USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 5
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READING
Reading as a town included originally the present towns of Wakefield, Reading and North Reading. The name was spelled in the early records "Redding", as it is now pronounced. Its settlement began in 1639. The township of Lynn had begun to be settled in 1629, ten years previously, and its inhabitants had desired to extend their territory further inland. The town of Lynn, therefore, was given by the court a tract four miles square, at the head of their bounds, on condition that some good progress in planting should be made within two years, so that it might be a village, which, in due time, should have a church. In 1640 "Lynn Village", the name first given it, was exempted by the court from taxes as soon as seven houses were built and seven families settled. In 1644 a sufficient number of houses and a sufficient number of families having been obtained, the court ordered that "Lynn Village" should take the name of "Redding." It was named, it is supposed, from Reading in England. The compass of land included in the town of Reading continued as a single parish until 1713. The earliest settled part is that part now the town of Wakefield, and it is probable the settlement of this part began as early as 1640. It is supposed that the grants to these settlers were received from the town of Lynn, but the early records of Lynn are wanting, which should give the account of such grants. Johnson (1654)
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said that Reading and the town of Woburn were like twins . .. Reading thrusting forth the hand first, but her sister Woburn came first to the birth. He described Reading as well watered and situated about a great pond; "it hath not been so fruitful for children as her sister Woburn hath"; still, from this account, its prospects were encouraging. In 1651 the territory now North Reading was added to the former four miles' grant.
In 1663 a traveller who visited New England said of Reading: "In the centre of the country, by a great pond side, and not far from Woburn, is situated Reading: it hath two mills, a sawmill and a cornmill, and is well stocked with cattle." It is to be observed further that interior towns like Reading, in the seventeenth century, were farming communities. The life of the people proceeded along uneventful lines. The buildings, though rude and simple, were comfortable.
In 1713 part of the town was set off as the North Precinct,-the part north of Ipswich river, together with "Sadler's Neck", so called. This later became the town of North Reading. The northwesterly part of the first parish, or Woodend, became the present town of Reading. An attempt was made to set off Woodend as a separate parish in 1730; preaching had then begun among them in the winter season, which the first parish had agreed to support for ten years, provided the said "Woodend" would tarry with them during said term of ten years. In 1731 the first parish agreed to give the "old pulpit cushion" to the Woodend congregation, which they had asked for "in a Christian and charitable way" in their subscriptions for the new one. The pulpit cushion, when new, was more valuable than might now appear, for, in 1754, was convicted of stealing the velvet and leather of the pulpit cushion, and fined by the court. In 1766 several inhabitants of Woodend petitioned the first parish to be set off from them as a distinct parish. In 1769 efforts were renewed by the Woodend people for a division of the first parish, and in that year the third or west parish was incorporated. This parish was destined to retain the name of Reading, and it contained, when separated, at least fifty-five houses.
The first parish was separated from the town of Reading and incorporated as a distinct town in 1812. Reading North Precinct (the second parish) was incorporated as the town of North Reading in 1853. In 1810 the population of the old town was 2228. In 1865 the popu- lation of the present town of Reading was 2436. After 1865 there was a rapid increase in the number of houses. The town in recent years, having lost "somewhat of its rural aspect, ap- proaches more nearly the suburban type."
Cabinet-making was formerly an industrial enterprise in Reading, which took the first rank. Tinware and stove fittings was another enterprise of local importance. The boot and shoe manufacture was one of the ancient industries of the town, beginning independently of the usual household manufacture in 1758. The manufacture of hats (at one time important) began in this town about 1812. Coach lace (1840-1857) clocks (1832-1859) organ-making and organ- pipes, neckties, metallic brushes, rubber goods and fireworks, and paper boxes have been some of the important industries of Reading.
Reading is also the home of Jacob W. Manning's nursery of trees, shrubs and plants, estab- lished in 1854, one of the largest and best in the United States. The town, even at the present day, contains many persons who are direct descendants of the first or early settlers. Prominent among them are the names of Bancroft, Parker, Temple, Wakefield, Pratt, Weston, and Nichols.
