USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. II > Part 80
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102
Dr. Henry Bond, a distinguished physician, grandson of Colonel William, was born in Water- town, March 21, 1790. Graduating at Dartmouth College in 1813, he studied medicine, and settled in Concord, New Hampshire, in 1816, but in 1819 removed to Philadelphia, where he became eminent in his profession, and died there, May 4, 1859. In 1855 he published his History and Genealogies of Watertown, one of the most valuable contributions to this department of research ever made. Dr. Bond was also the author of many important papers upon subjects connected with his profession.
John P. Cushing, a wealthy and benevolent citi- zen of Watertown, died in Belmont, April 12, 1862, aged seventy-six. Having in early life amassed a fortune in China, his subsequent career was marked by active participation in public enter- prises, and by liberal but unostentatious charities. In his beautiful grounds, now belonging to Sam-
uel R. Payson, he established a magnificent conser- vatory, which he liberally threw open to the public. His garden, now included in the town of Belmont, was a place of great attractiveness, to which thou- sands of admiring visitors flocked every season
Convers Francis, D. D., a distinguished cler- gyman and scholar, was born in Arlington, No- vember 9, 1795 ; died April 7, 1863. He grad- uated at Harvard College in 1815, and was ordained over the First Parish of Watertown, June 23, 1819. After a useful and successful service of twenty-three years, he preached his farewell sermon to his parish, Angust 21, 1842, when he entered upon the duties of Professor of Pulpit Eloquence and Pastoral Care at the Divinity School, Cam- bridge. Besides a historical sketch of Watertown, he was the author of a life of the Apostle Eliot in Sparks' series of American Biographies. He was an industrious student, a ripe scholar, and a genial and instructive companion. Dr. Francis, who was the brother of Lydia Maria Child, resided on the homestall formerly of Thomas Mayhew, on the corner of Market Street and Riverside Place.
Harriet G. Hosmer, a distinguished sculptor, was born in Watertown, in the house now the resi- dence of her cousin, Dr. Alfred Hosmer, October 9, 1830. At an early age she began modelling in clay, and on her return home from a course of anatomical study in the medical college of St. Louis in 1851, she commenced her bust of Hesper, which attracted great attention on its completion in 1852. Her father then placed her under the instruction of Gibson, the eminent English sculptor in Rome, and there she has since resided, having won a high reputation in her chosen profession.
Benjamin Robbins Curtis, one of the ablest of American jurists, was born in Watertown, Novem- ber 4, 1809, and died in Newport, Rhode Island, September 15, 1874. He was the son of Captain Benjamin and Lois Robbins Curtis, and graduated with distinction at Harvard College in 1829. He then studied law, was admitted to practice in Bos- ton in 1834, attaining eminence in the profession, was a member of the Massachusetts House of Rep- resentatives in 1851, and from 1851 to 1857 was an Associate Justice of the United States Supreme Court. In the famous Dred Scott Case Judge Curtis dissented from the decision of the majority of the court. In 1868 he was one of the counsel of President Andrew Johnson when impeached by the House of Representatives. His success in this case greatly enhanced his reputation.
460
HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
George Tyler Bigelow, Chief Justice of the Su- preme Court of Massachusetts, born in Watertown, October 6, 1810, died in Boston, April 12, 1878. He was the son of Tyler Bigelow, an eminent lawyer of Watertown, graduated at Harvard College in 1829, and was admitted to the bar in 1834. From 1840 to 1848 he served in the state legislature ; was appointed a judge of the Court of Common
-
Plcas in 1848; was transferred to the Supreme Bench, November 21, 1850; and was chief justice from November 7, 1861, to January 1, 1868. As a judge he possessed great administrative ability, facility in the despatch of business, and patience, willingness, and capacity to labor, performing his duties with universal acceptance.
WAYLAND.
BY REV. JOSIAH H. TEMPLE.
