History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. II, Part 87

Author: Drake, Samuel Adams, 1833-1905
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Boston : Estes and Lauriat
Number of Pages: 650

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. II > Part 87

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In the Constitutional Convention of 1788 the votes of a majority of the delegates from Middle- sex County were given against the adoption of the Federal Constitution, seventeen delegates voting in favor of the adoption and twenty-five against. The delegates from Weston were among those voting in the affirmative.

In the War of 1812 Weston was equally as ready as in the Revolution, and furnished her pro- portion of men and means for the national defence. Cooper Gaffield, one of her soldiers in this war, lived to be over one hundred years old, and died the last day of the year 1875, in the poor-house, where he had spent the last thirty-six years of his life in old age and infirmity.

With a population of but 1,243 in 1860, the town furnished for the War of the Rebellion one hundred and thirty-one men, a little above ten per cent of the whole population, which was a surplus of fifteen over and above all demands. Six were commissioned officers. The total amount of money appropriated and expended by the town on account of the war, exclusive of state aid, was $12,528.90. In addition to this the citizens raised by subscrip- tion for encouraging recruiting and the payment of bounties, $5,104.95. The amount of state aid to soldiers' families, raised and expended in the town and repaid by the state, was $2,358.66, making a total of $19,992.51, nearly twenty per cent of the valuation of the town in 1860.

Twelve men died in the service, and the bod- ies of those who could be found were brought home, and buried at the expense of the town. A memorial tablet, bearing their names, has been placed in the public library of the town.

The name of the town seems to have had its origin from its being the most westerly precinet of |

the parent town, after the analogy of its neighbor, Newton.

Weston lies about thirteen miles west of Bos- ton, upon the eastern side of the range of hills that slope towards the Charles River and form its basin. The affluents of the Charles drew the first settlers along its fertile margin and up through its valleys, and the same love of " pleasant springs running like rivers through its body " drew them to Weston, along the meadows of Cherry Brook, and the gen- tle slopes that rise froin the two brooks that flow each side of the village and main street, and form the swell along which they built their early dwell- ings.

The present size of the town is 10,967 acres, including 80 acres in roads and 155 acres in ponds, leaving 10,732 acres of land by actual sur- vey. It measures about five miles in length, north and south, by four east and west. It is in general an uneven, and in some parts a broken tract of land, and high ledges of rock are found within its limits. A considerable portion of the territory rises above the level of the surrounding country, and from White's Hill, in the south- westerly part, an extensive view may be had. The soil in the elevated and rocky parts of the town is in general a deep red, strong loam, very favorable to the growth of fruit trees. There are some small tracts of level land, but of no consid- erable extent. The hills are full of springs, and are very little subject to frost or drought. There are no stagnant waters, but several tracts of meadow that abound with excellent peat. Not- withstanding its rocky appearance, it contains a large amount of good land.

To this day foxes are often seen in the town ; raccoons have been killed within two miles of Charles River; mink still inhabit the brooks, and the whippoorwill whistles his shrill note within sound of the city bells.

Statistics show Weston " to be as healthy a spot as any in the known world. Perhaps no place in New England could present fairer proof of the salubrity of its air and situation," said Dr. Ken- dal, a generation ago. The proportion of in- habitants reaching fourscore, and even ninety to one hundred years of age, is unusually large. The peaceful quiet of life within its borders conduces to longevity.

Nonesuch Pond, on the line between. Weston and Natick, is one of the most beautiful ponds in the county, and, according to tradition, was named

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by Governor Winthrop. The scenery around it is very picturesque. Opposite the Stony Brook depot is a hill called Snake Rock, from the rattlesnakes which used to abound at the foot of its precipitous western side. In the face of this high rock is a horizontal cave, some twenty feet in depth, called the Devil's Den. In this cave negro slaves con- cealed themselves in the summer of 1780, to avoid the draft.

Some of the prominent citizens of the town deserve more than a passing notice, from positions held by them, from individual peculiarities, and for other reasons.

Captain Josiah Jones, admitted a freeman April 18, 1690, was one of the original members and one of the first deacons of Weston church. He died October 9, 1714. From his commanding the Farmers' company, the Farms received the name of " the precinct of Lieutenant Jones's Company."