Authorities: Eaton, Lilley, "Genealogical History of the Town of Reading", 1874. Eaton, W. E., "Proceedings of the 250th Anniversary of the Ancient Town of Redding", 1896. Reading, "Historical Address and Poem" (bi-centennial celebration of the incorporation of the old town of Reading) 1844.
In the present town of Reading, among the structures of a former day, the Sweetser house is picturesque in appearance and has an interesting history. It was probably built by Ephraim Parker about 1749, and was inherited by Ephraim, his son, who in 1807 sold it to Thomas Sweet- ser. It was used as a tavern before and during the Revolutionary War. Tradition says that
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some British prisoners were confined here. It retains practically its original form. The Pres- cott house on Summer avenue was the homestead of Joshua Prescott, a well-known lawyer .. The house was built since 1700, and probably by Captain Thomas Eaton, Jr. One of the oldest, if not the oldest house in Reading, is that on Franklin street, owned by Henry Cook. It was built about 1725 by John Parker. The following old houses are some of the best known: House. of Clifford P. Weston; the Captain George Bancroft house on West street; the Abram Temple house, Fremont street; the James Davis house, Ash street; the Emery Bancroft house, Lowell street; the Aaron Parker house, Walnut street; and the George Grouard house, on Woburn street. The last named was the parish parsonage and has been extensively rebuilt. The build- ing called the Old South Church in this town is an edifice of an old pattern erected in 1818. From: its location it is one of the most prominent of the public buildings of the town.
MALDEN
Malden derives its name from Maldon, county Essex, England. From the English Maldon: came several settlers of the New England Malden. The territory round about the present Mal- den was known to such prominent immigrants as Governor Winthrop, Increase Nowell, John. Eliot, and Governor Cradock's men, as early as 1631-2. The present Middlesex Fells was ex- plored by them, and the territory was ordered by the General Court as early as 1633 to belong to the inhabitants of Charlestown. It was given the name of Mistick, or Mystic Side. It was doubtful if any settlers entered permanently on this land before 1633. The common land was divided in this territory in 1634. A record of the completed allotment, two years later, showed. seventy-five proprietors. Two farms or grants known as the Increase Nowell and Rev. John Wilson grants, which had existed from 1634 and had formed a part of Charlestown on that side of the river, separated Malden and Medford until 1726, when they were annexed to Malden. The limit of eight miles from the meeting-house carried the Charlestown line nearly to the present Wakefield Junction, in Wakefield, the village of Greenwood being included in Charlestown limits.
By 1640 the settlement on Mystic Side was well explored. All the larger grants of the lands south of the Scadan hills and the rocky edge of the western fells had been made, but the more rocky and remote portions north of these lines remained common land until 1695. The number of settlers upon the allotments at first was three, to whom were soon added others. In 1640 began the Penny Ferry, which served the inhabitants of this and other towns until 1787.
Johnson says (about 1654) "about this time the Town of Malden had its first foundation stones laid by certain persons, who issued out of Charlestown, and indeed had her whole structure within the bounds of this more elder Town . .. the soil is very fertile, but they are much strait- ened in their bounds . .. Their nearness to the chief market towns makes it the most com- fortable for habitation",-but for church privileges, they did not fare so well. The gathering of the church was the beginning of political life, and out of it came the town, which was incor- porated under the name of Malden, May 2, 1649. Within its original territory are the present. cities of Malden and Everett, and the city of Melrose and a part of Wakefield. There are no records of the town before 1678. In 1660 it was officially reported that Malden was a small country town whose people employed themselves in furnishing the towns of Boston and Charles- town with wood, timber, and other building material.
The work of the people of Malden during the time between their first settlement and King Philip's War, was that of subduing the forests and wild lands and making them fit for the uses of civilization. Thus farms were laid out whose boundaries may be traced even at the present day. Roads, which were at first mere Indian paths, became gradually improved until they became principal streets. In 1696 or 1697 facts would indicate that about eighty families were then living in the town. In 1760 the town of Malden was still at its greatest territorial extent.
