Worcester City (part 35 of 58)

As deputy-sheriff Deacon Willard was once found unwilling to perform a task to which he was invited, « that of assisting in the execution of the death penalty by sentence of a court. He offered to resign his office if the duty were required of him,'but that sacrifice of position he was not allowed to make. He was more successful in executing the law relative to imprisonment for debt. In such a case he set a man at work on his farm until his wages were sufficient to discharge at once the debt and the prisoner. M^hen ninety years of age Deacon Willard attended the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia alone, and, the same year, presided over the Centennial Celebration in his native town, his lifetime having covered nine-tenths of the life of the nation. A memorial discourse by Lyman Clark, delivered at the occasion of his funeral services, was published. It will be noticed that the family from which these three brothers were descended had given two presidents to Harvard College.

Austin Flint, M.D., LL.D., born in Petersham, 1812, graduated as M.D. at Harvard, 1833, was one of the founders of the Buffalo Medical College, 1847. He was, in 1861, appointed professor of the principles and practice of medicine in Bellevue College Hospital, New York, and of pathology and practical medicine in Long Island College Hospital. AVith other medical works he has published a " Practical Treatise on the Pathology, Diagnosis and Treatment of Diseases of the Heart " and a standard work on the " Practice of Medicine." A pamphlet memoir, by A. Jacobi, M.D., president of the New York Academy of Medicine, has been reprinted from the Medical Record of April 24, 1886. From it we learn that Dr. Austin Flint was descended from Thomas Flint, who emigrated from Derbyshire, England, and came to Concord, Mass., in the year 1638.

He was of Puritan stock, and his father, grandfather and great-grandfather were physicians. His was apparently a case of inherited fitness for his work. Having received a liberal education at Amherst and Harvard, he practiced three years at Northampton and Boston, after which he moved to Buffalo, N. Y., in 1836. There he resided sixteen years, with a brief absence, during which he taught clinical medicine in Rush Medical College, Chicago, in 1847.

He left Buffalo in 1852 to take charge of the chair of clinical medicine in the University of Louisville. Thence he returned to Buffalo in 1856. The winters from 1858 to '61 were spent in New Orleans, teaching medicine and attending Charity Hospital. In the year 1859 he settled in New York. He resigned his position as teacher of the Long Island Medical Hospital in 1868, but retained his chair in the Bellevue Hospital Medical College to his death.

AugtiD Flint liad great advantages, and developed and utilized them for the beuetit of the many. Born with an enviable inheritance, he enjoyed a thorough general and special education. He had great physical endurance and uniform health, an iniposingpreseuce, pleasant manners, and an equable temperament. With physical and intellectual powers he combined indefatigable love of work, which he performed systematically ancf energetically. He was a thoroughly modest man, who knew how difficult it is to nuister the depths of knowledge ; thus he had an unusual degree of common Bonse, which limits aspirations and aims. Thus ho became thorough in what he undertook to practice and teach. He was successful in practice, and enjoyed the confidence of both the profession and the public. As a teacher he is remembered by thousands ; hia pupils loved him and his colleagues honored him. His writings obtained for him a national and international reputation. Thoiewas no place of honor in possession of the profession of the city, State or country, which he has not tilled. The profession of Europe was anxious to show its respect for him. Thus he lived and worked to an advanced age, disturbed by but few symptoms of evanescing powers, and when the time came he ceased to labor and live on the very same day.

A letter from a relative tells us that " his manner to all was unusually courteous and kindly, and his disposition one of rare sweetness. His sympathies were far-reaching, and he was so tender-hearted that he was unable to take up surgery as a specialty, although his father, who was a physician, thought he showed great skill in that direction."

William Beown Spooner will be long remembered as an upright merchant, business man, banker and philanthropist. He was born in Petersham, April 20, 1806. At an early age he went to Vermont to live with an uncle. There he acquired a knowledge of the tannery, but aspired to an education and the legal profession. He became a merchant's clerk and taught school. At twenty years of age he went to Boston, and there finally decided in favor of mercantile life, entering the firm of Simpkins & Spooner, afterward forming that of William B. Spooner k Co. He was the first president of the New England Shoe and Leather Association, and for thirty-eight years a director of the Shoe and Leather National Bank. An ardent advocate of the anti-slavery cause and the cause of temperance, he was elected to the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 1857-58. He led in the organization of the Massachusetts Total Abstinence Society, was its first president, which position he held until his death. The executive ability of Mr. Spooner led to his being appointed in behalf of the State of Masschusetts as one of the Board of Management of the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia, 1876, to which duty he gave much time and attention. William B. Spooner died at Boston, October 28, 1880. His will contained various public bequests. A memorial has been published by the Massachusetts Total Abstinence Society.

Timothy Whitney Hammond, of Worcester, son of Enoch and Lucy (Bowker) Hammond, was born at Petersham, January 26, 1814, He received such advantages from the local schools as might be gained before thirteen years of age, after which he engaged in other employments. In 1835 he was united in marriage with Mary A. Houghton, daughter of Captain Levi and Hannah Houghton. They removed to Worcester, 1844, where Mr. Hammond served two years as a clerk in the office of the Worcester and Nashua Railway. In 1849 he was made treasurer, which position he has held to the present time, or nearly forty years. He has been a member of the Worcester Mechanics' Savings Bank since 1851, of which he was president, 1877 ; has served as director of the State Mutual Life Assurance Company; performed five years of duty as a member of the City Council, and held the position of treasurer of the Proprietors of the Bay State-House. Mrs. Hammond died October 13, 1887.

and Sally (Bigelow) Willson, was born at Petersham, August 15, 1820. He studied at different preparatory schools, and entered Yale College, 183-1, leaving, 1835, on account of ill health ; completed a course at the Cambridge Divinity School, and was graduated 1843. The settlements of Mr. Willson have been at Grafton, Mass., from 1844 to 1852 ; Roxbury, Ma's., First Congregational Society, 1852 to 1859, when he was called to the pastorate of the North Society in Salem, of which he is still in charge. Mr. Willson, as previously stated, delivered the address at the centennial of the incorporation of the town. He served in the House of Representatives for the years 1883 and 1884. While there he introduced a measure which became a law, authorizing instruction in the use of hand-tools in the public schools.

Several mechanical inventions have originated with residents of the town. Solomon Willard invented the hot-air furnace, taking out no patent for his invention.

Asa Hapgood, who was a native of Barre, lived for a time in Petersham, where he worked as a wheelwright with his brother, Chauncy Hapgood ; afterward being employed as a railway conductor between Boston and New York, he gave his attention to providing for the comfort of his passengers at night, and invented the sleeping-car, by which he acquired a large fortune.

Charles Frederick Bosworth invented a machine for sewing hat-braid, the patent-right of which was sold for a large sum, also a machine for lining hats and one for sewing heavy leather.

Women. - The public records give us much less information concerning the women who have lived in Petersham than they do of the lives of those who have been charged with responsibility for political affairs. Yet the town records occasionally present a glimpse of the life in the home and those who there presided. An entry in the records of May 19, 1762, is as follows :

" Voted the number of young women the hindseat on the women's side gallery in order to build a pew on their own cost, viz.: Sarah Rice, Eunice Wilder, Parsis Bowker, Esther Holland, Mehitabell Page, Hannah Walker, Ruth Page, Sarah Curtis, Molly Curtis, Susanna Miles, Jerusha Hudson, Sarah Sanderson, Martha Negus, Hadassa Houghton, Ann Wheeler." Of these, Susanna Miles was a member of the family of Daniel Miles, who came from Pomfret, Conn., and from whom Major-General Nelson A. Miles is descended. Esther Holland was presumably a sister of Captains Ira and Park Holland, of the Revolutionary army.

handsomest woman in the town, her claim being based on the fact that she, being without classical features, was the first white woman, and, for a time, the only woman who lived in Petersham.

Mrs. Mary Greene (Chandler) Ware was the author of three books entitled : " Elements of Character," "Thoughts in my Garden," and "Death and Life." She was born in Petersham May 22, 1818, being the daughter of Nathaniel Chandler and Dolly (Greene) Chandler. The father, born 1773, was the son of John Chandler, who built what is known as the Chandler house about 1766. Dolly Greene was born in Stafford, Conn, 1783. Mary Greene Chandler and Dr. John Ware, of Boston, were married February 25, 1862. She having survived her husband, now resides in Lancaster, to which her father's family moved, 1828.

Mrs. Caroline Hildreth, wife of Richard Hildreth, the historian, excelled as an artist, her first successes being in crayon portraits. After she had studied in Europe she manifested talent in oil-painting.

Mrs. Elizabeth Barry, daughter of Dea. Cephas Willard, wife of Rev. William Barry, of Chicago, was vice-president, for Illinois, of the Mount Vernon Association.

Miss Lucretia Pond left public bequests in behalf of the Unitarian Church, and for the care of the cemetery in which she was buried. Mrs. Ann Ingersoll bequeathed her homestead to the Unitarian Church for a parsonage, and made a small bequest for the support of the public library.

