History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 112

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 112

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).

"Whereas the Northerly part of the Town of Charlestown within the County of Middlesex is competently filled with Inhabitants who labour under great Difficulties by their Remoteness from the place of public worship, and have thereupon made their application to the said Town of Charlestown, and have likewise addressed the Court that they may be set off a Distinct and Separate Town, and be vested with all the powers and privileges of a Town, and the Inhabitants of Charlestown by their agents having consented to their being set off accordingly, and a com- mittee of this court having viewed the Northerly part of the said Town of Charlestown, and reported in favor of the Petitioners. Be it there. fore Enacted by the Lieutenant-Governor, Council, and Representatives

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

In General Conrt assembled and by the anthority of the same. That the Northerly part of the said Town of Charlestown, that Is to say all the Land on the East side of Woburn, the South side of Reading, tho West side ef Malden and the North side of the Fifth Range of the First Divl- slon of Charlestown Wood Lots he and hereby is set off and constituted a separate Township by the name of Stoneham. And the Bounds and the Limits of the said Town of Stoncham be according to the agreement made in November one Thousand seven hundred and twenty-five by and between the committee or Agents for and in behalf of the said Town of Charlestown, and the petitioners of the Northerly part thereof, wherein it was eonsented and agreed, that the five ranges or remaining part of tbe said first Division do romain to the Town of Charlestown, agreeable to a former grant of the Town made in the year 1657-58, and that the Inhabitants of the Northerly half of Charlestown should have and enjoy that Traet of Land lying in the bounds aforesaid, commonly called and known hy the name of Gonlds' Farm, now under lease to Messrs. Thomas and Daniel Gould, containing one hundred and ten acres, or thereabouts ; also one-half of all the Town's Meadow (and nplands) lying on Spot Pond, hoth for quantity and quality containing seventy-nine acres (by Captain Burnapp's platt) an estate in Fee with an equal sbare in Spot Pond, the said Land or the value thoreof to he improved for set" tling and maintaining an Orthodox minister to dispense the word and ordina nees among them. The Inhabitants of the said Northerly half of Charlestown being hy virtue of the said agreement to he debarred from any elaim or demand of and to any Land money, Rents or income of what kind soever, which now are or shall helong to the Town of Charles- town as well those several Farms and Land lying within the Bounds above said, as all other Estate or Ineome either Real or Personal, and from all demands for High Ways; tbat so the Town of Charlestown may quietly and peaceably enjoy the same. And further it is to he under- stood that none of the Land contained in the Two Ranges and Half be- longing to the first Division shall on any pretence whatsoever he as- sessed or taxed by the said Town of Stoneham, except those Lauds that shall be put under Improvement, such as mowing, ploughing and pas- turing. And he it further enaeted by the authority aforesaid, that the Inhabitants of the Northerly half of Charlestown living within the Bonnds aforesaid he and hereby are ereeted with the Powers, Privileges and Immunities that the Inhabitants of auy of the Towns of the Prov- ince by Law are or ought to be vested with ; that the inhabitants of the Baid Town of Stoneham do within the space of two years from the Pub- lication of this Aet, Erect and finish a suitable House for the public wor- ship of God, and so soon as may be procure and settle a Learned and Orthodox minister, of good conversation and make provision for his com- fortable and bonorable support ; and likewise provide a school-master to iustruct their youth in Writing and Reading, and that therenpon they be discharged from any payment for the maintenance of the ministry and school in the Town of Charlestown, Provided that the Inbahitants of Stoneham nevertheless, are to pay their respective proportions to Two several assessments already made by the Assessors of Charlestown for Connty and Town charges, and David Gould, one of the present eonsta- bles of Charlestown, is required to eolleet and pay in such parts and pro- portions of each of said assessments as are permitted to him by the said Assessors of Charlestown according to the powers and directions in the warrant duly made and delivered ; anything in this Act to the contrary notwithstanding. December 17, 1725, This Bill having been Read three several times in the House of Representatives passed to be enacted. Wil- liam Dudley Speaker."

The first town meeting was held December 24, 1725. Timothy Baldwin Sen. was chosen moderator and Daniel Gould Jr., town clerk. The select men the first year were Captain Benjamin Geary, Captain John Vinton, Mr. Peter Hay Sr., Mr. Timothy Baldwin Sr, and Lieut. Timothy Wright. The following is the list of the remaining male inhabtants who were residents this year and paid a tax.

