Historical sketch of Auburn, Massachusetts :
from the earliest period to the present day
with brief accounts of early settlers and prominent citizens
Worcester, Mass.: C.D. Cady Print. Co., 1937
[Transcribed by Dave Swerdfeger]
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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES JACOB WHITMAN BAILEY, son of the first pastor of Auburn, became an eminent naturalist and was the inventor of Bailey's Indicator and of improvements in the microscope. A graduate of West Point in 1838, he later became president of the American Association of Science. He died at West Point, where he was a professor, in February, 1857. DANIEL BIGELOW, with his wife, Elizabeth Whitney, came from Watertown and settled on Pakachoag Hill on land adjoining part of Ephraim Curtis' original grant. At one time he was surveyor of highways for the town of Worcester. His hone stood about fifty rods north of Gershom Rice. Five children were born to the couple, the fourth being Timothy Bigelow, born August 12, 1739, who distinguished himself as a soldier in the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. The doorstep of the original Bigelow house is used today at the Love homestead which occupies part of the original property. JOHN BOYDEN, a lieutenant in the French and Indian War, lived on Pakachoag Hill about 1740, on the estate later occupied by Judge Joseph Dorr, William Emerson and Hosea Marcy. He had five sons, Peter, John, Samuel, Joseph and Darius. Samuel built a home between the original Daniel Bigelow homestead and the house erected by Ephraim Curtis on the eastern slope of the hill. EPHRAIM CURTIS, JR., son of the first white settler of Worcester, was deeded a tract of land on the border of Worcester, Auburn and Millbury, in 1734, where he built a home. He had two sons, Oliver and Samuel. Oliver lived on the William Goss and John Elder place, and Samuel built a house about fifty rods northeast of the original Gershom Rice home. The latter held the offices of selectman, and representative in Worcester, and was the father of two sons, Samuel, Jr., and Ephraim. He died October 18, 1814, aged eighty-four. JOSEPH DORR, born May 24, 1730, was the son of Reverend Joseph Dorr of Mendon. He was graduated from Harvard in 1752 and studied divinity, but although he preached occasionally, he never held a settled pastorate. He was active and devoted to the cause of the Colonies and while living in Mendon he was a magistrate, a member of the Committee of Safety, a member of the Legislature, and part of the time Judge of Probate and of the Court of Common Pleas. In 1780, he was elected one of the first senators to the State Legislature from Worcester County. He lived in Ward from 1784 to 1797, when he removed to Leicester. The next year he made his home in Brookfield, where he died in 1808. JAMES EATON, came from South Reading about 1785 and settled on Pakachoag Hill on the estate previously owned by Thomas Nichols, a little south of the Gershom Rice place. The original house was on the east side of the road, and the main part was later used by Thomas S. Eaton. JONAH GOULDING, son of John Goulding of Grafton, in 1777 moved to the town of Ward with his wife, Grace Knowlton of Shrewsbury. He bought a house, a tannery and three acres of land from Nathaniel Southworth. The original house is still standing and the land now includes sixty acres. Jonah Goulding carried on the tannery business until 1807, when he sold it to his son-in-law, Samuel Warren. For three generations, Goulding's descendants, the Warrens, carried on the tannery business on the same spot, Waterman Warren being the last one to engage in the business. During the Revolution, Jonah served from Grafton and received a commission. Later he became a colonel in the militia. DR. THOMAS GREEN, a former resident of Leicester, settled in Ward just after the Revolutionary War, where he had served as surgeon's assistant. He was town clerk in 1784-5. Like many other medical men in the early settlements, who from necessity followed other occupations, Dr. Green was a farmer and manufacturer of potash. Tradition has it that at one time the doctor, after making six professional calls on a patient in West Millbury, received thirty-seven cents for his services, including the cost of medicine. Dr. Green died in Ward in 1812, after twenty-five years of service. He was succeeded by his half-brother, DR. DANIEL GREEN, also of Leicester, who practised for over fifty years. The latter was one of the early workers in the anti-slavery cause and an advocate of temperance. He married Elizabeth Emerson of Hollis, New Hampshire, and died in 1861, at the age of eighty-three years. ASA MIXER, born in the town of Shrewsbury on April 5, 1746, was the descendant of a family who had settled in Watertown in 1634. When only nineteen years of age he married Mercy Newton, and by this union had eleven children, including two sets of twins. In 1798, the family moved to Oxford, thence to Auburn, and in 1824, when seventy-eight years of age, Asa joined the Congregational Church. He was a Revolutionary soldier, enlisting from Shrewsbury. He died May 12, 1849, at the age of 103 years, one month and seven days, and is buried in Hillside Cemetery. The REVEREND ENOCH POND, D.D., was installed as pastor of the Congregational Church in March 1st, 1815. At