History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 191

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 191

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

Mr. Maybry has been twice married,-first, Sep- tember 22, 1847, to Sophia P. Walker, who died May 15, 1884, and second, February 27, 1889, to Mrs. Mary M. Glidden, of Claremont, N. H., who is now living. Mr. Maybry was, for many years, treasurer and collector of the town of Hopkinton, and has served on the Board of Selectmen. He has also, for mary years, had the management of the large real- estate interests of Hon. William Claflin in this town, by whom he is highly esteemed as trustworthy and reliable. He is also the manager of several other large estates. In matters of public policy his views are sought, and he has the confidence and esteem of his fellow-citizens of all parties. He has an intense love of the beautiful in nature, and is a successful farmer and an amateur florist.

CROMWELL MCFARLAND.

This family was one of the colony of Scotch and Irish families that emigrated to America in 1718, and many of whom settled in the vicinity of Hopkinton. The name of the first American ancestor was Robert, and he had a son, Ebenezer, who was a soldier in the War of the Revolution. Ebenezer had a son, Law- son, who was the father of the subject of this biogra- phical notice. It seems proper here to note the faet that a brother of Ebenezer was born in Ilopkinton, who became a very prominent citizen. He was Wal- ter McFarland, a farmer, and also a skillful surveyor, in which latter capacity he laid out a large portion of Hopkinton and adjoining towns. Ile represented his native town in the lower branch of the Legisla- ture for twelve years, and was for one term a member of the upper branch.

Cromwell, son of Lawson and Deborah (Rockwood) McFarland, was born in Hopkinton February 7, 1819, and his boyhood days were spent on his father's farm, where he assisted his parents in the duties in- cident to farm life in New England, and joined in the sports peculiar to that locality. After a few years of instruction in the Common School, where at least the average of success was achieved, Cromwell worked on the farm until, at the age of seventeen years, he concluded to try his hand at the prevailing ocenpa- tion of the town's-people, making boots and shoes. He followed this business until about 1840, when an opportunity offered for him to join with William A. Phipps, of Hopkinton (a brother-in-law), in the busi- ness of supplying fresh meat to the families of Hop- kinton and vicinity. This was long before the days of refrigerator cars, Chicago Dressed Beef or Luncheon Beef, and this firm did all their own butchering.

They at first bonght fat cattle in the vicinity of Hopkinton, but as the population increased rapidly they soon were obliged to go to the Brighton Stock Yards for the supply. Mr. MeFarland has continued uninterruptedly in this business from 1840 up to the present time and has met with a good measure of suc- cess. June 2, 1842, Mr. MeFarland married Han-

nah, danghter of Moses and Hannah (Adams) Phipps, and they had three children-Curtis, born June 10, 1844; Anna, born July 3, 1850, and Henry, December 17, 1852. Curtis died January 15, 1864, and Anna was married August 5, 1869, to J. Sanford Haven, of Hopkinton and they have had two children, one of whom only is living-Henry McFarland married Katie B. Adams, April I, 1880. Cromwell McFar- land has not been a man to court notoriety, or to seek office, but was on the Board of Assessors of Hopkin- ton and represented the town in the Legislature one term, and also has been a director in Hopkinton National Bank. Mr. McFarland has ever discharged the duties of citizenship in a eredita ble manner. Mr McFarland, while not a member of any church, is a regular attendant of the Congregational Church, and contributes to the support of public worship there. For almost fifty years Mr. McFarland and the wife of his choice in his young manhood have journeyed on together, mutnally helpful, winning material success beyond any personal need, as they stand facing the approaching sunset of their well-spent lives.

WILLIAM ADAMS PHIPPS.

The Phipps family are of English ancestry. For our present purpose it is not thought necessary to go beyond the date of the early settlement of New Eng- land. There were several of this name who were of the colony of 1718, some of whom landed at Port- land, Maine, and settled that State. The name of the first settler of whom William A. is a descendant, we are unable to determine from any available records, but it is definitely stated in an early history of Maine " that several families of this name had reared large numbers of children, one family having eon- sisted of twenty-six children." With a few such sam- ples at the present day, the census enumerator might safely be charged with inaccuracy. During the early days of the French and Indian War, William Phipps, of Maine, a brave, fearless man, organized a body of 2000 men and marched at their head to join in the assault on Quebec, but losing his way he arrived too iate to be of any service, but was afterwards in several engagements and was knighted for bravery, thus be- coming Sir William Phipps.