Joli Gould Sr., Daniel Gould Sr., Daniel Gould Jr., Daniel Green, Abraham Gould, William Rogers, Thos Cutler Sr., Benjamin Geary Jr., William Lewis, Benjamin Wesson, Benjamin Gould, John llay, Ebeno- zer Phillips, Samuel Williams, Jonathan Green, David Green, John Green, John Cowdrey, David Gould, Thomas Geary Sr. Joseph Arnold, Ebenezer Knight, Edward Bucknam, Stephen Parker, Ebenezer Parker, Samuel Williams Jr., John Vinton Jr., Stophen Williams Jr., Timothy Wright Jr., Jobn Dexter, Peter Hay Jr., Ebenezer Damon, Thomas

Grover Sr., John Sonther, Nathaniel Souther, Thomas Geary Jr., John Geary, Thomas Geary, Jonathan Griffin, John Howe, Sament Holden Jr., Joseph Holden, Jacob Howe, Anthony Hadley, Ephraim Larabeo, Sam- nel Spragne, Richard Belcher, John May, James Taylor, Samnel Wessen, Jeremlah Belcher, Ebenezer Cutler, James Hill, Joseph Bryant, Grover Scollay and Thomas Williams.

The first business of importance which came before the town was the election of committees to provide preaching and to take preliminary steps for the erec- tion of a meeting-house, which was raised the next year. It was located in the easterly part of the town, a few feet southerly from the residence of Charles Buck, and was a plain building thirty-six by forty feet, with galleries on three sides and posts twenty feet high. There were thrce doors, one on the east, south and west. It could make no pretensions to architectural beauty ; at first, was destitute of paint, and for years its bare walls looked down upon a con- gregation who did not enjoy the luxury of pews. It was spoken of by a person who remembered it in her girlhood, as having no belfry or tower, and no entry, and was situated on the easterly side of the road. The pulpit stood at the north end. It was voted "that the meeting-house shall stand between the black oak tree and the red oak tree, upon the hill near the east end of the school-house." Stones for the foundation were laid by Ebenezer Phillips, and the building was framed by Lieut. Timothy Wright. Our ancestors were men of strong religious convictions and in the main were severe and exemplary in their morals, but in some respects they were more convivial than their de- scendants.

On the day when the inhabitants assembled to raise the frame of the meeting-house it must have been an occasion of great hilarity and festivity. Refreshments were served, and it requires no flight · of the imagination to suppose that the pious enthu- siasm of the earnest workers as they erected the great posts and lifted up the heavy beams may have been somewhat stimulated by liberal potations ; for besides a quantity of cider they consumed five gallons of rum. For many years there were no pews, the people sit- ting upon benches, the men on the west side, and in the west gallery, and the women on the east side and in the east gallery, the negro men occupying the rear seat of the men's gallery and the negro women occu- pying the rear seat of the women's gallery. Numer- ous town meetings were called, many appropriations made, and a considerable time elapsed before the edifice was completed. Four years after its erection a minister's pew was built and at the same time the doors and window-saslies were painted, also the eave troughs, weather-boards and end-boards. It appears upon the records that the women of Stoneham con- tributed towards the completion of the house, £5 118. 9d., to which additions were made by the gentlewomen of Malden, Woburn and Reading. The first town- meeting was held in the school-house, and those per- sons only were allowed to vote who were freeholders, having an estate of freehold in lands within the Prov-

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ince of forty shillings per annum, or other estate to the valne of forty pounds sterling.