the time, balls and small dancing parties were of frequent occurrence, and his sermons deploring such festivities had "a degree of point and pungency not to say personality" which provoked the young men of the parish, (who stayed away from church service). This difference of opinion was soon healed and at a revival meeting held later in the year more than one hundred were converted. The Reverend Mr. Pond resided in Ward for thirteen years, and to eke out his income tutored college preparatory students in a schoolroom in his house. He edited Murray's English Grammer, which was used for a textbook in all schools at the time, and wrote much for the newspapers. In addition he compiled at least twenty manuscript hymn books for use in the church. GERSHOM RICE, the ancestor of a family noted for longevity, was born in Marlborough in 1659. He was one of the early members of the South Parish and with his wife, Elizabeth Haynes of Sudbury, built a house on Pakachoag Hill, midway between Worcester and Auburn Centre on the old road. This house, until it was torn down in 1821, was the residence of five generations, including the ten children of Edward Rice. Gershom Rice, Sr., died December 19, 1761, at the age of 102. GERSHOM RICE, JR., who married Esther Haynes of Sudbury, was a lieutenant in the Revolutionary Army. He died at the age of eight-five, September 24, 1781. COMFORT RICE, son of Gershom Rice, Jr., married Martha Morris. He served in the French and Indian Wars as first lieutenant in the third company of Foot. EDWARD RICE, son of Comfort, married Miriam, daughter of Deacon David Gleason of Auburn, and he died at the age of ninety, August 27, 1863. A new Rice house was built in 1832, a few rods north of the site of the first one, and Ezra, son of Edward, lived in 1877 on a portion of the old estate. PETER SLATER was one of the most colorful figures among old Ward settlers. As a boy of ten he took part in the Boston Massacre, furnishing "way-sticks" to the men. Three years later he was one of the party who threw overboard chests of tea in Boston Harbor. Several years later he removed to Worcester with his widowed mother. During the Revolution, Slater was in Captain William Gates' Company, Colonel Jonathan Holman's Regiment, Chelsea Camp, N.Y. He married Zilpah Chapin, the daughter of Benjamin Chapin, who lived just over the border of Auburn. In 1785, Slater purchased a farm of Eleazar Bradshaw on Pakachoag Hill opposite the farm of William and John Elder, later owned by Asa W. Ward and others. He manufactured cordage and kept a small general store for a number of years. In 1806, he sold his farm to William Goss and removed to Worcester. A monument was erected to the memory of Captain Slater and others in Hope Cemetery, Worcester, where exercises were held on July 4th, 1870. JONATHAN STONE, born in Watertown, November 17, 1725, was the third of that name and a great-grandson of Simon Stone who had settled on the banks of the Charles River in 1635. His grandfather, Jonathan Stone, was one of the proprietors of Worcester, as well as selectman in 1724 and 1727, and ensign of the military company in 1730. The third Jonathan married Ruth Livermore of Watertown in 1747, and purchased in 1752 from Gamaliel Wallis of Boston a house and ten acres of land in Worcester, bounding on Leicester line and 130 acres in Leicester, which was annexed to Worcester in 1757. He was a selectman in both Worcester and Ward, one of the members of the American Political Society and one of the original members of the church in Ward, of which he was the first deacon. Although fifty years old at the time of the Revolution, he marched as a Minute Man in Timothy Bigelow's Company. LIEUTENANT JONATHAN STONE, the fourth of the name, was born in Watertown in 1750. He also marched as a Minute Man, and enlisted April 24, 1775 for eight months, serving as a corporal in Captain Jonas Hubbard's Company. Commissioned April 5, 1776, he served as lieutenant with Captain Jesse Stone at Bennington, Vt. In 1777, he married Mary Harrington, and another Jonathan Stone was born April 4, 1793. Jonathan, the fifth, was commissioned as major in 1823, lieutenant colonel in 1825, and was colonel in 1827 of the First Regiment, First Brigade of the 6th Massachusetts Militia. He was lost at sea, April, 1845. JOSEPH STONE, son of Jonathan the third, and Ruth, was born March 20, 1758. He married widow Hannah Boyden and lived and died in Auburn. During the Revolution he served as a private in Captain Benjamin Richardson's Company. He possessed literary talent, conducted a law business, was a land surveyor, and book-binder. As a writer of poetry he acquired some renown, and was called Squire Stone. At his death, February 2, 1837, he bequeathed to Bangor Theological Seminary the bulk of his manuscripts of poetry and music. With a small legacy, the Seminary published in 1838 a book of Memoirs together with some of his hymns and poetry. Much of his library, a few of his manuscripts and copies of the Memoirs are to be found in the Merriam Library. JONAH GOULDING WARREN, was born in Auburn on September 11, 1812 and was graduated from Brown University in 1835 and from Newton Theological Seminary in 1838. He was pastor of the Central Baptist Church in Chicago, Ill., until 1849; pastor of the Fifth Street Baptist Church of Troy, N.Y., until 1855, when he became