USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Cambridge > History of Cambridge, Massachusetts. 1630-1877. With a genealogical register > Part 38
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88
1 Rather, "they may be received into the Colledge : of this sehoole, Master Corlet is the Mr. " In the " Errata," without any more definite reference, is found this direction : "At Colledge, put a colon." There is no other place in the 1666. traet where the change is so much needed.
3 Coll. Mass. IIist. Soc., xvii. 132.
2 New England's First Fruits, p. 13.
4 Magnalia, Book iii., Part i. App. § 27.
5 Caleb Cheeshahteaumuck, 1665, died
367
EDUCATION.
these words : the Indians in Mr. Corletts scoole were examined oppenly by my selfe att the publicke Commencement; consern- ing theire growth in the knowledge of the lattin toungue; and for their time they gave good satisfaction to myselfe and also to the honored and Reverent Overseers." 1
Notwithstanding Mr. Corlett's well-earned fame, and his abil- ity to teach both English and Indians, his school seems never to have been large, nor were the stated fees for tuition adequate for his support. The town had frequent occasion to supply the deficiency by special grant. In 1648, " It was agreed at a meet- ing of the whole town, that there should be land sold of the com- mon, for the gratifying of Mr. Corlett for his pains in keeping a "school in the town, the sum of ten pounds, if it can be attained ; provided it shall not prejudice the cow-common." Forty acres of land on the south side of the river were sold, for this purpose, to Mr. Edward Jackson. Again, Jan. 29, 1654-5, " The town consented that twenty pounds should be levied upon the inhabit- ants, and given to Mr. Corlett, for his present encouragement to continue with us." March 25, 1662: "The townsmen taking into their consideration the equity of allowance to be made to Mr. Corlett, for his maintenance of a grammar school in this town, especially considering his present necessity by reason of the fewness of his scholars, do order and agree that ten pounds be paid to him out of the public stock of the town." Nov. 14, 1684 : " Voted on the affirmative, that Mr. Elijah Corlett shall be allowed and paid out of the town rate, annually, twenty pounds, for so long as he continues to be schoolmaster in this place." The colony also interposed for his relief ; and, having previously made similar grants, on the 7th of November, 1668, " In answer to the petition of Mr. Elijah Corlet, the Court having considered of the petition, and being informed the peti- tioner to be very poor, and the country at present having many engagements to satisfy, judge meet to grant him five hundred acres of land where he can find it, according to law."2 The meagre number of scholars is more definitely stated in an official answer of the town to certain questions proposed by the County Court : " 30 (1) 1680. Our Latin Schoolmaster is Mr. Elijah Corlitt ; his scholars are in number nine at present." 3 Under all these discouragements, the veteran teacher seems to have per- severed bravely up to the close of his life ; for there is no evid-
1 Plym. Col. Rec., x. 217.
8 Middlesex Court Files, 1860.
2 Mass. Col. Rec., iv., part ii., p. 406.
368
HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.