Longevity. - A considerable number of instauces of remarkable longevity are found in the history of the town. Three instances of an age of one hundred years or more are presented. In the year 1796, Dea. Daniel Spooner died, aged one hundred and three; Mary Farrar, died 1855, aged one hundred years; Lucy Robinson, who died in 18(53, was also a century old. The names, years of death and ages of twentyfour persons who have lived from ninety to one hundred years are as follows : Mrs. Sarah Stowell, 1830, ninetynine ; Jonathan Sanderson, 1832, ninety-two ; Eunice Spooner, 1836, ninety-two ; Esther Gale, 1849, ninetytwo ; Mary Curtis, 1853, ninety ; Joel Brooks, 1856, ninety-six ; David Wheeler, 1857, ninety ; Mary Dunn, 1857, ninety-four ; Bertha Covill, 1857, ninetytwo; Josiah Newton, 1858, ninety; Caleb Chamberlain, 1862, ninety-one ; Lydia Holman, 1862, ninety ; Elijah Pike, 1864, ninety-one ; Robert Goddard, 1868, ninety ; Betsey Upton, 1869, ninety-one ; Jonathan Simmons, 1869, ninety-nine ; Lucinda Chamberlain, 1869, ninety; Joseph Farrar, 1870, ninety; Artemas Wilder, 1871, ninety-one; Hannah Loring, 1871, ninety-two; Caleb Bancroft, 1871, ninety-two; Elizabeth Tolman, 1875, ninety-two; Cephas Willard, 1879, ninety-two; Celia Morse Whipple, 1880, ninety-two.

Chapter Lxxvi

Action, Miry, liCA - Tha Financial Btirdea - The Mitsler Roll, 53d Bcgiment, 2Ut Hegimeiit, ZUl Regiment - In Other Commands - The Navf/ - Tito Rebellion Record - Local Improvement - The Library Estahlielted - 3Lemori(d and Library Building Proposed - The Future Outlook.

The Rebellion. - At the annual meeting of the town, held May 1, 1861, action was taken in view of the state of the country, it being " Resolved, That the Town Treasurer be authorized to borrow a sum of money not exceeding (ii!3000) three thousand dollars, to be expended, in whole or in part, under the direction of the selectmen, for the purpose of providing uniforms for a military company, and supporting the families of those volunteers who may be called into the service of the State or the United States, and that the selectmen be authorized to pay one dollar per day to volunteers after they are enrolled, organized and accepted by the State, for their services drilling."

It will be noticed that this action comprehensively assumed the entire responsibility of providing uniforms, payment of the soldiers at a rate higher than that allowed in the United States army, and supporting the families of the soldiers. Tliis appropriation was the beginning of the financial responsibility of the town on account of the Civil War. Additional appropriations were made from time to time, until the town had paid $1.3,999.76. The sum of $3195.64 was voluntarily subscribed by individuals, and $1800 paid as commutation by drafted men, making a total amount paid from all sources of $18,995.40. Of this amount only $3663.56 were refunded, leaving the net cost of the war to the town as such at the sum of $15,631.84. This represents the excess paid by the town in addition to its equal share paid by State and national methods of taxation.

Remarkable as the exhibit is for a country town, the assessed wealth of which was less than a million of dollars, the exhibit in respect to enlistments is still more notable. It appears from the town records that there were in the town at the beginning of the war, 1861, one hundred and eighty-eight men liable to enrollment. As appears from the Rebellion record, published by the selectmen at the close of the war, there had been one hundred and seventy-seven enlistments in behalf of the town. Some of these were re-enlistments, some were secured by bounty offered by the town ; but the fact that the enlistments so nearly equaled the total number liable to enrollment is certainly very creditable to the patriotism of the town.

One hundred and forty-seven men appear to have honorably served in behalf of the town, a number of these having re-enlisted, the total number liable to enrollment in 1861 being, as before stated, one hundred and eighty-eight. Hon. John G. Mudge has furnished the names, given below, of those who served, with the remarks relative to death which follow in case of all, so far as known, who are not now living. This roll does not include several from out of the town who enlisted and subsequently deserted.

The town was also credited by the State, in addition to these names, with eight three years' men and four colored recrui s for three years' service.

In the month of April, 1866, the selectmen published the Rebellion record of the town, thus summing up the results : " Civil war in our land has ceased. The Rebellion, the greatest the world has ever witnessed, has been crushed, and our government, by the aid of loyal hands, stands stronger than ever in the hearts of the people. Our heroic army has fulfilled its mission ; the living have returned to their homes, its dead are the nation's richest legacy. Petersham has responded promptly to all calls upon her loyalty and patriotism. The close of the war finds a small surplus of men placed to her credit. . . . The services of her soldiers were a priceless heritage; their honor our honor; which we should ever cherish with reverence and gratitude."

These facts are suflicient to show that the early reputation of the place, which gave it for a time the name Volunteers' Town, was well-sustained during the most critical period of our country's history since the Revolution.

Local Improvement. - A stately row of elms near the place formerly occupied by Dea. Cephas Willard, a mile north of the village, bears witness to a spirit of improvement among the people more than a century ago. The orderly condition of the large majority of the farms, the erection of a commodious town hall and school-houses in different parts of the town, the building at large expense of a shed for the protection of horses, adjoining the Unitarian Church, are more recent marks of the favorable disposition of the people towards town improvement. In the year 1878 the " Petersham Village Improvement Society" was organized, as stated in the constitution, " for the purpose of improving the good order and social condition of the town, adorning and beautifying the place of our home, promoting the public convenience and health, and elevating the standard of taste" of the people. The method of securing these objects was designed to be " by the transplanting of trees and the promotion of the growth of grass on the public grounds of the town, the establishment of sidewalks and improvement of the highways, encouraging the establishment of a public library, attention to general cleanliness with especial reference to the public health and by occasional meetings for the discussion of these objects and methods."

With purposes so largely stated, the society began a short existence of four years, after which it became inactive. Yet those few years of work were sufficient to make a permanent impression upon the future of the town. Many trees were transplanted which still live, walks were graded, and the movement which finally resulted in the organization of the Petersham Free Library was initiated. Francis A. Brooks, Esq., of Boston, a native of the town, made the first contribution, $500, toward this object. Other sums having been secured from individuals, the town finally made an appropriation sufficient to increase the library fund to more than SIOOO, with which the library was begun in the year 1879. Since that time it has received the benefit of frequent donations, with appropriations made by the town from time to time. Mrs. Ann IngersoU left a small bequest in its favor. Some historical lectures were delivered by John Fiske, the proceeds to be applied to library purposes.

In the month of September, 1886, from fairs and other entertainments, several hundred dollars were raised in the hope that this would prove the nucleus of a library and memorial building. Various sums were afterwards added in the same manner, and the town, at the spring meeting, 1887, appropriated .$300 with a view to adding similar sums annually.

In the autumn of the same year, Mr. Francis H. Lee, of Salem, became actively interested in raising the sum necessary to complete the work, in which task he had co-operation of Hon. John G. Mudge, James W. Brooks, Misses Elizabeth H. and Charlotte L. Flint and others. By their efforts the sum previously assured was increased to about $5000. At the annual town-meeting, 1888, the sum of $2000 was appropriated and J. G. Mudge, J. W. Upton, George Ayers were appointed a building committee on the part of the town ; Misses E. H. and C. L. Flint, Francis H. Lee, James W. Brooks and William Sims acting in behalf of the contributors. Edmund Willson, of the firm of Stone, Carpenter & Willson, gave his ser vices as architect. The plan adopted was a building of field-stone, the rooms of the first floor to be a pub- lie hall, with stage, a memorial hall, a library and reading-room. The building fund has been increased to about ,1?11,000, and the erection of the library and memorial hall may be expected during the year 1889.

The work of local improvement has been privately prosecuted by James W. Brooks who made large improvements upon " The Nichewaug," formerly called " The Highland Institute," converting what was before a boarding and high school building into an admirably appointed summer boarding-house.

Many summer residents of the town have shared in the spirit of improvement and have built new or remodeled old houses. Several artesian wells have been bored for the purpose of supplying the dwellings with water. As a result, the future of the town is likely to combine, as its present condition now does, tlie attractions of a popular summer resort with those of a venerable farming community.

Francis Augustus Brooks

The Brooks family have long been prominently identified with the history of Petersham. Msjor Aaron, who was the first of the name to settle here, came from Grafton to Petersham at an early day, and was a leading spirit in the affairs of the town. Aaron, his son, and father of Francis A., was born in Petersham. He was graduated at Brown University iu 1817, and was subsequently a tutor in that institution. He studied law with Levi Lincoln and also with Hon. Lewis Bigelow. He settled in Petersham, and had an extensive practice in Warcester and Franklin Counties.

Francis Augustus Brooks was born in Petersham, May 23, 1824. He was prepared for college mostly at Leicester Academy, and was graduated at Harvard University in the class of 1842. He studied law and was admitted to the Worcester County bar in 1846. He removed to Boston early in 1848, and has there pursued the practice of his profession for a period of more than thirty years. In 1873 he became engaged in th3 prosecution of litigation for the enforcement of claims of creditors against railroads in Vermont, which occupied his attention largely for a period of ten years. Since 1883 his professional work has been devoted chiefly to the administration of business and corporate trusts.

September 14, 1847, he united in marriage with Frances, daughter of Hon. Caleb Butler, of Groton, Mass., who is still spared to bless his home and life.

Of their six children, three sons survive - Frederick, a civil engineer in Boston ; Charles B., a stock broker in that city; and Morgan, a mechanical engineer, residing in St. Paul, Minn., and treasurer of the gaslight company of that city.

By Samuel Osgood

The history of Sterling previous to the year 1781 is inwoven with the history of Lancaster, of which it formed a part known at first by its Indian name, Chnckseit, and secondly and until the above date, as the "West Precinct of Lancaster," and lastly by its incorporated name - Sterling.

