History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 200

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 200

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In 1748 a road was laid out by the Court's commit- tee through land of William Reed and Timothy

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BEDFORD.

Hartwell. It was the extension from the present Loomis estate to connect with the Billerica and Cam- bridge road at the present cemetery gate. Eleazer Davis (2d) lost his life in building this piece of road in September, 1748.

From 1750 to 1790 but few new roads were called for-those already laid out were gradually improved -gates and bars were discontinued and an occasional bridle-way was opened to the public travel and care.

About 1790 citizens of the District of Carlisle began to take steps to bridge Concord River. A letter from them, dated December 9, 1790, was discussed by the voters of this town and the subject-matter referred to a committee.

Before that committee was ready to report, a peti- tion had been entered at the Court of General Ses- sions by the people of Carlisle and a meeting of the citizens of Bedford was held in December, 1791, when steps were taken to ascertain the best way to reach Concord River from the village. In the following February the committee reported that they had made surveys as follows : "From 16 mile-stone, near J. Fitches' to Brother Rocks, by Samuel Lane's (Huck- ins') two miles and one-half: From said mile-stone through the swamp by Job Lane's house (Farrell's) to the River meadow-Oak upland-one and a third miles and forty-eight rods; From said mile-stone over Zachariah Fitch's causway (Sampson's) to the River, near Oak upland, two miles and one hundred rods." The committee chosen to consider the feasa- bility of the plan of bridging the river made an ex- tended report, from which the following is taken: "To put the bridge where it is proposed by the peti- tioners would require the building of a road through four hundred rods of meadow, deep mirey swamp and low, flat land, and the whole of the same lying in Bedford (saving eight rods), when we have neither stone nor earth suitable within a mile,-Therefore we think it very unreasonable and imposing upon the town of Bedford for them to think for to make us their slaves for ever, as we shall be, if we should be held to maintain a highway where they propose." The committee urged the way by the "Brother Rocks," saying-"however we are willing for to help them over the River when they may stand upon good bottom, and do something for them that we trust the Court's committee will think honorable to the town." The town opposed the plan most assiduously, but the Court ordered the road to be laid out in the way most objectionable to Bedford people, and they were obliged to plunge into the swamp and build the road and help bridge the river at an expense most trying to the people in the beginning. The town was di- vided into eight districts, with a superintendent for each, and the work of building the road from the "bar" to the river was assigned in equal portions.

The miry nature of the ground over which the road was built has occasioned continual outlays since the construction, which, with the oft-repeated calls

for repairs upon the bridge, have led later generations to believe that the investigating committee of 1792 was endowed with prophetic wisdom. The first bridge did not last twenty-five years, and Bedford was obliged to make an outlay of five hundred dollars to replace her portion in 1823. In 1873 the old mud- sill bridge was taken away and a modern pile-bridge put in its place, at an expense to this town of nearly three thousand dollars.

The road from Bacon's (Frost's) to Gleason's mill (Staple's) was opened as a public way in 1798 and from Hosmer and Muzzy's corner to Samuel Hart- well's (McGovern's) in the same year. In 1800 the road past the present East School-house first appears as a town road, and in the same year the road from Web- ber's (Kenrick's) to Lexington line over the hill was straightened.

At the opening of the present century a road from the main way to Oliver Reed's (C. L. Waits') was opened. The evidence of the records is that it was a town-way at times and at others it was private. Mr. Reed was allowed to work out his highway rates on this road by special vote of the town.

In 1802 the town voted "to open a road from John Sprague's and so on to Eleazer Davis', they to give the land, and fence the road, all but sixty rods, which the town should build." It was laid out two rods wide, and two years were allowed for its completion, proving that the " Loop " round by Josiah Davis' house was not a public way until 1804. Measures were be- ing taken at the same time to have the road to Lex- ington straightened, which was done by order of the Court of Sessions in 1807. The cost paid by this town was $1048.10. The straightening began at James Wright's chaise-house (Chas. Woods), and re- sulted in the present road over Shawshine River to Nathan Fitches' corner and direct to Lexington line.

