Westborough Town (part 1 of 2)

Westborough Town

Although small in territory and population, Dana has never lacked in patriotism, and her sturdy sons have ever been ready to battle for the cause of country and freedom.

A goodly number of names of her early settlers appear among the Revolutionary soldiers, some of whom we have mentioned, while in the War of 1812 her men rendered valiant services; and when, in later times, the summons came for defenders of our flag and the perpetuity of the government and Federal Union, that were trembling in the balance, the sons of Dana were among the foremost to march to the rescue.

Few towns can show a better record. Eighty-eight soldiers and sailors enlisted under the various calls of the government, and thirteen citizens of the town were enrolled in the Union army and credited to other places. Of the eighty-eight that were enrolled and went to the front, four were killed in battle and fourteen died of disease and wounds while in the line of duty. The town also expended eight thousand seven hundred and eighty dollars towards the expenses of tlie war.

The citizens of Dana, its brave men and patriotic, sympathetic women, have received most complimentary notices from many quarters, and the good record ofthetown, in the assistance rendered for the preservation of the Union, has been highly praised in official documents and records. State and Federal.

Chapter Clxvii By Wili,Iam T. Forbes

In October, 1655, Charles Chauncy, the second president of Harvard College, " a reverend, godly and very lamed man," wrote a petition to the (ireat and General Court, saying that he had spent a hundred pounds out of his estate in the subsistence of his family; that his pay in Indian corn could not be changed to food and clothing without great los-^, and asking for relief. He was now nearly seventy years old. According to Mather, '' few had suffered for non-conformity more than he, by fines, by gaols,'' &c., in England. He had escaped from the persecutions of Laud to occupy the highest clerical position in the Colony of Massachusetts Bay, with the honors and poverty attending the lot of an educator in early colonial times. A few Indians entered the college ; only one graduated.

Elijah Corlett taught in the " faire grammar school " which stood near by. Netus, an Indian, formerly of Grafton and later of Hopkinton, then called Magunkook, probably sent his boy to school and could not or would not pay his tuition. He owed Elijah Corlett " fower pounds and teun shillinges," and in 1661 obtained leave of the General Court to sell enough land to pay the bill. A committee was apjiointed to fix the amount and bounds. It was decided that three hundred and twenty acres on the southwest boundary of what is now Westborough would be the proper amount of land, and the consent of the Indians at Hassanamisco, as to the location of the grant, was obtained. Netus led the attack on the house of Thomas Fames, of Framiugham, in King Philip's War, and with ten other Hopkinton Indians killed Mrs. Fames and three or four of the children. He was killed himself, at Marlborough, March 27, 1676.

It is possible that President Chauncy had heard of the beautiful lake which now bears bis name, the attractive meadows in the valley of the Assabet, and the valuable " seader swamps," from the Indian pupils who came from this part of the Province.

About fifty Indians lived in each of the three towns established by Eliot in this vicinity. The Ockoocangansett plantation, of Marlborough ; the Magunkooks, of Hopkinton; and the plantation of Hassanamisco, now Grafton, surrounded Westborough du three sides. Their Indians doubtless fished in our ponds and streams and camped on the shores of Lake Chauncy. At least one Indian had a wigwam and apple-orchard there.

The General Court granted the petition of President Chauncy, by giving him not the cash he so much desired, but five hundred acres of wild land. The commissioners, as was customary in such cases, doubtless allowed him to choose any land not already granted, and made the following report:

Whei-em, John Stone and Andrew Belcher were appointed to lay out a farm for Mr. Charles Chauncy, President of Harvard College, we have gone and looked on a place, and there is taken up a tract of land bounded on this manner : on the east by a little swampe, neare an Indian wigwam, with an orchard of apple-trees, belonging to the wigwam, a playuejoyningto the swampe, the playne riming to a great Fund, and from thence to ,\s6ebeth River; and this line is circular on the north side ; the south line runing to the south side of a piece of meadow called Jacob's Meadow, and so to continue till it reach to said Assebeth River.

The following year the General Court revoked this grant, finding that it was included in the grant to the Marlborough proprietors, and gave Mr. Chauncy five hundred acres northeast of the Merrimac, with his expen.ses for laying out the former farm.

Although President Chauncy owned this grant «nly one year, he has given his name to the largest and most beautiful sheet of water in the town. The Reform School, its successor, the Lyman School for Boys, and the Insane Asylum, overlooking Lake Chauncy, prove that the Commonwealth has recognized the vicinity as one of the most desirable and attractive localities in the State.

The part of Marlborough now included in the towns of Westborough and Northborough was called Chauncy until its incorporation in 1717, and the plan DOW in the archives of the State is inscribed, -

A Plot of ye Westerly part of Marlborough called Chancy, as bounded and set off by ye town of Marlborough to make a Precinct, In is contained Fay's Farm, Caleb Rice's Farm and Coram Farm. Together with some land allowed to be added to ye westerly part of Marlborough by the Hon. Committee Appointed by ye Genl. Court in a Former Session to view and make report of ye said land unto ye sd Court The Complement of the whole is 1G,182 acres.

About two-thirds of the present territory of Westborough was taken from Marlborough ; so it will be necessary to trace briefly the history of the parent town.

Ti) the Hon. Govenwr, Lep. Ooi'rruoi; jMagi^lmtes and Dein'ties of the General Court now assembled in Boston: The humble petition of several of the inhabitants of Sudbury, whose names are hereunder written, humbly sheweth that whereas your petitioners have lived divers years in Sudbury, and God hath beene pleased to increase our children, which are now, divers of them, grown to man's estate, and wee, many of us, grown into yeai-s, so as that wee should bee glad to see them settled before the Lord take us away from hence, as also God having given us some considerable quantity of cattle, so that wee are so straightened that wee cannot so comfortably subsistas could bee desired ; and some of us having taken some pains to view the country ; we have found a place, which lyeth westward, about eight miles from Sudbury, which we conceive might be comforta- ?)lefor oursubsistence.

It is therefore the humble request of your Petitionei-s to this Hon'd <;ourt that you would be pleased to grant unto us { ) eight miles square so much land as may containe to eight miles square, for to make a plantation.

If it shall please this Hon'd Court to grant our petition, it is farther than the request of your petitioners to this Hon'd Court, that you will \iee pleased to appoint Mr. Thomas Danfortli or Lieutennt Fisher to lay out the bounds of the Plantation ; and wee shall satisfy those whom this Hon'd Court shall please to employ in it. So, apprehending this weighty occasion, wee shall no farther trouble this Hon'd Court, but shall ever pray for your happinesse.

In answer to the Petition of the aforesaid inhabitants of Sudbury, the court judgeth it meet to grant them a proportion of land six miles, or otherwise in some convenient form equivalent thereunto, at the discretion of the Committee, in the place desired ; provided it hinder no former grant ; that there be a town settled with twenty or more families within three years, so as an able ministry may bee there maintained.

And it is ordered that Mr. Edward Jackson, Capt. Eleazer Lusher, Ephraim Child, with Mr. Thomas Danforth or Lieuten"< Fisher, shall bee and hereby are appointed a committee to lay out the bounds thereof, and make return to the ne.xt Court of Election, or else the grant to be void.

It was not until May, 1667, that a plan of Marlborough was made by Samuel Andrews and approved by the deputies. It is now among the State archives.

The southexly boundary of Marlborough extended in a straight line from a point in the Sudbury River, at a stone bound one half mile west of Eocklawn Mills, and passing between Piccadilly and District No. 4 School-house to the hill on which was situated the birth-place of Eli Whitney, now the home of William H. Johnson, and from there in a straight line northwesterly, passing east of the old " Fay Farm," and east of Hockomocko Pond to Lancaster line. There were a few settlers in the part of Westborough now included in Northborough before there were any in the south part of the town.

John Brigham, the doctor, surveyor, commissioner of the General Court, land speculator, and the most enterprising man in town, obtained a grant of land in 1672 on " Licor Meadow Plain," and built a .saw-mill on Howard Brook, near Northborough Village. About that time Cold Harbor Meadows, Middle Meadows and Chauncy Meadows were divided into thirty-four lots - probably the number of proprietors of Marlborough.

In 1675, when King Philip's Wars brought destruction and distress to so many English settlements, Marlborough was particularly exposed to attack. In October of that year eight garrison-houses were established, to which the two hundred or more settlers might flee in case of attack. Twenty-four soldiers were distributed among these fortified houses, none of which appear to have been within the present bounds of Westborough. To thirteen soldiers were assigned the duty of defending the ammunition and supplies for defence. Many of the first settlers of Westborough spent their early years at this exposed frontier post. Except upon the east, Marlborough was surrounded by the wilderness. They were in constant fear of the torch, the tomahawk and scalping-knife of the savages, who were making a united and desperate attempt to rid the land of the aggressive foreigners.

Little children, scarce able to go alone, were hidden under tubs and baskets, or in thickets in the woods, and kept as still as little partridges hiding from the hawk, while the war-whoops echoed from the oak rafters and the blood of their parents flowed in their defense.

A second attack was maile upon the English settlement of Marlborough on the 20th of the following month (March, 167G), which, though no lives were lost, was attended with disastrous consequences. It was Lord's day, and the inhabitants were assembled for public worship, when the preacher, the Kev. Mr. Brimsmead, was interrupted in the midst of his discourse by the appalling cry that the Indians were advancing upon them. The assembly instantly dispersed, and, with a single exception, succeeded in reaching the neighboring garrison-house in safety before the enemy came up. Dut, though they defended themselves, they could afford no protection to their property, much of which was wasted or destroyed. Their meeting-house and many of their dwelling-houses were burned to the ground, their fruit-trees hacked and killed, their cattle killed or maimed, so that marks of their ravages were visible for many years.