In 1762 he was made Governor of the Province of New Hampshire. Some of the Phipps family were among the early settlers of Holliston, Mass .; and Moses, the father of onr subject, was born there and moved to Hopkinton about 1800, where he became a prominent citizen, representing the town of Hopkin . ton in 1835, beside being for several years on the Board of Selectmen, and in 1840-41 and '42 was chairman of the Board. He carried on farming be- sides keeping a store and he was also a skilled blaek - smith. Moses married JIannah Adams and they had seven children-William A., Benjamin, Alpalet, John, James, Hannah and Elmira. Of these children Benjamin, John and James are deceased. The last

le 11° Farlanel

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MEDFORD.

named became a noted physician of Boston. Wil- liam Adams Phipps was born in Hopkinton, Septem- ber 19, 1809. He spent his boyhood at home and at- tended the district school assisting in the work out of school hours. He made good progress in school and on leaving it he attended for some time a private school in Holliston, also a term in Milford, Mass., and in Thompson, Connecticut. He became a teacher and was efficient in that occupation, teaching in his native town, also in Milford.

At the age of twenty-three he left teaching and became a butcher, taking with him his brother-in-law Cromwell McFarland, and they continned several years. About 1847 he commenced the manufacture of boots, in which he continued with success until 1876 when he retired from active business. Mr. Phipps was for many years on the Board of Selectmen, and represented the town in the General Court. He has been a director in the Milford National Bank. In politics his affiliations have chiefly been with the Republican party. He has been a contributor to the support of the Congregational Church. Mr. Phipps has been twice married, first to Sarah Bowker, of Hopkinton, and they had ten children-Wm. H., Marilla F., Waldo, Vernon E., Frederick S., Anna A., Isabel D., Joseph B., Norman B., and a son who died in infancy. Of these children four only are living. The mother of these children died in October, 1870. His second marriage was with Maria S., daughter of Stephen D. and Hannah (Farrington) Willie, Decem. ber 11, 1872. She is a superior woman and in a re- fined and tender way ministers to the needs of Mr. Phipps in his declining years with oncomplaining tenderness.

CHAPTER LV.

MEDFORD.

BY JAMES A. HERVEY.

MEDFORD, one of the oldest towns in Middlesex County, lies about five miles northwest from Boston, and joins boundaries on its different sides with Som- erville, Arlington, Winchester, Stoneham, Melrose, Malden and Everett. The town has borne its pres- ent name from its first settlement, but all conjectures which have been made as to its origin are unsatisfac- tory. It is much to be regretted that the first twenty or thirty pages in the manuscript which contain the earliest town records are lost, the opening entry be- ing dated " the first Monday in February, in the year of our Lord, 1674." For all information touching the history of the settlement of the town, we must have recourse to contemporaneous records, to the writings of Winthrop, Dudley, Wood, Hutchinson and others, and to the registries of deeds and probate; and much light is incidentally thrown upon the life and history

of the town by the Massachusetts Colony Records and the Historical Collections of the Massachusetts His- torical Society. All the sources of information have been carefully gleaned by Charles Brooks, the histo- rian of the town.

Medford has been especially fortunate in possess- ing such an annalist. A native of the town, with which his family had a most respectable ancestral connection, bis history of the town was a labor of love, and he devoted many years of his life to the work. It is well observed by his editor, Mr. Usher, that "no complete history of Medford can be written which does not largely embody the material collected by him." We are indebted to Mr. Usher for the ad- ditions he has made to Brooks' text, and for his care- ful narrative of the later history of the town, bringing it up to a very recent date.

