Newspaper Cutting (Worcester [Massachusetts] Spy) 15/9/1873: 'Reminiscences Of Leicester - No. 9. The next farm west in our travels through Cherry Valley, lying principally on the south side of the old post road, is the SOUTHGATE farm, now called the Willow hill farm. It has been in the SOUTHGATE family from the first settlement of the town until about twenty-five years ago. It was laid out to Richard SOUTHGATE as one of the original proprietors of the town, and was lot number forty-one. He was a large land holder and owned other lots in various parts of the town to the amount of seven or eight hundred acres. He was, while in England, an old neighbor of Capt. Daniel DENNY, and came over in the same ship with him in 1715, but returned to England the following year, and brought over his wife and family of five children. In the same also came his brother James, and the Rev. Thomas PRINCE, afterwards pastor of the Old South church in Boston. The homestead farm of the SOUTHGATEs joined the Benjamin TUCKER farm on the east, and that of Capt. Daniel DENNY on the south. The house first built by Richard was on the north side of the great country road, near the top of the hill, about forty rods west of the intersection of the Charlton road. The house now standing at the junction of these two roads, and which has stood nearly a century, was built by his grandson, Capt. John SOUTHGATE. He acquired considerable wealth, and besides his land in Leicester, he purchased large tracts in the district of Maine. He was a well educated and prominent man, and had great influence among the early proprietors of the town. He died in 1758 at the age of 88. His oldest son Steward succeeded him as proprietor of the homestead. Steward SOUTHGATE was born in England in 1703 and lived for a time in Palmer in this state, then called "the Elbows," and married there. After the death of his first wife he married Elizabeth, daughter of Nathaniel POTTER of Leicester, a member of the society of Friends, and Mr SOUTHGATE joined that society, and was ever afterwards one of its prominent members. He was previously a member of the Congregational church in Leicester, and was a sensible and influential man. He was a skilful surveyor, and was employed by the proprietors to resurvey the whole territory of the town, the first surveys not being in all respects accurate. This work was accomplished from about the years 1745 to 1750, and accurate plans of the various lots which had previously been taken up, were then recorded on the proprietors' books, and are still preserved. One of his sons was Dr. Robert SOUTHGATE, a wealthy man and distinguished physician of Scarborough, Me. He became a judge of the court of common pleas, and was the grandfather of the late Bishop SOUTHGATE of Boston. He had five children by his first wife, and six by his second. He died in 1765, aged 72. John SOUTHGATE, the oldest son of Steward SOUTHGATE, was born in 1738, and was the next occupant of the farm, and married Eleanor, daughter of Jonathan SARGENT, and had six children. Harriet, Sally, John and William died unmarried, and George now lives unmarried in Leicester. Eliza married Jacob BIGELOW, then of Montreal, whose son, Dr. George F. BIGELOW, is now a practising physician in Boston. Capt. John SOUTHGATE was a skilful portrait painter, having cultivated this talent under the instruction of Mr Ralph EARLE and others but never pursued the practice of it to any great extent. He lived in the house which he built on his farm, and died there early in the present century. His wife survived him until 1825. The last occupant of the farm in this family was his daughter Sally, who sold it to Joshua HENSHAW, Esq., but retained a home there during her life. He was a brother of the late Hon. David HENSHAW, and the farm was kept in his family until after the death of both himself and his wife. The adjoining farm on the north side of the great road was owned by Deacon James SOUTHGATE, who came over from England with his brother Richard, as before mentioned. The monument dividing these two farms on their east line was a rock on the south side of the great road, by the side of which stood, half a century ago, the guide-post at the junction of the Charlton road with the great road, and this rock had a large letter S, roughly cut out on its surface, which is legible at this day, although named in the deeds nearly 150 years ago. Among the lots of land owned by Deacon SOUTHGATE was lot No. 30, laid out in the north-east part of the town in the neighborhood of what was called "Bull Point," and another at a place called "Dead Horse Hill," which he sold in 1728 to Robert HENRY, and is the same farm on which the late Robert YOUNG lived and died. But the residence of Deacon SOUTHGATE was on the first mentioned farm adjoining that of his brother Richard, and his house was a few rods in the rear of the present residence of Eli COLLIER. He was a worthy and intelligent citizen, and was early elected to the office of deacon in the Congregational church, and held responsible town offices. His branch of the family are now extinct. Richard SOUTHGATE, Jr., a brother of Steward SOUTHGATE, settled on a farm in the westerly part of the town near Burncoat meadow, adjoining the town line of Spencer. His house long since disappeared, but the cellar hole remains on the north side of the road west of Mrs STREETERs house. He was an earnest Christian, and an elder of the Baptist church. He often held religious meetings in the school house then standing where Edward SARGENT's brick card factory now stands, at the west end of the centre village, and in other localities in the west part of the town. He married Eunice, daughter of Samuel BROWN, and had eight children. His son Isaac was the only one who settled in Leicester, and left descendants. He married Rebekah, daughter of John BROWN, and had two sons and three daughters. His son Samuel married Hannah, daughter of Nathan WAITE, and left two sons now living, John P. residing in Auburn, and Samuel in Leicester. Another son of Isaac, named for himself, was an influential and wealthy citizen of Leicester, and married Maria WEBB, daughter of Peter WEBB, and died a few years since, leaving a handsome property principally to religious and charitable objects. He was a man of impetuous temper but of generous disposition, an active and correct business man, and held deserved influence in the town. He took an active part in all town affairs, was often elected to its most important offices, and was a representative to the general court. He had one daughter who died young. He began the card business previous to the war of 1812, when card teeth were set in the leather by hand, and were carried out for that purpose in saddle bags on horseback. He took in several partners in business in 1826, and built the large card factory now standing in the rear of the First Congregational church, and afterward the brick house now occupied by James WHITTEMORE, where he died. The family of Richard SOUTHGATE, Jr., were buried on a spot on the east part of their farm, which, however was never enclosed, and a few rough headstones without any inscriptions are all that remain to record their history. The place may be found in a pasture, a few rods south of the road leading to their old homestead west of Cedar Meadow pond. As a token of regard to the memory of Judah SOUTHGATE, a neighbor, Mr Peter SILVESTER, cut out on his headstone, about the beginning of the present century, the letters J.S., which is the only thing to distinguish any one of the gravestones from the rest. D.' The author 'D.' was Joseph Addison DENNY (1804 - 1874) (Transcribed by Geoffrey Woollard, Cambridgeshire, England).