Worcester City (part 3 of 58)

The Loring & Blake Organ Company, located in Union Street, was incorporated in 1868. Messrs. Loring & Blake, the founders, were at one time with Taylor & Farley Organ Company, and first engaged in business in Southbridge Street, in French's building, and afterwards moved to the building in Hammond Street, which was later burned down and never rebuilt. From there they moved to the Adams Block, between Main and Southbridge Streets, the site of the new Post-OfBce, and also hired some rooms of E. S. Stone, their mill-work being done in Cypress Street. They now occupy the large five-story brick factory in Union Street.

The lumber used by this company comes compartively dry, but they have two large dry-houses with a capacity of fifty thousand feet. From the dry-houses the lumber passes to the mill-room, is cut up into the proper sizes and glued; it then goes through the scraping and smoothing-machines. This company uses a machine for carving which does many parts of the work formerly done by hand, although some of the work can still be done cheaper by hand than by machinery. From the mill-room, with its multiplicity of saws and wood-working machinery the work goes to the case-room, adjoining which is the tuningroom ; here tlie tuner has a set of reeds pitched, from which the reeds are fitted for the organ. Formerly the reeds were left perfectly straight, but now are bent somewhat, which is supposed to give a superior tone. This is a return to the earlier practice, as the reeds of the firsc melodeons were made in this way. This company uses a patentstop motion of its own on its organs. The work of the factory is all divided into departments ; the reeds and reed-boards are purchased outside, and put into cases in the factory. The bellows stock is also purchased.

The Taber Organ Company in Hermon Street - N. H. Ingraham, president, William B. Baker, treasurer, - was established in 1872 as the Worcester Organ Company. Shortly afterwards, Mr. William B. Taber, who had been with Loring & Blake Organ Company, bought the business, and later, in 1877, the Taber Organ Company was formed, starting with fifteen hands. The company now employ forty. Their product goes all over the world. The changes and improvements made in organ-building, have, for the most part, been in the styles of cases, in couplers and tremolos - the change in the latter being from the valve to the fan tremolo.

The company now known as the Worcester Organ Company is a continuation of the business formerly conducted by E. P. Carpenter, and has now commenced the manufacture of pianos. The manufacture of organ-reeds, while closely connected with the manufacture of organs, is a distinct business. Previous to 1846 reeds were made by hand. About that time Jeremiah Carhart, of New York, devised machinery for making the organ-reed to be used with exhaust bellows, which he had invented and patented. Redding & Harrington, of Worcester, also devised a machine for making the reeds. Mr. A. H. Hammond bought a one-third interest in this business and, finally, all of it. The Hammond shop, in May Street, now does a large domestic and foreign business, and employs two hundred hands.

The Munroe Organ Reed Company was established in 1860. It was incorporated in 1869 with a capital of Sl.S.SOO, and employed ten men. In 1875 the capital was increased to $60,000, and in 1878 they added to the manufacture of reeds that of automatic instruments; since then they have employed something like 250 men at one time. In 1879 they moved to their present location in Union Street, where they have the most complete facilities and most ingenious machinery for the prosecution of their business. They use from 150,000 to 200,000 pounds of sheet brass per year, from which the rough frame-work of the reed is punched; it is then planed and milled; the reed grooved and the tongue securely fastened in place by machinery; another machine letters the reeds, of which 15,000 are manufactured daily. The reed-boards are made of the best Michigan quartered pine. The places for the reeds are cut in the reedboards by machinery. The product of this company goes all over the world. The export business amounts to §100,000 per year.

Envelopes. - Envelopes weie first used in England between 1830 and 1839, but only in a very limited way, as the use of an envelope called for double postage, the law then beiugthat postage should be charged for the number of pieces of paper. This explains the custom, then prevailing, of folding the letter-sheet to make it answer the purpose of an envelope.

Up to this time, and for several years after, all the envelopes used were cut by hand ; each stationer had blank patterns of several sizes of envelopes, and with the aid of a sharp penknife cut the blanks three or four at a time. On rainy days these blanks were folded and stuck together in the form of envelopes. There are to-day, in this country, stationers in business who in early life made in this way all the envelopes sold in their stores.

Worcester has taken a foremost place in the development of the manufacture of machine-made envelopes. The third United States patent on a machine for making envelopes was issued to Dr. Russell L. Hawes, of this city, in 1853 ; the two preceding patents were upon machines of no practical value, so that it may fairly be said that the first successful machine in the United States for making envelopes was invented and patented by a Worcester man and built in the city of Worcester.

Dr. Hawes was then agent for Goddard & Rice, and saw in New York some hand-made envelopes, very likely made by a Pole named Karcheski, who is said to have made the first hand-made envelopes in this country.

Dr. Hawes thought he could make envelopes by machinery, and, returning to Worcester, built a machine in the shop of Gnddard & Rice, which was subsequently patented. The blank for the envelope was first cut out by a die, then the sealing flap was gummed, the envelope blanks being spread out, one overlapping the other, and the gum applied with an ordinary brush. When the gum was dry the blanks were introduced into the folding-machine, which was a selffeeder, and in this Dr. Hawes applied the principle which is used on every successful envelope-machine in existence.

Up to this time all attempts at making envelopes by machinery had dealt only with the folding of the envelope, the blanks being fed to the machine by hand. Dr. Hawes went a step farther, and attached a feeding device to his folding-machine.

The blanks, having been cut and gummed on one edge, were fed to the machine in bunches of five hundred; gum was applied to the under side of the picker, which descended on top of the pile of blanks; the top blank adhered to the picker and by it was lifted to the carriage, which conveyed it under the plunger by which the blank was forced into the foldingbox. Small wings then folded over the flaps of the envelope and the gum by which the blank had been elevated to the carriage now performed a second office, that is, sticking the envelope together. The envelopes thus pade by Dr. Hawes were sold to Jonathan Grout.

Jt required the services of one girl to attend the machine, while it took half the time of another girl to spread the gum on the sealing-flaps, so that three girls could produce a finished product of about twentyfive thousand envelopes in ten hours.

Thinking the machine had reached its maximum product. Dr. Hawes, who meantime had moved to the factory of T. K. Earle Manufacturing Company in Grafton Street, sold out, in 1857, to Hartshorn & Trumbull (Charles W. and George F. Hartshorn and Joseph Trumbull), who were succeeded in 1861 by Trumbull, Waters &Co. (Joseph Trumbull and Lucius Waters). In 1866 Hill, Devoe & Co. succeeded to the business. Mr. W. H. Hill is the present proprietor.

The principal improvements made in machinery have been in increasing the capacity, and with that, improving the quality of the manufacture, as the envelopes made on the old machines would not now be considered saleable.

At the present time one girl attending two machines can produce seventy thousand envelopes in ten hours. Mr. Hill owns the patent on his machines, they having been assigned to him by the inventor, in his employ, Mr. Abraham A. Rheutan, who has done much to contribute to improvements in envelope machinery.

The Reay machine is also used in this establishment. This is the invention of George H. Reay, of New York, and was patented in 1863. From one hundred and twenty-five to one hundred and fifty hands are employed in this factory.

The next Worcester man to make valuable improvements in envelope machinery was Mr. James G. Arnold, who, in 1858, devised a machine cutting the material for an envelope from a roll of paper, and also gummed and folded the envelope complete in one operation. He introduced into this machine the drying chain. By this invention, the gum, which theretofore had been applied to the sealing-flap with a brush, was applied to the envelope by the machine, and after the machine had folded the envelopes they were deposited in this drying chain, or endless belt with fingers, the envelopes being kept separate while the gum on the envelopes was drying.

While Mr. Arnold's machine was not a practical success, it had in it the foundation principles upon which the success of the self-gumming envelopemachine depends.

In 1864 G. Henry Whitcomb came into possession of the Arnold machines, and began the business of envelope-making in a small building in School Street, where the engine-house now stands. In 1865 he removed to the north corner of Main and Walnut Streets, where he remained till January, 1866, when he removed to Bigelow Court ; he was then making one hundred thousand envelopes per day. This factory was the first building in the Uuit^d States used exclusively for the manufacture of envelopes.

At that time Mr. David Whitcomb sold out his interest in the hardware store of Calvin Foster, and joined his son, the firm being G. Henry Whitcomb &Co.

In 1873 the business was moved into the present factory in Salisbury Street, additions to which were built in 1878 and in 1886. In 1884 the firm became a corporation, known as the Whitcomb Envelope Company. The machines used have been built on their own premises, and the patents upon them are owned by the company. The machines are the invention of Messrs. D. W. & H. D. Swift, who, in 1871, built one upon an entirely new principle, capable of making thirty-five thousand envelopes in ten hours.

In 1876 the Messrs. Swift invented their first selfgumming machine. A girl could run two of these machines, making seventy thousand envelopes in ten hours. The product was automatically registered, these being the only machines in the world with a clock attachment.

Besides the invention of four distinct envelopemachines, the Messrs. Swift have patented an automatic printing-press, for printing envelopes. The blanks are fed to the machines in three or four thousand lots, picked up singly by the air-feed, and carried into the press, where they receive the impression. They are then discharged on the opposite side of the machine and piled up, ready for the envelope folding-machine.

The construction of this press is very simple. It has a stop-motion attachment, and is so delicately adjusted that a single hair stretched across the attachment will spring the let-off motion and the press will stop. Seven presses, each capable of producing 30,000 impressions in ten hours, can be run by a man and girl, making a total of 200,000 impressions with only two operatives. The great efficiency of this machine will be appreciated when it is considered that 11,000 to 12,000 impressions is a large day's work for an operative on an ordinary job press.

One hundred and fifty hands are employed in the Whitcomb Envelope Factory. Their daily product is one million envelopes, with a capacity of double that amount.

To illustrate the efficiency of the Swift machine, owned by the Whitcomb Envelope Company, it can be said that Herman Schott, the largest envelopemaker in Germany ; Alexander Pirie & Son, Aberdeen, Scotland, the largest envelope-makers in the world ; and Fenner & Appleton, of London, one of the largest envelope-makers in England, several years ago equipped their factories with the Swift machine.

