Worcester City (part 16 of 58)

The people of tho^e early days had queer ideas of density of population, when they allege, as recited in the preamble to the act above quoted, " the westerly part of the town of Mendon, etc., is completebj JilUd with inhabitants," etc., for it must be remembered that Mendon township at that time comprised about sixty Ihousand acres, and embraced what is now Mendon, Milford, Uxbridge, Blackstone and Northbridge, with a total population then of some twelve hundred people, and now the same territory is populated by nearly twenty-five thousand people, with plenty of room for more. Moreover, the reason set forth by the aggrieved inhabitants of the west part, that " they laboured under great difficulties, by their remoteness from the place of public worship," etc., indicates that the population of the old town of Mendon was rather scattered, and had plenty of room to spread towards the centre.

It appears from the records of the old, and the new town that the boundary line, as set forth in the vote of Mendon, and in the act a/oresaid, was rather indefinite and litlle understood even by the parties to the same. P'or at the very first meeting of the new town, a committee was appointed "to run and settle ye Line between Mendon and Uxbridge ;'' and at different dates up to 1754, nearly twe.^ty-seven years afterwards, there were repeated attempts on the part of the two towns to settle the dispute concerning the boundary line ; and it was finally settled to the satisfaction of all parties, after an appeal to the General Court, pending which the two towns came to an agreement ; and the appeal was duly dismissed.

Uxbridge is supposed to have received its name from Henry Paget, Earl of Uxbridge, at the time a member of the King's Privy Council. Its Indian name is Wacantug, or Wacantuck ; and this name is perpetuated by the " Wacantuck House," and the " Wacantuck Woolen-Mills " hereinafter referred to. The first town-meeting in Uxbridge was held at the house of Cornet John Farnum, July 25, 1727. The members of the first Board of Selectmen were Robert Taft, Ebenezer Read, Woodland Thompson and Joseph White. The first town clerk was Edmund Rawson, an accomplished gentleman, an excellent penman, and a methodical recorder of the doings of the new town. To-day, after the lapse of more than one hundred and sixty years, his records of the meetings of the town are as clear and plain as though recently written ; and for brevity and good language would be appropriate models for town clerks of the present decade. Solomon Wood, the first town treasurer, received for the responsibilities and arduous duties of that oflice for one year, the munificent compensation o( Jive shillings ; and at the same time the town voted this compensation, they " voted to pay Lieut. Joseph Taft sei'en shillings for a barrel of cider." The record does not tell for what purpose tlie town purchased the cider, but inasmuch as they, a year or two later, voted that the committee who had charge of building " ye meeting House purchase fifteen gallons of good rum for the raising," it is probable tliat the town fathers were a little afraid to drink the water whicli nature had furnished in such abundance.

The town clerks and town treasurers have been men of such ability and worth, that in the one hundred and sixty-one years of its corporate existence the town has had only eighteen difierent town clerks, and about as many town treasurers. The attraction to these offices could not have been the compensation, for it is matter of resord that, considering the amount of responsibility, the pay of these officials has been, and is to-day, grossly inadequate. That at least one of these gentlemen groaned in spirit under his burdens is manifest from these poetic verses, copied verbatim from the fly-leaf of the treasurer's account-book of 1767. I have called it by the appropriate name :

The Treasurer'S Lament

For nearly one hundred years after its organization Uxbridge remained simply an agricultural town, with the usual amount of such mechanical business as was cairied on in the rural towns of New England. When it w.as incorporated it was a part of the county of Suffolk ; but when Worcester County was created, in 1730, just three years afterward, Uxbridge became a part of it, and is so well satisfied with the connection, that no voice can be heard in favor of severing the old tie, or forming a part of any new county whatsoever. It is a part of the Blackstone Valley, and, with the other valley towns which constitute Worcester South, it has a local pride in the old county, and a desire to remain in it and of it.

The diversified topography of this town is one of its principal charms. Hill and valley, meadow and upland, lakes and rivers all contribute to make the picture perfect. Comprising nearly twenty-eight square miles of territory, with about seven teen thousand acres taxed, with over eighty miles of well-kept highways and town-ways, many rivers and streams crossed by stone, iron and wooden bridges, its handsome churches, fine hotel, imposing town hall and other elegant buildings reared by its thrifty population, now numbering about thirty-five hundred, Uxbridge sends out its invitation to the rest of old Worcester County to present to the readers of the " County History " a better record than she lias made. Her adopted son, who writes this history, regrets that the limited space allowed him, prevents his doing justice to her ; for, do the best he may, the half cannot herein be told.

The rivers of Uxbridge are the Blackstone, the West and the Mumford. Its larger brooks, furnishing water-power, are the Ironstone, the Emer-son, the Rivulet and the Drabble Tail.

The Blackstone River has its source in North Pond, in the city of Worcester. From this pond flows a small but beautiful stream called Mill Brook. This stream, in its course through Worcester, Millbury, Sutton, Grafton, Northbridge, Uxbridge and Blackstone, where it leaves the Slate, receives the waters of several affluents, is called the Blackstone River, and its constantly increasing size and volume furnishes, by the time it reaches Uxbridge, a seldom-failing power, which gives to the town its great prosperity as a manufacturing centre.

The West River has its origin in the town of Upton ; and, although it runs through the easterly part of Uxbridge, it retains the name " West River," which was given it when it was the western boundary of Mendon. It empties into the Blackstone about half a mile south of the Hecla Mills, and about a mile southeasterly of the railway station. Like the

Mumford River has its rise in " Douglas Woods," in Douglas; being increased by streams from Badluck Pond and Manchaug Pond, in Douglas, and by springs and rivulets, and the vast reservoirs in Whitinsville. It enters Uxbridge just south of the Linwood Mills at Whitin's Station ; thence through North Uxbridge, furnishing power to the great cotton-mills there located; thence southeasterly to Uxbridge Centre, joining the Blackstone about threequarters of a mile southeasterly of the railroad station, at what is called the " Forks of the River." The Capron Mills are located upon this river.

The Ironstone Brook, formerly called " Forge Brook," and so designated in the early records of the town, rises in the extreme southwesterly part of the town, near the Rhode Island line ; forms the Ironstone Pond; thence flows under the New York and New England Railroad into the village of Ironstone; and thence about a mile easterly to the Blackstone River. It was very early used for furnishing power for various mechanical enterprises, a dam and forge having been erected upon it nearly one hundred and fifty years ago by Benjamin Taft, one of the original settlers in the town.

The Emerson Brook rises in Douglas, flows easterly, and enters Uxbridge in what is called "' Scadden ; " it thence flows southeasterly, under the various names of " Shove Brook," " Tucker Brook " and " Emerson Brook," until its confluence with the Blackstone, on the farm of Millins Emerson. Its course is about five miles long, much of the way a very rapid, turbulent stream, and has fall enough, if its waters could be stored and used to advantage, to run all the machinery now in use in the town. It supplies the power for Lee's Mills and the mills of Zadok A. Taft & Co., and, in former years, the Shove and the Richardson saw and grist-mills. It is also one of the finest trout brooks in this section, and for several years Seth P. Carpenter, of Milford, an enthusiast in pisciculture, spent time and money in the erection of hatching hou.ses and spawning-tanks; which, since his death, have fallen into "innocuous desuetude" and decay. The old gentleman was sanguine of success, and there is no doubt that if the vandal fishermen and surreptitious hookers of trout had left his breeding trout and hatchlings alone, he would have realized his fondest dreams.

The Rivulet Brook rises in the westerly part of the town, flows easterly through the farm of the late John S. Taft, to the pond at the Rivulet Mills, owned by Richard Sayles & Co., furnishing power for that prosperous establishment, and thence to the Mumford River, a short distance south of the Uxbridge Cotton- Mills. One of the earliest mills in town was built upon this stream ; and the second distillery for the manufacture of gin and cider brandy emptied its nauseous refuse into its waters, on the Taft farm. In 1815 a woolen-mill was erected upon this brook, and since that date it has never ceased to furnish power for some manufacturing euterprise. Drabble Tail Brook is a small stream formed by the union of Croney Brook and Shuttle Brook, two smaller streams, or rivulets, arising from springs in the hills, just westerly of the centre of the town, and runs through the central village, crossing the highway near the Blackstone National Bank, and emptying into the Mumford River just below the dwelling-house of the late John W. Capron. This stream runs the waterwheel at the Shuttle Shop, and is capable of doing more damage in a sudden thaw than all the other water-courses in town. Less than one-eighth of a mile from the Shuttle Shop Pond to its outlet in the Mumford, it has repeatedly overflowed its banks, made a pond of Mechanic Square, a race-way of Main street, and a host of good citizens indignant at the negligence which allows this insignificant stream to kick up such a muss every three or four years. In 1824 excavations were begun for the Blackstone Canal, a project which had been agitated at various times from 1776 to the lime when the Canal Company was incorporated, 1822. This canal was to be the great means of communication and trade between Providence and Worcester, and designed as an avenue for the transportation of heavy freight up and down the Blackstone Valley, which hitherto had been carried, at great expense and delay, by wagonteams. Uxbridge was one of its important stations, and the locks and banks of the old canal can be seen to-day, though the canal ceased to be used in 1848, when it was superseded by the Providence and Worcester Railway.

These several water-courses have each and all contributed to the prosperity and comfort of the inhabitants of Uxbridge, and are the source whence has sprung that almost miraculous power which has kept the wheels of local industry in motion. While they have benefited the people, they have also added to thebeauty and attractiveness of the town ; so that they may well claim from the pen of the historian their full meed of praise. Uxbridge, like most other manufacturing towns, is divided into villages; each manufacturing establishment building up around it comfortable homes for the employes, and schools for the education of their children.

