USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. II > Part 74
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coln the three dollars paid to each in advance, pro- vided they would release the town from further demands, and trust to getting their pay from the state. In April Captain Samuel Bigelow was paid for keeping the school at the Upper Plain, and in May Abner Sanderson was unanimously chosen representative. In October teachers were to be engaged for the four schools. A town-meeting was held, December 17, to choose a delegate to the convention to meet at Boston in January, to con- sider the Federal Constitution reported at Phila- delphia ; Leonard Williams was elected for that purpose.
The tax upon the town for the support of the Great Bridge was probably beginning to be onerous, and the people evidently began to be a little restive under it, for in March, 1788, a committee reported verbally that they were unable to find any grant of land made for its support in which Waltham or Weston had any interest. Abner Sanderson was, in May, again elected representative, a position which he continued to fill until 1802. In 1790, according to the adjustment of accounts for repairs on the Great Bridge, Waltham had outstripped Weston in valuation, and was rapidly overtaking Watertown, the proportions being : Watertown, £2 158. 6d. ; Waltham, £2 13s .; Weston, &? 78. 5d. Bridge, Dix, and Mead were paid for teaching, and the school grant, appropriated De- cember 6, was divided as follows, among five school-houses : Upper end of Plain, £25 6s. 8d. ; Foot of Hills, £22 2s .; near the meeting-house, £30 5s. 3d .; Trapelow, £18 38.10d .; proprie- tors of new school-house (probably at Lower Plain), £4 2s. 3d. In the records for this and the suc- ceeding year there appears an oath of allegiance to the state and general government, signed by a majority of the town officers. In 1791 it was voted by the town to buy the school-houses at the Upper Plain and at the Trapelow district, a committee appointed for the purpose having pronounced them suitable for the purpose and the proprietors willing to sell. £77 11s. were appropriated for the one at the Upper Plain, the amount being divided among twenty-one proprietors, all of them residing on upper Main and South streets; £56 18s. 10d. were appropriated for the one at Trapelow, proprie- tors not named. The house near the Widow Barnard's was reported upon adversely by the committee. The schools were called at this time Pond End, Plain, Trapelow, and Southeast Cor- ner. An order appears among the selectmen's
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records in 1791 appropriating 3s. 6d. to pay for a horse and chaise " to bring the schoolmistress from Framingham," hence we may conclude that at least one of the teachers was imported. In April, 1792, the town voted to remove the school-house which was near the meeting-house to a point as nearly central as possible, - between Jonas Dix's and Phineas Warren's ; this would have located it just below the cemetery, on thic north side of Main Street. In April, 1793, the town voted unani- mously to grant the request of Christopher Gore (afterwards governor of the state) to become an inhabitant. In September, 1795, on an article in the warrant in regard to the purchase of stoves and shutters for the schools, and the building of porches on two of them, the town appropriated £50, and chose a special committee of three to each school to attend to the expenditure of money devoted to educational purposes. This was probably, to all intents and purposes, a school committee who attended to all the minor details, for we lose sight for a time of the payments to teachers which indi- cated who the teachers were. Prior to 1796 grants were almost wholly made in pounds, shillings, and pence ; after that date dollars and cents were the rule. In 1797 the town chose a committee to de- fend it against a presentment for not assisting in repairs on the Watertown Bridge. In September, 1798, the town granted $ 533.33 for men's and $100 for women's schools. In the direct tax levied by the general government we find that Waltham was assessed for 109 dwellings, and for 83 acres of lots which they stood on, $70,574. The house of Rev. Jacob Cushing and one belong- ing to Harvard College, with one acre.of land to each, were exempted, making a total of Ill dwell- ings in the town. The number of house-owners was 119; the