USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > History of Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1630-1877. With a genealogical register > Part 18
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" A letter to the Selectmen of Cambridge, and signed by John Nutting, purporting to be written by desire of a meeting of com- mittees from the towns of Groton, Pepperell, Shirley, Townsend, and Aslıby, and requesting our concurrence in a County Conven- tion to be held at Concord on the 23d of August next, in order to consult upon matters of public grievances, and find out means
1 Minot's Hist, Insurrections, 34-37. 2 Ibid., 35.
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of redress, having been read, it was Voted, that the Selectmen be desired to answer said letter, and express the attachment of this town to the present constitution and administration of gov- ernment, and also to express our aversion to use any irregular means for compassing an end which the constitution has already provided for, as we know of no grievances the present system of government is inadequate to redress. Voted, that the above mentioned letter, signed by John Nutting and directed to the Selectmen of this town, be printed, together with their answer, and that. the Selectmen cause the same to be done." The letter and reply were accordingly printed in the " Boston Independent Chronicle," July 27, 1786, as follows : -
" To the Selectmen of Cambridge. Gentlemen, We, the com- mittees chose by the several towns liereafter mentioned, viz. Groton, Pepperell, Shirley, Townsend, and Ashby, met at Gro- ton the 29th day of June, 1786, to consult upon matters of public grievances ; and after appointing a chairman for that day, it was thought best to notify all the towns in this county to meet by their committees, at the house of Capt. Brown, innholder in Con- cord, on the 23ª day of August next, to consult upon matters of public grievances and embarrassments that the people of this Commonwealth labor under, and to find out means of redress, &c. By order of the committee : JOHN NUTTING, Chairman. Groton, July 19. 1786. N. B. It is expected that a committee from the Convention that is to set in Worcester County, the 15th of Au- gust, will attend."
" To Capt. John Nutting, Pepperell, &c., &c. Cambridge, 24th July, 1786. Sir, Your letter, dated June 29, 1786, desiring the concurrence of this town in a proposed Convention, for the re- dress of grievances, we have received and laid before the inhab- itants at a meeting. Agreeably to their request, we shall give you their sentiments on the subject. The government under which we live, the government which we have expended much blood and treasure to establish, we conceive to be founded on the most free principles which are consistent with the being of any government at all. The constitution has provided for the annual choice of every branch of the Legislature, and that the people in the several towns may assemble to deliberate on public grievances, and to instruct their Representatives. By annual elec- tions there are frequent opportunities to change the Representa- tives, if their conduct is disapproved. Of what use then a Conven- tion can be, without authority to call for information, and without
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power to inforce their regulations, is to us inconceivable. If any man in a town is more deserving of confidence than the rest, he should be chosen Representative ; but to forbear sending consti- tutional Representatives, and to send unconstitutional ones, is wrong as well as trifling. It is trifling, because they can do us no good ; and it is wrong, not only because it is putting the peo- ple to needless expense, but because the constitution, by provid- ing a mode in which the business shall be done, by a very strong implication forbids its being done in any other way. The only case then in which we think Conventions justifiable, is where the legislative or executive powers of the State have been evidently and notoriously applied to unconstitutional purposes, and no con- stitntional means of redress remains. We have yet heard of no such abuse of power ; and no grievances to be redressed being specified in your letter, a proposition of this kind seems wholly unjustifiable. We accordingly, in the name of the town, assure you, not only of our aversion to joining in this measure, but of our perfect attachment and firm adherence to the present excel- lent constitution and administration of government. It is in our estimation the peculiar happiness of this people to live under a mild and equitable administration, in which the penal laws are few and well executed. We therefore shall use our utmost endeavors to prevent the operations of government from being obstructed to gratify the restless disposition, or to promote the sinister views, of any designing party. By order and in behalf of the Selectmen, WILLIAM WINTHROP, Chairman."
When the Constitution of the United States was submitted to the several States, in 1788, for adoption, although it narrowly escaped rejection, being violently opposed by those who had re- cently manifested disaffection towards the State government, and by others who imagined that it involved an improper surrender of State rights, the voice of Cambridge was given in its favor by her two delegates, Hon. Francis Dana and Stephen Dana, Esq.
