History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 101

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 101

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6 Cf. Cntter's Cutter Family of New England, 35, 376 ; Cutter's Arlington,

WOBURN.

343

called in the plan Mr. Symmes's swamp, located below Symmes's corner in the direction of Medford-on the north of the highway to Medford or Charlestown from that point,-is the low ground denominated a part of the Halfway swamp in the description of the Woburn aud Medford highway in 1660, being considered a part of the low tract called Half- way swamp covering a large part of the present centre of Winchester, as described in previous pages.

In 1640 the General Court, on petition of the town of Charlestown, granted, on May 13th, "two miles at their headline, provided it fall not within the bounds of Lynn Village," and they " build within two years"; in other words, lay the foundation of a new town, which was called Woburn. Another grant was made October 7th, in addition to the former, "of four miles square, to make a village"; 500 acres of this to be given to Mr. Thomas Coytemore. In these grants "Cambridge line" was not to be crossed, nor were the bounds to "come within a mile of Shawshin River." The "great swamp and pond" were to lie in common. This, according to the records, was in- tended "to accommodate such useful men as might settle and form a village for the improvement of such remote lands as are already laid out." Three thou- sand acres also were laid out at the head of the new grant, betwixt Cambridge line and Lynn bounds, "to remain as their upper land, to accommodate with farms there, such as they shall have occasion." Frothingham mentions the repeal of an existing law, providing that no immunity should be granted a new plantation, but we fail to find the verification of this statement in the published records of the General Court. This, if true, was evidently for the sake of affording this particular enterprise substantial en- couragement on the part of the general government. Immunity, was, however, granted to "Charlestown Village," afterwards Woburn, "for two years' exemp- tion from public rates," on such stock as they had there "only."-Cf. Frothingham's Charlestown; vol. i. of the Charlestown Records, 41, 51-2; Colony Re- cords, i. 290, 306, 329, 330.

The bounds between Charlestown and the Village, it was determined, should be from the "partition of the ponds" to the northwest corner of Mr. Cradock's farm (Mistick or Medford) and thence to that part of Lynn Village (since called Reading) that turns fron Charlestown headline by a straight line; provided that this line should be half a mile from the lots in the nearest place. That the lands of the village bor- dering upon the Common may have "benefit of com- mon" for milch and working-cattle. The village was to allow, also, so much land "as shall be taken in," more than the straight line; besides "the 3000 acres." Also that the place of the village meeting-house should be "above the head of the old bounds, near against Robert Cutler's." This agreement from the Charlestown records was assented to in part, but " afterwards denied." It was the action of the com-

mittee of thirteen, originally chosen to conduct the affair of establishing the bounds "betwixt Charles- town and the Village, and to appoint the place for the village."

The foregoing matter calls for a few words of-

EXPLANATION .- The "partition of the ponds." Mistick Pond, in its division or separation from the upper ponds, such as Wedge, Winter and Horn Ponds. This line was also the "head of the old bounds," and the line of division between Woburn and Charles- town till 1842. It was a little north of the Win- chester and Arlington line (1850 to present time), a part of West Cambridge, now Arlington, being taken to form the town of Winchester.

Reading bounds. The line here turned at Charles- town headline, or uppermost bounds, and continued by a straight line, which is in part the bounds between Woburn and Reading to-day, across the present Wil- mington, till five miles were accomplished in a north- westerly direction, and Andover line was reached." This line was to be located half a mile from the near- est lots, the space between being reserved as common land; and such land as should be taken in, more than the straight line allowed, should be added by the village to the common lands.

Robert Cutler's lot, near where the meeting-house was to be, being above the head of the old bounds, or the bounds before the new grants were made, would be near, and the meeting-house where the present Common is at Woburn Centre. This lot was a large one, just north of that spot, according to the map of the Waterfield grants of 1638. The present Common is included apparently in George Bunker's lot on that map. Bunker afterwards gave his lot, a very large one, to the town, and this gift was the origin of the town's title in part to the Common, to Meeting-house Hill and other lands adjacent. He was the person after whom Bunker's Hill on the Charlestown penin- sula was named, and we think that Commou street in Woburn should be changed to the name of Bunker street, in honor of this early benefactor. The phrase, moreover, that the location of the meeting-house should be " near against " Robert Cutler's lot, whichi it would certainly be in the position on the present Common, further confirms the idea that its location was intended to be on an adjacent lot, which lot, as we have shown, happened to be Bunker's lot, on which it was eventually built and stood till 1672. This site was also the choice of Sedgwick and his committee, and the spot where the meeting-house stood was also the location of the village of the town.

