USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Watertown > Historical sketches of Watertown, Massachusetts > Part 14
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Elder How, by his will June 3, 1644. conveys to his heirs " the wears with all their privileges thereto belonging," which continued in the possession of his sons in law, Nathaniel Treadway and John Stone for many years.
Treadway, with Sufferanna ( How), conveyed one- half interest, May 30, 1662, to Nathaniel Coolidge, Sr., and Stone the other half, May 25, 1663.
At a town-meeting held April 12, 1671, " Upon consideration that the Indians being like to buy the privilege of the wears and fishing at the river, which the town apprehended will be much to the damage of the town, they (the Indians) being like to be bad neighbors, the town voted, all, as one man, that they were altogether against their having the wears, or that they should set down so near the town." It was voted to purchase the same for the town's use, and a committee chosen to negotiate with the owner, Na- thaniel Cooledge, Sr.
Since this period the wears have been the town property, and rented every season for the highest price to be obtained as regulated by law.
In 1738 complaints were made to the Gereral Court by the people of Newton, Needham, Weston. Medfield, Sherburne and the Indians at Natick against the inhabitants of Watertown for stopping the course of the fish in Charles River.
In 1745 an act was passed making it an offence to raise the dam of the mill between the breaking up of the ice in winter and the 1st of May so as to prevent the fish from passing over, with a penalty of £5 for each offence.
In 1798 an act was passed authorizing the in- habitants of Watertown, Weston and Waltham to reg. ulate the fishing within the said towns, the proceeds to be divided among said towns as each paid towards the expenses of maintaining the Watertown bridge.
Weston and Waltham becoming in later years freed from this charge, lost all rights under the law.
In 1805 an act was passed authorizing Newton to regulate the fishing within its town limits.
In 1815 and 1856 acts were passed constituting Brighton and Watertown one fishery, and regulating
by the numerous factories established along the banks of the river. Possibly it may be re-established as soon as the projected sewer system shall become in use and the stream of water again fresh and pure.
Mayhew sold the Oldham farm, March 18, 1647-48, to Nicholas Davidson, Charlestown, attorney of Re- becca Cradock, alias Glover, with the mortgage can- celed for 1000 acres in Martha's Vineyard. Soon after it was seized on execution granted to Richard Dum- mer against Mayhew, and on March 21, 1648-49, it was appraised at £70. It is sometimes called the "Dummer farm" in the early records, but is not
March 2, 1643-44, Dudiey sold to Edward How for £59 10s. 2d. all right and income to the wears in Watertown, except £22 15s. 2d. dne from Stearnes | that tract on the south side generally known as and Lockwood.
such.
Possibly this Dummer claim arose from this trans- action : " Tho. Mayhewe of Watertown Marcht granted to Rich. Dummer Newberry Gent'l. and his heires (in consideration of fower hundred pou (nds) in hand payed!) his farme in Watertown, weh he bought of Sim (on) Broadstreet Gent'l. containing five hundred ac. And all the Weire and one hundred and forty ac. of land thereto belonginge wth certaine provisones by way of mortgage in the same expressed, and this was by indenture dated the 29th of the 7th (Sep- tember) 1640."
Mayhew mortgaged to Dummer in 1640 the parcel he had sold to Bradstreet in 1638, unless he only intended to mortgage the farm to secure the payment for the six cows, while Bradstreet treated it as a valid sale. When Bradstreet sold it to Jackson in 1646, he gave a "warranty and hond of £2 to secure it from any claim, either against himself or Thomas Mayhew."
The Court of Assistants made Bradstreet a special grant of 500 acres of land on the south side of Charles River, condition that "he was to take no part of it within a mile of Watertown wear, in case the bounds of Watertown shall extend so far on that side of the river," which gave him a confirmance of title.
Through this territory were laid out two roads,- one designated the "Country or County road"-con- structed in 1635-37, the present Galen Street, and the great thoroughfare from Boston over Boston Neck, Roxbury, Brookline, New Cambridge (Newton) and over the Mill Bridge through Watertown to Waltham and Weston, and by this road Roxbury people went to the Watertown grist-mill. This was the only road leading to the west until the Worcester turnpike was built. It was probably laid out by or through the wear lands, under the town votes of September 14, 1635: " Agreed that John Warren and Abraham Browne shall lay out all the highways and to see that they be sufficiently repaired," and that of 1637: "Ordered, that there shall be eight days appointed for every year for the repairing the highways; and every man that is a soldier or watchman to come at his appointed I time with wheelbarrow, mattock, spade or shovel, and
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
for default hereof to pay for every day 53. to the town, and a cart for every day to pay 198."