corresponding secretary of the American Baptist Union holding that position until 1872. In 1857, the honorary degree of D.D., was conferred upon him by Rochester University. ICHABOD WASHBURN, founder of the American Steel and Wire Company, lived in Auburn between 1816 and 1818. Of that time he wrote in his autobiography: "I let myself to Mr. Nathan Muzzey (in Leicester) for two years on condition that he would give me $50.00 and 12 weeks schooling with board and clothing. This arrangement secured to me the last year of my apprenticeship by paying $25.00. And although the demand against me was not a legal one, I have never regretted my adherance to the agreement in paying it. Mr. Muzzey left Leicester and I went with him to Auburn, where I came under the faithful instruction of the Reverend Enoch Pond. In this quiet town, I finished my apprenticeship with Mr. Muzzey. I had nothing to do but to work from sunrise to sunset in the summer, and from sunrise to nine o'clock in the winter. With little or no society, I sought my happiness in the solitude of the garrett of the old house where I had my lodgings. I often recur to that period and place, where I had quite as much profitable reflection as during any part of my apprenticeship. Never could anyone anticipate the time of his freedom with more interest than I did, counting the days as they passed. That eleventh of August, 1818, my twentieth birthday, when my time with Mr. Muzzey expired, was a sunny day never to be forgotten. Conforming to the customs of those times, I invited three or four young men of my own age to take part with me in a game of ball, to celebrate my freedom-day with the usual fixings, on the grass-plot behind the shop." JAMES WISER, an early settler in the South Parish, was part Indian, the son of Benjamin (1) and Sarah Wiser. He served as a Minute Man with Captain Timothy Bigelow. He had a brother Benjamin, who married Dorothy Bright of Leicester in 1777. This Benjamin (2) had a son James, whose daughter Mary Ann married Reuben Tatman of Worcester in 1825. Another son was Deacon Benjamin Wiser (3) a bachelor, who died in 1858 at the age of seventy-eight. CHURCHES AND CONGREGATIONS THE NUCLEUS of the New England town of the seventeenth century was the meeting-house, where the monotony of the weekly routine was lightened and the demand for spiritual satisfaction gratified. As in the case of many New England towns, the inception of Auburn was due to the desire of a group of settlers to have a church near enough to attend regularly, a difficult matter, especially in the winter and spring when the rude paths through the woods were drifted high with snow or filled with mud. In 1773, when the area became the South Parish of Worcester, the first act of the new precinct was to vote "to begin Preaching as soon as maybe" and make plans for the erection of the meeting-house. Building was begun at once, but though in use in 1776, the church was still not completed ten years later, owing undoubtedly to the "unfurnished condition" of the Treasury. Congregational: On January 25, 1776, the parish was organized and a committee appointed to secure a gospel minister. Mr. Josiah Allen declined the call, and so did Mr. James Reed, although the latter was offered one thousand bushels of corn and thirty cords of wood annually for his support during his continuance in pastoral office. There was no settled pastor until October 11, 1784 when the town concurred with the church in ordaining Mr. Isaac Bailey. He received "60 pounds in settlement and 60 pounds annually, including 25 cords of wood" which was put up at public vendue at the town meeting. Mr. Bailey remained the beloved pastor of the church until his death in 1814. His successors have been:
The first deacons were listed to date they are:
When completed, the first meeting-house was an adequate structure for the worshipping assembly. It was fifty by forty feet, and made with twenty-four foot posts. There were galleries on three sides; the pulpit on the fourth side was built so high that it had to be reached by a flight of stairs. Fifty-seven square pews ranging in price from sixty pounds to ten pounds, forty shillings, occupied three sides of the church. Six long benches in front of the pulpit served as free seats. Pew holders, according to a list of 1778, where Jonah Goulding, Israel Phillips, Samuel Eddy, James Hart, Jr., John Prentice, Thomas Baird, John Campbell, William Parker, Isaac Putnam, Isaac Pratt, Nathaniel Scott, Joseph Stone, Thomas Scot and Gershom Bigelow. The list was signed and receipted by the committee-Thomas Baird, John Prentice and Charles Richardson. In 1778, when the South Parish was incorporated as the town of Ward, one of the initial acts of the town government was to grant money for religious purposes. Many of the town warrants contained articles regarding the completion of the building. On December 30, 1782, however, the first steps were taken by the town in the separation of church and state, when it was voted "to have a Weekly Contribution on each Lord's Day we shall have public worship for the purpose of Supplying the pulpit; and that said committee collect and apply the same accordingly. And that such money as may be enclosed in the paper and marked with ye sum and Contributor's name be allowed and discounted to the amount thereof on the ministerial tax