USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > History of Norfolk County, Massachusetts, 1622-1918, vol 1 > Part 25
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FIRST SETTLEMENT
The territory now comprising the Town of Millis was originally a part of Dedham. When Medfield was incorporated by act of the General Court on May 22, 1650, it included practically all of Millis. The first settlements were there- fore made in this part of Norfolk County long before the Town of Millis was even dreamed of by the inhabitants. Among the pioneers were George Fair- banks, Nicholas Woods, Daniel Morse, Thomas Holbrook, Thomas Bass, Joseph Daniel, John Fussell, Jonathan Adams, Peter Calley, Josiah Rockwood and some others, all of whom are mentioned more in detail in the chapter devoted to the Town of Medway, of which Millis was a part for nearly one and three-quarters centuries.
DIVISION OF MEDWAY
For many years the Town of Medway was divided into three communities, socially and in a business way, though the people lived under the same town government without friction, attending the town meetings and voting upon all questions affecting the common welfare. Under the conditions, however, it was natural that some of the citizens should become somewhat dissatisfied, and in 1884 the dissatisfaction of those living in the eastern part of the town found expression in the following petition for division :
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"To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Common- wealth of Massachusetts, in General Court assembled :
"The undersigned petitioners, citizens of Medway, respectfully represent that the interests and convenience of a large number of the citizens of said town would be promoted by the incorporation of the easterly part of said town into a new town; wherefore, the undersigned respectfully petition that all the terri- tory within said town comprised within the following limits, that is to say : Beginning at a stone bound at an angle in the boundary line between the towns of Medway and Holliston about sixty rods distant from Orchard Street and near the 'Nathan Plympton place,' so called; thence southerly in a straight line to the southeasterly corner of Farm and Village streets; thence continuing in the same course to the bank of the Charles River; thence following the present boundary lines between the Town of Medway and the towns of Norfolk, Med- field, Sherborn and Holliston to the above mentioned stone bound, the place of beginning, may be set off and incorporated into a town by the name of 'Millis.'"
This petition was signed by E. S. Fuller, E. L. Holbrook, G. F. Holbrook, Elbridge Clark, E. O. Jameson, John Bullard, Timothy Bullard, Frank E. Cook, Israel D. Fuller, Edwin Metcalf, Austin Metcalf, Lansing Millis, "and 125 others."
When it was learned by the people living in the central and western portions of the town that this movement was on foot, they circulated a counter petition, which was also addressed to the Legislature, and which was as follows :
"The undersigned, legal voters of the Town of Medway, in said Common- wealth, in view of the possible division of the town, upon petition to be presented to your Honorable Body of citizens of East Medway, so called, respectfully represent that the population of the Town of Medway is substantially divided into three distinct communities in all their social and business relations, and your petitioners, therefore, respectfully pray that the town may be divided into three corporate and distinct towns, upon lines of division substantially in accord- ance with such as have for many years marked their social and business interests, to wit :
"That East Medway be incorporated as prayed for in the petition referred to, embracing the territory of Medway westward to a line from a point on the Charles River extending northerly to the boundary of Holliston.
"That West Medway, so called, include the territory of Medway extending eastward to a line commencing at a point on said Charles River at or near the junction with said river on the Lone Star Brook from Franklin ; thence northerly crossing Village and Main streets to Hill Street at the Holliston boundary line, near the house of John Sullivan, in nearly a straight course.
"And that Medway proper remain constituted with the territory and popula- tion lying between and residing upon the same between the two lines as previously described and as will more fully appear by a plan of the same to be submitted to your Honorable Body. And in duty bound will ever pray."
This petition, dated "Medway, October 20, 1884," was signed by M. M. Fisher, E. A. Daniels, Jesse K. Snow, Edward Fennessy, James O'Donnell, E. C. Wilson, W. H. Carey, Clark Partridge, C. S. Philbrick, Henry S. Partridge, "and 193 others." Notwithstanding the fact that it bore a much larger number of signa- tures, the petitioners for the Town of Millis remained steadfast in their work. Their petition was published in four successive issues of the "Medway Magnet,"
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was sworn to before William A. Wyckoff, a justice of the peace, on December 2, 1884, and was immediately afterward filed in the office of the secretary of state. In due time it came before the Legislature, which evidently took the view that it would be impracticable to divide the Town of Medway into three towns, for on February 10, 1885, a bill was introduced in the senate providing for the incorporation of the Town of Millis, upon the boundaries asked for by the petitioners. Two days later it passed the senate and was sent to the house, where it passed the final stages on the 19th and was approved by the governor on the 24th. Millis therefore dates its corporate existence from February 24, 1885.
THE TOWN NAME
The town takes its name from the Millis family, members of which were influential in securing its incorporation. The Boston & Woonsocket division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad runs through the town, and after it was organized the name of East Medway was changed to Millis. Henry L. Millis was particularly active in promoting the fortunes of the new town.
