USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. I > Part 50
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"On a certain Sabbath, an Indian concealed himself in a hop-house, the kiln of which is still pointed out, about a mile from the Burlington meeting-honse, on the road to Bedford, between the house belonging to the Poor Farm and that of Miss Ruth Wilson. When he supposed the neigh- bors generally had gone to meeting, he came out from his lurking-place, and went to the house which stood on the spot where Miss Wilson's now is. Upon entering, he asked for cider of a young woman who had been left at home. In compliance with his request, she went to the cellar to draw some ; but upon her return, he knocked her in the head with his tomahawk. The cellar-door was dashed with her blood, which was never wiped off ; and when the house came to be taken down, about 1760, to make way for the erection of the present one on its site, this blood-stained door was removed, as it was, to the barn; and when the barn was afterward taken down, to make room for a new one in its stead, the door was transferred to another barn in the vieinity ; and thus continued to be ex- hibited in these several places for many years, as a memorial of this instance of savage cruelty." The house to which reference is made as belonging to Miss Ruth Wilson is still standing in the westerly part of the town, and is now occupied by Mr. Charles Haven, a relative of the late Miss Wilson.
Woburn Precinct, situated so near to the historic towns of Lexington and Concord, was the scene of several incidents connected with the memorable
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
19th of April, 1775. In the diary of Rev. John Marrett we find the following account of the battle of Lexington : -
" 1775, April 19. - Fair, windy and cold. A Distressing Day. About 800 Regulars marched from Boston to Concord. As they went up, they killed 8 men at Lexington meeting-house : they huzza'd and then fired, as our men had turned their backs, (who in number were about one hundred) ; and then they proceeded to Concord. The adjacent country was alarmed, the latter part of the night preceding. The action at Lexington was just before sunrise. Our men pursued them to and from Concord on their retreat back ; and several killed on both sides, but much the least on our side, as we pickt them off on their retreat. The regulars were reinforced at Lexington to aid their retreat by 800, with two field-pieces. They burnt 3 houses in Lexington, and one barn, and did other mischief to buildings. They were pursued to Charlestown, where they entrenched on a hill just over the Neck. Thus commences an important period."
.In the house of Captain James Reed, in the southerly part of Burlington, several British pris- oners were confined on the day of the battle. In the History of the Battle of Lexington, by Elias Phinney, we find the following deposition made by Captain James Reed : -
"I, James Reed, of Burlington, in the county of Middlesex and commonwealth of Massachusetts, do testify and declare, that, soon after the British troops had fired upon the militia at Lexington, on the morning of the 19th of April, 1775, and had taken up their march towards Concord, I arrived at the Common, near the meeting-house, where I found several of the militia dead, and others wounded. I also saw a Britishı soldier march up the road near said meeting-house, and Joshua Reed of Woburn met him, and demanded him to surren- der. He then took his arms and equipments from him, and I took charge of him, and took him to my house, then in Woburn Precinct. I also tes- tify that E. Welsh brought to my house, soon after I returned home with my prisoner, two more of said British troops ; and two more were immedi- ately brought, and I suppose, by John Munroe and Thomas R. Willard of Lexington; and I am confident, that one more was brought, but by whom, I don't now recollect. All the above pris- oners were taken at Lexington immediately after the main body had left the Common, and were con-
veyed to my house early in the morning, and I took charge of them. In the afternoon five or six more of said British troops, that were taken pris- oners in the afternoon, when on the retreat from Concord, were brought to my house, and put under my care. Towards evening, it was thought best to remove them from my house. I, with the assist- ance of some others, marched them to one John- son's in Woburn Precinct, and there kept a guard over them during the night. The next morning we marched them to Billerica; but the people were so alarmed, and not willing to have them left there, we then took them to Chelmsford, and there the people were much frightened ; but the Committee of Safety consented to have them left, provided that we would leave a guard. Accordingly, some of our men agreed to stay.
" JAMES REED. " Middlesex ss. January 19, 1825.
" Then the within-named James Reed subscribed and swore to the aforenamed statement, before " AMOS MUZZY, Justice of the Peace."
In these perilous times the library and public records of Harvard College were deposited in the house of Deacon Samuel Reed,, in the westerly part of Woburn Precinct. This house is still standing, although not in possession of the family. The house formerly owned by the late Captain James Reed is still standing, in good condition, and is owned by one of his descendants.