ence that a successor was elected until after his death. Two manuscripts have been preserved, -- one containing a reference to him, and the other written by him, - which seem worthy of publication : 1. In a letter from Thomas Danforthi of Cam- bridge to Rev. John Cotton of Plymouth, dated Nov. 16, 1674, concerning the troubles which compelled Dr. Leonard Hoar to resign the Presidency of the College, the writer says, - " As for the Dr.'s grievance, you do not I suppose wonder at it. I doubt not but he hath been told of his evill in that matter from more hands than yours, yet he does justifie his own innocency, and I perceive that Mr. Corlet, both elder and younger,1 were so taken with lopes of a fellowship, that they strenuously sought to excuse the Dr. and lay the blame elsewhere ; but by this time I suppose are out of hope of what they expected, the Colledge standing in more need of students than of rulers." 2 2. Richard Cutter, brother-in-law to Mr. Corlett, felt aggrieved at a decision of the County Court in 1659, and Mr. Corlett united with him in petition to the General Court for relief ; the petition was re- ferred to the County Court with a favorable result. At the same session, the General Court, upon his petition, granted to Mr. Cor- lett two hundred acres of land."3 In acknowledgment of botlı benefactions, he presented lis thank-offering to the magistrates of the County Court, who were also members of the General Court : " Much honoured, Mr. Deputie Governour, Major Wil- lard, Mr. Russell, and Mr. Danforth : Elijah Corlett, who was latelie your Worps humble petitioner at the Generall Court in my owne belialfe, for land ; very thankfull and liumblie, I acknowl- edg the great favour and good will of that Court unto mee (and your Worps my good friends therein) confering upon mee 200 acres of land. As alsoe touching my petition in the behalfe of Ric. Cutter, referred to the full and finall decision of this hon- oured Court; I most humblie and thankfullie acknowledg your Worps favour in your remarkable gentlenes and very tender dealinge with a sad, afflicted, weake man, inconsiderate and rash sometimes, &c., your goodnes towards him will, I hope, have a good effect upon him to mollifie his heart, and the influence of your good advice you left with him, to moderate his spirite. Soft meanes many times effects what rigour cannot ; and mercie rejoicethi against (exultetli over) judgement. Elijah Corlett
1 The " younger " was Ammi-Ruha- mah Corlett, H. C. 1670, who obtained the coveted fellowship, and died 1679.
2 Harvard College Papers (MSS.), i. 11.
8 Mass. Col. Rec., iv., part i., p. 397.
369
EDUCATION.
humblie blessetli God for you : who cause judgment to run down our streets like water; where mercie likewise has its current. Thus heartielie wishing and praying for your happienes and wellfare in the Lord, he ever remaines acknowledging himself your Worps most obliged humble servant, ELIJAH CORLETT." 1
The successors of Mr. Corlett were generally young men fresh from College.2 Very few of them appear to have selected teach- ing as a permanent employment ; only one indeed died in the service, namely, Nicholas Fessenden, Jr., H. C. 1701, who taught about eighteen years, and died of apoplexy Oct. 5, 1719. Wil- liam Fessenden, Jr.,3 H. C. 1737, taught the school eleven years, from 1745 to 1756, but left it two years before he also died of apoplexy, June 17, 1758. Samuel Danforth, H. C. 1715, seems to have chosen teaching as a profession. At a meeting of the selectmen, Oct. 26, 1719, it is recorded, that - " Whereas, by reason of the death of Mr. Nicholas Fessenden, our late School- master, the school in our town is in an unsettled condition ; and whereas, Mr. Samuel Danforth of Dorchester has been pleased to manifest his inclinations to be a Schoolmaster amongst us, and to devote himself to said service : Voted and agreed, that the said Mr. Samuel Danforth take the care and charge of said school, on the same terms that our said late Schoolmaster kept it ; and that he forthwith provide some suitable person to manage said school until such time as he can remove amongst us himself ; which Mr. Danforth promised to comply with." After eleven years, how- ever, Mr. Danforth retired from the service, and for many years was Judge of Probate, Judge of Common Pleas, and member of the Council. All the others seem to have adopted teaching as a temporary expedient, while studying some other profession, or waiting for more desirable employment.4
1 Middlesex Court Files, 1660.
2 John Hancock was elected teacher, Jan., 1690-1; John Sparhawk, Feb., 1692-3; Nicholas Fessenden, Jr., about 1701 ; Samuel Danforth, Oet., 1719 ; John Hovey, April, 1730; Stephen Coolidge, May, 1730 ; John Hovey, May, 1737 ; Stephen Coolidge, May, 1741; William Fessenden, Jr., May, 1745 ; James Lov- ell, May, 1756; Antipas Steward, about 1760 ; Ebenezer Stedman, Jr., about 1765; Thomas Colman, July, 1770; Jon- athan Hastings, Jr., May, 1772; Jona- than Eames, May, 1776 ; Elisha Parmele, May, 1778; Aaron Baneroft, Ang. 1778;
Samuel Kendall, May, 1780; Asa Paek- ard, April, 1783 ; Lemuel Hedge, July, 1783. All these teachers were graduates of Harvard College. I have not found the materials for a consecutive list at a later period.
