USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sherborn > Historical sketches of the town of Sherborn : in Massachusetts > Part 4
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So much for Mount Waite and now a word about Galim Bullard and the set- ting up of his W. stone. The W. stone probably marks the boundary of the Waite Grant, also the 1700 dividing line between Sherborn and Framingham. The stone, bearing Bullard's name, was erected in May 1822. Perhaps Galim planned dif- ferently; if so the celebration got out of hand. Tradition says the celebration set up a hogshead of New England rum and many barrels of hard cider. In that day good rum cost twenty-five cents a gallon. Briefly, the festivities became Bacchanalian. The women and children took to the woods, sundry citizens were ducked in the horse trough on the Pratt-Hunt place, and merriment (if it can be called such) lasted all day or until the hogsheads were empty. These actions strengthened the temperance movement just then at its beginning in town, and added members.
From the Bennett-Bullard house (which by the way was restored most ar- tistically by Mr. and Mrs. Tuckerman, parents of Mrs. James Leland), we short-cut on Curve Street and cross the R. R. bridge on Whitney Street and here find another picturesque little house. This is known today as the Red Inn, and was built into the south side of the hill. Original part is probably that nearest the road. It was probably built for a joint shop-and-home and must at least go back into the Revolutionary period.
We go back to Western Avenue and turn down Maple Street. Dr. Romano's farmhouse was a Whitney house about 1800. Sam Carter's was built by Brick on his returnfrom the War of 1776, and for many years was the Cushing home- stead. The George Carter place was the Eleazer Leland place and probably built by his father. On this farm to the north of the house are great ledges spoken of in old deeds as Rattlesnake Castle.
Back to the Avenue. The Brown house is probably 18th century. The house beyond, recently occupied by Mr. Walter Wood, was a Leland place (Micah) and was one of the houses built by Captain Mann in the 1820's. The Poole house on the west corner of the Avenue, and on Washington Street, is of about the same era.
Crossing Washington Street on the right, still on Western Avenue, the first house on the right, the Jones Leland, now Thornton, was built about or be- fore 1800. On the old road to Holliston, near the end of Western Avenue, is the old Gardner place, now the home of Mr. Ward Parks. This house was built by the first Gardner, Addington by name, a family of distinction and, as the house shows, a family of means. It was built in the early 1730's as he came to Sher- born in 1730 and his first child was bornin 1741 in Boston. Notwithstanding this,
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the house was probably built, as previously stated, in the 1730's. Captain Aaron inherited the homestead. His son Horatio, who married Patty Ware, lived here, and also later, his son Horatio, whom many remember.
Let's tell a little story here. The Gardners were very proud of their an- cestry. So, too, were the Sherborn Adamses. Once, so it is related, Captain Bowen Adams, who built and lived in what is now the Driscoll house, met Hora- tio Gardner in the center store. Captain Adams never failed to laud his ances- tors and bragged that the first Adams was the husband of Eve and said, "How about that, Gardner ?" Horatio replied, "Don't doubt it; you see that Adam was also the first Gardner !"
In writing of the old houses still standing, most of the ground has been covered, but there remain a few that should be mentioned.
First, is what the present generation knows as the Ted Bothfeld house and farm. This place was a part of the Leland holdings, the middle section, and fell to Hopestill, whose son Daniel, born 1704, inherited it. Daniel married Martha Death. He had eight children; the seventh and eighth were twins, Moses and Aaron, born 1751. The farm, at their father's death was divided between them. Aaron took the west half and Moses the east, which is the Bothfeld place. Aaron built where a cellar hole now is somewhat northwest. This house was burned in the 19th century. It is probable Moses also built, and this is the house still standing. His first child, Eli, was born in 1775, which I feel places the date of this house as about or before that date. Moses' son Daniel, inherited it and it passed down to his son Frederick, thence it was bought by Augustus Dearth. It is of interest to note that both Frederick and his brother Augustus were both decidedly musical and each had a grandson who became well-known organists. Frederick's grandson was Whiting, a renowned Boston organist and teacher, while Augustus' grandson was Major Will Taber, who was organist in many well-known churches both in this country and in the Sandwich Islands and Manila.