In this connection may be related another tale of the olden time, which is preserved to posterity by the most authentic tradition and record. On the evening of April 18, 1775, Hon. John Han- cock and Samuel Adams, with Dorothy Quincy, afterwards the wife of Hancock, were at the house of Rev. Jonas Clark, in Lexington. They had left the Provincial Congress at Concord, which adjourned April 15, and sought the hospitable shelter of the house of the worthy minister of Lexington. Here they remained over night, but were aronsed early in the morning of the 19th by tidings of the approach of British soldiers to Lexington. Mr. Clark, alarmed at this news, and fearing danger for his guests, put them in charge of a trusty militia-man, who was instructed to find for them a safe hiding-place. He at first conducted his charge to a woody hill, south- cast of Mr. Clark's house, where they might wit- ness whatever should occur at Lexington, and while they waited in this place, Samuel Adams,
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hearing the firing of the British troops, exclaimed, with prophetic fervor, " What a glorious morning for America is this !" Little thought the patriot that those should become the household words of a strong and independent nation, already springing into life in that clear April morning. But the little party were soon persuaded by their guide to retreat farther from the scene of danger, and they were conducted to a place of safety, almost four miles from the centre of Lexington. This refuge was the house of Madam Jones, in Woburn Pre- cinct, which we have previously described. This good lady, a friend of Mr. Clark, and a most earnest Whig, gave a cordial welcome to thesc honored guests. With great hospitality she be- gan at once to make preparations for a good dinner, an enjoyment not to be overlooked, though " regulars " might be at the door. The coachman was at once sent back to Lexington, for a fine salmon, which had been presented to Hancock and Adams, as a rare treat at that season, and had been left behind in their hasty flight. The repast was prepared in due season, and Mrs. Jones, with her guests, who, in the haste of departure had eaten no breakfast, and Rev. Mr. Marrett, then minister of the parish, prepared to discuss the salmon and the other delicacies provided for them. But searcely were they seated at the table, when a man who had hastened from the bloody green at Lexington, rushed into the room, exclaiming in accents of terror : "My wife, I fear, is by this time in etarnity, and as to you (speaking to Han- cock and Adams), you had better look out for yourselves, for the enemy will soon be at your heels !" Startled by this sudden alarm, the com- pany rose from the hospitable board and made ready for flight. Fearing that their travelling carriage, or coach, which was standing by the roadside, might be a telltale object to their pur- suers, they hastened to order its concealment, and it was drawn away to the thickets of Path Woods, in the northwesterly part of the precinct. Mr. Marrett then conducted Hancock and Adams, with Miss Quincy, to the house of Amos Wyman, in an obscure place near the corner of Bedford, Bil- lerica, and Burlington. Here they found many women and children, who had sought a refngc from the "redcoats " in this remote spot. But now the illustrious refugees, having tasted neither breakfast nor dinner in the confusion of flight, began to feel the pangs of hunger. They there- fore begged MIrs. Wyman for a little food, and she
readily took down from the shelf a tray well filled with cold boiled salt pork, cold boiled potatoes, unpeeled, and some brown bread. With this plain, coarse food they satisfied their hunger, not paus- ing to cast a regretful thought toward the renowned salmon, which, for all they knew, might be pro- fanely seized and consumed by the voracious regu- lars. The house of Mr. Wyman has been long since torn down, and its site can be traced only with much difficulty. It was a current story in those days that Governor Hancock afterward sent Mrs. Wyman a present of a cow, as a reward for her kindness.
Hancock and Adams, with Miss Quincy, re- turned to the house of Madam Jones, on the fol- lowing day, to find that they had been needlessly alarmed. The enemy, closely pursued by the re- doubtable Yankees, had returned to Boston, with- out wasting time in a fruitless search for the important rebels. Madam Joncs, who lived until 1814, cherished the memory of this occurrence, and doubtless related it to the author of the History of Woburn, by whom it is recorded ; and many years after the battle of Lexington, this same historian, Rev. Samuel Sewall, then the owner of the old home of Madam Jones, and son- in-law of Rev. John Marrett, listened to the story of the flight of Haneock and Adams, as it fell from the lips of his kinswoman, Madam Scott, the widow of Governor Hancock, the Dorothy Quiney of ancient fame.
The following is a list of men from Woburn Precinct, now Burlington, who served in the Revo- lutionary War, 1775- 1783, taken from Sewall's History of Woburn, and compared with the parish tax-lists for those years : -
Alexander, Abram.1 Burton, Lt. Isaac.
Alexander, Giles. Caldwell, Jacob.
Bennett, James. Caldwell, John.
Benuett, Stephen. Carter, William.
Bennett, Thomas.
