USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Framingham > History of Framingham, Massachusetts, early known as Danforth's Farms, 1640-1880; with a genealogical register > Part 20
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" Afterwards the said Danforth by deed conveyed the greatest part of his estate to his relations, and in 1699 made his last will, and thereby among other things, devised the residue of his estate to his children, grand-children and great grand-children, and made a schedule of the residue of his estate, wherein he mentions this six hundred acres on Nobscott and Doeskin Hill, valuing it at sixty pounds, being the money he allowed the said Buckminster for it.
" And afterwards the said Danforth died : and his will was proved ; and two of his executors agreed to join with the said Buckminster, and bound out this six hundred acres. But while they were upon the business, the said Buckminster opposed the surveyor, & prevented
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The Six Hundred Acres on Nobscot.
its being done. So the matter rested untill 1709, when the said Buckminster, having purchased half of the demised premises, he together with Winch and Frost, by deed settled the western Bounds of their lease aforesaid, to run from Lind's norwest corner, straight to Sudbury Line; and soon after the said Buckminster purchased the other half of the lands leased to him [the leased, not the reserved lands] and then proceeded to sell all the lands that were of any value on or near Nobscott and Doeskin Hill; and sundry persons entered. Whereupon Benjamin Gerrish and Martha his wife, one of ye grand- children, in her right, brought an action of ejectment against the persons that had entered upon the said six hundred acres for her one and twentieth part thereof, bounding & describing the same as in the reserve; and at the Superior Court in Charlestown in January 1735, in the trial of the cause, it being conceeded by Coll" Buckminster & his counsel, that there was 600 acres of land in Framingham about the hill aforesaid, reserved by Mr. Danforth; & that the said Gerrish & wife had right unto a one and twentieth part thereof ; and the only question then being where the six hundred acres lay; it was proposed by the Honble Paul Dudley Esq', that a surveyor should go, and bound out the same, and take a plan thereof; and he named Ephraim Willams Esqr, for the surveyor; and all parties knowing the said Williams to be a skillful, honest and sensible man, on whose judgement and veracity they could depend, agreed thereunto; & the action was continued to the next term, to wait for his plan and return.
" And the said Williams taking with him two chainmen under oath, namely Deacon Thomas Greenwood and Mr. Fuller, surveyed and platted the said 600 acres, describing therein the aforesaid Hill, and also the buildings thereon; which plat & return was accepted by the said Superior Court in Jan 1736, and the said Martha being dead, your respt being adm'or of her estate, and admitted a party in the action, had judgement for possession of a one & twentieth part of the said 600 acres; and it was then supposed that the 600 acres included in that plan would have been given up to the said Danforth's heirs.
" But to their surprise, the said Buckminster reviewed that action, pretending that Mr. Danforth never reserved the 600 acres to himself out of the lease made to the said Buckminster, but that the same was to lie in common, which he argued from Winch & Frost having a privilege of commonage there; and further that if it was reserved to Mr. Danforth, yet it did not lie within the limits of that plan, and that it had been bounded out by Mr. Danforths ex'ors. But notwithstand- ing all, the last judgement was affirmed.
" Since which date, Mrs. Sarah Sparhawk another of the grand
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History of Framingham.
children has brought her action; and upon a full hearing at the Superior Court held at Cambridge in July 1741 had a final judgement in her favour, upon the same title. During all which time the Ter Tenants have been cutting all the valuable timber off the land; which was the occasion the heirs brought so many actions so suddenly.
" And now whether the success the said Buckminster met with, in regard to having the jurymen of three towns, viz, Cambridge, Newton and Lexington taken off by order of the General Court upon his pretense, that some of Mr. Danforth's heirs lived in each of those towns, & would be likely to influence the jurymen there (when in fact there was not an heir lived in either of those towns except Cambridge) ; or whether it was to prolong the time, that he might take every thing valuable from off the land; or with a design to destroy the evidence, induced him to prefer his aforesaid petition, is uncertain : however your respt will endeavor to give a particular answer to the several things he has therein alledged against the surveyor and his survey ; and shew why the prayer thereof should not be granted. The facts alledged seem to be these, viz. That the said Williams refused to represent in his return the facts and pretentions of the petitioner: Made himself a judge of the bounds of the 600 acres, which the Superior Court could not impower him to do: Fixed on the quit claim line for the east boundary of the 600 acres, which he ought not to have done ; but to have gone further eastward ; and lastly this 600 acres being reserved to be laid out for the use of the tenants, and not being done by Mr. Danforth in his life time, it naturally fell to Coll" Buckminster to lay out the same.
