USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > History of Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of many of its pioneers and prominent men, Vol. III > Part 2
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We have this record under date of March 3, 1636 : " It is agreed that Newton bounds shall run eight miles into the country from their meeting-house, and Watertown 8, Roxbury 8, Charlestown 8."
" In the year 1798, as appears from an article by Dr. Homer, in the 'Massachusetts Historical Collec- tions' for that year, the extent of Newtou from north to south, measuring from Watertown line to Dedham line, was six miles and thirty-six rods, the measure being made along the county road, from east to west, measuring from the bridge at Newton Lower Falls to Cambridge, which at that date included Brighton or Little Cambridge, four miles, three-quarters & fifty-one rods. The whole town, including the several ponds, was, at that time, by careful estimate, reckoned to embrace 12,940 acres. At the same time Charles River, with its various windings, washed the edges of the town for about sixteen miles.
" In 1838, 1800 acres of the extreme southerly part of Newton were set off to Roxbury. In 1847 about 640 acres at the extreme northwesterly part were set off to Waltham. After the construction of Chestnut Hill Reservoir by the city of Boston, a slight change was made in the eastern boundary of Newton by an exchange of land, so that these beautiful sheets of water might be entirely within the limits of Boston, and under its jurisdiction. Brighton having been an- nexed to Boston, the two cities-Newton and Boston - - for a considerable distance uear this point, border on each other."
The first settlers in Newton did not come in a body, but family after family. Of those who came into the town between 1639 and 1664, the date of the organ- ization of the first church-twenty in number-the ages of the majority were between twenty-one and thirty-five. Only five had reached the age of forty ; two only were more than fifty. Notwithstanding the hardships of frontier life to which they were subjected, fourteen out of thirty, whose date of death is recorded, died more than eighty years of age, only right under seventy, and only two under fifty.
One of the earliest settlers Samuel Holly-was in Cambridge in 1636, and owned a house and eighteen aeres of land adjoining John Jackson in 1639. He gold six acres of this estate to Edward Jackson in 1613 for five pounds, and died the same year. The following are the names of the first twenty male set- tlers of Newton, extending to 1664, which was the date of the organization of the first church, and the
5
NEWTON.
Date of Set- tlement
Age of Set-
Nanies.
Where from.
Date of Death.
Age.
Inventory.
1639
39
Dea. John Jackson. ..
London . 1674-5
75 £1230 0 0
1640
30
Dea. Samuel Hyde. ..
London
1689
79
1643
42
Edward Jackson
London
1681
79% 2477 19 0
1644
33
John Fuller
England .
1698
87
534 5 0
1647
21
Jonathan Hyde ..
London
1711
85
1647
Richard Park
Cambridge
1665
972 0 0
1649
29
Capt. Thomas Prentice England .
1710
89
1650
35
John Parker .
Wingham
1686
412 2 0
1650
Thomas Hammond
1675
1139 16 2
1650
Vincent Druce
1678
271 19 0
1650
Jobn Ward
Sudbury .
1708
88 16 10
1650
James Prentice
England .
1710
81
286 14
0
.
1654
Thomas Wiswall .
Dorchest'r 1683
340 0 0
1658
40
John Kenrick
Boston
1686
82
23
Isaac Williams
Roxbury .
1708
85 6 9
1662
34
Abraham Williams
Watert'wn
1712
1664
28
James Trowbridge
Dorchester
1717
81
240 0 7
1664
34
John Spring .
Watert'wn
1717
27
1664
28
John Eliot, Jr.
Roxbury .
1668
33
457 2 5
At the time of Mr. Eliot's ordination (1664), there were twelve young men in Newton of the second gen- eration, nearly all unmarried.
From the year 1664 to 1700 history presents a list of fifty additional names of settlers within the limits of Newton :
Date of Set- tlement.
Age at Settle-
ment.
Names.
Where from.
Date of
Death.
Age.
1666
Gregory Cook
1691
1667
.
