John Wing Road
From Worcester Activist wiki
Also QUINSIGAMOND
Seventeen years of Capt. John Wing’s life were embittered by a land squabble and then he was chased out of Worcester by Indians.
A resident of Boston, he was appointed in place of Lt. Richard Beers of Watertown-killed by the Indians-to the committee in charge of the settlement.
On petition of the committee, the second settlement became Worster-now Worcester. Previously it was Quinsikamon, or Quinsigamond. That’s Indian for place of the long fish, or pickerel. They still can be caught there, having outlived the redskins.
In 1692, when Indians ripped scalps in Maine and New York, Capt. Wing was military commander in Worcester. He had some difficulties with settlers. They wanted to farm instead of fight.
Wing was given a tract of 80 acres on the west side of Mill Brook. A short distance from Lincoln square, near the fortified log garrison, he built the first sawmill; later added a corn mill.
Nearby was Capt. Daniel Henchman’s land. Another neighbor was George Danson, a Boston baker, who had 200 acres. Wing had exclusive water rights.
The three began to squabble. One day Wing knocked Danson down while he was surveying Wing’s land. Danson claimed Henchman had deeded the land to him. He sued and lost. But the litigation kept cropping up.
Finally the plantation committee voted for Danson, but withheld his right to build any mills on the brook. When Danson died, Wing got his land. Then in 1702, the Indians chased everyone out, including the judges.
When the third settlement began about 1713, Wing’s saw mill was still on the brook. His corn mill was gone.
John Wing road runs westward from Salisbury street, behind Worcester Polytechnic Institute. It took its name in 1923.
The core of this article comes from A History of Your City Streets.
