History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 110

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II > Part 110

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There were forest paths connecting these two settle- ments, by means of which the adjacent colonists vis- ited their neighbors, but no highway was built for many years subsequent. The chain-bearer, the blaz- ed lines and the allotment of 1658 paved the way for the early settlement of what was afterwards known as Charlestown End.

There was an individual proprietorship in the land which stimulated its occupancy and improvement. The first settlers seem to have been attracted to the northeast part of the town, probably on account of its nearness to Reading (now Wakefield). It was many miles to the meeting-house in Charlestown, and but a short distance to the meeting-house in Reading; and then our ancestors in this section of the town could derive all the advantages and protection to be ob- tained from the neighborhood of an established com- munity. In case of an Indian raid they could flee to the block-house of their neiglibors. There was no organized movement and general settlement, as in most of the New England towns. The axe of the solitary pioneer first rung out and broke the stillness of a hundred centuries. Little clearings were made here and there and the first farms started. The first toilers were hardy men, with an education insufficient in some cases even to write their own names. The foundations of Stoneham were laid, not by men of culture and wealth, but by the brawn and courage of laborious yeomen. It is impossible to state with ab- solute certainty the name of the earliest inhabitant or the exact year of his settlement, but in March, 1678, the inhabitants were Thomas Gery, Jolin Gould, Sr., John Gould, Jr., William Rogers, Thomas Cutler and Matthew Smith. These were the fathers of the town. But little is known of them. The monuments which survived them were the fields they cleared, the walls they built and the families they reared. The records have saved a little and tradition something more. Thomas Gery, probably of Irish ancestry, was born about 1638, is supposed for a time to have lived in Reading, where he owned land, and in 1668 or 1669 moved to Charlestown End. He made a clearing and built a house or cabin just beyond the northern slope of Farm Hill, on or near the present High Street, and had his home there during King Philip's War. In 1668 he was complained of for cutting an acre of grass in the meadow of Charlestown. He was at the same time a cunning and a courageous man. It is said that on a certain occasion, having risen early in the morning, his attention was attracted by the suspicious movements of an Indian lying concealed behind a log, and having reason to believe that he was lying in wait for him, and not caring himself to unnecessarily expose his person, he extended through the partly open door his coat and hat in such a man- ner as to draw the arrow of the unwary savage, and the next instant the ball had whizzed from his uner- ring musket with fatal effect. Fearing the vengeance of the tribe should they discover the dead body, he

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

buried it in his own cellar. On another occasion, as the story goes, he had been away from home one winter's day cutting wood, and on his return, just after dark, stopped at the house of his neighbor, Thomas Cutler. Mr. Cutler invited him to remain and spend the night, urging upon him the danger of his pro- ceeding, as a pack of wolves had been heard in the neighborhood. Mr. Gery, thinking of his family and their anxiety should he stay away, declined the in- vitation, and shouldering his axe, started on. He had proceeded but a short distance before he was grected by the howls of the wild beasts. On they came, we can imagine with gleaming eyes and lolling tongues, thirsting for human blood. A weak man, a cowardly man might well have been demoralized and lost; not so the hardy woodsman. Backing himself against a tree and swinging his axe to the right and left, he soon cleared a space and drove away the brutes. The next morning, on returning to the spot, he found the carcasses of four dead woves. By family tradition it has been handed down that this man died as a soldier in 1690, when returning home from Canada in the expedition of Sir William Phipps. From then till now his name has been borne by numerous deseend- ants, many of whom have been among the chief men of the town of which he was one of the first settlers. Of the colony of 1678 the oldest inhabitant was John Gould, Sr., and very probably he was the first pioneer who established himself at Charlestown End. At this time he was sixty-eight years of age, and came here some time prior to 1668. He was an extensive land-holder, and his farm was in the extreme north- eastern section of the town, most of it being embraced in what is now Wakefield, and, including the land of his son John, extended as far west as land of Thomas Cutler (now of Mrs. Doyle). He is supposed to have come from Towcester, in Northamptonshire, and to have embarked for America in the "Defence," from London, July 7, 1635. Originally he was described as a carpenter, and later in life as a planter. It would seem that he was one of the most substantial men of the town, for in the allotment of 1658 there were only nineteen who were rated as high or higher than he, while there were one hundred and eighty-two rated lower. For many years he lived in Charlestown be- fore he moved to the north end of the town. He joined the church in 1638, but later in life seems to have been subjected to church discipline, probably because he lived so remote from the house of public worship. Under date of April 28, 1667, we find the church records contain the following :