The matter of the Woburn line not coming within a mile of the Shawshin River in Billerica, is treated in the lately published history of that town, whose author infers that Woburn was eager to obtain for herself the tract between the line and the river ; but his inferences, we think, were not those of the found- ers of the two settlements.

The " great swamp," mentioned in the early grant,

212 ; Paige's Cambridge, 544 ; Wyman's Charlestown GenealogieR, 346, 927, 930.

344

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

was the great Cedar Swamp in Wilmington ; and the " pond " was Horn Pond. Both were to lie in com- mon, or in other words, to be public property from the beginning.

The 3000 acres at the head of the new grant, so called, were located in Wilmington. This remote territory bore the name of "Nod," or the "Land of Nod," and though belonging to Charlestown, was under the jur- isdiction of Woburn. Frothingham, Hist. of C., under the subject of Woburn, gives a history of this tract, which was appropriately named, as it was neither remarkably fertile nor valuable.

Coytemore's grant of 500 acres was laid out against the Billerica line, and was eventually added by pur- chase to the Wymans' farm in the same locality, which, containing the same amount of land, was a source of agitation to the Wymans and their neigh- bors in Billerica; the Wymans being forced, from the nearness of their situation to that town, to pay dues for the maintenance of Billerica as well as for their own town of Woburn. Cf. Sewall's Woburn, 35, 36.

Cambridge line, which was "not to be crossed," embraced in 1640 the lines in the direction of Wo- burn of the present towns of Billerica, Bedford and Lexingtou.

Lynn Village of 1640 was soon called Reading, and, so far as the present bounds of Woburn are concerned, is the present Reading. The town of Wilmington, incorporated 1730, was formed of parts of Woburn and Reading. The former boundary line extended through it in a northwesterly direction, and abont two-thirds of its territory was originally included in Woburn.

The position of Charlestown head-line. This was the limit of Charlestown's boundary, and her 3000 acres were located outside it. The position was determined by the fact that Charlestown's lines or bounds should extend eight miles into the country from the Charlestown meeting-honse (1635), or eight miles into the country northwest-northerly, from their old meeting-house. This line was sometimes men- tioned as the eigbt-mile line, and its termination showed the position of the head-line. This head-line, as thus determined, was at the limit of the two-mile grant ; and to this the four-mile square grant was added; and 3000 acres additional were laid out at the head of that, adding another two miles to the six already granted. The head-line was an extension of the head-line of present Stoneham across the original territory of Woburn. The head or eight-mile line, however, came a little above or beyond the present centre village of Woburn, in passing across the town from east to west. It would include, therefore, all the lots shown on the map of the Waterfield lots ; and the two-mile grant would with propriety be called Waterfield, and be the Waterfield of the fathers.

In the description of the bounds between Woburn and Lynn Village, now Reading (1644), they were to

begin at the little brook in Parley Meadow, where it begins to turn upward toward the northeast, and so (or thus) it says, to abut upon " Charlestown head- line;" and thence the line ran north and by west into the country (Col. Rec. ii. 75). The 3000 acres of land "out of the bounds of Woburn," i. e., at the northern extremity of the four-mile grant, were to begin (1650) "at the uttermost corner northerly next Reading line, and so to run southerly along two miles deep on the east side of Shawshin line, till the full extent of the 3000 acres be out."-Charlestown Records, i. 91; see also Sewall's Woburn, 28-30, where the agreement from those records, i. 90-91, is reproduced entire.

Tewksbury.

Billerica

wilmington

Reading

1 VNV2

Bedford

Burlington

Stoneham

Woburn

Chelsea

Medford

Malden

Cambridge.

Charlestown

Scale of Miles

A. The two-mile graut of Waterfield.

B. The four-mile square grant.

C. The 3000 acres, or " Nod."

u-b. Charlestown head-line.

c-d. Original bonnds. Two miles (2 M.) : The two-miles boundary line of the 3000 acres graut.

