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 13
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 13
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At an adjourned town meeting held in the West Church on
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THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
June 10, 1778, a draft for a Form of Government, sub- mitted by the General Court, had been rejected, after consideration by a committee consisting of Capt. Eleazer Kingsbery, Josiah Eaton, Michael Metcalf, Josiah Newell, Esq., and Capt. Aaron Smith; the vote was fifty-six to two.
Similar action was taken on May 24, 1779, and on August 2 of that year Capt. Robert Smith had been elected dele- gate to a Convention to be held at Cambridge with refer- ence to deciding on a Form of Government, but he did not attend. The same day, August 2, 1779, Colonel McIntosh and Robert Fuller, Jr., were selected as delegates to a convention which was to be held at Concord on the first Wednesday of October for the purpose of fixing the price of merchandise.
Needham's local committee "to State the articles of marchandize and Cuntry Produce &c", grew out of this convention, and consisted of Josiah Newell, Esq., Dea. John Fisher, John Slack, Ebenezer Newell, Capt. Aaron Smith, Lieut. William Fuller and Timothy Newell, and on August 16 the town voted that "Grain Should be Stated Two Shillings in a bufhel Lower then it was Stated by the Convention at Concord", otherwise the report of the local committee, approving the action at Concord, was accepted.
On September 20 the town acted "upon a Circular letter Sign'd by Cole Benjamin Hammond Chairman of Com- mittee of the Several towns Relative to Bofton Market Act", by choosing Robert Fuller, Jr., and John Slack "to meet with the Committees of the Neighbouring Towns at major Eben! Whitting's".
On March 15, 1787, the town chose Capt. Aaron Smith and Robert Fuller, Jr., "to Meet with ye Delagates from other Towns in ye County of Suffolk at Timothy Gay's Inholder in Dedham on ye laft wednefday of march 1787". On December 10, 1787, Colonel MeIntosh was chosen the dele-
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THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
gate to the convention in the State House for "Confidering and acting on the Propofed Fedrial Conftitution".
THE STATE CONSTITUTION
On May 18, 1780, the Rev. Samuel West, Nathaniel Fisher, Michael Metcalf, Capt. Aaron Smith, Josiah Newell, Esq., Samuel Daggett, Jonathan Smith, Robert Fuller, Jr., and Moses Fisk were chosen "to Confider the Conftitution of Government, and make Report to the Town at the Adjourn- ment of this Meeting"; on the 29th the meeting was again adjourned, this time to June 6 at 4 o'clock P.M. The record of the original meeting, May 18, reads "Then at a Meeting of the Freeholders and Other Inhabitants of the Said Town of Needham, That are Twenty One years of age and Qualli- fied as the New Conftitution Directs: For the Bifinefs Here- after Mentioned".1
The able report of the committee was signed by all its members except Messrs. West, Aaron Smith and Daggett. It approved the proposed Form of Government in the main, but took exception to the Third Article: "we would Men- tion in few words the Arguments that Satisfies us as to the Impropriety of Said Article, or rather the falfhood of the Principle on which it is founded: Religion is a matter with Refpect to which all Mankind have an Equal right to Judge and act for them felves; But it is Impofsible for Civel Law to Intermeddle with it with out Infringing that Right; We would alfo remark, that in Our Opinion the Sufpention of the writ of Habeas Corpus be Confined to times of War; And Limmitted to the Term of Six months: And lastly that it be Determined that the Said Form Should be Re- vifed at the end of Fifteen years, from the time of its taking Place Which Time we Refer to the wifdom of the Honour- able Convention"; dated May 18, 1780.
1 For the first time the town clerk records the name of the moderator as McIntofh, previously he had spelled the Colonel's surname McIntafh.
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THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
The town rejected the Third Article, and accepted the others with the following amendments: "that ye Confti- tution of Government Should be Revifed in Seven Years", "Every Freeholder Should Vote for Senator, Council, Reprefentative", "that ye Town Should Chufe their own Juftice within their own Town", "Every Town Should Chufe their own Regifter of Deeds in their Own Town," "That the Legiflatur Should not have power to augment the Value of money as Mentioned in the Conftitution".
On September 4, 1780, the first State election was held in Needham, and the duly qualified electors brought in their votes for Governor, Lieutenant-Governor and six "Coun- cillors and Senators".
