USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Melrose > City of Melrose annual report 1862-1879 > Part 48
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"Frida May the 19th. 1780.
" This day was the most Remarkable day that ever my eyes beheld the air had bin full of smoak to an uncommon degree So that wee could scairce see a mountain at two miles distance for 3 or 4 days Past till this day after Noon the smoak all went off to the South at sunset a very black bank of a cloud appeared in the south and west the Nex morning cloudey and thundered in the west about ten oclock it began to Rain and grew vere dark and at 12 it was allmost as dark as Nite so that wee was obliged to lite our candels and Eate our dinner by candel lite at Noon day but between 1 and 2 oclock it grew lite again but in the Evening the cloud caim over us again the moon was about the full it was the darkest Nite that ever was seen by us in the world."
This agrees with the old couplet in point of time and fact :-
"In 1780, the nineteenth day of May, Will ever be remembered as being the dark day."
Capt. Phineas Sprague, the fifth generation of that name, who died February 9th, 1869, at the age of 92, was a grand- son of the Phineas of whom we have been speaking, and his father's homestead was on Porter Street; and his brother,
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Richard Price Sprague, is still with us at the age of 80. Capt. Sprague's homestead still stands at the junction of Main and Lebanon Streets, opposite L Pond, and was built in 1810. We had other Spragues here, also. Samuel Sprague, who served on our quota during the late Rebellion, and now with us, descended from another branch of the same original family. The oldest representative of these families, is Mrs. Mary Sprague Boardman, now living on Main Street, at the age of 89.
The following is a fac-simile of the signature of Lieut. Phineas Upham, of Malden, son of John Upham who came to this country and Pernoss pram was admitted free- man in 1635, and settled in Malden about the year 1650. Lieut. Upham was a very active officer in "King Philip's War," conducting many scout- ing parties, and was severely wounded at the great battle at " Narragansett Fort," Dec. 19, 1675, two hundred years ago, from the effects of which wound he died the follow - ing year. This signature I traced from the original docu- ment at the State House, which he signed, together with a number of other commissioned officers, a few days before this fight, and which they sent " To the Hon. Governor and Council Now Sitting at Boston," in which they made a request for company quartermasters, horses, trumpeters, &c. From this Lieut. Upham descended all the Malden and Melrose Uphams; the first one coming to this part of the town being Phineas Upham, a grandson of the Lieutenant ; and he came not far from the year 1700, and his homestead was undoubtedly on Upham Hill, where many of his descend- ants have ever since resided ; there being, at the present time, on Upham Street, not less than three of the Upham homesteads, the houses of which must be at least a hundred years old ; and two of them, I think, those of Asa and Jesse, considerably more than that.
The old house, which so many of us remember, that stood on the corner of Green and Howard Streets, at "Norrisville," now all gone but the stone door-slab, was built by Phineas
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
Upham, son of the Phineas who first came here, not far from the year 1730. The lot on which it was built was a part of lot No. 37 of the division of 1695, and was bought by his father of Joseph Wilson, in 1703. The widow of the Upham who built this house married Israel Cook, in 1744, who here kept the first store in this town, and who was granted a license to sell rum, by the General Court, as early as 1759, and that article was continued to be sold here up to, and beyond the time of the Revolution, if we judge from the story of the two Lynn "minute men,"- Hadley and Well- man, - who, filled with the spirit of patriotism, were on their way to Lexington, stopped here and became filled with another kind of spirit; then went on their way and were both killed. In this house was used the first stove in our town, and as a whole the old house had an interesting his- tory, but it is now a thing of the past. We still have with us many of the Uphams, the oldest living representatives being Freeman, George, and Eri, all of different families, and all about 65 years of age.
A very interesting part of the early history of Melrose centers on Upham hill, on which so many of our early fam- ilies congregated, and which still is one of the pleasantest parts of our pleasant town.
On a road leading by the present Parker place, are the cellar holes of two of the houses of two of our early families, the Herrings and the Edmundses. On Mr. Francis Hem- menway's place, corner of East and Porter Streets, there used to be, in years gone by, an Indian wigwam, which stood there for a long while ; and Mr. Hemmenway tells, with much delight, of an "Indian Muster" which once took place here. about the year 1820 ; and which, he says, was the " biggest day Melrose ever saw," when the town was literally covered with people from Reading Hill to where now stands Masonic Hall. Mr. Hemmenway represented an Indian squaw, and carried Charles Porter on his back as a papoose. The militia, about three hundred in number, were commanded by the late Capt. Thomas Emerson, of Wakefield, a brother of our Mr. William Emerson, soon to be spoken of.
