USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. I > Part 102
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 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128 | Part 129 | Part 130 | Part 131 | Part 132 | Part 133 | Part 134 | Part 135 | Part 136 | Part 137 | Part 138 | Part 139 | Part 140 | Part 141 | Part 142 | Part 143 | Part 144 | Part 145 | Part 146 | Part 147 | Part 148 | Part 149 | Part 150 | Part 151 | Part 152 | Part 153 | Part 154 | Part 155 | Part 156 | Part 157 | Part 158 | Part 159 | Part 160 | Part 161 | Part 162 | Part 163 | Part 164 | Part 165 | Part 166 | Part 167 | Part 168 | Part 169 | Part 170 | Part 171 | Part 172 | Part 173 | Part 174 | Part 175 | Part 176 | Part 177 | Part 178 | Part 179 | Part 180 | Part 181 | Part 182 | Part 183 | Part 184 | Part 185 | Part 186 | Part 187 | Part 188 | Part 189 | Part 190 | Part 191 | Part 192 | Part 193 | Part 194 | Part 195 | Part 196 | Part 197 | Part 198 | Part 199 | Part 200 | Part 201 | Part 202
The same remarks made in the other case apply to this. But the op- portunity is lost.
After 1774, when Joshua Converse was seven years old, no less than 70 persons died in Woburn who were alive in 1715, the year when James Converse died. Of this number more than a dozen had reached their majority io that year. Many of the latter died at a great age. Four of them, containing the names of two of the oldest, do not bear the long- standing Woburn names, and died here during the war of the Revolu- tion, being probably bronght here from other places during that period. What traditionary information these persons might have imparted is probably now all lust or scattered, and this loss magnifies the import- ance of the publication of the records.
A final curious instance of longevity in the person of one who was alive apparently io 1715, but too young then to have known the elder Converse intelligently, may be cited in the case of Prince Walker, a black man, who died at the almshouse in Woburn, in 1825, at the age of 115 years. His birth is not discovered on the records, but the fact that he was thrown on the town of Woburn for support in his lutter days, shows that he originated in Woburo and was probably a native of the town. Ha had been a slave of the Rev. Timothy Walker at Con- cord, N. H., and having obtained his freedom about 1784 went to An- dover, Mass., to live, and eventually returned to Woburn again. That he was interviewed by the local antiquaries is evident from the fact that one of them, the late Colonel Leonard Thompson, was tokl by him, that he (Prince) remembered the Rev. Edward Jackson (of Woburn, 1729-1754) hearing him repeat the catechism. [See Woburn Journal, June 13, 1884, and Hist. of Woburn, p. 518.]
347
WOBURN.
16, following, there was more laying of bridges, forty persons coming to the place where the new village had been located on the Feb. 8, previous. These persous spent their time in marking trees and laying bridges, but with many of them-" the way being so plain backward-divers never went forward again." On Feb. S a place for the village had been selected "on the east end of the land " grauted to the town. This had been accomplished after a two days' search. The de- cision was the selection of a majority, but not a unanimous choice; on the 10th the laying out was finished. Two of the principal men, Sedgwick and Johnson, were evidently opposed to the site. On Feb. 29 a committee, by Charlestown appointed, con- sisting of Nowell, Sedgwick and others, advised "to remove the house-lots and place for the meeting- house " to the place where the village has been ever since. March 6, 1641 [1640-41], lots were first laid out in the place thus appointed, or at the present centre village; and on May 13, 1641, more lots were laid out.
In August, 1641, while things were "going heavily on," and many obstacles were in the way, on the 26th inst., a bridge, called Long Bridge, was made over Horn Pond River ; and in spite of the boggy condi- tion, and the absorption of much wood before it could be made passable, it was finished and named, as above said. The location of this bridge has been a matter of controversy [Winchester Record, ii. 426, iii. 16]; but it may reasonably be supposed to have been at Winchester, near Cutters' Village, where a bridge existed previously to 1660, crossed by a highway in use in 1646, if not before 1641.
