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 14
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 14
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In 1875 the town voted that the candidates for town officers, except the surveyors of highways, should be voted for on one ballot. This, however, did not prevent a variety of ballots.
The moderators in the days of the Province were: -
Captain Cook, already mentioned, Dea. Jeremiah Wood- cock four meetings, 1719-33, Lieut. Thomas Metcalf two
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in 1722, Ensign Thomas Fuller one in 1729/30, John Fisher, Esq., twenty-nine from 1729 to April I, 1752 (he died May 6, and was a noted moderator who presided over many annual meetings), Dea. Eleazer Kingsbery fifteen, 1732/3-48/9, Robert Fuller two in 1749, Dea. Josiah Newell twenty, 1750-70, Lieut. Amos Fuller eighteen, 1755-61, Capt. Eleazer Kingsbery twenty-one, 1759-75,1 Michael Metcalf twenty-seven, 1763-76, Dea. John Fisher five, 1767-76,1 Lieut. Jonathan Day two in 1774, '75, Josiah Newell, Esq., two in 1776, John Slack on June 4, 1776, Col. William McIntosh on June 24, 1776, which was the last town meeting held before the Declaration of Independence.
The first meeting after July 4, 1776, was that of July 15, when Josiah Eaton presided.
Of the moderators prior to July 4, 1776, Michael Metcalf presided over five meetings subsequent to that date, the last one in 1791, Dea. John Fisher one in 1779, Josiah Newell three in 1777. The moderators since the Declaration of Independence, not mentioning those who have presided over less than ten meetings, are as follows: The Honorable Emery Grover 2 seventy-eight from 1874 to March 31, 1911, Col. McIntosh seventy-four, which, together with the meet- ing just preceding the Declaration, gives him a total of seventy-five from 1776 to June 10, 1793, William Flagg, Esq., fifty, 1835-60, Daniel Ware, Esq., forty-five, 1803-17, Colonel Alden thirty-six, 1787-1804, George K. Daniell thirty-two, 1850-81, Lieut. William Fuller thirty-one,
1 On December 22, 1773, when the excitement as to the location of the meet- ing-house was at its height, Messrs. Metcalf, Fisher and Day all in turn refused to serve as moderator, and Captain Kingsbery was elected and accepted. The name of the moderator of the town meeting on August 31, 1774, was not recorded.
2 On July 16, 1907, and on January 7, 1908, Judge Grover was chosen modera- tor, in the absence of Mr. Moseley, who had been elected for the year, and on one occasion, in 1909?, the Judge was called to the chair, and presided throughout the meeting. The service in 1909 is not included in the total of meetings credited to Mr. Grover, neither is any meeting counted for Mr. Moseley unless he was present. The reader is reminded that the writer does not, as a rule, give the title of "Esq." in this history subsequent to 1845.
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1780-1801, Israel Whitney, Esq., thirty, 1828-43, Benjamin Slack, Esq., twenty-nine, 1804-31, William G. Moseley twenty-eight from 1899 to Mar. 31, 19II, Marshall Newell twenty-two, 1861-75, Capt. Elisha Lyon nine- teen, 1824-47, Edgar H. Bowers fifteen, 1867-1900, John W. Titus fourteen, 1894-8. Beginning with 1903 the mod- erators have been elected at the annual meeting for the year. In 1893 the town voted to pay the moderator of the annual town meeting $15, but this was discontinued after a few years, and it was not until 1907 that the moderator was again paid, the town then voting him $25 for the year.
REPRESENTATIVES IN THE GENERAL COURT
Ensign Robert Cook was the first Representative from Needham, and was elected May 19, 1712. On May II, 1713, Benjamin Mills, Lieut. John Fisher, John Smith, Sr., and Ensign Cook were chosen a committee to wait upon the General Court to get the town excused from sending a member. There were many years when no representative was sent, and the town was fined in consequence. The fines varied from £22, Is. in 1730 to £12 in 1773. The town re- peatedly by means of a committee, or by petition of the selectmen, whichever way the town directed, or through the efforts of the next member from Needham, got these fines either remitted or refunded. Sometimes the fines for several years were refunded at one session, and the town appropriated this money toward the minister's salary, or for the schools. The reasons given for not sending a member are shown by the petition of 1774, which was signed by the selectmen and presented to the General Court. They re- ferred to the great cost of the poor, the many bridges "& Support of a a considerable Bridge over Sd River in a part not contiguous to the Sd Town", and asked to be excused from the fine incurred for 1773, and to be exempted from sending a member in 1774. They succeeded so far as the fine already imposed was concerned. Selectmen Josiah
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Newell, Esq., and Nathaniel Fisher were paid £1, 12s. and £1, 16s., 4d., respectively for going to Boston in reference to this matter. Needham was fined £45 for 1788, but in 1789 the General Court refunded the money, which was used in 1790 to pay town debts. In 1799 the fine previously incurred, amounting to $90.56, was remitted. Other towns were included in these Acts. Needham was unrepresented from 1817 to 1823 (seven years), and for 1822 the fine was $100.
