Worcester City (part 9 of 58)

The organization of revolution began the next year, with the plan of establishing permanent Committees of Correspondence in the towns throughout Massachusetts. The members of the first Lancaster Committee, chosen September 5, 1774, were Dr. William Dunsmoor, Dea. David Wilder, Aaron Sawyer, Capt. Asa Whitcomb, Capt. Hezekiah Gates, John Prescott, Ephraim Sawyer. The chairman was the youngest of the number. The next day the patriots of the town marched to Worcester, where an armed convention of the people gathered on the green, prepared to give a warm reception to the force of British troops which Governor Gage had proposed to send for the protection of the court. As the regulars did not appear, attention was turned towards the royalists. The justices, who recently had sent a loyal address to the Governor, were compelled to sign a recantation, and appear before the assemblage to acknowledge it. Of these justices were Joseph Wilder, Abel Willard and Ezra Houghton^ of Lancaster.

During the same month the town voted " That there be one hundred men raised as Volunteers, to be ready at a minute's warning to turn out upon any Kmergency, and that they be formed into two Companies, and choose their own officers," and that these volunteers should be " reasonably paid by the Town for any services they may do us in defending our Liberties and Privileges." One company was enlisted in each precinct. The Committee of Correspondence was also authorized to purchase two field-pieces, and two four-pounders were at once obtained from Brookline, for which eight pounds were paid. One of these was stationed in each parish, with a supply of powder, ball and grape-shot. Capt. Asa Whitcomb and Dr. William Dunsmoor were chosen to represent the town in the First Provincial Convention. The constables were instructed to pay over the taxes, when collected, to a special committee - Aaron Sawyer, Ephraim Sawyer and Dr. Joaiah Wilder - who were to account for the same to the patriot receiver-general. The same committee were ordered " to Post up all such Persons as continue to buy, sell or consume any East India Teas, in some Public Place in Town.'' In the town-meeting of January 2, 1775, a committee was chosen to receive donations " for the suffering poor of the Town of Boston, occationed by the late Boston Port Bill." It was also then voted " to adopt and abide by the spirit and sense of the Association of the late Continental Congress, held at Philadelphia," and a committee of fifteen were selected " to see that the said Association be kept and observed by all."

The whole male population was now training for the conflict seen to be inevitable. The re-organization of the militia began in 1774, by a popular demand for the resignation of all military commissions. The Second Worcester was known as the Lancaster Regiment, and consisted of ten companies and a mounted troop, four companies and the troop being of Lancaster, including all the able-bodied males between sixteen and fifty years of age, save a few by law exempts. With the division of the trainingbands into minute-men and militia, new company officers were chosen, young men aglow with the hot temper of the times. These line officers elected the brothers John and Asa Whitcomb, two veterans of the French War, as their colonels - the former of the minute-men, the latter of the militia. Abijah Willard was perhaps the most gifted and experienced officer in the town, but unfortunately favored the side of the King. Dr. William Dunsmoor and Ephraim Sawyer were the majors of the minute-men, and David Osgood the quartermaster. Col. John Whitcomb was chosen a major-general in February, by the Second Provincial Congress.

Every soldier was expected to furnish himself with arms and equipments, and if too poor to do so, he was supplied by the town, or by contributions from the more wealthy. No attempt was made to secure uniformity in dress ; each wore his own home garb, and as there was a much greater variety in the color and form of men's wear then than now, the ranks always presented a motley appearance.

There were at this period but seventeen towns in Massachusetts which could boast a larger population than Lancaster. It had a greater proportion of mechanics and traders than other inland towns - fullingmills, tanneries, potash boilers, a slate quarry and even a little furnace for casting hollow-ware. But its farmers raised nearly ten bushels of grain for every man, woman and child in the town, and four times as many cattle, sheep and swine per inhabitant as were credited to the town in the census of 1885. There was, therefore, a large surplus above the needs for home consumption. Pork was sold at six pence, salt beef at three pence, mutton at two pence, cheese at four pence and butter at eight pence, per pound; corn meal at three shillings, beans at six shillings, potatoes at one shilling four pence per bushel ; cider at seven shillings eight pence per barrel. There was no public conveyance for travelers, no post-office nearer than Cambridge. Silent Wilde, the newscarrier, rode out from Boston on Mondays, with the papers for regular subscribers, and jogged through Lancaster on his way to the Connecticut Eiver towns and back once a week. His trips were soon to cease, and the day fast approached which was to test anew Lancaster's patriotism.

On the morning of April 19, 1775, a post-rider came galloping in hot haste through the town shouting to every one he saw that the " red coats " had come out from Boston. The tidings, long expected, were spread by mounted messengers and the firing of cannon ; the minute-men were soon hurrying down the Bay road, and the militia followed not far behind. Two hundred and fifty-seven men marched from the town to Cambridge that day. General John Whitcomb reached the scene of action before the running fight ended and took part in directing it ; but it is hardly probable that any great number of his regiment, save the mounted troop, perhaps, kept pace with him. The sis Lancaster companies were : two troops of thirty-two men each under Captains John Prescott, Jr., and Thomas Gates ; two companies of minute-men, with Captains Samuel Sawyer and Benjamin Houghton ; and two companies of militia led by Captains Joseph White and Daniel Robbins. They remained at Cambridge about two weeks.

The Provincial Congress immediately resolved upon the enlistment of an army of thirteen thousand men for eight months. Col. Asa Whitcomb was one of those authorized to raise a regiment, and, on May 25th, reported his command containing eleven companies, five hundred and sixty men - ^one company above the complement. Ephraim Sawyer was major, and Dr. William Dunsmoor surgeon of the regiment. The Lancaster men were mostly in the companies of Captains Andrew Haskell and Ephraim Richardson. There is a tradition in old families that on the day of the battle of Bunker Hill the Lancaster regiment was stationed at Cambridge, but was ordered to furnish reinforcements to Prescott, and some of its companies reached the hill and fought in the final struggle, while others were coming up when the retre.at began. The historian Bancroft says : " From the regiment of Whitcomb, of Lancaster, there appeared at least fifty privates, but with no higher ofBcere than captains.'' If he had written thrice fifty he would have been more nearly just. By official returns the regiment lost five killed, eight wounded and two missing, which was a larger list of casualties than was credited to eight others ot the sixteen regiments in which casualties of battle occurred. Daniel Robbins was killed upon the hill and Sergt. Robert Phelps was mortally wounded and died a prisoner in Boston. Both were in Haskell's company. Sergt. Israel Willard and Joseph Wilder were probably wounded, the former mortally, as special allowance was made for them by the Legislature at the same time as to the heirs of Bobbins and Phelps. Evidence is found in petitions for aid, showing that Burt's Harvard and Hastings' Bolton company were also in the fight, and the historian Frothinghara supposes Wilder's Leominster company to have been engaged. Capt. Andrew Haskell so commended himself by his conduct at Bunker Hill, that he would have been promoted but for certain unofEcer-like traits which he seemed unable to overcome.

During the siege of Boston the Lancaster regiment was brigaded with the Rhode Island troops under Gen. Greene and stationed on Prospect Hill. Col. Whitcomb was one of the wealthiest farmers of the town, a deacon in the Second Parish, a sterling patriot, and evidently, from his enduring popularity, gifted with noble qualities of heart. He was also a brave and experienced soldier, but too amiable to preserve proper discipline in his command. Upon the consolidation of the Provincial regiments to bring them to the Continental model, sundry supernumerary officers were discharged, and Washington, with the concurrence of Greene, selected Whitcomb as one whose services should be spared. His men resented this, and refused to re-enlist under another commander, when Col. Whitcomb reproached them for their lack of patriotism, and offered to enlist as a private with them. Washington, hearing of this, reinstated him and complimented him in special orders for his unselfish zeal. The worthy colonel's military service ended April 1, 1777, however, and he returned to his farm. Impoverished by his sacrifices for country, he was compelled to part with his lands, removed to Princeton, and there died, March 16, 1804, aged eighty-four years.

In the closing scenes of the siege, March 9, 1776, Dr. Enoch Dole, of Lancaster, was killed on Dorchester Heights by a cannon-ball. The town had several soldiers with Arnold and Montgomery at the gates of Quebec, and t vo or three were there wounded and captured.

About five thousand refugees from Boston during the siege were scattered through the inland towns, and to these were added the people of Charlestown after the burning of that place. One hundred and thirty of the homeless were assigned by the Provincial Congress to the charity of Lancaster, but the actual number seeking refuge here was much greater, for the proposed formal distribution of the exiles had speedily to be abandoned as impossible. Many sought Lancaster who added to its social force ; such were Daniel Waldo, Edmund Quincy, Esq., and Nathaniel Balch. A lew became permanent residents of the town ; for example, Josiah Flagg and John Newman.

In August, 1776, the Court of General Sessions, in authorizing five hospitals for inoculation for smallpox, appointed Doctors William Dunsmoor and Josiah Wilder directors of one at Lancaster. There is no record of the location of this hospital, but fourteen years later, when this scourge of humanity became again virulent. Dr. Israel Atherton established one for the same purpose upon Pine Hill, where it was kept during four years.

