USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. II > Part 46
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Meanwhile about $800 had been raised by sub- scriptions for additional shares of stock in the academy, and the building, having been remod- elled and repaired throughout, has been rented to the town for school purposes.
In 1850 a boys' boarding-school was opened by Rev. David Perry in the house that stood on the spot now occupied by J. E. B. Jewett. This school was quite successful; but in May, 1853, the whole establishment was destroyed by fire, to- gether with the boarding-house and insane retreat of Dr. N. Cutter and Dr. J. S. N. Howe. Mr. Perry removed his school to Brookfield, but returned with it to Pepperell in 1857, and established it
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PEPPERELL.
on the farm now owned by Colonel S. P. Shattuck. Upon the decease of his wife, about three years after, he abandoned the school and left town.
A female boarding-school was commenced in 1852, in the house now Mrs. Hutchinson's, and for several years was quite a success under the management of Mrs. A. E. Conant and her two daughters.
A public library was established by the town in 1877. It now numbers over 3,000 volumes, and is very generously patronized by the public.
Industrial. - In the petition to be set off as a parish, the territory of Pepperell was not inaptly described as " good land well situated." The sur- face is undulating, in the western part decidedly hilly. The town is noted for its beautiful scenery and fine drives, and attracts during the summer months many visitors from the cities. Along the Nashua River are several fine intervales. The soil is generally good, and well adapted to fruit-culture, to which considerable attention is paid.
During the earlier history of the town the prin- cipal industry was farming, almost every farm-house being supplemented by a cooper's shop, wherein the enforced leisure of winter was improved in making barrels for the Boston market. Farming is still the chief business, although the cooper-shops have nearly all disappeared.
For many years the Centre, with its meeting- house, post-office, and stores, to say nothing of the tavern, was the principal village. Two miles north of this is the North Village, a cluster of about a dozen houses, on the Nissitisset River, a small stream affording here a privilege, which has, from time to time, furnished the power for a saw and grist mill, a carding and clothier's mill, a shoddy- mill, and now a paper-mill. About one and a quarter miles below, on the same stream, is the East Village, which in earlier times rejoiced in the name of the Lower Store, and later, in the
possession of a large tavern, and still later, a post- office, which has been removed to the Depot Village. Here are the grain and lumber mills, and also the machine-shops of Blake Brothers, manufacturers of the Blake turbine water-wheel. Some hundred rods below this are the Nissitisset Mills, owned by H. A. Parker & Co., who manufacture batting, wrapping-paper, and leather board ; and have also an extensive lumber-mill and grain-mill. A paper- mill was located here as early as 1820.
About 1834 Mr. And Emerson built a paper- mill at Babbitasset Falls, on the Nashua. This privilege, one of the best on the river, had hereto- fore been utilized for a clothing and carding mill, and was known as The Forge. Two paper mills were burned, and the property passed through sev- eral ownerships, with varied success or want of it, until in 1862 Mr. H. M. Clark obtained possession of the whole property, and immediately commenced to develop its capacities. There are now, owned by S. D. Warren & Co., two first-class mills, which employ about one hundred and twenty-five hands, at a monthly pay-roll of $4,000, and make one hundred and fifty tons of paper per month. In the manufacture of tinted paper they claim es- pecial excellence.
Babbitasset Village in 1833 contained six houses, and upon the territory now occupied by the Depot Village, on the opposite side of the river, there was in 1847 one house. The two villages now form one, which, with over one hundred and twenty dwellings, has become the business part of the town. Much of its prosperity is due to the enter- prise and success of Mr. Frank Leighton, shoe manufacturer. His factory having been destroyed by fire in March, 1879, a new one, with all the modern improvements, has already been completed, with a capacity for furnishing employment to five hundred persons.
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
READING.
BY HIRAM BARRUS AND CARROLL D. WRIGHT.
HE town of Reading, which for- merly included the present towns of Reading, Wakefield, and North Reading, was once the domain and hunting-ground of the Saugus tribe of Indians. They cultivated the lands bor- dering upon the Great Pond (now Lake Quanapowitt), and the proofs of their residence here are seen in the numerous implements of stone still found in the vicinity.1
The colonial records show that in September, 1639, the inhabitants of Lynn petitioned " for a place for an inland plantation at the head of their bounds." A tract of land four miles square was granted, with the condition " that the petitioners shall, within two years, make some good proceed- ing in planting, so as it may be a village fit to contain a convenient number of inhabitants, which may, in due time, have a church there."