number of occupants, 130. The number of acres of land assessed was 7,666, ex- empt (16 acres of Rev. Jacob Cushing's and 159 owned by Harvard College), 175; total, 7,926 acres. Valuation of land, $258,634.80 ; total valuation, $329,208.80. In June, 1799, the town appointed a committee with full powers to act upon a proposition of Watertown parties to widen and support the expense of the Great Bridge forever if the towns would yield their fishery rights. The schools respectively taught by masters and mis- tresses are distinguished in the records as " men's and women's" schools. During this year the town appropriated $25 to establish a singing- school, and $15 to purchase a bass-viol (prob-
| ably for the meeting-house). In 1801 the Great Bridge question was finally disposed of accord- ing to the Watertown proposition ; a school com- mittee of ten was elected, and the same school grants made as for the last year. In 1802 Jona- than Coolidge was elected representative; it was voted to plant shade trees on the meeting-house common ; to pay for sixty caps for the militia company under Captain Stephen Mead; and a school committee of four was elected. The school committee, then as now, had charge of the details of the expenditure of the -school fund, employing of teachers, etc., and this method of disposing of the subject seems to have given so much satisfaction that it was voluntarily continued to the time when the statute made it obligatory. In 1803 the town voted to send no representative, and in the same year appropriated $120 to hire a teacher of music. Musical instruction at this time was undoubtedly encouraged as a religious rather than a secular accomplishment, and an appropriation was made ---- with occasional intervals - for several years. In 1804 Jonathan Coolidge, Esq., was elected represent- ative; the town voted also to purchase three bath- ing-machines, similar to those in Watertown, to be used under direction of a physician. In the follow- ing year the town was divided into four school dis- tricts, and the appropriation was divided according to the proportion of children in the districts, the males between the ages of seven and twenty-one, the females between the ages of four and eighteen. In 1806, 1807, and 1808 Abner Sanderson, Esq., was chosen to represent the town in the General Court. In 1809 he was succeeded by David Towns- end, Jr., Esq., who was continued in the office until the year 1821, except in 1818 and 1819, when the town voted to send no delegate. The Rev. Jacob Cushing having died in 1809, the church took means to secure a successor, and voted to call Rev. Sam- uel Ripley to the position. In August, 1809, the town passed a vote concurring unanimously with the church in its choice, and also voted him, in case of his acceptance, a salary of $ 700 per year. Mr. Ripley accepted the invitation, and was ordained November 22, 1809. In the same year there were petitions from several parties praying to be set off with their estates from Waltham, but the petitions were not granted.
It is amusing at this present period to watch the conservatism of the voters of the olden time in regard to those innovations for increased com- fort which we have come to look upon as necessi-
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ties. The subject of a bell for the meeting-house agitated the public mind of Waltham for several years, but finally the revolutionists triumphed, and in 1815 an appropriation was voted to have one. Again, in 1814 it was voted not to have any blinds put upon the meeting-house, nor "to pay for the one Mr. Ripley put on "; however, the suc- ceeding year the town voted to pay for the " pulpit blind." In 1818 the stove came in as a disturb- ing element. It would appear by the record that some person or persons, not having the tranquillity and sanctity of the church before their minds, had placed a stove in the meeting-house, and asked the town to sanction an act already committed. That was enough. The town in its dignity rose equal to the occasion, and voted, first, not to pur- chase the stove in the meeting-house, and, second, to order it out of the meeting-house. A spirit of concession, however, prevailed ; the last vote was reconsidered, and at the next meeting (in April) the sovereigns voted to accept the stove as a pres- ent from the ladies of Waltham, said stove to remain town property. The threatened revolution was averted by female diplomacy.