The other highway was laid out in 1725-26 and forms the present Watertown Street, it having orig- inally commenced at the corner of the present Cali- fornia Street and Fifth Avenue. Through this terri- tory, from its sources near Newtown Centre, runs "Cold Spring " Brook, in early history called " Smelt Brook," by reason of the fish of that name that used to pass ap the water, which flows through Boyd's and Cook's Ponds into the Charles River.
Presentment was made against the town in 1695 and 1705 for want of a bridge over Smelt Brook. In behalf of the town in 1705 Jonas Bond, Esq., (known as the "marrying squire") answered it was a shallow place, and a good bottom, and needed not a bridge. The Court ordered that the said way be forthwith | on the south side of Charles river, probably situated" mended on pain of paying £5. not far from the present Watertown Street.
In 1632 Newtown (Cambridge) had granted to Thomas Shepard, late pastor, 300 acres of land be- yond Watertown mill, adjoining that which was Thomas Mayhew's, also 200 acres more' near Samuel Shepard's farm.
The Rev. Mr. Shepard died in 1649 and this land passed to Richard Park, although there is no record of such transfer. Some authorities state that a small part of the northrasterly portion of this tract along the Charles river or weir lands was in Watertown. Excepting this small portion the residue of the terri- tory of the south side came into the possession of Richard Dummer as has been shown, which was con- firmed by a grant from the General Court.
Richard Dummer sold to William Clements of Cambridge for €60. twenty-five acres bounded souther- ly by the highway from Watertown to Roxbury, (pres- ent Washington street, Newton), - northeasterly on Charles river, and partly in Watertown and partly in Newton. Clements sold the same to Daniel Bacon of Bridgewater, tailor, for £60 in 1669. Daniel's sons, Isaac and Jacob, settled on this tract, Isaac having in 1681, bought five and one-half aeres from his brother Daniel of Salem. Jacob's house was sit- uated on the present Galen Street, probably on the site of the hill; while Isaac's house was located far- ther towards Newton, probably near Williams Street. Isaac's part subsequently was conveyed to Oaks An- gier, who kept a tavern on the site where the Nonan- tum house now stands. March 13, 1692-93 Jacob sold seven acres for £39 to John Barton, and John Barton. Jr. and James, sold their interest in 1742, to Jonas Coolidge, of Newtown, a house-carpenter.
In 1672, Jeremiah Dummer, son of Richard (?) of Boston, sold to Gregory Cooke, shoemaker, Cam- bridge, 112 acres lying partly in Cambridge (Angier's corner, Newton) and partly in Watertown, with house and barn thereon, for £145; bounded on the east hy the highway, north by the Charles river, south by Edward Jackson and Daniel Bacon, and west by Thomas Park's land, and this included the
weir lands. The old Gregory Cooke mansion stood on the southerly side of the site of Mr. Henry Full- er's house in Newton.
Abraham Williams of Watertown, freeman in 1652, purchased in 1654 a house and six acres of John C'allon or Callow, and married Joanna Ward about 1660, and in 1662 purchased a house from Wm. Clements situated on the Country Road, (Galen Street) southerly from Gregory Cooke's farm. The present Williams Street leading from Galen, was named from him, as he dwelt near it on the west side of the main-road. James Barton, a rope-maker, in Boston, of large means, in 1688 bought 103 acres in Newton, a portion of which bounded on the May- hew farm. He bought other lands extending over the Watertown line, and erected his dwelling-house
He and his wife Margaret were buried in Newton. His daughter Ruth married John Cooke, the grandson of Gregory. His son John sold the homestead to Daniel Cooke.
Gregory Cooke died in 1690-91 and his only son Stephen administered upon his estate, appraised April 7, 1691, at £191.118. His second wife, the widow Susanna Goodwin, married September 15, 1691, Henry Spring, who died 1695. He was from 1680 to 1695 the town "prizer " of Watertown.
Stephen Cooke was born 1647, married November 19, 1679, Rebecca, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Flagg of Watertown ; admitted into full communion in Mr. Bailey's church March 4, 1687-88, and possibly chosen deacon June 30, 1697 ; died in Newton, 1738, aged ninety-one. He built a grist-mill on his land near Smelt Brook, which he conveyed to his son Stephen in 1733.
Stephen Cooke's large estate came into the posses- sion of his grandsons, Stephen and Daniel.
