History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. II, Part 30

Author: Drake, Samuel Adams, 1833-1905
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Boston : Estes and Lauriat
Number of Pages: 650

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During the years just previous to 1828 serious troubles, "petty jealousies, and bitter animosities," had existed in this church; certain members be- came displeased with the form of church govern- ment, and in that year events culminated iu a division, a new church being formed, called the Protestant Methodist ; sometimes called the Re- formed Methodist. This society bought the old district school-house, and moved it down to Main

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Street, corner of Upham, where it was enlarged and dedicated in 1830. After repeated but unsuc- cessful attempts to rennite these two societies, the Protestant Methodists built a new edifice in 1841, removing the old church to the corner of Foster and Myrtle streets, where it became a tenement house, and was afterwards burned. On the 1st of January, 1856, this society was merged in the First Baptist Church, which continued to worship in this meeting-house until July, 1873, when it was sold to the Catholics, and moved away to give place to the present brick chapel, which was dedicated No- vember 17, 1874. Rev. Robert F. Tolman is the present pastor.

The Orthodox Congregational Church was formed July 11, 1848. Its first meeting-house was built on Foster Street, and dedicated May 17, 1849. Previous to this services had been held in the house of Dr. Levi Gould, opposite the present Methodist Church. After that services were held at the house of Deacon Jonathan Cochrane, and then at the centre depot of the Boston and Maine Railroad. Their meeting-house was remodelled and enlarged in 1858, and destroyed by fire Feb- ruary 17, 1869. The present church edifice was dedicated October 26, 1870, and the Rev. Albert G. Bale, the present pastor, was settled Decem- ber 3, 1868.

The Universalist Society was organized in 1849, and the meetings held in Academy Hall, then standing on Berwick Street, afterwards moved to Main Street, where it became Lyceum Hall, and was destroyed by fire August 21, 1870. The meeting-house on Essex Street now used by the society was built by them and dedicated in 1851. Rev. Charles A. Skinner is the present pastor.

Trinity Church (Episcopal) was formed May 20, 1857, its first service being held at the residence of Mr. Samuel Rice on Lake Avenue, afterwards in Waverley Hall. The present church, on Emerson Street, was erected and dedicated in 1859. Rev. Henry A. Metcalf is now the rector.

The Unitarian Congregational Church was or- ganized July 17, 1867, and the church on Emer- son Street was dedicated May 1, 1872. Rev. Nathaniel Seaver, Jr., is the present pastor.

The Catholic Church was formed in April, 1873. The society, having purchased the old Baptist Meeting-house, moved it to Dell Avenue, and com- menced services therein in October of that year. Rev. Dennis J. O'Farrell is the present priest.

The Melrose Highlands Church was organized

September 29, 1875. A new chapel is now being erected. Rev. John G. Taylor is the acting pastor.

The only school in Melrose for many years was kept in the little unpainted district school-house, whose after history as a church has been traced. It was built in the year 1800, was twenty by twenty-five feet, and was situated on a knoll on the old road, now Lebanon Street, about a dozen rods south of Upham Street. In this old school- house Robert Gerry, who died in Stoneham, April 1, 1873, in his ninetieth year, taught school dur- ing the winter season for twenty-fonr years in suc- cession, commencing in 1803. Here the North Maldenites were taught to " Reed and wright and to Refmetick." The boys and girls of the west part of the town came "across lots," passing by the old Howard house, still standing on Main Street, and crossing L Pond Brook on a log. After this house was sold to the Protestant Methodists a new one was built on Upham Street, in 1828, by the schoolmaster, Robert Gerry, for the town of Malden. This was burned in 1845, and the. one built on its site was the only one owned by Melrose when incorporated ; in this was kept a primary, intermediate, and grammar school. This house was burned in April, 1874, and was succeeded by the present grammar-school structure. A high school was established in 1857, and the present high-school building, between Emerson Street and Lake Avenne, was built, and dedicated July 15, 1869. There are now seven school-houses, with sixteen schools. Value of buildings, $55,000, and of school property, $3,150.

