USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. II > Part 71
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Leaving now the quarrel of the churches, we come to the third, the final, and on that account perhaps the principal, cause of the complete with-
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drawal of the West Precinct, and its formation into a distinct town. As early as January 1720-21 the precinct in many things assumed almost com- plete municipal powers. On the 30th of January, 1720-21, a meeting was held, at which Isaac Mixer was chosen clerk, Joseph Mixer treasurer, and Lieutenant Jonathan Smith, Sergeant Jonathan Sanderson, Ensign Samuel Garfield, Captain Sam- uel Harrington, John Cutting, Sergeant Joseph Pierce, and Daniel Benjamin were chosen precinct committee. Votes were passed to carry into effect the order of the General Court of December 17, 1720, in regard to the meeting-house, and in Octo- ber, 1722, it was voted to " sell what was left of the old meeting-house." On the 7th of April, 1729, a meeting was held to see, among other things, about a location for a school-house. Allen Flagg agreed to give a piece of land at the north end of his orchard for that purpose, and the pre- cinct agreed to accept it. On the 4th of February, 1729-30, Zachariah Smith, Allen Flagg, Thomas Harrington, Thomas Bigelow, Jonas Smith, John Childs, and John Cutting were appointed a com- mittee to wait upon the selectmen, and have in- serted in the warrant for the next town-meeting an article requesting the town to grant a sum of money to build a school-house on the land of Mr. Flagg. The town, however, refused to accept the site or vote the money, and on this school question came the tug of war, which resulted in the West Precinct becoming Waltham. The town-meeting at which the request of the western people was refused was held in March. On the 1st of May, 1730, Thomas Bigelow, Zachariah Smith, Allen Flagg, Elisha Smith, and John Child were appointed a committee at a meeting of the West Precinct, to take measures to have that portion set off as a separate town, "and take Effectual care that the same may be Established that Learning may be Advanced amongst us or some other proper methods whareby to obtain the same." A petition signed by Anthony Conady (Caverly ?) and others, representing the dif- ficulties in the way of schools, and the " imposi- tions " of the East Precinct, and praying for a separate township, had already been prepared and sent for the consideration of the General Court, and the town was served with a copy of the peti- tion, and cited to show cause why it should not be granted. In February, 1730-31, Deacon William Brown, Anthony Cau [v]erly, Deacon Thomas Liv- ermore, Thomas Bigelow, and Jonas Smith were chosen a committee to attain the coveted separa-
tion. At a regular meeting held April 19, 1731, the town, or practically the East Precinct, ap- pointed Lieutenant Samuel Stearns, Joseph Nason, and Jonas Bond a committee to appear in behalf of the town, and probably in opposition to the division. What action the court took is not plain, but one of the recommendations was that the town provide two school-houses, with two duly qualified schoolmasters, - one of each for each precinct. These recommendations the town (August 16, 1731) refused to accept. The assessors of the West Precinct, - Nathaniel Harris and Deacon William Brown, - acting under a sense of gross injustice practised by the East Precinct majority, refused to assess for the grant made by the town for the support of schools. Something of the spirit of opposition to taxation without representa- tion asserted itself here.
At a precinct meeting, March 22, 1732 - 33, Daniel Benjamin, Jonas Smith, and Allen Flagg were chosen a committee to address the town at the next town-meeting, that the West Precinct might be set off as a separate town. This attempt evidently failed of success, and the sore probably increased with the increasing months and years. In June (2Sth), 1736, Nathaniel Harris, William Brown, and Daniel Benjamin, in behalf of the West Precinct, obtained permission of the General Conrt, despite the opposition of the East Precinct, to set off land from the common lands devoted to high- ways, - some of which were twenty or thirty rods wide, -to raise a fund of £1,500 to be invested, and the interest upon it used to support schools. This act only served to intensify the growing bitter- ness between the two sections, and it is therefore not surprising that at a meeting of the West Pre- cinct, held December 7, 1737, Deacon William Brown being moderator, it being judged conducive to the peace of bothi precincts to be separated be- cause an "unhappy controversy has arisen & for some Time subsisted among the Inhabitance of sd Town Respecting the Publick & Priuet ways that are in the Town to the peaceable desition whereof it is thought deuiding of the Town into Two Town- ships may be very conducive," it was voted that the precinct should ask the General Court to set them off under the following conditions : 1st, the dividing line to be the same as the precinct line ; 2d, all charges already incurred or to he in- curred on account of the Great Bridge or because of the town poor, to be proportioned between the towns according to the province tax, -- the surplus
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
money, if there was any remaining in the treasury, to be divided in the same proportion ; 3d, the yearly interest on Watertown's portion of the £60,000 province loan, Watertown's part of the two thou- sand acres of land granted by the General Court to them and Weston, and the town's stock of ammu- nition to be similarly disposed of ; 4th, records and books to be delivered to a committee to be chosen by the East Precinct ; 5th, the course and width of the public ways to be stated by the Court of General Sessions of the Peace agreeably to a report of a committee already appointed. Dea- con William Brown, Daniel Benjamin, and Sam- uel Livermore were appointed a committee to petition the General Court to that effect. A petition was presented to the house of repre- sentatives on the 13th of December, 1737, set- ting forth their differences, the approbation of the measure by the East Precinct, and praying for a division. The prayer was granted, and on the 4th of January, 1737 -38, the town of Waltham was incorporated. The bounds of the new municipality under the act of incorporation were, south by the Charles River, west by Weston or the Farmers' Precinct, north or northeast by the town line which commenced at the northwest corner of Fresh Pond and ran west-northwest to the Concord line, and east by the line beginning at the Charles River, running very nearly northeast, and meeting the line from Fresh Pond to Concord. Its area was about 8,891 acres ; the population probably about 550.
