History of Newton, Massachusetts : town and city, from its earliest settlement to the present time, 1630-1880, Part 9

Author: Smith, S. F. (Samuel Francis), 1808-1895. 4n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Boston : American Logotype Co.
Number of Pages: 996

USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > History of Newton, Massachusetts : town and city, from its earliest settlement to the present time, 1630-1880 > Part 9

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LIVES OF FIRST SETTLERS.

Captain Edward Johnson's History of New England contains a short notice of many of the leading men of his time, among whom he classed Edward Jackson, and says, 'He could not endure to see the truth of Christ trampled under foot by the erroneous party.'" He died June 17, 1681, aged seventy-nine years and five months. In the inventory of his estate, it appears that he left two men-servants, appraised at £5 each. He was probably the first slave-holder in Newton. He divided his lands among his children in his lifetime. He had eight children in England, one born on the passage, and ten born in this country, and up- wards of sixty grandchildren. His second marriage, in March, 1649, was with Elizabeth, daughter of John Newgate, and widow of Rev. John Oliver, H. C. 1645, the first minister of Rumney Marsh (Chelsea), by whom he had four daughters and one son. His wife survived him twenty-eight years, and died September 30, 1709, aged ninety-two years.

He was a land surveyor, and not long before his death surveyed his own lands, and made a division of them to his children, put- ting up metes and bounds.

It is a remarkable fact in relation to these two brothers men- tioned, John and Edward Jackson, that while Edward had but three sons, and John five, there are multitudes of Edward's posterity who bear his name, and not more than three or four of John's. Forty-four of Edward's descendants went into the revo- lutionary army from Newton, and not one of John's. But in 1852 there were but three families in the town, of his descendants that bore his name.

JOHN FULLER was born in 1611, and settled in Cambridge Vil- lage in 1644. In December, 1658, he purchased of Joseph Cooke seven hundred and fifty acres of land for £160, bounded north and west by Charles River, south by Samuel Shepard, and east by Thomas Park. His house stood on the south side of the road, on the west side of the brook, and within a few rods of both road and brook. By subsequent purchase he increased his farm to one thou- sand acres. Cheese Cake Brook ran through it. He had six sons and two daughters. His son Isaac died before him. He divided his farm between the other five sons, viz., John, Jonathan, Joseph, Jeremiah and Joshua. This tract of land was long known as the "Fuller Farm," or "Fuller's Corner." He was a maltster ; was a Selectman from 1684 to 1694. He died in 1698-9, aged 87; his

HISTORY OF NEWTON.

wife Elizabeth died 1700. They left five sons, two daughters and forty-five grandchildren. The inventory of his property amounted to £534 5s. Od. His will provides that none of the land bequeathed to his sons should be sold to strangers, until first offered to the nearest relation. Twenty-two of his descendants went into the revolutionary army from Newton. (See his will in the Probate Office, 9th volume.)

The ages of his five sons at death were as follows : John 75, Jonathan 74, Joseph 88, Jeremiah 85, Joshua 98. Joshua was married a second time when 88 years old to Mary Dana, of Cam- bridge, in 1742, who was in her 75th year.

Edward Jackson and John Fuller came into the Village about the same time, probably knew each other in England, were the largest land-owners in the Village, divided their lands among their children in their lifetime, confirming the division by their wills, and had a far greater number of descendants than any of the other early settlers of the town.

