History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 178

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 178

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Woburn (1642). Here was the " River" (1638), later called the Aberjona River (1641). Here was built the first house in the town of Woburn and the first mill, both by Edward Converse, and the first bridge (1641). Here, it may reasonably be supposed, was the site of the second bridge (1641), ealled in the early records of Woburn the Long Bridge-from its length-and whose construction was a work of difficulty. Here was the secne of an carly and lamentable accident, the killing of Samuel Converse, son of Edward, by the water-wheel of the mill, in February, 1669-70, and here was the seene or locality of an Indian mas- sacre during Philip's War -- when a woman and two children, members of the Richardson family, werc killed by a prowling band of hostile Indians, on April 10, 1676. This hostile party was pursued by the en- raged townspeople, and one of them was killed, in retaliation for the mischief they had done. Other in- eidents, now unknown, may have occurred in the dis- triet now called Winchester, before the beginning of the eighteenth century, but these few are eited, as showing that this part of old Woburn has had a his- tory peculiar to itself and its own quarter, on which we are here but able briefly to touch. In the matter of neighborhood divisions in the older town, this part of Woburn was designated, before 1700, as the "South End." Richardsons' Row was, in part, in the " East End " of the town, in these early designations. "The Town " signified, in accordance with the customs of all towns at that date, the "Centre," or the centre vil- lage of the community, set off as a separate town. For 150 years these distinctions existed in Woburn with little change, and in 1792 the districts of " Rich- ardsons' Row " and the "West Side " are recognized in the public records, and remained much in their original condition till 1831, and also with little change, till 1845. In 1729 Mr. Thomas Belknap's house, known to be in the limits of Winchester, was a place for the movable grammar school to be kept. In 1738 the same school was to be kept in (2) the Richardsons' and the Carters' "at the southerly part of the town," and at the same period a station for the school was established at the southerly part of Rich- ardsons' Row, "for them, the Richardsons and the Carters." In 1742 the sixth and last quarter for the school was the "Carters' quarter " in this section of Woburn, in the " house of Mr. Ebenezer Converse," at present Winchester Centre, where the school was to remain two months. These distinctions are very patent to any one at all acquainted with the carly history of the seetion now known as Winehester.

Some interesting recollections of the Black Horse Village in South Woburn, 1822-25, ete., are given by Colonel William T. Grammer, of Woburn, in the Winchester Record, ii. 81-83. In 1822 his father, William Grammer, and his father's brother, Seth Grammer, moved from Boston to that place, and lived on the Swan farm, so called, opposite to the farm of one Caleb French, whose wife was a Swan. The

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brothers Grammer sold out soon to the Hon. William C. Jarvis, whose successor was Isaac Shattuck on the same premises. In 1825 the Grammers built a store near the junction of Main and Washington Streets, which, though not the first, was one of the early stores at that place. It was on the west side of Main Street, or the "Great Road," and opposite to the neighboring blacksmith-shop of F. and N. B. John- son, well remembered by the older citizens. The store was called in high phrase an "English and West India Goods Store," and liquor, as was common in the stores of that time, was one of its staple com- modities. During the stay of the Grammer family on the Swan farm, a house opposite was burned on the French estate, before mentioned. About the same period William Grammer, the father, erected a liberty-pole, or flag-pole, as the younger generation of this day would term it. These staff's were very popular in the country at large at that time. The pole stood at the junction of the two streets near the store, and its raiser owned the flag which was dis- played upon it.

Some idea of the importance and ancient character of the hostelry known as the Black Horse Tavern, in Winchester, may be gained by the following allusions to its former history. In 1761 Giles Alexander sold this house to Noah Wyman, the house having formerly been licensed for an inn or tavern, and Noah Wyman immediately petitioned the General Court for an inn-holder's license on the estate. In 1775 the tavern was on the upper stage route, so called, from Boston to Portsmouth in New Hampshire. Its keeper, ac- cording to the almanac for that year, was Wyman, evidently the Noah Wyman above-mentioned. In 1792 the same road was called the upper road to Casco Bay, eastward, or to the present city of Portland, Maine. The traveler from Boston came by way of Medford, distant four miles from the starting-point, and thence to Woburn, and afterwards to Wilming- ton, when on this route. In 1813 a still higher as- piration was given to the traveler on the Casco Bay route, by calling his pathway through this section " the road from Boston to Montreal," and in the year following "the road to Montreal and Quebec !" At this period one Hill appears to be the keeper of the Black Horse Tavern.

