USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 7
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one grave at present Little's Station, not far north of the present State line. Four of the slain were of Dunstable, three of Woburn, and one of Plainfield. One of the four rude headstones erected to the dead in this action bears the name of Benjamin Carter of Woburn, son of Lieu- tenant John Carter and Ruth Burnham, his wife, and a grandson of Captain John Carter, who was captain of the local Woburn company in Philip's War. The whole.action was one of ven- turesomeness, and Benjamin Carter's Woburn relatives were much chagrined that he (being a garrison soldier as he apparently was) should have have been "such a boy", as they said, to be killed by Indians.
Next followed the well-known campaigns by Captain John Lovewell, of Dunstable. He carried the campaign with picked men into the enemy's own country, and, though he lost his own life and those of a large part of his men, he succeeded in exterminating the enemy at the memorable battle of Pigwacket. Colonel Eleazer Tyng, of Dunstable, with eighty-seven men, went to the scene of the conflict near Fryeburg, Maine, and there found and buried the slain. For the defence of Dunstable, during Colonel Tyng's absence, Colonel Eleazer Flagg, of Woburn, the commander of the local regiment, was ordered to detach a number of his men for that purpose.
In the campaign just mentioned, the superiority of Lovewell's methods to those of the English in King Philip's War, fifty years previous, is evident. The military discipline of the early Eng- lish in New England was that of the London trainbands of England. It was ill adapted for wilderness work, owing to its cumberousness, and its peculiar conditions. The Indians gave no opportunity by their adroitness for attack en masse. The broadsword was valuable in attacks on savages ensconced in forts, and armed with their primitive weapons, and it was thus used. Against musketry it was somewhat different, and the conditions of the country and the wilder- ness made pikemen useless. Drums and colors were of no use except at home. In Lovewell's time the English were not hampered with noisy leather equipments, whose squeaking could be heard by the enemy for half a mile, and with horses, which were formerly considered essential. The Indians in 1725 tried the same dodges as in 1675. Lovewell's men were armed like hunters. The evidence in Lovewell's time shows that the approach of either party in the conflict was noiseless. The English in 1675 withstood the first onset in a surprise with the same firmness as their countrymen did at home, and Lovewell's men did the same when first confronted by the enemy with a display of rifles four or five ranks deep, and they rushed upon the foe with a volley and huzzas. The nearness of the volleys brought down many on both sides. Lovewell's mis- take was that by stationing men here and there on his way to the scene, that he allowed his force to become too small. Colonel Tyng was wiser, and took with him eighty-seven men, to Lovewell's actual force of a reduced company of thirty-four.
Beginning with 1733, other towns began to be formed from the original territory of Dunsta- ble. The present New Hampshire portions were separated first ;- the places named Hudson, Litchfield, Merrimack, and Hollis, the divisional line between the States in 1741 setting them and the Nashua part off to New Hampshire, leaving Dunstable proper, which then included Tyngsborough, in Massachusetts. The town then extended from Dracut on the east, some ten miles to Groton on the west, and the families were fifty-four in number.
The eastern part of the town was formed into a parish called the First Parish of Dunstable in 1755. The people of the westerly part of the town were also organized into a parish. called the Second Parish, in 1755. In the first general census of the Province taken in 1765, Dunstable had ninety dwelling-houses, ninety-eight families, and a total of 559 inhabitants; Bedford, Dra- cut, Natick, Shirley, and Stoneham, being the only towns in the county having a smaller popu- lation.
An attempt to unite the First and Second Parishes about 1787 failed on account of a dona- tion from a member of one of its prominent families. In 1789 what is now the town of Tyngs- borough was incorporated into a district, and received for its own use, as it does now, the above
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donation. At the opening of the nineteenth century the population of Dunstable was 485 per- sons. The district of Tyngsborough was incorporated as a town in 1809. In 1820 the inhab- itants of Dunstable were 584.
Authorities: Fox, C. J., "History of the old Township of Dunstable", 1846. Hill, J. B., "Reminiscences of old Dunstable", 125p., 1878. Loring, G. B., "Historical Sketches of Dun- stable" (bi-centennial oration) 1873. Nason, Elias, "A History of the Town of Dunstable," 1877. Spalding, E. H., "Bi-centennial of old Dunstable", 1878.