JONATHAN HYDE, senior, brother of Dea. Samuel Hyde, was born in 1626, and came into the village of New Cambridge in 1647. He purchased two hundred and forty acres of land in Newton, with his brother Samuel, which they owned in common until 1661. In 1656, he bought eighty acres of land, which was one-eighth of the tract recovered by Cambridge from Dedham, in a lawsuit. He settled upon the land, and increased it by subsequent purchases to several hundred acres. His house was about sixty rods north of the Centre meeting-house. He bought and sold much land in the town. In his deeds he was styled Sergeant. He had twenty-three chil- dren, all of whom, with one exception, bore Scripture names,-fif- teen by Mary French, daughter of William French of Billerica, and eight by Mary Rediat, daughter of John Rediat of Marlborough, with whom he made a marriage covenant in 1673, in which it was stip- ulated, that in case he should die first, she should have his house, barn and about one hundred acres of land. This part of his homestead was bounded by the highway from Watertown to Ded- ham one hundred and sixty rods, and one hundred deep, and south by the farm of Elder Wiswall, reserving a highway one rod wide, next to Wiswall's. This highway ran from the Common, by the north bank of Wiswall's Pond, and for a century was known by the name of Blanden's Lane. The front of this lot extended from this lane, northerly, to about opposite the road leading to the east

LIVES OF FIRST SETTLERS.

part of the town. This farm, therefore, was very near the centre of Newton, and included the spot where the Centre meeting-house now stands. He was admitted a member of the church in 1661, and was Selectman the same year. A few years before his death lie settled his own estate by making deeds of gift of his real estate to eleven of his children, conveying about four hundred acres with several dwelling-houses thereon. The other twelve had probably died before him, or were otherwise provided for. In 1705, he gave to John Kenrick and others, Selectmen of Newton and their suc- cessors in office, "half an acre of his homestead," for the use and benefit of the school in the southerly part of the town. It is sup- posed that he also gave a large part of the Common on Centre Street for a training field, in the days of military pageants ; but no record of this gift has yet been found. The same year he deeded to his children a cartway through the homestead to the Dedham highway, "to be used with gates forever." That cartway is now the highway, and the northwestern boundary of the triangular place once the estate of the Rev. Joseph Grafton, subsequently of Michael Tombs, Esq., and in 1875 of the late George C. Rand, Esq. He was Selectman in 1691. He died October 5, 1711, aged 85, leaving a multitude of grandchildren. His first wife died May 27, 1672, aged 39 ; the second, September 5, 1708.

RICHARD PARK was a proprietor in Cambridge in 1636, and of Cambridge Farms (Lexington), 1642. In 1647 there was a divi- sion of lands, abutting on Mr. Edward Jackson's land, east and west, and the highway to Dedham was laid out through it ; his dwelling-house was probably erected on this lot ; it stood within a few feet of the spot now occupied by the Eliot church. This ancient house was pulled down about 1800. The spot was near the four mile line, or the division line between Cambridge and Cam- bridge Village.

He owned a large tract of land in the Village, bounded west by the Fuller farm, north by Charles River, east by the Dummer farm, and east and south by the Mayhew farm (Edward Jackson's), con- taining about six hundred acres. By his will, dated 12, 5, 1665, lie bequeaths to his only son, Thomas, this tract of land, with the houses thereon, after the decease of his wife, Sarah. This only son, Thomas, married Abigail Dix, of Watertown, 1653, and had five sons and four daughters, among whom his tract of land was divided in 1694 (Thomas having deceased), and the contents then

HISTORY OF NEWTON.

were about eight hundred acres, Thomas having added, by pur- chase, about two hundred acres, and built a corn-mill upon Charles River, near where the Bemis Factory now is.

In 1657, Richard was one of a committee with Mr. Edward Jackson, John Jackson and Samuel Hyde, to lay out and settle highways in Cambridge Village. In 1663, he was released from training, and therefore past sixty years of age. He died in 1665. In his will, witnessed by Elder Wiswall and Hugh Mason, he names his wife, Sarah, two daughters, and his only son, Thomas. One of his daughters married Francis Whittemore, of Cambridge. His inventory, dated August 19, 1665, amounted to £872. His widow, Sarah, was living at Duxbury, in 1668.

Henry Parke of London, merchant, son and heir of Edward Parke, of London, merchant, deceased, conveyed land in Cam- bridge, to John Stedman, in 1650. Edward may have been the ancestor of the first settlers of that name in New England, viz., of Dea. William of Roxbury, Richard of Cambridge Village, Sam- uel of Mystic, and Thomas of Stonington.

