USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Historic homes and places and genealogical and personal memoirs relating to the families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Volume I > Part 9
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"Bedford has always been classed", says one of its historians, "with the agricultural towns of the State." One peculiarity of this town was the "English Right", or an annuity from es- tates in the mother country enjoyed by several of the early families for several generations. The Lane and Page families were the beneficiaries. It began in New England with Job Lane, and came to the Page family through the marriage of a granddaughter with Nathaniel Page, the second of the name in this country, who was born, like his father, in England. There is extant in Bedford a collection of scores of bills and letters between the custodians of the English estates and Job Lane, dating from 1651, and extending through the intervening years to a date as late as 1785. Sometimes the annual remittance was made in goods instead of money, at the request of the beneficiary, and in 1721 six large quarto bibles were received. Biblical in- voices were also sent in 1748 and 1754. Dress fabrics were often ordered and received. The goods were sent in large leather-covered trunks. The town exacted a tax on the income, and an attempt being made for its abatement, it was voted in 1744 "not to abate the rates that the Lanes and Pages, gentlemen, were assessed for their income from England." Remittances during the war of the Revolution ceased, but after the Revolution the full amount came in one payment. The legal claimants of the Lane income at length became very numerous, and the first division very difficult; therefore, the claims were sold in the early part of the nineteenth century. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries persons having incomes from English estates were numerous in the Massachusetts towns about Boston, and, from the facts connecting the relationship of these heirs, many items of interest to genealogists have been discovered.
Authorities: Abram E. Brown, wrote the sketch of Bedford for Hurd's "History of Mid- dlesex County," issued this sketch in a much enlarged form, under the title of "History of the Town of Bedford", 1891. Under the title, "Glimpses of Old New England Life, or Legends of Old Bedford", 1892, Mr. Brown issued another work on that town of popular character. Shat- tuck's "Concord" contains a chapter on Bedford. J. F. Stearns delivered an historical dis- course at the 150th anniversary of the town, 1879.
The Mrs. Lawrence estate, or "Dominie Manse," so called, was built by the Rev. Nicholas Bowes, who was ordained as the first minister of Bedford in 1730. His wife was Miss Lucy Hancock, daughter of Rev. John Hancock, of Lexington, and the couple had eight children. Their daughter Lucy went to Lexington to live with her grandmother, and she married her grandfather's successor in the ministry, the Rev. Jonas Clarke. The mansion was sold to John Reed in 1767. In 1805 it became the property of his son John. At his decease it came into the possession of his widow, Hannah Reed, and at her death it was inherited by the daughter of her son Otis. Annie Reed Stiles was the owner in the fourth generation, and at her death Mrs. Melvina Reed Lawrence came into possession of the estate.
The Page farm has been in the family and family name for over two hundred years. It was purchased in 1687 by Nathaniel Page (1), and was inherited by his son Nathaniel, followed by Christopher, John, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, and Cyrus, in successive generations. The house has been removed to another location in recent years. The name of Page has always been a prominent one in the history of Bedford.
The estate of descendants of William Hartwell, on the Concord side of Bedford, was owned
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by the Hartwell family for two hundred years, the house being built in 1758. The homestead of Benjamin Fitch has been in the family and name since 1730. (1891.) "Stone Croft Farm" was bought by the family in 1766, and in 1891 was owned by Miss Caroline M. Fitch. The house was built about 1700.
The Stearns house was built by the Rev. Joseph Penniman, the third minister of the town, and was purchased by the Rev. Samuel Stearns, the fourth minister of Bedford, who was ordained in 1796. For thirty-seven years Mr. Stearns did much to mould the character of the towns- people. The Stearns house was designed by Reuben Duren, a local architect of considerable ability.
The Davis estate has been in the family for about two centuries, and the original deed is in the possession of the present owner. (1891.) The present house is upon the site of the orig- inal homestead, and is over a century and a half old. The possession of the property has al- ways been in the male line. The Davises have been noted in military affairs from early times.
Colonel Timothy Jones built the house on the Murrey place soon after the Revolutionary War. It was a fine house at that time, and was designed by Reuben Duren. The Bacon house is supposed to be the original homestead, and six generations of Bacons have been born in it. Captain Jonathan Wilson, who was killed at Concord, April 19, 1775, lived on this estate. It has had several owners.