NDER its present name, Way- land is one of the new towns of the commonwealth. Under former names, and by date of grant and settlement, it is one of our oldest plantations. Its territory embraces about two thirds of the lands originally granted by the General Court in the year 1637 as the town- ship of Sudbury, -the name now applied to that part of the grant and subsequent additions which lie on the west side of the river. The village of Sudbury was laid out on the east side; the meet- ing-house was built on this side, the corn-mill was here, the graveyard was here, and all the religious, civil, and educational interests centred here for a period of about ninety years. In 1780 the town was divided ; the new part retained the old name, and the old part took the name of East Sudbury. In 1835 the name was changed to Wayland. It contains 10,051 acres. The Sudbury River, which is the leading natural feature of the place, forms the westerly boundary for a distance of five miles and two hundred and fifty-one rods; runs within the town four miles and two hundred and thirty-one rods, making its total length between the south and north bounds ten miles and one hundred and sixty-two rods. The town is bounded on the north by Lincoln, east by Weston, south by Natick.1
It is a matter of interest to know how, at that early date, the planters proceeded to organize a ucw settlement in the wilderness.
1 For act of iucorporation, land grants, etc., see Sudbury.
The first step was to get leave of the General Court to take up land for a plantation. A petition was presented in the fall of 1637; and Novem- ber 20, a committee was appointed to "sct out a place for them by marks and bounds sufficient for fifty or sixty families, upon the river that runs to Concord." The township was laid out five miles square.
The next step was to purchase the land of the Indian proprietors. The first purchase appears to have been made in the spring of 1638, by George Munnings, as agent for the planters. The deed was in existence among the town papers as late as 1693, but cannot now be found. The money was advanced by Munnings and Brian Pendleton, and repaid by the settlers. On making a survey, ten years later, it was found that this deed did not cover the five miles square, as actually laid out ; and in 1648 two strips of land additional were bought of the Indian owner for five pounds. This land lay to, the southward and westward of the original purchase. The last deed is preserved.
The third step was to lay out the village plot. This was done in the fall of 1638. The original plan, which was in existence in 1693, is lost. The following description is compiled from the boun- daries and dimensions of lots recorded in the town book, aided by certain well-known natural marks at prominent points, and the record of early high- ways.
The plot took in an irregular tract of land, whose extreme length was about one and one half miles ; the average breadth was less than half a mile; the area was about 400 acres. The home-lots were
461
WAYLAND.
staked out on two streets, known as the North Street and the South Street, corresponding in the main to highways now in existence. The number of house-lots provided for was fifty-four, each con- taining nominally four acres, but varying consid- erably to conform to the lay of the land.
Coming from Watertown, the travelled way at that date ran from the Alpheus Bigelow estate, over Pine Plain, as at present. The home-lots began at the middle of the plain, near the fork of the roads, twenty rods west of the house of James S. Draper. From this point the North Street ran, as now, by Clay-pit Hill and to the Training-Field, turning near the house of Abel Gleason, and thence bearing southwesterly as near the south margin of the ponds as the ground would admit, and so towards the town bridge. The South Street ran from the before-mentioned fork on Pine Plain, bearing southerly so as to strike the old mill-dam ; then turning northerly on the margin of the pond, crossing Mill Brook at Whale's Bridge ; then turn- ing southerly and southwesterly, leading by the Parmenter estates and the house now owned by Alden Wellington, formerly the Bridge Parsonage ; then following nearly the present street by the cemetery, and uniting with the North Street some distance to the west of the residence of Charles A. Cutting. From a point near the old Parmenter tavern the South Street parted into two, the south- erly branch running towards Bridle Point.
The majority of house-lots appear to have been located on the northerly side of the North Street and on the southerly side of the South Street. The space enclosed between the two streets was laid out into the meeting-house lot, the ox-pasture, the sheep-pasture, general planting-fields, and the training-place ; the latter, however, extended a considerable distance on the north side of the street.
All the original planters had lots assigned them in the village plot. And it is believed that all of them who came in 1638, 1639, and 1640, with families, built on their lots. But within three years indi- viduals began to sell their homesteads to new-comers, and to build on the newly granted uplands at vari- ous desirable points. The reasons for selecting this as the village site were, conveniency of way to Watertown, the general lay of the land and the only available mill-seat, as well as proximity to the choicest river meadow. And it was the laying out of a new highway from the Alpheus Bigelow corner to Mr. Dunster's farm in 1643, and the
simultaneous extension of the Bridle Point road southward to connect with this new highway, that attracted Edmund Rice (who first built on the North Street in 1639) and a few others to locate that year near " the spring "; and induced Parson Browne, two years later, to erect his dwelling-house on the peninsula south of Mill Brook.