The Middlesex Turnpike, a private enterprise, chartered in June, 1805, caused Bedford people a good deal of anxiety. A committee was chosen to protect her interests, believing the opening of such a thoroughfare would tend to draw away travel from the village and injure the town. It was located in 1806, crossing the town on its northeast border. Tlie proprietors of the turnpike were actuated by a vain delusion that the new road built without regard for hills or ponds would attract all of the travel between New Hampshire, Vermont and Boston, notwithstand- ing the oft-repeated demand for " toll."

They enjoyed a measure of success for awhile, but professional teamsters were slow to abandon the fa- miliar routes and discard the hospitality of the long established taverns in Bedford.

The opening of the Chelmsford road in 1823 was encouraged by this town, and measures were adopted to attract travel through the village, and the loss oc- casioned by the turnpike was more than made up to the town by the new route. Six and eight-horse teams were continually passing through the village

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

loaded with wool, butter, cheese and produce of the northern farms, in exchange for salt, molasses, dry goods, rum and the requisites of a " country store," and in early winter " the roads were full" of farmers' teams loaded with their own fat pigs and beef and other products of their own industry, to be bartered in the markets for a years' supply of family necessar- ies. The charter of the Turnpike Company was re- pealed in 1841, and the road became a public high- way; by this, Bedford was burdened with another bridge and a section of road to maintain, which, be- cause of its location, was of but little benefit to the citizens.

When the turnpike was opened this town was obliged to build two short lines of public road for the accommodation of families located near it. One of seventy-five rods, in the east part of the town, made a new opening to Burlington, and one in the vicinity of Abner Wheeler's (Ernstein's). May, 1822, the road from John Merriam's to Lexington, two rods wide, was made a town-way. But few additions were made to the highways after the opening of the Chelmsford road until the coming of the railroad.

A short cut from Vinebrook mill (Staples') to the village was made by opening the road from Lyon's barn across Shawshine River to the old road at Blodgett's house. This added another bridge to the town's care. The records show that while freed from building new roads, much attention was given to straightening and improving the old, but, fortunately, enough curves remain to preserve the rustic beauty of the town ; these are appreciated when driving for pleasure, but often condemned by the ambitious farmer in his haste to reach the market. In 1874 the road going south from the village was widened and straightened to accommodate the travel occasioned by the opening of the Middlesex Central Railroad. Loomis Street was soon opened as an eastern approach to the rail- road station.

" Webber " Avenue, built in 1884, and " Hillside " Avenue built, in 1888, were private enterprises, but were soon accepted by the town as public ways.

" Fletcher " Avenue, laid out by Matthew Fletcher, is still a private way, but enjoyed by the public.

RAILROADS .- In the summer of 1873 the ground was formally broken and work commenced on the bed of the Middlesex Central Railroad in this town. The town invested $20,000 in the enterprise and has never regretted the step. In the autumn of 1874 the road was opened for travel from Concord to Lexing- ton, where it connected with the "Lexington Branch of the Fitchburg." The stage-coach, which had lin- gered here much longer than in any other town within equal distance of Boston, was set one side.

In the autumn of 1877 a railroad of a two-foot gauge was opened between Bedford and North Biller- ica. A road of this kind had been opcrated in Wales with success, but none so narrow had been built in this country. The novelty of the road, its cheap eon-

struction and equipments attracted much attention. Foreign philanthropists sought for the plans and re- turned to Europe with cheering reports. The rolling stock of the 'road consisted of two locomotives, "Aricl " and "Puck;" two passenger cars; two "excursion " cars and a few others for freight. For some months trains made regular trips over the road, and the experiment was a suceess as far as the work- ing capacity was concerned, but it was a financial failure. According to a report in the Scientific Amer- ican of March 16, 1878, the cost reached $60,000 while the estimate was $50,000 or $8000 per mile. A por- tion of the subscription " proved unsound or fraudu- lent," which, with the extra cost, unplanned for, placed the road in an unfortunate condition before it was ready for service. It was unpopular from the starting of the trains and never succeeded in regain- ing the confidence of the people in general, although some judicious men never lost confidence in the road as an ultimate success pecuniarily, but time was not allowed to test the wisdom of the plan. The road was thrown into bankruptcy and the rolling stock sold by assignees for $9000 in June, 1878. Thus the loss to Billerica and Bedford became a benefit to the Sandy River Railroad in Maine, where the rolling stock was put to immediate use.