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Its northern boundary was near the northerly shore of Smith's Pond, in Reading. With the exception of the small reservation at Penny Ferry, which remains still the territory of Charles- town (Boston), it embraced all the country between the bounds of Boston on the east, and Med- ford, Charlestown Commons, and the new town of Stoneham on the west. Its extreme length from north to south was hardly short of seven miles, and it was a little over three in its widest part (Corey, 498). The population was fixed at the supposed number of six hundred souls. Out of this territory, with its scattered farms and scanty population, has come in the space of a. little more than a century and a half, two growing cities and a thriving town, with a population (in 1899) of about sixty-seven thousand souls, without including the villages of Greenwood and Wellington, which are now joined to the neighboring towns of Wakefield and Medford (Corey, 499).
Authorities : Corey, D. P.,"The History of Malden," 1899. Malden, "The Bi-centennial Book of Malden" (200th anniversary, May 23, 1849) 1850. Malden, "Memorial of the Celebration of the 250th Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town" (May, 1899) 1900. Malden Mirror, "Malden, Past and Present" (occasion of the 250th anniversary of the town) 1899. Wellman, J. W., wrote an extended account of the ecclesiastical history of Malden, which was published in Hurd's "History of Middlesex County", 1890 (reprinted 1890). Wright, S. O., "Historical Dis- course" (containing a sketch of the history of the town) (1831) 1832.
ANCIENT HOUSES IN MALDEN
BY MARGARET L. SEARS
The house of Jacob Pratt, who was born February 19, 1754, is changed in appearance, and has been moved a little from its former site. It now stands on the north side of Forest street. It was probably built in the first part of the eighteenth century. It was sold to John Pratt in 1777. The house is interesting as showing the manner of building houses with the chimney and door at one end. As the family increased, rooms were built around the central plan.
The Blaney house stands on the site of a house built by Richard Dexter in 1646, and, al- though the present house was built early in the eighteenth century, it probably comprises the earlier house in its construction. Richard Dexter transferred the house and adjoining property (a tan-yard) to his son-in-law James Mellens. John Brintnall, who married a granddaughter of James Mellens, became owner of the property by inheritance and purchase. Thomas Camp- bell, of Marblehead, bought the place in 1721, and Benjamin Blaney, of Lynn, bought it in 1724. Benjamin Blaney, son of the former, sold the house and tan-yard to Jabez Sargent, of Boston, who transferred his purchase to Nathan Nichols, who in 1817 sold it to Miss Joanna Tileston Oliver. Two horse chestnut trees standing in the yard were brought from the garden of Gardiner Green, of Boston, in 1835.
The Boardman house, in Saugus, near the Melrose line, was built in the seventeenth century. An old house on Madison street was sold in 1797 to Elias Currell, and in 1799 to Edward Newhall, and in 1810 to Benjamin Burditt. In 1817 it was mortgaged to Field and Bradshaw, and in 1819 sold by them to Timothy Bailey, of Roxbury, who established the tin plate business, in which he was very successful and acquired a large property. He died in 1852, and the house was after- wards removed to Madison street. House probably built by Phineas Upham, near Upham street, Melrose. (See Upham, "Descendants of John Upham," 79.)
The house of Thomas Manser was given to the town by its owner, Thomas Manser, who was sexton of the North Parish. In 1769, having become too feeble and aged to perform the duties, the town voted to repair his house and care for him during his life, on condition that he give his house and lands to the town. The old house with a sun dial was used as the almshouse until 1722. It has recently been enlarged, and in 1898 was still in good condition. The house of
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Thomas Parker is supposed to have been built early in the seventeenth century, and about 1860 it was removed to the vicinity of Ashland street.
The Parsonage was built in 1724-5, and was bought in recent years by the late George W. Wilson. "The old house has been considerably changed from its original condition by additions and improvements, and shows few of the abasing marks of time. . . . It has fortunately fallen into the hands of those who value it above any modern structure. Its associations and the robe of age which it wears with dignity, add charm to its possession, and it seems likely to remain for many years." (Corey's "History of Malden.") House of James Barrett, corner of School and Main streets.
Hill's Tavern, on Irving street, was built in the early part of the eighteenth century. The timbers are hewn on one side, and are lined with clay. The inn of Stephen Waite, Jr., was owned by him in 1798. It was built by Daniel Waite, who used a part of the material of the South Precinct meeting-house. In 1840 it was removed to the corner of Salem and Ferry streets. In 1892 it was removed to Eastern avenue, near Main street. The walls are brick lined, and it was said to be the first house in Malden with blinds. The older part of the Joseph Lynde house, in present Melrose, was built about 1720. It is situated on the corner of Main street and Good- year avenue. Old houses on Cross street: Floyd house, house built by Edward Carrington.