The Logan, Swift & Brigham Envelope Company was incorporated February 1, 1884. Messrs. Logan, Swift & Brigham were for a long time associated with the Whitcomb Envelope Company. Their machinery is the invention of Messrs. D. W. & H. D. Swift, who have been mentioned in connection with the Whitcomb Company. Logan, Swift & Brigham employ one hundred hands.

Upon reviewing the history of these three companies, it is apparent that Worcester has been most prominently identified with the inception and development of machine-made envelopes. The most important contributions that have been made to this art have come from Dr. Hawes, Mr. Arnold, Mr. Rheutan and the Messrs. Swift, who have taken out upwards of twenty patents. The production of a single operative has been increased from less than 10,000 staple envelopes per day to 70,000.

To-day three millions of staple envelopes are made daily, which is between one-fourth and one-third of the entire product of the United States, and constant employment is given to four hundred operatives.

Chapter Cxcvii

Fire- Arms. - Harding Slocomb, December 6, 1820, notifies his friends that he has established his business as gunsmith in Worcester, opposite Jeremiah Robinson's drug store, a few rods south of the Court-House, where he manufactures twist and straight rifles, fowling-pieces, and has musket-guns and pistol-flints for sale. These fire-arms were, of course, all made with the old flint-lock.

At this time Asa Waters (2d) had a gun-factory in Millbury, where he made government arms. Ware & Wheelock, at the top of Front Street, opposite the City Hall, in 1825, manufactured guns, and in 1833 Joseph S. Ware and John R. Morse were established in Main Street, where guns, rifles, fowling-pieces and muskets were made to order.

Ethan Allen is identified with this business from an early day up to the time of his death, and contributed very largely to improvements in methods and machinery. Mr. Allen was born in Bellingham, Mass., in 1810, where he received a common-school education.

In 1831 he was engaged in manufacturing shoe cutlery in Milford, and in 1832 moved to what was then known as New England Village, in the town of Grafton, where he commenced the manufacture of the Lambert Cane gun, in connection with shoe cutlery. This was the beginning of the fire-arms business which he prosecuted so successfully thereafter.

In 1838 he built a shop, which he occupied for some time for the manufacture of fire-arms and shoe-kit; this is still standing and used for manufacturing purposes. In 1834 Mr. Allen manufactured the saw-handle target rifle-pistol, and it is said that in 1835 he took one of these pistols to New York, and showed it to a Mr. Speis, who was engaged in selling fire-arms, and asked if there would be any demand for such an article. Mr. Speis looked at the pistol, and said : " Do you make these ? " MK' Allen replied " Yes." " What is your price ? " Mr. Allen named it. " Why don't you ask twice as much? " was the reply ; " I will take all you can make."

Thus encouraged, Mr. Allen returned to New England Village and began to make the pistols. Soon after he invented the self-cocking revolver, which was widely known at that period, and subsequently during the Mexican War and the California gold discoveries, during which time the business was most prosperous and profitable. As a gold-miner, Mark Twain "Roughing It," gives an amusing description of his experience with this self-cocking revolver, and the degree of skill in marksmanship which he had acquired by constant practice. " There was," he says, " no safe place in all the region round about." On one occasion he brought down a cow fifty yards to the left of the target, when an interested spectator persuaded him to purchase the carcass.

About 1837 Mr. Allen took into partnership his brother-in-law, Mr. Charles Thurber, who remained in business with him until 1856, when the firm was dissolved, Mr. Thurber retiring.

Early in the fifties he associated with himself another brother-in-law, Mr. T. P. Wheelock, who died in 1863, the firm being Allen & Wheelock. In 1842 the company moved to Norwich, Conn., where they carried on the manufacture of fire-arms. In 1847 they came to Worcester and located in Merrifleld's building, where they remained until the great fire of 1854. Immediately after, they erected a shop at the Junction, now occupied by the L. D. Thayer Manufacturing Company and the Worcester Elevator Company, where the business was for some years prosecuted by them and their successors.

The removal from Norwich was the practical beginning of the fire-arms business in Worcester ; since which time it has been a most important industry. Previous to that date there was nothing that could properly be called a manufactory ; there were a few small shops, but nothing more.

In 1865, subsequent to the death of Mr. Wheelock, Mr. Allen took into partnership his two sons-in-law| Messrs. S. Forehand and H. C. Wadsworth, under the name of Ethan Allen & Company, and so continued until the death of Mr. Allen, January, 1871; after that, the business was conlinued by the surviving partners, under the firm name of Forehand & Wadsworth. Since 1883 the business has been prosecuted by Mr. Forehand alone, and since 1876 has been located in the Stone shop at the Junction, known as the Old Tainter Mill.

Mr. Allen was a mechanic and inventor of superior capacity. He invented a doubled-barreled breechloading sporting gun, and was probably the first to use steel shells in connection with such an arm ; these shells can be re-loaded indefinitely. He was the pioneer, in this country, in the manufacture of double barreled shot guns and fowling pieces.

Between 1855 and 1858 a change was made from the system of muzzle-loading to breech-loading firearms, although the breech-loading system had been adopted in Europe before that date, and, at the same time, the change was made from loose to fixed ammunition.

Neither in this country nor in Europe had metallic cartridges been made except by hand - a slow and most tedious process. Mr. Allen recognized the necessity of making the metallic cartridges by machinery, and invented and patented the first set of machinery that was ever built for that purpose. The heading-machine, which is used by every manufacturer of metallic cartridges in the world, was his invention, and has stood the test of litigation. Prior [ to this, no one, so far as is known, had conceived of any process of forming the head except by spinning it up in a lathe.

At the Centennial Exhibition in 1876 the Government exhibited a set of this machinery, and there was nothing in the Mechanical Exhibition which attracted more attention. The whole process, from beginng to end, was the product of Mr. Allen's brain. Probably no fire-arms manufacturer in the country made so great a variety of arms as he: from the whale bomb-lance to the cheap Fourth of July pistol, and every variety of fowling-piece.

Formerly all work was done with the file, cold chisel and anvil, but methods have greatly improved, until now there is no finer work done than what is popularly spoken of as " gun work." The parts are all interchangeable and made with the greatest nicety.

Charles Thurber, at one time associated with Mr. Allen, was a successful teacher in Worcester, and is credited with having invented the first type-writing machine, which is said to be still in existence.

1859, began to manufacture fire-arms in Merrifield's building in Excliange Street. The first arm lie manufactured was a single-shot breech-loading pocket pistol using a cartridge.

Mr. Wesson daring the war manufactured twenty thousand stand of arms for the Government. At present he manufactures long range, short range, sporting rifles and pocket pistols.

Mr. Frank Copeland, 17 Hermon Street, established a manufactory for fire-arms in 1863 ; he was formerly in the employ of Allen & Wheelock, at their old shop at the Junction. He first manufactured revolvers, and in 1876 devised a single-shot breechloading sporting gun, called " The Champion."

Mr. Copeland's second gun is a single-barreled sporting gun, called the " F. Copeland Gun," which is more strongly constructed, better in action and capable of standing heavier charges, and altogether more durable.

Harrington & Richardson Arms Company. - This business was established in 1871 by F. Wesson and G. H. Harrington, under the firm-name of Wesson & Harrington, for the purpose of manufacturing a shellejecting revolver, invented and patented by Mr. Harrington, and the business was located at 18 Manchester Street, in the building owned and used by Mr. Wesson as a rifle factory, a business in which he had been engaged for many years. This firm continued until 1874, when Mr. Wesson's interest was purchased by Mr. Harrington, who soon afterward formed a copartnership with William A. Richardson, under the firm-name of Harrington & Richardson, and the manufacture of the same style of revolver was continued. This revolver, which was the starting-point of the present business, was an improvement in convenience over any other then made, it being so constructed as to load and have the exploded shells removed by the sliding ejector, without detaching the cylinder or removing any portion of the arm ; and it is believed to have been the first successful shellejector used on a metallic cartridge revolver. It had a large sale for a number of years. Various other styles of revolvers have been added, improvements made and patented from time to time. In the fall of 1876 the business was removed from Manchester Street to the more commodious quarters 31 Hermon Street. Here new and improved machinery and appliances were brought into operation, and have been constantly increased from year to year, and additional room occupied.

In 1880 Messrs. Harrington & Richardson became the sole licensees in the United States for the manufacture of the celebrated Anson & Deeley hammerless gun, an English invention. This was a high cost arm, ranging in price from eighty-five to three hundred dollars, The manufacture of this gun was continued for about five years. In January, 1888, Harrington & Richardson dissolved their copartnership, and reorganized as a stock company, with the following officers: Gilbert H. Harrington, president ; William A. Richardson, treasurer; George F. Brooks, secretary.

The business of the company is the manufacture of revolving fire-arms exclusively, which are produced of various styles and of different prices, from the plain, substantial, solid frame arm, from which the cylinder is removed by the withdrawal of the centrepin upon which it revolves, to the more elaborate hinge-frame revolver, employing the automatic shellejecting system, by which all the exploded shells are thrown out automatically by the act of opening the arm for reloading.

All the arms manufactured by the company have a high reputation for quality, beauty of appearance and reliability. Very few persons not practically acquainted with this business have any idea of the amount and nicety of machinery and special tools and appliances required, and, where revolvers are produced in large numbers, of the care and close inspection necessary to maintain a high standard. If one would undertake to manufacture a new revolver of good quality and the average intricate construction, and were already provided with all the machinery that can be purchased of machine tool builders, adapted to this business, it would require a year to construct one small revolver, and make the tools and appliances necessary to produce the arm in quantities and of good quality.

Iver Johnson & Company, established in 1871, are located at 44 Central Street, and employ two hundred hands. Their products are air pistols, guns, revolvers and other arms; ice and roller skates.

January 30, 1856, notice is found of a new rifle invented by B. F. Joslyn, the manufacture of which was controlled by Mr. Eli Thayer. It was claimed to be superior to the Sharpe's rifle, both on account of the rapidity of its loading and the simplicity, safety and cheapness of its construction.

