USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Framingham > History of Framingham, Massachusetts, including the Plantation, from 1640 to the present time, with an appendix, containing a notice of Sudbury and its first proprietors > Part 1
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HISTORY
OF
FRAMINGHAM,
MASSACHUSETTS,
INCLUDING THE PLANTATION,
FROM 1640 TO THE PRESENT TIME,
WITH
AN APPENDIX,
CONTAINING A NOTICE OF SUDBURY AND ITS FIRST PROPRIETORS ;
ALSO,
A REGISTER
OF THE INHABITANTS OF FRAMINGHAM BEFORE 1800, WITH GENEALOGI- CAL SKETCHES :
BY WILLIAM BARRY, LATE PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN FRAMINGHAM.
BOSTON : JAMES MUNROE AND COMPANY. 1847.
. F&B2
Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1847, BY WILLIAM BARRY,
in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts.
PRINTED BY ABNER FORBES, 37 Cornhill, Boston.
7
INTRODUCTION. .
THE following History can possess but little interest beyond the neigh- borhood, whose memorials it is designed to preserve. Some may even be disposed to question the propriety of dignifying with so ambitious an epithet, the simple annals of an agricultural town, or of seeking for them the distinction of a publication from the press. The public taste lias, however, created a demand for such publications; and the inquisitive in- terest it betokens, in respect to the characters, the deeds, the personal fortunes, of the Planters of New England, is worthy of the past, and cred- itable to the present. Humble and unostentatious as are the annals of our New England villages, they are such only relatively, or as judged by false standards of glory and merit. The examples they display of heroic faith, of invincible courage, of generous self-sacrifice, of bold and untiring en- terprise, the illustration they afford to the genius of the age, and the race that transformed the stern cliffs and gloomy forests of these Western wilds, into a cultivated and flourishing Commonwealth, the extraordinary spec- tacle every where presented of rising schools, amidst popular ignorance, of a stern morality amidst general degeneracy, of a devout and inflexible faitlı amidst widespread unbelief, of a jealous and enlightened love of liberty, amidst universal despotism, all reflect honor upon the past, - are required to give completeness to New England history, and will be re- called with an ever-increasing interest, as time shall cover with the deep- ening mist of antiquity, the " beginnings of the Commonwealth." Well shall it be, if the record shall not gratify a vain curiosity, nor nourish a yet vainer boasting; but the rather feed a nobler emulation, a purer patri- otism, a more exalted virtue, a more generous philanthrophy.
The following sketch of the settlement and the settlers of Framinghan, was commenced many years since, and prosecuted during the intervals of professional labor .* The author, starting with no definite plan, found the field of research widening, and the sources of information copious and inviting, beyond his expectation. It became soon apparent that his labor would be imperfect, unless embracing much personal history, and a knowledge of the emigration of families -an investigation of almost in- finite extent, and demanding much laborious and critical inquiry. Un- willing to pause in his pursuit, he proceeded to a careful examination of the records of the town and church, comparing them with such authentic papers and traditions as were preserved. His enquiries were extended to
* A historical sketch of Framing- ham was published several years pre- vious, which was attributed to Dr. Ballard. The value of its historical
facts is counter-balanced by its satire, personality, and irrelevant matter. It is a curious specimen of eccentricity.
iv
INTRODUCTION.
the records of the neighboring towns, and to those of nearly all the towns first planted in the vicinity of Boston, to the archives of the coun- ties and of the Commonwealth, and to the valuable historical collections in our public libraries. The result of his labors is presented in the following volume. It is unnecessary to detain the reader, by explaining or vin- dicating the method he has pursued, which it is hoped will sufficiently explain itself to the intelligent reader. Suffice it to say, that the author has endeavored to be accurate and perspicuous.
The materials relating to the town, derived from its records, have been digested and revised with particular care, and their deficiences have been supplied from other sources. While it would be presumptuous to claim for this work any degree of completeness, the author hopes, that whatever gratification it may impart may incite others to a continuation of the same labor, or at least, awaken a more general concern in the commu- nity, for the preservation of ancient writings and memorials, of historical interest.