Some interesting items regarding Winchester his- tory are presented in some extracts from the diary of John Swan (born 1776, died 1864) and published in the Winchester Record, ii. 457-459. A brief reference to some of these items, of general interest, is here made. Mr. Swan mowed and raked Blind Bridge meadow, 181], whence he brought two loads of hay. He was at Blind Bridge meadow haying in 1814, and again in 1815. He was engaged to teach school in 1811 and in 1817. He bought the Edward Gardner estate in 1818. On October 30, 1814, being a Sunday evening, his brother, Stephen Swan, returned home from Dorchester Heights, and all the company of

light infantry, of which he was a member. The com- pany had been gone on that service seven weeks. Iu 1815 the "great and important news of peace" arrived at Boston from New York, in 32 hours,-243 miles ! "It is said the man had $225 for bringing the news." In 1828 this same Stephen Swan "raised his barn," 40x60, and " had 45 men to supper and 11 boys." In 1841 the barn of Mr. Collins was burned, 6.30 evening. There were fires at Baconville, in Winchester, in 1855 and 1858-the latter a destructive one, cotton-batten- ing factory burned. In 1858 Luke Wyman's Pond Plain lot was sold to ex-Governor Edward Everett, for $5000, and in 1859 the same purchaser bought fifty-three acres of land north of Stephen Swan's farm, from Dea. Luke Wyman, for $8000. The late Samuel Gardner's farm was sold in 1858 for $6500 or $7000.

The Winchester Record, published by the Winches- ter Historical and Gencalogical Society, contains an abundance of facts regarding the earlier events con- nected with the civil history and institutions of South Woburn and Winchester, which we cannot reproduce here. To that publication the historical student is therefore directed for an account of many things which do not find mention here.

A valuable original paper is a list of the children attending a school in Richardsons' Row in the year 1786, a description of which is given in the Winches- ter Record, i. 164-165. It was dated Woburn, March 2, 1786, and signed by Michael McDonnell, teacher. The family names represented are Richardson, Evans, Parker, Eaton, Whittemore, Hadley, Watts, Miller, Skinner, Wyman, Jaquith, Mead, Symmes and Con- verse. Total number of scholars forty-six,-all chil- dren belonging to families living in that quarter of Woburn. A new school-house, so called, for Rich- ardsons' Row was dedicated November 1, 1818.

The act to incorporate the town of Winchester in the year 1850 is photographed, and a copy is pre- sented in the Winchester Record, vol. i. p. 41. By its terms all the territory witbin the towns of Woburn, Medford and West Cambridge, comprised within the limits stated, was thereby incorporated into a town, by the name of Winchester. For bounds, see copy of the above act in the publication referred to. The line stated between Woburn and Winchester to be was half-way between the south side of Woburn Com- mon and the depot at South Woburn, as it was then situated, and as Main Strect then and now runs. Other provisions were imposed upon the town of Winchester, as was common in such cases. It was passed April 30, 1850. The separation of this town from the older towns was not accomplished without very vigorous remonstrances on the part of those towns whose territory was affected, and a lively con- test in the Legislature. An account of the whole matter is to be found in the Winchester Record in an article in vol. i. pp. 312-332. Measures for a separa- tion were first taken by inhabitants of the section to be set off in December, 1849. The first meeting of

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

these persons was held on December 17th. Benjamin F. Thompson and John A. Bolles and other well- known citizens were prominent in the project. A second meeting was held on December 24th, when the well-known name of Frederick O. Prince was added to the others. At this meeting the following names for the new town were proposed : Appleton, Avon, Channing, Waterville, Winchester and Win- throp. The name of Winchester was the one de- cided upon, for the reason that a person of that name had proffered aid in a financial way to the enterprise. The petition for the incorporation of Winchester was presented to the Legislature on Jauuary 19, 1850, and the request was granted on its first application. Hon. Albert H. Nelson, of Woburn, was engaged as counsel for the petitioners, and his services and in- fluence were very valuable in their behalf. "No money was used by either side to gain influence, not a dollar for lobby or a supper ; " and when the leg- islative committee visited Winchester to examine the ground, they were given a very plain collation, not in a spirit of parsimony, but in accordance with the requirements of the occasion; indeed, had a more expensive entertainment been presented, the cause would undoubtedly have received injury. The citi- zens paid their counsel two hundred and fifty dollars, and Mr. Bolles, for his legal work, fifty dollars, also all the necessary expenses, the town committee mak- ing no charge for their services. Thus was the town of Winchester started clear of debt. Her motto was, "Economy and prompt paymeut." Her leading town officers for the first year made no charge for their services. "The service was itself of the best," says one who well knew.1

