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BEAUTIFUL NEWTON
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BEAUTIFUL NEWTON
The Garden City of Massachusetts
SWT
ON
ERTY AND UNION
FOUNDED
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38.A CITY1873
NC
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TIM.
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NEWTON GRAPHIC PUBLISHING COMPANY
NEWTON,
MASSACHUSETTS
A FOREWORD.
N OTWITHSTANDING the claims of several municipali- ties to the term "The Garden City of the Commonwealth", this volume of "Beautiful Newton" will convince the most skeptical that this city has no rival for that honor.
The home of many successful busi- ness men of Boston whose wealth has been lavished on beautiful estates and artistic residences, set in an environment of fine streets, shaded with handsome trees, Newton is indeed, a most charm- ing city.
I have felt for some time that some permanent record should be made of these features of our city of which we are all so proud, and of the forces which have so materially aided in ob- taining this desirable result, and this volume of "Beautiful Newton" is the outcome.
The book includes a brief historical sketch of the city up to the time it be- gan its modern development, a more extended reference to the important changes which have taken place during the last quarter of a century, and bio- graphical sketches of prominent citizens who have done so much for the benefit of the community.
It is also interesting to note that "Beautiful Newton" commemorates the two hundred and twenty-fifth anniver- sary of the incorporation of the town of Newton, the fortieth year of its exis- tence as a city, and incidentally is issued in the fortieth year of the exis- tence of the Newton Graphic, the edi- tor of which is responsible for its publication.
JOHN C. BRIMBLECOM.
Newton, the Garden City
HISTORICAL SKETCH *
I T is said by the historian that the set- tlement of Newtown -Cam- bridge - began in 1631. Its rec- ords commenced in 1632; proprietors' records, 1635. Cambridge or Newtown embraced a very large territory, which was subsequently enlarged by addi- tional grants. In 1635 the General Court granted to Newtown land em- bracing the territory of what has since become Brookline, Brighton and New- ton. The territory south of the Charles River, covering what is now Brighton and Newton, was first called "the south side of Charles River," or the "South Side"; sometimes Nonantum, the In- dian name. About 1654 it began to be called "Cambridge Village" and later "New Cambridge," and, by authority of the General Court, after 1691, "New- town," thus taking after a lapse of years the name of the old town of which this territory once formed a rather small part.
For the first ten years, only seven families had settled on this territory; and of these seven, two were Jacksons (the first settler in 1639 was John Jackson), two were Hydes, one Fuller, a Park and a Prentice. All these, with one exception, came direct from Eng- land. After these followed Parkers, Hammonds, Wards, Kendricks, Trow- bridges, Bacons, Stones and others, whose descendants are represented here to-day.
During the first twenty-five years
* Based on address of Hon. James F. C. Hyde at two hundredth anniversary of incorporation of city, 1888.
from the time the first settler found a home south of the river, in what is now called Newton, twenty families had come in and located. In 1664 there were twelve young men of the second generation.
From the first settlement to the date of incorporation, a period of forty-nine years, fifty families had settled on this territory. Dr. Smith says: "The num- ber of freemen within the limits of the town in 1688 was about sixty-five." Authorities differ as to the exact area of this part of Newtown. "In 1798," according to Homer, "it was reckoned to embrace 12,940 acres, including ponds." Another writer says that "in 1831 the town contained 14,513 acres."
In 1838 eighteen hundred acres of this were set off to Roxbury, and are now a part of Boston. In 1847 six hundred and forty acres were set off to the now city of Waltham, being that part of Waltham south of the river, and a few years ago a small portion near Chestnut Hill Reservoir was set to Boston, leaving 11,410 acres as the present area of Newton.
During the last of the year 1654 or first of 1655, they took the first step toward gaining their independence, at which time they began to hold religious meetings for public worship in Cam- bridge Village, in the territory now Newton. They asked to be released from paying rates to the church at Cambridge, on the ground that they were to establish the ordinances of Christ among themselves, and distinct
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from the old town. The selectmen of Cambridge strongly opposed this di- vision, and declared that there was no sufficient reason for such separation.
This was the beginning of a struggle for independence that lasted thirty- three or four years, and ended by the complete separation from the mother town. Let us follow this contest step by step until its consummation.
In 1656 the people of Cambridge Village, having been denied their re- quest the year before, appealed to the "Great and General Court to be re-
the year before this petition was pre- sented (1660) had built the first meet- ing-house, which fact no doubt had its influence; and so in 1661 the Court granted them "freedom from all church rates for the support of the ministry in Cambridge and for all lands and estates which were more than four miles from Cambridge meeting-house - the meas- ure to be in the usual paths that may be ordinarily passed - so long as the south side of the river shall maintain an able ministry."-
The year following the granting of
OLD NONANTUM HOUSE AND SQUARE, 1870
leased from paying rates for the sup- port of the ministry at Cambridge Church."
Of course the old town remonstrated, and the village people were given leave to withdraw, silenced for the time. They were not the men, however, to submit to what they believed to be an injustice, but quietly bided their time. Five years after they presented another petition to the General Court, asking for the same thing.
They had been holding meetings for public worship for four or five years in a large room in a private house, and
this request the line was so run and the bounds so settled between Cambridge and Cambridge Village as to settle the matter of ministerial support, and also to establish substantially what after- wards became the line between Brigh- ton and Newton. These people had gained this point, and started a move- ment that was only to end with their entire emancipation from Cambridge. The first meeting-house was built in 1660 or '61, and located on Centre Street, opposite the Colby estate; and in July, 1664, when there were but twenty-two land-owners in the village,
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the first church was organized, and the Rev. John Eliot, Jr., son of the apostle to the Indians, ordained as its pastor. And this consummated the ecclesiasti- cal, though not the civil, separation of Cambridge Village from Cambridge.
The congregation of this church was composed of about thirty families, with about eighty members in the church, forty of each sex.
Our sturdy ancestors were not yet satisfied; and so, in 1672, they again petitioned the General Court to sct
proportion of the charges of the deputies."
This action of the Court they refused to accept and act under, by which they would merely have become a precinct, though this was quite a step in advance; for previous to this time the residents of the village had been permitted to hold few official positions.
At the session of the General Court commencing May 8, 1678, a lengthy petition was drawn up and signed by fifty-two freemen, setting forth many
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CITY HALL, WEST NEWTON
them off and make them a town by themselves. In answer to this request, the Court in 1673 declared "that the Court doth judge meet to grant to the inhabitants of said village annually to elect one constable, and three selectmen, dwelling among themselves, to order the prudential affairs of the inhabitants there according to law; only continuing a part of Cambridge in paying County and Country rates, as also Town rates, so far as refers to the grammar school, bridge over the Charles River, and their
facts and humbly praying that they might be granted their freedom from Cambridge, and that they might receive a name, thus becoming a separate town. Cambridge remonstrated by their se- lectmen in quite severe terms.
Notwithstanding, the General Court granted to Cambridge Village the right to choose selectmen and a constable and to manage the "municipal affairs of the village," substantially the same privi- leges that had before been granted in 1673, but which the village had never
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accepted. Dr. Smith says: "This was an important but not full concession on the part of the Court; but the people had to wait nearly ten years more be- forc they fully attained the object of their desire. The attitude of the sct- tlers in Cambridge Village was one of persistent determination ; and as if fore- shadowing in those early days the spirit of the Revolution which occurred a century later, they stood firm in their resistance of everything which in their judgment savored of oppression."
Jackson says, "The first entry upon
their respective towns, referring to dif- ferences that have arisen as to charges for bridges, schools, the laying of rates, and some other things of a public na- ture, "that for the end above said the village shall pay to the town of Cam- bridge the sum of £5 in merchantable corn, at or before the first day of May next ensuing the date above, in full satisfaction of all dues and demands by the said town from the said village, on the account above said, from the begin- ning of the world to the 11th of Janu- ary, 1688, by the present style of reck-
CHARLES RIVER, RIVERSIDE, AUBURNDALE
the new town book of Cambridge Vil- lage records the doings of the first town meeting, held June 27, 1679, by virtue of an order of the General Court," at which meeting three selectmen and one constable were chosen, thus doing what they were authorized to do in 1673. There is no record of another town meeting until Jan. 30, 1681.
It appears by articles of agreement made as late as Sept 17, 1688, between the selectmen of Cambridge and the selectmen of the village, in behalf of
oning." This brings us near the time when Cambridge Village was incor- porated, as claimed by historians who have written later than Jackson.
We find in the records of the village that in 1686 "a committee was chosen to treat with Cambridge about our freedom from their town." It is un- doubtedly true that Cambridge Village in a large degree became independent of the mother town in the year 1679, when, Jackson says, the town was in-
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corporated; for they did from that time control the prudential affairs of the village; but it is equally true that they were taxed together for several years after, for state and county and for some other purposes. It is certain that they were not allowed to send a deputy to the General Court until 1688, when the separation was fully consummated. The records of Cambridge - the old town - show that constables were elected for the village after 1679, every year until 1688, but none for the vil- lage after the latter date. Paige's re-
some of them, be and appear before his Excellency in Council, on Wednesday, being the 11th of this inst. to show cause why Cambridge Village may not be declared a place distinct by itself, and not longer a part of said town as hath been formerly petitioned for and now desired: and thereof to make due re- turn. Dated at Boston the 6th day of January in the third year of his Majes- ty's reign A. D. 1687 By order &c J. West, D. sec'y."
"What was the result of this process does not appear of record; for the rec-
OLD KENRICK HOMESTEAD, WAVERLEY AVENUE, NEWTON
cent History of Cambridge seems to entirely clear all doubts as to the true date of the incorporation of Newton.
He was fortunate enough to find two documents which probably Mr. Jack- son never saw. "One is an order of notice preserved in the Massachusetts archives," of which the following is a copy :
"To the constables of the town of Cambridge, or either of them; you are hereby required to give notice to the in- habitants of said town that they or
ords of the council, during the adminis- tration of Andros, were carried away. Fortunately, however, a certified copy of the order, which is equivalent to an act of incorporation, is on file in the office of the clerk of the Judicial Courts in Middlesex County."
At a council held in Boston Jan. 11, 1687, present his Excellency Sir Ed- mund Andros and seven councillors, an order was issued a part of which we give: "Upon the reading this day in the Council the petition of the inhabi-
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tants of Cambridge Village, being sixty families or upwards, that they may be a place distinct by themselves and freed from the town of Cambridge, to which at the first settlement they were an- nexed, they being in every respect ca- pable thereof," it was "ordered that the said village from henceforth be and is hereby declared a distinct village and place of itself, wholly freed and sepa- rated from the town of Cambridge, and from all future rates, payments, or du- ties to them whatsoever." The order further provided how Cambridge bridge
December, 1691, and was declared to be a distinct village and place of itself, or, in other words, was incorporated as a separate and distinct town by the order passed Jan. 11, 1687-8, old style, or Jan. 11, 1688, according to the present style of reckoning."
It seems very strange that such an error should occur and be perpetuated for nearly two centuries, the town even adopting it and putting it upon its seal, where it remained for six years.
After Cambridge Village was set off or incorporated, it was sometimes called
OLD JACKSON HOMESTEAD,
WASHINGTON STREET. NEWTON
should be supported.
This order was signed John West, deputy secretary.
Then followed, "This is a true copy taken out of the original, 4th day of De- cember, 1688: as attests: Laur. Ham- mond, Clerk." Dr. Paige adds: "There remains no reasonable doubt that the village was released from ecclesiastical dependence on Cambridge, and obliga- tion to share in the expenses of religious worship 1661, became a precinct in 1673, received the name of Newtown in
New Cambridge, until 1691, when, in answer to a petition to the General Court, it was called Newtown, and the name was variously spelled, New- Town, Newtown, Newtowne and Newton in the records until 1766, when Judge Fuller became town clerk and spelled it in the town rec- ords "Newton"; and Newton it has been ever since. We have devoted much time and space to establish- ing the facts concerning the incorpora- tion of Newton, because Mr. Jackson in his history published in 1854 gives
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JAMES F. C. HYDE, MAYOR OF NEWTON, 1874-1875
the date as 1679, which has since been shown to be incorreet both by Dr. Paige and Dr. Smith. After a careful exami- nation of the facts we are fully satis- fied that they have fixed upon the true date.
At this time ten of the first settlers had passed away.
Sixty families were dwelling within the limits of the town. We give a few brief items relating to the people living on these broad aeres from 1639 onward.
In 1643 six aeres of land were con- veyed on payment of £5.
In 1645 "there were in all of Cam- bridge 135 ratable persons, 90 houses, 208 cows, 131 oxen, 229 young eattle, 20 horses, 37 sheep, 62 swine and 58 goats."
"In 1647 the town bargained with Waban, the Indian chief and first con- vert to Christianity, to keep six score head of dry cattle on the south side of Charles River."
"1656, persons appointed by the Se- leetmen to execute order of General
Court for the improvement of all fami- lies within the town in spinning and manufacturing elothes."
In 1650 wild land sold for one dollar and a quarter per acre.
1676, town meeting ealled to consider the matter of fortifying the town against Indians.
In 1691 first couple married in New- ton after it was incorporated.
1693, town paid 20s. for killing three wolves.
The two following years paid a bounty for killing wolves.
1699, voted to build a sehoolhouse 14 by 16 feet.
1700, hired a sehoolmaster at five shillings per day.
1707, paid twelve penee per dozen for heads of blackbirds. Voted to choose two persons to see that hogs were yoked and ringed according to law.
1711, voted to have collections taken up Thanksgiving Days for the poor.
1717, vote passed to prevent the de- struetion of deer. Same in 1741.
ALDEN SPEARE, MAYOR OF NEWTON, 1876-1877
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1796, voted to have a stove to warm the meeting-house. The same year voted that the deacons have liberty to sit out of the deacons' seat.
1800, voted to disannul the ancient mode of seating parishioners in the meeting-house.
In 1646 Rev. John Eliot first at- tempted to Christianize the Indians at Nonanetum, or Nonantum, where a company of them were located on land that had been bought by the General
sale at the market through the year. In winter the Indians sold brooms, staves, baskets made from the neighboring woods and swamps, and turkeys raised by themselves; in the spring, cranber- ries, strawberries and fish from Charles River; in the summer, whortleberries, grapes and fish. Several of them worked with the English in the vicinity in hay time and harvest."
The author of "Nonantum and Na- tick" says: "Here at Nonantum Hill
RESIDENCE OF ARTHUR F. LUKE, PRINCE STREET, WEST NEWTON
Court of the white owners and set apart for the use of the Indians. This tract of high land was considerably improved by them by the building of wigwams, walls and ditches about the same, and the planting later of fruit trees.
By advice of Mr. Eliot, tools and im- plements were supplied, as well as money to enable them to develop and improve their village. Homer says:
"The women of Nonantum soon learned to spin and to collect articles for
was begun the first civilized and Chris- tian settlement of Indians in the Eng- lish North American colonies. This was the seat of the first Protestant mis- sion to the heathen, and here Mr. Eliot preached the first Protestant sermon in a pagan tongue."
This was preached in the large wig- wam of Waanton, or Waban, where a considerable number of Indians were assembled to hear this first sermon, which occupied over an hour in its de-
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ROYAL M. PULSIFER, MAYOR OF NEWTON, 1880-1881
livery. The text was from Ezekiel xxxvii. 9, 10.
This Waban - whose name signi- fied "wind" or "spirit"- was the chief man of this Indian village, and was called a "merchant." He seems to have been the man of business. "Perhaps he went to Boston sometimes to sell venison and other game which he had either taken himself or bought from other Indians." He was the first con- vert to Christianity, and lived a consist- ent life, dying in 1674, aged seventy years.
Newton thus enjoys the rare honor of having within its borders the spot made sacred by the labors of the apostle Eliot, whose saintly life and heroic ser- vice in the cause of the Master resulted in the civilization and Christianization of many of these sons of the forest. These Nonantum Indians seem to have been pretty bright and keen heathen, judging from some of the questions they put to the white men, a few of which are here given. One woman in-
quired "whether she prayed when she only joined with her husband in his prayer to God Almighty." Another in- quired "whether her husband's prayer signified anything if he continued to be angry with her and to beat her." An- other asked "how the English came to differ so much from the Indians in their knowledge of God and Jesus Christ, since they had all at first but one Father"; another, "how it came to pass that sea water was salt and river water fresh."
The people of Newton from the very first took great interest in military af- fairs. The men of Newton took a prominent part in all the Indian wars. They were in King Philip's and subse- quent wars with the Indians, as well as in the old French and Indian War. Some lives were lost in this service, among them Colonel Ephraim Wil- liams, the founder of Williams College. He was shot in the memorable battle fought with the French and Indians near Lake George, in September, 1755. Of the part taken in the War of the
WILLIAM P. ELLISON, MAYOR OF NEWTON, 1882-1883
Revolution by the inhabitants of this town, it has been well said that "almost to a man they made the most heroic and vigorous efforts to sustain the common cause of the country from the first hour to the last, through all the trying events which preceded and accompanied the war."
Our fathers were jealous of their rights; and, while they were willing to stand by the government, they were not the men to submit to any injustice.
of the Superior Court being fixed and paid by the Crown instead of by the Great and General Court. They were jealous of their rights, even though re- motely assailed. It is probable that not a person in the colonies at this time seri- ously entertained the thought of taking up arms against the mother country, but relied upon constitutional methods only for the redress of their grievances. Later, during the same year, a large committee was chosen "to confer with
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RESIDENCE OF SMITH P. BURTON, JR., CENTRE STREET, NEWTON
From time to time they met in town meeting to consider important ques- tions relating to the condition of the country. In December, 1772, a town meeting was held and a committee ap- pointed to consider and report what it may be proper for the town to do relat- ing to the present unhappy situation of the country.
In 1773 they instructed their repre- sentative, Judge Fuller, to use his in- fluence against the salaries of the judges
the inhabitants of the town as to the expediency of leaving off buying, sell- ing or using any India tea."
On Dec. 16, 1773, there was a famous tea-party in Boston, such as never was seen before nor has been since. Newton was represented on that occasion by two or more of its citizens. One in par- ticular, who drove a load of wood to market, stayed very late that day, and was not very anxious the next morning to explain the cause of his detention;
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but, as tea was found in his shoes, it is not difficult to understand what he had been doing.
The following year, 1774, the town adopted a series of resolutions, declar- ing they would not voluntarily and tamely submit to the levying of any tax for the purpose of raising a revenue where imposed without their consent or that of their representatives; and that any and all persons who advised or as- sisted in such acts were inimical to this country, and thereby ineurred their just resentment, and in such light they re- garded all merchants, traders, and
cial Assembly at Concord, and the next year to a meeting of the same at Cam- bridge. Early in the year 1775 the town voted to raise men to exercise two field- pieces that had been given, and also to raise a company of minute-men, and thus be prepared for any emergency.
This action furnishes the explanation of the fact that Newton had so many men engaged in the battles of Lexing- ton and Concord.
On the 19th of April, 1775, a day cver memorable in the history of our country, when the first battles of inde- pendence were fought at Lexington
AVISIONE
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NEWTONVILLE SQUARE, 1895
others who should import or sell any India tea until the duty so justly eom- plained of should be taken off. They further pledged themselves that they would not purchase or use any such tea while the duty remained upon it.
A committee was appointed to confer with like committees of sister towns as occasion required. During the same year the town voted that the selectmen use their best discretion in providing firearms for the poor of the town, where they were unable to provide for them- selves. In October of the same year the town sent delegates to the Provin-
and Concord, Newton had three organ- ized companies of minute-men, all of whom were present and took part in the battles of that historic day, during which they marched about thirty miles.
The two hundred and eighteen men composing these three companies were not all that Newton sent to the battle- fields that day ; for many went who had passed the military age and so werc cx- empt from duty, but who felt as did Noah Wiswall, the oldest man who went from Newton, and whose son com- manded one of the companies, and who had other sons and sons-in-law in the
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fight. He could not be induced to re- main at home, because, as he said, "he wanted to see what the boys were do- ing," and, when shot through the hand, coolly bound it up with a handkerchief, and brought home the gun of a British soldier who fell in the battle.
Colonel Joseph Ward, a master of one of the public schools,- a Newton man,- took a very active part. On the 19th of April he left Boston for New- ton, took horse and gun, rode to Con- cord, to animate and assist his country- men. He also greatly distinguished
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