History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 1

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III > Part 1

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1900

Class

Book

HISTORY

MIDDLESEX COUNTY

MASSACHUSETTS,

WITH

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

OF MANY OF ITS

PIONEERS AND PROMINENT MEN.

COMPILED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF

D. HAMILTON HURD.

VOL. III.

0 ILLUSTRATED.

PHILADELPHIA: J. W. LEWIS & CO. 1890.

حـ

copy

JAN 1. HODOERR PRINTING COMPANY, PHILADELPHIA.

CONTENTS OF VOL. III.

CITIES AND TOWNS.

CHAPTER I.

CHAPTER XIII

NEWTON . -

ARLINGTON

173

CHAPTER II.

CHAPTER XIV.

NEWTON-( Continued) .. .

The First Church in Newton.

ARLINGTON-(Continued) .

198

Market Gardening in Arlington and Belmont.

CHAPTER XV.

NEWTON-( Continued) .

Educational.

CHAPTER XVI.

MELROSE-( Continued) .

209

NEWTON-( Continued) . .

Newton Theological Institution.

Ecclesiastical and Educationil History.

CHAPTER XVII.

CHAPTER V.

NEWTON-( Continued )

The Libraries.

CHAPTER XVIII.

MELROSE -( Continued)

214

Bibliography and Miscellaneous.

CHAPTER XIX.

CHAPTER VHI.

NEWTON-( Continued) .

Industries and Manufactures.

CHAPTER XX.

PEPPERELL-( Continued ) . .

Municipal and Militant.

CHAPTER XXI.

Clubs, Societies, etc.

CHAPTER IX.

NEWTON-(Continued) .

125

Military History of Newton.

CHAPTER X.

PEPPERELL-(Continued)

Industrial Pursuits

CHAPTER XXIII.

Medical History.

HUDSON .

250

CHAPTER XI.

CHAPTER XXIV.

NEWTON -( Continued)

147

Homoopathy.

CHAPTER XII.

CHAPTER XXV.

NEWTON-(Continued) .

Geology of Newton.

150

TEWKSBURY-( Continued) . . 287

....

MELROSE-( Continued)

212

Military Ihistory-Societies, Associations, Clubs, et

CHAPTER VI.

NEWTON-(Continued ) . .

Banking Interests.

PEPPERELL

220

Parochial and Keclesiastical.

CHAPTER VIII:

NEWTON=(Continued) . .

110

PEPPERELL-( Continued)

Educational

CHAPTER XXII.

NEWTON-( Continued) .

133

TEWKSBURY .

CHAPTER III

MELROSE

205

CHAPTER IN.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XXVI.

TEWKSBURY- Continued . The French and Indian War-The Revolution

CHAPTER XXVII.

TEWKSBURY -- Continued The Poor-Flavory -- Natural History.

CHAPTER XXVIIL.

TEWKSBURY-( Continued . The Civil War-civil and Biographical.

CHAPTER XXIX

WATERTOWN

317

CHAPTER XXX.

WATERTOWN- Continued) Kecle lastical Ilistory.

CHAPTER XXXL.

WATERTOWN

Continued)

Fatty People-Land Grants-The Proprietors' Book-Town

Guverument Schools-The Wears-The South Side.

CHAPTER XXXII

WATERTOWN- L'intequed 377

Military History-Indian Ware-Revolutionary Period-The Civil War.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

WATERTOWN-(Omtinued

Rainers Interests~Banks.

392

CHAPTER XXXIV.

WATERTOWN (Continued

397

WALTHAM-(Continued )

751

Manufactorios.

CHAPTER XXXV.

WATERTOWN -Continued)

Swintien Physicians, etc

CHAPTER XXXVI.

ITOLLISTON

CHAPTER XXXVII.

1ALDEN .

CHAPTER XXXVIEL

The . Ismusticul History of Maldet.

CHAPTER XXXIX

DEN - Continuei .. 527

CHAPTER XL.