8 Nephew of Nicholas Fessenden, Jr.
4 There are now engaged in the service of the city three veterans, whose lives have been devoted to this work, and whose terms of service commeneed as follows : -
Aaron B. Magoun, Harvard Grammar School, 1838.
Daniel Mansfield, Washington Gram- mar School, 1842.
24
370
HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.
The first school-house known to have been erected in Cam- bridge stood on the westerly side of Holyoke Street, about mid- way between Harvard and Mount Auburn streets.1 The lot was owned in 1642 by Henry Dunster, President of the College ; it contained a quarter of an acre of land, on which there was then a house, which was not his dwelling-house. There are reasons for believing that the " faire Grammar Schoole " had been estab- lished in that house, and that it remained there five or six years. It seems probable that the "school-house " mentioned in the following " agreement " was afterwards erected on that lot, and designed for that school : -
" Articles of agreement between Henry Dunster and Edward Goffe on the one party and Nicholas Withe and Richard Wilson, Daniel Hudson, masons, on the other party, witness as follow- eth : 2
"1. Impr. That we Nicolas Wite, Richard Wilson and Dan- iel Hudson, masons, have undertaken to get at Charlestowne Rock one hundred and fifty load of rock stone, and to lay them in convenient place whence they may be fetched withi carts, and that betwene this present third month 1647 and the tenth of the ninth month next ensuing, for the which stones Henry Dunster and Edward Goffe covenant to pay to us sixe pence the load.
" 2. Item. That we the foresaid three masons will wal or lay the said stones in wall for twelve pence the yard, so long as we lay any side of the said wall within the ground, and the other answering wals at the same price until they come to the hight of the wal that lieth within the grounde, albeit that these wals should ly both sides of the ground to the open ayre, and that wee will measure all this cellar or in ground wall within the house.
"3. Item. That we will lay in wal the saide stones above ground a foote and a halfe thick at the least, at the middle story, and soe proportionally gathering in until it end in the wal plats
Benjamin W. Roberts, Allston Gram- until 1769 ; not many years later, a print- mar School, 1848.
In addition to these should be men- tioned Dr. Alvah C. Smith, who was compelled by the failure of his health in 1872 to resign the office of Grammar Master, to which he was elected in 1845. He served the city two years afterwards as teacher of penmanship.
1 'This lot was used for a school-house
ing office was erected on nearly if not precisely the same spot, which has thus been devoted almost continuously to the cause of literature.
2 For a copy of these " articles of agree- ment," made by him from the original in 1845, I am indebted to Jolin Wingate Thornton, Esq., of Boston.
371
EDUCATION.
or eaves, about a foote thick, for eighteene pence a yard, making n the said above ground wals, where Henry Dunster or Edward Goffe shal apointe, convenient dore ways, arched over head, and windowe spaces as we shal be ordered and directed for timber windowes to be put in as we goe up with the wall, one of which said dore ways, and as many window spaces as shal bee judged convenient, we will alsoe make in the cellar wall as we shall be directed.
" 4. Item. That we will erect a chimney below, ten foote wide within the jaumes, and another in the rome above, eight foote } wide within the jaumes, in the place where we shal be directed, whereof if the jaumes be different from the wal of the house we will receive eighteene pence a yard for as much as we wal with stone, and ten shillings a thousand for what square brickes we lay, and sixteene shillings a thousand for the bricks that appear out of the roofe.
"5. Item. The said Henry Dunster and Edward Goffe are to prepare and lay on the ground in redines, within forty or at the most fifty foote of the aforesaid cellar, al the aforesaid brickes and rock stones ; but the saide brickes, as many as shal need to be cut, are to be done by the sayde masons. The convenient planckes alsoe and poles for staging are to be laid in redines by the said Henry and Edward, and the stages to be made by the said masons.
"6. Item. The 2 gable endes of the foresaide wals or schole- house shall be wrought up in battlement fashion, at the prize of eighteene pence a yard, as above said.