When the Revolutionary War broke forth, and the alarum-note from Concord and Lexington sounded for men "to resist the minesteral troops," nearly every able-bodied man living in North Mal- den joined the Malden company, under the com- mand of Captain Benjamin Blaney, which marched immediately for Concord ; a few joined the " alarm list" of about sixty men, under Captain Nayler Hatch, which proceeded to Beacham's Point and threw up a fort. Captain Hatch's company re- mained at the fort during the day, and after return- ing to town at night a number of the men started for Concord, to join their comrades in battle. The names of those who took part in this contest, living in Melrose, were Sergeant Jabez Lynde, Nathan Eaton, Joseph Lynde, Jr., Ezra Howard, John Vinton, Benjamin Lynde, William Upham, Ezra Upham, John Grover, 3d, Unite Cox, Joseph Barrett, Jr., Phineas Sprague, John Grover, Jr.,

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John Gould, Phineas Sprague, Joseph Lynde, and John Pratt. The two Spragues were father and son ; the father living on Foster Street and the son on Porter Street. Of the father, Wright says, in his discourse, he was "a mnost daring advocate of American rights. He was quite advanced in life at the breaking out of the war; but one of the individuals connected with Captain Hatch's company, mentioned as starting for Concord in the night, after having lain at Beacham's Point during the day. Mr. Sprague was very deaf; but his heart was as impervious to fear as his ears were to sound. And when the rest of his party were flying from the view of the enemy, he was seen upon a piece of rising ground swinging his hat, and shout- ing ' Victory !'">

The following receipt was given for bounty paid by Mr. Joseph Barrett, who was the grandfather of Mr. Artemas Barrett, from whom this and other documents have been obtained.

" CAMBRIDGE, Augt 17, 1781.

" Recd of M' Joseph Barret the sum of Twelve Pounds Solid Coine in full of all Accompts, Debts Dues and Demands Against ME Joseph Lyonds or Mr Joseph Barretts Class for Procuring a man for three years' service in the Army.

" Recª by me BENJ PERKINS."

Some of the citizens of North Malden had been in the previous wars of the country, and others furnished substitutes, and the following is the re- ceipt of one of these substitutes.

" Jan. 13, 1761.

" Received of Phinehas Sprague june'r eight Pounds lawful money it being for my going a Solger to forte cumberland and I had a promes not of Six Pounds be fore

"Pr me JOHN BATTS."

In the Civil War of 1861 - 65 Melrose has a noble record. Fort Sumter was fired upon April 12, 1861. The first call upon Massachu- setts for three months' troops was by telegram, April 15, when five citizens of Melrose responded, and four of them were in the first battle of Bull Run. May 3, came the President's call for three years' men, and May 6, a town-meeting was held in Concert Hall, at which it was voted, " That the Town of Melrose appropriate the sum of $3,000 for the relief of the families of the citizens of Mel- rose, now absent in the service of the United States, or who may hereafter volunteer into the ser- vice of the United States, or the state of Massa-

chusetts. Also that above all other appropriations the sum of fifteen dollars per month be paid to those persons having families, and the sum of ten dollars per month to those who are single men, dur- ing their time of service in the war now pending."

As the Rebellion progressed many other meetings were held, and votes passed in aid of raising volun- teers and other necessary matters. Two hundred and three of her citizens entered the service, and two commissioned officers and twenty-one enlisted men gave their lives to their country. This roll of " unreturning brave " is as follows : Lieuten- ant George Thomas Martin, Lientenant George James Morse, William Francis Barry, Nathan H. Brand, Jonas Green Brown, Albert Waterston Crockett, Edmund Wallace Davis, Henry Franklin Fuller, Augustus Green, Martin Greene, James Roland Howard, William F. Krantz, Richard Lever, Benjamin Lynde, George Warren, Lynde, William Henry Macey, Sidney Bradford Morse, Francis Peabody, George Elwyn Richardson, Thomas H. Stevens, John Eastman Stilphen, John Parker Shelton, and Benjamin F. Wilde.

Since the close of the war others have died from diseases contracted while in the service, and have gone hence to " the land of the hereafter " to meet their comrades and their God. Besides her own citizens, Melrose furnished for the various quotas two hundred and fifty-one men, making a total number of four hundred and fifty-four, which was a surplus of seventy-three men above the number called for by the United States. She contributed $38,000 for war expenses, besides the various and multiplied amounts given by individuals for bounty and charitable objects during its continuance. Ac- cording to its population and wealth, no town in. the commonwealth did better service than Melrose during this attempt to disintegrate our nation. A full and detailed history of the action taken in this internecine war has been given in the Melrose Memorial ; The Annals of Melrose in the Great Rebellion of 1861 - 65.

Through the instrumentality of this Rebellion the fearful evil of slavery was swept from our land. During the last century our own territory here iu Melrose was cursed by this traffic, as is witnessed by the following original document conveying two human beings into bondage to Mr. Phineas Sprague, Jr .; the same person who afterwards hired the substitute for the French War, who served in the Revolution, and who wrote the ac- count of the Dark Day in 1780.

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MELROSE.

