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

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 112

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City " Clerk.

Leverett D. Holden.

Clerk of Council. George A. Gardner.

Treasurer.

Albert F. Sargent.

Auditor.

Marvin Lincoln.

Sup. of Streets. Andrew J. Wentworth.

City Physician. Peleg Wadsworth.

Supt. of Schools. Wm. H. Lambert.

Sec. and Treas. of Sink. Fund Com. Theodore N. Fogue.

Water Registrar.

Librarian.

Phiness Sprague.

Henry L. Bloody.

Supt. of Water Works.

Supt. of Almshouse.

Ward W. Hawkes.

George W. Stiles.

The mayors of the city since 1882 have been:

John K. C. Sleeper, 1883.

Lorin L. Fuller, 1884-85.

Marcellne Coggan, 1886-87. Joseph F. Wiggin, 1888-90.

The Fire Department of the city consists of a chief engineer, four assistants, one engineer of steamer, one stoker, five drivers, twenty-eight hosemen, ten hook- and-ladder men, and one secretary to the Board of Engineers. The apparatus of the department cousists of two steam fire-engines, one old steam fire-engine stored, two hose-wagons, three hose-carriages, one hook-and-ladder carriage with 333 feet of ladders, oue supply wagon, one double pung, three single pungs, one pung for hooks and ladders, one engineer's car- riage, one engineer's sleigh, six thousand feet of hose, a fire-alarm, nine horses, four houses and two hun- dred and fifty hydrants. The amount of money ex- pended during the year 1889 was $14,842.05.

The amount of money paid out by the treasurer during the same year for city expenses was $624,- 888.18. Of this sum $110,373.43 was paid out for the support of schools; $15,436.53, for street lights ; $54,909.12, for streets ; $16,424.70 for the Poor Depart- ment, and Police Department $16,076.52.

The following is a complete list of those who have represented Malden in the General Court since 1680 :

Joh Lane, 1686

Joseph Wilson, 1688-89, '94, 1703- 04 Henry Green, 1689, '94, 1703-01

John Sprague, 1690 Phineas Sprague, 1691

John Green, 1692-94, '96

John Greenland, 1695, 1708, '10- 15, '17, '20

Edward Sprague, 1696, 1703 Isaao Hill, 1698

Phineas Upham, 1705, '16, '18

Jacob Wilson, 1716, '19, '31, '37 Jonathan Sargent, 1721, '24-28, '30

Samuel Backnam, 1722, '39

Timothy Sprague, 1732, '34 Samuel Wayte, 1735-36 Joseph Lynde, 1739, '41, '43 Samuel Green, 1742

Joses Bucknam, 1744-51, '53

Barnard Townsend, 1755 Benjamin Hills, 1754, '57

Thomas Pratt, 1758-59

Ezra Green, 1760, '62 John Dexter, 1763-64

Ebenezer Harnden, 1765-74

Ezra Sargeant, 1775-77, '81, '84, '86 Benjamin Blaney, 1778-80, '83, '87 Wm. Wait, 1788 Thomas llille, 1789

Isaac Smith, 1790-95

Barnard Green, 1797

Edward Wade, 1798

Jonathan Oakes, 1799-1802, '06- '13

Jonas Green, 1811-16

Ebenezer Harnden, 1813-14

Ehenezer Nichols, 1816-17, '19 Nathan Nichols, 1819-20, '23, '24

| Cotton Sprague, 1823-26

Edward Wade, 1826-'28, '31, '32 Isaac Stiles, 1829 James Crane, 1832, '35 Wm. H. Richardson, 1832

Wm. Pierce, 1833, '35 Sylvanus Cobb, 1833, '36 Urialı Chamberlain, 1835 George Emerson, 1836 Timothy Bailey, 1836 Daniel A. Perkins, 1837 E. N. llarris, 1837 Leavitt Corbett, 1838

Theodore L. Stiles, 1839

Wm. Nichols, 1839 Wni. Oliver, 1840

Benjamin G. Hill, 1842

Jonathan Oakes, 1843

Samuel S. Upham, 1845

Lemmel Cox, 1847 Thomas Walt, 1850 Wm. Johnson, 1851

Templo Dodge, 1852

Henry W. Van Voorbes, 1853

David Faulkner, 1834 Wm. J. Eames, 1855 David R. Shepard, 1856

Solicitor.