His son Josiah, also a captain, was elected dea- con, February 13, 1714-15, as successor to his father, but he refused to accept. Abigail, the only daughter of this son, became the second wife of Colonel Ephraim Williams, of Newton (father by his first wife of Ephraim Williams, the founder of Williams College), to whom she bore five chil- dren. Her daughter Abigail married as her second husband General Joseph Dwight, of Great Barrington, by whom she had two children, the elder, Mary, marrying IIon. Theodore Sedgwick, and becoming the mother of Theodore, Henry, and Charles Sedgwick, all distinguished lawyers, and of Catherine M. Sedgwick, the eminently distinguished authoress.

Isaac Jones, son of Captain James Jones, born September 29,1728, kept a tavern and store, but was such a loyalist as to bring down upon himself the following denunciation from the Whig Convention of Worcester County, held in 1775 : -

"Resolved, That it be earnestly recommended to all the inhabitants of this county, not to have any commercial transactions with Isaac Jones, but to shun his house and crsou, and to treat him with the contempt he deserves."

He died in 1813. His tavern was probably the one called the Golden Ball, mentioned by Charles H. Fiske, Esq., in his oration delivered in Weston, July 4, 1876.1

Josiah Jones, seventh son of Colonel Elisha Jones, was born November 9, 1744. He studied

1 One of the best centennial addresses delivered on that mem- orable day. The writer acknowledges bis deep indebtedness to it in preparing this sketch, and returns thanks to Mr. Fiske for his courtesy in allowing its free use.

medicine, and became a physician. He joined the British army at Boston soon after the battle of Lexington, and was sent by General Gage to Nova Scotia for supplies for the troops. He was cap- tured on the passage, and committed by the Pro- vincial Congress to jail at Coucord. After a few months he was released. He again joined the British, and was appointed to a position in the commissary department. In 1782 he settled at Sissibo, Nova Scotia, as a lawyer. He obtained half-pay from the British government. He was first.judge of the Court of Common Pleas of An- napolis County for several years. He died at Annapolis in 1825. He was a man of education and ability. His property in Massachusetts was confiscated.

His brothers Elisha and Simon also settled at Sissibo, Nova Scotia. The latter was a half-pay British officer.

It will be acknowledged that Rev. Dr. Samuel Kendal's estimate of the people of the town must be a correct one ; he says : "The inhabitants of the town are mostly industrious farmers, a class of men which, in a country like ours, merits the higli consideration and esteem of every other class. The character of its inhabitants would not suffer by a comparison with those of almost any other town in the commonwealth, of no greater advan- tages." They have had some of the ablest men in New England as pastors of their churches, and the following list of college graduates, natives or resi- dents of the town, unfortunately almost exclu- sively limited, by the means of information at hand, to those from Harvard College only, includes many names of which the commonwealth is justly proud.

Colonel William Williams, one of the first set- tlers of Pittsfield, was the eldest son of Rev. Wil- liam Williams, born in Weston, May 14, 1711, graduated at Harvard College in 1729. " He was a jovial military man, and was very much distinguished in the French and Indian wars. He held the office of colonel in 1758, and was in the memorable attack on Ticonderoga," on the 5th of July of that year, of which he gave a thrilling account in a letter to Dr. Thomas Williams of Deerfield, dated July 11, 1758. He was an emi- nent man, much beloved, and was chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas in Berkshire County. In 1771 he was a member of the General Court, among those friendly to the king, "who," says Hutchinson, "in common times would have had

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great weight on the other side; but now, the great superiority in number against them caused them to despair of success from their exertions, and in most cases they were inactive." He was afterwards a captain in the military service of the crown. He was chosen chairman of the delegates from Pitts- field to the Constitutional Convention of 1779. He was the earliest recorded preserver of the old elm of Pittsfield Common, saving it when a " stad- dle " from the axe of one of his laborers when his workmen were clearing his land.

He was married three times; first to Miss Miriam Tyler, second to Miss Wells, and third to Hannah Dickinson. He died April 5, 1784, aged eighty-three years, and a monument to his memory stands in the new cemetery of Pittsfield.

Nathan Fiske, born September 9, 1733, gradu- ated at Harvard College in 1754, in the same class with John Hancock. He received the honorary degree of D. D. in 1792. He was settled as the pastor of the Third Church in Brookfield, May 28, 1758. He died November 24, 1799. His death was very sudden. He preached on the Sabbath from Proverbs iv. 18, "The path of the right- eous is as the shining light," and died that night in his bed. "He was a critical and learned scholar, though not a popular preacher." He wrote a number of papers for the Massachusetts Spy, Massachusetts Magazine, and The Philan- thropist. He published in 1775 a sermon on the Settlement and Growth of Brookfield ; in 1781, an oration on the capture of Cornwallis; a volume of sermons in 1794; a Dudleian lecture in 1796; and the Moral Monitor appeared in 1801 as a posthumous work.