On May 18, 1724, the town granted Dea. Timothy Kings- bery £18 for serving as representative, but as early as 1727 the members of the Great and General Court were paid by the Province, and the exact amount depended upon attend- ance at the sessions. The amount paid was added to the Province tax of the town from which the member or members came. On May 20, 1728, the town met to choose a Repre- sentative - "The Select Men Caused the presept Directed to the felectMen of the Town For to Be Read in the Audiance of the Town, and alfo Coled Upon the Voters, then Afsem- bled for to Bring in thire votes for the Choice of a Repre- sentitive as the Law directs infolded, the Town Brought in thire Votes fo Slow Spending the Time untill allmost Night, That then the Select men Demanded to Know what the Matter was and it was declared by feveral of the Town that they ware not willing for to fend a Reprefentitive this year". The selectmen divided the house; and finding a majority in favor of sending adjourned to the next day, and issued a new warrant for May 24, when Josiah Kings- bery was chosen. While William Bowdoin was representa- tive he gave his pay to the town, and the money was used for the schools. There was some delay in realizing on three notes, amounting to £32, Is., 6d., "His Wardiges For Serving this Town as a Reprefenitive" in 1755. For four years Mr. Bowdoin thus gave his salary to the town, and in 1759 Amos Fuller did likewise, and 22 "Dollors", 5s., re- ceived from Mr. Fuller were used for the poor. On July
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26, 1779, Dea. John Fisher, the representative, informed the town that his compensation "was made up in the pay role" "More than his wages Came to", and the excess, £28, 12s., was voted into the town treasury. On May 17, 1781, the town instructed its Representative in the General Court, Colonel McIntosh, to "Use the beft of his Intreft" "Refpecting Certain Men Owning Large tracts of land in the Eaftward parts, and paying little or no Tax for the Same"; these lands were presumably in what is now Maine.
In 1785 the town chose a committee of five "to Gue our Reprefentative Some Inftructions", and directed him to "Oppose Raifing a land Tax". It was a common practice in New England to instruct the representative by votes passed in a town meeting.
TOWN RECORDS
The records of the Town of Needham are in excellent con- dition. The only striking peculiarity is that in the first vol- ume of Proceedings, 1711-31, many of the dates are written new style, which suggests a copy rather than the original, although the book appears ancient. The earlier volumes were substantially bound in hog-skin. The double dates appear in the first part of Volume I, and again in 1727/8. At the May meeting in 1729 the town voted to have "a New Town Book bought for to Regifture Births and Deaths in", and the following spring thirteen shillings were granted to Capt. Robert Fuller "for His Buying Two Town Books". On September 20, 1731, the town voted to buy "a (New) Town Book," to be paid for from the "Laft Loan Money", which amounted to £1, 2s., and at the annual meeting, March 1, 1731/2, chose "the feverall Town Clerks that have Been in the Town Namely De Timothy Kingsbery Jofiah Newel John Fifher & Robert Fuller for to Tranfcribe Births in to a New Town Book and to Rectifie any Miftakes that appears there in". On March 2, 1767, Robert Fuller, Jr., was granted 7s., 6d. "for a new Book to Record Births in",
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and October 4, 1770, twelve shillings for a town book. In 1769 Amos Fuller, Jr., was paid six shillings for a new town treasurer's book; the oldest one now in the possession of the town.
In 1817 Solomon Flagg had procured a "Chest to keep the town books in and other papers"; perhaps the chest still owned by the town. In 1819 a trunk was purchased for the use of the selectmen. In 1853 the town bought a safe, which cost, including freight, $152.72. Since 1876 the town has repeatedly been at considerable expense to pro- tect its records, which now number upward of thirty manu- script volumes, some of them containing more than five hundred pages, and including twelve books of town pro- ceedings. There are fine vaults in the new town hall.
