USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > History of Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1630-1877. With a genealogical register > Part 14
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1 Mass. Col. Rec., vi. 184.
2 Mass. Prov. Rec., vii. 99.
8 The "Wayside Inn," celebrated by Longfellow.
4 Coll. Mass. Ilist. Soc , xxxi. 102.
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CIVIL HISTORY.
bank by Mrs. Biglow in Weston, and reported that they had done it as far as they believed would ever be necessary, it being about seven miles from the College in Cambridge.'" It is proper to add, that I have never seen any contemporary authority for this extraordinary statement.
Col. Shute, the newly appointed Governor of Massachusetts and New Hampshire, arrived in Boston, Oct. 4, 1716, and on the 15th day of the same month commenced a journey to New Hamp- shire. Instead of crossing the ferry to Charlestown, he passed out of Boston over the neck, through Roxbury and Brookline, to Cambridge Great Bridge. The commencement of his journey, and the manner of his reception in Cambridge, are described in the " Boston News Letter," October 22, 1716 : " On Monday last, the 15th current, his Excellency, our Governor, about eight o'clock in the morning, set out from hence by land for his other government of New Hampshire, attended by the honorable the Lieut .- Governor and several of the chief gentlemen of this and that Province, and on this side of the river was met by Spencer Phips Esq., with his Troop of Horse, the Sheriff of Middlesex, and other gentlemen of that County, and by them conducted to Harvard College in Cambridge, where he was received by the President, Fellows, and Students, and entertained in the Hall with a congratulatory Latin Oration, by Mr. Thomas Foxcroft : after which his Excellency was pleased to take a view of the Li- brary, and then proceeded on his journey to Lynn," etc.
Col. Edmund Goffe was elected Representative, June 6, 1721. " Samuel Smith was charged with putting in two votes in the first voting for Representative, made oath that he put in but one vote for Representative. Also Daniel Gookin being charged with putting in two votes at the second voting for a Representative, made oath that he put in but one vote for a Representative : said oaths were administered in the public meeting per Mr. Justice Leverett." 1
In 1721, the small-pox prevailed more extensively and fatally than ever before in Boston and its vicinity. A statement of re- sults was made officially in the " Boston News Letter ": " Boston, Feb. 24, 1721-2. By the Selectmen. The number of persons vis- ited with the small-pox since its coming into town, in April last past, having been inquired into by direction from the Selectmen, amounts to 5,889 : - 844 of whom died and were buried in the preceding months, as follows : - May, 1; June, 8; July, 11; Aug.,
1 Town Records.
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.
26; Sept., 101; Oct., 411; Nov., 249; Dec., 31; Jan., 6." The extent of the destruction of life in Cambridge, by this scourge, is not known with exactness ; but references to it are found in the "New England Courant :" " Cambridge, Thursday, Nov. 30, 1721. This morning died here William Hutchinson, of Boston, Esq., of the small-pox, in the 38th year of his age." (Dec. 4, 1721.) " Last week died one of the Indian hostages (mentioned in our last) of the small-pox at Cambridge." (Jan. 22, 1721-2.) " On Friday last, the General Assembly of this Province met at Cam- bridge, there not being a sufficient number of members to make a House on Wednesday, to which day they were before pro- rogued. They are adjourned till Tuesday next, when they are to meet a few miles out of town, the small-pox being now in the heart of that place." (March 5, 1721-2.) The Town Records show that a Committee was appointed, Jan. 29, 1721-2, to pro- vide " for the relief of such persons and families as may stand in need thereof, in case the small-pox spread amongst us." Inocula tion for the small-pox was first introduced in Boston at this time by Dr. Zabdiel Boylston, who encountered the most violent oppo- sition. " Out of 286 persons who were inoculated for the small- pox, but six died." 1
In 1730, the small-pox again prevailed in Cambridge with alarming violence. Nine town meetings were held between March 20 and April 3, to devise means for its extermination. A vote passed at the first of these meetings indicates that inocu- lation had been injudiciously or carelessly practiced : " Whereas Samuel Danforth, Esq's late practice of inoculation of small-pox amongst us has greatly endangered the town, and distressed sundry families amongst us, which is very disagreeable to us ; wherefore, voted, that said Samuel Danforth, Esq. be desired forthwith to remove such inoculated persons into some conven- ient place, whereby our town may n't be exposed by them." The College studies were broken up for a time ; but the students were recalled by an advertisement, dated May 2, 1730, and published in the "Weekly Journal :" " The small-pox having been lately at Cambridge, which occasioned the dispersion of the scholars to escape danger ; but now, through the Divine goodness, that dis- temper having utterly ceased here; it is agreed and ordered by the President and Tutors, that the undergraduates forth witlı repair to the College, to follow their studies and stated exercises. Benjamin Wadsworth, Pres." The distemper returned again
1 Drake's Hist. Boston, pp. 562, 563.
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CIVIL HISTORY.
before the end of the year, as appears by a paragraph in the "News Letter," dated Oct. 8, 1730 : " We hear from Cambridge, that Mr. William Patten, Representative for the town of Billerica, being taken sick of the small-pox, while the General Assembly was sitting there, is since dead, and was interred on Monday last, the 5th instant." On Saturday, Oct. 3, the Court was adjourned to meet at Roxbury on the next Wednesday.
