USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 10
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est, civil, social and religious, that can to-day be little realized, and there was an attendance which always filled the meeting-house. It was so in Acton, and it was so in other places.
After 1807 the town of Acton became divided into villages, and hence came first the Centre Village, and afterwards West and South Acton. In 1840 the town granted leave to set trees on the Common, and a general invitation was extended to all the inhabitants to bring suit- able trees for that purpose. On the morning of the day appointed the citizens came into the village from all parts of the town, loaded with trees, and almost all the trees then plant- ed lived. In 1862 an incendiary fire destroyed a greater part of the Centre Village, and sev- eral buildings possessing much historic interest were burnt.
Authorities : Adams, Jo-
siah, "Centennial Address", published in 1835, contains con- siderable concerning the history of this town, and its part in the Concord fight. It was a work very much appreciated at the time of its appearance. Fletch- er, James, published in separate form the sketch of Acton he pre- Faulkner House, South Acton, over two hundred years old. pared for Hurd's "History of Middlesex County", 1890. Shattuck's "Concord" (1835) contains a chapter on Acton.
WALTHAM
Waltham, whose date of incorporation was in January, 1738, was for its first century of existence a part of Watertown. It had no defined local parish interests until shortly before its incorporation. The territory was explored by Governor Winthrop and others in 1632, when the party gave names to certain local features, which are retained to the present time, such as Beaver Brook, Mount Feake, and others. The course of the settlement at first followed only the hills skirting the northern part of the town. The population being composed exclu- sively of farmers, they probably preferred the more fertile uplands to the sandy lowlands of Waltham Plain.
. The people were at a distance from the east end of Watertown, where the church was lo- cated. In 1691 Waltham was the Middle Precinct of Watertown, and a military company was formed of its inhabitants. The town meeting-house was built in 1696, about half a mile east of the Waltham line, and a new pastor was chosen for this church. This church subse- quently became the First Church of Waltham, and its establishment caused a controversy between the older part of the town and the new, which caused the General Court to order in 1712 the building be moved at the expense of two precincts to such a spot in the Middle Pre- cinct as that precinct should select. This order was disobeyed, and the Middle Precinct in time became the Western Precinct. As the meeting-house was not considered worth mov- ing, another was purchased in Newton, and removed and set up in the present Waltham.
The Western Precinct of Watertown had repeatedly petitioned for a separation into a town, and it was accomplished and the name of Waltham given it, but why that name was
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selected is not known. The name is that of a town in England. In 1849 it received an ac- cession of territory from Newton, and in 1859 it lost a part to form the town of Belmont. The thickly settled part of the ctiy is on an undulating plain, through which passes the Charles river. Waltham was a town of slow growth, and its inhabitants were mainly agriculturists until 1813. In 1764 the town contained ninety-four houses and one hundred and seven fam- ilies, or a population of 663. In 1783 the population was only 683, the natural increase being affected by the Revolutionary War, and its demand on the people for soldiers. In 1813 the Boston Manufacturing Company selected Waltham as the site for its operations, and since then it has competed with such cities as Lowell and Lawrence for preeminence in manufac- turing cloth and in watch-making.
The sectarian division in Waltham about 1820 did not partake so much of a separation on religious lines, as on local and sectional lines. The jealousies of a scattered community man- ifested themselves in a singular way. The difficulty began with a sleigh ride gotten up in the parish, to which several were not invited who felt that they were entitled to recognition. Ex- planations and apologies were of no avail. The compact which had united the different parts of the town heretofore, was broken forever. The agitation extended to the utmost borders, and faction hereafter ruled. Manufacturing increased the population of the southern section of the town, and the farmers of the other parts did not view with favor its introduction. They opposed the factory people in town meetings and in church, and the newcomers were regarded as temporary sojourners and not permanently interested in the affairs of the town. In a few years those feelings were changed. Those who worked in the mills did participate after all in the advancement of the town for the general good; differences on account of occupation or locality were subordinated to higher considerations.
Waltham became a city in 1884, and the change from a town to a city form of govern- ment was made in January, 1885.
Authorities: Barry, E. L., "City of Waltham, Mass.", 1887. Nelson, C. A., "Waltham, Past and Present", 1879. Rutter, Josiah, "Historical Address" (1876) 1877. Waltham, "Proceedings at the Celebration of the Sesqui-centennial of the Town", (1888) 1893.
