USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Needham > History of Needham, Massachusetts, 1711-1911 : including West Needham, now the town of Wellesley, to its separation from Needham in 1881, with some reference to its affairs to 1911 > Part 11
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Wellesley > History of Needham, Massachusetts, 1711-1911 : including West Needham, now the town of Wellesley, to its separation from Needham in 1881, with some reference to its affairs to 1911 > Part 11
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Rosemary Brook runs from the pond of that name through the Rosemary Meadow to Longfellow's Pond, which latter was once merely a part of the brook. "Rofemerry medow Plane" is mentioned in 1789. Mill Brook is referred to in deeds of the eighteenth century.
"Sol Fuller's Brook" flows through the farm once owned by Solomon Fuller, a soldier of the Revolution, and later by Capt. John Harris, John M. Harris, and Samuel Sutton and family, and finally empties into the Charles River near the Dedham Avenue Bridge. Hubbard's Well was a noted spring, and was near the place on Greendale Avenue where William H. Sullivan lived in 1900.
Divisions of the Town and Changes in Boundaries
ANNEXATION OF THE WEST END, OR NEEDHAM LEG, TO NATICK
On November II, 1724, Stephen Bacon, John Under- wood, Thomas Frost, Samuel Morse, John Goodenow and Timothy Bacon addressed a petition to the Honorable William Dummer, Lieutenant-Governor and Acting Gov- ernor, to the Council and House, reciting that they were "all Settled Inhabitants upon a Tract of land purchased of Ded- ham men runing up in a long & narrow form", and stating that their land was "Within the ancient Bounds of Natick Plantation Since Accounted to belong to Needham". They desired to be annexed to Natick, as they were near the meeting-house there, and seven miles from the one at Need- ham. They said that some of them attended meeting in Sudbury or Sherborn until the Rev. Mr. Peabody came to Natick, and preached within two miles of their homes. The Town of Needham had ignored their complaints. The six petitioners were all of the heads of families then dwelling in The Leg, where there were only six houses. See Archives, Vol. II, p. 408. These men were ordered to serve notice on Needham for the 27th instant, and they were answered by Timothy Kingsbery, John Fisher and Robert Cook, select- men of Needham, under date of November 26, 1724. The remonstrance contains a resumé of the history of the town, and states "that by reason of the poorness of the Soil" the resources of the people were very limited, although aided
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by Dedham and Newton friends "(who 'tis certain, have been very kind & helpful both to our Minister & to us)". After Mr. Peabody came to Natick the dwellers in the Springfield Parish of Dedham went to Natick to Church, and in Newton the meeting-house had been removed to a place convenient to those who formerly attended the ser- vices in Needham. This remonstrance was handsomely written by Mr. Townsend, and called attention to the fact that the Church at Natick was amply provided for, while "much of our Land wild, poor, unsubdu'd, & but little profitable" "our Township (which at the biggest is not accounted to be above 5 miles Square including the Tract which our Westerly Petitioners now possess) is not ours as it is in other places: much of it belongs to Proprietors in Dedham, which lies wild & unprofitable and is of no service to us" "we have been visited of late years with sicknesses & mortality whereby nine or ten of the Principale men of the Town have been remov'd". As to the objection of the petitioners to being taxed, the selectmen stated that there was no reason why they should not be. Archives, Vol. II, P. 409.
The same petitioners repeated their attempt to get set off five years later, but with less encouragement than in 1724, when the House had been favorable to them. Accord- ing to a plan made in 1724 there were then thirteen buildings in Needham Leg, but in 1749 there were only nine houses, and apparently two of those were Indian habitations. The controversy in 1729 is referred to in the town records, and Captain Cook, Josiah Kingsbery and Andrew Dewing were granted £1 each for services on the committee "for Entring the Reasons at the Generall Court why the West Corner of the Town Might Not be Layª to Natick".
On May 17, 1732, the town refused to free Stephen Ba- con, John Underwood, Samuel Morse, Timothy Bacon and John Goodenow from the Minister's rates, but the previous September had excused seven families living west of Natick
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Brook from paying their share of a £40 rate for fencing a portion of the Ministerial Land.
A petition of John Goodenow and others, dated March 31, 1743, was presented to Governor Shirley, the Council and House, and was read in both Houses April 8, read again, together with the answer of Needham, and dismissed on June 3. General Court Records, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp. 38 and 280 and Archives, Vol. 12, p. 266.