In 1640 the court ordered that "Lynn Village," the name first given to the new settlement, should be exempted from taxes "as soon as seven houses be built and seven families settled." The town was incorporated May 29, 1644, by the name of " Redding," in honor of Reading in England, whence, it is said, some of the first settlers of Lynn Village came. The four miles square included nearly the same territory now constituting Reading and Wakefield. The first settlements were made near the southern part of the Great Pond. The names of the earliest settlers are in doubt, the first records of Lynn and Reading being imperfect. It is believed that the following named persons, with their families, were residents about the time of incorporation : Nicholas Brown, Thomas Clark, Jolın Damon, William Cowdrey, George Davis, Robert and Samuel Dunton, Josiah Dustin, Jonas Eaton, William Eaton, Zachariah Fitch, Isaac
1 Mr. James H. Carter of Wakefield has a very fine collection of arrow-heads, stone pestles, hatchet-heads, and other Indian relics found here.
Hart, Thomas Hartshorn, William Hooper, Thomas Kendall, Jolın Laukin, Thomas Marshall, William Martin, John Pearson, John Poole, Thomas Par- ker, Francis Smith, John Smith, Jeremy Swayne, Thomas and Edward Taylor, Richard and Samuel Walker, John Wiley.
Those who have had occasion to examine the early records of the town assume that portions have been lost, but they seem to forget that the boards of town officers, common enough at the present, did not for some years exist. The different officials were created from time to time as the exigencies of the situation seemed to require. No provision appears to have been made for some years for call- ing town-meetings, or for keeping records of their doings.2
The earliest entry in the records of this town is dated the 6th of the eleventh month, 1644, when land was given John Poole. An agreement was made with him to build a water-mill for the use of the town. He was to keep it in repair at his own expense, and attend to grinding corn two or three days of the week unless more days were required. The town gave him control of the river and such land as should be needful for the mill. It agreed neither to set up, nor to allow to be set up, any other mill within the bounds of Reading to hinder the custom of said mill, so long as said Poole, his heirs, etc., should well and sufficiently grind for the town's use. The mill was built near the present site of the Rattan Works in Wakefield.
Several grants of land were made at the same date to other persons who appear to have been resi- dents.
The first church was organized in 1644 or 1645, being the twenty-fourth in the colony. A house of worship was probably built about the same time. The absence of records indicates that it was done
2 Meagre records seem to have been a cause of general com- plaint. In 1639 the court, referring to the imperfeet records kept in civil suits, deeree that fuller records be kept, as they might be of good use as precedent for posterity. The loss of early town records, so often lamented, may be largely due to the fact that they never existed.
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READING.
by individual effort rather than at the charge of the town. The first pastor of the church was Rev. Henry Green; the first deacons were Zachariah Fitch, John Pearson, Thomas Kendall, Thomas Parker, and William Cowdrey.
A military organization was a necessity of the times, and " the Reading Infantry Company," with Richard Walker, a brave officer for its captain, was soon formed. The next recorded act of the town was in 1647, levying a tax on boards sold or car- ried out of town. In this year seven meu, Robert Dunton, Francis Smith, William Cowdrey, Ser- geant Marshall, Henry Felch, William Martin, and Richard Walker, were chosen "to order all the prudential affairs of the town except giving of land and timber." Similar boards continued to be chosen, and ten years later were called " select- men." In 1648 appeared the first vote relative to the calling of town-meetings.
Old South Church.
Land was given Timothy Cooper, which, if he did not come and build house or fence upon, re- verted to the town, and he was " to pay 50 shillings for disappointing them of an inhabitant." Though inhabitants seemed to be at a premium, yet due care was exercised in the distribution of land, and the town ordered "that no land should be given any man but what shall be propounded orderly at town- meeting to be considered till next meeting, then to be given or not given ; that so nothing may be done hastily."
In May, 1648, Rev. Henry Green, first pastor of the church, died. Rev. Samuel Haugh, of Boston, succeeded him, and began preaeling here in No- vember, but was not ordained till March, 1650. He was educated at Harvard College, but did not graduate. He died March 30, 1662, in Boston, at the liouse of his brother-in-law, Hezekiah Usher. He left a large estate, appraised at £1,822 7s. 5d. The church, at his ordination, had forty members.1
In 1649 the town ordered that "there being manni sad acsidantes in the Contree by fire, to the great damning of many, by joining of barnes and haystackes to dwelling houses ; tharfor, no barne nor haystacke shall be sett within six polles of anni dwelling house opon panilte of tenne shillings." Also, ordered, " that every dwelling house shall have a sufficient lather [ladder] standing by the chimney for the preventing of the damage of fire, and this to be binding by the tenth day of April, 1650, opon the panilte of tenne shillings."
