USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > Brief notice of the settlement of the town of Newton > Part 2
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The freeholders were duly notified, and the first Town meeting, was held on that day, "by virtue of an order of the General Court," and so recorded by the Town Clerk, at which meeting, Capt. Thomas Prentice, John Ward, and James Trowbridge, were chosen Selectmen, and Thomas Greenwood Constable, and the Town was called New Cambridge.
The first Town records were commenced on that day, and all the machinery of a New England Town, was put in motion for the first time in the Village by an "order of the General Court."
Previous to this time, their Town meetings were held at Cambridge, and the town officers were chosen there. On and after the 27th day of August, 1679, the freemen of the Village held their Town meetings at New Cambridge, and conducted the municipal affairs of their town, without any dictation, or interference of Cambridge, and according to the will and pleas- ure of the majority of its freeholders.
During their long and severe struggle to obtain the privileges of an independent Town, the inhabitants of the Village had shown a most determined perseverance, and love of freedom.
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They had petitioned the General Court, time after time, for 23 years. The parties had met each other repeatedly, by commit- tees, and otherwise, and Cambridge had made several offers to the Village, by way of compromise, but the inhabitants of the Village were determined to accept nothing short of an inde- pendent Town.
There were 65 freemen in the Village, when the new town was launched, 52 of whom signed the petition, which severed the Village from Cambridge.
Soon after the removal of the tyrannieal Governor Andros, the inhabitants of New Cambridge met, on the 20th May, 1689, and passed the following declarations, viz. :
" That it is our desire,
1. " That the Hon. Governor and Deputy Governor, and As- sistants, chosen and sworn in the year 1686, and the Deputies then chosen by the freemen for that year, do now resume the gov- ernment of the Colony, according to Charter privileges.
2. " That there may be an enlargement of Freemen, that is to say, that those persons who are of honest conversation and a competent estate, may have their votes in all civil elections.
3. " That the Court, having thus re-assumed the government, then endeavor to confirm our Charter privileges.
4. " That the Court, thus settled, do not admit of any change or alteration of government among us, until it is first signified to the several towns for their approbation."
On the same day, also, the inhabitants made choice of En- sign John Ward, as their representative, or deputy, in the present session of the General Court.
The name of New Cambridge was not given by the Gen. eral Court, but was assumed by the inhabitants of the Village and generally acquiesced in by the public, and recognized by the General Court, as their records show. But the inhabitants of New Cambridge soon became dissatisfied with this name, and they petitioned the General Court, more than once, to give the place a name; whereupon the Court passed the following order :
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" Dec. 15, 1691. In answer to the petition of the inhabi- tants of Cambridge Village, lying on the south side of Charles river, being granted to be a township, praying that a name may be given unto the said town,-it is ordered that it be henceforth called New Town."
This order of the Court, for a name only, has been mistaken by historians for an act of incorporation of the town; whereas the petitioners had been in possession of that privilege for twelve years. The child was born on the 27th August, 1679, but was not duly christened until 15th December, 1691.
The name stands upon the Court records in two words, one syllable each, as it was originally written in 1631. This form of writing it, was gradually altered to one word with two sylla- bles, but all the Town Clerks of Newton followed the Court's order in the spelling of the name, until 1766, when Judge Ful- ler was chosen Town Clerk, and held that office for 26 years. he always spelt it on the town records, Newton,-there was no vote,-usage, in the town, and in other towns, had prepared the way for him to assume the responsibility of making the contrac- tion by dropping the w from the last syllable.
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BIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES.
DEA. JOIN JACKSON was the first settler of Cambridge Vil- lage who remained and died in it. He brought a good estate with him from England. He bought a dwelling house and eighteen acres of land of Miles Ives of Watertown in 1639 .- This Estate was situated on the line which now divides Newton from Brighton. He took the Freeman's oath in 1641. Was one of the first deacons of the church-gave one acre of land for the church and a burying place, on which the first Meeting House was ereeted in 1660, and which is now a part of the East Parish Cemetery. He was probably the son of Christo- pher Jackson, of London, who died 5th of December, 1633. ' He had, by two wives, five sons and ten daughters, and at the time of his decease about 50 grand-ehildren.