"Honble John Hancock Efq"" had sixty-two votes for Gov- ernor and "Honble James Bowdoin Efq"" three votes; this was a light vote, as on April 2, 1787, Governor Bowdoin had six votes and John Hancock one hundred and thirty- six. For many years Needham was strongly Jeffersonian, and rarely cast its vote for a successful candidate for any State office. The first election of a Representative in Con- gress under the Federal Constitution was on December 18, 1788, when Fisher Ames, Esq., had twenty-six votes and the Hon. Samuel Adams two votes. The same day the Hon. Jabez Fisher, Esq., and General William Heath, Esq., had each thirty votes for "Two Candidates for Electors to Vote for President and Vice President for the United States agreeable to a Resolve of the General Court of the Common Wealth".
General Washington was the only candidate for President in 1788.
In 1791 repeated ballotings, extending from March to August, were necessary before any candidate for "Regifter" of Deeds had a majority over all.
In the days of the Province the County Treasurer was elected annually by the people at the annual meetings in March, and in 1715 they were given the privilege of voting
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THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
for a Registrar of Deeds for a term of five years. The March elections of these two County officers continued until the law of 1855 fixed the terms of both at three years, and changed the election to November. The County treasurers had already been chosen for 1855, but the registrars of deeds had been elected in March, 1851, for terms of five years, and they were legislated out of office the first Wednesday in January, 1856. There was usually a light vote polled for both treasurer and registrar.
On November 2, 1792, Needham cast only twenty votes for four Representatives in Congress for the Counties of Suffolk, Middlesex and Essex, combined, and fourteen votes for five Presidential Electors.
The following January John Slack had an order for six shillings "for one Journey to Concord to Carry the Votes for Federal Representatives". On May 6, 1795, the town was in favor of "Revising the Constitution," but in 1820 was opposed to a Constitutional Convention, having no confidence in the dominant party, and refused in August by 42 votes to 12 to choose a delegate, although on Octo- ber 16, Aaron Smith was elected. On April 9, 1821, Need- ham rejected seven of the fourteen amendments proposed, viz., the 2d, 4th, 5th, 7th, 9th, 10th, and 14th.
On April 1, 1822, Governor Brooks received sixty-six votes in Needham, and the Hon. William Eustis one hundred and seventeen, and for the three Senators for Norfolk County the Jeffersonians cast one hundred and nineteen votes to sixty- four. It was not until 1831 that the election of Governor, Lieutenant-Governor and Senators was changed from April to November.
For reasons not now apparent Needham was Whig during the administration of President Jackson, but Democratic from 1838 to 1847, Governor Marcus Morton usually polling a decided majority, and in 1840 President Van Buren carried the town by 151 to 130, in spite of the tidal wave in favor of General Harrison.
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THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
In 1844 the Liberty Party had arisen, and included in its ranks Dea. Elisha Lyon and others who had been Democratic leaders, with the result that 22 votes were given to the ticket headed by James G. Birney, and the Democrats had a plu- rality only, the vote being: - Polk 134, Clay 121.
Later the Know Nothing Party prevailed overwhelmingly, but the Republican Party has been dominant from its foun- dation, although in years especially favorable to the Demo- crats the vote has been comparatively close. At times there has been independent voting for County officials and for representative in the General Court, Richard Cunningham of Wellesley having carried Needham for the latter office within a few years.
In April, 1840, the town voted 66 to I in favor of a pro- posed Constitutional Amendment relative to the apportion- ment of Senators and Representatives in the General Court.
Emery Fiske, Esq., was the delegate to the Constitutional Convention of 1853.
On November 14, 1853, Needham rejected one of eight proposed Amendments :- the 3d by 118 votes to 113, and accepted the 5th and 8th by 117 to 116. All of the others were lost by a tie vote of 117 to 117.
The six Amendments voted on in 1855, three in 1857, and two in 1860 excited but little interest in Needham, and were all accepted by the town except the first one proposed in 1855, which was to allow a plurality to elect; this was defeated by 16 to 10. The following November the town cast 283 votes.
Later Amendments to the State Constitution have failed to bring out a large vote in Needham, but it is worthy of notice that on April 22, 1889, there were 188 votes in favor of a Prohibitory Amendment and 162 against it.