Much the larger part of the territory was taken from that of Woburn. (Cf. map, Winchester Record, ii. 417.) Thus, as has been already shown, the early history of this town is chiefly to be found in that, al- though the south part involves the history of the In- dian reservation near Mistick Pond, and that of the Symmes farm, originally the grant to Zachariah Symmes, the minister of Charlestown, as early as 1638, when the section about Winchester was a wil- derness and Woburn as a town had no existence. (Cf. Winchester Record, i. 20, 123.)

The choice of the name of Winchester, from Col- onel William P. Winchester, was fortunate in one respect, that it brought with its choice a welcome pe- cuniary gift, in the form of the sum of $3000, to be used in the erection of a town-hall, or any other proper object of municipal expenditure. Colonel Winchester was informed that the name was given to the town, at the request of its inhabitants, out of compliment to him, and he, not being content with a inere verbal expression of his high appreciation of the honor conferred on his name, begged leave to present to the new town the sum of $3000 for the purposes

before mentioned. The letter sent was dated at Bos- ton, May 25, 1850. (Cf. Winch. Record, ii. 488-489.)

The death of Colonel Winchester occurred August 6, 1850, and the new town adopted resolutions of re- spect and sympathy, which were communicated to his family. Colonel Winchester died at the early age of forty-nine years, at his residence in Watertown, leaving a property estimated at $650,000.2 He was an accomplished scholar, it is said, in the French, Spanish and Italian languages. The money presented by Colonel Winchester was first expended on a new town cemetery. This fund was returned to the town treasury in 1885. Recently it has been transferred to the town-hall account for a clock and bell, and other matters connected with that building. On the bell in the tower an inscription is cast, to the effect that this clock and bell commemorate the gift of William P. Winchester to the town which bears his name. The lyceum hall was built by a company as a private en- terprise. Colonel Winchester was long a provision dealer in Boston, and inherited a large fortune from his father.3

Some of the most valuable reminiscences of the village of South Woburn, 1834-36, are those of Oliver R. Clark, published in the first volume of the Winches- ter Record. The portion of the village near the cross- ing of the Boston and Lowell Railroad by that great artery of travel, Main Street-ancient as the first set- tlement of the region-was called the " Woburn Gates," because gates were closed at the railroad crossing, when trains were passing the point. The original scheme of the railway connecting Boston and Lowell did not appear to contemplate any provision for business at this point, so the building first used as a station was a small shoemaker's shop, about 10x15, which answered every purpose till the increasing size of the village rendered a larger building necessary. This building or depot was opposite the original town- hall, or lyceum-hall, and it remained at this point with changes of buildings only, till about 1872. For two years after the opening of the railroad, says Mr. Clark, but few changes were observed. But there was a man whose eagle eye saw the advantages of that spot as a good locality for business and the founding of a new town.

This was Mr. S. S. Richardson, so called, or Samuel. Steele Richardson, a large manufacturer of shoes in Woburn, and then considered a rich man. He got possession of the ancient Converse Mill site, uow the Whitney Mill site, at Winchester Centre, and of a large tract of land adjoining it, and repaired or en- tirely rebuilt the old mill, aud commenced and fin- ished several houses, and among others a shoe shop, where the lyceum hall afterwards stood. He soon afterwards purchased the Black Horse Farm, where the old taveru of that name stood, and the land on

) Hon. Oliver R. Clark, Winch. Record, i. 327.

2 Winchester Record, iii. 70.

3"Rich Mon of Massachusetts," (Best. 1852), p. 132.