Again, in 1752, the small-pox caused the cessation of study in College from April 22 until Sept. 2; and the corporation voted, May 4, " that there be no public Commencement this year," and in October voted to have no winter vacation. The town ap- pointed a committee, May 18, to devise measures to prevent the spreading of the disease, and on the 3d of October, " voted that a public contribution be in the three parts of this town, next Lord's-day come seven night, for the speedy raising of money to defray the charges the town have been at in the support, &c., of sundry persons lately visited with the small-pox, belonging to this town. Also voted that the thanks of this town be given to the Selectmen of the town of Charlestown for their great friendship, assistance and civility to us, when visited with the small-pox." I find no record of the number of lives destroyed in Cambridge by this visitation of the small-pox. But its ravages were frightful in Boston during the previous year. Professor Winthrop re- corded the fact, in his interleaved Almanac, that while only five persons in Cambridge had the disease in 1751, of whom three died, in Boston, with a total population of 15,734, 5,060 whites had it the natural way, of whom 470 died ; also, 485 blacks, of whom 69 died ; and by inoculation 1,985 whites and 139 blacks were sick, of whom 24 whites and 6 blacks died.
The town continued, as aforetime, to be watchful against the admission of undesirable associates. " At a meeting of the free- holders and inhabitants of the town of Cambridge, orderly con- vened 9th Decr. 1723. - Whereas, of late years, sundry persons and families have been received and entertained amongst us, to the great trouble of the Selectmen and damage of the town : for preventing such inconveniences for the future, Voted, that hence- fortlı no freeholder nor inhabitant in said town shall receive or admit any family into our town to reside amongst us for the space of a month, without first having obtained the allowance and ap- probation of the freeholders and inhabitants of said town, or of the Selectmen for the time being, on penalty of paying to the Treasurer of said town, for the use of the poor, the sum of twenty
9
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.
shillings. Also voted, that no inhabitant in said town shall re- ceive and entertain any person into their family (excepting such as are received by reason of marriage, or such as are sent for education, or men or maid servants upon wages, or purchased servants or slaves), for the space of a month, without having the allowance and approbation of the freeholders and inhabitants, or selectmen, as aforesaid, on penalty of paying the sum of twenty shillings for the use of the poor, as aforesaid."
The meeting-house was equally guarded against improper in- trusion, though by a less severe penalty. On the 12th of May, 1729, it was " Voted, that so often as any dog or dogs is or are seen in the meeting house on the Lord's day in the time of pub- lic worship, the owner or owners of said dog or dogs shall for every such offence pay one shilling, half to go to the officer ap- pointed to regulate said dogs, the other half part of said fine to be for the use of the poor of the town. And on refusal to pay said fine or fines, the aforesaid officer is liereby obliged, author- ized and empowered to prosecute the owners of the above de- scribed dogs before any one of his Majesty's Justices of the Peace in said County. This to continue for one year."
March 10, 1728-9. " Put to vote, whether said inhabitants would grant the sum of 50£. for Joseph Hanford, to fit him out in the practice of physic, and it passed in the negative."
In 1736, John Vassall (afterwards Major and Colonel) pur- chased the large estate at the southwest corner of Brattle and Ash streets, and became a resident in Cambridge. He was born in the West Indies, inherited a princely fortune, married (in 1734) a daughter of Lieut .- gov. Spencer Phips, became at once a very popular citizen, and was elected Selectman and Representa- tive in 1739, and again in 1740. Shortly after his second elec- tion, some enthusiastic friend thus exulted in the " Weekly Jour- nal " of May 20, 1740 : " Cambridge, May 19. On Monday last came on the choice of a. Representative for this town in the approaching General Assembly. The meeting was as full as most that ever were known among us on such an occasion, there being 109 qualified voters present at it. After the Select- men had put an end to some tedious contests and lingering de- lays, (which arose on adjusting preliminaries, and which only interrupted and kept off the business of the day,) we at length had the liberty to proceed fairly to the choice ; and then it SOON appeared that Mr. John Vassall was chosen by the overbearing majority of more than double the number of all those votes which
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CIVIL HISTORY.