Thomas and Benoni Vinton, - direct descendants of the
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TOWN OF MELROSE.
original settler, John Vinton, of Lynn, who came to this country not far from 1643, - settled in Melrose, the part then Stoneham, about the year 1742. They married sisters, Hannah and Mary Green. Thomas Vinton left three sons, Thomas, Timothy, and Ezra, all of whom had farms at the Highlands, and the homesteads are still standing; that of the oldest brother, Thomas, is the first dwelling on Tremont Street south of the Highland Chapel, and still in good con- dition ; that of Timothy, on Ashland Street, between the residence of Mr. Charles A. Messenger and Franklin Street, although it has been turned round and altered ; this was the homestead of the father, Thomas, and must be considerably over one hundred years old, as he died in 1763; and the homestead of Ezra, on Vinton Street, a large and imposing house in its day, is just south of the residence of Horatio N. Perkins, Esq. These three brothers lived side by side, on the old county road from Stoneham to Lynn, which was dis- continued in part when Franklin Street was built. They were all in Capt. Samuel Sprague's company of " minute men," which marched from Stoneham to Lexington when the alarm was given. They were all well-to-do farmers. Timothy, who never married, but lived with his mother on the old homestead, until she died in 1804, lived to be 92 years of age, and died in 1836, an abject miser. Turning his farm productions into money, he would hide it in all sorts of out-of-the-way places ; burying some of it in the ground, a part of which was undoubtedly lost ; 500 Spanish dollars, old and tarnished, found in his house, were divided among his relatives immediately after his funeral. Thomas, left a son Thomas, who died in 1841, aged 70, of whom it is said he never left his farm for forty years, and never visited Boston but once, although living so near it. He left a very singular will, bequeathing his property in a curious manner to the Baptist Churches of Wakefield and Malden.
Mary Vinton, a sister of these three brothers, Thomas, Timothy, and Ezra, married William Emerson, the grand- father of Isaac and George, who are with us to-day. Mr. Emerson was born in Wakefield, lived awhile in Woburn, but spent most of his days in Melrose, where he died in
3
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
1848, aged 88 years. He enlisted in the Revolutionary army at the early age of 18, and the relation of his experi- ence in that service to his children and grandchildren was always very entertaining. His first homestead " stood near the old well with a narrow cartway between the house and well," says his son, the Rev. Warren Emerson. This house was on a lane, now Emerson street, on the site of the house of the late Amos P. Lynde, where Mr. Emerson kept a public house for a number of years, and when Mr. Lynde built he converted the old inn into a barn, and it still stands on the corner of Lebanon and Emerson Street, now a dwelling house. In this old public house all of Mr. Emerson's children were born, excepting Isaac, the oldest son, who was born in Woburn. His last homestead, on the corner of Main and Emerson Streets, was built in 1807, is still standing, and into which the family moved on the 7th of November. This date was written with chalk by the youngest son, Warren, on the day the family took possession, on a rafter in the eastern end of the garret, and it remained there until within a few years, when it was obliterated with whitewash.
Martha Vinton, another sister of these three brothers, married John Pratt, who lived in the south-eastern part of the town, on what is now Lebanon Street, who built a house still standing, and occupied by his son Charles Pratt. There are other interesting items concerning other of the Vintons, but they cannot now be given. Many of the descendants are still with us, and the oldest living representative is Mrs. Phebe Vinton Lynde, now 85 years of age.
There are other families and homesteads in Melrose that ought to be spoken of in a sketch of this kind, as they have entertaining histories ; but there is only time to allude to one more, the Howards. On Howard Street, near where the old Cook house stood, still stands the old Deacon Samuel Howard house, built about the time the Cook or Upham house was, in 1730. Here stood until quite recently the old-fashioned "well-sweep" and its well. There are still left two of these "well-sweeps," one on Porter Street, on Mr. Hemmenway's place, and the other on the George Upham homestead, on Upham Street, and long may it be before they
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TOWN OF MELROSE.
shall disappear. In the Amos Howard homestead, on the corner of Porter and Lebanon Streets, and which was stand- ing during the Revolution, a large family of children were born, among them the late Mrs. Isaac Emerson - Atalanta Howard -and Mr. Nathaniel Howard -" Uncle Nat." The oldest living representative of the Howards, now with us, is Mrs. Mary Howard Wilson, 93 years of age.