As these different villages will be commented upon, in connection with the history of manufacturing, which follows in another chapter, it will suffice for the present to give their names.

Uxbridge Centre (where are located the Town Hall, Unitarian, Trinitarian, Methodist and Roman Catholic Churches, Capron Mills, principal stores, post-office and railway station) comprises about one-third of the population ; North Uxbridge (also a post-office village) contains the Uxbridge Cotton-Mills and the Baptist Church. The next largest village is the

Calumet, for many years known as the " Jv ew Village." Next in size and importance is the Hecla village, formerly known as " Shank-bone," a nickname given to it (more than fifty years ago, it is saiil) on account of the frequency with which shank-beef was served at the mill boarding-house. A letter from Ireland, addressed to an employ6 of the mill, was directed to " Shankbone, Mass., U. S.'' How the postoffice clerks ascertained the location of this village by that name is one of the unanswered conundrums.

Wheelock's village (formerly called " Crackerville," probably on account of crackers being too prominent aa article of diet, on some remote occasion) is the next in size. It is one of the prettiest, best-conditioned villages iu the town, and its inhabitants are justly proud of it, and of the public-spirited gentlemen whose kindly interest in their welfare has made their homes and surroundings so pleasant. Elmdale (formerly Squaw Hollow), one of the oldest villages in the town, situated about half a mile easterly of the Hecla village, is the home of the proprietor and employes of Scott's Satinet Mills. Ironstone (at the south part of the town, three miles from the centre. on Forge Brook) was once the largest village in Uxbridge. In the early history of the town it was famous for the first mechanical business, established over one hundred and fifty years ago. For many years a large business was done there, and it was a post-station and general trading-place for the surrounding country. Ironstone Factory was built in 1815, by a stock company, and was burned in 1832. Subsequently rebuilt, it was operated with varying success by different parties till 1865, when it was again burned, and the projserty and the village have fallen into ruin.

The Rivulet village, on the south side of the old Boston and Hartford Turnpike, owned mostly by Richard Sayies & Co., is an illustration of what the energy and business enterprise of a live, intelligent man can accomplish. When Mr. Sayies took the property, it was sadly out of repair; the -street was narrow and inconvenient for travel; the tenements dilapidated, small and few in number, and the surroundings unpleasant. In a few short years wonders have been accomi)liahed. New houses have been erected, the old ones repaired and enlarged, the street widened, a new bridge put in, the factory buildings enlarged, modernized and improved ; the grounds, lawns and fences made neat and handsome, and the entire village renovated and beautified.

Happy Hollow is the happy name of a small village which has grown up around and in the vicinity of the woolen-mills erected by Zadok A. Taft and D. M. Lee, on the Emerson Brook.

These constitute all the factory villages, but there are several of the agricultural sections of the town known by local names, which can have no general interest, as they are not strictly villages.

small quantities, while quartz, beryl and smoky topaz in crystals are frequently found. Vast quarries of gneissoid granite furni.'~h material for buildings, curbing, monuments and general cemetery work. It is of excellent quality and fineness, and capable of taking a high polish, some of it being in color and quality nearly equal to the imported Scotch granite. The Uxbridge Silver Mine, located in the southwest part of the town, on land now owned by C. R. Thomson and others (formerly the Chileon Tucker farm), was opened about fifty years ago, and for awhile g.ave promise of considerable richness. But after sinking two shafts to a depth of nearly fifty feet, and working a cross-cut on the vein, it was found that the vein, instead of increasing in width, as was hoped and expected, was, if anything, even smaller than at the surface - about three-fourths of an inch of metal, in a hard, refractory gangue of quartzite. The metallic vein was a true galena, carrying a good per cent, of silver, but the immense expense attending its excavation, reduction and purification requiring, in the language of the day, " a gold mine to work the silver mine," caused a suspension of all work, and for about fifty years not a dollar's worth of ore has been taken from the mine. Its shafts are filled with water, and abandoned to the nymphs of the thick woods, whose spreading branches hide the place where fond hopes much expense and bitter disappointment lie buried. There are several small beds of liuionite, or bog ore, and at the south part of the town, near Ironstone, the dark-colored rocks, which there abound, contain considerable quantities of specular iron, so that the stone is called " ironstone," and the village takes its name, " Ironstone," from that fact.

It is believed by some tliat the yellow-colored quartz, which is found in quite large quantities in the western part of this town and the adjoining part of Douglas, contains gold, but if they will take pains to weigh it they will find its specific gravity insufficient to indicate the presence of gold. It is undoubtedly a kind of jasper - an opaque, yellow quartz colored by iron, or ferruginous clay, - possessing no value whatever. The western and southwestern parts of the town are well wooded, nearly every farm having several acres of wood and sprout land, for market and domestic wood. Pine, chestnut, oak and birch are the principal woods, with occasionally a small lot of walnut.

The taxable valuation of the town in 1821 - which is the earliest tax record which has been preserved - was about $113,116 ; the number of polls, 366 ; and the amount raised for State, county and town pur- poses, $1,986.37 ; rate, $1.75 on each $1000 of valua- I tion. In 1830 - nine years later - the valuation had increased to $786,592 ; 483 polls. Amount raised, not including school district taxes, about $4500 ; rate, $2.90 per $1000 of valuation.

of over 99 per cent. ; the amount raised for State county and town purposes to $19,158, not including highway taxes - a gain of over 100 per cent. ; and the rate of tax to $5.0tj per $1,000 - a gain in rate of 75 per cent.

In 1888, tweuty-six years later, tlie numljer of polls have increased to 885; the valuation to $2,032,725 ! the amount raised for 8tate, county and town purposes, including highway taxes, to $2S,i)9(j^a gain of over 300 percent.; and the rate to *13.5ll per $1,000 - again in rate of 266 per cent. It is worthy of note that the State tax for Uxbridge, in the year 1860, was $495 ; while in 1888 it has increased to $2,475 - a gain of just 500 per cent.

This town believes in tlie axiom " pay as yon go;" and although it raised over forty thousand dollars for war purposes during the Rebellion, toolv possession and paid for over twenty thousand dollars" worth of school district property in 1870, when school districts were abolished, built a new town hall in 1879 at a cost of over fifteen thousand dollars, and has recently expended over fifteen thousand dollars more in new school-houses, widening Mendon Street, and building new bridges and annually ajipropriates over twenty thousand dollars for town charges and expenses, it is a// paid up. It owes no debt, and its excellent roads, good care of its unfortumite poor and its unsurpassed schools attest the wi.sdomof its course. In 1879, after years of agitation, a fine brick town hall building, containing a concert hall, voting hall, rooms for the I Free Public Library and all the town officers, was erected by the town, at an expense of a little over fifteen thousand dollars. This sum was all raised by taxation and paid in three years - five thousand dol lars and interest being raised each year in addition to the regular taxes for town purposes.

Taken as a whole, Uxbridge is one of the brightest in the galaxy of stars that form the crown of municipal glory which makes old Worcester County famous.

" I fain wouUI [Kiiise to name tier every ctiarm, - The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm, The uever-failiii}^ stream, the husy mill. The decent church that topt the neighhoririg hill."

Chapter Xxvi

Relkuon. - One of the conditions upon which the new town was chartered, which is exjiressed in the act of incorporation, was that within two years from the publication of the act the said inhabitants should "erect and finish a suitable House for the public worship of <Tod, and procure and settle a learned Urtho dox Minister of good conversation," etc.

vote, copied verbatim from the records: - "Voted, That they would Sett ye meeting House on ye South side of Drabble Tail Brook. But seeing it would be inconvenient to Set the meeting House where the First Vote Specified, they recalled s'' vote and passed a vote that They would Sett ye meeting House within the Fence of Eben' Read's Pasture, on a place which they had Viewed for, and Judg'd convenient for that purpose."

October 1, same year, " voted that they would maintain the public preaching by way of Rate, till ournext annual meeting." Also voted at same meeting, "that they would accept of Mr. Terry's proffer of preaching to us for Iwenty a sabbath, till ye next anniud meeting; and also that all the money that should be put iu unmarked, should be lo<iked upon ;is given gratis."

It is a matter of some interest, that the pay of a minister to occupy the pulpit in 1888 is about four times greater than in 1727, or twenty dollars per Sunday, instead of twenty shillings; and it also seems that the good ]>eople of that early day might ofl'-set against the parish tax any money put into the contribution-box, which they were careful enough to mart, probably meaning marked with contributor's name, and claimed as paid in anticipation of tax.

It was also voted at said meeting, "that they would build said meeting h(uise forty feet in length and thirty-five feet in brcadgth, and twenty-nine feet between joynts."

How acceptably Mr. Terry preached to our hardheaded forefathers is matter of some doubt, for at the annual meeting in March, 1728, his name is not mentioned in the records, and the town voted "that a committee be chosen to provide somesniteable person for to preach unto us." That they sadly needed some suitfablc person to preach unto them is manliest from the succeeding votes relative to church and meetinghouse, viz. : " Voted at said meeting that they would notyVre the Quaiem," which means that all those unhappy followers of George Fox who had settled in this town should be taxed the same as the orthodox believers, to sustain orthodox preaching, even though (as now) they had conscientious scruples against it; a system of religious intolerance which the progress of a century and a half has, in a great measure, corrected.