" During the contest between the Village and Cambridge, to be set off, he sent a petition to the Court in 1661, praying to retain his connection with Cambridge church. The Cambridge church owned a farm in Billerica, of one thousand acres, and other property. And in 1648 it was voted by the church 'that every person that from time to time hereafter removed from the church did thereby resign their interest to the remaining part of the church property.' This vote may have been the reason of his sending that petition to the Court."

CAPTAIN THOMAS PRENTICE was born in England in 1621. He was in this country November 22, 1649, as shown by the recorded birth of his children, Thomas and Elizabeth, (twins).

He was chosen Lieutenant of the company of horse in the lower Middlesex regiment, in 1656, and Captain in 1662. In 1661 he purchased three hundred acres of land in the Pequod country. This tract was in Stonington, Connecticut. Two hundred and thirty acres of this land was appraised in his inventory at £109 in 1685. His grandson, Samuel, married Esther Hammond, and set- tled upon this land in 1710. In 1663, he purchased of Elder Frost of Cambridge, eighty-five acres of land in the easterly part of Cambridge Village, adjoining John Ward's land. This was his homestead for about fifty years. In 1705, he conveyed it by deed

LIVES OF FIRST SETTLERS.

of gift to his grandson, Captain Thomas Prentice. His house was on the spot where the Harback House now stands. He was one of the Cambridge proprietors, and in the division of the common lands he had a dividend of one hundred and sixty acres in Billerica, in 1652, and nine acres in Cambridge Village, in 1664.

He was greatly distinguished for his bravery and heroism in Philip's war. This war broke out in 1675. On the 26th of June, a company of infantry under Captain Henchman, from Boston, and a company of horse under Captain Prentice, from Cambridge Vil- lage and adjoining towns (twenty from the Village and twenty- one from Dedham), marched for Mount Hope. In their first con- flict with the Indians, in Swanzey, William Hammond was killed, and Corporal Belcher had his horse shot under him, and was him- self wounded ; and on the first of July they had another encounter with the Indians, on a plain near Rehoboth, four or five of whom were slain, among them Thebe, a sachem of Mount Hope, and another of Philip's chiefs. In this affair, John Druce, son of Vincent (one of the first settlers of the Village), was mortally wounded. He was brought home and died at his own house next day.

On the 10th of December, five companies of infantry and Captain Prentice's troop of horse marched from Massachusetts and from Plymouth Colony, to Narragansett. On the 16th, Captain Prentice received advice that the Indians had burned Jeremiah Ball's house, and killed eighteen men, women and children. He marched im- mediately in pursuit, killed ten of the Indians, captured fifty-five and burned one hundred and fifty wigwams. "This exploit," says the historian of that day, "was performed by Captain Prentice, of the Horse."

On the 21st of January, 1676, Captain Prentice's troops being in advance of the infantry, met with a party of Indians, captured two, and killed nine of them. On the 18th of April following, the Indians made a vigorous attack on Sudbury. Captains Wads- worth and Brockelbank fought bravely in defence, but were over- powered, and eighteen of their men took refuge in a mill. When notice of this attack reached Captain Prentice, he started imme- diately for Sudbury, with a few of his company, and reached that town with but six beside himself. The remnant of Captain Wads- worth's men defended the mill bravely until night, when they were relieved, and the Indians put to flight. In short, all accounts agree

HISTORY OF NEWTON.

that Captain Prentice rendered most invaluable services throughout. the war. He was constantly on the alert, and by his bold and rapid marches, he put the enemy to the sword or flight, and made his name a terror to all the hostile Indians. After Philip was slain, in July, 1676, terms of peace were offered to all Indians who would come in and surrender. A Nipmuck sachem, called John, with a num- ber of his men, embraced this offer, and by order of the General Court were given in charge to Captain Prentice, who kept them at his house in Cambridge Village.

