History of the Town of Douglas, Massachusetts, from the earliest period to the close of 1878

Front matter

I BIRDS-EYE VIEWS Of East Douglas and Douglas Centre. HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF DOUGLAS, (MASSACHUSETTS,) From the Earliest Period to the Close of 1878. BY WM. A. EMERSON. BOSTON: Published by Frank W. Bird, OLD BOOK SHOP, 37 Cornhill, 32 Brattle Street, and Cornhill Steps. i879. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by Wu, A. Emerson, In the Clerk's office, District of Massachusetts. J. A. & R. A. Rfid, Printers, Providence, R. I. TO THE MEMORY OF (flip (Wlotfer, MARIA W. EMERSON, WITHOUT WUOSE LOVING encouragement this work would not HAVE BEEN UNDERTAKEN.

Introduction

. N a certain sense it may be said that all men are historians, ancl great lovers of history too ; and that a talent for this is a sort of inherent element in man's intellectual constitution. Is not the brain of every individual crowded quite full with the historic incidents, great and small, which go to make up the vast aggregate of human experiences ? Our very speech, too, is curiously historical. How many there are who only speak to narrate, which is only to historize? As men are always fond of telling what they have done, or seen, or heard, curiosity is so natural that all such historians are sure to be listened to. Thomas Carlyle tersely puts it in this way : 'L We do little but to enact history, and we say little but to recite it ; and so history is but the essence of innumerable biographies."

Those who have never written or assisted in writing a historical work of any kind, even of a less miscellaneous character than a town history necessarily is, are not aware of the extent and va riety of the labor requisite in its preparation. In collecting the material which has been wrought into the present volume the public libraries of Boston, Worcester, and Providence have been placed under contribution for all they contained that could throw o HISTORY OF DOUGLAS. light upon the early history of the town ; the records of Douglas, Sherborn, ancl other places, many of these being difficult to col late, have been examined ; ancient manuscripts, deeds, private writings, yellow and worn with age, ancl other authentic docu ments have been sought for in all directions ; histories of other towns have been consulted, dry family genealogies compared, the recollections of the aged snatched from forgetfulness, and the whole mass compared, rearranged, and verified, that the work might be as correct as care ancl industry could make it.

The publisher desires to express his thanks to all those who have contributed to lighten his labors in the compilation of the work, and begs leave to refer in a special manner to Rev. E. A. Manning, whose experience as a writer made him an invaluable assistant in the work of reducing the material from a crude state to its present attractive form and arrangement. Also to William H. Briggs, Esq., George W. Spencer, Edwin Moore, Aaron M. Hill, Bev. William T. Briggs, Rev. W. W. Dow, Ira Wallis, Jus tin B. Whipple, A. F. Brown, Esq., and Joseph Hunt, who have in various ways rendered him most valuable service. For many of the historical facts obtained he feels under great obligation to the American Antiquarian Society of Worcester, to whose extensive repository of buried learning he has had constant access, through the kindness of the Librarian, S. F. Haven, Esq., as well as to the courteous Assistant Librarian, Mr. Edmund Bar ton, without whose valuable aid the historical worth of the work would have been much diminished.

For statistics relating to the war of the rebellion he has relied chiefly npon the reports of Adjutant-General Schouler, and the statements of soldiers who participated in the struggle. He is also indebted to Samuel Elias Staples, Esq., President of the Worcester Society of Antiquity, and to Professor Homer B. Sprague of Boston, for the interest they have shown and for information furnished.

INTRODUCTION.

. 3 In conclusion, he desires to express his gratification at the satisfactory manner in which the typographical and mechanical part of the work has been executed by Messrs. J. A. & R. A. Reid, of Providence, II. I., and also to express his appreciation of the in terest they have shown in making this volume in every possible way satisfactory. With this brief apology for our work, we commend it to all those who can appreciate the past in the corporate career of our town, as having a just ancl honored claim upon at least the re spectful regards of the present ; and to all as a most impressive illustration in detail of the capabilities of our common but bur dened humanity, under the wholesome inspiration of free institutions based upon religion ancl learning, without which they gravi tate inevitably to unthrift and barbarism. CONTENTS.