It was also " voted, that there be fifteen gallons of Gond Rum provided for ye raising of ye meetinghouse." A suitable minister in that early time might, and undoubtedly did, approve of this strong auxiliary force, then considered necessary for the proper and successful raising of even an orthodox meeting-house, whose huge timbers, rough hewn and unseasoned, should stand against storm and flootl and Indian foes, monuments of the people's devotion to the living God.

So lately as twenty-five years ago, in this same town, the writer has seen the prodigious effect which a few tjuarts of "good rum" has had in raising some of the dwelling-houses and barns which grace the hillsides, and it is a question fit for the decision of the prohibitionist of 1888 whetlier churches and dwellings raised by the strong aid of strong drink are more prone to decay and destruction, and more the object of divine wrath than those raised upon cold water? At all events the religion of 1728, and many years since, recognized without serious criticism the use of intoxicating liquors upon all important occasions ; while the religion of the present day, thanks to a more enlightened public opinion, has not only ceased to appi'ove, but severely condemns its use. The next record concerning preaching is of the meeting held November ye 8th, 1728, when the town voted "that they would continue preaching this winter amongst them ; " but January 13th, following, they voted " not to do anything at present about settlement of a minister;" though on the 28th of the same month they voted "that there be five men chosen to be a committee to see about providing one to preach among us, and that said committee shall provide a suUeable person to preach to us by the first Sabbath in April next, and that said committee shall stand while (until) there is a minister settled among us." For more than a year following no mention is made in the records, concerning the success of the committee or the building or completion of the "meeting-house." So it may be presumed that the spiritual needs of the people were satisfactorily provided for.

May 4, 1729, about two years after the town at its first meeting voted to build a meeting-house, the record says, " the freeholders and other inhabitants met att ye meeting-house ;" &o that now, for the first time, we are certain that the town complied with the conditions of its act of incorporation, and did, " within two years from the publication of the act, erect and finish (?) a suitable house for the public worship of God; "but the other condition of said act "procure and settle a learned Orthodox Minister of good conversation," etc., was not fulfilled for some time after, though they evidently tried to make literal compliance.

July 1.3, 1729. the town voted " that they are willing to settle Mr. Othniel Campbell to be their minister, and that if be will .settle amongst us as our minister, that they will give him 70 pounds a year for his sallary, and \00 pounds settlemt'id for encouragement."

It must be remembered that it is pounds sterling herein referred to, and that to a new people in a new country, dependent on the earth for their living and burdened with the expense of building for themselves houses, and developing their farms from the wild woods and rocky hillsides around them, the payment of a sum equal to nearly five hundred dollars, as " encouragement" to a minister of the Gospel to settle among them, and an annual stipend or salary of about three hundred and fifty dollars, was an undertaking which shows more than anything else in the early history of this town what sterling, loyal, public-spirited and religious men these first citizens of Uxbridge proved themselves to be - a lesson which the wealthy and independent citizen of to-day may study with pleasure and profit.

Mr. Campbell seemed to have trouble in getting dismissed from his previous pastoral relations to some other town, for Uxbridge voted February, 1730, " to pay not exceeding 100 pounds per year if he could get to preach for us by the first Monday of March next."

May 4, 1730, it appears of record that Mr. Campbell couldn't come, for the town " voted for Mr. Webb and Mr. Wales, and Mr. John Wales had y' major vote," and on May 7th it was " voted that if Mr. Wales will accept of their call and settle among them as their minister, that they will confer on him y'' sum of one hundred ])oundsin good passable money for his settlement, and ninety pounds a year in good passable money for his satlery." In May of the same year Mr. Campbell comes to the front with a demand for payment of his services for supplying the pulpit ; for on the 29th of May the town " voted to give Mr. Campbell y' sum of five pds. for y' 7 Sabbaths he has been absent from y' town since we had y'' Minister's advice for y" hearing of others, and for y' damage he has .sustained since he preached to us or had a call from us ;'' and also " voted that they do dismiss Mr. Campbell from any tie that the town has upon him for preaching among us;" "and likewise voted that they will have preaching continued among us."

Mr. Campbell is not so easily disposed of. Like some ministers of the present day, he knew how to stick, and about how much he wanted for ihe privilege of going ; for in June, same year, after demanding further satisfaction for damages sustained, the town voted " not to do anything further in respect to Mr. Campbell's request for satisfaction for getting off from his obligations when he was called to Uxbridge." At the same meeting it was " voted to follow the minister's advice and give Mr. Nathan Webb a call, or renew Mr. Campbell'ss call." That some of the town did not take kindly to the proposition to " renew Mr. Canipbetl's call," appears from the vote passed. July 9th, " Voted that they will give Mr. Nathan Webb a call in order to settle with us as our minister, and that they give him for encouragement ye same for settlements and salary as were voted Mr. Wales, when they voted to give him a call." This is the first intimation given in tbe records that Mr. Wales had declined the call.

September 4, 1730, Mr. Campbell carried his point, and received from the town the sum of twenty-one pounds for all his damages, for dismissal, etc. ; and his receipt, recorded at length on the records of the town gives evidence that a legal mind advised, and a careful hand drew up, an acknowledgment that held this litigious minister of the gospel so tightly that his name does not again appear upon the records of the town-meetings.

of February, 1731 ; so that it was nearly four years^ instead of two, before the other condition in the act of incorporation was fulfilled. Mr. Webb died March 16, 1772, after a ministry of over forty years. He was deeply lamented, and goes down to posterity as a faithful preacher, an earnest, true-hearted man, whose influence upon the minds and hearts of the early inhabitants of Uxbridge was extremely beneficial and conducive to that growing prosjierity which made Uxbridge one of the leading towns of Provincial Massachusetts.

The second settled minister was Hezekiah Chapman, who was settled January 27, 1774, and was dismissed April 5, 1781. It is a lamentable fact that the cause of Mr. Chapman's dismissal was intemperance.

The third settled minister was Rev. Josiah Spaulding, who was settled September 11, 1783, and was dismissed at his own request October 27, 1787. After the dismissal of Mr. Spaulding, Mr. Samuel Mead preached for some time ; and in December, 1791, the town voted to concur with the church in giving Mr. Mead a call to be settled over them in the ministry; but it does not appear upon the records what answer Mr. Mead made to the call. It probably was not loud enough in a pecuniary sense. The fourth settled minister was the Rev. Samuel Judson, who was settled October 17, 1792, and dismissed in 1832, and died in November of the same year. The First Congregational Society was incorporated in the year 1797 ; and from this time all connection between the town and the " Congregational Society " ceased. The town occupied the meeting-house for town-meetings and business purposes until it was taken down for th( purpose of building a new church, in 1834. Many ol the present residents of the town attended church in the time of Mr. Judson, and can bear testimony that " he was a man of remarkable conscientiousness rare good nature, much native common sense, and deep in the love and confidence of the people of his charge.'' At the dismissal of Mr. Judson the elements of religious o[)inion came to an open rupture, and those who had formerly been united under his ministrations formed themselves into separate societies, and the two houses for religious worshij) which now stand upon opposite sides of the Common were erected, and the members of the two societies, who unitedly had paid Mr. Judson a salary of $400 a year, settled the Rev. Samuel Clarke at a salary of $600 a year, and the Rev- David A. Grosveuor at a salary of $600, and from that time to the present, when the salaries of the ministers of these two churches aggregate $2600, both societies have been exceedingly prosperous.

The new church of the First Congregational Society was dedicated in .January, 1835, the pastor, Rev. Samuel Clarke, preaching the sermon. This building, still standing, was thoroughly repaired in 1864, at a cost of about $4500 ; and again in 1878 it was remodeled inside, new pews put in, and the walls and ceiling elegantly frescoed, at a cost of some $4000, and to-day it is one of the finest country churches in the State. During the present year a new and elegant organ, costing some $3000, has been put in at the right of the minister's desk, and its full, deep, musical tones would astonish the early choirs who, at the other end of the church, succeeded in drowning the accompanying music of the little organ which Mr. Rogerson so artistically played.

The meeting-house of the Evangelical Congregational Society was built in 1833 and dedicated in the autumn. It has been several times repaired, has been lately remodeled and fitted with handsome furniture and a new pipe-organ, and, like its neighbor across the Common, is a fine, convenient and comfortable church.

Referring to the records of the town, we find that the original meeting-house, though erected within the limit prescribed by the act of incorporation, was not finished till long after ; for a vote was passed in February, 1733, " that they will have but one pew built in ye meeting-house, and that they will have ye men's seats on ye one side of ye alley, and ye women's seats on j'e other side ; " and in August, 1735, " the sura of one hundred pounds was appropriated to finish ye meeting-house." So it appears that for several years the people met in a cold, uncomfortable, barn-like structure, sat upon hard benches or cushionless seats without backs, and listened to the word of God under circumstances that would appal the stoutest heart and chill the marrow of the most consistent and earnest Christian of the present generation.

We wonder, as we sit in our comfortable, steamheated, electric-lighted, soft-seated, floor-carpeted, well ventilated churches of the present day, and listen to the rich music of the modern pipe-organ, and the operatic warbling of our thousand dollar quartette singers, how those old pioneers and great-grandfathers of ours could possibly have lived through such hardships as they endured, and enjoyed the blessings of religion obtained under such discouraging circumstances as attended them.

