Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1859-10-21

captves have been tortured or released at its base,
what assaults and murders planned upon Its sides,
what settlements marked and deyoied from , ls top'
who gave it the name you with such good usle re-
fuse to change and witnessed its baptism, lar back
| "When the gray chief and gifted seer
| Worshipped the god of thunders here"
We may interrogate it, but in vain. Everything,
from the lighting the first Indian fire IN ITS forests TO
the last tale of love whispered in pale-iaced maid
ems ear at sunset or on its summit IS securely lock
ed in its faithful bosom, arrayed in the splendor
OF its auiumnal robes it looks down, in serene and
| silent majesty, upon our services to-day.
Were those venerable sides now To break their long
silence and essay to speak, dead and living would
join in equal and earnest protest from the first noun
| tain Hiawatha who there laid tile red deer at his
Minnehaha'S feet, TO the last summer visitor who
there breathed words of love 10 his Geneyieve till
she, too,
"Said, and blushed to say it,
Il will follow you, my husband. ;"
GLAND in hand they went together,
Through the woodland and the meadow"
The first reference to Wachusett unless we adopt
the suggestion that it is the hill laid down by John
Smith in his map in 1915, is by Gov. winthrop, IN
1882. On the 9th of January of that year, tine
Governor and some company with him, says ms jour
nal, went up Charles River about eight miles above
Waterown, y where ''they went up very sigh rock
from whence they might see all over Nelpnett ana
very high hill due west, about forty miles on"
Probably this is the first specific mention ofany por
ton of the territory of Worcester county, as its will
derness never trayersed by civilized man phtli
Mr. Russell gave an account of the first public eel
ebration within the town, when the Indians built
great wigwam, large enough TO hold hundred IN
dlans, for dance after the attack on SudDurf-
In 1856, Henry Willard, Joseph Rowlandson, DO
seph Foster, Benz. Willard, and Cyprian Stevens,
made the purchase of Puagaston, Pompamainay
Wananassan Sassawanonow and Pualissunit, OF
certain tract of land, containing IL mites uAFti
known Naquag. for which they paid 10. Inc pnF-
chase included what is now Rutland, Haobardston,
Barre, Oakham part Of Paxton anu Inc larger
half OF Princeton. Its nOrthery line ran nearly
mile north of where we are assembled. across me
whole of our town, 10 "GTeate W achl>eli, eAclu1-
ing however. that mountain. In III, the General
Court confirmed the Indian deed On the l4tn OF
April Of that year the proprietors Reid theiF n[st
meeting. There were then thiTty-three shares- IN
ZIG the town OF Rutland wzS SCI on Inc FrOpFls-
tors held several meetings. and AZ one L was voted
that So OF land, including the nesting house
hill Be set of 10 Rev. Thomas Prince IN eoIslSleEs-
ton OF his gre2; care and labor IN calculating snd
computing. and other good services he land w1Ss
YaTiously Subdiyided. but N2chnsett was avoided; Il
fayorite with the land seekers, who alike, by
their inhOSpiiabe lines, thrust out into cold scl
sion, till some enJeTprsing surveyor should orlng II
in by gigantic sag Of the chain. or some mastery
deduction.
We skip great portion of the statistical part of
the address, as it will be published. probably The
first settler is understood TO have been Joshua VII
der, Jr. He for many years occupied the farm more
recently occupied by the late Peabody Houghton,
and has been generally stated TO have settled there
early 1872; but find file at the State House
a petition from him to the General Court, at the
May session in 1142 wherein he sets forth that the
distance between Lancaster and new town called
Nichewang is about twenty-five miles; that about
ten miles west of Lancaster meeting house there Is
tract of province land which contains about 40
acres, lying between land formerly granted to VIM.
Plaised and Allen, and farm called Blagwus farm,
which lies out of the bounds OF any town" lie pc
titions "a poor, honest and laborious man. for
grant of said land that he may settle with his iami-
ly thereon. The General Court granted his petition,
provided he built good house for the accommoda-
ton of Travellers and cleared up 10 acres to English
grass or blowing four years and he to dwell with
other good thereon,
This must have been the place where Wider set
tied and i'll 1743 not 1879. His was undoubtedly the
first settlement in the town. The first settlement OF
our town had something of general interest, and
in aid of the pioneer emgrants to the then near
est west. Mr.. Wilder lost his property and moved
to Bechertown where he died i'll 1852. The next
settler was Abah Moore who began the farm now
occupied by Joseph A. Read, in 1850 The third in
habitant was Mr.. Cheever, who occupied the Cobb
farm in the part. The next settlement was made
by Robert keyes, on the farm more recently oecu-
pied by Luther Goodnow. Three OF these early set
Elements were in opposite extremes of the town. and
the other i'll the center In lI55, Mr. heyes lost a
dau glitter in the woods, and she never was found
The subsequent settlements rapid. The next
IN POINT 1 { 81 mg was by 0 Te DAYS on lark mi
region, where the Valley Village mills now stand.