FIRST SERMONS .- On November 21, 1641, the Rev. Zachariah Symmes, of Charlestown, preached his first sermon-if not the first sermon-at this town, from Jer. 4: 3. Mr. Carter, first minister, preached his first sermon in Woburn, December 4, 1641, from Gen. 22 : encouraging to trust in the Lord for the means.
OTHER EVENTS .- On March, 1, 1642 [1641-42], the minister's house begun by the people-" means very weak." The church was gathered August 14, 1642, and on November 22, following, the first minis- ter was ordained. [The precise time when the first meeting-house was built, has not been transmitted ; the probability is that it was finished about the time of Rev. Thomas Carter's ordination in 1642 .- Sew- all's Woburn, 77.]
After this period the entries are of the nature of a regular town record.
INCORPORATION .- The town was incorporated September 27, 1642. 1
1 Note on the incorporation of the town. On September 27, 1642, Charlestown Village was called Woburn .- Col. Rec. ii. 28. The date was September 27, O.S., or October 7, 1612, N.S., or according to the present style of reckoning. Sewall, by mistake, p. 23, gives this last date, October 6th. Cbickering, Disc., 1809, p. 15, gives the original date wrong (May 18, 1642), the manuscript records not being so clear on the subject, as the more recent printed ones. Sewall, Amer. Quar. Reg. 1839, xi. 187, perpetuates the error, and it was continued till 1888, in the
Two remarkable events, exciting public interest, occurred at this period.
maquals of the General Conrt. The error in the date assigned for the incorporation of the town was noticed by Frothingham, Hist. C, 1846, p. 107. He gets nenrer to the truth, but gives the wrong date, or September 8, 1642. Poole, W. W. Prov. introd. xci. 1868, corrects the date, referring, as does Sewall, Hist. Wob., 1868, p. 23, to the Colony Records, Bost., 1853, ii. 28. There is no reference to the date of in- corporation in the early Woburn records.
Description of Woburn in 1652, by Captain Edward Johnson. From his Wonder-working Providence (Lond., 1654). Ten years had now elapsed since the incorporation. " The situation of this town is in the higbest part of the yet peopled land ; near upon the head springs of many considerable rivers or their branches, as the first rise of Ipswich River and the rise of the Shawshia River, one of the most considerable branches of the Merrimac, as also the first rise of Mistick River and Ponds. It is very full of pleasant springs and great variety of very good water, which the summer's heat causeth to be more cooler, and the winter's cold maketh more warmer. Their meadows are not large, but lie in divers places to particular dwellings, the like doth their springs. Their land is very fruitful in many places, although they have no great quantity of plain land in any one place, yet doth their rocks and swamps yield very good food for cattle ; as also they have mast and tar for shipping, but the distance of place by land causeth them, as yet, to be unprofitable. They have great store of iron ore. Their meeting-house stands in a small plain where four streets meet. The people are very laborious, if not exceeding, some of them."-W". Il'. Prov., quoted iu Sewall's Woburn, 32-35.
Again, "this town, as all others, had its hounds fixed by the General Court to the contents of four miles square, beginning at the end of Charlestown bounds."-Ibid. The balance is abridged. The grant was to seven men, having power to graat lands to dwellers in the precinct withont respect to persons. Such as were unfit, they rejected. The seven ordered and disposed of the streets. Those nearest the place for Sabbath assembly had a lesser quantity of land at home, and more fur- ther off for corn. Men were oot refused for their poverty, but were aided, when poor, in building their houses and in the distribution of land, according to the ability of their helpers. The poorest had six or seven acres of meadow and twenty-five of upland or about. "Thus was this town peopled to the number of sixty families." Not till they came to hopes of a competent number to maintain a minister, did they establish themselves as a separate community ; "it being as unnatural for a right New England man to live without an able ministry, as for a smith to work bis iron withent a fire."
" Not rashly running together, to gather themselves into a church, before they had hopes of attaining an officer to preach the word."
The people having provided a dwelling, built at the charge of the town, welcomed their minister with jey. By 1652 the church had in- creased from seven (1642) to seventy-four.