Daniel, who married in 1722, for his second wife Mary, the daughter of Abraham and Elizabeth (Bis- coe) Jackson, died in 1754, his three children having died before him. In 1735 his father deeded to him the homestead, probably the house being the one occupied by Gregory, his grandfather. Daniel left his large estate to his nephew, Captain Phineas, the son of his brother Samuel, of Windham, Connecticut.
Captain Phineas built in 1760 the house at present standing on the corner of Centre and Pearl Streets, over the Newton line. He married in 1759, Abigail Durant, by whom he had seven children, and died in 1784. One daughter, Mary, married Captain John Fowle, and another, Sukey, the youngest, married Dr. Walter Hunnewell.
Stephen, the brother of Daniel, had an interest in the mill on the north side of the river, which he sub- sequently sold. He received the mill built by his grandfather on the Cooke lands, and on September 1, 1749, he deeded it to his son John, with forty acres, with dwelling-house, barn, mill-house and corn-mill.
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WATERTOWN.
This tract was bounded easterly by County Read, or road to Boston, Galen Street, seventy-seven rods, and Southerly by Daniel Cooke's land.
January 10, 1782 John conveyed to his son John ninety feet of land on the Boston Road, bounded southerly by Daniel Cooke's.
Stephen's house remains standing on California Street. Close by it is that of John, the latter being a frame building with brick sides. John's son's house was a small red house on Galen Street, removed to the rear of the present frame block. A greater portion of the Cooke estate still remains in the possession of the family.
In a chamber in the John Cooke house, Paul Re- vere engraved the plates, and assisted by John Cooke, struck off Colony notes, ordered by the Provincial Congress.
It is stated that Benjamin Edes first stopped at this house when he escaped from Boston with his printing press, and that the first number of " The Boston Ga- zette and Country Journal" was issued from here, be- fore be established himself near the Great Bridge. While others dispute this fact, yet like the would-be president in 1884, the south side " claim everything."
On the easterly side of Galen Street, near the Bridge, stands what has long been known as the "Coolidge taveru," built in 1740-42 by William Williams, a ship builder.
Stephen Cooke claimed all the land upon the river in the town as being within limits of the weir lands and as he had an undisputed title to all land westerly of the Bridge, he purchased in March, 1722-23, from John Phillips, a grandson of the first minister, for £60, three acres by estimation (of the old grant) to strengthen his title. The land is described as within the bounds and limits of the "Township of Cam bridge."
James Barton in March, 1727, had sold to William Williams in Newton a "house-right," for £440, twelve acres of land near the Great Bridge. Its boundary line on the west and north-west was the county road.
In 1728 Stephen Cooke sold to William Williams, described as of Newton, for £16 15 s. twenty-six rods of land on the southerly side of the Charles River, bounded northerly and easterly by the county road, and westerly by the town land now laid out for a road.
The old road referred to began at the south side of the bridge at a point about opposite to the square on the north side of the river, the present Beacon square, from which the present Riverside place commences, and ran in a southwesterly direction through the present Water Street into the present Galen Street, and possibly a little southwesterly before entering the country road.
In 1742 William Williams sold his mansion house and barn with seven acres to Ebenezer Thornton of Watertown, a ship builder, who was living on
the premises. Mention is made of the "Ancient Country road running from said river between the aforesaid mansion house and said barn, across and aslant near the north-west corner of the prem- ises into the new country road to be excepted and reserved out of this deed for said Town's use." Men- tion is made of a wharf twenty-feet square and a gang- way leading thereto. The gangway is the present Water Street, and the wharf adjoining the line of H. Barker & Co.'s starch factory at the foot of old Fac- tory Lane (Water Street) by an old elm tree, was owned by Samuel Hunt, a trader of Watertown. He had purchased the same in 1739 of Thornton and Williams with four acres of land for £400. In the deed he is described as a ship-builder of Boston.
Ebenezer Thornton, a trader in Boston, in 1738 re- moved to Watertown and engaged in the business ot procuring timber for house and ship-building. The south side and adjacent territory being heavily tim- bered offered him ample opportunity for carrying on the business. Moreover, it was considered safer than Boston which was poorly protected from a sudden at- tack by an enemy.
In April, 1716, he purchased " a mill-stream, dams, etc." in Dunstable, near the New Hampshire line, and he had valuable timber interests in Dracut on the Merrimac River. The town of Boston, March 8, 1734, voted to erect fortifications within its limits and Ebenezer Thornton with Elisha Cooke, Esq., Edward Hutchinson, Edward Winslow and others were chos- en a committee under this vote. They erected the fortification at "North Battery Wharf," and "Fort Hill."