The next step was to provide a corn-mill. It was set up in the spring of 1639 by Thomas Cake- bread, and the stream on which it was placed was called Mill Brook, according to the custom of the times. Among the first public grants there was "given to Thomas Cakebread, for and in consid- eration of building a mill, 40 acres of upland now adjoining to the mill, and a little piece of meadow downwards and a piece of meadow upwards, which may be 16 or 20 acres. Also there is given, in addition, for his accommodation of his estate, 30 acres of meadow and 40 acres of upland." Mr. Cakebread died January 4, 1642 - 43, and the mill was purchased or leased by John Grout, who sub- sequently married the widow, and came in possession of the entire mill property. It was held in the Grout family for two or three generations.
The next step was to apportion the meadows to the settlers. The home-lots, being of equal size, without regard to the pecuniary ability of the grantee, represented the common venture of the planters, and their civil and political equality, and were not taxed for ordinary town charges. The meadows represented individual estates, and were the basis of taxation, as they were the main source of income. In the act of November 20, 1637, it was provided that " the said persons appointed to set out the said plantation are directed so to set out the same as there may be 1,500 acres of meadow allowed to it, if it be there to be had with any con- veniency, for the use of the town." And Septem- ber 4, 1639, it is ordered, "that Peter Noyes, Edmund Browne, Edmund Rice et als. have com- mission to lay out lands to the present inhabitants, according to their estates and persons, and their abilities to improve their land."
The following rule of division of the meadows was adopted : " To every Mr. of a ffamilie, 6 akers ; to every wiffe, 6} akers ; to every child, 1} akers ; to every mare, cow, ox, or any other cattle that may amount to £20, or so much money, 3 akers." Under this order the meadows were allotted in three divisions, - the first under date of Septem- ber 4, 1639 ; the second, April 20, 1640; the third, November 18, 1640. The following will indicate
462
HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
the comparative taxable estates of some of the lead- ing planters : "To Mr. Edmund Browne, 75 acres of meadow ; to Mr. Peter Noyes, 72 acres ; Walter Haynes, 632 acres; Edmund Rice, 422 acres ; Thomas Brown, 342 acres ; John Bent, 30 acres ; John Parmenter, 262 acres ; Edmund Goodnow, 24 acres ; Henry Loker, 13 acres ; Hngh Griffin, 103 acres ; William Brown, 8} acres ; John Rutter, 3 acres."
In connection with the allotment of the meadows to the inhabitants, the town set apart certain lands, which were to be held sacred " for the use of the ministry." Two meadow-lots on the west and two on the east side of the river were thus " seques- tered," and later two or more lots of upland on each side were added. These lots, both meadow and upland, were let ont to individuals, and the income used for the support of the pastor. The west-side ministerial lands were sold in 1817 for $3,200.96. The uplands on the east side have been disposed of, but the two meadow-lots are still held by the First Parish.
Instead of each man cultivating his own sepa- rate field, the custom was adopted at the outset, and continned for two generations, to assign gen- eral planting-fields. These were located 'at con- venient points, and the inhabitants living next to these points were required to break up and utilize each his proper share, and each was required to make and keep in repair a part of the fence cor- responding to his part of the field. At first four cornfields were laid out, soon after six, and in 1654 the number had increased to ten.
The earliest records name only " the highway." This was the road from the village over Pine Plain to Watertown. Every man in town was required " to come forth to the mending of the highway upon such time as they shall have lawful summons by the surveyors, or forfeit for each default 5 shil- lings." The rules for working the highway were : " 1. The poorest man shall work one day ; 2. for every 6 acres of meadow a man hath, he shall work one day." A road for the town's use, four rods wide, was established at the outset, " between the meadows and the uplands," from Bridle Point to Concord line, and on the west side of the river there was a similar road six rods wide. In 1643 the records name a way from Watertown to Mr. Dunster's farm, which was laid out as a highway in 1649. As already stated, the South Street was extended across Mill Brook, just below the junction of Pine Brook, and so on the east side of the river
to Edmund Rice's farm and the new highway. A foot and horse bridge across the river, at the point where is now the Town Bridge, was built in 1640 ; the first cart-bridge was built in the fall of 1643. Where a town-way was laid across a man's home- lot he was allowed to put in and maintain gates at both his bound-lines, and travellers were required to open and shut them as they passed.