CHAPTER XLI

IVERETT 576

CHAPTER ALI

I. RAMINGHI M

CHAPTLI XLIII

:5 ::

CHAPTER XLIV.

293

BELMONT . 682

CHAPTER XLV.

WALTHAM . 700

CHAPTER XLVI.

WALTHAM-t Continued

720

Military History .

CHAPTER XLVII.

WALTHAM- Continued) .

726

CHAPTER XLVIII.

WALTHAM Continued)

730

Educational History-Banks

CHAPTER XLIX.

WALTIIAM -- ( Continued) .

734

Schools and Newspapers.

CHAPTER L.

WALTHAM- Continued) .

735

The American Waltham Watch Company.

CHAPTER LI.

WALTHAM-( Continued )

750

Public Library.

CHAPTER LII.

CHAPTER LIII

414

SOMERVILLE .

759

CHAPTER LIV.

431 | HOPKINTON .

780

CHAPTER 'LV.

MEDFORD

807

CHAPTER LVI.

MARLBOROUGH . 819 Ori rival Grant-Indian Grant-First Meeting of Proprietors -Ownere of House Lots in 1660-First Settlers- King Philip's War-French and Indian War

CHAPTER LVIL.

MARLBOROUGH- Continued). Wir of the Revolution The Lexington Aların-The Minute- Mon -List of Soldiers-Votes, etc .- Henry Barnes, the Royali t

CHAPTER LVIII.

MARI BOR CON- Continued ) . 825

Lerlemasti al History - I'mou Congregational Church-The Nec n i Parish Unitarian Methodist Episcopal- First Bap- tiat Church of the Holy Trinity -l'universalist -- Immacu- late l'onception, Roman Catholic-St. Mary's, French Cath- the- French Lvangelical Church.

302

304

395

344

Manufacturing and Mechanical Industries

456

477

535

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER LIX.

MARLBOROUGH-(Continued) 832

Educational-The Press-First National Bank-Public Li- brary -- Water Works-Fire Department-Steam Railway. -Marlborough Savings Bank

CHAPTER LX.

MARLBOROUGH- - (Continued ) 837

Manufacturing Interests.

CHAPTER

LX1.

MARLBOROUGH-i Continued) .

840

Masonic.

CHAPTER LXII

MARLBOROUGH-( Continued) . . . 844

Civil History-Incorporation-First Selectmen-Selectmen from 1661 to 1890-Town Clerks from 1660 to 1890-Treas- urers-Representatives-State Senators-County Commis- sioners-Delegates to Provincial Congress-Delegates to Constitutional Convention-Assistant Treasurer of United States-Population-Valuation.

CHAPTER LXIII.

MARLBOROUGH-(Continued) 846 Odd Fellowship-Celebration of Two Hundredth Anniver- sary of Incorporation of Town-War of Rebellion-Socie- ties, etc. CHAPTER LXIV.

WILMINGTON. 859

CITIES AND TOWNS.

CHAPTER I.

NEWTON.

BY REV. S. F. SMITH.

THE history of Newton is rooted in the history of Boston, the metropolis of New England. The settle- ment of Boston was commenced September 17, 1630, by the removal thither of Mr. William Blaxton, whose name is perpetuated in Blackstone Street, at the north part of the city, and Blackstone Square, on Washington Street, at the south end. Mr. Blaxton was attracted to Boston by the existence of a spring of pure water, such as he failed to find in Charles- town, his former residence. Boston was at first but a diminutive place in territory. In the northern part it was but three streets wide from east to west, the three streets being Fox Street, Middle Street and Back Street; the first being now North Street, the second the north part of Hanover Street, and the third the south part of Salem Street. The northern portion of Boston, originally "the court end," was separated from the southeru by a creek called Mill Creek, reaching from water to water, and occupying the space of the present Blackstone Street. The southern portion of Boston was joined to the conti- nent by "the neck," so-called, being the upper part of Washington Street, towards Roxbury. The neck was so narrow that farmers bringing their produce to market in Boston in the morning, used to hasten back at evening in the periods of high tides, lest the rise of the water should cut off their return. Long Wharf, at the foot of State Street, commenced at India Street. Large vessels were moored close to Liberty Square. Harrison Avenue was washed by the tide. The Public Garden and most of Charles Street, and Tre- mont Street, south of Pleasant Street, was under water.