After the departure of the American army for New York, the defences of Boston Harbor were entrusted to the militia, and during 1776 about fifty men of Lancaster served in two regiments stationed at Hull, with Capt. Andrew Haskell and Lieuts. John Hewitt and Jonathan Sawyer for their officers. A requisition upon the State for five thousand militia to temporarily re-enforce the army at New York came from Congress in June, and Lancaster's quota for four months' service was seventy-two men. They served under Capt. Samuel Sawyer and Lieuts. Salmon Godfrey and Nathaniel Sawyer, in the regiment of Col. Jonathan Smith. The whole command was a hurried levy of rustic youth, wholly undisciplined. September 15th, at Kip's Bay, they met the splendidlydrilled Hessian corps, and came off with scant honor. Four Lancaster men were then missing - probably killed - and several were wounded.

like his more noted cousins and neighbors - Abijah, Abel and Levi Willard - was earnest in the patriot cause. He was one of the two commissioners appointed by Washington to visit the Acadians, in order to ascertain the strength of their alleged sympathy with the revolutionists. The mission was found so hazardous that the commissioners made their report from information gained without entering the pi'ovince. Willard received a commission as colonel of a regiment drafted to strengthen the northern army under Schuyler, but was prevented from service by a painful accident. Capt. Manasseh Sawyer, August ISth, marched to join the regiment of Col. Nicholas Dike at Dorchester, with a company of ninety-two men, enlisted for eight months. Thirty-two of these were of Lancaster. Henry Haskell, who had distinguished himself in the battle of Bunker Hill as captain of a Shirley company, was lieutenant-colonel of the regiment. Capt. Daniel Goss and Lieut. Jabez Fairbank, with a company of militia, chiefly Lancaster men, served at Dobbs' Ferry, in a regiment of which their townsman, Ephraim Sawyer, was lieutenantcolonel.

October 7, 1776, the town voted to empower the House of Representatives " to draw up a Form of Government" for the State, stipulating that it should be sent to the people for ratification. Dr. William Dunsmoor was at the same date elected representative.

The popular colonial system of short enlistments forbade the growth of a well-disciplined national army and menaced the success of any complex campaign. A complete re-orgauization was resolved upon by the formation of eighty-eight three-years' regiments of six hundred and eighty men each. Fifteen of these were demanded from Massachusetts, and it required one man in every seven to fill the call. A bounty o' twenty dollars and one hundred acres of land was promised volunteers, and the monthly pay of privates was fixed at six and two-thirds dollars. December 9, 1776, the male inhabitants of Lancaster over sixteen years of age numbered six hundred and seventy-two including thirteen negroes. Her quota was, therefore, ninety-six men, and that number volunteered in due time. Three more levies for three years were made during the war. Ten soldiers were sent by the town to the Continental army in the spring of 1780, thirtyfive in the spring of 1781, and seven in March, 1782, the sum of the quotas being one hundred and fortyeight. These men were all volunteers, the draft being resorted to only for short-service calls. Large bounties had to be paid at last, and a few non-resident substitutes were hired. The men were scattered through the Massachusetts regiments, the town being represented in every one but the First and Ninth. The largest numbers were in the Tenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth. Most of them participated in the battles which compelled the surrender of Burgoyne. Those holding commissions were :

The year 1777 was marked in Lancaster for a persecution of suspected loyalists by the extremists of the patriot party. A resolve of the Legislature concerning " the danger from internal enemies " gave reason for the creation of a committee to search for and obtain evidence against such suspects, and Col. Asa Whitcomb was selected. A black-list was presented by him in September, bearing the names of Moses Gerrish, Daniel Allen, Ezra Houghton, Joseph Moore, Solomon Houghton, Thomas Grant, James Carter and Rev. TiiLOthy Harrington. Abijah and Abel Willard and .Joseph House had fled with the Brilish upon the evacuation of Boston, and their estates had been confiscated. .Levi Willard and Joseph Wilder were dead. Of those in Whitcomb's black-list, Gerrish, Moore and Ezra Houghton were imprisoned, Solomon Houghton escaped from the country. Carter's and Allen's names were stricken from the list in town-meeting, and Grant is found serving in the patriot ranks. The attempted proscription of Harrington was apparently the more bitter because of his connection with the troubles in the Bolton parish. He - made a shrewd and spirited defence, when called into town-meeting to face his accusers, signally triumphed over them, and was held in increased respect thenceforward.

The loss of Ticonderoga and the victorious advance of Burgoyne southward spread dismay throughout New England. One-half of the alarm list were hurriedly marched from Lancaster to Bennington in August, mostly embraced in companies led by Captains John White and Solomon Stuart. During the autumn months of 1777 about thirty men of the town partici2)ated in the Rhode Island expedition of General Spencer.

February 5, 1778, it was voted " to accept the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union between the United States of America," and May 18th the town voted upon the acceptance of the new State Constitution, when one hundred and eleven were found in favor of and forty-one against it. It was, however, rejected by the people. Four thousand and forty-nine pounds were appropriated to pay the soldiers hired to serve for eight and nine months' service in the Continental Army. These men were thirty-two in number and joined the forces stationed along the Hudson. Captain Manasseh Sawyer and over fifty Lancaster men were engaged in the unsuccessful attempt to drive the British from Newport jnd fought at Quaker's Hill under General Sullivan. There were also constant details for guard duty. Frequently twenty or more of the town's youth were at Cambridge or Rutland in charge of prisoners.

counterfeit money was so abundant that the most reputable persons innocently received and paid it out. Trade was fast becoming a system of barter. Foolish attempts were made to fix the prices of common necessities by law, and annually committees were chosen by the town to make up a schedule of these prices. June 28, 1779, the town solemnly voted "that the price of the Comodityes of the farmer and any other article do not rise any higher than at this time "

Eighteen men of the town were mustered June 25, 1779, for nine months, to re-enforce the Continental Army, and a company of militia were serving at Claverack with Captain Luke Wilder, Andrew Haskell being his lieutenant.

The State Constitution was voted upon May 13th, and one hundred and three favored it, while only seven declared against it. Dr. William Dunsmoor, Captain Ephraim Wilder and Captain William Putnam were Lancaster's delegates in the convention which formed it. In June, 1780, the town was called upon to furnish forty men for six months' service. Certain of the radical leaders, and especially Josiah Kendall, who had been vociferously patriotic in the earlier days of the war, avowed their belief that the men could not be obtained, and counseled non-compliance with the demand of the government. Captain Samuel Ward, who had narrowly escaped proscription for his conservative views, saw his opportunity and promptly advocated in an eloquent harangue immediate obedience to the requisition, at whatever cost. He was made chairman of a committee of twelve empowered to hire the soldiers " on any terms they think proper." The forty men within twelve days were on their way to tlie camps, each having been promised " £1400 lawful money, or £13 6s. 8d. in Corn, Beef and Live Stock or any Produce as it formerly used to be sold." From this the silver dollar would seem to have been worth one hundred and five paper dollars at that date.

During both 1780 and 1781 a full company of militia served in Rhode Island for from three to five months, and others were stationed for similar terms of service on the Hudson. The rolls found indicate that fully one-quarter of the whole male population of Lancaster above the age of sixteen, were kept constantly in the army during the most eventful years of the struggle for freedom. Over six hundred names of Lancaster soldiers in the Revolution are already listed. Almost no records of casualtiesare discovered in muster-rolls, but they disclose the names of thirty men of Lancaster who died of wounds or disease between the battle of Lexington and 1779. Those who for any cause were exempted from military service lived lives of toil and sacrifice. Money was annually appropriated for the care of soldiers' families, and the widows and orphans received systematic aid after the war, the town's expenditure being finally refunded by the State. Lancaster is credited with

Twenty-three residents of the extreme southerly portion of the town, May 15. 1780, presented a petition to be set off to Shrewsbury. To this public consent wiis given in June, and an act of Legislature consummated the division February 2, 1781. The area thus parted with was about six square miles, and was incorporated with Boylston in 1780. The Second Precinct had by 1780 so grown as to outvote the older portion of Lancaster, and the autonomy it had long sought could no longer be denied. April 25, 1781, Chocksett was incorporated under the name of Sterling, in honor of General William Alexander, Earl of Sterling. By this change Lancaster lost over half of its population and but thirty-six and one-half square miles of its territory remained.

The noise and smoke of rejoicing over honorable victory and independence won soon passed, and there was time for the town to reckon up its sacrifices and take account of domestic resources and necessities. The outlook was not encouraging. The paper currency had become worthless and disappeared. Farmers and mechanics were crushed with debt, and half maddened by burdensome taxation, while lawyers and merchants were reaping a golden harvest. Bankrupt sales were advertised on every hand. Soon a spirit of anarchy was born of the general discontent, which culminated in Shays' Insurrection. No citizen of Lancaster is known to have joined the armed force of malcontents, and very few sympathized with the appeal to violeuce. The town sent delegates to the county conventions, voted in favor of enactment of laws to alleviate the distress of the people, and recommended relieving the farming interest by excise and import duties.

But when, January 16, 1787, the two militia companies were called out by Col. William Greenleaf, the sherifi", the men were found almost unanimously in favor of supporting the law, and upon his calling for twenty-eight volunteers to march to the defence of the courts at Worcester on January 2Sd, thirty-one offered themselves. Lancaster was the rendezvous of the troops from the eastern part of the county, and Captains Nathaniel Beaman and John Whiting led companies in the regiments which, under General Benjamin Lincoln, pursued Shays and scattered his "regulators." The service was not long nor attended with bloodshed, but it was arduous in the extreme. Those who participated in it often grew eloquent in reminiscence of the terrible night march from Hadley to Petersham, February 3, 1787, facing a furious snowstorm in a temperature far below zero. Among those serving as privates was Captain Andrew Haskell. Three years later this veteran soldier was slain in battle with the Indians at the defeat of General Arthur St. Clair. Hon. John Sprague accompanied the expedition against Shays upon the staff of General Lincoln, as his legal adviser.

Authority had been obtained by an act dated February 15, 1783, for lotteries to meet the extraordinary cost of rebuildine and repairing bridges and causeways. Twelve classes of the Lancaster BrirJge Lottery were drawn - the net proceeds of which amounted to only £3286; and the results in other respects did not encourage the continuance of the scheme.

By this time there were ten bridges over the Naishua rivers, and eight of them were a public charge. They were all built with one or more trestles in the bed of the stream, and an ice jam or unusually high freshet often tore several of these from their anchorage. A September flood in 1787 swept away the Ponikin saw-mill, and damaged or demolished half the bridges in town. The Sprague, Ponikin and Atherton bridges were rebuilt in 1788. The Sawyer bridge, so-called, on the site of the present Carter's Mills bridge - whither it had been moved from the discontinued Scar road in 1742 - was rebuilt in 1789.

