding, and Jeremiah Ball. The wives of some of these men were soon after admitted to the churcii. Belonging to this body, also, were some of the negro slaves owned by the wealthiest citizens whose names appear above. During Mr. Hemenway's pastorate the church increased from sixteen to seventynine members.

Rev. Phineas Hemenway was born at Framingham, April 26, 1706. He was the son of Joshua and Rebeckah Hemenway, of Roxbury. The father settled in Framingham in 1691, and was one of the founders of the Church of Christ in that town, October 8, 1701, at which time he was chosen deacon. He had enjoyed the advantages which Roxbury afforded, and received a superior education for the time. He was town schoolmaster in 1706. He was a man of decided convictions and earnest piety. In doctrinal belief he agreed with Edwards ; in church polity he was a strict Congregationalist, as opposed to the Presbyterian tendencies of the day. He took a firm stand in favor of the revival under Edwards and Wliitefield, and was known to and shared the confidence of such ministers as Sewall and Prince of Boston. He was an acknowledged leader in tlie civil affairs of the town, was deputy to the General Court in 11 Vl and in 1717, and held many important offices of trust. Phineas, the son, grew up under the influence of such a training. He graduated at Harvard College in 1730. No traditions of liis personal appearance or character are preserved in tlie family. He was the first native-born son of Framingham to graduate at college, and was elected master of the grammar scliool at the close of his senior year. He commenced teaching July 27, and continued in the service one year, for whicli lie received the sum of £50. On the 8th of May, 1739, he married Sarah Stevens of Marlborough, who was born September 27, 1713. She survived liim, and on the 20tli of October, 1761, married David Taylor, of Concord.

Mr. Hemenway was a very useful citizen and a faitliful pastor. None of iiis writings except wliat are iu the records of the churcli have been found. He died May 20, 1760, in tiie twenty-seventh year of his ministry.

With commendable promptness, on the 20th of October following the town " Voted and cliose Mr. Samuel Dix to be tlieir ])astor and gospel minister, by a unanimous vote," whereupon the church gave him a formal call, which lie accepted January 13, 1761. Rev. Samuel Dix was a native of Reading, born Marcli 13, 1736, was graduated at Harvard in 1758; ordained at Townsend, March 4, 1761; died November 12, 1797, iu the thirty-sixth year of his pastorate, aged sixty-two. He married Abigail Cliandler of Boston. Mr. Dix was an excellent scholar. Everything that is left of his writings goes to sliow that he possessed strong intellectual powers, fully equal to most of iiis contemporaries in tlie ministry. He performed more pastoral work tiiaii any other minister ever settled in Townsend. The towns of Mason, Brookline, JafiVey, Hancock, and Stoddard, in New Hampsiiire, and .Vshby in tliis county, were all favored by iiis visits, to oder consolation at tlie bedside of tlie dying, to attend funerals, and to preach tlie Word. Some of these towns had no settled minister at tliat time. R*!v. Stephen Farrar, who prcaclied iiis funeral sermon, attests to his faitlifuhicss and ability ; that " he shone iicruliarly in the virtues of meekness, patience, iiumiiity, and self-denial"; and that his preaching was accompanied " with earnestness and pathos of address." There was a large assembly at his funeral, in which were many ministers, some coming a long distance to express their deep sympathy with his family, the church, and the town. During his ministry he baptized in Townsend six hundred and sixty-seven persons ; and one hundred and seventy-three joined the ciiurch.

During the next three years there was no settled pastor. On the 2d of December, 1799, David Palmer received a call to become the town's minister, which lie accepted. He was ordained on the first day of January, 1800, and the occasion was made a iioliday. Tiie weatiier and travelling were excellent. The pastor elect, iiis personal friends, and the learned council marched to the meetinghouse on the snow-crust to the music of fife and drum. Everybody " kept open house," and the multitude tliat came from the neigliboring towns gave special attention to the " ordination puddings," and otiier good things, both liquid and solid, that were provided for their gastronomic enjoyment on this festal day. The exercises at tlie meeting-house were very im])ressive. Rev. Andrew Lee of Lisbon, Connecticut, preaclied the sermon.