The time when he came into the Village may properly be considered as the centennial anniversary of the first settlement of Newton. He died Jan. 30th, 1675, leaving an Estate val- ued at £1230. His widow, Margaret, died Aug. 28, 1684, Æ 60. His son, Edward, was slain by the Indians at Medfield, in their attaek upon and burning of that town, Feb. 21, 1676. His house was near the place where Mr. Smallwood's shop now sends. The cellar yet remains, and the pear trees now standing there, are supposed to have been planted by him. Abraham was the only one, among his sons who reared a fam- ily. Abraham gave one acre of land adjoining that given by his father for the Church and Burying ground, which two acres now form the ancient part of the Centre Cemetery.
DEACON SAMUEL HYDE was born in 1610. He embarked the ship Jonathan, at London, for Boston, in April, 1639, and settled in Cambridge Village about 1640. In 1647, he and his brother Jonathan bought of Thomas Danforth 40 acres of land. In 1652, they bought 200 acres of the administrators of Nathl. Sparhawk. They held this land in common until 1662, when
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it was divided. He was one of the first deacons of the church. He had by his wife Temperance, Samuel, Joshua, Job, Sarah, and Elizabeth. Sarah married Thomas Woolson, of Water- town, 1660. Elizabeth, Humphrey Osland, 1667. Samuel conveyed to his son-in-law Osland a piece of his land on the west side of the Dedham road, in 1678, on which the latter had previously built a house, being part of the same land now owned by Mr.] Lombard. Samuel died in 1689, æ. 79, and his wife Temperance soon after. 68
His descendents, Samuel of the fifth generation, and George of the sixth, now reside upon and own a part of the same land.
His son Job married Elizabeth, daughter of John Fuller. He and his wife both died in Nov. 1685. His father, Dea. Samuel, took and provided for half their children, and John Fuller the other half .- (See their wills Vol. 7. and 9.)
His son Samuel married Hannah Stedman, 1673. His house was burnt May 21, 1709, and with the assistance of his neighbors raised again in fourteen days. He died 1725, and his wife in 1727. His house stood on the east side of the Dedham road, near where Mr. George Hyde's now stands.
EDWARD JACKSON, SENR., Was born in London, 1602, accord- ing to his grave-stone. Recent examinations of the parish register of White Chapel, where he lived and followed the trade of a nail-maker, it appears that he was the son of Christopher Jackson, and was baptized 3 Feb., 1604. His first wife's name was Frances, by whom he had four sons and four daughters. There is a tradition in the family, that the youngest son Sebas was born on the passage to this country 1642 or '43 : if so, Fran- ces the mother, died on the passage, or soon after their arrival here. His second marriage, in March 1649, was with Eliza- beth, daughter of John Newgate, and widow of Rev. John Oliver, H. C. 1645, the first minister of Rumney Marsh, (Chel- sea,) by whom he had four daughters and one son. He pur- chased land in Cambridge Village, of Samuel Holly, in 1643. He took the Freeman's oath in 1645; the year following, he purchased a farm from Governor Bradstreet, of 500 acres, for £140, long known as the Mayhew farm; Bradstreet having
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purchased it of Thomas Mayhew in 1638, with all the build- ings thereon, for six cows. This 500 acre farm commeneed near what is now the division line between Newton and Brigh- ton, and extended westward, including what is now Newton- ville, and covering the site where Judge Fuller's mansion house stood. The site where Gen. Michael Jackson's mansion house stood, was near the centre of the Mayhew farm ; and a few rods nearer the brook, stood the old dwelling house con- veyed with the land in Mayhew's deed to Bradstreet : of course it was built previous to 1638, and therefore highly probable that it was the first dwelling house built in Newton ; the cellar hole, a few rods from the brook, is still visible.
In the laying out of the highway in 1708, which passed by the old house, the description is, " crossing the brook near where the old house stood." The house which was erected before 1638, was gone before 1708; it had stood about the allotted space of three score and ten. It was probably the first residence of Edward Jackson, Senr., in Cambridge Village, from his first coming in 1642 or '3, until his marriage in 1649, and perhaps for many more years. At his death in 1681, his then dwelling house stood about three quarters of a mile east of the old house, and is described as a spacious mansion with a hall, designed, no doubt, for religious meetings.
He was chosen one of the Deputies (Reps.) from Cambridge to the General Court, in 1647, and continued to be elected to that office annually, or semi-annually, for seventeen years in all, and was otherwise much engaged in public life .-- One of the selectmen of Cambridge in 1665; chairman of a commit- tee with Edward Oakes and Lieut. Gov. Danforth, appointed by the town of Cambridge, in 1653, to lay out all necessary highways in Cambridge, on the south side of Charles River ; chairman of a committee with his brother John Jackson, Rich- ard Park, and Samuel Hyde, to lay out and settle highways as need shall require in Cambridge Village ; one of the com- missioners to end small causes in Cambridge, several years.
