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Page 6
About the year 1826, General Thomas A. Staples built and kept a store
on Main Street, directly north of the Union Church. He was followed
successively by Benjamin Franklin Lawrence, Henry Hill, and Walter
Shattuck. The building was burned down about ten years ago, and its site
is now occupied by Dr. David R. Steere's house.
In the year 1847 a large building was moved from Hollis Street to
the corner of Main and Court Streets. It was put up originally as a
meeting-house for the Second Adventists, or Millerites as they were
called in this neighborhood, after William Miller, one of the founders
of the sect; but after it was taken to the new site, it was fitted up in
a commodious manner, with shops in the basement and a spacious hall in
the second story. The building was known as Liberty Hall, and formed a
conspicuous structure in the village. The post-office was kept in it,
while Mr. Lothrop and Mr. Andruss were the postmasters. It was used as a
shoe shop, a grocery, and a bakery, when, on Sunday, March 31, 1878, it
was burned to the ground.
The brick store, owned by the Dix family, was built and kept by Aaron
Brown, near the beginning of the century. He was followed by Moses
Parker, and after him came ---- and Merriam, and then Benjamin P. Dix.
It is situated at the corner of Main Street and Broad-Meadow Road, and
now used as a dwelling-house. A very good engraving of this building is
given in The Groton Herald, May 8, 1830, which is called by persons who
remember it at that time a faithful representation, though it has since
undergone some changes.
Near the end of the last century, Major William Swan traded in the house
now occupied by Charles Woolley, Jr., north of the Common near the old
burying-ground. It was Major Swan who set out the elm-trees in front of
this house, which was the Reverend Dr. Chaplin's dwelling for many
years.
Two daughters of Isaac Bowers, a son of Landlord Bowers, had a dry-goods
shop in the house owned and occupied by the late Samuel W. Rowe, Esq.
About the year 1825, Walter Shattuck opened a store in the building
originally intended for the Presbyterian Church, opposite to the present
entrance of the Groton Cemetery. There was formerly a store kept by one
Mr. Lewis, near the site of Captain Asa Stillman Lawrence's house, north
of the Town Hall. There was a trader in town, Thomas Sackville Tufton by
name, who died in the year 1778, though I do not know the site of his
shop. Captain Samuel Ward, a native of Worcester, and an officer in the
French and Indian War, was engaged in business at Groton some time
before the Revolution. He removed to Lancaster, where at one time he was
town-clerk, and died there on August 14, 1826.
The Groton post-office was established at the very beginning of the
present century, and before that time letters intended for this town
were sent through private hands. Previous to the Revolution there were
only a few post-offices in the Province, and often persons in distant
parts of Massachusetts received their correspondence at Boston. In
the Supplement to The Boston Gazette, February 9, 1756, letters are
advertised as remaining uncalled for, at the Boston office, addressed to
William Lakin and Abigail Parker, both of Groton, as well as to Samuel
Manning, Townsend, William Gleany, Dunstable, and Jonathan Lawrence,
Littleton. Nearly five months afterward these same letters are
advertised in The Boston Weekly News-Letter, July 1, 1756, as still
uncalled for. The name of David Farnum, America, appears also in this
list, and it is hoped that wherever he was he received the missive. The
names of Oliver Lack (probably intended for Lakin) and Ebenezer Parker,
both of this town, are given in another list printed in the Gazette of
June 28, 1762; and in the same issue one is advertised for Samuel
Starling, America. In the Supplement to the Gazette, October 10, 1768,
Ebenezer Farnsworth, Jr., and George Peirce, of Groton, had letters
advertised; and in the Gazette, October 18, 1773, the names of Amos
Farnsworth, Jonas Farnsworth, and William Lawrence, all of this town,
appear in the list.
I find no record of a post-rider passing through Groton, during the
period immediately preceding the establishment of the post-office;
but there was doubtless such a person who used to ride on horseback,
equipped with saddle-bags, and delivered at regular intervals the weekly
newspapers and letters along the way. In the year 1794, according to the
History of New Ipswich, New Hampshire (page 129), a post-rider, by the
name of Balch, rode from Boston to Keene one week and back the next.
Probably he passed through this town, and served the inhabitants with
his favors.
Several years ago I procured, through the kindness of General Charles
Devens, at that time a member of President Hayes's cabinet, some
statistics of the Groton post-office, which are contained in the
following letter:--
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