The ancient house on the Winthrop farm may be the one built by Job Lane in 1664. The farm representing this estate covered fifteen hundred acres and was in the possession of the Win- throp family for a long time. Another old house on a part of what was once the Winthrop farm was built, it has been supposed, by Joseph Fitch, who married Sarah Grimes, in 1731.
The house occupied by Miss Abby L. Hartwell in 1891 was built by Jonathan Bacon, in the beginning of the nineteenth century. The next owner of this place was John Merriam, Esquire, who was succeeded by Deacon Amos Hartwell, who died in 1870. The "Bedford House" was built in the first quarter of the nineteenth century by Joshua Page. It was, at first, a private house, but was enlarged and made into a public house. The Pollard house. The Sampson house.
The old meeting-house in this town was built in 1816. The frame was prepared and put together on the ground, and then pulled into place, a side at a time. The bell was imported from England, and was given by Mr. Jeremiah Fitch. It was destroyed some years ago. Mr. Fitch gave the clock, which is ornamented with a gilt eagle and balls. The edifice is a fine example of Colonial architecture, and shows the influence of Sir Christopher Wren in the storied tower, which stands on the ground, and the same influence in the urn shaped ornaments which deco- rate it.
WESTFORD
The town of Westford was formerly in, greater part, a portion of Chelmsford, and known as the West Precinct of that town. In 1729 it was incorporated as a town by its present name. A small part of Groton was annexed to it in 1730. The eastern portion of the town was the part first settled, and there was its oldest burying-ground, a mile east of the town meeting- house. The oldest headstones bear the date of 1702. The church was organized in 1727, and remained the only church of the town until 1828. In 1792 was founded the famous Westford Academy, incorporated in 1793.
The Unitarian Church is an old structure, built during the year 1794. It was the third house of worship built in Westford for the town. On the estate known as the Cameron place, dating from 1762 was a house, the front part of which was built originally for a Sunday "noon- house." Here the Sunday worshippers who came from a distance could find fire and warmth and a place to eat their food, the meeting-houses being devoid of stoves until about the year
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1819. The Prescott house, burned in 1876, was an old house of the early period. The Dr. Asaph Fletcher house, removed to another site in 1875, was formerly known as the old Byam house. Forge Village is beyond doubt the oldest in this town. The Central Village, built on a commanding eminence, contains the church edifices and the academy and the town hall. The good influence of the academy and the general intelligence and social refinement of the people, entitle this town and village to high rank among the desirable country villages of north- ern Middlesex.
Authority: Hodgman, E. R., "History of Westford," 1883.
WILMINGTON
Wilmington, like many of the towns of the second period after the first settlement of the country by the older towns in the previous century, was made a town by itself,because of its remoteness from the usual place of worship in the older town. Thus the act for its incor- poration states particularly that it was an act for erecting the northeasterly part of Woburn and westerly part of Reading into a township by the name of Wilmington, because the region was so remote from the place of the public worship of God in either of the said towns. The date of the act of incorporation was September 25, 1730.
The people occupying the lands were agriculturists, as they are to-day. The settle- ment had suffered from Indian depredations, but, when the new town was formed, comparative peace prevailed. 'A meeting-house was erected in 1732, and a church with seventeen male members was formed in 1733. Wilmington was never a separate precinct of another town, the court believing that the arguments in favor of a new precinct were stronger in favor of es- tablishing a new town. In 1813 a new meeting-house was erected to take the place of the one erected in 1732. In 1864 this meeting-house was burned, and another erected. This was the only church organization in the town until 1840.
Authorities: Bond, A. T., "History of Wilmington", in preparation. Noyes, D. P., " Historical Address", 1881. Wilmington Vital Records, edited by J. E. Kelley, and published by the town, 1898.
By 1730, Sergeant Abraham Jaquith, who lived in Goshen (or the region now covered by the central and western parts of Wilmington) occupied a garrison house which stood over a cellar, near the house of Mr. Aldrich (1880), and Deacon James Thompson occupied the place known as Mr. Rich Carters'. These houses were seven miles from the center of the old town of Woburn, where the meeting-house then was. A saying of Benjamin Jaquith, a son of Abra- ham, in reference to this distance from religious ordinances, was "Early to meeting, early to heaven, I vow you."
