USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Framingham > History of Framingham, Massachusetts, including the Plantation, from 1640 to the present time, with an appendix, containing a notice of Sudbury and its first proprietors > Part 2
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longer lighted than otherwise it would have been, by a supply of oil from his scholars." Corlett died, Feb. 25, 1686-7, aged 78 years, and an elegy on his death in blank verse, by N. Walter, was published. His wife's name was Barbara, and he had, besides two daughters, an only son, Ammi Ruhamah, who graduated at Harvard College in 1670, and de- ceased Feb. 1, 1679. This son may have been the individual referred to in the Mass. Hist. Coll. as instructer in Plymouth in 1672. Corlett was the author of a biographical notice of the Rev. Mr. Hooker, preserved in the Magnalia. Mass. Hist. Coll. 1 Ser. I. 243, vii. 22. 2 Ser. III. 173, iv. 91. Magnalia. Allen's Biog. Dict. Farmer's Register.
* Corlett, by permission of the Court, May 22, 1661, had set off to him a farm of 320 acres of land, be- longing to Netus, Indian, at Nip Nap, which was described in the survey made by Edmund Rice and Thomas Noyes, as at the N. end of Nip Nap hill, being about three miles distant northerly from the Indian plantation. This farm was conveyed by him in 1685 to Ales Thomas, of Boston, widow, and Benjamin Thomson, her son. Mid. Deeds, book IX.
8
FRAMLINGHAM PLANTATION.
The above-described farm, which lay to the S. and S.W. of the present school house No. 8, was conveyed Dec. 13, 1661, by Corlett to Thomas Danforth, and by the latter reconveyed the same day to John Stone.
DANFORTH'S FARMS. - The first grants to Gov. Danforth con- sisted of two tracts, one Oct. 16, 1660, of 200, the other May 7, 1662, of 250 acres, " adjoining " the former, both which were included in the general survey following, which is copied from the Records of the General Court .*
"MR. DANFORTH'S FARMES LAYD OUT.
" Layd out unto Thomas Danforth, Esq., a parcel of land lying be- tween Marlbury and Kenecticut path, and is bounded easterly by Sud- bury lands, adjoining to that part of their bounds near Lannum, the land of John Stone, and a part of Natick plantation ; southerly, the lands of the said Thomas Danforth and Natick lands ; northerly, with the other part of Sudbury bounds towards Marlbury; and westerly, with the country lands ; the said westerly line being limited by a pine tree marked with D, and standing on the N. side of that branch of Sud- bury river that cometh from Marlbury,t and on the westerly side of Angellico brook ; and from the said pine tree continuing a S. westerly line unto the other branch of Sudbury river that is the bounds of Na- tick plantation; from the said pine tree northerly, continuing unto Sudbury bounds, coming by a tree marked, in the highway that leadeth from John Stone's house to Marlbury -in which tract of land, bounded ás above said, is contained 200 acres of land belonging unto John Stone, ¿ and is excepted out of that layd out unto the said Thomas Danforth ; also four hundred and fifty acres of land granted by the General Court in two several grants to the said Thomas Dan- forth, and the remainder thereof is for the satisfaction of money dis- bursed by the said Thomas Danforth, for the use of the country, by the appointment of the General Court. Given under our hands the 27th of May, 1662.
" At a County Court, held at Cambridge, Oct. 7, 1662, Edmund Rice and John How, appearing in Court, acknowledged the above written to be their act according to the appointment of the General Court."
By adding to the above the Wayte Grant of 300 acres, and the Russell Grant of 500 acres, some idea can be formed of the
* Col Rec IV. 413.
t Marlborough at that time includ-
ed Southborough.