Daniel Jones, born July 25, 1740, fifth son of Colonel Elisha Jones, graduated at Harvard College in 1759. He was a lawyer and judge of the Court of Common Pleas at Ifinsdale, New Hampshire, where he died February 14, 1786. From his obit- uary in the Columbian Sentinel we learn that the attendants at his " funeral-solemnity " were " enter- tained with those consolations which the best religion affords, in a pathetick prayer by the Rev. Mr. Hubbard of Northfield, and an ingenious as well as affectionate discourse by the Rev. Mr. Gay of Hinsdale, from these words : ' O Daniel, a man greatly beloved.' He was liberally educated, and to the profession of the law, in which he practised many years with fidelity, humanity, and reputation. Ile afterwards presided, with honor to himself and the county of Cheshire, in the Court of Common

Pleas, remarkable for his impartiality and regular despatch of business."

Phineas Whitney, born April 23, 1740, was graduated at Harvard College. in 1759, was or- dained June 23, 1762, the first settled minister at Shirley, and continued in office more than fifty years. His ministry was peaceful, harmonious, and prosperous. His only controversy with his people was on the question of salary, which at his ordination was £66 138. 4d. Owing to the de- preciation of currency after the Revolutionary War began, this sum in paper currency was insufficient for his. support. His request for more was an- swered by temporary additional grants, "and a method of equalizing the salary by the price of grain." He managed his scanty income so care- fully, that he was able to give his children a good education and leave them some property. For . the last eight or .nine years of his life he was troubled with paralysis, and unable to fulfil the duties of his office. He died, December 13, 1819, in his eightieth year. He was a trustee of Groton Academy from its foundation till his death. He was highly esteemed by the clergymen of his time, and, like most of them, was liberal in his views.

Daniel Stimpson, born February 2, 1731-32, was graduated at Harvard College in 1759; he died July 20, 1768.

Ephraim Woolson, born in Lexington, April 11, 1740, was graduated at Harvard College in 1760; he became a physician, and after a successful prac- tice of forty years in Hanover, New Hampshire, died in January, 1802.

Samuel Savage, son of Samuel Phillips Savage, born in Boston, Angust 22, 1748, was graduated at Harvard College in 1766, received the degree of Master of Arts in 1777, that of Doctor of Medi- cine in 1808, and was a fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society. He died at Barnstable, June 28, 1831.

Isaac Biglow, born May 2, 1750, graduated at Harvard College in 1769; became a preacher ; died May 2, 1777.

Stephen Jones, born March 5, 1754, graduated at Harvard College, 1775, was a half-pay British offi- cer in the King's American Dragoons. He went to Nova Scotia at the close of the war, and at his decease was the oldest magistrate of the county of Annapolis. He died at Weymouth, Nova Scotia, in 1830, aged seventy-six, and was the last survivor of fourteen sons. His youngest brother, Charles, entered Harvard College during the Revo-

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lutionary War, but did not graduate. His father, Colonel Elisha Jones, was for many years a magis- trate, colonel of a regiment of militia, and member of the General Assembly. He died in Boston, Feb- ruary 13, 1775, aged sixty-six. "In the many departments in which be acted, he eminently showed the man of principle, virtue, etc."

He was the grandson of Deacon Josiah Jones, and occupied the old homestead of his father and grandfather. He married, January 24, 1733-34, Mary Allen, by whom he had fifteen children, -- fourteen sons and one daughter. He was repre- sentative in 1754, 1756-1758, 1760-1763, 1773, 1774. He was a Royalist, and several of his descendants imbibed his principles.

Samuel Woodward, eldest son of the Rev. Sam- uel Woodward, second pastor of the church in Weston as already stated, born July 11, 1756, graduated at Harvard College -in 1776; was a surgeon in the army in the Revolutionary War; afterwards settled at Newburgh, New York, as a phy- sician ; married in February, 1784; died March 29, 1785, leaving an only son who died in infancy.

Cyrus Woodward, sixth child of Rev. Samuel Woodward, was born May 12, 1764; died Sep- tember 10, 1782, while a Sophomore in Harvard College.