These original families, of which we have been speaking, living here in the seclusion they did, intermarried to a very great extent, and it would be pleasant to trace some of these relationships.
ROADS.
The first road, and only one for many years which passed through Melrose, was laid out by order of the General Court, two and a quarter centuries ago, at a session held Sept. 10, 1653. Some of the names of persons and places here men- tioned, will be recognized as Melrose ones : " Thomas Marshall, John Smyth & John Sprague being chosen to lay out the country high way betweene Reddinge & Winnesemett [Chelsea,] do lay it out as follows : from Redding towne, through Maldon bounds, betwixt the pond & John Smyths land, [this pond evidently is the present "Smith's Pond," in Wakefield, as Malden bounds then extended thus far, and until Stoneham was set off in 1725,] & so by the east side of Mr. Joseph Hills land, to New Hockley Hole, & so in the old way by the Cow Pen, [I am unable to identify the locality of " New Hockley Hole " or the "Cow Pen ; " they . were probably near Greenwood or the Highlands, ] & thence along on the east side of Thomas Coitmores lott, by Ele Pond, in the old way, to Thomas Lynds land, then through the first field, & so by the field by his howse, from thence, on the old way, by Maldon meeting howse, through the stony swampe, &c. * the sd way to be fower pole broade, in good ground, & six or eight where need requires." "The old way" so often referred to in this order, means the old, crooked, Indian or bridle path or trail, in use before this date, winding hither and thither, going around this hill, shunning that swamp or bog, and over which the early traveller wended his way between Reading and Chelsea.
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
Our L Pond is here spoken of, and we see that Malden then had a meeting-house, four years after its incorporation.
Within a few days I have been over most of this old road, a large share of which is now discontinued, but is still, in many parts, quite distinct. Main Street was laid out in 1806, and built soon after, and portions of the old road then and previously - as some parts of the original road had been superceded by the one in use when Main Street was opened - abandoned as a highway, became absorbed by private interests.
Beginning at the boundary line between Wakefield and Melrose, this original road followed the present Main Street a short distance, crossing it twice, and leaving it for a little way, before reaching the brow of Reading Hill; thence through the small woods parallel with the present street, still clearly defined, under the L of the Barber house, and on to Green Street, near where that street leaves Main; thence through the whole of Green Street, by L Pond, through Lebanon Street to Louisburg Square, down Lynde Street, to near where the "Dolly Upham " house now stands, when it left that street and went back of, or on the east side of " Boston Rock," following somewhat nearly the course of the present Linwood Avenue, almost to Sylvan Street, crossing through the woods just before reaching the latter street ; thence diagonally across Wyoming Cemetery to its southwest corner; thence over hill and dale, through the woods to Forest Street, entering that street near the old Jacob Pratt house; thence to Main Street, skirting Waite's Mount. That part of the old road from Wyoming Cemetery to Forest Street is remarkably well preserved and clearly defined, and as easily driven over to-day as ever ; and the rocks in the wheel-ruts show the abrasion of the old time usage very distinctly. After diligent inquiry I am clearly of the opinion that the old Pratt house just referred to, on Forest Street, must stand on or near the site of the old " howse " of Thomas Lynde spoken of in the order of 1653, as also of the Joseph Lynde's - Joseph being, perhaps, son of Thomas - house, which with its land was exempted by the Committee in the division of "the Commons " in 1695.
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TOWN OF MELROSE.