Of the inhabitants of Cambridge, a great majority were true " sons of liberty." Yet there were a few, chiefly office-holders, or citizens of the more wealthy and aristocratic class, who ad- hered to the British government. Some of this number made their peace and remained unmolested ; others retired to Boston, on the commencement of hostilities, and subsequently found ref- uge in the British Provinces or in England. So many of this class resided on Brattle Street, that it was sometimes denominated
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" Tory Row; " indeed they owned and occupied almost every es- tate bordering on that street, between Brattle Square and Mount Auburn. General William Brattle,1 Col. John Vassall,2 Penel- ope Vassall, widow of Col. Henry Vassall,3 Richard Lechmere 4 (succeeded by Jonathan Sewall, June 10, 1771), Judge Joseph Lee,5 Capt. George Ruggles 6 (succeeded by Thomas Fayer- weather, Oct. 31; 1774), and Lieut .- gov. Thomas Oliver,7 owned and resided on contiguous estates ; and their families composed a select social circle, to which few others were admitted. Promi- nent among those few were Judge Samuel Danforth,8 John Borland,9 and Col. David Phips.10 Of this circle of friends Madame Riedesel speaks in her Letters. Her husband was a General, captured with Burgoyne's Army, and was quartered in the Lechmere House, at the corner of Brattle and Sparks streets. She says, - " Never had I chanced upon such an agreeable situa- tion. Seven families,11 who were connected with each other, partly by the ties of relationship and partly by affection, had here farms, gardens, and magnificent houses, and not far off planta- tions of fruit. The owners of these were in the habit of daily meeting each other in the afternoons, now at the house of one, and now at another, and making themselves merry with music
1 House, next westerly from the " Uni- versity Press."
2 House, afterwards Washington's Headquarters, now the homestead of Prof. Henry W. Longfellow, and famous both as the tent of Mars and as the fa- vorite haunt of the Muses.
8 House nearly opposite to the llead- quarters, now the homestead of the ven- erable Samuel Batehelder.
4 House, corner of Brattle and Sparks streets, now the homestead of John Brewster.
5 House, corner of Brattle and Apple- ton streets, now the homestead of George Nichols.
6 House, corner Brattle and Fayer- weather Streets, long the homestead of the late William Wells.
7 House, Elmwood Avenue, the home- stead successively of Vice-president El- bridge Gerry, Rev. Charles Lowell, and his son Prof. James Russell Lowell, - each, in his respective sphere of politics, thicology, and poetry, more illustrious than the original occupant.
All these houses remain in good con- dition, though erected more than a hun- dred years ago; but the "farms " have been divided into smaller estates.
8 House, on the easterly side of Dun- ster Street, about midway between Har- vard and Mount Auburn streets.
9 House, fronting Harvard Street, he- tween Plympton and Linden streets : long the residence of Dr. Sylvanus Plymp- ton and Mrs. Elizabeth B. Manning.
1º House, on Arrow Street, near Bow Street ; for many years the residence of William Winthrop.
11 " Mrs. Oliver was sister to Vassall ; and Mrs. Vassall was sister to Oliver. The deceased father of Vassall and Mrs. Oliver was brother to Mrs. Ruggles, to Mrs. Borland, and to the deceased husband of the widow Vassall ; and the dceeased mother of Vassall and Mrs. Oliver was sister to Col. Phips, to Mrs. Lechmere, and to Mrs. Lee. The widow Vassall was also aunt to Mr. Oliver and to John Vassall's wife.
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and the dance - living in prosperity, united and happy, until, alas ! this ruinous war severed them, and left all their houses des- olate, except two, the proprietors of which were also soon obliged to flee." 1
Of the loyalists before named, Judge Danforth retired soon after the outbreak in Sept., 1774, to the house of his son in Bos- ton, where he died Oct. 27, 1777, aged about 81. Judge Lee is said to have dwelt in Boston during the siege, after which he re- turned to his estate, which he enjoyed unmolested until his death Dec. 5, 1802, at the age of 93. Capt. Ruggles sold his estate, Oct. 31, 1774, to Thomas Fayerweather, and removed from Cam- bridge ; his subsequent history is unknown to me. All the others were regarded as enemies to the movement in behalf of liberty ; they became " absentees," and their estates, together with the estates of Ralph Inman, Esq.2 and Edward Stow, a mariner,3 were seized for the public use, and were leased by the Committee of Correspondence. Their account current with said estates for the year 1776 is preserved in a manuscript now in my possession. I copy a specimen : -
" Dr. The. estate of Thomas Oliver Esq. late of Cambridge, Absentee, to the Committee of Correspondence of the town, for the year 1776. For taking into possession and leasing out said estate, the sum of £2. Also for supporting a negro man belonging to said estate, £3.12
For collecting the personal estate,
£3.