Chapter I

First Occupation of the Town. — When the Town Was First Named — The First White Settlers Chiefly from Sherborn — Prior Abuse of the Territory by Other Towns — Historic Associations of the Name— Reason for Its Adoption — Original Boundaries of the Douglas Donation — Dr. Jennison' s Desire to Change the Name — Present Area and Bounds— Geological and General Formation — Reference to Purgatory — Lakes and Ponds — Connection with Indian History — Their Kindly Relations to the Whites — John Eliot and the Praying Indians — Population by Decades Since 1790, and Desirableness of Douglas as a Summer Resort — Union Evangelical Camp Ground Pages 17-24

Chapter II

From 1746 to Allotment of Sherborn New Grant. — Scarcity of Early Records — Sherborn Records Show Douglas Colonized by Inhabitants of that Town — Territory Originally Granted in Consideration of Land and Families Set Off from Sherborn to Framingham — Action of Sherborn Town-meeting Thereon Names of Committee to Apportion the Territory — Their Reward for Services — Territory of tlie Draper and Murdish Families set off to Uxbridge — Purchase of Dr. William Douglas — Titles Fixed by Lot — Number of Original Proprietors — The Morse Family — New Grant of 3,000 Acres to Twenty Proprietors — Ministerial Grant — Grant of the Boston Men's Farm, or Wallum Pond — Grant and Gratuity to Governor Bradstreet's Son — Names of Early Settlers — Gratuity to Ephraim Hill, as First Settler — Town Action on Report of Committee on Laying Out the Land Pages 25-30

Chapter III

Allotment of Other Grants. — Names of Original Proprietors, and Numbers of their Allotment — Diagram of the Plan of Allotment of the Sherborn New Grant — Report of Commit tee on Surveying — Generosity of one Proprietor — Special Grant to First Settler— New Grant of 4,000 Acres from the State, and How Disposed of by Order of Town-meeting — In habitants of Towns of Holliston Included in the Grant — Lists of Proprietors and Numbers of New Allotments . Pages 32-3*

Chapter IV

From 1735-1754. — Town-meeting in 'Holliston — An Agent Appointed to Protect Holliston Proprietors' Rights — Trespassei-s to Be Looked After — Arrangements to Settle with Trespassers, and for Establishing Regular Preaching — Land Appropriation * for a School and School-house — Committee to Adjust Boundaries with Other Towns and Proprietors — Agents to Prosecute Trespassers on Cedar Swamp Lands — Provision for Transcribing the Proprietors' Records — Earliest Records Extant of Douglas Town-meeting — A Sutton Farm Annexed to Douglas — Measures Adopted for Laying Out Roads, and Appropriations Therefor — List of Legal Voters in 1748 — How the Elective Franchise Was Then Regarded and Guarded — School Provisions — Verbatim Copy of Town Vote — First Meeting-house — 'Town-meeting Warrants Jealously Criticised — Dispute Thereon Between the Town and Captain Hill Settled by General Court — School for Six Months — Deficiency in Rev. Mr. Phipp's Salary — Width of Highways — Refusal to Raise Minister's Salary — Sexton's Pay — Price of Indian Corn — Demand on Dr. Douglas for His Promised Donation — Rank and Duties of Tithing-men Pages 41-53

Chapter V

From 1754-1791. — Pleasanter Aspect of Negotiations with Rev. Mr. Phipps on the Salary Question — Queer Settlement Between Him and the Town Treasurer — Grant for Schools — Tax on Distilled Spirits, and the Comparatively Small Amount Consumed in Town — Five Schools Ordered to be Established — Petition for a Lottery to Repair the Road — Burying Ground Fenced — How Counterfeit Money Used to be Disposed Of — How the "Bulls" and "Bears" Were Viewed in 1780 — Main Street When it Had a Toll gate — Transportation Business in 1812, and How the Teamsters' Army Managed — Paul Dudley's Tavern at Nightfall — The Old Brick Tavern on the Caleb Hill Place Described, with Fae Simile of the Old Sign — Rendezvous of Voters, and the Sympathizers with the Shays Rebellion — The Old Providence and Douglas Turnpike in 1808 — The Old Coffee-house — Names of the Families Living on the Turnpike in 1814 — Site of the Old Distillery — State and Town Officers Obliged to Abjure the King and Queen of England — Bridge over CONTENTS. 54-05 Mumford River — Voted Not to Permit Inoculation to Prevent Small-pox Spreading — Terrible Ravages of this Disease — Voted to " Color " the Meeting-house — Map of Town Ordered — First Representative in Congress from Douglas — Letter from Him to the Town— Account of Town Treasurer in 1791 . Pages