The settlement of Medford, contemporaneous with that of Boston and the towns in its immediate vi- cinity, was made by a detachment from the large body of immigrants who, under the anspices of the Massachusetts Bay Company, came over from Eng- land in 1630, disembarking at Salem. The Massa- chusetts Bay Company, which was chartered in 1628, had for its first governor, Matthew Cradock, who, al- though he never visited New England, took an impor- tant part in the management of the affairs of the col- ony, and especially, as will be seen, in the settlement of Medford. Although Cradock seems to have resigned the office of governor in 1629, with a view to the trans- ferrence of the government to New England, he was elected one of the " Assistants " of the Company, and appears to have retained the home direction of its affairs. Winthrop, the first Colonial governor, did not enter upon his office until 1631.

The initiatory movements in England for the estab- lishment of the colony, as well as the manner in which the immigrants distributed themselves in forming the different settlements, have been carefully detailed by Governor Dudley in his well-known letter to the Countess of Lincoln. We give these extracts from the letter :-

" To the Right Honorable, my very good Ludy, the Lady Bridget, Countess of Lincoln.

"MADAM,-Touching the plantation which we here have begun, it fell out thus: About the year 1627 some friends, being together in Lincolnshire, fell into discourse about New England and the planting of the gospel there; and, after some deliberation, we imparted our reasons, by letters and messages, to some in London and the West Country, where it was likewise deliberately thought upon, and at length, with often negotiation, so ripened, that in the year 1628 we procured a patent from his Majesty for our planting between the Massachusetts Bay and Charles River ou the south, and the River of Merrimack ou the north, and three miles on either side of those riv- ers and bays, as also for the government of those who did or should inhabit within that compass. And the same year we sent Mr. John Endicott, and some with him, to begin a plantation, and to strengthen such as we should find there, which we sent thither from Dorchester and some other places adjoining ; from whom, the same year, receiving hopeful news, the next year (1629) we sent divers ships over, with about three hundred people, and some cows, gouts and horses, many of which arrived safely.

" These, by their too large commeudations of the country and the commodities thereof, invited ns so strongly to go on, that Mr. Win-

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HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.

throp, of Suffolk (who was well known in his own country, and well approved here for bie piety, liberality, wisdom and gravity), coming in to us, we came to such resolution, that in April, 1630, we set sail from Old England with four good sbipe. And, in May following, eight more followed ; two baving gone before in February and March, und two more following in June and August, beeides another set out by a private merchant. These seventeen shipe arrived all safe in New England for the increase of the plantation here this year (1630), but made a long, a troublesome and costly voyage, being all wind. bound long in England, and hindered with contrary winds after they set sail, and so scattered with mists and tempests, that few of them arrived together. Our four ships which set out in April arrived here iu June and July, where he found the colony in a sad and nuexpected condition ; above eighty of them being dead the winter before, and many of those alive weak and sick, all the corn and bread among them all hardly sufficient to feed them a fortnight. But, bearing these things ae we might, we began to consult of our place of sitting down ; for Salem, where we landed, pleased ue not.

" .And to that purpose some were sent to the Bay to search up the rivers for a convenient place, who, upon their return, reported to have found a good place upon Mistick ; but some other of ue, seconding these, to approve or disliko of their judgment, we found a place liked ue better, three leagues up Charles River, and therenpon un- shipped our goods into other vessels, and with much cost and labor brought them in July to Charlestown. But there receiving advertise- mente (by some of the late arrived ships), from London and Auster- «lau, of some French preparations against us (wany of our people brought with us being sick of fevers and the scurvy, and we thereby unable to carry up our ordnance and baggage so far), we were forced to change counsel, and for our present shelter to plant dispersedly,- some at Charlestown, which standeth on the north side of the month of Charles River ; come on the south side thereof, which place we uamed Boston (as we intended to have done the place we first resolved ou) ; some of us upon Mistick, which we named Meudford; some of us westward on Charles River, four mule from Charlestown, which place we named Watertown; others of us two miles from Boston, in a place we called Roxbury ; others upon the River Saugus, between Salem and Charlestown ; and the Western-men four miles south from Boston, in a place we named Dorchester. They who had health to labor fell to building, wherein many were interrupted with sickness, nnd many died weekly, yea, almost daily.