For more than thirty years, with an occasional exception in the seventies and eighties, the Honorable Enos H. Tucker was chosen annually at the Republican caucus a delegate to the State Convention, and after he attained the age of
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THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
ninety years his presence attracted considerable attention, particularly in 1907 when he was in his ninety-fourth year. On more than one occasion there was a contest, and the convention was in session till late, but in no case did Mr. Tucker go home until the business was completed.
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Qualifications of Voters
The following is the substance of a controversy as to the right to vote in 1750:
"after a long Difpute the Following order was Given Needham March ye 12: 1749/50. We the Subicribers felectmen of the Town of Needham Orderd John Mills Conftable to put to Vote whether it be the Mind of the Town to allow all the freeholders to Vote in Town for a Moderator
Jofiah Newel fnr - Select men "
Zecheriah Mills Aaron Smith
The vote was in the affirmative and John Fisher, "a freeholder", was then chosen moderator. Under his ruling at this meeting four men, Thomas Fuller, Jr., Jeremiah Eaton, Ezekiel Richardson, Jr., and Edward Beverstock were allowed to vote, against the protest of Capt. Robert Fuller, the town clerk and one of the selectmen, and seven others. At the adjourned meeting on the 19th John Wood- cock and ten others protested, but without avail. Capt. Fuller and twenty-two others then petitioned the General Court, March 29, setting forth that none of the four men whose votes were questioned were legal voters (assessed on £20 in addition to the poll tax), and asking the General Court to declare the town meeting illegal. Archives, Vol. 115, p. 617. This petition was written by Capt. Fuller and the petitioners were ordered, April 4, to serve notice on the selectmen and the moderator to appear on the 11th, if the General Court was sitting, otherwise on the first Friday of the next session. Under date of April 11, 1750, John Fisher,
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THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
Esq., the moderator, replied in behalf of three of the select- men, Josiah Newell, Aaron Smith and Jonathan Smith, and himself. He asserted that his ruling was correct, and that the assessors for 1749 had erred in valuing real estate at only one year's income, when it should have been "doubled" six times, and asking for his costs, and that the petition of Fuller should be dismissed. Archives, Vol. 115, p. 626.
Captain Fuller had stated in his petition that application had already been made to the General Court by "two of the offending party", who apparently wanted the doings of the annual meeting confirmed. The petition was read in the Council on April 13, and in the House on the 17th, together with the answer of Fisher, and the assessors were ordered to "lay before this Court an Account of the Method they took in forming their Valuation Lift". Assessors Josiah Newell, Jr., and Eliakim Cook filed a copy of the "Single Rate" for 1749, Archives, Vol. 115, pp. 620-622, which list is in the Archives, Vol. 115, pp. 614-625, together with all the other papers in the case. The papers include certified copies of the votes, protests, and three statements of citizens, who were present both at the annual meeting and at the adjournment. The first is signed by Jonathan Gay and Jeremiah Fisher, the second by Nehemiah Mills and Jesse Kingsbery, and the third by Robert Fuller, Jr., Peter Edes and Josiah Eaton. The three last named asked for a declaration as to the law, in order that there might be no more disputes, and they asserted that the four men were not legal voters. On June 2 the Council appointed John Hill, John Quincy and John Joseph Pyncheon, Esqrs., and on the 5th the House named Colonel Clap, Mr. Gray, Mr. Tappen and Mr. Oliver as a committee to hear the case and report. On June 12 the General Court dismissed the petition of Capt. Fuller and his sympathizers, and declared that the petitioners and the assessors "mistook the Senfe of the Law, as to Qualifications of Voters in Town Affairs",
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and that "the Persons objected to were legally qualified & ought to have been admitted to vote", therefore the "Proceedings of Said Meeting are hereby confirmed". Archives, 115, p. 706. That the assessors had made a mis- take is clear from the statute then in force, which provided that to qualify a man to vote his real estate valued at the amount of the "rents or income thereof for the space of six years" must equal £20. This required amount was reduced, however, by the deduction of the personal property, which was assessed by a different method, and contributed to qualify its owner as a voter.
