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GENEALOGY COLLECTION 50
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01105 4415
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WALTHAM AS A PRECINCT of WATERTOWN AND AS A TOWN
SANDY POND
CONCORD
WALDEN POND
FAIR
HAVEN
CAMBRIDGE FARMS
LINCOLN
LEXINGTON
--
SUDBURY
BEAVER POND
MENOTOMY
GREAT POND
WEST-CAMBRIDGE
IN THE WOODS
WEST PRECINCT
ARLINGTON
STOWERS
BELMONT
CAMBRIDGE
STONY BROOK
SUDBURY
WATERTOWN FARMS FARMERS PRECINCT
CHARLES
WATERTOWN
RIVER
NEWTON
NONESUCH POND
DEDHAM
OLD WATERTOWN AND SUB-DIVISIONS
E.L.SANDERSON.
ОСТ. 1931.
BROOK
WALTHAM
CHESTER BROOK
EAST PRECINCT
FRESH POND
WESTON
C
WALTHAM
AS A
PRECINCT of WATERTOWN AND AS A TOWN
1630 - 1884
By EDMUND L. SANDERSON
PUBLISHED BY WALTHAM HISTORICAL SOCIETY, INC. WALTHAM, MASS. PUBLICATION NUMBER 5 1936
Printed By THE TUTTLE PUBLISHING COMPANY INCORPORATED Rutland, Vermont
1247309 PREFACE
Those who desire more detailed information in regard to some of the events in Waltham history may find it in the following publications: Waltham, by Alexander Starbuck, published in Drake's History of Middlesex County. The historical address written by Charles F. Stone, Nathan Warren and Thomas H. Armstrong for the Sesqui-Centennial Celebration at Waltham, Jan. 16, 1888. The Industries of Waltham prepared mainly by the author of this work and published in the History of Massa- chusetts Industries by Orra L. Stone, Volume I, Chapter XL. The Citizens Club Papers. The City of Waltham by Ephraim L. Barry. Publications Numbers 1 and 3 of the Waltham Historical Society, Inc. History of the American Waltham Watch Company by Henry G. Abbott. Picturesque Features of the History of Waltham by Walter F. Starbuck. The First Parish in Waltham by George A. Stearns. The manuscripts written for and preserved by the Waltham Historical Society, Inc.
The author wishes to acknowledge his indebtedness to the careful preliminary work done by the late Benjamin Worcester on the location and ownership of the lots in the Great Dividends and to the late Thomas H. Armstrong for similar work in re- lation to the Beaver Brook Plowlands.
CONTENTS
Waltham, 1630-1884 . .
5
Early Visitors
5
Allotting the Land
11
Making Use of the "Waste Lands"
18
The First Settlers and Their Homes
20
The Beginnings of a Town
25
More Growth and More Needs
30
The West Precinct
37
The Meeting-House
37
The Schoolhouse
43
The Making of a Town .
48
The Town of Waltham
53
Early Events
53
The Revolution
55
The Coming of Industry
57
The Great Country Road
59
Continued Growth
63
Expansion and More Changes
67
The Civil War and After
72
Local Names .
80
Waltham Families, 1738
83
.
ILLUSTRATIONS
Map of Old Watertown Frontispiece
Signatures
opp. 46
Signatures
opp. 56
Signatures
opp. 78
Map of Waltham · .
between 82, 83
WALTHAM. 1630-1884
Watertown, one of the original towns of the Colony of Massachusetts Bay and in the early days perhaps the largest and most important, was the mother of several towns. In its territory was included the Town of Watertown as it is at present, a part of Cambridge, the larger part of Belmont, all of Waltham north of the river, all of Weston and a part of Lincoln. Its history as set forth in the town records was that of the whole territory up to the incorporation of towns separated from it. From those records alone it is impossible to correctly trace the separate early history of any of those towns.
The history of a community, however, is the combined story of the lives of its individual settlers, their descendants and suc- cessors. From a search of the lists of land grants preserved in the Watertown Proprietors' Records, from the three Inventories, from the records in the Middlesex Registries of Deeds and Probate, from the early Suffolk deeds and from published gene- alogies it has been possible to obtain enough information about those ancestors and predecessors of ours to present a nearly com- plete story of the beginning and progress of the several communi- ties north of Charles River that are included in the City of Waltham.