" 7. Item. The foresaid masons by these presents covenant that they wil lath the roofe of the aforesaid scholehouse and tile the same at sixe shillings the thousand the tile.
" 8. Item. The said masons covenant to perfect the saide worke that is herein mentioned before the first of the sixth month that shal be in the yeare one thousand sixe hundred forty-eight, provided the said Henry Dunster and Edward Goffe procure all the materials requisite of stones, brick, timber, clay, lime, sand, and the sayde materials lay in convenient place.
"9. Item. It is the true intent and meaning of both partyes, that al pay specified in these writings should be such as is re- ceived of the inhabitants and neighbours of the town of Cam- bridge, provided it bee good and merchandible in its kind, whether corne or cattle, and to goe at such rates as now it is payable from man to man when the aforesaid masons take the aforesaid worke,
372
HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.
that is to say, Wheat at 45. Ry at 3$ 6ª. Indian at 38. Pease at 35. 6ª. Barly mault at 45 6ª. the bushell.
" In witness of the premises wee for our parts subscribe our HENRIE DUNSTER [L. S.] EDWARD GOFFE [L. S.]
hands,
" Sealed, signed, indented and delivered
in presence of RICHARD HILDRETH."
It would seem from the Records, that the school-house was not erected by the town ; but that certain public-spirited individuals, - Mr. Dunster being foremost in the enterprise, - assumed the responsibility, and defrayed the expense. Under date of Feb. 10, 1655-6, we find this record : " Whereas Mr. Dunster hath made proposition to the Townsmen for the acquitting and dis- charging of forty pounds upon the account of his outlaying for the school-house : the Townsmen hereby declare, namely, that as they cannot yield to the same, for the reasons before men- tioned, yet nevertheless, if Mr. Dunster shall please to present any proposition concerning his outlayings for the school-house to the town when met together, they shall be willing to further the same according to justice and equity." Perhaps in consequence of some such proposition by Mr. Dunster, it is recorded that at a meeting, November 10, 1656, " The town do agree and consent that there shall be a rate made to the value of £108. 10s. and levied of the several inhabitants, for the payment for the school- house ; provided every man be allowed what he hath already freely contributed thereto, in part of his proportion of such rate." Whatever Mr. Dunster may have received as his share of this assessment, his heirs renewed the claim for further renumeration, after his death, with partial success: Nov. 12, 1660. " As a final issue of all complaints referring to Mr. Dunster's expenses about the school-house, although in strict justice nothing doth appear to be due, it being done by a voluntary act of particular inhabitants and Mr. Dunster ; and also the town having other- wise recompensed Mr. Dunster for his labor and expenses therein ; yet the town, considering the case as its now circumstanced, and especially the condition of his relict widow and children, do agree that thirty pounds be levied on the inhabitants of the town, by the selectmen, and paid to Mr. Dunster's executors, - and that on condition that they make an absolute deed of sale of the said house and land to the town, with a clear acquittance for the full payment thereof." A school-house, constructed as this appar-
373
EDUCATION.
ently was, might be expected to stand much more than twenty years ; but the record shows that on the 4th of October, 1669, " at a meeting of the selectmen, Mr. William Manning and Petter Towne was appointed to agree with workmen to take down the school-house and set it up again ; and to carry the stones in the cellar to the place where the house for the ministry is to be built." The town voted, June 24, 1700, to build a new school- house, twenty-six feet in length and twenty feet wide; and in 1769 it was ordered, that the old grammar school-house then standing on this lot, be demolished, and that a new house be erected on the southerly side of Garden Street, about a hundred feet westerly from Appian Way. This house was removed to Brighton Street, converted into a dwelling-house, and succeeded by a larger and more convenient edifice in 1832, in which the Grammar School was taught until, after a transitional state of a few years duration, it was merged into the High School.
