USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > History of Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1630-1877. With a genealogical register > Part 10
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" Thus far in answer to the petitioners' 2ª argument in gen- eral. We shall now make answer thereto more particularly.
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And here we must divide the petitioners into two sorts : 1. Those that were dwellers in the town before they went to in- habit on that side. 2. Another sort are those that came from other towns.
1. " Those that proceeded from the town, who knowing the straitness and want of accommodation to be had among their brethren there, and the lands on that side the water being then of small value, procured to themselves large and comfortable ac- commodation for a small matter. We have confidence that these dare not to say that their being in Cambridge hath been any charge or burden to them. They must and will own that God hath there greatly blessed them : that whereas we on the town side, of £1,000 that we or our parents brought to this place, and laid out in the town, for the purchasing at dear rates what we now enjoy, can not, divers of us, show £100, they may speak just contrary or in proportion. We could, if need were, in- stance some,* whose parents lived and died here, who, when they came to this town had no estate, and some were helped by the charity of the church, and others yet living that well know they may say truly, with good Jacob, - over this Jordan came I with this staff, - and so may they say, over this River went I, with this spade, hoe, or other tool, and now, through God's blessing, am greatly increased. Yet here we would not be understood to include every particular person ; for we acknowledge that Mr. Jackson brought a good estate to the town, as some others did, and hath not been wanting to the ministry or any good work among us ; and therefore we would not reflect upon him in the least.
"2. There are another sort of persons that did not proceed from the town, but came from other towns, where there had been much division and contention among them, who, though they knew the distance of the place from the public meeting- house, the dependency thereof on Cambridge, which they now call a great charge and burden, yet this they then did choose, and we are assured will own, generally at least, that they have there increased their estates far beyond what those of the town have or are capable to do. We might instance also in the In- ventories of some of them, whose purchase at the first cost them a very small matter, and their stock and household stuff we judge to be proportionable, and yet when they deceased, an in-
"* John Jackson's Invent., £1,230. Rich. Park's Invent., £972.
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.
ventory f amounting to more than 1,100 pounds is given into the Court ; and others that are yet living have advanced in some measure suitable. But poor Cambridge quickly felt the sad effect of their coming among us ; for though some of them came from their dwellings very near the meeting-houses in other towns, and these beforehand knew the distance of their now dwellings from Cambridge, yet this did not obstruct them in their settlement there ; but before they were well warm in their nests, they must divide from the town. And though such was the endeared love of our brethren and neighbors that went from us to this Church and the ministry thereof, that it was long be- fore they could get them (at least with any considerable unan- imity) to join with them, yet they would petition, some few of them in the name of the rest, to the honored General Court, for their release from the town. And when the Court, being tired out with their eager pursuit and more private fawnings and in- sinuations, granted them Committee upon Committee to hear and examine the ground of their so great complaints, at last all issued in a declaration of the unreasonableness of their desire with reference to the town and unseasonableness on their part, as may appear by the return of the Committee made to the Gen- eral Court, October 14, 1657, the Worshipful Richard Russell Esq., Major Lusher and Mr. Ephraim Child subscribing the same, and was accepted by the Court.
" Yet here they rested not; but in the year 1661 petitioned the Court, and then obtained freedom from rates to the ministry for all lands and estates more than four miles from Cambridge meeting-house ; and this being all that they desired, although we were not at that time advantaged with an opportunity to send any one to speak in the town's behalf, yet considering the impetuousness of their spirits, and their good words, pretending only the spiritual good of their families that could not travel (women and children) to the meeting-house at Cambridge, we rested therein, hoping now they would be at rest. But all this did not satisfy them ; but the very next year # they petition the Court again. And then as a full and final issue of all things in controversy between Cambridge town and the petitioners, there is another Committee appointed to come upon the place and de- termine the bounds or dividing line between the town and them ; the result whereof was such that, whereas their grant was for all the lands that were above four miles from the town, they now
"! Old Hammond's Invent., £1,139. "# Octob. '62.