The original petition, which is in the Archives, Vol. 12, p. 264, is endorsed on the back by eighteen of the Natick Indians, who favored the annexation of the people on the "Westerly Side of Saw-Mill Brook". There is also a sup- porting petition signed by John Loker and sixteen other white men, including Ebenezer Felch, Joseph Mills, Henry Bacon, John Coolidge, Robert Jennison, Jonathan and Daniel Dewing, Ephraim and Stephen Jennings. They denied that there was a scheme to remove the meeting- house from the Indians, and fourteen of the latter also signed this petition, but on May 26 some of them had changed their minds, as on that date twenty-five Indians, including some who had signed the Loker petition, besought the General Court not to annex the estates of John Goode- now and the others to Natick. This last Indian petition was supplemented by one signed by Daniel Morse and seven other white citizens of Natick and dated June I. See Archives, Vol. 12, pp. 267-269. The protest of the people of Needham, adopted in town meeting May 16 and dated June 3, contains interesting statements, viz., -
The petitioners were one tenth of the men of Needham, and better men than they lived further from the meeting-house, and attended the services regularly. Mr. Peabody had the benefit of the "publick Reveneue Given to Gospelize the Indians", and besides also owned one nineteenth of the whole town of Natick, while Mr. Townsend was compara- tively poor. The objections to granting the petition were concisely stated, in language dignified but sarcastic, and were
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grouped under four headings, the substance of which was: Goodenow and the others were not obliged to go to Church in Natick, or to pay anything if they did go there. The people of Needham paid Mr. Townsend in addition to their other taxes, and if the petitioners would only do likewise at Natick "by Way of Liberallity and Gratitude" "we beleve and are of the opinion that it would Give Good Satisfaction to m' peabody and to the Inhabitants of Natick". Other matters were touched upon, and this answer was signed by Robert Cook, Samuel Parker and Robert Fuller as a committee on behalf of Needham. The document was neatly written by Mr. Fuller. Archives, Vol. 12, p. 270.
Another petition asking for annexation to Natick was presented, and notwithstanding the adverse action of June 3, 1743, a bill passed the Council and House and was signed by Governor Shirley February 25, 1743/4. The signers were the same as in 1724, with the exception of Morse, and with the addition of Edward Ward and Moses Fisk.
The following is from the town records: On May 16, 1743, the town voted not to grant the prayer of the Westerly Inhabitants for annexation to Natick, and chose Nathaniel Bullard, Capt. John Fisher, Captain Cook, Robert Fuller and Samuel Parker a committee to show the General Court why the petitioners "Should not be set off to Natick". Early the next year this committee, with the exception of Fisher, were granted £1, 7s., Iod. each for attending to their duties as remonstrants, and Mr. Fuller's account included a charge for "Drawing of Resons".
RESTORATION OF THE LEG TO NEEDHAM IN 1761
On April 19, 1759, the petition of John Coolidge and others, calling themselves "a Committee of the Parifh of Natick", was before the General Court, asking for a committee to run the line between their land and Needham, alleging that the Act of 1743 had been ignored by the selectmen of Need-
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ham whenever they perambulated the line, and that the Needham assessors taxed land that was in Natick. An answer was received from the selectmen of Needham, after due notice had been served on them.
On June 13 William Brattle, Esq., was named on behalf of the Council to act with Colonels Clap and Marcy of the House, and "to repair to the Lands mentioned". Colonel Marcy replaced Colonel Partridge, who had been named a member of this committee on June 7, and on November IO Woodbridge Brown, Esq., was appointed in the room of Moses Marcy, Esq., then absent. The whole matter was dismissed by the General Court. See its Records, Vol. 22, p. 609, and Vol. 23, pp. 14, 42 and 122.
On March 29, 1760, a petition of Amos Fuller and others, selectmen of Needham, in favor of restoring The Leg to that town was before the General Court, and after due notice, no answer coming from the territory concerned, the Council voted in favor of the restoration, but the bill failed in the House on January 29, 1761. The House then ordered a second notice served on the inhabitants of The Leg, with the concurrence of the Council.
On June 23, 1761, the committee reported to the General Court that when this territory was annexed to Natick in 1743, "Needham then being against parting with them, and Natick against receiving them" the General Court had been deceived as to the motives of the petitioners, who then claimed that they desired to be nearer to a meeting-house in their own town, when as a fact thay did not go to meeting in Natick, but their intent was "that of removing the meeting house very far from the Indians and nearer to them- selves". The committee further stated "that the Peace of Natick makes it necefsary that they return to Needham again". There had been much trouble, and the "English", as the Indians called them, would not pay anything toward building the meeting-house or for the minister's salary. Archives, Vol. 24, p. 62.