In june lbs, there were thirty families in town.
Excellent notions had the well as the faith
ers, in those days first freedom; then an axe; then
clearing; then house; then wife to make it
home, Bible to make it Christian, honest, loving
labor TO give ii comfort and thenceforth everything
went as regularly cockwork, from the care OF the
dairy TO the christening OF the children.
The incorporation of our town was not obtained
until after a and prOtracted struggle OF more
than year between the north and south, in modern
language, of quite a sectional character. The final
result was, that the 10th of october one hundred
years ago, the act which occasions our festivities re-
ceiyed the consent of the royal Governor. The act
of 1853 made the territory in district. but, in
its own language, invested them with all the priyi
eges powers, aud immuuities, that towns i'll the
province did might enjoy, that of sending repre-
sentative to the General Assembly only excepted
Early in the history of Rutland, east wing, the
Rev. Thomas Prince, colleague pastor of the Old
South church, Boston, became a large proprietor,
owning five shares. His subsequent interest was
probably larger. For this reason, and in respect TO
him, and possibly to smooth matters little with the
Rutland opposition, the town named Prince
Town-a name which the act of III contracted TO
Princeton.
The first town meeting was held at the tavern of
Abijah Moore, Dec "a, 1853. The meeting house was
boarded in May, 1863. Although the first records
lost. it is probable that DR.. Zachariah Harvey
the first Town Clerk.
There was considerable discussion on the site for
the meeting house. before it was finally located ON
'the highest part of the land given by John and Ca
leb MiIck, three pine trees marked near large
flat rock on meeting house hill. Here i'll l162 the
first church was reared, fifty toots long and forty
toots wide"
"scarce steal the winds that sweep this woodland
tracks,
The larch's perfume for the settlers axe
Ere, like a vision of the morning air,
His slightfraed steepe marks the house of prayer;
Its planks all reeking and its paint undried,
Its ratters sprOutng on the shady side;
1t sheds the rain drops from its shingled caves,
Ere its green Others once have changed their leaves
Yet faiths pure hymn, beneath its shelter rude,
Breathes out sweetly to the tangled wood,
As where the rays through blazing oriels pour
On marble shafts and tessellated floor
Heaven asks surplice round the heart that feels,
And all is holy where devotion knees"
Our fathers long before the building of the meet
ing house. maintained worship in private dwellings.
The first sermon was preached at the tavern of Lieut.
oil ladv liF III, nhfra hour
ing Il sermon preached there in 1853. There were
then but handful of us, said she, "who found our
way to church by marked trees
In 1867 Rev. Mr.. Fuller settled the first minis
ter of the town. In 176S, upon lis petition in con-
sderation of this his settlement with heavily bur
dened people. in what he there terms wilderness
country, 'the General Court granted him Wachusett,
and the mountain thus passed to private hands
In 17Il there were in Princeton ninety-one dwell
ing houses, while in 1870 there hundred and for
ty-four. At the former period there were but 1888
of tllage land of the whole 10000 acres in
town. and but 1883 of pasturage. There is one other
fact revealed by the valuation of III. There
upon these mountain nights of liberty now all vocal
with shouts of freedom, then held and dwelling
slave, one of the few in the province Slavery has
existed at the base of Wachusett. The slaves foot
has pressed soil and the shackleS did not fall.
The number of dwelling houses here in 1900 were
but four more than in 1890 while the population in
1910 had increased only As that of 1880 prob
ably at this moment after nearly seventy years. does
not exceed it by more than 200. Nor has the char
acter of the people changed. Sons have succeeded
fathers in the homestead, and worthily maintained
the family name and honor.
In all the great struggles that have wrought out
our country's history, the people of town have
been intelligent early and active participants They
fought the preparatory battles for freedom and their
king against the French, and they fought its actual
battles with the French against the king. Their
cords show them have been constant supporters of
the Revolution ON two occasions, at least their
action was of Importance enough to secure honora-
BILE mention by the latest and abest OF the historians
of the United States
Many of them sympathised, some joined in
"Shay's Rebellion" and one-if the truth must out
came nearer being hanged than hope anybody else
from the same town ever will, for like, or any