of such Contributor." In 1837, the meeting-house was moved back, turned around and ten feet added in the length to provide a belfry and steeple. Improvements were made inside and out. The separation of town and church was not complete, however, for in the basement of the church a hall forty feet square was fitted up for a Town Hall, the town paying four hundred dollars toward the expense. The Merriam Library in Auburn has in its possession a plan of the pews in the lower part and galleries in "The New Centre Meeting House in Auburn, according as it has been recently New Built by the ingenious Messrs. J. & T. Lewis," together with a list of pew holders as of 1837 and of the price they paid over the appraisal, which varied from twenty dollars to one hundred dollars. At auction on July 30th, 1837, forty-two pews were sold and seven more the second day. The pews were appraised for $2,938 and the auction netted $3,223.85. A list of the pew holders who purchased at that auction follows:
Some were sold in the gallery to;
In 1871, further improvements were made on the church at an expense of $4,500.00. The galleries were removed and the organ was moved down front from the rear balcony. Two years later, the town enlarged and refitted the Town Hall in the basement at an expenditure of $1,700.00. The building was burned February 4, 1896, but a new structure,-the present one,-was designed by Edward T. Chapin and begun immediately. It was dedicated on March 2, 1897. Shortly after, a Town Hall was built completing the separation of town and church. The hundredth anniversary of the formation of the church was celebrated on January 26, 1876. Thomas W Davis, then principal of the Belmont High School and a son of Elnathan Davis, who was minister at the time, wrote the following hymn for the occasion: "To Thee, 0 God, whose constant aid Our fathers sought to know, We now renew the vows they paid A hundred years ago! Where they the firm foundation planned, Help us to build today: And bid the superstructure stand To speak thy praise for aye. So may our children's children teach The same old story here, When Time, in rapid flight shall reach The next centennial year. 0 grant, 0 Father, that we meet When Time for us is o'er, With those who gathered at thy feet A hundred years before!" BAPTIST: As early as 1779, persons of the Baptist persuasion in Ward joined in fellowship and asked to be exempted from the customary ministerial tax imposed on all resident church members at that time. Jonah Goulding, who had attended a baptism at the Baptist Church in Sutton in 1804, became converted and for ten years attended the church at West Sutton. It was a distance of ten miles which he rode on horseback every Sunday with his wife behind him on a pillion. Through his efforts, a council of Elders and delegates was called by the Sutton church which met, April 9, 1815, and constituted the First Baptist Church of Ward with eleven men and seventeen women members. They included:
A building was erected on land contributed by Jonah Goulding and Samuel Warren in the western part of the town known as Warrenville. There Elder Pearson Crosby of Thompson preached the first sermon and Elder Thomas L. Leonard of Sturbridge gave the right hand of fellowship to the newly established church. Elder Dwinell appears to have been the first pastor, followed by Elias McGregory and the Reverend John Paine who served the society until it disbanded in 1837. On April 13, 1837, the society authorized and directed the clerk "to give letters of dismission to any who may ask for them to form a new church to the North part of Oxford," and, on April 27th, it was voted to present to the new church the communion service and the books belonging to the Society. This communion service was the gift of Jonah Goulding. At his death in 1825, the church had received a legacy of $158.47, his will stipulating that all "neat stock, sheep and swine" be sold and the proceeds paid the Church and placed on interest. The larger part of the parish, numbering one hundred members, was thus transferred in 1839 to become the Baptist Church in North Oxford, where the congregation is still composed mainly of Auburn families. The Auburn Baptist meeting-house was purchased by the Warren brothers, moved to the site of their tannery a few rods north and used for business purposes until it burned about 1863. CATHOLIC: In 1867, Mass was said for the first time in the town by Father William Griffin of Worcester at the schoolhouse in Stoneville. In 1869, Father Griffin built a church near the same site, which was maintained as a mission of St. Peter's Church of Worcester. The frame edifice was named St. Joseph's Church and consecrated on Thanksgiving Day, November 25, 1869. After some years, St. Joseph's Mission was transferred to the care of St. John's Church of Worcester, and later it came under the supervision of the parish of St. Ann. In 1885, Sacred Heart was the mother church, but a short time later St. Joseph's became a charge of the Oxford parish. From February 8, 1891, until January 28, 1907, it was again in the care of St. Peter's. At that time the Right Reverend John P. Phelan was installed as resident pastor, remaining until September 1910, when the Reverend James P. Moore took his place. From October 1, 1926, to July 23, 1928, the Reverend John J. Keating was in charge of