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obtain the stating of a line that for the generalty is (by exact measure) tried and proved to be very little above three miles from Cambridge meeting-house. Yet did not Cambridge (thus pilled and bereaved of more than half the lands accommodable to their town at once) resist, or so much as complain, but rested therein,'- the Court having declared their pleasure and given them their sanction, that this, as abovesaid, should be a final issue of all things between the town and the petitioners.
" All this notwithstanding, these long-breathed petitioners, finding that they had such good success that they could never cast their lines into the sea but something was catched, they re- solve to bait their hook again ; and as they had been wont some of them for twenty years together to attend constantly the meet- ings of the town and selectmen, whilst there was any lands, wood, or timber, that they could get by begging, so now they pursue the Court for obtaining what they would from them, not sparing time or cost to insinuate their matters, with reproaches and clamors against poor Cambridge, and have the confidence in the year 1672 again to petition the Court for the same thing, and in the saine words that they now do, viz. 'that they may be a township of themselves, distinct from Cambridge'; and then the Court grants them further liberty than before they had, viz. to choose their own Constable and three selectmen amongst themselves, to order the prudential affairs of the inhabitants there, only continu- ing a part of Cambridge in paying Country and County rates, as also Town Rates so far as refers to the Grammar School, Bridge, and Deputy's charges, they to pay still their proportion with the town ; and this the Court declares, once more, to be a final issue of the controversy between Cambridge and them.
" Cambridge no sooner understands the pleasure of this hon- ored Court, but they quietly submitted thereunto ; and we hope our brethren neither can nor dare in the least to accuse us (first or last) of refusing to acquiesce in the Court's issue, al- though we may and must truly say we have been not a little grieved when by the more private intimations and reproachful backbitings of our neighbors, we have, in the minds and lips of those whom we honor and love, been rendered either too strait- laced to our own interest, or unequally-minded towards our brethren. And did not this honored Court, as well as we, con- clude that the petitioners, having exercised the patience of the Court by their so often petitioning, as well as giving trouble to the town by causing them to dance after their pipes, from time
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.
to time, for twenty-four years, as will appear by the Court Rec- ords, in which time they have petitioned the Court near if not altogether ten times, putting the town to great charges in meet- ing together to consider and provide their answers, and to ap- point men to attend the Court, and the Committees that have been from time to time appointed by the Court, as also the charges of entertaining them all, which hath been no small dis- turbance to their more necessary employments for their liveli- lood, and expense of their time and estates ; - yet all this not- withstanding, we are summoned now again to appear before this honored Court to answer their petition exhibited for the very same thing, nothing being added save only sundry falsehoods and clamorous accusations of us : § so that now it is not so much Cambridge as the arbitrary and irregular acting of them and their Townsmen that they plead to be delivered from, as being their bondage and burden.
" It now remains that we speak something as to the main of their petition, which they thus express, i. e., ' that we may be a township of ourselves, without any more dependence on Cam- bridge.' The reasons why we apprehend they may not have this their petition granted them may be taken from -
"I. The injustice of this their request, which may thus ap- pear: - 1. If it would be accounted injustice for any neighboring towns, or other persons, to endeavor the compassing so great a part or any part of our town limits from us, it is the same (and in some sense far worse) for those that belong to us so to do. This we conceive is plain from God's Word, that styles the child that robs his father to be the companion of a destroyer, or, as some render the word, a murderer ; although the child may plead interest in his father's estate, yet he is in God's account a mur- derer if he takes away that whereby his father's or mother's life should be preserved ; and this, we apprehend not to be far unlike the case now before this honored Court. 2. All practices of this nature are condemned by the light of nature, Judges xi. 24. They who had their grants from the heathen idolaters did not account it just that they should be dispossessed by others. And idolatrous Ahab, although he was a king, and a very wicked king also, and wanted not power to effect what he desired, and was so burdened for the want of Naboth's vineyard that he could neither eat nor sleep, and when denied by his own subject tendered a full price for the same, yet he had so much conscience left that he did
"§ A Machiavelian practice.