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This report in favor of restoring The Leg to Needham was signed by the well-known Benjamin Lincoln, and on June 23, 1761, the Council adopted the report, and the next day the House concurred.
Thus for the peace of Natick, rather than for that of Needham, a group of men became citizens of the latter town, and were to keep up a continual fight for years. Again and again they forced the calling of a town meeting in order to act on articles that had been repeatedly voted down, and which they had no prospect of carrying. Lieut. Timothy Bacon appears to have been as active among them as any one.
In Vol. 14, pp. 223 and 225, State Archives, are some documents classed as Ecclesiastical, which relate to this con- troversy, but other original papers for 1759-61 seem to be missing, perhaps used and lost in later years, when the same issues were before the General Court. Most of the docu- ments relating to a division of the town appear to have been consulted from time to time till 1881, and were worn nearly to fragments.
The town records contain the following information in reference to the restoration of The Leg to Needham:
In March, 1760, Lemuel Pratt was granted £2, 8s., "for money paid to the General Court Commity upon Natick Line and for Coppys from Records", and the same month the town voted to petition the General Court "that that part of Needham that was annexed to Natick Should be sett to Needham again". In May, 1761, Ephraim Bullard, the inn-keeper, had an order from the selectmen for £I, I2s., 6}d. "for the Cost of the House for Entertaining the Courts Committy Sent up in the year 1759 And for the Entertainment of the Select men of Needham when met the Sd Committy to Settle the Line Between Needham and Natick: And for Cash Paid for a Copy of Needham Peti- tion". There were the charges for several warnings out of town, and recording the same, included in Mr. Bullard's bill, and the expense of entertainment was certainly moderate.
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In January, 1762, Lieut. Amos Fuller was granted £I, 13s., 2d. "for his Paying the Gen !! Courts Committy in the affair of Natick and Needham The time they met at Wil- liam Morses Inholder in Natick", and Mr. Bullard was allowed 19s., 102d. for paying Mr. Morse in 1761 on ac- count of the General Court's Committee and the selectmen of Needham, also eight shillings "for his Tending at the Gen11 Court upon account of the westerly Part of the Town Being Set Back to Needham again". It appears that Lemuel Pratt had paid eight shillings "for Two Petitions or answers in the affair of Natick and Needham".
On March 14, 1763, the town chose a committee consist- ing of Ensign Lemuel Pratt and Jonathan Dewing to answer the petition of Stephen and John Bacon, "now in ye Court or any other that Shall here after be Sent in by any of ye west End with Respect to there being Set back to Natick"; some one moved to substitute the selectmen for the com- mittee named, but the motion was voted down. The mem- bers of this committee were granted the sum of six shillings each for their services.
On May 18 the town was opposed to the request of Lieut. Timothy Bacon and others for annexation "with there Lands lying westerly of the Brook by ye wide Wards: and Jeremiah Gays Land, to Natick", and at the an- nual meeting in 1765 took similar action, and refused to free the petitioners from their share of the Minister's rates.
In May of that year the town was still opposed to the re- annexation to Natick of the inhabitants west of "Wards Brook", but in February, 1767, voted not to oppose the petition of Isaac Underwood and others. Three months later, May 21, the town declined to excuse the inhabitants in The Leg from the Minister's rates, or to consent to their restoration to Natick.
On March 18, 1768, Capt. Eleazer Kingsbery, Lieut. Jona- than Day, Michael Metcalf, Ensign John Bacon and Wil-
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liam Smith were chosen a committee "to View the Lines as far as it Concerns Needham Exprest in a Plan Presented to the Town Relating to Lit Timothy Bacon and Others Being Incorporated into a Distinct precinct; with part of the adjacint Towns; and make Report at may Meeting". It was on their report that the town voted, May 18, to make no opposition. Early in 1769 Michael Metcalf and Capt. Eleazer Kingsbery were granted two shillings each "for Viewing and Runing the line Projected for a Precinct by the west part of the Town".
In 1768 Lieut. Timothy Bacon had his Minister's rates abated for 1767, and there was a general abatement of these taxes for the current year as far as the inhabitants west of Ward's Brook were concerned. Later demands for similar abatements were refused.
On July II, 1774, the town voted to exempt "the west End and pine Plain as far as is Mentioned in said petition" from all charges for building the meeting-house in the place selected. Abatements of the Minister's rates were granted to Captain Farris and others subsequent to 1780, and these taxes were a source of annual controversy.