He was constantly present with the Rev. John Eliot at his lectures to the Indians at Nonantum, to take notes of the questions of the Indians, and of the answers of Mr. Eliot.
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He was one of the proprietors of Cambridge, and in the divi- sion of the common lands in 1662 he had four acres, and in 1664 he had thirty acres. He was also a large proprietor in the Billerica lands, and in the division of 1652 he had 400 acres, which, by his will , he gave to Harvard College, together with other bequests.
He was the author and first signer of a petition in 1678, to have Cambridge Village set off from Cambridge, and made an independent town by itself, which petition was granted in 1679, notwithstanding the powerful opposition of Cambridge, which, in its bitter remonstrance, voluntarily bears strong and honora- ble testimony of Edward Jackson.
After saying many hard words about the petitioners, it adds : " We would not be understood to include every particular per- son, for we acknowledge that Mr. Jackson bro't a good estate to the town, as some others did, and hath not been wanting to the ministry, or any good work among us, and therefore we would not reflect upon him in the least."
Johnson's History of New England contains a short notice of the characters of many of the leading men of his time, among whom he classes Edward Jackson, and says, " he could not endure to see the truths of Christ trampled under foot by the erroneous party." He had thirteen children and upwards of sixty grandchildren.
He died 17 June 1681, æ. 79 years and 5 months. His in- ventory contained upwards of 1600 acres of land, and amounted to £2477 19s. 0d. It also included two men-servants, ap- praised at £5 each. (He was probably the first slave-holder in Newton !) His wife outlived him twenty-eight years, and died 30 Sept. 1709, æ. 92.
He was a land surveyor, and not long before his death sur- veyed his own lands, and made a division of them to his chil- dren, putting up metes and bounds.
It is a remarkable fact in relation to these two brothers, John and Edward Jackson, that while Edward had but three sons, and John five, there are multitudes of Edward's posterity who bear his name, and not more than three or four of John's. Forty-four of Edward's descendants went into the revolutionary
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army from Newton, and not one of John's. But now there are but three families in the town, of his descendants that bear his name.
JOHN FULLER was born in 1611, and settled in Cambridge Village in 1644. In Dec. 1658, he purchased of Joseph Cooke 750 aeres of Land for £160, bounded north and west by Charles River, south by Samuel Shepard, and east by Thomas Park. His house stood on the south side of the road, on the west side of the brook, and within a few rods of both road and brook. By subsequent purchase he increased his farm to 1000 acres. Chesse-cake Brook ran through it. He had six sons and two daughters. His son Isaac died before him. He divided his farm between the other five sons, viz: John, Jonathan, Joseph, Jeremiah, and Joshua. This tract of land was long known as the " Fuller Farm," or " Fuller's Corner." He was a malster : was a selectman from 1684 to 1694. He died in 1698-9, æ. 87 : his wife Elizabeth died 1700. They left five sons, two daughters, and forty-five grandchildren. The inventory of his property amounted to £534 5s. 0d. His will provides that none of the land bequeathed to his sons should be sold to strangers, until first offered to the nearest relation. Twenty-two of his descendants went into the revolutionary army from Newton .- (See his will in the Probate office, 9th vol.)
The ages of his five sons were as follows: John 75, Jona- than 74, Joseph 88, Jeremiah 85, Joshua 98. Joshua was mar- ried a second time when 88 years old to Mary Dana of Cam- bridge, in 1742, who was in her 75th year.
Edward Jackson and John Fuller came into the Village about the same time, probably knew each other in England, were the largest land-owners in the Village, divided their lands among their children in their life-time, confirming the division by their wills, and have had a far greater number of descend- ents than any of the other early settlers of the town.
JOHN PARKER was one of the earliest ettlers of Hingham. He probably came over in the ship James, of London, in 1635. He had land granted to him there in 1636, and 1640. He was a carpenter. He removed from Hingham, and bought a tract of land in the easterly part of Cambridge Village, in March,
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1650, adjoining the lands of John Ward and Vincent Druce. His wife's name was Joanna, by whom he had five sons and five daughters. He died in 1686, aged 71. His estate was appraised by Capt. Isaae Williams and John Spring, and amounted to £412 2s. 0d. His will is dated 7th Sept., 1686, and recorded in the Suffolk Registry, 11th vol.