The territory, it appears, was derived from three original grants. First, the mile, so called, being a strip of land about a mile in width, bordering on Lancaster and included in the first original grant of Nashua township made in 1643, and purchased of Sholan, the Sachem of the Nashuaggs, whose royal residence was between the Washacum Ponds, on the high ground overlooking both those beautiful sheets of water, probably not many rods distant from the ice-houses east of Mr. John Gates' residence.

The character of Sholan, the Sachem at Washacum, is ever spoken of with favor. He not only invited the English to this place and sold them an extensive tract of territory, but hi.s deportment towards the settlers was always peaceable, and he was held in high esteem by his white neighbors.

In view of the above facts in reference to the pacific character of this prince of the red men, would it not be a merited tribute to his memory to chanue the name of that beautilul and, indeed, only island in the West Washacum from " Wood Island " to Sholan ?

The deed of this grant, "for and in consideration of" certain sums of money, paid at different times and to divers persons, was made to " John Moore, John Houghton and Nathaniel Wilder, their heirs and a-ssigns, to have and to hold forever."

Signed and sealed in presence of John Wansquon his ( mark, John Aquitticus his 1 mark, Peter Puckataugh his p mark,) Jonathan Wilder and John Guild.

The third grant was the Shrewbury Lfg. This was another strip of land, of somewhat irregular shape, get off from Shrewsbury to Lancaster by an act of the

Sterling

Legislature in 1768. It was somethiug more than a mile wide, forming what is now the northern part of Boylston and West Boylston and extending along the north banlf of the Quinnepoxit River to Holden, its western boundary, thence northerly on Princeton line to the Stillwater River, its eastern boundary in the West Precinct.

It will readily be seen that the town is bounded on the north by Leominster, on the east by Lancaster, on the south by Boylston and West Boylston, and on the west by Holden and Princeton.

The surface of the town is agreeably diversified by hills, plains and valleys - woodland and nicely cultivated farms - ponds and water-courses, set off' witli the neatly-painted and comfortable farm buildings of its rural population.

The soil of the hill farms is slightly argillaceous, retentive of moisture and naturally fertile. Tlie water is pure, the air is bracing and healthful; and the scenery, especially in summer, is delightful.

There are five principal noted hills in the town. These are: Justice Hill, sometimes called Gerry's Hill, situated in the extreme northwest; Rowley Hill, about two miles west of the centre, and so-called because its first settlers came from Rowley, in Essex County ; Fitch's Hill, which needs not to be described to travelers passing from Lancaster to Princeton ; Redstone Hill, about a mile east of the centre, and so called from the color of its stones; and Kendall Hill to the southeast, about the same distance from the centre as the last named, and so called from the name of its first inhabitants, who came from Woburn.

There is also North Wiccapicca Hill, a remarkably well-rounded, steep, sharp-pointed eminence, on the north line of the town, owned principally by Mr. William C. Divol. It is cleared land, except a single clump of trees near the summit, which serves as a landmark for miles around. Rocky Hill, mostly in Leominster, projects into Sterling, on its northern border. South Wiccapicca is a precipitous ridge, running northerly from near the village to Pratt's Junction.

These hills, except the two last mentioned, are not craggy, unsightly protuberances, but grand swells of arable land, finely adapted to the production of grass and grain. The highest point of land in the town is believed to be on the farm of Michael Coyne, on Rowley Hill.

The territory is also embellished by four natural ponds, containing, respectively, two hundred, one hundred and seventy, thirteen and ten acres each. These, in summer, contrasting with the deep foliage around them, are of great beauty and loveliness, set like immense diamonds sparkling in the sun in a rich bordering of emerald green.

miles above, in a gore of land known formerly - very properly - by the name of Notown. It flows through quite an extensive tract of meadow, once rich in the production of Foul meadow-grass {Poa Serotina), and blue-joint ( Calamar/rostis Ginadensk), two varieties of forage plants, held in high estimation and much depended on for hay by the farmers of Sterling threequarters of a century ago.

These meadows now are of little value (except it may be for cranberries), having, long since, become "run out.'' This quiet little stream, after it enters West Boylston, and receives the Quinnepoxit from Holden, , assumes the more dignified name of the South Branch of the Nashua.

Various brooks wind among the hills, all finally emptying their tribute of waters into the Nashua. These now nearly useless small streams, two or three generations ago, when chair manufacturing was carried on quite extensively, were utilized in turning the wheels of many a "Turning Lathe" for the production of "Chair Stock."

A survey of the town was made in 1830 and a plan drawn by the late Capt. Moses Sawyer, a prominent leading citizen, and for many years the only practicing civil engineer of the town. Capt. Sawyer possessed in large measure the confidence of his fellow-citizens, and was noted for his probity, intelligence and practical good judgment.

The plan drawn by him was lithographed by Pendleton, of Boston, and contains much valuable information in regard to the topography of the town, from which the writer has obtained the following particulars:

The area of the town was found to be 19,265 acres, equal to nearly 32 square miles; 500 acres are covered with water. The population at that time was 1789. There wer« 256 dwelling-houses, 1 meeting-house, 1 town house, 3 grist-mills, 7 saw-mills, 2 shingle-mills, 1 bark-mill, 1 tannery, 10 chair maimfiictories, 3 taverns and 5 stores. Distance from Sterling to Boston, 89 miles and 23 rods; distance from Sterling to Worcester, 12 J miles. There were 71 miles of roads; and ten acres were used by the town. A few miles only of new road have been added since to shorten diotances and avoid steep hills. This survey is worthy to be preserved in the archives of the town.

Still another map of the town was made and published by Richard Clark, of Philadelphia, in 1855. This map, though more showy and pretentious in its style, is inferior to that of Capt. Sawyer's in point of valuable information. The noticeable features of Clark's map are that the eleven school districts are given in colors, and the three churches, town hall and several of the residences of the citizens are represented on the margin.

within the present limits of the town until 1720. In that year five families came up from Lancaster and set themselves down on the rising lauds west of the village, in the direction of Princeton.

Jonathan O.-'good located not far from the geographical centre of the town, on the place now owned and occupied by Mr. George F. Davidson. He was the first deacon in the town, and public worship was at first frequently held at his house. The writer recollects clearly the large, commodious old dwelling. It had an antiquated appearance, and was demolished near the close of the second decade of the present century, aud the plain beautiful residence of Mr. Davidson was erected upon its site by the then enterprising proprietor, the late Mr. Gilson Brown.

David Osgood went a little farther westward and pitched his tent on the farm of the late Edward Raymond Fitch, now owned and occupied by his youngest son, Charles B. Fitch. The old red house yet remains, presenting a very neat and attractive appearance, it having been, to some extent, remodeled and kept in excellent repair. It is one of the oldest houses in the town.

Gamalial Beaman went a half-mile still farther west and established his home on the farm now owned by Mr. Wm. S. Walker. The farm remained in the possession and occupancy of his lineal descendants until 1834.

Benjamin Houghton sat himself down about seventy rods due north of the last-mentioned place - on the I farm now owned by Mr. Asa Spencer. The old house remained until 1821, when it was destroyed by fire. It was occupied at that time by two families^Mr. William Reed and Simeon Toney. Traditional circumstances and anecdotes lead us to suppose that Benjamin Houghton was, in his day, a stirring business man. He kept a tavern, and hence was known everywhere as "Landlord Ben." He was also a very large landholder, as the Proprietor's Records and the Registry of Deeds will amply show. An anecdote in reference to this used frequently to be told of him. Two persons were discussing the physical characteristics of the moon. "They tell me," says one, "that there is land in the moon." "No," says the other, " I do not believe it, for if it were so Landlord Ben would have a farm there." But his large estate passed out of the possession of his descendants shortly after the death of his son Joel, who died in 1816.

Samuel Sawyer took up land and built a house a short distance north of Landlord Ben, on the farm now owned by Mr. Charles H. Newton. The old house remained until 1816 - standing exactly in what is now the roadway - when it was taken down, and the present more modern dwelling-house was erected some fifty feet in the rear of the old one, by his grandson by the same name.

The descendants of these several persons above named have been very numerous, and very many of them have been leading citizens, holding honorable positions not only in Sterling, but in other places wherever, in the course of more than a century and a half, some of them may have migrated.

The meagre records of these early times furnish but little clue to the rapidity of the settlements, or to the increase of the population that followed. It is evident, however, that large portions of the best land were soon taken up and brought under cultivation by others, also, from Lancaster, and from other towns as well. Tradition has it that many families came from Rowley, in Essex County, and settled in the more northwest part of the town, hence called Rowley Hill. And indeed, in confirmation of this, we find, in the Registry of Deeds at Worcester, conveyances of land from Benjamin Houghton to several parties from that town as early as 1733.

Another exotic implanted in the virgin soil of the town, from which sprang a numerous and influential portion of its population, was that of the Kendalls from Woburn. Josiah Kendall came to this town in 1736, and settled upon the farm now owned and occupied by Daniel and James F. Kendall, father and son, direct descendants of the said Josiah. For a further account of this family the reader is referred to the " Kendall Memorial," a family history of much merit, by Oliver Kendall, of Providence, R. I.

And so rapid indeed had been the progress in population and general advancement, that in thirteen years from the first settlement the inhabitants petitioned the Legislature to be set off as a separate township. This petition, having in view a large excision of territory from the old town, met with determined opposition and was rejected. A long and a rather unpleasant controversy followed. But whatever of acrimony may have been engendered by the contest, the asperity of feeling was softened and the inhabitants of the west part of the town were in a measure pacified by being made a corporation by the name of the Second or West Parish in Lancaster.