In March, 1859, the Spy said that Mr. Joslyn and Mr. Freeman, of New York, had purchased the large stone shop at South Worcester, where they expected to commence the manufacture of pistols under Joslyn's patent at an early day ; and, in 1860, the War Department ordered from Mr. Joslyn one thousand of his rifles, which up to that time was the largest single order for fire-arms ever given to one contractor in the country. The Navy Department had previously ordered five hundred.

In April, 1861, they were busy day and night at the Lower Junction shop manufacturing Joslyn's breech-loading carbines for the War Department. Fort Sumter had then been fired upon and the demand for arms became pressing. All the iron-working establishments in the city were busy furnishing the Government with ordnance. Nathan Washburn was making five tons of rifle-barrel iron per day for the Springfield Armory, and was under contract to furnish one hundred thousand musket barrels.

Osgood Bradley was at work on gun-carriages and forges. Wood & Light were busy making machinery for the government at Springfield Armory. November, 1861, Shepard, Lathe & Co. were under contract for Colt, the Burnside factory and Springfield Armory. Allen & Wheelock had two hundred hands at work for the government and private parties. L. W. Pond was building twenty light rifle-cannon of his invention, called the "Ellsworth Gun," at the shop of Goddard, Rice & Co. This was a "breechloading rifle-gun, four feet long, six inches in diameter at the breech and Si at the muzzle, with a IJ inch bore, carrying a chilled conical ball weighing 18 ounces, which it will throw three miles. The gun weighs, carriages and all, 450 lbs. Cost, $350."

July 11, 1862, a patent was granted to Theodore E. Timby, of Worcester, for improvements in a revolving battery-tower and improvements for discharging guns by electricity. Joslyn's breech-loading carbines were in high favor at this time with the government.

In 1862 Ball & Williams (in School Street) employed one hundred men in the manufacture of the Ballard rifle, - a cavalry rifle which they continued to make until the close of the war. This was a breech loading arm, using a .42 metallic cartridge, and the invention of Mr. Ballard, who had been a foreman for Ball & Williams.

Ieon axd Steel Business. - Nathan Washburn, at one time, worked for William A. Wheeler as a journeyman founder, and while in his employ invented a car-wheel, which he patented in 1852. In company with Mr. Converse, of his native town of Tolland, Conn., Mr. Washburn began the manufacture of these wheels in Franklin Street, next to Bradley's car-shop, and continued there until 1857, when the new building was erected near the freight depot of the Western Railroad, since occupied by Washburn Iron Company, and later by the Worcester Steel Works. The building, as designed, was to be occupied in part by Nathan Washburn as an ironfoundry for the manufacture of car- wheels; the main building was to contain machinery for re-rolling iron rails and for making locomotive tires, while the western end was to be occupied by Henry S. Washburn for a rolling-mill and a wire-factory. Meantime Mr. George W. Gill became associated with Nathan Washburn in the rail and lire business, and very likely suggested engaging in it ; for he had been employed as foreman and contractor in charge of the iron work upon the cars built in Mr. Bradley's shop, where Mr. Gill mu&t have become more or less familiar with the railroad business. Previous to the introduction of the wrought-iron . rail, rails were made of wood, with flat bar-iron on the upper surface ; when the rails were loosened, the ends, called "snakes' heads," were often forced up through the car-bottoms, to the great discomfort and danger of the passengers. Mr. Gill was born in West Boylston, and learned the blacksmith trade in this city.

In 1859 this business had reached considerable proportions, employing from one hundred and seventy to one hundred and ninety hands, and turning out forty tons of iron per day.

At this time, Mr. Washburn, in company with Canadian capitalists, established a rolling-mill at Toronto .for re-rolling rails for the Grand Trunk Railway; he attended to the equipment of the mill, and three large steam-hammers were made for it by Woodi Light & Company.

In 1860 there was but one establishment in New England doing railroad work of this character, and that was located at South Boston. The Washburn car-wheel was very popular, and there was a good demand for re-rolling rails and for locomotive tires. Five hundred thousand dollars capital was employed in the business, and from two hundred and twenty to two hundred and forty men with a pay-roll amounting to seven thousand dollars per month. The works extended over four acres of ground. In the foundry, one hundred and seventy-five feet by sixty feet, forty car-wheels were cast each day and eight tons of machinery. In the rolling-mill, two hundred and fifty rails weighing forty tons were rolled daily, and also four tons of tire for driving-wheels, while seven puddling furnaces produced twenty tons daily of bar or puddled iron.

The trip-hammers for working over and welding together the worn-out rails were of large size, made by Wood, Light & Company, at their shop at the Junction, by whom the first set of gun-barrel rolls were made in 1860 for Mr. Washburn; these were modeled after an English set in the armory at Springfield.

In 1864 Mr. Washbnrn went to Europe, and when he returned, brought with him an equipment for a small Bessemer plant of about one ton capacity, which he partially built but never completed. This must have been one of the earliest attempts in this country to erect a plant for the manufacture of Bessemer steel, as the first steel actually made was at Wyandotte, Mich., in the fall of 1864.

associates and built the works in Grafton Street, now occupied by the Washburn Car Wheel Company, where he continued the business of manufacturing car wheels until about 1866, when he sold out his wheel business to the Washburn Iron Company, and engaged in the manufacture of steel tire car wheels, and later started a foundry in Hartford to be run in connection with the Worcester shop. Mr. Washburn sold out his interest the same year altogether, but the business continued under the name of the Washburn Car Wheel Company, the product being h)Comotive truck and tender wheels.

Mr. Washburn then went to Allston, and remained until within two years, and is now engaged at South Boston perfecting a new solid cast Bessemer wheel. After leaving Allston, his plant was leased by Jonas S. Hart & Co. ; it was burned down, later re-built, and is now occupied for the manufacture of wheels by Samuel D. Nye, under the firm-name of Jonas S. Hart &Co.

Mr. Nye has been connected with this business since 1859, having been associated with Mr. Washburn at that time and was with his successors in the business until the spring of 1888, when he resigned his position as manager of the Worcester Steel business and removed to Allston.

The Washburn Iron Company continued the business of re-rolling iron rails until 1881, when the demand almost entirely ceased by reason of the general adoption of the Bessemer steel rails, which resulted in a great saving in railroad construction. Iron rails were delivered in Boston in the summer of 1868 at eighty-eight dollars per ton of two thousand two hundred and forty pounds, while steel rails were delivered in Boston, November, 1888, at thirty dollars per gross ton.

In the winter of 1881 they began the importation of steel blooms, and in the spring of 1882 began rolling steel rails. Mr. Gill died April 1.3, 1882, and Mr. George M. Rice then acquired an interest in the business, which was managed by the Gill estate until October, 1883, when the entire property ^jassed into the hands of Mr. Rice and his associates, who organized the Worcester Steel Works. The work of rolling steel blooms into rails continued until the fall of 1883, when work was begun upon the Bessemer steel plant, and the first steel was made in June, 1884. Later, an open hearth furnace was put in, and during the year 1888 two new trains of rolls have been added, modern heating furnaces, etc., for the manufacture of merchant bars.

About four hundred men are employed in these works, producing two hundred and thirty tons daily, made up of rails for steam and horse railroads, blooms^ billets and shapes, merchant bars and castings. For over thirty years this business has had a prominent place among the industries of Worcester, being at one time the largest single industry in the city. It has followed the complete revolution of the rail business

Source changes here: from History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, by Hurd, Duane Hamilton, [from Old Catalog] Ed, published 1889; 882,882 words in this source stream.

Publishers' Preface

In presenting the within History to tiie people of Worcester County tlie Publishers <le-ne to state that when the preparation of the work had been finally c- li-icu upon, an earnest efibrt was made to secure the leading literary talent o: I'l s section of the Commonwealth to prepare the manuscript. The result Avas a gratifying success. Those most familiar with the historic literature of the County were engaged, whose names appear at the head of their respective chaptei's. These gentlemen approached the task with a spirit of impartiality and with a determination to prepare a work which should reflect credit alike upon the County, its citizens and themselves, and the Publishers feel that no eftort has been spared either by Publishers or writers to faithfully present the history of the territor}- embodied herein, from its Indian occupancy to the present proud position it occupies among the counties of the Commonwealth.

Chapter

The Niisliawiiys anil tlieir Home - Kind's Purcliiwe - The Nashaway IMantere - The Town Grant - The Covenant - Lantl Allutnients - Death of Sliowauon.

Chapter Ii

The First Minister - Arbitration - ('ornniissiunei-s Appointed to iJirect Town Affairs - The First Highways - Nuyes" Survey - Disaffection of the Imlijuis - MonocoV Raid - James Quanapaiig's Fidelity - Tlie Destniction of Lancaster.

Chapter Iii

The Resettlement - Frencti and Indian Raids - The GarrisoQs - New Meeting-Htmse - The Additiomil Grant - Early ;?chool masters - Lovewell's War - Worcester Ooniity Formed - Birth of Harvard, Bullon and Leominster - Siet,'es of Carthagena and Lonisbourg - Tlio Conquest of <'anada.

The Firat Census - Organization for Revolution - Lexington Al;irni - Bunker Hill :in(l the Siege of Boston - War Annals - Separation of OUocksett - Shays' Itehellion - Bridge Lotteries.

Hon. John Sprague - Cotton and Woolen-Mills - The Academy - War of 1812 - The Whitings - The Brick Meeting-Honse - Lafayette - The Printing Enterprise - Dr. Nathaniel Thayer - New Churches - Clinton Set Off - Bi -Centennial - Schools - Libraries - Cemeteries.

Chapter Viii

The Revolution - The "Six Nations" - Immigmtion - The Comb-makers - Poignand and Plant - Coining of the Bigelows- The Clinton Company - The Lancaster (iuilt Company - The Bigelow Carpet Company - The Lancaster Mills - Clintonville, its Builders atid its Kntorpriaes.

Chapter Xi

Horatio Nelson Bigelow - Banks - 'I'own Hall - Bigelow Free Libniry - Soldiers' Mununiont - Annals of Manufacturing Corporations - Tho "Wash-out" of ISTO - Franklin Forbes - Erastus B. Bigelow.

Chapter Xviii

Grant to the Township - The Proprietors - Kaily Settlements - Old Houses - Incorporation: Templeton, Phillipston - County Relatione - State Relations - Political Parties.