The court gave Francis Smith leave to draw wine in Reading for the refreshment of travellers and others.
It is quite uncertain whether a town-clerk was chosen by the town for more than forty years. The court in 1641 ordered that in every town there should be appointed a person to grant sum- monses, attachments, etc., who should be called "Clark of the Writtes," to be chosen for a year, and till others should be chosen in their room. The court made the appointment for the different towns then existing. The "clarks of writs " in 1642 were required to keep records of births, deaths, and marriages. William Cowdrey, in 1649, was chosen for this town.2 The town records as kept by him became more full from year to year, but no record of the choosing of a town-clerk by the people appears till the annual meeting in 1682, when the records say, "Goodman John Bach- elder was chosen clerk for this day." This form is changed in 1687, when Deacon Nathaniel Cowdrey,
1 Five almanaes printed in Cambridge for the years 1646 to 1650, once belonging to Rev. Mr. Hangh, interleaved, and con- taining mneh valuable information written by him, were sold at auction (March, 1879) for $283.50. They belonged to Mr. Brinley, of Hartford. The family of Judge Sewall, who was guardian of Mr. Hangh's children, had possession of them for many years, and disposed of them to Mr. John K. Wiggin, of Boston.
2 William Cowdrey probably held the office of Clerk of Writs, till his death in 1687. " Clerk for this day,"-a phrase for " clerk pro tem."
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
son of William, is recorded as town-clerk " for the ensuing year."
Surveyors of fences and highways were first chosen in 1648, and a constable in 1649. The town-meetings, as might be inferred from the manner of calling them, occurred at irregular pe- riods till 1657, when it was ordered that there should be two annual meetings, - one on the 1st or 2d of December, the other on the 1st or 2d of February. The selectmen were chosen in Decem- ber and the minor officers in February. In 1674 the December meeting was discontinued.
In October, 1651, the court granted to the in- habitants of Reading, in addition " to their former fower miles, . ... about two miles content," the territory that is now North Reading.
A division of lots on Woburn line was made in 1652 among thirty-four male inhabitants whose names are given, and are supposed to be all the adult males belonging to the town.
It was ordered, in 1653, that "no man shall fall any Oak, Spruce, or Pine trees, fit for boards, within three miles of the meeting-house, except for his own use, under a. penalty of five shillings for every tree." Measures were taken in the follow- ing year for preventing unnecessary waste of trees for fuel. Thomas Browne, the dish-turner, had liberty to fell ash and maple trees on condition that he paid " scott and lotte1 to the town of Red- ding." Walter Fairfield had " free liberty " to fell trees for his trade on the same terms.
A county highway was laid out from Andover to "Reddinge," four rods wide "except through the common fields of Reddinge, and the renot to be less than two rods wide."
Henry Felch, " for departing the publique as- sembly when the ordinance of baptism was about to be administered, was admonished by the Court of his sin, and was ordered to pay costs to Jonas Eaton, two shillings."
William Cowdrey was empowered, in 1654, "to sell wine of any sort, and strong liquors to the Indians, as to his judgment shall seem most meet and necessary for their relief in just and urgent occasions, and not otherwise, provided he shall not sell or deliver more than one pint to any one In- dian at any one time upon any pretence whatever." Ensign John Smith, having been licensed to keep an " ordinary," was fined two shillings for not , having a sign.
1 " Scott and lotte," - a contribution laid on persons according to their ability.
The town received a complimentary notice at a very early date. Johnson's Wonder-Working Providence, published about 1654, says : " Read- ing is well watered and situate about a great pond, besides it hath two mills, the one a Saw-Mill, the other a Corn-Mill, which stand on two several streams ; it hath not been so fruitful for children as her sister Woburn hath ; her habitation is fallen in the very center of the country ; they are well stocked with cattle for the number of people. They have gathered into a church, and ordained a pastor from among themselves at the same time ; a young man of good abilities to preach the word, and of very humble behavior, named Mr. Green, he having finished his course, departed this life not long after, whose labors are with the Lord. After him succeeded in the place one Mr. Hoph, a young man, one of the first fruits of New England, a man studious to promote the truths of Christ."