# This probably has reference to the Corlett farm, which is not ex- cepted by name in the survey.
9
EARLY GRANTS.
extent of Mr. Danforth's possessions. It will be seen that they embraced a very large part of the present territory of Framing- ham, between its extreme Northerly and Southerly bounds, ex- cepting the Glover Farm and that considerable tract to the S.E. of Sudbury river, limited by Cochituate brook and Mr. Dan- forth's southerly bounds, which was within the bounds of the Indian plantation of Natick .*
COL. CROWNE'S GRANT. - Oct. 8, 1662. " As an acknowl- edgement of the great pains of Col. William Crowne in behalf of this country, when he was in England," the General Court grant-
* As the reader will be interested in the life and character of the indi- vidual who bore so prominent a part in the early settlement of this town, we here condense such information as we have been able to collect from various sources. Thomas Danforth was the oldest son of Nicholas Dan- forth of Framlingham, a town near the S.E. part of the County of Suf- folk, in England. The father pos- sessed there, according to Mather, a fine manor, and was "a gentleman of such estate and repute in the world, that it cost him a considerable sum to escape the knighthood which K. Charles I. imposed on all of so much per annum." In 1634, Thomas came to New England with his father, who settled in Cambridge, was a Repre- sentative in 1636, and died in 1638. Thomas resided in Cambridge, and in 1657 was chosen Representative to the General Court, and in 1659 be- came an Assistant, in which office he continued until 1679. Upon the elec- tion of Mr. Bradstreet as Governor that year, he came into the place of Deputy Governor, and held it until 1686, and three years after the revo- lution in 1689. In 1684 he failed of his election as Governor by 61 votes. He was Chief Justice of the Court of Oyer and Terminer held at Charles- town, and " had a chief hand under God in putting an end to the troubles under which the country groaned in 1692." In 1681 he was appointed President of the Province of Maine, where he resided for a short time. Hutchinson refers to him as having had " a great share in managing the
public affairs in the most difficult times." Judge Sewall describes him as "a very good husbandman and a very good Christian and a good counsellor." An original letter from him, dated 1695, in the possession of Mr. Abner Stone of Framingham, gives a favorable impression of his wisdom, forbearance and conciliatory spirit, in the management of his pri- vate affairs. Gov. Danforth married his first wife, Mary Withington, Feb. 23, 1643-4, by whom he had 11 chil- dren, five of whom were sons; and by his second wife, Elizabeth, he had one daughter. Samuel, his eldest son, born Oct. 5, 1652, was graduated at H. C. 1671, gave early promise of distinction as a scholar, but died in London, of the small pox, Dec. 22, 1676. Gov. Danforth deceased at Cambridge, Nov. 5, 1699, aged 77, leaving several daughters. He sur- vived all his sons. His brother, the Rev. Samuel Danforth, (H. C. 1643) was tutor at the College, and was or- dained as colleague with the Rev. John Eliot, in 1650. He d. in 1674, aged 48. His brother Jonathan set- tled in Billerica, where he died in 1712, aged 84. He had two sisters ; Anna, who m. Matthew Bridge, and was great-grandmother of the Rev. Matthew Bridge, minister of the 1st church in Framingham; and Eliza- beth, who m. Andrew Belcher, and was grandmother of Gov. Belcher. (Holmes's Annals, 1699. Hutchin- son's Hist. Mass. Bay, I. 189, 223. Farmer's Register. Magnalia, b. iv. p. 154.
10
FRAMLINGHAM PLANTATION.
ed him 500 acres of land, which was laid out to him, in 1663, as follows, viz.
" Laid out, &c., the 500 acres granted unto the Hon. Col. Wm. Crowne, in the year 1662, at a place near the Cold Spring, near unto the road which leadeth from Sudbury unto Connecticut, on the S. side of a branch of Sudbury river, being about nine miles from the town of Sudbury, at a place called by the Indians, Maynaguncok hill ; begin- ning at the S. side of the said hill, and from thence a line upon a N.N. W. point 300 rods, butting on a branch of Sudbury river, and from thence a line upon a S.E. (S.S.E.) point by the river-side 360 rods, and from thence a [circular] line by the said river and by a brook 160 rods, a line from the said brook upon a W.N.W. point 240 rods, and from thence a line upon a [S.S.W. point 150 rods, and from thence a line upon a W.N. W. point 154 rods, ending where we began,] * adding four acres of meadow upon the said brook and three acres of meadow joyning to the S. line of the said farm - all which said land and meadow and butting and bounding is described by a plat under - make up the full complement of the aforesaid 500 acres. Signed by
" THOMAS NOYES, Surveyor.