FIG. 1. Woburn and its relation to Charlestown, from Osgood Carle- ton's map of Massachusetts, published by order of the General Court in 1801 .- See Mem. Hist. Boston, iii. 8, 9. The section also shows the towns formerly a part of Charlestown. Medford, located in their midst, was never a part of Charlestown. The appearance was much the same in 1839. The change in the relation between Charlestown and Woburn boundaries occurred in 1842.

N. B .- The upper number in each town is the distance from Boston, the lower the distance from the shire town.

In 1642 a committee of the General Court was ap- pointed to take the length of Charlestown eight-mile line by exact measure and to set the bounds between the two villages, which were afterwards named Wo-

Lexington

345

WOBURN.

burn and Reading. See MISCELLANY. These facts all go to show its exact location, which is given on the accompanying map. (See Fig. 1).

In 1642, also, Governor Winthrop writes : "The village at the end of Charlestown bounds was called Woburn.")

The heavy liues on this map of 1801, the earliest general map we have found, represent the two-mile grant and the four-mile square grant and the 3000 acres grant of 1640 ; also the position of Charlestown head-line, so called, in that year.

THE STORY AS TOLD IN THE FIRST VOLUME OF THE WOBURN RECORDS .- These records have already been published, and our citizens, therefore, have an idea of their nature and value. The volume con- tains an account of the early settlement of the town, and the facts there given illustrate our previous state- ments.

May 14, 1640. The "true record " of the proceed- ings of the committee "chosen by the church of Charlestown," for the erection of a church and town, now called the town of Woburn, commenced, their duty in establishing the church and town having been performed " by great labor." There is internal evi- dence in this paragraph that the original was writ- ten after the period to which it relates, or probably in 1642.

In 1640, also, was granted by the General Court, the "two miles of land square, to be added at the head-line of Charlestown, which accordingly was granted, and afterwards was increased to four miles square." The evidence of this paragraph would lead to the belief that the two-mile grant was included in, and a part of the four-mile square grant, based on the Charlestown head-line, which extended from the northerly bounds of present Stoneham head-line across Woburn to present Lexington line. See map (Fig. 1). We believe that the position taken in the map is right, for the following reasons :

The exact language of the record is this : Charles- town is granted their petition, that is, two miles

1 History New England (ed. 1853), ii. 109 (volume paging). James Savage, the editor, in a note illustrating the text, gives a considerable account of Thomas Carter, the first minister, and the church. The same, ii. 310, contains a reference to Mr. Carter's abilities in a letter of 1642. On April 30, 1660, a committee wasappointed to settle the " North and by West line " between " Reading lands and the lands of this town of Woburn." They agreed "to run five miles from the corner bounds at Parley Meadow, according to the order of Mr. George Cooke and Mr. John Oliver, to run the north and by west point ;" accordingly the com- . mittee of both towns "run the five miles, want fifty poles;" which fifty poles were afterward "run out " by Captain Edward Johnson and others, " and so completed the five miles."-Woburn Records, i. 25.

For some time uncertainty appears to have existed as to the precise position of the bounds, and in 1665 John Sherman, a surveyor employ- ed by the town, certified that he had messured the bounds of their grant of four miles square, and stated that he could not affirm that they had any more land in quantity than the circuit of " four miles square ;"' not wccounting in it " tbe 3000 acres on the north side of Reading ;" and a committee from the town had accordingly settled the bounds of Woburn on the sides of Andover, Reading and Billerica .- Woburn Records, i. 31. The bounds with Charlestown bad been settled on another occasion, after considerable delay (1650).

at their head-line, provided it fall not within the bounds of Lynn Village, and that they build within two years" (Col. Rec. i. 290). " Charlestown petition is granted them the proportion of four-miles square, with their former last grant, to make a village, whereof 500 acres is granted to Mr. Thomas Coytemore, to be set out by the Court, if the town and he cannot agree, in which they shall not cross Cambridge line, nor come within a mile of Shawshin River, and the great swamp and pond to lie in common " (Col. Rec. i. 306). The italics are ours. It will be noticed that the two- mile grant was at the Charlestown head-line; and that nothing is said about its being beyond or this side that line; also that the second grant was the proportion of four-miles square, "with their former last grant," making a grant of six miles (4+2) of land; and also that nothing is said in the record about the first grant being a " two-miles square " grant.

