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VITAL RECORDS OF THE TowN OF AUBURN, {FORMERLY WARD}, MASSACHUSETTS, To the end of the year 1850. With the INSCRIPTIONS from the OLD BURIAL GROUNDS. Collected and arranged by FRANKLIN P. RICE. WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS: PUBLISHED BY FRANKLIN P. RICE, TrulCee ot the F'lm4. 1900. lN MEMORY OF IN WHOSE HONOR THE TERRITORY OF AUBURN WAS FIRST NAMED, AND OF liltbtttnlJ Isaac Baflt,p, THE FIRST MINISTER OF THE TOWN. "In this work of bringing original mater£al £nto form for quick reference and practical use, the list of Births. Marr£ages and Deaths of a place should first be secured and printed, as personal records are the real and important foundat£on of local h£story." -Extract from letter conferring Trusteeship of Systematic History Fund. PREFACE. The Rer.ords of Auburn have a close and important relation to those of Worcester, Leicester, Sutton and Oxford, towns promi­ nent in the history of the early settlement of central Massachu­ setts. Especially are these Recordr supplementary to the Town Records of Worcester, which haw, been edited and printed in full by the Trustee of the Systematic History Fund, and they may be considered in reality a continuation of the work which was comprehended in a plan formed by ,iim for the practical develop­ ment of the original historical material of this section. With the exception of brief sketches in narrative form, com­ prised in certain general works, nothing in the shape of a town history of Auburn has been printed. I ts Records are in a fair state of preservation, but accessible only to those who are on the ground. This first publication presents the full personal record ( which in every case is the true foundation of local history) so far as it can be gathered from the town books, and added to this are the inscriptions from the two older burial grounds in the town, all in systematized form for reference. Speaking in a general way, all local records of the early period in New England are incomplete and imperfect, the degree vary­ ing to some extent in different places, but none have been found entirely free from omissions, discrepancies and other errors. The Records of Auburn afford about the average number of such instances. But this statement should not carry the implication VI PREFACE. that the value and practical usefulness of town and other records are seriously impaired by the small percentage of inaccuracies common in all human works, and of which a large proportion can be rectified by effort and patience. The substantial ground­ work of the original entries in the Auburn town books is here supplied, and the addition of the burial ground inscriptions will aid in completing the record of deaths. In the work of collecting and copying this material I have had the benefit of the services of Mr. George Maynard as a compe­ tent assistant. To Mr. Charles E. Prouty, the Town Clerk of Auburn, aod to M:rs. Prouty, my acknowledgments are due for their courtesy, and for free access to the Records at all timeu. F. P.R. Worcester, March3z, z900. *•* ADDITION TO BIRTHS, PAGE 25. CLARK:-The misplacing of the name of Mary-Lucinda, daughter of John, Jr. and Sarah Clark, born Nov. 16, 1836, was discovered too late for ita insertion in regular order. HISTORICAL NOTE. THE Town of Auburn was originally set off from Worcester, Sutton, Leicester and Oxford, and was incorporated on the 10th of April, 1778, with the name of Ward, in honor of General Artemas Ward, of Shrewsbury, a man of great prominence in this region, active as a patriot during the difficulties that caused the separation from the mother country, and receiving on the eve of hostilities the appoint­ ment of First Major General in the Revolutionary Army. He was at a later period Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas, and afterwards served in Congress. He died in 1800 at the age of seventy­ three. A precinct was organized at this place July 27th, 1773. called the South Parish of Worcester, and three years later the church was formed. In 1777 Rev. Isaac Bailey became the first pastor. More or less opposition was manifested against the formation of the new township in the several places from which its territory was taken, and com­ mittees were chosen to contest the proposed action VIII HISTORICAL NOTE, in the General Court. It is probable that the in­ tention to separate from the older towns had been cherished for several years by those who, though nominally apart in corporate interests, were in their isolated situation united for common convenience and protection of material rights. This purpose after it was divulged could not long be resisted, but the event was postponed for several years by a quasi acknowledgment of independence. Twice in 1776 and 1777, as