During this period the church pastorate had passed under the charge of the Rev. Warham Williams, who was ordained June 11, 1723. A call had been extended to Rev. William Welsteed, but declined. In accordance with the instructions of the General Court, the meeting-house had been located very near the present junction of Lyman and Beaver streets.
The first entry in the town records of Waltham reads thus : -
" Middlesex s.s. Waltham Jan'y 13th 1737 - These are to Notifie the Qualified Voters in the sd Town of Waltham to Appear at the publick meet- ing house in sd Town On Wednesday the Eigh- teenth Day of Jany Currant at One of the Clock in the after Noon for the Ends following vizt To Elect and Appoint a Town Clerk and Other Town officers those to stand till the Anniversary meeting of said Town jn the month of March next.
" By Order of the Great and General Court pr me
WILLIAM BROWN."
At the meeting held in pursuance of this war- rant Deacon Thomas Livermore was chosen mod- erator, and the following board of officers was elected : -
" Selectmen : Deacon William Brown, Deacon Thomas Livermore, Mr. Daniel Benjamin, Mr. Joseph Pierce, and Lieutenant Thomas Bigelow ; town-clerk and treasurer, Samuel Livermore ; con- stable, Mr. Joseph Hastings ; assessors, George Lawrence, John Cutting, and John Chadwick ; sealer of leather, Mr. Joseph Stratton ; fence-view- ers, John Ball, Jr., and Joseph Hager ; highway surveyors, John Ball ye 3d, and John Viels ; tything- men, Isaac Pierce and Theophilus Mansfield ; hog- reeves, Josiah Harrington and Elnathan Whit- ney."
At a town-meeting, held February 18, 1837-38, Lieutenant John Cutting, Deacon Livermore, and Thomas Hammond were appointed to carry into effect some of the conditions of the division, and the business arising from the arrangement of these conditions served as a basis for several subsequent gatherings. At the regular meeting held, in ac- cordance with the statute, in March (26th) a per- manent board of officers for the ensuing year was elected, Deacon Thomas Livermore being modera- tor. As this was the first regular election, the names of the persons elected are herewith given : For selectmen, Mr. Thomas Hammond, Mr. John Smith, Mr. John Bemis, Ensign Thomas Harring- ton, Deacon Jonathan Sanderson ; town-clerk and treasurer, Samuel Livermore ; constable, Mr. Isaac Pierce, Jr. (" who agreed with Mr. John Fiske and The Town accepted him in his Roome ") ; as- sessors, Mr. Daniel Benjamin, Mr. Samuel Liver- more, Deacon Thomas Livermore ; sealer of leather, Mr. Joseph Stratton ; fence-viewers, Samuel Hast- ings, John Viels ; surveyors of highway, Zachariah Smith, John Dix, Josiah Fiske; tithingmen, Dan- iel Chield, John Chadwick ; hog-reeves, Samuel Gale, Isaac Pierce, John Lawrence. At the same meet- ing it was voted "that the Selectmen should take Care that the meeting-hous be landed up and the ammunition Sequred," also that Samuel Livermore should have the use of the first pew east of the pulpit as long as the meeting-house stood upon his land, in full satisfaction for the same ; and the sum of £20 was granted to support the Eng- lish school.
