History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 97

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 97

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).

Mount Wadsworth Cemetery .- This cemetery is at South Sudbury, and formerly belonged to the Israel Howe Browne estate. It was originally quite small, and has been enlarged several times. The entrance was formerly south of Dr. Levi Goodenough's house and joined his grounds, but it was changed about the time the Wadsworth monument was erected, and now leads from the avenue that goes to the monument.

The oldest graves are near the centre of the yard. Probably for the first few years after the lot was laid out burials were less numerous than a little later, as the associations connected with the more ancient church-yard in the east part of the town would nat- urally lead to its somewhat continued use by the west side inhabitants.

A few years ago there was a small growth of trees along the avenues and about more or less of the lots, but they were recently removed lest they should de-

409

SUDBURY.

face the stones. The arch at present over the east entrance to the cemetery was erected in 1879, by Mr. Israel H. Browne over the west entrance. It was completed July, 1879.

Soon after the death of Mr. Israel H. Browne, the. former owner of the cemetery grounds, his heirs sold their interest in the property to five persons, who conveyed it to the present Mount Wadsworth Cor- poration soon after its organization.

In the northeasterly corner, as it was about 1850, was the original Wadsworth grave. Because of the former existence of that grave and the present Wads- worth monument, this cemetery is of more than ordi- nary importance, and will long he visited by those interested in the history of Captain Wadsworth and his men.

Mount Pleasant Cemetery .- The third cemetery laid out in Sudbury is at the Centre, and called Mount Pleasant. As its name suggests, it is pleasantly situ- ated on a hill, and is just north of the Common. The original name was "Pine Hill," and later it took the name of " Pendleton Hill."

The New Cemetery .- Near Mount Pleasant is a new cemetery that is owned by the town. It was pur- chased a few years ago, and has an entrance on the south to the county road, near the tomb of John Goodnow.

North Sudbury Cemetery .-- The North Sudbury Cemetery is situated upon a sunny knoll, and con- sists of one and six-tenths acres of land, formerly owned by Reuben Haynes, and purchased by a com- pany for a cemetery in 1843. It is about one-eighth of a mile from North Sudbury Village, on the country road leading from Framingham to Concord.

The Wayside Inn .- On the Boston road through Sud- bury is the old " Howe Tavern," or the famous " Way- side Inn" of Longfellow. It was huilt about the be- ginning of the eighteenth century by David Howe, who, in 1702, received of his father, Samuel Howe, a son of John, one of the early grantees, a tract of 130 acres in the "New Grant" territory. During the process of constructing the house, tradition says, the workmen resorted for safety at night to the Parmenter Garrison, a place about a half-mile away. The safety sought was probably from the raids of Indians, who, long after Philip's War closed, made occasional incursions upon the borders of the frontier towns. At or about the time of its erection it was opened as a public-house, and in 1846, Colonel Ezekiel Howe, of Revolutionary fame, put up the sign of the "Red Horse," which gave it the name that it went by for years, namely, the "Red Horse Tavern." In 1796, Colonel Ezekiel Howe died, and his son Adam took the place and kept the tavern for forty years. At the death of Adam it went into the hands of Lyman, who contin- ued it as an inn until near 1866, about which time it passed out of the hands of an owner by the name of Howe. In the earlier times this house was of consid- erable consequence to travelers. It was quite capa-

cious for either the colonial or the provincial period, and was within about an easy day's journey to Mas- sachusetts Bay. The road by it was a grand thorough- fare westward. Sudbury, in those years, was one of the foremost towns of Middlesex County in popula- tion, influence and wealth, while the Howe family took rank among the first families of the country about. The seclusion of this quiet spot to-day is not indicative of what it was in the days of the old stage period, and when places since made prominent by the passage of a railroad through them were almost wholly or quite unknown. In the times of the wars against the Indians and French it was a common halting-place for troops as they marched to the front or returned to their homes in the Bay towns. It was largely patronized by the up-country marketers, who, by their frequent coming and going, with their large, canvas-topped wagons, made the highway past this ordinary look like the outlet of a busy mart. Stages also enlivened the scene. The sound of the post- horn, as it announced the near approach of the coach, was the signal for the hostler and housemaid to pre- pare refreshment for man and heast. In short, few country taverns were better situated than this to gain patronage in the days when few towns of the province were better known than old Sudbury. This place, noted, capacious and thickly mantled with years, is thus fitly descrihed hy Mr. Longfellow,-

" As ancient is this hostelry As any in the land may be, Built in the old Colonial day, When men lived in a grander way With ampler hospitality ; A kind of old Hobgoblin Hall, Now somewhat fallen to decay."