He married in 1721 Elizabeth Gilbert, the daughter of Capt. Thomas, a famed shipmaster and navigator of Boston, and son of Jonathan Gilbert, of Connecti- cut, (an ancestor of mine) who was Colony Marshal from 1636 until 1676-77. She died in Watertown, June 10, 1740, aged 38 years, 4 months, 3 days. After her death he married the widow of Matthias Cussens.
Possibly Thornton and Williams were engaged for a short time in the business of procuring lumber for household and shipping purposes, though he had removed to Mansfield, Conn., when he sold to Thornton.
In 1740 Richard King had settled in Watertown, and in 1742 Thornton sold him a piece of land on which he erected a shop and engaged in the same business with Thornton. In 1745 Gov. Shirley ap- pointed him a commissary of the troops destined for Annapolis Royal. October, 1746, he mortgaged his shop and lot to Jonas Coolidge " for surety in cen- sideration the within named Jonas was my surety for money due to the Govt. when I went on the serv- ice to Annapolis Royal." February 16, 1740, he petitioned the selectmen for leave to erect a sawpit or scaffold at the south end of the Bridge, which was denied. In 1746 he removed to Scarboro', Maine, engaged in trade, became a large exporter of lumber,
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
and the wealthiest mon in town. His son, Rufus, who died in 1829, $
and William, w General King, one time one o States.
the celebrated jurist, 2, aged 84, known as ernor of Maine, and at > owners in the United
building to a limited int, and that the old pose, and probably
while Coolidge's wharf. daughter, Elizabeth, d Jonas Coolidge, the .3. Ebenezer sold liim this f land for £300 in August of nioiety in the dwelling-house, land to his nephew Nathaniel
pos " and placed under guard- ·rtition of their interests was ich Nathaniel obtained the northerly part of the home lot and dwelling-house and subsequently control of the remaining half.
Jonas Coolidge died in the spring of 1767.
Jonas Coolidge's elder brother Samuel, known as "Sam, the schoolmaster," a graduate of Harvard in 1724, was appointed town school-master in 1725. He was librarian of Harvard College 1734-35. Also chap- lain for a short time on Castle Island. He became intemperate and mentally deranged. Ile was accus- tomed to wander from home as a vagrant, sleeping in barns and out of doors, and the selectmen were con- tinually in trouble about him by complaints coming from the selectmen of Roxbury, then from Charlestown, then Dorchester, to be repeated continually. Nov. 4, 1743, Thanksgiving day, a collection was taken during church service to be laid out in clothing for him.
In 1751 he was again appointed school-master, but soon wandered off according to his custom. "At a meeting of the seleetmen at Mr. Jonathan Bemis', on the 4th of December, 1752, Mr. Samuel Coolidge was present, and the selectmen gave him a thorough talk relating to his past conduct, and what he might ex- pect if he did not behave well in the future they declared unto him that they put him into the school again for trial, and if he behaved well he should not be wronged, and that ' e was to begin the school the 11th day of this December. Mr. Coolidge complained that he wanted a winter coat; desired Mr. Bemis to get him a bear skin coat, and get Mr. Meed to make it, and to give the selectmen an account thereof."
The demented man when walking along the way was continually muttering and talking to himself in Latin, and onee passing an apothecary shop, drenched by a pouring rain, was addressed by some one from within in these words: "Domine Coolidgel pluit tantum nescio quantum. seisne tu "? (Master Coolidge, it has rained very hard, I don't know how hard, do you know ?) Quiek as a flash the angry man seized a stone, sent it crash-
ing through the window, breaking glass and show bot- tles, and said : " Fregi tot nescio quot, seisne tu"? (I have broken a great many things, I don't know how many, do you ?)
Ile died January, 1767, aged sixty-three years, and was buried at the town charge.
Nathaniel Coolidge, Jr., kept a tavern, here as a licensed inn-holder from 1764 to 1770 when he died, and was succeeded by his widow, Dorothy (Whitney).
By the town records, it appears that the widow Ruth Child, daughter of Caleb Church the miller, was licensed as an inn-holder in 1717-18 near the bridge on the south side of the river, but where, can- not be located ; possibly on or near this spot.
While there had been for some years a great deal of commercial life in Watertown, still in the early part of the Revolutionary war it was a very important and busy town, for within its limits the Provincial Congress and the "Committee of Safety " were hold- ing continual sessions. The town was crowded with temporary residents and tradesmen from Boston, who were often entertained by private hospitality. The public schools were closed as the buildings were used for armories and the streets daily resounded with the noise of fite and drum and marching men.
