History of Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1630-1877. With a genealogical register, Part 3

Author: Paige, Lucius R. (Lucius Robinson), 1802-1896
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Boston : H. O. Houghton and company; New York, Hurd and Houghton
Number of Pages: 778

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > History of Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1630-1877. With a genealogical register > Part 3

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In the list which follows, evidently according to the preceding order, though not immediately succeeding it on the record, I pre- serve the original orthography, together with the number of rods, indicating the relative shares in the impaled ground.

representative body, having the full powers of all the freemen, exeept that of elec- tions." - Savage's Winthrop, i. 71, note.

1 Supposed to be so ealled because they came from Braintree, a town in Essex, about forty miles from London.

2 Savage's Winthrop, i. 87. Mr. Hooker did not arrive until more than a year later; but the members of his floek, who preceded him, in due time again enjoyed his pastoral care.

8 'The location of the greater part of this fenee, or " pale " is designated with tolerable aecuraey by the ancient records of possessions and eonveyanees. Com- meneing in the present College yard, near the northwesterly angle of Gore Hall, and extending eastwardly, it passed very

near the junction of Ellsworth Avenue with Cambridge Street, to the line be- tween Cambridge and Charlestown (now Somerville), at its angle on Line Street near Cambridge Street, and thenee fol- lowed that line to the ereek, a few rods easterly from the traek of the Grand Junetion Railroad. Commeneing again at the point first mentioned, the fenee extended southwardly to the marsh near the junetion of Holyoke Place with Mount Auburn Street. The kind of fenee then ereeted is indieated in an order passed Dee. 5, 1636 : " That the common pales in all plaees, to be made after this day, shall be done with sufficient posts and rails, and not with erotehes."

CIVIL HISTORY.

COMMON PALES DIVIDED AS FOLLOWS : -

John Haynes, Esq. 70 rods.

Steven Hart

8 rods.

Thomas Dudly, Esq. 40

William Wadsworth . 7

Mr. Symon Bradstreet 20 66

George Steele .

John Benjamin 50 Richard Goodman 6

John Talcott 36 66

John Bridg.

Mathew Allen

45 66 Symon Sackett 6

William Westwood

Richard Butler

James Omstead 25

Capt. Patrike .

Daniell Denison 25

Richard Web

Samuell Dudly

John Masters 4

Andrew Warner

66 Antho. Colby

William Goodwine

John Clark .

John White 15

Nath. Richards

John Steele

Richard Lord 3

Edward Stebinge 12

Abraham Morrill . 3

William Kelse .

Thomas Hosmer

Jonath. Bosworth

William Lewis

Tho. Spencer .

Hester Musse

Garrad Hadon

Joseph Readinge

Edward Elmer

Thomas Heate .

Jeremy Addams

William Spencer 12

Of these forty-two persons, it is certain that at least one half were not of the Braintree Company, as many have supposed.1 Precisely how many of the other half were of that company, I have no means to determine ; but from whatever place they may have come, the number of inhabitants so increased that in about a year there were nearly a hundred families in the New Town.

The division of lands and the establishment of highways were among the first necessities. The house-lots were laid out com- pactly in the " Town," and in the "West End," the tract bounded by Sparks, Wyeth, and Garden streets, Harvard and Brattle squares, and Charles River. For cultivation, lands were assigned in the impaled "Neck," and afterwards elsewhere.

1 Thomas Dudley, Simon Bradstreet, Daniel Patriek, Simou Sackett, and Wil- liam Spencer were liere before August, 1632, when the "Braintree Company " removed. Samuel Dudley was doubtless here also. Daniel Denison came here from Roxbury. Anthony Colby, Garrad Haddon, and Joseph Reading, were of Boston in 1630; and John Masters of Watertown, in 1631. John Benjamin,

Edward Elmer, Willian Goodwin, Wil- liam Lewis, James Olmstead, Nathaniel Richards, John Talcott, William Wads- worth, and John White, arrived at Boston, in the Lion, Sept. 16, 1632, a month after the Braintree Company removed; and Jolın Haynes did not arrive until Sept. 3, 1633. The name of Simon Oakes is erroneously given in Col. Mass. Ilist. Soc., vii. 10, instead of Simon Saekett.

HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.