Formation of the Church. - No record of the first gathering of the church in this town can be found. But from the fact that Mr. Brown and the leading planters were made freemen May 13, 1640, it is certain that a church had been organ- ized before that date. There are reasons for fix- ing the date March 1, 1640. The next February Mr. Browne is named as " our pastor," and tradi- tion fixes his installation in August, 1640. His salary in 1643 was £30; in 1646, £40; in 1647, £50, "one half of which shall be paid either in money, wheat, peas, butter, cheese, pork, beef, or hemp and flax ; and he shall be paid at every quar- ter's end."
The clay-pit and brick-kiln are named in the earliest town records. They were situated on the North Street, and on the east side of Mill Brook.
In April, 1640, a considerable tract, lying be- tween the streets, towards Mill Brook, was laid out as " a common pasture for working oxen."
At this date it was ordered " that all hogs and pigs kept in this town, from the 24th of April to the 6th of Oct. that shall go about the town with- out yokes and rings, for every hog so found the owner shall forfeit 10 shillings, the complainant to have one-half the money, and the town the other half."
. March 29, 1641. "It is agreed that every cart with 4 sufficient oxen & a man shall have for a day's work 5 shillings : that .men shall take for mowing by the acre 14 pence for every acre, or one & twenty pence per day : that all carpenters, brick- layers, and thatchers shall have one & twenty pence for a day's work, and common labonrers 18 pence a day : that all sawyers shall take for sawing of board 38. 4d. the hundred, and for slit work they shall take 4s. Sd. the hundred : that a yearly cov- enanted servant, the best of them shall take but 5 pounds for a year's service, and maid-servants, the best of them shall take but 50 shillings : that none shall take above 6d. a bushel for the bringing up of corn from Watertown to Sudbury, and 20 shil- lings a tunn for any other goods."
January 13, 1643, a large tract of land was
WAYLAND. 463
laid out and established " to be a cow common forever." This tract embraced the whole soutli- easterly corner of the original township. The north line ran from Mill Brook, near the present centre, to Weston; the west line ran from Mill Brook, on a south-by-west line, to the south bounds of the five-miles grant, which it followed to Wes- ton, " which land so granted for a cow common shall never be ceded or laid down without the con- sent of every inhabitant and townsman that hatlı right in commonage." " The inhabitants are to be limited or sized in the putting in of cattle upon the said common, according to the quantity of meadow the said inhabitants are stated in upon the division of the Meadows." This rule of sizing seems to be a simple and equitable one. But an attempt to define and enforce it ten years later came near breaking up the town and the church. These commons were (not without opposition) lotted out and distributed to the inhabitants, at three divis- ions, between the years 1705 and 1710.
Meeting-House. - February 17, 1642 - 43, " It is agreed between the townsmen on the one part, and John Rutter on the other part, that the said John shall fell, saw, hew & framne a house for a meeting-house, 30 foot long, 20 foot wide, 8 ft. between joints, 3 ft. between studs: Two cross dorments in the house, six clear story windows, 2 with 4 lights apiece and four with 3 lights apiece, and to intertie between the studs." The town agreed to draw all the timber to place, and help raise the house, and to pay said John for his work £6. Raising-day was set for May 16, and it was " ordered that every man who did not attend the raising of the meeting house should forfeit 2 s. 6d. for his default." This contract included only the frame. The roof was covered with thatch, put on by the thatchers ; the body of the house was covered with oak cleft-boards or clapboards, 6 feet long, as indicated by the studding. The cost of the roof and clapboarding was £10. The floor was not laid till 1645. This house stood in the old cemetery.
Cemetery. - The custom of the times was to bury the dead close by the meeting-house. But the site of the meeting-house was not chosen till four years after the town was built; and in the mean time eight of the settlers had died. The tra- dition is - and it corresponds with known facts - that these first dead were interred in the " old In- dian burying-ground," now connected with the main part of the cemetery. The existence of grave-
stones there favors the tradition. The three flat stones lying near the centre of this old part proba- bly mark the spot where Thomas King, his wife, and infant son were laid in the winter of 1642 - 43. The finding of skeletons at the southeasterly end, buried but a few feet below the surface, according to Indian custom, confirms the belief that this place was used by the natives for sepulture.