STOW
Stow was first settled about 1660, by one settler, and its first settler was killed by the Indians in the month of February, 1676. The wife and two daughters of the second settler were taken prisoners by the Indians when the celebrated Mrs. Rowlandson was taken. Peace, however, altered conditions. As was usual with frontier settlements at that time, large tracts of territory were laid out to prominent men living elsewhere. A few settlers took up their abode in the town's limit previously to the year 1670. After favorable reports upon its availability it was granted to certain individuals, on the condition that others should join with them to make a village of not less than ten families within the period of three years, and that a minister be maintained there. The procedure of making a settlement was slow and hindered by the Indian War. It was incorporated as a town on May 16, 1683, by the name of Stow.
Under the circumstances of their proximity to neighboring and possibly to hostile Indians, the people of the town early placed themselves in a posture of defence. In 1698 the selectmen were impowered to repair the garrison about the ministry house. There were probably other fortified houses in different portions of the town before this, and the militia company was kept up to a certain degree of efficiency. As the population increased, two infantry companies were formed, one at the north, and the other at the south part of the town. . The town furnished sol- diers for the different wars, but after Philip's War no attacks were made by Indians on the place.
The town lost a part of its territory when the town of Harvard was incorporated in 1732. Another small part was added to Shirley, and in 1871 another section of the original town was set off to Maynard.
Authorities: Newell, Jonathan, "Historical Discourse", (1783) 1784. Stow, "Bi-centennial Celebration of the Town", 1883.
NEWTON
Newton was separated from the old town of Cambridge in 1688, being the second town so separated, Billerica being the first. Newton was a part of the large territory of Cambridge on the south side of Charles river. About 1654 it received the name of "Cambridge Village", or "New Cambridge", until 1679. The General Court decreed that after December, 1691, it should be called "Newtown", and the change of the name from "Newtown" to "Newton" occurred in 1766, without formal authorization, and the change has ever since been accepted.
In 1656 the inhabitants of this. part of Cambridge organized a distinct congregation for religious worship. In 1661 they were freed from paying church rates for the support of the ministry at Cambridge. In 1662 the line of division between the parishes for religious pur- poses was that which now divides Newton from Brighton. In 1672 the inhabitants attempted to be set off from Cambridge as an independent town. The right was then secured to become a precinct, and to elect annually one constable and three selectmen among themselves, but they were required still to continue as a part of Cambridge.
The attempts at separation were continued for about ten years. In 1679 they took into their own hands the management of the prudential affairs of the village as completely as any
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other town, and conducted them according to the will of the majority of the freeholders until Newton became a city. The separation was finally consummated in 1688 when Newton be- came a free and independent corporation. The town was incorporated January 11, 1687-8, and received the name of Newton in December, 1691.
The number of families in Newton from 1639 to 1664 was twenty. The ages of the ma- jority were between twenty-one and thirty-five. Five only were forty years old, and two were more than fifty. Their longevity was remarkable; only two died under the age of fifty, eight only under the age of seventy, and fourteen out of thirty,-a selected number,-died when their age was more than eighty.
In 1674 it was ordered that the inhabitants of the precinct be a distinct military company by themselves. The Indian population never gave them any trouble in their own borders, but they furnished their quota of troops when trouble occurred in other towns. The Nonan- tum Indians, to whom the Apostle Eliot ministered, were residents of Newton. Many English customs were adopted by them, and they turned their attention more to agriculture. Strictly speaking, there was never an Indian church in Newton, and it was after their removal to Natick that a church organization of theirs was first formed.
The history of Newton gives a pertinent illustration of the peculiar distinction of town and parish. The laws of Massachusetts did not and do not recognize the church as distinguished from the parish; hence parish business was town business. The town called and settled the minister and provided for his support. The town also paid the funeral expenses of the pastors when they were dead. The town also regulated the exercises of worship. It was not as a cor- poration always especially generous. On one occasion it was voted in town meeting "that trees be set out to shade the meeting-house, if any persons will be so generously-minded as to do it." It was also voted on another occasion "to let the velvet pall to other towns", when not in use in its own town.