Thomas Savage. Engineer. Albert F. Sargent. Assessurs. George C. Blanchard. Charles A. Whittemore. Aea R. Brown.

Overseers of Poor. Henry M. Hartshorn. Timothy Conuell. Dana Holden.

Water Commissioners.

Herbert Porter. Wm. F. Chester. George W. Walker.

Collector of Taxes. Charles A. Holmes, resigned. Geo. E. Hitchcock, vacancy.

School Committee.

Edward Gay.

Einathan D. Howes.

Russell B. Wiggin.

Joseph W. Chadwick.

Marcellne Coggan. Benj. B Lawrence.

Andrew J. Freeman.

John M. Corbett. Alfred A. Turner, Jr.

Ward 4. llenry E. Turner, Jr. Patrick H. Desmond. Sylvester W. Gould (resigned).

George T. Bailey (for vac.)

Trustees of Public Library.

John K. C. Sleeper.

Russell B. Wiggin.

Daniel L. Millikin.

Win. A. Wilde. Thomas Lang.

Joseph W. Chadwick.

George W. Walker.

Wm. F. Merrill.

Deloraine P. Corey.

Chief of Police. Harris P. Mitchell.

Chief Engineer Fire. Thomas W. Hough.

George P. Cox, 1857 Phineas Sprague, 1858

J. Q. A. Griffin, 1859-60 Richard Ward, 1861 Caleb Wait, 1x62 George W. Copeland, 1863-65

James Pierce, 1866.

470

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

In 1867 Malden and Somerville constituted the Fourth Representative District of Middlesex County and were represented as follows:

1867-James Pierce . of Malden

David M. Bean of Malden

John A. Hughes uf Somerville

1868-John A. Hughes of Summerville

John Runey uf Somerville

George P. Cox . of Malden

1809-George P. Cox

of Malden

Jobo Runey . of Somerville

Charles H1. Guild of Somerville

1570 George P. Cox . . of Malden

Joseph M. Russell of Malden

Selwin Z. Bowman

of Somerville

1871-Selwio Z. Bowman

of Somerville

Charles II. Guild

of Somerville

Joseph Ml. Russell of Malden

1872-Charles H. Taylor

of Somerville

Samuel A Carlton of Somerville

John H. Abbott

. of Malden

In 1873 Malden, Everett and Somerville constituted the Fourth District, and were represented as follows :

1873-Quincy A. Vinal . of Somerville

Alonzo H. Evans . of Everett

John II. Abbott . of Maldeo

1874-J. A. Cummings of Somerville

Horace llaskins. of Somerville

J. K. C. ¿ leeper of Malden

1875-James l'ierce of Melden

J. A. Cummings of Somerville

S. Z. BowMAN of Somerville

1876- Charles G. Pope of Somerville

Theodore N. Foque of Maldes

Alonzo H. Evane of Everett

In 1877 Malden and Everett constituted the Eighth District and were represented as follows :

1877-John K. C Sleeper of Malden

Heury M. Hurtshorn of Maldea

1878-Elisha S. Converse . of Malden George S. MarshalI . of Everett

1879-Elisha S. Converse . . of Maldeo

James P. Magee of Malden

1880-James P. Magee

of Malden

1861-Ezra A. Stevens . of Malden

William Johnson of Everett

1882-Ezra A. Stevens. of Mulden William F. Chester of Mulden

18h3-William F. Chester . of Malden

George E. Smith . of Everett

1.84-Jushua II. Millett of Maldea George E. Smith . of Everett .