For a long time the warrants for town meetings recited the qualifications required of voters, and they were as follows, quoting from the warrant for April 4, 1796, "to Notify and warn the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of said town Quallified by law to Vote in Town meetings Viz! Such as pay to one Single tax besides the Poll or Polls a Sum equal to a Single Poll Tax to Meet and afsemble at the East Meeting house". The warrant for the Presiden- tial election on November 7, dated October 31, 1796, reads as follows: "having a freehold estate within said Town of the annual income of three pounds or any eftate to the value of Sixty Pounds". Similar qualifications were required of voters at the elections of State officers, including the repre- sentative, and consequently there were men who could vote in town affairs only. The April warrant for the State election preceded that for the town meeting, which was often on the same paper. In 1821 the amendment to the Consti- tution proposed by the Convention of 1820 was ratified by the people, and the property qualifications were abol- ished, but payment of a poll tax, and residence in the town for a year were required qualifications of a voter. In 1811 there were 207 men in Needham whose names were on the voting list for the State election, and of these twenty- three, all of the Ks were Kingsberys, and there were six- teen Smiths and thirteen Fullers. In February, 1844, there
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were 505 voters in Needham, of which number there were twenty-six Kingsburys (note the change in the spelling of this name), twenty-one Fullers and eleven Smiths. The removal of the property qualifications presumably had increased the number of voters, and the town had grown somewhat in population between 1811 and 1844. In 1857 there were 446 legal voters in Needham, in 1865 495, in 1875 915, in 1885 603 in Needham and 551 in Wellesley, in 1905 943 in Needham, of which 852 were registered, and 932 in Wellesley, of which 853 were registered. In 1910 there were 930 registered voters in Needham, and 982 in Wellesley.
The women of Needham promptly availed of the law passed in 1881 permitting them to vote for school committee, although the number of names on their voting list was not large until the exciting campaign of 1896. The greatest number of registered women voters in any one year has been 288. In 1882, and again in 1883, an article was in- serted in the warrant for the annual town meeting to see if the town would favor municipal suffrage for women, but the vote was adverse. There were some comical episodes connected with the discussion of this serious problem, especially in the case of a well-known resident of Charles River Village, who worded the opening line of his plea for suffrage so unfortunately that he was unable to proceed. The vote on the Constitutional Amendment on November 5, 1889, which was presented to the voters thus: "Is it expedient that municipal suffrage be granted to women" was as follows: Yes, Men, 122, women 62; No, Men 281, women 4.
The first board of Registrars of Voters in Needham was appointed on June 27, 1884, and consisted of Cyrus W. Jones, Republican, for three years, James S. Hall and Edgar H. Bowers, Democrats, for two years and for one year respec- tively, and the town clerk, who was ex-officio a member. Mr. Jones was chosen chairman, and served as such for three years.
Town Meetings
The annual town meeting has been held in March since the incorporation of Needham, and in addition to choosing the town officers, the men brought in their votes for County treasurer, and continued to do so until 1855 inclusive. In 1820 Needham neglected to vote for County treasurer at the proper time, and concluded that a subsequent meeting was too late. On April 22, 1822, the town refused to vote for a County treasurer. There was usually an adjournment of the annual meeting, unless the business was deferred to the May meeting, which was held primarily to choose the representative to the General Court. At the May meeting after the representative had been chosen, or the town had declined to elect one, a moderator was placed in charge of the meeting, and business was transacted under the warrant. There were many special town meetings, particularly when Church affairs required attention. The earliest warrant on record is the one for the meeting on June 26, 1719, and it was some years later before warrants were regularly recorded. The first recorded elections of a moderator are for the meet- ings on May 21, 1714, and March 6, 1716, on both of which occasions Lieut. Robert Cook was chosen. Lieutenant, later Captain Cook, is known to have presided over sixty-seven town meetings, and there were fifty-nine other meetings, most of them prior to 1725, in the records of which the names of the moderators were omitted.