were not for him, viz. by the majority of 75 to 34; a proportion much greater on the side of the person chosen our Representative this year than he 1 had who was our Representative the last. By this it seems a certain person elect has a growing interest." Alas for the fickleness of popular favor. Mr. Vassall was not afterwards elected either Selectman or Representative until a few months before his death in 1747. His " interest " attained its full growth suddenly, like Jonah's gourd, and as suddenly col- lapsed. He was disturbed by a disparaging remark of a towns- man, and sought legal redress with disastrous result. The his- tory of the suit is entered on the Records of the Inferior Court for the County of Middlesex, December term, 1740, page 172. By this it appears that Samuel Whittemore of Cambridge, Dep- uty Sheriff, on the 13th of March, 1739, declared publicly that though Mr. Vassall had been elected Selectman, he " was no more fit to discharge said trust than the horse that he, the said Samuel, then rode on." On the next day Vassall commenced suit, claim- ing £1,000 damage for defamation of character ; he caused Whittemore to be arrested and imprisoned. On the trial, two months afterwards, the Court adjudged that " the words . . spoken by the said Samuel were not actionable." Vassall ap- pealed to the Superior Court, which affirmed the judgment of the Inferior Court. Whittemore then sued Vassall, for false and malicious imprisonment, and recovered £200 damage and costs of court. So much appears on record. Tradition says that the writ was served on Vassall at his own table, when surrounded by a large and fashionable dinner-party.
Mr. Vassall was equally unsuccessful in his appeal to the General Court for protection against what he regarded as a per- sonal insult and an encroachment on his official privileges. John Hovey had recovered judgment against him on two bonds, not- withstanding his " plea of privilege (as on file) which was over- ruled by the Court," and had levied on his estate. The Records of the General Court show that notice was issued, Dec. 5, 1740, to John Hovey and Samuel Gookin, to make answer to Mr. John Vassall, Representative of Cambridge, who complained of sundry insults received from them. Dec. 10, Mr. Samuel Gookin ap- peared, and the case was fully examined. "Then the question was put, whether it appears to this House that an attachment being served on Mr. John Vassall's estate on the 18th of Novem-
1 He was his own predecessor. The increased majority indicated the "growing interest."
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.
ber last is a breach of the privileges of the members of this House. It passed in the negative." But this was not the end. December 18, 1740, " A petition of Mr. John Hovey of Cam- bridge, praying that this House would order Mr. John Vassall, the member of Cambridge, to refund his expenses occasioned by an unjust and groundless complaint of said Mr. Vassall, partic- ularly mentioned in said petition, for the reasons exhibited, - read, and in answer thereto, ordered, that the said John Vassall pay to the petitioner, the said John Hovey, the sum of ten pounds, in full recompense for his time and expense occasioned by said complaint."
An epidemic occasioned great alarm in 1740. It was called the " throat distemper," and was probably the same " influenza " which Thacher describes : " The amazing rapidity with which it spread through the country resembled more a storm agitating the atmosphere than the natural progress of a disease from any con- tagious source. Almost a whole city, town, or neighborhood, became affected with its influence in a few days, and as it did not incapacitate people in general from pursuing their ordinary occu- pations, it was common to observe, in every street and place of resort, a constant coughing, hawking, and wheezing, and, in pub- lic assemblies, little else was to be heard or attended to. Al- though all classes of people experienced the operation of the in- fluenza, it is remarkable that a small number, comparatively speaking, were so ill as to require medical attendance, and in- stances of its fatal termination were of rare occurrence." 1 It proved so fatal here, however, that the students were dismissed from College by vote passed June 23, 1740: " Whereas, through the holy Providence of God, several families in the town of Cam- bridge are visited with the throat distemper, and the President's and Steward's families are under very afflicted circumstances by reason of that mortal sickness ; and whereas we apprehend that there is great danger of the distemper spreading and prevailing as it hath done formerly in other places, and that the students are much endangered thereby ; therefore Voted, that they be im- niediately dismissed from the College, and that the vacation begin from this time ; and that the Commencement for this year be not until the expiration of the vacation." 2
| Medical Biography, i. 28.
2 In a private note-book, the steward of the College, Andrew Bordman, Esq., made this record : "Our grandchild, Ruth Bordman, died 23 June 1740: our
grandchild Andrew Bordman died 24 June 1740: both of the distemper called the throat distemper." Memorials are found in the burial-place, of "Mrs. Mar- garet Holyoke, wife to the Revd. Mr. Ed-
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CIVIL HISTORY.