There is now about the place an aspect of vacancy, as if something mighty were gone, and very appropri- ate are still further words of the poet Longfellow :

" Round this old-fashioned, quaint abode Deep silence reigned, save when a gust Went rushing down the country road, And skeletons of leaves and dust, A moment quickened by its breath, Shuddered, and danced their dance of death, And, through the ancient oaks o'erhead, Mysterious voices moaned and fled. With weather-stains upon the wall,

And stairways worn, and crazy doors, And creaking and uneven floors, And chimneys huge and tiled and tall."

The region about this old ordinary corresponds to the building itself, reminding one of the Sleepy Hol- low among the highlands of the Hudson described by Washington Irving. It is on the edge of the plain lands of the Peakham District, just at the foot of the northernmost spur of Nobscot Hill. To the west- ward, a few rods, is the upper branch of Hop Brook, with its faint fringe of meadow lands, over which the county road gently curves. In the near neighbor- hood are patches of old forest growth, whose tall

410

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

trees tower upward like sentinels in the view of passers along the county road. Indeed, so aptly does Mr. Longfellow describe the place where the house is situated that we quote further from his beautiful verse :

" A region of repose it seems, A place of slumber and of dreams, Remote among the wooded hills ! For there no noisy railroad speeds Its torch-race, scattering smoke and gleeds."

Along the highway to the eastward, in the direction of South Sudbury, which from this place is about two miles distant, are still standing several ancient oaks. These trees were, doubtless, standing and had consid- erable growth when lot number forty-eight was of the town's common land, and owned by Tantamous and others who signed the Indian deed in 1684, by which the new grant lands were conveyed. Beneath them Washington and his retinue passed, and perhaps Wadsworth and Brocklebank when they sped in haste to save Sudbury from Philip, and a long procession of travelers, since the opening of the way to Marlboro' from the Hop Brook mill, has passed under their venerable shade. Soldiers to Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and the various expeditions to the west and north in the Revolutionary and French and Indian Wars, have halted in their march as they approached this picket-line of ancient oaks that were deployed at the approach to the inn.

THE SUDBURY RIVER .- The Indian name of this stream was " Musketahquid," meaning grassy mead- ows or grassy brook. It was also called the "Great River." It takes its rise in Hopkinton and Westboro', the branch from the latter town having its source in a large cedar swamp. Passing through Framingham, it enters Sudbury on the southeast, and forms the boundary line between it and Wayland. After leav- ing the town, it runs through Concord and borders on Lincoln, Carlisle and Bedford, and empties into the Merrimack River at Lowell. It is made use of for mill purposes at Framingham and Billerica.

Within the present century iron ore dug in town was laden in boats at the Old Town Bridge and taken to Chelmsford.

The width of this river where it enters the town is about fifty feet; where it leaves the town it is about two hundred feet; at the latter place it is one hun- dred and fourteen feet above low water-mark at Bos- ton. Its course is very crooked, seldom, running far in one direction, but having many sharp curves. The banks are quite bare of shubbery, except the occasion- al bunches of water brush that here and there assist in tracing its course. Fish abound in this river, of which the more useful and commonly sought are the pickerel (Esox reticulatus), perchi (Perca flavescens), bream or sunfish ( Pomotis vulgaris), horned (Pime lo- duscatus), and common eel (Anguilla tenuirostris). The kind most sought for the sport in taking is the pickerel. Indeed, Sudbury River has become somne-

what noted for the pastime it affords in pickerel fish- ing. Specimens weighing a half dozen pounds are sometimes caught.

There is an old tradition in connection with the river meadows given as follows by an old inhabitant : " An old tinker used to go about the country with his kit of tools, mending brass and other wares, and was sup- posed to have accumulated some money, and, the say- ing was, turned up missing, and no one seemed to know what had become of him. Very soon afterwards per- sons passing near the meadows could distinctly hear the old tinker busy at his work tinkering, and the sound would follow along beside them in the evening, but would not pass beyond the meadows, and my grandmother used to tell many stories to the younger ones of the family how bevies of young people would go down to the meadows to hear the old tinker-per- haps he would not be at work, and some one would say, 'I guess the old tinker isn't at work to-night,' and in an instant, very like, he would strike up, and then they would surround him-but no-he would strike up in another place and so forth and so on. Sometimes they would ask or suggest that he had got out of brass, and the sound would come as if he had thrown a whole apronful. This thing lasted for years, at last an old lady died near the meadows, and the sound followed along beside the funeral procession as long as it went beside the meadows, and this was the only instance of his working in the day-time, and no tinkering was heard afterward."