"In answer, your Respt would beg leave to say :
" Ist. That by the evidence of George Walkup, it appears that Mr. Danforth and the said Buckminster intended the 600 acres for Mr. Danforth's own use, and he allowed sixty pounds to Coll11 Buckminster for the same ; and by the same evidence it also appears, that Winch and Frost understood by the said Buckminster that Mr. Danforth was to reserve the 600 acres to himself, and that they were to be excluded the privilege of commonage there, which they would not consent unto, untill they had the Colll's word that they in lieu thereof, should each of them have forty acres of land about their further meadow ; and altho the Coll' has never been as good as his word to them, but as soon as he had got the lease from Mr. Danforth, most scandalously insulted them, telling them that no bargain respecting lands was good without writing, and that they might get the eighty acres of land aforesaid if they could, and that they were fools for taking his word only for the land, with much other such provokeing language; yet
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The Six Hundred Acres on Nobscot.
neither the said Winch and Frost, nor their heirs have to this day claimed any privilege of commonage there, & now according to their agreement with Mr. Danforth wholly relinquish the same, notwith- standing they were so shamefully tricked out of it.
"2nd. As this land was reserved to be laid out, if, because Mr. Danforth did not lay it out in his life time, it naturally fell to Coll' Buckminster to do it, as he alledges ; then surely he can have no just grounds to complain of this survey of Mr. Williams ; for as Mr. Danforth bounded the land leased to Mr. Buckminster on the lands he before had leased to Winch & Frost, and reserved the six hundred acres out of the lands last leased, it made it necessary that the bounds between the two leases should be settled before the six hundred acres could be ascertained ; and that was accordingly in the year 1709 done by Coll' Buckminster, and the said Winch & Frost. And if by the death of Mr. Danforth it naturally fell to Coll' Buckminster to lay out the 600 acres, (as he in his petition alledges) then surely he might well settle the easterly bounds thereof ; and accordingly he by that settlement made with Winch and Frost in effect did it; for after that settlement of the line which was the westerly bounds of Winch and Frost's lease, and easterly bounds of the Coll's lease, the Coll" could not pretend to lay out the six hundred acres or any part thereof, to the eastward of that line made and settled by him as aforesaid, not by word only, but by deed; so that as the Coll" had fixed the eastern bounds of the land leased to himself, and as the six hundred acres was reserved out of the lands leased to him, no part of the 600 acres could possibly extend further East than the lands leased to him did ; and the reserve having fix't the north and south boundaries, the surveyor had nothing to do, but to begin at the eastern line settled by the Coll' as aforesaid, commonly called the quit claim line, and run from thence westward, keeping Sudbury line on the north, and the path leading from Stone's Mill to Marlborough on the south, untill the six hundred acres were included ; and then the Coll' could not reasonably complain, that the surveyor had not gone far enough east, because the surveyor had gone as far eastward as he could have gone himself.
"Now this the surveyor in fact did ; and then hardly extended so far west as to include Nobscott and Doeskin Hill, which by the reserve he was oblidged to do, as by the plan herewith presented appears; so that if he had gone further eastward as the Coll" would have had him, he could not only have destroyed the western line of Winch and Frost's lease settled by Mr. Danforth in his life time, as by the evidence of Trowbridge and Hancock, Brown & Walcup, each appears, and confirmed by the Coll" himself with Winch and Frost in 1709 as
1
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History of Framingham.