The alarm occasioned by this attack, and the defenseless state to which the inhabitants were reduced, led them to retire from the place, and to seek shelter in a more populous neighborhood. Shortly after the close of the war, which lasted little more than a year, they returned to their farms, and were permitted for many years to cultivate them in peace.

For many years after the death of King Philip the people of Marlborough and vicinity enjoyed the blessings of peace. The Brighams, Rices, Howes and Fays and their numerous descendants cut the meadows on the river banks, planted the uplands with Indian corn, and made shingles from the cedar trees in the swampa. The land was gradually divided up among the diflferent proprietors, and soon nearly all the territory covered by the four borough towns was in the possession of the English.

In 1680 the people in Marlborough, in townmeeting assembled, " Voted to raise thirteen men to go out to cil rattlesnakes - eight to Cold Harbourward, and so to the other place they call boston (now at the northwesterly corner of Westborough), and five to Stony Brookward to the places thereabout. John Brigham to call out seven with him to the first and Joseph Newton four with him to the latter, and they are to have four shillings apiece per day, paid out of the town's rates."

During the French and Indian Wars occasionally incursions were made from Canada by hostile Indians as far as Marlborough and the present Westborough. The scene of one such raid was, according to tradition, a few rods east of the residence of Christopher Whitney - the hill to the southeast being covered with woods during the memory of persons now living. The records show that Thomas Rice then owned the Whitney estate. The fullest account of this incident is given in Peter Whitney's " History of Worcester County," as follows :

Towards the close of the seventeenth century several families had here seated themselves; and, among others, Messrs. Thomas and Edmund Kice had their families, and were fi.ved down but a little west of where the present meeting-house (the "old ,\rcade ") in Westborough stands.

On August 8, 1704, as several persons were busy in spreading fla.v on a plain about eighty rods from the house of Mr. Thomas Rico (the first

Marlborough in the General Court), and a number of boys .with them, seven, some say ten, Indians suddenly rushed down a woody hill near by, and knocking the least of the boys on the head (Nahor, about five years old, son of Mr. Edmund Rice, and the first person ever buried i n Westborough), they seized two, Asher and Adonijah, sons of Mr. Thomas Rice, the .ildest about ten and the other about eight years of age, and two others, Silas and Timothy, sons of Mr. Edmund Kice, above-named, of about nine and seven years of age, and carried them away to Canada. The persons who were spreading flax escaped safely to the house. Asher, in about four years, returned, being redeemed by his father. This was effected by the kind mediation of the Rev. Mr. Lydius, then minister of Albany. And here, by the way, it should be noted that when the old Indian sachem, Ountassago, the chief of the Cagnawagas, at the conference with Gov. Belcher at Deerfield , made a. visit to Boston, he stopped awhile in Westborough ; the before-mentioned Asher Rice saw and knew him to he one of the Indians who rushed down the hill, as above stated, when he wa s taken by them. This Mr. Asher Rice married, had a family, and was living but a few years past in Spencer. His brothel-, Adonijah, grew tip in Canada, and married there, flrsta French, and afterwards a Dutch woman, and followed the business of husbandry on some lanil a little way off from Montreal, on the north side of the great river St. Lawrence, and had a. good farm there, as we have been certified. The Indian name whereby he was called was Assaunaugooton.

As to the other two, Silas and Timothy, they mixed with the Indians : lost their mother tongue, had Indian wives and children by them, and lived at Cagnawaga. The name by which Silas was distinguished among the Indians was Tookauowriis.

Timothy, the youngest, however, w:is much the most noticeable person. The accounts received from thence have uniformly represented him as the third of the six chiefs of the Cagnawagas. This advancement was in consequence of the death of his foster-father or master, who had adopted him for a son, instead of a son which he, the former chief had lost. However (said the Rev. Mr. Parkman, who has the best means of information), Timothy had much recommended himself to the Indians by his own superior talents, his penetraUon, courage, strength and warlike spirit, for which he was much celebrated, as was evident to me from conversation with the late Sachem Hendrick and Mr Kellogg, when they were in the Massachusetts ; and his name among them the same as we had ever heard, viz, : Oughtsoroagoughton.

The venerable Mr. Parkman, in a manuscript account of these persons found among his papers since his death, adds, in respect to thi* Timothy, in the.se words: " He himself, in process of time, came to see us By the interposition of Col. Lydius, and the captive Tarbell, who was carried away from Groton, a letter was sent me, bearing date .Tuly "3 1740 certifying that if one of their brethren here would go up to Albany 'and be there at a time specified, they would meet him there, and that one of them, at least, would come hither to visit their friends in New England. This proposal was readily complied with, ami it

"The chief abovesaid came, .and the said Mr. Tarbell with him, as interpreter, and companion. They arrived here September loth. They viewed the house where Mr. Rice dwelt, and the place from whence the children were captivated, of both which he retained a clear remembrance as he did likewise of several elderly persons who were then living, though he had forgot our language. His Excellency, Gov. Belcher, sent for them, who accordingly waited on him in Boston. They also visited TarbcU's relation at Groton, then returned to us i» their way back to Albany and Canada. Col. Lydius, when at Boston, not long since, said this Eice was the chief who made the speech to General Gage, which we liad in our public prints, in behalf of the Cagnawagas, soon after the reducthm of Slontreal."

At the time of their capture the fate of little Nahor must have seemed preferable to that of the three boys, doomed to barbarism, as well as a life-long captivity. however, "will tell," the hardy Puritan stock gained the ascendency over an inferior race, and these Rice boys became the principal chiefs in the most influential "Indian nation" in Canada. When the war for independence was impending and the patriots in Boston were seeking for friends in .the neighboring province of Canada, their old enemies.

the Indians, were the only allies they could secure. The French Canadian gentry offered their services in raising troops for King George. The English settlers were bound by commercial lies to England and refused to join in the struggle for independence.

In March, 1775, the British government were planning the overthrow of the rebels, who were arming all over New England, and especially the punishment of the town of Boston, the chief offender. Samuel Adams and Dr. Joseph Warren were in frequent communication with agents in Canada. Open war was liable to break out at any moment.

At this critical time a letter came from J. Brown, of Montreal, to Samuel Adams and Dr. Joseph Warren, of the Committee of Correspondence in Boston, showing that the Westboro' captives, like the patriarch of Old Testament history, not only prospered in the land of their captors, but, like Joseph, remembered their brethren.

The letter is dated March 29, 1775, and shows that these white chiefs were using their great influence to prevent the Indian tribes from resuming their old raids into New England. "The messengers sent to this tribe report that they were kindly received by the Cagnawaga Indians, which were the principal of all the Canadian six nations and western tribes of Indians, with whom they tarried several days.

"The Indians say they have'been repeatedly applied to and requested to join with the King's troops to fight Boston, but have peremptorily refused and still intend to refuse.

" They say if they are obliged, for their own safety, to take up arms on either side, that they shall take part on the side of their brethren, the English in New England. All the chiefs of the Cagnawaga tribe being of English extraction, captivated in their infancy.''

Their brother and sister were living in Northboro' in 1793, and then informed Eev. Peter Whitney that they had heard from their brothers Timothy and Silas as late as 1790, when the latter must have been over ninety years old.

As late as 1711 the danger of Indian excursions was so great that the one hundred and thirty-four families in Marlborough were assigned to twenty-six garrison-houses, of which but two were within the present limits of Westborough. These were the garrisons of Thomas Rice (with John Pratt and Charles Rice) and of Edmund Rice (with David Brigham, Isaac Tomblin and David Maynard.)

Before passing to the incorporation of Westborough the history of some of the outlying grants now included within the town limits will be given.

Governor Theophilus Eaton, of Connecticut, was one of the original patentees of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was a prominent merchant in England, agent of King James at the court of Denmark, and Governor of the New Haven Colony from 1639 till his death.

June 11, 1680, this entry appears on the court records : " In answer to the petition of Capt. Lawrence Hamond on behalfe of Willjam Jones, Esq., the Court judgeth it meet to grant to the heirs of that worthy gent", Theophilus Eaton, Esq., five hundred acres of land in any part of our jurisdiction,''free from former grants and not prejudicing plantations." May 16, 1683. In answer to Mr. Jones' motion in behalf of the children of Theophilus Eaton, deceasedi y' five hundred acres is allowed and confirmed as laid out, provided that it exceed not fivety acres more than the five hundred granted them, and that the same be reduced to a square or rhomboyds, and doe not prejudice any former grants."