On the 9th of May the town chose its first representative. Mr. Daniel Benjamin was elected, but as he declined, Lieutenant Thomas Bigelow
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WALTHAM.
was chosen in his stead. Evidently in those days the office sought the man, and not the man the office. Lieutenant Bigelow seems also to have had other duties, for on the 12th of the same month he was voted six shillings for "sitting up" the town stocks.
In July, 1738, the selectmen appointed two of their number to secure a schoolmaster, and in August they reported that they had agreed with Mr. Timothy Harrington to fill that position, dur- ing the ensuing quarter, for £20. To Mr. Timothy Harrington, then, belongs the honor of having been the first person to serve the town of Waltham in the capacity of schoolmaster. The school term commenced on the 12th of July. In September the town increased the salary of their pastor, ap- propriated £ SO for educational purposes, and £25 for the support of the poor. In November (24th) the town was divided into three squadrons; the bounds of the first being from the meeting-house by Mr. Hammond's (on what is now Beaver Street) to the town's bounds, and all north to David Mead's (Fiske's) Pond ; of the second, from the meeting- house by the town-way, by Mr. John Child's, in- cluding all north ; the third including the remainder of the town. The school was to be kept an equal time in each squadron, provided a majority of the voters of each division agreed upon a place and furnished it at their own cost, and also furnished an acceptable place for the schoolmaster to board at. This was called, in the records of the day, a " movable school." The school-house proper was located at " Piety Corner."
On the 15th of January, 1738-39, the commit- tees appointed by the two towns to proportion the debt of Watertown at the time of the division met, and agreed on the following as a just arrangement : total debt, £171 14s. 2d., of which Watertown should assume £91 5s. 3d. and Waltham £80 8s. 11d. On the 30th of March the town appointed Lieutenant Cutting to join with the committees of Weston and Watertown to renew the bounds of the joint farm at Wachusett Hills. This was a tract of two thousand acres, granted to Watertown by the General Court " in recompense of some land taken off by Concord."
Among the duties which seem to have devolved upon the selectmen of the time, one was the funeral arrangements for the town poor who died. Some of the items seem to have the appearance of a fes- tive rather than a funereal character. Thus at a meeting of the board, January 1, 1739-40, to take
| action in regard to the demise of the Widow Wyeth, a vote was passed to have the coffin made, the grave dug, four pairs of men's and two pairs of women's gloves provided, and " such a Quantity of Rum for the funeral as should be found necessary." It is not intended to imply that the use of liquors was limited to funerals of the town poor, for they were in those times considered essential to the majority of such occasions. At this date Adam Boardman was schoolmaster.
January 8, 1739- 40, a committee appointed by the town met a committee consisting of the select- men of Watertown, appointed by that town, to divide the proceeds of the sale of lands sold before the division of the town. Of this amount Wal- tham's share was £169 15s., and Watertown's £837 10s. Why there was so much discrepancy in the receipts when the debts were so evenly di- vided does not appear. There seems to be, how- ever, no evidence of any dissatisfaction.
On the 25th of January, 1741-42, Mr. Joseph Roberts was engaged to teach the school at £ 5 per month, and at the town-meeting on the 10th of March it was voted to have a " moving school."
At the town-meeting, March 1, 1741-42, it was voted to have the school kept in the districts alternately, and John Carns agreed in May to keep it for two months in Samuel Gale's house at £5 (Old Tenor) per month, and at the house of John Dix, in the north part of the town, on the same terms, he being also allowed 19s. per week to board himself. In May the town chose Captain John Cutting representative. In September the "moving school" was discontinued; £10 were appropriated to repair the school-house, and £80 to support the school.
In March, 1742 -43, the town voted to reseat the meeting-house for the ensuing five years, the high- est tax-payer on real and personal estate to be allowed the first choice, and so on for all the pews ; other things being equal, the age of those having a choice to be considered. The galleries and the space under them were to be disposed of in the same manner as the body of the house, and a com- mittee was chosen to attend to the entire duty. At the May meeting Captain John Cutting was elected representative. Some of the inhabitants of Wes- ton having petitioned to have a grant of land called Phillips' Dividend allotted them, it was agreed to allow the transfer, providing the town of Weston would render an equivalent in land. A petition to build two more school-houses and remove the one
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
tlen existing, so as to have one at the north, another at the south, and the third in the westerly section of the town, was rejected. In November the selectmen agreed with William Lawrence to keep the school until he had completed the term of eight months, the term commeneing July 9, of that year ; the pay to be £ 6 per month (Old Tenor) and his board. On the 23d of December the seleet- men of the three towns, Waltham, Watertown, and Weston, met at the house of Ensign Harrington, in Waltham, to adjust the accounts of the Great Bridge, amounting to £195 158. 7 d., Old Tenor. As adjusted, they were,-to Watertown, £72 6s. 8d., to Weston, £64 28. 4d., to Waltham, £ 59 6s. 7d.
