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

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278

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

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On the 9th of March, 1870, an act was passed in- corporating the town of Everett, including that por- tion of the town of Malden,-

" Beginning et the Stone monument in the line between enld Malden and the town of Medford, which is marked number 'three;' thence running easterly and southerly by the centre of a creek and Malden River to the centre of the Malden Canal ; thence by the centre of suid canal to the range of the north line of Wyllis Avenue ; thence by suid last named line end the northerly side of said avenue to Main Street ; theuce across Main Street to the sontherly lino of Belmont Street ; thence by the southerly eide of Belmont Street to Ferry Street ; thenco crossing Ferry Street, obliquely, to the northerly side of Rich Street ; thence north fifty-six degrees cast, by the northerly side of Rich Street, fourteen hundred and ninety-une feet to a etake; thence south eighty- four degrees cast six thousand and eloven feet to n stake in the line be- tween said Malden and the town of North Chelaca, said stake being two hundred and forty-suven feet northerly from the stone monument in said last mentioned line, which is marked M N Celoven ; and thence south- westerly, Northwesterly and northerly as the present dividing line be- tween said Malden and North Chelsea, Chelsea, Charlestown, Somerville aod Medford runs to the first-mentioned bound."

On the 20th of April, 1877, a portion of the town of Medford was annexed to Malden, beginning,-

" At a stone bound at Creek lead, so called ; thence running north- westerly to an angle in the wall on the northeast line of Salem Street forty-eight and one-tenth feet westerly from the east face of tho west gate-post in front of William Tothill's house ; thonce running northerty parallel with and nine hundred and eighty-six and sixty-six one-hun- dredthe feet distant westerly from the present line dividing Medford and Malden to the line between Medford and Stoneham ; thence running

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

easterly, by the last-named line, to the line between Medford and Mal- den ; thence running southerly by the present easterly boundary of Medford to the point of beginning."

On the 20th of February, 1878, the above act was amended so as to make the second and third courses of the boundary lines read as follows :

"Thence running northerly to a stone monument on the southerly line of the town of Stoneham ; thence easterly nine hundred ninety and sixty-four one hundredths feet to a stone monument at the intersection of the southerly line of said Stoneham and the westerly line of the town of Melrose."

Though the growth of Malden has, in recent years, been exceedingly rapid, its population has been of course seriously affected by these changes in its boundary lines. Until the present century its increase was slight. In 1800 it numbered only 1059, in 1810, only 1384, and not much more when its territory was first impaired by the annexation of a part to Med- ford. When the town of Melrose was set off and incorporated in 1850, the population was 4780, of which Melrose took 1260; at the time of the incor- poration of the town of Everett, in 1870, its popula- tion was 9570, of which Everett took 2200, leaving 7370. In 1875, the population was 10,843; in 1880, 12,017 : in 1881, at the time of the incorporation of the city of Malden, about 12,300, and by the recent census, something over 23,000. Various causes have combined to cause the rapid increase of population in these later years. The establishment of railroad communications developed the shoe manufacture and other smaller trades, so that the manufacturing product of the town, which was, in 1837, only $350,000 per annum, began to increase after the opening of the Boston and Maine Railroad in 1849, and has gone on at more than equal pace with the population.

The Edgeworth Company alone has had an annual product of more than $2,000,000, and that of the Rub- ber Shoe Company has exceeded that amount. All the various enterprises which are the necessary con- sequences of growth have been established, and before the incorporation of the town as a city an ample Fire Department had been organized, a Public Library had been incorporated, and in 1870, & system of water works was completed. The annexation to Medford, in 1877, of about two hundred acres with only about one hundred inhabitants, was neither seriously opposed nor felt. The division of the town in 1870, however, resulting in the incorporation of South Malden as the town of Everett, was inade against the earnest opposition of the to'vn. It took from the old town all the territory which was annexed from Charlestown, in 1726, and the southeastern portion of the old town. It was made after a con- test continuing through nearly a quarter of a century, and after six ineffectual efforts. It was the old and common story, repeated in the experience of many towns, of an outlying district containing a minority of the population, jealous of its rights and claim- ing to be oppressed by unjust and inequitable taxa- tion, for the benefit of the majority in the central

town. The rapid growth and increasing prosperity of the mother town has been so great, however, that the dissensions which preceded the division have been healed, and the loss, which at the time seemed irreparable, has long since been forgotten.