The original assignment is not found; but the work was com- menced before the " Braintree Company " arrived ; for Winthrop alleged, as early as August 3, 1632, that Dudley " had empaled, at Newtown, above one thousand acres, and had assigned lands to some there." 1 So much of the impaled land as lies northerly of Main Street was so divided, that the divisions are easily traced. The westerly part of what was denominated "the Neck," was allotted in small portions. First came the " planting field," afterwards called the " Old field," which was bounded westerly and northerly by the common pales, easterly by Dana Street, and southerly by Main and Arrow streets ; this contained about sixty-three acres, and was assigned in small portions for separate use. Next to this field was the " Small-lot hill," whichi was bounded southerly by Main Street, westerly by Dana Street, northerly by the common pales, and easterly by a line extended from Somerville, near the northern termination of Fayette Street, to a point on Main Street about one hundred and thirty feet east of Hancock Street. This tract contained about forty-six acres, and was divided into eighteen narrow lots extending from Dana Street to the easterly line. Eastwardly from " Small-lot hill " the land was divided into large lots, which were assigned in the following order and quantity : Samuel Dudley, 22} acres ; Thomas Dudley, Esq., 63 acres ; Richard Goodman, 6 acres ; William Westwood, 27 acres ; John Talcott, 32 acres; Daniel Denison, 22} acres ; John Haynes, Esq., 63 acres ; (these lots sev- erally extended from what is now Main Street to Somerville line ; the following lots bordered southerly on the Great Marsh) : Widow Hester Mussey, 9 acres ; Matthew Allen, 27 acres ; John Talcott, 45 acres, bordering eastwardly on the marsh, and another lot, wholly marsh, 50 acres ; Atherton Hough, 130 acres of marsh and upland, embracing " Graves his neck," or East Cambridge.

At a later period, another planting field was enclosed by a common fence, and was called the " West field," and sometimes " West-end field." It was bounded northerly by Garden Street, easterly by Wyethi Street, southerly by Vassall Lane, and west- erly by the Great Swamp, or Fresh Pond meadows. There was also the Pine Swamp field, whose bounds I cannot trace ; but it was in the vicinity of the intersection of Oxford Street with Everett and Mellen streets.

Such were the principal planting fields in early use. The marshes and meadows were in like manner assigned in severalty.

1 Savage's Winthrop, i. 84.

CIVIL HISTORY.

The principal fresh meadows at first divided were those which adjoin Fresh Pond, called the " Fresh Pond meadows." The marshes on the northerly side of Charles River received distinc- tive names. The tract lying westerly of Ash Street was called Windmill-hill-marsh "; between Ash Street and College Wharf was " Ox-marsh "; the name of "Ship-marsh " was applied to the tract extending from College Wharf to the point where the river sweeps around to the south ; and the narrow strip between this point and Riverside was called "Common-marsh." "Long- marsh " extended from Green Street between Bay and Vernon streets to the river below Riverside, and probably to " Captain's Island," at the south end of Magazine Street. The marsh be- tween Captain's Island and East Cambridge was called the " Great Marsh." Its name will appear the more appropriate, when it is considered that almost the entire territory easterly of a line drawn from the junction of Pearl and Allston streets to the point where the Grand Junction Railroad crosses Miller's River (excepting the high land in East Cambridge), was tlien one continuous unbroken marsh. A small tract, indeed, lying southeastwardly from the junction of Main and Front streets, was upland, and was an island at high water, afterwards called " Pelham's Island "; and a few other small parcels of dry land appeared on the easterly side of the line before mentioned, but they were more than counterbalanced by tracts of marsh on the westerly side.

The grazing lands were not divided at first ; but the herds of cows, goats, and swine were driven forth, under care of their sev- eral keepers, to range over the undivided lands, styled " com- mons." The tract embraced between Garden and Linnæan streets and North Avenue was early set apart for the security of the cows at night. It was called the " Cow-common," and re- mained undivided nearly a century after it was first so used. Provision was also made for oxen, and the tract lying between the " Common Pales " and Kirkland Street, extending from the Common to Somerville line, was devoted as an " ox-pasture ; " to which was subsequently added a corresponding tract on the northerly side of Kirkland Street.

The " Path from Charlestown to Watertown " was probably travelled before the New Town was selected as a place for resi- dence; and it may properly be regarded as the most ancient highway in Cambridge. Its general direction was through Kirk- land, Mason, and Brattle streets, Elmwood Avenue, and Mount

HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.

Auburn Street. The ".Town" and all the grounds originally impaled were on the sontheasterly side of this path. The " com- mon pales," so called, were about a quarter of a mile sonth of the path, at the present Somerville line, and about two hundred yards from it at Gore Hall. Among the earliest of the streets laid out for the use of the Town were four, running easterly and westerly, crossed by four others at right angles. These eight streets, with a single exception, remain substantially in their original location ; but many of them have been made wider, and the names of all have been changed.