Chapter VI

War of the Revolution. —Greatness of the Struggle Necessitated by the Revolutionary War — Grandeur of the Result — Fatality Attending all Prior Efforts for Governmental Organization in America by Spain, Portugal, the Cabots, Verrazzano, Ferdinand de Soto, etc., etc. —Patriotic Stand of Douglas During the Struggle, Both in Military and Civil Relation* — Committee of Conference with Other Towns — Sam'l Jennison's Valuable Services — How the Judges Capitulated — Clerk of Court Summoned Before Convention at Worcester — Removal of the Office of the Massachusetts Spy from Boston to Worcester — Douglas Represented in the Provincial Congress at Salem in 1774 — Peremptory Message to the British Governor Gage — Salem's Most Efficient Action in Capturing British Vessels — Endorsement of Mr. Jennison by the Town ....

Pages GG-72 C H A P T E R VII. Revolutionary War — Continued.— Culmination of Excitement Against the King in Boston — Douglas People Eager for the Fight — Town Affairs Put on a War Footing — Minute-men Appointed and Invited to Accept Pay — Ammunition and Arms Freely Contributed — Sharing the Pecuniary Burdens of the Oppressed Patriots in Boston — Twenty-two of the Refugees Received in Douglas — Prisoners Guarded by the Douglas Veteran, Captain Hill — After the Battle of Lexington the Soldiers' Families Supported by the Town — Vigilance Committee to Attend to Suspicious Persons — Contributions by the Town for the Sappers and Miners in the Army— More than £70,000, Exclusive of Bounties and Indirect Expenses, Contributed by the Town — Its Quota Filled Every Time . . . Pages 73-77

Chapter VIII

Revolutionary War — Continued. — Prominence of Douglas in Formation of State Government — Copy of Dr. Jennison's Draft of Call for State Convention — Troubles Arising from the Depressed Condition of the Finances — How the Town Proposed a Remedy — Formal Petition to the Legislature — Causes of the General Dissatisfaction Set Forth — The Famous "Shays Rebellion," and What Connection the Town Had With it — Vote of the Town in the Succeeding Gubernatorial Election — Vote of the Town on Accepting the State Constitution, and Some Amendments Proposed Pages 78-86 -91 •121

Chapter IX

Town Action on Education. — Earliest Records on Educational Plans — Pioneer School-house — Difficulties Connected with Attending First School — Paucity of Instruction Then — Commendable Progress in Provisions for Schooling the Children — Singular Species of Vendue — Investment of School Fund — Reading-schools Established in Various Parts of the Town — Appropriation for Support of Schools in Five 'Sections of the Town, Divided into " Squadrons" — List of Six of These Squadrons in the Succeeding Year — Cost of New School-house in the Center — Cost of Schooling Between 1747 and 1770 — Multiplication of School-houses — Ten Districts in Existence as Early as 1760 — [For other Educational Doings see Chapter XXI.] Pages 87-

Chapter X

Church Organizations. — Installation of First Minister — Membership Composed of Some Residents from Sutton — Length of Time in Building First Meeting-house — Frame Buildings Rare Things in Those Days — Prominence of Religious Matters in Town Meetings — Uncertain Character of Ministers' Salaries — Value of a Bushel of Corn — Windowless and Floorless Churches — First Plastering of the Church — Meeting-house Funds Taken for School Purposes — Opposition to the Church — Vote to Raise Minister's Salary, and Subsequently Rescinded — Pastor Stone in 1789 Asks a Dismission — Compromise Effected — Renewal of His Request for Dismission in 1SU5 — Baptists in 1770 Relieved of Assessment for Minister — Quakers Follow Suit, but Do Not Succeed so Well — History of the Church from Its Organization to 1879 — History of the Second Congregational Church in East Douglas, with List of the Original Members Brought Down to 1879 — History of the Reformed Methodist Church, South Douglas— History of the Reformed Methodist Church in East Douglas — History of the Methodist Episcopal Church in East Douglas — History of the Quaker Church in South Douglas — History of the Catholic Church in East Douglas . . . Pages 92-112

Chapter XI

War of tue Rebellion. — Douglas in the Rebellion — Number of Men Furnished — Honorable Record of the Town in Regard to This Struggle — Amount of Money Expended — List of Town Meetings to Act on Questions Relating to the War — Aid for Soldiers' Families — Conference with the Towns of Northbridge and Uxbridge — Complete List of Douglas Soldiers by Regiments — Names of Douglas Soldiers Killed, Wounded and Missing During the War — Decoration Day Observances Pages 113- CONTENTS. 9