Chapter Xix

MilUarif Affairs: The Revolution - The Currency - Second War with England - .\ Militio IMnster - 'I'he Civil War - The Sanitary Comniission.

Contents Chapter Xx

BuxineBs Affiui-8: iMamifactiirfH - Early Mills - At Baltlwinville - l)n Trout Bruok - Al Partridgeville and East Tonipleton - At otter River - Hutfls - Stores - Savii>gs Bank - Roads - "Rail roads.

Chaptkr Xxiii

Et:chtfia»tit:id Afi'airs; The First Church - The Baptist Church - The Triuitarian Church- The liniversalist Church - The Methodist Chnrch - St. SLirtiu's (iiurch - Memorial Church - Ministers.

Chaptkr Liii

Pioneer Life : Mendon the Mother of Towns - (Comparative Antiquity - Number of Towns once a Part of Mendon - The First Movement for a New Plantation - The Deed from the Indians -Division of Land - Names of Proprietors - The First Map - Incorporation - The in lli7S - The Nipmucks' Attack - The Settlers' Keturo

Chapter Lv

Territorud and Polititial Changes: The Town's Poverty lifter thf! War - Cliiinia of Ilhode Island Territory - The " \orth i'lircliasi- " - Annexation of "The Farms" - Towns ChiiniMig to be "ChiUlrenof Mendon " - Mendon To-day.

Manii/'irUires : The First Griat-Mill and ?ia\v-Mill - Tlie Snccessive Occnpaiits of tlie Old Grist-Mill Site - ('(tntractswith Milleis and Blacksniitlis - Torrey and Wurfielil Saw-Mills - Factories, Miscellaneons anil Modern.

Chapter Lxx

Locality - Topography - Railway Connections - Historical Resources - Early Settle?nent - l*etitionei-y and Proprietors - .Services in the Indian War - Firet Meeting- Settlers - Relations with the Indians - Alarm - Armed Worshippers.

Chapter I.Xxi

Ecclifsiasticttl Ili-tUif liii'.li to 1818 - Tlie Change to linitarianism - The Meetiug-House of 1820 -I'aBtors to 1888 - Tlie North Congregational Cliurcii ami Pastoi^ - The M'-thoiiists in iMeniinii - Tlie (inakcra.

Chapter Lix

KiUu-ali'tnal llbiUny unit Closmg Ih-iimrkf : Earl_v Kei-ords aliJ Tradition t'oiiceriiiiif;; Schools - Notices of the Earliest Teai-hera and Srliool-llouses - School-Dames - Tlie District System - The High School - Some Noteworthy Kveiits ill Mendon's Recent llisfoiy and its I'reseiit Stains.

Chapter Lxxxix

State ( 'onstitution - Sliays' Insurrection - Fine for Nuii- Ilepresenttttiou in tlio General dourt - Slavery in Iit;icester - "Instructions" - Jews.

Chapter Xcii

iiiisiiiess : Card Business - Woolen Manwfucture - Boot and Shoe Business - Tanning and Currying Business - Leicester National and Savings Banks - Miscellaneous Industries.

The Ciiil Wiir : Sixth Massachusetts Iteginieut - War Meetings - Twenty-fifth Regiment - Fifteenth, Twentyfirst, Thirty-fourth, Forty-second - Action of the Town - Other Soldiers - Expenditures - Casualties - Close of the War.

31iscdla)iei'ii-s : Individuals and llesidences - Phyaieians - Lawyers - Items of Interest - Burying-Grounds - Postlitliees - Firo Department - Taverns - Libraries - Cherry Valley Flood - Histories- CeU-hrations.

Chapter Cii

The Fiist Parif.ii and Itn Ministers: Gushing, Sumner, IngersoII, Whipple, Geoige Allen, Averell, AVilliams, McGinley, Dyer, Scudder, Frank H. Allen.

By William T. Davis

It 13 not proposed to include in this sketch any msilter wbicli properly belongs to the histories of the towns of which Worcester County is composed. Religion, education, niauulactures and Indian history will all be treated in the sketches of the various towns with who-ie growth and traditions and present condition they are inseparably connected. It is proposed to confine the sketch strictly to an iitvestigatioa of the affairs of the connty proper, its incorporation, its geographical character, its boundaries, its courts, its otiicers and such associations as have the county for both the extent and limit of their operations.

Worcester County was incorporated by an act which was passed by the General Court, April 2d, and published April 5, 1731. The text of the act is as follows:

An Act for erecting, granting and making a County in the Inland piirts of tliis Province, to be ciilk-il tlie County of Worcester, and for estabUsiiias Courts of Ju>tice witliin the siime :

Sect. 1. Tbat the towns and places hereafter named and expressed; That is to say, Worcester, Lancaster, Westboro', Shrewsbury, Soiithhoro', Leicester, Rutland and Lunenburg, all in the County of Slidrllesex ; Mendon, Woodstock, Oxfurd, Sutton (including Hassiuiamisco), Uxbridgo ami the hind lately giaiitod to several petitioners of JledfieUI, all in the County of SnfTulIc; BrooUfieUl in the County of Hampshire and the Sovith town laid out to tbe Narragansett suldiers ; and all other lands lying within said to\vnshi[>s with the inhabitants thereon, shall from and after the lOtb day of July, which will be in tbe year of our Lord, seventeen hundred and thirty-one, bo and reiiinia ono intiro and distinct County by the name of Worcester, of whicli Worcester U> be the Connty or shire town ; and the said County to Iiave, use and enjoy all sncli powei-s, privileges and immunities us by law other counties within this Trovincc have and do ehjoy.

Sect, 'J. That there shaU be hehl and kept within tbe snid County of Worcester, yearly, and in every year at the times and places in this Act hereafter exiu-cssed, a Court of General Ses-ioiis of the Peace and an Inferior Court of Common Pleas, to sit at Worct-^teron the second Tuesdays of May and August, the first Tuesdays of Xovemlier and February yearly, and in every year until this Court shall otherwise order, a Superior Court of Judicature, Court of AB^ize and General Gaol Delivery, to sit on the Wednesday innnediately preceding tiio time by law appointed for the holding of the said Court of Judicatun), Court of Assize and General Gaol Delivery at Springfiekl, within and for the County of Hampshire; and the Justices of the said Court of General Sessions of the Peace, Inferior Court of Common Tleas, Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize and General Gaul Delivery, respectively, wlio are or shall be thereunto lawfully commissioned and !ip|iointed, shall have, hoM, use, exercise and enjoy all and singular the powers which are by law already given and granted unto them within any other counties of the Province where a Court of General Sessions of the Peace, Inferior Court of Common Pleas, Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize and General Gaol Delivery are already established. Provided,

Sect. a. That all writs, suits, plaints, processes, appeals, reviews, recognizances or any other matters or things which now are, or at any time before the said 10th day of July shall be defending in the law within any part of the said County of Worcester ; and aho aU matters and thinga vhich now are, or at any time before the said luth of July shall be defending before (he Judges of Probate within any part of the said County of Worcester, shall be heard, tryed, proceeded upon and determined in the Counties of Suffolk, Middlesex and Hampshire respectively, where the same are or shill be returnable or derending, and have or shall have, day or days. Provided, also.

Sect. 4. That nothing in this Act contained shall be construed to dieannul, defeat, or make void, any deeds or conveyances of lands lying in the said County of Worcester, when the same aro or shall be, before the said liitb of July, recorded in the Register's office of the respective Counties where such lands do now lye ; but that all such deeds or conveyances, so recorded, shall be held good and valid, as they would have been had not this Act been made.

Sect. 5. Tlirtt the .histices of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace at their first meeting in tlie said County of Woioester, sliall liave full power and authority to appoint some meet jierson w ithin the Baid Cunnty of Worcester to be Ue;;ister of Deeds and Conveyances within the same, who shall bo sworn to the faithful discharge of his trust in the said office, and shall continue to hold and exertiso the same according to the directions of the law, until some person be elected by the freeholders of the Baid County of Worcester (who aro hereby empowered to choose euch person on the first Thursday of September next ensuing, by the methods in the law already prescribed), to take upon him that trust ; and until Buch Register shall be appointed by the stiid Justices and sworu, all deeds and coiiveyancea of land lying within any part of the said County of Worcester, which shall be recorded in the Itegister's office of the re- Bpective counties w here such lands do now lye, shall be held aiul deemed good and valid, to all intents and purposes, as to the recording thereof.

Sect. G. That the methods, directions and proceedings by law, provided as well for electing and choosing a Register of Deeds and Conveyances as a County Treasurer, which olficei^ shall be appointed in the Bame manner aa ia by law already provided, on the first Thursday of September next, and also for the bringing forward and trying any actions, causes, pleaa or suits, both civil and crindnal, in the sevel-al Counties of this Province and Courts of .Judicature within the same, and choosing of Juries to serve at the Courts of Justice, shall extend and be attended, observed and put in practice within the said County of Worcester and by the Courts of Justice within the same ; any law, usage or custom to the contrary notwithstanding. Provided, always,

Sect. 7. That the inhabitants of the several towns and places herein before enumerated and set off a distinct County, shall pay their proportion to any County rates or taxes alreaily made and granted in the same manner as they would have done had not this Act been made.

A supplementary act was passed April 12th, and published April 14, 1753, providing " that all the lands within this Province, adjoining to the County of Worcester, and not laid to any other County, shall be and hereby are, annexed to the County of Worcester."

Hassanamisco, mentioned in the above act, was the Indian name of a territory about four miles square, which was reserved by the Sachem, John Wampus, when he sold to the English settler.^ the tract of land which afterwards became the town of Sutton. This territory was afterwards also sold and became the town of Grafton.