The Governor Gore place was built between 1790 and 1800. Christopher Gore married Rebecca Payne, November 11, 1783, and died March 1, 1827. He was Governor of Massachu- setts. The estate of twenty acres in 1799-1804 was laid out by William Payne, brother of Mrs. Gore. Tradition says the plan of laying out in plots still remains. On the night of Novem- ber 19, 1799, the house and barn were burned. The same estate was occupied in early times by different families. Rev. George Phillips owned it from 1636 to 1650. In 1651 it passed to Job Bishop, son-in-law of Rev. George Phillips. It was then owned by Captain Edward Garfield, and then by Captain Benjamin Garfield, and in 1717 by Captain Samuel Garfield, and from 1791 to 1829 by Governor Christopher Gore, as above; from 1827 to 1834 by Mrs. Gore; from 1834 to 1835 by William Edward Payne; from 1835 to 1840 by Theodore Lyman; from 1842 to 1852 by J. S. C. Greene; from 1852 to 1856 by Miss Sara Greene; from 1856 to 1890 by Theophilus W. Walker, and in 1890 by his widow Sophia Walker. At her death the estate went to her sister, and when the latter died the property was given to the Episcopal Church. The Walkers left over one million dollars.
Others: Alvin Adams place. The Nathaniel P. Banks residence was built by Jacob Gale and owned by him in 1798. In the Bemis house, on Saturday, July 19, 1794, was held the first Methodist preaching. Bishop Asbury was the preacher. The house of Henry Kim- ball, on the corner of Newton street, was taxed in 1798 for $870. The Leonard Cushing house and the Warham Cushing house are both owned by heirs and descendants of the Cushing fam- ily. The house nearly opposite Newton street is where Warham Cushing resided in 1798. The front part had been one of the soldiers' barracks at Cambridge during the Revolution. It
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passed from Warham Cushing to Samuel Wellington, and through various hands to Edward O. Howes, who died in 1850.
The Fiske house on Main street was once the property of Isaac and Benjamin Hagar. In 1798 William Fiske was the owner of this house and forty acres of land. From him it passed to his youngest daughter Caroline who, upon her death, devised it to the town of Waltham. The town did not accept her bequest. A house which before 1798 was occupied by successive blacksmiths, whose shop stood near by. Later it became the property of Seth Wellington. The house of N. L. Sibley was formerly the residence of Nathan Locke, and was owned and oc- cupied by Bradshaw Smith before him. The Lyman mansion, with two acres of land, was valued at $8000 in 1798. The land of the Lyman place is supposed to have been the fifty acres of land in the First Great Dividend granted to William Paine. The grounds are now laid out in an artistic and elegant manner. The house of Samuel Wellington was afterwards the prop- erty of John Welsh, of Boston, who added a third story to the house. It was one of the finest residences on the street, with an extensive garden, and coach and summer houses kept in the best style. It was removed to Lincoln street, then to Charles street, and then divided into two houses.
Authority: The facts with regard to Governor Gore place are furnished by Mr. Alberto Haynes. "Waltham, Past and Present", by Charles A. Nelson, A. M., 1882.
PEPPERELL
Pepperell in 1742 was a tract of territory about four miles square, and well situated for a precinct, or division of a town for religious purposes. It was then a part of Groton, and the inhabitants of the town of Groton voted in town-meeting, on May 25, 1742, that the part of their town, now Pepperell, should be a separate precinct. The number of families was forty at the time, and the General Court in November of that year voted that they be set off as a separate precinct. Trouble about locating their first meeting-house soon followed, and the General Court, when appealed to, fixed the site. With considerable opposition on a part of a large number, a meeting-house was erected, and was ready for occupation in 1745.
The people of Pepperell were generally exempt from serious attacks from the Indians. However, in 1724, one John Ames was surprised and fatally shot in his door-yard by one of five Indians who had been lurking about the place for several days. His death was imme- ediately avenged by his son Jacob, who shot the Indian from the house with his father's gun. By 1744, when another war began, Pepperell had ceased to be a frontier town, and was out of the range of danger.