Mr. Palmer proved to be a very acceptable preaciier and a successful educator. Several young men of this town fitted for college under his tuition. He was a man of genial manners and social disposition; particularly useful to tlie schools, where his visits were always welcome, on account of the instruction imparled in his jiecnliarly agreeable manner. His ministry continued more tiian thirty-one years, during wliicli time he performed three hundred and fifty-four marriages, baptized two hundred and eighty-three persons, and witnessed the admission of two hundred and fifty into tiie church.

Rev. David Palmer was born at Windham, Connecticut, in 1768; graduated at Dartmouth College in 1797, was precejitor of New Ipswich Academy in 1798, ordained in Townsend in 1800, married Cliloe Kinsley, of his native town, in 1794, and died at Townsend in 1849, aged eighty-one years.

For the first ninety-eight years of the municipal existence of the town it had only three settled ministers, each of whom was animated by the same sublime faith and hope ; whereas, since that time the " laborers " have been mniiy, and of widely different tiicological views. At tlie beginning of the present century there were two or three Baptist families in this town. In 1827 the number of I persons of that faith had increased so much under the labors of Eev. Benjamin Dean, that a church consisting of twelve members was organized at j West Townsend. In 1834 a tasteful and com- ; modious meeting-house was built at that village, i From this commencement to the present time the j denomination has received aid from the Domestic I Baptist Missionary Society. The names of the ministers who followed Mr. Dean in succession are Eev. Caleb Brown, Rev. .James Barnaby, Eev. Oren Tracy, Rev. Charles W. Reding, Rev. W. C. Richards, Rev. Caleb Blood, Rev. F. G. Brown, Rev. Lester Williams, Rev. E. A. Battell, R«v. George W. Ryan, Rev. Willard P.Upham, Rev. Oren K. Hunt, and Rfiv. William R. Thompson, who is the present pastor. The church has never been large, but there has been much unanimity among its members.

The Unitarians, holding possession of the meeting-house in 1830, had considerable numerical strength, but none of them made profession of religion or belonged to any church. The desideratum with them was "liberal preaching." In 1831 they took the name of the First Parish in Townsend, and employed Rev. Warren Burton for their preacher, who remained about a year. He was an eloquent speaker, and a man of good ability. Mr. Burton was followed by Rev. Jesse C^liickering till about 1836, w-hen Rev. Ezekiel L. Bascom commenced preaching, and during that year he gathered a church consisting of rather more than twenty members. He was a plausible writer and speaker. He graduated at Dartmouth in 1798, and died in 1841.

In the autumn of 1836 Linus H. Shaw (Harvard Divinity School, 1833) received a call for a settlement with the First Parish, which he accepted, and he was installed on the 21st of December following. The mantle of the founder of this church did not fall on this young pastor ; for although he was a gentleman of unsullied moral character, a good thinker, and a writer of respectable talents, he was never popular either with his church or congregation. Unless making thorough preparation and committing his thoughts to writing, his efforts in public were always failures. After a pastorate of about two years his connection with this parish was dissolved. From that time until 1852 the Unitarians had no settled minister, and but httle preaching. In 1769, by the legacy of Amos Whitney, a valuable farm, located near the meeting-house, was given to the town for a parsonage. . This farm legally came into the possession of the Unitarians, and was sold by them. They also sold the old meeting-house, except the bell] to the Methodists in 1852. In 1854 they built a meeting-house at the Harbor, and employed Rev. Stillman Barber for their minister. Tliis gentleman remained with them about two years, at the end of which time no funds were raised for his support. From 1856 to the present time "the First Parish in Townsend" has existed only in name.

In 1850, and for about two years after, the Methodists were listening to the stirring appeals of two earnest clergymen, - Rev. Horace Moultou and Eev. Samuel Tupper, who laid the foundation for a Methodist church in this town. As before mentioned, the Methodists bought the old meetinghouse of the Unitarians in 1852. Tiiis denomination has supported preaching and weekly religious meetings since its inauguration. Much interest from time to time has been manifested by the ])eople of this sect. In 1876 the church received sixty-eight new members, - the result of a revival conducted by I. T. Johnson, the evangelist. The names and order of succession of the pastors of this church are as follows : Rev. Horace Moulton, Eev. Samuel Tupper, Eev. Pliny Wood, Eev. Windsor Ward, Eev. J. A. Ames, Eev. T. B. Tread well, Eev. A. F. Bailev, Eev. W. P. Webster, Eev. C. H. Hanaford, Eev. S. K. Bailey, Eev. Burtis Judd, Eev. E. A. Howard, Eev. A. K. Howard, Eev. T. E. Tisdale, Rev. Erastus Burlingham, Rev. A. W. Baird, Rev. W. E. Dwight, and Rev. Daniel Atkins, the present pastor.