In 1880 there were standing several ancient houses in the town which were extant in 1730 or later. The Stockwell place, near the Andover line, belonged in olden times to a family named Jones. The eastern half of the Pearson house dated back to 1730. The frame was filled in with brick. The original dwelling was evidently much smaller than the present. The plank covering and the brick filling answered the purpose of protection against the weather and the Indian enemies. These houses were not plastered within for the want of lime. The Stanley house, in the same "Land of Nod," a large square house with an open green and great elms, belonged originally to a family whose name has disappeared from the town. The Upton place, once belonging to a family named Rich. The smaller house of Mr. Holt, in the same vicinity, was raised July 4, 1776. It had originally a gambrel roof. The similar old house of Levi Man- ning is another structure of those times. The Silas Brown farm was the Samuel Dummer place one hundred and fifty years before 1880. The house stood at the foot of the hill, in the rear of the present house which was built about 1795 by Colonel Joshua Harnden. Near by is the
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Wilmington, Ma Boutwell House, erect
Wilmington, Mass.,Aqueduct Ruins, Middlesex Canal 1803-1851
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site of the John Harnden house, where in 1706 some Indians killed four persons and captured four more. The Blanchard farm-house marks the home of Cadwallader Ford, a native of Ire- land. This house was built by him and is still occupied by his descendants. It is a handsome specimen of the best houses of the period beginning in 1730. The ancient house of the Scales family dates back at least to 1741. A pane of glass over the front door bore the inscription " Aug. 2, 1769." It is a specimen of an ordinary style of building of its day, the rear roof sloping to within a few feet of the ground. Its one great chimney had its bricks laid in clay. Its con- dition in 1880 is described as speaking plainly of hard times and rough usage. The Samuel Gowing house was built by Joseph Harnden about a hundred years ago. It was a Gowing place fifty years before that. The N. Bradley Eames house was the home of the Hathornes; the Pickering, that of an Evans. The Lemuel C. Eames house was standing one hundred and fifty years since, and the whole or a part of Benjamin Buck's house. The gambrel-roofed house opposite the tannery belonged to Esquire Samuel Eames, and is supposed to have been in his family name as long ago as 1730. An ancient Blanchard house stands at the top of the hill, probably that of Daniel Killam in 1730. The William Eames house, the Timothy Carter and Deacon Cadwallader Morrill houses, are over seventy years old. The dwelling of the Jaque family stood on the spot where Joseph Ames lived. Further down on the same side of the street is a Carter house the family of Mr. Rich Carter. On the Woburn road was the Flagg place. The house of Mrs. Benjamin Perry belonged to John Gowing. The Lorenzo Butters house wa that of his forefathers. In the same neighborhood was a second Butters place, and a third, a garrison house, is now owned by Mrs. Avery and Mrs. Spalding. Part of a fourth Butters house is occupied by George Taylor. A fifth site is at the Johnson place, and a sixth at the Addison place; and the whole was known as Butters' Row. The Bell farm lay below, the old house standing over the cellar opposite the barn on the right.
In the west district is the old Walker place, occupied by Edward Carter and Roxanna Carter. The house built by Peter Corneille is that occupied by Mrs. Jonathan Jaquith. Abra- ham Jaquith in 1730, occupier of the "garrison house," was fifty-seven years old (born 1673, died 1753, aged eighty); his wife Sarah died 1771, in her ninetieth year. "He must have spoken with some of the first settlers of Woburn (and of Wilmington) and some now living (1880) have spoken with his son." The Joshua Jaquith house was not quite so ancient as the Abraham Jaquith house; another, owned by Mr. Aldrich, was built by Captain James Jaquith, grandson of Abraham. Near the old canal locks in this neighborhood was a dwelling-house built by Jonathan Beard, and sold by him to Colonel Samuel Hopkins, and by him to Timothy Carter, and this, with the houses of William Nichols and Joseph Burnap near by, were burned by fires kindled by sparks from a locomotive.
If the ancient houses which remain are any evidence, their former owners were comfortable and respectable farmers. The majority of these people may have been poor, according to mod- ern standards, and they sat down, perhaps, to what their descendants would consider coarse fare. These serious-minded, sensible people were scattered over a wide surface, and none had many near neighbors. A general reputation for stability and trustworthiness has always char- acterized the people of this town. They make no pretense, give occasion for little talk, and mind their own business, and do their duty. The ancient houses of this people are emblematic of their tastes and the permanency of their families.
