USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. II > Part 36
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John Eliot, Jr., son of the apostle Eliot, was born in Roxbury in 1635, and graduated at Har- vard University in 1656, being in the same class with President Increase Mather. He was ordained first pastor of the churchi in Cambridge Village July 20, 1664, - the church being gathered the same day. He was a young man of much promise, and began to preach about the twenty-second year of his age. He is said to have been "an ac- complished person, of comely proportion, ruddy complexion, cheerful countenance and quick appre- hension, a good classical scholar, and possessed of considerable scientific knowledge for one of his age and period." A tender and inviolable affection subsisted between him and his people. Under the direction of his father he obtained considerable proficiency in the Indian language, and acted as his assistant until his settlement at Newton. He was twice married ; by his first wife, Sarah Willett, daughter of Thomas Willett, Esq., first mayor of New York, he had a daughter, Sarah, born in 1662, who married Jolin Bowles, Esq., of Rox- bury, in 1687. By his second wife, Elizabeth, daughter of Daniel Gookin, Esq., he had one son, John, born in 1667, who was educated at Harvard College, by his grandfather Gookin, and married
Mary, daughter of John Walcott, and settled in Windsor, Connecticut. He died October 13, 1668, aged thirty-three. His remains rest near the me- morial monument in the cemetery on Centre Street. His widow, Elizabeth, married Colonel Edmuud Quincy, of Braintree, December 8, 1680, by whom she had two children, Edmund and Mary, and died November 30, 1700. Mr. Eliot's homestead, of twenty acres, was situated on the westerly side of Centre Street, about sixty rods north of the burial- place. This homestead continued to be the prop- erty of his heirs for sixty-five years after his decease, and was then sold to Henry Gibbs, Esq., to raise money to carry Eliot's grandson, John Eliot of Windsor, Connecticut, then seventeen years old, through college at New Haven.
At first New Cambridge, or Newtown, was an integral part of Cambridge. There was the place of public worship and the only school, and the people assembled for their town-meetings. But the spirit of independence soon prompted them to seek separation from Cambridge, and the organiza- tion of an independent town. Efforts in this direc- tion began to take form as early as 1654, when the inhabitants residing on the south side of Charles River petitioned to be relieved from paying taxes for the support of the ministry in Cambridge ; and they never rested till they had accomplished their purpose. They found it too burdensome to travel from the remote southern portion of the town to the public worship at Cambridge; and in those days every family was expected to be found in the house of God every Lord's Day. The fact that religious services were already held in a hall in Newton, probably in the house of Mr. Edward Jackson, so that the inhabitants enjoyed the bene- fits of public worship in the Village, undoubtedly tended to nourish the plan of separation on which the people had set their hearts.
In 1656 John Jackson and Thomas Wiswall, in behalf of the inhabitants of Cambridge Village, petitioned the General Court to be released from paying rates for the support of the ministry at Cambridge church. The town of Cambridge re- monstrated against this petition, and stated "that many persons in whose names the petition is signed, although inhabitants, yet not by the approbation of the town, having no right to town privileges save only the land whereon they dwell, and others of them do live on the farms of those who as yet never manifested their desire of any such change - the most of them do live within four miles of our
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meeting-house, except two or three farms that lie above the Falls on Charles River, near Dedham, and hardly ever go to meeting, and some of them are not muchi above two miles off. If they attain their desire and set their meeting-house at their pleasure, sundry of them will be farther from it than many of them now are from Cambridge church. And upon the same ground when they plead for a divis- ion, we have need to have at least four meeting- houses in our town, which now find it difficult to maintain one, as it should."
The committee of the court - Richard Russell of Charlestown, Eleazur Lusher of Dedham, and Ephraim Child of Watertown - reported against this petition. The principal reason assigned in their report was that "if the petitioners should withdraw their help from Cambridge church and ministry, it would be over-burdensome to Cam- bridge to provide for the support of their minister." And so the petitioners had leave to withdraw.
In 1661 the inhabitants again petitioned the General Court to be released from paying church rates to Cambridge. The ereetion of a new meet- ing-house had greatly strengthened their petition, and the court accordingly granted them " freedom from all ehnrch-rates for the support of the minis- try in Cambridge, and for all lands and estates which were more than four miles from Cambridge meeting-house, the measure to be in the usual paths that may be ordinarily passed."