The majority in Lancaster were opposed to the ratification of the National Constitution, and elected Hon. John Sprague their delegate to the State convention of January, 1788, with the usual instructions as to their wishes. Mr. Sprague, however, finally favored the ratification, although but six of his AVorcester County associates voted with him. This use of his discretion did not seriously offend his constituency at the first meeting for choice of a Presidential elector, December 18, 1788, he received thirty-one of the sixty-two votes cast in Lancaster.

Rev. Timothy Harrington became physically unable to attend to the duties of his pastorate in 1790, and on October 9, 1793, Rev. Nathaniel Thayer was ordained as his colleague, receiving as a settlement two hundred pounds, with a yearly salary of ninety pounds. Mr. Harrington was born at Waltham, Feb-' ruary 10, 1716, was graduated at Harvard College in 1737, and died at Lancaster, December 18, 1795, having been pastor over the church here forty-seven years. By a first wife, Anna Harrington, he had two sons and four daughters. He married Ann, the widow of Rev. Matthew Bridge, April 11, 1780. He was a lovable man, attracting young and old by his gentleness, affability and simplicity of manners. He was especially remarkable for his day, because of his liberality of sentiment, shown in speech and conduct - a broad charity toward all humanity. Three of his sermons were published, and his century discourse was reprinted in 1806 and 1853.

In 1791, February 7th, the proprietors voted " to relinquish to the several towns in the bounds of Old Lancaster all their right to roads in the respective towns."

An increased intferest in the subject of education began to be visible in 1788. Some of the leading citizens organized a central grammar school, and Timothy Whiting and Jonathan Wilder were elected a town visiting committee - the first recorded - to serve with the minister and two others chosen by the supporters of the school. The following year, under a new State law, the town was divided into districts, thirteen in number. In 1790 a new building for the grammar school was erected on common ground "opposite General Greenltaf's garden." The next year one hundred and fifty pounds were appropriated for education, one-third of which was devoted to the grammar school, one hundred being divided among the districts. From 1792 Rev. Nathaniel Thayer became chairman of the school committee, annually elected by the town, which at first consisted of seven, but was increased to eleven in 1796.

Numerous landed estates passed from the ownership of the older families shortly after the Revolution, in all sections of the town, and many new names began to appear in the tax-lists. The ruling spirits in the town management were Hon. John Sprague, Capt. Samuel Ward, General John and Judge Timothy Whiting, Sheriff William Greenleaf, Michael Newhall, Col. Edmund Heard, Ebenezer Torrey, Joseph Wales, Merrick Rice, William Stedman, Jonas Lane, John Maynard, Jacob Fisher, Eli Stearns and John Thurston, not one of whom was a lineal descendant of the early settlers. At the north part of the town many of the old residents became converts of Mother Ann Lee, and joined the Shaker community. A little colony of Reading families succeeded to their farms. At the south end, as the nineteenth century opened, the Burditts, Lowes, Rices and Harrises, mostly from Leominster and Boylston, came, bringing with them the horn-comb industry. For a few years, besides the saw and grist-mills of Col. Greenleaf, at Ponikin, a trip-hammer and nail-cutting machine were in operation. The quarry in the northern end of the town sent annually to Boston a large quantity of roofing-slate ; but these industries were short-lived. . The first post-oflice was established in Lancaster, April 1, 1795, with Joseph Wales as postmaster. Jonathan Whitcomb carried the mails and passengers daily to and from the city, by the " Boston, Concord and Lancaster mail line'' stages, when the century closed.

Hon. John Sprague - Cotton and WooUen MUts - The Academy - War of 1812 - T7ic Whitingt - The Brick Meeting-house - Lafayette - The Printing Enterprise - Dr. Nathaniel Thayer - Neto Ghtirchee - Clinton Set Off - Bi-Centennial - Schoithi - Libraries - Cemlteries.

September 21, 1800,; Lancaster lost her leading citizen by the death of Hon. John Sprague. He had been for thirty years resident of the town, coming from Keene, N. H., in 1770, to form a law partnership with Abel Willard. He was a son of Noah and Sarah Sprague, of Rochester, Mas-"., born June 21, 1740, and was graduated at Harvard College in 1765. He served the towu ten years as Representative and two as Senator, was sherifl' for three years, and for two j'ears was chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas. He was widely respected as a peacemaker, a safe adviser, a learned lawyer and an impartial judge.

In 1805, Moses Sawyer and Abel Wilder built the dam and first mill, at the bridge over the Nashua in the village then called New Boston. This waterpower soon came into possession of Elias Bennett, and a fulling-mill was started in addition to the saw and grist-mills. The clothiers and wool-carders successively here were Ezekiel Knowlton, Asa Buttrick and Ephraim Fuller. Asahel Tower, Jr., also operated a nail-cutting machine in connection with the saw-mill. Samuel Carter purchased the property, and, about 1844, built a cotton factory, which was leased to the Pitts Brothers and others. This was burned July 7, 1856, and the present factory built upon the same site.

In 1809 Poignand & Plant founded the first cotton factory in Lancaster on the site of Prescott's mills, and James Pitt.s, in 1815, built the second, upon the Nashua. The details of these important enterprises will be found in the history of Clinton.

Burrill Carnes, Sir Francis Searles and Capt. Benjamin Lee, three Englishmen of wealth, during about ten years successively owned and lived upon the Wilder farm, on the Old Common, now occupied by the State Industrial School, and by lavish expenditure gave it the semblance of an old-world baronial estate. In 1804 the place was bought by Maj. Joseph Hiller, of Salem, who resided here until his death, in 1814. He was an officer of the Revolution, had been appointed by Washington the first collector of Salem, and was an ardent Federalist, a Christian gentleman and a very valuable accession to Lancaster. His two highly accomplished daughters became the wives of their cousins, Capt. Richard J. and William Cleveland, who also came to reside here, and won prominence in town councils. As children came and grew to boyhood Capt. Cleveland and his wife felt the need of a higher education for them than the town's grammar school could give, and persuaded several gentlemen to join in establishing the Lancaster Latin Grammar School in 1815.

This classical school was kept for about eleven years upon the Old Common. The teachers' names best tell the quality of the education there afforded: Silas Holman, 1815; Jared Sparks, 1816; John W. Proctor, 1817 ; George B. Emerson, 1818-19; Solomon P. Miles, 1820-21 ; Nathaniel Wood, 1822-23; Levi Fletcher, 1824 ; Nathaniel Kingsbury, 1825. These scholarly young men, together with Warren Colburn and James G. Carter, at the most enthusiastic period of life's work, sitting at the hospitable board of the Clevelands, discussed with the cultured host and brilliant hostess the need of a new education which should develop the reasoning powers of youth ; and here they formed the opinions upon which some of them, as the most inHuential factors, remodeled the common-school system of the State.

September 15, 1808, Maj. Hiller, Hon. William Stedman and Capt. Samuel Ward were chosen by the town to draft a petition to President Jefferson for a suspension of the embargo, which it was alleged had closed the chief sources of the nation's wealth and destroyed the customary incentives to enterprise and virtuous industry. The friends of the French party, as the Jeffersonians were nicknamed, were but few in Lancaster. At a special town-meeting, June 24, 1812, resolutions remonstrating against declaring war with England as suicidal and unnecessary were passed by a vote of one hundred and fifteen to fifteen. August 20th, Rev. Nathaniel Thayer, it being a fast day, preached a sermon denouncing what he termed the iniquitous policy of the President. But when, in September, 1814, the British fieet appeared off the coast, and Boston was fearing an attack, there was no lack of belligerency. Among the first military companies to report to the Governor, in answer to his summons, were the light artillery and an infantry company of Lancaster, who, after a service at the meeting-house, on Sunday, September 14th, proceeded to Cambridge. Capt. Ezra Sawyer marched his infantry command back the same week, having been ordered out by mistake. The artillery, forty men all told, remained on duty until November 5, 1814. Capt. John Lyon, who led the company from Lancaster, was superseded by Capt. Silas Parker. Henry, Levi and Fabius- Whiting served with distinction in the regular army, attaining the rank of first lieutenant during the war. Henry Moore was killed at Brownstown, JosiahRugg died in the army, and Nathan Puffer served iu the United States artillery.

September 3, 1810, John Whiting died at Washington, aged fifty years. He had been commissioned lieutenant-colonel of the Fourth United States Infantry in 1808. Both he and his brother Timothy, Jr., served throughout the War of the Revolution, during which their father came from Billerica to Lancaster. Both became associate justices of the Court of Sessions, and were more than once candidates of the .leffersonian party for Congress. An indication of John Whiting's ability, probity and lovable character is found in the fact that when two Lancaster men were candidates for Congressional honor, in 1804, he received eighty-four votes, while William Stedman, the regular Federalist nominee, had but seventy-six, although it was a fevered period in partisan politics and the town's voters were usually more than three-fourths Federalists. Tradition still recalls Whiting's suave dignity when presiding over a townmeeting and his courtly grace in social assemblies. He was deacon in the church and brigadier-general in the militia. His daughter, Caroline Lee, as Mrs. Hen tz, became a very popular writer of verse and fiction. His son, Henry, Brevet Brigadier-General, U. S. A., published two volumes of poetry, and contributed articles to the Noith American Rariew.

laid with appropriate ceremony July 9, 1816. Two acres for the site were purchased for .li(!3.3.33, being part of a farm belonging to Capt. Benjamin Lee. The designer of the building was Charles Bulfluch, the earliest professional architect in New England, who also designed the State House in Boston and that at Augusta. Thomas Hersey was the master-builder. The cupola has been pronounced by competent critics to be almost faultless in its proportions. On Wednesday, January 1, 1817, the building was dedi cated. The fi mil cost of the structure complete was $20,428.99, and it was proposed to pay for it by sale of the pews. They were accordingly appraised, eighteen being given the highest valuation, $230, the lowest being priced at $.-.0. At the auction sale Capt. Ward paid the highest sum, $275, for pew No. 4 ; Capt. Cleveland paid $255 for pew No. 57. A bell weighing thirteen hundred pounds was presented to the parish by several gentlemen. It was cracked within a few years, had to be recast, and now weighs eleven hundred pounds. The old meeting-house stood until 1823, and was used as a town-house. In that year a new town-house was built largely from the material obtained in tearing down the old one.