The pay of representative is given by the follow- ing extract : " Granted to Edmund Goodnow, for his service done at the Court as deputy, 6 acres of upland and 5 acres of meadow." In 1654 Edmund Rice was paid " £ 6 in wheat, delivered at John Par- meters, at 5 s. per bushel, for his service and charge as deputy this past year."
In 1651 a contract was made with Edmund Goodnow, that his son "should beat the drum twice every Lecture day, and twice every forenoon and twice every afternoon upon the Lord's day, to give notice what time to come to meeting ; for which the town agree to pay him 20 shillings a year."
January 26, 1645 - 46, the town granted to Richard Sanger one half acre of land to set his shop on; timber to build him a house; and six acres of meadow, upon the condition that he stay amongst us and do our smith's work for four years.
In 1654 the town agreed that John Parmenter, Jr., " shall keep a house of entertainment." His license was renewed for a series of years.
Indian Owners. - The owner of the lands com- prising the main part of the first five-miles grant was Caato, sometimes written, as it was pronounced, Carto. His English name was Goodmans. He is mentioned in the colony records of 1637; and is then associated with the squaw sachem of Medford in the sale of "the weire at Concord, and all the planting ground which hath been formerly planted by the Indians there." This indicates that his tribal relations were with the Misticks rather than with the Nipnets. In our town records his name is uniformily written Goodmans. The larger purchase of lands of him in 1638, and the smaller one in 1648, have already been described. In relation to the latter the records designate it "the last pur- chase of lands of Goodmans."
The subsequent fate of Caato is unknown. His brother Jojenny was one of the Indians gathered at Natick by the Apostle Eliot.
Another Indian who lived in the southerly part of Wayland was Nataous, commonly called Wil- liam of Sudbury. He was a Nipnet, whose origi-
.
464
HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
nal home was near Grafton. The historian Hub- bard speaks of him as "very familiar with the whites." He was an attendant on the ministry of Mr. Browne, and was converted to a belief in the Christian religion by his preaching. He joined the Christian Indians at Natick, and became a promi- nent leader there. When the Society for Propagat- ing the Gospel in New England made arrangements with sehoolmaster Corlett of Cambridge to educate Indian youths in preparation for college, a son of Nataous was sent there for instruction. It appears that there were charges connected with the tuition of this boy which the English society failed to pay ; and Mr. Corlett obtained leave of the General Court " to purchase of Netus the Indian so much land as the said Netus is possessed of according to law for the satisfaction of the debt." The original amount due was £ 4 10s .; interest and charges raised it to £7 10s. Under the court's order Edmund Rice, Sr., and Thomas Noyes laid out to said Cor- lett, from the lands of said Netus, a farm of 320 acres.
In 1674 Netus is described by Gookin as "among the good men and prudent, who were rulers at Natiek." But a year after, on the break- ing out of Philip's War, the Praying Indians were treated by the provincial authorities as " treacher- ous heathen "; and some of them proved their inheritance in our common human nature by re- turning to heathen customs. February 1, 1676, Netus headed a party of savages who attacked and destroyed the family of Thomas Eames of Framing- ham. He was killed the 27th of March following, at Marlborough, and soon after his squaw was sold into slavery.
The third Indian proprietorship was situated in the southwesterly part of the town, mostly on the "New Grants." It was beld by Tantamous, alias Jethro, Jehojakell, the Speene family, and others, and was purchased by the town in 1684 for £ 12.
The noted Indian Bridge, a landmark often re- ferred to in the early records, was situated at an angle in West Brook, northerly from Pelham's Pond. There is now at the point a gravel bar, which affords a crossing-place for teams. No de- scription of the bridge is extant.
The first grant of lands, adjacent to Sudbury, to persons of distinction, was made June 6, 1639, to Mrs. Elizabeth Glover, widow of Rev. Josse Glover. This comprised a farm of six hundred aeres, lying " without the bounds " of the town on the south ; but by the adjustment of lines with Framingham
in 1700 the northeasterly part of the farm fell within the bounds of Wayland.
Pelham's farm comprised " the Island," and was wholly within our town bounds. It was granted, September 4, 1639, to Herbert Pelham, Esq., who put £100 into the common stock of the colony, and was one of the assistants to the governor. The farm was leased to tenants, and November 11, 1711, was sold by his heirs to Isaac Hunt and Samuel Stone, Jr.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.