Besides the Grammar School, others of a lower grade were established ; but their scanty patronage affords slight ground for boasting. In March, 1680, when it was certified that Master Corlett had only nine scholars, it was added, " For English, our schooldame is goodwife Healy ; at present but nine scholars. - Edward Hall, English schoolmaster ; at present but three schol- ars." A school was also established at an early date in Menot- omy, now Arlington : Jan. 16, 1692-3. " It was voted whether the town would give to Menotomie people a quarter of an acre of land, upon our common, near Jasson Russell's house, near tlie highway, for the accommodation of a school-house ; and it was voted on the affirmative, so long as it was improved for that use, and no longer." The earliest trace which I have seen of a school-house on the south side of the river, afterwards Brighton, is in 1769, in which year new houses were erected in three sec- tions of the town. At a meeting of the Selectmen, May 7, 1770, " Voted, To give an order on the Treasurer to pay for the new school-houses erected in the town the last year, viz. -
" In the body of the town, In the northwest part,
£107. 2.4.1 50. 14. 6. 2
In the south part, 42. 3. 1. 1
200. 0. 0. 0"
Dr. Holmes, writing in 1800, says, " A little to the westward of the Episcopal Church is the grammar school-house ; where a
374
HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.
town school is kept through the year. Besides this, there are six school-houses in the town; two in each of the three parishes." 1 Of the two in the First Parish, one undoubtedly stood at the northeasterly corner of Winthrop and Eliot streets, and the other probably on the northeasterly corner of North Avenue and Rus- sell Street. The Second Parish is now Arlington, and the Third is the Brighton District of Boston. Before the incorporation of the second and third parishes as separate towns, another school- house was erected in 1802, at the northwesterly corner of Wind- sor and School streets, in Cambridgeport, on a lot of land given to the town by Andrew Bordman ; it cost about six hundred dollars, of which sum about one half was contributed by indi- viduals, and the remainder was paid by the town. Seven years later, in 1809, the population of Cambridgeport having rapidly increased, yet another school-house was erected on the southerly side of Franklin Street, about midway between Magazine and Pearl streets, on a lot of land given to the town by Chief Justice Dana; it cost somewhat more than eight hundred dollars, of which sum the town paid about three hundred dollars, and the remainder was contributed by individuals. After the inhabitants of East Cambridge had become numerous, and had repeatedly petitioned therefor, the town, in 1818, appropriated four hundred dollars for a school-house on the easterly side of Third Street between Gore and Bridge streets ; the remainder of the expense was raised by subscription. In 1845, the School Committee de- scribed thirteen school-houses, then standing, and their cost, so far as it was paid by the town : 1. The NORTH School-house, corner of North Avenue and Russell Street, erected in 1841 on the site of a former house, at the cost of $2,477, exclusive of land. 2. WASHINGTON, on Garden Street, erected in 1832 on the site of a former house, at the cost of $2,150.56, besides about $1,000 contributed by individuals. 3. AUBURN, in School Court, erect- ed in 1838, at the cost of $4,171.67. 4. HARVARD, on the northerly side of Harvard Street, between Norfolk and Prospect streets, erected in 1843 (on the site of a similar house which was burned in March of that year), at the cost of $3,557.48, besides the land, which originally cost $500. 5. FRANKLIN, on a lot given by Judge Dana, erected in 1809, at the cost to the town of about $300. 6. MASON, on Front Street, opposite to Columbia Street, erected in 1835, at the cost of $3,901.89. 7. BOARDMAN, at the corner of Windsor and School streets, erected in 1802, on land given by Andrew Bordman, at the cost to the town of about
1 Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc., vii. 5.
375
EDUCATION.