Chapter XII

Newspapers and Other Publications. —History of the Douglas Herald— Its Originators Employes in the Webster Times Office — Consultation of Mr. Spencer with Leading Citizens of Douglas — Announcement of the Paper by Posters — Meagre Equipment of Office — Its Economical but Energetic Launch — Cost of Presses and Type, and How Liquidated — Location of First Headquarters — First Number, and the Impression Produced—Increase of Patronage and Size of Paper — Retirement of Mr. Quimby — New Partner, and Enlargement in Size — Editor Made Postmaster — Local Matters Ventilated— Effect on Subscription List — Benefits of Illustrated Editions — Subscription List Doubled — Co-operative Plan Tried — Enlargement of Its Sphere of Local Matter to Include Whitinsville — Proposal to Remove to Blackstone — Finally Goes to Uxbridge — Appears as the Worcester South Compendium — Review of Its Course and History — Other Minor Publications — The Advertiser — Home Journal Pages 122-130

Chapter XIII

Society Organizations. — First Douglas Band, with Names of Members — Second Douglas Band and Its Organization — Its Successor, and the Accident When Returning from Sutton — Its Resurrection to the Tune of Yankee Doodle by the Irrepressible Reynolds and Balcome — History of the Band of 1858-59 — The Gallant Enlistment of this Band When the Rebellion Occurred — Its Present Flourishing Condition — Douglas Literary Society — Douglas Social Library — Union Lodge, No. 88, I. O. of O. F. — Howard Lodge, No. 119, I. O. of O. F. — Mumford River Lodge A. F. & A. M. — The Social Union — The Douglas Lyceum — East Douglas District — East Douglas Musical Society — Douglas Library Association — Union Temperance Society and, Reform Club Pages 131-141

Chapter XIV

Biographical and Genealogical Records. —Dr. Wm. Douglas — Col. Ezekiel Preston — The Hill Family — Hunt Family — Thayer Family — Wallis Family — Whipple Family — Stone Family Pages 142-207

Chapter XV

Biographical and Genealogical Records. — Rawson Family — Capt. Benjamin Wallis and Descendants — Dudley Family — Amos Gould — Amos Humes — Russel Titus — Dudley Balcome Ezra Jones — Dea. Warren Hunt — Dr. William Jennison — Jonathan Sprague — Homer B. Sprague— James E. Simmons — Fenner Batcheller — Col. Horace Emerson — Luther Stone — Dr. Ezekiel Wood — Charles Hutehins — Gardner Chase — Dr. John Taylor — Samuel Lovett — Dr. D. P. White — Archelaus Stone — Milton D. Whipple — Cullen Whipple — Lyman Par sons — S. W. Heath — Jeremiah B. Luther — Warren Humes — Eunice Balcome — Moses Knapp — Welcome AVhipple, Esq. — Theodore Stone Pages 208-242

Chapter XVI

Manufactures. — Early Development of Manufacturing Enterprise in the Town — Shingles, Hoops and Barrel Staves First on the List — Saw and Grain Mill in Eastern Section of the Town — The Wallis Plauing-mill — Samuel Legg's Fulling-mill — Cragin's Satinet-mill — Cragin & Co.'s Cotton and Woolen Factory — Adams & Co.'s Cassimere Factory, and Their Hard Fortune — Hazard's Satinet-mill — Ellis Burt's Plow Factory — Col. Preston's Cotton Factory — Sweatland & Angel's Machine Shop — Cragin & Co.'s Nail Factory — Adams & Co.'s Power Loom Manufactory — The Lovett Mill — Southworth's Grist-mill — Carpenter's Tannery — Carpenter's Shoe Factory Pages 243-251