Prentice had been in command of this company fifteen years when Philip's war broke out, and was then 55 years old. He was. hardy, athletic and robust, and capable of enduring great fatigue. He continued to ride on horseback to the end of his long life, his death being occasioned by a fall from his horse.

Notwithstanding the fact that the Indian converts maintained unshaken their fidelity to the English, such was the prejudice against, and fear of them, that the General Court, on the breaking out of Philip's war, ordered them to be removed to Deer Island in Boston harbor, and Captain Prentice, with his troopers, was charged with the execution of this order. Their number, including men, women and children, was about two hundred.

Although Prentice was a terrible enemy to the hostile Indians, he was a warm friend and counsellor and had the full confidence of the friendly tribes. For many years, General Gookin was, by the appointment of the General Court, the magistrate for man- aging, advising and watching over the friendly Indians. After his death, the Indians residing at Natick, Punkapoag, Wam- · essik, Hassenamaskok and Kecumuchoag, all united in a peti- tion to the General Court, in 1691, that Captain Prentice might be appointed their ruler.

Prentice was appointed one of a committee to proceed to Quin- sigamond (Worcester), with a view of forming a settlement there. He was one of the owners of the first fifty-eight houses built there, and had a grant of fifty acres of land for his public services. He was a Representative to the General Court in 1672, '73 and '74. In 1689 he was appointed chairman of a committee for re- building the town of Lancaster, which was destroyed by the Indians during Philip's war.

Captain Prentice and his wife, Grace, had four sons and four daughters. Two of his sons died in childhood. The other two

LIVES OF FIRST SETTLERS.

were married. Thomas, the oldest, had three sons, and died in 1685, and the old Captain had the bringing up of the three grand- sons, to whom he gave a good education, and all his estate. Thomas, the oldest grandson, was a leading man in Newton, a Captain of infantry, and died in 1730. The second grandson, John, married a daughter of Edward Jackson, and died at the age of 35, leaving no children. The third grandson, Samuel, married Esther, daughter of Nathaniel Hammond, and settled in Stoughton, Connecticut. Numerous descendants have proceeded from this marriage.

Captain Prentice's wife, Grace, died October 9, 1692. He died July 6, 1710, aged 89, and was buried under arms, by the com- pany of troops, on the 8th of July. He settled his own estate, by deeds of gift to his grandchildren. He was undoubtedly one of the most substantial men of his age, and had the entire confidence of his associates in Cambridge Village. Edward Jackson's will, made in 1681, has testimony to this effect, as follows :

"I bequeath to my honored friend, Captain Thomas Prentice, one diamond ring."

JOHN WARD was born in England, in 1626. He was the oldest son of William Ward, who, with his second wife, Elizabeth, and other children, came from Yorkshire or Derbyshire and settled in Sudbury, where he had lands assigned to him in 1640.

He married Hannah, the daughter of Edward Jackson, about 1650 ; was Selectman nine years, from 1679, and a Representative eight years, being the first ever sent from Cambridge Village. His dwelling-house was constructed for a garrison-house, about 1661, and used as such during King Philip's war. This ancient building stood where the late Ephraim Ward's (a descendant from John) now stands, and was demolished in 1821, having stood about one hundred and seventy years, and sheltered seven genera- tions. This house, and forty-five acres of land, was conveyed to. John and Hannah, by his father-in-law, Edward Jackson, by deed, dated March 10, 1661, witnessed by John Jackson and John Spring. He owned about five hundred acres of land, which he distributed among his sons by deeds of gift, in 1701. He was, by trade, a turner. He had eight sons and five daughters. He made his will in 1707, and died July 1, 1708, aged 82. His wife, Hannah, died April 24, 1704, aged 73.

There were twelve of this name among the first settlers of New England.

HISTORY OF NEWTON.