In 1812 the town voted to pay those soldiers who should be drafted as the quota of Waltham $15 per month (including the pay of the govern- ment), and $1.25 per day for each day they should be under military discipline. To those familiar with the extent to which party spirit was carried prior to and during the War of 1812, it will not be a matter of surprise to learn that Pastor Ripley preached a sermon to which some of his parishion- ers took exception. This dissatisfaction finally culminated in the insertion of an article in the warrant of a town-meeting, the purport of which was to know the mind of the town in regard to ascertaining from Mr. Ripley upon what conditions he would resign his pastorate. On this the town, by a vote of sixty-six to fifty-six, decided to take no action. The subject was brought up twice in 1813 with a very similar result, and in 1814 the malcontents, who in the mean time had discontinued attendance at the regular meeting and employed Rev. Elisha Williams, a Baptist from Boston, to preach more acceptable sermons (first in the school- house, afterwards in the hall of a tavern where the Central House now stands), returned to the original flock. In 1813 the Factory Village (Lower Place) was set off as a separate school-district.
At the town-meeting in March, 1815, a commit- tee appointed in December of the previous year to
ascertain who had been in the service of the gov- ernment during the war with Great Britain, and what sums the town should in justice pay them, submitted the following list of names, with sums annexed : Joseph Hoar, Jonas Lawrence, Elijah Lawrence, Nathaniel Stearns, Richard Wellington, Jacob Lawrence, Amasa Harrington, John Sander- son, 2d, Alexander H. Piper, John Simonds, Henry Fisk, Richard Cutter, Isaac Farwell, Wil- liam Goss, Darius Wellington, Jacob Ryan, Timno- thy Morris, Daniel Emerson, William Trask, Thomas Barnes, Abel Hubbard, and William Clark, $4.68 each ; and James Jones, Noah Hardy, John Cole, William B. Winch, and Otis Puffer, $17.80 each. Among those serving the govern- ment during the war may be mentioned David Stearns, who was purser on board the Wasp at the time of her battle with the Frolic.
In 1815 an affair occurred which deserves mention from the rarity of such incidents : The legal number of voters petitioned the selectmen to call a town-meeting to act on the enforcement of the collection of certain highway taxes and the reconsideration of certain abatements ; the select- men neglected to issue the warrant, whereupon the interference of a justice of the peace was solicited and obtained, and the meeting ordered by him in accordance with the law in such cases. In 1817 the town voted to set off the Boston Manufacturing Company's estates for a school-district, and discon- tinue that of the Cotton and Woollen Company. In 1818-19 the town voted to send no representa- tive.
Certain acts of the Rev. Mr. Ripley, such as teaching a school, etc., appear to have either stirred up a new feeling against him, or to have afforded a pretext for further opposition, for at a town-meeting in January, 1820, four articles ap- pear in the warrant, charging him with neglect of duty and causing dissension, and calling for his dismissal. These articles the town, by a vote of sixty-four to twenty-six, refused to consider. At the same meeting it was voted to allow the Boston Manufacturing Company to enlarge the meeting- house at their own expense, in a manner agreed upon by the town and corporation, the company to have all profits arising from the sale or rental of the extra pews. At the March meeting an effort was made to see if the town would appoint a committee of fifteen - three from each district- to interview Mr. Ripley and try to induce him to give up his school, but the project was dis-