the parish. He was followed by the Reverend William Smith, who is pastor today. Under Father Smith's supervision the catechism is taught in different districts covering the fifty-two square miles of the town; the entire church property has been improved and the Holy Name Society and Blessed Virgin Sodality established, welding all parishioners in one harmonious Catholic unit. During the influenza epidemic of 1918, the Reverend James P. Moore, then pastor of St. Joseph's Church, made visits to the afflicted without distinction of race or creed. He directed the isolation of incipient cases, provided nursing assistance, established a canteen service at the church, and furnished householders afflicted by the epidemic with sickroom nourishment and food. When Dr. William H. Follner of Williamsport, Pennsylvania, a member of the National Medical Reserve accepted an assignment to the town of Auburn, he resided at St. Joseph's parsonage. He averaged one hundred visits a day, treated three hundred and twenty-eight cases, issued five hundred and twenty-eight prescriptions and covered five hundred and four miles. During his stay of eight days not a death ensued and less than twenty cases out of the total thousand proved fatal. The Board of Health that year in its report gave "grateful recognition" to Father Moore for "his splendid initiative which contributed so largely and effectively to the suppression of the plague". EPISCOPAL About 1906, St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Worcester opened St. George's Mission for the benefit of a small group of English people living in Stoneville. Services were at first held in the Stoneville school house, but soon the parish moved into a tenement on Main Street, where a pipeless furnace was installed, and three upstairs rooms were used for a kitchen, a library and a guild room. The ladies of St. Mark's took care of the mission and conducted a sewing school and the rector of St. Mark's, now the Very Reverend Henry B. Washburn, dean of the Episcopal Theological School at Cambridge, held Sunday afternoon services from 1906 to 1908. The Reverend Kinsley Blodgett followed, and theological students used to assist at these services, among them the Reverend R. Carmichael, curate at Grace Church, Providence, Rhode Island. The exact date when the mission was closed is not definitely established, but it was probably about 1916. While Episcopalian residents were scattered in various sections of the town, no census of them was made until 1928. On November seventh of that year an informal meeting was held at the home of A. V. Derosier, 32 Rockland Road, Auburn. Fourteen persons were present; Henry J. Conroy was appointed chairman, with the Reverend Stanley C. S. Shirt, vicar of Christ Church, Rochdale, Frederick C. Evans and Henry Roussel as a committee to rent a hall for services. At first these were held in what is now the Insurance Office on Auburn Street. The church was organized as St. George's Mission in 1930, and admitted into union with the diocese the same year. The Reverend Mr. Shirt was succeeded by the Reverend John C. W. Linsley, who stayed one year, and latterly by the Reverend George Stockwell, the present incumbent. At that time there was a good church property in Cherry Valley which had been closed due to the small membership in the parish. The diocese gave this church to the parish at Auburn on condition that it retain the name of St. Thomas. The edifice was taken down in sections and rebuilt on land on Auburn Street. The first service was conducted in the new church the first Sunday in Lent, March 5, 1933. While the church is known as St. Thomas, the parish room retains the name St. George. Organizations include the Ladies' Aid, St. Thomas Guild, the Altar Guild, Servers Guild, the Mens' Club and two Boys' clubs, St. Thomas and St. George. The membership in 1937 was two hundred and thirty-nine. Up to January, 1930, records were kept in Rochdale, but on that date a register was started in Auburn. LUTHERAN: A Lutheran mission for Stoneville and the adjoining territory was formally established in October, 1920, by the Reverend C. William Carlson, who later became pastor. In the early summer of 1922, land was given by Robert C. Howe for a church site at the corner of Bryn Mawr and Homestead Avenues, and a campaign for funds was immediately conducted by the Reverend Mr. Carlson, assisted by Eskil G. Englund, a student at Upsala College. The building was finished at a cost of $12,000.00 and the Bethel Evangelical Lutheran Church was organized into a formal parish February 22, 1924, under the direction of the Reverend Gilbert J. Laurell of the Emanuel Lutheran Church at Quinsigamond, who succeeded the Reverend Mr. Carlson. The Reverend Fritz Soderberg became the first resident pastor the following year, serving until 1929. He was succeeded by the Reverend Bror Olson who remained from 1930 to 1932. In 1933, Reverend C. William Carlson, the present pastor, who for several years had charge of the Lutheran Scandinavian Seamen's Mission in Boston, once more took up the work of the church in whose organization he had been instrumental. The oldest organization within the church is the Ruth Society Ladies' Aid. The Sunday School was organized by Martin B. Olson. In 1926, the Luther League, a young people's society, and the Woman's Missionary Society