October 10, 1683, the plan and survey made by John Haynes were confirmed to the heirs of Mr. Eaton, although the farm was laid out neither in the form of a square nor of an oblique parallelogram. In fact, the eight-sided polygon enclosed a space not yet named by the mathematicians, but famous in later years as Eaton's, and then as Fay's farm, although the Fays at no time owned the whole of it. When annexed to that part of Marlborough now Westborough it projected into what is now Shrewsbury so far, that the district included between the farm and Sutton was known as "The Shoe,'' and necessitated the annexation of the people and farms there located. It included, perhaps, the best farminglands in School District No. 6 - the greater portions of the farm now owned by J. P. Vinal, the two farms of M. and J. E. Henry, part of the Whitney farm now owned by Wm. H. Johnson, the whole of the farms of Geo. E. Ferguson, J. M. Kimball, James McTaggart, and parts of several other farms. It extended one mile on the old Marlborough line, northerly from the Eli Whitney Hill. From the corner of the wall, a few rods behind the house now occupying the site of the birth-place of the great inventor, the old Sutton north line can be followed with the eye about a half-mile, running southwesterly in line with the stone wall, separating the Whitney pasture from the pasture of Geo. E. Ferguson. It also includes some of the best and most extensive meadows along the upper " Elisabeth " River, which had been kept free from brush and trees by the annual fires of the aborigines.

How '- Mr. Jones, of Connecticut," succeeded in getting this grant, which appropriated the best uplands and the most desirable lowlands of the region, and which projected for more than a mile into " country land," approved as a " square or rhom- boyd," cannot now be ascertained. Possibly he put up at the best inn of the " town of boston" and gave a dinner to the Great and General Court.

In less than two years John Brigham, with his brother Thomas, and John and Samuel Fay, the children of his sister Mary, bought the Eaton farm, paying but twenty-five pounds for it. The two former each owned one-third, and divided the farm between them and their nephews by deed.

Within the memory of persons now living, the Fays owned a large part of the farms in this section of the town. James Fay, on the Vinal place ; Benjamin Fay, perhaps the wealthiest man in town in his day, in the house opposite his son James ; Antipas M. Fay, in his " mansion " (now the homestead of the Henrys) ; J. B. Fay and John G. Fay, on the North Grafton Eoad ; Otis Fay, on the S. B. Ferguson place ; David Fay lived in the Goodell house. His extraordinary doings and eccentric sayings have served to entertain our older residents, his contemporaries and their descendants till the present day. After indulging somewhat freely in the " rhum," then dispensed in country stores, he is said to have ridden into the house now standing, and made a complete circuit of the rooms around the large chimney.

On the map of " Chauncy," prepared for the use of the General Court in connection with the petition for the formation of the town of Westborough, no hill bears any name. Near the southwest boundary of the new town are the words - " Jack Straw's Hill at Sutton." At thi< time there were no white settlers at that place. In 172S Jack Straw's Hill and other farms in that vicinity were annexed to Westborough. With the exception of the Sudbury Elver, this was the only geographical feature now in the town which bore any name on the map. One of the most striking peculiarities of this town is the number of rounded hills, of which the highest is Fay's Mountain, seven hundred feet in height. These hills have been for many years excellent pastures.

Most of them change their name to that of each successive owner - Fay"s Mountain, Boston Hill and Jack Straw's Hill seem to be exceptions to the general rule.

Jack Straw's Hill is on the east side of Ruggles Street, about a quarter of a mile beyond the house of N. M. Knowlton. An old cellar on the summit of the hill, a few rods from the street, indicates the spot where, within the memory of our oldest inhabitants, stood a small deserted house. Through the valley on the east flows Jackstraw Brook, which has been considered as a possible water supply for the town.

The history of this spot, and of the famous Indian whose name it bears, indicates the reason why this hill, so inconspicuous among the larger elevations about it, has retained its n.ame for more than two hundred years. Nearly a half-century before white people lived there, it named the country

It bears the name of the first Christian Indian in the English Colonies, a man for several years in the service of Sir Walter Raleigh, and baptized by his order - one of the two Indians presented by that gallant explorer to the Virgin Queen Elizabeth, together with a large pearl, as illustrations of what the newly-named Virginia could produce.

Made king of a petty domain near Roanoke, N. C, " always faithful " as scout, interpreter and guide " as an Englishman," his Indian name, Manteo, is now borne by that couuty-seat of Dare County, N. C, and is situated on Roanoke Island. After the abandonment of the Roanoke Colony by the English, he appears to have left his home, and served as interpreter for traders and explorers along the coa.st as far as Maine. The other Indian, Wanchesi, who accompanied him on his voyage to England, returned to Roanoke, and within a year joined a party of hostiles, who killed one of the settlers, named " Master Howe."

The friendly Indians were desirous of gaining English names for themselves and their children, but they did not always understand their significance.

In 1623, " not long after the overthrow of the first plantation in the Bay, Capt. Lovit came to ye contry." At the time of his being at Pascataway (near Portsmouth, N. H.), he and Mr. Tomson, who were exploring and trading along the coast, engaged two Indians. A spectator, perhaps observing the responsible duties assigned them, said : " How can you trust these Salvages. Call the name of one Watt Tyler and y' other Jack Straw after y' names of the two greatest Rebells that ever were in England." So Jack Straw received his English name, not realizing, probably, that his namesake was one of the leaders in the socialistic rebellion in the fourteenth century, whose head was aflBxed to a pike in the city of London, so recently in his power.

The exact time when he located here is not known. About 1650 the apostle to the Indians, Eliot, had gathered the scattered Indians of this vicinity into the villages of Marlborough, Hopkinton and Grafton. This hill was not far from the earliest Indian trail which was the only highway from Connecticut to the Massachusetts Bay^ and called the " Bay Path." Some traces of it are now visible.

In 1631 a company of Connecticut Indians traveled from near Hartford to Boston, to secure the aid of the English settlers against their powerful Indian enemies, and to secure a colony on their river. An historian says they secured the services of Jack Straw and Sagamore John, as the former Indian spoke English, and the latter lived between the Charles and Mystic

April 4, 1631, Wahginnacut, a sagamore upon the river Quonchtacut, whicli lies west of Karaganset, came to tlie governor at Boston, with John Sagamore & Jack Straw (an Indian, who had lived in England and had served Sir Walter Ealeigh, and was now turned Indian again) and divers of their sannops and brought a letter to the governor from Mr. Eudicott to this effect: That the said Wahginnacut was very desirous to have some Englishmen to come plant in liis country and offered to find them corn, and give them yearly eighty skins of beaver, and that the country was very fruitful &c. and wished that there might be two men sent with him to see tlie country. The governor entertained them at dinner, but would send none with him. He discovered after that the said sagamore is a very treacherous man, and at war with the Pekoatb (a far greater sagamore). His country is not above five days' journey from us by land.

They subsequently went to Plymouth, and, according to Governor Bradford's account, received a more favorable reception there. In 1676 three Indians with Jackstraw for a surname were living in Hopkinton, probably descendants of the Jack Straw whose home was near that plantation. Whether they were with Netus in his attack on the Eames family, and subsequently executed, is not now known. During King Philip's War that skillful and patriotic chief aroused so much race and national spirit among the red men, that quite a number of praying Indians from the vicinity joined the war against the whites.

Plan 191 in theState archives, with thememorandum attached, and the Court Records, give much information about this Jack Straw's Hill grant. The tirst white owners were the relict and children of " Capt. Richard Beers, who lost his life in the country's service, by the Indians, at Deerfield, in 1677." It was later owned by Thomas Rice, and known at times as Rice's Farm. The old name of Jack Straw is now applied only to the hill, pasture and brook, and is now used as one word, "Jackstraw."

This grant of three hundred acres was located at the southwest corner of Marlborough, including the present town reservoir, and District No. 5 Schoolhouse, and farms in that vicinity. ''Jack Straw's Hill " is near the centre of the map, while the course of the two brooks near the present dam is shown. At this time there were on its banks meadows, "about eight acres in all." The rest was grown up to wood. Soon after the incorporation of the town Deacen Jonathan Forbes, who lived where the present almshouse now is, deeded the saw-mill to his son, Jonathan Forbes, Jr. In fact, nearly all the available mill-sites were utilized by the early settlers for corn-mills and saw-mills, and somewhat later at Piccadilly to furnish power, in a small way, for tool-making and other small manufacturing.

The Beers' heirs sold this three hundred-acre farm for fifteen pounds to Samuel How, of Sudbury, who sold it May 24, 1698, for twenty-two pounds to Thomas Rice, of Marlborough. The Eli Whitney place is in part taken from the Jack Straw grant and in part from the Eaton or Fay Farm.

In January and February, 1715-16, several farms in the westerly part of the town were surveyed by Wm. Ward and annexed to Chauncy Village, before it was incorporated under the name of Westborough.

In 1728 John Graves, Jonathan Forbush (Forbes), Simon Taynter, Samuel Livermore, James Fay, James Miller, James Bowman, John Fay, Bariah Rice,. Daniel Hardy and Samuel Harrington, inhabitants of the town of Sutton, presented a petition to the General Court, saying that they lived ten miles from the church in their own town, and not over four mile.* from where they usually attended church (then in Wessonville), and asking that they and their farms might be annexed to the town of Westborough.

The court ordered that their prayer be granted, and their petitioners and their estates and other land.s, as shown on the plan annexed to the petition, be annexed to Westborough, according to the lines set forth in said plan. This plan cannot now be found among the State archives. The residence of some of the petitioners is known. The first three lived near Sandra Reservoir and occupied part of the Jack Straw grant. The Harrington place has been recently sold by James O'Shaughnessy to J. B. Walker. The Miller place was on high land on the opposite side of Ruggles Street from Jack Straw Hill. The .Hardy place is in District No. 6, and is now owned by Francis J. Adams. In fact, the greater part of District Nos. 5 and 6 were then annexed.