This Parker's homestead passed into the hands of the Hon. Ebenezer Stone, soon after Parker's death, and is now owned by Mr. John Kingsbury.
The Newton Parkers have descended from two distinct fami- lies, viz., from John and Joanna, of Hingham, and from Sam- uel and Sarah, of Dedham. Nathaniel was a prominent man of Newton, being the son of Samuel and Sarah, born in Ded- ham, 26th March, 1670. At the time of the ereetion of the third meeting-house, he owned the land on which it was placed, the contents of which was 12 acres and 20 rods, which he sold for £15, and conveyed it to the Seleetmen of Newton, in August, 1716. Middlesex Deeds, 18, 129.
RICHARD PARK was a proprietor in Cambridge, 1636, and of Cambridge Farms, (Lexington,) 1642. In 1647 there was a division of lands, and he had eleven acres, abutting on Mr. Edward Jackson's land, east and west, and the highway to Dedham was laid out through it; his dwelling-house was prob- ably erected on this lot; it stood within a few feet of the spot now occupied by the Eliot church. This ancient house was pulled down about 1800. This spot was near the four mile line, or the division line between Cambridge and Cambridge Village. During the contest between the Village and Cam- bridge, to be set off, he sent a petition to the Court, praying to retain his connection with Cambridge church.
He owned a large traet of land in the Village, bounded west by the Fuller farm, north by Charles River, east by the Dum- mer farm, and cast and south by the Mayhew farm, (Edward Jackson's,) containing about 600 acres. By his will, dated 12, 5, 1665, he bequeaths to his only son, Thomas, this tract of land, with the houses thereon, after the deccase of his wife, Sarah. This only son, Thomas, married Abigail Dix of Water- town, 1653, and had five sons and four daughters, among whom this traet of land was divided in 1694, (Thomas having de-
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ceased,) and the contents then were about 800 acres, Thomas having added, by purchase, about 200 acres, and built a coril- mill upon Charles River, near where the Bemis Factory now is.
In 1657, Richard Park was one of a committee with Mr. Edward Jackson, John Jackson, and Samuel Hyde, to lay out and settle highways in Cambridge Village. In 1663, he was re- leased from training, and therefore past 60 years of age. He died in 1665, leaving a will, witnessed by Elder Wiswall and Hugh Mason. in which he names his wife, Sarah, two daugh- ters, and only son, Thomas. One of his daughters married Francis Whittemore, of Cambridge. His inventory, dated Aug. 19, 1665, amounted to £872. His widow, Sarah, was living at Duxbury, in 1668.
Henry Parke, of London, merchant, son and heir of Edward Parke, of London, merchant, deceased, conveyed land in Cam- bridge to John Stedman, in 1650. Edward may have been the ancestor of the first settlers of that name in New England, viz., of Dea. William of Roxbury, Richard of Cambridge Village, Samuel of Mystic, and Thomas of Stonington. t .
JONATHAN HYDE was born 1626. Purchased 240 acres of land in Newton, with his brother Samuel, which they owned in common until 1661. In 1656, he bought 80 acres of land, which was one-eighth of the tract recovered by Cambridge of Dedham, in a law-suit, He settled upon the land, and increased it by subsequent purchases, to several hundred acres. His house was about sixty rods north of the centre meeting-house. IIe bought and sold much land in the town. He had 23 chil- dren,-15 by Mary French, daughter of William French of Billerica, and 8 by Mary Rediat, daughter of John Rediat of Marlborough, with whom he made a marriage covenant in 1673, in which it was stipulated, that in case he should die first, she should have his house, barn, and about 100 acres of land. This part of his homestead was bounded by the high- way from Watertown to Dedham, 160 rods, and 100 deep, and south by the farm of Elder Wiswall, reserving a highway one rod wide, next to Wiswall's. This highway ran from the train- ing-field by the north bank of Wiswall's Pond, and for the last century has been known by the name of Blanden's Lane. 4
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The front of this lot extended from this lane, northerly, to about opposite the road leading to the east part of the town. This farm, therefore, was very near the centre of Newton, and in- cluded the spot where the centre meeting-house now stands. In 1702 he gave to John Kenrick and others, Selectmen of Newton and their successors in office " half an acre of his homestead," for the use and benefit of the school in the south- erly part of the town. It is supposed that he also gave the land at the wide part of the Dedham highway, near the centre of the town, for a training-field, but no record of this gift has yet been found. He was Selectman in 1691, and in his deeds was styled " Sargeant." A few years before his decease, he settled his own estate, by deeds of gift to eleven of his child- ren, conveying about 400 acres, with several dwelling-houses thereon. The other 12 children had probably died before him, or had been otherwise provided for.