The Rev. Mr. Marvin, in his"Hi8toryof Lancaster," - page 198 - has given the names of those who signed this first petition " to be set up as a new township." They are quoted here to show who were the leading men of the town at that time. They are as follows : Gamalial Beaman (on another page called " the irrepressible"), Ebenezer Prescott, Benjamin Houghton, Samuel Sawyer, Jonathan Osgood, Fairbank More, Jonathan Bealey, Thomas Ross, Joseph More,Shubael Bealey and John Snow.

But this proposition for a new township was among the inevitable events of the future, and was a bone of contention between the old town and the West Parish for more than forty years, when, finally, on the 25th of April, 1781, the Legislature settled the matter by granting an act of incorporation of the new town by the name of Sterling.

In 1741 or 1742 the iirst meeting-house was built, principally by the voluntary labor of the inhabitants, the town granting them but a smallsum from its treasury for the purpose. The spot whereon it was set is the same that is now occupied by the Unitarian Church. The site is included in a lot of three acres, made over to the First Parish by deed of gilt from Elias Sawyer, for the purpose of setting a meeting-house and for conveniency of stables and other uses. This deed is recorded in the Registry of Deeds, book 18, page 129. To accommodate the increasing population, an addition was made to this old church in 1766. Mr. Goodwin says of it now, that " it must have presented a singular appearance with three gable ends.'' The pews were not sold, as in later days, but every year a committee was appointed to " seat the meetinghouse," by which process those paying the highest taxes were accorded the most desirable sittings, and so on in regular gradation.

It was not until after the adoption of the Constitution of the United States that regular enumerations of the inhabitants began to be made decennially by law. But somewhere in the old church records it is stated that in 1764 the town contained 156 dwellinghouses and 856 inhabitants. And at the time of the first national census in 1790, there were 209 dwellinghouses and 1,428 inhabitants. Thus it is seen that the town made commendable and steady progress in the first seventy years of its existence. To the traveler or the casual visitor the place must have presented an appearance of substantial prosperity and comfortable living. Large, commodious dwellinghouses had been built of similar style and construction throughout. They all fronted to the south ; were two-storied in front, with a long roof running down to one low story on the north side. Two large square rooms occupied the ground floor on either side of the front door, usually distinguished - as the house stood square to the four points of the compas-s - as the "east" and " west" room, with corresponding chambers above. Immediately back of these two front rooms was the long kitchen, with its wide-mouthed fire-place and capacious oven.

A score or more of these plain, ancient dwellings still remain, though all have undergone more or less alteration. The habits and mode of life of the people was as plain and substantial as their dwellings. They were industrious and frugal, and their way of subsistence, down even to the time within the memory of persons now living, was simple and inexpensive.

The walls of their houses were unadorned with fresco or elegant, costly paper-hangings, and the floors were innocent of carpets. Neatness of person, however, and in household arrangements was a characteristic of the time. In summer, in the absence of carpets, it was the custom to sprinkle clean white sand on the floors, and fill the wide chimney-mouth with evergreen bushes, relieved here and there by daisies and sprigs of golden-rod. This was the old English fashion, as we infer from some lines of Goldsmith, in his " Deserted Village," where he says :

Among the few that remain of these ancient dwellings, that now owned and occupied by Mr. Dugau, on the Amory Farm, best represents, in its external appearance, the houses referred to above.

This farm was owned many years ago by Rufus G. Amory, Esq., of Boston. Originally it was owned by Colonel Asa Whitcomb. Colonel Whitcomb possessed a large estate, and was a noted man in his day. He was chosen deacon of the church in 1760, Representative to the General Court in 1766, '68, '69, '70, '71, '72, '73 and '74. He was a delegate to the Provincial Congress at Cambridge February 1, 1775, and was appointed justice of the peace in 1780. Liberty is here taken to transcribe the account Mr. Goodwin has given of this eminent citizen in the Worcester Magazine in 1826 :

At the commencement of the war he was one of our wealthiest citizens. He was for many years entrusted with the most important and responsible offices, - was Deacon of the Churcii, Representative from Lancaster before the division, and Jiistice of the Peace, besides his various military stations. Such was his zeal iu the cause of liberty, and so great his confidence in the patriotism and integrity of hie country-men that he pledged his whole fortune upon the faith of the paper currency, and consequently became bankrupt He removed to Princeton, where he died at an advanced age iu a state of abject poverty ; sustained by a conscious integrily, that never departed from him, and an exalted piety that elevated him above tbo ills of life.

Another of these antiquated houses is that on the Kilburn Farm on Rowley Hill. This house was probably built by Deacon Joseph Kilburn. He was chosen deacon in 1767, and died in 1789. This farm has ever been held in the Kilburn name, and is now owned by Mr. Levi Kilburn, a grandson of Deacon Joseph. The present owner is now in the eightyfourth year of his age. It is not improbable that this farm may be retained in the Kilburn line for at least another generation.

The oldest house in the village is a part of what is now the Central Hotel, kept by our popular landlord, Mr. J. N. Brooks. This house is said to have been built in the year 1759, by Mr. Jabez Brooks, and, for much the largest part of the time since, has been occupied as a tavern. At the time it was built there were but two houses within the distance of half a mile, - Deacon Jonathan O^'good's at the west and that of Mr. Roger Robbins at the east, where Mrs. C. A. Riley now lives. Another ancient dwelling is that on the north end of the Common, owned by Mrs. C. A. Goodnow. It is claimed by some that a part of this house was the first house built in the villege. It was, in very early times, owned and occupied by a Mr. Harris, grandfather of the late Mr. Clarendon Harris, of Worcester.

The public records of the town were destroyed in September, 1794, by the burning of Mr. Moses Smith's store. Mr. Smith was town clerk at the time, and kept his public office in the store. The destruction was complete - leaving a blank in the town's history, from that date back to the time of its incorporation as a precinct - a period of more than fifty years. Subsequent records, however, show that the town did not suffer in comparison with other towns around in the public spirit of its citizens or in the liberality of its appropriations for roads and other improvements, and for the maintenance of church and schools. An inquiry has recently been raised, whether the town had ever adopted by-laws, regulating the transaction of public busiuess ; and in the belief that it never had done so, a committee was appointed at a late townmeeting to prepare suitable rules to be presented at a future meeting for the town's consideration and action. By a reference to the record of a town-meeting, held on the Sdday of November, 1794, it will be found that a code of by-laws for the regulation of townmeetings ,was adopted, which runneth as follows :

Art 8. That the above articles shall be copied in a large, legible hand and brought in by the Clerk at the opening of every town-meeting aud hung up in open view of tlie town.

In 1799 the second meeting-bouse was built, and located on the site of the old one at a cost of $8500. Mr. Timothy Hildreth was the builder. He was, at the time, tavern-keeper as well as carpenter.

In the following year the town-house and schoolhouse combined was erected on the spot occupied by the present one, which wtis formerly the site of Mr. Samuel Brown's blacksmith shop. (See deed of Samuel Brown to Ebenezer Pope, book 146, page 60; also deed of Ebenezer Pope to town of Sterling, book 168, page 66, Registry of Deeds.) It was a very plain building - thirty-eiglit by twenty-eight feet - innocent of paint, and cost about $700.

Previous to 1822 the method of supporting the poor was by boarding them out among such families as were disposed, for the sake of the income, to take them. The manner of disposing of them was sometimes by auction. But, in time, a more philanthropic sentiment began to prevail, and this mode of providing for the unfortunate poor was regarded as inhuman. In consequence, in the year above-named, a committee of intelligent citizens was appointed at the town-meeting, in March, to take into consideration the manner of supporting the poor, and report whether a change for the better might not be made. In due time the committee presented to the town an able report, setting forth the disadvantages and the inhumanity of the present system, and recommending the purchase of a farm as a better and more tconoinical way of discharging the town's obligation to this unfortunate class of her population. The report was accepted and the committee was instructed to purchase a farm at a cost not exceeding the sum of three thousand dollars. Thereupon the farm, now owned and occupied as the Pauper Establishment, was purchased. The former owner was William Morris, Esq. The farm contained sixty acres, and was purchased for the sum of $1900. Seventy-five acres have been added since the original purchase, making a total of one hundred and thirtyfive acres; valued in the overseer's estimate for 1888 at $3400. A large and commodious Almshouse was built in 1877, containing twenty-six rooms. Careful provision is made for the comfort of the inmates and the care of the insane. Eight rooms are suitably fitted up for the latter class and five rooms' are devoted to the common poor. The estimated value of the house is $3000. The other farm-buildings have been recently thoroughly repaired, and, to some extent, remodeled, and are valued at $1000.

In 1825 a fund of one thousand dollars was established, the income of which to be used in furnishing females of limited means with fuel during the winter months. The fund was derived from the sale of a farm given to the town for that purpose by Jacob Conant, Esq.

The fund is under the control of five trustees, who are to be cho.sen annually, and who are to render account to the town and submit their books and papers to its inspection, and also to that of the donor and his heirs, whenever requested so to do. By the report of the trustees, at the annual town-meeting in March, 1888, the principal of the fund invested was shown to be two thousand and twenty-four dollars, showing that the fund has been carefully and judiciously managed, while at the same time, from year to year it has fulfilled the purpose of the benevolent donor. The " Conant Fund " has relieved anxiety and carried cheerfulness to many a poor widow's heart as the cold winds of December have whistled dismally about her dwelling.