It is not to be denied, that the prevailing indifference in this particular, has been of a serious nature, causing the unseasonable loss or destruc- tion of much valuable information .*
It is highly important to enforce upon the consideration of the intelli- gent and public-spirited, the duty of exploring and guarding the materials both of general and of local history. Valuable books and papers should be recovered, and deposited in places of safety. Opportunities may be sought to elucidate obscurities, by consulting the recollections of the aged. Much might be done by an association of minds in our towns, whose labors could be profitably united in this department of the public good. Nor should the future, more than the past, be forgotten in a wise foresight, to provide that the public records should be in the keeping of intelligent, enlightened, and responsible hands, where their importance is understood, and their safe custody will be secured. It is a remarkable fact and deserves serious consideration, that the records of nearly all our towns for the last fifty years, are far less complete, valuable, and reliable, as sources of historical information, than for the same space at any former period. It surely ought not to be thus.
The author, in conclusion, would commend his work to the candid judgment of the reader. It was originally prepared, and has been prose- cuted as a " labor of love," and under a sense of gratitude for personal favors and an ever kind and friendly regard, which has found but an in- adequate expression in this work, laborious as it may have been. To the inhabitants of Framingham the work is most respectfully inscribed, with the hope and prayer, that their intelligence, liberality, and public spirit may provide the materials of a future history, of which it may not be said, that the " former days were better than these."
Framingham, September, 1847.
* The author can speak with the more feeling on this point, from the fact, that nearly all the papers re-
quired to illustrate the early history of the First Church, were probably in existence not many years since.
HISTORY OF FRAMINGHAM.
FRAMINGHAM is situated in the S.W. part of the County of Middlesex, in the State of Massachusetts. It is bounded on the N. by Sudbury, N.E. by Wayland, S.E. by Natick and Sherburne, S. W. by Ashland, W. by Southborough and Marlborough. It lies on the late Worcester Turnpike, about midway between that town and Boston ; being 21 miles distant W. from Boston, and 14 miles nearly S. from Concord. It contained in 1832 an area of 18,976 acres, of which 537 were covered with water and 324 were ap- propriated for roads. By the incorporation of Ashland, in 1846, a tract of about 3,000 acres was set off from Framingham to that town. The Sudbury or Concord river passes diagonally through the town, in a course from S.W. to N.E., affording good water privileges for mills and factories. With a soil of very general fertility; and occupied by a population always characterized by habits of industry, moderation and enterprise, this town has steadily advanced in general prosperity. It is now, in popula- tion, the fifth town in the County of Middlesex.
The history of the planting and settlement of Framingham goes back to an early period. Though incorporated as late as 1700, the territory had for many years previous been known as Mr. Danforth's Farms, and as early as 1670 it is found to have borne upon the County Records the name of the Framlingham Planta- tion. The first grant within its territory was made as early as 1640. The materials of its history, during the time referred to, are obscure and scanty. Without proprietary records, holding their estates, in many cases, by unregistered leases, living with no
1
2
FRAMLINGHAM PLANTATION.
civil organization among themselves, scattered over an extensive tract, and obliged to seek such privileges, civil and religious, as were to be had in the nearest incorporated towns, the early settlers of the Plantation have left no record of their labors, hardships and sufferings. The most we can do, therefore, is to gather up the fragments of historical incident preserved to us, and, by the help of such imperfect lights as remain, to trace out the doings and progress of the early founders of the town.
FRAMLINGHAM PLANTATION.
For some time after the settlement of Sudbury,* there lay, to the S. of that township, a large tract of country, known only, in ancient records, as " Wilderness land." The southern boundary of that town was undoubtedly the same as now .; No settlement existed to the S. nearer than Medfield. On the W. was the newly-formed township of Marlborough, whose bounds extended S. to Sudbury river, including the present town of South- borough. The nearest settlements to the E. were in Watertown, and in the present town of Newton, then a part of Cambridge. The settlement of the Praying or Christian Indians at Natick, in 1650, led to the establishment, by the General Court, of a ter- ritorial plantation, called the Natick Plantation, which was reserved for their particular use and disposal. From the re- corded survey of it, made July 29th, 1659, it appears that its westerly bounds were to " extend as far as Cochituate brook, at
* Sudbury was first settled in that part now called Wayland, in 1638, and received its first grant of five miles from the General Court, Sept. 4, 1639. In 1640, an additional grant was made of "a mile in length, upon the S.E. and S. W. sides " of the plantation ; and subsequently, in 1649, a further grant of two miles upon its W. boundary. (Col. Rec.) Johnson describes it (Description of N. England, p. 36) as " furnisht with great store of fresh marsh ; but lying very low, it is much endamaged with land floods." The first minister - Rev. Edmund Brown - was ordained in Aug. 1640, and d. Jan. 22, 1677.