EARLY VISITORS
Gov. John Winthrop arrived in Salem in June, 1630. Sir Richard Saltonstall accompanied him and he with a considerable company began the settlement of Watertown in July or August of the same year. The first entry preserved in the Watertown records is dated Aug. 23, 1634. However on March 28, 1631, Deputy Gov. Thomas Dudley wrote to the Countess of Lincoln the story of the Massachusetts Bay Colony up to that time and Gov. Winthrop's Journal covers the period between 1630 and 1649. Two items of interest to Waltham are mentioned by them. A part of Dudley's letter states that less than a week after his arrival Gov. Winthrop with a small party "went to Mattachu- setts to find a place for our sitting down . . . for Salem, where
6
HISTORY OF WALTHAM
we landed, pleased us not. And to that purpose some were sent to the Bay to search upp the rivers for a convenient place, who uppon their returne reported to have found a good place uppon Mistick; but some other of us, seconding theirs, to approve or dislike their judgment; wee found a place liked us better three leagues upp Charles River." Thereupon they moved their goods to Charles Towne but hearing there of French preparations against them and as many of their number were sick of fever or scurvey they were unable to carry their ordnance and baggage so far and were forced to change their plans and to settle in dif- ferent places (Charlestown, Boston, Medford, Watertown, Dorchester, Roxbury, etc.). They named the settlement on the south of the mouth of Charles River, Boston, "as we intended to have done the place we first resolved on." John G. Palfrey in his History of New England states that he thought that this place was near the mouth of Stony Brook but Thomas H. Armstrong in his part of the historical address delivered by Frederick M. Stone at the Sesqui-centennial Celebration of the incorporation of Waltham in 1888 stated that "But as those early voyagers would be little likely to underestimate distances, and as no one would probably pass this delightful plain to select for settlement any place that can be shown farther up the river, we may fairly claim that the spot that met the approval of Winthrop was the fertile plain, just three leagues from the mouth of the river, in later years known from the natural charm of its situation as 'Eden Vale,' and in the very center of our city."
In either case Waltham territory would be included and we may feel sure that the founders of the Colony preferred to settle where we now live and would have done so had not the long voyage caused so much sickness and loss of vitality. If their first plans had been carried out the name of our city would now be Boston and the big city at the mouth of the river would bear some other name.
Under the date of Jan. 27, 1631-2, Gov. Winthrop wrote as follows: "The Governour and some company with him went up by Charles River, about eight miles above Watertown, and named the first brook, on the North side of the river (being a fair stream and coming from a pond a mile from the river) Beaver Brook, because the beavers had shorn down divers great trees there, and made divers dams across the brook. Thence they went to a great
7
EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT
rock upon which stood a high stone, cleft in sunder, that four men might go through, which they called Adam's Chair, because the youngest of their number was Adam Winthrop. Thence they came to another brook, greater than the former, which they called Masters Brook, because the eldest of their company was one John Masters. Thence they came to another high pointed rock, having a fair ascent on the west side, which they called Mount Feake, from one Robert Feake, who had married the Governour's daughter-in-law. On the west side of Mount Feake, they went up a very high rock, from whence they might see all over Neipnett (Whipcutt) and a very high hill due west, about forty miles off, and to the N.W. the high hills by Merrimack, above sixty miles off."
This visit of Gov. Winthrop and the location of the brooks and hills that were named on the outing have been the subject of much comment and conjecture. Concerning Beaver Brook there is no dispute as the one that now bears that name agrees with the description. There were several contributions in the Waltham Sentinel of 1857 in regard to the east and west branches of this brook and the names that belonged to them. The subject seems to have been brought to general attention by the naming of a station on the Fitchburg Railroad near the east branch Clematis Brook. One contributor writes that if the governor went as far as the pond that he thought was the source he probably went by the hard land on the west side of the brook and did not see the east branch that joins the west in the meadows. This seems probable and if so then the west branch to the river was the one named Beaver Brook. The east branch is the larger stream and was known as Beaver Brook as early as 1643 when John Page mortgaged his house near Beaver Brook and in the vicinity of the present Beaver Street. The pond mentioned was probably one made by the Beaver dams and covered the meadows through which Lexington Street passes. The west branch was known by the name of Chester Brook as early as 1658. If, as is presumed, it was named for Leonard Chester it received its name before 1636 for Mr. Chester, a well-to-do young man, left Watertown for Weathersfield, Conn. soon after receiving a grant of dividend land in that year. The meadow through which this brook runs was early called Chester Meadow.