1885-Joshua H. Millett . of Malden

George W. Walker . of Malden

George W. Walker uf Malden

Dudley P. Bailey of Everett

In 1887 Malden alone constituted the Ninth Dis- trict, and was represented as follows :

1887-Willlum A. Wilde. 1889-1leary E. Turner, Jr.

Daniel L. Millikea. Thonms F. Barker.

1 « Daniel L. Mililkes.

1890-Thomue E. Barker.

Willun A. Wildo. Henry E, Turner, Jr.

The city of Malden is supplied with water from Spot Pond and Eaton's Meadow, for which it owes a debt of $580,000, of which the following amounts were issued and became due at the times specified :

$200,000 at 6 per cent., Issued July 1, 1870, due July, 1890.

$1,000,000 at 6 per cent., Issned July 2, 1872, due July 2, 1892. $50,000 at 6 per cont., issurd July 1, 1876, due July 1, 1896.

$25,000 at 332 per cent., issued July 1, 1885, due July 1, 1895. $15,000 at 4 per cent., issued Jan. 1, 1886, due Jao. 1, 1901. $10,000 at 4 per cent., issned July 1, 1886, dne Jan. 1, 1901. 840,000 at 4 per cent., issued July 1, 1887, due July 1, 1907. $5,000 at 4 per cent., issued Oct. 1, 1888, dne July 1, 1907. $10,000 at 4 per cent., issued Oct. 1, 1888, due July 1, 1907. $25,000 at 4 per cent., issued July 1, 18×9, due July 1, 1907. $25,000 at 4 per cent., issned Oct. 1, 1888, due July 1, 1908. $20,000 at 4 per cent., issued Oct. 1, 1888, due July 1, 1908. $20,000 at 4 per cent., issued Jau. 1, 1889, dne July 1, 1908. $16,000 at 4 per cent., issned April 1, 1889, due July 1, 1908. $20,000 at 4 per cent., issned Aug. 2, 1889, due July 1, 1908.

The sinking fund, for the liquidation of the water debt, is $172,931.02, leaving a net water debt of $407,068.98.

The assessed valuation of the city is $16,133,537.50, consisting of real estate, $14,073,900; personal es- tate, $2,024,200, and resident bank stock, $35,437.50, on which the rate of taxation in 1889 was $15.50 on one thousand dollars.

The funded debt of the city, December 31, 1889, exclusive of water debt, was $220,650.

A sewage system for the city is now being pro- vided for. The Legislature of 1889 passed an act providing for the building, maintenance and operation of a system of sewage disposal for the Mystic and Charles River valleys. It provided for the appoint- ment of commissioners by the Governor and Council to construct a sewer through the city to deep tide- water. The Commonwealth is to issue bonds for the construction and operation of this sewer, and one- eightieth part of the amount is to be assessed in each of the first ten years in each city and town embraced in the system : one-sixtieth part in each of the second ten years; one-thirtieth part in each of the next ten years, and the remainder is equally divided in the re- maining ten years. The proportion of the tax is to be determined by three commissioners, appointed by the Supreme Judicial Court, subject to revision every five years on the demand of any city or town inter- ested. The main sewer, thus constructed under the direction of the Commonwealth, is to be used as an outlet for a local system, including the whole city. When both the State and local systems are completed, Malden, now suffering from the want of adequate drainage, will be able to boast of one of the most thorough and effective sewage systems in the Com- monwealth.

With these details, this portion of the sketch of Malden, already filling more space than was allotted to it, must close. The writer feels that it should have been written by some son of Malden familiar with its antecedents, its localities, its institutions and its peo- ple. He is sure, however, that what it may lack in thoroughness and detail will be more than made up by the history which, it is hoped, will be soon published by that more competent historian, Mr. D. P. Corey, who is now zealously engaged in the work, and to whom the writer wishes to express his thanks for material, giving his sketch even the little merit it may possess.

George S. Marshall of Everett

-177

MALDEN.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

MALDEN-(Continued).