The horned pout may be caught almost at the rate of a peck in an evening, when the water and season are right. The fisherman simply ties his boat to a stake in a suitable place, perhaps some quiet, snug nook where the waters are still, and on a warm night in late spring or summer, between the mosquitoes and pouts his time will be fully occupied.

In early times the river abounded in fish now un- known in its waters. Of these were the alewives, sal- mon and shad. The obstructions caused by the dam at Billerica long ago prevented these valuable fishes from ascending the stream, and petitions were early presented to the General Court to have the obstruc- tion removed on account of the fisheries. Shattuck informs us that at certain seasons fish officers of Con- cord went to the dam at Billerica to see that the sluice- ways were properly opened to permit the fish to pass, and he states that the exclusive right to the fisheries was often sold by the town; the purchasing party having a right by his purchase to erect what is called a weir across the river to assist in fish-taking.

A chief characteristic of this river is its slow-mov- ing current, which in places is scarcely perceptible at a casual glance. The slowness of the current is supposed to be occasioncd by various causes, any one of which may, perhaps, be sufficient, but all of which at present doubtless contribute something to it. The chief reason is its very small fall, which may be occasioned by both natural and artificial causes.

Holm Gleason.

411

SUDBURY.

It is said to be but two inches to the mile for twenty-two miles. This slow current tends to keep the river from straightening its course, and to in- crease the water weeds that grow in the channel.

PHYSICIANS .- A prominent physician who lived in the original limits of Sudbury, and for years prac- ticed in the town, was Dr. Ebenezer Roby. He lived on the east side of the river, and mention is made of him in the sketch of Wayland History.

Josiah Langdon, M.D .- Dr. Josiah Langdon was in Sudbury at the time of the Revolutionary War. He died in 1779, and was buried in the "Old Bury- ing-Ground " at Sudbury Centre.

Moses Taft, M.D .- Dr. Moses Taft practiced medi- cine in Sudbury towards the close of the last century. He lived at the "Centre," in what has been known subsequently as the "Barker house," and where a grocery store was once kept. He was buried in the western part of the Oid Burying-Ground.

Moses Mossman, M.D .- Dr. Moses Mossman was one of the old-time physicians of Sudbury. He prac- ticed medicine there towards the close of the last and the early part of the present century. His profes- sional work extended over quite a portion of the neighboring country, reaching to Stow, Acton, Con- cord and Marlboro'.

His home was in the northerly part of Sudbury, at the Mossman place, and it is said that, about the locality of his garden plot, the herbs still grow which the doctor used to cultivate. He was much beloved and respected as a citizen.

Thomas Stearns, M.D .- Dr. Thomas Stearns prac- ticed medicine in Sudbury for some years previous to 1840, about which time he died. He lived at the Centre, in the second house west of the Unitarian meeting-house, on the north side of the road, and since used as a tavern. He was an active citizens of a positive nature, and energetic in the prosecution of his plans. He was interested in what pertained to the history of Sudbury, and gathered quite a collec- tion of old documents, which, since his death, have been purchased by the town and are known as the " Stearns Collection." He was buried in Mount Pleasant Cemetery.

Leri Goodenough, M.D .- Dr. Levi Goodenough was born in Derby, Vt., Oct. 30, 1803. He received his diploma from the Medical School of the University of Vermont, Sept. 16, 1828, and settled in Sudbury Feb. 12, 1830, where he remained till his death. He was a typical country physician. As a citizen, Dr. Good- enough was public-spirited, a stanch advocate of re- form, and in temperance his name stands among the pioneers. He was a professing Christian from early youth.

Ashbel Kidder, M.D .- Dr. Ashbel Kidder practiced medicine in Sudbury for about twenty-five years in the early part of the present century. He was born at Sutton in 1770, and studied medicine at Harvard College. He lived at Sudbury Centre in a house at

the corner of the roads, which was used for many years as a tavern and was burned near half a century, ago.

Otis O. Johnson, M D .- Dr. Otis O. Johnson prac- ticed medicine in Sudbury for some years about the middle of the present century.

George A. Oviatt, M.D .- Dr. George A. Oviatt was born in Boston, March 30, 1849. He fitted for college at Hartford Latin School, and graduated at Yale in 1872. He received his medical diploma at the Col- lege of Physicians and Surgeons, New York, March, 1875. April of the same year he commenced the practice of medicine in Sudbury, where he still resides.