Description of Woburn in the year 1660. From Samuel Maverick's Description of New England (1660). "Weburn," says this writer, " is four or five miles above Malden, west," and is a "more consider- alle town," where " they live by furnishing the sea towns with provi- sions," such as " cere and flesh," and also "furnish the merchants with such goods to be exported." Iteni extracted from an official report to the British government, on the condition and resources of all the New England towns in 1660. The distance of the village from Malden is not correctly stated, while the direction is given more accurately. The particulars as to its size, and the principal occupation of its inhab- itants may be better relied upon. The impression given is that of a prospering and enterprising agricultural town ; furnishing the "sea towns," or the home market, with fresh provisions, and raising also a sufficient quantity for exportation. A spirit of thrift cvidently pre- vailed, and since the statements are derived from a source unfriendly to the principles of the puritan settlers, they are probably devoid of exag- geration. A phrase of Captain Edward Johnson's, nt this period, was an allusion to early New England as a wilderness, and he brings in various changes of this sentiment, such as " may it please this honorable court to vouchsafe some help to our town of Woburn in dividing a lump of this wilderness earth ; " " Helping on in this wilderness work ; " "this vast wilderness ; " the " wilderness condition," etc. ; but the descriptions of the state of the town in 1652 and 1660 show that a reasonable growth, had occurred, and that the " wilderness condition " was in n fair way of being appropriated to the advantage of the settlers and that its origi- oal rigors had sensibly diminished.
348
HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
1. THE PETITION OF THE CHURCH AND TOWN OF WOBURN, 1653, ENTITLED THE MEMORIAL FOR CHRISTIAN LIBERTY .- The petition to the General Court, dated Woburn, August 30, 1653, and signed by twenty-nine persons, and called by antiquaries the " Woburn memorial for Christian liberty," ap- peared in print in 1825-see Massachusetts Historical Society Collections, 3d ser. i. 38, reprinted in 1846. No allusion to this is made by the town historian, and the document is remarkable now, mainly for the dis- play of courage it evinced on the part of a number of the early citizens in taking a stand, contrary to current opinion, on a question of little, if any, pres- ent consequence. The question had reference to the privilege of a lay brother to conduct public religious services in the absence of a regular minister, a privi- lege pertaining to the sparsely-settled districts of the country, where the services of a regular minister were with difficulty secured ; the petitioners sensibly pleading that if such "as exercise at such begin- nings," be brethren approved by the church of which they were members, and which best knew " their abilities," that there was no practical difficulty in the case. The petition is lengthy, and the subject one of greater interest to the fathers than to the present generation. It shows, however, that a courageous dis- position prevailed in the young town towards inde- pendency in religious, as well as in secular concerns. The petition was the production probably of John Russell, afterwards a lay preacher or elder among the Baptists.
The petition begins : " We, the humble petitioners of the church and town of Woburn, with such whose names are underwrit [ten], do show," etc. The sign- ers' names, alphabetically arranged, are as follows : Daniel Bacon, James Britton, Thomas Chamberlain, Allen Converse, James Converse, Josiah Converse, George Farley or Farlow, Thomas Fuller, Ralph Hill, Francis Kendall, John Knight, Joseph Knight, Isaac Learned, John Mousall, Miles Nutt, Abraham Parker, James Parker, John Parker, Bartholomew Pearson, Jolin Pierce, Robert Pierce, John Russell, John Seers, Richard Snow, James Thompson, Simon Thompson, John Tidd, Henry Tottingham, John Wyman. Some of these names were of persons who settled at Chelmsford, about 1653, and the petition might have had reference to the plan they desired to adopt there, regarding religious ordinances.
These persons have been called the "bold peti- tioners for liberty of prophecy." Scientifically stated the position was this: August 30, 1653, " Woburn inhabitants and church members petition the General Court in relation to an order, 'that no person within this jurisdiction shall undertake any course of public preaching or prophesying without the approbation of the elders of four of the next churches, or of the county court. '"-( Cf. Savage, Gen. Dict., and chron. table, Mass. ITist. Soc. Coll., 3d ser., x. 253). The peti- tion was unsuccessful.