It was quite important to be near church in those days, not only for the convenience of the devout, but the most indifferent church-goers stood in awe of the fines imposed for absence from divine worship without sufficient cause.

In 1762 several farms in the southwest part of the town were annexed from Shrewsbury. William Nurse, Widow Sarah Smith, Daniel Nurse and the heirs of Reuben Maynard, deceased, also the lands of Benjamin Fay and Moses Nurse, of Westborough, lying in the "Shoe," in Shrewsbury, were added to this town. The large farm of B. A. Nourse, on the North Grafton Road, was then annexed. In their petition to "His E.xcellency, Francis Bernard, Esq., Captain- General and Governor-in-chief in and over his majeste's Province of the Massachusetts Bay of New England, and to the Hon. his Majeste's Council and House of Representatives in General Court, assembled in Boston," they describe themselves as "lying near unto and joyning upon the Town of Westborough, which Runeth almost around us, and where we always attend the Publick worship of God."

The prayer was granted, " provided that y' above s'' petitioners be at y" cost and charge of Providing themselves a Road " (the present North Grafton road), " which they shall be contented with, from their Respective dwellings down into y* great Road, which leads from Westborough to Grafton, to come to meeting in, so that y" town of Westborough shall be at no cost or charge to provide s** petitioners any such. Road."

In 1762 it was voted, on the petition of Elijah Rice, Roger Bruce and Barnabas Newton, " that they and their lands which are in Upton be annexed to y*

After strenuous exertions, at different town-meetings, John Belknap, who then lived at Rocklawn, secured the following action, May 2, 1778 : " Voted to choose a committee to meet with Southboro' and Marlborough, to settle the Hue between Framingham and Westborough, that Mr. John Belknap has ben a contending about so long." It was not until 1835, and after the "Fiddleneck" of three hundred acres had been annexed to Southboro' , that the sixteen acres claimed by Belknap were added to Westborough. Marlborough was originally too large in area for the convenient transaction of town business when settled, and a coming division was considered and provided for as early as 1688. There was not so great a desire to have a large town area for public reasons, as to secure more uplands, swamps and meadows to clear up and divide among themselves and their numerous children. The Old World land-hunger was still felt by the children and grandchildren of the first settlers, who came to this vicinity principally from the middle classes in England. " Chauncy " was well known geographically, and as an independent element in Marlborough town-meetings, before it was separated from the parent town. Farms and countryland were constantly added, by the General Court, to the possessions of the proprietors and residents of Marlborough. The surveys made in those days were not very accurate. The General Court granted the Marlborough proprietors six miles square, and they induced the committee to include in their survey ten square miles more than that area, and their report was accepted.

John Brigham and thirty others from that town were endeavoring to secure all the land between Marlboro' and Lake Quinsigamond for a new town, and others were calling for large additions, on that side, to the old town, when the movement for the incorporation of Westboro' was carried to a successful issue.

The petition for the division of the town, in 1702, had failed, probably because of an insufficient population in the new town. Since then, John and Samuel Fay, Thomas Forbush, James Bradish, and a number of other enterprising men had erected houses in Chauncy, while Thomas Rice still remained honored and influential in the new town where he was the first settler.

November 18, 1717, the town of Westborough was incorporated, with a territory extending from Lancaster, on the north, to Sutton, on the south, and from Marlborough (then including the principal part of Southborough)andHopkinton,on the east, to Shrewsbury (a town but sixteen days old), on the west. The area was sixteen thousand one hundred and eighty-two acres ; the present area of Westborough varying from eleven thousand five hundred to twelve thousand acres, according to the views of the different assessors who consider this question from year to year. It included more than two-thirds of the present towns of Westborough and Northborough.

The act of incorporation is as follows : " A plot of the Westerly Part of Marlborough, called Chauncy,, prepared by the Committee appointed by the General Court to view and make Report of the said Land unto the said Court.

" In the House of Representatives, Nov. 15, Resolved, that the Tract of Land contained and described in this Piatt be erected into a Township and called by the name of Westborough. The Inhabitants to have and enjoy all Powers, Privileges and Immunities whatsoever as other Towns have and do enjoy. And that the ungranted Lands lying within the same (containing about Three Thousand Acres) be granted to the said Inhabitants, They paying for the same as the Committee appointed by the Court, this Session, for setting the lands of the new Township" (Shrewsbury) " that is contiguous shall Order, And that out of the said Lands there be reserved a suitable and convenient Lott for the first settled minister, Which Lott the said Committee shall set out. Sent up for concurrence. Read and concurred. Consented to - Sam'l Shute."

According to Rev. Ebenezer Parkman, the first settled minister, " the first inhabitants of Westborough were Thomas Rice, Charles Rice, John Fay, Samuel Fay, Thomas Forbush, David Maynard, Edmund Rice, David Brigham, Capt. Joseph Byles, James Bradish, John Pratt, John Pratt, Jr., Thomas Newton, Josiah Newton, Hezekiah Howe, Daniel Warren, Increase Ward, Benjamin Townsend, Nathaniel Oaks, Samuel Goodnow, Gershom Fay, Simeon Howard, Adam Holloway, Thomas Ward and Joseph Wheeler.''

It was now sixty years since John How built his cabin and settled" in Marlborough, yet there were but twenty-five families aiid six unmarried men in the part now made a separate town.

As early as 1635 the General Court passed a law that " Hereafter noe dwelling bowse shalbe builte above halfe a myle from the Meeting House in any newe plantacon without leave from the Court, except myll bowses and fferme (farm) bowses of such as have their dwelling bowses in some towne." Although soon repealed, the reason for its passage existed many year later in the town of Marlborough. Ten years after the first settlement of the town an old plan shows the houses of the first settlers all within a short distance of the meeting-house. In 1717 the whole population of Marlborough probably exceeded one thousand, and of that number perhaps one hundred and sixty were living in the new town.

They promptly called a town-meeting and set in motion the municipal machinery. It is not known where the first town-meeting was held or who presided. Captain John Fay was clerk.

Pursuant to an order given Mr. Justice fuiium, ttie Town met, Being dated tlie 15th day of December, 1717, the s" Town meet and proceed forthwith ; iirstly to Build a meetting-house forthwith.

4th. John Pratt, Sener, Thomas Newton and Daniel Warren waar chosen a Committee for the work a Bove sd. and to determine the wages for men whom they See meet to employ.

5Iy. Voted to chuse Committee to wait on the Eeva. Mr. Elmer and to treat to continue to Be our minister and to proceed for his Comfortable subsistence as they shall see meet.

Sly. Thomas Eice, Sener, Chose the first Secelectman, John fay and Semeion Haywald, Sener, Chosen Seclectmen : lastly, Davied Manayald (David Maynard) Chosen Constable.

The early town records give glimpses, and only glimpses, of the life of the people. They built and seated the meeting-house and yearly discussed the question of " allowing the swin to goo at large," and of supplying the minister with fire-wood. Taxes were called " rates,'' and were assessed separately for raising the minister's salary, the care of the highways, the support of schools, etc. Constables were required to use every means, including imprisonment, to secure the collection of the " rates " entrusted to them for collection, but cases of special hardship received the favorable attention of the inhabitants in town-meeting. Votes like the following, passed in 175(3, were very common : " 8'? the Town Voted and Sunk the Eats that was assessed on Samuel Fay, Jr., for his Sun's Head, that is in the King's Service, which rate is in Dea" Jonathan Forbush's, Ju', hand." They chose " dear Eeeves " and " Hogg Reeves " and tythingmen. Public oflicials worked hard for small pay, and often received hard hits when called to account at the annual town-meeting. March 25, 1729, "James Bradish, Edward Baker and Thomas Forbush, Jun., were voted a committee to Call all those men to an account which have not given an account of their several Betrustments into which they have been Chosen, and then voted that the Selectmen Take Care to provide a minister untill our Revend pastor is capable of Reeding." In 1730 it was " voted that the town will have Black Slaves for the Constables."

In 1756 it was considered a military necessity to transport sixteen thousand simple, peaceful Acadians from their country to New England, and distribute them among the various towns. They were taken from the homes occupied by themselves and their ancestors for more than a century, and distributed

October 24, 1757, the town granted " Sixteen Pounds, Lawful money, for the subsistence of the Old French Man and his wife, which is now in this Town ... for Time past for their subsistence, and for the time to come, as far as it will go.'' The usual amount appropriated was five pounds a year. Separated from their friends and kindred, probably too old to learn the language of their captors, without the religious services and rites of the Catholic Church, to which they were devoted, a burden on their hardworking, and probably unsympathetic neighbors, it is not strange that they disappeared from the pauper list a few years later. The people of the town became more straitened for money, even voting at one town-meeting, in 1760, not to keep a lawful school, nor support the " Neutral French family,'' although a few months later they appropriated twenty-six pounds for the former purpose and three pounds for the latter. The " poor widders and ainchant men" were conveyed by the constables to the town bounds or warned out of town when it was thought they might become a public charge. The burdens of long wars with French and Indians, the hardships incident to frontier life and the bad financial condition of the Provinces caused the expense of keeping the poor to exceed at times the grants for schools.

It was more common then than now to "present" towns at court for failing to perform their municipal duties, and it is not strange that this town was arraigned in 1721 at " Concord Oorte " for lack of a town pound, nor in 1753, because the law requiring every town of one hundred families to support a grammar school was not observed.