The South town, laid out to Narragansett soldiers, also mentioned in the act, was subsequently incorporated as the town of Westminster. In 1728 and 1732 the General Court granted seven townships to eight hundred and forty survivors of the Narragansett War and the legal heirs of such as had deceased, assigning one hundred and twenty proprietors to each township, on conditicn that sixty familits be settled in each place with a minister in the space of seven years from the date of the grant, reserving in each one right for the first minister, one for the ministry and one for the school. A meeting of the grantees was held in Boston on the Common, in June, 1732, and dividing themselves into seven classes, drew lots for the townships. The townships were laid out by a committee of the General Court as follows : " Number one was located back of Saco and Scarborough, number two north of Wachusett Hill, number three at Souhegan west, number four at Aiuariscogan, number five at Souhegan east, number six west of number two, and number seven was not located." South town was number two and was sometimes called

The name of the city of Worcester, from which the county derived its name, owes its origin to Worcester in England, on the banks of the Severn, built on the site of the castle of Hwiccia, called Hwic-wara-ceaster. The records of Massachusetts colony state that in 1GS4, " upon the motion and desire ol' Major-Cvencral Gookin, Capt. Prentice and Capt. Dan Hinchman, the Couit grants their request that their plantation at Quinsigamond be called Worcester and that Capt. Wing be added and appointed one of the Committee there in the room of the deceased and that their town brand mark be ^." The conjecture of Mr. William H. Whitmore that the name was given as a defiance to Charles the Second, who was defeated at Worcester by Cromwell, in 1651, has been endorsed inaqnalified way by Mr. William B. Harding, in his valuable and interesting essay on the origin of the names of towns in Worcester County, published in 1883. Though it is true that at the time Worcester was named, in 1B84, the oppressive measures of Charles had rendered him unpopular in the colonies, it is more than probable that the conjecture had its origin in one of those baseless and v;igue traditions which have disturbed the current of history, and that, like a large number of other towns in New England, some emigrant from old England desired to perpetuate the name of the place of his birth in the new.

Worcester County is the largest county in the Commonwealth, occupying the central part of the State and extending across its entire breadth from north to south. It has an area of about fifteen hundred square miles, and is drained by the head-waters of Miller's, Chicopee, Quinebaug, Thames, Blackstone, Nashua and other smaller rivers, which furnish power to a large numbtrof wheels of industry. Its suriace is undulating and its soil strong and productive, but its farming interes!s have been somewhat impaired by the advancing and strengthening wave of manufacturing industry. These interests, however, are by no means small. According to the census of 1880, in a list of the tsvo thousand four hundred and sixty-one counties in the United States, Worcester stands nineteenth in farm values and tenth in farm products. The determination of the shire-town of the county was not reached without difficulty. Sutton, Lancaster, Mendon, Brookfield and Woodstock stood higher than Worcester, both in population and valuation. But the central position cjf Worcester, together with the influence of Joseph Wilder, of L'.incaster, who remonstrated against the administration of justice in that town, settled the question. The first Court of Probate was held in Worcester, July 13, 1731, the first Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the Peace the 10th of August, and the Superior Court of Judicature on the 22d of Sepeember in the same year. The judges of the last court present were Benjamin Lynde, chief justice, and Paul Dudley, Ed- inund Quincy and John Gushing, justices. Paul Dudley, who was a judge from 1718 to 174.5, and chief justice from 174.5 to his deatli, in 1751, was the first lawyer who had ever sat on the bench.

At the time of the incorporation of the county nine other counties bad been incorporated in what is now the State of Massachusetts, - Essex, Middlesex and Norfolk incorporated May 10, 1G43; Hampshire, May 21, 1662; Barnstable, Bristol and Plymouth, June 21, 1685; Duke-s County, November 1, 168-3, and Nantucket, June 20, 1695. Norfolk County was composed of the towns of Haverhill, Salisbury, Hampton, Exeter, Dover and Portsmouth (then called Strawberry Bank). Upon the separation of New Plampihire in 1680, the last four towns were included within the limits of that State, and on the -Ith of February, 1680, by an act of tlie court, the other towns were added to Essex County, and Norfolk County ceased to exist. At a later date the present Norfolk County was incorporated, March 26, 1793, preceded by Berkshire April 24, 1761, and followed by Franklin June 24, 1811, and Hampden February 20, 1S12. The towns composing Worcester County at the time of its incorporatiim were incorporated as follows : Brookfield, which had borne the Indian name of Quaboag, was granted to petitioners in Ipswich in 1660 and incorporated Oct. 15, 1673, and included in the county of Hampshire by the act incorporating that- county passed May 21, 1662; Lancaster, whose Indian name was Nashwash, was incorporated May 18, 1653; Leicester, called Towtaid, granted February 10, 1713, to Colonel Joshua Lamb and others and incorporated in 1721 ; Lunenburg, the south part of Turkey Hills, August 1, 1728; Mendon, called Qunshapauge, May 15, 1607; Oxford, granted to Gov. Joseph Dudley and others in 1682, May 16, 1683; Rutland, called Nagueag, bought December 22, 1686, of Joseph Trask, alias Puagostiou, by Henry Willard and others of Lancaster, and incorporated February 23, 1713; Shrewsbury, December 19 1 727 ; Soutliboro', set ofl' I'rom Marlboro', in Middlesex County, July 6, 1727; Sutton, purcha.sed of Sachem John Wampus and incorporated June 21, 1715; Uxbridge, called Waeuntug, June 27, 1727; Wfstboro', called Chauncey, November ]8, 1717; Worcester, called Quinsigamond, granted to Daniel Gookin and others October 24, 1668, October 15, 1684 ; and Woodstock. The last-mentioned town was granted by the Colony Court in 1686 to certain inhabitants of Roxbury, in the State of Massachu-etts, and called New Roxbury. Judge Samuel Sewall says in his diary, under the date of 1690, that on the 18th of March he gave "New Roxbury the name of Woodstock because of its nearness to Oxford for the sake of Queen Elizabeth and the notable meetings that have been held at the place bearing that name in England."

The transfer of Woodstock from Massachusetts to Connecticut was owing to a change in the boundary line between those colonies. The first boundary line, known as the " Woodward and Safery line," was run in 1642. Previous to 1642 Connecticut had claimed Woodstock under the so-called charter by Robert, Earl of Warwick, dated March 19, 1631. On the 13th of July, 1713, an adjustment of the old line was reached, which declared the Woodward and Safery line erroneous, being six or seven miles too far south, and nearly all of Woodstock was found to be within the territory covered by the charter of Connecticut, issued by Charles the Second, April 20, 1652. Under the adjustment of 1713 it was agreed that Woodstock should remain under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts on the condition that Connecticut should receive such a number of acres from the unappropriated lands of Massachusetts as should be equivalent to thut part of the territory which had been found south of the true line. Enfield and Suftield were also found to be south of the line, and as a consideration for these three towns and for some other grants, south of the line, made by Massachusetts to individuals, Connecticut received one hundred and seven thousand seven hundred and ninety-three acres of land. But a feeling of dissatisfaction grew up before many years among the inhabitants of Woodstock, chiefly because the taxes in Massachusetts were higher than in Connecticut. They claimed that they had been annexed without their consent, and insisted on being restored to the jurisdiction of Connecticut. In 1748 a memorial, in which Enfield and Suffield joined, was presented to the General Assembly of Connecticut, of which the following is the text. They represented -

Ttiaf they had, without their consent or even havingbeen consulted iu the mutter, been put under the jurisdiction of Massacluisetts ; that a-s tliey were within the limits of tho royal charter of Connecticut, they liadajustaud legal right to the government and privileges which it conferred, and that they were deprived of their rights by that charter ; that the Legislature had no right to put them under another government, but tiiat the cliarter required that the same protection, government and privileges sliould be extended to them which were enjoyed by the other inhabitants of the colony. For these reasons they prayed to be taken under tlie colony of Connecticut, and to be admitted to the liberty and privileges of its other inhabitants.

After several attempts on the part of Connecticut to negotiate with Massachusetts with a view to reconsidering theadjustment of 1713, its General Assembly, in October, 1752, accepted Woodstock, Enfield, Suftield, including the town of Somers, which had been taken from Enfield in 1726, and has since held jurisdiction over them. Massacliusetts continued to tax the inhabitants on the disputed territory, but at the close of the Revolution the whole matter was dropped, and she not only lost her towns but one hundred and seven thousand seven hundred and ninety-three acres of land which had been given as the consideration for (heir possession. A more detailed account of the transaction may be found in " Historical Collections," by Holmes Ammiilown, to which the writer is indebted for the few incidents concerning it here related.

Since the incorporation of the county, in 1731, the following towns have been incorporated within its limits: Ashburnham, granted to Dorchester men who joined the Canada expedition and called Dor-

Chester Canada, was incorporated February 22, 1705; Athol, called Payguage, or Poqtiaig, March 6, 1702 ; Auburn, incorporated as Ward April 10, 1778, and receiving its present name February 7, 1837 ; Barre,

«i' der its present name; Blackstone, March 25,1845; Bolton, -June 24, 1738; Boylston, March 1, 1788; Charlton, November 2, 1754; Clinton, March 14, 1850; Dana, February IS, 1801; Douglas in 174(5; Dudley, called Chabamikongmum, originally granted to Paul and William Dudley, February 2, 1731, old style ; Fitchbnrg, February 3, 1764, as a town, and as a oily March 8, 1872; Gardner, June 27, 1785; Grafton, called Hassanamisco, April 18, 1735; Hardwick, bought of the [ndiaus in 1686, by Joshua Lamb and others, of Roxbury, and called Lambstown, January 10, 1738, old style; Harvard, June 29, 1732; Holden, January 9, 1740; Hopedale, April 7, 1886; Hubbardston, June 13, 1767; Leominster,June 23, 1740; Milford, called Wopowage, and afterwards Mill River, April 11,1780; Jlillbury, June 11, 1813; New Braintree, called Wenimesset, granted to certain inhabitants of Braintree, and called Braintree Farms, January 31, 1751 ; Northborough, January 24, 1760 ; Northbridge, July 14, 1772; North Brookfield, February 28, 1812; Oakham, called Rutlands West Wing, incorporated as District of Oakham June 11, 1762; Paxton, February 12, 1765; Petersham, granted to John Bennett, Jeremiah Perley and others, called Nitchawog, April 20, 1754; Phillipston, incorporated as Gerry October 20, 1786, and receiving its present name February 5, 1814; Princeton, called Wachusett, April 24, 1771; Royalston, called Royalshire, February 17, 1765; Southbridge, February 15, 1816; Spencer, April 3, 1753; Sterling, April 25,1781; Sturbridge. settled by Medfield people, and called New Medfield until its incorporation, June 24, 1738; Templeton, called Narragansett No. 6, March 6, 1762 ; Upton^ June 14, 1735; Warren, incorporated as Western January 16, 1741, and under its present name March 13, 1834; Webster, March G, 1832; West Boylston, January 30,1808; West Bro..kficld, March 3, 1848; Westminster, called South Town, and laid out to Narragansett soldiers, was incorporated April 26, 1770 ; and Winchendon, granted in 1735 to the heirs of Ipswich men who were in the Canada expedition in 1090, and called Ipswich Canada, June 14, 1764.