ANCIENT NAMES.

PRESENT NAMES.

Braintree Street .

Harvard Street and Harvard Square.

Spring Street .

Mount Auburn Street. .

Long Street

Winthrop Street. .

Marsh Lane

South Street, and part of Eliot Street.

Creek Lane

Brattle Square and part of Eliot Street.

Wood Street .

Brighton Street.

Water Street

Dunster Street.

Crooked Street

Holyoke Street.

Besides these principal streets were sundry highways. The " highway to Watertown " extended from Brattle Square through Brattle Street to Mason Street ; and thence was identical with the " Path from Charlestown to Watertown." From this high- way three others diverged southerly : one, to the ox-marsh, passing near the site of the Brattle Mansion-house ; one to Wind- mill-hill, now Ash Street ; and one to Watertown marsh, not far westerly from the residence of Samuel Batchelder, Esq. The first and last of these three highways were long ago closed. Mason Street was early distinguished as the " highway from Charlestown to Watertown." The original " highway to the Fresh Pond " followed the track of the present Garden Street, Wyethi Street, and Vassall Lane, except that it passed across the common from Harvard Square to its northwesterly corner. As far as to Wyeth Street, Garden Street was called both the " highway to the Fresh Pond," and the " highway to the Great Swamp; " northwesterly from Wyeth Street, it had the latter name exclusively. An old range-way on the easterly side of the Botanic Garden, now made wider and called Raymond Street, was " the other highway to the Great Swamp." The " high- way to the Common " indicated that portion of North Avenue which led from Harvard Square to the point where the Old

CIVIL HISTORY.

Charlestown Path crossed the Common. The other portion of North Avenue was the " highway to Menotomy." The " high- way to Charlestown," or the "Charlestown Path," as before stated, was the present Kirkland Street. In the impaled land, the principal highway was the " highway to the Oyster Bank," or the " highway into the neck," extending through Arrow Street, Main Street, and Pleasant Street, to a point near Cottage Street, and thence diagonally across the present streets towards Washington Square. From Pleasant Street a path diverged westerly, and followed the border of the upland, next to the marsh, and was called the " highway to Captain's Island." 1 From the junction of Pleasant and Main streets, the highway extended easterly, nearly in the track of Main Street, and at a later day was called the " highway to Pelham's Island." Be- tween the " old field " and " small-lot hill," was the " highway to the common pales," now called Dana Street, the direction of which, however, is somewhat changed, the northerly termination now being several rods more westerly than it was at first. Another branch extended southerly from Main Street to River- side, originally called the " highway into the little neck," now Putnam Avenue. From the " town " into the " highway to the oyster-bank " there were two principal entrances : one being a continuation of Braintree (now Harvard) Street, from Holyoke Street easterly, through Harvard Street and the northerly portion of Bow Street to Arrow Street, and indifferently called " Field Lane " and the "highway to the oyster-bank ; " the other being a continuation of Spring (now Mount Auburn) Street, or rather branching from a sharp angle in Crooked (now Holyoke) Street, opposite to the site of the printing office, and winding along the higher land above the westerly portion of Bow Street, until it intersected Field Lane at the present junction of Bow and Arrow streets ; this was indifferently called " Back Lane," and "Cow-yard Row." "Cow-yard Lane," separating the house- lots from the yards in the rear, extended across the College en- closure, from the Common to the " Old Field," at the distance of about a hundred feet from Harvard Street, having an outlet into Harvard Street about a hundred feet easterly from the present Holyoke Street ; this, like that into which it entered, was called " Field Lane." Cow-yard Lane and Field Lane north of Har-

1 The upland, where the Powder Mag- azine was erected, an island at high water, was granted to Captain Daniel

Patrick, at a very early period, since which time it has always been styled Captain's Island.

HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.

vard Street were discontinued and enclosed with the adjoining lands immediately after " Mr. Hooker's Company " removed. The foregoing are all the highways of which I find any trace in the present bounds of Cambridge, prior to 1636. On the south side of the river, however, a highway was early established, called the " highway to Roxbury," from a point opposite to the College Wharf, in the general direction of the road from Cam- bridge Great Bridge, through the easterly portion of Brighton to Brookline. Frequent reference is also made, in the early records, to the " highway from Watertown to Roxbury."

CHAPTER III.

CIVIL HISTORY.