Individuals were the only investors here, but they, with many mechanics of the town, lost heavily by the failure, while the owners of the land through which the road passed were in many cases liberally com- pensated for damages by holding the rails, ete.

In 1885 the Boston and Lowell Company, then con- trolling the Middlesex Central, built a line from Bedford to connect with their main line at North Billerica, following substantially, through this town, the abandoned bed of the "Narrow Gauge." The town invested $2000 in this enterprise. By the ad- dition of this line Bedford became a railroad junction, and is within ready access of Lowell and Boston, having abundant accommodations. As regards the time required for reaching the capital of the State, Bedford is to-day where Arlington was twenty years carlier.

CHAPTER LXXIX.

BEDFORD-(Continued).

Stage-Routes-Post-Office-Postmasters-Industries-Residential Town-In- rentions.

THE opening of the Chelmsford road, so called, in 1823, contributed greatly to the facilities for travel, and Bedford Centre became a popular thoroughfare. Competitive stagc-routes were established from Con- cord, N. H., to Boston, in one of which Bedford mer- chants were stock owners. This fact, together with the popular roads and well-kept taverns, led to the selection of Bedford as a way station, where relays of

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BEDFORD.

horses were kept. Other stage lines passed through the village, one of which was from Lowell to Woon- socket. An enterprise, strange, indeed, to the present generation, was created by the regular coming and going of the coaches, loaded inside and out with merchants and tourists. A public conveyance led to the establishing of a post-office in Bedford and in 1825 Elijah Stearns, Esq., was appointed the first postmaster. The first mail that left the town con- tained but one letter. Postage was an item of im- portance, and with many people correspondence was necessarily limited. The rates ranged, according to distance, from six cents to twenty-five, and pre-pay- ment was optional. A letter from Billerica to Bed- ford must necessarily go through Boston, incurring a postage of ten cents. A widow at Bedford received, in one day, letters from four sons, who were strug- gling for an education in different schools, and her bill at the post-office was one dollar. The postnias- ters in the order of their appointments are: Elijah Stearns, John A. Merriam, Reuben Bacon, Thomas Stiles, Jonas Munroe, Thomas Stiles, Henry A. Glea- son, Marcus B. Webber, Charles G. Fox, Marcus B. Webber, Henry A. Gleason.

INDUSTRIES .- Bedford has always been classed with the agricultural towns of the State; although in common with all inland settlements during the colon- ial period, the people were largely engaged in sup- plying their own wants, hence every family conducted its own manufacturing. The cumbersome loom, witlı its oaken beams, spinning-wheels great and small, hetchel, cards and the like, were requisites here longer than in towns on the direct line of the first public coaches. With this primitive machinery the lamb's warm fleece was turned to cloth, and dyed with indigo at the chimney-corner, while the flax, from the fields, was made into snowy linen by the same deft hands that were equally skillful in manufactur- ing golden butter and savory cheese, not only for domestic use, but to exchange for other necessaries. The housewife had her annual season for preparing the year's stock of "tallow-dips" or candles and manufacturing soap for family use.

The blacksmith hammered out the nails of all sizes, and with the aid of the woodwright supplied the farmer with all his tools. The itinerant cobbler made the boots and shoes from leather tanned in the neigh- borhood vat. The village had its brick-kiln. Char- coal was manufactured and Tarkiln Brook (crossing the south part of the town) suggests a day when the sap of the early forests was boiled to tar and resin on its winding banks. When the brave pioneer's life was over the village carpenter made the coffin for his body. It was early in the present century that the people of Bedford began to contribute to the increas- ing demands of a growing population outside of its own borders. In 1805 Jonathan Bacon and John Hosmer began the manufacture of children's shoes for Boston market. They were both of an inventive