The "Homestall" of Captain Samuel Green, who died February 21, 1761, was inherited by his eldest son James, who sold it to his son Darius. It stands on Appleton street. In 1765 it was bought by Joseph Perkins of Danvers.
Authority: Corey's "History of Malden."
NATICK
Natick, like most of the towns of Massachusetts, is very irregular in its boundaries. Its lines, says its local historian, seem more "ambitious of reaching the tops of the neighboring hills and the depths of the valleys than of surrounding a symmetrical territory." Its shape is tri- angular, with more "diversity of scenery in hills, valleys and plains than most of the surrounding country." The Indian name Natick means "a Place of Hills." From the summit of these hills, which were alike features of the ancient and modern town, a view may be had of the three vil- lages as they now appear. Attention was brought to this region about 1650, owing to the Apostle Eliot's first labors among the Indians at the present village of South Natick, and in 1651 the town of Natick was settled. It then consisted of three long streets, two on the north and one on the south side of the river, with a bridge eighty feet long and eight feet high, and stone foundations, the whole being. built by the Indians themselves. To each house on these streets was attached a piece of land. The houses were in the Indian style. One house, larger than the rest, built in the English style, contained one apartment which was used as a school- room on week-days, and as a place of worship on the Sabbath. This building was the first meeting-house in Natick.
Natick was thus primarily an Indian settlement. Their numbers at various periods have shown that they were formerly numerous, about 1700 possibly three hundred, in 1753 twenty- five families, besides a few single persons. In 1763 there were thirty-seven only in town. In 1792 there was only a family of five persons.
It was not until 1762 that Natick was erected into an English district. Thus for a century it was an Indian town. The English part of Natick outgrew the other, and Natick as a manu- facturing centre became known in the wide world. Most of the people of the town previously to 1835 were industrious and frugal farmers. Manufacturing pursuits were introduced at that time, and the increase in population became rapid. Natick, aside from its Indian associations, is therefore a comparatively modern town. It performed its part in the war of the Revolution,
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and has been the home in recent times of many able and distinguished men, notable among. whom was Henry Wilson, vice-president of the United States.
Authorities: Bacon, O. N., "A History of Natick", 1856. Biglow, William, "History of the Town of Natick", 1830. Moore, Martin, "Sermon containing a history of the town", 1817.
BILLERICA
Billerica, named for a town in Essex county, England, was originally named Shawshin, (pronounced Shawsheen), from a small river which ran more than twelve miles through the en- tire length of the early town. It was named in the colonial records as early as 1636, with a view to the settlement as a plantation. In 1637 Deputy-Governor Dudley and Governor John Win- throp, Senior, had each a thousand acres granted them: "Going down the river (from Concord) about four miles, they made choice of a place for one thousand acres for each of them. . . . At the place where the deputy's land was to begin, there were two great stones, which they called. the 'Two Brothers', in remembrance that they were brothers by their children's marriage." These stones are the earliest landmark in town. The grants of land to these great families were much increased, until in 1641 "Shawshin" was granted to Cambridge, "provided they make it a village, to have 10 families there settled within three years", etc. Cambridge was not then ready to undertake a new settlement so far "in the wilderness", and the restriction of making a. village there was removed on the condition that the church and present, elders "continued at Cambridge." Various grants of land were made by Cambridge, one of the original extensive proprietors sold out, and by 1654 Shawshin had settlers sufficient to petition the Court that the "name of Shawshin henceforth may be called Billericay", using the spelling of the name of the town in England. Seven of the petitioners were from Woburn, one from Watertown, and three. from Cambridge.