The petitioners were not satisfied with the divid- ing line, and in 1662 they petitioned the court for a new line. The action of the court upon this pe- tition was as follows : " October, 1662. In answer to the petition of John Jackson and Thomas Wis- wall, in behalf of the inhabitants of Cambridge Village, as a full and final issue of all things in controversy between the town of Cambridge and the petitioners, the Court judge it meet to order and appoint, and fully empower, Major William Hawthorne of Salem, Capt. Francis Norton of Charlestown, and Capt. Hugh Mason of Water- town, as a Committee to give the petitioners, or some in their behalf, with some invited in behalf of the town of Cambridge, opportunity to make their desires known, and Major Hawthorne to ap- point the time and place for the hearing of what all parties can say, so it be sometime before the next Court of elections ; and on the hearing thereof to issue fully and absolutely conelude and deter- mine, what they shall judge necessary and just to be done, as to the determining the four mile
bounds, that so this Court may no more be troubled thereabouts."
This committee ran the line and settled the bounds between the Village and Cambridge in 1662, so far as ministerial taxes were concerned. This, no doubt, is substantially the same line that now divides Newton from Brighton.
Again in 1672 Edward Jackson and John Jack- son, in behalf of the inhabitants of Cambridge Vil- lage, petitioned the General Court to be set off from Cambridge and made an independent town. In answer to this petition, "the court in 1673 dotlı judge meet to grant to the inhabitants of said Vil- lage annually to elect one constable and three selectmen dwelling among themselves, to order the prudential affairs of the inhabitants there accord- ing to law, only continuing a part of Cambridge in paying County and Country rates, as also Town rates so far as refers to the grammar school and bridge over Charles River, and also their propor- tion of the charges of the deputies."
This act of the court was not satisfactory to the Village, and they did not accept it nor aet under it.
In 1677 further action was had relative to the dividing line between Cambridge and the Village. The Village chose Captain Thomas Prentice, James Trowbridge, Noah Wiswall, and Jonathan Hyde,
. a committee to settle the line by reference, - two referees to be chosen by the Village and two from Cambridge, and they four to choose the fifth. The referees thus chosen were Richard Calieott, Wil- liam Symes, William Johnson, William Bond, and Richard Louden. The result of this reference was a line deseribed as follows : -
"Corner near the widow John Jackson's orehard and a chestnut-tree in Mr. Edward Jackson's pas- ture, and to continue until it comes to the River ; then southerly by a heap of stones, four miles from Cambridge meeting-house; thence to continue until it comes to Boston (now Brookline) bounds.
" Dated July 27, 1677."
This is probably the line which now divides Newton from Brighton.
In 1678 most of the freemen of the Village signed a petition to the General Court, praying to be set off from Cambridge and to be made a town by itself. Fifty-two names were appended to this petition ; thirteen of the inhabitants did not sign it. Six of the first settlers had deceased, viz. John Jackson, Sr., Richard Park, Sr., Thomas Hammond, Sr., Rev. Jolin Eliot, John Jackson, Jr., and Vincent Druee, Sr. .
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The following is a copy of this petition : -
" To the honored Governor, Deputy-Governor, together with the Hon. Magistrates, now sitting in Boston.
" The humble petition of us, the inhabitants of Cambridge on the south side of Charles River, showeth, that the late war, as it hath been a great charge to the whole colony, and to us in particular both in our estates and persons, by loss of life to some, and others wounded and disabled for their livelihood, besides all our other great charges in building our meeting-house and of late enlargement to it, and also our charge to the minister's house, and as you know the Lord took the worthy person from us in a little time, and now in great mercy hath raised up another in the place, who hath a house in building for him, which requires assist- anee, - as also we are now by the great merey of God so many families that a school is required for the education of our children according to law, be- sides our public charge in the place, - yet notwith- standing this, last year the townsmen of Cambridge have imposed a tax upon us, amounting to the sum of three country rates, without our knowledge or consent, - whieli we humbly conceive is a very harsh proceeding, for any townsmen, of their own will and power, to impose upon the inhabitants what taxes they please, and to what end, without even calling the inhabitants to consider about such charge ; - yet nevertheless, for peace sake, the in- habitants of our place did meet together and jointly consent to give the town of Cambridge the sum of £100, and to pay it in three years, without desir- ing any profit or benefit from them of wood, tim- ber, or common lands, but only for our freedom, being content with our own proprietary, which some of us had before Cambridge had any site there, which tender of ours they having rejected, as also to grant to us our freedom from them, -
" We do most humbly commend our distressed condition to the justice and mercy of this Honored Court, that you will please to grant to us our free- dom from Cambridge, and that we may. be a town- ship of ourselves, without any more dependence upon Cambridge, which hath been a great charge and burden to us, and also that you would please to give the place a name; and if there should be any objection against us, that the Honored Court will admit our reply and defence. So, hoping the Almighty will assist you in all your concerns, we rest, your humble petitioners."