March 2, 1743- 44, Captain Samuel Livermore represented to the selectmen that there were under his command ninety men, and that the state law re- quired them to have a stock of ammunition amount- ing to 150 pounds of powder, 300 pounds of bul- lets, and 450 flints. At the town-meeting, on the 5th of the same month, the town voted not to open the dams where the fish ran. Mr. Lawrence was further engaged by the selectmen as school- master. Captain John Cutting was again chosen representative, and at the same meeting (May'S) a committee was appointed to join similar committees from Weston and Watertown in applying to the General Court for a tract of unappropriated land, in consideration of the failure of the court to lay out the grant of one thousand acres of meadow previously made. (This probably refers to the grant of fifteen hundred acres of land made to Watertown in 1637.)
At the annual meeting in March, 1744 - 45, Cap- tain Livermore, who seems to have acquired great popularity among his fellow-townsmen, was again elected moderator, clerk, and treasurer, and at the meeting in May was elected representative. Septem- ber 9 of the same year the town voted that Captain Livermore " should address the Great and general Court in the name and behalfe of the Town of Waltham that the millers might have liberty to keep up their mill Dams as formerly." It having been brought to the notice of the selectmen that Mr. Lawrence had given up the school, and that the people were dissatisfied with there being none, Mr. Hopestill Mead was appointed by them to find some one to take his place, and Mr. Elisha Hard- ing was the person selected.
When the town engaged Mr. Williams as their pastor, one of the stipulations in the agreement was that he should have his firewood cut and
carted for liim free of expense. Some idea of the importance of that item may be gained from the faet that in the year 1745 he was granted £250 salary and thirty cords of wood.
Mareh 2, 1746 - 47, a committee was chosen to consult with like committees from Watertown and Weston in regard to selling the joint farm (proba- bly the one at Wachusett Hills) ; it was voted to keep a moving sehool six weeks in the north, six weeks in the south, six weeks in the west near Jonas Smith's, and six weeks in the school-house. Deacon William Brown was appointed to teach the northerly district, and if any division neglected to provide a convenient place for holding the school or for the master to board, the term of that division should be held in the school-house. On the 18th of May Captain Livermore was again chosen repre- sentative. At a meeting of the selectmen in July, James Priest, Jr., is mentioned as absent on the king's service. The town grants for this year, made in October, being in New Tenor, Mr. Wil- . liams was allowed £100 as against £250 in the Old Tenor of the previous year.
In March, 1747-48, Samuel Livermore, Jr., was appointed to keep the school in the westerly, cen- tre, and northerly parts of the town, an agreement being entered into between his father and the selectmen to that effeet.
In January, 1748-49, the selectmen appointed Caleb Upham a school-teacher. One of the ques- tions which came before the annual meeting was that of removing the meeting-house to the centre of the town, or building a new one, but no action was taken in regard to it. In May Captain Liver- more was again chosen representative. The suc- ceeding year (1749-50) the town, however, voted not to send a representative. At the annual meet- ing in March, 1749 - 50, a committee was chosen to meet with committees from Watertown, Newton, and Cambridge, for consultation in regard to a workhouse. The salaries of the town officers for the year 1750 seem, from the appropriation, to have amounted to 13s. 4d., and this sum was wholly awarded to Captain Livermore, -Ss. as town-clerk, and 5s. 4d. as treasurer. The record in September, 1751, states that Matthew Bridge, being then present at a town-meeting, " gave the Town £ 1 6s. 8d. as a gift in Consideration of his Congregating with them." Some discussion oc- eurred this year in regard to whether the school should be taught by a schoolmaster or school- mistress, and the question was finally decided in
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WALTHAM.
favor of the master. In November the town voted that the money granted for the support of schools should be expended for the one kept in the school-house, and that the teacher should be "a grammar-school master."
June 22, 1751, the Rev. Warham Williams, for so many years pastor of the church, died. In 1752 Jonas Clark, having been employed, was schoolmaster. Samuel Livermore was chosen representative in May. In December the select- men engaged Samuel Livermore, Jr., to teach the school for three months at a salary of £45, Old Tenor.