For a considerable period following the War of the Revolution it was mainly in Newton a time of silent growth, as the town was, as many of its neighbors and contemporaries were, a community devoted .to the pursuits of agriculture. One of the important events was the founding of Newton Theological Institution. An excitement arose from an agitation which lasted many years in reference to a division of the town. All the villages were disposed along the edges of the town and remote from each other. The place of worship was established at the centre of the town. There were four villages-Newton Corner, West Newton, Newton Upper Falls, and Newton Lower Falls. Their inhabitants had no special interest in the Centre of the town, except as the voters travelled there to attend the town meetings. The villagers had little or no interest in each other, and the Centre had no interest in them. From 1807 the town was distributed into eight wards for political purposes; but in 1830, owing to the action of the proprietors of the First Parish meeting-house, who after the separation of church and town by the State had objected to having the town-meetings held there, the controversy grew more violent and lasted with great vigor for twenty-five years. The extreme southern part of the town was set off to Roxbury in 1838, and the" Chemical Village" was set off to Wal- tham in 1844. These losses of a small porton of their territory enabled the citizens to see the ill effects of a division of the entire town, and in 1855 a resolution was passed that the inhabi- tants of Newton "will oppose any and all measures for the division of the town." The Rev. S. F. Smith sums up the controversary as follows: "And now, as one great and populous city, one wide, wealthy, and prosperous organization, with its churches, its schools, its libraries, its Fire Department, its gas and electric works, its water works, its telegraphs and telephones, all its common interests, perhaps not a citizen walks in the streets of Newton, through its whole extent, who is not glad that the whole is bound together and cemented in one peaceful union."
Authorities: Homer, Jonathan, "A Century Sermon", (a century from the incorpora-
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tion of the town) 1792. Jackson, Francis, "A History of the Early Settlement of Newton", 1854. Newton, "Celebration of the 200th Anniversary of the Incorporation of the Town of Newton" (1888) 1891. Newton, "The Centennial Celebration of the City of Newton", 1876. Smith, S. F., "History of Newton", 1880. Sweetser, M. F., "King's Handbook of Newton", 1889.
ANCIENT HOUSES IN NEWTON
The ancient houses in the city of Newton are numerous. Among them is the Nonantum house at Newton, formerly Newton Corner.
The residence of General William Hull was quite famous, and in 1803 and for several years after was used as a boarding school by the famous Susanna Rowson. In 1837 it was made into a hotel.
The Jackson house, on Washington street, near Walnut Park, is ninety-nine years old, and was built on the site of one of the first houses in Newton (1638). The Jackson family had many soldiers and officers in the Provincial and Continental armies. Edward Jackson was a person of great prominence, and was accustomed to go with the Apostle Eliot on his journeys among the Indians, in order to write down the questions of the Indians and the Apostle's re- plies. His grandson was a rich merchant of Boston, and his son married Dorothy Quincy, grandmother of Oliver Wendell Holmes. Other names of note are Major Timothy Jackson, an officer in the French War; his son Timothy, whose early life was full of adventure and vicis- situde; Michael Jackson, who was among the minute-men on the nineteenth of April, and at Bunker Hill, the seventeenth of June; a year later, was wounded at Montressor's Island, New York, and afterwards became colonel of the Eighth Massachusetts Regiment of the Continental line, and held the latter rank until the war closed. William Jackson, son of old Major Timothy, did much for the welfare of his town. Francis Jackson, brother of William, wrote the "His- tory of Newton", in 1854. Frederick Jackson, another member of this family, was severely wounded in the Civil War, and held afterwards the office of superintendent of the Newton Public Library.
The Shannon house was built in 1798 by Joseph Blake of Boston, and was once called the Sargent House. It came into the possession of Oliver N. Shannon, and later was the home of Miss Mary Clarke Shannon, a "noble and philanthropic woman".
The Colonial Mansion on the west side of Centre street belonged in the early part of the nineteenth century to Nathaniel Tucker, the leader of the choir of the First Church, and a fine singer. Then it was owned by Thomas Edmands, of the book firm of Lincoln and Edmands. The house is near the site of the ancient parsonage of John Eliot, Jr., inherited by the son of the latter (1668). In 1773 it was sold by order of the General Court to acquire funds enough to send the younger John Eliot to Yale College. The Spring house was the home of Lieutenant John Spring; who came to America in 1634.