According to the essay of William B. Harding, before referred to, Ashburnham derived its name from John Ashburnham, the second Earl of Ashburnham, and Athol from James IMurray, the second Duke of Athol. Both of these towns were named by Goveruor Bernard. Auburn was first named Ward, after General Artemas Ward, and changed in 1837, in consequence of its similarity to Ware. Bnrre, first named after Governor Hutchinson, was changed to its present name in 1776, in honor of Colonel Isaac Barre, a friend of the Colonies in Parliament. Berlin was named after the German city, and Blackstone took its name from William Blackstone, the first white settler in Boston and an early sttt'er ia Rhode Island. Bolton was named by Governor Belcher, in honor of Charles Powlet, third Duke of Bolton, and Boylston was named after the Boylston family of Boston. The name of Brookfield was suggested by the natural features of its territory, and Chariton was named by Governor Bernard, probably in honor of Sir Francis Charltoi), Bart. Clinton took its name from De Witt Clinton, Dana from the Dana family and Douglas was named by Dr. William Douglas, of Boston, who gave the town the sum of five hundred dollars as a school fund and thirty acres of land, with a house and barn, as a consideration for the privilege. Dudley was named after Paul and William Dudley ; Fitchburg after John Fitch, one of its active citizens ; Gardner after Colonel Thomas Gardner, who was killed on Bunker Hill; and Grafton was named by Governor Belcher, in honor of Charles Fits Roy, Duke of Grafton, a grandson of Charles the Second. Hardwick was named by Governor Belcher, for Phillip York, Lord Hardwick, chief justice of the King's bench; Harvard was named for John Harvard, the founder of Harvard University ; Holden probaljly for Samuel Holden, a dir-ector in the Bank of England ; Hubbardston for Thomas Hubbard, a Boston merchant ; Lancaster for the old town in England, Leicester for old Leicester and Leominster for the English town of that name. Lunenburg took its name from George the Second, one of whose titles was Duke of Lunenburg ; Oakham from Oakham in England, Oxford from old Oxford, Paxton from Charles Paxton, one of the commissioners of customs in Boston ; Petersham from the English town of that name, Phillipston, lirst named after Governor Gerry, from Lieut. -Governor William Phillips; Princeton from Rev. Thomas Prince, the annalist, and Royalston from Colonel Isaac Royal, one of the grantees of the township, who gave the town twenty-five pounds towards building a meeting-house. Rutland was named after either the Duke of Rutland or Rutlandshire in England; Shi'ewsbury in honor of Charles, Duke of Shrewsbury, or perhaps after the English town of that name; Spencer after Lieut.-Govcrnor Spencer Phipps; Sterling in honor of Lord Sterling, Sturbridge after Stourbridge in Worcestershire, Templeton after the Temple family, Uxbridge after either the English town, or Henry Paget, Earl of Uxbridge ; Warren alter General Joseph Warren and Webster after the great statesman. Westminster took the name of the London borough of that name, and Winchendon received its name from Governor Bernard, who was the eventual heir of the Tyringhams of

Upper Winchendon, England. These derivations, as given by Mr. Harding, are interesting, and wortliy, with proper credit to tlieir aullior, to be inserted in this slcetcli.

Tiie following schedule shows the population of the various towns according to the census of 1885, and their valuations established by Chapter 73 of the Acts of 1880 as the basis of apportionment for State and county ta.\es until the year 1889:

The various courts referred to in the act of incorporation were established by the Court of the Province of Massachusetts Bay soon after the union of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Colonies. On the 28th of June, 1692, it was enacted as follows:

Fora.smucli .as the orderly regulation and well-establishment of Courts of Justice is of great concernment, and the public occjisious with refer* encc to the war and otherwise being so pressing at this season that this Court cannot now conveniently sit longer to advise upon and fully settle the 8;iuie, but to the iateut that justice be not obstructed or delayed, -

Be it ordained and enacted, by the Governor, Council and Representatives, convened in General AsscDibly, and it is ordained by the authority of tlie .'same.

Sf.ct. 1. That on or before the last Tuesday of July next there be a general sessions of the peace held and kept in each respective county within this province, by the Justices of the same county or throe of them at least (the first justice of the qnornm then present to preside) who are hereby empouered to hear and determine all matters relating to the conservation of the peace and whatsoever is by them cognizable according to law, and to grant licenses to such persons within the Bamo county, being firat approved of by the Selectmen of each town, where such persons dwell, whom they shall think fit to be enipluyed as innlloldei^ or retailers of w ines or strong liquors. And that a sessions of the peace be successively held and kept as aforesaid within the several cotintics at the same times and placets as the county courts or inferior courts of common pleas arc hereiuafler ap[K)inted to be kept.

Sc'.-r. 2. That the county courts, or inferior courts of common pleas, bo held and kept in each resppclive county by the justices of the same county, or three of them at the least (the first justice of the quorum then present to presitle), at the same times and places they have been formerly kept according to law for the hearing and determining of all civil actions arising or happening within the 8:ime, triable at the common law according to former usage ; the justices for holding and keeping of the said court within the county of Suffolk to be purticidarly appointed and commis-^ioned by the Governor with the advice and consent of the council. And that all writs or ntlachmcnts shall issue out of the clerk's office of the .*aid several courts, signed by tl'.o clerk of such court, directed unto the sheriff of the coimty, his under-sheriff or deputy. The Juroi-s to serve at said courts to be chosen according to fMrnier custom, by anti of the freeholders and other inhabitants, qualified ns is directed in their m:^csties' royal charter.

This law was disallowed by the Privy Council August 22, 169o. The letter from the Privy Council disallowing the act stated that " whereas Inferior Courts are appointed to be held by the Justices of Peace in each county and the Justices of Peace in the county of Suffolk are to be specially appointed by the Governor with the consent of the council, Whereby the powers of his M.ijesties Charter is enacted and csiablished into a law and distinction made by the said Act in the manner of appointing Justices for the county of Suffolk and other counties, it hath been thought tit to repeal the said Act."

Sf.ct. 1. That all manner of debts, trespasses and other matters not exceeding the value of forty shillings (wheivin the title of land is not concerned) shall and may be heard, tried, adjudged and determined by any of their majesties, justices of the peace of this province within tbo respective conutics where he resi<Ies. . . .

Si-CT. 4. That there shall be held and kept in each resjiective county within Ibis province, yearly at the times and places hereafter named and expressed, four courts or quarter sessions of the jwace by justices of the Jteace of the same county, who are hereby empowered to hear and determine all matters relating to the conservation 4>f the peace and punishment of offenders and w hatsoever is by them cognizable according to law. , . .

be held iiiiil kept iu each respective county iind ishiiids, befuro named, witliin this province an Infeiior Court of Common Pleas by four of tlie Justices of and rceidiu}; witliin tlie tame county and islands rcsjyect ively, to be appointed and coniinlssiuned tliereto, any tljree of whom to bo a quorum, for tlio hearing and determining of all civil actions arising or happening within the same, triable at the common law of what nature, kind or quality soever. , . .

Sect. G. That there shall be a Superior Court of Judicature over this wiiole province, to be held and kept annually at the respective times and places as hereafter mentioned, by one Chief Justice and four other justices, to be appointed and comnii.s8ioned for the same, three of whom to be a quorum ; who shall have cognizance of all pleas, real, personal or mixed, as well iu all pleas of the crown and in all matters relating to the conservation of the peace and punishment of offendersaa in civil causes or actions between party and paity, and between their nuijestiea and any of their gidgects, whether the same do concern the lealtyand relate to any right of freehold and inheritance, or whether the same do concern the personally alal relate to matter of debt, contract, damage or personal injury, and also in all mi.xed actions which may concern both realty and personalty. . . .

Sect. 14. . . . that either party not resting satisfied with the judgment or sentence of any of the said jvidieatories or courts iu personal actions wherein the matter in difference doth exceed the value of three hundred pounds sterling (and no other), may appeal unto their majesties in council, such appeal being made in time, and Eecurity given according to the directions in the charter in that behalf. . . .

Whereas by the Acti divers courts being established by the said Act, it is hereby further provided that if either party not being satisfied with the judgment of any of the said courts in personal actions not exceeding three hundred pounds (ami no other), they may appeal to His Majesty iu Council, whicli pioviso not being according to the words of the charter and appeals to the King in council in real actions seeming thereby to be excluded, it hath been thought fit to repeal the said Act.

On the 19th of June, 1697, another act was passed providing for a Court of General Sessions of the Peace, an Inferior Court of Common Pleas, and a Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize and General Gaol Delivery, the tenth section of which provided " that all matters and issues in fact arising or happening in any county or place within this province shall be tried by twelve good and lawful men of the neighborhood, to be chosen in manner following. . . ."

This act was disallowed by the Privy Council November 24, 1G9S, for the reason that it provided ior the trial of all matters and issues in fact by a jury of twelve men, while the act of Parliament entitled "An Act for Preventing Frauds and Regulating Abuses in the Plantation Trade," provided that all causes relating to the breach of the acts of trade may, at the pleasure of the officer or informer, be tried in the Court of Admiralty to be held in any of His Majesty's plantations respectively where such oifence shall be committed, in which court the nniethod of procedure uader the law is not by trial by

On the 16th of June, 1699, still another act was passed establishing a Court of General Sessions of the Peace in each county, " to be held by the Ju.stices of the peace of the same county or so many of them as are or suail be limited in the commission of the peace, who are hereby impowered to hear and determine all matters relating to the conservation of the peace and

On the 15th of the same mouth an act was passed establishing an Inferior Court of Common Pleas, which " shall be held and kept in each respective county within this province and at the Island of Nantucket within the same, yearly and every year at the times and places in this Act hereafter mentioned, and expressed," " by four substantial persons to be appointed and commissioned as justices of the same court in each county, any three of whom to be a quorum for the holding of said court, who shall have cognisance of all civil actions arising or happening within such county tryable at the common law, of what nature, kind or quality soever."