"The acknowledgment and confession of Brother John Gould, who had been formerly admonished in order to his acceptauce to Commnu- ion again, vizt. God hath holped me to see many things wherein I have formerly given offence to his people both of this church and of Redding, for which I have been admonished and I do not nor would justify myself therein but rather I doo justify the church in their proceedings with me looking it to have been the duty of the church to deal with me for what was offensive. God hath done me much good thereby and I desire that the Church would forgive me and acccept of me to their communion which formerly before my admonition I did enjoy. This was read to the

brethren liberty given to them who had anything of weight to object bni none did object against it but it was accepted of as satisfactory. Ile was (the brethren consenting) received to that stato of communion which he had before his admonition and by tho sentence of the church doclared to be restored."

On the 25th of September of the same year,

"John Gould appearing before the select men being demanded whether he would pay anything to the maintaining of ordinances for the time past answered plainly that he was not willing to pay anything for the time past."

The military service in the early days must have been very exacting, for it appears that he was ex- cused from training in 1682, when he was seventy- three years old. He conveyed his house and about ninety acres of land to his son Daniel in 1687, and this farm remained in the family of Daniel Gould till a few years since, when it was owned by the late Dr. Daniel Gould, of Malden, who was the son of Daniel Gould, Esquire, or "Square Gould," as he was ealled. The name Daniel seems to have been attached to the land for two hundred years, having descended from father to son. In 1690 John Gould conveyed to his grandson Thomas a tract of land bounded on the east by Smith's Pond. Dying in 1691, he left a num- erous offspring. This family for one hundred and fifty years was perhaps the most influential one of the town. The names of Deacon Daniel Gould, Lieuten- ant Daniel Gould, Captain Abraham Gould, Square Gould and Colonel J. Parjer Gould, from generation to generation, have represented men of the best type that Stoneham has ever produced. The name has almost disappeared from our midst, but in the female line the blood of old John Gould still cireulates amongst us in many households. Next westerly or southwesterly from his father, was the house and farm of John Gould, Junior, who probably lived on the west side of the old road to Wakefield. Adjoining the land of John Gould, Junior, and westerly there- from the elearing of Thomas Cutler would next have appeared. Thomas Cutler lived on what was after- wards known as the "old poor farm," which remained in the family till the death of the widow Elizabeth Cutler in 1825, after which it was sold to the town, no male representative remaining here who bore the name. Thomas Cutler must have had an eye for beautiful and extensive scenery, his home command- ing incomparably the finest view of any among the first inhabitants. He died in 1683, at the age of forty- eight. About one-third or one-haif mile southwesterly from the house of John Gould, Senior, lived William Rogers, who occupied the farm lately owned by Captain Buck. In 1669 he married Abigail, the daughter of Mr. Gould, and at that time was a resi- dent here. His house probably stood on or near the spot where Mr. Currier now resides. But little is known of him. He died prior to 1688, for on Febru- ary 7th of that year his widow married John Rogers, of Billerica. He was succeeded by his sou William. John Cutler conveyed to him in 1690 twelve and one- half acres, " reserving highway two poles wide for use