The Universalist Eestorationists formed a Society in 1839, at West Townsend, and Eev. Joiin Pierce, a young man of good abilities, was employed as their minister. In 1848 the society built the brick meeting-house at West Townsend, which was dedicated January 25, 1849. The Eestorationists never formed a church in Townsend, nor have they sustained preaching here more than one third of the time since their church edifice was built. The names of the ministers of this society are John Pierce, Stillman Clark, Varnum Lincoln, E. J. Chapman, and C. C. Clark.

For the last fifty years the Congregationalists have been the most numerous, wealthy, and influential religious sect in town. In 1830 they built the brick church edifice at the east of the Park, in the centre of the town, and selected a young man of first-class education and talents for their pastor.

was the first pastor of tlie Orthodox Congregational Church of Christ in Townsend ; Harvard, 1827 ; Andover Theological Seminary, 1830 ; ordained February 16, 1831 ; dismissed at his own request, July, 1830.

Rev. Columbus Siiumvvay, the second pastor, graduated at Union College; received his theological education at Auburn ; was installed, June, 1836; and dismissed, April, 1837.

Eev. David Stowell, third pastor; Dartmouth, 1829; was installed, June, 1837; dismissed, August, 1843. Eev. Luther H. Siieldon, fourth pastor; Middlebury College, 1839 ; Andover Theological Seminary, 1842 ; ordahied, 1844 ; dismissed at liis own request, 1856. Eev. Elias W. Cook, fifth pastor; Yale, 1837; installed, 1858; dismissed, 1859. Eev. Moses Patten, sixth pastor; Dartmouth, 1850; Andover Tlieological Seminary, 1855 ; ordained, 1860 ; dismissed, 1863. Eev. John C. Hutcliinson, acting pastor from 1863 to 1866. Eev. George Wdliaras, seventh pnstor; installed, 1867; dismissed, 1869. Rev. George H. Morss ; Andover Theological Seminary, 1857 ; acting pastor from 1869 to 1873. Eev. Henry C. Fay, Amherst College, 1851; Bangor Theological Seminary, 1857 ; acting pastor from 1873 to 1876. Eev. Albert P. Newton, eighth pastor : Dartmouth, 1874; Andover Theological Seminary, 1877; ordained, September 5, 1877 ; the present incumbent.

There is nothing particularly wortiiy of record concerning the educational history of tiiis town, except, perhaps, a notice of the Female Seminary and Townsend Academy, both of whicli were in active operation here tliirty years ago. In 1839, m\ petition of Levi Warren of tliis town, and certain other gciith'Tncn of Boston and Newton, of the Baptist faith, a charter of incorporation was granted by tiie General Court to the Townsend West Village Female Seminary. The grantees erected a large and commodious building at West Townsend, and furnished it with apparatus for illustrating the sciences, together with a library of several hundred volumes. The trustees were fortunate in their ciioice of a principal at tiie opening of tlie institution. A competent corps of assistant teachers was employed, and it became a first -class seminary, and was extensively |)atninizrd, |)arlicularly by pe(i])lc ol' the i?,i])tist dcii(.iniii;ition. This large schndl \v;is a great benclii to West Townsend. It \vm\ uninterrupted ])r()sp(;rity till about IS.'il, whin, from several causes, but especi;illy from a dillercnce among

The people at the centre of the town, in 1840, under the lead of Eev. David Stowell, feeling that West Townsend was becoming a rival of their own village, assembled, and agreed to build an academy by subscription. Tiirough contributions of lumber, money, and labor, a building of suitable dimensions was erected at the centre of the town, and opened for academical purposes in 1841. For five or six years afterwards a good number of scliolars of both sexes were in attendance at this academy. After that time the income from tuition fees was found to be inadequate to support a principal, and the doors of the building were closed. Both of these buildings were afterwards purchased by the town and used for school-houses.