THE ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF MALDEN.

BY REV. JOSHUA W. WELLMAN, D.D.

THE fathers of New England were godly men, who, in their native land, had been trained in the stern school of persecution. While suffering for con- science sake, they had little time to mature plans for the ordering of their anticipated colonial life be- yond the sea. The Pilgrims, who landed at Plymouth in 1620, had established the order of their church some years before, but the civil compact under which they were to live was drawn up on board the "May- flower." The Puritans, who came with John Win- throp to Massachusetts Bay in 1630, had previously determined, to a certain extent, the form of their civil organization, but upon reaching these shores had no very clearly-defined ideas respecting the ecclesiastical polity which they should adopt. Concerning this mat- ter of church-order, however, they were wise enough to receive instructions from leading men in the Plymouth Colony. From the first, they seemed to have enter- tained the general idea that both godliness and liberty should somehow be made dominant in the realm of civil government, and also in that of religous faith and life. They, as well as the Pilgrims, had left na- tive land, home and kindred, and at peril of life had come into a vast and terrible wilderness that they might secure to themselves and their children relig- ious liberty. They were not slow, therefore, to accept the teaching that they should make the church in- dependent of all extraneous human authority, and then guard its freedom with the utmost vigilance. They were anxious to secure in some way the perma- nent protection of religious liberty. Upon reaching the New World, the first thing they did in the direc- tion of establishing good order in their community, was to determine the form of their church. That question decided, the church itself was at once or- ganized. The manner of organization was simple and reverential.

The church at Charlestown was formed July 30, 1630, and the order of proceedings was as follows :

"Oo a day solemnized with prayers and fasting, the Reverend Mr. Wilson, after the manner of proceediog in the year before at Salem, entered into a church covenant with Winthrop, Dudley and Johnson. 'Two days after, on Sunday, they associated with them three of the assistants, Mr. Nowell, Mr. Sharp and Mr. Bradstreet, aud two other persons, Mr. Gager and Mr. Colburn. Others were presently added ; and the church so constituted elected Mr. Wilson to he its teacher and or- dained him to that charge at Mishawum (Charlestowa). At the same time Mr. Nowell was chosen to be ruling elder, aod Mr. Gager and Mr. Aspinwall to be deacons." (Palfrey'e llistory of New England, vol. i. p. 316.)

Such was the form of their church. The first churches in New England were distinct, independent, voluntary, local organizations, each having the right

to elect its own officers, to receive and dismiss mem- bers, to ordain its ministers, also to dismiss them for cause, to discipline disorderly members, and to en- gage freely in any work which would promote piety and good morals in the community. Such at least they were iu theory.

The large company of " about a thousand " persons, who came over the sea in a fleet under the lead of John Winthrop, did not come as a wholly unorgan- ized body. They had given more thought to the civil than to the ecclesiastical polity under which they should live. This Colony had been organized under a charter, and their government in its final form con- sisted of a Governor, a Deputy Governor, a Court of Assistants and a General Court. The latter was the legislative body. The Court of Assistants, though exercising legislative power, yet also, with the Gov- ernor, constituted the executive branch of the gov- ernment, and were called "The Magistrates." But how were the magistrates and the General Court to be constituted such ? Where should the appointing or electing power be lodged ? They had now organized a church, the integrity, the good order, the purity, the freedom and all the rights of which must be preserved at all hazards, lest its members should be plunged again into the fires of persecution. The State must be brought practically under the power of Christian men. The Church and State, therefore, must be so related to each other as to be mutually helpful, the Church securing high moral and religious character in the personnel of the government, and the State main- taining the good order, the purity and the faith of the Church. In this way it was supposed that the State would be made a Christian State; in other words, that the entire legislative and administrative govern- ment would become in character and power what Christian men would make it. But, for obvious rea- sons, the churches as such could not be allowed to take part in the administration of civil affairs. The free- men-that is, those to whom alone the right of suf- frage had been entrusted-were not all professedly Christians in the evangelical meaning of that term. Could the body of freemen be composed exclusively of such men as were of mature age, and had confessed Christ, aud had taken the freeman's oath, that body would naturally elect only godly and able men to places of power iu the civil government, and then the State would become practically a Christian State. Accordingly, at the very first meeting of the General Court for elections, in the Bay Colony, which occurred on May 18, 1631, the law was enacted, that for the future the right of suffrage should be given only to such men in the Colony as were members of churches. In due time, on this plan, the body of freemen would be composed entirely of church members, and the General Court would come into being by what was then considered a popular election, but in which only certain members of churches could vote. Whatever may be said of the wisdom of this law, the motive in