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of the town." The son remained here till 1728, when he sold his farm of thirty acres to Deacon Dauiel Gould, and from that time nothing is known of the family. They made no lasting impression npon the town and none of their descendants appear to have remained. The last one of the first inhabitants whose shades we invoke is Matthew Smith. In the early history of Charlestown, there were three gener- ations of Matthew Smith, aud it is not quite certain whether it was Matthew first or second who planted himself at Charlestown End. Iu 1678 Matthew re- sided here, and ten years later Matthew Smith, Senior and Junior, were residents. It would rather seem that the first one of the name remained in the old town, although it is by uo means certain, aud probably was the same one who embarked at Sandwich, County Kent, with wife Jane and four children in 1635. He was a shoemaker; inhabitant 1637 ; with son Mat- thew, herdsman, 1649 and 1655; town crier, 1657; aged about seventy-two in 1682. He was town mes- senger at thirty shillings a year iu 1637. In the divi- sion of 1658 he was allotted eleven acres, five and one- half in the second division, which probably included the land where D. H. Tilton now resides. One of the name, either the father or son, died in 1690, who had married, about 1684, Mary Cutler, probably the widow of Thomas Cutler. He must have been a man of some substance, for in his inventory are found two oxen, one horse, four cows, three yearlings, nine sheep and four swine, and he carried on a farm which he leased of Charlestown. This farm is described as bounded on the north and east by Thomas Gery, and on the south and west by the town, consisting of forty acres, " with as much meadow as he can get ont of Par- ley's swamp, and out of town land nigh Redding, not exceeding twenty acres for twenty-five years ; rent after twelve years, four pounds per annum ; he to plant and build a house eighteen by twenty-two, and barn, to be left the town." The house in which he lived stood on the uorth side of North Street, near where Mr. Pierce now resides, or possibly it was the house of the late Deacon Dunlap. This completes the list of the first settlers. It requires but little stretch of the imagination to go back two hundred years, recall to life our early forefathers, look in upon them as they lived in their first rude cabins made of logs, and be- hold the fields which they cleared amidst the forest, the corn and grain just starting up between the charred and blackened stumps. In those days the streams were dammed by beavers, the sheep were a prey to wolves, the bear roamed through the woods, and now and then the hunter brought down a deer. During these years our pious ancestors, not numerous enough to support a minister themselves, traveled on Sunday to the meeting-house in Reading. Their habits were simple and their wants were few. It was a hard con- test with a rigorous climate and a barren soil for the bare necessaries of existence, but it produced a strong and manly character. They may have been rough, 30-ii

and nuconth, and uneducated, but they possessed the best traits of English yeomanry. Some of the abor- igines lingered about their old hauuts. The Indiau wars and the wild beasts made them familiar with the use of firearms. In 1675 John Gould and Thomas Gery were troopers in Captain Hutchinson's company, and were impressed as soldiers from the "Three Couuty Troopers," and served in King Philip's War. There were liquor laws in those days as well as now. In 1682 " John Gould appears before the Court, and convicted of selling strong liquors to the Indians is fined ten shillings money and pay the costs." The means of communication was at first by forest paths and private ways from farm to farm. No public high- way existed till about 1685, when one was laid out from Reading to Woburn as follows : "Beginning at ye Country road near Sergt. Parker's house and so along by the meadow, called Hoopper's Meddow, and by the foot of ye hill, which is above ye leest of three ponds, from thence to the way marked out by Sergt. Parker, throwe Charlestown land to Woburn River, neer John Richardson's house." Another highway was also laid out the same year from Reading to Charlestown (now Stoneham). These two roads were the old road over Farm Hill and the present North Street, or possibly one of them was Green Street. The latter road, be- ginning at the easterly foot of Cowdrey's Hill, came in a southwesterly direction by the houses of the Goulds, passed William Rogers, near the end of Thomas Cutler's land, and so on to Charlestown, a more par- ticular description of which will be given hereafter. The road over Farm Hill accommodated Thomas Gery, and the road from Reading to Woburn (North Street), Matthew Smith. Tradition says there was an old road over the southest corner of Bear Hill, and so on through Spring Pasture to Medford. " In 1673 a large trade was carried on in cedar posts, shingles and clapboards. The select men granted many of the in- habitants permission to cut the trees in Cedar Swamp near Spot Pond, and John Mousal was charged with the duty of inspecting the number and bigness of the trees cut down." There were but few additions to the inhabitants for many years. In 1688 Thomas Cutler had died, and was succeeded by his son Thomas. Daniel Gould, the son of John, had come of age, and Samuel Cowdrey, Michael Smith and Andrew Philips were added to the settlement of 1678. The history of the town during these years is little more than the bare mention of the names of the people who lived here, and the location of their farms. Measured by the progress and attainments of the nineteenth cen- tury, their lives must have been barren iudeed. The tomahawk and the war-whoop of the red man at times varied the monotony of their existence, but the great and vital question which, more than auy other, seems to have absorbed the attention of our ancestors was religion. About the most important business which came before the town was the building of the meeting-house, and the support of the minister. At-

