Warren Town

Warren Town

Delegates to the Several Conventions held in Massachusetts. - John Clark, delegate to convention held at Concord, 1774 ; William Muzzy, representative to Provisional Congress, Watertown, 1775 ; William Muzzy, representative to General Court, held at Watertown, 1775 ; John Woods, delegate to Constitutional Convention held at Cambridge, 1779 ; William Marean, delegate to convention held at Concord, 1779 ; John Woods, delegate to convention held at Boston to adopt the United States Constitution, 1787 ; Ephraim Allen, delegate to convention held at Boston to revise the Constitution, 1820 ; William Bennett, Jr., delegate to convention held at Boston to revise the Constitution, 1853.

By William T. Davis

It is not proposed, in this sketch of Warren, to go into any details of the history of the territory of which it is composed before its incorporation as a town. Unlike many of the towns in Worcester County, the township was not founded on a grant to proprietors, which gradually developed into a condition which made an act of incorporation necessary for its progress. The simple statement of the case is that certain inhabitants of the towns of Brookfield and

Brimfield, and of the plantation of Kingsfield, which was, in 1752, incorporated as the town of Palmer, became dissatisfied with the inconveniences to which they were subjected by reason of their distance from the churches, and other privileges of the communities to wliich they belonged, and petitioned the General Court to be incorporated as a separate and distinct town. In response to their petition the following act of incorporation was passed January 16, 1741-42:

An act for erecting a parcel of the lands belonging to the inliabitanta of the westerly part of the town of Bruoltfield and the northerly part of the town of Brimfield and easterly part of Kiogstield, so-called, viz.: those parts of the said lauds that adjoin to said Brookfield, into a township by the name of Western,

Whereas, divers inhabitants of the towns of Brookfield and Brtnitleld, and of Kingsfield, so-called, labor under dillieulties by reason of their not being incorporated into a township ;

Sec. 1. That the lands herealter bounded and described be, and hereby are, erected into a separate and distinct township by the name of Western, viz. :

Sec. 2. Beginning at Brookfield southwest corner ; then running half a mile nortll on said Brookfield line ; then west thirty-four degrees north three miles and eighty rods to the river, and bounded with a small walnut staddle standing in the split of a rock ; thence running up the river to an elm-tree marked ; thence crossing the river and running north fortyfour degrees east about three miles and a half to Brookfield west line to a heap of stones near a chestnut-tree marked ; and running east eleven degrees and thirty minutes south one mile and an hundred and fifty rods to a heap of stones on a rock, at the end of a meadow or mill-pond ; then bounding on Cornelius White's land till it come to mill brook, so-called ; then bounded with the mill brook to the river as the brook runs ; then crossing the river and extending southeasterly to a white oak-tree, known by the name of the northeast corner of the mile square ; thence extending southeasterly to Brookfield south line, intel"secting that line two miles and three-quarters from said first-mentioned southwest corner bounds.

Sec. a. And that the inhabitants of the said lands be, and hereby are, vested with all the powers, privileges and immunities that the inhabitants of other towns within this province are, or by right ought to be, vested with ; and that the said town of Western belong to the County of Worcester,

Sec 4. That nothing in the act contained shall be construed or intended to hinder, alter or prejudice the right and interest of all or any pei*son whatsoever in any of the common or undivided lands in the said townships of Brookfield, Brimfield and the plantation called Kingsfield, but the same shall .remain as heretofore, and the inhabitants of the respective towns and plantation aforesiiid shall have their full vote in the ordering, improving or disposing of such common and undivided lands as by law they have, or ought to have, before the enacting hereof.

Sec. 5. That the inhabitants of the said town of Western shall be liable and subject, notwithstanding their being set off and constituted a township, as aforesaid, to pay their proportion of all province, county and town rates for this year, in the said town of Brookfield, Brimfield and Kingsfield, respectively, and shall he accordingly assessed thereto in the same manner as they would have been if this act had never been made; anything herein before contained to the contrary notwithstanding.

To prevent confusion, it will be proper to state here that the town bore the name of Western until 1834, when, by an act of the Legislature, the name was changed to Warren. The town of Weston, in Middlesex County, was incorporated in 1712, and the similarity in the names led to a confusion which made the change necessary. The name of Warren will be e.xclu-iively used in this narrative.

