USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. I > Part 7
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Although the site of Cradock's plantation alone is then definitely known, we consider the village of Medford to have originated at or near its present location at the head of navigation on the Mystic. The bridge and weir at Medford are very early mentioned in the colony records. Winthrop's party of exploration crossed the river at Medford in February, 1631, and his itinerary indicates that the
place of crossing was as high up as the present bridge.1
The winter of 1630-31 was a memorable one in the new colony, - memorable for its hardships, its rigor, and the prolonged combat with famine and disease. The early part of the season was not so severe, but by the last week of December the cold became intense. Many of the poorer class, who were living in huts or miserable hovels, hastily erected, perished of cold and hunger. How to keep warın, how to subsist, became the problems of each succeeding day. Never before had these English men and women passed such a Christmas as now dawned upon them. The comfortable fire- sides, merry greetings, and abundance of their English homes were now exchanged for misery, dejection, and want. The peal of Christmas climes, the Yule-log, the groaning board, were replaced by howling blasts, decaying embers, and bare cup- boards. Homesickness crept into many house- holds. To support life was the chief end of living. The store of bread was soon completely exhausted : the scanty supply of corn brought iu by Indians soon failed. Clams and mussels, ground-nuts and acorns, furnished a precarious supply of food, re- ducing the whites to the same straits as their savage neighbors. It is related that some one who came to Winthrop's house to upbraid him with his suf- ferings became dumb on finding the last batch of bread was then in the governor's own oven. In the midst of universal famine it seems almost a mockery that a day of public fasting should be proclaimed. It was, however, to have taken place on the 22d of February, but on the 5th, to the colonists' great joy, the Lion2 came into port with a cargo of provisions. The day of fasting was turned into one of thanksgiving, memorable as the first observance of the kind by these colo- nists.
During the winter fires were of such frequent occurrence that the settlers began to fear their towns would be destroyed by conflagrations. The few houses that had been built were covered with thatch, and had wooden chimneys plastered with clay. By far the greater number of people lived in wigwams and huts built of the most combusti- ble materials. Necessity had so ordered it. Many
1 According to J. H. Trumbull, whose knowledge of the language of the New England tribes is probably unsurpassed, Mystic, as a river name, is unquestionably Indian, denoting a broad tidal stream or estuary.
2 The celebrated Roger Williams came in this ship.
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
liad twice provided temporary homes for themselves and their families, first at Charlestown, later at Boston. The question of where their principal town should be was still unsettled. The chief's of the colony still pursued their idea of a fortified town far enough from the sea to be safe from attack by a hostile flotilla ; so long as they held this purpose there could be no settled feeling among the people.
On the 6th of December the governor and most of the assistants, with others, met at Roxbury, and there agreed to build a fortified town npon the neck between that place and Boston. This project was, however, npon mature considera- tion abandoned. On the 21st of the same month the governor and assistants again met at Water- town, where they found a situation, proper for their purpose, one mile east of the town. After some consideration - Dudley says on the 28th of December -it was agreed that all the assist- ants, except Endicott 1 and Sharp, should build houses the coming spring, and pass the follow- ing winter there. The example, the removal of ordnance and munitions to the new town, were expected to draw to it all the old emigrants who were able to remove, and certainly such as might come after its founding. This was the beginning of Cambridge and of its numerous progeny of towns.
Only two of the assistants, Dudley and Brad- street, performed their promise of building at the new town in the spring. Governor Winthrop performed his only so far as to build a house by the time appointed, which some of his servants lived in; but he continued his own residence at Boston, and in a very short time, to the disgust of Dudley, removed the honse to that place. A lot was assigned to Saltonstall, who presently sailed for England, where he permanently remained. The other assistants, Nowell, Pynchon, Ludlow, and Coddington,2 took no steps whatever to carry out their agreement.