The territory of Boston was small, but the inhabit- ants of the little peninsula thought it necessary to have a fortified place to flee to in case of invasion by the neighboring tribes of savage Indians. Other towns, already commenced-Charlestown, Watertown, Roxbury and Dorchester-shared in this spirit of wise precaution, and felt equally the need of a sure place of defence. At first they fixed upon the neck, between Boston and Roxbury, which was, on some

1-iii

accounts, a strategic point, shutting off the possibility of assault by Indians of the continent. But this plan was abandoned on account of the lack in that vicinity of springs of running water. It was finally decided to build the place of defence on the north side of Charles River, laying the foundations of a new town near where Harvard College now stands. Here they began to build in the spring of 1631. They laid out a town in squares, with streets intersecting each other at right angles, and surrounded the place with a stock- ade, and excavated a fosse inclosing more than a thousand acres; and, as a historian of 1683 remarks, "with one general fence, which was about one and a half miles in length. It is one of the neatest and best compacted towns in New England, having many fair structures, with many handsome contrived streets. The inhabitants, most of them, are very rich. Half a mile westward of the town is a great pond (Fresh Pond), which is divided between Newtowne and Wa- tertown on the south side of Charles River."

In 1632 the General Court levied a rate of £60 upon the several plantations towards building the palisade around Newton. The tax levied was thus distributed : Watertown, £8; Newton, £3; Charlton, £7; Medford, £3; Saugus and Marblehead Harbor, £6; Salem, £4 10s .; Boston, £8; Roxbury, £7; Dorchester, £7; Wes- saguscus, £5; Winethomet, £1 30s. The fence passed near the northwest corner of Gore Hall, in the col- lege yard, eastwardly to the line between Cambridge and Somerville, and southwardly from Gore Hall to a point near the junction of Holyoke Place with Mount Auburn Street. This £60 levy for building the stockade was probably the first State tax. Wa- tertown objected to the assessment as unjust, and a committee of two from each town was appointed to advise with the Court about raising public moneys, "so as what they agree upon shall bind all." "This," says Mr. Winthrop, "led to the Representative body having the full powers of all the freemen, except that of elections." .

Boston, as was natural, came to be regarded as the old town, and this new and fortified place beyond the river acquired the title of the new town, or Newtown. When Harvard University was founded, in 1638, the General Court ordained "that Newtowne should thenceforward be called Cambridge," in compliment to the place where so many of the civil and ecclesias-

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

tical fathers of the town had received their education. The large territory on the south side of Charles River, beyond the stockade and Cambridge, and comprising most of what is now Brighton and Newton, was at first called the "south side of Charles River," and some- times "Nonantum," the Indian name. After relig- ious services came to be held regularly on the south side of the river, about 1654, the outlying territory was called "Cambridge Village," or, "New Cam- bridge," until 1679. The General Court decreed that after December, 1691, it should be called "Newtown." The change of the name from "Newtown " to "New- ton " seems to have come abont spontaneously with- out any formal authorization. The change is first noticed in the records of town-meetings by Judge Fuller in 1766 and over afterwards. The question of spelling the name of the town was never put to vote; but it is deemed that Judge Fuller was fully justitied in assuming such a responsibility.