The late Mrs. Emily Wilder made a bequest in her will of. fifteen hundred dollars for a simil.ar purpose, which the selectmen, as trustees, received from the executor of her estate in 1887, and which they have duly invested.

The old town-house, built in 1800, having fallen int ) somewhat premature decay, partly in consequence of having been used as a .school-house as well as a town-house, was sold in 1835 to Mr. John B. Pratt, who removed it to a location a little south of the village on the Worcester road, kaown ever since by the euphonious name of " Tuggsville," and our present chaste and well-proportioned town-hall was erected in its place. It was built by Mr. John Springer, for many years a respected resident of the town. It was completed in November, 1835, and was immediately dedicated with appropriate ceremonies. Edwin Conant, Esq., delivered the dedicatory address, a large assemblage being present. In the evening following the services of dedication, a very pleasant musical entertainment was given, in which some noted singers, former residents of the town, took part, among wliom were Colonel Daniel Newhall, of Boston; Bartholomew Brown, Esq., of Bridgewater ; Mr. John Brown, of Boston ; Mr. Nathaniel Sawyer, of New York, and Mr. Cephas Newhall, of Sterling, all of whom were "singing masters," or, as in modern parlance, " professors of vocal music."

Cemeteries. - There are four public burial-grounds within the limits of the town. One is situated in the southwest part of the town in the Leg District (so called) ; one near Sterling Junction ; the old village churchyard, where repose the remains of the first settlers of the town and many of their descendants; and the new "Oak Hill Cemetery," half a mile distant from the village on the Lancaster road. The latter contains about eight acres and was purchased of Mr. Joel Houghton in 18.58. Much attention and labor of late years has been bestowed upon all these hallowed depositories of the dead, in repairing and new-setting the fences, furnishing suitable gates and entrances, and in removing weeds and bushes, and all unsightly objects which oti'end tbe moral sentiment, if they do not tend to nourish the " horrors of the tomb." And it is pleasant to observe that all these sacred enclosures are being cared for and ornamented, both by public and private munificence, by chaste monuments of marble or granite, by graded avenues or shaded paths, and by the planting of flowering shrubs and plants around and witliin the curbed family lots in a manner calculated to render them pleasant resorts, suited to calm contemplation, or to secret, holy communings of the soul with that of the loved but silent tenant of the grave.

The old burial-ground was enlarged in 1837 by the purchase of about two acres adjoining on the south side, including an avenue to the Kendall Hill road, where there is an entrance with stone posts and an iron gate. It was purchased of Mr. Augustine Holcombe. It was laid off into family lots, which have been mostly taken up, and now thickly abounds wiih becoming monuments, mostly of marble, of various styles.

The " Oak Hill Cemetery " was laid out into burial lots, avenues and paths under the direction of a committee, consisting of Daniel Hosmer, Eli Kilburn, Captain Moses Sawyer, Luther W. Rugg and Ezra Kendall, appointed at the annual meeting in March, 1859, with power to employ a civil engineer ; and at a subsequent meeting the same committee were authorized to enclose the land by a suitable picket-fence, and to grade the avenues and paths, and to prepare a code of by-laws for the regulation of the affairs of the cemetery.

The committee caused a plan of the whole ground to be made out, by which it was shown that it contained three hundred and fifteen lots, but only one hundred and fifty-one lots were staked out. An additional number has been staked out since, and there are still others to be prepared for use as necessity may require. A cemetery committee is chosen each year, who have entire control of all buryinggrounds, and all funds given or appropriated for the purpose of improving or beautifying them.

An exceptionally interesting event occurred in this town in September, 1824. It was a no les-s occasion than the " reception " given to the Marquis De Lafayette as he passed through the town on his return to New York by way of Worcester and Hartford.

From the moment Lafayette landed at New York on the 15th of August, after an absence of nearly fifty years, the whole country was aroused to the greatest enthusiasm to do all honor to the great and good man who had rendered such distinguished service in the hour of the country's greatest need. The circumstances attending his visit to Sterling were briefly these. Soon after his arrival at New York he set out on a journey north as far as Portsmouth. N. H. His route lay through New Haven, New London, Providence and Boston. Returning from Portsmouth, he left Boston, passing through Lexington, Concord, Bolton, Lancaster and Sterling on his way back to New York, by way of Worcester and Hartford. He spent the night at Bolton at the hospitable mansion of Hon. S. V. S. Wilder. At all places he received the most patriotic and flattering demonstrations of respect - the whole country ringing with salutes and applause. The citizens of Sterling were not behind in patriotic emotion or in enthusiasm to pay due homage to the distinguished guest of the nation. Suitable preparations were made. A triumphal arch was raised in front of Mr. Bartlett's store, bearing the words - " The Nation's Guest." " Welcome Lafayette." A broad platform, about four feet high, was erected nearly in front of the Congregational Church, neatly covered by a carpet and reached by a flight of stairs. There were then no trees or other obstructions u pon the Common to obstruct the view. There was a military display consisting of the " Sterling Light Infantry," a fine volunteer company, recently organized, with new and beautiful uniforms, under command of Captain Phineas B. Dana; the "Princeton Light Infantry," another equally splendid volunteer company, commanded by Captain Amos Merriam ; the old militia company, and the artillery company, belonging partly in Sterling and partly in Lancaster, and commanded by Captain Daniel F. Maynard, of Sterling. Promptly in the morning, men.

women and children came flocking to the village, eager to feast their eyes upon the venerable hero, who had early espoused the cause of American freedom, and had hazarded his life and shed his blood for its consummation. At about eleven o'clock A.M. the general and his suite arrived, preceded by a body of cavalry and followed by a long line of carriages from the towns below. Alighting from his carriage and ascending to the platform, he was received by the Board of Selectmen, who, through the chairman, Isaac Goodwin, Esq., made a felicitious address, to which Lafayette happily and appropriately responded. After a little time spent in hand-shaking wiih the ladies, the general again entered his carriage and proceeded on his journey amid the waving of handkerchiefs, the huzzas of the multitude and the salutes of the artillery.

Ecclesiastical. - The first church in Sterling was organized December 19, 1744, and on the same day the Rev. John Mellen was ordained pa-stor. The pastorate of Mr. Mellen extended over a period of thirty-four years. From all the accounts we can gather of him it would seem t bathe possessed in an eminent degree the essential qualities neces:-ary to a successful minister of the Gospel. In average ability he was at least the equal of his professional brethren in the towns around him. Mr. Goodwin says of him that he "probably stood at the head of the clergy in the county.'' *

Under his ministrations the affairs of the church and town appear to have advanced prosperously for many years. But those that are at all familiar with the history of these early times are not surprised that a day of fiery trial was near at hand for both minister and people alike. Questions of greater freedom in affairs of church and state were everywhere agitating the public mind. People had become extremely jealous of their rights and every attempt at encroachment upon them was met with bold and determined resistance. On the part of Mr. Mellen and his people it was a question of high church and prerogative on the one side and larger liberty on the other.

We of the present generation can have but a fivint idea of the bitterness of the controversy that prevailed in New England for a score of years following 1760. Mr. Mellen was formally dismissed November 14i 1774, but continued to hold meetings and administer the ordinances with his faithful adherents at his own house and at the school-house for a number of years afterwards. But through all the unfortunate disagreement the moral and Christian character of the minister was but slightly assailed. And it is pleasant to remember that after his removal from town and resettlement over another society, he occasionally returned and occupied the old pulpit from which he had been, some years before, forcibly excluded, and where, by the irapressiveness of his discourses, he won the favor of those who had once been his malignaut foes.

A season of quiet having now been restored and all asperity of former feeling having subsided, the people united in calling to the ministry, as the successor of Mr. Mellen, the Rev. Reuben Holcorab. He was ordained June 2, 1779. Rev. Mr. Holcomb's pastorate continued thirty-five years, and was noted forits reign of peace and prosperity throughout.

During all these years no dissatisfaction appears to have been expressed with reg.ird to the minister or any loud, vociferous complaints uttered against him. But, all on a sudden, at the commencement of the year 1814, a petition was drawn up and signed by a hundred or more of the citizens, asking the selectmen to insert in the warrant for March meeting an article " to see if the town will choose a committee to converse with the Rev. Reuben Holcomb to see on what terms, if any, he will relinquish his pastoral office in this town." To the pastor and to those not in the secret this movement was a complete surprise.

The vote upon the article passed in the affirmative and a committee of seven of the leading citizens wag appointed accordingly. The following are the names of the gentleman composing the committee: Lutber Allen, Joseph Kendall, John Porter, Moses Thomas, Thomas H. Blood, Samuel Sawyer and Aaron Kimball.

Immediately after the official interview of the committee with the pastor, Mr. Holcomb addressed a lengthy communication to the church and town, in which he reviewed the events of his ministry, and declared that, in view of the hitherto harmonious relations between himself and his people, the above proceeding on the part of the town " was a sudden and unexpected eve7if." But he at once preferred a request for dismission on the ground of "want of health, want of affection among you towards me, and as a result of all, the want of a prospect of usefulness and comfort." A mutual council was called and the request for dismissal was granted. It does not appear that any serious alienation of feeling was caused by the separation on the part of Mr. Holcomb and his friends and the society. Mr. Holcomb continued to reside on his beautiful hillside farm, regularly attending church services in the place of his former labors until his death, which occurred, October 18, 1826, at the advanced age of seventy-five years.