The governor's free interpretation of this agree- ment exasperated Dudley, for Winthrop's active co-operation was all important, and the deputy seems to have strongly favored the proposed new town. A coldness sprung up between them which continued until the matter of difference - and this act strongly illustrates the patriarchal character of the government - was submitted to mediators,
when the governor admitted that in removing his house without consulting the other parties to the original engagement he was blamable. Both Win- throp and Dudley fell into a passion before the conference ended, exchanging hot words and bitter reproaches, but the arbitrators finally pacified them.
It came out at this discussion, in which each charged the other with exceeding his lawful au- thority, that Dudley had impaled a thousand acres at the new town, and had assigned lands to persons there without having first obtained warrant for it from the court. It also transpired that the gov- ernor had exercised large discretionary powers in settling questions of public concern without ref- erence to the legislative authority of the colony. The necessity of the case, the evil that would arise from delay, appear to have decided the governor's course, -a role of action that excited Dudley's ire, although the people do not appear to have been disturbed by the thought that their liberties were in danger.
The antagonisms of these two men possess a curious interest. They were the ruling spirits of the colony. They were frequently at variance, and were as often brought into harmony by the influ- ence of a trait common to both, but of which the governor alone held the master-key. Both were generous ; but what in Winthrop was natural and habitual, existed only in the depths of Dudley's character. Those depths must be sounded and stirred before the man revealed himself.
Each distrusted the other ; yet each had, at the bottom, a sincere respect for the other. Dudley was fiery, suspicious, and perhaps envious of Winthrop, though he does not hesitate to praise the governor's piety, liberality, wisdom, and gravity when writing to his noble patron, the Countess. Winthrop's more noble nature subdued the impetuous Dudley by its incontestable superiority. The strife for pre- eminence gave way to one of generosity ; and this was a struggle in which neither would allow him- self to be defeated. There can be no question that the deputy was an uncomfortable associate; yet his jealous watchfulness, his hasty temper, served to bring out more prominently what was best in himself and most admirable in his habitual antago- nist.
The new settlement adopted the name of New- town, a name perpetuated in that part of it now constituting the prosperous city of Newton. Al- though some steps were taken to carry the original purpose into effect, the design failed for reasons
1 Endicott lived at Salem : Sharp was going back to England.
2 Nowell lived at Charlestown, Pynchon at Roxbury, Ludlow at Dorchester, and Coddington at Boston.
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PUBLIC LIBRARY
Quarrel between Winthrop and Dudley.
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PROGRESS IN THIE COLONY.
already mentioned. Instead of being the political, Newtown became the intellectual, centre of the col- ony ; instead of a fortress, she erected a citadel of learning. In 1638 Newtown was named Cam- bridge, from the ancient university town of Old England.
The three towns whose humble beginnings have thus been sketched embraced a large portion of Middlesex County. From them came the greater part of the fifty-four towns now constituting the county. Charlestown originally included Malden, Woburn, Stoneham, Burlington, and Somerville ; also parts of Medford, Cambridge, Arlington, and Reading. Watertown embraced Waltham, Weston, and portions of Belmont and Lincoln. Cambridge, by its original and added limits, comprehended Newton, Brighton, Arlington, Lexington, Bedford, and Billerica, extending nearly thirty-five miles, from the Charles to the Merrimack, and requiring a day's journey to traverse. As originally consti- tuted the earliest of the towns were without defi- nite limits. In March, 1632, a commission was appointed to fix their boundaries, which have from time to time been changed as portions have been taken from or added to the parent towns.
Not only did this trio of_ original towns multi- ply themselves into thirty or forty within the colony of Massachusetts Bay, they were the means of founding other colonies which eventually became great and flourishing states. In 1635, a year memorable in the annals of New England, Water- town people planted Wethersfield, in Connecticut, which plantation they first called after their own Watertown. Some of these planters were after- wards original settlers of Stamford, Milford, and Branford. The founders of Dedham came from Watertown. Concord very early received Water- town families. Sudbury was begun by inhabi- tants of Watertown. Lancaster and Martha's Vineyard also owe their settlement in whole or in part to the " straitness of accommodation at Watertown."