Abont an acre of land was purchased of James Hay on which to locate the meeting-honse, and at the same time a quarter of an acre for a burial place, it being the northerly part of the old graveyard south of Pleasant Street. Town meetings were called and conducted almost identically the same as those of to- day. By means of them the people learned to govern themselves. They were the very foundation of our republican institutions. De Tocqueville says, "Town meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science ; they bring it within the people's reach ; teach them how to use and how to enjoy it." About ten or twelve years after the completion of the meet- ing-house a vote was passed that family pews might be built which should be "lotted out to such men as appeared to be the highest in rate and right ; " and by the subsequent distribution, it would appear that the men of the most consideration were the Hays, the Goulds and the Greens. It may be interesting to pause for a moment and consider the appearance of Stoneham at this period. There were probably about fifty houses in the town, but not the remotest sem- blance of a village. Almost every man was a farmer, some of them combining with agriculture the occu- pations of cordwainer, weaver, carpenter or black- smith. Stoneham was inferior to most of its neigh- bors in territory, population and wealth. We may suppose its population to have been between two hundred and fifty and three hundred. Although nu- merous clearings had been made, and many farms were under cultivation, a large portion of the terri- tory must have been covered with forest. Let ns start from the meeting-honse as a centre, perambulate the town and make as perfect a picture of it as we may. There were but three or four highways, none of them straight, but crooked country roads. In explanation of the circnitous course of the old road over Farm Hill, as it existed forty years ago, it used to be said it was laid out by a drunken man. A large portion of the houses were scattered about on lanes and pri- vate ways. The buildings in a country town a cen- tury and a half ago did not present the neat and thrifty appearance which characterizes a New Eng- land village to-day. The dwelling-honses were gene- rally dark and weather-stained. It was the day of things useful and not ornamental. The meeting- house stood on one of the few highways facing to the south, on an elevation overlooking the site of the future town. Proceeding northerly, the first house a little beyond the church, and on the west side of the road, was owned by James Hay, althongh he himself did not live in it, being a shopkeeper in Charlestown. The next one, not far distant on the right of the road, was probably where Andrew Phil- lips had lived, the one which Nathaniel Dunton built. Keeping on until we come to Spring Street, somewhere hereabouts a private way led to the east,

on which lived Daniel Green, Ebenezer Phillips and, a little later, Thomas Knight and Ephraim Brown. Winding our way up throngh Bow Street, by the stand-pipe, the next old-time citizen we know of on the left, was John Souther (the Oakes Green place). It was here the church was organized. Souther's next neighbor on the north, and on the same side of the street, was Joseph Bryant. From Bryant's the road followed the present course of Green Street till its intersection with Elm, and then easterly by the lat- ter to its junction with the old road to Wakefield, and by the last-named old road till it reaches the foot of Cowdrey's Hill. This was one of the very carliest highways of Charlestown End, and on it lived, in 1725, William Rogers, Daniel Gould, Sr., Daniel Gould, Jr., and Abraham Gould. As before stated, William Rogers was located on the Captain Buck farm. Daniel Gould, Sr., afterwards Deacon Daniel, a short distance beyond Rogers', on the opposite side of the way. On beyond Daniel Sr., was Abraham, and still farther on, Daniel, Jr., otherwise called Lieutenant Daniel, who had inherited the home farm of the original John Gould. All of the Goulds were on the left-hand side of the road as we go towards Wakefield. A lane, we suppose, led from the road near Rogers' house to Thomas Cutler's (the Doyle place).

Retracing our steps once more to the meeting-house and proceeding sonth by the general course of the present Summer Street, we pass between the house of John May on the left and his blacksmith shop on the right. May lived in the old house now owned by Miss Lynde, which is a building of some historic in- terest, and will be referred to at a later period. Al- most opposite the May house a lane from the road on the west approached the homestead of Thomas Geary, (the Zac Geary house) which had been sold to him by the children of Deacon Nathaniel Lawrence. Fol- lowing the circuitous conrse of the highway in the direction towards Woburn, (now Winchester), our attention is first attracted to a house on the north side of the road, where it is supposed Richard Belcher lived at the time of his death in 1720. It was prob- ably occupied at this time by his children and widow. Here lived a century later Ebenezer Bncknam, and within a few years was owned and torn down by Hi- ram Marston. On the sonth side of the way between Belcher's and Woburn line, were one and perhaps two houses occupied by Joseph and possibly Samuel Holden. On the north side there was a honse a few rods east of Woburn line owned at that time by Joseph Underwood, and occupied perhaps then, at all events a few years later, by Stephen Parker. This was where Eleazer Bateman had established himself forty years earlier. Turning to the present Warren Street where it connects with Marble Street, if we wish to trace the old road we shall follow Warren Street to Central Square, cross the Square to Central, down Central to Elin, up Elm to Waverly over Farın Hill by the way of High Street. Of course these modern

