GenMassachusetts-L Archives
Archiver > GenMassachusetts > 2005-09 > 1126537829
From:
Subject: Settlement of Rutland, Mass. from The History of Sudbury, Mass. Part 2 of 3
Date: Mon, 12 Sep 2005 11:10:29 EDT
> From: Matika >
> Subject: History Of Sudbury (Expanding to Rutland) part 2 of 3 - Date: Mon,
> 14 Dec 1998 10:58:47 -0500
> Transcribed from: "The History of Sudbury"
> 1638 - 1889
> by: Alfred Serno Hudson
> published: 1889
> republished: 1968
>
> One of the next in prominence as an historic character in the early
> history of Rutland, and who lived in Sudbury and had children while
> there, was Deacon Joseph Stevens. He was a son of Cyprian Stevens, who,
> as we have seen, married Mary Williard of Lancaster. He went from
> sudbury to Framingham, and from there removed to Rutland about 1719. He
> married Prudence Rice, a daughter of John Rice of Sudbury, and while at
> Sudbury his son Phineas, the Indian fighter and famous captain in the
> French Indian war, was born. Mr. Stevens was thus by relationship
> grandson of Major Simon Willard, and by heirship had an interest in the
> land tract. In the homestead allotment he received lots Nos. 15 and
> 56. He also had two hundred acres of other land. He filled various
> offices, military, ecclesiastical, and civil, among which were those of
> captain of militia and deacon of church. He put up a small hut on some
> meadow land five miles from his dwelling place and there being no road
> to the place he went to it daily on rackets or snow shoes to feed his
> stock. On the 14th of August, 1723, after daily devotional services
> with his family, Mr. Stevens started with four young men to gather hay
> and while engaged in the work was assailed by Indians, two of his sons
> were killed, the eldest and youngest were taken prisoners, and he alone
> escaped. The captives were taken to Canada; and being kept there a
> year, were redeemed at great expense, after the father had taken two
> trips to Canada. It is said, that after the capture of these boys, the
> Indians, thinking that Isaac, the younger, who was but four years old,
> would be troublesome to them on their way to Canada, were about putting
> him to death, when their design was discovered by Phineas, who made
> signs, that, if his brother were spared, he would carry him along on his
> back.
The request being granted, little Isaac was carried by his
> brother Phineas, then about seventeen, to the Indians far off wilderness
> home. Isaac was so young when taken captive that he soon acquired the
> customs and habits of the Indians, It is stated that the Indian woman
> who had this young child in her charge was so kind in her treatment of
> him, that he would have remained among the savages.
By the redemption > of Phineas Stevens from his captivity in Canada, the
> country received a man whose services were invaluable in after years. this son of
> Sudbury
> afterward became a historical character, from his masterly military
> prowness in and about Fort No. 4, a place on the Connecticut River at
> Charleston, N.H. (book online at my pages
> http://tfeeney.esmartbiz.com/janice.htm
Deacon Stevens had three daughters, Mindwell, Mary,
> and Katherine, He died Nov. 15 1769, and his wife about 1776.
> Captain Edward Rice and Rachel, his wife, were from Sudbury, and
> were some of the most prominent people of Rutland. He was proprietor of
> two lots, No. 34 and No. 60, and their after divisions. One of these
> lots he sold to Mr. Benjamin Dudley, and settled on the other, which was
> located at Muschapauge Hill, and contained one hundred and forty five
> acres; but, after building upon it, he sold it, and bought a lot south
> of Pomagussett Meadow, at which place he lived, and where he died at the
> age os sixty seven during a remarkable sickness which in 1756 swept over
> Rutland, destroying during the fall months nearly sixty children. Mrs.
> Rice, his wife died of small pox, Jan. 7, 1760. Captain Rice was a
> useful citizen for his country, town and church. He entered into the
> service of his country in 1724, and after his return home held both
> militia and town offices.
> Captain Samuel Stone was of Lexington, but previously was a citizen
> of Sudbury. He was proprietor of lot No. 25; but with his sons, he
> eventually became owner of about nine hundred acres of land. Samuel
> Stone Jr., on Oct. 20, 1732 married a daughter of Deacon Stevens, by
> whom he had several children. He was a ardent patriot, and died in the
> service of his country at the time of the Revolutionary War. His son,
> Isaac died in the French War, Nov. 20, 1756.
> Captain Phineas Walker and his wife, Beulah Clapp, were from
> Sudbury, where their first two children were born. Mr. Clapp owned land
> at the junction of Ware and Longmeadow Brooks, to which place he moved
> in 1750. He was a valuable inhabitant of Rutland, and filled various
> important town offices, and was also a captain in the Revolutionary
> War. Mr. Walker and wife, soon after arriving at Rutland, united with
> the church, and it is stated of them, that, though living four miles
> from the meeting house, "their seats were seldom empty". In the great
> sickness of 1756, their two sons, Abel and John, were buried in one
> grave. Two of their other sons were physicians; one named Asa,
> practiced in Barre; the other died Nov. 30, 1797. Jonas was a minuteman
> and officer in the Revolution.
> Col. Daniel Clapp was a Sudbury man, and in 1768 bought land in
> Rutland, to which place he moved from the town of Princeton. He filled
> many important offices while at Rutland, was an officer in the
> Revolutionary War, and for many years registrar of deeds for Worcester
> County.
> Lieut. luke Moore and Lucy, his wife, were other citizens from
> Sudbury. Mr. Moore was an officer of militia, and a worthy citizen. He
> subsequently removed from Rutland to New Hampshire. It is stated that
> Mr. Luke Moore was a brother of all the woman of the name of Moore who
> went from Sudbury to Rutland.
> Lieut. Paul Moore, another titled citizen was from Sudbury. He was
> by trade a carpenter. He filled various town offices, as town clerk,
> selectman, and treasurer. Mr. Moore married, May 3, 1733, Hannah
> Hubbard, a daughter of Capt. John Hubbard, who moved from Worcester to
> Rutland about 1728; and for his second wife he married Azubah Moore of
> Sudbury. The wife of Lieutenant Moore was a well known maker of deer
> skin clothes. a grandson of Mr. and Mrs. Moore was Rev. John Hubbard
> Church, formerly of Pelham, N.H.
> Cornet Daniel Estabrook and Hannah, his wife, were both from
> Sudbury. It is stated that Mr. Estabrook, in 1723, bought land laid out
> to Samuel Goodnow to his right of lot No. 46, situated on Worcester
> Hill; and that when he began to fell trees it was perilous going to work
> without his gun, not only from exposure to Indians, but also to bears
> and wolves.
>
> (pages 171, 172, 173, & 174)
This thread: