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HISTORICAL SKETCHES
Sherborn Tercentenary
1652 - 1952
F
RN
1674
SE
652
Historical Collection
HIST 974.44 SHERBORN HI c. 4
July 4-5-6. 1952
SHERBORN LIBRARY
3 8106 96068 464 6
HISTORICAL SKETCHES
of the TOWN OF SHERBORN in Massachusetts compiled from articles written by the late
Francis Bardwell of Sherborn
Published in 1952 in Commemoration of the
Three Hundredth Anniversary of the settlement of
974.44 Hi
Sherborn, as Bogistow
in the year 1652
by the Historical Committee
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/historicalsketch00sher 0 Sept 92 Hift copy
-
. ROY . ELWELL
. SHERBORN . MASSACHUSETTS .
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
First Settlers.
1
Building of the Churches 5
The Story of the Ministers of Sherborn 8
Sherborn Houses Built Before 1720. 11
Houses Built Between 1720 and 1820. 17
Cemeteries
26
A Little About Some of Our Streets. 27
The Pound. 29
Funeral Customs. 31
Passenger Pigeons and Firearms
34
The French Neutrals - The Acadians
35
FOREWORD
Just fifty years ago, Francis Bardwell (1867-1950), author of these Sher- born Historical Sketches, was Town Clerk. His brother-in-law, Robert H. Le- land, was Town Treasurer and its lawyer, the local conveyancer, familiar with the title history of every woodlot, meadow, cranberry bog, house lot and farm from the earliest settlement, three hundred years ago. These two passionate lovers of Sherborn, were near neighbors, with a common relish for past and present local drama, pathos, and humor. Whatever either learned, his crony daily gayly shared. Of these exchanges, the sole chronicler was Francis Bard- well. His rare gift of expression, whether in poetry or prose (exemplified in his exquisite and poignant "The Adventure of Old Age") qualified him in unique de- gree. Regrettably, however, his increasingly absorbing career, of national repute, in charitable and social work, deterred him from the preparation of any formal history. Nevertheless, these, his informal tales of Old Ways, Aged People, Ancient Houses, extend all the way from recent happenings to his mem- ory of chats with Sherborn characters alive when George Washington rode through town.
Our Town Report of fifty years ago records in its roster of officers near- ly every name our historian mentions as prominent among the early settlers:
Babcock, Barber, Coolidge, Dearth, Dowse, Gardner, Grout, Holbrook, Leland, Lewis, Paul, Sanger, Vorestus, Ware, Whitney
Although today's roster retains of these ancient names only: Barber, Dowse, Holbrook, Leland, Paul, Sanger, many of these descendants of our ear- liest settlers are honored citizens of Sherborn today.
Consequently, modest though the present offering may appear, it should ever hold a sure place on the bookshelf of every Sherborn resident, past or pres- ent, who loves our Sherborn, or any place in it.
Henry M. Channing
Members of Historical Committee:
Helen E. Homer Mary F. Allison
Henry M. Channing Newman Dearth
Robert Sanger Leland
INTRODUCTION
This Town of Sherborn, Massachusetts, gets its name from the ancient Town of Sherborne, situated on the bank of the River Yeo, in the County of Dor- set, England. Sherborne, it is said, is of Saxon origin and means "pure water". The Indian name was Bogistow, Nipmuck dialect.
Sherborn is an original town. That is - it was not set off from any exist- ing town or towns, such as Wellesley which was originally a part of Needham, Also, Sherborn is the Mother-Town of South Framingham; that is, that portion of Framingham lying south of the Sudbury River was originally Sherborn. Here dwelt Thos. Eames and family in 1676, and their home was destroyed and mem- bers of the family taken captive by the Indians in King Philip's War. This part of Sherborn was incorporated as Holliston. The inhabitants of Sherborn were given the township of Douglas and the Proprietor's records are among the Sher- born archives.
The Town of Dublin, N. H. was settled by families from Sherborn, but they sent their vital statistics to Sherborn for record as Monadnock District No. 3. Also, more men of Sherborn birth went into the Revolutionary War from Dub- lin than from Sherborn. You see, those who went to Dublin were all young men.
Sherborn is also the mother-town of Sangerville, Maine. This Township was owned by Col. Galvin Sanger, and his brother, Joseph, and the first set- tlers all went from Sherborn.
Let us now come back to our Sherborn. On the 7th of the 3rd month of 1662, we find the inhabitants of Bogistow petitioning the General Court to be- come "A Town of Ourselves" with much stress laid upon the need of "Divine Worship". The first settlers came here in 1652, so this petition was made ten years after, and a fair start had been made. Beside the names of Wood, Hol- brook, and Leland, the town's first three families, we find Morse, Hill, Brick, "Bullward", Fairbanks, "Kendill" and one or two more not perpetuated in the town's history. This petition was not favorably acted upon by the General Court.
So again, on October 7, 1674, the second and successful petition was sent to the General Court. In this petition the name to be given the new town was left blank. Additional family names to those on Petition I were Adams, Perry, and Bullen. The town became incorporated October 7, 1674. The General Court's reply stated - "And the name of the Town to be called Sherborn".
One of the most prominent men of this Colonial period was John Hull, Sil- versmith and Mint Master of Boston, the originator of the Pine Tree Shilling. Hull was a man of influence and wealth. He became a great land-owner; his pos- sessions extending into Rhode Island, and the well-known Point Judith was named for his wife. Sometime between 1649 and 1674, Hull secured a grant of 500 acres in Bogistow. This included all of Sewell's Meadow and much of the cen- ter of Sherborn.
His daughter married Judge Samuel Sewell (of witchcraft fame) and Hull gave her as her dowry her weight in Pine Tree Shillings. Tradition says she was a buxom lass which meant more shillings.
John Hull was not born in Sherborne, England, but it is not improbable that Hull's ancestors were of that town, and so trustworthy and prominent were the Sherborne Hulls that one was appointed guardian of the minor children of the unfortunate Raleigh, whose home was at Sherborne.
It so seems but natural that John Hull of Boston, Mint Master, Silversmith, Great Landed Proprietor and father of Mrs. Judge Sewell, should look with pride to the family of Hull, and desire to perpetuate the name of this family's home town.
Our ancestors struggled with spelling of names. At various times the name of our town appears as Shearborn, Sherburn, Shelborn, Sherborne, and Sherborn.
FIRST SETTLERS
As the question sometimes arises "Just how did our first settlers really live?" it would be well to go into their housing and living briefly. First, they built no log houses in New England. The log cabins on this side of the Atlantic were introduced by the Swedish Colonists, who founded Delaware; from them this form of primitive construction spread west and south. But, our New England set- tlers knew nothing of such construction and began in Plymouth with wattle and mud construction and then built frame dwellings.
It is probable that Sherborn's first three families built modest one story houses and hewed the heavy timbers and frames from trees on the spot -- the boards, planks, shingles and probably clapboards came from Medfield, and they waited for the river to freeze over so that transportation would be easier. Mr. Gookin, the town's first minister, had a house built for him by the townspeople in 1679 and its dimensions were 38 feet by 20 feet. This was the minister's house and probably larger than the other houses in town. So it is likely that homes of Wood, Leland and Holbrook, built twenty-five years before Gookin's were small- er, and as glass was expensive and hard to get, there were few windows. The chimneys were probably stone and laid in clay, at least, to the roof. The furn- ishings were simple and probably home-made. If there was a chair, it was the master's chair. Children sat on forms or joint stools and the one table served for many purposes besides serving meals. Clothing was made from wool or lin- en or a mixture - there was no cotton and all cloth was spun and woven in the home.
Under these primitive conditions the families of the three founders lived for five years, from 1652 - 1657-58, and they must have been lonely years. When they could, these families went to Medfield to meetings, the only break in the monotony.
Then in 1657-8 came new neighbors who had been in Medfield, old friends. There were four families - Bullard, Fairbanks, Brick, and Hill, and they took up land and settled on the plateau between the Charles River and the way to East Medway - now Millis.
Holbrook lived near Death's Bridge, and Hill settled nearest him, then Brick, who had married Hill's sister Mary, settled between Hill and Fairbanks, and then Bullard, whose house would now be in Millis. Fairbanks and Bullard settled on the shore of Bogistow or South End Pond. Later these four and the original three built a garrison house of stone on the shore of the pond and known as Bullard Fort, which was beseiged by the Indians in "Phillip's War", Febru- ary, 1676. In the same year, 1658, David Morse came from Medfield and built north of Wood, near where the Saltonstall house is; this was a garrison house and, following Morse, came his two sons-in-law, Edward West, who married Mary, and John Perry, who married her sister Bethia. West was Sherborn's first schoolmaster (1694), and eventually settled near the corner of Main Street and Railroad Avenue. He was given a sizeable tract of land "on the plain", and this became known as Edward's Plain. .. the Playground is part of his holdings . He was a very popular man, beloved and respected. He left no children.
Daniel Morse was the son of Samuel of Medfield, a prominent man in Ded- ham and Medfield. Colonel Morse of Cromwell's Army was of this family, and
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Daniel Morse's sister Mary married Deacon Samuel Bullen, who later came to Sherborn before 1674. Daniel Morse called his holdings in Sherborn "The Farm", and so it became Farm Pond and Farm Road, names that have persisted for nearly three hundred years now.
Of the other early settlers, coming before 1680, space will only allot a brief mention. Henry Adams drew land in 1660. This fell in what is now Holliston. He was killed at his door by the Indians in 1676. Deacon Samuel Bullen, men- tioned above, was an incorporator in Dedham, Medfield and Sherborn. He was in Sherborn from 1674, a tenant on Hill's farm and probably built on what is now Maple Street, opposite Brush Hill Lane. His son Elisha lived where the Reading house is Deacon Samuel's first signature is spelled Boleyn, since corrupted to Bullen, Bullens, Burlen, etc. Geneology in England shows his descent from an uncle of Ann Boleyn, mother of Queen Elizabeth.
Thomas Eames was here in 1674, living in Sherborn then, but now the Mount Waite district in Framingham. His house was burned by Indians in 1676, mem- bers of his family slain and some carried captive to Canada. One daughter was later "redeemed" and married a Sherborn man.
John Death came in 1677, settled first at West Sherborn and later the fam- ily bought of heirs of Thomas Holbrook on the river and gave their name to the bridge there.
Jonathan Whitney was another Watertown man coming to Sherborn in 1678 and built where the Paul House is. This farm remained in the Whitney family until 1825. From Watertown, also, came John Coolidge in 1680 or before, and built on Coolidge Street where the house owned by Mr. Badger now is.
Nathaniel Sanger and his brother Richard came in 1680 and settled first where the Town Library is. Nathaniel returned to Watertown; Richard stayed, bought land opposite and erected a home on the west side of the street in 1729; later bought the Gookin house and attached it to this house on the south side. Here his grandson Captain Samuel kept a tavern. This old place must have been a sprawling mansion, for Mrs. Sarah Sanford, (nee Sanger) born in that house and granddaughter of Capt. Samuel, told me there were eleven outside doors.
Watertown also gave us Daniel Bigelow, who settled in West Sherborn prior to 1690. Later a branch of the family settled at Farm Pond.
Abraham Cousins (Cozzens) was in Sherborn in 1678, and married Mary Eames who was the "redeemed" captive; he settled in West Sherborn. The Cous- ins' geneology shows the family lived up to their name and had a habit of marry- ing cousins.
In 1679 William Rider came and settled where Dr. Travis lives. His son was a Town Clerk and a wonderful penman, as his records show. William Rider had formerly been of Cambridge and Watertown.
Also in 1679 came Deacon Benoni Larned, drew land, and built where the Richardson house on Main Street now is. I rely on my memory when I say I saw a copy of Benoni's will in which he willed his breast plate and red breeches.
The same year came Thomas Sawin, and erected a mill on Chestnut Brook.
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He furnished the lumber for the first church in 1680. Later he moved to South Natick and built the mill owned by the late Preston Morse. He was an ancestor of Martha (Patty) Sawin, whose generous gift made the Sawin Academy possible.
On the first petition for incorporation also appeared the name of Robert Kentil. He was evidently the ancestor of the Kendall family and lived in North Sherborn, now Framingham.
Other families who came during the 17th century include the Twitchells, the first building in 1686 what is now the Fessenden place in West Sherborn, and so far as can be proved by documentary evidence, the oldest house in Sherborn.
Ebenezer Babcock came in 1696 from Milton and occupied the farm next to Twitchell's, now the Hildreth place.
The Gouldings came from Holliston in 1705 and the family held their farm for many years. Captain Joseph Ware came in 1710, having married a grand- daughter of Nicholas Wood and his daughter Zipporah married Curtis Goulding. Ware bought one-half of the Hill farm in 1735 for 750 pounds, and lived where Mr. Selfe does now. He had a negro slave named Duty. Richard Sanger, 3rd had a slave and the Rev. Baker, second minister, had more than one slave.
When the town was incorporated in 1674, it had a population of 108; in 1721, 408; in 1764, 600.
Sewell's Brook has its source in what those of a former generation used to call "The Judge's Meadow" crosses under Main Street by the old Ware house (now Selfe's) flows through Ware's Meadow under the railroad tracks and road, swerves south and passing under what is now Forest Street flows on to join the Charles River.
If you stand on the culvert where the brook passes under Forest Street and look southwest into what is now a pasture, your sight will be covering the place where the first house in Sherborn was erected by Sherborn's first settler, Nicho- las Wood, in 1651. Wood came to Sherborn when he purchased land with Thomas Holbrook and Andrew Pitcher from Milton via Medfield. For his time, Wood was a man of means and a large land owner, for when he died in 1669, he left an es- tate of 1, 049 pounds, a large sum for those days, and an elaborate will as to its disposal.
Mehitable, his fifth child, was born in this house he had built July 22, 1655, and was the first Anglo-American child born in Sherborn. In 1671 she married Captain Joseph Morse, and so became the pioneer mother of many old Sherborn families.
Wood had two sons. Jonathan, born in 1651, was killed by Indians near Death's Bridge February 21, 1676. The day following, his daughter Silence was born at the Bullard Fort. She married John Holbrook, son of Thomas. The other son Eleager was born in 1662, and was with his brother at Death's Bridge, was scalped, and left for dead, but survived and married. He was said tobe "strange". He left daughters only, so the name Wood was not perpetuated. Wood was the first settler.
Leaving the site of the Wood house, go west on Forest Street. On your
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left is the large old house known as the Joe Walter Barber house, now occupied by Mr. Johnson. It is more than possible that this is the house built by Captain Morse on land of his wife's, inherited from her father. It is certainly a very old house, and we know that here Morse built. From Forest Street we bear left into Snow Street; not named for any Snow family, but when Sherborn roads were given names and called streets, one of the neighbors suggested Snow - "For all the snow in all the storms blows into this road".
On the corner of Snow and Main Streets stands the old Daniels place, now owned by Mr. Franklin King, originally a Leland place and later sold by Colonel Joshua Leland to Joseph Coolidge who sold it to Timothy Daniels. Beyond this house, as you go south, is a large field formerly a peach orchard. In this spot Henry Leland erected his first house - this was burned, leaving his wife and child homeless during his absence. His second house was built nearer the river and also nearer his brother-in-law Thomas Holbrook. The old Leland house on the west side of the road and facing south, now owned by Mr. MacDougal, was a "salt box" until remodelled, and was built after 1700.
Henry Leland was the son of Hopestill, who was born in England in 1580 (Elizabeth's reign), and died in Sherborn in 1655. Hopestill came to Massachu- setts in 1624. Henry had five children. His wife was Margaret Babcock. He died in 1680, just one hundred years after his father was born. The name "Hope- still" has persisted in the Leland family. Henry owned a large estate in land, and his heirs continued to draw land in his name after his death. His sister Experience was Thomas Holbrook's first wife. Of interest is the fact that in his will, 1680, he mentioned "The Old Field" of 11 acres. This is in West Sher- born, lying west of Brush Hill and east of the road which is now Western Avenue. As he called it "The Old Field" back in 1680, it was probably a cleared field when it came into his possession and a former garden spot of the Indians. But it is one of the 17th century names that has survived. Of all the great holdings of Henry Leland, one farm remains in the family by direct succession, and that is Hopestill Farm owned by James F. Leland, coming down to the ninth genera- tion from old Hopestill. This, as far as I know, is the only farm in Sherborn held by one family since the settlement of the town.
Where the old Dearth-How house, formerly known as River Bank Lodge, owned by Mr. David Forbes, stands today, or very near it, Thomas Holbrook built his first house in 1652. There he planted the first orchard in Sherborn. His second house was nearer Leland's, the brother of his wife Experience. Hol- brook had four wives and twelve children. His son John married Silence Wood, granddaughter of Nicholas. He settled on land of his wife's - part of the Wood farm - and built on the north side of Forest Street. His first child was born in 1694 or 1695. . John. There seems to be no reason to doubt that the house still standing, owned by Mrs. Ella Holbrook, was the one he built, and has been lived in since by Holbrooks. It is the usual procedure in ascertaining the age of a house to put it down at the time of the birth of the eldest child. One thing is cer- tain - he and Silence couldn't have lived with her family - she was an orphan since birth, so it seems reasonable to place this old house as a 17th century habi- tation. The late Joseph Dowse, for many years Town Clerk, told me that in the 1850's it was said that more than half of the families in Sherborn at that time were descended from this marriage, and today there are quite a few who can claim descent. Thomas Holbrook died in 1705, outliving by many years Wood and Leland.