The town stocks were provided by one Pratt (who owned a saw-mill), and charged eight shillings for them. Men and women were whipped at their request by the constables for stealing and some of the lesser crimes, when too poor to pay fines, in preference to suffering imprisonment.

Including its original territory and later additions, Westborough was now more than eight miles long, with an average width of less than four miles. The meeting-house at Wessonville was situated about two miles south of the geographical centre, making it necessary for many people in the north part of the town to walk four or five miles to church. The prosperity of that section was retarded, and growing discontent was the result.

In spite of the opposition of Rev. Ebenezer Parkman, who did notwLsh to have his parish divided, the North Precinct (now Northborough) was set off" in 1744. Town-meetings were to be held alternately in the two precincts, and each had full control of church and parish matters within its own limits. At this time there were eighty-seven families in the South Precinct and thirty-eight families in the North Precinct.

Four years after the formation of the two precincts the old church at Wessonville was demolished, and the new meeting-house, now known as the "Old Arcade," was erected near its present site.

The union of church and State still continued for many years, but the assessors' returns show a few dissenters belonging to other than Congregational Churches, and their estates were not required to share in paying the ministerial rates. The church was frequently called upon to try charges against its members of lying, slander, drunkenness and other offenses, which now would be considered more appropriate for a criminal court. The number of such cases, however, tried by both church and justices of the peace was exceedingly few, considering the tendency of the times to let no offence go unheard and unpunished.

In the early history of the town large areas of uncleared land could be obtained at low prices. The uplands were frequently sold for less than one dollar an acre, in hard money. The meadows, now considered of comparatively little value, were worth ten times as much per acre. These first settlers obtained large tracts of land, and as the boys became of age gave them farms to clear up and build upon. The records show that these pioneers in Westborough usually followed a somewhat similar career. They were nearly all large land-owners, whether professional men, mechanics, merchants, inn-holders or farmers proper. The men usually married, between the ages of twenty and twenty-five years, wives a little younger than themselves. As death separated them, the widows and widowers married again until they reached advanced years - frequently marrying within a few months of the death of the former consort.

As the boys grew up to man's estate all but one moved from the parental roof and built houses for themselves. The favorite son or, at times, son-in-law had an addition made to the old house and took a deed of an undivided half of the farm and certain rooms and privileges in the house, cider-mill and barns.

As the patriarch of the household advanced in years he gradually gave up active duties at a time when now men would be still considered in their prime, and deeded the rest of the fiirm to the son, remained at home and gave a bond to support his father and mother so long as they lived. The father retained, however, for life, certain portions of the buildings, and perhaps a small piece of land for a garden. How far this custom prevailed elsewhere I am unable to say, but in nearly every case, where examination has been made in Westborough, such was found to be the early custom.

weeks in the year and received from two to three times as much pay as the school-mistress. The person boarding the teacher received about one dollar a week and the female teacher from one dollar to one dollar and a half per week. The numerous doctors in town charged according to the amount of medicines furnished and travel occasioned by their visits. One shilling was generally the minimum fee. They usually succeeded in charging one shilling and six pence for " venesection '' at some point in the case, as bloodletting was considered nearly indispensable when the patient was seriously ill. Thejusticeof the peace, who made the deeds, received from one to two shillings, according to their length, and somewhat larger fees for services as magistrate in bringing persons to justice for petty offences. Uttering profane oaths and " cusses " appear to havebeen the most common offences punished by one of our earlier magistrates, although Sunday violations and assaults were not infrequent. A gosd horse-whipping was too serious an offence for his court, and the party was bound over to the higher tribunal.

Westborough in the Revolutiox. - The territory of Westborough fortunately escaped the ravages of war. The coast of New England for years was in constant danger of pillage and invasion. The people of Central Massachusetts, who had suffered most severely the hardships of the French and Indian Wars, were now spared the presence of British troops burning, sacking and destroying in their midst. Worcester County, however, responded promptly when the struggle for independence began. As early as October 28, 1765, " the freeholders and other inhabitants " held an indignation meeting over the passage of the Stamp Act. They declared that " the inhabitance of this Province have a legal clarae to all the Natural Inherent rights of Englishmen, notwithstanding their Great Distance from grate Britton, and that the Stamp Act is an Infringement upon these Bights, therefore we cannot be active in puling our necks under Such a Grevios Yoke." They then pro^ ceeded to instruct their representative to labor for the repeal of the act and to suppress unlawful acts of violence.

In response to a communication from the selectmen of the town of Boston, the inhabitants of this town, regularly assembled in town meeting this 2d of December, 1767, " voted to promote what in us lies, Industry, Occonomy and Manufactures among ourselves, and by these means prevent the unnecessary importation of European commodities, the eccessiveness of which threatens the country with poverty and Ruin."

Westborough was tenth in population of the towns of the county at the outbreak of war, being exceeded by Brookfield, Lancaster, Sutton, Jlendon, Worcester, Hardwick, Shrewsbury, Boston, Lunenburg and Sturbridge, in the above order.

The people had beeu preparing for years to resist further oppression and misrule. Volunteers went to the front immediately after the fight at Lexington.

In November, 1774, these two votes appear on the town records : " Voted to pay those men the money which they advanced for the town to purchase a cannon, £7 17s. Qd."

Three years before the Concord fight they answered the letter sent by the Committee of Correspondence in Boston with these vigorous words: "We are of opinion that the rights of ye Colonists and of this Province in particular, as men and as subjects, are well stated in said list, as ye same are fully supported and warranted by ye laws of God and Nature, and ye Royal Charter of this province. Under ye present critical and alarming state of our publick affairs there is a loud call to every one to awake from Security, and in Earnest strive to secure his Liberty, lest he politically perish. . . . For no Dought ware tyranny is Exercised, Opposition becomes a duty ; as our fathers could, so can we plead our loyalty; we have been and now are ready to Spill our dearest blood in Defense of our King, Religion and Constitutional Laws; we cannot but look upon it as a hard trial, yea, greater than we can bear, if we cannot be said to give full proof of our Loyalty Otherwise than by sacrificing those Rights and Liberties which we prize beyond Life itself; therefore ye Inhabitants of this town do Declare to the world that they are far from being easy under ye many Infringements aud Intolerable violations of these Rights and privileges." They proceed to instruct their representative in the General Court that he should exert himself at all times with ye other members of sd Court in such measures as may have a tendency in ye obtaining a Redress of all such Grevences as are justly complained of, and the procuring to this Loyal people ye peaceful enjoyments of their just Rights."

At a meeting held December 30, 1774, relative to the impending troubles, the town was generally in accord with the recommendations and resolves of the American Continental Congress, held at Philadelphia, and the first two resolves of the Provincial Congress at Cambridge were adopted. It was voted not to grant money "to lucourage the Minit-Men to Train and Exercise themselves," and " the Question Wias put to See if the Town expected anything more of the Minit-men than they did of other men," and it passed in the negative.

The means taken to provide funds for the Provinces and assist in the rising movement to preserve their liberties show they were not wanting in patriotism, but expected every man to do his duty without special compensation.

Captain Stephen Maynard was chosen representative to the next Provincial Congress at Cambridge, and also, in July, 1775, to the Congress to be held in Watertown.

February 7, 1775, a Committee of Inspection and Observation, recommended by the Continental Congress, was appointed, consisting of twelve persons, - Jonathan Bond, Captain Benjamin Fay, Daniel Forbes, Phinehas Hardy, Ebenezer Maynard, Abijah Gale, Captain Jonas Brigham, Dr. James Hawes. Lieutenant Joseph Baker, Timothy Warren, George Andrews and Phineas Haskell. Funds were raised, and a committee was appointed to collect donations for the relief of the suffering poor of the city of Boston.

Dr. James Hawes, at this time, took a very prominent part in town affairs; he was also a justice of the peace, and wrote many deeds. At the annual March meeting the town elected James Bowman and Abraham Bond constables. This office, which included that of collecting taxes, was considered a very undesirable one. Many preferred to pay fines rather than serve. Some forty years previous it had been voted that " black slaves " should be eligible for that position. The town voted repeatedly to indemnify the constables from loss on account of illegal taxes, imposed to meet the expenses of the coming rebellion against British rule, and for paying funds collected into the provincial treasury.

It appears that Dr. Hawes was equal to the emergency and ready to perform the labors of both constables. The record says that Constables Bond and Bowman " agreed with and hired Dr. James Hawes to serve as constable in their room and sted, and he swore the Constable's oath."

Orders were given for the purchase of " Twelve Fier arms and Bayonets, Sixty Cateridge Boxes, Sixty hitchits," also " two good Drums for the minit Company." The old committee to buy the cannon was " to make it fit for use and our defences," and Lieutenant Joseph Baker was to " Inlist 7 suitable, able, active men to learn to use and exercise our cannon in a warlike manner." They were to be counted a part of the " minit company," and to have the same pay.

At the annual March meeting in 1776 no action was taken relative to the war, except to choose a new committee of " Correspondence, Inspection and Safety."

At a meeting of the inhabitants of the town of Westborough on " May y" 24, 1776, and being warned on purpose to Consider of a Resolve of the House of Representatives on May ye 10, 1776, concerning Independenticy. Voted to advise Capt. Stephen Maynard, our representative, to conform to said Resolve, in Case that the Honourable Congress Shall Judge it most Expedient for the Safety and wellfair of the Colones."