The petition was presented to the court at the
first session, 1678, and committed, and a hearing of the parties was ordered on the first Tuesday of October, 1678 (second session), and all parties to have timely notice. Cambridge presented a remon- strance to the petition, dated October 23, 1678, signed by their selectinen, - a voluminous docu- ment extending to fifteen pages. Portions of this remonstranee were very severe, and the remonstrants undoubtedly felt that they had made out a very strong ease. Nevertheless, the court granted tlie petition so far as to order that the freeholders of the Village should be duly notified to meet on the 27th day of August, 1679, and choose three select- men and a. constable from among themselves to manage the municipal affairs of the Village, as other towns, according to law.
The freeholders were duly notified, and the first town-meeting was held on that day. Captain Thomas Prentice, John Ward, and James Trow- bridge were chosen selectmen, and Thomas Green- wood, constable. A book of records was also begun.
Previous to this time the town-meetings were all held at Cambridge, and the town officers were elected there. On and after this date, the freemen of the Village held their town-meetings at the meet- ing-house in New Cambridge, and conducted their municipal affairs according to the will and pleasure of a majority of the freeholders.
During their long and severe struggle to obtain the privileges of an independent town, the inhab- itants of the Village had shown a most determined perseverance and love of freedom. They had pe- titioned the General Court. time after time for twenty-three years. The parties had met eaelı other repeatedly, by committees and otherwise, and Cambridge had made several offers to the Village by way of compromise. But the inhabitants of the Village were determined to accept nothing short of an independent town.
The name of New Cambridge was not given by the General Court, but was assumed by the inhab- itants of the Village, and generally acquiesced in by the public, and recognized by the General Court, as the records show. But the inhabitants of New Cambridge, later, became dissatisfied with this name, and petitioned the General Court more than once to give the place a name; whereupon the court passed the following order : -
" Dec. 15, 1691. In answer to the petition of the inhabitants of Cambridge Village, lying on the south side of Charles River, being granted to be a
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township, praying that a name may be given unto the said town, - it is ordered that it be henceforth called New Town." Thus the name originally given to the town across the river - which was the new town because Boston was the old town, and which was lost when, after the establishment of the College, the territory received the name of Cambridge - was now restored, and given to the portion of the town on the south side of the river.
The name stands in the court records in two words, of one syllable each, as it was originally written when first used, in 1631. This form of writing it was gradually changed into one word of two syllables. But all the town-clerks followed the order of the court in spelling it until 1776, when Judge Fuller was elected town-clerk, and held the office twenty-six years. He always spelt it on the records Newton. There was no vote on the subject. Usage in this and other towns had prepared the way for him to assume the responsi- bility of making the contraction by dropping the w from the last syllable.
Soon after the removal of the tyrannical gov- ernor, Sir Edmund Andros, the inhabitants of New Cambridge met on the 20th May, 1689, and passed the following resolutions : ---
" That it is our desire, 1. That the Honorable Governor and Deputy Governor and Assistants, chosen and sworn in the year 1686, and the Deputies then chosen by the freemen for that year, do now resume the government of the Colony according to Charter privileges.
" 2. That there may be an enlargement of freemen, that is to say, that those persons who are of honest conversa- tion and a competent estate may have their votes in all civil elections.
" 3. That the Court, having thus re-assumed the govern- ment, then endeavor to confirm our Charter privileges.
" 4. That the Court thus settled do not admit of any change or alteration of government among us, until it is first signified to the several towns for their approbation."