" App'd by Court, 25, 3, 1665."
The farm thus described, which embraced the territory of the present village of Ashland, is included in Gore's survey of Fram- ingham, made in 1699, and referred to in the grant of this town, as defining its bounds. It was conveyed, with some improve- ments, July 4, 1687, to Savill Simpson of Boston, cordwainer, for £30, by Henry Crowne, Executor of Col. Crowne's Will, and the Indian title was relinquished June 20, 1693 .; It was set off to Hopkinton at the incorporation of that town, Dec. 13, 1717 .;
Instead of that part of the descrip- tion enclosed in brackets, the con- veyance to Savill Simpson reads thus : "N.N. W. point 134 rods where the first began."
t Middlesex Deeds.
# Of the life and character of Col. Crowne our knowledge is imperfect. Hutchinson (Hist. I. 214) speaks of him as a " noted royalist," and as one of the " principal persons of the town," who called upon Whaley and Goffe when they visited Boston in 1660. From a letter of Charles II. to the Governor and Council of R. I. (M. H. Coll. 1 Ser. v. 224,) it ap- pears that Col. Crowne had represent- ed himself as having sustained severe losses by the surrender of Nova Sco- tia to the French, for which, through
his son John, he petitioned the king to indemnify him by the grant of Mt. Hope. In the reply of the Governor and Magistrates, (p. 228,) they main- tain that his losses were more ima- ginary than real, and that his " pres- ent demeanance was not such as should highly deserve of his majesty, being rather a burthen where he hath been than otherwise; that he hath good accommodations freely granted unto him, but very unhappy disquiets attended that Plantation during his residence there." In the same Colls. (VI. 92) may be found a letter from Edward Randolph to Gov. Winslow, relative to his proceedings at Piscataqua. Col. Crown died at Piscataqua about the year 1687.
11
EARLY GRANTS.
EAMES' GRANTS. - Thomas Eames obtained considerable grants in the S. part of the present territory of this town. At a Court held at Nonantum, Jan. 24, 1676, the Natick Indians granted him " a parcel of land now belonging to Natick, that is encompassed by the lands of Mr. Thomas Danforth, Goodman Death and John Stone." This grant, consisting of 200 acres, was confirmed to him by the General Court in 1679, and an Indian Deed of the same executed in 1695. In 1679 the inhabitants of Sherborn voted to Thomas Eames, "for building the Meeting House, to have the corner of the town where he lives." In 1677, upon his application to the General Court for relief, on the occasion of the destruction of his property by the Indians, he obtained a grant of 200 acres of land, "to be laid out in any free place not preju- dicing the laying out of a plantation."
GOOKIN AND HOW'S PURCHASE. - May 19, 1682, Samuel Gookin * of Cambridge, and Samuel Howe of Sudbury, pur- chased of the Natick Indians 1700 acres of land, which, from subsequent conveyances appears to have extended along the road from Sudbury to Sherburne, south of Cochituate brook, including land about Indian Head and Succo pond. Confirmation of this purchase was made by the General Court Nov. 20, 1696, to the grantees and " the tertenants holding under them." }
LYNDE'S FARM. - The date and circumstances of the origin of this tract do not appear. Mention is made of it in 1689, as Lyneses' Farm. On Hazzell's survey, in 1750, it is represented in the form of an irregular triangle, the base of which extends along the S. side of the N. road to Marlborough, beginning near the present School-House No. 8, and proceeding W. as far as the old Frost place. Its S.E. line was a bound of the Corlett Farm.