Next to the ecclesiastical history of the town, its educational record is one of the most interest. Its schools at the present time are of a high order, and receive the most liberal support from the tax-payers. The early history of the schools is of the most mea- gre character and only interesting as showing from what small beginnings the present system has grown and how thoroughly, under our free institutions of government, the people of this, in common with other towns, appreciate the necessity of a good common- school education as a condition of public welfare. The earliest reference to schools on the records which has heen preserved is under date of 1621, when it is mentioned that Ezekiel Jenkins continued to be the town's school-master. In 1693, John Sprague, Jr., acted in that capacity, and in 1697, John Moulton. John Sprague, who was a resident in the town and town clerk, was in service again in 1699, and recorded in the town books, under date of March 27th, that : " John Sprague chose scool-inastar." The incorrect orthography of Mr. Sprague should not be taken as evidence of his want of education or of a lack of ca- pacity to impart instruction. The writer, who has examined and copied many old records, has found that in the colonial days orthography seemed to be guided by no fixed rules, and that men who we know were men of study and culture, would spell the same word in several different ways and often on the same page.

In 1701 Malden was indicted " for want of a school- master for writing and reading," and in 1702, John Sprague was again " chose scool-marstar for ye yeer insueing to learn children and youth to Reed and wright and to Refmetick, according to his best skill." His school was kept in four several places at four dif- ferent times, in the year and he received ten pounds for his service.

In 1703, on the Ist of March, it was "votted that ye scool shall be kep in ye watch-hous for this yeere," and on the Sth of the same month, "by a vote, Ezeckiell Jenkins is chose scool-mastar for the pre- sent yeer; and the scoole to be kept at his own hous, he is to have 3 pounds for ye yeer ; and ye benefit of ye scollars." This school was doubtless a mixed private and public school, and Mr. Jenkins probably received fees from the pupils. In 1705 Nathaniel Waite was employed and received twenty shillings from the town, and "the benefit of the scholars." In 1708 John Sprague was again chosen schoolmaster and declined, Nathaniel Waite taking his place. In 1709 " Jacob Wilson chose scool-mastar for ye yeer ensuing to larn children To Reed and to wright and Refmetick, and he is to have two shillins paid him by ye town ; and he is to have ye benefit of

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ye scoolars." In 1710, Moses Hill was employed for a short time, followed in the same year by Thomas Pols, of Boston, John Sprague and Samuel Wiggles- worth, of Ipswich. In the same year, too, it was voted that the " school be removed into three parts of the town, the first half yeer in the center, and one- quarter in ye southwardly end, and one-quarter in ye northardly end of ye town."

Mr. Wigglesworth's engagement being for six months, it was voted that the school should be kept four months in the parsonage, and the other two months in some house in the north part of the town. With the exception of Mr. Pols and Mr. Wiggles- worth, all the teachers np to this time had been Malden men, and Mr. Wigglesworth was a native of the town, being the son of Rev. Michael Wiggles- worth, who died during his pastorate in Malden in 1705. Samuel Wigglesworth was the only one of the teachers mentioned who had received a collegiate education. He graduated at Harvard in 1707, and was probably reading for the ministry with Rev. Mr. Parsons, when it was voted that the school should be kept in the parsonage.

In 1711 Mr. Wigglesworth was engaged for an additional six months' term, and it was voted to build a school-honse between John Wilson's house and the pound. In 1712 it was voted "yt ye school-house shall be built 20 foots in lengte, 16 foots wide, 6 foots stud between joints," and thirty-five pounds were voted to pay for the construction. It was built by William Green, of Malden, and the contract for the work dated October 27, 1712, was signed by him and hy Henry Green, Thomas Newhall, Samuel Sprague and John Green, selectmen of Malden. In 1713 Francis Fox- croft was engaged for six months, with a salary of fifteen pounds, and it was voted "that ye sehool-house shall be improved for a wach hous when there is an occasion, and nott To disoblige ye school in sd 'hons at aney time." Mr. Foxcroft was a son of Hon. Francis Foxeroft, of Cambridge, and graduated in 1712.