mind,-made their own lasts and prepared their own patterns. The business increased and other firms engaged in the enterprise ; among them were Benjamin Simonds, Zebedee Simonds, Reuben Bacon, Cham- berlin & Billings. Several hundred people of both sexes were employed. Young men from other locali- ties were apprenticed in the service of the different firms, many of whom settled here and became leaders in public affairs. When the business was at its height the annual sales amounted to upwards of ninety thousand pairs, at an estimated value of fifty thousand dollars. This was all hand work, and the employés were, to an individual, American born. "No shoes were in better credit than those made in Bed- ford." When machinery was introduced elsewhere, and all classes of people were employed in producing all grades of work, the demand for the superior arti- cles, made here, gradually slackened, and after a time the business entirely ceased. Another enterprise car- ried on here quite extensively, when the shoe business was at its meridian, was the manufacture of band- 'boxes. Women were employed chiefly and many young women were attracted to the town to engage in this employment. Not a few of them formed holy alli- ances with the young men of the shoe firms and together became the founders of some of the most enterprising families.

George Fisk in the north part of the town and Amasa Lane in the east carried on this line of manu- facturing. At first thinly-shaved wood for the foun- dation work was obtained from New Hampshire, but later a machine was introduced and the whole work was done here. The size of the boxcs varied according to the fashion of the ladies' bonnets, which was variable in those days, as at the present, and created a demand equal to the supply.

About the year 1812, inquiring minds were turned to a geological formation that had already been used for paint. The first meeting-house, when repaired after the Revolution, was painted with the material known as the "Bedford Yellow." As before men- tioned, it was found in the largest quantities on the Sprague farm. Thompson Bacon and others engaged in the enterprise. For some years it was used as a mineral paint-yellow ochre.

A stratum of clay was discovered on the southern border of the town and citizens engaged in the man- ufacture of bricks for local use. The clay was teamed to the centre, where a kiln was prepared and sufficient quantities burnt to build several houses and chim- neys for others. The manufacture of charcoal be- came an important industry at one time. David Rice, the village blacksmith, burnt the coal for his own forges in a field near Carlisle bridge, while in the south fields the business was carried on more ex- tensively, a market being found in and about Boston.

About the year 1830, Jonathan Bacon invented and patented a blind fastener known to the trade as "Bacon's Patent Lever Blind Fastener." They were

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

inade by hand and were the most approved article of the kind in the market for some years. In the year 1832 about 4000 sets were made in town. Mr. Bacon received encouragement from Edward Everett, who pronounced the first pattern exhibited to be an arti- cle of value, as it proved to be. This patent was a source of a good income to Mr. Bacon, and the man- ufacture of them gave employment to several work- men in iron. Tanning and currying as an industry was carried on in the latter part of the eighteenth century and the opening years of the nineteenth. It was carried on at the centre by James Wright, Sr. and Jr., successively, and by the Convers family in the south part of the town. It was chiefly of local in- terest and prepared leather for home market. The farmers' habit of wearing leather aprons and sheep- skin breeches created a local demand, long since dis- continued. The bark for tanning was ground by re- volving stones after the manner of a corn-mill. The Wrights were succeeded by Benjamin F. Thompson, who in after years removed the industry to Woburn.

About 1840 a paper-mill was established on the site of the Wilson corn-mill, on Vine Brook, and the manu- facture of coarse paper was carried on for a series of years, giving employment to many hands. The busi- ness was removed after the destruction of the mill by fire, causing the removal of one-tenth of the inhabit- ants of the town. After this calamity the indus- tries, "with the exception of the manufacture of local necessities," were chiefly agricultural, until after the close of the Civil War. The opening of the Middle- sex Central Railroad in 1873 furnished direct and easy communication with Boston, only fifteen miles distant, and prepared the way for a decided change, which is now rapidly taking place. Men, whose bus- iness centres are in Boston, are establishing homes, and the centre of the town is fast becoming a resi- dential village. .

The old system of farming is giving way to the cul- ture of small fruits and vegetables, and acres are cov- ered with glass for the purpose of securing early crops. The Colonel Jones farm of colonial days, in the west part of the town, comprising many acres of the "Great Fields " sought by the first settlers, is being used for the propagation of nursery stock.

Grazing has become an important feature of agri- culture, and the production of milk for Boston mar- ket has increased rapidly with the improved facilities for transportation. About six hundred and fifty cans of eight quarts cach are daily shipped from Bedford. Many tons of superior quality of hay are annually produced, for which there is a good local market. Acres are annually planted with cucumbers, for which a ready market is found at a packing-house where cucumbers, gathered when quite small, are manufac- tured into pickles.