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

tending church as they did at Reading, it was a source of grievance to the people of that town that they should contribute nothing towards the support of the Gospel, being taxed as they were in Charlestown, and so the following petition was presented to the General Court :

"Tho humble petision of the inhabitants of the townc of Redding, IInmbly Showeth-That wherons our case, boing as your pettissivers humbly conseive, soo sircumstanced, as wee Know not tho like in all Respects-and not Knowing which waye to helpe ourselves-But By humbly accquainting yor honners with our state-your honners beeing the Fathers of the Commonwealth to which wee doe helonge ;- and yor petissinors humbly hoping that yor honners will helpe soe far as may bee to the Relieving of us in our case ;- It being soe with us that weo are but a poore placo, very few ahove sixty families, Abell to pay to the Ministry, and severall of them have more nced to Receive than to paye,-if we were a place of ability as many others bee ; and to us there is Adjacent farmers, which bee constant hearers of the word, with us, which goes not at all to their owno towne, But transiently as others doe ; Neither came they one the Sabhath daye butt bee breakers of tho Lawe of god and of this commonwealth as we conseive. And to many of theu itt would be soe intolerahle a burthen, that many ef them must necessarily refraino from tho public worship of god, established amongst us, for prevention of which they doo heare with us, which seems to he very hard for ns to maintayne Ministry and Meetinghonse conveniently for them, and others to force theui to pay their hole Rates to their one townes, as others do ; or if some of them bee Better-minded, their bise- nes lyeth so att the present that wee have nothing from them all or next to nothing.

"Another thing that your humble petisioners desire to declare to your houners is thatt wee have now not roume enough in our Meeting-house for ourselves, but the Adjasent farmers being one third or very neare one third as much as wee, wee muste build anew before it bee Longe, for the house will be too little for them and us, which we hope your honners will consider how the case is like to bee with us, if nothing bee considered. Butt as wee hopo itt is the waye, that god would have us to take to leave the case to your honners, we desire humbly soe to doe, and quietly to reste to this honoured Courte's good pleasure as to what hath been declared.

" And shall ever pray-In the name & by the consent of the reste of the inhabitants of the towne. Win. Cowdrey, Robery Burnap, Jona. Poole, Thomas Parker, Jeremy Swaino."

When subscriptions were raised for the purpose of building a new meeting-house in Reading in 1688 the following subscriptions were raised from persons liv- ing at Charlestown End and the list substantially eonprises those living here at that time

6. d.

John Gould . 4 18 4

Dauiel Gould .

3 0 0

Thomas Gory .

3 0 0

Matthew Smith Sen.

0 10 0

Matthew Smith Jun. 10 0

Michael Smith 0

Thomas Cutler

0 0

Sammuel Cowdroy

1 0 0

Andrew Philips

1 0 0

Samuel Cowdrey came from Reading, and probably lived not far from where Mr. Tilton now resides. Michael Smithi was advanced in years, and his daughter Sarah was the wife of Andrew Philips. Domestie infelicities existed then as well as now. " At a Court hield at Charlestown, June 17, 1679, Michael Smith and wife, of Charlestown, for disor- derly living apart from one another were admonished and to pay the costs of Court." Andrew Philips set- tled here somewhere about 1686, living, perhaps, at first in the easterly part of the town near the house of