The following is a list of college graduates and pro- fessional men since 1800:

George H. Barton, Francis F. Brown, E. R. Cutler, Joseph Cutler, Charles F. Gerry, Adoniram J. Good- enough, George M. Howe, Alfred S. Hudson, Edward B. Hunt, Edwin Hunt, Otis E. Hunt, Sereno D. Hunt, Herbert S. Jones, Harriet M. Pratt, Luther Puffer, Homer Rogers, Henry Shaw, Joseph A. Shaw, Charles Thomson.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

JOHN GLEASON.

The subject of this sketch was a native of Ireland and was born March 2, 1833. His father was one of the celebrated Gleason family of Scotland, and his ancestors were among the leading politicians of their time, some of whom were members of Parlia- ment. His early days were spent in his native land, where he acquired a good practical educa- tion. At the age of sixteen his parents moved to America and he accompanied them. He landed at Boston on the 17th of June, 1850, and one of the first sights that greeted his wondering eyes, upon his ar- rival in the " land of the free," was the enthusiastic celebration of the battle of Bunker Hill. His father settled in Boston and the boy went to learn the ma- chinist's trade. He proved an apt scholar, and made good progress, but the confinement proving irksome, he started out in the spring of 1853 and found employ- ment on the extensive market farm of Major Jonas Barker, of Carlisle, who finding the young man sober, industrious and fully trustworthy, soon gave him charge of his extensive business, which he conducted with great credit to himself and to the entire satisfac- tion of his employer.

As the years passed by, he became more and more identified with the place and came to be considered as a member of the family. Major Barker had but one child at home-a daughter, who had been a very successful teacher in the public schools, and what could be more natural than that these young persons should be attracted to each other. On April 11, 1858,

112

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

they were united in marriage, after which they resided for a short time in Framingham, but the major could not spare the strong arm upon which he had learned to lean in his advancing years, and, after a brief ab- sence, at the earnest request of his bride's parents, the young people went back to Carlisle, where they lived until the death of Major and Mrs. Barker. An idca of tlic extent of the confidence which the major re- poscd in his son-in-law is found in the fact that he was one of the two executors of the will.

On November 23, 1872, Mr. Gleason removed with his wife to Sudbury, where he lived until his death, August 15, 1879. Conscientious in the discharge of his duties, strictly honest in his business dealings, of unimpeachable character and happy in his domestic surroundings, he lived respected by those with whom lie came in contact and mourned by all who knew him.

CHARLES L. GOODNOW.

Mr. Goodnow is descended from a family which was prominent in the early settlement of Sudbury. Among the passengers who enbarked from Southampton for New England April 24, 1638, in the "Confidence," John Jobson, master, were John Goodnow, of "Wil- sheir," husbandman, aged forty-two, with his wife Jane and children Lydia and Jane; Edmund Goodnow, of "Dunhead in Wilshire," husbandman, aged twenty- seven, with Ann, his wife, and two sons, John and Thomas; and Thomas Goodnow, of Shasbury, aged thirty, with Jane, his wife and two children, Thomas and Ursula. John, Edmund and Thomas Goodnow were evidently three brothers seeking their fortunes in the new world. John was made a freeman June 2, 1641, and in 1644 was one of the selectmen of Sud- bury. He died March 28, 1654. Edmund was made a freeman May 13, 1640, and occupied the house in Sudbury known by tradition as the Goodnow gar- rison. He was a representative in the Colonial General Court, a captain in the militia and a regu- larly appointed surveyor to lay out granted lands. He died April 6, 1688. Thomas Goodnow, the third brother, was made a freeman in 1643, and afterwards removed from Sudbury to Marlboro' Plantation, where he had grants of land. In 1661-62 and 1664 he was one of the selectmen of Marlboro. He was married twice, and by his first wife, Jane, he had seven children, two of whom, Thomas and Mary, were born in Sudbury. The daughter Mary was killed and scalped by the Indians. Samuel, another child, oc- cupied a house in Marlboro', which during the In- dian troubles was made a garrison.

The great-grandfather of Charles L. Goodnow, the subject of this sketch, lived in Sudbury, and had a son Nahum, a farmer, who married Ruth Brown. The children of Nahum were Nahum, Susanna, Jonas, Martin, Joseph Warren, Eliot, Joanna and Jessc. Of these children Nahum married his cousin Betsey,

daughter of John and Persis Goodnow, and was the father of the subject of this sketch.