THE New Town seems never to have been incorporated by spe- cific act. It was originally set apart by the government for pub- lic use ; and it was from the beginning recognized as a distinct town. As early as June 14, 1631, the Court provided for the making of a canal or " passage from Charles River to the New Town," and, in ordering a tax of thirty pounds, Feb. 3, 1631-2, to defray the expense of a " pallysadoe about the New Town," assessed one tenth part thereof on that town, as related in Chap- ter II. There is no recorded evidence, however, of any municipal transactions by the New Town until March 29, 1632, when the Town Book of Records was opened ; since which time a continu- ous record has been preserved. The first transaction recorded was the " agreement by the inhabitants of the New Town, about paling in the neck of land." Six weeks later, the Court appointed a constable for the New Town, and selected two of its inhabitants, with a like number from other towns, " to confer with the Court about raising of a public stock."1 The first named record, March 29, 1632, has been fully quoted in the preceding chapter. The next in order, Dec. 24, 1632, provided for regular meetings of the inhabitants for the transaction of business. The record is mutilated somewhat, and the words supposed to have been worn off are here inserted in brackets : -

" An agreement made by a general consent, for a monthly meeting.

" Imprimis, That every person undersubscribed shall [meet] every first Monday in every month, within [the] meeting house, in the afternoon, within half [an hour] after the ringing of the bell; 2 and that every [one] that makes not his personal appear-

1 Mass. Col. Rec., i. 95, 96, May 9, plantacon appointed to conferre with the 1632: " Mr. Edmond Lockwood was Court about raiseing of a publique stocke ; " - " Mr. Lockwood and Mr. Spencer for Newe Towne." chosen constable of New Towne for this yeare next ensucing, and till a newe be chosen." On the same day, "It was or- 2 It is observable that the hour of meet- ing was thus carly announced by " the dered that there should be two of every

HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.

ance there [and] continues there, without leave from the [ until the meeting be ended, shall forfeit [for each] default xii. pence : and if it be not paid [before the next] meeting, then to double it, and so until [it be paid]."

Although a general subscription seems to have been contem- plated, only two signatures are appended, namely, Thomas Dud- ley and John Haynes ; and Mr. Haynes must have subscribed his name several months after the order was adopted, as he did not arrive until Sept. 3, 1633. At the first meeting holden in pursu- ance of this " agreement," several municipal arrangements were made, to secure the beauty and safety of the town, to wit: -

Jan. 7, 1632-3. " It is ordered, that no person whatever [shall set] up any house in the bounds of this town [without] leave from the major part.

" Further, it is agreed, by a joint consent, [that the] town shall not be enlarged until all [the vacant] places be filled with houses.1

" Further, it is agreed, that all the houses [within] the bounds of the town shall be covered [with] slate or board, and not with thatch.2

" Further, it is ordered, that all [the houses shall] range even, and stand just six [feet on each man's] own ground from the street."

ringing of the bell." Johnson represents that, in 1636, a drum was used, because the town "had as yet no bell to call men to meeting." - Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc., xiv. 18. It seems unlikely that " Mr. Hook- er's company" transported their bell, across the wilderness, to Connecticut, and the story perhaps was inaccurately re- ported to Johnson. The day of meeting was changed to the second Monday in the month, Oct. 1, 1639, because "it was ordered " by the General Court, " to pre- vent the hindrance of the military com- pany upon the first Monday in the month, that no other meetings should be ap- pointed upon that day."

1 " The town," technically so-called, was embraced in the district bounded northerly by Harvard Street and Square, westerly by Brattle Square and Eliot Street, southerly by Eliot and South streets, and easterly by Holyoke Street, which was then very crooked.

2 This was a reaffirmation of an agree- ment made by the original projectors of the town, nearly two years earlier. In his letter to the Countess of Lincoln, dated March 28, 1631, Dudley speaks of recent disasters by fire, and adds : "For the prevention whereof in our new town, intended this summer to be builded, we have ordered that no man there shall build his chimney with wood, nor cover his house with thatch." As an additional prevention, the townsmen ordered, Oct. 3, 1636, " That no child, under the age of ten years, shall carry any fire front one house to another, nor any other per- son unless it be covered, upon the forfei- ture of xii. pence a time for every such fault : the one half to the person that sees it, the other to the Constable." In these days of lucifer matelies, such . an order may seem unnecessary ; but even within the last fifty years, it was not unusual to send from house to house for fire.

CIVIL HISTORY.

Next follows the division of the common pales, apparently at the same meeting.