Humphrey Osland
1720
1669
Daniel Bacon
Bridgewater
1691
1670
27
Thomas Green wood
1693
50
1672
26
Sammel Truesdale
Boston .
1695
49
1673
.
Joseph Bartlett .
Cambridge .
1702
1674
Nehemiah Hobard
llingham
1712
1674
Joseph Miller . Henry Seger
Watertown
1732
83
1675
30
John Mason
1730
85
1678
Isaac Beach
1736
90
1678
31
Stephen Cook
1738
91
1678
. .
N. McDaniel (Scotch)
Roxbury ..
1694
1696
1678
.
. John Parker (South)
Watertown
1678
56
27 P. Stanchett or Hanchett
Roxbury .
Roxbury-
1692
70
1680 168] 1682
40 John Clark
Brookline
1695
54
John Mirick
Charlestown
1706 |
72
1686
25 .Ioun Knapp
Watertown
1733
92
24
Ebenezer Stone
1754
1686 1686 1687 1688 1688 1689 1692
30 John Staples
1740
82
30
Nathaniel Healy Thomas Chamberlain
Cambridge
1734
76
1692
Ephraim Wheeler
Brookline
1693
Nathaniel Parker
Dedham
1694
William Tucker
Boston
1695
Andrew Hall .
1756
1695
William Brown
1695
.
Jonathan Green
Malden
1736
1696
4
Sebrean Custer
1696
John Smith .
Dedbam
1728
1698
24 John Holland
Watertown
1700
. Jacob Chamberlain
1700
John Grimea
1700
Samuel Paris
1700
40 Jonathan Coolidge
Watertowu
1700
24 Nathaniel Longley
1732
56
.
Daniel Ray
Charlestown
1710
1678
1678
.
David Mead
Waltham .
1678 1678 1678 1679 1680
Simon Ong .
William Robinson
58
Nathaniel Wilson Daniel Macoy
. Nathaniel Crane
William Thonias
1697
38 Joseph Bush
1723
1692
Abrahamu Chamberlain
John Foot .
Cambridge
1697
. Ebenezer Littlefield
Charlestown 1697
1674
1675
26
John Woodward
. .
27
21
1650
Thomas Prentice (2d)
1661
.
tlement.
The descendants of some of these are still living. Deacon Jackson had a numerous progeny,-five sons and ten daughters, and about fifty grandchildren. The name has been familiar in Church and State from the beginning until now. Deacon Samuel Hyde and Jonathan Hyde still live in name in the history of horticulture and in the beautiful Common of Newton Centre. The Fullers were equally renowned for relig- ious and civil influence. The Wards have held a place of honor in every generation. The name of Williams is perpetuated in the whole world through their labors of love and through Williams College, at Williams- town, Mass., which had its origin in the bequest of one of them, and which is itself the mother of all the missionary organizations in the United States; for there the seed was planted which has brought forth fruit in many lands. John Eliot, Jr., died young, but through his work he seems to be living still. The Kenricks have ever held a distinguished place. Ho- bart and Stone and Parker have left their names em- balmed in their history. Woodward and Clark were worthy of their posterity, who flourished more than 200 years after them, the sons worthy of snch sires. John Staples, the schoolmaster, taught well the boys of his period. His broad acres, still distinctly marked, and his comely caligraphy in the town records,-for he was town clerk twenty-one years,-and the church of which he was long a deacon, are his enduring monuments. And not these alone. The plantation was founded in faith and prayer, by sturdy sons of the soil and independent thinkers,-men not to be turned aside from the right, and cherishing from the beginning the spirit and the principles which entitled them, as soon as the Colonial government was abol- ished, to all the privileges and prerogatives of freemen.