May 15, 1640, seven citizens of Charlestown, with an artist or surveyor, examined the land lying within the "two-miles square," whatever that meant, evidently the two-miles wide grant, where the village was after- wards located. We do not wish to appear wiser than the fathers, but there was evidently some confusion on this point of dimensions and bounds even in their day.

Sept. 6, 1640, Captain Sedgwick and others went to view the bounds between Lynn Village (Reading) and this town. Like Jacobites [Gen. 28: 11] when night drew on, laying themselves down to rest, they " were pre- served by the good hand of God, with cheerful spirits, though the heavens poured down rain all night in- cessantly." On this occasion they were subjects of a "remarkable providence-never to be forgotten." Some of the company lying under the body of a great tree ; it lying some distance from the earth ; when the daylight appeared, no sooner was the last man come from under it-when it fell down, to their amazement; the company being forced to dig ont their food, which was caught under it; the tree being " so ponderons," that all the strength they had could not remove it.

Sept. 30, 1640, the parties aforesaid met at Lynn. and remained there all night; and, on the next day, when accompanied by Lynu men to the " confines of their bounds," they endeavored to point out to those persons the divisional line between their "new town " (Reading) and " this." On Nov. 9 the discov- erers were lost " in snow : " having gone to discover the land about the Shawshin River, the party, being lost, were forced to lie under the rocks, while the rain and snow did "bedew their rocky beds." Dec. 18, 1640, after certain details of municipal action, the first regular meeting of the company to accomplish the settlement was held, when Edward Johnson was chosen their recorder, and town orders were adopted ; a day of fast was held on Dec. 22, at the house of one of their number, the wives of the members of the company also being present. Other meetings follow-

346

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

ed, and the details of the settlement were soon under way.1

1 A word in relation to these "town orders," so calleil. J. A. Doyle, M.A., in his English Colonies in America (New York, 1887), vol. iii. (ii. of the Puritan Colonies) p. 10, gives an account of the settlement of Woburn, under the general title "Creation of a Town," in which he has selected Woburn as an example. "The author of the Wonder- Working Providence," he says, " has left a minute account of the manner in which his own town, Woburo, came into being. A tract of four miles square was set off by the General Court, and vested in seven men on the understanding that they would build houses and create a town. To this end they were empowered to grant land to individuals. Sixty families were soon gathered together. The seven grantees were allowed to exercise a certain amount of choice, excluding all who were 'exorbi- tant and of a turbulent spirit, unfit for civil society.' Each inhabitant received two plots of land-one, the home lot of meadow in the neigh- borhood of the meeting-house ; the other, of ' upland,' further off, to be cleared and tilled. Nearness to the meeting-honse was held to enhance the value of a home lot, and those who were less favored in this matter received a larger share. The corporation, as represented by the seven trustees, acted as a landlord and received from the original settlers a rent of six pence per acre, and from those who came in afterwards a shilling. The town itself was not allowed to spring up according to the fancy of the inhabitants, but was methodically laid ont in streets by the trus- tees."

This is the substance of the important articles of the "town orders," and Johnson's description of 1652 very properly and correctly stated by this Oxford writer. He continues:

" In this case civil union came before ecclesiastical. But before the trustees took any steps towards acting on their powers as a corporation, a minister was chosen, a meeting-honse built at public cost, and a church formed under a covenant binding its members ' to walk together in the ordinance of the Gospel and in mutual love,' and 'to renounce all errors and schisms and by-ways contrary to the blessed rules revealed in the Gospel.' The seven trustees formed the nucleus of the church as of the township. But the two corporations were distinct. The church never professed to be co-extensive with the town, but only received from time to time such citizens as of free choice attached themselves to it."

The " town orders," without the preamble, were asfollows:

[May 13, 1640. First order. For sixpence an acre. ] " For the carry- ing on common charges, all such persons as shall be thought meet to have land and admittance for inhabitants, shall pay for every acre of land formerly laid out by Charlestown, but now io the limits of Woburn, sixpence ; and for all hereafter laid out, twelvepence."

[Second order. To return their lots if not improved in 15 months.] " Every person taking lot or land in the said town shall, within fifteen months after the laying ont of the same, build for dwelling thereon, and improve the said land, by planting, either in part or in whole, or sur- render the same up to the town again ; also they shall not make sale of it to any person but such as the town shall approve of."

