The Ladies of Forge Village

Growing up in Forge Village, Massachusetts with
  Josephine “Pat” Patricia (Connell) Hartley, Helena “Mickey” (McKniff) Crocker
and Alice “Ella” (Prescott) Collins 

 

“Growing up in Forge Village”  Geoff Hall’s interview with Pat Hartley (2021) 

Josephine Patricia Connell was born on September 23, 1931, Forge Village, her father was Harold Frederick Connell and her mother was Josephine Margarete Socha.  “Pat” graduated Westford Academy, class of 1949 (WA Yearbook picture on the left) She married Ivor Deane Hartley on October 20, 1956, in her hometown of Forge Village. They had six children during their marriage. Enjoy her story of growing up in Forge Village. 

 

 

“Westford Tales”, Geoff Hall’s interview with Mickey Crocker (2022)

Helena” Mickey” McKniff was born on October 20, 1928, at her house on Palermo St. in Forge Village, Westford to her father, Thomas John  and her mother, Sarah (Lavelle) McKniff.  “Mickey” graduated from Westford Academy, class of 1947 (WA Yearbook picture on the left). She married Leonard Eaton Crocker on October 11, 1953, in her hometown. They had eight children during their marriage. She still lives in Forge Village. Geoff Hall recently sat down with Mickey and discussed

 

FORGE VILLAGE

Paper read by Mrs. Alice (Prescott) Collins
for the Westford Historical Society January 27, 1966.

Alice Luella Prescott was born on December 2, 1886, in Westford, Massachusetts, to  Nelson Levi, and  Ella (Davis) Prescott.  “Ella” graduated Westford Academy, class of 1905 (WA Class picture on the left). She married Frank Collins on August 4, 1914, in Forge Village, Massachusetts. They had one child during their marriage. She died on October 24, 1984, in her hometown at the age of 97, and is buried there.

Upon the resettlement of the town of Groton after its destruction by the Indians in 1676 Jonas Prescott, a large landholder in Groton, built mills for grinding corn and sawing boards at “Stoney Brook” where it flows out of Forge Pond.  The land and rights had been bought from Andrew, the Indian, for 20 shillings.

Before 1730 when it became part of Westford he had prospered and greatly enlarged his mills by building forges for the manufacture of iron from the ore brought from Groton.  He built forges in 1710.

They made forks and other necessary utensils.  I have iron candlesticks and an old peel used for taking bread and pies from the brick oven.

The business was carried on until 1865, about 160 years by Jonas Prescott and descendants.  That year the Forge Village Horse Nail Company was formed and took over the franchise of the Forge Company.  They put in machinery for making nails.  This business flourished for a time; young men came from Lowell and surrounding towns to work there.  Capital increased to $100,000 in 1868.

In Graniteville, Abbot and Sargent had started a worsted mill but Sargent soon sold his interest to Allen Cameron who took his place.  After a disastrous fire, they built the large stone mill in Graniteville and manufactured carpet yarns.

In 1879 Abbot & Co. bought buildings and water power of the Horse Nail Factory in Forge Village and began manufacturing carpet yarns.  Abbot & Co. prospered selling these yarns to carpet manufacturers.  But as World War I came, more important things took the demand away from carpets.  Something had to be done; so the machinery was changed over to making knitting yarns.  Prosperity came and as an attraction for more workers, the company built street after street of new homes.

Over the years, our little farming village had changed!  In the last decade of the 19th century, French had come from Canada, the next 19 years saw many English come, but with the growing demand for workers with war coming on, Polish and Russians arrived.

Now, as you know, the business has become Murray Printing and the yarn business is gone.

Let’s go back and look at some of the old houses of Forge Village.  Starting at Beaver Brook Bridge, we learn that there was once a hospital there for small pox patients; people went there also to be vaccinated.  Following toward the village, we find at the corner of the road to Westford Center (now Patten Road) a house had been there — the last owner being Charles Miner who was a soldier in the Civil War.  It was burned.

Next, where Marion Rogers lives, was the Gurney[1] house as I remember it, but I find it called the Patch and Ken house in history.