On the 26th of the same month an act was passed, establishing a Superior Court of Judicature, Court of Assize and General Gaol Delivery over the province, " to be held and kept annually at the respective times and places mentioned in the act by one Chief Justice and four other Justices to be app linted and commissioned for the same, any three of them to be a quorum, who shall have cognizance of all pleas, real, personal or mixed, as well all pleas of the crown and all matters relating to the conservation of the peace and punishment of offenders, as civil causes or actions between party and party, atid between his majesty and any of his subjects, whether the same do concern the realty and relate to any right of freehold and inheritance, or whether the same do concern the personalty and relate to matter of debt, contract, damage or personal injury, and also all mixed actions which concern both realty and personalty, brought before them by appeal, review, writ of error or otherwise, as the law directs; and generally all other matters as fully and amply to all intents and purposes whatsoever as the courts of king's bench, common pleas and exchequer within his majesty's kingdom of England have or ought to have."

These laws were substantially re-enactments of the laws pas.sed in 1692, and disallowed by the Privy Council, and with amendments remained in force during the existence of the province. Either by the act establishing the General Sessions of the Peace or by special acts afterwards passtd, the jurisdiction of this court took a wide range. Besides its criminal jurisdiction it granted licenses to innholders and retailers of liquor; it heard and determined complaints by the Indians; it provided at one time destitute towns with ministers; it determined the amount of county taxes and apportioned the same among the towns ; it had charge of county property and expended its money ; it laid out highways ; it counted the votes for county treasurer and audited his accounts ; it appointed masters of the House of Correction and made rules for the government of the same ; it ordered the erection and repair of prisons and other county buildings, and had the general care of county affairs.

Worcester Counts

These province laws concerning the judiciary were, by a gradual and natural process of evolution, the outgrowth of the early laws of the Massachusetts colony. At first the General Court, consisting, until 1634, of the Governor, the assistants and freemen and after that date of delegates instead of the whole body of freemen, was held monthly " for the handling, ordering and despatching of all such business and occurrences as should from time to time happen touching or concerning said company or plantation," "as well for settling the forms and ceremonies of government and magistracy and for naming and se:tling of all sorts of officers needful for the government and plantation," " aa also for imposition of lawful fines, mulcts, imprisonments or other lawful correction according to the course of other corporations in this our realm.'' Next to the General Court was the Court of Assistants, which, by a law passed in 1639, was to hold two terms in Boston, and composed of the Governor and Deputy-Governor and assistants, to hear and determine all and only actions of appeal from the inferior courls, all causes of divorce, all capital and criminal causes extending to life, member or banishment. There were also established in 1639 County Courts, which had the same jurisdiction as that covered by the Courts of Common Pleas and Courts of Sessions at a later day. There were also Strangers' Courts established in 1639, or, as they were sometimes called, Merchants' Courts, designed to meet the wants of strangers who were unable to await the ordinary course of justice. In addition to these there were the Military Court, established in 1634; the Court of Chancery, established in 1685; and some lesser courts, such as those of the Magistrates', the Commissioners' of snail causes, and the Selectmen's Court, from which appeals could be taken to the County Courts.

After the surrender of the charter and the appointment of Joseph Dudley as President, the Governor and Council were made a Court of Record to try civil and criminal matters and authorized to appoint judges of such inferior courts as they might create. The judicial system under President Dudley consisted of a Superior Court and Courts of Pleas and Sessions of the Peace. Under his administration Judges of Probate were first appointed.

After the arrival of Andros as Governor of New England in 1686 the Governor and Council had full powers of making, interpreting and executing the laws subject to revision by the crown. He issued an order on the day after his arrival, December 20, 1680, continuing all officers then in power in their several places until further orders and directed the judges to administer justice according to the customs of the places in which their courts were held. On the 3d of March, 1687, an "Act for the establishing Couris of Judicature and Public Justice" was passed, under which a system was organized, which led to the judicial system adopted under the charter of the United Colonies in 1692. Under this act the jurisdiction of justices of the peace was fixed, quarterly sessions were established, the Inferior Court of Common Pleas and the Superior Court of Judicature were created. A Court of Chancery was provided for and a system perfected which was not overthrown on the accession of William and Mary in 1688 and on the deposition of Andro.s, and which was practically continued under the charter of the Province of Massachusetts Bay.

Of the judges of the Superior Court of Judicature, neither was a native of that part of the Province which was included within the limits of Worcester County. The first session of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas held in Worcester County was held at Worcester August 10, 1731, when Rev. John Prentice, of Lancaster, preached a sermon from 2 Chron. 19: 6-7 : "And said to the judges. Take heed what ye do: for ye judge not for man, but for the Lord, who is with you in the judgment. Wherefore now let the fear of the Lord be upou you ; take heed and do it: For there is no iniquity with the Lord our God, nor respect of persons, nor taking of gifts."

The court was composed of John Chandler, of Woodstock, chief justice, who remained in office until his death in 1743; Joseph Wilder, of Lancaster, who continued to serve until 1757; William Ward, of Southboro', who remained on the bench uutil 1745, and Wm. Jennison, of Worcester, who died in 1743. Joseph Dwight served as the successor of John Chandler from 1743 to 1753, and Samuel Willard, of Lancaster, as the successor of Wm. Jennison from 1743 to 1753. Nahum Ward, of Shrewsburj', served as the successor of Wm. Ward from 1745 to 1762, and Edward Hartwell, of Lunenburg, as the successor of Joseph Dwight from 1752 to 1762. Jonas Rice, of Worcester, served as the successor of Samuel Willard from 1753 to 1756, and John Chandler, of Worcester, son of the first Judge Chandler, and who had been from the beginning clerk of the court, from 1754 to 1762. Thomas Steele, of Leicester, served as the successor oXJjJnas. Rice from 1756 to the Revolution, and Timothy Ruggles, of Hardwick, as the successor of Joseph Wilder from 1757 to the Revolution. Joseph Wilder, son of the first Judge Wilder, served as the successor of Edward Hartwell from 1762 until the Revolution, and Artemas Ward, of Shrewsbury, as the successor of John Chandler, who resigned in February, 1762. The judges appointed for this court after the beginning of the Revolution were Artemas Ward, of Shrewsbury ; Jedediah Foster, of Brookfield ; Moses Gill, of Princeton, and Samuel Baker, of Berlin. They were commissioned October 17, 1775, and their first term was held December 5th of the same year. On the 19th of September, 1776, Joseph Dorr, of Ward (now Auburn), was appointed to succeed Jedediah Foster, who had been appointed to the bench of the Superior Court of Judicature, and as thus constituted the Inferior Court of Common Pleas continued until July 3, 1782, when the Court of Common Pleas was established, to be held in each county at apecilicd times and places, with lour judges to be appointed by the Governor from witliin the county. Tliis court waa substantially the same as the Inferior Court of Common Pleas. The judges of the old court were appointed to the new, and no changes occurred until 1795, when Michael Gill, of Princeton, and Elijah Brigbam, of Westboro', succeeded Moaes Gill, who was chosen Lieutenant-Governor, and Samuel Baker. In 1798 John Sprague, of Lancaster, succeeded Artemas Ward, who resigned, and in 1800 Dwight Foster, of Worcester, succeeded Michael Gill. In 1801 Jonathan Warner succeeded John Sprague, and at a later date Benjamin Hey- of Worcester, was appointed, completing the list of judges of this court up to its abolishment, June 21, 1811.

At the above date an act was p.issed providing that the Commonwealth, except Dukes Couniy and the county of Nantucket, should be divided into six circuits as ibilows : the Middle Circuit, consisting of the counties of Suffolk, Essex and Middlesex; the Western Circuit, consisting of the counties of Worcester, Hampshire and Berkshire; the Southern Circuit, consisting of the counties of Norfolk, Plymouth, Bristol and Barnstable ; the Eastern Circuit, consisting of the counties of York, Cumberland and Oxford ; the Second Eastern Circuit, consisting of the counties of Lincoln, Kennebec and Somerset; and the Third Eastern Circuit, consisting of the counties of Hancock and Washington ; and that there shall be held in the several counties, at the times and places now appointed for holding the Courts of Common Pleas, a Circuit Court of Common Pleas, consisting of one chief justice and two associate justices, to whom were to be added two sessions ju.stices from each county to sit with the court in their county.

This court was aboli?hed on the 14th of February, 1820, and the Court of Common Pleas established with four justices, one of whom, it was provided by law, should be commissioned chief justice. On the 1st of March, 1843, the number of judges was increased to five; March 18, 1845, to six ; and May 24, 1851, to seven. On the 5th of April, 1859, the court was abolished, and the present Superior Court established, with ten judges, which number was increased May 19, 1875, to eleven, and to thirteen February 27, 1888.

The judges of the Common Pleas Court, founded in 1820 and terminating in 1859, were Artemas Ward, chief justice, commissioned 1820; John Mason Williams, commissioned as judge in 1820, and chief justice in 1839; Solomon Strong, 1820; Samuel Howe, 1S20; David Cummins, 1828; Charles Henry Warren, 1839; Charles Allen, 1842; Pliny Merrick, 1843 ; Joshua Holyoke Ward, 1844; Emory Washburn, 1844; Luther Stearns Gushing, 1844; Daniel Wells, chief justice, 1845; Harrison Gray Otis Colby, 1845; Charles Edward Forbes, 1847; Edward Mellen, 1847, and chief justice, 1854; George Tyler Bigelow, 1848; Jonathan Coggsnell Perkins, 1848; Horatio Byington, 1848; Thomas Ilopkinson, 1848; Ebenczer Rockwood Hoar, 1849; Pliny Merrick, 1850; Henry Walker Bishop, 1851; George Nixon Briggs, 1853; George Partridge Sanger, 1854 ; Henry Morris, 1855 ; and David Aikin, 1856, - the laat five of whom, with Judges Mellen and Perkins, composed the bench at the time of the abolishment of the court.