A considerable accession of settlers came to the original plantation of Cambridge as early as Angust, 1632. The Braintree Company, so-called, number- ing forty-seven, headed by the Rev. Mr. Hooker, be- gan a settlement at Monnt Wollaston, but were com- pelled by the Court, for what reason is not stated, to remove to Newton. Dr. Holmes says : "It is highly probable that this company came from Braintree, in Essex County, in England, and from its vicinity. Chelmsford, where Mr. Hooker was settled, is but eleven miles from Braintree, and Mr. Hooker was so esteemed as a preacher, that not only his own people, but others from all parts of the County of Essex, flocked to hear him." "The same year" (1632), says Mr. Prince, " they built the first house of worship at Newtowne (Cambridge) with a bell upon it;" which indicates that the early settlers were not summoned to worship by beat of drum, like Mr. Eliot's Indian congregation later. No record shows when a bell was first used on the first church in New Cambridge (Newton). Mr. Hooker's company arrived in Boston, September 4, 1633. Mr. Hooker was installed pastor and Mr. Stone teacher of the church October 11th, following, with fasting aod prayer.
1771
26
John Alexander
6
HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
'Two of this company, Simon Bradstreet and John Haynes, attained to the office of Colonial Governors of Massachusetts. Mr. Bradstreet owned the estate now heid by ex-Governor Claflin. Mr. Haynes re- ceived the earliest and largest grant of land in New- ton, in 1634; was chosen Governor in 1635; removed to Connecticut with Hooker's company in 1636, and was Governor of t'onnecticut in 1639. He died in 1654, and this traet of land passed to his heirs.
The addition of the Braintree company to the pop- ulation made the settlers feel that their territory was insufficient for their needs, and in May, 1634, they petitioned the General Court, either for enlargement or the privilege of removal. Messengers were sent by Mr. Hlooker to explore Ipswich, and the Merrimack and Connecticut Rivers, and lands adjacent. The ex- plorers of the Connecticut Valley brought a favorable report, which led to a petition to the Court, in Sep- tember, 1634, for leave to move thither. The ques- tion was a very exciting one, and was debated by the Court many days. On taking the vote, it appeared that the Assistants were opposed to the removal and the Deputies were in favor of it. "Upon this grew a great difference between the Governor and Assistants, and the Deputies. So when they could proceed no further, the whole Court agreed to keep a day of hu- miliation in all the congregations. Mr. Cotton, by desire of the Court, preached a sermon that had great influence in settling the question."
After various and unsuccessful efforts to come to an agreement, finally, the donations of land, which had been made provisionally, reverted to their original owners, and Mr. Hooker and his company obtained from the Court leave to remove wherever they pleased, only "on condition that they should con- tinue under the jurisdiction of Massachusetts." They took their departure the following year, and settled in what is now Hartford, Conn. Therefore Connecticut and its capital city must be ever regarded as the daughter of Newton. Mr. Trumbull thus describes their journey :
" About the beginning of June Mr. Hooker, Mr. Stone and about one hundred men, women and chil- dren took their departure from Cambridge and trav- eled more than a hundred miles through a hideous and trackless wilderness to Hartford. They had no guide but their compass, and made their way over mountains, through swamps, thickets and rivers with great difficulty. They had no cover but the heavens, nor any lodgings but those that simple nature af- forded them. They drove with them 160 head of cattle, and by the way subsisted on the milk of their cows. Mrs. Ilooker was borne through the wikler- ness on a litter. The people carried their packs, arms and some utensils. They were nearly a fort- night on their journey. This adventure was the more remarkable as many of the company were per- sons of high standing, who had lived in England in
honor, affluence and delicaey, and were entire strang- ers to fatigue and danger."
Among the most interesting relies of antiquity are the records of early times. The quaint forms in which their doings were expressed, the acts of legisla- tion made necessary by the emergencies of a new country, and the minute affairs carefully written down by those conscientious people, the announce- ment of which in our own times would hardly be deemed worth the breath which told them or the ink which recorded them, form an integral part of his- tory. They reproduce the men and the times in vivid pictures. They are valuable and instructive, as showing the elements and beginnings of the eivil- ization, the culture, the security and the elegance which we now enjoy. The records of the Colony, of Cambridge, of New Cambridge, and of Newton after its separation from Cambridge, and the Registry of Deeds of Middlesex County all give copious speci- mens, on which the historian delights to linger.