Thomas Vernon was employed in 1714, and in 1715 John Bishop was engaged for six months, with a sal- ary of £18. In 1717 Daniel Putnam, who graduated from Harvard in that year, was engaged for nine months, and in 1718 Richard Dana was employed " for one quarter, sartain," with the pay of £10 108. Mr. Dana was the grandson of Richard Dana, who settled in Cambridge in 1640. He was born in Cam- bridge, July 7, 1699, and graduated in Harvard in 1718, the year of his teaching in Malden. He mar- ried the sister of Judge Edmund Trowbridge, and was the father of Francis Dana, chief justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts from 1791 to 1806.

In 1719 Malden was again presented to the Court for want of a grammar school, and ordered to obtain a schoolmaster. In 1720 Josiah Marshal, a Harvard graduate of that year, was engaged for a quarter of a

year, and in 1723 Nathan Bucknam, probably a Mal- den man, and a graduate from Harvard in 1721, was employed to keep school twelve months. At that time the school was kept five months at the centre of the town and three and a half months each in the north and south parts. In 1726 John Emerson, a college graduate of that year, was employed, and in 1730 £60 were voted for the salary of a sehoolmaster, and the school-house, called old, though only eighteen years of age, was given to a poor man, named Thomas Degressha.

In 1732 and 1733 John Sprague was again in the service of the town, and in 1737 it was voted that the school be kept half of the time on the south and half on the north side of Pemberton's Brook. In 1751 Nathaniel Jenkins was engaged for six months for £16, and remained in office forty years. The original oceupation of Mr. Jenkins was that of a shoemaker; but with some qualifications for teaching, he placed himself under the instruction of Rev. Mr. Emerson and prepared himself for the profession in which he served so long. He is represented to have been an excellent teacher, and to have kept a school in which, in his later years, the higher branches were suecess- fully taught. A complete history of the school sys- tem of Malden up to the present time is impracticable within the space allotted to this sketeh. The simple record here given, taken largely from the centennial book of Malden, published in 1850, to which the writer is also indebted for other material, must suffice, with a statement, however, of the system as it is now perfeeted and managed.

According to the last report of the School Com- mittee, there were in Malden 3412 children between five and fifteen years years of age. Of these, 2317 attended the publie schools; 605, the parochial schools; thirty-one, private schools; and 459 were either at home or at work. For the accommodation of the public school children there were fifteen schools. In the High School there were two hundred and thirteen. With the rapid growth of the popula- tion the average increase during the last three years of scholars in this school has been twenty. The school was under the management of George E. Gay, as principal, with six assistants.

The Centre School, was under the charge of Lewis A. Burr, principal, with thirteen assistants.

The Maplewood School, with an average attendance of three hundred and ninety-seven, was under the eare of Arthur L. Doe, principal, with twelve assistants.

The West School, with an average attendance of three hundred and forty-four, was under Lanra A. Leonard, principal, with eleven assistants.

The Belmont School, with an average attendance of two hundred and seventy-two, under John S. Emerson, with six assistants.

The Judson School, with an average attendance of one hundred and fifty-nine, was under Mary F. Grif- fith, with three assistants.

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

The Emerson School, with an average attendance of one hundred and three, was under Carrie F. Oak- man, with four assistants.

The Converse School, with an average attendance of one hundred and thirty-seven, was under Emeline L. Rogers, with three assistants.

The Greenwood School, with an average attendance of one hundred and thirty-four, was under Ella P. Payson, with three assistants.

The Linden School, with an average attendance of ninety-four, was under Abby M. Fellow's, with two assistants.

The Oak Grove School, with an average attendance of sixty-seven, was under Ella M. Coops, with one assistant.

The Coverly School, with an average attendance of one hundred and forty-seven, was under Clara M. Sweetser, with three assistants.

The Pierce School, with an average attendance of one hundred aud fifty-six, was under Anna C. Ennis, with three assistants.

Besides these schools there were the Evening School, with an average attendance of ninety-six, under the charge of C. M. Sargent, and the Evening Drawing School, with an average attendance of fifty- one, under the charge of George E. Morris.

The School Committee, according to the last report, consisted of Hon. Joseph F. Wiggin, mayor, chairman ex officio-Erastus B. Powers, chairman, Aaron C. Dowse, William II. Ilawley, Roswell R. Robinson, Henry A. Fenn, C. Maria Nordstrom, James B. Foster, Wilbur II. Sargeant and William F. Whitcher. The superintendent of schools was Charles A. Daniels, and the secretary of the School Committee, Frank E. Woodward.