The successor of Mr. Holcomb was the Rev. Lemuel Capen, who was ordained March 22, 1815. Mr. Oapen was much beloved by the people of the town, and his ministry, though short, was in all respects a happy one, abounding in great good to the community among whom he was called to labor. The annual salary of Mr. Capen was six hundred dollars. But this sum being inadequate to meet the expenses of his family, and desiring not to seem burdensome by asking additional compensation, " and thus (to use his own words) endangering that unusual degree of harmony and unanimity which now so happily subsists among you as a religious society and as a town," he felt it his duty on the 4th of January, 1819, to ask a dismission. An ecclesiastical council was called, and a separation took place. On the 21st of January a town-meeting was held, and the following vote was unanimously passed : voted, " that after mature deliberation on the communication of the Rev. Lemuel Capen of the 4th instant, and the consequent result on that communication, we cannot with honor to ourselves and justice to him, but declare, that we received his communication with extreme regret and concern ; that the manner in which his request was disposed of was not the result of dissatisfaction as to his acquirements as a scholar, his deportment as a man, or his attainments as a Christian ; but the conviction that an addition to his salary at this early period might materially endanger the universal harmony whicli.now so happily prevails among us." And after some further expressions of "confidence in his character for purity of heart and rectitude of life," the vote concludes : " It now only remains for us to wish him all the joys and hopes of the good man, the polished scholar, the sincere friend and the real Christian."

The next minister in regular succession in the ancient church was the Rev. Peter Osgood, of Audover. He was ordained June oO, 1819. Mr. Osgood was never blessed with a strong physical constitution and his labors were frequently interrupted by ill-health. Previous to his settlement and for some years afterwards there was no other religious society in the town, and the number of inhabitants was larger by some hundreds than at the present time. Custom, moreover, required two elaborate sermons every Sunday. Consequently the duties of a minister, in those days, were far more laborious than now ; and besides, by virtue of his office, he was expected to be in a measure the guardian of all the children of the town and the chief supervisor of its schools. Mr. Osgood was heartily interested in the education of the young. He labored faitlifully and earnestly to promote the highest welfare of the schools. He exercised a watchful care over them and his frequent visits to them were gladly welcomed by both teachers and pupils'. In this regard especially he is now held in grateful remembrance by many of the elderly people of the town.

But his strength was not equal to his day. Under his pastoral and ministerial labors he felt that his health was gradually, but surely, giving way and that his "only hope of enjoying comfortable health" was in relief from the cares of a parish and the labor of study. In the spring of 1839 he felt himself compelled to ask a dismission ; but so strong was the attachment of his people to their minister that they were unwilling that a separation should take place until some effort for his restoration should be made by means of entire rest and freedom from care. Accordingly, at the parish-meeting which followed, a committee was appointed to converse with the Rev. Mr. Osgood respecting his request for a dismission from his ministerial office. It was also voted unanimously " that the Committee be instructed to offer to the Rev. Mr. Osgood a suspension of his ministerial duties to the Parish for one year, then to resume them, in case his health should warrant it."

With this proposal Mr. Osgood complied ; but at the year's end it was found that his health had not sufficiently improved to render it prudent for him to resume his labors, and a release from further connection with the society was granted, according to his renewed request, March 9. 1840. The vote of the parish granting a dismissal concludes as follows: "And having enjoyed the benefit of his faithful ministry and witnessed his exemplary deportment for twenty years, do most cordially declare our fullest confidence in his character for purity of heart and rectitude of life."

Shortly after Mr. Osgood removed to North Audover, his native town, and spent the remainder of his life in the quiet pursuits of agriculture on his ancestral farm. But infirmities at length grew upon him and disease so impaired his mental faculties that he became insensible to all about him, even to the presence of friends. He died August 27, 1865, in the seventy-fourth year of his age.

Since the termination of Rev. Mr. Osgood's pastorate, the ministerial and pastoral office in the First Congregational Seciety has been held successively by the following clergymen, to wit: Rev. David Fosdick, Jr., ordained March 3, 1841, - dismissed December 8, 1845; Rev. T. Prentiss Allen, ordained November 18, 1846, - dismissed September 19, 1853; Rev. William H. Knapp, installed February 14, 1856, - dismissed May 5, 1858; Rev. Edward B. Fairchild, ordained January 19, I860, - dismissed September 22, 1863; Rev. Alpheus S. Nickerson, installed July 27, 1864, - dismissed February 2, 1869 ; Rev. Harvey C. Bates, ordained June 30, 1869, - dismissed March 11, 1873; Rev. Henry P. Cutting, installed September 1, 1873, . - dismissed April 5, 1881.

On July 1, 1888, Rev. William S. Heywood, by the unanimous desire of the society, assumed charge of the pastoral and ministerial affairs of the parish, and on the 1st of September moved into town with his family, and took possession of the parsonage bequeathed to the society by the late Mrs. Emily Wilder.

The present house of worship was built in 1842, immediately after the destruction, by an incendiary fire, on the night of the 14th of March of the same year, of its predecessor, built in 1799, and dedicated on the first Sunday of January in 1800. The present house is on the same site of the two former ones. In 1886, under the direction of a committee appointed by the society, it was remodeled, improved and beautified, Mrs. C. A. Freeman generously pay- ing nearly the whole of the expense, amounting to Boine two thousand dollars, in memorial of her deceased sister, who was a constant and devoted attendant upon the religious services of the church. The church organ was procured in 18.53. It was built by Stevpns, of Cambridge, and was paid for, partly, by a legacy bequeathed to the society by the late Jacob Conant, Esq., and partly by voluntary subscriptions of the members. Its total cost was $916.38.

A ministerial library was purchased in 1846, for the use of the minister of the First Congregational Society, at a cost of one hundred and fifty or two hundred dollars. This library contains, among other standard works, the American Encyclopfedia, and, as far as it goes, is a valuable collection. Owing to the organization of other religious societies, the decease of many of its prominent members and other causes not easily explained, this ancient society has become, like many another, reduced in numbers and power of its influence. It still exists, however, in a tolerably strong and healthy condition, doing its share in sustaining and promoting the intellectual, moral and religious culture of the community. Down to a period as late as 1830 this was the only religious society in the town, and it is a singular fact that nearly every family was regular and more or less constant in their attendance upon church services on Sunday. The long processions of- wagons, squaretopped chaises, and persons on horseback and on foot at the conclusion of the afternoon service, wending their way homeward on all the roads diverging from the meeting-house, is well remembered by many of the elderly people. It must not be supposed, however, that the people were entirely united in religious sentiment or were satisfied with the state of things in regard to religious worship. There were those who conscientiously held to the doctrine of Universal Salvation, first proclaimed in this country by Rev. John Murray, and which had begun to be preached by many clergymen of ability in New England; and there were those of Baptist proclivities, and those also who entertained more distinctively the sentiments of John Calvin.

The preachers on these occasions were the Rev. Hosea Ballon, Rev. Thomas Whittemore, Rev. Thomas Greenwood, Rev. Charles Streeter, Rev. Mr. Harriman (since Governor of New Hampshire) and others. These meetings were quite numerously attended, and such an interest was awakened that a society was soon formed, under the name of the " First Universalist Society in Sterling."

The precise date of the formation of the society, as well as the settlement of its first pastor, the Rev. Rufus S. Pope, is not known, as the early records appear to have been lo.^t. Under the pastoral charge of Rev. Mr. Pope a church was organized, and certain articles of faith, as given below, were formulated and adopted, with the preamble as follows :

Preamble (in part.) As Christiiius we acknowledge the gacred Scriptures to be the only infallible rule of faith and practice, regarding tbeni as given by inspiration of God, and profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness - and discarding all Inunan authorities and creeds, we select the following, as expressing the general outlines of our belief, and of the Christian religion :

Article first. We believe there is one God and one Mediator between God and man ; the man Christ Jesus, wlio gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.

Article sixth. We believe that we ought to adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. For the grace of God, that bringeth salvation to all men, hath appeared. Teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly and righteously and godly in this present world.

The church was publicly recognized July 13, 1836, the Rev. Thom.as Greenwood, of Marlborough, delivering an ajjpropriate discourse on the occasion.

It is to be regretted that the records of the society were not more carefully preserved. It appears, however, that under the charge of its first pastor, the Rev. Mr. Pope, which continued somewhere from five to eight years, the society increased in numbers, and in its influence for good in the community. Its meetings for religious services were held in the townhall until 1838. In that year the society built itself a neat and commodious house of worship - the same now owned and occupied by the Orthodox Society. Rev. Mr. Pope removed in 1840 or '41 to Hyannis, on Cape Cod, and became pastor of the Universalist Society in that town, and there spent the remainder of his life.

The society continued to hold services by supplies for a time after Rev. Mr. Davis closed his labors. But owing, in part, to the death of some of the older and wealthy members and the removal from town of others, and, perhaps, not a little to indifference to the cause on the part of some, the society soon began to languish, and finally, in 1853, sold its house of worship to the "First Evangelical Congregational Society," which had been recently organized. Very soon after this the society disbanded and such of the members as chose went back and connected themselves with the Unitarian Society, from which many of them had gone out scarcely a score of years before. But it is just to say that the Universalist Society did some good work during the comparatively short period of its existence.