aforesaid and lapped on upon Winch and Frost's lease; but then he could not have included the said Hill within the six hundred acres as he was oblidged to do ; and this was what the Coll" desired ; for altho Nobscott and Doeskin Hill was to be included within the six hundred acres which was to lie in one intire piece, and to bound north on Sudbury Line and south on the path aforesaid ; yet he would have persuaded Mr. Williams to have laid out the greatest part of the six hundred acres not only to the Eastward of the Hill, but also to the Eastward of that Line he had settled with Winch and Frost, called the quit claim Line ; and so most of the 600 acres must have been taken out of Winch and Frost's lease, and would have included the very hundred and fifty acres that Mr. Danforth first reserved to himself out of Winch and Frost's lease, and bounded it in his life time by marked trees well known to this day. And his pretentions for this (being as your Respt supposes what he would have had the surveyor have taken notice of in his return) were, that the Bounds of the south- west corner of Winch and Frost's lease (being the same that was the northwest corner of Lind's Land) was an oak tree which he and his sons in 1734 or 1735 marked with the letter L for Lind's norwest corner, near a mile to the east of that very land that the Coll" himself, in the year 1704 sold to Capt Clark, and in the deed, called by the name of Lind's Land, & a full mile to the east of the place where a large crotched Chestnut Tree stood that was marked by Mr. Danforth for Lind's northwest corner, known by him for such ; and known and acknowledged by all the ancient people thereabouts to be so; being that same tree which was first defaced, then cut down, and the stump thereof at the said Buckminster's desire, dug up and burnt, that it might never after appear, and this other tree marked in the stead thereof, as by the evidence of Bezaleel Frost and Rachel Walcup & others herewith presented appears. Twas not therefore because the jury were prejudiced that they disregarded what the Collll's Councel said, but because such black attempts to destroy ancient bounds were glossed over and endeavoured to be smothered ; and a valuable tract of land that in 1703 Coll" Buckminster gave forty eight pounds silver money for, and was as well known as any piece of land in that town, was attempted to be removed a mile distant from the true place, on to a barren rockey pitch pine Hill, which no man would give that sum in Old Tenor Bills for at this day; and this not only against the testimonys of many ancient wittnesses before the jury sworn, but also against the Collll's own deed which had just before been read unto them.
"3ly. This survey of Mr. Williams was taken by the consent of both parties ; and if it be proper evidence the courts of Judicature will
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The Six Hundred Acres on Nobscot.
receive it ; and your Respt apprehends the heirs ought not to be stripped of the benefits of it ; but if it is not legal evidence, the courts will reject it. And that plan never did prevent the Collll's calling in question the Eastern line called the quit claim line. He has always done it in the late trials doubtless, and will always do it, notwith- standing that plan and return & his own deed too ; altho' he pretends a new survey would give light. The heirs don't apprehend it will, nor do they think the CollIl would desire it, unless he expected to have some friend of his (tho' unknown to your Excellency and Honours and to them also) appointed to survey and platt the same ; and thereby to make an unjust advantage thereof.
"The granting his petition will be to introduce a new method of pro- ceeding, which as your Respt apprehends is unnecessary, and Big with inconveniences. The Coll" may have a view by a jury if he pleases ; that the law knows of ; tho' not of taking plans, without the consent & agt the will of the parties, more especially when it is to set aside a plan before taken by the consent of all parties concerned.
"Wherefore your Respt humbly prays that the said Buckminster's petition aforesaid may not be granted ; but that the same may be dis- mist, as causeless and vexatious, and the parties suffered to proceed in the trial of their causes by the known standing laws of the land. And your Respt as in duty bound &c.
EDM TROWBRIDGE."1
The whole matter was referred to a committee ; and said committee, after hearing all parties in interest, reported that Mr. Buckminster's petition be dismissed. The report was accepted, and the petition dismissed accordingly.
At the trial before the Superior Court, the following depositions, among others, were received in evidence :
George Walkup of lawful age testifieth and saith, that Thomas Danforth, Esq. was with him about the year 1693 or 94, upon the land that is now in the possession of Mr. Ebenezer Winchester, which he the deponent was in the possession of at that time. Then the said Mr. Danforth asked him how his land lay, and where his bound was? and he informed him. Mr. Danforth asked him why he had not gone to yonder Chestnut tree, which is your Landlord's corner : which tree stood near the spot where Capt. Isaac Clark's barn now stands; a tree that ran up crotched, which the said Danforth said was Mr. Lynde's northwest corner, and Winch and Frost's corner, and might have done for your corner too; and the land that Capt. Clark now possesseth hath always been called Lynde's Land, since he hath known it.
Rachel Walkup of lawful age testifieth and saith, that to the best of her remembrance, near about four or five years ago, Capt. Isaac Clark was at
1 Mass. Archives, CXV. 108, 113.
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History of Framingham.
her father's, and that she heard her mother ask Capt. Clark what made him remove Lynde's norwest corner mark, and told him it was a crotched chest- nut tree : And Capt. Clark said he knew the crotched chestnut tree that folks called Lynde's norwest corner mark; for he said he cut it down and dug up the stump. And her mother asked him what made him dig the stump up? And he said, Col. Buckminster Esq. told him to dig it up to prevent further trouble. And further saith that to the best of her remembrance, about six or seven years ago, she was at the house of Ebenezer Boutwell in Framing- ham, and said Col. Buckminster Esq. and one or two of his sons come up to a black oak tree standing near said Boutwell's now dwelling house, and that Col. Buckminster marked the said tree on the easterly side with the letter L, which said tree she hath heard some people say Col. Buckminster would have to be Lynde's norwest corner.