On Nason Hill Road, setting well back from the highway is what we know as the Ira Ward place, now Strange. This was originally a part of the Hill hold- ings, and the road is named for James Nason Hill, born 1812, son of James born 1768, who bought this place of Jonas Fisk. But Jonas Fisk had it of his wife, who was Mary Hill. Jonas' brother John settled here. He married Sarah Hill and his oldest child Abigail was born in 1766. Another daughter, Sarah, mar- ried Dr. Wyeth. We can safely set down the fact this old house is pre-revolution- ary and probably dates to 1765.
Another pre-revolutionary house, facing south on what is now known as Farm Road (originally - Road to the Farm and then Trinity Street), is the Peck- ham place. This was originally part of the Morse holdings and may have been built by one of them.
It was previously stated that the second church edifice was sawed in two, the west half moved forward and a new piece (about 20 feet) set in to join the original parts. This work was done by Joseph Bacon whose home, at that time, was the Peckham house, and his first child was Charlotte, born 1769. (Her little pewter porringer, marked C. B., still is preserved in town. ) The house may be older than this, and if Morse built it, it was, but Bacon was a builder.
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Later the place passed to Ezra or Joseph Holbrook, and then to the late Captain Jacob Pratt. Much could be said of him, for he was a natural landscape archi- tect. Before leaving this interesting place, let us put in here that a few rods beyond Peckham's to the east, a bar way leads into what was one of the first roads in town, the way from the Woods-Ware-Goulding farm to the meeting house. It starts at Peckham's where it meets the "Road to the Farm" and wan- ders southeast and comes out at the corner near Forest and Goulding Streets.
On Maple Street, Edward Newman's house is old. It was the ell on the old Porter-Locke house that stood on the site of the present Babson place. Mr. Locke evidently built it to accommodate some of his students at his classical school. When Colonel Galvin Sanger built the present house in 1819, he probably considered the ell as too good to raze; also, his large family found living quar- ters here during the new construction. So, it was attached to and became part of the new house. When the place passed out of the hands of the Sanger family and was purchased by Mr. Abijah Leland, he found the house altogether too large for his needs, so he moved both the south and north ells, taking away some ten or twelve rooms. The south ell was moved toits present site, and purchased by Maurice Slattery, while the north ell which had been a part of the service wing (laundry, etc. ) was moved to Zion's Lane to land belonging to the Sanger farm. This is now Miss Farrar's home.
As Mr. Locke came back to Sherborn from Harvard College about 1773 and founded his school, it is probable this ell was built shortly after. His wid- ow died in 1788, so the house must have been built before that date. Mrs. Gal- vin Sanger used it for her home during widowhood and it became what in some New England communities was called the "dowager's ell". Mrs. Sanger, or as she desired to be known, "Mrs. Colonel", was a Phipps and aunt of Mrs. Joseph Sanger. Joseph Sanger was the Colonel's brother.
Of "Mrs. Colonel" it may be said, she was one of the most independent ladies who ever lived in town; the second such was Mrs. Major Goulding who was Betsy Bigelow, one of the "black" Bigelows, as some of her descendants have called her. She was the oldest sister of the late Amos Bigelow, who lived to be almost one hundred years old. I consider he was the best representative of a Puritan I can remember.
These little episodes of "Mrs. Colonel" are characteristic. When she moved out of the house into the ell, the tall hall clock was too high for the low ceilings in the ell. She moved the clock and set it up, but had a carpenter saw off enough of the base so the clock would fit the low ceiling. When the house was being built in 1819, Captain Mann, the builder, explained to her that there was no way to get from the front to the back of the house upstairs. She tersely told him, "I'll have a way tomorrow morning. " She did. So came into exist- ence the sliding, many panelled door, half way up the stairs. This door was a beautiful piece of work, showing the workmanship of Captain Mann, and is cer- tainly a pleasant architectural feature. It was also Capt. Mann's boast that "You can fill the wainscoted southeast room on the ground floor with water up to the window sash and I'll guarantee it won't leak a drop. " And I think he was right. This room was the old "Picture Parlor". Colonel Sanger imported the Dufour wallpaper from Paris. It was a sepia scenic paper of the Bay of Naples, and in my time carefully preserved and perfect.
