CHAPTER XV EARLY INDUSTRIES OF NORTHBOROUGH* England sent to New England twenty thousand emigrants during the twenty-year period, 1620-40. Thereafter, for one hundred and fifty years very few came. At the time of the American Revolution the inhabitants of New England were nearly all descendants of the first twenty thousand immigrants. As none but church members were permitted to vote (though all were taxed), town government was in reality parish govern ment. Each town was inhabited chiefly by like-minded people-as those who differed from the established standards were obliged to move on. Early town meeting records contain frequent warnings to people to leave town. Cambridge, Mass., (while yet called Newtowne) lost half its population in 1636 because of objection to parish government as administered to the town. The hanging of Rev. George Burroughs in Salem, in 1690, was a climax to his having dared to differ from the other clergy. Every man was expected to have a farm and annually to accomplish certain results-like clearing a bit of the forest, burning the cut timber, harrowing seed grain, and the ashes into such soil as could be loosened between stumps, curing hay on the natural meadows and building stone fences. He was to hew from selected oak trees frame timber for his buildings. When the time for raising the frame arrived, a neighborhood holiday was observed, with much cider drinking. So strongly mortised, braced, and pinned was the frame that it withstood the several gales, sometimes for years, before the last portion was enclosed. After one or two rooms were hurriedly and roughly made habitable, then more time and care were bestowed on the balance of the house. Perhaps some neighbor, skilled in house carpentry, worked all winter, paneled wainscoting and "fire frame" in the best room. Over the front entrance a Greek pediment supported by pilasters, or columns, was *This chapter was written by the late John D. Estabrook, and was read by him before the Northborough Historical Society, November 14, 1907. It is a thoroughly exhaustive account of the subject treated, and this History would be incomplete without it. It is printed as Mr. Estabrook wrote it, save that his references to present-day ownership of various prop erties have been brought up to date. These changes seemed necessary because much property has changed hands since this paper was written. The notes also were added by the author. built. Seldom were the front entrance or best room opened except for weddings, funerals, and calls from the minister. The occasional son sent to college and fitted for the ministry or the practice of medicine, probably kept alive their classic touch at the front entrance. As in England, so here, the homestead descended to the eldest surviving son; and the average New England home came to represent generations of family toil. Everything was homemade. This region, comprising Westborough and Northborough was, according to tradition, first occupied by haymakers from the parent town of Marlborough. Temporary shelters were constructed, and later, houses were built and farms were cleared. The farm then, was not only the home, but the center of all activities. Duties outside of farm work had to be sandwiched in between farm demands. Food and clothing were not sought at the store. The farm must supply fruit and vegetables, flour and meal, meat, clothing, many utensils, work animals, etc. The whole family worked. Occasionally there was help in the family, from the dressmaker and the itinerant shoemaker who made shoes for the family from bundles of leather from the attic. work came to be locally known as "whipping the cat."* His Aside from farming, activities were naturally connected with home existence and home building rather than with trade with other people. John Brigham, 1645-1728, was for this region, the pioneer explorer, surveyor, farmer, miller, doctor and speculator. Tradition would place him here with his sawmill, his one-room log cabin, his wife, and his half a dozen children, before other settlers appeared. But county records free him from such indiscretion. He was a born explorer, not tied to money-making in any one spot; reporting to others successful enterprises rather than monopolizing them himself. In 1672 he was awarded a large tract of land north of what became, seventy-five years later, the Westborough North Precinct Meeting-house Knoll or Common. This grant to John Brigham was in part compensation-compensation for services of exploration and survey. In 1713 he sold to Simeon Hayward the above grant and defined clearly its boundaries and area of two hundred and fifty acres. Soon after its purchase by Simeon Hayward, the farm buildings were just north of Meeting-house "pond hole," on the Eli Sanderson place, opposite the present hydrant *Stephen Hunt, who died a few years ago at the age of ninety, frequently told the author that his father, Stephen Hunt, Sr., "whipped the cat' in Northborough and vicinity as recently as one hundred years ago. on Church Street. It is altogether probable that these buildings were built and occupied by John Brigham long before he sold to Simeon Hayward. SAWMILLS AND CORN-MILLS ... In 1694 Samuel Brigham, who was a younger brother of John Brigham, and was a tanner in the eastern part of Marlborough, sold to Nathaniel Oke (Oaks) . . . "tract of land in town of Marlborough, being one-half part of the thirty acres the above said Samuel Brigham bought of town and is laid out now John Brigham's sawmill. . . In short, John Brigham built his pioneer sawmill on land of his younger brother, Samuel, and thereby acquired an undivided half interest in the property. Nathaniel Oaks acquired, by purchase from Samuel Brigham, ownership of the remaining undivided half of the pioneer sawmill. This pioneer sawmill was located on Howard Brook; and its thirty-acre tract formed a part of the eastern boundary of the above two hundred and fifty acre John Brigham grant, and the eastern boundary of Meeting-house Common. Nathaniel Oaks' dwelling was on the east bank of Howard Brook, just above the sawmill. Later, this house became the home of Rev. John Martyn, and after his death, the home of Rev. Peter Whitney. They were the first two ministers of the north precinct church, which later became the Northborough church. It is probable that the sawmill was built after John Brigham received, in 1672, his grant of land. Tradition says that the mill and nearby log-cabin were burned in 1707 when John Brigham's daughter, Mary (Brigham) Fay, escaped from, and John Brigham's granddaughter, Mary Goodenow, was slain by the Indians. In 1713 John Brigham sold his several holdings in this region and, having married a second wife, moved with his family (except two married daughters who remained here) to a less frontier region, nearer Boston. Hamlin Garland's tribute to the stricken mountaineer applies to John Brigham: "And when dies, as soon he must, A magic word goes with him to the grave, He was a pioneer. Above his dust Set these plain words: 'He was a brave. He faced the winter's wind unscared. |