OF HARDWICK, MASSACHUSETTS. WITH A GENEALOGICAL REGISTER. BY LUCIUS R. PAIGE. BOSTON: HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY. The Riverside Press, Cambridge. 1883. To THE MEMBERS OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HISTORICAL SOCIETY, AND OF THE NEW ENGLAND HISTORIC GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY, This Volume IS DEDICATED BY ITS AUTHOR, THEIR ASSOCIATE. PREFACE. FROM an early period I have been deeply interested in the history of Hardwick, and in the genealogy of its inhabitants; the more deeply, doubtless, because my own ancestors were among the early pioneers, were actively engaged in the management of public affairs and by numerous intermarriages were connected with so many of its families. Although I have been a non-resident and comparative stranger for more than fifty-six years, my attachment to my native town has never grown cold; but its rocks and hills are still viewed with almost childish delight, whenever I visit them, and many of my old friends, though personally departed, are represented by worthy descendants, who are beloved for the fathers' sake. As I had opportunity, from time to time, I have gathered and preserved historical materials, intending to embody them in a permanent form. Other and imperative engagements intervened, and prevented the execution of my purpose until now: so that what I originally designed to be my first literary labor, of any considerable magnitude, has become absolutely the last; for at the age of eighty-one years it is altogether too late to commence another task requiring much time for its completion. The materials embraced in this history were gathered from various sources; among the most important of which were the Records of the Proprietors, of the Church, and of the Town, of Hardwick, including the Registry of Births and Deaths by the Town Clerk, and of Baptisms from the beginning, and of Deaths since 1789, recorded by the several Pastors of the Church, and supplemented by inscriptions on monuments and head-stones in the several cemeteries. Besides these, I consulted such printed |