Cr. By cash received as rent, £69."
Similar charges are made for services, and credits given for rent, in regard to the estates of John Borland, Esq., deceased, £27 rent ; 4 Richard Lechmere, Esq., £36 rent, and £6 for wood and brush which was taken off said estate ; 5 Jonathan Sewall, Esq., £26 13 4; 6 John Vassall, Esq., £100; Widow Penelope Vassall, £15; William Brattle, Esq., £29; Ralph Inman, Esq.,
1 Letters, Munsell's Ed., 1867, p. 140.
2 House on Inman Street, opposite to the head of Austin Street.
8 Resided on the south side of the river ; described as of Boston, 1778, in the Proscription Act.
4 Borland died in Boston, June 5, 1775, heirs. aged 47. " His death was occasioned by the sudden breaking of a ladder, on which he stood, leading from the garret floor to the top of his house." - N. E. Chronicle.
5 This property was three fifths of the "Phips Farm," in Ward Three, or East Cambridge, of which one fifth was inher- ited by Lechmere in the right of his wife, and the other two fifths had been pur- chased from Col. Phips and the Vassall
6 The estate formerly owned by Lech- mere, at the corner of Brattle and Sparks streets.
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£40; Edward Stow, £10; David Phips, Esq., £40. Five of these estates were subsequently confiscated and sold by the Com- monwealth ; the estates of Lechmere (144 acres) and Oliver (96 acres), to Andrew Cabot, Esq., of Salem, Nov. 24, 1779 ; the estate of Sewall (44 acres) to Thomas Lee of Pomfret, Conn., Dec. 7, 1779; 1 the estate of Phips (50 acres) to Isaiah Doane of Boston, May 25, 1781 ; and the estate of Vassall (116 acres) to Na- thaniel Tracy, Esq., of Newburyport, June 28, 1781. Inman re- turned soon, and his estate was restored to him. The heirs of Borland and the widow Vassall succeeded to the ownership of their estates in Cambridge ; but several houses and stores in Boston, formerly belonging to Borland, were advertised by the agents of the, Commonwealth to be leased at auction, March 1, 1780. Gen- eral Brattle conveyed all his real estate in Cambridge, Dec. 13, 1774, to his only surviving son, Major Thomas Brattle, and died in Halifax, N. S., October, 1776. By the persevering efforts of Mrs. Katherine Wendell, the only surviving daughter of General Brattle, the estate was preserved from confiscation, and was re- covered by Major Brattle after his return from Europe, - hav- ing been proscribed in 1778, and having subsequently exhibited satisfactory evidence of his friendship to his country and its po- litical independence. Besides the persons already named, there were a few other loyalists, or tories, in Cambridge, but not hold- ing such a prominent position : John Nutting, carpenter, was proscribed in 1778; Antill Gallop, a deputy sheriff, who had promised conformity in September, 1774, is said by Sabine 2 to have gone with the Britishi troops to Halifax, in 1776; also George Inman (H. C. 1772, died 1789) and John Inman, sons of Ralph Inman, Esq.
After the close of the war, it was proposed to permit the pro- scribed loyalists to return, - not indeed to share in the adminis- tration of the government, but to reclaim their confiscated estates. This proposition did not meet the approval of the inhabitants of Cambridge. At a town meeting, May 5, 1783, instructions to their representative, reported by a committee consisting of James Winthrop, Samuel Thatcher, and Abraham Watson, Esquires, were unanimously adopted : -
" Sir, The choice that this town has made of you, to represent
1 Sometimes called " English Thomas," generosity to the poor. He died May 26, to distinguish him from another Thomas 1797, in the 60th year of his age. Lee, his nearest neighbor. He was a rich 2 American Loyalists, pp. 308, 381. merchant, honored and beloved for his
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us in the General Court sufficiently proves the confidence we place in your integrity and abilities : and though we have 110 doubt of your attachment to the interest of the town and the welfare of the commonwealth, yet we think it expedient, in tlie present situation of affairs, to express our sentiments to you for the regulation of your conduct, that you may be enabled to act decisively and with vigor, whenever you shall be called upon to give your voice in the General Court upon the following subjects.