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missed. In May, 1820, the town voted to receive the " manifesto " of the Second Religious Society, and not to oppose their petition for an act of incorporation. This Second Religious Society erected a meeting-house, and established itself as a distinct body. Efforts made to reunite the two factions were of no avail, but from some cause the Second Society failed of success, and they finally split, the society retaining the house and charter with Rev. Bernard Whitman as pastor, and the church forming a new organization under Rev. Sewall Harding. In 1821, 1822, and 1823 Luke Fiske represented the town in the General Court, the last year in connection with Charles Lyman. In March, 1823, the town voted to pro- cure fire-ladders, hooks, etc., and in 1829 appro- priated $350 to purchase a fire-engine ; this was the germ of our present fire department. In 1824 Isaac Bemis, Jr., and David Townsend, Esq., were representatives ; in 1825, Luke Fiske, Esq .; in 1826, David Townsend ; in 1827, David Towns- end and Isaac Bemis, Esq .; in 1828, 1829, and 1830, Jonas Clark. In 1829 the town voted to exclude needlework from the summer schools in the morning, and to allow it in the afternoon, and in 1830 a small sum of money was appropriated by the town to procure medals to be given to those scholars deemed most deserving. On the 30th of July, 1830, the meeting-house erected by the Sec- ond Society was struck by lightning and burned. In 1831 Amos Harrington and David Townsend, Esq., were elected representatives. As early as in 1820 the project of a grammar school had been agitated, an act passed by the General Court in June, 1789 (according to an item in the warrant, but a law passed not far from 1700 was very simi- lar), making such a school incumbent on every town containing two hundred families ; but it was dismissed one year, only to come up the next. In 1821 the town was sued for not complying with the provisions of the act of 1789; but our town fathers were apparently but little concerned, and it was not until 1832 that the progressionists gath- ered strength enough to overcome the opposition. In that year the town appropriated $ 1,200 to build a grammar-school house and town-house on the old meeting-house common. Subsequently it was voted to change the location to a "gore of land " owned by Mr. Lyman, he offering to give the land and $200 in furtherance of the plan. But this was not satisfactory, and after so many meetings and so many votes that it seemed as
though the project would finally be smothered in motions and amendments, the town purchased of Mr. T. R. Plympton the piece of ground now occupied by the North Grammar-School House, increased the appropriation somewhat, and erected the building there. The following year the town appropriated $300 to enable the general school committee to hire a schoolmaster and establish a high school, and the committee were instructed to commence such a school at as early a day as possi- ble. Following out the history of this school to the present time, we find that the first principal was Franklin Hardy, the second Josiah Rutter (1835), the third William H. Ropes (1838), the fourth E. A. W. Harlow (1841), the fifth Charles F. Sim- mons (1842), the sixth Daniel French (1842), the seventh William H. Ropes (1844, second time), the eighth Leonard P. Frost (1847). During Mr. Frost's term of service, in 1849, the interior of the building was altered, the town giving up the use of the upper story for public purposes, and es- tablishing a high school there distinct from the grammar department, Mr. Frost taking charge of the former, and being succeeded in the latter by his brother, George W. Frost. In 1859 L. P. Frost again took charge, and he was succeeded in 1869 by William E. Sheldon, in January, 1871, by Alonzo Meserve, in September, 1871, by John T. Prince, in 1877 by John S. Hayes, in 1879 by J. T. Prince (second time), who is now teaching.
In 1868 the town established a grammar school upon the south side of the river, of which Arthur P. Smith was appointed principal, a position held by him at present. The principals of the high school succeeding Mr. Frost have been Timothy W. Bancroft (1859), A. J. Lathrop (1864), James C. Parsons (1865), Minton Warren (1874), W. E. Bunten (1876), and Ruel B. Clark (1877). Mr. Parsons resigned his situation in 1873, the school being in charge of sub-inasters James L. Fowle and Frederick T. Farnsworth until his successor was appointed. Mr. Clark resigned in 1878, C. W. Parmenter, sub-master, becoming acting principal. The number of schools at present (April, 1879) is thirty-seven, exclusive of evening schools (established in 1874), and the appropria- tion has increased correspondingly, about $32,000 being now required for the annual expenses.