Though he was beaten at all points, yet Col. Buckminster continued to fight the Danforth heirs, by reviews and appeals, until his death in 1747. After this, the defence was taken up by his son.
In March, 1767, the Superior Court appointed Ezekiel How, Josiah Stone and Stephen Hosmer, commissioners to make partition of the said tract of land, by whom the 600 acres was divided among the heirs of Geo. Danforth. [See Midd. Deeds, LXIII. 539; LXVI. 541 ; LXVII. 375-80.]
There can be no doubt, that the animosities and scandals which grew out of the transactions now detailed; the combinations of sectional interests; and the antagonisms between the adherents and opposers of Col. Buckminster, furnish the clew to, and were the remote causes of, the dissension in the church and town, which developed into the contest over the site for the new meeting-house, and the attempt to divide both church and town.
FATHER RALLE'S WAR. - This war lasted from 1722 to 1726. It was instigated by Sabastian Ralle, a Jesuit missionary to the Indians, whose headquarters was at Norridgewock, Me., and hence its name. It was a Massachusetts war. The Governor and Council of Massa- chusetts made declaration of hostilities against the eastern Indians and their confederates, June 13, 1722 ; and it was ended by a treaty of peace with those Indians, signed at Boston, Dec. 15, 1725, and ratified at Falmouth, Me., Aug. 5, 1726. Massachusetts people, aided by New Hampshire, bore the brunt of the fighting, and paid the costs of the war. But while the two parties in the struggle were in appearance, the provinces of Massachusetts and New Hampshire on the one side, and the eastern Indians on the other, the real power with which these two small colonies were contending, was the Governor-General of Canada, backed by the King of France. It
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Father Ralle's War.
was a chapter in the history of the struggle for French supremacy in New England.
The principal theatre of the war was in the province of Maine ; but the French Indians from Canada made assaults on the infant settlements along the entire northern border of Massachusetts; and all our towns were called upon to contribute their quotas of men. Framingham shared in these levies. Jonathan Lamb was employed to transport military stores from Boston to Rutland. Col. Joseph Buckminster, then in command of the south Middlesex regiment, sent troops to the relief of exposed points. A detachment of horse, under command of Sergt. Thomas Buckminster, known as the "Rutland Scout," was in service from July 25, to Nov. 14, 1722. Besides the sergeant in command, were David Pratt, Philip Pratt and Thompson Wood of this town. In a detachment under Sergt. Nahum Ward of Marlborough, out from Aug. 25, to Nov. 28, 1722, were Gideon Bridges, Jeremiah Belknap, Hackaliah Bridges, Simon Goddard, Jeremiah Wedges, and Benoni Hemenway, of Framingham.
Rutland was one of the exposed frontier towns, and an objective point of attack by the savages, in this war. It had just been settled, and largely by Sudbury and Framingham families. Moses How and Joseph Stevens, with their families, had removed there from Framingham, only two years before the war broke out. The family of Mr. Stevens were great sufferers. As he and his four sons were making hay in a meadow, Aug. 14, 1723, they were surprised and fired upon by five Indians. The father escaped to the bushes ; two of the boys, Joseph aged ten, and Samuel aged twelve, were killed; and two, Phinehas aged sixteen, and Isaac aged seven, were made prisoners. A few minutes later, two Indians of the party met the minister, Rev. Joseph Willard, who was armed. Both the Indians raised their guns, but one missed fire, and the other missed aim. Mr. Willard fired, and wounded one of his assailants. The other closed upon him; but he would have proved more than a match for the savage, had not three other Indians come up. Mr. Willard was killed and scalped; and with his clothes, and the two boys, the Indians started for Canada. Phinehas was redeemed in about a year, and became the distinguished captain and hero of No. 4, in the next war. Isaac was given by his captors to the Cagnowagas, and was not redeemed till April, 1725. The redemption money was raised in part by contributions in the different towns. A collection was taken up in the Framingham meeting-house, Apr. 19, 1724, amounting to £15. 5. This close relation to Rutland explains why our men were so ready to volunteer for service in that neighborhood.
In Capt. Samuel Wright's Rutland company, in service from
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History of Framingham.
Nov. 10, to June 10, 1724, are the names of Daniel How, Benjamin Hemenway, Mark Whitney and Daniel Rider, of this town.
In February, 1724, Col. Buckminster was ordered to impress four men from his regiment and send them to guard the new block-house above Northfield (Fort Dummer). Among the names are Jona. Stanhope of Sudbury, Jeremiah Wedges and Uriah Clark of Framingham. They were in service from Feb. I, to May 31, 1724.