Authority: Noyes, "Historical Address," Sept. 25, 1880, Boston, 1881.
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TOWNSEND
Townsend, whose name was derived from a friend of the provincial governor then in power, was incorporated June 30, 1732. Its namesake was Viscount Charles Townshend, of England, who held the office of His Majesty's Secretary of War at that time. The name was spelled Townshend, until about the year 1780 the town clerk began to spell the name by omitting the h, and after 1800 the custom of spelling it that way became general. The township of Town- send was called into existence by an order or grant of province lands in 1719, from a territory formerly called Turkey Hills. In 1728 a few families settled here from Chelmsford, Groton, and Woburn. It was called the northerly part of Turkey Hills, and in 1732 was constituted. a town by the name of Townsend. By the running of the province line in 1741 the town lost about one-third of its territory to New Hampshire, but acquired a northeast corner located considerably south of the point for which it had formerly contended.
The town of Ashby was chartered in 1767, Townsend contributing more than half the territory. The present boundaries of the town have remained unaltered since 1792.
After 1800 sectarianism began to be the cause of discord among a hitherto united people and in 1829 there arose a disagreement between the two leading orders of sectaries in the town in regard to the use of the town meeting-house. The sect which had a majority of sym- pathizers among the voters acquired the use of it more Sabbaths than the other, and the mi- nority, resenting the victory, seceded from the town's meeting-house in a body, one Sabbath morning, and never used it afterward.
The high standard of culture in these rural towns during the first half of the ninteeenth cen- tury culminated in the founding of academies of good local reputation. Denominational in- fluences had considerable to do with their foundation in many instances at that time, and Town- send had its share of such institutions. But with the advancement of town high schools, a more liberalizing and sensible policy has prevailed in relation to private opinion, and the town schools are opened to all, irrespective of religious belief.
Authority: Sawtelle, I. B., "History of the Town of Townsend", 1878.
Mr. Sawtelle, in his excellent "History of Townsend," published in 1878, mentions a num- ber of old houses-"relics of the distant past"-which were then standing. First, the house of Mrs. Sarah Conant, innholder, in the year 1765-house located at the southerly end of the dam at Townsend Harbor. The house of Daniel Taylor, on the west side of the road leading from the Harbor to Lunenburg, "one of the oldest in town." The house of Samuel Stone Haynes; here a hundred people dined with the owner on the day of an ordination on January 1, 1800. The council, pastor elect, and invited guests, dined on that occasion at the widow Sarah Con- ant's tavern, mentioned above. The parsonage house, given to the town by Amos Whitney in 1769 was renovated and wrought into another structure before 1878, and is described as "elegant and unostentatious." An old house painted red. standing on the north side of the road, nearly opposite the mill yard at the Harbor, occupied as a store by Joshua Smith, a Tory during the Revolution. The house of Joseph Adams, a physician, "who was loyal to the crown and the British ministry," was the same building occupied as a dwelling in recent years by Daniel Dix.
In 1787 Townsend Harbor was the only collection of houses in town which could be called a village: it contained a tavern, the large, old house (yet standing) at or near the south end of the dam at the river, kept by John Conant, a popular landlord; a saw and grist mill, a black- smith shop, a clothier (1790), a tanner, a trader (Life Baldwin, in 1788), who occupied the build- ing for a store, which is painted red and stands at the north side of the road, nearly opposite to Jonas Spaulding's counting-room. About 1800 there was a heavy growth of pitch-pine where the Central Village now stands, the nearest houses to which were the red house,
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now standing on the north side of the road, south of the Walker Pond, and two or three small dwellings situated at the westward of the old burying-ground, or in that vicinity. (Sawtelle, Hist., p. 252.) At the west village, the hotel now standing and two or three houses constituted all the buildings of that locality. The borders of the town, at that time, contained probably as many inhabitants as now. (Ibid.) The house of Dr. Isaac Mulliken (1780). The hotel at West Townsend dates from 1793 to 1800. The village of West Townsend in 1818 had for its nuclei, the hotel and two or three small dwelling-houses, besides Jonathan Richardson's house, in what is the present postal centre of that community. (Sawtelle, Hist., p. 339.)