" The long and severe conflict which the United States have maintained with the King of Great Britain and his auxiliaries is now brought to a conclusion by a treaty in which our independ- ence is fully recognized. But while with pleasure we anticipate the blessings of peace, it gives us no small uneasiness to observe an article in the treaty, which, in its consequences, may lessen the value and shorten the duration of it. The Congress are there bound earnestly to recommend it to the different States to provide for the restitution of the property of the absentees ; and that they may return to America, and remain there twelve months in endeavoring to regain possession of their lost estates. This article, if the States should comply with it, will, we appre- hend, be productive of as great if not greater calamities than any we have yet experienced. It is, however, some consolation, that the final ratification of that article depends upon the voice of the people, through the medium of their Representatives. Their conduct, upon this occasion, will determine whether it is to be a lasting peace or only a temporary cessation of hostilities. Whether Great Britain had the right they claimed of making laws binding on the then Colonies in all cases whatsoever, was a question that for a long time was fully discussed in numberless publications, previous to the connection being dissolved between that country and these States. By this means it was hardly pos- sible there could be one person who had not considered the sub- ject with attention, and was not prepared to give his voice on the question. At length the time arrived, when it became nec- essary to decide it by the sword. Then it became the duty of every man to declare his sentiments, and to make his conduct conform to his declarations. Happily for us, by far the greater part determined never to submit to the exercise of so unreason- able a claim ; and in support of their determination have reso- lutely carried on a war, in which our enemies have practiced a degree of cruelty and destruction that has scarcely been equalled among civilized nations. A few, however, attentive to their own
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emolument, or influenced by some other cause not more justifia- ble, abandoned their country, and sought for protection under the forces which invaded it, and with them united their efforts to subjugate their fellow-citizens, and in many instances have dis- tinguished themselves by their cruelties and barbarities. Having thus taken their side of the question, they ought surely to abide the consequence. It is hardly conceivable that persons, wlio have discovered such an enmity to their country, and who have exerted every effort to overturn our government, will ever make peaceable subjects of it. Without spending time to particularize every objection that may be offered against the return of those persons who are described by the laws of this Commonwealth as Conspirators and Absentees, and being convinced as we trust you are, of the dangerous consequences that will attend the admitting them again to reside among us, - we instruct you to use your influence and endeavors, by all proper means to prevent any per- sons of the foregoing description from ever returning, or regain- ing their justly forfeited estates : and if any such persons have already crept in, that the most speedy and effectual measures may be adopted for their removal."
CHAPTER XII.
CIVIL HISTORY.
FOR more than a century and a half after the settlement of Cambridge, withi slight exceptions, that part of the town lying eastwardly from Quincy and Bow streets, generally denominated the " Neck," consisted of woodland, pasturage, swamps, and salt marsh. In chapter ii. an account is given of the first division of land on the northerly side of Main Street, into small lots in " the old field " and " small lot hill," and larger lots, varying in size from six to one hundred and thirty acres. Gradually these lots passed into fewer hands, until at length the larger portion of the whole was embraced in three and subsequently four farms.
The " old field " early became the property of Edward Goffe 1 and Jolin Gay ; by sundry conveyances the larger portion became vested in Chief Justice Francis Dana, who subsequently pur- chased the whole tract formerly called " small lot hill " (except, perhaps, a few acres in the northeasterly corner), and several other lots of land on both sides of the highway now called Main Street. Judge Dana erected a spacious mansion on the westerly side of " the highway to the common pales," 2 now called Dana Street, about midway between Main and Centre streets, which house was destroyed by fire Jan. 19, 1839. The Judge fully appreciated the beauty of the scenery visible from his residence, as is manifest from his care to prevent any obstruction to the view in one particular direction ; in an agreement with Leonard Jarvis, concerning an exchange of lands, Jan. 3, 1797, it was stipulated that said Jarvis should " forever hereafter keep open the way 3 of forty feet wide, lately laid out by the said Jarvis over and across Pelham's Island (so called) to the canal cut by him through his marsh, for the mutual benefit of both parties
1 He erected a house a few rods east- wardly from the junction of Main and 1774. Bow streets. A very old house, perhaps the original structure, standing on this
spot, is said to have been taken down in
2 The highway which separated the " old field " from " small lot hill."
3 Now called Front Street.
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.
their heirs and assigns, . ... so as to leave open an nninter- rupted view from the said Dana's present dwelling-house of such part of Cambridge Bay and of Boston as may fall in the course of the same way, so far as the said Jarvis's land, lately Inman's, extends." Judge Dana also owned much land on the southerly side of Main Street, both marsh and upland, including the "Soden Farm," so called, bounded northerly on Main Street and easterly on Pleasant Street, and a large tract, bounded northerly on Main Street and westerly on Putnam Avenue. His estate bordered on the southerly side of Main Street, from Putnam Avenue to Bay Street, from Vernon Street to Pearl Street ; and from Brook- line Street to Front Street ; also on the northerly side of Main Street, from a point about two hundred feet westerly from Rem- ington Street to a point about midway between Hancock and Lee streets. The Judge had therefore a strong personal interest in the improvement of this part of the town.