The pastors who have served God and the people in the First Congregational (Unitarian) Society since its incorporation have been : Rev. Samuel Clarke, who was installed January 9, 1833, and died November 19, 1859, " a faithful and beloved pastor for nearly twenty -seven years ;'' Rev. Charles Taylor Canfield; ordained and installed October 12, 1860, and resigned March 31, 1862; Rev. Rushton D. Burr, installed November 12, 1862, and resigned May 4, 1868 ; Rev. Samuel R. Priest, ordained and installed January 20, 1869, and resigned January 2, 1871 ; Rev. James

F. Lusk was hired March, 1872, and resigned July 1, 1875 ; Rev. George Bremner, ordained and installed November 16, 1875, and resigned December 28, 1883 ; Rev. L. M. Burrington, installed September 28, 1884, and resigned July 25, 1886 ; Rev. W. R.

The pastors of the Evangelical Congregational Society have been : Rev. David Adams Grosvener, ordained and installed June fi, 1882, and dismissed at his own recjuest .June 15, 181:2; Rev. John Orcutt, installed December 18, 1842, and dismissed May 1, 1849; Rev. Jacob Jackson Abbott, D.D., installed in 1850, and resigned in 18(i2; Rev. J. B. Johnson, installed December 15, 18G4, and dismissed February 6, 1868; Rev. Thomas C. BIscoe, installed December 2, 1868, and dismissed May 25, 187(); Rev. George H. Johnson, hired for one year from May 1, 1877, and served faithfully till the year expired; Rev. William H. Cobb, installed September 18, 1878, and dismissed October 1, 1887 ; Rev. F. L. Bristol, installed May 1, 1888, and now remains pastor of the church.

The Baptid Church. - The Baptist Church, located at North LJ.\bridge, was organized June '22, 1842; and on the same day Rev. Austin Robbins was ordained and installed pastor of the new church. The church rapidly increased in numbers, receiving forty-seven members during the first year of its existence. Mr. Robbins resigned in 1850, after a successful pastorate of eight years. For the next four years the pulpit of this church was supplied by Rev. Job Boomer, Rev. Joseph Smith, Rev. Joseph Tillinghast and Rev. -S. S. Mallory, each officiating about one year. Rev. James W. Russell became pastor of the church November 11, 1854, and resigned in 1864 ; Rev. Joseph Barber became pastor in April, 1865, and resigned ia November, 1868, and was followed by Rev. J. W. Dick, in April, 1869, who continued his ministry here until July, 1871. In October, 1871, Rev. J. H. Tilton was installed pastor, and remained six years, closing his labors October, 1877. In November, 1877, Rev. B. H. Lane was installed, and resigned May 30, 1882; Rev. T. M. Butler was installed November 1, 1882, and resigned in June, 1888.

This society lias recently erected a fine church building at North Uxbridge, opposite Chase's Corner, with a convenient parsonage close by, and is rapidly grovying in membership and is free from debt.

Methodist Episcopal Church. - The first Methodi.st preaching in Uxbridge Centre began about September 1, 1874. Some of the citizens, desiring to reach a clas-i that was not hearing the Gosi)el, made arrangements with Rev. Mr. Merrill, then pastor ol' theM. E. Church in Whitinsville, to preach in Taft's Hall on Sunday evenings ; and Mr. Merrill continued hia services up to February 7, 1875.

Mr. F. T. Pomeroy, of Shrewsbury, a local preacher of the M. E. Church, a young man of excellent ability and pleasant aildress, succeeded Mr. Merrill, and remained here until April, 1877. His appointment was considered a mission of the church. The mission was formally organized as a church with eight members December 19, 1875, by Rev. Dr. Haskell, presiding elder of the Worcester District. Mr.

Hunter, of the Boston University, succeeded Mr. Pomeroy, but soon left. He was succeeded by Rev. John W. Collier, who began his labors, June 9, 1877, and closed them June 23, 1878, to go as a missionary to Peru, South America. For the remainder of the Conference year Mr. J. H. Thompson supplied the pulpit.

Mr. Thompson was returned to Uxbridge for the Conference year 1879-80, which was the first appointment made here by the Conference. Mr. Thompson was succeeded by Rov. Charles Perkins, who was in turn succeeded by Rev. J. W. Uodgers. The present pastor is Rev. J. T. Kennedy.

In March, 1878, the society purchased of the town, as a site for a church edifice, a part of the old burying-ground in the centre of the town. Subscription papers for the church were opened in January, 1879, which were very generously signed by the members of other congregations (notably the Unitarian), and on April 1st the amount pledged was three thousand five hundred dollars. The church, which cost about six thousand dollars, was completed early in 1880, and was dedicated with appropriate ceremonies. It stands nearly opposite the railway station, just north of the new town liall, and is a fine specimen of church architecture. This church has grown rapidly, and has a membership, at the present time, of about sixty.

JVte Friends, or (Quakers. - It a|)i)ears by the town records that at the time tlie town was incorporated, or very soon after, several families of Friends or Quakers were living within its limits, and, as is their custom, objected to paying the rates or taxes for the 8up])ort of ministers or preachers, then settled, anil paid by tax ; and the matter was brought before the town at a meeting held in March, 1728. At this meeting " they voted that they would not free the Quakers." This is the first information given by the town records concerning the fact that a part of the settlers of the town were members of that society. Mr. L. C. Wheeler, a member of the society, furnishes the following account of this sect, which is of great interest:

At the (late of the or^aniz.ation of the town, ttiu gimkerg were a part of the Siiiithiiehi ftlontlily meeting, and tiiuieuliteiUy liekl iiieetinKS, in indivitluals' lionsee, till 1770, when the Slonllily flieeting anthoiizt.ii "the bniltling uf a meeting-house in IJxbiiilge, near Moses Faniuui's.' The meeting-house stands at the junetion of the roaiis from Millvilln and Ironstone to Ll-vbridge Centre, anil is constructed of brick, with a tablet bearing the date of its erection, 1770, in the gable.

In the 4tb month, 1770, the Sniithfield fllonthly Meeting ordered a meeting-house to be built a little Southerly of Muses Farnuni's, by the side of the tireat I'oad. In the nioidhs following the Ineise was bnilt, thirty-live feet long and thirty feet broad. Itnring llie .'itli tuontli, I77I, Adam Harkness, William Bnffnm and David Steere do report yt they find the whole cost of buildiiig the brick meeting-house to amount to Xi06 S». l(i.

years, its walls show no signs of weakness or decay, and its plain roof, without jets or ornamental finish of any kind, is in an excellent state of preservation. The window-sashes contain the same small panes of glass, and the same doors swing on leather hinges, as formerly. The internal .arrangements of the house are also left in their original style, having heen simply kept in repair.

A few years previous the Monthly Meeting had authorized the erection of a meeting-house in Uxbridge, and in 17i>(> one was erected in what was then the north part of Uxl)ridge, and which is now Northbridge, that town having been set oil' from Uxbridge in 1772. This house stood very near the location of the present meeting-house, - about half a mile south from Riverdale in Northbridge.

The meetings held .at Uxbridge and Northbridge were a part of the Smithfield Monthly Meeting, till 7th month (.Inly), 17S3, when the several meetings held in Uxbridge, Leicester, Northbridge and Richmond, N. H., were set oil', and formed a separ.ate Monthly Meeting under the name of the Uxbridge Monthly Meeting, which has continued till the present time, except that the Richmond Meeting has been dropped, and the meeting formerly .at Leicester removed to Worcester. In addition to the above, a meeting at Pomfret, Conn., and one at Douglas have been made a part of the Uxbridge Monthly Meeting.

The apjiroved ministers of Uxbridge Monthly, as far as ascertained, have been Daniel Aldrich, Richard Mowry ; Job Scott, approved 12lh month, 17.S3; Israel 8al)in, approved 1790; and Royal Southwick, Daniel Olapp, Timothy K. Earle, John B. Daniels and Salome C. Wheeler. In addition to the above, the following have moved into the Jlonthly Meeting from other places, viz. : Steidien Cortland, Lydia Haight and Susan A. Gilford.

Only two of the above-named ministers were natives of Uxbridge, and spent their whole lives in the town, ministering semi-weekly to the congregations that gathered in the " Old Brick," viz. ; Richard Mowry, who died Isl month 23d, 1835, aged nearly eighty-six years, and Royal Southwick, who died 11th month 30th, lS4it, aged eighty years. Job Scott, whose ministry w.as approved in 17S3, and whose journal giving a history of his labors in the ministry has been published, spent only a few years of his life in the town, anil Israel Saben lived here in 1770, at the time of his marriage, and for several years afterwards.

There .are now but four .ajiproved ministers of the denomination in the Monthly jMeetiiig ; and only one of these, Mrs. Salome C. Wheeler, is a resident of the town. Her labors in the ministry are usually at the Northbridge Meeting, but her influence in our schools - of which she is one of the Board of Examiners - her interest in temper.ance work, her kind symp.athy and Labors for the sick a.nd afflicted, are all gratefully appreciated by the people of Uxbridge, who are proud to claim her as one of our most respected citizens.

" The laat of liis sect to liis fathers may go, Ijeaving only Lis coat fur some Barn inn to show ; Bnt the trnth will ontlivp liini, and broaden with years, Till tile false dies away, and the wrong disappears/*

The Roman Catholic Church. - The earliest account of any Roman Catholic Church service in Uxbridge is that a service was held for the few Catholics then in town, in 1850, by the Rev. l^atrick McCJrath, of Hopkinton, in one of the laborer's tenements owned by .Joseph Th.ayer, Esq.

In 1853 Uxbridge was erected into a parish by Right Rev. J. B. Fitzpatrick, Bishop of the Diocese of Mass.achusetts, and Rev. E. J. Sheridan was appointed |ia.stor, August, 1853. The parish then included the towns of Grafton, Millbury, Northbridge, Dcmglas and Uxbridge. St. Mary's Church in Uxbridge was dedicated in 1855, the sermon on the occasion being preached by Rev. James A. Healy, afterwards Bishop of the Diocese of Maine.