In the year 1823 the town dared a temporary departure from the old style of bridge construction. For twenty years the subject had been anxiously discussed by special committees and town-meetings. One committee had presented and advocated a plan for a double arch stone bridge, but the cost was great and there was a well-founded fear that the central pier would seriously obstruct the passage of ice. The town also seriously considered a curiously unscientific wooden structure, in which the planking was to be laid upon the toji of seven timber arches, unbraced and without chords. Almost yearly one or more of the trestle bridges yielded to ice or freshet, and was whirled down stream. Daniel Farnham Plummer, a wheelwright of South Lancaster, exhibited for several years a model of a wooden arch bridge, which he claimed to have invented. This model, three or four feet in length, made of hickory sticks about as thick as one's finger, readily bore the weight of a man ; and the town, when the Atherton and Centre bridges next went seaward, voted to adopt riumnier's principle. The new bridge was out of the reach of flood, but had in itself sufficient elements of instability, and the wonder is that it stood ten years. The town returned to the stereotype trestle form again, except at the Centre, Ponikin and North Village, where covered lattice girders were built, which did good service for from thirty-five to forty years. The river bridges were all finally replaced between 1870 and 1875 with iron structures, for which, including the thorough rebuilding of most of the stoue abutments, the total expenditure was thirty-five thousand eight hundred and fifty dollars.

annals of Lancaster, because of the visit of Lafayette, the nation's guest. The general had passed the night at the mansion of S. V. S. Wilder in Bolton, and at half-past six in the morning, escorted by cavalry, proceeded to Lancaster by the turnpike. He was received at the toll-gate with a national salute from the artillery, and upon arrival near the meetinghouse was met under an elaborately decorated arch by the town's committee and conducted to a platform upon the green. There, in the presence of an immense concourse from all the country around, he was welcomed in an address by Dr. Thayer, to which he made brief response, evidently deeply affected by the eloquent words to which he had listened, and by the spontaneous homage of a grateful i)eople. After a brief stay, during which the surviving .soldiers of the Revolution were presented to him, amid the booming of cannon and the tearful acclamations of the multitude, the cavalcade moved on towards Worcester.

To this time and for a decade la(er the martial spirit of the people was kept bright by the militia laws. At least once a year the peaceful highways of the town were wont to bristle wiih bayonets; and the rattle of drum, the squeak of fife and the odor of burnt cartridges overpowered all the sweet sounds and smells of Nature. This was the " May training." The " muster-fields " are historic, and old citizens continue to recount the humors of the parades and sham-fights. The original territory of Lancaster had sixteen military companies, which, with half a dozen from adjoining towns, made up the Lancaster regiment. The town kept up a mounted troop until 1825, and also had a light artillery company and one of light infantry, besides the ununiformed militia.

The one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the destruction of the town by the Indians was celebrated February 21, 1826, when an oration was delivered by Isaac (Joodwin and a poem read by William Lincoln. The former was printed.

So early as 1792 public attention was called to the desirability of a canal from the seaboard to the Connecticut, through Lancaster and Worcester, and preliminary examination of a route was made. This project was again brought forward in 1826, and Lancaster was earnest in its promotion. Loammi Baldwin made a survey through Bolton and Lancaster, his line crossing the Nashua at Carter's Mills; but capital failed to forward the enterprise. The traffic, as before, continued to be conducted by heavy wagons drawn by teams of horses. Forty such wagons daily passed through the town to and from Boston, bearing as many tons of merchandise or farm products. At intervals of a mile or two stood taverns, which entertained many wayfarers, and nightly attracted to their sanded-floored bar-rooms a jovial company, which grew hilarious as the hours sped, under the inspiration of unlimited flip. The most direct route for the Boston and Fitchburg Railway lay through Lancas- ter and Bolton, but the blind selfishness of inn-keepers and stage proprietors was able to create sufficient hostility to the road to carry it by a more tortuous line through towns then less populous. Repentance soon followed, and upon the inception of the Worcester and Nashua road its projectors were met in liberal spirit. Hopes of a more direct connection with Boston have been often raised, and, finally, April 30, 1870, the Lancaster Railroad Company was incorporated. Its road was built by George A. Parker, who became president of the company, but has never been used owing to a controversy between the Fitchburg and Worcester and Nashua Railway corporations.

Capt. Samuel Ward died August 14, 1826, aged eighty-seven. He had for fifty-nine years been resident in Lancaster, an active and liberal citizen. Born in Worcester, September 25, 1739, he was for a time a pupil of John Adams, but entered the army when a boy of sixteen. His career to the date of his coming to Lancaster has been outlined in a previous page. He was devoted to mercantile pursuits until the last twenty years of his life, which he spent in the care of his ample landed estate. His generous hospitality brought many guests to his board, and the charm of his bright presence and richly-fraught si)eech glows for us in the grateful reminiscences of those who were blessed by his friendly interest. He left a legacy of five hundred dollars, the income of which he desired should be annually distributed " to those who are unfortunate and in indigent circum- .stances " in Lancaster. This sum has been increa.sed by sundry similar legacies, and forms the Lancaster Charitable Fund. Capt. Ward had outlived wife and children many years, and willed his estate to his niece, Mrs. Dolly Greene, wife of Nathaniel Chandler. Squire Chandler, as he was always called, thenceforward resided in Lancaster. He was a man of culture, bright wit and quaint individuality ; born in Petersham, October 6, 1773, graduate at Harvard College in 1792, died June 4, 1852. Madame Chandler survived her husband seventeen years, living to the age of eighty-five. Their daughter, Mrs. Mary G. Ware, remains in possession of the homestead.

During 1826 a brick, two-storied structure was built a little south of the meeting-house, and the Latin Grammar School was removed thither from the Old Common. Hitherto a school for boys only, from this time both sexes were admitted. The building was paid for by subscription, and the ground for it was the gift of George and Horatio Carter. An act of incorporation was obtained February 11, 1828, by the subscribers, under the title of the Lancaster Academy. April 7, 1847, a second corporation with the same title took possession of the building by purchase, and, in 1879, the town having bought it, tore it down to make room for the present grammar-school house. The first teacher of the academy in this locality was Nathaniel Kingsbury. He had numerous

The year 1826 was also memorable for the publication of the first systematic history of the town, under the title of " Topographical and Historical Sketches of the Town of Lancaster," occupying ninety pages of the Worcester Magazine. Its able and painstaking author, Joseph Willard, Esq., was descended from a Lancaster family, and practiced law here from 1821 to 1831. He proposed publishing a more comprehensive history of Lancaster, and made valuable collections of material for it, but it was postponed for other literary work, and at his death, in 1865, was found too incomplete for print.

During 1827 the brothers, Joseph and Ferdinand Andrews, wood and copper engravers, came to Lancaster from Hingham. The latter had been editor of the Salem Gazette. George and Horatio Carter built the brick house nearly opposite the hotel, in Lancaster Centre, for a book-store and printing office, and thence, March 4, 1828, the first number of the Lancaster Gazette was issued. It was a sheet of five columns to the page, edited by Ferdinand Andrews, and printed every Tuesday. One of its standing advertisements was : " Wood, corn and oats received in pay for the Lancaster Gazette." The last number was printed April 13, 1830, and Lancaster had no newspaper again until the birth of the Lancaster Couranf, in 1846.

Maps had been ])rinted and colored here as early as 1825 by the Carters, who were copper-plate printers. Although the newspaper enterprise did not prosper, the firm of Carter & Andrews did an extensive business in book publishing, engraving on wood, copper and steel, map printing and coloring, book-binding, etc., employing nearly one hundred persons. A type foundry was established by Charles Carter, and a lithographic press was set up by Henry Wilder in connection with the firm. In 1834 the business passed under control of Andrews, Shephard & Hastings, and, in 1835, Marsh, Capen, Lyon & Webb took possession, using for their publication title " The Education Press." The enterprise was abandoned in 1840. Among many books printed in Lancaster were: "Peter Parley's Works," "Farmer's General Register of the First Letters of New England," "The Comprehensive Commentary," "The Common School .lournal," various standard school books, " The Girl's Own Book," by Lydia M. Child, a series called "The School Library," etc. The wood engraving was superior to any work of the kind before that date in the United States.

The Lancaster Bank was incorporated in the name of Davis Whitman, Jacob Fisher, Jr., Stephen P. Gardner and associates, April 9, 1836, with a capital of one hundred thousand dollars. This was increased by twenty-five thousand dollars in 1847, again by twenty-five thousand in 1851, and by fifty thousand in

1854. In 1876 the capital was reduced to the original amount, and in 1881 the bank was removed to Clinton. The first president was James G. Carter, who was succeeded in 1840 by Jacob Fisher, Jr. He resigned in 1874 and George W. Howe was chosen president. Caleb T. Syrames, who had been cashier for thirty years, retired in 1874 to be succeeded by Wm. H. McNeil. Closely connected with this was the Lancaster Savings Bank, incorporated in 1845, which, after an exceptionally prosperous career, was ruined by a series of unfortunate investments and placed in the hands of receivers. The deposits amounted to about one million dollars, of which the depositors have received fifty-three and one-third per cent., and a small balance awaits the settlement of the Lancaster Bank affairs.

The dam and mills at Ponikin, from the first sawmill built there in 1713 to the existing cotton factory have seen many changes in ownership, location and pro duction. The chief proprietors have been Samuel Ben nett, Joseph Sawyer, Col. Joseph Wilder, Col. William Greenleaf, Major Gardner Wilder, Charles E. Knight, Charles L. Wilder, etc. When the last- named built the present dam, only traces of the older ones, lower upon the stream, were visible, but about a mile up the river stood a prosperous saw and grist-mill, owned by the Shakers, but built by Sewall Carter about 1828 near the site of a saw-mill founded by David Whitcomb as early as 1721. This mill was bought by the American Shoe Shank Company, and for several years leather board, patent shanks, etc., were manufactured there. The works were burned in December, 188.3.