Daniel How and William Brintnall were in Capt. Samuel Willard's scout from Lancaster to Rutland and north, in 1725. They found on Miller's river, south of Monadnock, the site of an Indian camp which had been occupied the fall before, where were left "sixteen of their spits on which they roast their meat ; also a canoe and paddle, and some squash shells." It was not uncommon for a party of savages to camp in the neighborhood of an English settlement, and remain two months before a favorable chance offered to make an assault.
In 1725, June to November, Daniel How, promoted to be sergeant, Thomas Walkup, Benoni Hemenway, John Stone and Samuel Hudson, apprentice to Jona. Rugg, were in Capt. Samuel Wright's company.
Muster Roll of Capt. Isaac Clark's company of Troopers, out from Aug. 21 to Sept. 18, 1725.
Capt. Isaac Clark, Fram.
Lt. Jona. Lamb, 66
Cort Joseph Ware,
Sherb.
Uriah Drury, 66
Corp. Nathaniel Eames, Fram.
Joseph Brintnall,
66 Ebenr Leland, Sherb.
Bezaleel Rice,
66 Jonas Eaton, Fram.
Georgea Wlkup,
66 Eleazar Rider,
Sherb. Isaac Stanhope,
Trumpr Thos Bellows, Marl. Samuel Walker,
Nero Benson,
Fram. 66
Thomas Stone, 6.
Clerk, Samuel Stone,
John Stacy,
James Clayes,
66
Jonathan Nutting, 66
Joseph Haven,
66
Samuel Williams, Sherb.
Josiah Rice,
66
Joseph Leland,
Daniel Pratt, 66
Asa Morse, 66
Matthias Clark, 66
Edward Learned,
Thomas Winch, 66
Isaac Leland, 66
Jacob Pepper, 6.
George Fairbank,
Abraham Rice,
Joseph Morse, 66
Ezekiel Rice,
Jonathan Fairbank, 6.
Robert Seaver,
David Morse,
Samuel Frizzell,
Jonathan Dewing, 66
Phinehas Rice, Fram.
Moses Haven, 66
John Bent, 66
Oliver Death, 66
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Second Meeting-House.
THE SECOND MEETING-HOUSE. - The old meeting-house became somewhat dilapidated ; and a necessity presented itself, either of repairing or rebuilding.
At a town meeting, Feb. 3, 1724-5, the question was put, whether the town would remove the place of the meeting-house to the Centre, or continue the place where it now stands. And "a great majority voted to continue the place where the house now stands." Voted, " by a great majority, to begin to build a meeting-house the summer now advancing, and to proceed therein so as to complete it in about 3 or 4 years, or sooner as the town shall hereafter agree." The Buckminsters and the inhabitants living near them in the north part of the town, twenty-five in all, entered their dissent.
At a town meeting April 19, 1725, warned by the constables going from house to house, Col. Buckminster proposed "to have the exact centre of the town found, and to have the meeting-house placed at the nearest convenient place thereto ;" voted in the negative. He then proposed that it be placed on the east side of Bare hill, north of a path which leads from the present meeting-house to Benjamin Treadways ; and that himself would procure conveniency of land for a meeting-house there on his own land, and it was voted in the negative. [The terms of this proposal involved the title to the " Meeting-house land," as the spot named was on the tract reserved by Mr. Danforth for "the accommodation of a Meeting-house."] At the same meeting the town voted to raise the sum of £100 towards the building of a new meeting- house, and chose Caleb Johnson, James Clayes and John Gleason a committee to agree with a workman to build the house. According to the list of names preserved, it appears that not less than two-thirds of the real estate owners in town were in favor of rebuilding on the old spot. It was further voted within a few months, that an additional sum of froo be assessed for the building of the meeting-house; and that " the pine trees standing on the land reserved for the accommo- dation of the meeting-house, and fit to make boards, should be cut for the use of the town, and improved about the building of the meeting- house. And it was further voted that any person of the town that will cut and carry the said pines to a saw-mill, and get them sawn into boards, shall be paid by the town for his labour." A contract was made with Ephraim Bigelow of Holliston, to construct the frame of a house, sixty feet long, fifty feet broad, and twenty-three feet between joints, the committee to provide the timber, and the contractor to receive £120 bills of credit. The timber was cut and hewed, and brought upon the ground ; but Col. Buckminster took possession of the same, and used it in the frame of a barn, which he erected near where E. H. Warren's store now stands.
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