In 1635 there was a general exodus of the peo- ple of Newtown, when Mr. Hooker and most of his congregation removed to Connecticut, where they founded Hartford. The history of this new pilgrimage into the wilds of a remote region will be briefly narrated in its order. It is now men- tioned as an example of the widespread influence of Massachusetts upon the destinies of her sister colonies.
No events of particular moment occurred during
the years 1631, 1632, and 1633. The whole country was yet an unsubdued, or, as the old writers call it, an uncouth wilderness. There were yet no reads nor other ways of inland travel except, the Indian paths. In the year first named a ferry was established between Boston and Charlestown. At this time from the capital to Winnisimnmet, or to Mattapan, was a day's journey by land. Herc and there were a few natural clearings. The Indians had, in their primitive way, made others near their villages : but for the present the extensive salt meadows, bordering upon tidal waters, were the chief resource for grazing and hay. Time was necessary to convert rank meadow and thorny up- land into fertility, yet this was being accomplished with the energy and perseverance characteristic of the English race. Higginson and Graves had overpraised the country. The disappointed set- tlers went to work like men determined to make it realize all that had been claimed for it. The season of exaltation being past, the serious busi- ness of life began.
It is easy to say that where we now stand was once a wilderness ; but the full meaning of the contrast cannot be realized by a simple statement of the fact : it may be by an anecdote.
Early in 1631 - we doubt if it could have been before the spring of this year - Governor Winthrop began making a farm on the west side of Mystic River, the title to which was confirmed to him by a grant of six hundred acres in Septem- ber of that year. Here he erected a dwelling and built a little vessel called the Blessing of the Bay, the first to be launched in the colony. This event took place July 4, 1631. The governor called his farm Ten Hills, from that number of little emi- nences within its borders.
One evening in October the governor took a musket on his shoulder and walked out from his farin-house thinking he might shoot a stray wolf. He tells us that wolves were then very numerous between the Charles and Mystic, devouring calves and swine daily. He was overtaken by darkness after having strolled half a mile from the house and lost his way. At length he came to a deserted Indian wigwam elevated upon posts. He built a fire outside it, and, having found some old mats, threw himself upon them, but could not sleep. Possibly thoughts of the wolves may have prevented. He passed the night gathering wood for his fire, pacing up and down before it, and in singing psalms. A little before day it began to rain.
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
The governor, having no cloak, clambered up a pole into the wigwam. In the morning a squaw came and tried to get into the wigwam, but the intruder says that, perceiving her intention, he barred the door so she could not. After the squaw went away the governor returned home, when he found his people much troubled by his long absence and their own fruitless search for him during the night. The scene of this adventure was within the present limits of the city of Somerville.
This was by no means an exceptional experience. Dudley relates how one of the Watertown settlers having lost a calf, and hearing the howling of wolves round about his house, roused his neighbors, who frightened the wolves away by discharging their muskets. The noise of the firing was heard in Roxbury, where the inhabitants rose from their beds in great alarm, beat their drum, seized their weapons, and sent a messenger post haste to Bos- ton, where the same scene was repeated. In the morning the calf was found unhurt.
The departure late in March of the ship Lion should be noticed as an event of some importance to the colony. She carried Rev. Mr. Wilson, Sir Richard Saltonstall, Mr. Thomas Sharp, and Mr. William Coddington back to England. Saltonstall and Sharp did not return ; but Wilson and Cod- dington recrossed the ocean to resume their respec- tive places of pastor and magistrate. The latter subsequently removed to Rhode Island, where he became governor. In Saltoustall the colony lost a zealous and influential supporter. He remained long enough in the colony to see his plantation at Watertown the most populous and thriving of any except that at Boston. Sharp had been an assist- ant since the first election of Winthrop as governor. In this ship also went Dudley's famous letter "To the righte honorable my very good Lady, the Lady Brydget Countesse of Lineoln."
On the 6th of July a small vessel called the Plough arrived from England. She landed her ten passengers at Watertown. Winthrop says they were the company called The Husbandmen ; that most of them were Familists and vanished away.