In 1727/8 the town officers were chosen by a plurality vote, as now; previously "a majority over all" had been required. The town frequently voted "to Lengthen out the
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Meeting for the space of one Hour", presumably because the meeting was supposed to close at sunset. As early as 1720 "paper Vots" were used. The last appearance of Captain Cook as moderator was at the adjourned town meeting on March 16, 1746/7. At the annual meeting, a week before, he was duly elected "& proclaimd" moderator, but got tired, - he was then seventy-seven years old, - and declined "ftanding Moderator any Longer faid Day". The town however insisted upon re-electing him, where- upon he adjourned the meeting to 9 o'clock on the morn- ing of Monday, March 16. On July 5, 1759, the con- stables were instructed to warn the citizens of the annual town meetings by "Notification for the futer". In 1783 it was voted "that Notifications Should be Set up at Each Meeting Houfe", and the next year "That March April and May Meetings Should be warn'd by the Conftables Setting up Notifications in Several Publick Places". For years the constables made charges for warning town meetings, and in 1787 it cost five shillings to warn one half of the town. Later it was six shillings, and the methods have changed until now it costs nearly fifteen dollars to warn the voters in the territory corresponding to less than one half of the old town. In 1823 it was deemed sufficient notice to post an attested copy of the warrant, "two Sundays" previous to the meeting, "at each Congregational Meeting house in said town", but from early times there had also been some form of personal warning. The printed copy of the warrant, which is now left at every house in the town, apparently dates from 1844, when the "overseer of the Alms house" was to warn the meetings by "a copy to each farm". For "verbaly warning" the West of the April meeting in 1830 John W. Slack was paid $3. In 1844 and 1845 copies of the warrant were required to be posted, at least two Sundays before the day of the meeting, in each of the three meeting- houses, also at the paper-mill in the South part of the town, and at the blacksmiths' shops at both the Lower and the
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THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
Upper Falls. The old practice of issuing two separate war- rants addressed to the two constables is confusing, as only one of the warrants was recorded. Later it became custom- ary to refer in the town records to the unrecorded West, or East, warrant, as the case might be. In 1749/50 John Mills had an order for £I as compensation for warning one half of the town for the May meeting in 1749, and even then one constable seldom warned the whole town.
In 1854 there were sixty-six town officers, not including the committee on the affairs at the almshouse, or the prudential school committees, and in 1910 there were eighty-seven, omitting the police, ordinary firemen, and numerous em- ployees of the town. A number of ex-officio positions held by the selectmen are also excluded from the count.
It was not unusual to adjourn to the evening, or in modern times to call a special meeting in the evening, but most of the town business until about 1894 was done in the daytime. The meetings were called at different hours, often at one o'clock, P.M. All of the business, except the election of officers, is now deferred to 7.45, or 8 P.M., and it has been said that the change was not made in the interest of good government. The conditions of a suburban town render evening meetings popular and inevitable. The town meet- ing of December 10, 1885, was adjourned during the funeral of the venerable Joseph Richards, who died December 8, aged eighty-seven years and ten months. He was a native of Needham, and was a good representative of a type of New Englander even then fast disappearing. The funeral was in the First Parish Church, which is near the town hall. On November 4, 1773, there was no meeting-house to as- semble in, and the town met on its site and voted to "Ad- journ the meeting to a Valley or Botton in the Pines Near where the Meeting was Appointed". On the 18th the town voted to adjourn to "Thirfday" December 9, "at the Same warming Houfe where the Town Met this Day". On Feb- ruary 7, they met again in this "warming Houfe", but at
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THE HISTORY OF NEEDHAM
a meeting held on July 4, 1774, they adjourned to the next Monday at two o'clock "To the Dwelling Houfe of Lit William Mackintafh Innholder". This custom of adjourn- ing to taverns grew, and on June 10, 1783, the meeting was adjourned "one Quarter of an hour: To meet at the Dwelling Houfe of M: Ephraim Bullard Innholder in Needham. To meet at Seven of ye clock", which was an unusually late hour for a town meeting, even when the days were long. When Lieutenant Mackintash had become a Colonel several meetings were adjourned to his house. Some meetings were held in the West Meeting-house within the memory of per- sons now living, although in 1785, 1787 and 1792 the town refused to have even one third of the meetings in the West. Perhaps the first town meeting held in the West Meeting- house was that of June 10, 1778. In 1795 the town voted to hold an annual town meeting there, and to "Change by Rotation yearly". In 1822 the vote was to hold two thirds of the town meetings in the East Meeting-house, including "all the ocational or annual Meetings". The Presidential and State election in 1836 was held in the "Vestry under the Meeting-House in the West Parish", and until the new poor-house was built meetings were held in this vestry.
On March 13, 1780, it was voted to "Chufe the Town Clerk and the firft Select man at One Vote"; Lieut. Robert Fuller was chosen. The custom then was to elect each official separately, as is still done in some Massachusetts towns. In 1803 the clerk was paid $4.36 for recording fifty- four births and deaths. In 1845 he was allowed $12 per year, and was paid for the preceding two years.
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