Worcester County MA

Biographical Sketch of Lieutenant Joshua Locke

(IV) Lieutenant Joshua Locke, son of Joshua Locke, was born at Woburn. July 22. 1733, and married Abigail Maynard, probably of Westboro. He lived first in Westboro, where most of his children were born. Later he removed to Sudbury, where his son Fortunatus was born. May, 1795, he was an ensign in the army under General Winslow, at Nova Scotia, and was doubtless the Lieutenant Locke who was in the army with General Braddock and was wounded at the time of Braddock’s Defeat. He was also with Colonel Rogers, the famous ranger in New York, and was at one period … Read more

Biography of Allen, Joseph Henry

Allen, Joseph Henry, was born August 21, 1820, in Northborough, Worcester County, where his father (Joseph, born in Medfield, 1790, on the old homestead at Castle Hill, occupied since 1649 and still by the Allen family) was settled as minister of the town in 1816, and remained pastor of the First Parish till his death in 1873. His mother (Lucy Clark, born in Hingham, 1791, died 1866) was daughter of Prof. Henry Ware of Harvard University (1805-1845). He is seventh in descent, by the maternal line, of a series of Massachusetts Congregational ministers, including Thomas Clark, Chelmsford; John Hancock, Lexington; … Read more

Biography of William E. Leighton, M.D.

Dr. William E. Leighton, who is devoting his time to the practice of surgery in St. Louis, was born in Portland, Maine, May 9, 1892, a son of the late George W. Leighton, who was a descendant of an old Massachusetts family which was founded in Cohasset in the early part of the seventeenth century by one of the name who came from England. One of the ancestral lines is traced back to the Packard family of Boston. Later descendants participated in the Revolutionary war. George W. Leighton, the Doctor’s father, was in the granite business and during the Civil … Read more

Brookfield Massachusetts Warnings 1737-1788

Worcester County MA Warnings

In the following information all the names, dates and other essential particulars which appear in the returns to the Court in the County of Worcester during the entire period – a full half-century, from 1737 to 1788 – in which these entries were made, are given. The returns from each place have been brought together and arranged under the name of the town or district, in this case Brookfield Massachusetts.

Biography of George W. Harwood

George W. Harwood is one of the oldest business men still in active service in the city of Champaign. He came to Champaign County soon after the Civil War, in which he had fought gallantly as a Union soldier, and during the greater part of his residence here has been in the real estate and insurance business. There is no man better informed on the changing values of real estate and with a more authoritative knowledge of realty conditions. Mr. Harwood is of New England birth and ancestry, and was born at North Brookfield, Worcester County, Massachusetts, September 18, 1841. … Read more

Biographical Sketch of George Aldrich

(I) George Aldrich was born in Derbyshire, England, about 1605. He married, in England, November 3, 1629, Katherine Seald, and came to New England in 1631 with his wife. She was born about 1610, according to her deposition made June 18, 1670, when she was sixty years old. He was a tailor by trade. He settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and belonged to the church there about 1636. He was admitted a freeman, December 7, 1636. In 1663 he was one of, the first seven persons to arrive in the township of Mendon, Massachusetts. He sold his land in Braintree to … Read more

Biography of Reverend Samuel Goddard

Mr. Samuel Goddard was born at Sutton, Massachusetts, July 6, 1772. We have no information concerning his early life. His opportunities for education are said to have been scanty. After coming to manhood he was for several years in trade with a brother in Royalston, Mass. Here he married his first wife (Abigail Goddard of Athol, a town adjoining Royalston), and here his older children were born.