Mr. Outram, but at the time of his death he resided on Cobble Hill, in a dwelling formerly owned and oc- eupied, and probably built by Nathaniel Dunton, of Reading. His homestead was afterwards conveyed to Rev. James Osgood, the first minister of Stone- ham. All the old residents will remember the par- sonage of Parson Osgood. It stood on the corner of Green Street, about opposite the house of the late Reuben Locke, and was the best specimen of archi- tectural style among us, which antedated the Revolu- tion. Prior to the latter part of the seventeenth cen - tury the population increased very slowly. The settlers had generally located in the northeasterly part of the town, but after this they spread out in all directions. In 1685 Eleazer Bateman came from Woburn and located in the extreme westerly part of the town, just north of Marble Street. The old eellar- hole where his house stood was to be seen till within a short time. That part of the town including the level land extending all the way to Summer Street, was then known as Doleful Plain. When Bateman purchased his land in 1685, there was a cellar dug and atoned upon it, and the frame of a house twenty - two by eighteen feet, which seems to have been the regulation size that then prevailed. Mr. Bateman was a carpenter and owued one or two houses in the neighborhood besides the one in which he lived. One of these probably stood a little north of the house where Mrs. Lot Sweetser resides. He lived here till 1713 and then sold his place to Joseph Underwood. He was a man of so mueh repute that on several oc- easions he was appointed by the town on a committee to lease the Charlestown Farms. In 1688, Patrick, otherwise ealled Peter Hay, then described as of Red- ding, commenced to buy land at Mystic Side, so ealled, and afterwards became one of the largest land owners and most prosperous settlers in the neighbor- hood. Hay was a Scotchman, lived for a while at Lynn, (Lynnfield) and removed to Charlestown End in 1692 or 1693. He must have been a man of great force of character, buying as he did, numerous tracts of land, elearing farms and erecting dwellings. Al- though his possessions extended iu all directions, he himself located in the northerly part of the town, building first a log cabin, which tradition says stood near the bend of Tremout Street, and afterwards the house where he lived and died, on or near the spot where Luther White now lives. This dwelling was occupied by his descendants till about 1846 or 1847, when it was burned. To his son James, who was a shop-keeper in Charlestown, he gave a farm of sixty- three acres, with house and barn in the easterly part of the town. The house stood on the westerly side of Pleasant Street, about opposite the residence of Amos Hill, Esq., and was owned by the Hays till it passed out of the family to Thomas Gould in 1799. Another son of Patrick Hay, Capt. Peter Hay, who was one of the most influential men in Stoneham of his time, settled near his father, living for a while in the build-

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ing known a few years since as the Old Office, and afterwards in the Hay Tavern which descended in turn to Capt. David Hay. For generations the race was a thrifty and prolific one, exercising a very large influence. A third son, John, a young man of great promise, died in his thirty-first year. Peter Hay was not only the owner of houses and land and men-ser- vants and maid-servants, but he had a multitude of wives, no less than four. He was one of the first se- lectmen when the town was organized. After having lived the life of a patriarch, so far as such a life was possible in the eighteenth century, and in Puritan New England, he died at the age of ninety in 1748. As Peter Hay owned a large part of the Northern so John Vinton owned a large part of the Southern sec- tion of Stoneham. He was a weaver, afterwards a farmer, born in Malden about 1678; came from Wo- burn about 1710. His house probably stood upon a slight elevation which is to be seen between the resi- dence of Warren Wilson and South Street. An old house once stood on this spot near which has been dug up old pottery and curious relics. This was upon his farm and he appears to have been the origi- nal settler of the territory, so it would seem that this was probably his residence, though possibly he occu- pied and built the old John Buckman house which was torn down a few years ago. The author of "Vin- ton Memorial " locates him as near the outlet of Spot Pond, but although he and Stephen Richardson bought the lot on which stood the mill in 1715, there is no reason to suppose he lived there unless for a short time. The above author says " John Vinton, Esq. was a man of great ability, energy and activity, and became a leader in every place where his lot was cast." When Stoneham was incorporated the usual order from the General Court was addressed to John Vinton as the principal inhabitant, directing him to issue a warrant for the first town-meeting. He ad- vanced more money and probably did more than any other man to obtain an act of incorporation for the town.

John Vinton was one of the first board of selectmen and served in that responsible office six years, viz. : 1726, 1727, 1731, 1732, 1734, 1735. He was commonly called to preside at town-meetings as moderator. He was very often employed on public business. He was placed by his townsmen on almost all important com- mittees. At one town-meeting be was placed on four committees. One of the first measures of the town was the erection of a meeting-house, and Capt. John Vinton was one of the committee of three to select a site, procure materials, put up and finish the build- ing. He was also one of the committee to employ a minister. He seems in an eminent degree to have enjoyed the confidence of his fellow-citizens. He was a representative of the town in the Legislature in 1734. Capt. Vinton paid the highest tax of any man in town. He was a lieutenant in the train band in 1720, captain in 1723, a very energetic, enterpris-

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 110

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co. Number of Pages: 1226

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed. cn
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & Co.
Number of Pages: 1226