In May, 18G8, Rev. Dennis C. Moran was appointed pastor, and the church in this town being insufficient to accommodate all the Catholics of Uxbridge and Northbridge, so rapidly hiid their numbers increased, that this pastor caused St. Patrick's Church in Whitinsville to be built in the year 1870, and thus gave relief to the overcrowded St. Mary's.

In 1871, Rev. Henry L. Robinson, a gentleman of great erudition and eloquence, was appointed pastor, and is still occupying that position, loved and honored by his congregation, .and highly respected and appreciated by Christians of other denominations. So highly have his labors in this field been valued by the head of his Church, that the additional title of "Doctor of Divinity" has been accorded to him, and is, we know, well deserved and modestly worn.

In the year 1870 St. Mary's w.as repaired and handsomely frescoed at an expense of over two thousand five hundred dollars. The present parish includes the towns of Uxbridge and Northbridge, with St. Mary's as the p.arish church. Dr. Robinson has charge of both churches .and congregations, and is assisted by a curate. The number of souls belonging to the parish is over two thousand, and its average Sunday attendance is very much larger than any other congregation in the town.

Chapter Xxvii

that there should be maintained public worship, but also required to be maintained " a school-master to instruct their youth in writing and reading." The schools in Uxbridge rest upon this foundation.

In January, 1732, the town voted " that they will sett up and keep a school in ye town of Uxbridge," and "voted to have a sohool-dame for ye 1st 7 or 8 months, to keep a school in each part of the town proportionable," and " voted that ye selectmen shall provide a .school-dame, and state ye places that she shall keep ye school att."

There must have been some ditiiculty in providing a school-dame, for on March 7th the town voted " to make choice of a school-master to keep a school in town, and that John Read, Senior, be the schoolmaster."

Whether some doubting Stephen considered the employment of a school-dame an evasion of the requirement in the aforesaid act, that "a school-?»astobe maintained," etc., and caused the town to reconsider its first vote, or no female teacher could be persuaded to bury herself in the wild-woods of this then thinly inhabited town, is an open question. But it itof record that the first school was taught by John Read. What salary he received, and how many weeks in a year his school was in session, is not recorded. His successor, George Woodward, was chosen May 3, 1733, and the town voted to board him and to give him twenty pounds for his year's services. Mr. Jame- Emer.son boarded the teacher, and was allowed seven shillings a week. January 7, 1734, the town chose Edmund Rawsou teacher, and increased his salary to twenty-five pounds. The same year we find mention made of school districts as " squadrons," and each squadron had the liberty of choosing its teacher - a woman - and the selectmen were to approbate the teachers.

In 173G John Rawson was elected teacher, and was allowed forty-five pounds for teaching school. The expenses of maintaining the schools up to the year 1756 seem to have been met from the income derived from the grants of land made to the town by the General Court, one of which was a grant of five hundred acres, in the northerly part of the province, in what is now New Hampshire; though in what part of that State it is difficult to determine, though it is said to be in Coos County. In the year 1756 the town began to raise money for schools by direct tax, helped out from time to time by sale of the school lands, and the use of the proceeds for school purposes.

The first mention made of a school-house is in the month of December, 1738, when the town " voted to build a school-house." Tradition says the meetinghouse was previously used for this purpose ; but as we have seen, the primitive meeting-house had but poor accommodations for use on the Sabbath, and it is hardly probable that it was made use of for school purposes in its then unfinished and uncomfortable condition. It is more probable that the schools were kept in private houses, as the selectmen were required to open schools in diffisrent parts of the town. The school-house erected in 1738-39 must have been almost as crude and uncomfortable, in many respects, as the meeting-house, for the town voted October 17, 1740, "to allow forty-four pounds, three shillings and three pence for what had been done and for what was to be done to the school-house " - a sum equivalent to a little over two hundred dollars, which in these days of plenty would pay for a very uncomfortable barn, if it was not too large. In 1760 the town voted to divide the town into districts, and each district was to enjoy the privileges of schooling in proportion to the money raised by them. The division took effect in 1761, and the town was divided into thirteen districts'; the children of specified families were to attend specified schools, and each district was to have a sum of money allotted it, in proportion to the number of scholars in that district. The sum of sixty pounds was raised for schools each year from 1762 to 1771, in 1776 forty pounds, in 1777 sixty, in 1778 one hundred and twenty, and in 1779 three hundred pounds, showing by this sudden increase the effect and the purchasing power of the depreciated currency in the time of the Revolutionary War. In 1783-84 the appropriation again fell to forty pounds, the money value of the currency having improved by the emission of a new and better national promise to pay.

In 1788 we find the first mention made of a grammar school, the town having then " voted that three pounds, thirteen shillings and six pence, raised at the last meeting, should be applied to a grammar school the present year." In 1796 the town was redistricted and divided into eleven school districts and substantially remained so divided up to 182.'>. In 1797 the town voted to raise two thousand dollars for building school-houses in the several districts, and in case the inhabitants of the district were unable to agree where their school- house should be placed, the committee were to fix upon a proper site. For a good description of these old school-houses I am indebted to Hon. Charles A. Wheelock, who speaks from personal experience in the following language:

" The old school-bouses ! What queer buildings they were when compared with the modern schoolhouse ! The writing-desk was a plank running round three sides of the room ; the seat was a slab, its flat side uppermost, with holes bored in it in which were driven cart-stakes for legs. The scholar had no back to his seat unless he should turn round and face the centre of the room, when his back might rest against the edge of the plank writing-desk. The big stone fireplace was filled with blazing logs in winter and the child must roast and freeze by turns. The dungeon - that dreadful place - to which the unruly ones were consigned sometimes to regale themselves upon the good things the prudent had brought to sustain themselves in their arduous labors while delving among the mysteries of the three R's, and the heavy

Gradually but surely the expense attending the schooling of the children increased, so that while in the year 1800 the amount appi-opriated was only about four hundred dollars ; in isy.") it had increased to one thousand dollars. With the increased appropriation better school advantages were secured. The average wages of female teachers in 1835 was only $5.73 per month, and male teachers $13.93, exclusive of board. The schools were kept twenty weeks in a year, women teaching summers and men in the winters ; and, therefore, it is to be presumed that the ten weeks of summer school were principally for the benefit of the younger children, while the grown-up sons and daughters, whose labors were essential to the family support in summer, attended school ten weeks in the winter, and were taught by a man, on account of the necessity of having some one who could handle them and compel obedience. As the town increased in population, as it did rapidly after 1835, it became necessary to provide better accommodations for the school-children. The appropriations gradually increased, new school-houses were erected to take the places of those so graphically described by Mr. Wheelock, and more and better teachers were employed.

In 1855, it having been ascertained that the town had a population sufficiently large to bring it within the provisions of the statutes requiring a high school to be kept, the town voted that the School Committee should procure a place and open such a school, and six hundred dollars was appropriated for the support of the school until the next March meeting. The committee .subsequently employed Mr. Nathan Goldthwaite as principal of the school, which was opened in the old academy building on the northerly end of the town's common. This "old academy building" was erected in 1819 by Solomon's Temple Lodge of Free Masons and the citizens of the town by contribution, the citizens building the lower story and the Masons the upper. In February, 1819, this article appeared in the town warrant : " To see if the town will permit the erection of a private school-house on the north end of the Common, between the cartway leading to widow Fanny Willard's back-yard, and the wall south of where the old blacksmith shop stands ; provided said building can be erected by private munificence."

On March 3d (annual town-meeting) it was voted that liberty be given to build a school-house on the town common - of certain specified dimensions - provided it be built within three years from this date. The Masonic Lodge, recently formed in the town, which had been holding its meetings in the hall at the Spring Tavern, in the north part of the town, desired better accommodations and eiiected an arrangement with the committee of citizens by which the Masons and the citizens should erect the building at joint expense, the Masons completing and occupying the upper story and the citizens the lower part for private school purposes. The building was of brick and was so far completed December 25, 1819, that the JSIasons occupied their new hall. The private school, which was afterward known as the " Uxbridge Academy," was opened by Mr. Abiel Jaques, a Harvard graduate, in the fall of 1820, and was used for an academy and select school for young ladies under several different teachers of both sexes, until about the time the town took it for a high school room in 1855.

In 1865 a three years' course of study was arranged for the high school, which, in 1869, was changed to one of four years. The schools and school system of Uxbridge have always been its especial pride. The town has freely voted its money for their support, and, notwithstanding the carping criticisms of a few, who, if they knew more about the schools, would use better judgment, they are excellently and economically managed, and aie producing grand results. The wages of teachers at the present time average as follows : Female teachers, thirty-five dollars per month ; male, high school only, one hundred and ten dollars, for ten months only. There are now seventeen common schools and the high school, and the average length of the schools is thirty-three weeks for common schools, and thirty-eight for the high school.

In 1869 the Massachusetts Legislature passed a law abolishing school districts, and requiring the towns to take possession of all the school-houses and other school property owned by the several districts in their corporate capacity, within one year thereafter, and pay the districts for the same such sum as a committee agreed upon by the town and the districts should appraise the property at - the same to be paid to the several resident and non-resident taxpayers of the districts, in proportion to the amount of property liable to taxation therein, by deducting from such tax-payer's annual town tax for that year the amount apportioned to hira for his interest in the school property.