In 1655 there were twenty slaves in town, four- teen males and six females.
The town was vigilant in regard to all that affected the morals of the people, and in 1662 ordered that " no woman, maid, nor boy, nor gall shall sit in the south alley and east alley of the meeting-house, upon penalty of 12d. for every day they shall sit there. . . And every dog that comes to meeting either on the Lord's day or lec- ture day, except it be their dogs, that pay for a dog-whipper, the owner of these dogs shall pay six- pence for every time they come to meeting."
Rev. John Brock, third pastor of the First Church, was ordained November 13, and on the following day married the widow of his predeces- sor who died a few months before.
In 1667 it was agreed " that all the privileges of land, timber, and commons shall belong unto the present houses now erected, and to no other that shall be erected hereafter." There were at this time fifty-nine houses. The next year it was or- dered " that no man after this date shall come into the town here to inhabit, without the consent of the town ; but he shall put in security, to secure the town of all charges that shall come thereby."
That part of the town now called Reading was styled, in 1673, " Wood End," probably with ref- erence to the large amount of wood growing there in comparison with that in the First Parish, where the lands had been cultivated by the Indians. Frequent votes by the town indicate a scarcity of wood and timber, and stringent measures were adopted for their preservation.
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READING.
King Philip's War began in 1675, and Reading was required to furnish its quota of troops. Among those known to have entered the service were Major Jeremiah Swayne, Captain Jonathan Poole, Thomas Baneroft, Samuel Lamson, David Baclı- elder, James Case, Samuel Damon, Gabriel Taylor, Thomas Nichols, William Roberts, Nicholas Lunn, John Arnold, William Arnold, William Robbins, Thomas Brown, Ebenezer Flint, Daniel Flint, Joseph Hartshorn, John Weston, and Richard Smith. A tax was assessed upon the towns in the colony amounting to £1,553 6s. 4d. Of this sum, Reading paid £16 9s. 11d., twenty-eight towns paying more than this, and twenty paying less. A garrison-house was erected in what is now North Reading, in which the people could take refuge, and defend themselves against the Indians. The marks of Indian bullets might long be seen upon the doors. Other houses were built with plank walls lined with bricks as a defence against the common foe.
The council issued orders to Captain Swayne, of Reading, as follows : "Captain Swaine, - The Council having taken into consideration the present state of matters as to the common enemy, do judge meet to order that forthwith upon receipt of this, you garrison, and as soon as may be draw up the garrison soldiers under your command, of the towns of Hadley, Hatfield, Springfield, and Westfield, and with them to march to Deerfield, and the places thereabouts and then search for and destroy the common enemy."
There were two prominent military men in town at that time, Captain Jonathan Poole and Captain Jeremiah Swayne, between whom there seems to have been a strong feeling of rivalry. Both were efficient officers, and had done good service against the Indians. In October, 1675, Captain Poole was in Hatfield when the garrison was attacked by about eight hundred Indians. Captain Poole, with his men, made a spirited defence at one point, while the veteran Moseley defended another. The fight was desperate; but the Indians proved no match for the English, by whom they were repulsed at every point. Captain Poole was quartermaster under Captain Hutchinson in 1671.
A petition was sent from the town to the Gen- eral Court in 1677, from which it appears that an election of captain was pending, and the town was divided into two parties concerning the matter. The petitioners said : " It begins to have influence in Town matters, to strive to circumvent one another
in our Actions which wee feare will have a bad con- sequence. Therefore, wee humbly intreate the Honored Court that you would be pleased to issue the case for us, and settell some abell and meete person in the place of a Capten amongst us that our strife may be at an ende." The court cut the knot by appointing Swayne as major ; and Poole became, or continued to be captain, but died the next year, greatly lamented. He was ancestor of Hon. Hor- ace P. Wakefield, M.D., formerly of this town, recently superintendent of the State Almshouse at Monson.
Captain Swayne was the younger, and perhaps the more ambitious man. He was employed on important expeditions, and has a good record in the history of those trying times. He was a lieu- tenant under Major Appleton in the Narragansett Fight, where he received a severe wound. David Bachelor, of Reading, was wounded at the same time.