After the Gurney house we come to Grace Lawrence’s and a weathered half-finished house started by her father, David P. Lawrence, just before he died.  She would never have it completed or allow any in it.  About 30 years ago she sold and went to Chelmsford.  It was completed and lived in.

The brick-end house where Dr. Cowles had lived was the George Wright[2] house.  He had married Mary Ann Prescott who was born in my house and was a great aunt to me.

Nearly opposite, at the top of the hill, is the Sprague[3] house which had been built and occupied by Eben Prescott who had three wives, and a large family.

On the road opposite the mill was a long house used by mill help, which I have been told was the Goodhue[4] place.

On the hill back of where Hanley Store[5] now is, was the Prescott Garrison House, so called because it was built with a brick wall between woodwork and was the defense for women and children from the Indians at night.  This house was occupied by four generations of the name of Ebenezer Prescott, the last being an uncle of Luther, a descendant of Col. John Robinson.  He married Olive Prescott, born in my house, great aunt.  Their daughter was Olive Ann Prescott, a teacher; great gr. grand-daughter of Col. John Robinson.

The old horse block on Richard Prescott’s grave in our West Cemetery was moved from the site of the Garrison House which had been burned in 1876.  Olive Ann also lies there.

The house where Hanley’s Yarn Store is, was owned by Luther Prescott; he had a post office and store at the east end.  This has been torn down and other parts are gone.  It had been a tavern and had a big dance hall upstairs.  His son, Richard Prescott, sold it to the Abbot Worsted Co.

Going toward Groton was the George Henry Prescott house, he had been in the Civil War, and his right arm was injured.

At the extreme end of the village was the largest set of buildings for some miles around, built and occupied by Jonas Prescott who first built mills at Stoney Brook.  He had a farm and inn.

His great grandson, Oliver Prescott, lived there.  He had 12 children: four sons and eight daughters.  During his lifetime, which must have been in Revolutionary times, Ann Lee had founded a society of Shakers in Harvard.  His wife and five daughters left home and joined them.  This so worked on the mind of Col. Oliver Prescott that he became demented until his death.

The first school house was beyond my house (corner of Pine Street & Forge Village Road) down near the Poor House.  In 1851 we find that they began using the little brick one on the corner of Pine and Pleasant Street[6].  My father went there; his cousins:  Grace Lawrence and Olive Ann Prescott, also Hannah Prescott Wyeth were among his teachers.

When I was a child I went to the Forge School of two rooms — now three rooms and called the Cameron School.  In those days an older boy would go down to the spring at the bottom of the hill by Stony Brook and get a pail of water.  It was set down near the teacher’s desk, with a tin dipper in it.  Children vied with each other to “pass the dipper”.  Each child drank in turn, then it was returned to the pail.  No water was wasted!

All the houses around there went to this spring for water.  We had our own big well with house over it and an “old oaken bucket”.  Wonderful!(?)

 Seventy years ago there were three stores:  a store of dry goods, notions, candy, etc. of Hannah Wyeth’s.  She had just built it — I believe it is called Spinner’s now.  Ernest Mountain had one where the meat market is now and Abby and John Splain had the post office and a small store.

Due to the railroad giving transportation for ice, large ice houses were built by Hittenger of Boston, and used for storing and shipping ice to John P. Squire’s.  In the 1880s they employed nearly 200 men and 50 horses.  Nearly 100,000 tons of ice were cut.  Later it was owned and operated by Daniel Gage of Lowell.  This business gave several weeks’ work to local farmers and Lowell men in the winter, when it was needed most.

Trains for passengers ran between Ayer and Lowell, morning, noon and night, and Bixbee’s train between Ayer and Salem, down in the morning, back at night.  Usually there were many passengers waiting near the red-hot “potbellied” stove in the winter.  Then in 1906 the Lowell & Fitchburg Electric cars came, and for years we had the luxury of transportation every hour.

[1] 62 Pleasant Street

[2] 13 Pleasant Street

[3] 10 Pleasant Street

[4] Between Pond and Bradford Streets

[5] Hanley’s Yarn store was in the old Forge Village Tavern as was the post office

[6] 35 Pleasant St., now a residence.

Day, Hall and Crocker: Forge Village, A History