The Rev. Samuel Kendall in his sermon on the Centennial Anniversary of Weston, 1813, stated that the brook named
8
HISTORY OF WALTHAM
Masters was really Stony Brook which is a larger one than Beaver Brook while the brook called Masters in Waltham is much smaller. He had no knowledge of the location of the other points named. The Rev. Samuel Ripley of Waltham wrote a Topographical and Historical Description of Waltham, Jan. 1, 1815, published in the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society. This was published under the name of "M.U." but a later volume of the Collections states that he was the author. In it he takes issue with Dr. Kendall over this statement. Mr. Ripley writes: "From the oldest inhabitants of the place I learn that Masters Brook has within their remembrance been known by its present name." In his search for Mount Feake, Adam's Chair, and other places mentioned he was accompanied by two of the oldest persons in town, Abner and John Sanderson Esqs. [born 1739 and 1743]. He obtained from the former a plan of Watertown, taken in 1640, on which Mount Feake was marked. "Though its situation on the plan does not exactly answer to the place now recognized still it is within the limits of Waltham, and so near to it, as to leave no doubt in my mind of its being the same." This plan was unfortunately destroyed by fire in Boston in 1825. Although Mr. Ripley did not describe the location of Adam's Chair and of the "very high rock" yet it is plain they were pointed out to him by his two companions. Charles A. Nelson in "Waltham Past and Present" states in a note on page 97 in regard to Adam's Chair that the Fitchburg Railroad passes over its site and every trace of it is obliterated. The very high rock is identified as "Boston Rock Hill." His authority for these statements is not given. Dr. Bond in his history of Watertown concludes from early records, referred to below, that "the un- certainty is dispelled" and that the location of Mount Feake is that of the hill in the cemetery. He writes, however, "It is too insignificant in magnitude to be entitled a mount or even to be noticed as a hill; and the party must have been in a jocose mood when they gave it its name and importance. Much of it has been removed or destroyed of late in the grading of a railroad." Mr. E. G. Chamberlain in "Appalachia" October, 1914, writes that he first learned of Gov. Winthrop's trip by reading Nelson's history mentioned above. In 1895 he was told that Adam's Chair was near the residence of Dr. Baker on South Street. Before that time he had been greatly puzzled by Nelson's statements as he studied and mapped this region carefully. An examination of the
9
EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT
two stones, halves of the same boulder, about eight feet apart and standing on a ledge on the brow of the hill convinced him that they were the arms of the Chair. He wrote: "Gov. Win- throp's story was now made plain. After naming Beaver Brook, he crossed Waltham Plain, climbed Dr. Baker's hill to Adam's Chair, crossed Masters (now Stony) Brook, larger than Beaver, and ascended through the Hager estate, as we often do, to the notch in Doublet Hill. Then he went up East Doublet, 'a high pointed rock' from his point of view, 'having a fair ascent on the west side', and called it 'Mt. Feake.' Then he crossed the notch to West Doublet, which is five feet higher and much more pre- cipitous, so is the 'very high rock' 'on the west side of Mt. Feake.' From here they could see Neipnett (Nipmuck), the very high hill to the west (Wachusett) and the high hills by Merrimac (Watatick and other mountains)."
The first record referred to by Dr. Bond is the grant to John Oldham made by the General Court, April 1, 1634, of 500 acres on the northwest of Charles River and near to Mount Feake. This grant was not ordered to be laid out until June 2, 1641, and probably was not measured out until 1649. Its bounds have been very closely ascertained and the hill now called Mount Feake is a little east of its center while Doublet Hill is nearly two miles from the center and one quarter of a mile from the nearest corner.
The other record is found in the Watertown Inventories 1642 to 1644 by which Richard Brown is given as the owner of "Twelve Acres of Meddow lying next to ye turne of ye River Charles & on this side of Mount Feke, granted to him." One half of this meadow was sold to Richard Bloys or Bloss in 1655 and the other half to Simon Stone some time previous to that date. Robert Harrington bought from John Adams, son-in-law of Bloys, in 1692, 6 acres of meadow corresponding to a part of the Bloys pur- chase and in his will he left to his son Samuel the "southeast part of Dummer's Farm on which his dwelling stands and Brown's meadow lying within." Samuel in 1708 bought the re- mainder, bounded south by Charles River and all else by said Samuel Harrington, from Richard Bloss, son of the first Richard. The Stone half passed through many hands but it was finally acquired by Samuel Harrington, the third of the name. Both halves are now flowed by the river. The present Mount Feake is
10
HISTORY OF WALTHAM
situated at a turn of the river but the meadow land must have been situated between the west bound of the cemetery and a line nearly parallel to it about one half a mile up the river, the bounds of the Samuel Harrington part of the Oldham Grant. This would certainly not be "this side of Mount Feke" but it must be remembered that the Watertown Proprietors in making the original grants seemed to have but a hazy idea of the lay of the land they divided. Several instances have been found of grants being laid out in a different location from that originally selected.