For further particulars respecting the first settlement of Sudbury, see the appendix.
t That this is true of that part of the boundary which now divides Fra- mingham from Sudbury proper, ap- pears evident from the existence there of very aged trees once marked with the initials of the name of Thomas Danforth, and long known as the T. D. trees. They were undoubtedly the original bounds of Danforth's Grants. One of these trees, a white oak of gigantic size, may be seen upon the farm of the late Mr. John Eaton.
3
EARLY GRANTS.
the common passing-place or highway, that leadeth from Sudbury to John Stone's house, and from thence the bounds to be John Stone's land and Sudbury river - extending up Sudbury river four miles, to be measured by a strait line from the aforesaid common wading-place on Cochituate brook." * Within this tract, however, was land already in the occupation of English settlers, under grants from the General Court, which was excepted in the reservation to the Indians.
EARLY GRANTS.
Although the greater part of the territory of Framingham was granted to Governor Danforth, there were, in the order of time, still earlier grants.
GLOVER'S FARM. - Mrs. Elizabeth Glover, relict of the Rev. Jesse Glover, t received a grant from the General Court, of six hundred acres of land, which they ordered, October 7, 1640, to be laid out " on the E. side of Sudberry river, without the limits of the last addition, to the bounds of Sudberry, and between the said bound and the Great Pond at Cochituate br," (brook.) ¿ The particular bounds of this tract, variously called the Glover, Dunster or Pond Farm, it is difficult now to trace. That a considerable part of the grant lay within the bounds of the present territory of Framingham, is rendered probable by the fol- lowing transaction. § Sept. 29, 1647, John Glover, then of Harvard College, and President Dunster, his guardian, leased for
* This brook is the same which runs from Cochituate or Long Pond, into Sudbury river.
t The Rev. Jesse Glover, formerly Rector of Sutton, in Surry, embarked for N. E. 1639, in the John, of Lon- don, and d. on the passage, leaving two sons - Capt. Roger, (in 1652, " lately slain at Edenborough," ) and John : and three daughters - Eliza- beth, who m. Adam Winthrop, son of the Governor ; Saara, who m. Dean Winthrop; and Priscilla, who m. John Appleton, of Ipswich. Elizabeth, widow of the Rev. Jesse Glover, m. Henry Dunster, President of Harvard College.
# Col. Rec. 1. 289. § The Dunster Farm was leased for six years, to Edmund Rice, Sept. 13, 1642, for 30 bushels of corn per year the first two years ; 50 bushels per year the next two years; and 100 bushels the last two years, in equal proportions of wheat, indian and rye ; and, as the " Pond Farm," was conveyed, June 24, 1659, to Edmund Rice and his son Benjamin, by Jo- seph Hills, Edward Collins and Ed- mund Frost, executors of President Dunster's will. Middlesex Deeds.
4
FRAMLINGHAM PLANTATION.