THOMAS HAMMOND, one of the earliest settlers of Hingham, took the freeman's oath there 9th of March, 1637, had land granted to him there in 1636, and all his children were born and baptized in Hingham. He sold his lands in Hingham in 1652, and his dwelling-house in 1656. In 1650, he and Vincent Druce bought of Nicholas Hodgden land in Cambridge Village, and in 1658 they bought of Thomas Brattle and others six hundred acres, partly in Cambridge Village and partly in Muddy River. They held this land in common until 1664, when a division was made between them. The dividing line was one hundred rods in length, running over the great hill. The pond was in Hammond's part, and has been called by his name ever since. He also bought, in 1656, three hundred and thirty acres of Esther Sparhawk. His wife's name was Elizabeth. They had two sons and two daughters. He died 30th of September, 1675, leaving a will written by his own hand, but not signed, in which he calls himself aged, - gives his wife his dwelling-house, etc., during her life and divides his lands among his children. His inventory was taken by Elder Wiswall and John Spring, and amounted to £1,139 16s. 2d. He had four children, and upwards of twenty grandchildren.

JOHN PARKER was one of the earliest settlers of Hingham. He probably came over in the ship James, of London, in 1635. He had land granted to him in Hingham in 1636 and 1640. He was a car- penter. He removed from Hingham, and bought a tract of land in the easterly part of Cambridge Village, in March, 1650, adjoin- ing the lands of John Ward and Vincent Druce. By his wife, Joanna, he had five sons and five daughters. He died in 1686, aged 71. His estate, appraised by Captain Isaac Williams and John Spring, amounted to £412 2s. His will is dated Sept. 7, 1686, and recorded in the Suffolk Registry, 11th volume.

This Parker's homestead passed into the hands of the Hon. Ebenezer Stone, soon after Parker's death, and is now owned by Mr. John Kingsbury.

The Newton Parkers have descended from two distinct families, viz., from John and Joanna, of Hingham, and from Samuel and Sarah, of Dedham. Nathaniel was a prominent man of Newton, being the son of Samuel and Sarah, born in Dedham March 26, 1670. At the time of the erection of the third meeting-house, he owned the land on which it was placed, the contents of which was one and a half acres and twenty rods, which he sold for £15, and conveyed it to the Selectmen of Newton, in August, 1716.

LIVES OF FIRST SETTLERS.

VINCENT DRUCE was one of the earliest settlers of Hingham, being there in 1636. He had land granted him there in 1636 and 1637. His son John was baptized in Hingham in April, 1641.

In 1650, Nicholas Hodgden, of Boston (now Brookline), con- veyed to Thomas Hammond and Vincent Druce of Cambridge, a tract of land in the easterly part of Cambridge Village, adjoining John Parker's land, which land was originally granted by the town of Cambridge to Robert Bradish.

The estates of Hammond and Druce were held in commonalty till 1664, when they agreed upon a division, the pond falling in Hammond's portion.

The highway from Cambridge Village to Muddy River (Brook- line), was laid out through these lands in 1658. John Ward con- veyed to Druce one hundred and thirty acres of land bounded east by the Roxbury line, and north by Muddy River line.

The old Crafts house, situated on the Denny place, of late thor- oughly repaired and painted, and looking not unlike the houses seen on country roads, which were formerly used as taverns, was built by Vincent Druce in the latter part of the seventeenth or the beginning of the eighteenth century, and is therefore nearly two hundred years old. Vincent Druce had two sons, Vincent and John. Obadiah Druce, son of John, and perhaps nephew of Vincent, jr., inherited the house, and spent his days there. John Druce, the third of the name, graduated at Harvard University in 1738, and settled as a physician in Wrentham. The first John Druce was a soldier in Captain Prentice's troop of horse, and was mortally wounded in the fight with the Indians near Swansey in 1675, and brought home and died in his own house, aged thirty -. four. He was probably the first victim who fell in that war from Cambridge Village. Vincent Druce died January, 1678, leaving a will, recorded in Suffolk Records, Vol. 6.