In November the busy Lion again anchored before Boston with a notable company on board. She brought the governor's wife, his oldest son, and young Eliot, afterwards the renowned apostle to the Indians. Now ensued a scene in striking contrast with that of the last winter, when the same ship arrived so opportunely for the starving settlers. When the governor with his wife and
children came on shore they were received by the train-bands with a feu-de-joie, furnished with a guard of honor, and welcomed by the people of the near plantations, who brought or sent fat hogs, kids, poultry, venison, geese, and partridges as an offering of love to their governor and a testimonial of their affection for his household. It was a marvel so many people and such store of provision could be got together at a few hours' notice. It was a spontaneous exhibition of good-will towards the man who had so faithfully served them without favor or reward. Beyond this the sight could hardly fail to assure the sixty passengers who came in the Lion that plenty reigned within the colony. In a few days this rejoicing and festivity was followed by a thanksgiving.
In January a further exploration of the territory of Middlesex took place by a party of reconnois- sance consisting of Governor Winthrop, his son Adam, John Masters, and Robert Feake. They went about eight miles above Watertown on Charles River. Coming to a " fair brook " on the north side of the river, they named it Beaver Brook, " because the beavers had shorn down divers great trees there, and made divers dams across the brook," which came from a pond a mile from the river. Farther on they came to a great rock on which stood a high stone which had been cloven asunder. They complimented the youngest mem- ber of the party by calling this Adam's Chair. Going still farther up the river they came to another stream, larger than the first, which they called Masters' Brook ; and a high pointed rock in the neighborhood they named Mount Feake. As- cending another rocky eminence, they obtained all extensive view of the unbroken wilderness beyond, of Mount Wachusett and the more distant summits in the northwest.
A second exploration was made on the 7th of February. This time the governor was accompa- nied by Mr. Nowell and Mr. Eliot. Crossing the Mystic at Medford, the excursionists penetrated northward as far as Spot Pond in the present town of Stoneham. They gave this charming sheet of water the name it now bears from the number of small rocks protruding above its surface.
In November, 1632, the people of Charlestown, who since the removal of the pastor and great body of the church to Boston had been united to that church, began a separate organization by procuring their dismissal from the Boston church and by calling Rev. Thomas James to be their minister.
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PROGRESS IN THE COLONY.
Eighteen men and fifteen women united in forming it. The records of this church say that the cove- nant was entered into on "the second day of the ninth month 1632." The people of Charlestown were thus released from the necessity of crossing over to Boston during the inclement winter sea- son to hear the gospel preached.
The winter of 1632 is described by Edward Johnson as one of extraordinary severity. He says the year ended " with a terrible cold winter, with weekly snowes and fierce frosts between while, congealing Charles river, as well from the town to seaward as above, insomuch that men might frequently passe from one island to another upon the ice."
An event of importance to the whole colony, and especially to Boston and Newtown, occurred in September, 1633, when the ship Griffin arrived at Boston with two hundred passengers after a passage of eight weeks from the Downs. Among these passengers were three ministers, Cotton, Hooker, and Stone, who had all got out of England with great difficulty, in consequence of the rigid enforce- ment of the acts of supremacy and allegiance. Cotton and Hooker boarded the ship at the Downs, while the pursuivants were waiting for them at the Isle of Wight. Soon after their arrival Hooker and Stone went to reside at Newtown.
On the 11th of October, the day after the cere- mony of ordaining Cotton as pastor of the church of Boston, Hooker was ordained pastor and Stone teacher of the congregation at Newtown, thus con- summating the civil and ecclesiastical organization of that settlement. Charlestown, Watertown, and Newtown may now be considered as being in full religious communion with each other and with the sister churches. Medford has a recognized place, but no church organization.