* Samuel Gookin was a son of Daniel Gookin of Cambridge, who d. March 19, 1686-7, " a very zealous but an upright man," who was an Assistant and Major General of the Colony, but most distinguished as the associate of Eliot and the stead- fast friend of the Indians. Samuel was Sheriff of the County of Middle- sex. Of his brother Daniel, the first minister of Sherburne, Judge Sewall in his Diary writes, "he was a good scholar and solid divine. We were
fellows together at College, and have sung many a tune in consort; hope shall sing Hallelujahs together in Heaven.
+ Of this tract, in 1683, John Bent purchased 60 acres W. of Cochituate brook, and bounded on his own land ; and David Stone, 200 acres ; and Mat- thew Rice, in 1694, 300 acres, " W. side of the way from Stone's mills to John Pratt senior's land," at Indian Head. Thomas Walker, jr. and John Pratt were also early purchasers.
12
FRAMLINGHAM PLANTATION.
It contained about 200 acres, including the meadow from which the S. branch of Hop brook originates, and a ledge known at the present day as Lynde's Rocks. This tract was in Col. Buckmin- ster's possession in 1705.
The above comprise the chief of the early grants within the territory of Framingham, occupying, as will be seen, nearly the entire domain of the town. Besides these were smaller tracts, held in general by non-residents, and in some instances grants chiefly within the limits of neighboring towns may have extended within the bounds of the plantation of Framingham .* Of these grants a considerable number were confirmed by deeds of quit- claim from the Indian proprietors of the soil, some of which are on record, and others it is presumed may yet be discovered. Nothing is more clear to an inquirer into the early history of our towns, than the manifest care of the first settlers of Massachu- setts, to obtain a legal title to their lands from the native proprie- tors. We have somewhere met with a remark, attributed to the elder President Adams, that in all his practice at the bar, he never knew a contested title to land which was not traced back to the Indian grantors.
EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THE PLANTATION.
The precise date of the first settlement of Framingham is un- known. The first house was probably erected by Edmund Rice, soon after the year 1647, upon the farm before noticed as leased by him of John Glover, that year. An early inhabitant of the town was Elder John Stone, the oldest son of Deacon Gregory Stone of Cambridge, with whom he emigrated to this country in 1635, at the age of 16 years. While yet under age, he came to Sudbury in 1638, probably among its first settlers, where his
* Before 1661, Edmund Brown, minister of Sudbury, had a grant of meadow S. of the Corlett farm, and in 1678 was proprietor here of land near Doeskin or Nobscut hill. "Sher- man's land " was of some extent, and lay between the house of the late Col. Trowbridge and Nobscut hill. " APPLETON'S FARM" was within the plantation of Natick, but bounded in part on Charchitawick (Cochituate) brook and pond. It was conveyed
June 17, 1697, to Thomas Browne, Thomas Drury and Caleb Johnson, as joint proprietors, by John Apple- ton, jr. of Ipswich, whose father, John, of Ipswich, married Priscilla, daughter of the Rev. Jesse Glover. The land may therefore have been a part of the original Glover or Dun- ster farm. The territory of the In- dian plantation of Magunkook also extended within the modern bounds of this town.
13
EARLY SETTLEMENT OF THE PLANTATION.
name is found in the record of the inhabitants, with the lands di- vided to them respectively. In what part of Sudbury he first settled is uncertain. The following extract from the Town Rec- ords may indicate the time when he left the bounds of that town, and settled within the limits of Framingham :
1645. " John Moore bought of John Stone, his dwelling house and houselot, with all other lands and meadows belonging to the said John Stone, or that shall hereafter be due unto the said John Stone by vir- tue of his right in the beginning of the plantation of Sudbury, also the fencings, boards, &c. about the house."