The following have reference to various matters pertaining to the interests of the town, taken, under the respective dates, from the records of Cambridge before the separation of Newton :
"At the Court held in Newtowne, Sept. 3, 1634, it was ordered that no person shall take tobacco pub- liquely under the penalty of eleven shillings, nor privately, in his own house, or in the house of an- other, before strangers; and that two or more shall not take it anywhere under the aforesaid penalty for each offence."
"At a Court held at Newton on the 2nd day of the 9th month, 1637, it was ordered that no person shall be allowed to sell cakes and bunns except at funerals and weddings."
16-17, April 12. " The Town bargained with Waban, the Indian chief (Eliot's first convert to Christian- ity), who lived iu a large wigwam on Nonantam Hill, to keep six score head of dry cattle on the south side of Charles river, and he is to have the full sum of £8, to be paid as follows : viz., 30s. to James Cutler, and the rest in Indian corn, at 38., after Michaeltide next. He is to take care of them from the 21st day of this present month, and to keep them until three weeks after Michaelmas ; and if any be lost or ill, he is to send word unto the town; and if any be lost through his carelessness, he is to pay, according to the value of the beast, for his defect."
It is said that Waban became an excellent pen- man, though this record was signed by his mark. Two deeds at least are in existence in which he wrote his name, Waban, with Thomas-the name given him by the English-above it.
1648. Joseph Cooke, Mr. Edward Jackson and Ed- ward Goffe were chosen commissioners, or referees, to end small causes, under forty shillings,-and for many years succeeding.
1649. "It is ordained by the townsmen that all
7
NEWTON.
persons provide that their dogs may do no harm in cornfields or gardens by scraping up the fish, under penalty of three pence for every dog that shall be taken damage feasant, with all other just damages."
A large body of lands at Shawshine (now Billerica) was granted by the General Court to the proprietors of Cambridge, in 1652. Seven Newton men shared in this distribution. Edwin Jackson obtained 400 acres, which he gave, by will, to Harvard University ; Thomas Prentice, 150 acres; Samuel Hyde, 80 ; John Jackson, 50; Jonathan Hyde, 20; John Parker, 20; Vincent Druce, 15. In 1662 267 acres of the common lands in Cambridge Village were divided among ninety proprietors. In 1664 a further distri- bution was made of remaining lands in Cambridge Village, and 2675₺ acres were divided by lot among 133 proprietors. In this distribution Edward Jack- son received 30 acres; John Jackson 20, and Thomas Prentice, 9.
In 1668, Elder Wiswall, Edward Jackson and John Jackson were appointed to catechise the chil- dren at the new church at the village. This was four years after the settlement of Mr. Eliot as pastor, and the year of his death. In 1660 it was ordered that none shall be freemen (voters) but such as are in full communion with the church of Christ. In 1674 il was ordered "that Cambridge Village should be a distinct military company of themselves, and so to be exercised according to law," and James Trowbridge was appointed lieutenant.
The doctrine of religious toleration was one of slow growth among these sturdy Puritans. The following records stand in striking contrast with the Christian charity and harmony of modern times :
" 1678. Forasmuch as it hath too often happened , that through differences of opinion in several towns, and on other pretences, there have been attempts by some persons to erect new meeting-houses,-although on pretence of the public worship of God on the Lord's day-yet thereby laying foundations, if not for schism, and seduction to errors and heresies,-for per- petuating divisions and weakening snch places where they dwell, in comfortable support of the ministry or- derly settled among them,-for prevention thereof, it is ordered that no person whatever, without the consent of the freemen of the town where they live, first orderly had and obtained at a public meeting assembled for that end, etc., and every person or persons trans- gressing this law, every such house or houses where such persons shall so meet more than three times, with the land whereon such houses stand, and all private ways leading thereto, shall be forfeited to the use of the country, or demolished, as the Court shall order."