ten years, to Edmund Rice, the whole farm of said J. Glover, " lying W. on said H. Dunster's land, severed by Sudbury line, and so on to Cochittuate Brooke, wherewith it is bounded south- erly, as with the two Ponds." By the terms of the lease, Edmund Rice contracted to make a fence between the two farms of J. Glover and H. Dunster, easterly, " and so all the lands encom- passed eyther by the foresaid brook or the Great River, west- erly ; " and also to keep in good repair "the fences already on the farme between the Great Pond and the River." It was further required of him to build on the premises, " during. the first five or six years," a dwelling-house, "thirty foote long, ten foote high stud, one foot sill from the ground, sixteen foote wide ;" with two rooms, both below or the one above the other ; " All the doores well hanged, and staires, with convenient fastnings of locks or bolts, windows, glases, and well planked under foote, and boarded sufficiently to lay corne in, in the story above head." He was also to build a barn " fifty foote long, eleven feet high in the stud, one foote above ground, the sell twenty foote, if no leantes, or eighteen foote wide with leantees on the one side, and a convenient threshing-floare be- tween the doares." The particulars of this transaction are the more worthy of notice, as connected with the first known occupa- tion of the town by English settlers, dating, as will be seen, at a very early period. The tract above described was situated in the region, in ancient papers called COCHITUATE - the name being applied both to the great pond and to its neighboring territory.
RICE'S GRANTS. - In 1652, Edmund Rice had from the Gen- eral Court a grant of 50 acres, lying a mile southerly from Cochituate Brook, or thereabouts, deeds of which tract are in the possession of his descendants in this town. In 1659, he obtained from the same source a grant of 80 acres on the " S. side of the path leading from Sudbury to Connecticot, about six miles from Sudbury." These tracts, to which large additions were after- wards made, were in that part of the town to the N.E., where the descendants of the family have continued to reside unto the present day .*
* Several of the sons of Edmund appear to have been proprietors, and
more than one, perhaps, residents within the limits of Framingham.
5
EARLY GRANTS.
STONE'S GRANTS. - May 15, 1656, " William Boman, Capt. Josiah, Roger, and James, and Keaquisan, Indians, living at Na- ticke," * in consideration of a valuable sum of Peage and other goods, conveyed to John Stone of Sudbury, " a parcell of broaken- up and fenced-in land, lying on the S. side of Sudbury line, upon the falls of Sudbury river, and bounded with ye comon land surrounding ; the said land conteyning, by estimation, about 10 acres, more or less." In 1656, in answer to the petition of John Stone of Sudbury, for confirmation of the purchase of 11 acres of land bought of the Indians, the General Court " ordered that his petition be granted, as also the grant of 50 acres of land more to be added thereunto, according to his desire," &c .; In con- formity to the above, Edmund Rice and Thomas Noyes laid out the above lands, May 19, 1658, " at the falls of Sudbury river." To this tract extensive additions were from time to time made by purchase, until a large part of the present territory of Saxon- ville and considerable tracts elsewhere, came into the possession of this family.
WAYTE'S GRANT. - In 1658, Richard Wayte of Boston, Mar- shal, obtained from the General Court a grant of " 300 acres of land, in the wilderness, between Chochituate and Nipnox," # which was laid out as follows, viz. :
" There being a neck of land about 220 acres, more or less, and is surrounded by Sudbury river, a great pond and a small brook that runneth from said pond into the river, and from the southerly end of the said pond running to the river again, by a westerly line, according to marked trees ; and, on the westerly side of Sudbury river, to ex- tend his bounds from the said river 20 pole in breadth, so far in length as his land lyeth against the said river. Also on the N. and N.E. of said brook and pond, he hath five patches of meadow, containing about
Henry, the oldest son, was the an- cestor of most of the name now living here. The precise time at which he settled here it is not easy to deter- mine. See Genealogical Register. * Bowman's Brook, and Rogers' Field, both near Saxonville village, will be recognized as having derived their names from the above Indian proprietors and grantors. The orig- inal deed referred to, is in the posses- sion of Mr. Abner Stone, of Fra- mingham.
1*
t Col. Rec. iii. 172.
# Nipnox is the name given to the undefined territory belonging to the Nipmuck Indians, who inhabited the interior of Mass. and lived about the ponds and streams. Their principal seats were at Oxford and on the Blackstone River. They were partly subject to the Narraganset, and partly to the Massachusetts Indians.
) -
1
6
FRAMLINGHAM PLANTATION.
20 acres, more or less, being all surrounded with wilderness land ; also on the N.E. side of Washakum Pond, he hath 60 acres, being bounded with said pond on the S.W. and an Indian bridge on the E., and elsewhere by marked trees - the wilderness surrounding."