NOTE .- Mr. Sewall, Hist. Woburn, chap. v., gives an account of the carly Baptists in Woburn. The date he assigns for their appearance is 1671. The principles enunciated in the petition above would show that their views had weight in 1653. The denial of the petition probably fostered the troubles which later arose regarding the citizens who be- came Baptists, and may account for some of the . orules" in the Wo- burn Church, alluded to at that period by cotemporaries. The early records of the church are lost to posterity. A remembrance also of the difficulty experienced in procuring their first minister, might have influ- enced some who signed the petition. There were two John Russells, a senior and junior. They are confounded by some writers. Both were Baptist elders, and the junior a pastor of the Boston Baptist Church. -Sewall's Woburn, 158-61 ; Muss Alist. Coll., 3d ser., i. 44, note. Pal- frey's Hist. N. E., iii. 91, refers to the controversy with the Baptists, about 1670, and mentions John Russell, of Woburn, where there were five Baptist brethren near, that could meet with him, "a first days," when they could not attend the regular meetings at Noddle's Island, or Boston ; more converts at Woburn then were expected to join them. "The new Woburn church, it seems, had its share of threats and vexa- tions, but still not of the most aggravated kind." This so-called " per- secuting spirit " was, as this writer justly observes (ibid. 92), a " pet prejudice " of the age, and the sect were not long in living down their ill-repute. Another matter in connection with this controversy was this : John Russell, the preacher, being a shoemaker, Samuel Willard, a distinguished minister of the day, wrote a tract, entitled, "Ne Sutor ultra Crepidam "-Let not the shoemaker go beyond his last. Referring to the estimation he placed upon the performances of such a man as a preacher and expounder of doctrines .- Palfrey, iii. 92; Sibley, Harv. Grad. ii. 17 ; Frothingham, Hist. of C., 172.
Among the events of the year 1653, Captain Edward Johnson's Won- der-working Providence was in the course of publication at London. Nathaniel Ward, a distinguished minister, from whose writings a pre- amble to the Woburn town orders was adapted, died.
2. EDWARD CONVERSE AND HIS TROUBLE CON- CERNING THE KING'S LETTER, 1662. In other words, "Edward Converse acquitted of disrespect to the King." A tempest in a tea-pot of other days (Cf. Mass. Col. Rec., iv. (ii.) 72-74; also Palfrey, Hist. N. E., ii. 531; Frothingham, Hist. of C., 155.)
A constable and a selectman of Woburn were pre- sented for having refused to "publish the king's majesty's letter," and "spoken of said letter to be popery, etc. ; " but the court did not find sufficient evidence for their conviction.
May 27, 1663, act of the Council, the secretary made his return of what he had done, in obedience to order, Boston, March 5, 1662. Several informations being given that Isaac Cole, constable of Woburn, " had refused to take and publish the king's majesty's letter, and also to serve attachments in his majesty's name, and that some one of the selectmen is informed to have spoken of said letter to be popery, etc., the council judgeth it meet to order that the secretary send forth his warrants by order of this council to convene the accuser and witnesses before him, and, on due evidence, to send for the accused, binding the accuser to prosecute, and the accused to answer for his high misdemeanors to the next General Court, taking security for the same."
Dutton complaint against Isaac Cole. Warrants issued March 12, 1662, and on March 19th, Thomas Dutton, as accuser, was bound, and Isaac Cole, con- stable, and Edward Converse, one of the selectmen, as accused, were respectively bound to prosecute and make answers, as the order above directs. The warrants and bonds were on file at the time the
· 349
WOBURN.
parties appeared before the General Court, who " having heard what Thomas Dutton could say in way of accusation against the said Isaac Cole, constable of Woburn, for his refusing to take and read his ma- jesty's letter and ser;e, attachments, and considering of the evidences produced, which are on file, ordered as underwrit, etc."