In February, 1753, the younger Mr. Livermore was again engaged to teach the school. Captain Livermore was again representative. The school was discontinued from July 11 until October 22. At the latter date the town voted to have the house repaired, and to have a movable school. . The tax- able carriages in Waltham in this year numbered - ten, namely, nine chairs and one chaise ; the polls 147, slaves 3, sheep 299, swine 188, horses 111, cows 455, oxen 118.
At a meeting on the 2d of September, 1754, the excise bill was read, together with the speech of the governor to the General Court. After some debate the town voted " that it is the desire that the bill may not be negatived." Samuel Liver- more, Jr., was again engaged to teach the school ; Samuel Livermore, Sr., was again representative.
March 3, 1755, Mr. Matthew Bridge of Cam- bridge was accepted as an inhabitant, and his farm annexed to our territory. Captain Livermore was re-elected representative in May, and at the same meeting the town voted to sell its share of the 2,000 acres of land at Wachusett Hill owned by Watertown, Weston, and Waltham. In Decem- ber, 1755, the General Court passed an order in execution of its share in the dismemberment of the government of Acadia, and the scattering of its homeless and friendless people broadcast over the country. The total number of these unfortunates assigned to Waltham was fourteen.
In March, 1756, Thomas Sparrowhawk was en- gaged as schoolmaster, and in May Captain Liver- more was again returned representative, a position he continued to fill until 1764. The sale of the town's portion of the Wachusett Hill farm was concluded in the latter part of 1756, and on the 11th of January, 1757, Captain Jolin Cutting made report for the committee on the sale, to the selectmen, that the proceeds amounted to
£267 6s. 8d. (£2005 Old Tenor). Isaac Liver- more was schoolmaster from November, 1756, to Angust, 1757. He continued in that position also during a portion of the year 1758. In Novem- ber, 1758, among the disbursements made by the selectmen, was one of $? per week for the support of the French Neutrals, the homeless Acadians. This is the first mention of the term " dollars " in the town records.
Leonard Williams was schoolmaster during the latter part of 1758 and the early part of 1759. The town at its meeting, March 5, 1759, refused to exempt soldiers from taxation. In March, 1760, the town appropriated £ to carry on a children's reading-school in the southwest part of the town. Deacon Isaac Stearns was appointed by the select- men to engage a schoolmistress for the northerly portion of the town, and it was agreed to have a grammar-school master teach one quarter in the school-house. The wife of George Lawrence was selected by Deacon Stearns, and we may assume that she was the first regularly appointed female teacher in the town. In August, 1760, the Gen- eral Court assigned to Waltham four more of the French Neutrals. In 1761 grants were .made to Jonathan Livermore, Samuel Williams, and John Wyeth for teaching school. It was voted (Sep- tember 14) to build a workhouse on the land of the town near Daniel Harrington's. As Mr. Har- rington, between the years 1746 and 1761, kept a tavern near the junction of Main and South streets, the workhouse was probably located in that im- mediate vicinity. At the September meeting the town appointed the selectmen a committee to re- ceive subscriptions to defray the expense of build- ing a bridge over the Charles River, near the mouth of Beaver Brook, and to join with a committee of the town of Newton in seeing to its building. Wardens were elected for the first time this year, William Coolidge and Elijah Livermore occupying those positions. The following year (1762) hay- wards were elected for the first time, and Josiah Mixer and Samuel Gale were chosen by the town to serve in that capacity. Samuel Williams and Mrs. Clark were paid for teaching school, and a committee chosen to prosecute any person who had broken or should break any glass in the school or meeting house.
In 1763 the instructors of youth for the town were three females, - Mrs. Lawrence, a daughter of William Coolidge, and a daughter of Lois Fisk ; and one male teacher, Samuel Williams. During
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
1763 the wars, which for so many years had been waged between England and France, were terminated by the treaty of Paris. It is quite worth our while to review so far as we can the part Waltham took in these struggles, since these conflicts proved the training-school for the soldiers of the Revolution, and the expenses incident to their prosecution the entering wedge in the division of the governments of the two countries. The excise tax which the town in 1754 desired might " not be negatived " was an outgrowth of it, and the Stamp Act, against which the whole colony a few years after vigorously protested, was another of its fruits. But it gave our hardy yeomen military experience and training, and taught them that the men they had fought by the side of in wars with a foreign foe would not be their superiors in courage, prowess, or skill when opposed to them in the ranks of their enemies. While the town records abound in military titles, it is doubtful whether these were won at the an- nual training or on the battle-field. We find, how- ever, among the heroes of the Revolution, quite a number of the names of those who were veterans in the old French and Indian wars.
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