On April 12, 1753, Groton West Parish, by act of the General Court, on petition of its in- habitants, was made a district by the name of Pepperell. By this act they were entitled to all the rights and privileges of a town except that of sending a representative to the legislature. In 1786 all districts that had been incorporated previously to 1777 were made towns, and Pep- perell became a town accordingly. The name of Pepperell was given in honor of Sir William Pepperell, the hero of Louisbourg. Sir William appreciated the compliment by the present of a bell, which for unaccountable reasons was never received. The bell was cast in England and got as far on its journey as Boston, and there its actual history ended. £ What became of it is not known, only conjecturally. Dishonesty, it is supposed, had something to do with it. It was claimed in one story that the bell was sold by a dishonest agent of the town to a society in New Hampshire, and the proceeds pocketed by the seller. In 1770, on the dedica- tion of a new meeting-house, the minister of that day expressed the reasons of the people for gratitude: the preservation of the church when threatened with destruction; the increase of population since his settlement from seventy-two to one hundred and fifty-two families,
HISTORIC HOMES AND PLACES.
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OLD WARNER HOUSE, PEPPERELL.
HOMESTEAD OF COL. WILLIAM PRESCOTT, PEPPERELL
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MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
and a proportional increase in their substance, so that they had been able to pay the charges of their becoming a parish and then a district, and of building a house for worship; and their preservation from savage enemies when they were under the necessity of taking their firearms with them to meeting, as they had done since his settlement.
Pepperell was the home of Captain Thomas Lawrence (generally called, of Groton) who lost his life as a Captain in Colonel Ebenezer Nichols's (Massachusetts) regiment, in a battle with the Indians at Half Way Brook (Glens Falls, New York) July 20, 1758. Pepperell was also the home of Colonel William Prescott, the hero of Bunker Hill, June 17, 1775.
A writer on the history of the town says, "The principal industry in the early history of the place was farming. The prevailing style of architecture was a square, two-storied house, with a large chimney in the centre, around which were clustered four or five rooms on each floor. Sometimes, however, the house was two stories in front and one in rear, the roof de- scending steeply to within eight or ten feet of the ground. If painted, the color was either red or yellow, with white trimmings. The barn usually stood at some distance from the house, often on the opposite side of the road. It was furnished with but few implements of husbandry, and those of primitive and ponderous make."
In Pepperell are a number of ancient houses. 'The Levi Woods house on the main road to Groton is at least two hundred years old. Four and probably five generations of the family have lived here. The old Bancroft homestead owned by Captain Edmund Bancroft is in the western part of the town. This was the headquarters of several British officers of high stand- ing, prisoners of war on parole. The old Warner place near the Pepperell line towards Town- send dates back to or before the Revolution. In the Marcellus Spaulding house the first white child was born after Pepperell was set off. The homestead of Colonel William Prescott, the hero of Bunker Hill, was probably built in 1746.
Other houses are the Charles Winn house in the centre of Pepperell; the Griffin homestead; the Thomas Bancroft homestead; the Francis Peirce homestead on Lower Hollis road; the Alfred Boynton house; the Lorenzo Blood house; the Luther Bancroft house, and the Edwin Richardson house.
SHIRLEY
Shirley was set off from Groton and incorporated as a district in 1753. Its inhabitants had complained that they lived in the extreme parts of the town and were unable to attend public worship constantly. The name of Shirley was given in honor of Governor William Shir- ley, of Massachusetts. At the first meeting the officers for the district were chosen, as other towns by law were enjoined to choose at their annual meeting. The population of the dis- trict at that time is supposed to have been about 400. In 1800 it was 713. In 1860 it was 1460. The incorporation of the town of Ayer in 1871 took away a part of its territory and a part of its population.
The first settlement within the territory was made about 1720. From 1754 to 1839 the meeting-house was the place where town-meetings were held. During the greater part of this period the meeting-house was the property of the town. At the time of the separation of Church and State, the "First Congregational Society" became the successor of the town parish in Shir- ley, and the house was closed to all secular gatherings afterwards. With the death of the first settled minister in 1819, the administration of ecclesiastical affairs by the town ceased, and their management passed into the hands of religious societies, maintained by the voluntary con- tributions of individuals.