Cheever, John.
Blanchard, Benjamin. Cummings, David.
Blanchard, Dea. David. Cummings, Lt. Ebenezer.
Blanchard, David, Jr. Cutler, Nathaniel.
Blanchard, Josiah. Cutler, Nathaniel, Jr.
Blogget, Amos.
Cutler, Samuel.
Bruce, John M.
Dean, Jesse.2
1 " Died at Ticonderoga, in the autumn of 1776." - REV. MR. MARRETT'S List of Deaths.
2 Jesse Dean was in Woburn in 1775, and was taxed there in the province tax for that year. In 1776 and 1777 he was taxed in Woburn, among the non-residents, as belonging to Wilming- ton. But eventually he became a constant inhabitant of Woburn Precinct.
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
Dean, Thomas.
Reed, Newhall.
Dodge, Andrew.
Reed, Reuben.
Edgell, Capt. Benjamin.
Reed, Dea. Samuel.
Fuller, Silas.
Reed, Swithin.
Giddings, Joseph.
Simonds, Caleb, Jr.
Gleason, Thomas.
Simonds, Calvin.
Gloyd, Benjamin.
Simonds, Jonathan.
Johnson, Abijah.
Simonds, Luther.
Johnson, Azel.
Skelton, Daize.
Johnson, Ichabod.
Skelton, Matthew.
Johnson, Jotham.
Skelton, Thomas, Jr.
Jones, Joshua.
Stratton, William.1
Kendall, Benjamin.
Trask, John.
Kendall, Joseph.
Trask, Joseph.
Kendall, Joshua.
Trask, Nathaniel.
Kimhall, John.
Tweed, James.
Kimball, Joseph.
Twiss, Edward.
Kimball, Lt. Reuben. Twiss, Solomon.
Larrabee, or Leatherby, Thos. Twiss, Stephen.
Lock, Thomas.
Twiss, Timothy.
Lock, Thomas, Jr.
Walker, Edward.
Lock, William.1
Walker, James.
Marion, Isaac.
Walker, Capt. Joshua.
Munroe, Andrew.2
Walker, Josiah.
Nevers, Samuel, Jr.
Wilson, Timothy.
Newman, Thomas.
Winn, David.
Peters, Philip.
Winn, Increase.
Philips, Thomas.
Winn, Jacob.
Rainger, Nehemiah.
Winn, Dea. Timothy.
Reed, Amos.
Winn, Ensign Timothy, Jr.
Reed, George.
Wood, Edward.
Reed, George, Jr.8
Wood, Capt, John.
Reed, Lt. James.
Wood, Solomon.5
Reed, James, Jr.
Wyman, Abel.
Reed, Joel.
Wyman, Eliphaz.
Reed, Capt. Joshua.
Wyman, Ezra.
Reed, Micah.
Wyman, Ezra, Jr.
By this, it appears that there were ninety-seven men who served in the war, and probably others
1 In Rev. Mr. Marrett's List of Deaths, 1776, William Lock is said to have died at Ticonderoga, in the autumn of that year.
2 Andrew Munroe, a native of Lexington, taxed in Woburn Preeinet 1781, 1782, 1783.
3 "June 26, 1775 .- Attended the funeral of George Reed, jun., who died of a fever which was occasioned by a surfeit or heat he got in Charlestown fight, the 17th inst." -- REV. MR. MAR- RETT'S Interleaved Almanac for 1775.
4 " Died at Ticonderoga in 1776."- REV. MR. MARRETT'S List of Deaths.
5 Solomon Wood " died of small pox in the Army at the Jer- seys, March 16, 1777." - REV. ME. MABRETT'S List of Deaths.
whose names do not appear on the tax-list for those years, and are not included in this list.
Burlington furnished eighty-two men for the War of the Rebellion, which was a surplus of four over and above all demands. None were commis- sioned officers. The whole amount of money appro- priated and expended by the town for the war was $10,651, exclusive of state aid, which was a large sum for a town of about six hundred inhabitants.
At the time of the centennial celebration at Lexington, April 19, 1875, an invitation was ex- tended to the citizens of Burlington to join in the observance of the day. At a town-meeting, March 25, 1875, it was voted to accept this invitation, and also to form a company of cavalry to attend the celebration. It was further voted to raise the sum of three hundred and fifty dollars to defray the expense of celebrating the day, to be expended under the direction of the selectmen. In accord- ance with the vote a company of cavalry was formed, numbering forty-six citizens of the town, with four honorary members. On the morning of the 19th this company escorted the carriages con- taining the selectmen and four aged citizens of the town, invited guests of the town of Lexington, to the scene of the celebration, where they formed a part of the procession.