While journeying for health and recreation Nathaniel Thayer, D.D., died very suddenly at Rochester, N. Y., June 23, 1840. There had been for nearly two centuries but one meeting-house, one religious society in Lancaster. Sectarian differences there were, but they seldom disturbed the harmony of social relations. The revered pastor was always the prominent central figure of the community, the father of the parish. Nathaniel Thayer was twenty-four years of age when he began his ministerial labors as the colleague of Rev. Timothy Harrington, having been born at Hampton, N. H., July 11, 1769. He was the son of Rev. Ebenezer and Martha (Cotton) Thayer. His mother was a lineal descendant of John Cotton, the first ministsrof Boston, and through her he ia said to have inherited certain mental and moral features which had distinguished her ancestors, - " an uninterrupted succession of clergymen for nearly two hundred and thirty years." He was fitted for college in the first class at Phillips Exeter Academy and graduated at Harvard in 1789. Two years after his coming to Lancaster, on October 22, 1795, he was married to Sarah Toppan, of Hampton, and made his home at first in the old house now generally known as Mrs. Nancy Carleton's, removing, after the death of his venerable colleague, to the parsonage which stood a few feet south of the well in front of Mrs. Nathaniel Thayer's present residence. He received the degree of S.T.D. in 1817.

Dr. Thayer was in person not over medium height, nor was he otherwise of rare mould, but his dignified mien and a melodious voice of great compass and flexibility gave impressiveness to his oratory. Twenty-three occasional sermons of his have been printed. Though always appropriate and sometimes rich in thought happily expressed, the eff'ectiveness traditional of his discourses was largely due to the thrilling tones and skilful emphasis of the orator. He was conscientiously averse to repeating an old sermon even when his time was overtasked. Because of his power in the pulpit and wisdom in church polity he was frequently summoned even from great distances to aid in ordination and council.

But not alone nor chiefly for his public teachings was he prized by his people. His benignant presence was sought as a blessing in times of joy, a comfort in great sorrow. The prayer from his lips was the neveromitted prelude to business at the town-meeting. The young bashfully, the old unreservedly confided their hopes, soul experiences and troubles to him, assured of hearty sympathy a nd wise counsel. He was the depositary of family secrets; the composer of neighborhood disputes ; the ultimate referee in mooted points of opinion or taste. To a gravity which might have graced the Puritan clergymen, his maternal ancestors, he joined an affability that showed no discrimination in persons, and made him beloved of children.

The day was never too long for his activity. In the summer mornings by five o'clock the early travellers saw him tilling his garden by the roadside. In the alter part of the day he rode about his extended parish, stopping to greet every one he met with kindly inquiry, carrying consolation to the sick and sorrowful, help to the destitute, the refreshment of hope to the despondent, cheerfulness and peace to all. The charm of his fireside, with its hearty hospitality, freely and unostentatiously open to every chance guest, its frugal comforts made sweeter by abounding Christian graces,was never forgotten by those who came under its influence. The wife and mother, who presided with simple dignity over the household, survived her husband exactly seventeen years, falling asleep at the ripe age of eighty-two. In 1881-82 an apse was added to the brick meeting-house, called the Thayer Memorial Chapel, in honor of Dr. Thayer and his wife. In it, besides the spacious chapel, are an elegantly appointed church parlor, a kitchen with closets, etc., a Sunday-school library room, basement and entrance hall. Its cost, amounting to about fifteen thousand dollars, was defrayed by a popular subscription among the friends of the church, and its memorial character is indicated by portraits and a suitably inscribed walltablet.

Rev. Edmund Hamilton Sears, of Sandisfield, graduate of Union College, 1834, was installed as Dr. Thayer's successor December 23, 184U. Failing health compelled him to obtain rest from the cares of so large a parish, and his pastoral connection with the First Church closed April 1, 1847, to the great grief of his people, and the regret of all citizens of the town ; for his presence had ever been a quickening influence to true and earnest living. His subsequent life was largely devoted to literary labors, and of his writings, both prose and poetry, some have won a wide reputation, and that not confined to the so-called religious circles. In 1871 Mr. Sears was honored by Harvard College with the degree of S.T.D. He died at Weston, January 16, 1876. Before him no minister of the First Church had asked or received dismission.

It is now two hundred and thirty-five years since Master Joseph Rowlandson began his ministrations in the Nashua Valley, and there have been but eight incumbents of the pulpit in the church he founded, two of whom were slaiu when their joint service amounted to but twelve years. The present pastor, George Murillo Bartol, was unanimously called to his office a few months after the loss of Mr. Sears, and the fortieth anniversary of his ordination was feelingly celebrated by his parishioners on August 4, 1887. He was born at Freeport, Me., September, 18, 1820, fitted for college at Phillips Exeter Academy, was graduated at Brown University in 1842, and from the Cambridge Divinity School in 1845. His power for good has not been limited by parish confines, nor restricted to the stated religious teachings of his order. The clergy in Lancaster had ever been held the proper supervisors of the schools, and upon his coming Mr. Bartol was at once placed in the School Board, and was annually rechosen, until, having given faithful service, usually as chairman of the board, during twenty-one years, he felt constrained to ask relief from this onerous duty. From the establishment of the public library he has always stood at the head of the town's committee, entrusted with its management, and in its inception and increase his refined taste, rare knowledge of books and sound literary judgment have been invaluable. With talents and scholarship that invited him to a much wider field of service, he has clung lovingly to his quiet country parish, making it the centre of his efforts and aspirations. He is an enthusiastic lover of Nature in all her moods, a discriminating admirer of beauty in art, earnest in his soul convictions, although averse to sectarian controversy - and so tender of heart as to seem charitable to all human weakness, save that he is intolerant of intolerance.

The Universalist Society was organized April 3, 1838, and held its meetings for several years in the academy building. Rufus S. Pope, James S. Palmer, Lucius R. Paige, S.T.D. , and John Harrinian successively supplied tlie pulpit until 1843. A meetinghouse was built in South Lancaster, and dedicated April 26, 1848, but seven years later was closed, in 1858 was sold to the State, and now stands in the grounds of the Industrial School. Rev. Benjamin

Whittemore, born in Lancaster, May 3, 1801, son of Nathaniel, was pastor of the society from 1843 to 1854. He received the degree of S.T.D. from Tufts' College in 1867, and died in Boston, April 26, 1881, having been totally blind for the last ten years of his life.

The First Evangelical Congregational Church was organized at the house of Rev. Asa Packard, a retired clergyman resident in Lancaster, February 22, 1839. Mr. Packard was a fifer in the Continental ,Vrmy, was seriously wounded at Haerlem Heights, entered Harvard College and was graduated in 1783. He was for many years a noteworthy figure in the town, by reason of his old-school manners and dress. He wore knee-breeches and silver buckles, the last seen in Lancaster. March 20, 1843, he was found dead in his chair, being then eighty-five years of age. He preached here but a few times. Rev. Charles Packard was ordained January 1, 1840, resigned his pastorate here in 18.')4, and died at Biddeford, Me., Februarj' 17, 1864. He was the son of Rev. Hezekiah Packard, born in Chelmsford, April 12, 1801, and was graduated at Bowdoin College, 1817. During his valuable ministry in Lancaster, Mr. Packard was familiarly known and greatly esteemed by all classes. Firm in opinion , outspoken where a principle was involved, he was, nevertheless, genial, respectful to the convictions of others, and always a preserver of peace. The meeting-house was dedicated December 1, 1841, was enlarged in 1868, and its accommodations increased in 1852 and 1884, by the addition of a chapel, church parlor, etc.

The successors of Mr. Packard have been : Franklin B. Doe, graduate of Amherst, 1851, ordained October 19, 1854, resigned September 4, 1858; Amos E. Lawrence, graduate of Yale, 1840, installed October 10, 1860, resigned March 6, 1864; George R. Leavitt, graduate of Williams, 18G0, ordained March 29,1865, resigned 1870 ; Abijah P. Marvin, graduate of Trinity, 1839, begun preaching here 1870, was installed May 1, 1872, and asked dismission September 12, 1875, but remains a resident of Lancaster, and an actively useful factor in its affiiirs ; Henry C. Fay, graduate of Amherst, employed 1876; Marcus Ames, acting pastor, 1877 ; William De Loss Love, Jr., graduate of Hamilton, 1873, ordained September 18, 1878, dismissed July, 1881; Darius A. Newton, graduate of Amherst, 1879, ordained September 21, 1882, dismissed 1885; Lewis W. Morey, graduate of Dartmouth, 1876, is now acting i)astor.

The New Jerusalem Church of Lancaster was not legally organized until January 29, 1876, but neighberhood meetings had been held by believers of Swedenborg's doctrines so early as 1830, and for many years Reverends James Reed, Abiel Silver and Joseph Pettee at intervals visited the town and held services, usually in an ante-room of the town hall. Richard Ward was called as the first pastor in 1880, and was installed on the same day with the dedication of the chapel, December 1, 1880. Besides the tasteful chapel, the society owns the parsonage and a small fund, due to the beneficence of Henry Wilder, who was for about twenty years the reader at meetings of the New Church believers. At his death his property was found to be willed for the establishment of this church.

The Seventh-Day Adventist Church in South Lancaster was organized in 1864, and its meeting-house was dedicated May 5,1878. Stephen N. Haskell was ordained its elder in August, 1870.

The old town-house being inadequate to the public needs, in April, 1847, it was voted to erect a new one of brick " between the Academy and the brick meeting-house,'' if land could be obtained, in accordance with plans furnished by John C. Hoadley, a noted civil engineer then living in Lancaster. The building was completed in 1848, costing about seven thousand dollars. It had only a single story at first, but the hall proved almost useless as an auditorium because of echoes, and in 1852 a second story was added at an expense of twenty-five hundred dollars. This has been used ever since as a school-room. The annex at the rear was built in 1881.