"1680. A society of Baptists were censured by the Governor in open Court, and prohibited meeting as a society in the public place they have built, or any other public house, except such as have been allowed by lawful authority." In political matters, however,
intellectual advancement led very early to greater freedom. In 1689 the deputy elected to the General Court from New Cambridge, John Ward, was " in- structed to advocate an enlargement of freemen,- that all freeholders that are of an honest conversa- tion and competent estate may have their vote in all civil elections." This John Ward served as deputy, or representative, fifty-four days, and was paid one shilling and six pence per day. He was elected eight years in succession by his fellow-citizens, and, as the first of a long series, did efficient service.
The first person who died in Newton after it was in- corporated was Nathaniel Hammond, son of Thomas Hammond, Sr., May 29, 1691, aged forty-eight. The first couple married were Josiah Bush and Hannah
December 25, 1691, Christmas day. They were mar- ried by James Trowbridge, the first town clerk, and had three children. The first meeting-house stood in the centre of the old cemetery on the east side of Centre Street; it was built in 1660. The second was erected on the opposite side of the street, nearly on the site of the house of the late Gardner Colby. The vote to build it was passed in 1696; the work was begun in the spring of 1697, and finished early in 1698. The site was given to the town by John Spring. In 1717 the first meeting-house was still standing, though for what purpose it was or had been used is unknown. Mr. Ripley says, in his " History of Wal- tham," that a committee appointed by that town was authorized to purchase the second meeting- house of Newton for a sum not exceeding £80, and that it was so purchased, and taken down aud remov- ed to Waltham in October, 1731, and there it remain- ed till 1776. The house in Newton being finished, a vote was passed " that the Building Committee should seat the meeting-house, and that age and gifts (towards the building) should be the rule the Committee should go by." This absurd custom of " seating the meet- ing-house," or " dignifying the the pews," created much ill feeling. It was finally abolished in March, 1800. Before the erection of the first meeting-house, it is conjectured, in the absence of records, that meetings were held in a hall in the house of Edward Jackson. Mr. Jackson's house was near the dividing line between Newton and Brighton, and the meetings were probably held here four or five years.
In 1699 it was voted to build a school-house before the last of November, sixteen feet by fourteen, and the next year "John Staples was hired to keep the town-school at five shillings per day."
The citizens were not forgetful of the claims of charity. In March, 1711, it was voted "that once in the year, upon the Thanksgiving Day that falls in the year, there shall be a contrybution for the poor, and that it shal be put into the town treasury, and to be ordered to the poor by the Selectmen, as they see need." The deacons were formally set apart to their office. A price was set on the heads of wolves, black birds, jays and gray-headed woodpeckers. Provision
8
HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, MASSACHUSETTS.
was made in 1733 for a work-house, or almshouse, and the school-house was set apart, in the recess of the school, as a place of labor for idle and disorderly per- sons. Sheep and swine, under proper restrictions, were permitted to run at large, the latter being " earc- fully yoked and ringed." Deer were protected in the town by law ; and a commission was appointed with reference to the free passage of fish up and down Charles River. By vote of the town in 1796 the deacons were allowed to " have liberty to sit ont of the deacons' seats in the meeting-house, if they choose." As late as 1707 the selectmen were appoint- ed "Asessores, to ases the contrey rates." In 1796 the town voted to have a stove to warm the meeting- honse. This was one hundred and thirty-six years after the building of the first meeting-house; and during all that period, the strong and the weak, the old and young had gone to the house of God in company, and sat shivering in winter during the two services of the Sabbath day, forenoon and afternoon, knowing only the comfort of an hour's heat in their "noon houses," in the recess of worship, when the women might also refill their little foot-stoves for the second session.