During the last fifty or sixty years there has been a great change in the religious elements of most churches and in the religious sentiments of a great majority of the people. Much of the old theology is discarded. Creeds have been shortened and simplified. Men are judged less and less by the articles of their religious faith and moi'S and more by the uniform tenor of their daily life. The Universalist ministers of forty years ago, among whom were many very able and talented men, did their full share in establishing more rational and liberal views.

For several years prior to 1837 there were in town several families of Baptists and others entertaining similar views, who occasionally held meetings at private houses and at the school-house in the Leg District. In the year above mentioned it was found that the number of these persons had so increased that " it was felt that a church to conduct the affairs and bear the responsibiUties of this gospel enterprise was a necessity." Accordingly, a church was thereupon organized, and the Rev. Cyrus P. Grovesner was called and became its first pastor. Mr. Moses A. Brown was chosen clerk, and Levi Stuart the fi^^t deacon of the church. Preaching services were held in the town-hall. Rev. Mr. Grovesner closed his pastorate at the end of the year and the Rev. George Wateis was called to succeed him. Mr. Waters remained with the church three and a half years. The Rev. John Allen followed Rev. Mr. Waters in 1841, and continued his labors until the close of 1843.

Rev. Mr. Allen is remembered as a genial, largehearted man, and was held in high esteem by his fellow-townsmen. Under his ministry the work of the church was eftectively carried on, and the moral enterprises of the town received his constant support. A society was organized embracing a goodly number of the town's most esteemed and influential citizens, and the present house of worship, beautifully located under the shade of the majestic elms on the north end of the Common, was erected. The mode of procedure in the building of the church shows that the members had courage as well as faith. An instrument was drawn up and signed by twelve of the leading members, to wit:

"Know all men by these presents, that we, the subscribers hereby agree to associate together in equal sliares, by deducting out so much as may be subscribed by otlier individuals, for the purpose of building a meeting-house for the First Baptist Society in Sterling,

The object of the above Plan is to relieve and to promote the Interest of the said Society, and so dispose of the Pews as best to subserve their Interest and keep ourselves harmless for building said house of Worship.

other improvements made, which swells the expense to nearly seven thousand dollars, all of which the society has promptly met, in addition to the yearly cost of supporting the ministry nearly all the time since the first organization of the church.

The ministers who have had pastoral charge of the society since the Rev. John Allen are Rev. Orlando Cunningham, six and a half year.^; Rev. Ira F. Kenney, a little over one year; Rev. William M. Guilford, two and a half years; Rev. John H. Learnard, two years and eight months; Rev. Gilbert Robbins, two years; Rev. William Carpenter, three and a half years ; S. H. Record, a Newton theological student, six months ; Rev. John H. Learnard, again, two and a half years; Rev. Samuel Clieever, nine months; Rev. G. 0. Atkinson, one year ; Rev. C. H. Hickock, one year ; Rev. S. B. Macomber, one year and four months ; Rev. I. C. Carpenter, two years and nine months ; Rev. A. H. Eitee, nearly two years, residing in Westborough ; Rev. D. B. Gun, nearly three years. The church was also supplied a short time by Deacon W. A. Holland and by Mr. W. B. Parshley, a student of Brown University. Jt has had other supplies from time to time, whose names do not appear on record. The present pastor is Rev. S. H. Whitney, who commenced his services 1888.

In 1851 it was deemed needful that another branch of the Christian Church should be built up in the town. There were several highly respectable families who could not find a congenial religious home with either the Unitarians, Universalists, or the Baptists, and who, by reason thereof, were in the habit of attending church in the neighboring towns of West Boylston, Boylston and Bolton. On the 23d of September, 1851, by request of Mark Bruce, Fordyce Wilder, Luther Stone, Rufus Holman, Jones Wilder, Silas M. Wilder, Charles H. Loring, Charles M. Bailey, Luther Peters and Daniel L. Emerson, a warrant was issued by William D. Peck, Esq., a justice of the peace, within and for the county of Worcester, to Silas M. Wilder, directing him to notify and warn the above described Inhabitants to meet at the Town Hall on the 9th day of October next, to act on the following articles, viz. :

Ist. To choose a Clerk, Moderator and such other Officers as may be deemed proper and necessary. 2d. To determine the mode of calling future meetings. 3d. To adopt such By-Laws as may be deemed necessary.

At the meeting held pursuant to the warrant, Jones Wilder was chosen moderator, Silas M. Wilder clerk and Luther Peters, Charles H. Loring and John Smith, Jr., prudential committee.

Charles H. Loring and Dr. E. C. Knight were chosen a committee to draft by-laws. At an adjourned meeting the committee reported and their report was accepted.

Art. 6, establishes the rule in this society that no tax shall be levied *'on its members until evei-y reasonable means has been exhausted ; " "but all funds shall be raised, and all expenses paid by voluntary subscription."'

In 1853 the society purchased the meeting-house, built fifteen years before, and owned by the Uuiversalists. In 1885 the interior of the church was much improved by the repainting of the woodwork in a pleasing color and by new frescoing of the walls. In 1887 the society purchased the house of Silas Stuart for a parsonage. It is a pleasant place just a little retired and admirably adapted to the purpose for which it was purchased. No religious society can feel itself suitably equipped to fulfill its mission until it has secured a permanent and pleasant home for its minister and his family. The society has maintained religious services during the entire period of its exii-tence, paying its settled pastor from six hundred to eight hundred dollars annual salary. It has received aid from the HoJie Mission Society to the amount of about two hundred dollars annually, but it has paid back by frequent voluntary contributions to various religious enterprises a yearly sum, probably equal to the amount of aid it has received. This financial exhibit is highly creditable to the society and evinces an energy and a spiritual life worthy the cause it seeks to promote. Long may it continue to fulfill its liigh and sacred mission and do its full share of work in the enlightenment and regeneration of the world !

The church was organized June 22, 1852, with twenty-two members. The first pastor was the Rev. William B. Green. Mr. Green began his ministry April 1, 1852, and closed July 1, 1853.

Rev. J. C. Labaree next took pastoral charge, October 1, 1861; was ordained February 4, 1863, and remained with the society four years. Rev. Mr. Labaree on leaving Sterling was called to the ministry in Randolph, where he has since remained. He is kindly remembered by the citizens of Sterling, without distinction of sect, who held him in higli respect.

The next minister was Rev. George J. Pierce, from January 1, 1874, to January 1, 1875. And then followed Rev L. B. Marsh, from 1875 to 1876.

Rev. B. F. Perkins next assumed pastoral care of the society, April 1, 1877, and closed April 1, 1883. Rev. Mr. Perkins' services were very acceptable, and his pastorate was the longest of any since the formation of the society. Immediately on his separation from the church in Sterling, he was called to the church in Saundersville, where he still continues to dispense the Word. No person is more cordially welcomed by his former townsmen than he, whenever, on given occasions, he returns among them.

Rev. O. G. Mclntire and Rev. S. H. Robinson followed Mr. Perkins, one year each. Both were very genial, pleasant gentlemen. The latter is now settled over the Congregational Church in Greenfield, Mass,

The present pastor is Rev. John E. Dodge. Mr. Dodge was installed June 2, 1887. Under his ministry, thus far, the society appears to be invigorated with new life, and we bespeak for Rev. Mr. Dodge a long and useful ministry.

The ecclesiastical record of Sterling would not be complete without the mention of another important branch of the Christian Church. Though there may not be an organized society, a considerable number of the population are of the Roman Catholic faith, and attend church at either Clinton or West Boylston. The number of families is thirty-one. At one time they held church services in the town-hall, and the proposition to build a house of worship was seriously entertained. The plan, however, was abandoned for reasons connected with the churches in the two towns above mentioned.

There are also a number of families of Spiritualists who hold meetings occasionally at private houses. These persons were formerly interested and active members of either one or the other of the three principal churches in the town, but have now, to a considerable extent, withdrawn their aid for their support.

Education. - Sterling has ever been mindful of her obligations in respect to the education of the young. Her district schools have been her pride and she has ever watched over them with paternal fondness.

The first school-house of which there is any record was built in 1743. This was in the centre, near the meeting-house. Other buildings for the same purpose were soon afterward erected in the remote parts of the town, as the increase of population and the public convenience required. One was located on Rowley Hill, on the site of the present school-house. There was another in the Chocksett District, at the corner of the roads, near Mr. John B. May's.

This locaticm retained the name of the " Old Schoolhouse bank" long after the building was demolished. Another stood near the corner of Mr. Ephraim Chandler's land, opposite the present one in Redstone. This was the scene of the renowned nursery poem :

Doubtless there were others io other parts of the town. They were rude structures with cavernous fireplaces, but otherwise destitute of the comforts and conveniences of modern school buildings. In 1797 the town waa re-districted - each new district containing, as nearly as might be, twenty families, except the Centre, which contained forty families, and has ever since been considered a double district and has drawn a double share of the public money. By a vote passed at the same town-meeting new school-houses were ordered to be built in all the newly-formed districts, involving an expense of some three thousand dollars. The centre school-house was not built until the following year. These new structures, except that in the centre, were all built upon the same general plan and were quite uniform in external appearance. These old red school-houses by the roadside - how vividly and sacredly, almost, are they held in remembrance by many of the older people of the town ! But in the general progress of events all these plain, modest temples of learning have been in turn supplanted by others of more modern construction, more tasteful and elegant in appearance and more luxuriously furnished with conveniences and comforts for both teacher and pupil.

The appropriations of money for the support of schools has always been generous in comparison with the town's valuation of taxable property.