Intimately connected with the cause of education is the Public Library, which was established by a vote of the town, March 12, 1877. Its establishment was due to a bequest of $5000, made by John Gardner, of Charlestown, who was a son of Dr. Henry and Sarah (Beccham) Gardner, and was born in Malden, April 19, 1813, and died March 16, 1876. The library was opened to the public February 14, 1879, with 3643 volumes, and at the close of the first year 1870 volumes had been added. At the close of the second year the shelves contained 6112 volumes and 670 pamphlets, besides paintings and other articles of value. The number of volumes in the library Decem- ber 3, 1889, was 16,837, and the number of pamphlets 3990. The total circulation for the year 1889 was 59,084 volumes. For that year the city of Malden appropriated the sum of 84600 for the support of the library, and the dog-tax, amounting to $1985.84. There were received by the treasurer from other sources during that year, $2781.39, mak ing total receipts of $9367.23.

The expenditures during the year were : For books, $1238.62; salaries and service, $2528.13; binding, $349.69; expenses and supplies, $1629,86; catalogue

expenses, $503.58; insurance, $92; Maplewood deliv- ery, $200. The following funds are held by the trustees: the Converse Memorial Building Fund, $25,000; uninvested income from the same, $2137.75; the Holm Fund, $5000, and the Lord beqnest, $500. Deloraine P. Corey is president ; William F. Lang, secretary ; Thomas Lang, treasurer ; Henry L. Moody, librarian, and Edward S. Currier, Elisha S. Converse, George W. Walker, William A. Wilde, A. R. Turner, Jr., Daniel L. Millikin, trustees, together with the mayor, chairman of the Board of Aldermen, and president of the Council ex officio.

Resuming the history of the town, it will be proper to allude to the part taken by Malden in the various wars which have disturbed the current of New Eng- land life. Mr. Corey says, in his sketch of Malden, that "since the days of King Philip the people of Malden had always borne their share in the various expeditions which were sent forth. Malden troopers under Captain William Green, whilom of the Three County Troop, marched on an expedition against the Indians in 1695; and Edmund Chamberlain, a son of that Edmund Chamberlain who fell at the Narragan- sett fight, who was born after his father was slain, died from disease contracted in the expedition to Port Royal in 1710. About the same time James Hovey was a prisoner in the hands of the French and Indians in Canada. Later nine young men from Malden laid down their lives in the performance of their duty in the celebrated siege of Louisbourg in 1745. In the successive campaigns of the French Wars, which began in 1755 and extended over a period of nearly eight years, the men of Malden took an active part. Lieutenant Simon Wade was wounded in the futile expedition against Crown Point and was killed at the capitulation of Fort William Henry in 1757, when the savages of Montcalm's army, in the presence of their French allies, inhumanly massacred the greater part of the unfortunate garrison. In a com- pany commanded by Dr. Ebenezer Marrow, of Med- ford, in 1758, were Lieutenants Samuel Burditt and Darius Green, with thirty-one non-commissioned offi- cers and privates of Malden. This company was sent to the westward with the forces under General Aber- crombie and participated in the unsuccessful and bloody attempt upon Ticonderoga, in which the colo- nial troops experienced a heavy loss and were after- wards much reduced by sickness. The Malden men who died in this campaign were James Whittemore, John Burdictt, Jr., Ezekiel Floyd, Joseph Jenkins and Nathaniel Wait. In a company in service in 1762 commanded by Captain Moses Hart, of Lynn, were eleven men of Malden, and individuals were scattered in various regiments during the war. This war was the nursery of the Army of the Revolution ; and there seems to have been a growing fondness for military life at this time among all classes. The en- rolled militia of Malden in 1758 was one hundred and thirty-four men under the command of Captain John

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Dexter. In 1763 its officers were Captain Ezra Green, Lieutenant Jabez Lynde and Ensign Thomas Hills."

With the termination of the French Wars the peo- ple of Malden settled down once more to the pursuits of a peaceful life. In common with the people ot other towns in New England, they had been initiated into the methods of military life and were prepared for a renewal of strife if the welfare of their country demanded it. It is, indeed, a question difficult to an- swer whether such a readiness would have been found to resist the aggression of the mother country had not the people of New England become accustomed to the use of arms and to the scenes ot war in the prolonged struggles with the French only a few years before. It is certain that Washington found in that struggle that military training and discipline which fitted him for a leadership of the armies of the Colo- nies against the cohorts of a King.