By this law Uxbridge bought of the several school districts property aggregating, by the appraisal of the committee, something over $23,000. Since 1870, therefore, the school district system has ceased to exist, and all the schools and school property is in the charge and control of the general School Committee, consisting of twelve members, and imstead of repairs and expenses attending the buildingof new houses being now paid by direct tax upon the inhabitants of the district, where the school-house may chance to be located, as was formerly the case, all the school expenses, inclusive, are assessed in one sum to the inhabitants of the town, as other town charges are assessed. This, of necessity, makes the per cent, of increase of money raised for town purposes since 1860 appear larger, in proportion to the increase of the previous period referred to in the first chapter, thiin it otherwise would ; for the amount of money usually required annually for repairs of school-houses is quite an item in the list of school expenses, iind liable to mislead the careless critic who attempts to show the extravagance of school management to-day over the management of twenty years ago. A careful examination of the records and the other items of town expenses will show conclusively that the percentage of increase in school expenses has only kept pace with the increase in population, valuation and general progress of both town and State.

No town in the county can show better schools or better accommodations for the scholars for the amount expended. The grading of the schools is comparatively higher than obtains in many of the neighboring towns, and applications are frequently received from pupils iu adjoining towns for leave to attend the grammar and high schools iu Uxbridge. The schools for the past three years have been under the charge of school superintendents, whose personal attention to the minutest details of grading, instruction and discipline has done much to produce the good results obtained. Cheap, unskilled labor in any business is dear at any price ; and a poor teacher, more than a poor laborer in any other vineyard, can do immense damage, and should never be intrusted with the education of the young, even though she is willing to work for small wages. The success of a .school, like the success of a woolen-mill or a machine shop, <lepends upon the degree of .skill possessed by the managers, and the consensus of public opinion is in favor of that kind of management which produces good results and makes the business a success.

We have neither time nor space to give an account of the different private schools which, since the inauguration of Uxbridge Academy, have met with varying success. At the present writing not a single private school is in existence in the town, nor has there been for several years. The broad and liberal instruction given in the public school seems to meet the requirements of all classes, and no occasion offers for the establishment of schools for private emolument and gain.

From small beginnings, under most discouraging and disheartening circumstances, the public-school system of Uxbridge has constantly advanced, until it has become one of the proudest monuments to the good sense, sagacity and philanthropy of her people.

lAbraries. - The earliest circulating or public library iu this town, of which there is any record, was called the " U.vbridge Social and Instructive Library," and was kept and managed by George Southwick, who was .born in 1747, and died in 1807. A book was found many years ago by Jonathan F. Southwick, which contained the name Uxbridge Social and Instructive Library, with the number lO.S, and the date 1775. Mr. Southwick (now deceased) said that he remembered a meeting of the stockholders, for the purpose of dividing up the books, and closing the affairs of the library.

It is not easy to trace the history of libraries in the town, prior to the establishment of the " Uxbridge Free Public Library," by vote of the town in April, 1874; as they, and the records concerning them, have passed out of existence. Hon. C. A. Wheelock remembers that there was a "Social Library" in the town in 1821, and how much earlier he is unable to tell. As its name was " Uxbridge Second Social Library," it is very probable that it began its existence soon after the year 1812 - the date of dissolution of the Uxbridge Social and Instructive Library.

Another library was formed as early as 1830 or 1831, which continued to live with varying degrees of usefulness until the establishment of the " Fi-ee Public Library." As many as a thousand volumes may, at one time, have belonged to it, as we have seen volumes which were numbered as high as nine hundred and fifty. In the forty years of its existence it was used by a large number of |iersons. From a report of the Hon. Benj. Adams, dated .lauuary 1 1, 1830, it appears that this library was formed in January, 1828. In 18fi5 the name of this library was called " Uxbridge Library Association," and for several years the writer of this history had charge of the same as librarian, it being then in the room occupied by him as an office in the Union bnilding. In the spring of 1873 the Library Association offered the books belonging to the association to the town as a nucleus for a public library ; provided the town will establish such a library. About the same time the " Uxbridge Agricultural Library Association," an association of farmers, who for sever.al years had been contributing books and funds for an agricultural library, and who owned a few hundred volumes and pamphlets, made a .similar offer, with the same condition.

At the aiunial town-meeting in Jlarch, 1874, there being an article in the warrant for the consideration of the subject, the town voted to establish a Free Public Library, appointed a commiitee to report a plan, etc., of the same at an adjourned meeting to be held in April, and voted to appropriate the " Dog Fund," amounting to about $27") to the uses of the library. At the adjourned meeting, April 0, 1874, the report of the committee and its recommendations and rules for the management of the public library were accepted and adopted, and a board of trustees was chosen, as provided by law.

The Free Public Library thus established went into operation for the delivery of books .lanuary 20, 1875, and had on its shelves six hundred and eighty-nine volumes. In thirteen years the library, under the judicious management of Hon. Chas. A. Wheelock and his associates on the board of trustees, and the generous annual appropriations of the town, has become one of the best in the county; is patronized by all classes of society, has a catalogue containing nearly Jive thousand volumes of the best literary and standard works, suited to all ages and conditions of life, and has so nearly outgrown its present quarters in the north end of the new town hall that, at no distant day, it will be necessary to move to a building by itself, which we hope some public-spirited citizen will build, and pi'esent to the town for that purpose.

The advantages of a Free Public Library cannot be overestimated - it reaches the homes of the poor as well as the rich, and furnishes the means of a home education and culture, otherwise unattainable by many. To the scholars in the public schools, who have frequent occasion to consult the valuable reference hooks and encyclopedias ; to the mechanic and the farmer, seeking scientific demonstration of their respective theories ; to the professional man, and the average reader, it has proved a real blessing and source of constant gratifieation and enjoyment. If it adds something to the burden of taxation, all pay it cheerfully, feeling that it is money well invested, and its rapid growth and constantly increasing use proves that the projectors of the " Free Public Library" made no mistakes when they induced the town to take its action of 1874. At the present rate of increa.se, averaging some four hundred volumes per year, the " Uxbridge Free Library " will soon be entitled to honorable mention on the records of the National Library at Washington.

Chapter Xxviii

Manufacturing. - While Uxbridge takes no inferior rank as an agricultural town, she ever points with becoming pride to her manufacturing establishments, which, more than anything else, have been the meau.s of increasing her population and her valuation.

At an early date in her history the ingenuity of her mechanics began to manifest itself in the production of better facilities for carrying on of mechanical business. More than one hundred and fifty years ago dams were built across the water-courses, and the giant " (ujuw jiuentes" was harnessed to the forge, the saw-mill, the grist-mill, the wheelwright-shop anil finally the factory, until to-day, the busy whir of the spools and spindles, the rattle of the loom and the clatter of the bobbins, on every stream, fill the air with their music and tell the glad story of a happy, prosperous and intelligent people.

Hon. Charles A. Wheelock, one of the oldest and most intelligent manufacturers now living in the Blackstone Valley, to whom I am indebted for many valuable hints and facts in the preparation of this history, gives me the following .account of the manufacturing industries of this, his native town.

country ; but it is not so generally known that John and Arthur Schofield, who came from England in March, 1793, introduced the manufacture of woolen goods.

In 1810 Daniel Day built his first mill in Uxbridge; size, twenty by forty feet, two stories high, and located where now stands the mill of S. W. Scott. In the same year he put into the mill a billy, a jenny with thirty spindles and a hand-loom. In 1812 he added four looms, making five in all. Everything except the picking and carding was then done by hand, and no looms were run by water-power, until a number of years after.

In the same year the first movement was made towards the manufacture of cotton goods in Uxbridge. This was seen in the building of the works of the "Uxbridge Cotton-Mills" in that year by Mr. Benjamin Clapp.

The next attempt at woolen manufacturing was made by the Rivulet Manufacturing Company, which was incorporated in ISIt!, although the company was formed, the buildings erected, and the business of manufacturing begun in 1814. This company used a billy and jennies, which were built in this town by John & George Carpenter, and the mill was superintended by .Terry Wheelock, a practical mechanic, well acquainted with the construction and operation of machinery. The weaving was all done by handlooms, and the goods were chiefly satinets, although some broadcloths and cassimeres were made.

Cotton manufacturing kept pace with woolens, and this same year, 1814, the Ironstone Mill was built on Forge Brook (now Ironstone Brook), in the south part of the town, by William Arnold and others.

After this time, for a few yeai-s, there were no mills erected in this town ; but important improvements were made in the construction of machinery. The next mill built was the Capron Mill, thirty-three by sixty feet, and three stories high, in the year 1820, and went into operation in the winter of 1821-22. It was started with one set of cards, one billy of forty spindles, two jennies of one hundred and twenty .spindles each, two cotton-spinning-frames of sixtyfour spindles each, with the preparations, and a warper and dresser for making satinet warps, and twelve power satinet-looms, - the first satinet powerlooms ever built, it has been said, and they were built on the premises b}' Luke Jillson, of Cumberland, R, I. lu 1824 an addition was made of a set of cards, a billy of fifty spindles and a jenny of one hundred and twenty spindles, built by the Messrs. Carpenter; a jenny of one hundred and fifty spindles, built by Jerry Wheelock ; eight .satinet-looms, two cotton-cards and two spinning-frames of sixty-four spindles each, built in Woon.socket.