A wood factory for the manufacture of miscellane- ous articles, gives employment to several men, and the town has its complement of cartwrights, black-

smiths and other artisans. Several men are employed with teams in marketing wood, cut from the forests of the town, but the growth keeps even pace with the consumption. The "Bacon Snow Plow," invent- ed by Isaac P. Bacon, is considered the best horse- machine in use for clearing snow from sidewalks, and is used in the large towns of the county. The inven- tor died without having secured a patent and the in- dustry is lost to the town.

CHAPTER LXXX.

BEDFORD-(Continued).

Springs-Lakes-Ponds-Public-Houses-Bedford Springs.

THE streams of the town have never contributed very largely to its industries, although in the early days there were more places where the water-power was utilized than at present. Manufacturers have been benefited by damming the Concord River near its confluence with the Merrimack, while the people of Bedford have seen their broad meadows depreciate in value by the overflow of the banks. Peppergrass Brook, which drains the western slope of the village, furnished power for a saw-mill at the opening of the present century ; the mill was located on the southerly portion of Winthrop farm and owned by Job Lane. The Winthrop, or Great Meadow Brook, was utilized by the early inhabitants ; a remnant of the dam is now to be seen on the left side of the highway in go- ing from the village to the East School-house. Far- ther down the same brook and near Sandy Brook bridge was another mill. There is evidence of an early mill near Farley Brook. The natural ponds cover but a small area. The dams at the saw-mills on Shawshine River and Vine Brook have aided in forming small ponds where ice is gathered for local use. "Spring Pond " or "Fawn Lake" covers seve- eral acres, and is fed by a succession of springs ; it is a beautiful sheet of water and adds much to the at- tractiveness of the estate.

PUBLIC-HOUSES .- Benjamin Danforth and Walter Pollard were the inn-keepers of the town, very soon after the incorporation, and possibly furnished entertainment to travelers before the town was organ- ized. The early records show that Danforth and Pol- lard each had bills against the town for entertainment as early as 1738. The former was doubtless located on or near the site of the "Shawshine House," and was succeeded in business by Captain John Webber and his son, John Webber, Jr. The Pollard Tavern was near the Job Lanc Mill, and the Fitzgerald house of the present is thought to represent the original house, in part. It was re-located after the discontinuance of the highway from James Lane's to Thaddeus Fitches'. Tradition furnishes proof of the honesty of Pollard by

d' f

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BEDFORD.

showing that he represented goods, offered for sale, in their true condition, thus : " Want to buy any yellow pork?" says Walter Pollard. "Think not," says Job Lane. Jeremiah Fitch, Jr., opened a tavern about the year 1766. It was there that the minute- men of the town lunched on the morning of April 19, 1775. The opening of the stage routes and the in- crease of teaming through the town led to the open- ing of a tavern towards the close of the eighteenth century. Its location was near the present corner of Concord Street and Park Avenue. It was first kept by Phineas Chamberlain ; he died in 1809, and his successors were Stearns, Porter, Flint, Hurd and Phelps. The house was destroyed by fire in 1837. At the opposite end of the village David Reed opened a tavern in 1797, and conducted the business until his death in 1832. The present "Bedford House " was built in the first quarter of the present century, as a private house, by Joshua Page. It was soon enlarged and turned into a public-house, and has been so kept until the present. In 1888 the sale of intoxicating liquor was suppressed in the town, and the property purchased by a stock company. The house now fur- nishes the comforts of a first-class suburban hotel.

" Bedford Springs" is located about one and four- fifths miles north of and on the Billerica side of Bed- ford Village. The name is derived from three natural fountains strongly impregnated with mineral proper- ties. This place was included within the Oakes farm, which consisted of 150 acres, granted by Cambridge to Captain Gookin, in exchange for his lot on the township, and by him sold to Thomas Oakes. It is evident that the lake and never-failing springs of pure water attracted the attention of the aborigines long before 1643-44, when "Shaweshin was granted to Cambridge."

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 200

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