" Know all men by these present that I Thomas Nickels of Reding In the County of middlesex gentilman for and in Consideration of the sum of thirty three pounds six shillings and Eight pence lawfull mony of New England to me in hand paid by piniash Spraigue Jun of Malden in the same County above sª Cordwinder whereof I do hereby acknowledge the Receipt and my selfe therewithi fuly and entirely satisfied have bargened sold set over and Deliverd and by these present in plain and open markit acording to the due fourm of law in that case mad and provided do bargain set over and Deliver unto the said phinas Spraigue Jun a negro woman namd pidge with one negro boy to have and to hold to his proper use and behoofe of him the said phinas Spraigue his heirs, executors administrators and assigns for ever and I Thomas nickles for my self my heirs executors administra- tors and asigns ganst all in all manner of person I shall warrant and for ever Defend by these present. In witness whereof with the Deliver of the bar- gained persons I have set to my hand and seal the twenty five Day of april in the 17 fifty three year of ye Raign of oure Sonerign lord gorg the Second ouer grate Britton.

" THOMAS NICHOLS [seal] " Signed and our Seal 1753 and Delever in the present of us

"JONA KIDDER " EDWARD LAMBERT."

In 1869 the three towns of Malden, Medford, and Melrose unitedly purchased the franchise of the Spot Pond Water Company, which was char- tered by the legislature in 1867. Several pro- tracted town-meetings were held, and strong oppo- sition was made, before Melrose voted to join her neighbors in the introduction of this water; but now that it is running through sixteen miles of our streets, supplying houses, fire-hydrants, manu- factories, and public buildings, so great a blessing has it proved, that no consideration would induce the inhabitants to part with it. Situated as Spot Pond is, it being a natural reservoir one hundred feet above the general level of the town, fed wholly by springs, it is not only a charming sheet of water surrounded by beautiful scenery, but forms one of the best supplies of pure, soft water to be found in. the state. The water-works were finished and the water introduced August 26, 1870. The cost to the town has been $174,551.44. There are over nine hundred water-takers. The present

water commissioners are Joseph D. Wilde, W. I. Ellis, and Joseph R. Simonds.

At the annual town-meeting held March 27, 1871, the Melrose Public Library was organized by the passage of the following vote, which was offered by David Fairbanks, Esq .: "That the money now in the treasury, refunded to the town by the county treasurer, pursuant to Chapter 250 of the acts of the legislature in 1869, and all that shall hereafter accrne to the town under said act, be appropriated for a public library and read- ing-room." This refers to what is known as the dog-tax. At this same meeting Frederic Kidder, Elbridge H. Goss, and Charles C. Barry were elected trustees, and the library was opened the following November, with 1,400 volumes. It has been since sustained by a small annual appropria- tion in addition to the above sum. Its circulation has increased each year, and the library now has 4,000 volumes. Miss Carrie M. Worthen is the librarian, and the trustees remain the same, with the exception that in 1873 Miss Hannalı Lynde and Miss Addie A. Nichols were added to the board. The town has, besides the public library, one circulating and eight Sabbath-school libra- ries.

April 15, 1872, the town voted to build a town- hall on its lot of land corner of Main and Essex streets. It was finished and dedicated June 17, 1874, and the address was delivered by Mr. George F. Stone. It is a fine brick structure, costing $65,000. It has a bell weighing two thousand pounds in its tower, and the clock was a gift to the town by the Hon. Daniel Russell, the present state senator.

Melrose is the home of several authors. Samuel Adams Drake has written several standard histori- cal works : Old Landmarks and Historic Person- ages of Boston, Historic Fields and Mansions of Middlesex, Nooks and Corners of the New Eng- land Coast, besides other historical publications. Mr. Drake has also been a contributor to the lead- ing magazines, and to the revised edition of the Encyclopedia Britannica.1 His most recent work, Captain Nelson, a romance of the Revolution of 1689, is pronounced a successful revival of Amer- ican historical fiction.

At the breaking out of the Civil War Mr. Drake was a resident of Kansas, which then had no or- ganized militia or public arms, while her eastern

1 The articles Sebastian Cabot, Florida, and Georgia are the principal ones.

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.

border was threatened by a population hostile to the Union. Having been appointed adjutant and inspector-general, Colonel Drake took a prominent part in putting the state in a posture of defence, and in organizing troops for service in the field. Having served as colonel of the 1st regiment of state troops, he was in February, 1864, promoted to be brigadier-general. In July, 1864, he was made colonel of the 17th Regiment of Kansas Volunteer Infantry, which he led during the memo- rable invasion of Missouri by the rebel general Sterling Price. Mr. Drake has resided in Melrose since 1870.