In 1800 the appropriation for " schooling " was five hundred dollars. From 1816 to 1835 it was eight hundred dollars. Since 1835 the yearly allowance has been on the increase, until it has reached, in this year of grace, 1888, the sum of four thousand dollars. In the intervening period since 1835 school libraries, books of reference, outline maps, eight-inch mounted globes, large surfaces of black-board and other needful supplies have been liberally and promptly furnished to facilitate the process of instruction.

Parents still continue to manifest interest in the progress of their children by occasional visits to the schools and by lending their influence in other practicable ways. But it is to be feared, however, that personal interest in the schools on the part of the community generally has abated to a considerable extent from what it was sixty or seventy years ago - or even fifty years ago - on account of the fact that the State has gradually assumed entire control and management of the public schools, to the exclusion of those most intimately concerned, from any voice, part or lot in the matter except to pay the annual tax assessed upon them. And, at least, whatever advance has been made in popular education in the last halfcentury, it cannot be denied that the old district system had many a redeeming feature. As the population of the town was larger than at present, so the attendance upon the school was also much greater.

It was the writer's experience to attend school in the Chocksett District when eighty scholars were daily convened within the walls of the old school building, whose outward dimensions were twenty-two by twenty-two feet. The terms of school were short, never exceeding ten weeks in winter and eight or nine in summer. The "examination '' at the close of the term was an event of much importance to all the people of the district and was usually attended by them in numbers oftentimes fully equal to the capacity of the school-room. The teachers were faithful to the trusts committed to them, and a generation of men and women, fairly equipped, mentally and morally, for the duties and responsibilities of citizenship was the result of their labors. The annual " School Meeting," clothed with the authority, through its "Prudential Committee," of selecting and hiring the teacher, and of deciding on all other matters relating to the school, excepting the raising and appropriation of money, was a powerful means of awakening and keeping alive an intense interest in the school and a strong desire for its welfare. In about the year 1822 there was organized an association by the name of the " Sterling Mutual Improvement Society " - changed a few years afterward to " The Sterling Lyceum" - whose declared purpose was to aid the teachers and improve the district school.-.

This society had an active existence of about forty years. It was a powerful auxiliary in the educational work of the town. It convened the teachers at stated times for the discussion of vital questions relating to their daily duties in the school-room ; it called out, from time to time, during the winter terms, the higher classes in all the schools for public competiiive exercises in reading, geography, grammar and arithmetic; it also had lectures from " home talent" and from distinguished speakers from the cities and various other places.

It was truly a popular institution, and its regular meetings drew together in the town hall crowded audiences of old people and young, and was a potent instrumentality for promoting the social, intellectual and moral well-being of the entire community.

Few towns of the same extent and rank have produced a greater number of native teachers than Sterling. A list, as far as can be remembered, is subjoined at the end of this sketch.

Since th^ organization of the Board of Education in 1837, and through the influence of Normal Schools, Teachers' Institutes and educational literature, improved methods of teaching and discipline have been adopted. Blackboard instruction in all branches ia resorted to, oral teaching is more frequently practiced, and the old ABC method of teaching young children to read is fast passing away. And in modes of discipline the change is not less apparent. The ferule, "that scepter of despotic power," is practically banished from our school-rooms, and other ridiculous forms of physical torture, such as supporting a heavy book with the arm extended in a right line from the body, of bending the body forward and holding down a nail, or of being hit on the head by a heavy ruler, thrown by the master as punishment for minor offence?, is not tolerated by public sentiment and is now never practiced. The regular terms of school were oftentimes prolonged from one to four weeks by private subscription; and not unfreqhently a private school was supported in the autumn by those who felt the need of larger opportunities for the education of their children, and who regarded it more economical to maintain a school of higher grade in town than to be at the expense of board and transportation to an academy at a distance from home. Notwithstanding, scarcely a year passed in which numbers of our young people of both sexes did not avail themselves of the privilesres afforded at the high schools and academies of Lancaster, Worcester, Leicester, New Ipswich and other places to prepare themselves for teachers, or for entrance into some college or technical institution- This state of things, which, indeed, had been of long continuance, led to the feeling on the part of many that the establishment of a high school was a public necessity.

At the town-meeting in themonth of April, 1883, the subject was brought before the town. A discussion followed. Rev. Mr. Perkins made a strong and convincing argument in its favor. The Irish adopted citizens generally were found to be favorable to the measure. By a yea and nay vote the question was decided afSrmatively by a fair majority. In September following the school went in operation with Mr. Herbert B. Hayden, of Ashland, as its first principal. Mr. Hayden was a graduate of the Ashland Hisht School and had spent one year at Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn. Mr. Hayden had a good measure of success and gave general satisfaction. He remained with the school five years. He left town at the close of the spring term, 1888. Mr. Henry A. MacGowan, of Clinton, was appointed to the principalship of the school at the commencement of the fall terra of the present year. Mr. MacGowan is a graduate of Amherst College, of the class of 1886. He entered the Divinity School at Andover, but his studies in preparation for the ministry were interrupted by ill health, and he was obliged to suspend his professional studies. Having regained his strength in a measure by rest, he was induced to accept the position offered him by the School Committee and entered at once upon its duties. Under his judicious and able management, as a thorough scholar himself, the school gives promise of an advanced position, and worthy to take an equal rank among the high schools of the State.

Since the establishment of the High School, and principally through its instrumentality, a course of lectures has been maintained during the winter. These lectures are numerously attended by our people and afford, not only pleasant entertainment, but valuable instruction. These literary entertainments are

A fine High School building was erected in 1883 on a beautiful site, between the Emily Wilder parsonage and the old Dr. Kendall place. It was formerly owned by the late Jacob Conarit, Esq., and was purchased by the town of a subsequent owner of the property. The edifice is two-storied, with a large play-room in the basement. It is a neat building, pleasantly located, and presents an attractive appearance.

In respect to the number of graduates from various colleges, Mr. Goodwin (to whom the writer of this sketch is indebted for most of his acquaintance with the early history of this town) says : " The number educated at the public colleges from this place is not Kreat, but our scholars will not suffer by a comparison with those of many towns who present a larger catalogue." He then gives a list of nineteen graduates, with the dates of graduation, as follows:

:i. Isaac Bailey (Harvard University, 1781), minister at Ward, Mass. 4. Prentiss Mellen, LL.D. (Hariard Univei-sity,'1781), chief justice of the Supreme Court of Maine.

-SI. Addison Stuart entered Brown University and went through the regular collegiate course, all but the last year, when he commenced the study of law. Has a law-office at Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

A goodly number of the sons and daughters of Sterling who had charge of our schools, as teachers, were graduates of the State Normal Schools. They are as follows :

Oliver W. Rugg, now practicing civil engineering at Worcester Arthur Woods, now practicing civil engineering at Worcester. William A. Nelson, mechanical engineer at Fitchburg. J. Edward Synds, engaged in the lumber business near Duluth, Minn.

Libraries. - The first public library was established in the latter part of the last century, known as the " First Social Library in Sterling." It was organized by voluntary subscription, and regulated by suitable by-lawa, with proper officers for its management. The only record the writer has been able to find was that of the annual meeting of the proprietors in 1803, held for the choice of officers and the transaction of such other business as might properly come before it.

It was a valuable collecti on of several hundred volumes of standard works of history, biography, travels, fiction and other important subjects.

It was replenished from time' to time by a small annual tax upon the members of the association. It did valuable service for many years, and its benefits were shared by a large number of the people of the town. But, like all sublunary things, it had its day of progress and decline, and in 1852 came to a final termination by a public sale of the books at auction.

In 1857 a Farmer's Library was established, containing some one hundred and fifty or two hundred volumes by the ablest writers upon agriculture. These books were subsequently turned over to and became a part of the Town Library.

But the highest and grandest point in the work of founding a library was reached when the town, at its annual meeting in March, 1871, appropriated three hundred dollars for the purchase of books for the establishment of a Free Public Library. Liberal appropriations have been made each year since for the purchase of new books and for meeting incidental expenses. Generous donations for the support of the library have been made by the following persons, most of whom were former residents of the town : Mr. A. K. Loring, of Boston, contributed a valuable package of books. The late James T. Allen, of New York, gave his check for three hundred dollars. William Frederick Holcombe. M.D., of New York, generously gave one hundred dollars. Rev. Geo. Putnam, D.D., of Roxbury, Mass. , in token of his friendly regard for his birthplace, also gave one hundred dollars ; and his daughter, the late Miss Carrie Putnam, bequeathed the sum of two thousand dollars, the interest of which to be used in the purchase of books. Edwin Conant, Esq., of Worcester, gave five hundred dollars, to be called the " Elizabeth Anne Conant Fund," the interest to be used in the purchase of books. From all these sources of income the library at present contains more than six thousand volumes.

For the beautiful library building that now adorns the village, the town is indebted to the munificence of Edwin Conant, Esq., of Worcester, who furnished the means whereby it was erected. It was built in 188.5, as a memorial tribute to his late lamented daughter. Miss Elizabeth Anne Conant.

The librarian's desk was presented by the Richardson heirs, as a tribute to the memory of their father, - the late Deacon William B. Richardson. It is constructed of cherry, very neatly finished and is perfectly in keeping with the pleasant surroundings, and bears the following inscription :

The library building was formally dedicated October 13, 1885. The public exercises were held in the Congregational Church, a large congregation being present, including many from the neighboring towns, and were as follows :