[Third order. Abont fencing. ] "That all manner of persons shall fence their cattle of all sorts either by fence or keeper ; only it is re- quired all garden plots and orchards shall be well enclosed, either by pale or otherwise."

[Fourth order. About inmates.] "That no manner of person shall entertain inmate, either married or other, for longer time thao three days, without the consent of four of the selectmen ; every person offend- ing in this particular shall pay to the use of the town for every day they offend herein, sixpence."

[Fifth order. About timber. ] "That no person shall fell or cut any young oak like to be good timber under eight ioches square upon for- feiture of five shillings for every such offence."

[These persons subscribed to theso orders.] "Edward Johnson, Ed- ward Converse, John Mousall, Ezekiel Richardson, Samuel Richardson, Thomas Richardson, William Learned, James Thompson, John Wright, Michael Bacon, John Seers, John Wyman, Francis Wyman, Benjamin Butterfield, Henry Jefts, James Parker, Mr. Thomas Graves, Nicholas Davis, Nicholas Trarice, John Carter, James Converse, Daniel Bacon, Edward Winn, Henry Baldwin, Francis Kendall, John Tidd, Henry Tottingham, Richard Lowden, William Greeo, John Russell, James Britton, Thomas Fuller."

NOTE .- Of tho 32 subscribers to the town orders of Woburn, 1640, twen- ty-seven had died before 1700. Two died in 1700-Richard Lowden, nt Charlestown, in his 88tb year, and Henry Jefts, at Billerica, aged about 94-and thressurvived that year. One of the latter, James Parker,

Between 1640 and 1642 the following public works were accomplished by the community : Feb. 10, 1641 [1640-41], the first bridge was laid over Aberjona River, at a spot " over against " Edward Converse's house : This bridge was called Cold Bridge, and its location was at the present Winchester Centre. Feb.

died at Groton, iu 1701, aged 83; another Francis Kendall, died at Wo- burn, 1708, aged 88; and the last survivor, James Converse, died at Woburn, 1715, " in the 95th year of his age," according to the record upon his gravestone still standing in our first burying-ground.

A striking connection of the period of 1640 with the present is made through the person of a lioeal descendant of the last named-the cen- tenarian, Joshua Converse, of Woburn. The latter individual was born in Woburn in 1767, and died in his native town in the year 1868, aged 101 years and 16 days. A brother of his, Jesse, died in 1864, when he lacked but a few months of being 100 years old. By means of the life- time of an individual who knew both Joshna Converse and his ancestor, James Converse, the last survivor of the subscribers of 1640, a connec- tion may be formed through three or four persons between that period and the present. When the modern centenarian, Joshua Converse, had attained the age of twenty-four years, Mrs. Rebecca Russell, a grand- danghter of Francis Kendall, died in Woburn (1791) aged 961/2 years- the records say 99 years, and another anthority "about 98 years." She was 20 years old in 1715, the year when James Converse died, and 13 years old in 1708, the year when her grandfather, Francis Kendall, the next longest survivor of the subscribers to the original orders, died. She, therefore, was oid eoough to have known both these men well, and to have heard intelligently the story of the original settlement of Woburn from their lips. She also could have received an account from theny had she asked, of the personal appearance of Captain Edward Johnson, and the other leading worthies who took part in the brat settlement, and this she conld have communicated in her old age, had he wished, to Joshua Converse, and he, had opportunity occurred, could have commu- nicated the facts of such interesting nature, to some of us. But the connection, such as we have mentioned, was never known to have taken place, and the opportunity is now forever lost !

Another person, a grandson of John Carter, one of the subscribers to tho town orders of 1640, died in Woburn in 1787, aged 92, or 96 accord- ing to the records-the year when Joshua Converse was twenty years uld. This was Sammel Carter, generally known as Captain Samuel Carter, and who, residing on the Winchester Hills in the westerly part of the town, was a comparatively near neighbor of James Converse, the last survivor of the subscribers of 1640. As he belonged to a family of considerable prominence in this vicinity, he must have been well knowa to Joshua Converse, and from the nearness of the neighborhood an iotimate acquaintance of the veteran, James Converse, who died in 1715, when the ahove said Samuel Carter was 20 years old.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I, Part 101

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1034

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton), ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1034