Frederic Kidder has written several historical works : The Abenaki Indians, Eastern Maine and Nova Scotia in the Revolution, Expedition of Cap- tain John Lovewell, The Boston Massacre, First N. H. Regiment in the Revolution, and, in con- nection with Dr. A. A. Gould, a History of New Ipswich, N. H., his native town. Mr. Kidder also made a valuable contribution to the vexed ques- tion concerning the first discoverer of the main- land of America, entitled, The Discovery of North America by John Cabot, which was printed in the Historical and Genealogical Register.

William Frederick Poole, now librarian of the Chicago Public Library, was for many years a resident of Melrose, and while here contributed to The North American Review, and other magazines, several articles of historical and educational char- acter; among them Cotton Mather and Salem Witchcraft, The Witchcraft Delusion of 1692, The Battle of the Dictionaries, and other ortho- graphical papers. He has since published Anti- slavery Opinions before the year 1800, The Ordi- nance of 1787 and Dr. Manasseh Cutler. His Index to Periodical Literature has a world-wide reputation.

Mary Ashton Livermore, so often called the " queen of the platform," whose voice and pen are always used in behalf of woman, temperance, and all other causes that benefit humanity, has made her home in Melrose for the past dozen years. She has been editorially connected with the press for over twenty years. In 1858 her husband, Rev. D. P. Livermore, went to Chicago to become editor and publisher of The New Covenant, Mrs. Liver- more becoming assistant editor. When the Re- bellion broke out she became connected with the Sanitary Commission at Chicago, and, as president of the board of directors, performed a vast amount of labor in sustaining that beneficent movement.

Soon after peace was declared she started a paper called The Agitator, which was afterwards merged in The Woman's Journal at Boston, of which she became editor. She held this position for two years, and is still connected with the editorial staff. For the past three years she has been president of the Massachusetts Woman's Temperance Christian Union. Her published books are Pen Pictures ; or, Sketches from Domestic Life, and a temperance prize tale, which was written and issued over thirty years ago, was out of print for a quarter of a century, and recently republished ; it is entitled, Thirty Years too Late. It has been well said, "Every vice finds in her a determined foe, and every reform has in her an able, but not a bigoted champion."

George P. Burnham, who came to Melrose the year it was incorporated, has written nine or ten works on ornithology. His first was a History of the Hen Fever : A Humorous Record ; and last, Our Canaries, and other Pet Birds. He has writ- ten an antislavery story, The Rag-Picker ; or, Bound and Free, besides other works. When the Rebellion broke out, Mr. Burnham was a press- correspondent in Washington. He received an appointment on the general staff by the President, as brigade commissary, with the rank of captain, and was assigned by the secretary of war to Gen- eral Banks' command at New Orleans. He after- wards served in the same capacity in the Army of the Potomac, under General Grant.

Robert F. Leighton, while master of the Melrose High School, prepared several text-books for schools : Greek Lessons, adapted to Goodwin's Greek Grammar ; Latin Lessons, adapted to Allen and Greenough's Latin Grammar ; and Harvard Examination Papers, in two volumes. Since be- coming master in the Brooklyn High School he has written a History of Rome.

In 1870 Gilbert Nash issued a volume of poems entitled Bay Leaves ; and in 1878 Everett W. Burdett wrote a History of the Old South Meeting- house in Boston.

Melrose has one newspaper, The Melrose Journal, which was also for a short time. published as The Melrose Visitor, a weekly paper established in 1868. A few numbers of a paper called The Mel- rose Advertiser were issued in 1856.

Besides its literary celebrities, several well-known artists have made Melrose their home, finding among its picturesque hills and dales abundant materials for their pencils. For several years, J.

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MELROSE.

Foxcroft Cole, the eminent landscape and cattle painter, resided at the Highlands, of which region he lias made several fine views. George F. Hig- gins and George R. Morse are both very clever landscape-painters. Charles Furneaux is a portrait and landscape painter, perhaps rather excelling in luis landscapes. Miss Mary K. Baker and Abbott Fuller Graves are flower-painters ; the former has an established reputation, and has given the world some most excellent pieces ; and the latter, a most promising young artist, has produced some admi- rable specimens of his handicraft, and if lie main- tains his present high standard, a brilliant future awaits him.