This tavern known as "The Sign of Mr. Wilkes near Nonantum Bridge," was a popular resort for gatherings, for town and social meetings were often held within its doors. In the winter of 1775, the Massachusetts House of Representatives held a ses- sion in it while workmen were engaged in putting up stoves in the meeting house. Here, in 1775, it was agreed, was to be the rendezvous for the " Committee of Safety " in the case of danger. On its northerly side along the river, was the road leading from the ferry that for many years was used between the north and south shores.
In front of the tavern door once stood a post upon which was a swinging decorated sign board upon which was the portrait of King George III., wbere it hung until the news of the Declaration of Independ- enee was received, when it was taken down and after- wards raised to its former position with the portrait of George Washington upon it.
Here during the war, many distinguished persons in the colonies, as well as officers in the American and British armies, were entertained. The bar-room was the middle room, facing Galen street, and British officers stifled their shame at the continued American success in steaming hot flip, for which they paid in gold, which the government compelled Madam Cool- idge, much to her disgust, to exchange for colonial currency.
The seleetmen paid "widow Dorothy Coolidge for Rum, the 19th day of April, for the men in the Lex- ington battle, 128. 8d.," the town records mention.
The Rev. J. F. Lovering in his centennial oration, delivered July 4, 1876, stated that "General Wash- ington stopped here on his way to take command of
-
There is n. extent was car bridge slip w Hur Ebenezer '1. born March 4, house carpenter, 1 house with three . that year. Jonas se and about five aere Coolidge, Jun., in
Becoming “ non ianship, in 1764 : legally made, by
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WATERTOWN.
the army at Cambridge, July 2d, 1775 aud ate break- fast, Mrs. Coolidge making for him journey-cake, i. e., Johnny-cake." While Leathe's version is, that on Sunday, July 2d, at 12 o'clock the Commander-in- Chief with General Lee arrived and reached the meet- ing-house where after divine service, Congress assem- bled to receive him. He dismounted and was pre- sented at the door of the broad aisle with an address by the Speaker, James Warren. After an hour and a | bandages, saying " That the pod half spent he proceeded to Cambridge where hearrived at 2 o'clock. On the next day under the elm tree near the Common he formally took command of the American army.
On December 11th, at noon Mrs. Washington attend- ed by her son John Custis and wife reached Water- town in her own carriage drawn by four horses, colored postillions in scarlet and white liveries, military escort and a guard of honor. Two hours were spent at the Fowle house as the guest of Mrs. Warren, and the party arrived in Cambridge at 3 o'clock.
During the winter season, dinner and evening part- . charmed him with her handsomer ce and maidenly ies were given in town, which were attended by the : ways, for in 1789, after supper, he mounted his horse, General and Mrs. Washington, and probably the town ' galloped across the bridge into the square, where
has never witnessed such social gaiety since that time.
October 17, 1789, President Washington again vis- ited Watertown on his way to Boston, and was re- ceived with great enthusiasm, the ringing of the John Hunt was a distiller having his still next to the wharf of Samuel Hunt, with a store, and did a meeting-house bell and royal salutes, quite in contrast to his first reception, when powder and shot were too successful business. He had a stone wharf further to the east upon the river, not far from the bounds of taken April 19, 1775 ; rode quietly without escort to scarce and valuable to be thus used. On his return, November 5, he came from Lexington to Water- . Newton. In 1768 he sold his homestead and distil- town over the same road that the minute men had lery to his eldest son Samuel.
The Hunt property finally came into the possession the Coolidge tavern for supper and rest. He took ; of Nathaniel R. Whitney, Jr., and was the birth-place supper in the public dining-room which extended the ' of Miss Annie Whitney, the sculptress ; of Mr. Ed- ward Whitney, who has done so much for the Public Library of Watertown. and the Society of the First
entire length of the south end of the house. At the table he was served by attendants who wore white dresses and neat checked aprons. He lodged in the Parish, although he found himself in Belmont after northwest chamber next to the river.
This property latterly came into the possession of the late Mr. John Brigham, who lived here while he had a lumber yard near by along the river.
Across the lane, the present Water street, was situ- Court. A few years ago the property was purchased ated the house of Samuel Sanger, then Daniel, later . by the late Mr. F. E. Howard : nd the building re- moved to Water Street, where it is now devoted to tenants of a humbler class.
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