Chapter XVII

Manufactures — Continued. — First Axe Factory — Humble Origin — Remarkable and Continuous Success of the Business — Second Establishment for the Manufacture of Axes — Failure of the Hunt Bros. — Resumption of the Business by Oliver — Boston the Most Favorable Depot for Their Axes — Mr. Cragin Becomes Agent for Selling Them — First Employes at Axe-making — Cullen Wliipple's Drilling Machine — Enlargement of the Shops — Captain Scudder's Partnership — Formation of "The Douglas Axe Manufacturing Co." — Names of Employes Prior to Incorporation — Warren Hunt's Lease of the Works, and His Handsome Profits — Description of the Company's Works at Gilboa — Ice Embargo, and How Broken Up — Old Fashioned * Trip Hammers, or Jumpers — Rolls First Used — Spanish Machets, Cane Knives, etc. — Purchase of the Lovett Mill — Thayer's Grist and Saw-mill — Logee's Carriage Manufactory — Wellman's Grist-mill —Lee and Murdock's Shoddy-mill — Gleason's Wheelwright's Shop — Joseph Bowen's Undertaker and Cabinet Repair Shop — L. S. Keith's Carriage and l'aint Shop — Willard Whipple's Harness Shop — S. Rivers' Horse Shoeing and Blacksmith's Shop — Eagle Grist-mill Pages 252-267

Chapter XVIII

Douglas Axe Manufacturing Co. —Wonderful Growth of Axe Manufacturing— Ex-Premier Gladstone's Admiration of the CONTENTS. American Axe — Capital Requisite for the Business — Its Prin cipal Departments — Motive Power Employed — Aggregate of Iron, Coal, Grindstones, etc., Annually Required — Detail of the Forging Department — Peculiar Method of Incorporating the Steel with the Iron — Symmetry and Scientific Form of the Douglas Brand of Axes — Rigid System of Inspection Employed — Bunglers Not at a Premium Among the Workmen, and Why Not — Process of Grinding, and Its Perils — Tempering Syste matized for Practical Results in Axe Production — The Aesthetics in Axe-making, and Where It Comes In . Pages 268-274

Chapter XIX

Incidents and Accidents. — Robbery of the Axe Company's Safe — A Ponderous Job, but Noiseless in Execution — Evidently Done by Veterans in Burglary — Removal of the Safe Entirely Across One Room and Partly Across Another — Front and Top of Safe Pried Apart — Contents Fished Out — Fortunate Absence of Funds for Pay-day — Explanation of their Operations Being Unheard — Amount of Property Stolen — Suspected Persons Found Innocent-1- Adventure of the " Douglas Fleet " in Boston — Captain Balcome's Facetious Commandery of the Military — Wonderful Muscularity — Vanquishment of a Pugilist at Sight— How Tramps Used to be Managed — How a Man Was Cured of the Watch Fever — The Frightened Quaker — La- Fayette and the Horses He Borrowed in Douglas — Dueling Party Visits Douglas — Lovell Pulsipher's Ingenious Plan for Abatement of the Town Tax Pages 275-2S9

Chapter XX

Centennial Fourth of July in East Douglas. —Widespread Observance of Human Birthdays — Increasing Intelligence Secures General Recognition — National Birthdays Proportionately Important— One Hundredth Anniversary Deserved Especial Observance — What it Celebrated — Double Victory over England, and Subjugation of the Rebellion — Promptitude in Carrying out Centennial Fourth — Doings Preliminary — Illumination and Torchlight Procession — Trades' Display, etc. — Civic Procession and Public Addresses — Dinner and Exercises at Table — Union Prayer-meeting — Afternoon and Evening Amusements — Remarkable Good Order During the Jubilee Pages 290-296

Chapter XXI

Educational Addenda. — Educational Efforts in 1797 — Wallum Pond Hill District Organized — Reorganization of Districts — School Money Divided pro rata — Rebuilding of the Burnt -307 -316 ■359 South School-house — Committee to Define Limits of the Dis tricts — Abolition of District System by the State — Town Action Restoring the System of Districts — Special Provision by the Town for East Douglas — Repairs in Nos. 9 and 10 Dis tricts—Report of Town Committee for 1878 — High School Established — Subscribers' Names — Building Committee — How Maintained — Dr. Wood's Donation — Litigation over this Fund — Revising Standard of Admission to High School — Three Years' Course Adopted for Graduation . Pages 297-

Chapter XXII

The Moses Wallis Devise — Singular Character of the Document — Obligations of the Town in Accepting the Trust — Present Status of the Devise After Thirty-seven Y^ears' Investment — A Correct Copy of the Original Will . . Pages 308-

