History of Fitchburg Part 19 Rufus Torrey 1836


(Get your maps out.  For new members a map is available in
. Also the
Fitchburg Historical Society sells "The City and the River"
by Doris Kirkpatrick.  That book contains the same 1765 map.
I put an asterisk in front of the names whose residences I
could find on the map.  I never expected it to be as
complete as it is.)

Perhaps a more accurate picture of the town in 1764 could
not be presented than by stating the place of residence of
each family liviing in the town when it was incorporated.
Considerable pains have been taken to make this statement
correct.

*        Amos Kimball lived where Samuel Hale now lives.
*        Ephraim Kimball lived where the Storeys now live.
*        Samuel Pierce and William Steward lived where Capt. James Cowdin
and Jacob Tollman now live.
*        Solomon Steward lived where there is a cellar hole, and a barn
lately stood, on the farm now owned byh O.H.Fox.
*        Phinehas Steward lived where the "Poor House" now stands.
*        Robert Wares lived where Joseph Battles now lives.
*        Samuel Poole lived where Charles BEckwith now lives.
*        Kendall Boutelle lived where Capt A Boutelle now lives.
*        Francis Fullam lived where Jacob Fullam now lives.
*        Silas Snow lived  where William Downe now lives.
*        Nehemiah Fuller lived where Thomas B. Goodhue now lives.
*        Ephraim Osborne lived wher Joseph Downe, Esq. now lives.
*        Hezekiah Hodgins lived where Benjamin Whitney now lives.
*        James Leach (Litch?) lived where P. Williams Esq. now lives.
*        Abraham Smith lived where Daniel Works now lives.
        Charles Willard lived where Adin H. Hammond now lives.
*        Edward Scott lived where Joseph T. Scott now lives.
*        Ebenezer Bridge lived where Dea. Jacob Jaquith now lives.
*        Ezra Whitney lived where Daniel Lowe now lives.
*        Reuben Gibson livedd where Arrington Gibson now lives.
*        Isaac Gibson lived where Widow P. Gibson now lives.

        (The personal prowess of these Gibsons was quite
proverbial.  On one occasion, Isaac Gibson, in his rambles
on Pearl Hill found a bear's cub, which he immediately
siezed as his legimate prize.  The mother of the cub came to
the rescue of her offspring.  Gibson retreated, and the bear
attacked him in the rear, to the manifest detriment of his
pantaloons.  This finally compelled him to face his
unwelcome antagonist, and they closed in a more than
fraternal embrace.  Gibson, being the more skillful wrestler
of the two, "threw" bruin and they came to the ground
together.  Without relinquishing the hug both man and beast
now rolled over each other to a considerable distance down
the hill, receiving sundry brusies by the way.  When they
reached the bottom, both were willing to relinquish the
contest without any further experience of each other's
prowess.  It was a drawn game -- the bear losing her cub,
and Gibson his pantaloons.)

        William Chadwick lived near to and a little north of where John
Hapgood now lives.
*        Nicholas Danforth lived in the pasture nearly opposite I. Putnam's.
*        Isiah Witt lived where Isaiah Putnam now lives.
*        Thomas Gerry lived where Joseph FAribanks now lives.
*        John White lived where William Wyman now lives.
*        Timothy Bancroft lived where Joseph Marshall now lives. (This
looks to me to be where Marshall's Apple Barn now stands.)
*        Thomas Damary lived where there is a tan yard,  near to Nathan
Battles'. (This could be the house Lenny Laakso mentioned near the corner
of East and Pearl.)
*        Jessie FRench lived where Jacob H Merriam now lives.
*        Thomas Dutton lived where Capt. Benjamin Wheeler now lives.
*        William Henderson lived where Abel F. Adams now lives.
        (William Henderson was a half crazy Irishman and went to Co'raine
soon after the incorporation of Fitchburg.  In about ten years he returned
in poverty and involved Fitchburg and Lunenburg in a law-suit respecting his
maintenance.)

*        Samuel Hunt lived where James L. Haynes now lives.
*        Timothy Parker lived in the garrison house, formerly D. Page's.
*        Jonathan Wood lived where John Younglove now lives.
*        David Goodridge lived where William Bemis now lives.
*        Jonathan Holt lived opposite the house of Avery Stockwell.
*        Samuel Hodgkins lived a little to  the south of the old city store.
*        Samuel Walker lived where C. Marshall now lives.
        Phinehas Goodell lived in the south-westerly part of the town.
His place of residence is not exactly known.

The above mentioned individuals and their families composed
the population of Fitchburg.  Their dwellings in almost
every instance were far apart -- here and there a house,
scattered over a large territory.  A single dwelling house
stood in the "Old City" and in the village, where the
population is now so thickly clustered together, not a
single hose was erected.  The winds which swept down the
valley of the Nashua, sighed through the pines which here
formed a dense forest.

(to be continued)

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