In August, 1688, Major Swayne was appointed by the court " as commander-in-chief of all the forees raised and detached out of the several regi- ments within the colony, against the Kennebec and Eastern Indians and their confederates, with power to fight, take, kill, and destroy the said enemy by all the ways and means possible." He received ten pounds as an outfit for the expedi- tion. He had his headquarters at Salmon Falls, in Berwick, Maine, and was engaged in several battles. Major Swayne was a physician, and hield the offices, at various times, of justice of the peace, selectman, representative, and assistant. The court granted to him and to Samnel Damon, Samuel Lamson, William Robbins, James Pike, Jr., and Samuel Nichols, of Reading, and others belonging in Lynn, Beverly, and Hingham, a tract of land in the " Nipmug Country," eight miles square, "for their services in the late Indian war." Major Swayne died in 1710, aged sixty-seven.
An assessment of ten pounds was laid in 1686 upon the tax-payers of the town, numbering nine- ty-one persons, to raise money to pay the Indians for the territory of Reading purchased some years previously. The deed was not signed till 1687. The Indians who signed it claimed to be descend- ants and near relatives of Sagamore, " George-No- Nose," whom they affirm to have been the true owner of the land that the towns of Reading and Lynn stand upon. Four sign by their mark, and one only writes out his name in full, " James Quonopohit." His wife, Mary, is also one of the
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
signers. They are described as of Natiek, and it is pleasant to know that this James Quonopohit, as the name was then spelled, was one of the Apostle Eliot's " praying Indians." He was often em- ployed during King Philip's War in assisting our people and officers in their expeditions against Philip. James and his brother Thomas, then about eighty-six years old, were at one time in active service with Captain Henchman as guides.
Lake Quanapowitt undoubtedly received its name in honor of James Quonopolit, but we are not told when, or by whom, the " Great Pond " was eliris- tened with its present name.
Rev. John Broek, third pastor of the church, died in 1688. He was born in England in 1620; graduated at Harvard College in 1646; preached in Rowley and at the Isles of Shoals; he was settled in Reading twenty-six years.
Cotton Mather, in his Magnalia, gives some re- markable instances of answers to his prayers. It was said of him, " He lives as near lieaven as any man on earth." His successor was Rev. Jona- than Pierpont (H. U. 1685), who was ordained June 26, 1689. He was pastor till his death, in 1709. He was held in mueh esteem. A contem- porary said, "He was a man of great worth." Judge Sewall speaks of his death as " a very great loss." The second meeting-house was built about 1689. Subscriptions were received towards its building from seventy-two persons in Reading, twenty-six in Lynn End, now Lynnfield, and nine in Charlestown End, now Stoneham.
A company of soldiers from Reading joined the Canada expedition in 1690. Ephraim Savage was captain. The witcheraft lunacy prevailed to some extent in this town in 1692. Lydia Dustin, Saralı Dustin, - probably daughters of Josiah, and per- laps maiden ladies, - Mary Taylor, and Sarah, wife of Nicholas Rice, were arrested for witeheraft, and imprisoned in Boston, but were finally ae- quitted. Mrs. Rice was kept in jail from June to October, when her husband petitioned the court for her release. He declared he " had lived with her above twenty years, in all which time he had never reason to accuse her of impiety or witeheraft ; but the contrary, she lived with him as a good, faithful, dutiful wife, and always had respect to the ordi- mances of God, . ... and it is deplorable that, in old age, the poor, deerepid woman should lye nuder confinement in a loathsome jail, when her eireumstanees rather require a nurse to attend her." She was soon after liberated.
The town voted in 1693 to have a free school kept.
For several years the town had been taxed toward the maintenance of the Mystie Bridge in Medford, which the people of Reading were obliged to pass over in going to Boston. In 1693 the town voted " that they will not be at any elarge to repair Mystie bridge, unless compelled to it by law."
The town voted, 1694, " that there should be only one house of entertainment in town "; and also voted "that there shall be shade trees left upon the common "; chose for first time a separate board of assessors, and paid for fitting up the house where Master Lines kept " scoole," - probably Nicholas Lynde. Joseph Upton was selioolmaster in 1694-95. The seleetmen agreed with Jona- than Poole, in 1697, for keeping " a scolle to tech the young people to wright, to read, and to cast up accounts, soe far as said Poole could, and they cappable to larne in the time." In 1701 the se- leetmen agreed with John Herbert to teach the children in " reding, wrighting, and sifering," at a salary of £11 per year in money.
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