478

HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

the enactment of it was high and pure. Its purpose was distinctly stated in the preamble. It was enact- ed "To the end, the body of the commons may be preserved of honest and good men."

"The conception," as Mr. Palfrey has justly re- were so interwoven and blended that it is now marked, "if a delusion and impracticable, was a noble one. Nothing better can be imagined for the welfare of a country than that it should be ruled on Christian principles; in other words, that its rulers shall be Christian men-men of disinterestedness and integrity of the choicest quality that the world knows-men whose fear of God exalts them above every other fear, and whose controlling love of God and of man conseerates them to the most generous aims." 1

The theory was, as has been stated, that the churches should be independent, subject, within the sphere of their own proper action, to the dictation or control of no superior authority, civil or ecclesiasti- eal, and acknowledging Christ only as their head. But ere long and most inconsistently the General Court began to supervise and even direet the action of individual churches; to judge of the qualifications of ministers; to inflict penalties upon churches which ordained nunisters without the approbation of neighboring churches, or of the magistrates; to re- quest, and to specify the purpose of, the assembling of synods ; to receive the reports of the transactions of such synods, and to exercise the right of approving or disapproving of the same. Thus, strange to say, in the same colony in which the law was enacted that only church members should be allowed to take the freeman's oath, and be invested with the right of suffrage, the supreme legislative body and the magistrates were found to be possessed of an authority in ecclesiastical matters superior to that of the churches themselves, This legal union of Church and State, however well meant, in which only church members could be entrusted with the elective franchise, and in which the civil authorities were invested with a superior power in the management of ceclesiastical atlairs, was destined to be the source of great injustice and trouble to individual churches; yet it was continued for sixty years.

In the meanwhile the freemen, or legal voters, who in time were all church members, elected not only the deputies, or members of the General Court, and the magistrates, but also the officers of the precincts or towns in which they lived. The time at length came when all the legal voters in a town-meeting were members of the church. There was no parish, 10 ecclesiastical society, in the modern sense of those term. The towns were the only local organizations connected with the church. In a town-meeting the legal voters could transact both civil and ecclesiastical business; and the records of those meetings were at once town records, and what would now be called

parish records. On this limited territory there was a clear organic union of Church and State; but the Church power here was supreme. As a consequence, the secular and religious affairs of the community extremely difficult to disentangle the ecclesiastical history from the civil history of an ancient New England town. If either history is to be written truthfully and perspicuously, the writer must occas- ionally state, or at least make intelligible reference to, certain events and transactions that properly belong to the other history. The attempt, however, will be made in the following annals to keep as nearly as possible within the limits of ecclesiastical history.