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which most of the houses are built on that extensive hill-side. In 1837, however, having speculated in eastern lands too extensively, he became financially embarrassed, and the interests of the new village suf- fered. His place, however, was taken by a man of still greater financial ability, and one of the most effi- cient agencies in forming the future prosperity and distinctive character of Winchester. This was Benja- man F. Thompson, brother of the well-known Gen- eral Abijah Thompson, of Woburn, who had lived at the Centre, and built a tannery there, and the house occupied by the children of the late Walter Frost, on Pleasant Street, corner of Lexington Street. Like his brother Abijah, he had begun business in a small way, which he had increased, removing to the South Village in 1837 or 1838. Here he purchased the land and built a tannery, lately Mr. Waldmeyer's. His ad- vent was a promise of the future respectability and morality of the town to be. In the older village at the Centre he had been a well-established influence for good. His garden in Woburn was beautiful, and a special attraction of the town. His person and sur- roundings were distinguished by a refined and culti- vated taste, denoting attention to the proprieties of a thoughtful and discriminating habit of life, and in all his business relations and transactions there was a corresponding completeness of propriety and indis- putable correctness. His word was considered by all who knew him or dealt with him as good as his bond. Such was the man who now joined his fortunes with the village of South Woburn, and latterly of the town of Winchester.

Samuel S. Richardson was born in Woburn, July 19, 1806, son of Calvin and Sarah. His father was a well-known citizen. The family were residents of Richardsons' Row, in the locality now embraced in the limits of Winchester. He entered upon a busi- ness life at an early age, and was at one time the largest and most influential shoe manufacturer in Woburn, giving employment to one hundred and fifty persons at a time. He was active and smart in whatever he undertook. His manner was inspiring, and he gave life and vigor to all his undertakings. His wife was Abigail Mead, of Bedford, Massachu- sett«, and by her he had two children-a son and a daughter. After her death he married a sec- ond wife, Sophia Stanton, of Winchester. He died, aged sixty-two, January 20, 1869. He possessed some peculiarities. For instance : " From Portland to New Orleans he would travel often in advance of railroads and steamboats, with his coat under his arm, a shoe in his hand and a change of linen in his pocket, never waiting for any one, yet always behind in starting. Once on the Mississippi River he was left at Memphis, but before the boat got to the next landing he was there, ready to spring aboard on its arrival." " He was a man," writes one who well knew him, "propelled by a mind intensely nervous and surpassingly active." When he went to South Wo-

burn, in 1836, says the same writer, it was "a small place with a blacksmith and wheelwright shop, and a little grocery store ; Cutters' mill was grinding corn and beginning to saw mahogany. The old Abel Rich- ardson mill was toppling over with age, the roof fallen in, and the millstones sunk in the stream below. The cars had been running two years." (Cf. sketch of S. S. Richardson, by Nathaniel A. Richardson, in Woburn Journal, December 17, 1886.) Benjamin F. Thompson is the subject of an extended notice in another place in this sketch.

Mr. Oliver R. Clark says of the period of 1836- 1838, that there was but little business at that time in Winchester. The streets were likewise few. Main Street, or the great road from Woburn to Medford, was then very much as it now is. The houses also were not numerous, and in his article he attempts a description of them and of the establishments for business. One of the principal business establish- ments was the old mahogany mill of the Messrs. Cut- ter, one of the wonders of the boyhood of the present writer. The original mill was burned in 1841, and immediately rebuilt, and an important business be- gun. The " Gates " made a strong impression on the youthful mind. They were ponderous affairs to pro- tect parties from danger at the railroad crossing on Main Street, and were swung open and closed by the bystanders. At that time it was not uncommon for persons to travel miles to see the steam monster, then used as a locomotive. The trains, however, were few and far between, the engines small, and the cars much like the old-fashioned stage-coaches, with the doors on the sides. The engineer was not protected, as now, by a cab, and the conductor and brakeman rode on the top of the cars. The speed of these trains, according to the statement of Mr. Eli Cooper, one of the earliest locomotive engineers on this road, was considerable, perhaps as great as many of the trains now. The proceedings on stopping at stations were those of the most approved English fashion of that date. They are described quite minutely in the Winchester Record, i. 57, by Mr. Abijah Thompson. The early depot-masters were John Robinson, shoe maker; John Donahoe, the first to make the position a regular business ; and Captain Nathan Jaquith, the successor of Donahoe. Captain Jaquith combined the duties of depot-master, baggage-master and gate-ten- der in one office. He was active and energetic, and besides this started the livery business in the village. He died February 16, 1875, at the advanced age of ninety-three years, ten months and sixteen days. A very interesting picture of the centre of South Wo- burn Village is given in a view from a painting by Dr. R. U. Piper, of date 1840, a copy of which is pre- sented in the Winchester Record, i. 59.

The village which had thus sprung. up "just eight miles from Boston," by railroad, was given a still more positive character as an independent commu- nity by the formation of a church parish in 1840.