Idem against Edward Converse. The court having considered what the said Dutton could say against Edward Converse, etc., it was put to the question, " whether there be anything contained in the testi- monies of Thomas Dutton and William Simonds against Edward Converse which doth reflect on his majesty's letter." It was resolved in the negative.
. The court granted the said Thomas Dutton his bill of costs (sixteen shillings) to be paid by the treasurer of the country, and also ordered that Isaac Cole be dismissed home at present till the court ordered his appearance again.
NOTE .- Frothingham stys, "Some feeling was manifested at Woburn on reading this letter. Isaac Cole refused to read it, and Edward Con- verse openly declared," etc. The letter was read in the town-meetings
Thomas Dutton was a party in a difference between Captain Edward Johnson, Ensign John Carter and himself, 1658-59, about land. The case was decided against him, and he was subjected to the payment of money ; and for "clamorous abuse" of Ensign John Carter, was required to make public acknowledgment in a full meeting on the Lord's day, that he had " wrongfully abused said Carter." In default, he was to pay £10 fine .- Col. Rec. iv. (i.) 353, 373, 407-8.
There is also in the records above cited the following reference to Captain Edward Johnson in connection with His Majesty's letter :
Committee about His Majesty's letter. The court on long and serious debate of what is necessary to be done in reference to His Majesty's let- ter, and there having been much time already expended thereabouts, the court intending to break np speedily, in answer to His Majesty's pleasure, for the satisfaction of all persons concerned, ordered that cer- tain gentlemen, including Captain Edward Jobnson, be a committee to consider said letter, and prepare an answer to be presented at the next session of the court.
CONTRIBUTION FROM IRELAND IN 1676 .- In 1676 the Massachusetts Colony received from Ireland a contribution in aid of the sufferers by the Indian war. This was named the "Irish Charity," and was dis- tribnted through the towns in proportion to their losses. In a list taken January 22, 1676-77, Woburn is named as a recipient from this benefaction of £6 98., to be distributed among eight families numbering forty-three persons. Cf. Frothingham's Charlestown, 180.
GREAT COMET OF 1680 .- "The middle of Decem- ber, 1680, appeared a very great blazing star, to the wonder of the world."- Woburn Records, i. 105. This was the great comet of 1680, commonly called New- ton's comet, the most remarkable for brilliancy, probably, of any of which there is accurate account. It is described by Increase Mather, of Boston, Dis- course concerning comets, wherein the nature of blating stars is enquired into (Bost., 1683). Its first appear- ance was on the evening of December 10th, when the blaze only, and not the star, was visible. On Decem- ber 12th the blaze was red and fiery. Its head was discerned December 14th. Oa December 16th its ap- pearance was "terrible," and the blaze ascended
above sixty degrees, "almost to its zenith." It grew continually broader from its head, was brightest at both ends, and the middle was considerably darker than "either of the' sides." It became smaller soon afterwards, and about the middle of February van- ished "out of sight." Cf. Mem. Hist. Boston, iv. 491, for mention of I. Mather's researches on comets.