NONANTUM HILL
The Brackett house, on Waverly avenue, was built by Colonel Joseph Ward, in 1792. Two mansions built by Messrs. Haven and Wiggin in 1807 and on land owned by General William Hull. The estate was formerly of seventy acres. The Kenrick house was occupied in 1732 by Captain Edward Durant, a rich Bostonian. It was inherited by his son Edward, who was a great patriot and a delegate to the Provincial Congress. The estate was sold to John A. Ken- rick in 1775. His great-great-granddaughter was the mother of Franklin Pierce. Another descendant, John Kenrick, was president of the New England Anti-Slavery Society, and wrote "Horrors of Slavery", in 1817. The first large nursery in New England was established here
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in 1790. It is supposed that the first Lombardy poplars of New England were started here. The house of Frederick W. Sargent was built in 1805, on an estate of eighty acres, bought from Obadiah Curtis by his grandson, Dr. Samuel Clarke, father of James Freeman Clarke, and step- son of. Dr. James Freeman. Mr. Curtis repurchased the place, and gave it to his daughter Martha, wife of Dr. Freeman, and grandmother of James Freeman Clarke. The first tomatoes raised in Massachusetts were raised here from seed brought from Baltimore by Dr. Freeman.
The mansion of Colonel Joseph Ward was built in 1792. Colonel Ward was a prominent educator, and was aide-de-camp and secretary to General Artemus Ward. In 1777 he was made commissary-general of musters. He named the estate "Chestnut Hill". The place was sold to Charles Coolidge, and in 1810 to Charles Brackett. The Harback place, corner of Ward street and Waverley avenue, was the house of Thomas Harback, who came to Newton in 1805. The house was built about 1760. The mansion of Obadiah Curtis is near the Harback place. Mr. Curtis was a member of the Boston tea-party, and was detested by the Royalists. On the outbreak of hostilities he went to Providence until the siege of Boston was ended. He died in 1811. In a cottage on Waverley avenue, built in 1721, lived Roger Sherman, a signer of the Declaration of Independence and a United States Senator. Senator William M. Evarts, of New York, and Senator George F. Hoar, of Massachusetts, are descendants of Roger Sherman.
NEWTONVILLE
At Newtonville the General Hull house, built in 1776, is on the corner of Walnut and Austin streets, and was moved here in 1846 from the site of the Claflin house. It was once used as a private school by Mrs. Weir. The Sturtevant house, built in 1680, is on Brooks avenue.
In 1825 Lafayette stopped at the Tavern in West Newton. A private school was estab- lished here in 1812 by Seth Davis.
At Auburndale, the Bourne house, afterwards called Whittemore Tavern, stands on the road to the bridge. The Crafts house was built about 1765.
At Newton Lower Falls, old house, formerly residence of Solomon Curtis. Old Hagar house. The mansion of William Hurd stands on the corner of Washington and Grove streets. Mr. Hurd was one of the pioneers in paper making. The old house on the next corner was for- merly occupied by Dr. Ebenezer Starr, who lived here from 1794 to 1830. The Baury house, on the corner of Washington and Concord streets, was built one hundred years ago by Mr. Hoogs. It was for a number of years the parish rectory, and many famous bishops, also army and navy officers, have been entertained here. Others: Crehore house, William Curtis house, old Durant place.
The Tower house at Waban is more than one hundred years old. In 1889 it was occupied by H. Langford Warren.
The Manufacturers' Hotel at Newton Upper Falls was the village inn from 1808 to 1850.
The Bethnal Allen house on Woodward street, Newton Highlands, was long occupied by Ralph Waldo Emerson.
The Marshall S. Rice place, Newton Centre, was formerly the old Prentice farm, bought by James and Thomas Prentice, 1657, and bequeathed to Rev. John Prentice, of Lancaster. It was bought by Henry Gibbs in 1742, who built the mansion house. Peck mansion, 1798.
At Chestnut Hill: The Kingsbury house was built by John Parker, a carpenter, about 1650. The Hammond house, 1730, stands back to Beacon street. The Judge Lowell home- stead was built by one of the Hammonds in 1773. Judge Lowell of the United States District Court bought it in 1850. The Crafts house was built in 1695, by Vincent Druce.
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DRACUT
Dracut was common land from 1664, and remained such until its incorporation as a town in 1701. The act describes the territory as "a tract of land for a township on the north side of Merrimack River"-and then follows its particular bounds. The earliest settlers were mem- bers of the families of Varnum and Coburn, and it is supposed that the town derived its name from the native place of Samuel Varnum, in England,-the first actual settler of Dracut, Massa- chusetts. In early records the name is sometimes spelled Drawcutt, which may give some idea of its former pronunciation.