Abraham Biglow, brother of Isaac (H. C. 1769), was born September 18, 1762 ; graduated at Har- vard College in 1782, in the same class with Rev. Samuel Kendal ; married, May 22, 1785, Hepzibah Jones, and settled in Cambridge, living in the house occupied, until recently, by Mr. John Owen. He was the clerk of the court of Middlesex County. During the Revolutionary War he let his servants live as usual, but pinched himself and family as closely as possible, avoiding the use of all luxuries of the table.

Hon. Artemas Ward, born at Shrewsbury, Jan- uary 9, 1762, son of Major-General Artemas Ward, the first major-general in the army of the Revolu- tion, graduated at Harvard College in 1783, set- tled at Weston in the practice of the law, where he inarried Catharine Maria Dexter, December 18, 1788. He represented the town in the General Court from 1797 to 1801. He removed to Charles- town, and subsequently to Boston, where he prac- tised law, and was several years a member of the executive council and of the legislature. He was elected and re-elected to Congress. From 1820 to 1839 he was chief justice of the Court of Common Pleas throughout the state. He received, in 1842,

! the honorary degree of LL. D. from his Alma Mater, of which he was one of the overseers thirty-four years. He was eminent as a lawyer, distinguished for his learning and courtesy, respected on the bench, and esteemed in domestic and social life. He died at Boston, October 7, 1847, in his eighty-sixth year.

Thaddeus Fiske, second son of Jonathan and Abigail Fiske, was born June 22, 1762; was fitted for college by Rev. Samuel Woodward ; graduated at Harvard College in 1785, in the same class with Henry Ware, Sr. He taught school for a short time in Lexington, returned to Cambridge, and studied theology under Dr. Wigglesworth, then professor of divinity in the college. He was or- dained pastor of the church in West Cambridge, April 23, 1788, which position he held for forty years, resigning April 23, 1828. His ordination sermon was preached by his uncle, Rev. Dr. Nathan Fiske, of Brookfield. In 1821 he received the honorary degree of D. D. from Columbia College, New York. He lived to see five successors or- dained over the society which he faithfully served for so many years, three of whom died before him. He reached the ripe age of ninety-three, spending the last few months of his life in Charlestown, where he died, November 14, 1855. He was, at the time of his death, the oldest clergyman in Mas- sachusetts. He occupied a seat on the board of overseers of Harvard College for a period equal in length to that of his ministry. He married Lucy Clark, daughter of Rev. Jonas Clark, of Lexington, and lived like other country ministers till his son died, in 1829, and left him a fortune. He published a Thanksgiving discourse in 1795 ; a discourse on the twenty-first anniversary of his settlement, 1809; and his sermon at the close of his ministry, 1828.

Ebenezer Starr, born August 24, 1768, graduated at Harvard College in 1789, in the same class with President John Thornton Kirkland ; received the degree of M. D. in 1825 ; settled in Newton Lower Falls in 1790, as a physician, where he died Au- gust 24, 1830. IIe was a member of the legisla- ture from 1815 to 1817, and a justice of the peace. His father, Dr. Josiah Starr, born November 3, 1740, at Dedham, was educated for the medical profession, and settled in Weston; occupied the house and place now belonging to Frederick T. Bush, Esq., in the southeast part of the town, and known as "Brookside Farm." He married Abigail Upham, November 25, 1762; died in 1782.

Silas Warren, born May 11, 1767, graduated at Harvard College in 1795, and engaged in teaching

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for several years. He was ordained pastor of a church at Jackson, Waldo Co., Maine, September 16, 1812, but owing to dissatisfaction with his views on the part of a portion of his people, he being a liberal of the old school, his pastoral relation con- tinued only about ten years. He continued to re- side in the town teaching and farming, while a strong constitution prolonged his days and a cheerful tem- perament " sustained him under the privations of straitened circumstances." He died January 7, 1856, aged eighty-eight.

Isaac Allen, born October 31, 1771, was the youngest of his father's family. Two of his broth- ers served during the Revolutionary War, and one of them was engaged in the battle of Bunker Hill. At the age of thirteen he received an injury from a fall on the ice which crippled him for life. He in- tended to learn the trade of a carpenter, but finding himself unable to endure bodily fatigue and labor, he turned his attention to study. He entered Har- vard College after coming of age, and graduated in the class of 1798, having as classmates Judge Story, Rev. Dr. Channing, and Rev. Dr. Tuck- erman. He studied theology with Rev. Samuel Kendal. In 1803 he received a unanimous call from the church in Bolton, indorsed by an almost unanimous vote of the town, to become minister of that town. He accepted, and was ordained March 14, 1804, Mr. Kendal preaching his ordination sermon. He remained in this charge forty years, being the sole pastor for thirty-nine years ; and during this period he was prevented from preaching, on account of indisposition, but one Sunday.