On the same day (1689) the inhabitants made choice of Ensign John Ward as their representa- tive or deputy, in the present session of the Gen- eral Court, the first representative ever sent from Cambridge Village, and who continued to represent the town for eight years.
The ecclesiastical division preceded the politieal, and Newton had a church and a pastor more than twenty years before it was incorporated as an in- dependent town ; for Cambridge released its hold upon Newton by degrees, and painfully. The date, August 27, 1679, when the General Court ordered that the Village should have the right to
choose selectmen and a constable from among themselves, was for many years held to be the date of the incorporation of the town of Newton, and it is so recorded by Mr. Jackson in his History, and was engraved in 1874 on the city seal. The action of the court, however, seems to have foreshadowed the independent organization rather than confirmed it; for more careful investigations of the facts and testimonies have established the conclusion be- yond reasonable doubt that the true date of the event is January 11, 1687, and that the name was given to the town three years later, December 8, 1691.
The following statements, taken from Mr. Hyde's Centennial Address, present the case with sufficient distinctness : " In 1678 they again petitioned to be set off, and continued to do so till 1687, when, on January 11, Cambridge was summoned to appear before his Excellency in council, 'to show cause why Cambridge Village may not be declared a place distinct by itself, and not longer be a part of said town, as hath been formerly petitioned for and now desired.'
" At a Council held at Boston on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 1687, it was ordered, 'That the said Vil- lage from henceforth be, and is hereby declared a distinct village and place of itself, wholly freed and separated from the town of Cambridge, and from all future rates, payments, or duties to them whatsoever; and that, for the time to come, the charge of keeping, amending, and repairing the said Bridge, called Cambridge Bridge, shall be de- frayed and borne as followeth : that is to say, two sixths parts thereof by the town of Cambridge, one sixth part by the said village, and three sixths parts at the public charge of the county of Middlesex.
"' By order of Council, &c., "' JOHN WEST, Deputy-Secretary.'
""' This is a true copy taken out of the original record, fourth day of December, 1688. As attest, ""'LAUR. HAMMOND, Clerk.'
"This order," says Mr. Hyde, " shows conclu- sively that the town was not wholly independent until 1687, although the town records commence in 1679, when the inhabitants of the Village seem to have first availed themselves of the privileges granted them in 1673, by choosing three selectmen and one constable, -all the officers they were authorized to choose, -- to manage their ' pruden- tial affairs.'
" In further proof that they were not yet enti-
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tled to all the privileges of an incorporated town previous to 1687, is the fact that 'they never assumed to send a deputy to the General Court distinct from Cambridge, but did not miss rep- resentation a single year for half a century after.' People so tenacious of their rights as the inhabi- tants of the Village manifestly were, both before and after incorporation, would not be likely to let the newly acquired right of representation lie dor- mant for seven years at a period of intense political excitement.
" The records of Cambridge show that consta- bles were elected by that town for the Village after 1679, as follows : James Prentiss, 1680; Sebeas Jackson, 1681; Edward Jackson, 1682; Abra- ham Jackson, 1683; John Prentice, 1684; Thomas Parker, Sr., 1685; Ebenezer Wiswall, 1686; Jo- seph Wilson, 1687. After 1688 none are dis- tinctly described as for the Village.
""' In 1686 a committee was chosen by the it- habitants to make the rate for the minister for the ensuing year and a rate for the town. For the Village chose Noah Wiswall, to join with the select- inen to make a rate for the Village.'
" In addition are 'the Articles of Agreement, made September 17, 1688, between the selectmen of Cambridge and the selectmen of the Village, in behalf of their respective towns.'
"' That whereas Cambridge Village, by order of the General Court in the late Government, was en- joined to bear their proportion of the charges in the upholding and maintaining of the Great Bridge and school, with some other things of a public nature, in the town of Cambridge, -also, there having been some difference between the selectmen of said towns concerning the laying of rates for the end abovesaid, - that the Village shall pay to the town of Cambridge the sum of five pounds in merchantable corn at the former prices, at or before the first day of May next ensuing the date above, in full satisfaction of all dues and demands by the said town from the said Village, on the account above said, from the beginning of the world to the 11th January, 1687. Provided always, and it is to be hereby understood that the town of Cam- bridge, in consideration of £4, in current county pay, already in hand, payed to the Village above said, shall have free use of the highway laid out from the Village meeting-house to the Falls for- ever, without any let, molestation, or denial ; also that the constable of the Village shall pay to the town of Cambridge all that is in their hands unpaid
of their former rates due to the town of Cambridge above said. In witness whereof the selectmen above said hereunto set their hands the day and year first above written.' Signed by six selectmen of Cam- bridge, and John Spring, Edward Jackson, and James Prentice, selectmen of New Cambridge.