The restoration of The Leg to Needham did not discourage further attempts to divide the town, and on June 7, 1768, a petition was before the General Court signed by certain inhabitants of Needham, Natick, Sudbury and Weston asking "to be erected into a distinct and separate District" "they having already obtained the Consent of Needham & Natick for this purpose".
The petitioners were ordered to notify the towns of Sud- bury and Weston to appear on the "second Wednesday of the next sitting of this Court" to show cause "why the prayer should not be granted". General Court Records, Archives, Vol. 27, p. 320.
This petition, addressed to Governor Francis "Barnard", the Council and House, describes the remoteness of the petitioners from a meeting-house, alleges the need of one
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in their midst, and refers to a plan of the proposed district, which plan was made by John Jones, Esq., January 30, 1768. The petitioners asked for a committee to view the land. The only signer from Needham was Capt. William Faris, a staunch Episcopalian, but he doubtless represented others who were Orthodox, as did John Felch, the only signer for Natick.1 Archives, Vol. 14, pp. 521, 523.
There is a petition in the State Archives, Vol. 118, pp. 796- 807, addressed to Governor Hutchinson, the Council and House, and dated February 22, 1774, which recites the old grievance of their being seven miles from the Needham meeting-house, and states that by the annexation of their lands to Natick the shape of that town would be improved. They proposed to join to Natick the territory "lying Wefterly of a place in Needham commonly known & Called by the name of Pond-hole". The petition also mentions Ward's Mill and "a tree commonly known & Called by the Name,
1 "This is to Certifie that William Farris Esq is a Member of Chrift Church in Cambridge and a Communicant; and that his Rate is duly paid to Said Church. Wittnss our hands at Cambridge this 8th day of april 1763.
Eaft Apthorp Minister John Vassall Church Wardens"
The foregoing certificate is recorded in the town records, and Captain Farris was relieved of his share of the Minister's rates for 1762 by vote of the town. Capt. Farris appears to have been an Englishman, or possibly an Irishman, who had been a captain-lieutenant in Shirley's Regiment in 1745, and had also seen service in 1749 and 1759. Retired as a half-pay officer he lived for a time in West Cam- bridge, but it is said that his domestic arrangements did not meet the approval of his neighbors there, and that consequently in 1761 he bought of Joseph Underwood a farm of seventy acres, with house, barn and outbuildings. In this deed the grantee is described as "William Faris of Cambridge" "Gentleman". See Suffolk Deeds Lib. 97, fol. 82. The Captain passed the rest of his life quietly on this farm, for "The Leg" was then a secluded place, although the Natick Committee of Inspec- tion is said to have annoyed him more or less during the War of the Revolution. He was a citizen of Needham, and if the Committee of Correspondence, Inspection and Safety of his own town let him alone it does not appear why he should have been troubled by Natick officials. If the tradition is correct that he did not hesi- tate to say that the "Patriots" were all traitors, he certainly got off very well. His surname is Faris on his gravestone at North Natick. The house in which he lived is on Walnut Street, and in 1908 was the residence of Henry Rose. Capt. Farris was a Justice of the Peace, and an undated assessor's "Invoice", probably later than the War of the Revolution, shows that he was one of three persons in Needham who were taxed for money at interest, and that of the two negro slaves in town he owned one and William Bowdoin, Esq., the other.
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Station tree, being a corner between Needham Natick & Wefton".
Signed by
Isaac Underwood
John Bacon Mofes Fisk
Joshua Fisk
Stephen Bacon
Aaron Moulton
John Bacon Jun"
Joseph Bacon Joseph Drury
The reply was dated March 5, and signed by Samuel Welles and thirty-five others, citizens of Natick. It is long and sarcastic, and includes the greater part of the Legislative committee's report for 1761; also calls attention to a similar attempt seven years before, and asserts that "the said Isaac and Only Nine others" represent no one but them- selves, and that twenty-nine families affected by the peti- tion are unrepresented by the signers "for the twenty nine that are silent have no doubt as great an Aversion, to their being Taxed at Needham (or anywhere Elfe) as the said Isaac & nine others".1
The petitioners "are no further from their Centre than they were when they Purchased their Lands", and their annexa- tion would have "the most fatal Consequences to Natick - having heretofore been greatly Afflicted and Perplexed, by those discontented, uneasy & unhappy Neighbours, who were Connected with us from 1745, to June 19, 1761. at which time they were in Mercy to themselves & us, Set back to Needham".