From the date of the first organization as a town parish in 1762 to 1879, there were in the First Congregational Society of Shirley but two pastorates. There was, however, an interim of about fifteen years between the death of the first pastor and the settlement of the second.
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A feature of interest regarding this society and the town is the number of public bequests, and the same is true in regard to bequests for the public schools. In many cities and towns of New England generous-minded and public-spirited sons and daughters of the Puritan first settlers have endowed the institutions of their birthplace in this manner. Modern conditions will probably prevent hereafter the life settlement of ministers over religious societies, and the above instance, covering the period of one hundred and one years, is a remarkable example of a cus- · tom which was once very general. The Shaker Community of Shirley was started in 1781. The Shakers were at first called by the name of Shaking Quakers, from the peculiar movements and exercises of their worship. The society became in time quite large and prosperous.
Rev. Seth Chandler, in his "History of the Town of Shirley," published in 1883, conveys the information that the private dwelling where the first town meeting was held was purchased subsequently by the town for a "work and almshouse." After a trial of this plan for ten years the town voted to dispose of this property, and it was again devoted to private purposes.
The second meeting-house, dating from 1773, of which much of the original structure yet remains (1883) is a relic of a former age. It was enlarged and improved in 1804 and moved to another site in 1851, a hall was added in the basement, and the building, as a whole, was otherwise improved. It retains its original windows. The house of the late Rev. Seth Chand- ler. Other ancient houses of note mentioned by this author are the house of Mrs. Lucy Holden, the brick house of John Edgarton, the house of Joseph Hazen, and the Whitney residence, built and occupied by Rev. Phineas Whitney, the first settled town minister.
Authority: Chandler, Seth, "History of the Town of Shirley", 1883.
LINCOLN
Lincoln was incorporated as a town, April 19, 1754. Its territory was made up of parts of Watertown, Cambridge, Concord, Lexington, and Weston. About one-half of the present town was once a part of Watertown. The first meeting-house was built in 1747. In this house all the secular business of Lincoln in its capacity as a parish and a town was transacted for a period of ninety years. In those times it was customary for the whole population to at- tend the Sabbath service. Refusal to attend at least once in three months implied a legal penalty. The first movement for the incorporation of the town was made in 1734. It was the usual story of distance from the places of worship in the older towns, and the petitioners, citizens of three different towns, prayed to be established as a separate township. This pe- tition failed of acceptance. Another petition followed for a separate town. This failed also. The next movement was made in 1744 for incorporation as a precinct. This succeeded better than the others, and in 1746 the area now Lincoln became a precinct. The first settled min- ister remained until his death, after a pastorate of thirty-two years. The second minister, who was ordained in 1781, remained until his death in 1826, the length of his ministry being forty-five years. In the latter part of the second pastorate, divisions in religious sentiment arose, and sectarian strife caused a disintegration; that where in a small town like Lincoln one congregation of worshippers was sufficient, now seven weekly congregations take its place, with a large percentage of non-churchgoers.
In a portion of the town of Lincoln, a part of the battle of Concord and Lexington was fought, on the nineteenth of April, 1775.
Authorities: Lincoln, "Account of the Celebration by the Town of the 150th Anniver- sary of its Incorporation", 1905. Shattuck's "Concord" has a chapter on the history of Lin- coln, 1835.
The old town of Lincoln contains many ancient houses that are worthy of mention, and it is believed there that the Henry Hartwell house dates from the year 1636. Some of the hard-
i-5h
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est fighting was done near this house on the day of April 19, 1775. The Samuel Hartwell house was built by Samuel, the brother of William. The front and main part of the Farrar home- stead was built in 1692 by George Farrar. Many people of note have lived in this house, and all by the name of Farrar.
The Garfield house is a good example of the old colonial mansion. In 1702-03 the farm of one hundred and twenty acres was purchased by Benjamin Garfield. In his will, dated May 22, 1717, he gave the land to his son Thomas, who probably built the present house. It is a square, unpainted two-story house, with a great central chimney; and is surrounded by apple and old elm trees. It is at present owned and accupied by Mrs. George B. Wheeler.
The Nelson house was probably built by Thomas Nelson, and has a heavy oak frame, and a large chimney with a brick oven and fireplaces. The house has always been owned by the Nelson family, but has not been occupied for nearly forty years.
