Goulding Street
From Worcester Activist wiki
A sure cure for rattlesnake bite in exchange for about 200 acres of land, seemed like a fair proposition to a Worcester resident.
In 1734, Palmer Goulding of Worcester so petitioned the General Court, and again in 1741.
“That your memoralist in his travills, has with a Considerable Cost, attained to Such Skill and Knowledge, in the Curing the bite of a Rattlesnake,” he wrote, “that were he present when a person was bit, he Could So soon Effectually Cure it… which Knowledge he is very willing to Communicate for ye good of mankind.
“But inasmuch as he was Really at Considerable Cost in gaining ye same, he most humbly prays your Excellency and Honors, would upon his so doing, be pleased to make hime a grant sum of the wild and uncultivated Lands of the Province…”
Settler Goulding presented several testimonials along with his petition. John Durkin, for example, certified that someone gave him a horse that had been bitten by a rattler and after Mr. Goulding had applied his remedies, the creature “became a Considerable Horse again.”
Rattlesnakes were so plentiful in Worcester at his time-1741-that 200 acres were granted to Mr. Goulding, providing proof of his cure was furnished. The Council tabled the matter, but passed it the following year.
No records of survey or plan seem to have been filed by Mr. Goulding.
Presumably his rattler cure didn’t convince the unbitten legislators.
Palmer Goulding came from Boston about 1718 and built his house of logs in the north precinct, now Holden. He became a captain in the French and Indian Wars and fought at Louisburg on June 17, 1745. He died Feb. 11, 1770, at 75.
One of his sons, Palmer, Jr., born about 1723, also became a captain. His son, Daniel, commanded a troop of cavalry under General Lincoln to put down Shays Rebellion.
Tradition has it that the earlier Gouldings “were of extreme size, very ingenious and capable of doing anything.”
For this hardy Worcester family, Goulding street, running from Dix street north to Highland street was named in 1845.
The core of this article comes from A History of Your City Streets.
