Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Mass.) 1828-1830, 1828-09-23


community can visit the mill and Judge
for themselves. Cincinnati Republican.
RECOLLECTIONS.
Mr.. Peter Shumway, who died at Ok
ford on the 30th of August last, at the
advanced age of 90, was, at the time of
his decease the oldest inhabitant of that
town. A friend, has furnished us with
the following notice, for which the materi-
ais were procured from the recollections
of the patriarch, a few days before his
DEATH Worcester RgiS.
Mr.. S. was born in the year 1875,
served in the French War through the
years 1855 and 1859, and was at the
taking of Ticonderoga and Crown Point
During the Revolutionary war, he kept
tavern at the place where he di-
ed, on Johnson's plain, about mile South
of the Centre of Oxford. At that period,
Shumway's tavern was on the line of
communication between Boston and New
York, and enjoyed large share of custom
from the travellers that passed to and from
the army. The wife of Mr.. Shumway,
who died not long since, at an advanced
age, was Levins, and a great-grand-
daughter of that Lepins who was murder
ed with johnson or Jeanson and his fam
lily, by the Indians, in 1896. In Dir.
Holmes Memoir of the French Protes-
tants who first settled the town of Oxford,
this Levins, upon the authority of GER
tifcate under the hand Of Gov. Stoughton
and others, is called Eyans, a mistake
perhaps worth correcting, as the name of
Levins is, with pious regard, still retained
in the family of Mr.. Shumway. The
circumstances of the massacre of Leyins
and Jeanson and his three children, as
learnt by Mr.. Shumway, from his wife's
ancestors, are substantially like those re-
lated by DIR. Holmes in his valuable me-
moir above referred to. Levins belonged
to Killingly, Conn. On the evening of
the massacre, Aug. rs, 1896, he was
travelling from KiIlingly to Boston. He
had put up at Jeanson's, and while sitting
in the house it was beset by the Indians.
and Levins was shot through the window,
While the Indians were despatching Lee
wins and Jeanson's children, Mrs. jean
son made her escape through back door
and fled towards Woodstock, hoping tc
meet her husband who had gone to that
place to MILL But she escaping by one
path and her husband unfortunately re.
turning by another, he, without any no
tice of the massacre, rode up to his door
and at the instant he was expecting the
saIutations of his wife and children, was
shot by the Indians from his horse. This
incident in the history of the town of Ok
ford as related by Mr.. Shumway, is the
more interesting, as it was the occasion o.
the abandonment of the French settlement
in that ancient town, which had beer
commenced as early as 1896. The traces
of the cellar where Jeanson's house stood
are still distinctly to be seen near the
house where Mr.. Shumway lived and di
ed. 1t is marked by small heap Of
stones on the southeast side of beautiful
grove of pines ON Johnson's plain, which
must have been noticed by every person
who has passed on the road from Oxford
to South Oxford. These facts were
communicated by Mr.. Shumway, with a
distinctness Of recollection, which pro-
duced the conviction that he must, in his
day, have been a man of observation and
intelligence; and all who have known
him will accord to him the character Of
an honest man and good citizen. His
posterity constitute one of the largest fam
lilies in the town of Oxford"
AN IRISH PEASANTS CABIN.
The following description of an Irish cabin is ex-