Of the large lots lying eastwardly from "small lot hill," thie first two were owned by Governor Thomas Dudley and his son Samnel Dudley. When Dudley left Cambridge his real estate was purchased by Roger Harlakenden, who died in 1638, and his widow married Herbert Pelham. In 1642, Pelham appears to have owned the above mentioned lots, together with the next two, formerly owned by Richard Goodman and William West- wood ; the whole containing 118 acres,1 and extending from Main Street to Somerville line. Pelham also became the owner of the real estate of Simon Bradstreet, one portion of which was a lot of upland and marsh, long known as "Pelham's Island ; " its boundaries very nearly coincided with Columbia Street on the west, School Street on the north, and Moore Street on the east ; the east and west lines being extended across Main Street, be- yond Goffe's Cove, so far as to embrace sixty acres in the whole lot. These two large lots passed, by several conveyances, to Ralphı Inman, who became the owner in 1756 ; his executor con- veyed the same to Leonard Jarvis, Aug. 21, 1792, except ten acres, south of Goffe's Cove, previously sold to Judge Dana. Subsequently Jarvis purchased the land between these two lots, extending from Norfolk Street to Columbia Street, and northerly from one hundred to two hundred feet beyond Austin Street ; so that he then owned all the land bordering on the northerly side of Main Street from the point about midway between Hancock
1 After 1719, " Mr. Pelham's great lot " is generally described as containing 104 acres.
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CIVIL HISTORY.
and Lee streets to Moore Street, and abont fifty acres on the southerly side of Main Street, easterly from its junction with Front Street.
The lot of Atherton Hough (or Haugli) "in Graves his neck," containing 130 acres in 1635, and embracing all the upland in East Cambridge, was enlarged, by the addition of the lots origi- nally assigned to John Talcott, Matthew Allen, and Mrs. Mussey, before 1642, when it was described as containing 267 acres. Sub- sequently the 63 acre lot of Governor Haynes was added, and when the estate was purchased, Aug. 15, 1706, by Spencer Phips (afterwards Lient .- governor), it was said to contain "300 acres more or less ;" but it actually contained 326 acres, when meas- ured for division after his decease. In his inventory, this tract is called two farins, with a house and barn on each. The whole was bounded on the west by a line commencing at a point thirty feet south of School Street, and about one hundred feet east of Co- lumbia Street, and thence running northerly, nearly parallel with Columbia Street to Somerville ; on the north by Somerville and Miller's River ; on the east by Charles River; on the south by School Street, from the point of beginning, to Moore Street, then on the east by a straight line extended to a point about fifty feet south of Plymouth Street, and about one hun- dred and fifty feet west of Portland Street ; then turning at a right angle, the boundary line extended in the direction of the Great Dam, which is still visible, to Charles River, crossing Third Street near its intersection with Munroe Street. (See the Plan.) This estate was divided in 1759 between the children and grand- children of Lieut .- gov. Phips, namely, Col. David Phips ; Sarah, wife of Andrew Bordman; Mary, wife of Richard Lechmere; Rebecca, wife of Judge Joseph Lee ; and the children of Eliza- beth, the deceased wife of Col. Jolin Vassall. Lechmere soon afterwards purchased the shares of Col. Phips and the Vassall heirs, and became the owner of all the upland and a large por- tion of the marsh in East Cambridge, which was confiscated by the State and sold to Andrew Cabot, of Salem, Nov. 24, 1779. Judge Lee had the north westerly portion of the " Phips' Farm," and Andrew Bordman had the southwesterly portion, extending from School Street to a point nine feet northerly from the inter- section of the easterly lines of Windsor Street and Webster Avenue, and bounded south on the Jarvis estate, west on the Jarvis, Wyeth, and Foxcroft estates, and extending so far east as to include somewhat more than thirteen acres of marsh on the easterly side of North Canal.
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