In 1837 sixty feet were added to the length of the Capron Mill, and in 1855 forty feet more were added. At first it ran two sets of machinery ; now it runs six. This factory has been a remarkably lucky one for its owners and lessees ; has never been burned, and has made money for every one who has occupied it. In 1851 Moses Taft and J. W. Day, under the firm-name of Taft & Day, hired this mill and conducted the business for several years, when Wm. O. Capron, one of the owners of the mill, was admitted to the firm, making it Taft, Day & Co. J. W. Day shortly afterwards withdrew, and Taft & Capron continued till about 1861, when E. & J. Taft bought tliera out and carried on the business until the close of the war, when their lease expired. They were succeeded by Henry and Charles C. Capron, under the name of H. & C. C. Capron. Mr. Charles C. Capron soon withdrew from the firm, and was succeeded by William E. Hayward, when the firm became Capron & Hayward ; they in turn being succeeded by the Capron Woolen Company, composed of Henry Capron, Charles C. Capron and Royal C. Taft, of Providence, E. I., who now run the mill.

In the autumn of 1824 the dams were built for the Luke Taft Mill, - now the Wacantuck, owned and operated by C. A. & S. M. Wheelock, - and the Uxbridge Woolen, now the Hecla ; also to carry the water ef the West River to the mill of Mr. Day, - now Scott's. The next year, 1825, witnessed the erection of the Luke Taft Mill, thirty-four by sixty feet, three stories high ; the Uxbridge Woolen-Mill, thirty-six by eighty feet, three stories high; and an addition to the Day Mill, making it forty by forty-five feet, three stories high. New and improved machinery was put into these mills, and they were soon in operation. Taft's and Day's Mills were started on satinets in the winter of 1825, and the Uxbridge W(K)len- Mill on cassimeres, late in the fall of 182G.

In August, 1828, the Uxbridge Woolen-Mill, the largest of all the mills in town, was destroyed by fire, and within a week a woolen-mill was burned in Milford, and another in East Douglas. As this was contemporaneous with the remark of the British Minister that " he would not allow America to make a hob-nail," and also at a time when the country had become much excited on the subject of duties for the protection of domestic industry, many persons expressed the opinion that the English manufacturers had emissaries here who were to burn the woolenmills, and in that way accomplish the object of defeating the eft'ect of the protective tarifl'.

The Uxbridge Woolen-Mill was immediately rebuilt of brick, forty by eighty feet, three stories high. Since the erection of the former mill, John Goulding, of Dedham, had invented and obtained letters patent for improvement in carding and spinning wool, and his new machinery for that purpose was coming into general use, so that the new Uxbridge Woolen-Mill was supplied with it, to the great advantage of all concerned. The Uxbridge Woolen Manufacturing Company was a corporation, receiving its charter in the winter of 1826-27. Its corporate existence continued until about the year 1848, when the property passed into the hands of Josiah Seagrave and M. D. F. Steere, who operated the mill for about ten years. In 1850 the mill was greatly enlarged, the machinery increased to twelve sets, with about fifty Crompton fancy looms. In 1852 the mill was again destroyed by fire. It was soon rebuilt, and filled with the most improved cassimere machinery then known. In 1857, Mr. Steere went to Amesbury to take charge of the Salisbury Mills, and Mr. Seagrave operated the mill alone. In February, 1859, the devouring flames again seized upon this unlucky property, and destroyed the finishing-mill and dye-house. This last loss was too much for the proprietor, who had so long been harassed and troubled with misfortune, and, though he rebuilt the destroyed buildings with the insurance money, he was unable to continue the business, and soon after died. The property then passed into the hands of the mortgagees, J. C. Howe & Co., of Boston, who soon sold it at auction to William D. Davis, of Providence, R. I., who took it just in time to receive the advantages the Civil War gave to manufacturers. About 1868, Mr. Davis sold the mill to Robert & Jacob Taft, who made extensive repairs, additions and improvements, operated it two or three years, then resold it to Mr. Davis, who again operated it for several years. In 1884 the Calumet Woolen Company, then owning the mill at New Village, bought of Mr. Davis the entire Uxbridge Woolen property, including mills, tenements, machinery, farm, etc., and have since expended upon it, in permanent improvements, additions and new machinery, over eighty thousand dollars, making it by far the finest manufacturing property in the town, and the finest woolen-mill in Worcester County. It has all the modern improvements, is lighted with electricity, has telephone connection with the other mills owned by the corporation, and has started out to redeem itself from the reputation its former bad luck has given it, and under the charge of its present managers will certainly succeed.

The old Day Mill, the first mill built in the town, was burnt in 1844, and was rebuilt in the course of a year or two by his son, Joseph Day. Afterwards it was operated l)y J. W. Day, son of Joseph Day, for four or five years, or until 1849 or '50, when Samuel W. Scott took a lease of it for a term of years, and manufactured satinets on contract. In 1859 Mr. Scott bought the mill and farm of Mr. Day, and has continued to operate it to the present time ; the past ten years in company with his brother, J. R. Scott, the firm now being J. R. Scott & Co., who lease the mill of S. W. Scott. The mill was burned to the ground in the summer of 1878, but was rebuilt in an enlarged and greatly improved manner, with firstclass machinery in every respect for making satinets. The village is now appropriately named Elmdale, and its genial proprietor is entitled to great credit for the determination and courage he has manifested in

Luke Taft operated the mill alone, until his son Moses Taft was taken into the concern, about the year 1833. In 1840, J. Wheelock & Son - C. A. Wheelock - bought one-half of the Luke Taft Mill, taking into the business Silas M. Wheelock, making the firm J. Wheelock &Sons. The other half of the mill was run by Moses Taft, till he sold out, in 1846, to C. A. & S. M. Wheelock, Mr. Jerry Wheelock, the father, retiring from the business. The mill originally built by Luke Taft was burned in the winter of 1837-38, but was immediately rebuilt upon a larger scale, and supplied with new and improved machinery. C. A. & S. M. Wheelock named their mill, which they greatly enlarged and improved, "the Wacantuck Mills," the name Wacantuck being the Indian name of the town. They manufactured satinets and plaids until 1852, when they also made cassimeres. Since 1855 they have made cassimeres exclusively, and have ever since continued to produce an excellent quality of these all-wool goods, which find a ready sale in the market, and keep this mill constantly at work. Many of the help at this mill have grown gray in its service and, like the proprietors themselv&s, take great pride in the success of the mill and the beauty of its village. Several of the employes own their homes, and, as a rule, all the employes are well-paid, contented and happy, and have an unbounded respect for their neighborly employers.

In 1852, Moses Taft laid the foundation for the mill formerly known as the Central Mills, now the Calumet. It was completed the next year, and leased to Israel M. Southwick and Richard Sayles, under the name of Southwick & Sayles, who continued to operate the mill till 1859, when they sold out their lease to Bradford, Taft & Co., of Providence, R. I., Mr. Sayles continuing to superintend the mill and act as agent till January 1, 18ij4. Daniel W. Taft then took charge of the mill as superintendent, and continued in charge until betook the lease in his own name in 18t)9. Mr. Moses Taft sold the mill to R. & J. Taft in 18(i6, and these gentlemen made great additions and improvements thereto, and by building a new dam at Rice City, in the northerly part of the town, and flowing about one hundred acres of land, greatly increased the water-power, and made it more permanent. These enterprising gentlemen also put in an eighty horse-power steam-engine as extra power in dry weather, and thus became sure of constant operation of the mill in all seasons. At the conclusion of Mr. D. W. Taft's lease, in 1883, the Calumet Woolen Company was incorporated, with Isaac Fenno, of Boston, for president; S. M. Wheelock, of Uxbridge, treasurer; and Arthur Wheelock, agent and general superintendent, and purchased of Messrs. R. & J. Taft, all the mill estate, inclusive, and of Mr. D. W. Taft certain machinery and fixtures owned by him. This corporation immediately expended over twenty thousand dollars in new j machinery and improvements, widened the canal, raised its banks and increased its capacity largely; and are to-day turning out handsome, high-grade cassimeres, the best ever manufactured in the town. As hereinbefore stated, this corporation also owns and operates the Hecla Mill, about one-half a mile easterly of the Calumet ; the two mills being connected by telephone and under the charge of Arthur Wheelock, agent and general manager. The purchase and enlarging of these two mills by this corporation, at an expense of over two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, has given an impetus to the prosperity of the town which it has never known before. Employing more help, the population of the town has increased from three thousand and fifty in 1880 to three thousand five hundred in 1888. The weekly payments of the corporation amount to about twenty-five hundred dollars, and this amount is added to the trade accounts of all the retail dealers in town, making business in all branches correspondingly better. About one-third of the capital stock is owned by residents of the town, so that the town not only gets the benefit of the large tax upon the real estate, but also gets a large return from the State, in the shape of corporation taxes, returned to the towns in which the stockholders reside. The gratitude of the town is due to Hon. S. M. Wheelock, by whose efforts this corporation was established and located in this town.

In 1864 Richard Sayles and D. A. McBride bought of Dea. Chandler Taft the old Rivulet Mill and waterpower, which had been idle for a number of years, made extensive repairs, and manufactured shoddy till 1866, when Mr. Sayles purchased Mr. McBride's interest, and soon after sold it to Israel M. Southwick, taking Mr. Southwick as his partner. The next fall Sayles & Southwick put in steam-power, enlarged the property, and fitted it up to receive new machinery, on an extensive scale, for the manufacture of shoddy. In November, 1866, Mr. Southwick sold out to Mr. Sayles, and Mr. Sayles soon after sold one-half interest in the property to Zadok A. Taft ; and Messrs. Sayles & Taft put in the shoddy machinery and ran the mill till 1869, when they leased the mill to E. S. Bradford & Co., of Providence, R. I., for the manufacture of knitting yarn, and it was run on this work until the mill was burned in October, 1872, a few weeks before the great Boston fire. It was rebuilt the next year in a much improved manner. At first cotton machinery was put in, but it soon gave place to woolen machinery, with which Mr. Sayles was better acquainted. Messrs. Sayles & Taft ran the mill until October 1, 1878, and then leased the mill and machinery to Sayles, Taft & Co., the company being Henry S. Morse; then in January, 1882, Taft left the manufacturing firm, and it became Richard Sayles & Co. These gentlemen operated the mill with great success until the death of Mr. Sayles, in 1887. The property is now owned by the Ihree sous of Mr. Sayles, who carry on the manufacture of satinets under the same name as the old firm - Richard Sayle.s & Co.