were organized. The active membership of the church is two hundred and fifty, although the working groups include a much larger number. In 1934, the Trinity Mission was established to serve the Lutheran population in the Hadwen Park and Boyce Street sections of Auburn and the adjoining part of Worcester as far as Webster Square. Thirteen different nationalities are represented in this parish, including Scotch, Irish, American, English and Albanian, as well as Swedish. While the latter form the largest part of the congregation, Swedish services are held but once a month. PAKACHOAG CHAPEL: On Sunday, June 23, 1929, a group of eighteen people attended Sunday School service in the old Pakachoag schoolhouse under the leadership of the Reverend Ray E. Butterfield, superintendent of the Worcester Missionary Society. Since then, meetings have been conducted every Sunday afternoon, when not conflicting with services in other local churches. The attendance has grown and preaching service has been added. The building, which had been abandoned after sixty years of use as a schoolhouse, was purchased from the town of Auburn for fifty dollars, and the land immediately surrounding it was purchased for one hundred dollars. In February, 1932, Pakachoag Chapel Association was organized. Howard W. Kemp was elected its first president and a Woman's Circle and Christian Endeavor Society were formed. Furniture, hymn books, and other supplies were bought from time to time and an addition was built for a kitchen and an extra class room. In the early morning of June 7, 1934, the building was burned to the ground. Regular services were conducted in a log cabin on the nearby Knowles estate, and in less than two months after the fire a new building was begun to replace the old one on the same site. With the insurance money, a loan from the City Missionary Society, and other financial assistance from friends and neighbors, the present larger and more modern church building was erected, and is in constant use, for religious and social purposes. The dedication was held in November, 1934, only five months after the original building was destroyed. Winthrop G. Hall of Worcester is the present Lay Reader and conducts all the services. MILITARY AFFAIRS THE NUMBER of residents of Auburn who have answered the call of their country in war time has always been large. During the colonial wars, even before the South Parish was erected as a separate unit, men from the settlement served against the French and Indians. Lieutenant Comfort Rice, Samuel Eddy, Jr., and Alexander Nichols were with Colonel John Chandler's regiment which marched to the relief of Fort William Henry, August 10, 1757. Although the settlement was engaged at the time of the outbreak of the Revolution in winning its independent status, the response to the news from Lexington and Concord was immediate. On April 19,1775, a company of Minute Men from the South Parish under the command of Captain John Crowl joined Colonel Ebenezers Learned's company from Oxford and started on the march for Lexington. Learning that the British had retreated they changed their course and marched on to Cambridge to join the forces from which the Continental Army was created. The commander-in-chief was General Artemas Ward of Shrewsbury, until he was succeeded by George Washington. The men who served in Captain Crowl's company included:
These twenty-six Minute Men were paid for one hundred miles travel and for six to twelve days service. The total amount received by the company and receipted by their commanding officer in January 24, 1776, was twenty-eight pounds, two shillings and seven pence, ha'penny. Other Minute Men from the South Parish were Peter Boyden, Jonas Nicholas, Jonathan Stone and James Wiser who joined Captain Timothy Bigelow's company from Worcester. David Richards, Jonathan Stone, III, and Samuel Clark served with Captain Benjamin Flagg, also of Worcester. The need for organization of the volunteer forces which had gathered at Cambridge after the Battle of Lexington and Concord was immediate and on April 20th, the work of welding the diverse units into a fighting force was begun. Men were asked to enlist for a definite period of time, preferably until the end of the year, but most of the enlistments were for a much shorter time. On April 21st, the Provincial Congress made plans to raise an army of eight thousand out of the Massachusetts forces, with nine companies to a regiment, each company to have a captain, lieutenant, ensign, four sergeants, a fife, a drummer and fifty men. Most of the men from the South Parish enlisted on April 24th in the company of which Jonas Hubbard, who had been 1st lieutenant in Bigelow's company of Minute Men, was captain. The others joined the regiment of which Jonathan Ward was colonel and Timothy Bigelow major. A few were in Captain Ephraim Doolittle's regiment and in the artillery under Colonel Thomas Craft. Enlistments for service in the Continental Army, however, were slow and in June, 1776, the Continental Congress devised the method of enlisting militia with a bounty of ten dollars and on September 16, voted that eighty-eight battalions be enlisted to serve during the duration of the war, fifteen of these to be from Massachusetts. Non-commissioned officers and privates were to receive a bounty of twenty dollars and one hundred