It should also be said, in a preliminary way, that the sources of information respecting the early history of Malden are unfortunately quite meagre. The town records previous to the year 1678 have disap- peared. The existing records of the First Church reach back only to the year 1770. This church, at present date (1890), is two hundred and forty-one years old. Its records covering the first half of this period are lost. Aside from such of the town and church records as have been preserved, a valuable source of historical material is found in " The Bi-Cen- tennial Book of Malden." This small volume was published in connection with the enthusiastic cele- bration of the two hundredth anniversary of the in- corporation of the town, which occurred in 1849. Its authors were a committee appointed by the citizens, and consisting of Rev. A. W. McClure, then pastor of the First Church ; Rev. J. G. Adams, then pastor of the Universalist Church ; and William H. Richard - son, Jr., then a prominent citizen of Malden. The chief purpose of the book was to put on record the memo- rable public services of that great Anniversary Day. But the committee wisely added a considerable amount of historical and genealogical information, which, if not as ample nor as methodically arranged as might be desired, must yet have been gathered at cost of much laborious and faithful research, and is now of the greatest value. Indeed, in no other one volume can at present be found so much of the kind of material which is indispensable in writing the history of Malden. There is also in " The History of Middlesex County," by Samuel Adams Drake, an in- valuable article upon Malden, written with rare his- torie insight and accuracy, by Deloraine P. Corey, Esq. To Mr. Corey and to the authors of " The Bi-Cen- tennial Book of Malden" the present writer is largely indebted. The additional information that will be presented has been gathered, item by item, from va- rious and widely-separated sources.

THE ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST CHURCH .- The following account of the origin of the town, and of the First Church in it is given, in quaint language, by Edward Johnson, in his famous book entitled, " Wonder-Working Providence of Zion's Saviour iu

1 l'alfrey's "History of New England," vol. t. p. 345.

479

MALDEN.

New England." Speaking of events which occurred in 1648, he says :

" About this time the town of Malden had hie first foundation stone laid by certain persons, who issued out of Charlestowo, and jadeed had her whole etructure within the houada of this more elder Towo, being severed by the broad spreading river of Mistick the one from the other, whose troublesome passage caused the people oo the North side of the river to plead for Towo privileges within themselves, which accordingly was granted them .. . . The people gathered into a church some dis- tance of time before they could attaio to any Church Officer to adminis- ter the Seale unto them, yet in the meantime at their Sabbath assemblies they had a Godly Christian named Mr. Sarjant, who did preach the Word unto them, and afterwards they were supplied at times with some young students from the Colledg, till the year 1650."

From this statement we learn that the entire terri- tory of Malden was at first within the bounds of Charlestown ; that the people who first settled upon this territory came from "the elder Town," that is, from that part of Charlestown which was on the south side of Mystic River ; that the people on the north side, or " Mistiek side," as it was called, were moved to " plead for Town-privileges," on account of the " troublesome passage " over "the broad spread- ing river ; " that " the people gathered into a church," and maintained regular Sabbath services of preach- ing and worship, "some distance of time" before they could obtain a minister ; that, during a part of this period, one " Mr. Sarjant" "did preach the Word unto them," and that afterwards a similar service was rendered by young students from Harvard College. Mr. Sarjant was doubtless the William Sargeant who, as Mr. Corey affirms, " was here as early as 1643," and whose lands, " which were possessed by his de- scendants nearly two centuries, were in the southern part of the town." The fact that he was by occupa- tion a " haberdasher," that is, a seller of small wares, such as ribbons, needles and thread, indicates that he was a lay-preacher, who, doubtless by his godliness and experimental knowledge of Christ and the Holy Scriptures, was able to edify the people. He was ad- mitted to the church in Charlestown, January 10, 1639. He came from England in 1638, and was made a freeman in Charlestown in 1639.

The exact date of the organization of the First Church in Malden is not known. There is evidence that it was not organized before 16-19. From the " Bi- Centennial Book" we learn that :

"The Middlesex Registry of Deeds, (Lib. 11, pp. 82, 83) contains a record of a defaced agreement (and attestation thereto,) between the Cominissioners of Charlestown aod Mysticside, for dividing the unappro- priated common lande, io which occurs the following clause : ' Io coo- siderativo, the brethren of Mystic-side are, by the providence of God, shortly to go into a church estate by themselves, and for the more com fortable proceeding aod carrying on of that work of Christ among theto.'-This instrument, it is said, purports to have been drawo by authority of a certain writing bearing date, March 26, 1619. From this it appears that the church at that time was not organized, but un- doubtedly was a few weeks after."

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

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