In 1883 Needham appropriated $100, as a beginning, and the town clerk, then Mr. Greenwood, and George K. Clarke were "to join with the Town of Wellesley in printing the records of the town for the first 100 years of its existence", but a similar appropriation unexpectedly failed in Wellesley in consequence of the neglect to consult a political leader, who resented the alleged slight. All of the conditions were then favorable for doing the work in the best manner and at moderate cost, as the preparation of the copy and the edit- ing were to have been free of expense to the towns. On March 20, 1893, acting under article 18, which was based upon a petition of Edgar H. Bowers and others "to see if the town will take action in regard to the collection and publication of its history from its first settlement to the present time", the citizens appointed a committee, consist- ing of Edgar H. Bowers, Charles C. Greenwood, James Mackintosh and Emery Grover, to "inquire into the matter of preparing and publishing the history of the town, and report upon the expense and expediency of such publica- tion, and any facts in connection with the same". Mr. Greenwood declined positively to write a history of the town, and the subject continued in abeyance. On March 17, 1902,
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the town appointed as a "Committee on a Town History" Thomas Sutton, George K. Clarke, T. Otis Fuller, Louis A. Holman, Francis E. Reed, William A. Probert and Edwin V. Lawrence. This committee reported in the Town Report for 1902, advising that no action be taken until Mr. Clarke had had ample opportunity to prepare a history of the town.
CURIOUS ITEMS FROM THE TOWN RECORDS
In the' warrant for the town meeting on May 20, 1745, was the following article: "to See what the Town will do with their Law Book that Capt Robert Fuller keeps in his hands". On March 14, 1757, the town voted to allow "Thomas Metcalf Town Clerk his Coft and Charge in Defending himfelf and Town in that Eregularous Vote which was Paft in May Meeting in the year 1754 which he was Complaned of to our Superior Court for not Recording". Two years later he got £8, 8s. as the result of this vote. On May 15, 1761, the selectmen granted Samuel Mackintier six shillings for attendance upon the Superior Court "Upon the Requeft of m" Thomas Metcalf our Late Town Clerk in the affair of that Erregular Vote which Mr Townfend Complained of him for not Recording". On February 18, 1766, the selectmen deducted from £2, 6s., 92d. granted to Mrs. Hannah Coller for teaching the sum of 6s., 72d. "which She Ordered Eleazer Kingsbery Ju=" to take Upon the Account of Shoes Said Kingsbery Got for her Upon her Defire". On October 27, 1766, the town instructed Lieut. Amos Fuller, its representative in the General Court, not to vote "To have the Damages that was Suftained to Per- ticuler Perfons in Bofton in the year 1765: Repaid". A rate of £40 was voted on March 19, 1779, the money to "be put into the hands of the Select= men To be Used at their Decretion: To Help Zebadiah Pratt to his eye Sight again". Pratt had been a Lexington Alarm man, and per- haps had been injured in the service of the town. Blasting rocks was occasionally the cause of serious mutilation in
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the days of yore. On August 31, the selectmen granted him £30 "to Enable him to go to a Doctor in Order to Git his eye sight". In 1782 Col. MeIntosh was granted £9, 2s. "for money he paid for a horfe for the Town, and for Pafture- ing four horfes one week, and Shewing one horfe".
On May 12, 1783, there was an article in the warrant "to See if it be the mind of the Town to Receive the Abfentees to Come and Dwell amongst us, and it paft in the Negative". The town then voted to "Exclude" the absentees, pre- sumably referring to the Loyalists, one of whom was the Rev. Mr. Townsend's son Gregory, then in exile at Halifax. On April 20, 1786, Joseph Mudge, Jr., had an order for eighteen shillings "it being the Fees Upon an Execution he Had againft Colº Wm MeIntofh and Lieut Robert Fuller in Favor of John Kindreck". In 1786 Timothy Newell re- ceived from the town treasurer "one Eight Dollor Bill in New Emifion" which was "Counterfit", but the town later paid him in good money. That year Col. MeIntosh charged twelve shillings "for finding a room fire and Candles for the Select men". In 1810 the town treasurer, Lieut. Daniel Ware, found himself in the possession of a counterfeit bill, and the town allowed him $4. In 1833 there was discussion in a town meeting as to a bad $10 bill purporting to be on the Burrellville Bank.
In 1857 the selectmen were directed "to construct a true Meridian Line".
Solomon Flagg, the town treasurer, sent some money in a letter, which never reached its destination, and in 1868 the town reimbursed him.
PUBLICATIONS BY THE TOWN
In early times there was but little printing at the expense of the town.