The, first town-meeting was held March 8, 1741-42, according to the old style of the calendar or, on the 19th of March, 1742, according to the new style. At that meeting Noah Ashley was chosen moderator, and Mathew Beal, town clerk. The selectmen chosen were Solomon Keys, Noah Ashley, Peter Bice and Nathaniel Eeed. Ou the 15th of March, at a townmeeting at which Thomas Parsons acted as moderator, it was voted " to strengthen the covenant adopted, tliat it shall be strong and good." On the 5th of June, 1742, it was voted to locate the meeting-house on Comey Hill and to have three months' preaching. On the 14th of October, 1742, it was voted to have the meeting-house forty feet square, and to locate it ou Comey Hill. On the 18th of April, 1743, a townmeeting was held at the house of Widow Howard, and Solomon Keys was chosen moderator. The meeting was "adjourned to the place called Comey Hill, and at the place above mentioned on the west side, near the place called the Staddle on a napp of ground adjoining to Gomey Hill ; the particular spot is known by one chestnut tree on the west side of the napp, and a little east of said chestnut tree there is two black oak staddles, marked, and the same spot at said meeting, by adjournment from the Widow Howard's house to this place, and on this spot of ground and at the time noted, the particular spot is, and shall be, the place for the meeting-house to be built upon and here to remain." On the 2d of May, 1743, at a town-meeting at wliich Solomon Keys acted as moderator, it was voted to_ build the meetinghouse forty-five feet long, thirty-five feet wide and twenty and one-half feet between sill and plate, and the sum of three hundred pounds was appropriated to pay the expenses. Noah Ashley, Solomon Keys and David Blair were chosen a building committee, and it was also voted that Mr. Thomas Strong should do the preaching for three months. On the 16th of January, 1743, it was voted to settle John Martin with a settlement of eighty-seven pounds and ten shillings and a salary of forty pounds, to be increased fifty shillings annually after the first year. It is probable that Mr. Martin declined, or if he came to Warren that his settlement was short. It is also probable that the first settled minister was Rev. Isaac Jones, who was notified on the 20th of July, 1744, by Samuel Bliss, Gershom Makepeace, Noah Ashley, Thomas Rich and Peter Rice, " that the free-holders of Western had selected him for their minister, and they prayed for his speedy and serious consideration of the premises." Mr. Jones accepted the invitation, and was ordained in January, 1744-45. He continued in liis pastorate more than forty years, when he was released only by his death. Mr. Jones was succeeded by Rev. Stephen Baxter, a graduate of Harvard, in 1788, who was ordained March 9, 1791. During the pastorate of Mr. Baxter in 1798, a movement towards the erection of a new meeting-house began to be agitated, and, as was the case in most towns, the location of the old structure was found to be inconvenient to the greater part of the population, and it was decided to build it on the lower part of the Common. On the Common it was built in 1804, and there it remained until 1837, when desired improvements of the Common rendered it necessary to remove it to the site of the present house. In April, 1874, it was burned, and the present meeting-house was at once erected on the old site. In 1806 Mr. Baxter was succeeded by Rev. Sylvester Burt, and in 1816 by Rev. Munson C. Gaylord. Rev. Orin Catlin followed in 1829, and Rev. Charles Fitch in 1832. Rev. George Trask was ordained in 1836, a gentleman who has been somewhat notarious in a crusade against the use of tobacco. Mr. Trask remained ten years, and has been followed by Rev. Charles Smith, Rev. J. H, Northrop, Rev. S. S. Smith, Rev. E. L. Jagger, Rev. S. J. Austin and the present pastor, Rev. D. O. Clark.

In 1815 a Universalist Society was organized, and a meeting-house built at Hodge's Corner, in South Warren, in 1821. In 1833 this organization was abandoned. In 1830 the present Univer.salist Society was organized and for several years held services in one of the school-houses. In 1837 they built their present church on the hill between the south and central villages. Rev. J. W. Talbot was installed over the society in 1839, and has been succeeded, among others, by Rev. Messrs. Lane, Webster, Plum, Bradley, Moore and the present eflicient pastor, Rev. Olney I. Darling.

A Methodist Society was organized in 1852, and for more than ten years held religious services in Union Hall. In 1863 the society bought a church in that part of Ludlow called Jencksville and removed it to Warren. Among the pastors of this society have been Rev. Mr. Parkhurst, Rev. Messrs. George, Satchwell, Locke, Godfrey and Tisdale. The present pastor is Rev. J. F. Means. There is also at tlie present time a Methodist Church at West Warren, of which Rev. B. F. Kingsley is pastor.

A Congregational Society was organized at West Warren, July 25, 1865. Rev. A. H. Simes was installed over this society in 1866, and was succeeded after his resignation, in 1869, by Rev. C. G. Weeks. During its early years the society worshipped in Grossman's Hall, but in 1869, during the pastorate of Mr. Simes, the present meeting-house was erected. The present pastor of this society is Rev. G. H. Morss.

In 1872 Catholic churches were erected both in the central village and at West Warren, and these are presided over by Rev. David Moyer and his assistant, Father Martel.

It was not long after the incorporation of the town before its peace was disturbed by the French and Indian Wars. In the first of these wars it is not probable that Warren, just starting in her municipal career, took a very active part. In the war of 1753 she sent her soldiers into the field, and bore her ample share of iU burdens. Soloinoa Key.s and his son both joined in the expedition to Lake George in 1755, and bath were killed. In 1759 Lord Amherst with ten thousand men encamped within the township on his way to Crown Point, and little opportunity was afforded to the inhabitants to pursue with regularity and profit their useful occupations uutil the peace of 1763. But even then the declaration of peace was mingled with mutterings and complaints wliich foreboded a more severe and more protracted conflict than that from which they had happily been relieved. It is not proposed to note the steps taken by Warren in conjunction with other towns to uphold the arms of those who, in Boston and elsewhere, were resisting the aggressions of the crown. At a town-meeting held January 17, 1774, it was declared *' that the plan of importing tea into America subject to a tax by commissioners of the East India Company was a very great infringement on their rights, and threatened them with bondage and slavery." It was also declared by the town that " loyalty and true allegiance to His Majesty King George the third we heartily and sincerely profess, and will yield a cheerful and ready obedience to all just laws ; and a hearty friendship with our mother country we wish may be continued until time shall be no more; but our just rights and privileges, for which our forefathers endured the greatest hardships, and many of them sacriticed their lives, we cannot give up and submit to be bondmen and slaves ; but are determined to defeud with the greatest vigor and resolution; which is, as we apprehend, almost the universal sentiment of every freeman in America."