the Town Records of Worcester testify, were special war taxes abated to the inhabi­ tants of the South Parish, perhaps with the hope of holding them to their allegiance; but in the fall of the last named year the matter was brought directly to a settlement, as appears by the following extract from the Worcester Records: "The Town of Worcester Having been served with a Coppy of the Petition of William Phips & Charles Richardson praying 'the present members of the Precinct lately Erected out of Worcester, Leicester, Oxford & Sutton may be incorporated into a Town, according to a plan Exhibited with 1 said petition &c. and the Honb • General assemblys Resolve thereon, of the 24th day of Octr. last, Re­ quireing the said Towns to shew Cause, if any they have, on the third Wednesday of the next Session HISTORICAL NOTE, IX of the Sd Court why the prayer of Sd petition should not be granted.' The Town of Worcester, in answer to Sd Petition and Order of Court, beg leave to say, that they have not been served with a plan of said town exhibited with said Petition to the Court, and therefore are not in a Capacity to offer reasons against, or to comply with it until! they know how far it Extends. But if the said plan Does not include any of those pl::rsons nor their Estates which belong to the Town of Worcester, and which were Excepted from being set off to said precinct when it was first Erected, We have no objections to their being made a Dis­ tinct Town. But if said plann includes those per­ sons and their Estates who were first Exempted from belonging to said precinct, and are still un­ willing to be set off to said Town, We beg leave to say we think it would be inconsistent to include a Number of persons & their Estates into the said New Town and still continue them to belong to the Town of Worcester, and to include them in the plann aforesaid & set them off against their Consent & the Consent of this Town, is departing from the principles upon which the said precinct was at first Erected, and will subject the said persons to an in­ convenience that they had a right to Expect an Exemption from by the act of the General assem­ bly & ~s the said persons who were first Exempted from belonging to S'1 Precinct and who are still un­ willing to be set off to Sd new Town and their 2 X HISTORICAL NOTE. Estates all lay upon the side of Sd new Town next to Worcester, this Town are humbly of opinion that a line may be run between the Town of Worcester & the Srt new Town Leaving the Sd persons & their Estates to the Town of Worcester without any In­ conveniency to Either of the said Towns, which if complied with the Town of Worcester are Content. NATHN BALDWIN} NATHAN PERRY Comittee." DAVID BIGELOW On the 2d of February, 1778, in Worcester Town Meeting, it was voted to choose two persons to meet the Committee of the General Court, to view the proposed new township, and to fix the lines and boundaries; and on the 23d of the same month, it was voted to remonstrate against the proceedings of said Committee, and the lines established be­ tween the towns, with what effect it does not appear. On the 10th of the following April the Precinct was incorporated as a Town and named Ward. February 17th, 1837, the name of the Town was changed to Auburn. This was influenced largely, it is said, by the confusion in writing the names Ward and Ware by those not familiar with the two places. HISTORICAL NOTE. XI The Order establishing the South Precinct or Parish of Worcester comprises the names of those who were the first residents of the new town, and the founders of the prominent families, the names of whose immediate progeny and later descendants appear in the Records embodied in this volume : In Council, June 19, 1773, ordered that Gershom Rice, Israel Stevens, David Bancroft, Jonathan Stone, Daniel Boyden, Jacob Stevens, Thomas Drury, Thomas Drury, Jr., Henry Gale, Wm. Ban­ croft, Jas. Nichols, Darius Boyden, Jas. Hart, Thos. Baird, Jas. Hart, Jr., Thos. Baird, Jr., Oliver Curtis, Comfort Rice, Elizabeth Boyden, Phebe Bancroft, Jno. Boyden, Daniel Bancroft, Chas. Hart, Jas. Nichols, Peter Boyden, of Worcester; Benjamin Carter, Chas. Richardson, Timothy Carter, Phineas Rice, Benjamin Carter, Jr., Rachel Buck, Daniel Ro­ per, Gershom Bigelow, Gershom Bigelow, Jr. Peter Hardy, Daniel Cummings, Charles Richardson, Jr., of Sutton; Samuel Eddy, Levi Eddy, Peter Jenison, Ruth Stone, Jesse Stone, Isaac Pratt, Abraham Fitts, Alexander Nichols, David Gleason, of Ox­ ford; John Crowl, Jr., Andrew Crowl, Jonathan Phillips, John Hart, Thomas Scott, William Yong, Jonathan Stone, of Leicester; be and hereby are, with their Families and Estates, erected into a Pre­ cinct, and shall enjoy all the powers and privileges XII HISTORICAL NOTE.

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