Afterwards, but when I cannot ascertain, the road just described was straightened somewhat from Lebanon Street, by passing through the whole of Lynde Street, to Main, by Masonic Hall, leaving it soon after, passing back of the Grover house, by Mr. Alvin Lynde's, and thence near the foot of Boston Rock, across the meadow, back of the Joseph Lynde barns, through the pines to Main Street again, some- where near " Island Hill." On a plan of Malden, surveyed by Peter Tufts, Jr., of Medford, in 1795, the only roads laid down in what was then North Malden, are, the main road as last described, called the " Reading Road," and a "Stoneham Road," which leaves this near where our Masonic Hall now is ; this is what is now our Wyoming Avenue, Hurd, Cottage and Vinton Streets, then hardly anything more than a cart- way. About this time " Upham Lane," our present Upham Street, was built through to Chelsea line, a portion of which town, at that time, extended up to Reading, between Malden and Saugus; and a few years. before this, what is now Howard Street was built through to Saugus, making a con- tinued county road from Stoneham to Lynn. For many years these were our only streets or roads. Foster Street was the first cross street built, a few years before the rail- road was opened ; soon after, Wyoming Avenue, named by Mr. Bogle, and other streets were laid out; and after this, as our town increased in population, new ones have been opened year by year, until now, when we have nearly thirty miles of streets, and all in very good condition.
CHURCHES.
Our forefathers had to wend their way to "middle-town" on the Sabbath-day to attend public worship, as they did also on election days to vote. About the year 1813, the first preaching service was held in the old district school-house, near the corner of the old road, now Lebanon Street, and " Upham Lane," now Upham Street, the only school-house then in North Malden. In 1815 a Methodist Episcopal Church was formed, which continued to hold its service in this house until 1818, when a church edifice was built on the green at the junction of Main and Green Streets, which,
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
quaintly shaped and arranged little affair, many now living remember. This was occupied by that society until 1842, when a new and larger one was built on the same spot, and dedicated Nov. 30, of that year, and which was used until 1857, when it was sold, moved down near the corner of Main and Essex Streets, became " Concert Hall," and per- ished in the flames of Nov. 30, 1875, with Boardman's Block, just thirty-three years from the day it was dedicated. The Society then in 1857, built the edifice now in use on Main Street, which was dedicated April 1. Wright says, in his sermon of 1831, "Two individuals, formerly members of this church, are now successfully engaged in publishing the tidings of salvation to their fellowmen." This refers to the Rev. Frederick Upham, and Rev. Warren Emerson, both born in Melrose, and still preaching; the former in Fair- haven, Mass., and the latter in West Thompson, Conn. The present pastor is Rev. Sanford B. Sweetser.
About the year 1828, while this Society, the Methodist Episcopal, was in the old church at the junction of Main and Green Streets, there arose a very serious trouble, beginning with a disaffection with certain members, who became dis- pleased with the form of church government, and a division took place, and a new church was formed, called the " Protestant Methodist," often-times the " Reformed Method- ists." This new society bought the old district school-house, and moved it down to Main Street, near the site of the present Baptist Chapel, and commenced their labors.
A volume might be written, giving a history of this division; the trials and troubles, the heart-burnings, anec- dotes, the attempts to re-unite, and other incidents ; possibly, some day the story may be told. There were those living here in those days, -some are living to-day, - who were so ungracious, so irreverent, as to call this school-house church the "Duck Pen;" and in contradistinction, the mother-church-building, the "Cider Mill." In the year 1841, the Protestant Methodist Society built a new edifice, and the " Duck Pen " was moved to the corner of Foster and Myrtle Streets, altered into a tenement house, and was burned with the Orthodox Church, Feb. 17, 1869. This society continued
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TOWN OF MELROSE.
worshipping in this edifice until January 1, 1856, when it was merged into the First Baptist Church, which society continued to use the meeting-house, with some occasional repairs and alterations, until July, 1873, when it was sold to the Catholics, and succeeded by the neat, brick chapel now in use, and which was dedicated, Nov. 17, 1874. Rev. Napoleon B. Thompson is the present pastor.
The next church, the Orthodox Congregational, was formed July 11, 1848, and its first edifice on Foster Street, dedicated May 17, 1849. Previous to this, preaching services had been held in the parlor of Dr. Levi Gould, in the small house opposite the present Methodist Church. Dr. Gould was the first male member of an Orthodox Church that came to Melrose. Soon afterward meetings were held at the house of Dea. Jonathan Cochran, and then at the centre depot of the Boston and Maine R. R. This church building on Foster Street was remodelled and enlarged in 1858, and de- stroyed by fire, Feb. 17, 1869. The new and handsome edifice now in use by that church, was dedicated Oct. 26, 1870, and the present pastor is the Rev. Albert G. Bale.