" The date of the above 'aet ' corresponds exactly with the order of the council incorporating the town."
Dr. Lucius R. Paige, the historian of Cambridge, says : " Hence, it appears reasonably certain that the Village, which obtained ecclesiastical privileges in 1661, became a precinct in 1673, and received the name of Newtown in 1691, was separated from the town of Cambridge, and incorporated as a separate and distinct town, on the eleventh day of January, 1687."
The history thus far shows that the territory now constituting the city, formerly the town, of Newton, had, in connection with other territory, and separately, been called, New Town, Cambridge, Nonantum, South Side, Cambridge Village, The Village, New Cambridge, Newtown, and lastly, when reduced in extent, Newton.
The river Charles encircles a large part of New- ton. The centre of its channel forms the northerly, westerly, and southerly boundaries of the town, being a continuous curving line of upwards of fif- teen miles in length. This boundary is interrupted at only two points, -the first near Watertown Bridge, where, by the agreements of 1635 and 1705, Watertown gained possession of eighty-eight acres, and the second at the extreme northerly part of the town, where in 1847 six hundred and forty acres were ceded to Waltham.
The average town tax during the first nine years was about £20 annually; the next twenty-five years (1700-1725), £90; and the succeeding forty-five years, £166. The first representative to the General Court was Ensign Jolin Ward, who served from 1689, eight years, and the second, Cap- tain Isaac Williams, who served from 1692, six years. One representative, Captain Abraham Ful- ler, served the town in this capacity eighteen years, and another, Major Timothy Jackson, fifteen years, and two others, thirteen and ten years respectively.
The first meeting-house in Newton (First Parish Church) was erected near the middle of the old cemetery on the east side of Centre Street, and the road on the south side of that cemetery, now called Cotton Street in honor of the third pastor of the church, was one of the important thoroughfares of
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
First Congregational Church.
the town. The first meeting-house was enlarged in 1678. Subsequently a new church edifice was built on. the opposite side of the street, nearly on the site of the house of the late Gardner Colby, Esq. After a time this meeting-house was taken down and removed to Waltham, where it was used for religious worship from 1721 to 1776. The last sermon was preached in it in Newton, October 29, 1721. The town, after much discussion, mutual differences, and measuring of distances, purchased land of Nathaniel Parker, and erected their new meeting-house (the third) on the present site of the First Congregational Church, and dedicated it November 5, 1721, - three years from the time the vote was taken authorizing its erection. An- other house was ereeted on the same ground, and dedicated November 21, 1805, during the ministry of Dr. Homer. The present edifice, in its original form, was dedicated March 24, 1847.
in 1604, and died in Roxbury, Mass., May 20, 1690. He came to Boston in 1631, and was set- tled as teacher of the church in Roxbury in 1632. He fancied that the Indians were descendants of the lost ten tribes of Israel, and early in his 'min- istry in Roxbury began to take a deep interest in their welfare. He acquired their language through Job Nesutan, -an intelligent Indian servant in his family, who had learned English.
The first religious service among the Indians was held in the wigwam of Waban, their chief, October 28, 1646. At the date of this first mis- sionary effort, both Mr. Eliot and Waban were of the same age, forty-two years. The chief met Mr. Eliot at some distance from the spot since marked by the Eliot monument, erected in 1879, and wel- comed him to the place of the assembly. The text chosen by Mr. Eliot for his first sermon was Eze- kiel xxxvii. 9, - "Come from the four winds, O Rev: John Eliot, of Roxbury, had already made Newton famous by his labors in behalf of the In- breath, and breathe upon these slain that they may live." By a singular coincidence, doubtless observed dians. Mr. Eliot was born at Naseby, England, | by Mr. Eliot, the word breath, in this text, was,
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