It is probable that the following lists, copied from the muster and pay-rolls at the State House, include mo-tt of the soldiers furnished by Warren for Revolutionary service :

The following men belonging to the company commanded by Capt. Reuben Read, and attached to Col. Jonathan Warner's regiment of militia, marched from Warren to Roxbury, April 20, 1775, on the receipt of the news of the battle of Lexington, on the day before :

The following men belonged to the company of militia commanded by Capt. Josiah Putnam, and attached to Col. Jedediah Foster's regiment, which marched to Roxbury from Warren, April 21, 1775:

The following men belonged to the company of militia commanded by Capt. Joseph Cutler, which marched to join General Gates, September 24:, 1777:

The following men belonged to the company commanded by Capt. Joseph Richardson, attached to the regiment of Col. Samuel Denny, which went to Claverack on the Hudson for three months' service: it may be as well to complete it at this point in the narrative. In 1786, as is well known, Daniel Shays, who was first a private and afterwards a captain in the Revolutionary War, initiated his rebellion in the town of Pelham, in Hampshire County, and the town of Warren became more or less involved in the excitement attending it. No prominent persons, however, in the town were connected with it, and after prudent concessions on the part of the Government had, to a certain extent, removed the cause of the trouble, the rebellion was speedily suppressed.

In the War of 1812 a military company marched to Boston, but was sent back by the order of Governor Strong, and little was known or felt, so far from the seaboard, of its inconveniences. In fact, it is probable that the hostilities served as a sort of protection to our infant industries from the importation of foreign merchandise, and enabled our manufacturers to lay the foundations of enterprises which otherwise would have struggled in vain against foreign competition.

In the War of the Rebellion the town of Warren performed her full share. The following list includes the names of those who entered the service or, on being drafted, paid commutation. Some of these were credited to other towns and some enlisted more than once. The list only refers to their first enlistments :

After the incorporation of the town educationalt aa well as religious, affiiirs began to interest the people. In November, 1745, it was voted to build a schoolhouse, twenty feet long and seventeen feet broad, and the sum of eight pounds was appropriated for the board of the schoolmaster eight weeks. As in other towns during the provincial period, the schools were few in number and kept only a few months in the year. They were, moreover, confined exclusively to boys. The introduction of girls into the public schools is well remembered by many now living, not beyond middle age. In 1795 the town was divided into eight districts, each district having the exclusive management of school affairs within its limits. In 1846 one district was added, and the district system so continued until it was abolished in 1869. In 1842 Mrs. T. Lombard gave land on Furnace Hill for educational purposes, and a joint stock company was formed, which established the Quaboag Seminary. At its dedication Daniel Powers, a native of the town, and a graduate of Yale in the class of 1837, delivered an address. Its first principal was Jo.shua Pearl. Owing to some privileges which the youth of the town received from the seminary, an appropriation of five hundred dollars was made for its benefit in 1850. In 1856 the property of the seminary was bought by the town, and has since been devoted to the use of the high and other schools. The meetings of the town, which had for the most part been previously held in the Congregational Church and a hired hall, were held in the seminary building after its purchase until the erection of the present town-house in 1878- There are now twenty-two schools in the town, one high, three grammar, two intermediate, two intermediate and primary, four first primary, five second primary and five ungraded. These are under the direction of a School Committee and a superintendent.

According to the last annual report of the committee, for the year ending March 1, 1888, there were ten hundred and fourteen enrolled scholars, an average membership of seven hundred and sixty-two, and an average attendance of seven hundred and fifteen.

Connected with the schools is the Agassiz Association, which, though managed by private individuals, is composed of scholars in the high and grammar schools, and is so far recognized by the School Committee as to occupy with their consent a room in one of the schoolhouses of the town. An evening-school has also been established, and is performing useful work. According to the report above referred to, the sums credited to the school department for the year 1887-88 were, - appropriation for schools, S9500 ; appropriation for evening-schools, $100; appropriation for repairs, $500; appropriation for books and supplies, $500 ; State school fund, $200.65 ; books and supplies sold, $23,05; tuition received, $86.65. Total, $10,910.95.