July 17, 1776, a committee appointed to confer with those " who had done a turn or part of a turn during the war since April 19, 1775," could not agree on the compensation they should receive from the town. The soldiers were represented by a committee of three of their number, viz.: Lieutenant James Godfrey, Lieutenant Thomas Bond and Mr. Nathan Fisher.

The town's committee recommended that those "whowenc on their own account to the war should receive £3 for eight months' service, and in pro|iortion for two months." A bounty of nine pounds had been oft'ered for new enlistments for the Xew York army a few days previously.

July 22, 1771), when the call for every twenty-fifth man for the " Northward Department or Canada Expedition " was urgent, the town-meeting was adjourned for a half-hour, to see" who would be willing to Inlist" and what sum of money they would go for. At the end of this recess the bounty was raised to ten pound-i.

The enlistment and re-enlistment of troops was frequent, and the terms of service from two months to three years, or the war. In the spring of 1775 there were but two hundred and eighteen polls in town, and the enlistments in 1775 were 49 ; in 1776, 97 ; in 1778, 71 ; in 1779, 35; in 1780, 14; or 365 enlistments and re-enlistraents in a town of about 900 inhabitants. A few Remained in the army to the end of the war. While New England was specially threatened by the British in Boston, and by the attempt of General Burgoyne to separate it from the rest of the country by his expedition from the North, probably most of the able-bodied men were in the field. When the principal theatre of war changed to the south of the Hudson, and when ultimate success was insured by the surrender at Yorktown, most of the soldiers returned to their homes. The number of men in the field at one time is not known. The news from Concord found the minute-men ready. Capt, Stephen Maynard, was in command of the militia at the beginning of the war. He and Captain Benjamin Fay were the two richest men in town, and paid nearly double the tax of any other resident of Westboro'.

The minute-men marched by way of Lexington to a point near Boston, arriving the night after the Concord and Lexington fight. The wagons, loaded with one month's provisions, provided by the selectmen, probably arrived later. Whether the " field-piece " figured with the Westboro' men who fought at Bunker Hill does not appear.

Among the oflScers from this town were Lieutenant- Colonel Moses Wheelock, whose headstone is in Memorial Cemetery, near Main Street, Captain Sefh Morse,Lieut. James Godfrey and Lieut. Henry Marble.

There was great difficulty in procuring clothing and other supplies for the army. Cloth was spun and woven by hand, and the women were obliged to do much of the farm-work in the absence of the men. There was a great lack of blankets. The town frequestly made appropriation for the purchase of beef for the army.

May 19, 1777, the town first chose representatives to the Great and General Court of the new Commonwealth. Captain Stephen Maynard and Mr. Daniel Forbes were chosen, and instructed not to assent to forming a Constitution until there was a change in the form of representation . As early as the beginning of the year 1777 the depreciation of paper-money began to cause trouble, and, February 17th, the price of nearly every article in common use and of all kinds of labor was fixed by vote of the town.

" For a meal of vitials of the best Quality, Is. per meal ; For their common vitials, 8rf. per meal ; For a Mug of Flip made of W. I. (West India) Rum, lOrf. per Mug; and for New England Flip, 8rf.; For loging a person a Night in a good Bed, lOrf."

In June of the same year " Amasa Maynard was chosen to procure evidence against any person inimical to this State or any of the United States, and lay the same before the court." If Tories existed in town they kept very quiet, and do not appear to have been so active or outspoken as in many towns in the county.

Captain Levi Warren and others from this place shared in the fight at Bennington and the campaign against General Burgoyne in the summer of 1777, and received, in 1778, eight dollars for the first month and six dollars per month thereafter from the town treasury.

January 8, 1778, a committee was appointed on the " consideration " (Constitution) sent out by Congress, and made the following report : " We are of the opinion that the Protestant religion is not duly guarded in said Constitution. Also we think it might be well to acknowledge the Superintendence of Heaven in the Stile by adding these words, - ' Under God,' after the words, ' Shall be.' "

From 1775 to 1820 the growth of population was quite slow. The whole area of the town was divided into farms, and no industry was started to give employment to the young men. One thousand persons were considered all that the town could properly support, and the surplus population settled farther west and north.

in a few instances, Scotch parents. So few new families moved into town that the index of births, marriages and deaths in the town archives show seventy-seven references during the first hundred years of the town's history to persons whose surnames begin with " R," and all but twelve were named Rice. During the same period, out of eighty-nine names beginning with " F,'' all but seventeen were Fay, Forbes or Forbush. The names How, Hardy and Harrington were more than one-half of those beginning with " H."

There were a few "Smiths "during the first century of the town's history, but they were not named "John.'' Barzillai Smith, son of Ezekiel and Ruth, was born in 1767, and Merodachbaladan Smith married Abigail, and was blessed with three children, born about the middle of the last century.

Prior to the year 1767 the town paupers were boarded around, like the school-teachers, and the town, in meeting assembled, decided how much to pay for their support. They were frequently widows, left without children who could provide for them in their old age, and were taken by some of the most respectable and prominent people of the town to board. In that year a work-house was built on land of Timothy Warren. It was of wood, one story high, thirty feet long and sixteen feet wide, and cost the town £26 13s. 4rf., or about $100. Finding the cost of a separate establishment for the paupers greater than that of selling them to the lowest bidder, the work-house was sold in 1790 and no other provided until 1825, when the farm of Capt. Daniel Chamberlain was purchased. This farm remained the pleasant home of the town's poor until the purchase of the Sandra farm and town reservoir in 1882, when the poor-farm on the Flanders Road was sold. A new building was then erected and the old farm-house at the reservoir annexed and remodeled for the use of the pauper department, at an expense of .f6,000.

A few years after the town was incorporated a large number of roads were laid out. The main thoroughfare was the old Connecticut road over Rock Hill, in Northboro', passing east of Lake Chauncy and then bearing to the west and finally following the present location of Main Street for the greater part of the way from Westboro' to Grafton. It is usually referred to as the " Country Road." All land not granted by the State to towns or individuals was called " Country land," or the " Wilderness."

Roads were promptly laid out to the corn-mill and saw-mill of the Pratts on the Assabet, at the two dams, near the present dam.s, west of the village, owned by John Johnson and J. M. Brigham. The corn-mill was at the upper dam. Long Lane was then the Upton road, passing by N. M. Knowlton's bouse and Jack Straw's Hill. A road was laid out to the saw-mill of the first Jonathan Forbes, situated at the present main dam at the town reservoir, about 1730. Ebenezer Chamberlain had a mill at Rocklawn soon

The crooked course of the roads is principally due to the effort made either to follow the " cart-way " to somebody's house or to lay one-half of the road on the land of each of two adjoining owners, and so follow the farm line. The width varied from two to four rods. Before the town was fifty years old an effort was made to diminish the width of the roads, and too often with success.

Westborough was left at one side by the main stage routes the first hundred years of her existence. The upper Boston road to " Hartford and Connecticut " went through Sudbury, Marlborough, Northborough, to Shrewsbury. The middle road to the same localities went through Holliston and Mendon. It was not until 1810, when the turnpike was built, that Westborough became on the direct line of travel.

Very early in its history we find references to various inns and taverns in town, some of them far from any other business, and apparently carried on simply for the convenience and comfort of the neighboring farmers, who dropped in, when passing, for a glass of cider and a cracker, and more willingly for a taste of New England rum or flip. A glass of flip cost a half-day's wages at the time of the Revolution,^ and was an extravagance in which every one indulged. Even the ladies, at their social teas, had flip and mulled wine. The tavern, too, was the political and social centre, taking the place of the numerous organizations, clubs and societies of the present day. It was little more than an ordinary dwelling-house, with a bar, and an occasional guest. Sometimes it was used as a court-house, when more convenient for the parties at law than the justice's house.

The house now standing near the corner of the turnpike and Lyman Street, the old Forbush Tavern, seems to have been the first one which in any sense was like our ideas of a tavern. This was already built when the turnpike was run so near it that it was almost at the door, and was immediately utilized as a place to change horses, rest and feed passengers, get and deliver the mails. About teventeen years after the opening of the road a new, larger house was built at Wessonville, which immediately sprung into great popularity. Wessonville seemed on the eve of again becoming the principal village of the town.

Not far from the site of the old church and parsonage a thread factory was erected, a store built, houses were put up, the post-office was established, and the stages, with their two, four or six horses and rumbling wheels, rushed up and down the steep hills. The usual number of passengers in one of these coaches was four, and the fare from Boston to Worcester over this route about this time was two dollars. This old Wessonville tavern is still standing, and is connected now with the Lyman School. Here, in

] 825, Lafayette stopped on his way down from Worcester, and lunched in the dining-room, while forty of the men and boys of Westborough waited outside to catch another glance at the great celebrity.

Another famous tavern was the one kept by Joshua Mellen in Piccadilly, in the house now occupied by John B. Fitch. This as well as the Forbush Tavern was a great place for balls, and popular among the young people. In the centre of the town was the Gregory House, still standing, after having seen many changes, on South Street, and occupied for. stores. This was afterwards famous as Brigham's Tavern, the last of the old-fashioned inns which Westborough was destined to know. It has been about sixty years since Mr. Dexter Brigham bought the Gregory House- At that time it stood near the present location of the Westboro' Hotel, facing South Street. Up-stairs was the hall - used for suppers and dances, and capable of being made into three rooms by the letting down of hinged wooden partitions usually fastened to the ceiling. In 1824 the hotel was very much enlarged - the new part now forming much of the present Westborough Hotel, while the old part was moved to its present location. Part of its large number of guests it owed to the piipularity of Hopkinton Springs as a summer resort - the visitors there usually stopping in Westborough, and sometimes, finding pleasant quartera and plenty of the water from the famous springs for their use in the hotel, decided to go no furthen and spent their summer at Brigham's. Mrs. Brigham' still living in town, was one of the famous cooks of her day, her mulled wine, mince pies and election cake being known all over this part of the country.