acres of land, the expense to be borne by the State. They were also furnished with arms, clothing and necessities, the cost of the clothing to be deducted from their pay. Even the inducements of bounties and land did not produce the desired result in Massachusetts, and it was necessary for the province to grant another bounty of $33.33 and to increase the monthly pay by twenty shillings. Enlistments were usually for three to six month periods and each draft drew four to six men from Ward. Penalties were exacted from towns that failed to supply their quota of men or equipment and in June, 1778, Ward was fined for a deficiency of two men. In July, 1777, a company of men from Worcester under the command of Jesse Stone from the South Parish were ordered to northern New York State to augment the forces in that region. On their arrival in Bennington they were joined by Captain Job Cushing's regiment and proceeded to Ticonderoga. There they received orders to turn back and reinforce General Stark's command at Bennington. They arrived too late to participate in the battle, but performed the duty of guarding British prisoners of war. On the 29th of August, they were dismissed and began the return journey to Worcester, where they arrived on September 2nd, having been absent within two days of two months. Undoubtedly there was a home company in Ward during the war, for its officers were associated with the local Committee of Correspondence in 1780. In all, there were eighty men from the town who served in the Continental Army, some for short periods, others for months at a time. In addition to man power, Auburn met the calls for food, clothing, equipment and money freely and willingly. Special town meetings were repeatedly called to vote appropriations for the army. While there is little in the records to give details of what each did, the following are definitely listed from Ward or the South Parish as taking part in the Revolution: Colonel-
There is no record that any residents of Ward were engaged in the War of 1812, but in the town records the people of the community expressed themselves in favor of the policies of the Administration by approving the embargo. Neither this war nor the Mexican War appear to have interested the town in any direct way. The news from Fort Sumter reached Worcester on April 14, 1861. Less than a month later, in May, the first legal meeting was held in Auburn to consider matters relating to the war. It was voted to raise one thousand dollars to be appropriated "for the benefit of such volunteers as shall be or are now employed in the military service of the government and to the wants of their families while absent". Apparently volunteers had already joined the Union cause, for in June five dollars was voted to each of the two three-month volunteers then in service. The next year Auburn's quota under the new draft requirements was for nine men and the town voted a bounty of one hundred and fifty dollars to induce enlistment. This sum was raised to one hundred and seventy-five dollars by popular subscription and in each school district a leading resident was appointed to "encourage men to enlist." Special town meetings were held at regular intervals until the fall of 1864, at which bounties ranging from one hundred to one hundred and twenty-five dollars were voted for each soldier who would help to fill the town's quota. By the end of the war, ninety-seven Auburn men had served in the army, five more than required by the state. Not only did the town send men to the War but large sums of money were raised for the cause. The total amount expended for war purposes was $4,535.00 and in addition $3,680.00 was given by popular subscription. The John A. Logan Post No. 97, G. A. R., was organized in July, 1869, with thirty-six members. It was named after General Logan, who as the third commander-in-chief of the G. A. R. at headquarters of the Grand Army of the Republic Encampment at Washington, D. C., May 5, 1868, designated the 30th day of May as Memorial Day in memory of those who sacrificed their lives in the Civil War. In 1870 the Auburn Post erected a granite shaft in the lower cemetery to the memory of those men from Auburn who had lost their lives in service of the United States. The monument bears the names of: B. B. Jennison, Rhodes Stafford, William Hart, William H. Legg, E. D. Stowell, George F. Newton, George S. Williams, George D. Rice, Henry G. Newton, James Delaney, John G. Bean, M. Lovering, Daniel L. Hewitt and Edward Stowell. CIVIL WAR 15TH REGIMENT Barnard, Charles E.; Emerson, William H.; Hart, William; Jennison, Daniel A.; Kinney, Patrick A.; McCann, Owen; McCowan, Peter; Newton, George F.; Smith, Bernard, 2nd; Williams, George S. 21ST REGIMENT Dellahan, James; Hammell, Owen; Lovering, M. M.; McDermott, Felix; McGuinniss, Horatio; Owens, Mason; Stowell, Edward B.; Williams, George; 25TH REGIMENT Delaney, Joseph; Doherty, Patrick; Eaton, Daniel T.; Eaton, Joseph P.; Frost, Orrin D.; Gifford, Morton D.; Hewitt, Edward S.; Howe, Sereno N.; Johnson, Jerome; Keef, William R.; Knowles, Benjamin C.; Knowles, Granville A.; Mayers, Charles A.; McDermott, John; Newton, Henry G.; Sibley, Francis S.; Tiffany, Nelson; Tole, Patrick; Williams, Charles C.; 31ST REGIMENT Adams, Daniel H.; Campbell, Francis; Doherty, Peter; 33RD REGIMENT Marsh, James M. 34TH REGIMENT Adams, Oscar E.; Collins, John; Hill, James. 