During the last year of his life he had as col- league Rev. Richard S. Edes. He died March 18, 1844, four days after the fortieth anniversary of his settlement, in his seventy-third year. He never married. Throughout his ministry he was chair- man of the school committee of the town. He was ' one of the most honest and conscientious of men, naturally a humorist, and " would have been a favorite of the Spectator." Being present on one occasion when a number of clergymen were dis- cussing the question how sin came into the world, he tersely remarked, " When I find a herd of cattle in my corn, I never stop to find out how they got in, I go to work and drive them out." His earlier preaching was in East Sudbury, and he enjoyed telling his experience there as a candidate. "I came very near being settled there," he said, " and there was only one thing that prevented." " Well, what was that, Mr. Allen ?" " Why, the people

didn't want me." He left his property, amounting to over twenty thousand dollars, to the church he had served so long and loved so well.

Isaac Fiske, born December 4, 1778, was the youngest brother of Rev. Thaddeus Fiske, by whom he was fitted for Harvard College, where he gradu- ated in 1798, in the same class with Judge Fay, who was his chum and intimate friend, Joseph Story, William Ellery Channing, and Sidney Wil- lard. He studied law in the office of Hon. Arte- mas Ward, then a prominent lawyer of Weston, and was admitted to the bar in 1801. Upon the removal of Mr. Ward to Charlestown he succeeded to his large and lucrative business. In 1817 be was appointed by Governor Brooks register of pro- bate for Middlesex County, which office he success- fully filled for thirty-four years, transacting all its varied business with great accuracy and despatch. He was removed from his position in 1851, in con- sequence of a politieal change in the administration of the government of the state. He represented the town in the state legislature in 1808, 1812, 1813, and 1814, and in 1820 was a member of the State Constitutional Convention. He was a justice of the Court of Sessions until that court was super- seded by the appointment of county commissioners. He died in Cambridge, March 11, 1861, at the age of eighty-two. His ancestors and brothers were remarkable for their longevity.

Charles Train, born January 7, 1783, was graduated at Harvard College in 1805. He was the preceptor of Framingham Academy in 1808, and afterwards a trustee. January 30, 1811, he was ordained pastor of the Baptist Church in Wes- ton and Framingham, which office he held until the churches separated in 1826, after which he re- mained in Framingham till 1839. He was a rep- resentative to the state legislature in 1822, and the seven following years, except 1827, " when by way of rebuke, as he understood it, he was allowed to stay at home, for having preached two sermons on . the subject of Temperance of a more stringent character than at that time suited the taste of the people." He was afterward a state senator. He was the first to move in the plan of forming a legis- lative library, as well as in the more important matter of a revision of the laws relating to common schools. He was active in procuring the charter for Amherst College. In 1833 he was injured by a fall, and for sixteen years following, till his de- cease, was never for a moment without pain. He died September 17, 1849, aged sixty-six years.

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He was keen, witty, courteous, and social ; a good guest and a genial host ; easy of speech, with a good fund of thought and anecdote; on all practical subjects eminently judicious ; and he devoted his life "to the advancement, first of religion, next of learning." His son, Charles R. Train (Brown University, 1837), has been district attorney for Middlesex County, a member of the governor's council, and attorney-general of the common- wealth.

Benjamin Rand, born April 18, 1785, gradu- ated at Harvard College in 1808, in the same class with Richard H. Dana. He was a gentleman of the highest eminence in legal attainment, and one of the most distinguished members of the Suffolk bar. He died in Boston, April 26, 1852, aged sixty-seven. Charles Sumner entered his office as a student, January 8, 1834. In the autumn of the same year Mr. Rand visited England, where he was well received by lawyers and judges. His partner, Mr. A. H. Fiske, remained iu charge of their office. He was " a lawyer having a large prac- tice, but was distinguished rather for his great learning and faithful attention to the business of his clients, than for any attractive forensic quali- ties."

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : containing carefully prepared histories of every city and town in the county, Vol. II, Part 87

Author: Drake, Samuel Adams, 1833-1905 Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Boston : Estes and Lauriat Number of Pages: 650

Author: Drake, Samuel Adams, 1833-1905
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Boston : Estes and Lauriat
Number of Pages: 650