Under the stimulus of the comb manufacture and the temporary prosperity of the cotton factories of Poignand & Plant and James Pitts, the southerly portion of Lancaster had slowly grown in population to nearly fifty families by 18H0, and became known as the Factory Village. The valuable water-power of the locality was not half developed for lack of enterprise and capital. In due time these came, and combined with them came rare inventive genius. The Clinton Company began its prosperous career in the manufacture of the Bigelow coach-lace in 1838. In 1841 the Bigelow quilt-looms were started. In 1844 the foundations of the great gingham-mills on the Nashua were laid. Soon after the Bigelow powerlooms revolutionized the making of Brussels carpeting. Lancaster suddenly awoke to find, built upon Prescott's mill-site, the bustling, ambitious village of Clintonville, embr.acing within a single square mile more people than dwelt in all its borders elsewhere. Another division of the old town was seen to be inevitable, and Lancaster, on the 15th of February, 1850, granted to her daughter, Clinton, 4907 acres of land and independence, which grant the Governor and Legislature confirmed on March 14th.

June 15, 1853, a great multitude from near and afar assembled in Lancaster to commemorate the two hundredth anniversary of the incorporation of the town. After exercises at the meeting-house, which included an oration by Joseph Willard, the historian, a procession was formed and marched to the elmshaded lawn at South Lancaster, where three of the town's ministers, Whiting, Gardner and Prentice, had lived and died. There hosts and guests found tables loaded with food, and the usual social exercises ended the festivities. The proceedings of the day were published, forming a volume of two hundred and thirty octavo pages, containing much local history.

The eminent educator. Professor William Russell, established the New England Normal Institute in Lancaster, May 11, 1853. It had but a brief life, though a very useful one, ceasing to be in the autumn of 1855. Dependent for support upon the fees received of students, it could not longer compete with the free normal schools of the State. Professor Russell thenceforward made Lancaster his home, and here died August 16, 1873, "universally beloved and respected for his many virtues. Christian graces and scholarly attainments." He was a native of Glasgow, Scotland, born April 28, 1798, and a graduate of Glasgow University.

Lancaster began the printing of its annual school reports with that of Rev. Edmund H. Sears for the school year 1842-43. The first free high school was established in 1849, but was discontinued after the separation of Clinton in 1850, although the town from time to time voted to pay the tuition at the academy of scholars qualified for a high school course. In 1873 the free high school was re-established and located in the upper rooms of the town hall, and the academy ceased to exist. In 1851 the town, by authority of a recent enactment, abolished the school districts, since which year four of the original eleven district schools have been abandoned, and all schools of suitable size liave been graded into primary and grammar departments. New school buildings, with modern furniture .md appointments, also have replaced the time-worn structures owned by the districts. The town has nearly always stood first in rank in the county, and among the first twenty-five of the State in its expenditure for education. The appropriation for 1888 is six thousand eight hundred dollars, the children of school age numbering three hundred and twentyfour.

It is now one hundred years since the first recorded election in Lancaster of a school visiting committee. Dr. Thayer became chairman of the board in place of Rev. Timothy Harrington in 1794, and held the position forty-six years, until his decease. Silas Thurston, a veteran schoolmaster, was first elected in 1820 and served for thirty-seven years. He also died in oflice, October 25, 1868. Capt. Samuel Ward served about twenty-five years between 1788 and 1816. Rev. George M. Bartol was of the school com. mittee during twenty-one years between 1848 and 1872. Solon Whiting served sixteen years between 1820 and 1843. Fifteen others have been members of the School Board ten years or more each.

After the destruction of Lancaster in 1676, Master Rowlandson's books are spoken of by Mather as though a considerable part of his loss. Mention is often found in early inventories and elsewhere of respectable literary collections iu the possession of Lancaster scholars. But the first considerable library of a public character here was established by an asso ciation of citizens in 1790, and known as the Lancaster Library. This society was reorganized in 1800 as the Social Library Association. In 1850 the books were sold at auction to the number of a little over a thousand. The Library Club was organized the next year, and in 1862 its collection, numbering over six hundred volumes, together with one hundred and thirty volumes of the Agricultural Library Association, were offered in aid of a tree public lil)rary, provided the town would assume its support and increase as authorized by statute. The town accepted the gift, added the little school libraries which had been purchased in 1844, and opened the collection to the public October 4, 1862, in an upper room of the town hall.

January 22, 1860, Mr. Nathaniel Thayer proffered the town a permanent fund of eight thousand dollars the income of five thousand to be expended in the purchase of books for the library, and that of the remainder for the care of the public burial-grounds. The trust was accepted at the next town-meeting with grateful acknowledgments. At this date there had been some discussion about the erection of a monument to those men of Lancaster who had given their lives for their country during the Rebellion. It was wisely decided at the town-meeting of April, 1866, that the memorial should take the form of a useful public building, with suitable tablets and inscriptions upon its inner walls. The town voted the sum of five thousand dollars for the erection of a library room, to be known as Memorial Hall, provided an equal amount should be obtained by private subscription The building was completed and dedicated June 17, 1868, Rev. Christopher T. Thayer being the orator ol the day, and Nathaniel Thayer presiding. The cost of this memorial was nearly thirty thousand dollars, of which Nathaniel Thayer defrayed nearly twothirds.

Hon. Francis B. Fay subscribed one thousand dollars, and afterwards gave one hundred dollars more for a clock. Colonel Fay had been a resident of the town for about ten years, having built a mansion in 1859 upon the site now covered by the country-house of E. V. R. Thayer. He was born in Southborough June 12, 1793, had served in both branches of the Legislature for Chelsea, of which city he was the first mayor, and for a brief time was Representative in Congress, being appointed by Governor Boutwell to fill the unexpired term of Hon. Robert Rantoul, deceased. He died in 1876.

George A. Parker presented the library with a large collection of costly works relating to the fine arts, selected by himself and valued at over five hundred dollars, and gave seven hundred dollars for the purchase of books of similar character. This enlightened benefaction of Mr. Parker claims the gratitude of the community not only, nor chiefly, for its munificence, but because it richly endowed a department which must otherwise have been meagrely furnished, - affords the means for gratifying the love of beauty, innate in all humanity, - combats utilitarianism and teaches refinement - exerts a humanizing and exalting influence by appeals to hope and imagination from beyond the dry line of knowledge. The nature of the gift discloses something of the character of the donor, who was a man of broad intellect, keen powers of observation and comprehensive views upon measures of public utility. Extensive travtl had developed in him cosmopolitan tastes, he had acquired a wide acquaintance with English literature, and his private collection of books was of choice selection and the largest in the town.

George Alanson Parker was born May 9, 1822, at Concord, N. H., one of thirteen children. Being early thrown upon his own resources, he was forced reluctantly to abandon cherished hopes of a classical education, although fitted for entrance to Harvard College, and began his life's work in the office of the noted civil engineer, Loammi Baldwin. In 1842 he opened an engineering oflSce in Charlestown, Mass., associated with Samuel M. Felton, whose youngest sister became his wife. Among other public works in which he was engaged during this part of his career were the surveys of the Filchburg, Peterboro' and Shirley and Sullivan roads, and the building of the Sugar Elver and Bellows Falls bridges. In the spring of 1857 he came to Lancaster to reside. He became the chief engineer for the Philadelphia, Wilmington and Baltimore Railway, and during a long illness of President Felton was acting president of the corporation. The building of the Susquehanna Bridge at Havre de Grace, Md., was his most celebrated professional success, and one which gave him a national reputation. In the earlier stages of its construction he patiently overcame almost insuperable natural difficulties, and when the superstructure was well advanced a tornado destroyed, in a few moments, the labors of months. This terrible misfortune be bore with cheerful fortitude, displaying great fertility of expedient and fresh energy in the reconstruction. During the Rebellion he was agent of the government for supplying rolling-stock to the roads used by the War Department. His latest work was the building of the Zanesville and Ohio River Railway. He was for many years consulting engineer of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad corporation. He freely gave his townsmen the benefit of his large experience and skill for the permanent improvement of the public ways and bridges, and served them faithfully for three years in the Legislature.

Throughout a life of unusual activity and grave responsibility never did his home in Lancaster fail to give him peace, rest and inspiration for new work. For Lancaster he always had a devoted affection, and for her people a sincere regard, which displayed itself in earnest and ready sympathy in time of need. Though too busy a man to be greatly given to social recreation, his hospitality was unbounded, and he was one of the most entertaining and genial of hosts, the most kindly and helpful of neighbors. He lived in closest sympathy with Nature, having the tenderest appreciation of every beauty in her realms of field, forest and stream. In the marvelous order of the seasons, in the development of animate and inanimate creation, he recognized the law and beneficence of the Almighty and found confirmation of his strong and abiding religious faith. By the roadsides and within the borders of his own estate remain the evergrowing evidence of his love for trees and his thought for his children's children and the townspeople. In the graceful outline and the grateful shade of a stately tree he felt truly that to them who should live after him he had left a kindly memory.

He died very suddenly April 20, 1887, before any waning of bodily or mental vigor was discernible in him, and before he had reached the span of life allotted to man ; but he had done a full life-time's work. Death came as he would have had it - in his own home and when his earthly labors had found successful conclusion,

Hon. George Bancroft, September 20, 1878, in memory of kindness received in boyhood of ('apt. Samuel Ward, asked the town to receive one thousand dollars in trust, the income " to be expended year by year for the purchase of boobs in the department of history, leaving the word to be interpreted in the very largest .sense." The trust was accepted with proper expression of thanks, and is entitled the Bancroft Library Fund, in memory of Capt. Samuel Ward. The income of two thousand dollars, the bequest of Rev. Christopher T. Thayer, who died in 1880, is also available for the purchase of books. Special bequests have been received from Mary Whitney, Deborah Stearns, Sally Flagg, Mrs. Catherine (Stearn.s) Ballard and Martha R. Whitney. Henry Wilder and Dr. J. L. S. Thompson, by their intelligent interest and zeal, secured valuable archfeological and natural history collections, which are constantly increasing by donations.