The question what part of Westborough should be the business centre was finally settled in 1834, when the railroad was opened. Piccadilly, Wessonville, District No. 6 were left to be country districts, not even villages. The stores, shops, factories, churches clustered around the new railroad station. The Westborough Hotel for many years was the hotel of the place, until in 1880 the Whitney House was built on land adjoining the Memorial Cemetery, and opened to the public. New doctors coming to town no longer, as did Doctor Hawes in 1763, locate near Lyman Street to be near the post-otiice at Forbush Tavern, but all settled within three minutes' walk from the station. The glory of the turnpike had departed.

In a report concerning the Indians of the Commonwealth, made by act of Legislature in 1859, it is stated that there were at that time one thousand six hundred and ten descendants of the Indians in the State. Ninety of these belonged to the Hassanamisco tribe, and only two, both girls, were located in Westborough. These two were descendants of old Andrew Brown, an Indian of pure blood, who served in the Revolution, and lived in a small cellarless hut, not far from the Insane Hospital. He is remembered by many of the older inhabitants of this town, and the renown of his daughter, Deb, who often

Among the Indians living here at the beginning of the century was Jo. Aaron, who seemed to have been a leader among the Hassanamiscos, and old Gigger, who lived first in a curious hut in a swamp, beyond B. A. Nourse's present farm. This hut was built of stones, sloped to a narrow space at the top, with a hole for a chimney and a front door of wood and glass. The stones were covered with sods, and Gigger, with the two women, Betsey and Sallie Gigger, lived warm and comfortable in the coldest weather. They were part negro, and, like all the Indians, remembered by persons now living, drank often and heavily. Gigger afterwards lived in a wigwam on the Mill Road. All the Hassanamisco Indians were in the habit of coming to Westborough Swamps for material for their baskets, and as far back as the first years of Mr. Parkman's pastorate they came over ta work for people here, as is shown by the entry for July 18, 1726, in his journal, where he says : "Martha Bowman, Indian, came 2 o'c, and this morn Joshua Misco and his squa hoed my corn." They stayed three days with him, then "went away."

Probably many of these Indians, like Sarah Boston, were descended from slaves - colored men, who, by marrying a free Indian woman, insured the freedom of their children.

The earliest slave of whom we have any record is the one bought by Mr. Parkman, four years after his settlement here, named Maro. He paid £74, " which was the price of him," to his father, in Boston, then started tor \Vestborough on horseback, Maro running on foot. A little more than a year afterwards he speaks in his journal of his various afilictions, and adds : " But especially Maro at point of death," and the next day he writes : " Dark as it has been with us, it became much darker about the sun setting. The Sun of Maro's life Sat."

In a census of slaves, taken in 1754, Westborough is reported as having six owned within its limits. One was owned by Mr. James Bowman, and three - a man, his wife and daughter - by Capt. Stephen Maynard, who were afterwards sold to go South. Capt, Maynard lived in the fine old house on the Northborough Road, now occupied by B. J. Stone. The heavy wall leading up to the house was built by one of these slaves.

A familiar sight on the streets in the beginning of the century were old colored people, who had been slaves here or in other towns, among them one once owned by Sir Harry Fraukland, at his mansion in Hopkinton (now Ashland) - old Dinah. She is remembered as a short, stout old woman, carrying a cane, and in the season a bunch of wild flowers ; but the greatest impression on the children was made by the three long straight marks on her face, where she was branded at the time of her capture in Africa.

the commencement of the War of the Rebellion, in 1861, there were six hundred and thirty-four polls in town, of whom about two-thirds were fit for duty. The population increased somewhat during the war, but the number of men furnished under the different calls for troops usually exceeded the quota for this town.

Three hundred and thirty men entered the army and eleven the navy. Twenty-four fell in battle or died from army exposure, and forty were wounded. Six died in Southern prisons.

A few days after the capture of Fort Sumter a town-meetino; was held, "To see if the town will grant or appropriate any money towards raising a military company in this town."

Following the precedents of the Revolution, the citizens proceeded to raise five thousand dollars for the purchase of uniforms, swords and other military supplies, and the pay of soldiers. Although the action of the town was illegal, there was no objector present, and the resolutions of a committee recommending this course were unanimously adopted. The Westborough Rifle Company was at once formed and equipped, forty-five men being taken from adjoining towns.

One hundred and one men joined the company, which was supported two months principally at the expense of this town, and then joined the Thirteenth Regiment July 16, 18(51. Their families were at once aided, when necessary, out of the town treasury. The ladies worked on uniforms and articles needed by the soldiers. In April, 18G1, they organized the Soldiers' Sewing Circle, for the purpose of aiding the Sanitary Commission and in other ways assisting those in the field.

It was estimated that articles to the value of twenty-five dollars each, yearly, while the war lasted, were sent to the soldiers by their home friends.

When it was thought best to offer bounties for enlistments, in 1862, Abijah Wood, J. A. Fayerweather, A. J. Burnap and Zebina Gleason loaned the town ten thousand dollars, as the money could not be legally raised by the town for that purpose. A large number of the citizens who had property gave them a bond indemnifying them in case the town was not allowed to refund this money.

February 1, 1S62, there were forty-four Westborough men in the Thirteenth Regiment, eight in the Twentysecond Regimental Band, and fourteen in other branches of the service - sixty-four in all. The calls for .additional troops were frequent and were promptly responded to.

One year later Westboro' had furnished twentyfour more than its proportion. One hundred and one new enlistments had been made. Of this number twenty-two joined the Thirty-fourth, thirteen the Fiftieth, and twenty-six the Fifty-first Regiment.

Regiment. War began to seem a serious matter as the wounded came home from the front. Thomas Copelaudand Mollis H. Fairbanks fell at Centreville, in August, 1862, and four were wounded and one taken prisoner. By February 1, 1863, six had died and thirty-two had been discharged on account of wounds or disease. In July, 1863, of sixty-six men drafted, thirty were accepted. In the following month of October, thirty-two more men were called for and promptly enlisted without any pecuniary inducement from the town. They were generally quite young. Frank W. Bullard enlisted when sixteen years old; left Worcester April 18, 1864, was wounded and captured in the battle of the Wilderness eighteen days later, and had a leg amputated when in the hands of the enemy.

In May, 1864, the company of State militia under the command of Captain C. P. Winslow was called out and was soon after ordered to the defense of Washington. Sixty-two men from Westborough enlisted in this company and formed part of Company E, Fourth Regiment Heavy Artillery.

In December, 1864, this town had furnished a surplus of thirty-five men, and the call of that month was answered by the enlistment of thirteen more men.

Three hundred and thirty-seven men from Westborough served in the war, including four who served both in the army and navy. Of this number twentyfive died during the war. Fourteen were killed on the field of battle, eight died in rebel prisons and three others from disease. The bodies of but five were brought home, although the town made arrangements to bring home the remains of those falling in the army, when it was possible to do so. Sixty-two were wounded, some of them several times. Disease in times of war is said to kill more than the bullet; but in this case the contrary proved true. Of the twenty-five captured by the enemy, ten were confined for a considerable period of time at Andersonville or other Southern prisons, and of these all but two died while prisoners.

At the first March meeting after the close of the war the town voted "to erect a monument in memory of our soldiers who have fallen during the late war.

Chuech and Parish History. - The Marlborough proprietors, in 1710, had set out a minister's lot for the little village of Chauncy. This lot consisted of " 40 acres of upland and swamp west of Chauncy Pond" and " 10 acres at the west end of great Middle Meadow near Horbomoka Pond." After the incorporation of the town, one of their first acts was to appoint a committee, who, with the committee of the General Court, were " to sett out the Minister's Lott," and who approved of the one already granted.

In October, 1718, the meeting-house was raised with the usual ceremonies of the time. The town furnished to its guests that day " Six Gallons Rhum and a Barrall and a half of Syder." Three months before this date they had a fast, "in which to settle a minister," as Sewall records in his diary, and which he probably attended. If any minister was settled at that early date, it must have been Mr. Elmer, of whom Mr. Parkman writes :

Mr. Daniel Elrner, a candidate for the ministry from Connecticut River, preaclied here several J'ears, and received a call from the people; bnt there arose dissension, and thongh he built upon the farm which was given for the first settled minister, and dwelt upon it, yet, by the advice of an ecclesiastical council, he desisted from preaching here, and a quit-claim being given him of the farm, be sold it, and with his family removed to Springfield in 1724. He was afterwards settled in the ministry at Cohansy, in the Jerseys, and, I suppose, died there.