Whether he then or at a later day removed without the bounds of Sudbury, he continued to enjoy his civil rights as an inhabitant of that town, having been appointed, in 1654, to see to the fences on his side of the river, and in 1655, to the office of Town Clerk. He was also an officer of the church in that place. Deacon or (as he was often called) Elder John Stone first built at Otter Neck, near the curve of Sudbury river. His residence there is referred to in the description of the bounds of the Natick Planta- tion in 1659, and in Corlett's Grant, 1661. In 1665, he was free- man at Cambridge, which town he represented in the General Court, 1682 and 3. He returned thither to reside upon the pa- ternal estate, leaving his children to cultivate the large farms he had acquired in this town. He died in Cambridge, May 5, 1683, aged 64 years .*
Henry Rice, oldest son of Deacon Edmund of Sudbury, who in 1660 was one of the first proprietors of Marlborough, before 1659 owned land in the East part of the town, and had probably settled there at that time. In 1662, John Bent was proprietor of lands now composing in part the ancient Bent farm, occupied by Mr. Gibbs. Samuel Winch was of Sudbury in 1671, and then, or soon after, was in the occupation of lands out of the South bounds of Sudbury, where he probably lived. "Winch's old house " is referred to as on the Danforth farm, in 1689. Thomas Drury, John How and others; were carly settlers in that part of the town. The nearness to Sudbury doubtless led to the early settlements. in that neighborhood. The inhabitants were thus enabled to ob-
* For further particulars see the Genealogical Register in this volume. 2
14
FRAMLINGHAM PLANTATION.
tain protection from danger, and to have easy access to the civil and religious privileges of an incorporated town. The individuals referred to are generally described in deeds as of Sudbury, some- times as "out-dwellers," sometimes as " living in or near unto Sudbury."
NAME OF THE PLANTATION.
An. 1670, we find the first recorded notice upon the County Registry of Births &c., of the name of Framlingham ; previously to which, and often after, this territory was described as Mr. Dan- forth's farm. Its name of Framlingham was derived from the birth-place of Mr. Danforth in England. The bounds of the Plan- tation were not distinctly defined, neither did it possess any legal organization. That the name was not restricted to the lands of Mr. Danforth, is made probable by the fact, that Thomas Eames is described as of that Plantation in 1676. Framlingham was taxed in 1674 and after. The interest which naturally attaches to the ancient name of this town, may justify a brief account of the original Framlingham in Great Britain.
Framlingham is in the hundred of Loes, County of Suffolk, in England, and lies 18 miles N.E. by N. from Ipswich, and 88 miles N.E. from London. The river Ore runs by it, and upon the W. side of the town spreads into a sort of lake. By the bounty of King Henry I., here was formerly a castle of the Bi- gods. It is described by Camden (1695) as " a very beautiful castle, fortified with a rampire, a ditch, and a wall of great thick- ness, with thirteen towers ; within it has very convenient lodgings. From this place it was that, A.D. 1173, when the rebellious son of King Henry II. took up arms against his father, Robert, Earl of Leicester, with his stipendiaries from Flanders, harassed the country all around ; and here also it was that, An. 1553, Queen Mary entered upon the government, notwithstanding the violent opposition of Dudley, Earl of Northumberland, against King Henry VIII.'s daughters." This town contains a free school, and also the chapel of Saxtead, valued in the King's books at £43 6 8, the patronage of which is in Pembroke Hall, Cambridge. The church is dedicated to St. Michael. The resident population of this parish, in 1801, was 1,854, and the amount raised by the
15
HIGHWAYS.
parish rates, in 1803, was £1,129 12 0, at 5s. 4 1-2d. in the pound. Cotton Mather relates of Nicholas Danforth, (father of Thomas), that he was " of such figure and esteem in the church, that he procured that famous lecture at Framlingham, in Suffolk, where he had a fine manor, which lecture was kept by Mr. Burroughs and many other noted ministers in their turn ; to whom, and espe- cially to Mr. Shepard, he proved a Gaius, and then especially, when the Laudian fury. scorched them." Framlingham is a mar- ket town, its market being held on Saturday. The Fairs are on Whit-Monday and the 10th of October. There are two other places of the same name in England, viz. Framlingham Earl's, and Framlingham Pigot, both in the hundred of Henstead, and County of Norfolk .*
HIGHWAYS.
