Hopedale History May 15, 2013 No. 228 Hopedale and its Founder
An old fieldstone dam in the woods between Freedom Street and Pinecrest. Life in Hopedale is too dull to bear, or there’s no business like show business.
Damage from the 1938 hurricane.
Bill “The Spaceman” Lee, Actor John Fiore of the Sopranos, Meet the Parents and Law & Order, Comedian Dave Russo and Comedian Graig Murphy. During the past two weeks I’ve made additions to the following pages: the Draper-Kentucky Connection John Stanas Caboose Houses of Hopedale Frank Dutcher Fanny Osgood The “Other Drapers” Town Hall Recent deaths Henry Patrick’s Store South Hopedale Cemetery <><><><><><><><><><> Hopedale and its Founder Fifty years ago, the valley of Mill River, now occupied by the thrifty manufacturing town of Hopedale, contained but a single time-worn dwelling. For the time and place it was something of a mansion. It was of the usual two-story type, large and rambling, and bearing very little in the way of ornamentation. Aside from its great stone chimney, containing three thousand three hundred cubic feet, and its five ample fireplaces – one of which would receive fuel six feet in length - there as but one thing about it to interest the traveler who happened along that way. The “Old House” was rich in local history. It was, at that time, about one hundred and forty years old, for it was built in 1700-4, after the close of King Philip’ s War, when the ancient town of Mendon was laid in ashes. Where now are beautiful stone and brick buildings, extensive warehouses, street railways, concrete walks, gas and water mains, and electric lights, there existed then only the virgin forest through which ran long-used Indian trails, to mark the presence of human beings. In that almost unbroken wilderness fate, or fortune, decreed that Elder John Jones should make a beginning towards civilization. He was an enterprising, pious young man – as we are glad to regard all those sturdy pioneers of the eighteenth century in New England. At daybreak John Jones might have been seen, with axe and dinner pail in one hand and old flint-lock in the other, briskly making his way from his lodgings in Mendon, through the forest, to the spot which he had selected whereon to lay the foundation of his future home. There his strong arm felled the great trees which, had they eyes to see and ears to hear, might have had much to tell us of what had happened in their presence since, and long before, the landing of the Pilgrims down at Plymouth. Young John Jones possessed the sinew which subdues wilderness as well as kingdoms, and the heart whose hot currents find their way into a dozen generations. At noon he would spread his frugal dinner, consisting of Indian bannock and a bottle of milk, upon some clean stump or rock and kneel before it in humble thanksgiving, while his two faithful dogs kept ears and eyes alert to detect the approach of wild beast or unfriendly red man. In a short time his strong arms constructed a rude barrack of logs, within which at night and during the sudden tempest he found shelter and safety. More than a hundred years after, the charred remains of this old barrack were dug up near the “Old House.” It was not long before the ground was cleared, boards and timbers were brought from the mill four miles away, whence the logs had been hauled, and the foundation of that mansion was begun which was to be the refuge of five or six generations. To that abode, John Jones took his young wife, and when Providence so decreed, the twain were blessed with a goodly family of sons and daughters. Under the hand of his son Joseph, the house received much improvement. In all the territory now occupied by the towns of Milford and Hopedale, this was the only dwelling and for many years its doors opened hospitably to the touch of the wayfarer; while in its spacious parlors and before its huge fireplaces transpired all the great events of human history – births, marriages, deaths, feasts, fasts, and prayers. Here religious meetings were often held, for God always manifested himself in the valley of Mill River. Ministers and deacons from neighboring towns always found here a welcome. In the course of time, for some reason or other, a considerable portion of the First Church of Mendon became alienated – as church members sometimes do – and seriously considered the establishment of a Second Church. Those who thus felt divinely called to worship God on their own account, now resided mostly east of Neck Hill, in that part of Mendon which was afterwards set off as Milford. It was in the “Old House,” in 1741, that the council was convened which inaugurated the Second Church of Milford. Elder John Jones was the leader of this movement. Pastors and elders came from Hopkinton and Holliston, and the house was thronged with guests. It was a season of fasting and prayer and general solemnity, made all the more impressive by a sense of Protestant independence which encouraged them to dissolve their connection with the old church in Mendon town. The sermon was “laborious” and filled with the unction of mysterious theological technicalities, known only to the ministers and their Maker. The desired result was secured, viz., a stringent covenant, the election of ruling elders and deacons and a scribe, and all the other means of Christian fellowship and the grace of God. Hopedale and its Founder, Rev. Lewis G. Wilson, New England Magazine, 1909, pp. 197 – 199. (Click here to read the entire article.) Hopedale History Ezine Menu HOME |