36TH REGIMENT Fuller, Horace; Jennison, B. R.; Richardson, Aaron. 37TH REGIMENT Bean, John G.; Hannaford, Charles H. 42ND REGIMENT Cummings, D. F.; Hewitt, Daniel L. 51ST REGIMENT Arnold, Oscar C.; Knights, Estus; Lincoln, A. A.; Nye, Franklin; Rice, George D.; Rice, Henry S. 57TH REGIMENT Bryan, J. B.; Dayton, Benjamin F.; Hentselman, J. W. G.; Neaylon, John. 1ST CAVALRY Bowers, Walter C.; Legg, Charles A. 4TH CAVALRY Stafford, Rhodes. 2ND HEAVY ARTILLERY Doolan, Patrick. UNATTACHED HEAVY ARTILLERY Burley, O. L. NAVY Collins, Henry A.; Davis, H. W.; Hewitt, Daniel L.; Needham, Charles D.; Rice, Eugene C.; Reynolds, John; Rice, Henry S.; Stratton, Walter E.; White, George C.; Williams, Jackson; Chapin, B. T.; Doherty, Peter; Southgate, James. S. ENLISTED FOR 3 YEARS Clapp, John A.; Maloney, William 2 Colored Volunteers were furnished by the state In 1916, when the United States became involved in trouble on the Mexican border, nine young men from Auburn answered the call for volunteers. They were Edward Legasse, Fred Larose, William Wilkinson, William Campbell, Clarence Kellerby, Joseph Blake, Walter McNiminee, Lester Carpenter and Eli H. Contois. When the call for service in the World War came, one hundred and seventy-five residents of Auburn responded. They served in all branches of the army and navy, and of those who participated in the war, all but two returned to their homes. Chester P. Tuttle, wounded at the Meuse-Argonne Sector on September 1, 1918, died three hours later en route to the hospital. Tuttle Square at the corner of School and South Streets was named in his honor. Ernest P. Carlson entered the flying service and was sent to Brooks Field, San Antonio, Texas in the 67th Aero Squadron. He died of typhoid fever in the United States Base Hospital in Fort Sam Houston, July 28, 1918. As in all wars in which the United States has participated, the men and women of Auburn, during the terrifying days of 1917 and 1918, performed the tasks devolving on them unhesitatingly and with selfless and untiring devotion. WORLD WAR Abelson, Samuel; Abbott, Fred; Allen, Clifford M.; Anderson, Anders; Anderson, Carl G.; Anarta, Hector H.; Audette, Ernest O. P.; Audette, Eugene; Audette, Hector; Audette, Louis E.; Auger, George E.; Auger, Melvin; Balcom, Charles; Benoit, Harold J.; Benoit, Napoleon J.; Berg, Carl C.; Berthieume, Joseph; Blake, Joseph E.; Blanchard, P. J.; Bombard, Arthur E.; Bombard, Kennison H.; Boudreau, Wilfred; Broman, Ragnar; Brown, Ralph J.; Cameron, John R.; Cambell, William; Campbell, John P.; Carlson, David; Carlson, Edwin T.; Carlson, Eric W.; Carlson, Frederick; Carlson, Harold; Carney, Harold P.; Carpenter, Frederick; Carpenter, Lester; Champagne, Joseph; Christiansen, Frank; Christiansen, Nils; Cole, Walter E.; Collette, Emory; Contois, Eli; Cooke, Leo; Cooper, Benjamin; Courville, George; Courville, Louis H.; Courville, Louis N., Jr.; Cronin, Walter; Croteau, Albert; Croteau, Henry E.; Davis, Alfred G.; Daigneau, Ernest N.; Delage, Alexander; Delage, Arthur; Delage, Fred W.; Delage, Louis J.; Devio, Joseph; Dugard, Fred G.; Dupuis, Alexander; Dwyer, Clarence R. J.; Eaton, Herbert N.; Ellis, George C.; Eno, Albert J.; Eno, Wilfred J.; Fleury, Roger; Fogwell, Robert; Foster, Robert H.; Fournier, Albert J.; Fox, William; Frobisher, Alvin H.; Friberg, Harry J.; Frosberg, Theodore; Gamache, Henry C.; Gamache, Herminglide J.; Gamache, Reney; Gerard, Frank P.; Geroux, Alexander; Ghize, Davis N.; Gleich, Charles; Gleich, Joseph; Gonyea, Joseph; Gonyea, Oscar; Gorman, Benjamin; Grosvenor, Chester K.; Grosvenor, Raymond P.; Granger, Edward D.; Grove, Fred L.; Guillotte, Dona; Guillotte, Wilfred; Hargraves, Alfred; Healey, William W.; Hinchley, Fred; Hultgran, Oscar L.; Ingram, William P.; Jennison, David; Jenson, Magnus B.; Johnson, Iver; Kenneway, Henry; Kenneway, Philip; Kennon, Harold; Killerby, Clarence; King, John; Konisky, James; Lantz, Charles I.; Laprade, Felix; Laprade, Mitchell; Largesse, Ernest N.; Largesse, Frank L.; Largesse, Leo; Larose, Alfred P.; Larose, Ernest G.; Larson, Herbert; Lausier, Moise; Legassey, Edward L.; Legassey, George; Legassey, William; Lind, Ernest G.; Lind, Harry; Lindgren, Lawrence E.; Marley, John E.; McClellan, Leslie; McDermott, John F.; McMenemy, Walter J.; McMenemy, William D.; Miller, Harry E.; Mitchell, Vincent; Moore, Frank C.; Moore, Raymond; Morgan, Oscar; Morrow, Richard; Naumnik, Frank; Nelson, Harry; O'Brien, George W.; Orman, Edward A.; Perry, D. Gordon; Pricard, Phillip J.; Pullen, Harold D.; Racicot, Edmond; Racicot, Felix J.; Rambo, Samuel E.; Raymond, Ernest L.; Robinson, Christopher; Rock, Philip J.; Sandberg, Henry J.; Schunke, Oscar; Schwager, Herman C.; Seery, Eugene E.; Semon, Carl F.; Semon, Raymond A.; Sibley, Ralph W.; Sivret, Harold F.; Sjogren, Gustaf E.; Snickars, Charles A.; Soderlund, Rudolph; Stone, Arthur W.; Stone, Clifton C.; Stone, Fred M.; Svedberg, Henry F.; Sullivan, John J.; Thayer, Harold C.; Townsend, Fred; Trotter, Cecil; Tuttle, Chester P.; Walker, William; Walsh, Joseph A.; Walsh, Paul B.; Ward, Asa H.; Warren, Elbridge G.; Warren, John A., Jr.; Warren, Sherman A.; Westlund, Edwin; Weston, Frank E.; White, Ernest J.; Wilkinson, William J.; Wilson, Everett W.; Wilson, George R.; Wilson, W. E. R.; UNITED STATES ARMY NURSES Helen Maynard; Anna G. Mullins. |