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streets have been widened and straightened but this was one of the old country roads from Reading to Woburn a century and a half ago. When the town was organized, Edward Bucknam, Timothy Wright and Peter Hay owned houses on or near it, the loca- tions of which have already been given. It passed by the doors of Grover Scollay and Captain Benjamin Geary, on and over Farm Hill. The central part of the village was then largely a forest. East of the road a path led down to the mill near which John Gould is supposed to have lived. Near the junction of Central and Elm Streets a private way ran towards the Woburn road by the houses of Timothy Baldwin, Sr. and Jr. From near the house of Peter Hay, Sen., a bridle way led easterly towards Reading by the house of Ebenezer Damon. The present North Street ran from Reading to Woburn through the Charles- town Farms. Pond Street was an old road extend- ing towards Malden, passing near the houses of Captain Vinton, David Gould and perhaps Anthony Hadley. From near the meeting-house a private way led to Green Lane and Melrose Highlands. Town government and town offices have changed but little since then, but some of the customs which prevailed at that time seem quaint. It carries us back a long time when we read from the records the vote "that Ebenezer Parker shall be tything man, that hogs shall go at large and that no shepherd shall keep sheep in the town of Stoneham, that Deacon Daniel Green shall set the psalm for the Sabbath day, that five pounds be raised to provide the town with a pair of stocks, and five pounds more for renewing the town's supply of ammunition." The town well organized and a meeting. house built measures were taken to secure a settled minister, and procure tbe services of a school-master. The former was considered a question of such vital importance to the welfare of the people, that it was voted in town meeting assembled to set apart a day for prayer to ask God's direction in the choice of a minister, and so strong was their religious faith, that they doubted not their prayers had been answered when in the following month they elected the Rev. James Osgood. In their selection of a person to fill the pastoral office, they seem to have been as diffi- cult to satisfy as their descendants. Several were heard on trial, before one was chosen. The first preacher who was hired for some months was Rev. Joseph Champney. Mr. Osgood, who came from Salem was called in October, 1728, accepted in April, 1729, and was ordained on September 10th. The ministers assisting at the ordination were Rev. Richard Brown, of Reading, Rev. Samuel Fiske, of Salem, Rev. Hull Abbot, of Charlestown, Rev. Benj. Prescot, of Salem, Rev. Joseph Emerson, of Malden, and Rev. Daniel Put- nam, of Reading. The town had voted him a salary of £110 per anum, £172 for a settlement, and a few years later purchased a wood lot and agreed to furnish him with ten cords of wood each year. Mr. Osgood pur- chased land and built him a house which was a fine

one for those times, and he remained here till his death in 1746. The members of the church who were dismissed from the First Church, of Reading to form the church at Stoneham were Daniel Gould, Daniel Goold, Jr., Ebenezer Knight, David Goold, Ebenezer Parker, Abraham Goold, Edward Bucknam, Thomas Cutler, Joseph Bryant and Jonathan Griffin. These with Ephraim Larrabee, Jacob Howard and Samuel Sprague on July 2, 1729, signed the church covenant. The women who severed their connection with the Reading church, some months later to join the Stone- ham church, were Anna, wife of Samuel Holden ; Naomi, wife of Joseph Holdcü ; Eliza, wife of Benj. Gary, Jr .; Hannah, wife of Thomas Gary, Sr .; Abi- gail, wife of James Taylor; Mary, wife of John Souter; Hannah, wife of Peter Hay, Jr .; Sarah, wife of John Gould; Judith, wife of John Gould, Jr .; Eliza, wife of John Gary, and Eliza, wife of Benjamin Gould. From the church at Malden came Judith Lynde, Mary Green, John Green, Isaac Green, Joseph Green, John Dexter, and the wives of the three latter. From the church in Boston came Elizabeth Holden. Some of those who were dismissed from the church at Malden lived in what is now known as Melrose High- lands, a territory which a few years subsequently was annexed to Stoneham, and remained a part of this town till it annexed to Melrose in 1853.

Two of the best sources of information from which to obtain materials for a town history are the records kept by the church and the town clerk. They are pic- tures of the times, skeletons upon which it requires but little imagination to construct a complete image, representing the customs and habits of life and im- portant events which prevailed in a New England town one and two centuries ago. A most interesting little book is the one in which appears the transcript of the proceedings at church meetings kept for years in the neat and distinct handwriting of Mr. Osgood. For instance, take the occasion when the first deacons were chosen and read Mr. Osgood's record of it. "Att A Chh. Meeting in Stoneham Called by the Revrd. Pastor of sd Chh on Novembr 27th, 1730 at the meet- ing House in sd Town. The Pastor opened the meet- ing with Prayer Imploring a Blessing upon their Chh and for Direction & Aid in the work that was before them Viz. in the election of 2 of the brethr" that might be Best Qualified to Sustain the office of Dea- cons to the Chh. Then the Brethr" at the request of the Pastor brot in ther written vote on Papers. The 1st vote for the 1st Deacon by the Breth"" of this Chh that were present came out upon Broth" Dan1 Gould Sen who accordingly accepted of said election. The 2nd vote on written Papers for the 2nd Deacon to this Chh. fell upon Broth" Dan' Green, who accordingly stands elected & has accepted of sd election. Noth- ing further being agitated or acted upon. The Pastor again Prayed with them & Gave thanks to God for his assistance & Recommended the Persons Elected to the office of Deacons to the Grace of Gd that they