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not dare to seize the same presently, as the petitioners would so great a part of our possession as this is, were it in their power. 3. The liberty and property of a Colony, so likewise (in its de- gree) of a township, is far more to be insisted upon than the right of any particular person ; the concerns thereof being eminently far greater in all respects, both civil and ecclesiastical. 4. The General Court having forty-five years since (or more) made a grant of the land petitioned for to Cambridge town, the Court's grant to each town and person as his Majesty's royal charter is to this honored Assembly and the whole Colony, we have con- fidence that such is their wisdom and integrity that they will not deem it to be in their power * to take away from us, or any other town or person, any part of what they have so orderly granted and confirmed to them. 5. Had we no grant upon Record (which is indubitably clear that we have, none in the least questioning the same), yet by the law of possession it is ours, and may not, without violation of the law and faith of the honored Court be taken from us.
" II. Could the petitioners obtain what they ask, without crossing the law of justice, yet we apprehend it would be very unequal ; and that may thus appear : - Because Cambridge town is the womb out of which the petitioners have sprung, and there- fore ought, in the first place, to be provided for ; and the question in equity ought to be, not what do the petitioners crave, and might be convenient for them, but what may Cambridge spare ? Now that Cambridge can not spare what they desire we shall thus prove: - 1. From the situation of our town, being planted on a neck of land, hemmed about by neighboring towns, Watertown coming on the one side within half a mile of our meeting-house, and Charlestown as near on the other side ; so that our bounds is not much above a mile in breadth for near three miles together ; and, on the south side the River, the petitioners have gained their line (as we before related) to come very near within three miles of our meeting-house. 2. The most considerable part of the best and most accommodable lands of these near lands to the town are belonging to Mr. Pelham and others that live not in the town ; so that the far greater number of those that live in the town are put to hire grass for their cattle to feed upon in the summer time, which costs them the least twelve shillings and some
"* It was no dishonor to Paul, that had
power of God Himself, that He is a God all church power, that he could do nothing that cannot lie. against the truth ; nor diminutive to the
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fifteen shillings a head in money, for one cow, the summer feed ; and corn-land they have not sufficient to find the town with bread. 3. Cambridge is not a town of trade or merchandize, as the sea- port towns be ; but what they do must be in a way of husbandry, although upon never so hard terms, they having no other way for a supply. 4. By the same reason that the petitioners plead im- munity and freedom, our neighbors that live far nearer to Con- cord than to us may plead the like, and with far greater reason ; and should they have a township granted them also, there would be nothing left for Cambridge, no, not so much commonage as to feed a small flock of sheep.
" That our town is thus situated, narrow and long on each wing, Watertown and Charlestown nipping ns up close on each side, there needs no proof; it is sufficiently known to sundry of the members of this honored Court. And that we are in other respects circumstanced as we have related, so as that we must be 110 town nor have no church of Christ nor ministry among us, in case we be clipped and mangled as the petitioners would have, we conceive there needs not further evidence than our testimony. We know not why we should not be believed. We conceive that the honor of God and of this Court is more concerned in providing against the laying waste an ancient town and church of Christ, settled in this place for more than forty years, than any of us can be to our personal interest ; - nothing that we here enjoy as to our outward accommodation being so attractive as that we should be forced here to continue, if we be disabled to maintain God's or- dinances. Yet for evidence of the truth of what we thus assert we might allege the removing of Mr. Hooker and the whole church with him to Hartford, and that for this very reason, be- cause they foresaw the narrowness of the place was such that they could not live here. Also the endeavor of Mr. Shepherd and the church with him, before his death, to remove in like manner, and that for no other reason but this, because they saw, after many years hard labor and expense of their estates that they brought with them from England, that they could not live in this place. Also we may add, that the Committee, which the honored General Court appointed to inquire into the estate of the town, 14th. 8mo. 57, made their return that they found the state of Cambridge to be as we have declared.
" We do freely own that, as our place is straitened so the charges are great for the maintenance of our Great Bridge and schools, &c., besides all other charges common to other places.