$300. 8. BROADWAY, at the southiwesterly corner of Windsor Street and Broadway, "erected in 1838 for the accommoda- tion of a Classical or High School for the whole town," at the cost of $5,791.05. 9. BRIDGE, on the westerly side of Pioneer Street, between Main Street and Broadway, erected in 1836, at the cost of $1,055, besides the land. 10. OTIS, on Otis Street, erected in 1843, at the cost of $5,406.78, described as " quite a magnificent structure." 11. THORNDIKE, on Thorndike Street, erected in 1832, and enlarged in 1840, at the total cost of $2,585.31. 12. PUTNAM, on the southwesterly corner of Otis and Fourth streets, erected in 1825 at the cost of $550 to the town, besides about $800 contributed by individuals. 13. THIRD STREET, on the easterly side of Third Street, between Gore and Bridge streets, erected in 1818, at the cost to the town of $400. During the thirty years since the date of this Report, several of the school-houses then standing have disappeared ; but other spacious edifices have been erected, so that, instead of the thir- teen houses described in 1845 as having cost $32,646.67, besides individual subscriptions, or the sixteen houses, valued by the Committee on Finance in 1850 at $80,000, there are now in the city twenty-six school-houses, which have cost more than half a million dollars.
The earliest record which I have found of the election of a School Committee is dated May 21, 1744, when it was " Voted, That the Hon. Francis Foxcroft and Sam1. Danforth, Esqs., Wm. Brattle, and Edmd. Trowbridge, Esq8., also the Hon. Jona. Rem- ington, Esq., be a committee to inspect the Grammar School in this town, and to inquire (at such times as they shall think meet) what proficiency the youth and children make in their learning." Again, May 7, 1770, it was " Voted, That a committee of nine persons be and hereby are fully empowered to ehuse a Grammar Schoolmaster for said town, -the Hon. Judge Danforth, Judge Lee, Col. Oliver, Judge Sewall, Mr. Abraham Watson, Jr., Mr. Francis Dana, Major Vassall, Mr. Samuel Thacher, Jr., Mr. Pro- fessor Winthrop, they or the major part of the whole being noti- fied, and that said committee be a committee of inspection upon the said schoolmaster, and that said committee be and hereby are empowered to regulate said school." Generally, however, the schools were under the charge of the Selectmen until March 23, 1795, when a committee, consisting of Caleb Gannett,1 Rev.
1 Mr. Gannett declined, and Josiah Moore was substituted.
376
HISTORY OF CAMBRIDGE.
Abiel Holnies, Maj. John Palmer, William Locke, Jonathan Winship, Rev. John Foster, and Rev. Thaddeus Fiske, was " chosen for the purpose of superintending the schools in this town, and carrying into effect the School Act. The only mate- rial change since that period consists in the appointment of a Su- perintendent of schools, in 1868, who acts, however, under the general direction of the School Committee, and is their executive officer.
At a town-meeting, March 3, 1794, a committee was "ap- pointed to divide the town into school districts, as the law directs, and to put the schools into operation." Previously the school- money was distributed among the " wings " or " precincts " of the town : - for example, twelve pounds were granted, in May, 1737, to " each wing," for winter schools ; and June 4, 1770, the Selectmen " voted to give an order on the Treasurer to pay the town's school-money for the year 1769, viz. : -
The Body of the Town's 1 proportion is £40. 0. 0 The northwest Precinct,2 18. 18. 11
The southwest Precinct,3 15. 14. 6=74. 13. 5
and so for several years afterwards. Again, Aug. 4, 1777, in consideration of the diminished value of the currency, it was " agreed to make a present to our Grammar Schoolmaster for his encouragement to continue said school from the 4th day of last July to the 4th day of October next, being three months, the sum of four pounds, exclusive of the sum of £60, being the for- mer contract for one year ; he allowing the Hopkins money that he may receive for said term, as before. Also that the wings of the town shall have the same allowance in proportion." Subse- quently the present territory of Cambridge was divided into three, and still later into five districts : (1.) Old Cambridge, south of the Railroad ; (2.) The section north of the Railroad ; (3.) Cambridgeport, west of Columbia Street; (4.) East of Co- lumbia Street ; (5.) East Cambridge. It was ordered, March 1, 1802, that in the first of these districts, there should be a Gram- mar School the whole year, and a school for female children four months ; in the second district, a school for four months ; and in the third, fourth, and fifth, then included in a single district, four months ; " being the quantity required by law, according to the number of families in the town." May 4, 1829, a committee
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.