THE FIRST BRICK HOUSE. lOI 



It is said that the late Asa Tarbell's house at West Groton 

 was the second brick dwelling built within the town. Many 

 years ago this house was partially destroyed by fire, but sub- 

 sequently rebuilt. It stands on the banks of the Squannacook 

 River, near the bridge leading to Shirley. 



Stephen Hall. — Some months ago my attention was called to an 

 old gravestone which stands in the southerly part of Petersham, two 

 miles or more from the village. When the stone was originally set up, 

 it was placed near a brook, and in a field at some distance from the 

 road ; but now the brook has been dammed up, and a highway passes 

 near the grave, so that the stone stands on the banks of a good-sized 

 pond, and near the road. The inscription is very rudely cut, and 

 hard to read, as some of the letters are made wrong, being reversed 

 in the cutting. The stone itself is a natural slab, about six inches 

 thick, found in a field and fairly smooth on one side to receive the 

 epitaph. The inscription reads as follows : 



This stone was [rjaised 



in mem of M' Stephan 



Hall who died Nov- 1 1 



1760 



A reference to the town-records of Petersham, under date of 

 March 2, 1 761, shows that Hall belonged to " the Town or District 

 of Pepperell in the County of Middlesex," and that he was taken sick 

 with the smallpox in Petersham and had died there, leaving a widow 

 and several children in poor circumstances. A further reference to 

 the town-records, under date of May 21, shows that an unsuccessful 

 attempt was made to collect the sum of fourteen pounds from the 

 District of Pepperell for the necessary expenses incurred in the case. 

 Not only did Hall himself have the disease, but his wife and children 

 also ; and the town had to care for them. 



At that period a District did not have all the powers of a Town, 

 and there was, probably, no authority for the payment of such a claim 

 as made by the town of Petersham. The nature of Hall's disease 

 would explain the lonely site of his grave, as in early times it was 

 thought by some that smallpox could be communicated from the 

 buried body to living persons. 



Among the earliest settlers of Groton was Christopher Hall, who 