As supplementing the work of the public schools, it will be proper here to make some allusion to the Public Library. The library is owned by an association incorporated January 17, 1876, and is managed by a board of trustees. It was put in operation about the time of the erection of the town-house, in 1879, and occupies, by permission of the town, a convenient room on the ground-floor of that building. It receives also an annual appropriatiou of $500 and the amount of the dog fund from the town, which, in 1887-88, amounted to $245.67. The treasurer's last report, dated March 17, 1888, showed cash on hand at the beginning of the year, $174.48; cash from reading-room, $125; cash from town, $500; dog-fund, $245.67 ; cash from George F. Blake, Manufacturing Company, $100 ; fines, $42.01 ; cards, $9.18 ; catalogues, $4.52; total, $1200.86. It showed payments as follows: For books, $317.09; for binding, $48.60; lor printing, $4.07 ; for libraiian, $300 ; for cleaning room, $10.80; for delivering books at West Warren, $26; for bag for same, $3 ; for gas bills, $82.75 ; for supplies, $3.86 ; for freight and express, $2.07 ; cash on hand, $395.92; total, $1200.86.

The reading-room, which, though connected with the library, is so far distinct as not to be free, received during the year a contribution of one hundred dollars from the George F. Blake Manufacturing Company, and $79.50 from other subscriptions, which left, after paying $54.51 for papers and magazines, the sum of $125 credited to the library account. In 1884 Lucius J. Knowles, of Worcester, for many years a resident of the town, gave by his will five thousand dollars to the town, the income to be used for the support of the library. The legacy was paid in 1887, and the library is now reaping its benefit. The number of books in the library March 1, 1888, was five thousand two hundred and sixty-four. During the year previ(»us the number of books given out was seventeen thousand and thirty-four. The establishment of this library reminds the writer of the impression he has received from a survey of many of the towns in Worcester County, that probably no other county in the Commonwealth liMS done and is doing so much to build up these auxiliaries to the public schools. To a considerable portion of the people of the county they are more important than the schools themselves. Its large and increasing number of immigrant families, drawn to it by its extensive and flourishing industries, are many of them too old to reap the advantages of a school education, but are enabled by these library associations to breath a purer atmosphere and absorb at least the elements of an education, which otherwise they could not have received.

Alter the foundations of religion and education had been laid, the attention of the people of the town was directed more particularly to the special purposes of their settlement and the business relations of life. At first agriculture was the almost universal employment, with here and there on favorable streams a saw-mill to provide lumber for their houses and a grist-mill to provide food for their cattle and themselves. Of course the development of manufacturing industries has enticed many from the plough and the furrow, while the growth of agriculture in the West, with facilities for obtaining Western grain at a cost less than that of raising it at home, has aided in the depreciation of an industry which a century ngo was the source from which all the comforts of life were secured. But Warren still holds its own with other towns in obtaining from the soil what it will yield with ease and profit. It will not be out of place to include in this narrative a schedule of the agricultural products and property of the town, taken fiom the census of 1885 :

It was not long after the usefulness of the Quaboag River and Wigwam Brook was proved in connection with grist-mills and saw-milh before it was discovered that these streams could be put to more profitable uses. In 1793 there were in operation on Quaboag River, within the town limits, two grist-mills, one saw-mill, one scythe-mill, one fulling-mill and one forge.

In 1800 iron works were established by Joseph Field and Isaac Moore, and in 1812 powder-mills were built on the present site of the steam pump works. These last were exploded in 1826 and never rebuilt. Among the natives of Warren who were inspired by the inventive spirit of the age in the early part of the present century was Nathan Read. He was the son of ilajor Reuben Read, who won some di-tinction in the Revolutionary War, and was born in Western (now Warren), July 2, 1759. He graduated at Harvard in 1781, in the class with John Davis, for many years judge of the United States Court, and Samuel Dexter and Dudley Atkins Tyng. In 1795 he settled in Danvers and engaged in the manufacture of anchors and chain cables, and removed to Belfast, Maine, in 1807. From 1800 to 1803 he represented the Essex South District in Congress, and in the year of his removal to Belfast was made chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas in Hancock County. He was the first petitioner for a patent before the patent law was enacted. He invented the machine for manufacturing nails and was the first to apply steam to locomotives. He died in Belfast January 20, 1849. In 1812 the manufacture of scythes was begun at West Warren and carried on many years, but has long since been abandoned. In 1815 the manufacture of cotton cloth was begun in the mill now used for the manufacture of cotton warp; but when the mill weut into the hands of Lucius J. Knowles the manufacture of its present product was introduced. The present industries of the town are the cassimere factory, conducted with eight sets of niiichinery, by Sayles & Jenks; the Warren Cotton- Mills, at West Warren ; an ink and blueing factory, owned by G. J. ifc I. E. Moore ; two edge-tool factories, one of which is at West Warren ; a cheese factory, another cotton-mill on the Quaboag River, the warpmill, conducted by Moses K. Whipple, and the Knowles' steam pump works. The works last mentioned are situated on Wigwam Brook in the central village, and are very extensive and successful. They were established b)' Lucius J. Knowles, who, with growing success, carried them on some years with Simon K. Sibley, and sold them in 1879 to the George F. Blake Manufacturing Company, under whose management they are now carried on, with E. F. Strickland, a most competent and intelligent superintendent. The steam pumps of this company have the best reputation, and find their way to England, France, South America, Japan, and indeed to all parts of the world. Recently the Emperor of Japan has ordered and received one for the irrigation of his garden and other private grounds. A pump made at these works is now in use in Chicago pumping eight millions of gallons of water daily.