Before leaving London the company forming the first plantations in New England received the follow- ing instructions : " If any of the salvages pretend right of inheritance to all or any part of the lands granted in our pattent, wee pray you endeavor to pur chase their tytle, that wee may avoyde the least scru- ple of intrusion." Accordingly, at the session of the General Court, March 13, 1638-39, Mr. Gibbons was desired to agree with the Indians for the land within the bounds of Watertown, Cambridge and Boston. "The deed of conveyance is missing, but there is sufficient evidence," says Mr. Paige, " that the pur- chase was made of the Squaw-sachem, and that the price was duly paid. The General Court ordered, May 20, 1610, ' that the £13 Ss. 6d. layd out by Capt. Gibons shall be paid him, viz., £13 88. 6d. by Water- town, and €10 by Cambridge, and also Cambridge is to give Squaw-sachem a coate every winter while she liveth.' This sale or conveyance to Cambridge is recognized in a deed executed Jan. 13, 1639, by the Squaw-sachem of Misticke and her husband, Web- cowits, whereby they conveyed to Jonathan Gibbons 'the reversion of all that parcel of land which lies against the ponds of Misticke aforesaid, together with the said ponds, all which we reserved from Charles- town and Cambridge, late called Newtowne, and all hereditaments and appartenances thereunto belong- ing, after the death of me, the said Squaw-sachem.'"

This Squaw-sachem is supposed to have died in about the year 1662. Twenty years previous to her death she, with four other Indian rulers, put herself under the government nud jurisdiction of the Massa- chusetts, to be governed and protected by them, and promised to be true and faithful to the said goveru- ment. The inhabitants of Cambridge lived on terms of amity with the Indians.

The early history of Newton is involved with the history of Cambridge. Indeed, Newton was required to pay taxes for the support of the church in Cam- bridge till 1661. In 1656 the inhabitants of Cani-

bridge Village organized a distinct congregation for public worship, and petitioned the General Court to be released from paying rates for the support of the ministry of the church in Cambridge. The commit- tee reported adversely to the petition, and the peti- tioners had leave to withdraw. Dr. Holmes, however, says that in 1656, when the inhabitants of the vil- lage had become so numerous as to form a distinct congregation for public worship, " an abatement was made of one-half of their proportion of the ministry's allowance during the time they were provided with an able minister according to law." In 1661 they renewed their petition, and 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 measure to be in the usnal paths that may be ordinarily passed."

The petitioners were not satisfied with this line, and in 1662 petitioned the Court for a new one. A committee was appointed in October, 1662, to give the petitioners and their opponents a hearing. This new committee settled the bound, as far as ministerial taxes were concerned, and "ran the line which is substantially the line which now divides Newton from Brighton."

In 1672 the inhabitants of Cambridge Village pre- sented to the Court another petition, praying to be set off from Cambridge and made an independent town.

The following year the Court granted the petition- ers the right to elect annually one constable and three selectmen dwelling among themselves, " but requiring them to continue to be a part of Cambridge so far as related to the paying of certain taxes." The action of the committee did not satisfy the petitioners, and they declined to accept it or to act under it. In 1677 another attempt was made to determine a satisfactory dividing line, through a committee of referees, two to be chosen by Cambridge, two by Cambridge Village and the fifth by the four others jointly. The line pro- posed by these referees did not differ materially from the line run in 1662.

Again, in 1678, fifty-two out of sixty-five of the freemen of Cambridge Village petitioned the General Court to be set off from the town of Cambridge and to be made a town by itself. Cambridge, by its select- men, presented a remonstrance. The Court, however, so far granted the petition as to order " that the free- hollers should meet on the 27th August, 1679, and elect selectmen and other town officers to manage the municipal affairs of the village." This was an im- portant concession on the part of the Court, though it did not fully meet the desires of the petitioners ; and nearly ten years more passed away before they fully obtained the object of their requests.