The library is more generously endowed with expensive and beautiful works on the natural sciences and art than most public libraries of twice its size and age. It is also rich in local history and bibliography, as such a collection should be. The town appropriates for its care and increase one thousand dollars annually, besides the dog-tax, fines and sales of duplicates - amounting to four or five hundred dollars more.

The memorial hall, occupying the larger part of the edifice, serves as a reading-room, contains shelving for twenty thousand volumes, and a tablet upon which are cut the names of the town's soldiers who died in the war. A fire-proof room is used by town officers, and contains the town records. The natural history collections are displayed in an upper hall. The number of bound books is now twenty thousand ; of pamphlets, over ten thousand. About thirteen thousand volumes were loaned during 1887 for home use, or an average of twenty-nine for each family in town. The management of the library and cemeteries is vested in a committee of seven. Rev. George M. Bartol has been chairman of this board from the first. Dr. J. L. S. Thompson served as librarian, with the exception of one year, until 1878, and Miss Alice G. Chandler has held the office since that date. The original building being already crowded by the growth of the collections, extensive additions are in progress which will more than quadruple the shelf capacity. The cost of these improvements is assumed by the four sons of Nathaniel Thayer, honoring their father's generous interest in this noble institution, the pride of the town.

There are six public burial-grounds in Lancaster, all save one thickly set with the narrow homes of the town's majority. The oldest is mentioned in 1658 as " burying-place hill," and probably was set apart for its purpose in 1653, being close by the site of the first meeting-house. The oldest date legible is that upon a stone marking the grave of the first John Houghton - April 29, 1684. There are older memorial stones, however, but undated. Among them are that of the first John Prescott, 1683, and that of Dorothy, the first wife of Jonathan Prescott, who died a year or two before the massacre. The earliest stones are rude slabs of slate, and the brief inscriptions, now almost illegible, seem to have been incised by an ordinary blacksmith's chisel in unskilled hands. The graves of four of the earlier ministers - Whiting, Gardner, Prentice and Harrington - are grouped together in this yard.

The second burying-ground is that upon the Old Common, opposite the site of the third church. The land for this was given by the second Thomas Wilder, probably in 1705. The third, called the North Cemetery, as a town institution dates from 1800, but the field had been used for burial purposes several years earlier.

The Middle Cemetery contains about two acres, and was purchased of Dr. Thayer and Hon. John Sprague in 1798. The North Village Cemetery covers about four acres, and was bought in 1855. Eastwood embraces forty-six acres, was purchased in 1871, accepted as a cemetery in April, 1874, and dedicated October 12, 1876. The grounds are forest clad and naturally beautiful, the highest elevations commanding extensive views. They are laid out with winding drives according to a plan made by H. W. S. Cleveland, landscape architect, a native of Lancaster. All the public burial-places are cared for by a special committee. The town's appropriation for' this purpose is usually three hundred dollars, and the income of seven special funds amounts to two hundred dollars more.

Chapter Vi

At the Presidential election of 1856 the vote of Lancaster was : For John C. Fremont, 232 ; James Buchanan, 35; Millard Fillmore, 10. The vote of 1860 stood: For Abraham Lincoln, 183; Stephen A. Douglas, 42; John Bell, 41. The men who thus voted, when traitors appealed from the ballot-box to the sword, were not tardy in defence of their convictions. One of Lancaster's sons served in the Sixth Regiment, in which was shed the first blood of the Rebellion, in 1861, on the anniversary of the battle of Lexington. The news of that bloodshed told every village of the North that the bitterness of civil war had begun. Monday evening, April 22d, a massmeeting of the citizens in Lancaster town-hall. Dr. J. L. S. Thompson chairman, deliberated upon the grave dangers threatening the republic. Enthusiastic patriotism ruled the assembly ; nor was it content with flamboyant resolutions only, but began then and there the organization of a company for the defence of the government.

This company, seventy-eight men, chiefly of Lancaster and Bolton, was called the Fay Light Guard, in honor of Hon. Francis B. Fay, of Lancaster. It was soon drilling under command of Thomas Sherwin, captain-elect, and three weeks later joined the Fifteenth Regiment, in camp at Worcester. Without any suflScient reason, alleged or apparent, the Governor arbitrarily refused to commission the com pany's chosen commander as captain, and the men, in response, encouraged by the sympathy of the whole camp, refused to be sworn in under the stranger from another county set over them. The company was therefore disbanded, when the rank and file, almost without exception, enlisted in other companies of the Fifteenth and Twenty-first Regiments. They had received an outfit, and been paid one dollar per day for all time spent in drill, at an expense to the town of nearly one thousand dollars. Before the end of August, 1861, forty volunteers represented Lancaster in the Union Army, and before October closed, four of these slept their last sleep on the banks of the Potomac, victims in the defeat at Ball's Bluff".

Meetings for drill were held in the town;hall on Monday evenings, in which many a volunteer who afterwards did good service in the field received his first lessons in the school of the soldier. Donations of money, underclothing, etc., were solicited by a citizens' comm.ittee, and, during the first winter of the war, forwarded for distribution among the town's soldiers. In July, 1862, systematic measures were adopted for affording relief to the sick and wounded. Frequent public meetings kept enthusiasm from flagging. Seventeen three-years' men were demanded of the town, and were soon marching with ^he Thirty-fourth Regiment. It was voted, July '23d, to pay each recruit sworn in the sum of one hundred dollars. Twenty-one nine-months' men were called for in August, and entered the camp of the Fifty-third, under Lieut. Edward R. Washburn.

The Soldiers' Relief Association was formed August 27, 1862, with Mrs. Harriet W. Washburn, president, and Miss Elizabeth P. Russell, secretary and treasurer. It soon became a branch of the Sanitary Commission, held weekly meetings, which were uniformly well attended, and quietly accomplished a vast amount of beneficent work.

In the calls of 1863 the town again offered one hundred dollars bounty in addition to that promised by State and national government, and her quota was quickly filled, most of the recruits being assigned to the Thirty-fourth and Thirty-sixth Regiments. In 1864 the premium was raised to one hundred and twenty-five dollars, the maximum allowed by law, and sundry substitutes were hired. As news came from the great battle-fields one by one, Lancaster learned that her sons were doing their duty everywhere, and family after family mourned their unreturning brave. Capt. George L. Thurston came from the battle-ground of Shiloh, his constitution undermined by fatigue and exposure, to die among his kindred. Capt. Edward R. Washburn was brought from the bloody charge at Port Hudson wilh a shattered thigh, to die at home within a year. In the very last days of the struggle Col. Frank Washburn fell mortally wounded, while leading a desperate cavalry charge against an overwhelming force of the enemy at High Bridge.

Bancroft, Frank Carter, ntias Henry T. Colter, 8th New Hampshire, A ; 17 ; Oct. 25, '61 ; drummer ; wovinded in ankle at Maryville, La., May, "63 ; re-enlisted ; mustered out Oct. 28, '65.

Hardy, George H., 21st, D ; 21 ; Aug. 23, '61 ; corporal ; wounded in leg at Roanoke Island Feb. 7, '62 ; re-enlisted Jan. 2, '64, and transferred to 36th, I ; wounded in body at Petersburg, Va., June 1, '64 ; transferred to 56th June 8, '65; mustered out July 12, '65; credited to Harvard and Leominster.

Johnson, Adelbert W., 15th, C ; 23 ; July 12, 'CI ; discharged for disability May, '62 ; enlisted in 53d, Nov. 6, '62, from Leominster ; wounded in knee at Port Hudson, La., and died at Baton Rouge July 11, '63.

June 9, '05 ; a non-resident substitute. Langley, James, 2d Cavalry ; 22 ; May 7, '04 ; a non-resident substitute. Lawrence, Sewell T., i!3d, H ; 31 ; Oct. 5, 'Gl ; discharged for disability year, chieHy on gunboat "Nipsic " in Cliarleston blockade. McRell, William J., U. S. Navy ; 21; enlisted Aug. 12, '62; wounded by concuBsion of shell Feb. 1, '63, at Stone Inlet, S. V. ; taken prisoner. Mahar, Dennis, 21st, B ; 21 ; Aug. 23, '61 ; discharged for disability non-resident substitute. Smith, William, 28th ; 25 ; May 7, '64 ; a non-resident substitute. Suuth, William, 13th Battery L. A. ; 22 ; April 8, '04 ; mustered out

Francis Washburn

In the month of April, 1838, John M. Washburn, then a merchant on the eve of retiring from business, removed from Boston to Lancaster, and in the July following his third son, Francis, was born. Bringing into his life and character, as an inheritance from his Puritan ancestors, an integrity of purpose and an indomitable will, it seemed from his childhood that he was born to be a leader of men. Of a nature somewhat reserved, though deeply imbued with the spirit of tenderness for a few, his boyhood was not one of numerous friendships, nor was be in manhood a seeker for popular favor. From the academy of his native town he went, at the age of sixteen years, to serve a regular term in the Lawrence Machine Shop, that he might know his work from the beginning and become a master of the details of practical en-, gineering. From Lawrence he went to the Scientific School at Cambridge, and in 1859 to the famous school of mining and engineering at Freiburg, in Saxony. He became an accomplished student in these subjects, determined to fully equip himself for the important positions which were already awaiting his acceptance on his return, .lesse Boult, of San Francisco, who was one of his fellow-students at Freiburg, says of him that he was regarded then as a young man of the highest intellectual powers, and sure of a very brilliant future.

When, in 1880-61, the storm that now seems so far from us, began to blacken in our civil sky, he wrote " I must hasten my return. If the war comes I shall sail at once." When the storm broke upon the cnuntry he said, " I will take a commission if it is offered ; I will go as a private soldier at all events." He came home to find a commission already promised, but also to find that his father was languishing in fatal disease, which was rapidly hastening towards its termination. Restrained, therefore, by filial solicitude and dnty, from immediately proceeding to the field, he now studied the arts of war with the same fidelity with which he had devoted himself to those of peace.