The Circuit Court of Common Pleaa, founded June 21, 1811, had a jurisdiction which was at various times extended and diminished. Its history was closely connected with that of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace. The latter court remained substantially the same during the life of the Province and up to June 19, 1807, when it was enacted that it should consist of one chief justice, or first justice, and a certain number of associate justices for the several counties, to be appointed by the Governor with the consent of the Council. These justices were lo act as the General Court of Sessions in the place of the juaticea of the peace.

On the 19th of June, 1809, the powers and duties of the General Court of Sessions were transferred to the Court of Common Pleaa, and on the 25th of June, 1811, it was enacted " that from and after the first day of December next, an act made and passed the 19th day of June, 1809, entitled 'An Act to transfer the powers and duties of the Courts of Sessions to the Courts of Common Pleas,' be and the same is hereby repealed, and that all acta and parts of acts relative to the Courts of Sessions, which were in force at the time the act was in force, which is hereby repealed, be and the same are hereby revived from and after the said first day of September next."

On the 28th of February, 1814, it was enacted that the act of June 25, 1811, " be repealed, except so far as it relates to the Counties of Suffolk, Nantucket and Dukes County, and that all petitions, recogni- zances, warrants, orders, certificates, reports and prnces?e< made to, t:iken for, or continued, or returnable to the Court of Ses-ions in the several counties, except as aforesaid, shall be returnable to, and proceeded in, and determined by the respective Circuit Courts of Common Pleas, which was established June 21, 1811." It was further provided "that from and after the first day of June next, the Circuit Courts of Common Pleas shall have, exerci-'e and perform all powers, authorities and duties which the respective Courts of Se.-sions have, before the passage of this act, exercised and performed, except in the Counties of Suffolk, Nantucket and Dukes County." And it was further provided that the Governor, by and with tlie advice of the Council, be authorized to appoint two persons in each county who shall be session justices of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas, and sit with the justices of said Circuit Court in the administration of the affairs of their county and of all matters within said county of which the Courts of Sessions had cognizance. The affairs of the county were thus administered until February 20, 1819, when it was enacted "that from and after the first day of June next an act to transfer the powers and duties of the Courts of Sessions to the Circuit Courts of Common Pleas, passed February 28, 1814, be hereby repealed," and it was further provided "that from and after the first day of June next the Courts of Sessions in the several counties shall be held by one chief justice and two associate justices, to be appointed by the Governor, with the advice and consent of the Council, who shall have all the powers, rights and privileges, and be subject to all the duties which are now vested in the Circuit Courts of Common Pleas, relating to the erection and repair of jails and other county buildings, the allowance and settlement of county accounts, the estimate, apportionment and issuing warrants tor assessing county taxes, granting licenses, laying out, altering and discontinuing highways, and appointing committees and ordering juries for that jiurpose."

The management of county affairs remained in the hands of the Court of Sessions until March 4, 1820, when that part of its duties relating to highways was transferred to a new board of officers denominated " Commissioners of Highways." It was provided by law "that for each county in the Commonwealth, except the Counties of Suffolk and Nantucket, there shall be appointed and commissioned by His Excellency the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Council, to hold their offices for five years, unless removed by the Governor and Council, five commissioners of highways, except in the Counties of Dukes and Barnst.able, in which there shall be ajjpoiuted only three, who shall be inhabitants of such county, one of whom shall be designated as Chairman by his commission." It was further provided that the commissioners should report their doings to the Court of Sessions for record, and that said court should draw their warrants on the county treasurer for ihe expenses incurred by the crmmissioners in conslructiiig mads laid out by them.

On the 26th of February, 1828, the act establishing the Courts of Sessions, passed February 20, 1819, and the act in addition thereto, passed February 21, 1820, the act increasing the numbers and extending the powers of the justices of the Courts of Sessions, passed February 6, 1822, and the act in addition to an act directing the method of laying out highways pa>sed March 4, 1826, were repealed. The repealing act provided that " there shall be apijointed and commissioned by His Excellency, the Governor, by and with the advice and consent of the Council, four persons to be county commissioners for each of the counties of Essex, Middlesex, Norfolk and Worcester, and three persons to be county commissioners for each of the other counties of the Commonwealth, except the county of Suffolk," " th.at the clerks of the Courts of Common Pleas within the several counties shall be clerks of said county commissioners," and "that for each of the counties in the Commonwealth except the counties of Suffolk, Middlesex, Essex, Worceter, Norfolk and Nantucket, there shall be appointed and commi^sioned two persons to act as special county commissioners." Under this law Jared Weed, Aaron Tuft-^, William Eaton and Edmund Gushing were appointed in 1828, and served until 1832, when James Draper succeeded Aaron Tufts. No further changes occurred in the board until 1835, when, on the 8th of April in that year, a law was passed providing that in every county, exc<-pt Suffolk and Nantucket, the judge of Probate, the register of probate and clerk of the Court of Common Pleas, should be a board of examiners, and that on the first Monday in May, in the year 1835, and on the firot .Alonday in April in every third year thcrealter, the people should cast their votes for three county commissioners and two special commissioners. Under this law John W. Lincoln, William Crawford and Ebenezer D. Ammidown were chosen in 1835 ; William Crawford, Samuel Taylor and Ebenezer D. Ammidown, in 1838; AV'illiam Crawford, David Davenport and Charles Thurbcr, in 1841; William Crawford, Jerome Gardner and Joseph Bruce, in 1844; the same in 1847 ; Otis Adams, Bonura Nye and Asaph Wooi), in 1850, and the same in 1853. On the llih of March, 1854, it was provided by law that the county commissioners then in oHice in the several counties, except in Suffolk and Nantucket, shall be divided into three classes, those of the first clat-s holding their offices until the day of the next annual election of Governor, those of the second class until 1855, and those of the third class until the election in 1856, the commissioners then in office determining by lot to which class each should belong, and that at each annual election thereafter one commissioner should be chosen for three years. Under the new law the office of commissioner has been filled by Otis Adams, Bonum

Nye, Asaph Wood, Zaclock A. Taft, James Allen, Velorus A. Taft, Araory Holman, J. W. Bigelow, William 0. Browu, Henry G. Taft, H. E. Eice, George S. Duell and James H. Barker.

The Superior Court of Judicature which was finally established June 26, 1699, but which had been in operation since the act of November 25, 1692, which was disallowed by the Privy Council, formed a part of the judicial system of the province until February 12, 1781. It has been found difficult by some to draw the line between the death of the Superior Court of Judicature and the birth of the Supreme Judicial Court. An act was passed February 12, 1781, fixing the salaries of the justices of the Supreme Judicial Court, and yet the law establishing that court was not passed until July 3, 1782. Sufficient light is thrown on this discrepancy to explain it by an act passed February 20, 1781, which in its preamble uses the language, " Whereas by the Constitution and Frame of Government of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts the style and title of the Superior Court of Judicature is now the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts," and which in the body of the act uses the further language, " That the Court which hath been or shall be hereafter appointed and commissioned according to the Constitution as the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth, etc." During its existence the judges on its bench were :

The chief justices of the court were, William Stougliton, 1692; Isaac Addington, 1702 ; Wait Winthrop, 1708; Samuel Sewall, 1718; Benjamin Lynde, 1718; Paul Dudley, 1745; Siephen Sewall, 1752; Thomas Hutchinson, 1761 ; Benjamin Lynde, 1769 ; Peter Oliver, 1772; William Cushing, 1775.

The Supreme Judicial Court, which superseded the Superior Court of Judicature, was established by law February 20, 1781. It was established with one chief justice and four associate justices, which number was increased to six in 1800, and the State divided into two circuits - the East, including Essex County and Maine, and the West, including the remainder of the

State except Suffolk County. In 1805 the number of associates was reduced to four, and in 1852 increased tofive. In 1873 the number of associates was increased to six, making the court as since constituted to consist of seven judges, including the chief justice. The judges of the court have been

The chief justices of the court have been William Cushing, 1781; Nathaniel Pcaslee Sargent, 1790; Francis Dana, 1791 ; Theophilus Parsons, 1800 ; Samuel Sewall, 1814; Isaac Parker, 1814; Lemuel Shaw, 1830 ; George Tyler Bigelow, 1860 ; Reuben Atwater Chapman, 1868 ; Horace Gray, 1873 ; Marcus Morton, 1882.

The administration of probate affairs up to the accession of President Dudley, in 1685, was in the hands of the County Court ; Dudley assumed probate jurisdiction, but delegated his powers in some of the counties to a judge, appointed by himself. Under the administration of Andros he assumed jurisdiction in the settlement of estates exceeding fifty pounds, while judges of probate had jurisdiction in estates of a lesser amount. The provincial charter gave jurisdiction to the Governor and Council in all probate matters, who claimed and exercised the right of delegating it to judges and registers of probate in the several counties. On the 12th of March, 1784, a Probate Court was established by law, of which the judge and register were to be appointed by the Governor, until, under an amendment of the Constitution, ratified by the people May 23, 1855, it was provided by law that in 1856, and every fiftii year thereafter, the register should be chosen by the people for a term of five years. In 1856 a Court of Insolvency was also established for each ccmnty, with a judge and register, and in 1858 the offices of judge and register of both the Probate and Insolvency Courts were abolished, and the offices of judge and register of probate and insolvency were establi-hed. It was also provided that the registers of probate and insolvency should be chosen by the people for a term of five years, in that year and every fifth year thereafter. In 1862 the Probate Court was made a Court of Kecord.

During the short life of the Court of Insolvency the judges were Alexander H. Bullock and W. W. Eice, and the register was John J. Piper. The registers of Probate have been John Chandler, Jr., of Worcester; Timothy Paine, of Worcester; Clarke Chandler, of Worcester; Joseph Wheeler, of Worcester; Theiiphilus Wheeler, Charles G. Prentice, .lohn J. Piper (P. e<c In), Charles E. Stevens (P. & In.) and Frederick W. Southwick (P. & In.).