In King Philip's War, about March 18, 1676, (1675-6) the Indians attacked the inhabi- tants of Dracut, and burned three or four houses. The people were pursued, but escaped. across the river to Chelmsford. On April 15, 1676, a second attack was made, fourteen or fif- teen houses were burned, and fortunately no lives were lost on the part of the inhabitants. Two sons of Samuel Varnum were killed at this period, while crossing the river in a boat. The Indians fired from a covert on the shore, and fled without continuing their attack. The sur- vivors in the boat returned the fire. A raiding party of Indians during the French and Indian War (1755-1763) captured two boys named Coburn, and carried them to Canada.
The petition of the inhabitants for the act of incorporation gives the number of families. already settled in 1701 as about twenty families or eighty souls. The common land was dis- posed of by gradual distribution by the legal voters of the town. In 1741, when the boundary line was established between New Hampshire and Massachusetts, the town of Dracut lost a. considerable part of its territory, which was added to New Hampshire, and this portion with other territory became the town of Pelham, which was incorporated in 1746. The original church and society of Dracut left no records, and probably none were kept. The first records of the town begin with 1711, and those earlier are supposed to be lost. The first meeting-house was not finished until 1716.
In 1851 the part of Lowell called Centralville was taken from Dracut and annexed to Low- ell. In 1874 about one thousand acres more of Dracut territory was added to Lowell, and in 1879 another tract of Dracut, adjoining Tyngsborough, was annexed to Lowell. .
Authorities: M. E. Wright wrote a brief article, entitled "Old Dracut and some Histor- ical Houses", for the "Lowell Book", 1899.
WESTON
Weston as a settlement dates back to a very early period, as there are yet standing houses or parts of houses and foundations which go back to a time of which there are now no reliable dates. The Watertown Farms comprised what is now Weston. Another name was that of the Farmers' Precinct. In ecclesiastical affairs the inhabitants of Weston were connected with Watertown about sixty-eight years, and in civil affairs about eighty-three years. In 1699 they became a separate precinct, and in 1712 they were incorporated as a town by the name of Weston. In 1746 Weston lost a large amount of its territory in the formation of the town of Lincoln. The town is elevated above the common level of the surrounding country, and affords an extensive view of other parts.
Authorities: Fiske, C. H., "Oration", 1876. Kendal, Samuel, "Century Sermon", 1813. "Vital and Municipal Records of the Town", edited by M. F. Peirce.
Weston has at least twelve houses that are old, and all possess interesting histories. The old Whitney tavern on North avenue was once owned and occupied by the Mr. Whitney, who once kept the famous "Punch Bowl" tavern in Brookline. The old house has been used as a tenement for seventy-five years or more, and is now owned by Mr. Thomas Coburn. The main
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portion of the Warren house on Lexington street was built in 1743, and the new part, so called, was built in 1810. Before 1885 it was known as the Benjamin Pierce Junior house. In that year it was bought by F. W. Hastings, and in 1893 it was purchased by Mr. George H. Ellis. The old Jonathan Warren place on North avenue was built before 1780. It was then occupied by the widow Wright, who afterwards became the wife of Jonathan Warren. The Cutting house on Lexington street is on the original Warren estate. John Warren Senior settled on this estate about 1631. It has been the home of the Cutting family for nearly a century.
The old Nathan Hagar house on North avenue is supposed to have been built about 1775. A part of it was once occupied by old 'Squire Hobbs, the father of Mrs. Hagar. The old Mar- shall house on Church street "was confiscated by the government and later bought by Colonel. Thomas Marshall, great-uncle of Mrs. Knox and General Marshall, who, after service in the Revolutionary War, came here to live."
The Artemas Ward house on Central avenue was erected about 1785 by two brothers named Eaton. About the year 1789 it was bought by Artemas Ward, Esquire, who was a son of Gen- eral Artemas Ward. In 1856 it became the property of Mr. Benjamin Pierce Senior, and the estate is still in the latter's family.
In 1876 the Oliver Robbins house on Wellesley street was said to be from one hundred and fifty to two hundred years old. The Abram Bigelow house was occupied by Mr. Bigelow, who was a selectman of the town, and was prominent in the history of the place from 1757 to 1771. He was the original of the "Deacon Badger" of Mrs. Stowe's "Oldtown Folks."
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