Charles L. Goodnow was born in Sudbury, Mass., and was educated in the public schools of the town. At the age of eighteen lic went to Boston, and not long after associated himself with the late Charles Slack in the producc business, which he pursued twenty-five years and will be remembered by many rcaders as one of the prominent occupants of the Boylston Market. He remained in Boston seven or eight years after his retirement from business and then returned to Sudbury, where, during the last few years, he has lived. He was the owner of a large farm about a mile from the South Sudbury Railroad Sta- tion, on the road to Framingham, seventy acres of which were under his own management or that of his lessees, and the remainder under that of his son, Charles Frederick Goodnow, who carries on an ex- tensive business in raising vegetables and flowers for the Boston market.

Mr. Goodnow married, first, Ruth Lapham, who was the mother of the son above-mentioned, and sub- sequently Harriet Brigham, of Boston, who has no children. At the present time the home farm is car- ried on by Mr. Cutting, a lessee with whom Mr. Goodnow made his home. With abundant means he led a retired life, somewhat feeble in health, though far from advanced in years.

In religion, though born in an orthodox family, Mr. Goodnow was a Universalist. In politics, brought up in the Whig faith, he was a Republi- can and actively interested in the welfare of his party. He held no office and neither sought nor consented to hold one, with its duties an i responsibil- ities far outweighing in his opinion its profits and honors. Mr. Goodnow died August 8, 1890.

The family of Mr. Goodnow has always maintained its prominence in the town where it early found a permanent home. The Goodnow Library in South Sudbury was established in 1862 under a bequest made by John Goodnow, a brother of the mother of the subject of this sketch, who was born in Sudbury September 6, 1791, and who died in Boston December 24, 1861. At a later date George Goodnow, a brother of John, bequeathed, by his will, the sum of ten thousand dollars for the benefit of the poor of his native town. John B. Goodnow, a brother of Charles L. Goodnow, and Martin Goodnow, an uncle, are liv- ing in South Sudbury in substantial comfort,-the latter over eighty years of age,-aud both enjoying the confidence and respect of the community of which they are members. Others bearing the name are scattered through the town and all are worthy descend- ants of the early settlers of 1639.

HON. HOMER ROGERS.

Homer Rogers, sou of Walter and Emily Rogers, was born at South Sudbury October 11, 1840.

JOHNA . LOWELL & CO, BOSTON.

Homer Rogers,

WAYLAND.

413

He studied at Wadsworth Academy, entered Williams College in 1858, and graduated in 1862. Soon after leaving college he enlisted in Co. F, Forty-fifth Regiment M. V. M. At the expira- tion of his term of service he taught school one year in Douse Academy, Sherborn, and from 1864-66 in the Natick High School, since which time he has been engaged in business. Jan. 15, 1868, he married Ellen E. Perry, of South Natick, and had seven children. Mr. Rogers is a successful business man and has for years been connected with the firm of S. B. Rogers & Co., manufacturers of leather board. He is the presi- dent of the Allston Co-operative Bank in Allston, Mass., which he was instrumental in organizing, and is a director of the National Market Bank, of Brigh- ton. In 1SSS he was elected alderman of the Eleventh District of Boston and re-elected the follow- ing year, at which time he was chosen chairman of the board. He was largely instrumental in the for- ination of the Congregational Church of Allston, where he now resides.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

WAYLAND.

BY ALFRED SERENO HUDSON.

WAYLAND was formerly a part of Sudbury. It was set apart as a town in 1780, under the name of East Sudbury, and took its present name in 1835. It is sit- uated on the Massachusetts Central Railroad, about fifteen miles from Boston, and lies mostly on the east side of Sudbury River. It is bounded on the north by Lincoln, east by Weston, south by Natick and west by Sudbury. It has two villages-Wayland Cen- tre and Cochituate.

The town is pleasantly situated, and its rural quiet, beautiful drives and varied scenery render it peculi- arly attractive as a summer residence. Here the set- tlers of Sudbury first located, and nearly two-thirds of the land first granted them by the General Court for the township of Sudbury was within the territory now Wayland. As the acts relative to the obtaining of the land have been given in connection with the his- tory of Sudbury in another part of this work, it is only necessary to say that on petition of those pro- posing the settlement, the Court allowed them a grant of land, which was purchased of the aboriginal own- ers, and for which a deed was given in due form. Be- sides the large tract of land granted the settlers col- lectively, there were several smaller tracts allowed to individuals. This is true of some of the land about Cochituate Pond, which was a part of the tract granted the widow of Rev. Josse Glover. Another grant was that of the "Dunster Farm," sometimes called the " Pond Farm." This was a tract of 600 acres granted, in 1640, to Henry Dunster, the first president of Har-

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts : with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. II, Part 97

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