In former days, each town was required to pay its own Repre- sentatives in the General Court, and was liable to a fine if not duly represented. This town, however, on the 14th of May, 1750, " Voted, that the town will make choice of two Represen- tatives to represent them at the next General Court, or Assem- bly, provided the same serve the town gratis : also voted, that they will proceed to choose two Representatives, upon that condi- tion only, that those who are chosen be not the Representatives of said town unless, upon their choice, they declare that they will serve the town gratis, as aforesaid. Then Andrew Bordman and Edmund Trowbridge Esqs. were chosen Representatives," and both accepted the office. The same course was pursued the next year, and the same persons were elected. But, in 1752, Andrew Bordman refused the office on this condition, and Henry Vassall was elected in his stead. This practice was soon afterwards wholly abandoned.
April 19, 1754. The territory lying west of Sparks Street and south of Vassall Lane was transferred from Watertown to Cam- bridge by the General Court, by a line described thus : " To begin at Charles River, and from thence to run in the line be- tween the lands of Simon Coolidge, Moses Stone, Christopher Grant, and the Thatchers, and the land of Colo. Brinley and Ebenezer Wyeth, to the Fresh Pond, so called."1 Several acres were subsequently added to Cambridge, bounded westerly on Coolidge Avenue, extending to and including the Cambridge Cemetery.
Some excitement was occasioned as late as 1754, by the ap- pearance of a bear in the easterly part of Cambridge, long after we might suppose this section of the country to have been rid of wild beasts. The " Boston News Letter " of September 19, con- tained this paragraph. "On Tuesday last, a Bear, that had wandered down to Cambridge, was discovered on Lieut. Govr. Phips' farm,2 and being closely pursued took to Charles River ; whereupon several boats put off from Charlestown, and one from ward Holyoke, President of Harvard 1 Mass. Prov. Rec., xx. 228. College," who died June 25, 1740, aged 2 This farm embraced East Cambridge, and extended westerly nearly to Columbia Street. Five years later, in September, 1759, Dr. Belknap, then a student in Harvard College, made this record : " A great many bears killed at Cambridge and the neighboring towns about this time, and several persons killed by them." - Life of Belknap, p. 11. 39 ; and of "William Holyoke," their "youngest son," who died June 23, 1740, aged nearly three years. Similar me- morials are found of two children of Mr. Ebenezer Stedman, - Martha, who died June 23, 1740, aged 4 years; and Sarah, who died June 24, 1740, aged nearly 6 years. The dates indicate that all these were victims of the same dis- ease.
·
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.
the west part of this town, which last shot and entered two bul- lets into him ; but not killing him, the Bear made directly towards the boat and got one paw upon the side, upon which one of the men struck an adze into his skull, and despatched him in an in- stant, and brought him ashore. The whole of the body weighed 196 pounds. When he was opened, a great number of the bones of fowls &c. were found in his belly."
The earliest notice which I have seen of a fire-engine in Cam- bridge is dated March 3, 1755, when, " upon the motion of Capt. Ebenezer Stedman and others, referring to the town's agreeing with Henry Vassall Esq., who has an Engine and is willing the same should be improved for the town's use on certain conditions, the question was put whether the town would act on said motion, and it passed in the negative." In all probability, however, the town then possessed one or more engines. Boston had one before 1679, and seven as early as 1733; 1 and Cambridge would not be likely to remain entirely destitute. Yet the machines then in use might seem almost worthless, compared with the powerful steam-engines recently introduced.
The Town Record of Births and Deaths in the last three quar- ters of the eighteenth century is very imperfect ; all the deathis recorded between 1722 and 1772 are contained on two folio pages. Professor Winthrop inserted brief bills of mortality, for a few years, in his interleaved almanacs, which afford a glimpse of the truth : -
" 1758. Bill of mortality in first Parish in Cambridge.2
Under 2 years old 12 Between 40 and 50 = 1
Between 2 and 5=2 Between 50 and 60 = 1
Between 5 and 10= 0 Between 60 and 70 = 1
Whites, 20
Between 10 and 20 = 1
Between 70 and 80 = 0
Blacks, 5
Between 20 and 30 = 2
Between 30 and 40 = 2
Between 80 and 90 == 3 25
1762. Causes of death, etc.
" Accidental, 1
Fits,
1 . Males, 10
Age, 1 Infancy, 2 Females, 8
Colic, 1 Palsy, 1 ·
18
Consumption, 7 Sore, 1
Whites, 15
Dysentery, 2 Stillborn, 1
18
18."'