Other records not, as far as known, previously mentioned re- lating to the position of these landmarks are these. In 1723 John Gale, who owned the extreme eastern part of the Oldham Grant sold to Daniel Benjamin 3 acres on the "side of Mount Feake" showing that at that time the hill in the cemetery was known by that name. Stony Brook is mentioned by that name in the Watertown records of 1641 (p. 7), only nine years after Gov. Winthrop's expedition. Masters Brook is first mentioned in the Watertown Records in 1728 but on Jan. 28, 1669-70, Thomas Underwood sold to William Perry 5 acres at the head of the great plain bounded north by the Sudbury Path with Masters Brook running through it. The report of a committee, appointed to re-survey the Sudbury Road, made in 1684 mentions Masters Brook as near the house of John Ball and he lived just this side of the brook now called Masters. John Sherman, the chairman of this committee, had been in Watertown since 1634 and was em- ployed by the town to mark the bounds of the Great Dividends (in Waltham territory). He must have been familiar with local landmarks and names. These records show conclusively that Masters Brook and Mount Feake as we now know them have borne these names since very early times. Gov. Winthrop's state- ment that Masters Brook was larger than Beaver Brook is un- doubtedly the principal reason for there being any doubt as to the locations. A careful examination of his manuscript shows that he actually wrote "greater." Some have thought he simply made a mistake or that his memory was defective. There is a possi- bility that he only saw the lower part of Masters Brook and that it really was wider where it entered the river. The trip was made in the winter time and the frozen meadow lands and the beaver dams may have considerably restricted the flow of Beaver Brook. On the other hand the so-called "Winthrop Map" not
11
EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT
made by him but having marginal notes in his handwriting, now in the British Museum, drawn by an unknown surveyor in 1633 or 1634 apparently shows Beaver Brook and Stony Brook, neither named. There is no indication of Masters Brook or Mount Feake.
In regard to Adam's Chair, "Old School" in a contribution to the Waltham Sentinel of Dec. 18, 1856 wrote that it was west of Masters Brook and was a familiar object before the Fitchburg Railroad cut it away. "This ancient landmark, which was never in dispute, was situated on the line of the road below the bridge that crosses it on the Poor Farm, an object of interest and at- traction to visitors from distant places." As the railroad was built only about twelve years before the publication of the article the writer rather than Mr. Chamberlain would seem to be the reliable witness. In Gov. Winthrop's Journal he mentions it im- mediately after Beaver Brook and before Masters Brook. As he probably wrote the account after his return and possibly several days later he might easily have erred in the sequence of the events.
The distance from the first settlement of Watertown, following the route of the Sudbury Road to Beaver Brook, along the river to Mount Feake and then to the highest point of Boston Rock Hill is a little short of eight miles while Doublet Hill is two miles beyond Mount Feake. If the river was followed the routes would be nearly a mile longer. Boston Rock is the ledge south of the original Water Works reservoir. The highest point of the hill, reached by Summit Avenue from Weston Street, now sometimes called by that name is called Fisk Pinnacle by Mr. Chamberlain.
It seems impossible to reconcile Gov. Winthrop's account either with the present day names or with the several interpreta- tions that have been suggested but we may be sure that our Mount Feake and Masters Brook have been so named for two hundred to two hundred and fifty years and perhaps longer.
ALLOTTING THE LAND
When Sudbury was settled in 1638 those inhabitants of Water- town and newer migrants who founded that town traveled for a considerable distance the route thus pioneered by Gov. Winthrop
12
HISTORY OF WALTHAM
but many years were to pass before homes were made in our territory. The broad meadows along the Sudbury River promised more to homemakers than the small meadows and heavily wooded uplands that lay to the north and west of the sandy plains through which they passed. In those early days there were probably not many trees on the plains but the banks of the river were lined with magnificent oaks, remnants of which were represented by the ancient tree that formerly stood on the southern edge of the Common and others that stood along the north bank of the river within present day remembrance. The river itself as it tumbled over the falls or rapids at Eden Vale, beautiful though it must have been seems to have had no attraction for the hardy pioneers in search of arable lands and grass for their herds. Now the river banks are seats of great industries, those sandy plains are covered with houses and commercial buildings, the highest hill is a public park, other hills are rapidly being dotted with homes and fertile farms and orchards now cover the sidehills and valleys that were then an unknown wilderness. The Sudbury meadows are much the same as they were three hundred years ago.