TEWKSBURY
Tewksbury, previous to its incorporation, was a part of Billerica. The distance in going to worship in the old meeting-house caused uneasiness which led to a separation and incorpor- poration of the tract as a town. Hence in 1733 the northern section of Billerica asked the an- cient town to erect a meeting-house in the centre of the town, so as to accommodate the north- erly part of the town, or set them off, so that they maintain preaching among themselves. The last part of this request was granted. This was followed by a petition for a grant for a town, and Tewksbury was incorporated December 23, 1734. The southeast part of the present town was that first settled. The first minister was called in 1737, and for sixty years he was the sole pastor of the only church, until his death in 1796. For the second settled minister it was nec- essary "to prop up the galleries in the meeting-house and make it secure against the day of ordination." This was in great contrast with the earlier time, when it was not definitely known when the church was first formed and what the exact date of the completion of their first meet- ing-house was. In 1818 the town voted to build a new meeting-house. This building was not finished until 1824. The separation between church and town occurred in 1833. The first church was the only church in town till 1843. Since 1854 Tewksbury has been the site of the State Almshouse.
Authorities: Coggin, Jacob, "Sermon", with historical appendix, at dedication of a new meeting-house in Tewksbury, 1824. Pride, E. W., "Tewksbury; a short history", 1888.
Tewksbury offers some fine specimens of old time New England architecture. At the centre village are the church and the village tavern. The church dates back to the year 1824. Originally it contained galleries on three sides, now reduced to one, and there were box pews against the walls, with pews in the centre nearer the shape of those now in use. In 1841 the church was transferred from the town to the present parish. Some improvements and radical alterations were made in this building after 1860, and a hall and vestry were added to it at a cost of six thousand dollars. The age of the village tavern has not been reported to us, but it is said to be an old structure. Among the characteristic old houses in this town are the Spaulding homestead, in excellent preservation, the residence of the first settled town minis- ter, located in the centre village, and built by him in 1738. The Coggin mansion, the home of the third minister of the church, is a house of large proportions common to the taste of the min- istry of a century or more ago. Other houses of common pattern, all of the two-story order, are the old Chapman house, the Jaques house, and the Bridges house, the last named at East Tewksbury. All of the latter group have been, with the exception of the Bridges house, sub- jected to some extent to modern alterations, especially by the addition of porches.
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CHURCH.TI
SPAULDING HOMESTEAD TEWKSBURY
HISTORIC HOMES AND PLACES.
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ACTON
Acton was incorporated as a town on July 21, 1735. Its territory was originally a part of Concord. In 1780 Acton lost a part of its area to help form the new town of Carlisle, but from 1754 to 1780 the township of Acton was larger in territory than its parent town of Con- cord, but not its equal in population or in wealth. Acton's territory was not at first a part of the original territory of Concord, but was added to Concord a few years after by the name of "Concord Village." The settlement of the tract began as early as 1656, when by order of the General Court it was laid out. Captain Thomas Wheeler, who died in 1676, of wounds received in battle with the Indians at Brookfield, when he was in command of the English forces there engaged, built the first house.
Isaac Davis House, West Acton
Alarm. Stone. East Acton
Old Lane in Acton, through which the Acton Company marched. on their way to Concord
Isaac Davis Monument, Acton
The act of incorporation recites that the inhabitants and proprietors of the northwesterly part of Concord, called the Village, or New Grant, have represented to the court that they "la- bor under great difficulties by reason of their remoteness from the place of public worship," and that for this they desire that they and their estates be set off as a distinct town. The name of Acton was given, it is supposed, from Lord Acton of England. The meeting-house was slow in completion, but no other public building in the town existed so long as this. It was used for public purposes from 1737 until 1808, and then was torn down shortly after.
Acton is famous for the part her men took in the fight at Concord Bridge on the morning of April 19, 1775. To those who fell a monument was erected at Acton on the Common by the town and state in 1851. As the unit of leadership in the town military company was the cap- tain, so in ecclesiastical affairs the unit of leadership was the town minister. It was he who was expected to influence for good the temporal as well as the spiritual affairs of the parish, and in the days when the town supported the minister the common testimony was that the whole town's people were supposed to be present at the Sabbath services, which had an inter-
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