The prohibition against erecting houses outside of " the town " may have been merely a precaution against danger from ene- mies ; yet it is not unlikely to have been occasioned, in part at least, by the continued desire to make this the seat of govern- ment, and the most desirable place of residence in the colony. The regularity required in the position of the houses indicates a disposition to make the town symmetrical as well as compact. This orderly arrangement, which had doubtless been observed from the beginning, is referred to by Wood, in his " New England's Prospect," written in this year (1633), as one of the characteristic features of the new town : " This place was first intended for a city ; but, upon more serious considerations, it was thought not so fit, being too far from the sea, being the greatest incon- venience it hath. This is one of the neatest and best compacted towns in New England, having many fair structures, with many handsome contrived streets. The inhabitants, most of them, are very rich, and well stored with cattle of all sorts, having many hundred acres of land paled in with general fence, which is about a mile and a half long, which secures all their weaker cattle from the wild beasts." 1

After this meeting on the seventh of January, no other is re- corded until Aug. 5, 1633 ; from which date there is a consecu- tive record of the " monthly meetings." A selection from the orders adopted at these meetings may serve to illustrate the primitive condition of the town.

Aug. 5, 1633. Sundry lots were granted for " cow-yards."

Sept. 2, 1633. " It is ordered, that whosoever hath any tree lying across a highway, and doth not remove it within seven days, or whosoever shall hereafter fall any tree and let it lie cross a highway one day, shall forfeit the tree."

Dec. 2, 1633. " It is ordered, that no person whatever shall fell any tree near the town, within the path which goeth from Watertowne to Charlestowne, upon the forfeiture of five shillings for every tree so felled."

1 Boston edition, p. 45. The pros- perity of the inhabitants seems not to have been overstated. Of the general tax im- posed by the Court, Oct. 1, 1633, Boston, Roxbury, Charlestown, Watertown, and New Town were assessed alike, - forty- eight pounds ; Dorchester was the only

town in the colony which was required to pay a larger sum, - eighty pounds. In March, 1636, the share of New Town, in a tax of three hundred pounds, was forty- two pounds, when no other town was as- sessed more than thirty-seven pounds ten shillings.

HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.

" Agreed with Mr. Symon Bradstreet, to make a sufficient cartway along by his pales, and keep it in repair seven years ; and he is to have ten shillings for the same."

March 2, 1633-4. " Granted John Benjamin all the ground between John Masters his ground and Antho. Couldbyes, pro- vided that the windmill-hill shall be preserved for the town's use, and a cartway of two rods wide unto the same." 1

April 7, 1634. " Granted John Pratt two acres by the old burying place, without the common pales." 2

Aug. 4, 1634. " It is ordered, that whosoever shall fall [any] tree for boards, clapboards, or frames of houses, [and]. sell them out of the town, shall forfeit for every [tree] so sold twenty shil- lings."

Nov. 3, 1634. " James Olmsted is chosen Constable for the year following, and till a new be chosen in his room, and pres- ently sworn.3

"John White is chosen Surveyor, to see the highways and streets kept clean, and in repair for the year following.

" It is ordered, that every inhabitant in the town shall keep the street clear from wood and all other things against his own ground ; and whosoever shall have anything lie in the street above one day after the next meeting-day, shall forfeit five shil- lings for every such default."

Jan. 5, 1634-5. " It is ordered, that whosoever hath any lot granted by the town, and shall not improve the same, then it is to return to the town ; or, if he shall improve the same, he shall first offer it to the town ; if they refuse to give him what charges he hath been at, then to have liberty to sell it to whom he can."

Next follows an agreement, accompanied by several orders. whereby the system of municipal government was radically

1 Windmill-hill was at the south end of Ash Strect, ncar the former sitc of the Cambridge Gas Works. A windmill was there crected for the grinding of corn, as no mill moved by water-power was nearer than Watertown. This mill was removed to Boston in August, 1632, bceause "it would not grind but with a westerly wind." - Savage's Winthrop, i. 87. The hill was afterwards cnelosed by Rich- ard Eccles, who owned the adjoining lands, and it so remained until 1684, when the town asserted its rights ; and a traet measuring ten rods on the river, six rods and seven fect across the west

end, ten rods and four feet on the north line, and seven and a half rods across the east end, was acknowledged by Eceles to be publie property, together with a highway to it, two rods wide, through his land; and his acknowledgment was entered on the Proprietors' Records.

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History of Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1630-1877. With a genealogical register, Part 3

Author: Paige, Lucius R. (Lucius Robinson), 1802-1896 Publication date: 1877 Publisher: Boston : H. O. Houghton and company; New York, Hurd and Houghton Number of Pages: 778

Author: Paige, Lucius R. (Lucius Robinson), 1802-1896
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Boston : H. O. Houghton and company; New York, Hurd and Houghton
Number of Pages: 778