It may be of interest here to mention the houses built by Captain Ebenezer
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Mann: In 1819, the Col. Sanger house. The Joseph Sanger house (site of the library), in 1820. (The first Post Office was kept in this house by Miss Maria Sanger, later Mrs. Oliver Everett. ) The Jonas Greenwood house (now Lyman's), 1821-2. It is said the finest woodwork of Captain Mann went into this house; that two of the mantlepieces took two men two weeks to build. The house on Western Avenue, lately owned and occupied by Mr. Walter Wood and built for Micah Leland by Captain Mann about 1824. It was a hipped-roof house origi- nally. About 1825, the Eleazer Goulding house, also on Western Avenue; after- wards, the French house.
Certainly these houses are a monument to Captain Mann's ability as a builder. Following Capt. Mann as a builder was Captain Bowen Adams, who built for himself, about 1815, the present Driscoll house, next to the Pilgrim Church. Captain Adams also built Unity Hall for a straw shopfor Mr. Bickford. Also, in 1833, he built the house, now the Homer house, for Dr. Oliver Everett.
The Stockton house, at the top of the hill on Washington Street was prob- ably built by Jonas Greenwood, father of Jonas, who built the Lyman house. This Jonas was born in 1727. The Greenwood family owned most of the land from the present Flagg place to and beyond the Lyman place - save the two Sang- er houses between. The Grout place was originally Greenwood. Jonas' (Sr. ) first child was born in 1755. It is a safe bet that the Stockton house was built prior to the Revolution, because the original Greenwood place was sold to the Grouts about 1760-65, and the Greenwoods moved to the top of the hill on their own land.
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CEMETERIES
As to the old Cemetery, the present site of the Soldier's Monument, in, and still on, Sanger land; originally the Parish Common went down and included this burying ground in reality the churchyard. It is the second oldest burial place in Sherborn. The first stands on the west bank of the Charles River, not far from Death's Bridge, and here are buried the first settlers, the oldest of whom was Hopestill Leland, born in the reign of Queen Elizabeth in 1580. Here, also, lie those who died in the epidemic known as the "Memorable Mortality" in Sherborn, the "Great Sickness" in Holliston, and later spoken of as the "Hollis- ton Plague" - for Holliston lost one eighth of her population by this sickness. This was in the 1750's.
The first person buried in the Central ground was interred in 1686, which places the date of origin, because it says on the stone, "The first grain sown in this granary". Originally, the ground was much larger stretching southward. As it was surrounded on three sides by Sanger land, Capt. Samuel asked the town to assume care of the land. This the town refused to do, so eventually Capt. Sanger laid the wall around the present bounds and took it for a family cemetery. Later, when Mr. Salisbury built his cider mill to the north, excava- tion for the cellar brought bones to light, that showed the burying ground was more than twice its present size. It is well to remember that one of the Salis- bury Mill buildings was originally built as a schoolhouse - a small, one story, hip-roofed building, perhaps thirty feet square. It was the Sherborn Academy, a private school owned by a group of citizens to provide a higher education. Also, in front of the mill was a small blacksmith shop owned by Elbridge Bick- ford.
The third old cemetery was the one at the Farm, practically a Morse fami- ly burial ground, and the first burial was about 1688.
The small monument on the north side of the Common was erected by the Leland Association in 1847, in memory of Sherborn's first settler, Henry Le- land. The head of the Association was a well-known Boston lawyer, Sherman Leland. The time was certainly right for the erection of such a tribute, for at least half the population of Sherborn and Holliston were directly descended from Henry Leland. This monument was unveiled in August, 1847.
The Association purchased of the Parish the spot of the ground upon which the monument rests. Since that time, many have felt the monument should have been dedicated to Hopestill Leland, Henry's father, who was really the first "Layland" to come to America. He was born in Yorkshire in 1580 - came to Weymouth, Mass., in 1624. Henry was his youngest child. One of his daught- ers was the wife of Thomas Holbrook, who, with Henry Leland and Nicholas Wood, made the triumvirate who settled Bogistow. Hopestill came to live with Henry and died here, and was buried in the old South Cemetery in 1665, aged 75. An interesting note about the name "Hopestill" - in colonial times, like the name "Waitstill", it was given to both boys and girls.
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A LITTLE ABOUT SOME OF OUR STREETS
What is the oldest street or road in Sherborn? It was the communicating way from the home of Nicholas Wood to the home of Thomas Holbrook, thence down Death's Hill to the river crossing.
It began at Sewell's Brook, near which Wood built his house, went west through Snow Street, turned south at Main, and followed on to the river.