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

The history of this enterprise belongs to the ecclesias- tical history in another part of this sketch. A house of worship was dedicated December 30, 1840, and was altered and enlarged in 1852, and destroyed by fire on March 20, 1853; and its successor was dedicated October 11, 1854, being erected near the same site as the former. Behind this edifice, in 1844, the parish established a small burying-ground. This was after- wards given up, and on April 7, 1851, the town voted to choose a committee to purchase a lot for a ceme- tery, which was named the Wildwood Cemetery.

On the site of the ancient mill purchased by S. S. Richardson, a new one was built, in 1838-39. In this later structure quite a variety of business was carried on-sash and blind-making, by Leonard Gil- son and others ; veneer sawing, by Harrison Parker, in 1843, Mr. Parker inventing a machine for cutting veneers, which was used in this building. This build- ing was burned January 18, 1845, and soon rebuilt. In the building burned Amos Whittemore put in one of the first machines invented for pegging shoes. It was his invention, and attracted much attention when new. Further along, on the same street, near the junction of Washington and Main Streets, was the blacksmith shop of Major Francis Johnson and Nathan B. Johnson, its owners at that period. It was one of the most famous shops of the region, and much work was done in it at this time for the Boston and Lowell Railroad. In the evenings in winter the glowing fires were seen in full blast, and the air of enterprise about the place was inspiring and invigor- ating. The antiquity of this stand can be traced into the former century, when horses were formerly shod here, belonging to the ancient stage-coaches of the earlier date. Further on was the old Black Horse tavern, with its ample stables and pleasant grounds. At Symmes' Corner was another black- smith shop, where considerable business was also done. (Cf. article in Winchester Record, by O. R. Clark, i. 125-29.)

II. CIVIL HISTORY AFTER INCORPORATION, OR FROM 1850 TO THE PRESENT TIME.

Winchester had one advantage when incorporated as a town. It was a new town, and could avail itself of the experience of many generations. It could avoid the errors of other and older municipalities, and shape the institutions of the place after a more perfect pattern.1 That the younger generation might have a worthy inheritance, great attention was paid to schools, and hence many of the early reports were practically school reports. The town expenditure was largely for this object. The town was obliged from necessity to make a large outlay for bridges, but her expenses, as a whole, were not extraordinary. At the outset she had no expensive hall to erect, and

the " Winchester fund " aided in the purchase of land for a cemetery, and her school-houses were not ex- pensive affairs. In 1855 the number of schools in Winchester was nine; school-houses, seven. The town had never been divided into school districts and had no district or prudential committees. The School Committee of the town had charge of all the schools and school-houses, and one common and uni- form system of administration had been applied to every school and school division. 2 This arrangement would seem to be an improvement on the methods then in vogue in other towns, though common enough now. From the first year of its incorporation the town had a High School in which it took a com- mendable pride, and its schools have always been the subject of an unusual interest. In 1859 the number of school-houses was eight, and a private school was taught in the lower hall of the Lyceum Building. The half-day session was at that time a feature of the High School, and Thomas Emerson, a native of the town, and eminent latterly as a school superintendent and instructor, was its principal. The number of families in the town did not then require the legal maintenance of such a school, and it was, in fact, the smallest town in the State that then sustained a High School.

Seven new school-houses had been built between 1850 and 1860. Its whole taxable property at that period was but little more than half a million dollars, and its population numbered but eighteen hundred and one. Among the towns and cities of Massachu- setts its standing in the comparative amount of money expended for education, was at that time the fifth, and again the second. In the published financial rc- port of the town for 1860, an appropriation for the town library is first mentioned, and disbursements on its account are given. The first published report of the trustees of that institution appeared in 1861. In November, 1861, the teachers of the High School generously relinquished a part of their salaries, of their own accord, in consideration of the pressure of the times, occasioned by the Civil War and the em- barrassed state of the treasury of the town. Disburse- ments on account of the families of volunteers en- listed in the service of the United States from Win- chester in the prevailing war were first published in the financial report for 1862, and the first printed report of the selectmen was made in that year. The list of military expenses was very much increased in the financial report for 1863, an appropriation hav- ing been made of $13,300 for that purpose. Its quota in July, 1862, was twenty-five men for three years, which was promptly raised and mustercd into the service of the United States. The next call was for nine-months' men, and the quota fixed was forty- three. That number was furnished. A new appor- tionment under this call increased the number to

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 178

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