His first wife died May 27, 1672, aged 39; his second Sept. 5, 1708. He died Oct. 5, 1711, aged 85, leaving a multitude of grandchildren.
CAPT. THOMAS PRENTICE was born in England in 1621. He was in this country Nov. 22, 1649, as shown by the recorded birth of his children, Thomas and Elizabeth, (twins.)
He was chosen lieutenant of the company of horse in the lower Middlesex regiment, in 1656, and captain in 1662. In 1661, he purchased 300 acres of land in the Pequod country. This tract was in Stonington, Connecticut. 230 acres of this wie, land was appraised in his inventory at £109, in 1685. ITis grandson, Samuel, married Esther Hammond, and settled upon this land in 1710. In 1663 he purchased of Elder Frost of Cambridge, 85 acres of land in the easterly part of Cambridge Village, adjoining John Ward's land. This was his homestead for about 50 years. In 1705, he conveyed it by deed of gift to his grandson, Capt. Thomas Prentice. His house was on the spot where the Harback House now stands. He was one of the Cambridge proprietors, and in the division of the common lands he had a dividend of 150 acres in Billerica, in 1652, and nine acres in Cambridge Village, in 1664.
He was greatly distinguished for his bravery and heroism in
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Phillip's War. This war broke out in 1675. On the 26th of June, a company of infantry, under Capt. Henchman, from Boston, and a company of horse under Capt. Prentice, from Cambridge Village and adjoining towns, (20 from the Village and 21 from Dedham,) marched for Mount Hope. In their first conflict with the Indians, in Swanzey, William Hammond was killed, and Corporal Belcher had his horse shot under him, and was himself wounded ; and on the first of July they had an- other encounter with the Indians, on a plain near Rehoboth, four or five of whom were slain, among them, Thebe, a sachem of Mount Hope, and another was one of Philip's chiefs. In this affair, John Druce, son of Vincent, (one of the first set- tlers, of the Village, was mortally wounded. He was brought home, and died at his own house next day.
On the 10th of December, five companies of infantry, and Capt. Prentice's troop of horse, marched from Massachusetts, and from Plymouth Colony, to Narraghansett. On the 16th, Capt. Prentice received advice that the Indians had burned Jeremialı Ball's house, and killed 18 men, women, and chil- dren. He marched immediately in pursuit, killed ten of the Indians, captured 55, and burned 150 wigwams. "This ex- ploit, (says the historian of that day,) was performed by Cap- tain Prentice, of the Horse."
On the 21st of January, 1676, Capt. Prentice's troop being in advance of the infantry, met with a party of Indians, cap- tured two, and killed nine of them. On the 18th of April follow- ing, the Indians made a vigorous attack on Sudbury. Captains Wadsworth and Brocklebank fought bravely in defence, but were overpowered, and 18 of their men took refuge in a mill. When notice of this attack reached Capt. Prentice, he started immediately for Sudbury, with but few of his company, and entered that town with but six beside himself. The remnant of Capt Wadsworth's men defended the mill bravely, until night, when they were relieved, and the Indians put to flight. In short, all accounts agree that Capt. Prentice rendered most invaluable services throughout the war. He was constantly on the alert, and by his bold and rapid marches, he put the en- emy to the sword or flight, and made his name a terror to all
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the hostile Indians. After Phillip was slain, in July, 1676, terms of peace were offered to all Indians who would come in and surrender. A Nipnut sachem, called Jolm, with a number of his men, embraced this offer, and by order of the General Court were given in charge to Capt. Prentice, who kept them at his house in Cambridge Village.
Prentice had been in command of this company fifteen years when Phillip's war broke out, and was then 55 years old. He was hardy, athletic, and robust, and capable of enduring great fatigue. He continued to ride on horseback to the end of his long life, his death being occasioned by a fall from his horse.
Notwithstanding the fact that the Indian converts maintained unshaken, their fidelity to the English, such was the prejudice against, and fear of them, that the General Court on the break- ing out of Phillip's war ordered them to be removed to Deer Island, in Boston harbor, and Capt. Prentice, with his troopers, were charged with the execution of this order. Their number, including men, women and children, was about 200.
Although Prentice was a terrible enemy to the hostile In- dians, and greatly feared by them, he was a warm friend and counsellor, and had the full confidence of the friendly tribes.
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