Of the only roads of which we first have record, one is described as the path to Quintecote, or Conecticot, which extended from Sudbury, (now Wayland), following, as nearly as we can judge, the most ancient line of travel, crossing the " fording place of Co- chituate brook," passing near the house now of Mr. Uriah Rice. from thence by the route towards the railroad and Sherburne. On this line settlers gradually extended towards the S.E. and S. parts of the town, where, before 1680, we find traces of the Eameses, the Pratts, Thomas Gleason, Isaac Learned, John Death, &c .; Most of these occupied lands within the limits of the Indian plantation of Natick. Some of the number became townsmen of Sherburne, after its incorporation in 1679.
Another road, probably intersecting the former, is referred to as the " path to Nipnox," which was perhaps the line of commu- nication between Natick and Magunkook, at the South part of the town. In 1659, is noticed the " path from Natick to John Stone's house ;" and in 1662, the "highway leading from John Stone's house to Marlbury." These probably comprise all the roads, (if such they may be termed), traversing the early Plantation.
* Camden's Britannia, p. 373. Carlisle's Topographical Dictionary, (1808.) Magnalia, b. iv. p. 154.
t For particulars respecting these
and other early settlers, the reader is referred to the Genealogical Regis- ter.
16
FRAMLINGHAM PLANTATION.
" At a County Court holden in Charlestown, Dec. 23, 1673, John Stone sen'r of Sudbury, Serg't (John) Woods of Marlborough, and Thomas Eames of Framingham, together with John Livermore of Wattertown, (or any two of them,) were appointed and impowered to lay out an highway for the use of the country, leading from the house of the said John Livermore to a horse-bridge (then being) near the house of Daniel Stone, jun., and thence the nearest and best way to Marlborough, and thence to Quabuog," (now Brookfield.) *
The above highway was laid out, and the return made Oct. 6, 1674. It is the highway at the North part of Framingham, ex- tending from the " New Bridge," (so called in 1750), W. towards Marlborough .; The " horse bridge " referred to, is probably ex- plained by the following, extracted from the County Records, iii. 87 :
"April 7, 1674. In answer to the petition of Samuel How, refer- ring to some allowance to be made him, for his expenses about the bridge he had lately erected upon Sudbury river, above the towne, he is allowed to take toll of all travellers, for a horse and man 3d, and for a cart 6d, until there be an orderly settling of the Country highway, and some provision made for repayment to him of his disbursements."
INDIAN HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION.
As our narrative of events approaches the period of King Philip's war, it may be proper here to condense such information as we have obtained relative to the early Indian history, as con- nected with this township.
History and tradition alike fail of throwing much light upon the Indian tribes, who must once have inhabited this town. The spa- cious ponds and the river, particularly at the falls, abundantly stored with fish, undoubtedly attracted them within these borders.
* Co. Records.
t The identity of this road is proved by a petition, (an attested copy of which is in the author's pos- session), signed by fourteen persons, nearly all of Framingham, and bear- ing date 1722. The petition, ad- dressed to the Court of Quarter Sessions at Cambridge, refers to the origin of the road, and represents it as "nearer and more commodious for travellers from Boston to Marlbo-
rough and the towns lying above and westward thereof, than any other road now in use, yet through neglect and disuse, unpassable." A commit- tee was prayed for " to view the said highway and order the building of a bridge over the river there," or else- where, " and order the said way to be laid open and made passable for trav- ellers." In the action of the Court upon this petition may have origin- ated the name of the " New Bridge."
17
INDIAN HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION.
Ancient records refer to the " Indian graves" in the neighbor- hood of Saxonville, as well known, but the precise locality (prob- ably upon the plain E. of school house No. 9) is now lost. The remembrance of it has passed away with the interesting and un- fortunate people it commemorated.
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