In 1647 the selectmen of Cambridge, including, at that time, New Cambridge, made a careful estimate of the estates in the town at that date, from which it appears that there were in the whole town 135 ratable persons ; 90 houses ; 208 eows, valued at .£9 each; 131 oxen, valued at £6 each ; 229 young cattle ; 20 horses, valued at £7 each; 37 sheep, at £1 108 .; 62 swine, at £1; 58 goats, at 88.
The vote of the town of Newton in 1699 to build a school-house is the first record looking to the educa- tion of the children of Newton,-sixty-eight years after the first settlement in Cambridge, or Newtowne; sixty years after the first record of the sale of land in Newton by Samuel Holly to John Jackson, and twenty years after the first town-meeting, when the first selectmen and town ofheers of Newton were chos- en ; eleven years after Newton became an independent town. Cambridge, however, had a " a fair grammar school under Master Corlet," in which New Cambridge had a right until its separation was consummated. As the early settlers were well-to-do, very likely they availed themselves of this right for their elder chil- dren. And, as they were generally intelligent people, the younger were undoubtedly tanght the elements of learning at home.
The act of the town passed in 1717 to prevent the destruction of deer, implied that at this date deer still roamed in the forests of Newton. The late Rev. Prentice. John Jackson, the first on the list, and James Freeman Clarke said that among his recollec- tions of the house of Gen. William Hull, his mater- nal grandfather (now ex-tiov. Claflin's), was a pair of deer's horns suspended in the hall, belonging to a victim which was shot by the general from his front- door.
The " noon houses," above referred to, where the
people could eat their frugal lunch and warm their freezing limbs on the Sabbath between the services, were three or four in number. One of them was erected very near the church ; a second stood on land which is now at the junction of Centre and Lyman Streets, under a great oak tree which formerly stood there. A chimney was built in the middle of the floor, resting on four pillars, so that the largest pos- sible number could sit around the common hearth. The First Baptist Society, one year earlier than their neighbors, in January, 1795, passed a vote "to pro- eure a stove to warm the meeting-house." But it was not till November, 1805, eleven years later, that the Federal Street Church in Boston, Rev. Dr. Chan- ning's, by their committee, "voted that a stove be permitted to be placed in the Federal Street Church without expense to the society, to be erected under the direction of the church committee,-its use to be dis- continued at any time when the committee shall di- reet." Thus Newton showed itself in this provision for the comfort of the worshippers in the house of God eleven years in advance of one of the wealthiest churches iu Boston.
The first actual settler in Newton was John Jaek- son. Ile "bought of Miles Ives, of Watertown, a dwelling-house and eighteen acres of land, very near the present dividing line between Newton and Brighton, 24 rods on Charles river, and extending southerly 120 rods. The same year Samuel Holly owned a like lot and dwelling-house adjoining Jack- son's estate, and Raudolph Bush owned a like lot and house adjoining Samuel Holly's estate, and William Redson or Redsyn owned four acres and a dwelling- house adjoining Bush's estate, and William Clements owned six acres and a dwelling-house, adjoining John Jackson's west, and Thomas Mayhew owned a dwell- ing-house next the spot where Gen. Michael Jackson's house stood. These six dwelling-houses were in the Village in 1639, and perhaps earlier. Samuel Holly died in 1643, and left no descendants in the town. We cannot tell who occupied the houses of Mayhew, Clements, Bush and Redson; they were transient dwellers, and were soon gone. Edward Jackson bought all these houses and the lands appartenant be- fore 1648, and all except Mayhew's were in what is now Brighton." Twenty-two landholders established their residence in New Cambridge between 1639, the date of the coming of John Jackson, and 1664, the date of the formation of the First Church. Some historians add two or three others, as William Healy, Gregory Cook and a third family bearing the name of one of the first deacons of the church, brought with him from England a good estate, and gave an aere of ground for the first church and cemetery. This aere now constitutes the old part of the cemetery on the east side of Centre Street. Ile was prominent in the etforts for the incorporation of Newton as an inde- pendent town, but died eighteen years before it was
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