Probably the most noted native of Burlington in the outside world was Rev. James Walker, D. D., lately deceased, for some time president of Harvard University. He was born in Woburn Precinct, August 16, 1794, the son of General John and Lucy (Johnson) Walker. His mother was a de- scendant of Captain Edward Johnson, one of the principal founders of Woburn. Both Johnsons and Walkers were numerous and influential families in Burlington at that time.
The late Rev. Nathaniel L. Frothingham, for- merly minister of the First Church in Boston, and a noted poet and translator, made his summer home in Burlington for several years. He selected a burial-place in the cemetery, where several mem- bers of his family were buried, and where he him- self was laid at rest.
BOSTON PUF.
James Walker
CAMBRIDGE.
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CAMBRIDGE.
BY REV. EDWARD ABBOTT.
I. - SETTLEMENT. 1631 - 1636.
ITHIN an assigned limit of fifty pages of this work is to be re- lated the history of Cambridge. The undertaking is not an easy one. The space is narrow and the story long. Not only is Cambridge one of the very old- est of the Middlesex munici- palities, but its long annals are densely crowded with detail, and are further complicated by reason of peculiar ter- ritorial features and an uncommon interlacing of distinct but mutually dependent lines of event. With the parallelism of civil and ecclesiastical structure and life, afforded by the early period of every New England town, is here blended the addi- tional element of the founding of a college and the growth of a university. To pick these three threads out of the general fabric and braid them afresh into one compact and symmetrical strand is the present object.
Fortunately there is a wealth of materials. Cambridge has always stood in a strong historic light. Not only the writings of the colonial fathers, like Winthrop and the Mathers, and the additions of later annalists, like Prince and Holmes, are before the modern writer, but also elaborate and exhaustive monographs upon Harvard College, like those of Librarian Peirce and President Quincy ; while very recently the work of Dr. Paige has brought together the results of a quarter of a cen- tury of patient, laborious, and loving investigation. Upon the latter special dependence has been placed in the preparation of this sketch.
Such being our opportunity, the most that we can count on taking here is a general survey, - a bird's-eye view as from a summit commanding the whole field, which will not gather in every par- ticnlar of the landscape, but rather its general expression ; not every farm, fence, brook, pond, tree, and stone, as it were, and not more than the main divisions of field and forest, the larger lakes, the more important streams, those alternations of
rural simplicity and urban development which com- bine to give character and variety to the scene.
Finally, it will not be deemed by the reader an unwarrantable violation of historic perspective if we reverse the lines and give the greater breadth to the more distant view.
The history of Cambridge begins at the point when the era of American exploration and discovery was just merging into that of settlement and occu- pation. The finger of European enterprise had been busy for a century in tracing the outline of the Atlantic coast of the new-found continent, and in laying down the course of the majestic rivers of the vast limitless interior upon the rude maps of the time. The French had planted their first colonies in Nova Scotia and Canada; the English had followed in Maine and Virginia; the Dutch had established themselves at the mouth of the Hudson River. When, in 1620, the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, the New World was substan- tially a virgin wilderness; the territory which was to become New England was, at least, an unbroken solitude, save for the savage. Eight years passed away, and a second colony, chartered by the Plym- outh Company of " knights, gentlemen, and mer- chants," and headed by John Endicott, followed, entered the harbor of what is now Salem, and planted a settlement there. The next two years witnessed other accessions, the most important one being that which included John Winthrop. Charlestown was definitely settled not later than 1629, and the year 1630 found plantations of English settlers at Dorchester, Boston, Watertown, Roxbury, Mystic, and Saugus, as well as at Plym- outh and Salem, - nine in all. These were the nine sources of the Commonwealth of Massachu- setts and the confederated New England life; to be, in turn, the fountain of the republic.
The character of the first years of Cambridge history may be well epitomized to the eye by the changes which the earliest name of the settlement underwent. Thus : "The newe towne," "Newe Towne," "Newtowne." That is to say, in the first instance, Cambridge was but a "newe towne,"
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
without form, and void, and consequently nameless beyond that simple descriptive designation, planted by a section of the Salem-Charlestown Company on the upland which rose out of the Charles River marshes between Charlestown and Watertown. But, as under the brooding spirit of the New England creative power the little settlement acquired sub- stance and character, the words " newe towne " grad- ually and naturally glided into the proper name, "Newe Towne"; and this, in turn, was compacted by usage into " Newtowne," which served until an important event in the history of the place made it expedient that it be rechristened.