The above tract, on which no settlement appears immediately to have been made, was conveyed to Thos. Danforth. The In- dians quit-claimed to the latter, Oct. 1, 1684. *
RUSSELL'S GRANT. - May 6, 1659, by order of the General Court, Richard Russell,¡ treasurer, had laid out to him "500 acres of land lying in the wilderness upon both sides of the path that leadeth from Sudbury towards Nipnox ; and is bounded on the N.E. with Washakum pond and a swamp adjoining thereto, and on the W. by a marked tree, and the W. side of an ashen swamp, and on the S. with the upland adjoining to the southerly or S.W. point of that meadow which lieth on the westerly side of the aforesaid meadow, and on the N. extending on the N. side of the aforesaid path, and is surrounded with the wilderness." ± This grant also came into the possession of Gov. Danforth, to whom the Indians released all claim, Oct. 1, 1684.
CORLETT'S FARM. - The tract known by this name as late as 1750, when it was delineated on Hazzell's survey of the N. part of Framingham, was originally granted by the Court, Oct. 18, 1659, to Elijah Corlett, a schoolmaster of much celebrity at Cambridge, whose services to the infant colony are noticed in strong eulogy by the writers of his day.§
* From their situation, it appears probable that the elevation known as " Mount Wait," and the meadow called " Wait's meadow," may have derived their names from the first grantee of the soil.
t RICHARD RUSSELL, with his wife Maud, came from Herefordshire, England, in 1640. He resided in Charlestown, and was a Representa- tive in 1642, and for many years af- ter. He was chosen Speaker of the House in 1654, and in 1659 was made Assistant, which office he retained until 1669. He was also for many years Treasurer of the Colony. Hutchinson states that his son,
grandson, and two of his great- grandsons were of the Council. He died May 14, 1676, aged 65. Farm- er's Register. Hutchinson's Hist. Mass. Bay, I. 189.
# Col. Rec.
§ ELIJAH CORLETT was educated at Lincoln College, in Oxford, where he was admitted in 1626. He came to New England and settled as early as 1643, in Cambridge, where he was for more than forty years instructer of a grammar school. All accounts concur in representing him as a man of learning, piety and respectability. In N. England's first fruits he is said to have " very well approved himself
7
EARLY GRANTS.
18 Oct. 1659. " In answer to the petitions of Daniel Weld and Elijah Corlett, schoolmasters, the Court, considering the useful- ness of the petitioners in an employment of so common concern- ment for the good of the whole country, and the little encourage- ment that they have had from their respective towns for their service and unwearied pains in that employment, do judge meet to grant to each of them 200 acres of land, to be taken up adjoining to such lands as have been already granted and laid out by order of this Court." This farm was laid out May 22, 1661, by Mr. Thomas Noyes of Sudbury,
" A mile distant from the S.W. angle of the land formerly granted to Sudbury, also having a parcel of meadow granted to Mr. Edmund Brown, teacher to the church of Sudbury, on the S. ; also being about half a mile distant northerly from the river which runneth to Sudbury, also being a mile and a quarter distant W.N. westerly, from the now dwelling house of John Stone. The said farm, for the most part bordering upon the wilderness and laying in a long square, the longest lines running W. by S. five degrees southerly," &c. *
for his abilities, dexterity and pain- fulness." Cotton Mather describes him as the " memorable old school- master in Cambridge, from whose education our college and country has received so many of its worthy men, that he is himself worthy to have his name celebrated in our church history." He elsewhere com- memorates him in connection with Cheever, in a familiar couplet :
" "T is CORLETT's pains and CHEEVER'S, we must own,
That thou, New England, art not Scythia grown."
Dr. Holmes states that great effort was made for Mr Corlett's mainten- ance in the early settlement of Cam- bridge, that he was charged with the tuition of the Indian scholars intend- ed for the college, for which service he received compensation from the Society for Propagating the Gospel among the Indians. It would seem, however, from the order of the Gener- al Court above noticed, that his labors met with a scanty reward. Poverty was the destiny of his profession in that day of small things. May we not presume that he was included among those referred to by Hutchin- son, who said of Cheever, " he is not the only master who kept his lamp
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