" After my brief mauer I say this: that, if any come hither to plant for worldly eods that can live well at home, he commits an error of which he will soon repeut hint ; but if for spiritual, and that ao par- tienlar obstacle hinder bis removal, he may find here what may well content him, viz., materials to build, fuel to burn, ground to plant, seas aud rivers to fish in, a pure air to breathe in, good water to drink till wine or beer cau be made ; which, together with the cows, hoge and goats brought hither already, may sufhce for food ; as for fowl nud venison, they are dainties here, as well as in England. For clothes and bedding, they must bring them with them, till time and industry produce them here. In a word, we yet enjoy little to be envied, but endure much to be pitied in the sickness and mortality of our people. If any godly man, out of religions ends, will come over to help us in the good work we are about, I think they cannot dispose of themselves, nor of their estates, more to God's glory and the furtherance of their own reckoning ; but they must not be of the poorer dort yet, for divere years. I am now, thie 28th March, 1631, sealing my letters.

" Your Honor's old thankful servant, " THOMAS DUOLEY."

In the Charlestown records, 1664, John Green, in giving a history of the first-comers, says :

" Amongst others that arrived at Salem, at their owu cost, were Ralph Sprague, with his brethren, Richard and William, who, with three or four more, by joint couavut, aud approbation of Mr. John Endicott, Governor, did, the sume summer of anno (1628) (29), under- tuke a journey from Salem, and traveled the woods above twelve miles to the westward, and lighted of a place situate and lying on the north disle of Charles River, full of Indians, called Aberginians. Their old sachem being dead, his oldest son, by the English called John Saga- more, was their chief, and a man naturally of a gentle and good dispo- sition. . . . They found it was a neck of land, generally full of stately timber, as was the main and the laud lying on the east side of the river, called Mystick Biver, from the farm Mr. Cradock's servauts bad planted, called Mystick, which this river led np unto ; and, in-

deed, generally all the country round about was an nocouth wilder- ness, full of timber."

These seem to have been the first Europeans who visited the site of the present town of Medford.

Of the " four ships " mentioned by Dudley as sail- ing from England in April, 1630, two belonged to Cradock, and one of the others, the " Arbella," brought over Winthrop. Cradock was a merchant and a man of wealth, and the lading of his vessels was largely a private venture. The emigrants sent over by him were men selected for their fitness to engage in the business of the fisheries and shipbuild- ing, in which he proposed to embark, and among them were "coopers and cleavers of timber." Al- though the company declared in 1629 that "the pro- pagation of the gospel is the thing we do profess above all to be our aim in the settling of this planta- tion," there can he no question that they expected to make the enterprise self-supporting, and even profit- able, and from the very start they took the proper steps to attain that end.

Governor Winthrop in his journal says: "Thurs- day, 17th of June, 1630 : We went to Massachusetts to find out a place for our sitting down. We went up 'Mystic River' about six miles." This, so far as we know, was the first exploration of the river. Win- throp at once established himself on a tract of land on the south side of the Mystic, where he built a house. To this estate he gave the name of the "Ten Hills Farm," which it has ever since retained.

The name of "Mystic Fields," or "Mystic," was applied to the lands on the south side of the river, stretching from Charlestown Neck to the ponds at the head of the stream, and including the Winthrop farm. The name " Mystic " was sometimes extended to Medford itself.

A grant of six hundred acres of land was made by the "Court of Assistants " to Winthrop, in 1631, " to be set forth by metes and bounds, near his honse in Mistic, to enjoy to him and his heirs forever." Mr. Winthrop appears to have been much pleased with his new possessions, for writing to his son he says : " Here is as good land as I have ever seen there [in England ], though none so bad as there," and in a letter to his wife, written November 29, 1630, we find these words: "My dear wife, we are here in a para- dise."

It was about the time when Winthrop established himself at the Ten Hills Farm, in the summer of 1630, that Cradock's people made their settlement at Medford. It was probably under Winthrop's direc- tion that the agent of Cradock fixed his headquarters on the north side of the Mystic, nearly opposite the Ten Hills Farm, and here the settlers at once ad. dressed themselves to the work which they had in hand. The existence of the plantation was authori- tatively recognized as early as September 28, 1630, when a tax of £3 was imposed on Medford for the support of military teachers; and, in November of

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the same year, another tax of £3 was laid on the settlement.