The first intention in the planting of Cambridge was the establishment of "a fortified place " for "a seat of government," the government being constituted as follows : John Winthrop, governor ; Thomas Dudley, depnty-governor ; Sir Richard Saltonstall, John Endicott, Increase Nowell, Wil- liam Pynchon, Thomas Sharp, Roger Ludlow, William Coddington, and Simon Bradstreet, assist- ants. The first place thought of, in December, 1630, was on what used to be the neck, between Boston and Roxbury ; but this was presently abandoned, and search continued in other direc- tions. The result was, a few days later, a favorable impression in behalf of a spot on the "N. W. side of Charles River, about three miles W. from Charles- town," and about "a mile beneath" Watertown. Deputy-Governor Dudley's account of the selection is this : ---
" We began again in December to consult about a fit place to build a town upon, leaving all thoughts of a fort, because upon any invasion we were neces- sarily to lose our houses when we should retire thereinto. So after divers meetings at Boston, Roxbury, and Watertown, on December 28th we grew to the resolution to bind all the assistants (Mr. Endicott and Mr. Sharp excepted, which last proposeth to return by the next ship into Eng- land), to build houses at a place a mile east from Watertown, near Charles River, the next spring, and to winter there the next year ; that so by our examples, and by removing the ordnance and muni- tions thither, all who were able might be drawn thither, and such as shall come to us hereafter, to their advantage, be compelled so to do; and so, if God would, a fortified town might there grow up, the place fitting reasonably well thereto." 1
Here, accordingly, in the spring of 1631, the actual foundations of Cambridge began to be laid. 1 Letter to the Countess of Lincoln.
The governor, the deputy-governor, and a few others went forward with the building of their houses ; the former, it is said, upon the very spot where first he pitched his tent. The governor was, indeed, so energetic as to have his " house up and seven or eight servants abiding in it by the day appointed "; but, changing his mind, he after- ward concluded to establish himself on the penin- sula of Shawmut, across the river basin to -the eastward, and so, taking down his frame, removed it thither. This, of course, brought disappointment to his associates ; it was, indeed, felt as a griev- ance by some of them; but they remained where they were. It would seem as if for a moment the fate of the future city trembled in the bal- ance; but the enterprise was not to fail. The distinction of being the place of the governor's residence and the seat of government was lost, but other honors were in store. Is not, on the whole, the tower of a Memorial Hall a finer land- mark than a State House's gilded dome ?
Picturing the locality and surroundings as we must, it is not easy to see what held the body of the settlers to their original purpose. The situa- tion, though by no means remote, was devoid of the natural advantages and attractions which pre- sented themselves elsewhere. It was a broad, irregularly shaped tongue of land bounded by rivers emptying into Massachusetts Bay, without important elevations, generally flat, and bordered on almost all sides by marshes, which, if not unhealthy, must have been unsightly. From this point of view, it cannot be wondered at, we think, that the governor, after a brief trial, concluded to remove his quarters to the inviting three-peaked promontory beyond the river and its inland bay, over whose picturesque outline he looked each day to see the sun rise. The wonder is that his companions did not follow him.
The departure of Governor Winthrop left Dep- uty-Governor Dudley for a time the leader of the settlers of " the newe towne." He was a man worthy of the place and its singular responsibili- ties. A native of Northampton, England, he was now about fifty-four years of age. His early life had been spent in the army, and he had com- manded a company of volunteers at the siege of Amiens in 1597 ; but having had his mind turned in religious directions, he identified himself with the Non-conformists, and was ready for a new career in the New World when emigration had fairly set in. Much as we should like to know,
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it is not a matter of absolute certainty who re- mained with Dudley in this lonely upland be- tween Charlestown and Watertown, overlooking the Charles.
" No list of inhabitants is found until after the "Braintree Company' arrived in the summer of 1632, except this memorandum on the title-page of the Town Records : 'The Towne Book of New- towne. Inhabitants there - Mr. Tho. Dudly, Esq., Mr. Symon Bradstreet, Mr. Edmond Lockwood, Mr. Daniell Patricke, Jolın Poole, William Spen- cer, John Kirman, Symon Sackett.' But this Book of Records was not commenced till 1632, sev- eral months after Dudley and Bradstreet performed their promise ' to build honses at the New Town.' Whether more than the before named eight persons, and indeed whether all these resided in the New Town before the end of 1631, I have not found any certain proof." 1
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