The cotton-mills at West Warren, owned by Bliss & Fabyan, of Boston, include a large plant and employ a large number of hands. The plant includes four mills with an aggregate of seven hundred and thirty-two looms, and forty-four houses containing one hundred and nineteen tenements. These establishments furnish an amount of employment which has constantly added to the population, prosperity and wealth of the town. In 1791 the population was estimated at 900; in 1838, 1196; in 1865, 2180; in

The town is not supplied, in its corporate capacity, with water. For private supply reliance is had exclusively on wells and pumps, and small aqueducts owned by individuals. Pipes, however, are laid in the streets by the town, and in case of fire, supplied with water by the Knowles Steam Pump Works and the Warren Cotton-Mills. The streets are lighted by gas furnished by the Warren Cotton-Mills and the Globe Gas-Light Company, and a small Fire Department, in the possession of one engine and two hose carriages with hose, is supported by the town. The following estimate of expenses for the year 1888-89, reported to the town by the selectmen, will give some idea to the reader of the scope of the municipal operations of the town :

Among the institutions and societies in the town are the Quaboag Lodge and the King Solomon R. A. Chapter of Masons ; the Arcturus Lodge 187, I. O. O. F. ; the Clara Barton Post, No. 65, G. A. R. ; the Calvin Cutter, Sons of Veterans, No. 51 ; the Crescent Division, No. 24, Sons of Temperance ; the Knowles Council, No. 809, Royal Arcanum ; the Northern Mutual Relief Association ; and the Warren Savings Bank, of which John W. Chadsey is president, Joseph B. Lombard, vice-president, and Samuel E. Blair, treasurer.

In order that some idea may be obtained of the representative men of Warren in the different generations since its incorporation, it will be well to present lists of those persons who have represented it in the Legislature and filled offices of trust by the suffrage of their fellow-citizens.

The following is a list of the selectmen from 1741 to 1889, with the exception of those in one or two years, concerning whom the records are either silent or from their defacement can throw no light :

Warren

Samuel N. Gleason, AVm. A. Patrick. Samuel R. Burroughs. Wm. A. Patrick. Samuel N. Gleason. Willard Hall. Willard Hall. Samuel N. Gleason. Benjamin A. Tripp. Willard Hall. L. M. Gilbert. Benjamin A. Tripp. Samuel N. Gleason. Willard Hall. L. M. Gilbert. Same. Same.

The following have been the Eepresentativeain the General Court since the adoption of the State Constitution in 1780, either rfpresenting the town or the representative district of which the towu has formed a part :

The 21st article of amendments to the Constitution was adopted by the Legislatures of 1856 and 1857, and ratified by the people in 1857. The amendment provided for a House of B.epre.«entatives of two hundred and forty members, and a census of legal voters in 1857, upon which an apportionment of Representatives should be made in the manner specified in the amendment, which should continue until the apportionment based on a census to be taken in 1865. It was further provided that a census should be taken in 1865, and every tenth year thereafter, as a basis of future apportionments. Under the apportionment of 1857 the towns of New Braintree, Warren and West Brookfiekl constituted the 11th Representative District of Worcester County, and were represented until the next apportionment as follows:

Under the apportionment of 1866, based on the census of 1865, the towns of Brookfield, North Brookfield, Sturbridge, Warren and West Brookfield constituted the 18th Representative District of Worcester County, and, until the nest apportionment, were represented as follows :

Under the apportionment of 1876, based on the census of 1875, the towns of Brookfield, North Brookfield, Sturbridge, Warren and West Brookfield constituted the 12th Representative District of Worcester County, and were represented until the next apportionment as follows :

Under the apportionment of 1886, based on the census of 1885, the towns of Brookfield, New Braiptree. North Brookfield, Oakham, Sturbridge, Warren and West Brookfield constitute the Fifth Worcester Representative District, and have been represented as follows :

These lists show who, in the career of the town, have had its management in their hands. So far as town officers were concerned, it seems to have been the policy of the town to make frequent changes. This policy was partly due to the feeling that the offices belonged to the people, and that both their honors and burdens should be distributed. In later years it is evident that a belief has prevailed that office is a trust, that an officer is a servant and that a faithful man should be retained in the town's employ. Mr. Samuel E. Blair, the present town clerk and treasurer, has been continued in office thirtythree years. His repeated re-elections have been as creditable to the town as to himself. Among the names on the lists are many who have distinguished themselves in various walks of life. There are Captain Josiah Putnam, Major Reuben Read, Captain John Cutler, Captain Joseph Cutler, Lieutenant Samuel Bascom, Lieutenant Cyrus Rich, Corporal James Blair, Private Solomon Rich and others, who took part in the War of the Revolution. There are Nathan Read, the jurist and inventor; Joseph Field, one of the early manufacturers of the town, and Lucius J. Knowles, recently deceased, who established permanent and flourishing industries, and at his death, at Worcester, in 1884, made himself, by his will, a benefactor of the town.