From the beginning, Governor Cradock had been an earnest and active friend of the new plantations, and had held wise and far-reaching views as to the means by which their prosperity could be secured. Some of his letters are extant, and furnish abundant proof of his enthusiastic devotion to the enterprise, at the same time giving us very favorable impressions of the character of the man. Writing to Endicott, in February, 1628, he says :

" We are very confident of your best endeavors for the general good ; and we doubt not but God will in mercy give a blessing upon our labors ; and we trust you will not be unmindful of the main and of our planta- tion, by endeavoring to bring the Indians to the knowledge of the gos- pel, which that it may ba speedier and better effected, the earuest desire of our whole company is, that you have diligent and watchful eye over Jar own people; that they live unblamabls and without reproof, und demean themselves justly and courteous towards the Indians, thereby to draw them to affect our persons, and consequently our religion ; as also to endeavor to get some of their children to train up to readling, aod consequently to religion, while they are young ; herein, to youog or old, tu omit no good opportunity that may tend to bring them out of that woful state and condition they now are iu ; in which case our predeces- sors in this our land sometimes were, and, but for the mercy and good- uess of our good God, might have continued to this day ; but God, who out of the boundless ocean of his mercy bath showed pity aud compas- sion to our land, he is all sufficient and can bring this to pass which we now desire ia that country likewise. Only let us not be wanting on our parts, now we are called to this work of the Lord ; neither, having put our hands to the plough, let us look back, but go on cheerfully, and de- pand upon God for a blessing upon our labors, who, by weak instruments, is able (if he see it good) to bring glorious things to pass.

" Be of good courage, go ou, and do worthily, and the Lord prosper your endeavor.

" And now, miading to conclude this, I may oot omit to put you in mind, however you seem to fear uo enemies there, yet Ibat you have a watchful eye for your own safety, and the safety of all those of our nation with you, and not to be too confident of the fidelity of the savages. It is an old proverb, yet as true, the burnt child dreads the fire. Our cona- trymen have suffered by their too much confidence in Virginia. Let us by their barms learn to baware ; and as we are commanded to be inuo- cent as doves, so withal we are enjoined to be wiss as serpents. The God of heaven and earth preserve and keep you from all foreign sud inland enemies, and hless and prosper this plaatation to the eulargement of the kingdom of Jesus Christ, to whose mercifn! protection I commend you and all your associates thers, known or unknown. And so, till my next, which shall be (God willing) by war ships, who I make acconat will be ready to set sail from hence about the 20th of this next month of March, I and, and rast."

Another of his letters, written in April, 1629, speaks well for his notions of equity in dealing with the In- dians :

" Above all, we pray you be careful there he none in our precincts permitted to do any injury (in the least kind) to the heathen people; and if any offend in that way, let them receive due correction. If any of the savages pretend right of inheritance to all or any part of the lands granted in our patent, we pray you endeavor to purchase their title, that we may avoid the least scruple of intrusion."

The importance of the service which Governor Cradock rendered to the infant plantations is recog- mized in the " First Letter of the Governor and Deputy of the New England Company for a Plantation in Massachusetts Bay, to the Governor and Council for Loudon's Plantation in the Massachusetts Bay, in

New England," written in April, 1629. From this we quote as follows :

" We pray you give all good accommodation to our present governor, Mr. Mathew Cradock, who, with some particular breibren of the com- pany, have deeply engaged themselves in their private adventures in these ships, and those to come; and as we hold these men, that thus deeply adventure in their private, to be (under God) special instruments for the advancing and strengthauing of the plantation, which is done by them without any charge to the company's general stock, wherein, not- withstanding, they are as deep or deeper engaged than any other.

"We have sent six shipwrights, of whom Robert Montton is chief. T'bess meu's entertainment is very chargeable to us ; and by agreement it is to be borne two-thirds at the charge of the general company, and the other one-third is to be borne by Mr. Cradock, our Governor, and bis associates interested in the private stock. We hope you will be care- ful to see theui so employed as may couatervail the charge, desiring you to agree with Mr. Sharp that their labor may be employed two-thirds for the general company, and one-third for Mr. Cradock aud his associates, praying you to accommodate said Mr. Cradock's people in all btting manner, as he doth well deserve.

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History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III, Part 191

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