Until August 27, 1679, all the town-meetings were held in Cambridge, and all town officers were elected there. After this date town-meetings were held in Cambridge Village (Newton) by the Treemen of the

NEWTON.

village only, and they transacted their town business free from all dictation or interference of Cambridge. On that day they took into their own hands the man- agement of the prudential affairs of the village as completely as any other town, and conducted them according to the will of the majority of the freeholders until Newton became a city. For town purposes they were independent, but for a number of years they were still taxed with Cambridge for State and county purposes, to wit, the repairs of the Great Bridge be- tween Cambridge and Brighton. Nor were they per- mitted to send a deputy to the General Court till 1688, when the separation was fully consummated, and Newton became a free and independent corporation. Dea. John Jackson, the first settler of Cambridge Village, and nine others were dead when the town of Newton became wholly independent.

After an extended and careful investigation by dif- ferent historians, "there seems," says Mr. Paige, in his " History of Cambridge," " no reasonable doubt that the village was released from ecclesiastical depend- ence on Cambridge and obligation to share in the ex- penses of religious worship in 1661 ; became a pre- cinct in 1673; received the name of Newton in De- cember, 1691 ; and was declared to be a distinct vil- lage and place of itself, or, in other words, was incor- porated as a separate and distinct town by the order passed January 11, 1687-88, old style, or January 11, 1688, according to the present style of reckoning.

" While hy her separation from Cambridge, Newton lost in territory, she found, in due time, more than she lost. By the limitation of her boundaries she cut herself off from 'Master Corlet's faire grammar schoole,' though she retained as much right in the University as belonged to any and every town in the Commonwealth. She was deprived of the prestige of the great men whose dignity and learning brought fame to the Colony; but she has since been the mother of governors and statesmen, of ministers and missionaries, of patriots and saints. And in the progress of years she added to her reputation as the scene of that great enterprise, the translation of the Bible into the language of her aborigines, and the first Protes- tant missionary efforts on this Continent. Subse- quently she had the first normal school for young ladies (continued from Lexington) ; several of the earlier and the best academies and private schools, and finally the theological institution, whose profess- ors have been and are known and respected in all lands, and whose alumni have carried the gifts of learning and the gospel to every part of the earth. She left the rustic church near the College, by the in- convenience of attending which she was so sorely tried ; but she has attained to more than thirty churches within her own borders."

The first appearance of the name of the town in the form of Newton appears in the following town- meeting record ;

" Newton, May 18, 1694. The Selectmen then did meet, and leavy &

rate upon the town of twelve pound six shilling. Eight pound ie to pay the debety for hie service at the General Court in 1693, and the other fore pound six shilling is to pay for Killing of wolves and other neses- serey charges of the Town."

This record is signed by Edward Jackson, town clerk.

The organization of the First Church in July, 1664, and the ordination of Mr. John Eliot, Jr., as pastor, had in the meantime consummated the ecclesiastical, though not the civil separation of Cambridge Village (Newton) from Cambridge. The first meeting-house in Cambridge Village was erected in 1660.

Six years after Charlestown was settled, the whole State of Massachusetts consisted of only twelve or thirteen towns, of which Newton paid the largest tax. In the records of a court held at Newtown, Sep- tember 3, 1634, is this item : " It is further ordered that the sum of £600 shall be levied out of the several plan- tations for publique uses, the one-half to be paid forthwith, the other half before the setting of the next Court, viz., Dorchester, 80; Roxbury, 70; Newtowne, 80; Watertown, 60; Saugus, 50 ; Boston, 80; Ipswich, 50; Salem, 45; Charlestown, 45; Meadford, 26; Wes- sagasset (Weymouth), 10; Barecove (Hingham), 4."

It is evident from this record that Newton possess- ed at that time as much wealth as any plantation, and, excepting Dorchester and Boston, more than any other in the Colony. In 1636 Newton had so prosper- ed that she stood in wealth at the head of all the towns, and numbered eighty-three householders. This year the rates levied upon the several towns stood as follows: Newton, £26 5s .; Dorchester, £26 58 .; Boston, £25 10s .; Watertown, £19 10s .; Rox- bury, £19 5s .; Salem, £16; Charlestown, £15; Ips- wich, £14; Saugos, £11; Medford, £9 15s .; New- bury, £7 10s. ; Hingham, £6; Weymouth, £4.