Mr. Knowles, of whom it is proper to take more than a passing notice, was a man of more than usual attainments, and in his long and industrious career won not only distinction, but ample rewards of his labors. He was born in Hardwick, July 2, 1819, and received his education from the public schools of his native town and at Leicester Academy. At the age of seventeen he entered a store at Shrewsbury, and soon entered into partnership with his employer. In 1844 he began the manufacture of thread at New Worcester, in which he used a spooling-machine of his own invention. In 1847, in company with Harrison H. Sibley, he began the manufacture of cotton warp, at Spencer, and at the end of two years removed to Warren, where, for several years, he and Mr. Sibley continued the same business. In 1853 Knowles & Sibley also engaged in the manufacture of woolen goods in a mill erected by them on the Quaboag River, a little distance below the warp-mill. Possessing practical inventive power, he had devoted himself more or less to improvements on machinery, for the manufacture of vvhich, in 1862, he erected a mill on Wigwam Brook, a branch of the Quaboag, which after a short time was confined in its operations to the manufacture of a steam pump, which, through successive steps of improvement, he had perfected.

In 1879, having previously bought the interest of Mr. Sibley, he sold his pump-works to the George F. Blake Manufacturing Company, and removed to Worcester, where he devoted himself until his death to the manufacture of looms. In his will he gave " the sum of five thousand dollars to the Inhabitants of the Town ot Warren for the support and maintenance of the Free Public Library of said town." This legacy is held in trust by the Board of Selectmen and its income paid to the library trustees. He also gave to the town in trust one thousand dollars, " the income thereof to be devoted to the embellishment of my lot in the cemetery in said Warren and to taking care of the same and keeping it in complete and perfect order forever."

The town of Warren deserves a more thorough investigation into its history and a more exhaustive record of its career than the limited space allotted to this sketch would permit. Mrs. Dr. Cutter and Rev. 0. I. Darling are both familiar with its present and its past, and both have placed the people of the town under an obligation, the weight of which it is hoped that one or both will increase by expanding into a full history the works of which they have been the authors. That part especially of Warren which once belonged to Brookfield has an early history of interest, and the pictureque situation of the town on the banks of the Quaboag, with its surrounding hills, from which Graylock and Monadnock and Wachusett come within the horizon, should inspire some loving son, either native or adopted, to present to its people a worthy and lasting memorial.

Biographical Calvin Cxjttee, A.M., M.D.

The oldest child of John Cutter was born in Jaffrey, N. H., 1807, and died in Warren, Mass., 1872.. His ancestors came from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, having a Danish origin. Dr. Calvin Cutter married (first) Caroline, daughter of Nathan Hall, of Milford, N. H.; married (second) Eunice N., daughter of Captain Chester Powers, of Warren, Mass. The Powers family is of Norman origin, one of the name having commanded troops at the battle of Hastings, under William the Conqueror. Captain Chester Powers possessed a sound mind in a sound body ; he died at a ripe old age. Mrs. E. P. Cutter being a child when her mother died, an older brother (Daniel) was requested to have especial charge of her education ; from his assiduous care and particular instruction, she was enabled in early girlhood to instruct others. This brother had a fine physique, was an accomplished scholar and a true, exemplary Christian ; he was a graduate of Yale's famed class of '37, and took a high degree. At the time of his early death he was senior tutor in his alma mater.

In 1829 Calvin Cutter began the study of medicine, and took his medical degree from Dartmouth. Subsequently, at different periods, for proficiency in some particular department of medicine, he attended lectures in Bowdoin and Harvard Medical Colleges ; also took private lessons in surgery of Dr. George McClellan and the eminent surgeon, Dr. Valentine Mott.

perception, acute investigation and a retentive memory. These qualities of the intellect were effective aids in his profession ; he had but few peers in discriminating quickly and, at the same time, accurately diseases. In his practice he sought to know " the limit of his art." In surgery he was skillful. One of the .many successful operations which he performed was the removal of a large tumor from over the carotid artery in the neck, where a mere film interposed between the life here and the life beyond.

From the year 1842 to 1856, inclusive, Dr. Cutter visited thirty States of the Union delivering professional lectures upon anatomy, physiology and hygiene before schools, colleges and public audiences, illustrating his subject with manikins and other apposite apparatus. The first school edition of " Cutter's Anatomy, Physiology and Hygiene," so universally known, was published in 1850, and in 1852 the revised stereotype edition appeared. It has had great success; six hundred thousand copies have been printed. Dr. Cutter regarded the introduction of physiology into schools and colleges as the great work of his life, and be spent a fortune in its accomplishment.

Dr. Cutter was an original thinker and reformer. Before he left his mountain home he was an advocate of total abstinence, and a few years later he became a stanch abolitionist. His activity in favoring just and equal rights was unbounded. In the winter of 188G, also iu the summer following, he went to Kansas, where the contest between freedom and slavery was met by other than moral arguments. In the June trip, Mrs. Cutter accompanied her husband and shared the privations and unusual perils with him and the first Worcester Armed Company, which did effective service in protecting the Free State settlers from the Missourian ruflians and thus aiding the freedom of Kansas.