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BUILDING OF THE CHURCHES
Both petitions for Incorporation stressed the need of the community in the matter of Divine Worship. The petitioners wanted their own Meeting House and settled minister, a place for the meeting of the congregation on the Lord's Day, and a leader of their own who could expound and deliver a proper "lecture".
Captain Joseph Morse married the first white child born in Sherborn, 1655. She was the daughter of Nicholas Wood, and they were married in 1671. Their first child was born in 1673, and it is probable that Morse built his house some- time between 1671 and 1673. It was in this house that the first religious services in Sherborn were held. It must have been a larger house than most houses in the settlement, because on the Lord's Day the services were attended by ten families.
The Morses and Woods, to the east, and Holbrooks, Lelands, Hills, Brocks, Bullards, and Fairbanks, to the west. .. this would seem to point to the fact that the present Johnson house (the Joe Walter Barber place) is the original Joseph Morse house.
When the petition of 1674 was granted and the town was incorporated, one of the first matters that came up for consideration was the choice of a site. Re- member, town business and parish business was the same ... it was Church and State for long over a century ! The setup in Sherborn was the customary theoc- racy of that parish.
In 1674 the center of population was still along the west bank of the Charles, but others had come in to build homes in more remote parts - Adams, in what is now Holliston, a settler or two on the Plains, etc.
However, the fathers decided on a site in South Sherborn, about half way between the Joseph Morse house and what is now Main Street. This was on an eminence southwest of the new South Cemetery. It is probable that the older set- tlers desired their Meeting House not too far from the Morse house where they had met for the past ten or more years. There is no actual record of any contro- versy, but there must have been a difference of opinion, because the General Court appointed three men to confer as to a location of the Meeting House, with the result that the hill south of Edward's Plain was chosen and an area 20 rods square set off as the common and site of the Meeting House. This land was set off to the Parish, and NOT to the Town
Then came the period of "Philip's War" and its attendant discomforts, so that plans for building had to be delayed until 1680.
Thomas Sawin had erected a sawmill in the west part of the town on a small water right and he was employed to get out the lumber and build the building. In all, 53 pounds was paid to Sawin for material and labor. In our money that was $265. 00. Where did they find the cash? They found it ! There were no mortgages in 1680, here in the Province. Where the White Church now stands was the site.
There is no record of its size or capacity. It must have been a rough primi- tive building, unheated. And when you consider that Divine Worship was an all day affair, with a morning and afternoon session and that morning "lecture" was
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usually two hours or over, and the afternoon "lecture" at least an hour, and the temperature inside the building was the same as it was outside. Well - our fore- fathers were tough - they had to be !
In 1705, repairs at a cost of 20 pounds had to be made. All town meetings, as well as religious services, were held in this Meeting House.
By 1721 the church had evidently been outgrown and there was a movement to build a new church, and a controversy as to the site. The north part of town had become a part of Framingham, but what is now Holliston had grown steadily, for in 1723, thirteen freeholders in that section of Sherborn petitioned to become a town. A committee was chosen to consider a site, and in their choice of loca- tion it is evident the committee was influenced by the Holliston contingent, for the committee chose a spot on the Dirty Meadow Road, now Western Avenue, near the westerly end at Washington Street. The town refused to concur with the com- mittee, and so the Town of Holliston separated and came into being as a town in 1724.
As to the second edifice ... we know more of this one. It was erected in front of the site of the old church nearer the road; it was 40 feet by 32 feet, and had a 20 foot post. It was completed in 1725. The space around the walls was filled by square pews built at the owner's expense. Still, no manner of heating. It is no wonder people of that period had chilblains, even if intensely interested in going to meetings.
In 1770 the second church had to be enlarged. It was cut in two, the west end (front) moved 20 feet and the space built in so the building was 60 feet by 32 feet. There were overcrowded, not empty, pews in 1770. People who remember this church have told me that the pews were square and there was a gallery on the south side; also, that there were four outside doors. There was no chimney, and the building was unheated. The families sat in the high square pews; de- tached persons, colored persons, and Indians sat in the gallery in charge of the tithing man and his "wand". There were a few colored folks owned by Sherborn people. Capt. Joseph Ware's "Duty" was one. Richard Sanger had one. The family of Rev. Baker had two or three, and when he granted them freedom, the town fathers were afraid they might become public charges.
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