Between the years 1831 and 1879 the town was represented in the General Court by the following persons (except 1833-35, when the town did not
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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
eleet) : 1836, David Kendall and Robert Sander- son; 1837, Luke Fiske; 1838- 39, Elisha Cre- hore ; 1840, Jonas Clark ; 1841, John Abbott; 1842 -43, John M. Peck; 1844-47, no repre- sentative sent; 1848- 50, Nathaniel P. Banks, Jr .; 1851 - 53, Horatio Moore ; 1854, Samuel O. Upham ; 1855, William P. Childs ; 1856, Horatio Moore; 1857, James G. Moore (in this year Wal- tham sent a governor, N. P. Banks, Jr., and a state senator, Gideon Haynes) ; 1858 - 59, Josiah Rut- ter ; 1860, Daniel French ; 1861, Frederick M. Stone and Josiah Beard (from 1857 to 1866 Wal- tham and Watertown, including Belmont when incorporated, formed one district with two repre- sentatives, this year Waltham seems to have secured them both) ; 1862, James G. Moore; 1863- 64, Frederick M. Stone; 1865- 66, Emory W. Lane; 1867-68, Royal S. Warren; 1869, Horatio Moore; 1870, Thomas Hill; 1871, Wil- lard A. Adams; 1872, William Roberts ; 1873, Willard A. Adams; 1874, William E. Bright ; 1875, Frederick M. Stone ; 1876-78, David Randall.
In December, 1826, a number of gentlemen, having in mind the formation of a society for mutual improvement, met to take some action to that end. The result was that on Saturday even- ing, December 30, of the same year, an associa- tion was organized under the name of the Rumford Institute for Mutual Instruction. Courses of lee- tures were instituted, which have been continued with but a single interruption for each succeeding year. A library was founded, which by the year 1865 had acquired 3,700 volumes. In that year it was, by a vote of the Institute, transferred to the town, forming the nucleus of the present public library.
Bringing now the ecclesiastical history of the town down to the present time, we find that from the first permanent secession from the parent church sprung what was known at its organiza- tion as the Second Religious Society. A meeting- house was built for them on Church Street, which was dedieated January 17, 1821, and on the same day Rev. Sewall Harding was ordained and in- stalled pastor. But a few years elapsed before they, too, experienced secession, doetrinal points forming the basis of the trouble, the members of the society desiring a change in the theology, while the members of the church were unanimously con- tent with that expounded by their pastor. The church, with Mr. Harding, withdrew (April, 1825),
changed the name (July 25, 1826) to Trinitarian Congregational Church, and built a meeting-house at the corner of Main and what is now Heard Street, dedicating the new building October 11, 1826, the old society continuing worship under Rev. Bernard Whitman. Mr. Harding was suc- ceeded in 1837 by Rev. John Whitney. In 1853 fresh trouble arose, and another division occurred, a new organization being formed under the name of Orthodox Congregational Chureh, with Rev. Rosswell Foster for pastor ; but in April, 1858, this latter offshoot returned to the parent organi- zation. In May, 1858, Rev. Richard B. Thurston sneceeded Mr. Whitney, and he in turn was suc- cecded, in 1865, by Rev. Elnathan E. Strong. In 1878 Mr. Strong resigned, and at the present time the church is without a settled minister. In 1870 the old church was sold and the present one ereeted, and dedicated March 2, 1871.
Not far from the year 1820 the doctrines of Emanuel Swedenborg found adherents in Wal- tham. Mectings were at first held in the house of Captain John Clark, and were continued in private residences until 1860, when a stone chapel was built on Lexington Street, at what is commonly known as Piety Corner. Mr. Benjamin Worcester has from the beginning been leader in the devotional exercises. In December, 1869, the interior of the chapel was destroyed by fire, but in the following year it was restored, and the edifiee enlarged. On Sunday, July 4, 1869, a church society was formally organ- ized. There is also connected with the society a private school, which gathers its pupils from nearly every state in the Union.