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Shall this be an argument therefore to countenance any to seek to pluck from us our right, and to pull away their shoulders, to whom of right it appertains to bear a part with us, and have far the greatest part of the accommodation that should uphold the same ? We would not speak passionately ; but let not this hon- ored Court be offended if we speak a little affectionately. We know not wherein we have offended this honored Court, or why poor Cambridge above all other towns in the country must be thus harassed from Court to Court, and never can have an end in twenty-four years time, although the Court have declared and given in their sanction that this and the other determination should be a final issue, never to be troubled more with the peti- tioners ; yet still their petitions and clamors are received, and we compelled to make answer thereto. If we have transgressed in any kind, and this Court or any the members thereof have a prej- udice against us, we humbly entreat that our offence may be declared. And if we have been such arbitrary taxmasters as the petitioners render us, that we may either be convicted, or recom- pense given us for our cost and damage by their unjust molesta- tion of us from time to time, for the just vindication of our innocency against their unjust calumnies.
" Also we do humbly entreat of this honored Court that, whereas the petitioners at the time of their first grant which they obtained from this Court then pleaded that, for and towards the maintenance of the ministry in that place, they might have the lands and estates on that side the River that were more than four miles from the town, that we might have the line stated accordingly ; the whole being our own, as we have before pleaded and proved, and we having need thereof, we conceive we can not in justice be denied the same.
" Also, whereas they have not submitted unto nor rested in the Court's last grant made them for the choice of a Constable and three Selectmen among themselves, but have carried it fro- wardly one towards another, and in like manner towards the town from whom they proceeded and unto whom they of right belong, we humbly entreat that the said order may be reversed, and that we being all one body politic may have a joint choice in the Selectmen and Constables of the town, according as the law doth determine the right and privilege of each town.
" Finally, we humbly entreat that this our defence may be entered in the Court's register, there to remain, for the vindica- tion of our just right, in perpetuam rei memoriam. Praying
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that the God of wisdom and truth may direct and guide this honored Court in their issuing of this and all other their more weighty concerns, we subscribe ourselves, honorable Sirs, your humble and dutiful servants and suppliants,
Cambridge,
23 (8) 78.
JOHN COOPER, WILLIAM MANNING, JOHN STONE, WALTER HASTING, FFR. MOORE,
NATHANIELL SPARHAWK." 1
In Jackson's " History of Newton," it is stated that "the re- sult was that the Court granted the prayer of the petition, and. Cambridge Village was set off from Cambridge, and made an independent township. The doings of the Court in this case are missing, and have not as yet been found, and therefore we do not know the precise conditions upon which the separation took place. But the Town record is quite sufficient to establish the fact of separation. The very first entry upon the new Town Book records the doings of the first Town-meeting, held '27, 6, 1679, by virtue of an order of the General Court,' at which meet- ing the first board of Selectmen were duly elected, namely, Cap- tain Thomas Prentice, John Ward, and James Trowbridge ; and Thomas Greenwood was chosen Constable." 2 " 1691. Decem- ber 8. 'In answer to the petition of the inhabitants of Cam- bridge Village, lying on the south side of Charles River, some- times called New Cambridge, being granted to be a township, praying that a name may be given to said town, it is ordered, that it be henceforth called New Town.' This order of the Gen- eral Court, for a name only, has been mistaken by historians for the incorporation of the town, whereas the petitioners had been an independent town for twelve years. The child was born on the 27th August, 1679, but was not duly christened until the 8th of December, 1691."3
It is evident that the township was incorporated before Dec. 8, 1691 (or rather Dec. 18; the session of the Court commenced Dec. 8. but the order granting a name was adopted ten days later). This order plainly enough recognizes the village as al- ready a distinct " township." Moreover, in 1689, when a Gen- eral Court assembled after Andros was deposed and imprisoned,
1 Mass. Arch., cxii. 253-264.
2 Hist of Newton, page 60.
8 Ibid., page 63.
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CIVIL HISTORY.