MISCELLANY .- An examination of the Colony rec- ords reveals some facts of special interest concerning Woburn. For instance, in 1636 the churches gath- ered were placed during the initial ceremony under the control of the magistrates, which accounts for the presence of Increase Nowell, magistrate, as the pre- siding officer when that ceremony was first performed at Woburn, 1642. Early in the founding of the Col- ony cavalry corps were encouraged by a rebate on taxes, etc .; the town was well represented in that arm then and afterwards. On June 14, 1642, legisla- tion of a minor character occurred on account of Wo- burn. A committee on the "difference" between Charlestown Village and Lynn Village was appointed to view the place, and to take the length of Charles- town eight-mile line by exact measure, also to set the bonnds between those two villages. Onr village is mentioned in connection with the grant of Shawshin (or Billerica) to Cambridge. On September 27, 1642, the town was incorporated (ii. 28). On May 10, 1643, Edward Cooverse, Ezekiel Richardson and others were appointed to lay out the highway from Cam- bridge to Woburn. A " partition agreement " was made between Woburn and Lynn Village (called Reading) on May 29, 1644, the line to begin at the "little brook in Parley Meadow," and extend north- westerly into the country (ii. 75). In 1659 the town was regarded by the General Court as somewhat "re- mote " (iv., pt. i. 382). In the same year the answer of the court was given to the petition of three Car- ters-Thomas, Joseph and Samuel-in relation to the orphans of William Green (iv., pt. i. 404), action hav- ing been taken at earlier date (1653) on the petition of Mary Carter and that of the brothers, Thomas, Samuel and Joseph, her sons, relative to her grand- children's inheritance (iii. 329). In 1664, at the be- ginning of the troubles with the home government about their charter, which the colonists resisted as infringements on their liberties, a manifesto to the General Court, from Woburn and other towns, sub- scribed by "very many hands," was received and noted. This was a testimonial of the people, signify- ing their " content and satisfaction " in the "present government," and offering the services of the towns in assisting and encouraging it. In 1664, in answer to petition, 2000 acres of land were granted to Wo- burn.1 From 1666 to 1668 the difficulties respecting
1 In the State Archives, vol. 5, p. G, is a plan of these 2000 acres granted to Woburn, entitled, " This plan contains 2000 acres laid out for the town of Woburn, lying about N. by W. from Lancaster, joining to the North corner of Nashaway new grant, Uncaepervolouk Pond ex- «Juded. Being about eight or nine miles from Lancaster town. Taken by Joseph Burnap, survoyor, May 23, 1717."
350
HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
the Woburn and Billerica bounds were adjusted, and those respecting the two Wymans' farms near the Billerica line; also the long standing grant of 500 acres to Thomas Coytemore or his heirs, in Woburn, was adjudicated and located at the farm of the two Wymans-Francis and John-near the Billerica line, in Woburn bounds, and next adjoining their land, " where their houses stand." Much concerning the two Wymans and their farm and troubles on its account is found, Col. Rec., iv. pt. ii. Cf. Hazen's Billerica, Sewall's Woburn, 36. In 1667 an order was passed by the General Court about Woburn's common lands. An investigation having revealed some disorder touching the manner of keeping their records, the entries in their town-hook concerning the common lands not being clearly expressed, the court confirmed the grants already made and settled the matter. In 1672 the Mistick Bridge question ap- peared. Previously, in 1662, in a case between the artillery company of Suffolk, plaintiff, and Michael Bacon and William Simonds, both of Woburn, de- fendants, in an action of trespass on land of the said artillery, the court found for the defendants, costs of court. See Genealogical Sketch of William Simonds, by E. F. Johnson, p. 14. In 1684 Israel Reed, desiring the favor of the General Court to grant him a license to keep an ordinary or inn in Woburn, in answer to his petition the license was refused, the number appointed already being considered sufficient (v. 460).
A list of all the heads of families in Woburn in 1680 is preserved in the records (ii. 153-54). The names are grouped under their respective tithingmen (cf. i. 108). The list was printed in connection with the publication of the first volume of records in the Woburn Journal. Cf. Sewall's " Woburn," 49, note; Winchester Record, i. 276-77. The leading names are Richardson (with six families); Carter, Converse, Pierce, Snow and Walker (four families each); and Brooks, Johnson, Reed, Simonds, and Winn (three families each). Further are Cleveland, Green, Ham- let, Houghton, Kendall, Knight, Polly, Wilson, Wright, and Wyman (two families each) ; and Bacon, Baker, Baldwin, Blodget, Brush, Buck, Burbeen, Butters, Clarke, Cragin, Dean, Farrar, Flagg, Fowle, Fox, Glazier, Hall, Henshaw, Jaquith, Lepingwell, Locke, Mousall, Rice, Roberts, Sawyer, Seers, Stevens, Summers, Thompson, Tidd, and Waters (one family each) ; the number of families in all being ninety- two. This number shows an increase in 1680, over the number of sixty families reported in 1652. A rough enumeration by families comprises all the statistics of population we have of that early period.
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.