Appendix

. Supplementary Rebellion War Record — Response of Massachusetts to the President's Call for Three Months' Men — Prompt Rally of the Troops in Boston — First Companies to Reach Boston — Call from Washington for More Soldiers — Departure of First Troops from Boston for Washington — Memorable Passage Through Baltimore — Governor Andrews' Call for Three Years' Men — Plan of Organizing and Numbering the Regiments — First Three Regiments Organized — Eleventh Regiment, and Lieutenant-Colonel Tripp's Narrative of Its Services and Casualties — Fifteenth Regiment at Ball's Bluff and Gettysburg — Brigadier-General Gibbons' Complimentary Order — Eighteenth, Twenty-second, Twenty-fourth, Twenty-fifth, Twenty-seventh, Twenty-eighth, Thirtieth, Thirty-third, and Thirty-sixth Regiments, with Lists of Douglas Soldiers and Casualties — Fifty-first Regiment — Its Gallant Volunteering After Expiration of Enlistment, and Colonel A. B. R. Sprague' s Official Reports — Fifty-seventh and Fifty-eighth Regiments — First, Third, and Fourth Massachusetts Cavalry, and Bravery of Colonel Frank Washburn — First, Second, and Sixteenth Massachusetts Heavy Artillery — First, Second, Fourth, and Seventh Rhode Island Volunteers — First, Second, and Third Rhode Island Cavalry — Third Rhode Island Heavy Artillery — Thirteenth, Eighteenth, and Twenty-sixth Connecticut Volunteers — Engineer, Signal, and Veteran Reserve Corps — United States Navy, etc Pages 317- List of Illustrations, NO. SUBJECT.

PAGE. 1. Bird's-eye View of East Douglas, . . . Frontispiece. 2. Bird's-eye View of Douglas Center, . . Frontispiece. 3. Piece of Petrified Wood, ...... 21 4. Arrowheads and Other Indian Relics, ... 22 5. Indian Camping Ground, ...... 22 6. Residence of A. J. Thayer, East Douglas, . . 28 7. First Cong. Church, Erected 1748 at Douglas Center, 31 8. Diagram of the Several Land Grants, ... 34 9. Residence of Chas. A. Caouette, East Douglas, . 36 10. Eesidence of Dea. Albert Butler, East Douglas, . 40 11. Residence of A. F. Jones, East Douglas, ... 40 12. Residence of Mrs. Adaline Starrett, East Douglas, 47 13. Residence of Rev. W. W. Dow, Douglas Center, . 47 14. Thayer' s Block, East Douglas, 56 15. Moses Hill Tavern Sign, HO SUBJECT. PAGE. 16. Residence of Dr. A. E. Kemp, 60 17. Residence of Rev. Wm. T. Briggs, .... 69 18.

Autographs of Thirty'-one Prominent Douglas Men, 93 19. Portrait of Rev. David Holman, .... . 98 i 0. First Congregational Church, Douglas Center, . 100 21. Second Congregational Church, East Douglas, . 103 22. Interior of Old Reformed Methodist Church, . 106 23. Reformed Methodist Church, East Douglas, . . 107 24. Methodist Episcopal Church, East Douglas, . . 109 25. Catholic Church, East Douglas, .... .111 26. Office of Douglas Herald (Knapp Building), . . 123 27. Office of Douglas Herald (Arcade), .... 123 28. Douglas Band. 131 29. Residence of Moses H. Balcome, .... 217 30. Residence of D. M. Lee, ...... 217 31. Portrait of Dea. Warren Hunt, .... 220 32. Autograph of Jonathan Sprague, .... 222 33. Autograph of Fenner Batcheller, .... 225 34. Autograph of Gardner Chase, 230 35. Autograph of Lyman Parsons, 335 36.

Autograph of S. W. Heath, 236 37. Bird's-eye View of Whitin Reservoir, .... 238 38. Bass Fishing at Wallum Pond, .... 238 39. Camping Out at Wallum Pond, 238 40. The Moses Knapp Place, East Douglas, ... 249 41. Modern axe, 253 42. Old Axe, Made in 1825, 253 43. Upper Works of Douglas Axe Mf'g. Co., ... 255 44. Howe Factory of Douglas Axe Mf'g. Co., . . . 255 , 45. Gilboa, Douglas Axe Mf'g. Co., 255 46. Head and Bit Forging Shops and Lovett Works, . 257 47. Medals Awarded to the Douglas Axe Mf'g. Co. by the Massachusetts Charitable Association, United States Centennial Commission, and French Medal, _ 259 48. Medal Awarded to the Douglas Axe Mf'g. Co. at the World's Fair, London, 1862, 260 49. Medal Awarded to Douglas Axe Mf'g. Co. at the Vienna Exposition, 1863, LIST OF ENGRAVINGS. NO. SUBJECT.