The remonstrance further recites what a curse these men had been to the Natick Church, and asserts that they do
1 There appear to be but eight names attached to the petition in addition to Isaac's.
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not attend any Church, "but of Choice the most of them Uphold, Encourage & Countenance a Separate Meeting, Constantly on Lords days and Employ a Lay-man one Child of Watertown to Exhibit to them in Needham, at a greater Distance from the said Isaac and the other nine then it is to Natick Meeting house." "That by far the greatest part of the Inhabitants of the Weft of Needham, included in the Proposed Line, are of the Number of those that have Lay Teachers to Admiration - And fome of them have already Taken the Benefit of the Law relating to Baptists.".
The Court is further reminded that "the County Line would be Altered" if the prayer is granted, and warned that the Natick petitioners in favor of this annexation "are of the stamp with those Described in the West of Needham." A petition of Ephraim Jennings and thirty-two other citi- zens of Natick in behalf of Underwood follows on page 805.
On February 23 the House appointed March 9 for a hear- ing, if the General Court was then sitting, otherwise the first Thursday of the next session, and on the 24th the Council concurred. On June 8, the petition and the answer of Sam- uel Welles was again read in the Council, and George Leon- ard and Jeremiah Preble, Esqrs., were chosen a committee to consider the matter jointly with members of the House, which named Capt. Brown, Col. Whitcomb and Mr. Free- man. On the 9th the Council accepted the report of this committee that the petition should be dismissed, but the next day the House nonconcurred, and deferred consider- ation of the subject to the 21st, if the General Court was then in session, otherwise to the third Wednesday of the next session, which postponement was concurred in by the Council the same day.
There was no immediate result of these petitions, and the annexation desired by Underwood and his neighbors was not to be realized till June 22, 1797, although the town
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voted to grant separation on May 23, 1776, but reconsidered on June 4.
On March 7, 1793, the town by a vote of 52 yeas to 79 nays refused "to with Draw their petition now in the General Court Refpecting Setting off part of the Town of Needham to the Town of Natick", and on May 13, declined to send a committee "to attend petition in the General Court re- fpecting forming Needham and Natick into two Towns".
THE TOWN DIVIDED IN 1797
Controversies as to the meeting-house, and it might be said as to all town affairs, made the time ripe for another effort to divide the town, and when Marshall Spring and twenty- five others, including Mehitable Loker and Martha Dewing, petitioned the General Court in 1797 to annex their estates to Natick, there was no serious opposition from Needham, although the matter was fully discussed at town meetings in February and May.1 The inhabitants of the West Pre- cinct had brought forward their scheme of having the pre- cinct made a separate town, but had been voted down at the latter meeting, and then appointed William Fuller, Esq., Enoch Parker and David Smith, Jr., their agents to oppose the annexation of The Leg to Natick, which they did vigorously, alleging: That the West Precinct was entitled to notice as if it was a town; that less than one half of the petitioners were inhabitants of Needham; that the East Parish and The Leg were in league against the West Precinct, or Parish, where there was "constant preach- ing on Sundays in their Meeting House".
In February, 1797, a remonstrance signed by William Fuller and sixty-five others of the West Parish was received by the
1 In March, 1790, Natick had voted to "allow the Inhabitants of Needham to come in ", and in 1793 Sherburn, and in 1797 the District of Dover, had passed similar votes. In May, 1796, eleven residents of Natick had asked the " west Perrifh " if they would receive them, and in June there was an affirma- tive answer, although a committee was appointed to protect the interests of the Parish.
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General Court. This document had been signed by three persons whose names appeared on the Spring petition, and alleged fraud when the vote favorable to the wishes of the petitioners had been passed in the Needham town meeting "Although a woman not an Inhabitant and perfons not voters were permitted to vote and Counted with the fup- pofed and pretended majority".
The General Court granted the request of the West Parish for a committee to view the territory which it was proposed to annex to Natick, but the bill passed, and became law on June 22, 1797. Families represented by thirty-six men, living southwest of Bullard's Brook were annexed to Need- ham, and Natick acquired The Leg, the exchange being not unfavorable to Needham, although it lost 1656 acres and gained only 4042 acres and Bullard's Pond. This exten- sion of the town of Needham for three quarters of a mile along Washington Street brought a welcome addition of valuable estates, and substantial citizens whose names will be found in Chapter 22 of the Acts of 1797.
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