In December, 18(il, his' commission came, and with it orders to proceed at once to duty. His only regret in receiving it was that it came one day too late to receive his father's sanction. Waiting only to pay the last tribute of honor and affection, he reported for duty and was mustered as a second lieutenant in the First Kegiment of Massachusetts Cavalry, then in camp at Reedville. The history of this distinguished regiment is part of that of the war and need not be dwelt upon here.

He was successively captain in the Second, and lieutenant-colonel in the Fourth Cavalry, and, on the resignation of Colonel Rand, was, in February, I8(i5, commissioned as colonel, which position beheld until and at the time of his death.

Though constantly in the service, and often employed in difSeult and dangerous cavalry service. Colonel Washburn escaped any injury till his last engagement, and was seldom, if ever, off duty by reason of sickness. After the death of his brother. Captain Edward Richmond Washburn, who died of wounds received at the first assault on Port Hudson, La., he made two brief visits to his home. He was always considerate in asking leave of absence, feeling that such privileges were more valuable and more due to brother officers who had left wives and children behind them. Nor was he less considerate of the men under his command. At the time of his last visit he said earnestly and with a strong sense of justice: " If I die on the field, you must leave me there. The men in my regiment have just as much to live for as I have: their death will bring equal sorrow to their homes ; the officer is no more than his men. Buried where they fell, so let it be with me."

He was mortally wounded in the brilliant and chivalrous engagement at High Bridge, Va., the last in the war, on April (i, 1865. This was one of those forlorn hopes, in which it became the duty of a small, well-disciplined and gallant band to make a stand against the flower of the Confederate Army, in its retreat from Richmond. The orders were not wholly clear ; but the purport of them was to hold back the retreating army to the last possiljle moment.

Whether these orders were wisely and judiciously given may not now properly be ini|uired; but hi.story tells that they were executed with a firmness and valor unsurpassed in the annals of ancient or modern times. The odds were too great to be computed. Colonel Washburn charged the enemy with an intrepidity and ert'ectiveness which called out their expressed admiration on the field and in their subseipient accounts of the engagement. The orders were literally and fearlessly obeyed, and the enemy was held back till every officer of the command had been killed, wounded or made a prisoner. The courage and gallantry displayed in this action were noted by the highest officers of the army, and Colonel Washburn was, at the request of Lieutenant-General Grant, commissioned as a brevet brigadier-general for gallant and meritorious services.

The actual hand-to-hand encounters of sabre with sabre, as well as the actual crossing of hostile bayonets, were rare in our Civil War, us in most of the wars of history. But in this action men fought hand-to-hand. An accomplished swordsman, this brave officer had already disarmed one antagonist, and was engaged with another, when he received a pistol-shot from the first. After this he received the blow of the sabre which proved fatal, fracturing the skull. And. thus, by bullet and sabre-stroke, his magnificent physique, but not his dauntless spirit, was conquered.

The untiring devotion of one' who had with equal faithfulness performed the same loving service for his brother Edward, brought Ool. Washburn from the field of battle to the house of his brother, Hon. John D. Washburn, of Worcester. He had hoped to reach the home of his childhood, and this was all the hope that could be counted as rea.sonable, since from the first the complication of his wounds rendered recovery almost impossible. His strength proved, however, unequal to the full journey. Not on the field, nor in the hospital and among strangers, but in the presence of tliose he loved, and in his brother's home, he died at the early age of twenty-six, on the 22d of April, 18(i5. So gave himself a willing sacrifice in his country's cause, this young and noble citizen, whose name has been and will ever be honored at home, and to whom, for his known purity of character and brave and chivalrous deeds, has been accorded from abroad the well-merited appellation, "The White Knight ol Modern Chivalry."

The following tribute to that heroic battalion of the Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry and their gallant leader appeared in the yew Yoi-k Evening Post fifteen years after their desperate charge on the memorable ()th of April, 1865. Its repetition here may serve as a fitting close to this sketch of one of many modest heroes, who bravely dared, patiently endured and nobly died in defense of their country's life and honor.

[The fourth Massachusetts Cavalry, or rather a small portion of its rank and file, but with most ol its field and staff officers, and led by its Colonel, Francis Washburn, formed part of the advance which, to use Geiioral Grant's words in his last general report of the war, " heroically attacked and detained the head of Lee's column near Farmville, Va., until its commanding general was killed and his small force overpowered." Less than a thousand men, all told, without any artillery, held in check for a considerable time, when every moment almost was worth an empire, a rebel force outnumbering them ten to one. Of the twelve Fourth Cavalry officers who went into the fight eight were killed and wounded, including their gallent leader. He lived to reach his home, and died in his mother's arms.]

Gen 1- Francis Washburn

Lancaster's quota under ;..l calls was one hundred and seveuty-oiie men for three years, and there were credited to her one hundred and eighty-one. The preceding list proves this to be an underestimate of the town's contribution of men for the supjiression of the great treason. The veteran re-enlistments numbered fifteen. Ten citizens were drafted and jiaid each three hundred dollars commutation. Thirtyseven non-resident substitutes were hired. Twenty of Lancaster's sons won commissions; twenty-seven were killed or mortally wounded in action, and twenty-three died ofdisea.se during the war. On Independence Day, 186."), the town celebrated the victory of free institutions in the grove at the " Meeting of the AVaters;" Eev. George M. Bartol delivered a thoughtful addre.is to the great throng of people there assembled, and Professor William Russell read the Emancii)ation Proclamation.

Early in 1879 a comprehensive, illustrated history of Lancaster was published, forming an octavo volume of seven hundred and ninety-eight pages. For several years previous the desirability of such a publication had been privately and publicly discussed, it being supposed that among the i)apers of .Joseph Willard, E.sq., deceased in 18(3.5, would be fountl a history of thetown iiartitilly prepared for the press. Disapjiointcd in this hope, at a town-meeting in April, 1876, the subject was referred to a committee, consisting of Eev. George M. Bartol, Rev. Abijah P. Marvin, Jonas M. Damon, Charles T. Fletcher and Charles L. Wilder, with power to take such action as they might deem expedient. Jlr. Marvin was employed to write the history, and in March, 1877, the town sanctioned the doings of the committee and appropriated fifteen hundred dollars to meet the needful expenses. Seven hundred copies of the book were printed at a total cost of $3542.44. A copy was given to each family belonging to the town, and about seven hundred dollars were realized from sales.

Until the present century the town's paupers were aided at their own homes by special vote of money, or placed with such persons as would take them for a fixed price by the year. Thus Dr. James Carter foi many years contracted to support them for so much per head, and housed them in an old building near his own stately dwelling, but on the opposite side of the way. In 1824 Rev. Asa Packard influenced the town to a more humane policy. A farm in the extreme northern section of the town was bought for two thousand dollars, and there the homeless poor were collected, a family being hired to conduct the establishment under direction of chosen overseers. The buildings proving insufficient, new ones were built in 1828 on a road to the south of the old, which served until 1872, when the town bought the large three-story mansion built by Dr. Calvin Carter on the site of his father's, burnt in 1821. This was used until destroyed by fire. May 11, 1883, when the present costly almshouse and farm buildings were erected near the ashes of the old.

At the annual town-meeting of March, 1882, it being known that Nathaniel Tliayer lay critically ill at his city residence, a committee were chosen to address him in a letter giving expression to the general solicitude and sympathy, and tendering to him renewed acknowledgments for his many and generous acts of good will to the town. A year later, one tempe.stuous day, a large number of Lancaster's citizens paid voluntary tribute of respect by attending his funeral at the First Church in Boston. Not the sorrow of his many private pensioners only, but the saddened faces of the whole community bore testimony to his worth and the grave sense of his loss. A tablet of Caen stone inscribed to his memory has been placed in the Thayer Memorial Chapel.

Nathaniel Thayer was the youngest of three sons born to Nathaniel Thayer, D.D., and his wife, Sarah Toppan, Sejitember 11, 1808, in Lancaster. Nurtured amid rural surroundings, in a household where frugality was a necessary law, he died the wealthiest citizen of Massachusetts; a succe.ss not striven for with insatiate greed of accumulation, but gathered as the natural harvest of activity and sagacity, and prudently garnered for use. Mr. Thayer's school education was wholly Lancastrian ; but among his teachers at the little local academy were such inspired masters as Jared Sparks, George B. Emerson and Solomon P. Miles. After leaving school he entered upon mercantile life, and at the age of twenty-six years was received as a partner by his eldest brother, who had established a very prosperous banking and brokerage business in Boston. The firm of John E. Thayer & Co. being dissolved by the

Mr. Thayer, on June 10, 1840, married Cornelia, daughter of General Stephen Van Rensselaer. In 1870 he decided to make Lancaster his legal home, having for ten years previous spent the summers in a mansion built among the elms that shaded the old parsonage where his revered father and mother had lived and died. When here he led a quiet life, in cordial sympathy with the townspeople, studiously avoiding everything that might seem ostentatious in manner, equipage or speech, and taking a personal interest in whatever concerned the material, moral or intellectual welfare of the town. He was tenderly loyal to old acquaintanceship, and greatly enjoyed revisiting the scenes and renewing the memories of his boyhood's days. He was ever a cheerful giver to all philanthropic objects, a munificent benefactor of Harvard College, a generous patron of scientific research. His liberality was wisely discriminative in its aims, independent in method, and the modest dignity which was his most obvious characteristic shunned all publicity.

For about three years before his death, which took place March 7, 1883, he whs debarred by failing vigor of body and mental powers from active participation in business pursuits. He was a member of the American Academy and Massachusetts Historical Society, and honorary member of the Berlin Geographical Society. In 1866 he received the degree of Master of Arts from Harvard College, and in 1868 was elected a Fellow of the Corporation, a very exceptional compliment, never but once before paid to one not an alumnus. Four sons and two daughters, with their mother, survive him. His eldest son, Stephen Van Rensselaer, a graduate of Harvard in 1870, died October 10, 1871. He was a young man of noble impulses and rare sweetness of nature, who never had an enemy, made hosts of friends, and has left behind him a memory fragrant with generous deeds.