Possibly the new church had their religious services in his house, near the place where the meeting-house was slowly going up. Certainly they found somewhere comfortable quarters, for they seem to have taken their own time in finishing the homely little structure, which nowwould be " raised" and "compleated" in a few weeks. After a great many votes on the subject, they finally, in 1723 (five years after the raising),

When completed, it was a bare wooden building, " fourty foot long, and thirty foot wid and eighteen foot between Joists." There were two doors - one at the west, the other at the east end. A double row of benches was placed in the middle of the house, leaving a passage-way between them, which separated the men from the women. All around the house, next to the walls, were the " pew-spots," which the more wealthy members bought and built their own pews. That there was no excessive demand for these pewspots is shown by the fact that in 1730-31 (seven years after the church had been first occupied) several young men were granted " the Roume in the Long Gallery Behind the Seats to Buld them a pew," This building was near Wessonville, " upon the northeast corner of John Maynard's lot," on an acre of land which he and Edmun

In 1796 two men were baptized by immersion in Chauncy Pond, and a few Baptists from that time held meetings together. One of the most influential men having these sentiments was Dr. James Hawes, who had been a deacon in the Evangelical Church from 1780 till his resignation in 1813. His son, James Hawes, Jr., was largely instrumental in having a Baptist Society, and it was in his parlor, in the east end of his father's house, now standing on East Main Street, that the new society was organized and the new church held its first communion. After this they met in the unfinished upper slory of Mr. John Beeman's house, on the Flanders Road. Dr. Hawes gave them a tract of land adjoining his house, where the green-house of F. Luudberg now stands, on the condition of their using it to build a church upon. The little church, now in Woodville, was the first Baptist Church built here. When the church was moved, and the new one built in 1835, on the site of the present one, this laud reverted to Dr. Hawes' heirs. The present church was erected in 1868.

The first independent Methodist Church in this town was established in 1858. For fourteen years previous it had existed as a branch of either the church in Holliston or that of Hopkinton. The first meetings after the organization of the society were held in the lower story of the high school house. In 1864 the present building on Milk Street was erected. In 1885 the parsonage on Church Street was built. The membership of the church is one hundred and eighty-five. The pastors have been : J. E. Cromack, 1858-59 ; W. P. Blackmer, 1860-61 ; S. B. Sweetser, 1862-63 ; J. B. Bigelow, 1864-65 ; W. M. Hubbard, 1866-67 ; W. A. Nottage, 1868-69 ; B. Giel, 1870-71 ; B. Judd, 1872-74 ; J. S. Day, 1875 ; Z. A. Mudge,

About 1850 the Roman Catholic Church - St. Luke's - was formed; but it was not until twenty years after that it had resident priests, clergymen from other towns holding services here in the mean time. In 1868 it purchased the old Baptist Church and moved it to Milk Street. This building was destroyed by fire in 1886. Since then they have built a newchurch on the corner of Main and Euggles Streets. The Catholic population of Westborough is one thousand five hundred. The pastors have been: R. J. Donavau, 1870-73; P. Egan, 1873-78; C. J. Cronin, 1878-82; R. S. J. Burke, 1882-87; J. J. McCoy, 1887. For eight years the priests had an assistant, M. H. Kittredge and P. E. Purcell filling that office. At present there is no assistant.

The first burial in town was that of Nahor Rice, the four-year old boy who was killed by the Indians at the time of the raid of 1704. He was buried in what is now called Memorial Cemetery, opposite the Town Hall. This was used for more than a hundred years, being set apart for that purpose by the proprietors of Marlborough. A powderhouse at one time stood upon it ; also the first school-house for District No. 1. The boundaries have been changed and the lot enlarged. Here many of the men most instrumental in forming the history of Westborough are buried. Here is the Soldiers' Monument and the cenotaph to Eli Whitney.

Part of the time this was in use, and before the division of the town there was another cemetery half-way between Westborough and Northborough, near the Northborough road, on the first road to the right after crossing the river. This is now overgrown with trees ; a cart-path leading into the woods on the left, if followed a few rods, brings us to the few graves still marked by slate-stones, engraved with curious conventionalized cherubs, and the names of Holloway and Wheeler. There are five graves now plainly marked with headstones, and footstones, and the name is always inscribed on each.

In 1810 a new burying-ground was bought between School and South Streets, which is known as the Midland Cemetery. This lot was small, and in 1844 the land was purchased on South Street for the Pine Grove Cemetery.

The Roman Catholic cemetery - the St. Luke's - is on the same street, a little more than a mile from the town. This was first used in 1871. These two last-mentioned cemeteries, within the last year, have been improved by handsome gates at their entrances, both the gift of the late Dr. William Curtis.

built a house for it at an expense of fifty dollars ; paid thirteen dollars for harness and two dollars for having the hearse painted. Thirty years before this they had voted to buy two " burying-cloths," which were to cost two pounds apiece. The coffins were made by the village carpenter, varying in price from $1.25, for a child, to $3. .50, for a man. Among the papers in the town vault is an order from the selectmen of 1783 to the town treasurer to pay to Paul Lawson " thirty-three shillings, which sum is in full for his making a coffin for the Rev'd Ebenezer Parkman and one for Samuel Jones."

Education. - As early as 1708 the population of Marlborough had become so scattered that the new teacher, Abraham Coffin, was required to keep school in different parts of the town. " He was to teach ail children, male and female, and such others of most growth to read and write and cast accounts." He received twenty-four pounds for teaching the first year. The school was moved to different places outside the central village, including Stony Brook (Southborough) and Chauncy.

Amid the hurry and dangers of frontier life the education of children had at times been neglected, and we find numerous instances of persons of both sexes " making their mark " when signing deeds and wills.

A town was not required to maintain a public school " until the Lord hath increased them to fifty householders," but it is not to be supposed that during the first nine years of its history the children were generally left to grow up in ignorance. The boys and girls doubtless learned at the fireside from parents and older brothers and sisters the rudiments of education - reading, writing and a little arithmetic. Spelling was not regarded of much importance, a< early records and documents clearly indicate.

The history of the Westborough public schools begins nine years after the incorporation of the town. October 3, 1726, the town voted to have a school for the next si.x months. A committee of two was appointed "to provide a Sewtable Schoolmaster for y' Town, to teach children to read, write and Sipher, and to provide entertainment for s'' schoolmaster Dewring the s* six months, and all so to provide a place or places for the school to be kept in." Occasionally a man entered " his decent against paying to ye school," but generally the appropriation was cheerfully voted. They gave Mr. Joshua Townsend at first eighteen pounds, he " paying for his diet." He was " fetched" from Brookfield for the sum of ten shillings. Mr. Townsend continued for more than twelve years the town schoolmaster. He boarded a few months at a time in different families, usually the best families in the district where he was then teaching, and the town voted to pay his board bill.

In 1753 they chose a committee " to make answer at the next February Courte to a presentment now lying against this town for not having a lawful

In 1765 a committee was appointed for "squarddering out the schools in this town," whose report, "after sum Debate," was accepted. A few years later the town was again divided into school districts.

The districts, with the exception of No. 9, were in the parts of the town now known by those numbers, although the district system of schools was abolished in 1867. District No. 9 included families on the Northboro' road and in that vicinity. There was no village of importance in town. The largest number of families was in No. 6, which was composed entirely of farms, while the three points of greatest business interest, viz. : Piccadilly, Wessonville and the present centre of the town, were as thinly settled as the other districts. The whole expense of supporting schools in nine districts was less than four hundred dollars for a year, -

In 1800 the school appropriations was $460.66. In this year District No. 6 had still the largest number of families, - having twenty-four, - while the next largest, No. 1, had only twenty-two. About this time we find that the women teachers received a dollar a week, while the men had nearly three dollars a week. In 1803, District No. 1 had the largest number of families, having twenty-five, one more than No. 6.

In 1854 the High School was established, and two years later is the first printed report of the School Committee. In 1856 the appropriation for schools, including the amount received from the State School Fund, was $1461.44. Of this eight hundred dollars was voted for the use of the High School, and the rest divided in proportion among the districts. They paid the teachers this year from $2 to $6.50 a week besides their board bills. The High School teacher received for the four terms, $626.88, and had an

In 1870 the High School was graded. Since then all the schools in town have been much improved. Better houses, with better means of heating and ventilation, are now provided. The schools are systematically graded, and the standard of scholarship and instruction compares favorably with the same grades in city schools. With less than double the number of scholars in town over thirty years ago, the appropriation for schools is seven times as large.

From 1866 to 1876 Dr. J. H. Hero kept a boardingschool for young ladies in the old Wessonville tavern. This building had been previously used for school purposes by the Westborough School Association. Before the High School was established private schools were kept in the centre of the town for those desiring more advanced instruction than that afforded in the district schools. The old Armory Building on South Street and the Town Hall were rented for this purpose.

The State Reform. School and Lyman School for Boys. - In the year 1846 three commissioners. Judge A. D. Foster, chairman, were appointed by the State to provide a State Manual Labor School in some central and easily accessible portion of the Commonwealth, away from the temptations of city life.

The juvenile offenders of the State had been to that time confined in the jails and houses of correction, with professional criminals, to their great detriment. Theodore Lyman, of Brookline, was so much interested in this movement for the reformation of boys, j that he gave the State at once ten thous md dollars, and offered as much more on condition that the State would appropriate an equal amount. The commissioners purchased for nine thousand dollars the Lovelt Peters farm, on the shores of Chauncy Pond, containing one hundred and eighty-one acres of land. The beautiful view and deep, clear waters of the adjoining pond, of equal area, made the location a desirable one. It was designed to establish neither a prison nor a penitentiary, but a school. - The opinion of a large number of persons was secured as to the advisability of limiting the age of those committed, and it was finally decided to fix sixteen as the limit in ordinary cases, but courts had power to send any under twenty-one years of age to the institution.