Excerpt from Henry S. Nourse’s “History of the Town of Harvard Massachusetts 1732–1893,” written in 1894.

The records of the town afford many instances of exceptional longevity. February 13, 1775, Caleb Sawyer died aged 96. He was the last of those householders whose names appear in the garrison lists of 1704. He had almost attained manhood at the time of the Rowlandson massacre; and had the Reverend Timothy Harrington, when writing his Century Sermon in 1753, spared us 10 pages of historic platitude about the persecutions of Israel, and given us, fresh from Caleb Sawyer’s lips, his reminiscences of the Nashaway warriors, of his grandfather John Prescott, of his sturdy father Thomas Sawyer the blacksmith, of his energetic brothers the mill-builders, and of the other leading spirits in the Nashaway Plantation and their heroic lives, how much richer we should be!

February 16, 1806, died Abel Jewett of the Shaker community, aged 99 years. In the mortuary list of 1807 there were six names of citizens who had seen more than four score and 10 years: Ebenezer Burges, 92; Samuel Warner, 95; John Warner, 96; Widow Safford, 97; Eunice Rawson, 97; Elizabeth Hapgood, 96. In 1869, there were 12 widows resident in Harvard all over 82 year of age, whose united years amounted to 1,032.

The oldest of these, Mrs. Rebecca (Parker) Huse, lived in the Shabikin district, on a little farm that slopes down to the Nashua river. The house in which all but three years of her married life and widowhood were passed was burned a few years ago. She died September 14, 1869, when the town-clerk recorded her age as 104 years, 2 months, and 12 days, and her parents’ names as Ebenezer (Eleazar) and Dinah Parker of Groton. Upon her gravestone her years are given as 103.

She retained to the last year of life a fair possession of all her physical powers and mental faculties, and read her bible without the aid of spectacles, but was somewhat hard of hearing. She cultivated a small garden, and kept a cow or two which she milked with her own hands until past her 90th year. She attended to all ordinary household duties until nearly 100 years of age, and when 95, one day walked four miles to gratify her desire to visit an old acquaintance.

Her memory of sundry incidents that occurred during the Revolution was vivid—especially that of her father’s departure to join the patriot army, and his return to his family. He was a Harvard soldier, serving in the Continental regiment of Colonel Timothy Bigelow. She was born in Groton, but removed to Harvard when 15 years of age, and married John Dennison Huse in December, 1795. Of several children born to her, only three outlived their mother: two sons, John and Enoch, and a married daughter, Rebecca (Huse) Ross. Her husband, aged 81, died August 6, 1840.

Mrs. Lydia (Sprague) Blanchard, now 93 years of age, who was born in Shabikin, a near neighbor to Mrs. Huse, describes her as a notable housewife, locally famous for the excellent quality of her butter and cheese, and a kind-hearted, motherly woman whose skillful aid as a nurse was eagerly sought and cheerfully rendered in cases of illness in the neighborhood.

Her grandson, Eliakim H. Ross of Medway, remembers her as a devoted Christian, fond of reading the scriptures. She claimed to have read her bible through 50 times. He also related that she was a wonderful knitter, as attested by the fact that she could knit three pairs of men’s mittens in two days.

It should be added that the doubt respecting the age of Mrs. Huse was owing to her belief that she was even older than the record proves her to have been. She asserted her recollection of an accident by which three men were drowned in the river on an Election Day, when she was about 4 years of age. This accident occurred May 30, 1764, and if her statement had been accurate, it would have proved her 109 years old at her death.

It is not very rare for a person to deceive himself into the belief that he can remember events which took place even a little before he was born, when those events were of so thrilling interest as to be much talked about during his early childhood.

275 Years of a Town:  In June 1732, the town of Harvard incorporated within the colony, after nearly 100 years of settlement in the area and several years of petitions, objections, and re-petitions to the legislature. To celebrate this milestone, the Press is running extracts from Henry S. Nourse’s History of the Town of Harvard Massachusetts 1732–1893.