Probably before any other roads existed, this first way extended east to the Morse place (now Saltonstall) - this was a Garrison House. A few years later, with the second influx of settlers who took up land on what is now Bullard Street, this original way was extended westward to and beyond the Medway line on Bogistow Brook.
So our original road before 1660 extended from Garrison House to Bullard's Fort, embracing parts of Lake Street, Forest Street, Snow Street, and Main Street to Death's Bridge and the whole of Bullard Street. In 1665, a way was cut to the old South Burial Ground where Hopestill Leland (born 1580 - died 1655) was the first person buried.
The first religious services in Sherborn were held in Captain Joseph Morse's house (now Johnson) who married Mehitable Wood, daughter of Nicholas, the first white child born in Sherborn. To this house from 1673 until after the first meeting house was built in 1680, came the Reverend John Eliot and others, a- mong whom was Gookin, the first minister. At that time Natick was the pres- ent South Natick, and these ministers probably walked to the Morse house along the river and what is now Clark Road to Lake, either skirting the pond by a path to what is now Forest Street or from Lake to Forest. Clark Road must be put down as possible second way in Sherborn.
Sometime (date unknown) between 1652 and 1676, Death's Bridge was built, probably by the Sherborn settlers and their relatives and friends in Medfield.
These early roads must have been simply passable ways, and it is very doubtful if any wheeled vehicle was owned by any of the settlers until quite a while after their advent in Sherborn, for Nicholas Wood's most elaborate will of 1669, makes no mention of any wheeled conveyance or even of a sledge or sleigh, unless the word "tackling" can be construed to include them. For his time, Wood was a wealthy man.
The third influx of settlers brought in families who settled elsewhere than South Sherborn. These people came from Watertown - Coolidges, Sangers, Whitneys, Kendalls, and others.
Eames was of this group, and settled in what is now South Framingham, but until 1701 was Sherborn. All these new people had to have ways to their houses, and so roads grew. After the church was built, there had to be a way to the Meeting House.
The Coolidges settled on the road to Eames, as did the Kendalls, the Sangers in the Center, the Whitneys on the Plain (now Paul property), the Perrys on what is now Prospect Street and atop of Brush Hill, Twitchells on Pleasant
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Street (1686), and Babcocks next door to them. South Maple Street came, and Western Avenue, "the way to the Sudbury River", and later, about 1822-5, "The Road to the West".
What is now Washington Street did not proceed to Holliston; our ances- tors shunned swamp and bog land in their road building, so the old original Hol- liston Road, now Greenwood, Ash and Hollis Streets, was the Holliston Road. The present road through the swampto Natick was not built until the 1850's, and Mr. George Hooker of Sherborn lost heavily when the swamp section of that road sank a few days before it was to have been accepted. The old road to Na- tick was Everett Street, for it had been the so-called Natick Road originally. (Eliot Street was built much later. )
Parts of our Main and Washington Streets were a portion of the old Hart- ford Pike that goes on through Milford, Uxbridge, Oxford, and on into Connecti- cut. They said the coach from Boston to Hartford went through town, but it is probable the route followed from South Natick was Clark Road, then Farm Road to Lake through what is now a wood road, and came out in what we call Lovers Lane by the Playground. Until quite recently the signboard at the parting of Main and Washington Streets gave the distance to Providence via Main and to Hartford via Washington Street. Green Lane and Brush Hill Road was once the direct route from Sherborn Center to Framingham - discontinued because of a "snowstorm lawsuit" by the Perrys against the town. Perry won.
When Lake Street was built it was known as the "New Road to Medfield". The oldest street retaining its original name is the "Road to the Farm", Farm Road. At one time, and for several years, it was known as Trinity Street, not an official title, but so known.
Dowse's Corner has been Dowse's Corner for over a century. The first Morse gave the name of the Farm to his holdings, and as this included most of the shore of the pond, it was known as Farm Pond.
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THE POUND
The late J. Francis Allison prepared and read before the Historical Soci- ety a most interesting and instructive paper on the town Pound. Mr. Allison went carefully over the town records from the earliest time and found fourteen separate references to "The Pound", the earliest being in 1694, just twenty years after the town's incorporation.