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might be made Blessings to the Chh & Aus' the Charact of Deacons & be Enabled to fulfill all parts of ye office. So the Breth"" were Dismist by the Pastor.

"As attests James Osgood Clerk of sª Chh."

" The second day of March, 1746, Rev. Mr. James Osgood died aud was Interred the fifth when his Corpse was carried to ye Meeting-House and there attended to the grave by several ministers and a great Concourse of People." Iu 1729 the town voted to raise £9 for a school; and for the first time chose a committee to procure a school-master. In 1731 the selectmen laid out a road on the easterly side of Spot Pond to Charlestown (now Medford) line. Previous to this there had been a private way over which peo- ple had been accustomed to travel, but it was neces- sary to take down bars and open gates and the time had come when public convenience required a high- way. The exact course which the way should run seems to have caused a good deal of contention between the town and some of the land owners, especially Timothy Sprague of Malden, who owned the land at the outlet of Spot Pond. Litigation fol- lowed, and Sprague obtained judgment and execu- tion against the town. The country road then run to Malden, and the new road connected with it near the northeast corner of the pond running south. Finally in 1734 an agreement was made with Sprague by which the course of the road was fixed and a watering-place secured. Also in 1731 the "selectmen laid out an open Highway over the land of Stephen Parker from the Country Road between said Parker's house and barn " to Woburn. "Said way is to lie open to all people to pass as long as there is free liberty to pass from said way over Richardson's land and the other Woburn land to the Country Road near to Samuel Williams in Woburn ; and in case any of the owners of Woburn land do stop or hinder the free passing from said way to the Road by Samuel Wil- liam's in Woburn as aforesaid, then the way over Par- ker's land shall no longer be a way." Stephen Par- ker, it will be remembered lived north of Marble Street, and this was probably the road from Marble Street towards Montvale. It may be interesting to the public-spirited citizens of to-day to know what our fathers raised and appropriated for town expenses. The annual meeting for the election of officers during the first few years was held in March and the meet- ing for raising money in May. In 1731 they voted to raise £9 for a school for " Reding and Righting, £2 for the Poor and for sweeping the meeting-house and for looking after the meeting house and £40 for the Highways." This was exclusive of the minister's salary, the larger part of which was paid with interest derived from the sale of the Gould farm. John Vin- ton, Esq., was sent a representative to the General Court in 1734,-the only instance prior to the nine- teenth century that the town was represented, except in 1775, when Col. Jos. Bryant was sent a representa-

tive to the General Court, and Capt. Samuel Sprague to the Provincial Congress.

Our ancestors loved office aud distinction, were punctilious of all titles frou ensign to colonel and deacou, but chose to do without a representative be- cause it involved expense for his service. But little of the highway tax was raised in actual money, most of it being worked out on the roads, a custom which prevailed till a comparatively recent time. Great care was taken that uo one should obtain a settlement if it could be prevented, lest such one might become a public charge, and so notices were served upon peo- ple coming into town, of which the following is a sample:

" Middlesex ss. To Mr. Ebenezer , Phillips, constable for the town of Stoneham aud to you greeting ; You are in his Magesty's name required fortliwith to warn out of the town of Stoneham Martha Tidd and her child, late of Woburn, who are at the house of John Vinton, Esq., of Stoneham, and that they depart the said town of Stouehan speedily, they and their children, or else they may expect further trouble. Hereof fail not and make a return of your doings to myself at or before the 19th day of May. Dated at Stoneham, the seventeenth day of May Anno Domini 1736, aud the ninth year of our soverigu Lord King George the Second over Great Britain. By order of the select men. Daniel Gould, Jr., Town Clerk."

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 112

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