In 1819 $5 were paid to Herman Man & Co. for blank orders for the use of the selectmen, which blanks must have saved much labor, as previously all the orders were written
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in full. On April 4, 1842, the town voted to print a report of its receipts and expenditures, for the year ending April 5, "and to furnish each Voter with a Copy". Thomas Kings- bury, Elisha Lyon and William Lyon were the committee which had the matter in charge, and the little pamphlet of eight pages, without a cover, is from the press of H. Mann, Book & Job Printer, Dedham. A similar report was printed in the spring of 1843, but no other report appeared in print until one for the year ending April 1, 1852, and this contained fourteen pages. From 1852 to the present time the town report has appeared annually, and for twenty years has been a large book, often containing nearly four hundred pages. The first printed school report was for the year 1849/50, and is larger than the early town reports, as it contains eight pages, octavo. It has the imprint "Roxbury : Norfolk County Journal Press. Over Central Market. 1850". In 1856 the report of the General School Committee appeared with the town report, and again in 1857 and in 1858, but this was not usually the case until 1870. Prior to 1865 the financial year closed in April, or in February, and from 1865 to 1877 on January 31. The town report was for the financial year, which was confusing, as no calendar year was complete in a volume. There are two town reports for 1877, one for the year ending January 31, and the other to December 31. The early editions of town and school reports were of five hundred copies, and cost about $12. The record of deaths has been included in the town report from 1864, of marriages from 1871, and of births from 1885. From 1877 to 1888 the town clerk's record of the doings at the annual town meetings, and adjournments thereof, were printed in a small pamphlet, which was without colored covers until 1888. In 1889 the town clerk's records were also included in the town report, which was issued the fol- lowing spring. Beginning with 1890 the town report has contained the records of all of the meetings during the cal- endar year, not excepting the Federal and State elections.
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From 1866 to 1870 the town reports give a roster of the principal town officers, and commencing with 1871 are in- tended to give the names of all of the officials. The valua- tion and tax lists were printed in the town reports for 1860, '62, '64, and annually from 1868. Several of the depart- ments issue reprints of their reports, and the school com- mittee have done so for many years. In 1877 the valuation list was issued separately.
TOWN SEAL
At the annual meeting in 1890 the selectmen, together with George K. Clarke and Emery Grover, were chosen to procure a town seal, and after careful consideration of sev- eral designs, some of them suggested by members of the committee, reported the one adopted on March 2, 1891, and ever since in use.1
TOWN AGENTS AND LAWSUITS
On May 28, 1792, Aaron Smith, Jr., Capt. Josiah Newell and "Cor-t Joseph Mudg " were chosen "agents to act on behalf of the Town, and Carry on all Caufes or Suits at Law in favor or againft the Town", and such agents were chosen in earlier times as needed; the number rarely exceeding three. Two or three town agents were chosen annually for many years, but since 1879 the selectmen have been the town agents by vote of the March meetings. William Flagg, Esq., was town agent for fourteen years between 1837 and 1860. In common with other towns Needham has had con- siderable litigation, and some of the cases have reached the Supreme Judicial Court of the Commonwealth. The set- tlement of the poor, road cases before the Court of Sessions, claims for damages for injuries resulting from alleged defects
1 In the pageant, or procession, on September 19, 1911, during the Bicen- tennial celebration, the float representing the Town Seal was one of the best features. John F. and Sumner B. Mills personated the two white men, and George Lyman Kingsbury, the Indian, Nehoiden, which was appropriate as they are descendants of some of the first inhabitants of the town.
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in highways, and, in later years, controversies with corpora- tions have supplied most of the causes. These cases excited interest at the time, and some of them were costly, but none of them are now of importance. In settlement of the "Murphy Case" the town paid annually several hundred dollars to the widow and minor children of Patrick Murphy, who lost his life on October 7, 1898, while employed by the town, in consequence of the caving in of the gravel bank at "Hewitt's Pit". These payments ceased in 1910, and had amounted to $4000. From 1800 to 1850 the town employed as counsel Horatio Townsend, Laben Wheaton, B. Whitman of the firm of Whitman & Morton, James Richardson, Joseph Harrington, Theron Metcalf and Ezra Wilkinson. Mr. Richardson was "our attorney" at times from 1809 to 1849. In those days the fees and charges for legal service were very moderate, rarely exceeding $20 for trying a case. In later times the Honorable Frederick D. Ely, Henry E. Fales, the Honorable Emery Grover and the Honorable Thomas E. Grover have been among the more conspicuous counsel retained by the town.