The establishment of a pound, as part of early government in the Colony, was inherited from the mother country, when the beginning of the custom of building of a pound is lost in the time before recorded history. It probably start- ed when the population ceased roving and set up hamlets, camps, and villages, and all these with the advent of the church became parishes.
It is evident that in 1694 the settlement was confronted with the fact that cattle, sheep, and hogs were running at large and crops suffered. Not only the animals of Sherborn settlers needed restraint, but people from other towns had evidently turned their stock loose to feed on the good pasturage found in Sher- born.
So, the town voted to erect a pound in 1694, and they built it on the Plain near the present entrance to Pine Hill Cemetery. This was a wooden structure, probably of logs. A Pound Keeper was elected in 1703; also, Field Drivers and a Hog Reeve, and prices set to be charged to owners of animals impounded be- fore the animals could be freed. They didn't seem to mind that hogs ran at large, provided they wore a yoke and ring. In parts of the South today, hogs are still allowed to run at large.
Several years later, a new pound, also of wood, was built on the same location, and evidently served its purpose well until 1750, when a vote was taken to build a new pound of stone on the Church Common. It was to be two rods wide (probably square), and the Great White Oak as its west corner. It seems to have always been the custom to build a pound so that the shade and shelters of some great tree offered reasonable protection to the impounded animals. One wonders what eventually became of the Great White Oak Tree on the Common. I have heard it said this tree was near the southwest corner, a reasonable dis- tance from the Meeting House. This was the second church edifice and stood west of the first church and the present, or third church.
Let us consider the Common as it was in 1770. There is a little doubt but what it was at that time a pretty rough pasture spot. The underlying edge came above the ground here and there. Some large trees still stood, like the Great White Oak. Of course, the church was on the highest point, the command- ing location. There was some sort of a cellar under the church because here for years the town's stock of gun powder was stored until the "Powder House" in the Bullard Pasture was erected.
Beside the west door of the church, and in full sight so that all might be- hold and profit by sight, were the town stocks. Evidently the stocks were suf- ficient, as no mention of a pillory is found in the town records.
The pound near the big tree was in the southwest corner. The school- house was in the southeast corner where Town Hall now stands. There were
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probably some horse sheds back of the church, and between the school and pound, but nearer the church, at least one and possibly two, "Noon Houses".
The pound was built about 1770 on the present site on Main Street. It was stone to six feet high.
The pound must have been still standing on the Common in 1830 because when the Church was divided, at that time, one-half of the pound on the Common was given to each parish.
In 1830 when the two Churches were built there must have been a thorough cleaning up of the Common, for the church records speak of many bills for la- bor and powder for blasting. At that date a man and yoke of cattle got $1.60 for ten hours' work. It is probable that the most of the stone blasted out was used to construct the retaining wall on Main Street. At this same time, cer- tain young men of the parish set out elm and ash trees - some of which, des- pite the lack of soil, still survive. I know the late Barak Leland pointed out to me one or two such trees, and the names of the planters.
Before closing, let me state that it was the ancient custom at March Meet- ing to elect as Hog Reeve a young man married within the year.
Also, as far as I can remember, the last animal impounded in Sherborn was Amos Bigelow's horse. This was a joke, but Amos waxed wroth in spite of his ninety odd years.
Gradually, individuals built sheds for their horses at the rear of the church so that within my remembrance there was a row of sheds from the stone steps that go down to Main Street on the north to the present location of the path, but now steps, to Unity Hall. One of these sheds became Town property and housed the hearse owned by the Town. A like group of sheds stood at the back and sides of Pilgrim Church.
It doesn't seem very long ago when the Pound Keeper and the Field Drivers were appointed by the Selectmen, even if the officers were unnecessary. Cus- toms die hard in New England.
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FUNERAL CUSTOMS
If you should follow the Depot Road to its end, then turn right beside the tracks for a short way, and if you look carefully, you would see a narrow lane between stone walls. This is the old Bullard Lane and goes on uphill westward toward Brush Hill. If you went up this lane to the pastures, and if you turned south and kept on, you would reach the site of the Town's old Powder House.
But, before you leave the lane, you would see near the south wall a slate . headstone. On it you would read the name of James Bullard and the date of his death, June 30, 1828, at which time he was 66 years old. At or near the spot James Bullard had died of a stroke of apoplexy, and his family later had erected this stone to mark the spot. In thus setting up the stone, an old New England custom was followed.
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