Hot disputes had more than once broken out in the congregation of Watertown upon the question of whether the Church of Rome was or was not a true church ; and they had only just composed a difference, which promised to be serious, by calling were true doctrines. A question of another kind now arose between the executive government and the people of this settlement. A levy of £ 60 had been made on the different plantations for fortify- ing Newtown. Watertown refusing to pay its pro- portion, the pastor, elder, and others were cited to appear before the governor and assistants. The former alleged that considering the government ---
meaning the governor and assistants - only in the light of officers of a corporation, or, as they termed it, " a mayor and aldermen," its right to make laws or levy taxes without the consent of the people was questioned. An important principle was involved here; and the question raised by the people of Watertown has become the settled principle of all free communities. It is true that the governor and assistants had in this, as in other ways, exceeded the legitimate powers conferred upon them by the charter; but the people submitted to the usurpation of these powers because it was uni- versally recognized that where everything must be created, power to determine questions of public importance must, in the interim of the court, be delegated, or if not delegated, be exercised by some body constantly sitting, like the governor and as- sistants. Governor Winthrop claimed that the Court of Assistants was a sort of parliament sprung directly from the people, and therefore a representa- tive body of the people and for the people. He succeeded in bringing the Watertown men over to this view, " and so," he says, " their submission was accepted and their offence pardoned." He reminded them that at the first General Court, held at Boston after their arrival, the whole body of freemen then voted to invest the assistants with power to choose a governor and deputy-governor from their own number, who, with the assistants, should have the power of making laws and choosing officers to execute them. The freemen were still to elect the assistants ; but their charter privilege, of choosing the governor and deputy-governor, was hereby formally surrendered. When the inconvenience of calling the widely scattered body of freemen to- gether is considered, it does not appear how the government could be efficiently administered by an assembly which met but once each year. It naturally and gradually adjusted itself to the neces- sities of the ease, to what experience suggested ; and with less friction, too, than might reasonably be expected in an experiment of such importance.
It is time to speak of the relations existing in the governor to expound what in his judgment | between the colonists and their Indian neighbors. Sagamore John, whose Indian name was Wono- haquaham, has been mentioned in connection with the settlement at Charlestown. His treatment of the English continued to be as kind as his reception had been friendly. Disagreements occasionally arose between his own subjects and the whites, which were equitably settled. Indeed, it was the policy of the Massachusetts colonists to treat the
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
natives with forbearance, and to use all proper means to foster and maintain a good understanding. If au Englishman wronged an Indian, redress was at once demanded of the governor; did an Indian commit an injury upon a white, the case was re- ferred to the sagamore. Where each meant to deal justly by the other, no cause of grievance could sow distrust. When the English were starving, the Indians brought in their scanty stores of corn ; when the Indians were dying of a malig- nant disease, the English ministered to their wants and assnaged their sufferings.
As the news of the English settlements spread among the neighboring tribes many of the princi- pal chiefs came to visit the white sagamore at Bos- ton. In March, 1631, came Chicataubut from his village on Neponset River, with a considerable retinne. He behaved himself on this occasion, say the chronicles, " as soberly as an Englishman." In April a deputation arrived from the Connecticut River to solicit some of the English to go and set- tle in their country. The chief was named Wah- ginnicut. He was accompanied by an Indian named Jack Straw, who had lived in England and had been in the service of Sir Walter Raleigh.
Owing to some rumors of an intended incursion by the Mohawks, the English now began to post guards at nightfall on Boston Neck, at Dorchester, and at Watertown. Firing was prohibited after the setting of the watch ; training-days were estab- lished ; and the people warned not to travel singly or without arms.
In July, 1631, Miantonomoh, chieftain of the Narragansetts, visited Boston. The next month, August, a war party of Tarratines fell upon the Agawam (Ipswich) Indians, a small tribe living in friendship with the whites. Sagamore John and his brother James, who were then visiting Masco- nomo, the Agawam chief, were both wounded. The Agawams lost seven. killed, several wounded, and others who were carried away captives. This affair occurred within the jurisdiction of the patent, though beyond the line of English settlement in the colony.
No further hostilities occurred within the colony, but an enemny appeared in the villages of the Mas- sachusetts Indians more dreaded than Mohawk or Tarratine. The small-pox, that terrible scourge of the red race, broke out among them during the winter of 1633. The Indians died by scores and by hundreds, - so fast, indeed, that the services of the whites were called into requisition to give
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