Editing Mendon, Massachusetts (section)

===Pioneer settlement===
Pioneers from [[Braintree, Massachusetts|Braintree]] petitioned to receive a land grant for {{convert|8|mi|km}} square of land, {{convert|15|mi|km}} west of [[Medfield, Massachusetts|Medfield]].<ref name = "hist">{{cite book |last= Marvin |first= AP |title= History of Worcester County, Massachusetts, Embracing a Comprehensive History of the County from its earliest beginnings to the present time; Vol. II |publisher= CF Jewitt and Company |year= 1879 |location= Boston, Massachusetts |pages= 146 }}</ref>  In September 1662, after the deed was signed with a Native American chief, "Great John" and another Sachem, [[Quashaamit]], the pioneers entered this part of what is now southern Worcester County. Earlier, unofficial, settlement occurred here in the 1640s, by [[American pioneer|pioneers]] from Roxbury. This was the beginning of Mendon.

The land for the settlement was {{convert|8|mi}} square of Native American land in the [[Massachusetts Bay Colony]] and was purchased from the Nipmuc Indians, "for divers good and vallewable considerations them there unto Moovinge and especiall for an in consideration of the summe of twenty fower pound Ster."<ref name= "mendon">{{cite book |last= Metcalf MD |first= John G. |title= Annals of the town of Mendon: from 1659 to 1880 |publisher= E.L. Freeman, printers to the State |year= 1880 |location= Providence, R.I.|pages= 3–4 }}</ref> In 1662, "Squinshepauke Plantation was started at the Netmocke settlement and plantation", and was incorporated as the town of Mendon in 1667. The settlers were ambitious and set about clearing the roads that would mark settlement patterns throughout the town's history.

[[File:Mendon Mass Founders Plaque.jpg|thumb|right|Photo of the Founders' Plaque in Founders' Park, Mendon, Mass.]]

The early settlement at Mendon was first listed in [[Middlesex County, Massachusetts|Middlesex County]] in 1667, then in 1671 in [[Suffolk County, Massachusetts|Suffolk County]], and in Worcester County from 1731 onward.<ref name="hist"/> Mendon was first settled in 1660 and was officially incorporated in 1667. The town was originally {{convert|64|sqmi|km2}}, including at least part of the modern-day towns of [[Milford, Massachusetts|Milford]], [[Bellingham, Massachusetts|Bellingham]], [[Hopedale, Massachusetts|Hopedale]], [[Uxbridge, Massachusetts|Uxbridge]], [[Upton, Massachusetts|Upton]], [[Blackstone, Massachusetts|Blackstone]], [[Northbridge, Massachusetts|Northbridge]] and [[Millville, Massachusetts|Millville]].  For this reason, the town of Mendon is sometimes referred to as "Mother Mendon".  Benjamin Albee (1614–1695) erected a water-powered mill on Mill River in 1664 where it crosses modern-day Hartford Avenue.<ref>[http://www.albee.org/genealogy/1.htm Albee Genealogy reference from Albee.org]</ref><ref name="Ballou, Adin pp. 522-23">Ballou, Adin. ''History of Milford, Massachusetts,'' Vol. 2, pp. 522–23, Franklin Press, 1882.</ref> and was one of the town's important early residents. The mill was the first water-powered grist mill in the region.<ref name="Ballou, Adin pp. 522-23"/>

On July 14, 1675, early violence in [[King Philip's War]] took place in Mendon, with the deaths of multiple residents and the destruction of Albee's mill. These were the first settlers killed in this war in the Colony of Massachusetts. A man named Richard Post, of Post's lane, may have been the first settler killed. The town was largely burnt to the ground later that winter in early 1676.<ref name="well">{{cite web|title=Tommies/Mendon|publisher=wellwooster.com|url=http://www.wellswooster.com/tommies/mendon.htm|access-date=November 20, 2007}}</ref> During King Philip's War, many Nipmuc from around Marlboro and Natick were interned Deer Island, and many died from the harsh winter in 1675.  The town of Mendon was resettled and rebuilt in 1680.

[[Robert Taft, Sr.]], settled here, in the part that became Uxbridge, in 1680 and was the patriarch of the famous [[Taft family]]. He settled here in 1669 and was among those forced back to Braintree because of King Philip's War. In 1712, Mendon was the birthplace of Lydia Chapin, who became America's first legal woman voter, known later as Lydia Chapin Taft, or simply [[Lydia Taft]]. [[Ezra T. Benson]] was born here and became a famous [[Mormon]] Missionary and [[Utah Territory]] legislator. (See also the article of neighboring [[Uxbridge, Massachusetts]].) The [[Taft family]] became an American political dynasty, especially in [[Ohio]], but also in [[Iowa]], [[Rhode Island]], [[Vermont]], and other states. President [[William Howard Taft]] was a descendant and also was a descendant of George Aldrich.

Another American family began in Mendon with the immigrant George Aldrich. His descendants included a number of U.S. congressmen, including Senator [[Nelson Aldrich]], who started the [[Federal Reserve Bank]], and Vice President [[Nelson Rockefeller|Nelson Aldrich Rockefeller]]. Other descendants were Ezra T. Benson and his grandson, [[Ezra Taft Benson]], former Secretary of Agriculture under President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]], later 13th President of [[the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints]].