~ WILLIAM HAGAR HOMESTEAD ~ Built 1730
Additional information below picture
Picture taken 2000 by John BuczekWilliam Hagar House
From Ella Bigelow's Book
Near the mill on the left of road going to Sudbury still stands the ancient home of William Hager who in his old age was remembered as a lame, portly man, quiet and reserved in his demeanor, owner of the saw mill, which turned out in those days a large lot of lumber. He was also a good farmer, a staunch Whig in his politics and an honest man. In early davs the old Framingham road went exactly past the front of this house which was shingled in Revolutionary times by Col. Nixon, and which distinguished itself a hundred years ago by adding the dormer windows.
A section of the 1803 map shows location of the house; the large star showing the house, the single small star is Rt. 20 heading towards Sudbury and the two small single stars indicate Hagar St..
William Hager, who married Mary Bemis 1615, had ten children while in Watertown. The seventh child, William, married Sarah Benjamin and of their eight children, the fourth was Ebenezer who married Lydia Barnard. They came up to Framingham in 1725 and five years later removed to Marlborough. This makes it 1730 the date of the building of the above homestead. Here lie lived for more than thirty years the best part of his life. At the age of 65 he went back to Framingham ,where both he and his wife died in 1783.
He was a prominent man in the community, respected and trusted by all. he held position of constable for eleven years to 1763. His financial standing was shown in the purchase of a large amount of real estate in Marlborough and Framingham, and in the investment in some of the business enterprises of the time. He was illiterate, signing his name with a cross. In 1740 he invested in a so-called manufacturing scheme, launched by the father of Samuel Adams, the Revolutionary patriot, and several other gentlemen, the avowed object being to alleviate the distress and poverty of the country.
It seems certain that he was the first Hager to own and poverty the saw mill, and it is possible that he built the dam and mill and started the business of sawing lumber in this section of the town. In Temple's history of Framingham, it is stated that he became a member of the Framingham church in 1754. Ebenezer Hager had five children, the eldest of whom was Ebenezer Hager, the wheelwright, who married Abigail Stow and had a family of nine children. He died in 1798 in his 71st year, leaving quite a little property, the estate being settled by his brother William, the second son of Ebenezer Hager, the husbandman.
This William Hager was born April 21, 1733, and married Sarah Stow, a sister of his brother Ebenezer's wife. She died in 1804 and he in January 1811 in his 78th year. He was evidently a man of unusual natural ability, well educated for the time and of large financial means. By inheritance and purchase he seems to have acquired most of his father's and much of his two brothers' property, and adding; besides from time to time, by purchase from others, a good many acres to his already extensive holdings. Although in the prime of life, during the troubled days of the Revolution, he did not enter the American army and serve as a soldier in the conflict with Great Britain. It is on record that he paid a fine of $50 in 1778 for not serving as a soldier in the militia when detached for eight months' service. The fine was received by Captain William Morse and was to be used for hiring men to serve as soldiers in the Continental army. One says that the reason he did not serve as a soldier was due to his belief that he could serve the American cause better in some other way.
He certainly retained the confidence of his fellow townsmen who repeatedly honored him by electing him to important offices In 1781 he served as a member of the committee of correspondence. In 1789 he served as selectman, and for a number of terms beginning ,with 1791 he served as collector of takes. He left at his death three sons and one daughter. The oldest son, Ephraim, settled on what was once a part of his grandfather's place in Framingham. The youngest son, Martin, moved later to the western part of the State and settled in Wendell while the second son, William, came into possession of the home and succeeded his father on the farm and at the sawmill. The daughter, Lydia, married Captain Thomas Nixon of Framingham.
William was born September 14, 1774, and died June 11, 1858. He was widely known and respected. Interested in the serious things of life, he was a diligent reader of solid works. He was a federalist in the early clays of the nation and opposed to the second war with Great Britain. In the political campaign of 1840 he was a supporter of General Harrison, and later, clearly saw the approach of civil war over the slavery question, often remarking that it was surely coming, though not in his day. But he lived almost long enough to hear the clash of arms. His first wife was Nancy Parmenter by whom he had ten children, four of whom dlied young. His second wife was a Widow Winn who survived him for seventeen years, dying in 1875. At his death the bulk of his property and the old homestead passed into the hands of his two soils, William and Martin, and is now owned by their descendants. The younger son, Martin, died in 1881 over 62 years of age. The elder son died 1890 at the age of 82. William was succeeded by his son George Halter, president of Marlhorough Society of Natural History.
A water color of the house
done by Ellen Carpenter noted
Boston Artist early 1900
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