JAMES PRENTICE, SENIOR, and Thomas Prentice, jr., both of Cambridge, purchased of Thomas Danforth, four hundred acres of land, in Cambridge, in March, 1650; and in 1657 they purchased one hundred acres, of Danforth, "being the farm that James Prentice now dwells on, bounded northeast by land of John Jackson," part of which is now the ancient burial-place. This Prentice farm was on the easterly side of Centre Street, and extended from the burial-place, southwesterly, beyond the house occupied by the late Marshall S. Rice, Esq. James and Thomas, jr.,

HISTORY OF NEWTON.

or 2d, were probably brothers, and doubtless came into Cambridge Village the same year with Captain Thomas Prentice.

The ancient Prentice house was demolished in 1800; it stood a few rods southeast of the house afterwards occupied by the late Joshua Loring.

James Prentice married Susanna, the daughter of Captain Edward Johnson, of Woburn, and had one son, James, and five daughters. Captain Johnson, by his will, dated 1672, gives his grandson, James Prentice, £15, and also makes a small bequest to Susanna and Hannah Prentice, the daughters of his son-in-law, James Prentice. He was Selectman in 1694. He died March 7, 1710, aged eighty-one. His son James, and his widow Susanna, administered on his estate, which amounted to £286 14s. James sold out his father's estate for £60, in 1711, to his five sisters, "all single women," and probably left the town.

THOMAS PRENTICE, 2D, purchased of Thomas Danforth four hundred acres of land, in Cambridge, in March, 1650, and one hundred acres in 1657. Both parcels were conveyed to James Prentice and Thomas Prentice, jr., the one hundred acres being described as " the farm that James Prentice now dwells on." He married Rebecca, daughter of Edward Jackson, senior, by his first wife, who was born in England, about 1632, and had six sons and one daughter. There is no record of the births, marriages, or deaths, of the parents or children of this family. Edward Jackson, by his will, gave him one hundred acres of land, called "Bald Pate meadow," and several other tracts of land, and to his wife Rebecca, a gold ring, with this motto, "Memento Morex" (Mori). When he came into the Village he was called Thomas, jr. ; when Captain Thomas Prentice's son Thomas was grown up, he was called Thomas, while the Captain was called and widely known by his military title. Edward Jackson, by his will, made bequests to both these Prentices in 1681. The one he styles Thomas Prentice, and the other Captain Thomas Prentice.

In 1706 he conveyed land to his grandsons, Thomas and Samuel, and in 1714 he conveyed land to his sons, Thomas and John, in which conveyance he names his son Edward. There is an affi- davit of his, signed Thomas Prentice, senior, dated 1713, and recorded with the deeds, stating that " sixty years ago he held one end of a chain to lay out a highway over Weedy Hill, in Cam- bridge Village." Supposing him to be twenty-one years old then,

LIVES OF FIRST SETTLERS.

his birth would have been in 1632. He lived to a great age, but the time of his death is unknown.

ELDER THOMAS WISWALL was a prominent man among the first settlers of Dorchester. He came to this country about 1637 ; was Selectman in Dorchester in 1644 and '52, and highway surveyor in Cambridge Village in 1656, having removed into the Village in 1654. He was one of the signers of a petition for the support of a free school in Dorchester in 1641, took the freeman's oath in 1654, and was one of the petitioners to the General Court for having the inhabitants of Cambridge Village released from paying taxes to Cambridge Church. In 1657, he and his wife conveyed to his son Enoch, of Dorchester, his homestead in Dorchester, which formerly belonged to Mr. Maverick.

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History of Newton, Massachusetts : town and city, from its earliest settlement to the present time, 1630-1880, Part 9

Author: Smith, S. F. (Samuel Francis), 1808-1895. 4n Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Boston : American Logotype Co. Number of Pages: 996

Author: Smith, S. F. (Samuel Francis), 1808-1895. 4n
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Boston : American Logotype Co.
Number of Pages: 996