A company from Braintree added their numbers to the original settlers before 1660, and. though the common lands were allotted promptly, it was almost one hundred years before the land fund was exhausted. The increase of the population, however, was not rapid. In 1652, with probably three or four families, in 1659 the number had reached twenty-five. In 1663 the number of families was nearly fifty. The town had its share of Indian troubles. Special alarms. repeatedly called troops to the town. It was subjected from its exposed situation, on two occasions to massacre. On August 1, 1690, two women, mothers of families, and four children, were killed by the In- dians. The second massacre occurred August 5, 1695, in which fifteen persons were either slain or taken captive; num- ber of families attacked in this raid, four; place, North Billerica. In the latter part of the same month three hundred men gathered in arms at Billerica from the neighboring towns in response to alarms, and thoroughly scoured the woods and swamps for the lurking foe, but none were found. The towns of Bedford, Tewksbury, Wilmington, and Carlisle were taken in part at a later period from the original territory of Billerica. OLD MANNING HOUSE, NORTH BILLERICA. Built 1696.
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Authorities: The 200th anniversary was celebrated and its proceedings published in 1855. Cumings, Henry, delivered an half-century discourse, which was printed, 1813. Farmer, John, the celebrated antiquary, wrote and published an "Historical Memoir of Billerica", 1816, and "Sketches of the Early History of Billerica", 1823. Hazen, H. A., published a "History of Billerica", 1883, which is valuable for its genealogical register. Nason, Elias, delivered a cen- tennial oration, which was published, 1876.
It is understood that only a few houses in Billerica in recent years were identified as garrison houses of the time of King Philip's Indian War. The house occupied by James Fletcher was one, and it has been made the subject of an illustration in Hazen's "Billerica." It was Jacob French's garrison in 1676. The house of Jonathan Danforth of equal age was demolished in 1878, of which an illustration is preserved. The old house of Ralph Hill, Jr., a garrison of 1676, stood in its original condition until after 1850.
The First Church was built in 1797, and stood near but a little southeast of its present po- sition, facing north. In 1844 it was moved and turned halfway round to face the east. It has retained its primitive structure and graceful spire.
The first owner of the Faulkner house was Francis, son of Colonel Francis Faulkner, a soldier in the Revolution. Francis Faulkner came to Billerica in 1811, and began the manufacture of woolen cloths. He died in 1843, aged 82 years. The Bennett house was the home of Mrs. Joshua Bennett, who gave the library to the town. Mr. Joshua Bennett accumulated a large fortune. Other houses worthy of notice are the Jaquith homesteads, the residence of Mrs. Benjamin Jud- kins, the Manning manse, 1696, the Sabba' Day house, 1768.
CHELMSFORD
Chelmsford was begun by some citizens of Woburn and Concord, then the nearest towns, who petitioned in 1652 for the privilege of examining the tract, for the purpose of making a set- tlement. In 1653 conditional permission was granted to the petitioners of Concord and Woburn to begin such settlement. In 1654 propositions were made to the church in Wenham and their pastor to remove to Chelmsford, which in the following year was brought about. There exists a plan of the town as laid out by the committee appointed by the General Court, which is a curiosity as one of the few plans remaining of that early period. In this plan a reservation is made for the Indians. The town was incorporated May 29, 1655, the name to be called Chelms- ford. The incorporation of Billerica and Groton bear the same date. President John Adams, who was related to the Adams family of Chelmsford, wrote in his diary: "Chelmsford was prob- ably named in compliment to Mr. Hooker, who was once minister of that town in Essex", mean- ing Essex county, England. Thomas Hooker, the great preacher who founded Connecticut, was a man of enlightened democratic views, particularly in matters of religion, with which the Wo- burn founders of Chelmsford were certainly known to sympathize; see their plea for religious liberty, dated 1654, in Hurd's "History of Middlesex County", vol. I., p. 348. The present centre of the town was at the outset the northeast section, and the town line extended westerly to Groton boundaries. The Indian land was within the present limits of Lowell.
Chelmsford suffered much less than many frontier towns in the Indian Wars. This may be due in a measure to the protection offered to their neighbor Indians, residing on the spot where the city of Lowell now stands, from the Mohawks. From a stockade on Fort Hill, now Rogers Park, in Lowell, the Indians signalled across to a hill in Chelmsford limits, when danger was approaching. The number of persons killed by raiders was small-one woman and two men; and a number of houses were burned, on one occasion as many as fourteen or fifteen. In 1690, while the barbarous Indians were lurking about Chelmsford, a newspaper of the time said there were missing a couple of children belonging to a man of that town . . . "both of them supposed
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