TOWN HALL
The last town meeting before the division of the town was that held on March 7, 1881, in the town hall at the alms- house, with George K. Daniell, Esq., as moderator. Al- though it was the annual meeting, and a board of selectmen was chosen, it was soon adjourned to April 4, on which day the town met in Parker Hall, dissolved the annual meeting of March 7, and proceeded under a new warrant with Emery Grover, Esq., as moderator. The veteran town clerk, and a few others from what had been the West part of the town were present. The town continued to meet in Parker Hall to March 13, 1882, and on that date adjourned to the 20th, but then met on the site, as the hall had been burned on the 18th at 5.30 A.M., together with the house near, built in the fifties by Frederick Marchant. The Parker Building was
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a total loss, and included the stores and the post-office. The principal store was the grocery of Edmond B. Fowler, and the fact that the post-office safe had been blown open by burglars indicated an incendiary fire. This hall, long known as Village Hall, was built in 1854 by Stephen F. Harvey,1 and enlarged more than once. Obed C. Parker, who was from Nantucket, purchased it and transformed it into a comparatively large building with a good-sized hall up one flight. The writer recalls the celebration in the autumn of 1870 when the remodelling was completed. Mr. Parker had a grocery on the ground floor, but had several successors before the structure was burned. When the town met on the site on March 20, 1882, it voted to adjourn to the Baptist vestry, where town meetings were held for two years, with the exception of a meeting at 8 P.M. on July 27, 1883, which was in Good Templars Hall, Odd Fellows Building, with George K. Clarke as the moderator. The town had anticipated leasing a portion of a building that was planned for the site of the Parker Hall, but its construction was indefinitely postponed, and in 1884 the town leased the hall and several rooms in the new Moseley Building at a rental of $650 per year for five years, and expended $1125 to fur- nish the premises. Herbert Moseley sold this block in 1889 to Henry F. May, and the town leased from the latter. The first meeting in this hall was that at 4 P.M. on August 4, 1884; Edgar H. Bowers was moderator. In 1888 a com- mittee of five, which had been chosen to consider building a town hall, reported by its chairman, the Honorable Enos H. Tucker, that a suitable hall could be built for $27,500, and also submitted a plan of Mr. MeKay of Boston for a brick town hall with granite trimmings, which he stated would cost from $25,000 to $30,000. The town, however, decided to accept an offer made by Herbert Moseley, and leased of him for another term.
1 In 1855 Mr. Harvey was assessed on $2800 for this building, and also for stock in trade valued at $3000.
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NEW TOWN HALL
On March 2, 1902, the town accepted the report of a committee of nine in favor of building a town hall. Edgar H. Bowers was the chairman of this committee, which had been chosen on November 26, 1901. On March 17, 1902, a building committee was chosen consisting of Rodman Paul Snelling, Daniel Webster Richards, Emery Grover, John Edward Buckley and Harrie Sumner Whittemore. The corner stone of this fine public building was laid by the Grand Lodge of Masons on September 2, 1902, and it was dedicated on December 22, 1903, at 8 o'clock in the evening. The cost, including furnishing, was about $57,500. The hall is located on the Common, and consequently no land was purchased. In August, 1902, $250 were voted to defray the expenses attending the laying of the corner stone, which ceremony was a part of the Old Home Week programme. It took place in the afternoon, there having previously been a procession headed by Dodge's Cadet Band of Natick, which later participated in the exercises. The furnishing of the hall was only to the extent of $2500 in 1903, and since many expensive desks, etc., have been added. The plans for the town hall were drawn by Winslow & Bigelow, and Mead, Mason & Co. were the contractors.
TOWN CAUCUS
The town caucus is somewhat peculiar to Needham, and is unintelligible to people who never heard of a caucus called by the selectmen to nominate town officers, and having no connection whatever with Federal or State politics. Such a caucus was first ordered by the town at its annual meeting in 1875, and was to be called the following year at least four days before the annual town meeting. Until recently this caucus has rarely been omitted, and on the whole has been of advantage to the town. The first caucus after the divi-
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TOWN HALL
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sion of the town was held in Parker Hall on April 6, 1881, with Emery Grover, Esq., as chairman, and George K. Clarke as secretary.
BY-LAWS
In 1870 a committee of nine was chosen to draft by-laws for the town, and the next spring this committee was in- creased to twelve. By-laws as to truants were adopted in 1877 and in 1887, and a general code in 1880, which latter was submitted to the Superior Court for approval. Town by-laws have since been adopted on March 2, 1891, and plumbing regulations, or by-laws, in 1894 and in 1896. At the annual meeting in 1900 the nine o'clock curfew law, which had been rejected the previous year, was accepted, but public sentiment did not sustain its enforcement. On January 13, and on March 7, 1910, the town adopted a code of by-laws, which were approved by the Attorney General on March 30th.
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