The Hoar house was built in 1818 from timber blown down in the great September gale of 1815. It is a square two-storied house, with two large chimneys, and is solidly built, and has the fine classic doorways typical of the colonial architecture of this period. Senator Hoar took pride in saying: "My grandfather, two great-grandfathers, and three of my father's uncles were at Concord Bridge in the Lincoln company, of which my grandfather, Samuel Hoar, was lieutenant, 'on the nineteenth of April, 1775." The Hoar house is now the residence of Mr. Edward W. Pope.
The Foster house was built by Solomon Foster in 1785. In 1841 it was remodeled, and the old house was used as an L. In 1891 it went out of the Foster family, when it was sold to Mr. John B. Sawin. In 1892 it was sold to Mr. William S. Briggs. Mr. Moorfield Story bought , the house in 1897, and in 1898 it was again remodeled. A part of the original homestead is preserved in the present building.
The Dr. Russell house was occupied by Dr. Richard. Russell, who was born in Charlestown, in the middle of the eighteenth century. His son George Russell practiced medicine here for several years. In 1856 Deacon Henry C. Chapin bought the house and lived in it for fifty years. He died in 1896, and his two daughters, Misses L. Jennie and Elizabeth Chapin, now occupy the house.
The Rice house was formerly an old inn, and the present owner is Mr. Robert Donaldson. The house now owned and occupied by Mr. James B. Wheeler was another old inn. Other ancient houses are the house owned and occupied by the Misses Alice and Jennie Pierce, the house occupied by Mr. George Browning, said to be the oldest house in Lincoln, and the Flint house.
Authority: Miss Lydia J. Chapin.
ASHBY
Ashby was formerly a part of Townsend and two other towns not in Middlesex county. The fear and dread of Indian enemies prevented the settlement of this district until about 1750. For this reason certain of the houses first erected were block-houses, or garrison houses. In 1748 John Fitch, an early settler, and his family, were made prisoners by the Indians and taken to Canada. A party of them, about seventy in number, fell upon him and two soldiers, a short distance from his garrison, killed one of the latter, and chased the two survivors to the garrison, where from within the house they exchanged shots with the enemy for an hour and a half, when the soldier who escaped with Fitch received a fatal wound. The wife of Fitch loaded the guns while he continued to fire. The Indians by a threat to burn the house, and a parley, promised to spare the lives of all inside if he would surrender. This he did. His buildings were burned by the Indians, and he and his wife and their five children were started on their journey to Montreal. When the alarm was given in the other settlements, soldiers arrived very quickly
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and followed in pursuit. In the township of Ashburnham the soldiers found fastened to a tree a · written request from Fitch not to follow further, for the Indians had promised to spare the lives of the family provided the captors were unmolested. On the other hand they had threat- ened death to all, if a rescue was attempted. The pursuit was then given up. The captives endured the severest hardships, and eventually were rescued by their friends in Massachusetts. The brave wife died on her way homeward. Mr. Fitch died in 1795.
From 1750 to 1765 the inhabitants of the district now comprised within the town of Ashby increased considerably, and the people were willing to have a town of their own, and an easy distance to a meeting-house. Therefore, on March 5, 1767, the present town was incorporated. The petition was before the General Court for more than two years before it was granted. A slight alteration in its line was made between Ashby and Fitchburg in 1829. In 1792 a section of Ashburnham was added to Ashby.
This town, like other towns, had difficulty in adjusting sectarian conditions arising from the doctrinal differences that arose in the early part of the nineteenth century. In 1818 an ex parte council advised the church to withdraw and worship separately from the town. A year afterwards a large majority of the church finally left the town's meeting-house and held separate services. A part of the people of the town went with the church. There were one hundred and ten church-members, properly so called, and all but nine of them left-one man and eight women. After the separation by law of the State in 1819, the church and minority of the town worshipped for a time in a private dwelling-house. From that time to 1885 the church was connected with a society, which then became incorporated under a changed name. In the other case the church organization was perpetuated by the nine members and the con- gregation which worshipped with them. The nine members, small as the number was, con- stituted in the eye of the law the body known as the original church. These members remain- ing with the original parish, or the town parish, were the church of that parish.
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