The next, the Universalist Society, was formed in 1849, and the meetings held in " Academy Hall," then standing on Berwick Street, and afterwards moved to Main Street, where it became "Lyceum Hall," and was destroyed by fire, Aug. 21, 1870. The church building on Essex Street, now in use by that Society, was dedicated in 1851, and Rev. William A. Start is now the pastor.
The next Society formed here was Trinity Church - Episcopal - May 20, 1857, its first service being held at the residence of Mr. Samuel Rice, on Lake Avenue, now that of A. V. Lynde, Esq .; after that in Waverley Hall; and their church was erected on Emerson Street, and dedicated in the fall of 1859. Rev. Henry A. Metcalf is the present rector.
The next and sixth church formed in Melrose, was the Unitarian Congregational, which was organized July 17, 1867, and their chapel, on Emerson Street, was dedicated May 1, 1872.
The seventh church, the Catholic, was formed in April,
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HISTORICAL ADDRESS.
1873, which purchased the old Baptist church edifice, moved it to Dell Avenue, and commenced services therein in Octo- ber of that year. Rev. Dennis J. O'Farrell, present pastor.
The eighth and last church formed was the Highlands Congregational, organized Sept. 29, 1875, and which now worships in the Highlands Chapel. Rev. D. Allen More- house is the present pastor.
SCHOOLS.
The only school in Melrose for many years was held in the plain, unpainted district school-house, before referred to as having been sold, moved, and used as a church, and afterwards burned. It was built in the year 1800, was twenty by twenty-five feet in size, and was situated on a knoll on the old road, now Lebanon Street, about a dozen rods south of " Upham Lane." In this old school-house, Robert Gerry, who died in Stoneham, April 1, 1873, in his ninetieth year, taught school during the winter season for twenty-four years in succession, commencing in 1803. Here the North Maldenites learned to "read, write, and cipher." Many now living, and a number that now hear me, went to school in this old house, taking their turns at building fires and sweeping out. And I am told that one person, probably with us at this moment, once received a very severe birch- ing, which he, undoubtedly, very distinctly remembers, -at any rate, if he does not, there are those here who do. The boys and girls from the west part of the town, came " across lots," passing by the old. Howard house, on Main Street, near here, still standing, and crossed L Pond brook on a log. Mr. Warren Lynde says that, occasionally, when the school did not keep here, he went to " middle-town," as did probably others, going over the old road by the foot of " Boston Rock." After this house was sold, a new one was built on Upham Street, in 1828, by the schoolmaster, Robert Gerry, for the town of Malden, which was burned about the year 1845; and the one built on its site was the only schoolhouse we had when Melrose was incorporated ; in it was kept a Primary, Intermediate, and Grammar School. This house was burned in April, 1874, and was succeeded
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TOWN OF MELROSE.
by the present new and handsome Grammar School struct- ure. As Melrose increased in population, new school-houses were built in various parts of the town, and we now have seven,- one of which is a High School building,-in which we have fourteen schools, all in most excellent condition, with good teachers, and a carefully supervising committee, as we have had opportunity to witness in the recent examinations.
REVOLUTION.
Melrose took her part nobly in the war of the Revolu- tion, inasmuch as many of her sons were engaged in it. Malden, of which we were then a part, was a very patriotic town, and sent forth not only her sons, but several spirited manifestos, before and during the war. Her "Instructions of the town to its Representative, Passed May 27, 1776," one month before the Declaration of Independence, is a doc- ument full of intense feeling ; its tone firm, manly and true ; honesty of purpose and determination of will pervade its every line. It would be highly appropriate to read the whole paper to-day, but it is too lengthy ; one or two sen- tences must suffice : "It is now the ardent wish of our- selves that America may become Free and Independent States. * * Unjustifiable claims have been made by the king and his minions, to tax us without our consent. These colonies have been prosecuted in a manner cruel and unjust to the highest degree. The frantic policy of Administration hath induced them to send Fleets and Armies to America, that by depriving us of our trade, and cutting the throats of our brethren, they might awe us into submission, and erect a system of despotism which should so far enlarge the influence of the Crown, as to enable it to rivet their shackles upon the people of Great Britain. * * *
* We, there- fore, renounce with disdain our connection with the Kingdom of Slaves ; we bid a final adieu to Britain, * * * and we now instruct you, Sir, to give them the strongest assurance, that if they should declare America to be a Free and Independent Republic, your constituents will support and defend the measure to the Last Drop of their Blood and the Last Far-
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