In 1861 a nephew of Mrs. Cutter, Capt. A. W. Powers, was the first young man to enlist from Warren in the War of the Rebellion. In August following. Dr. Cutter was mustered into the Union Army as regimental surgeon of the Twenty-first Massachusetts Infantry, afterward became brigade, division, and later acting director of the Ninth Army Corps. He had the " high regards of the superior ofiicers, as Generals Burnside and Reno," and possessed great influence over the "boys" whom they commanded. June, 1863, near Mt. Sterling, Ky., he suffered a severe sunstroke, which ultimately caused his death. He left the army after the battle at Spottsylvania, on account of inability for service, and lingered uncomplainingly eight years within an inch of time.

But few men were better adapted to lead a forlorn hope in a crisis when right was overpowered by might that sought personal or party aggrandizement. No favor swayed, no fear awed, when his clear, strong intellect discerned the path of justice, of duty. No one had more contempt for chicanery or trickery which leaves an indelible stain on the character. When the oppressed or honest poor man needed lifting up, kindliness of heart was not wanting. If a humane cause languished for want of funds, his purse was freely opened. Money with Dr. Cutter was a means to raise the people to a higher plane of thought and activities ; he preferred the profits arising from brain stock, that elevates, ennobles mankind, to the profits of bank stock, that pampers to arrogance and idleness.

Carrie E., young, educated, patriotic, sailed with her father in the Burnside expedition to North Carolina as nurse. She was probably the first female that entered her country's service in the War of the Rebellion, and the first to fall (March, 1862) at her post of duty. She sleeps where the magnolia blooms, and overhanging vines bend down and kiss her Southern grave.

Dr. Cutter's surviving child, John Clarence, graduated from the Agricultural College, Amherst, in 1872. Studied medicine at Dartmouth and graduated from Harvard Medical College in 1877. He gained the post of house surgeon in the City Hospital Boston, before receiving his diploma. In 1878 he went to Japan, as professor of physiology and comparative anatomy in the College of Agriculture, at Sapporo, Yezo, and as consulting physician to the Imperial Colonial Department. Dr. Cutter's first contract with the Imperial Government was for two years, but he remained nine years in the Island Empire. In recognition of meritorious service in the college, and for professional services rendered in the department of the Hokkaido, the Emperor of Japan conferred on him (1887) the " Decoration of the Fourth Class of the Order of the Rising Sun" (Kunsho no Kunshito, Order of Meiji, IV. Class).

There are eight classes of this order. While in Japan, Dr. J. C. Cutter wrote two school Physiologies, one of which has been translated into Ja()anese. Since his return from the Orient, via India, Egypt and Europe, he has re-ca^t and supplemented topics to the " First Book" on anatomy, physiology and hygiene, prepared in 1854 by his father, Calvin Cutter. This " First Book'' has had unprecendeted sale in the United States and Canada. It has been translated and published in ten languages and in raised letters for the blind. Dr. John C. Cutter is now (1889) in Europe pursuing special medical studies.

John Moore

John Moore was born in Warren, Mass., October 27, 1802. He was the youngest of eight children of Isaac and Hannah (Studley) Moore, who were married Mi.r. 18, 1782, and resided in Warren. His father was born April 18, 1752, and his mother July 6, 1759. Previous to her marriage she lived in Hanover, Plymouth County, Mass. She was a descendant of the Studleys of Yorkshire and Kent Counties, England^ - well-known families of honorable lineage, who could trace their ancestry back manj' geneiations, with the pride of wealth and an estimable name. As early as 1659, Jonathan Studley and his wife, Elizabeth, had emigrated from England and were residing in Boston, Mass. Another branch of the Studleys were living in Scituate, and also iu Hanover, some years later.

Isaac Moore (father of John) became the owner of many hundred acres of land in Warren and vicinity, some of which is in the same condition as when originally purchased by him, more than a hundred years ago. He must have been an enterprising citizen, for he had many occupations. He manufactured scythes, carried on a saw-mill, a shinglemill, a grist-mill, and had a forge. Probably he met the needs of the times in other ways, judging from his various callings ; he had " many irons in the fire," and credited with the reputation of keeping all of them at a red heat. In the War of the Revolution he became a "minute-man," and received a pension from the Government of about ninety dollars per annum until his death.

When a lad of twelve years old, young John Moore was senttoFarmington, Me.,and put at school, where he remained until his education was presumed to have been sufficient to enable him to master the requirements of that time, for at early manhood he opened a general store in Hallovvell, Me., a thriving town on the banks of the Kennebec. He seems to have managed his business with excellent judgment, and met more than an average success. In July, 1827, when five-and-twenty years of age, he made a journey to Warren and married Miss Mary Ann Lombard, a daughter of Elijah Lombard, of that town, who returned with him to Hallowell. Not many months afterward, when everything promised a sure fortune to his business career, he received a letter from his father, urging him to sell out his Hallowell store and return to Warren, and take charge of the various enterprises owned and carried on by him. His lather was then seventy-five years of age and needed some relaxation from the labors of his numerous occupations. Although John Moore felt that by leaving Hallowell he would sacrifice his best interests, he could not resist the parental appeal ; so he disposed of his business and returned to Warren, where it is presumed he assumed the charge of his father's business affairs. Very soon after his return he built a store, and began his business career in Warren on a scale that attracted customers from all parts of Worcester, Franklin and Hampden Counties, and even from Connecticut.