Ensign John Ward appeared as a Deputy from New Cambridge, and was admitted to a seat, apparently without objection. So far, Mr. Jackson has a good case. But other facts of public no- toriety would justify grave doubts whether the town was incor- porated so early as 1679. It is a very suspicious circumstance, scarcely reconcilable with such an early date of incorporation, that for the seven years following 1679, until the charter govern- ment was overturned in 1686, the Village, or New Cambridge, never assumed, as a town distinct from Cambridge, to send a Deputy to the General Court ; but did not miss representation a single year for half a century after the government was estab- lished under the new charter. People as tenacious of their rights as the inhabitants of the Village manifestly were, both before and after incorporation, would not be likely to let the newly-acquired right of representation lie dormant for seven years, during a period of intense political excitement. The elec- tion of a Constable and three Selectinen in 1679 by no means furnishes countervailing proof of incorporation ; for this is pre- cisely what the inhabitants were authorized to do by the order passed May 7, 1673, which was never understood to confer full town privileges, and which, for aught that appears to the con- trary, was the order mentioned in the Town Record dated 27. 6. 1679.1
But the evidence in the case is not wholly of this negative character. One of the documents published by Mr. Jackson 2 indicates with some distinctness a different day (Jan. 11, 1687- 8) as the true date of incorporation into a distinct town : -
" Articles of agreement, made September 17, 1688, between the Selectmen of Cambridge and the Selectmen of the Village, in behalf of their respective towns : That, whereas Cambridge Vil- lage, by order of the General Court in the late government, was enjoined to bear their proportion in the charges in the uphold- ing and maintaining of the Great Bridge and School, with some other things of a public nature in the town of Cambridge; also there having been some difference between the Selectmen of said
1 At the close of their elaborate "an- the petitioners determined to exercise the power granted in 1673, and accordingly elected a Constable and three Seleet- men, Aug. 27, 1679. Such action would sufficiently account for the record bearing that date in what Jackson styles the " New Town Book."
swer " the Selectmen of Cambridge allege that the petitioners " have not submitted unto nor rested in the Court's last grant made to them for the choice of a consta- ble and three Selectmen," ete. It seems highly probable that, having again failed in their efforts to obtain incorporation in 1678, and despairing of present success,
2 Hist. of Newton, p. 62.
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towns, concerning the laying of rates for the end above said, that the Village shall pay to the town of Cambridge the sum of £5, in merchantable corn, at the former prices, at or before the first day of May next ensuing the date above, in full satisfaction of all dues and demands by the said town from the said Village, on the account above said, from the beginning of the world to the 11th January, 1687. Provided, always, and it is to be hereby understood, that the town of Cambridge on consideration of £4, in current county pay, already in hand paid to the Village above said, shall have free use of the highway laid out from the Vil- lage Meeting-house to the Falls, forever, without any let, moles- tation, or denial; also, that the Constable of the Village shall pay to the town of Cambridge or [all ?] that is in their hands un- paid of their former rates due to the town of Cambridge above said. In witness whereof, the Selectmen above said hereunto set their hands, the day and year first above written.
JOHN COOPER, SAMUEL ANDREW,
JOHN SPRING,
EDWARD JACKSON,
Selectmen of New Cambridge.
WALTER HASTING,
Selectmen of Cam-
JAMES PRENTICE, -
DAVID FISKE, SAMUEL STONE, JONATHAN REMINGTON,
bridge."
What seems probable by the reference to Jan. 11, 1687-8, in the foregoing agreement, is rendered certain by two documents, which Mr. Jackson probably never saw, but which are yet in existence. One is an order of notice, preserved in the Massa- chusetts Archives, cxxviii. 7 : " To the Constables of the town of Cambridge, or either of them. You are hereby required to give notice to the inhabitants of the said town, that they or some of them be and appear before his Excellency in Council on Wednesday next, being the 11th of this instant, to show cause why Cambridge Village may not be declared a place distinct by itself, and not longer be a part of the said town, as hath been formerly petitioned for and now desired : and thereof to make due return. Dated at Boston the sixth day of January in the third year of his Majesty's reign, annoque Domini, 1687. By order, &c., J. WEST, D. Secy." What was the result of this process does not appear on record ; for the records of the Council during the administration of Andros were carried away, and no copy of the portion embracing this date has been obtained. For- tunately, however, a certified copy of the order, which is equiv-
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