About tlie year 1834 Alvin Cooke purchased a small building on the Emerson Brook, which was formerly used for a cabinet shop. He enlarged it, and put in woolen cards, spinning machinery and looms, but no finishing machines. He operated the mill under contract for Ellingham L. Capron, who was then operating the Capron Mill, making satinets. In 1837 Mr. Cooke was obliged to succumb to the financial pressure, and never again engaged in manufacturing. From 1837 to 1879 the mill has been practically idle and unoccupied. Since 1880 Mr. D. M. Lee has utilized it for the purpose of a shciddy-mill. Mr. Lee has greatly improved the property, built a new dam and reservoir on the stream, and is determined to make it a success.

In 18l!5 or '66, Mr. Zadok A. Taft bought the property on the Emer.son Brook which was formerly known as the Leonard Taft Saw and Grist-Mills. These mills had not been used for many years and had fallen into decay. Mr. Taft erected a new mill, into which he at first put machinery for making cotton warps. Subsequently he removed this and substituted satinet machinery. Mr. Taft operated the mill for several years and then leased it, and it has been operated by several ditlcrent firms for that purpose till the present time.

In 1832 the Ironstone Mill - built in 1814 asa cottonmill - was burned. It was rebuilt by Jonathan F Southwick, fitted with woolen machinery, and operated by Fairbanks & Messinger for the manufacture ol Kentucky jeans. In 1865 fire again visited this property and destroyed the factory. Subsequently a roof was put over the basement walls, which remained standing, making a one-story mill, which for several years was used by Joseph C. Keith & Co. for a shotldy mill. It afterwards passed into the hands of Abijah Esty, of Millville, and at his decease it ceased to be used for manufacturing purposes, and the mill and the brick tenements and store-houses which once denoted a prosperous village are fast becoming dilapi<lated ruins. About the year ISSU Mr. ('harles C. Capron erected in the millyard of the Capron Mills a well appointed shoddymill, and in a few years his largely increasing busine-s occasioned the building of another mill near to the other, into which he put, in addition to shoddy cards and pickers, two sets of yarn machinery for making woolen yarn for carpets. This i)art of the business was subsequently given up, and the entire plant devoted to the manufacture of shoddy. In addition to the water-power of the Mumford River, these mills and the Capron Satinet-Mills are supplied with

The old Shuttle Shop on Drabble Tail Brook was at one time devoted to manufacturing purposes, cotton yarn and shoddy being among its principal productions. The machinery was operated by Zadok A. Taft and B. Stetson, and afterwards by J. C. Keith.

One of the principal industries of Uxbridge from an early date was the manufacture of cotton goo<ls. The first factory erected I'or that pnipose was erected in 1810, by Forbes & Benjamin Clapp, at what is now known asRogerson's Village, in North Uxbridge. They sold out in 1815 to Harvey & Mellen, and they soon after sold to Robert Rogerson. The mill was a small building, which was afterwards removed and converted into a factory tenement-house. There they manufactured cotton thread until about the year I8IG7 when the venture proved a failure. They had been stocked by Mr. Robert Rogerson, who was at that time a merchant in Boston, and upon the failure of Harvey & Mellen the property passed into his hands. Mr. Rogerson continued the business then until about the year 1825, when he removed the Clapp Mill and began the erection of his first stone factory. Near it, and in accordance with his original plan, he erected a second stone factory, and the two mills have since been united. He expended thus, in buildings and machinery, the sum of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. He laid out a village, which at that time had more of the quality of perfection than almost any other manufacturing village in New England. It is laid out with great taste, and the stone work of the dams, canals, bridges and arches under the mill are marvels of good workmanshiii, which constant use of more than fifty years has not detracted from. These mills and this beautiful village will long stand, built as they are in lasting stone and brick, a fitting monument to the genius and public spirit of Robert Rogerson. In the financial troubles of 1837, Mr. Rogerson was obliged to give up the property, and it passed into the possession of the nujrtgagees. A new corj^oratlon was formed, called the Uxbridge Cotton-Mills, and the mill is still called by that name, although the original incorporators have nearly all died or sold their interest in the property. In 1851 the Whitin Brothers, of Northbridge, were the princii)al owners and managers of the corporate stock and property, and under their excellent management, which has continued to the present time, the property has continued to improve, and is now a first-class cotton-mill in every respect. This is the only cotton-mill in town, and with the single exception of the mill at Ironstone, originally built for a cotton mill, is the only one ever erected here solely for cotton goods.

There have been several other manufacturing establishments started, continued lor a short time and then given up ; which, as they did not contribute materially to the prosperity of the town, will not be noticed at length. Among these were the Uxbridge

Card Clothing Co., the Bay State Arms Co., and the Wilder Screw Machine Co., neither of which met with success, and none are now in exi.stence.

One of the industries of the town, of which brief notice should be given, was the carriage manufactory of Theodore B. Whiting, in Mechanics' Square, on Drabble Tail Brook. About the year 1850, Mr. Whiting purchased the cluster of buildings formerly used for a tannery and cooper shop, etc., in rear of Union Building, and began the manufacture of carriages and harness, and also did a general wheelwright and blacksmithing busine-ss. Many excellent carriages were made by Mr. Whiting, and they were so well made that some of them are in use to-day, after more than thirty years of service. The style, of course, is somewhat antiquated, but the carriages are good for the balance of the century. A thoroughly good and honest man himself, his reputation sufl'ered no injury from his handiwork. It needed no warranty, and none was asked by those who knew the genial, upright, dignified gentleman who received their orders. At his lamented death, which occurred in ISfiil, the business was divided, the wheelwright, the blacksmith, the painter, and the harness-maker each striking out for himself; and as a result, the business of manufacturing carriages soon became a business of carriage repairing. Prentiss Whiting several years before had started a carriage factory at the Rivulet, but it did not prove a success, and a man named Gardner is said to have manufactured carriages for awhile in the old shop now owned by Merrill Greene, on North Main Street.

Banks. - The Blackstonc Bank was incorporated August 27, 1825, with a capital of $100,000, divided into one thousand shares. It was originally, and until 18B5, a period of forty years, a State bank, and was the only bank of discount and circulation in this part of the Blackstone Valley.

In 18<i5 it became a National Bank, under the banking-laws of the United States, and its name was changed to the Blackstone National Bank. Its capital remained the same, and, under its excellent management, it has always had a surplus, so that its capital stock has seldom been obtainable in the market for less than $120 per share. It has had but four presidents since 1825, and only three cashiers - Jonathan Gregory being cashier from 1825 to 1830, E. W. Hay ward from 1836 until his death, in 1875, a continuous service of nearly forty years. Moses Taft, Esq., has been president of the bank since 1865, and, although nearly eighty years of age, is hale and hearty and a shrewd and capable financier. The bank occupies a room in Robert Taft's block, under a very peculiar lease. The advantage of having a bank in Uxbridge was of such moment to the then owners of the old brick store, which has since been remodeled into the modern business block, that, as an inducement for it to locate here, the room was fitted up, and a long lease given, in which the stipulated rent was " one barley-corn per year,'' and this singular rent fs all that the bank has been required to pay for the use of its banking-rooms to this date. Whether the rent has actually been handed over each year, and what the landlord does with it, are open questions, which no one seems able or willing to answer.

In the eighteen years of its existence this bank has grown in the confidence of the people, and its deposits now amount to over $335,000. As its management is rather conservative and its loans made at low rates of interest, its diviflends are not, as a rule, quite up to those paid by city banks, but are generally satisfactory to depositors. A little more public spirit exhibited by the management, in the way of a banking-house built and owned by the bank, would give it better facilities for doing business, and, as an investment, would pay full as well as loans on mortgages at five per cent., and the general public would be highly gratified.

A good first-class business block on the site just south of the National Bank, arranged for stores, banking-rooms and oftices, would supply a muchneeded want, and would be occupied at good rent as soon as completed.

Chapter Xxix

The Revolution. - In the year 1774, on the 6th day of July, the town, at a meeting called to consider the difficulties existing between the colonies and the mother country, passed a vote to appoint a committee of nine citizens and freeholders, "to correspond with committees that now or shall be chosen by any towns in this province for the purpose, on any matiir that may respect the present difficulty, that now or may subsist between Great Britton and North-a/Kccjca."

In October, 1774, it was voted in town-meeting, "to purchase five barrels of powder, and as much shot as was proper; " and a committee was chosen " to provide for soldiers who may be called to march." In January, 1775, the town voted " to carry the resolves of the Continental Congress into execution;" and a committee was appointed " to see them strictly adhered to in this town." At this meeting Mr. Benjamin Green was elected a delegate to the Provincial Congress to be held at Cambridge; and in May, of the same year, Mr. Abner Rawsou was chosen to attend the Provincial Congress at Watertown.

The fires of patriotism now burned brighter and steadier, and the increasing military ardor of the citizens of this town, was made manifest, in the unanimity with which they voted to stand by the action of the Continental Congress.