In 1836 he was appointed town clerk of Wan en, which he held for three years. He was also the postmaster for a considerable time. In 1838 he was chosen as Representative to the General Court. In all of these responsible positions he gave general satisfaction. It will be remembered that in 1S37, and two or three years after, the entire business interests of the whole country became disturbed, and failures and financial disasters were universal. John Moore did not escape. He had many losses and discouragements, but he never lost heart, and continued in business until about 1858, when he finally made a change.

He and his son Isaac began the manufacture of the " Excelsior School Writing Ink," which was put up in an original style of bottle. The ink met with a good reception from the public, and their ink business became one of the industries of the town. From a small beginning it has assumed considerable importance, and the reputation of "Moore's Ink" stands high in the mercantile community.

During the fifty years or more that he resided in Warren, and was identified with the history and prosperity of the town, no one was held in better estimation, or more fully enjoyed the love and friendship of his fellow-townsmen. His Christianity was ever present; he was liberal and charitable towards all. He died March 21, 1878. He left to his widow and children a legacy of more value than any accumulations of worldly wealth - the honor that comes from having always been an honest and upright man.

Joseph F. Hitchcock

Joseph F. Hitchcock, son of Daniel and Mary (Marsh) Hitchcock, was born in Warren July 27, 1815. The first of that name are believed to have emigrated to this country from England about the year 1635, landing in Boston, and locating shortly afterwards in New Haven, Conn., from whence their descendants spread northward into Slassachusetts and elsewhere. His father, Daniel Hitchcock, born in Palmer in 1787, came to Warren when a boy, and entering the store of Joseph Field, Esq., a prominent citizen, as a clerk, became a merchant.

He served his town in various capacities, including the offices of town clerk, member of the Board of Sch'iol Committee, justice of the peace, etc.

The subject of this sketch laid the foundation of his education in the common schools of his native town, the one in his district being unusually good, owing to the efforts and interest of his father and others living in that part of the town. Afterward he had the benefit of the training of Leicester and Westfield Academies for short periods of time. The delicate state of his health prevented him from obtaining a collegiate education - a fact which he regretted, as the law was what he would have chosen for a profession. Leaving school, he went to work for his father, and although trade was not to his taste, he continued in it for many years.

Appointed justice of the peace, trial justice, and to kindred offices, he honored them all by a conscientious discharge of all the duties appertaining thereto. The accurate and minute accounts returned to Probate Court bear sufficient testimony to his faithful- ness. He settled estates of both rich aud poor, and for the latter class he was glad to have been helpful without pay. He wrote wills, drew up deeds and other papers with a thoroughness and exactness that were especially noteworthy, inasmuch as his training as a lawyer was outside the schools. His practical sagacity in canvassing every necessary point made his work in these directions superior to that of many with better theoretical education, and his services were constantly in demand as a legal adviser. No matter how much people differed with him, when in trouble they were always found coming to him for help and advice, depending upon his rare judgment, which overlooked no contingencies. Whenever possible he aided in the settlement of difficulties without resort to the courts.

Politically he was a Whig, but was among the first to aid in the formation of the Kebublican party, of which he was a conspicuous and enthusiastic supporter and leader.

Appointed postmaster under Abraham Lincoln's administration in 1861, he continued to hold the office, which meanwhile became a Presidential appointment in 1872, under U. S. Grant, until the day of his death, in 1880. He had also previously held the office from 1841 to 1845, as a Whig, under Harrison. In 1857 he represented the First Worcester District in the State Senate, and in 1865 and 1866 was a member of the Executive Council.

Always interested in the growth and prosperity of his own town, he furthered every project of public improvement - such as the establishment of Quaboag Seminary ; the securing and laying out of the pretty park which is still the ornament of the village ; the opening of the Western Railroad ; the establishment of the Warren Public Library, etc. He was clerk and treasurer of the (Trinitarian) Congregational Church and Society for years, and when their church building was burned, he devoted time and work, as well as money, to secure the present handsome and attractive edifice. He was the prime mover in securing courses of lectures, which it was only practicable to have in a small town during the winter by previous sale of a large number of season tickets, and with his usual energy he was accustomed to ride about town and call at every house, obtaining a subscription list sufficient to afford the people an opportunity of hearing a number of first-class lectures at a moderate price. No one who was unfamiliar with the multifarious matters of minor importance with which he filled up the chinks of his busy career could form an idea of his extraordinary and varied capacity for practical work. Among these was acting as agent for two or three insurance companies, one of which was the old Worcester Mutual, and for Thompson & Co.'s express and its successor, the American Express Co.

A temperance man early in life, he gave up the sale of liquorti when it was the fa-hion to sell them in all country stores. A generous contributor to religious