Hon. Daniel W. Gooch was born at Wells, Maine, January 8, 1820. He graduated at Dart- mouth College in 1843, was admitted to the Suf- folk bar in 1846, and came to Melrose, then North Malden, in October, 1848. He was a representative to the General Court in 1852, and to the state con- stitutional convention in 1853. He was elected representative, and served in the thirty-fiftlı, thirty- sixth, thirty-seventh, and thirty-eighth congresses ; he was a member of the Congressional Committee on the Conduct of the War during its four years of investigations, and its chairman on the part of the House. He was also elected to the thirty-ninth congress, but resigned his seat September 1, 1865, having been appointed naval officer for the port of Boston by President Johnson, which position he held about one year. In 1868 he was elected a delegate to the Chicago convention. In 1872 he was again elected, and served as representative for the fifth Massachusetts district in the forty-third congress. In 1875 he was appointed pension- agent at Boston, a position which he still holds. The first vote of Mr. Gooch was thrown for the Free-Soil party, with which he acted until the Re- publican party was organized, since which time he has ever been an earnest supporter and champion of its principles.

Hon. Samuel E. Sewall was born in Boston, November 9, 1799, and came to Melrose a year or two after the Boston and Maine Railroad was built, which was opened for travel July 4, 1845, when there were but two or three hundred inhabi- tants. He has been identified with the antislavery movement in Massachusetts since its first small beginnings, being one of the very few who joined William Lloyd Garrison when he came to Boston in 1830, and commenced his lifelong crusade against slavery. Mr. Sewall was an active mem-

ber of the Massachusetts Antislavery Society, and of the National Antislavery Society; and when the Liberty party was inaugurated he was for two years their candidate for governor, and ever after- wards acted with that and the Free-Soil party until they were merged in the Republican party. In 1852 he was elected to the state senate from Stone- ham, his residence then being just within the line of that part of Stoneliam which was detached and set off to Melrose the year following. This was the only political office he has ever held. While in the senate he was instrumental in passing a number of wise and salutary laws, one of them being that which gives aliens the right to hold real estate ; and he drafted a bill which became a law two or three years afterwards, giving married women the right to hold property ; and from that day to this he has ever been among the foremost, with voice and pen, in advocating the passage of laws for the benefit of women, and a stanch advocate of the doctrine of Woman Suffrage.

Melrose has three _cemeteries. Melrose Ceme- tery, in the centre of the town, is the oldest. Wyo- ming Cemetery, containing twenty-one acres, in the southern part of the town, was purchased and laid out in 1856, and is the one now principally used. The Jews have a cemetery on Linwood Avenue.

Battery C, of the Massachusetts Volunteer Mili- tia, lias its headquarters in Melrose, 'with its ar- mory on Dell Avenue. The Fire Department lias eighty-one hydrants of Spot Pond water well dis- tributed throughout the town. There are four companies : Liberty Bigelow Hook and Ladder Company, with twenty-five members, Russell Hose Company, N. D. Blake Hose Company, and the Highland Hose Company, with fifteen members each ; also one hand-engine, - the Endeavor.

The Melrose Savings Bank, organized in 1874., now has $ 62,000, deposited by 536 patrons.

There are several other societies and associations in Melrose not yet spoken of, and which can only be mentioned. There are six temperance organiza- tions, namely, Guiding Star Lodge No. 28, Inde- pendent Order of Good Templars, Siloam Temple of Honor No. 29, Siloam Social Temple of Honor No. 6, Cadets of Temperance No. 6, Loyola Tem- perance Cadets, and the Catholic Total Abstinence Society.

Masonic Hall was built in 1866 by the Waverley Masonic Association for masonic purposes, and in tliis Wyoming Lodge, Waverley Royal Arch Chap-

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.

ter, Melrose Council, and Hugh de Payen's Com- mandery of Knights Templars hold their meetings. The Melrose Lodge No. 157, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and the Golden Rule Degree Lodge No. 23, Daughters of Rebekah, hold their meetings in Temple of Honor Hall, corner of Main and Foster streets. The U. S. Grant Post No. 4, G. A. R., was organized in 1866. The literary so- cieties are the Roundabout Club, Franklin Frater- nity, Centennial Club, Avon Club, and the O. O. S. Club. The High School Alumni holds an annual gathering. The Melrose Lyceum gives an annual course of lectures and entertainments in the town- hall. The Knights of Honor and the Royal Arca- num each have a lodge. The Crystal Lake Boat- Club has its headquarters on L Pond. And there are the Melrose Orchestra, and the Wyoming Musical and Social Uniou, which has taken the place of the Melrose Musical Association. Truly it may be said, that of societies - religious, tem- perance, educational, fraternal, charitable, military, and social - Melrose has a great abundance.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. II, Part 30

Author: Drake, Samuel Adams, 1833-1905 Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Boston : Estes and Lauriat Number of Pages: 650

Author: Drake, Samuel Adams, 1833-1905
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Boston : Estes and Lauriat
Number of Pages: 650