The population of Watertown in the eastern part of the town increased very rapidly. As early as 1634 and 1635 many families went to Connecticut passing, no doubt, through Waltham Plain. In the latter year Dedham was founded by Watertown inhabi- tants and in 1638 the Sudbury migration previously mentioned took place. The people depended upon their farms for their living and one of their most pressing needs was for summer grazing lands for their cattle. We find that on July 25, 1636, The Freemen of Watertown granted to the Townsmen then inhabiting, being one hundred and twenty in number, certain tracts of land for the pasturage of their herds to be inclosed or fed in common. This grant bears the earliest date of any in the Proprietors' Book and was probably preceded only by the allotments for homestalls and nearby plowland and meadows of which no record can now be found. It was called the grant of the Great Dividends and nearly all the lots are included in the bounds of Waltham. They were granted to the townsmen in proportion to the number of cattle they owned, the smallest lot being 20 acres and the largest 100. The Cambridge (now the Lexington) line was the north bound and four lines parallel to it and one half mile apart divided it into four divisions or squadrons. These squadrons were divided into
13
EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT
dividends by lines perpendicular to the squadron lines. The first or southern squadron line began near the present Watertown line and followed the north side of the Great Country Road as far as the bend near Beaver Brook. It continued in a straight course to the brook followed the brook northerly to a point near the mouth of Chester Brook, then straight ahead parallel to the first line and south of Chester Brook passing through the grove on the Lyman Estate between the railroad and the brook then crossing the brook a little north of the bridge on Lyman Street until it came to Chester meadow. The larger meadows were not included in the grant so the line bent to the north following the hard ground and making a curve approximating that of Beaver Street until it crossed the brook again still following the hard ground to the present corner of Farnsworth Street and Hazel Lane. Here it picked up the extension of the first line, went over Little Prospect and on in an approximately straight line into Weston. The line thus described marked the southern bounds of the Dividends but the deeds in giving the description of the lots in the first squadron did not call the curved parts the squadron line. This name was applied to the straight parts only.
Although the three remaining lines were supposed to be one half a mile apart and parallel to the north line when the time came to mark the bounds by stonewalls, fences or ditches it became neces- sary to off-set or bend the lines in several places in order to com- pensate the owners for the meadows lying within their lots but not included in their grants. In one case at least the grantee left the town before making any use of his lot and it seems that the lot returned to the proprietors and was not regranted. This was Lot No. 17 in the first squadron granted to John Kingsbury and still owned by him at the time of the Inventories. He moved to Dedham and no further reference to the lot has been found. A deed of Lot 16 gives the west bound the owner of Lot 18 and one of Lot 18 the east bound the owner of Lot 16 showing the Lot 17 had been withdrawn. Further west in the same squadron Lots 25, 26, 27, 28 and 31 are numbered in the same Inventory as Nos. 24, 25, 26, 27 and 30 respectively. These latter numbers are used also in some of the later transfers. Were it not for the mention of Lot 17 in the same Inventory we might conclude that the re-numbering was due to the withdrawal of Lot 17. Lot
14
HISTORY OF WALTHAM
No. 30 appears in one inventory as No. 26 and in another as No. 28. These were perhaps clerical mistakes.
In the second squadron Lots 1 to 24 have all been identified. Lot 25, granted to Gregory Taylor and containing 35 acres and Lot 26 of 20 acres granted to Thomas Brooks but in the pos- session of Samuel Saltonstall in 1644 do not seem to have been laid out. A deed of Lot 24 in 1710, Daniel Smith to John Bemis, gives the owner on the west as the heirs of Rev. John Sherman and deeds in 1713 and 1714 of Lot 27 by those heirs to John Bemis give the east bound as John Bemis. The southwest corner of Lot 28 was described in 1779 as being a corner of the Town Line. The two remaining lots were therefore in Weston, later Lincoln, territory. In the Inventory of Grants Lot 30 was bounded west by the Sudbury Line and east by the Farm Lands. Lot 29 was granted to Matthew Hitchcock who left Watertown soon after.
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