In 1770 the town voted " that we will not use any foreign tea, nor contenence the use of it in our families, unless for sickness, till the revenne acts are repealed." On the 22d of November, 1772, at a meet- ing held in Boston to consider the subject of the salary of the judges, a letter of correspondence to other towns was adopted. This letter called on the towns to stand " firm as one man," to open a free communication of sentiment with Boston and expressed a confidencethat "regard to themselves and the rising generation would not suffer them to doze or set supinely indifferent on the brink of destruction while the iron hand of oppression was daily tearing the choicest fruit from the fair tree of liberty." At a meeting of the town of Malden heid on the 5th of January, 1773, to consider the communica- tion from the town of Boston, it was voted that Cap- tain Ebenezer Harnden act as moderator, and that Captain John Dexter, Mr. James Kettell, Mr. Ezra Sargeant, Ensign Benjamin Blaney, Mr. Ezekiel Jen- kins, Mr. Thomas Hill, Mr. David Sargeant, Mr. Samuel Sprague, Mr. John Grover, Jr., Mr. Josiah Howard and Mr. Samuel Waitt “ be a committee to take into consideration the request of the town of Boston respecting ye late alarming report that sti- pends are affixed to the offices of the judges of ye Superior Court of Judicature in this province, added to many other grievaucies under which the people have for some years groaned, and also to draw up in- structions for their Representatives and lay ye whole before the town for their acceptance."

At an adjourned meeting held on the 14th of Jan- uary, 1773, the committee reported as follows :-

der ye present critical situation of our public affairs ; the alarming in- quisitorial Court appointed et Rhode Island ; also repleto with deep con- ceru for our prosperity,

" Resolved, That we will, at all Times, and upon ull just occasions, with our best blood and treasure, in conjunction with our brethren of this province and ye other provinces, pursue every justifiable nod consti- tutiooal measure for the obtaining a redress of our insupportable bur- dens, and in yo defence and support of our invaluable rights, Civil and Religious, purchased by our ancestors at ye expense of their treasure and their blond ; and therefore

" Resolved, That our Representative he Instructed to use his utmost endeavors in the General Assembly that tho Honorable Constitutional Judges of the Superior Court of Justice io this province should have a support equal to their importance. Also, that our Representative ure hia endeavors that an address be again made to our gracions Sovereign for the restoration of our invaded rights and privileges, and that this people may be treated as indeed they are, loyal subjecta of Great Brit- aio. Moreover, since it hath pleased the great Governor of the Uni- verse of late to answer ye prayers of the people by terrible things in Righteousness,

" Resolved, That our Representative be instructed to use his endeavors that a day of humiliation be appointed for our many and great iniqui- ties ; and to seek of Ilim a right way for us and for our little ones and for all our substance, and that a letter of grateful acknowledgmenta be sent to our worthy Brethren, the iohabitants of Boston, for their vigi- lance and spirit upon this aud many other occasions; with hearty good wishes and prayers that they may see good duys according to the time io which they have in peculiar manner seen insult and massacre.

" JOHN DEXTER, per order."

Accompanying the report were the following in- structions to the Representative of Malden in the General Court :

" To Capt. Ebenezer Harnilen :

"StR,-The right of choosing a person to represent ns in the General Assembly carries in the nature of the thing the right to instruct him. And though we reposed the highest confidence in yon when we chose you into the office, yet we then reserved this right to ourselves to be made use of on extraordinary aod alarming occasions.

"Such an occasion we esteem that to be in which we now instruct you. This is the late rumor which has prevailed of sularies being affixed to the Hooorable Judges of the Superior Court, etc., paid to them by the King independent ot tho people, out of a revenue unconstitutionally raised upon us. This we esteem an intolerable grievance, a grievauce which strikes at ye root of our liberties. We now, sir, desire and in- struct you to make use of every legal method in your power to phtalu redress hereof. Particularly to exert your utmost influence in ye Gene- ral Assembly that an ample aod honorable support be offered to them out of ye treasury of this province. We also instruct yon to forward in ye General Assembly au humble address and remonstrance to our gracions Sovereigo, begging from his royal clemency and justice relief under this proceeding. This we hope will reach oot only ye royal ear but heart also, and will be followed by ye best efforts.

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

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co Number of Pages: 1278

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) ed
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Philadelphia, J. W. Lewis & co
Number of Pages: 1278