The question of the boundaries of the new towns in the wilderness was not readily nor easily settled. It was necessary that agriculture, in its various branches, should be an important factor in the occupations of the early settlers. Hence they felt the need of much land for cultivation, and for their flocks and herds. At the outset, after the extinction of the Indian titles, generous grants were made by the General Court to towns and individuals. The people of the various towns, however, began, at an early period, to demand more land. The farmers specially craved meadow land, free from wood, and snitahle for mowing fields without the labor of clearing, of which they could avail themselves at once for the support of their stock. A committee was appointed in 1636 to inves- tigate the Shawshine country, now including the town of Andover, and to report whether it was suit- able for a plantation ; and 1641 this order was passed : "Shawshine is granted to Cambridge, provided they make it a village, to have ten families there settled within three years; otherwise, the Court to dispose of it."

The report of the committee to examine the grant

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

was rendered in 1642, and being unfavorable, the Court enlarged their grant, and gave the petitioners further time to effect a settlement. This new grant read as follows : " All the land lying upon the Shaw- shine River, and between that and Concord River, and between that and the Merrimack River, not for- merly granted by this Court, are granted to Cam- bridge, so as they erect a village there within five years, and so as it shall not extend to prejudice Charlestown village or the village of Cochitawist, nor farmes formerly granted to the now Governor of 1200 acres, and to Thomas Dudley, Esq., 1500 acres, and 3000 acres to Mrs. Winthrop ; and Mr. Flint and Mr. Stephen Winthrop are to set ont their heade line toward Concord."

No settlement having been made within the period designated, this grant was modified by the following order, passed by the General Court : "Shawshine is granted to Cambridge without any condition of mak- ing a village there ; and the land between them and Concord is granted all, all save what is formerly granted to the military company, provided the church present continue at ('ambridge."

" The limits of this grant of Shawshine, as of most of the grants of that period, are very indefinite, and it is not possible to define with precision what is in- cluded. But it is generally admitted that the Shaw- shine grant extended to the Merrimack River. Wc know it included all the town of Billerica, the greater portion of Bedford, and all that portion of Lexington north of the eight-mile line. Billerica was incor- porated in 1655 into a town by the consent of Cam- bridge. It was at that time a large territory, bounded on Cambridge Farms (Lexington), Chelmsford, Wo- burn and Concord." And thus Newton, from being territorially the smallest township in the Colony, be- came, at least for a season, the largest.

The small portion of Watertown, on the south side of Charles River, according to the settlement in 1635, included about seventy-five acres. The settlement of 1675 increased the extent to abont eighty-eight acres -enough to protect their fishing privilege-and after- wards called " the Wear (weir) lands." " In the year 1679, when the town lines were established between Cambridge and New Cambridge, or Cambridge Vil. lage, it was expressly stipulated that this Watertown reservation on the south side of t'harles River-200 by 60) rods-should be maintained and held by Water- town for the protection of her fish-weirs. They did not wish to enter into co-operation with this new C'ol- ony in the carrying on of the fish business, and were very strenuous to have their rights protected. Indeed, they became dissatisfied and grasping, and in 1705 called for a commission to readjust the line for the better protection of their fishing interests. John Spring, Edward Jackson and Ebenezer Stone, on the part of Newton, with Jonas Bond and Joseph Sher- man, of Watertown, composed that committee. They agreed upon a settlement which shortened the easterly ordination of John Eliot as the first pastor :

line a few rods, and lengthened the southerly and westerly lines a few rods each from the original grant. Since this time there have been further re-adjust- ments of these boundaries, and it is evident in each of these that Watertown has lost nothing. The total acreage now held to Watertown, on the Newton side of the river, is nearly 150 acres, or a gain, above what was originally intended for her fish protection, of nearly seventy-five acres."

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 1

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1278

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278