About the year 1820 the nucleus of the Meth- odist Episcopal Church began to form, in the shape of elass-meetings, a class of twenty-four being gathered, with Charles Barnes as leader. Regular meetings of the elass were held for about five years. A majority of the members leaving town for Lowell, about 1825, the class was discon- tinned. Circuit preaching was occasionally had, and small appropriations from time to time were allowed for its support. Between the years 1828 and 1830 class-mectings were revived, Marshall Livermore being leader, succeeded in 1833 by Dr. Theodore Kittredge. Occasional preaching was had, the places where the service was held being the factory school-house on Elm Street, Smith's Academy on School Street, and the Masonic Hall on Main Street. In March, 1837, regular services were commeneed at Masonic Hall, with Rev. Ziba
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B. Dunham as pastor. Early in the following year the worshippers purchased the meeting-house then standing on the Common, and owned by the Second Unitarian Society, and in June of the same year a regular church organization was formed, with about forty members. Waltham and Water- town were now made a distinct circuit, with Rev. Thomas Pickering in charge (residing in Waltham), and Rev. Otis H. Howard as junior. In 1839 Rev. Franklin Fisk and Edward A. Lyon were ap- pointed to the circuit (the latter residing here), succeeded in 1840 by Rev. Daniel Webb and Horace G. Barrus (Mr. Barrus being resident here) ; in 1841 Rev. Mr. Barrus was placed in charge, with Rev. G. W. Frost assistant ; in 1842 Rev. B. K. Pierce was stationed at Waltham; after this (in 1843) the relations of the two towns as a circuit ceased. Since then the Waltham church has had for pastors the following : 1843-44, Rev. David Kilburn ; 1845, Rev. John Paulson ; 1846 - 47, Rev. Moses Webster ; 1848- 49, Rev. Jacob Sanborn; 1850-51, Rev. George W. Bates (Mr. Bates dying while in charge was suc- ceeded in 1851 by Rev. N. J. Merrill, who was reappointed in 1852) ; 1853-54, Rev. Luman Boyden (Mr. Boyden, about the middle of his second year, was appointed to mission work, and Rev. J. S. Barrows completed his term) ; 1855, Rev. J. S. Barrows ; 1856-57, Rev. T. W. Lewis ; 1858-60, Rev. E. A. Manning (in 1859 the meeting-house was removed from the Common to the corner of Main and Moody streets, where, four months after its dedication, which took place January 25, 1860, it was de- stroyed by fire ; a new edifice was erected on the same site, and dedicated March 13, 1861, services having been held continuously, except from January to May, 1860, in Rumford Hall) ; 1861-62, Rev. Samuel Kelley ; 1863 - 64, Rev. D. K. Merrill ; 1865-67, Rev. C. L. Eastman ; 1868-69, Rev. D. E. Chapin ; 1870-71, Rev. L. J. Hall; 1872-74, Rev. J. Wagner ; 1875, Rev. W. A. Braman ; 1875- 78, Rev. W. W. Colburn ; 1879, Rev. George H. Mansfield.
In the year 1830 the Catholic Society was insti- tuted in Waltham. When the building which had been occupied by the Second Society, on Church Street, was burned in 1829, a portion of the sheds were saved. These, with the lot, were purchased by the Catholics, and a section of the sheds fitted into a temporary church. Shortly after this a wooden building was erected, which was occupied
as a place of worship until June, 1848, when it was destroyed by fire. Up to the year 1839 there was no settled pastor, the services being conducted from time to time by clergymen from Boston. In 1839 Rev. T. Fitzsimmons was appointed pastor. He was followed by Rev. Mr. Lynch and Rev. Mr. Strain. Mr. Strain continued pastor until 1847. Certain acts of his administration caused consider- able discontent among a few of the unruly ones of his parish, which in June, 1846, assumed so far the proportions of a riot as to oblige the select- men to order the artillery company under arms. The trouble was settled, however, without the necessity of further action by the military. In 1847 Rev. Patrick Flood took charge of the soci- ety. During Mr. Flood's pastorate, which con- tinned until his death in December, 1863, the large brick church on School Street was erected. This building was occupied in 1860, and dedicated in 1877. Upon the death of Rev. Patrick Flood, a nephew, Rev. Bernard Flood, was appointed pas- tor. He also died, as it were, in the harness, in December, 1876, from sickness induced by his labors in superintending the remodelling of the church, and Rev. T. Brosnahan, the present pastor, was appointed early in 1877 to the va- cancy.
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