PAGE. 50. Old Red Shop and Farm Buildings of the Douglas Axe Mf'g. Co., 263 51. Patterns of Axes Made by the Douglas Axe Mf'g. Co. 269 52. Overcoat Steel and the Douglas Axe Bit, . . 271 53. Patterns of Hatchets Made by the Douglas Axe Mf'g. Co., 273 54. Claw Hatchet, ........ 274 55. Burglars' Tools Used in the Safe Robbery, . . 275 56. Residence of A. F. Brown, Esq., 277 57. Residence of Charles Hctchins, ..... 281 58. Residence of Jesse B. Sherman, ..... 283 59. Residence of L. S. Whipple, ..... 293 60. Residence of Edwin Moore, . . . . . 293 61. Residence of John M. Rawson, ..... 299 62. Residence of A. M. Hill, ...... 299 63. Residence of Ira Wallis, . . .... 305 64. Plan of Ball's Bluff Battlefield, ....

Chapter I. First Occupation Of The Town

HE name of Douglas was first given to the territory of the town in the year 1746. " New .Sherburn," or " New Sherburn Grant," had previously to this date been its designa tion since its first occupancy by the whites, which was as early as 1715, if not considerably earlier. The original settlers came almost entirely from the town of Sherburn, though some, and probably a small portion of them, hailed from Natick, and in all their transactions as a body the}' appear to have invaria bly acknowledged their allegiance to the town of Sherburn. The year in which the present name was given is clearly that of 174G, since in 1745 a new road was laid out, and the records show that it was done by the authorities of New Sherburn, but in all subse quent transactions by these officers they are recorded under the auspices of Douglas.

At the time when these pioneer settlers began the occupation of the town large tracts of land within its present limits had for some years been annually burned over in the spring by the people residing in the adjoining towns of Oxford and Mendon, in order that the lands thus devastated might better answer the purpose of grazing their cattle. The excellent qualities of the territory of Douglas for pasturing had at this early date become well known to the farmers in these towns, aud doubtless the same fact was well understood by the Sherburn people iu the other direction, and was probably one of the strong inducements governing them in their courageous venture to plant themselves here. This annual destruc tion of immense quantities of timber, merely for the purpose of •2 HISTORY OF EAST DOUGLAS. enriching thus summarily their borrowed pasturage ground, was not strange on the part of these neighbors, even though it was done, in process of time, at the expense as well as to the no small annoy ance of the more legitimate occupants of the land.

In due time it came to an end, however, though not without calling out proba bly some vigorous protests from those whose rights were thus encroached upon. Carrying us back, as the name instinctively does, to the chival rous days of Scottish history, when the proverb was in vogue, " No man may touch a Douglas, nor a Douglas's man, for if he do he is sure to come by the waur (worse)," the question, " What's in a name ?" is one not entirely unremunerative to the curiosity of a genuine son of the old town of Douglas. In view of the fact that the old-world contest by the real lords of the soil against the Stu arts and their allies was really revived in our Revolutionary struggle, we think it will not be difficult to see that at no time in the past were the Douglases more uncompromising in their resistance to the haughty and baseless demahds of royalty, or less entitled to the honor of having inherited the republicanism as well as the fear less and independent spirit of John Knox and his followers.

And lest this should lie deemed to be only the ebullition of a merely senseless obstinacy to monarchial authority, uncalled for in reason, we are able to cite one of the noblest instances of loyalty to the king in the annals of any country, in the case of the beautiful and heroic Catharine Douglas, maid of honor to Queen Joanna, who threw herself in front ofthe assassins who were savagely thundering at the door of the royal apartments, and, substituting her own arm for the bolts that had been treacherously drawn, she held the door therewith until cut down at her post by the swords of the conspir ators. But it is time for us to trace the origin of the name borne by our town. Dr. William Douglas, an eminent physician of Boston, a Scotchman by birth, author of several historical and medical works, being withal a somewhat extensive land proprietor in various parts of the State, in consideration of the privilege of naming the township, offered the inhabitants the sum of $500 (old tenor), as a fund for the establishment and maintenance of free schools, together with a tract of thirty acres of land, with a dwelling-house and barn standing thereon.