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HISTORICAL.

ORIGINAL.

HISTORY OF THE COUNTY OF WORCESTER.

RIVERS CONTINUED.

THE notice of the streams in our last number, was merely intended as a general description of those rivers, that leave the County. It was consequently imperfect. Other streams of importance, will be noticed in the several towns, where they are found. On page 90, a material error occurred, in the description of French river. The mistake arose from the circumstance of there being two streams that formerly bore this name. The venerable Whitney fell into the same error. French river, properly so called, or as it is sometimes styled Stony river, has its principal source in Spencer, then passing through Burncoat pond in Leicester, it receives the Rawson brook, that rises in Paxton, and afterwards the waters of the Henshaw pond in Leicester, and also a small feeder from Charlton, then through Oxford and Dudley, it enters the state of Connecticut, where it unites with the Quineboag, also from this County. It afterwards takes the name of Thames, and empties into Long Island sound near New London.

Some errors also are found in the description of the Blackstone river. Its main branch originates also from Paxton, and passing through the easterly part of Leicester, then entering the southwesterly part of Worcester, it passes into Ward, where it is called Kettle brook, and there receives the waters of Ramshorn pond from Sutton, it was called by the Indians Packachoag,* then again appearing in Worcester, it unites with the Tatnuck or Half way river, from Holden. This stream takes its name from the circumstance of our ancestors considering it a middle point between Boston and Springfield, now taking the name of Blackstone river, it then passes on through Millbury and Uxbridge to Rhode Island. Its tributary, which we called Mumford's river, is named West river, which rises in Upton from two ponds, and falls into the easterly side of the Blackstone in Uxbridge. The real Mumford's river rises in Sutton and Douglas, from Manchaog and Badluck ponds, and passing through Northbridge, falls into the westerly side of the Blackstone, before its junction with West River in Uxbridge.

*This in the early records of Worcester is written Pakachoog, and afterwards Bocachoge, and Vol. I. Hist. Col. Boggachoag.

CIVIL DIVISIONS.

This County is subdivided into fifty four towns or townships;-the following Table will show the order of these Incorporations, with the amount of their numbers and relative wealth.

Northborough

1766, January 24 1,018 269 82 95

The date of the Incorporation of these towns is variously stated in different authorities.

County Tax in 1825........................6,000

Each of these towns is entitled to send a Representative to the General Court. Twenty of them may send two each, two others may send three each, and Worcester is entitled to four, making the whole representation of the County in one branch of the Legislature at least eighty members. The County also forms a Senatorial district, and chooses five Senators to the State Legislature.

DISTRICTS FOR THE CHOICE OF REPRESENTATIVES TO CONGRESS.

The towns following, to wit: Northborough, Shrewsbury, Worcester, Paxton, Oakham, New Braintree, and Hardwick, together with such towns as lie south of them, form the Worcester South District. The other towns in the County, together with Ashby, Shirley, Townsend, Pepperell, and Groton, in the County of Middlesex, form another Congressional District called the Worcester North District.

PAROCHIAL DIVISIONS.

Each town contains at least one Congregational Parish, obliged by law to support a Protestant teacher of piety and morality.— Brookfield and Mendon include two such Corporations. Parishes or Precincts are distinguished from Religious Societies in this, that they are designated by territorial boundaries, and have jurisdiction over the polls and estates of all persons within their limits, who have not united themselves to some other Parish or Religious So

cieties. These Societies are already numerous, and are annually increasing. The Congregationalists have already two in Worcester, and one in each of the towns of Fitchburg, Harvard, Leominster, and Petersham. The Congregationalists are the most numerous sect. All other denominations do not probably comprise one fourth of the population. The whole number of Parishes, or Societies, is as follows:

These various Societies have at least one hundred edifices for public worship. Many of them are elegant buildings, adorned with spires, bells and clocks. There are upwards of eighty stated ordained Ministers belonging to these various Churches now resident in the County. The number is constantly subject to variation.

POPULATION.

By the census of 1820, the whole number of Inhabitants was 73,625. The numbers by different enumerations were as follows:

The numbers are now probably increasing at a much greater ratio, than at any former period. For at least half a century, this County has been the great Hive, that has sent out annually its swarms of emigrants to Vermont, to the western parts of New York, Ohio, and other parts of the United States, as well as to Canada.The introduction of Manufactures and the improvements in Agriculture, have given a new stimulus to domestic industry, so that our young men find it as easy to gain a subsistence at home as by travelling abroad. The tide of emigration has consequently in a great measure ceased.

HISTORY.

FROM the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, no permanent settlements were established by Europeans on the northern parts of the Continent until the year 1607, when Jamestown in Virginia was planted by the English. Soon after the Dutch took possession of Hudson's river, and founded Albany and New York. In 1620 the first Colony of New England was planted at Plymouth, in Massachusetts, by the English Puritans. This colony was planned and founded by chosen men every way calculated to be the pioneers or forlorn hope in such a hazardous and bold adventure. Although voluntary exiles from their native land, there were in this little band, men eminent in their own country for extensive learning, stern fortitude, manly courage, and exalted piety. Many of them were from families of fortune and of high distinction. They had not been idle spectators in the wars of the low countries, nor' did they leave the schools of Leyden with dishonor. They were induced to the undertaking from an unconquerable love for posterity, and an ardent desire to enjoy civil and religious liberty unmolested. They realized their anticipations in the success of their enterprise. The results that followed this humble beginning, have fixed upon these veteran pilgrims the recollections of a wide spread posterity; and the gratitude of all free people of every region hails them as "the leaders of this great march of humanity."Their names are embalmed in the memories of their descendants, and their sufferings, their fortitude, and their faith, have been celebrated by the most exalted efforts of genius and of eloquence. The canvas has glowed with their forms, and poetry has lent her aid to perpetuate the memory of their trials and their victory.

Thousands, actuated by the same holy impulse, immediately prepared to follow them. In 1628 Salem was planted, and Charlestown in 1629. In 1630, the principal planters of Massachusetts, at the vast sacrifice of fortune, the endearments of home and the delights of country, established themselves on our coast. This year they laid the foundations of Boston, Dorchester, Roxbury, Watertown, and Cambridge. With the accomplished, the learned, and the opulent Winthrop at its head, a regular Government was established. This year 14 ships arrived with 1500 passengers, men, women and children.

The obnoxious decrees of the Star chamber, and the cruel persecutions of that odious bigot, Archbishop Laud, "sifted the wheat of the three kingdoms," and furnished abundant good seed, to plant the deserts of New England, with men of stur