1 Drake's IIist. Boston, 431, 593.
2 The First Parish then embraced what is now the whole city.
25"
Blacks, 3
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CIVIL HISTORY.
1763. Causes of death, etc.
" Accidental, 2 Fit, (suddenly) 2 Males, 10
Cancer, 2 Infancy,
9 Females, 10
Consumption, 1 Palsy, 1
20
Dropsy, 3
20
Whites, 17
Blacks, 3
20."
In the " Boston News Letter," November 30, 1764, is a refer- ence to a custom then recently introduced, but unwisely aban- doned afterwards. " On Monday the 19th instant died at Cam- bridge, in the 78th year of her age Mrs. Hannah Burrill, relict of the late Hon. Theophilus Burrill Esq., and sister to the Rev. Mr. President Holyoke, at whose house she had for some time past resided. She was a gentlewoman of a virtuous disposition, and possessed of many amiable qualities. Her remains were interred the Thursday following, without the expense of mourning ap- parel, agreeable to the laudable method now practised in Boston. As this is the first example of the kind in that town, and intro- duced by a gentleman of so worthy and respectable a character, we doubt not it will acquire imitation." 1
1 Rev. John Cotton of Newton, in a let- apprentices to him, were also. 90 dozen ter dated Nov. 7, 1717, and preserved in of gloves were bought, and none of any the library of the Mass. Hist. Soc., says figure but what had gloves sent 'em." that at the funeral of Hon. Andrew Bel- A bill of expenses at the funeral of Col. Edmund Goffe, in October, 1740, remains on file in the Probate Office ; it was ren- dered by Edmund Trowbridge, Esq., grand nephew of the deceased. Among the charges are these : - cher, " All the ministers there had scarves and gloves. They say 50 suits of eloaths were made. All first cousins, Remington, Blowers, &e., put into mourning. John Colman, Caswell, &c., all that had been
" To 5 pair of gloves at 7s. 6d., and a mourning weed, £1 17 6 To a pair of shoe buckles, 6s., knee buekles, 4s. 6d., black studs, Is. 3d., 0 11 9 To a hat, 60s., mourning wigg, £5, 8 0 0
To a pair of gloves, black silk, 25s. 1 5 0
To a suit of mourning for the widow, and pair of shoes, 30
0 0
To another pair of black silk gloves, 25s.
1 5 0
To ten rings of Mr. Hurd, as per account,
23 14 0
33 6 0 To mourning for my aunt Barnard,
6 0 To the same for my sister Dana, 33
To a pair of gloves for her husband, 0
8 0
To cash paid the taylors for making the cloaths, 3 19 0
To two gallons of wine, 30s., a dozen of pipes, and 2 papers of tobacco, 5s. 1 15 0 To cash paid for bricks, and brieking the grave, . 10 0 To stones to cover the grave, 0 10 0"
This bill was allowed by the judge, though the estate was soon afterwards rendered insolvent. The Beleher estate was large, and might easily afford the useless customs were ineffectual.
outlay. It is to be regretted that the ef- forts made by President Holyoke and others to abolish such extravagant and
CHAPTER XI.
CIVIL HISTORY.
IN this history of a single town, it is not proposed to enumer- ate all the causes of the American Revolution, or the various events which occurred during its accomplishment; but some of those causes and events will be mentioned, with which the town of Cambridge had more or less intimate connection. One very prominent question at issue, in the commencement of the Revo- lutionary struggle, was whether or not the British Parliament had a legal right to impose taxes on the American provinces (which were not represented therein), without their consent. In the ex- ercise of this pretended right of supremacy, among other methods for raising a revenue from the provinces, Parliament enacted a law, styled the Stamp Act, with a provision that it should take effect Nov. 1, 1765. With special reference to this Act, the American doctrine was affirmed, Oct. 29, 1765, by the Massachu- setts House of Representatives, in fourteen resolutions, three of which were these: "III. Resolved, That no man can justly take the property of another without his consent; and that upon this original principle the right of representation in the same body which exercises the power of making laws for levying taxes, which is one of the main pillars of the British constitution, is evidently founded." " XII. Resolved, as a just conclusion from some of the foregoing resolves, That all acts made by any power whatever, other than the General Assembly of this Province, imposing taxes on the inhabitants, are infringements of our in- herent and unalienable rights, as men and British subjects, and render void the most valuable declarations of our Charter. XIII. Resolved, that the extension of the powers of the Court of Admiralty within this Province is a most violent infraction of the right of trials by juries, - a right which this House, upon the principles of their British ancestors, hold most dear and sacred, it being the only security of the lives, liberties, and prop- erties of his Majesty's subjects herc." 1
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