TOWN HALL
A short distance northeast of Millis, which is the municipal center of the town, is the railroad station of Clicquot. Not long after the town was incorporated, Henry L. Millis made an arrangement with the New York, New Haven & Hart- ford Railroad Company to erect a building, the lower story of which should be used for railroad purposes and the upper story for a town hall and public library. Mr. Millis then conceived the idea of communicating with all natives or former residents and asking each one to contribute a stone for the building. The result was that quite a number responded to his request, and the walls of the town hall and railroad station are constructed of boulders from almost every state in the Union. Some of the stones bear suitable inscriptions, showing from whence they came and who were their donors. The boulders of different hues and texture give the building a unique appearance rarely to be found in a public edifice. The hall is centrally located and the town's portion of the structure was donated by Mr. Millis.
WATERWORKS
The Millis waterworks, now the property of the town, were also built by Henry L. Millis, but were sold to the town some years later, a bond issue of $30,000 being authorized to pay for them. Since the purchase by the town the mains have been extended in several districts, at a cost of $24,380. The principal of these extensions is that to Rockville, where a standpipe was erected, the total cost of the improvement being $16,500. Regarding the matter of exten- sions, at a town meeting held on February 14, 1916, it was voted: "That the water commissioners, with three others nominated from the floor, investigate and report at the next town meeting rules to govern all extensions of water pipes in the Town of Millis."
The three men appointed to act with the commissioners were Harold P. Wil-
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liams, Osgood T. Dean and Frank S. Hoff. On March 31, 1916, the committee made a report to a town meeting, a portion of which report was as follows: "The committee believes that property owners who own property outside of the so-called water district should be afforded the privilege of obtaining Town water on a reasonable basis. At the same time the committee realizes that in most cases the cost of extending the water system to outlying properties is dispropor- tionate to the income derived from the use of the water, and is greatly in excess of installing the water supply within said water district.
"It seems reasonable, therefore, to the committee, that property owners who desire an extension of the water system for their benefit outside of this water district should pay for a reasonable period a sum in excess of that charged to takers within said water district. The committee feels that if an annual sum, equal to six per cent of the cost of extending the system, is paid by the takers for a period of ten years from the time of installation, this sum would pay for the water used during the same period and would also reimburse the town to some extent for interest paid on moneys expended in making such extension.
As it is the belief of the committee that this six per cent guar- anteed payment will, to some extent, recompense the town for the expense of extension of its water system, the committee recommends that, where there is more than one taker of water on any extension, all of the takers on such exten- sion shall jointly pay a sum equal to six per cent of the investment of the town in the extension, and if the quantity of water taken on any extension is sufficient, if paid for at the regular water rate, to pay the town a sum equal to said six per cent on its investment, that all water taken above such quantity shall be paid for at the regular water rates ; it being the belief of the committee that the town should in any event receive a sum equal to six per cent, and as much more as the quantity of water used would enable it to receive, charging for said water at the regular rate."
In connection with the purchase of the waterworks by the town, it is worthy of note that a sinking fund was established for the redemption of the bonds when they fall due in 1925. As the sinking fund accumulated, it was loaned to the town. At the close of the year 1916 the town was the borrower of $12,180 of this fund. Thus the town is paying itself interest upon its own money, an arrangement which is regarded as being much better than paying interest to outside money lenders. The amount of water pumped in 1916 was 15,694,070 gallons, the receipts for which amounted to $3.387.29.
FIRE DEPARTMENT
The' Millis Fire Department is a volunteer organization. Part of the equip- ment originally was inherited from the old Town of Medway, when the property of that town was divided with Millis under the act of February 24, 1885. At the town meeting on February 14, 1916, a committee previously appointed to investigate the conditions of the Rockville Fire Company, reported in favor of the erection of a building for that company, "at a cost of $700, as the town is paying fifty dollars rental for a building that is not fit for the purpose." The report was accepted and adopted, and the house was erected during the year.
In their annual report for the year 1916, the board of fire engineers, consisting
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of Charles LaCroix, J. C. Thorne and Albion K. P. Barton, reported that the department had answered fourteen calls during the year. The appropriation for the support of the department for the year was $1,000.
FINANCIAL
In 1916 the valuation of the property, as fixed by the board of assessors, was $1,556,872. According to the treasurer's report, the liabilities of the town on December 31, 1916, amounted to $80,230. Of these liabilities the principal items were as follows :
Water bonds, due December 1, 1925. $30,000
School bonds, due annually to 1933. 17,850
Water Extension bonds. 13,500
Sinking Fund notes.
12,180
All other obligations
6,700
Total
$80,230
Millis has never been niggardly in the matter of public improvements, but from the time the town was organized in 1885 to the present day the people have exercised good judgment in making appropriations. The expenditures for the year 1916 were as follows :
Notes paid during the year.
$20,124.50
Schools
11,587.II
Streets and Highways.
7,956.29
Interest on Town Debt
3,029.40
Poor Department
1,307.78
Moth Department
1,262.26
Fire Department
843.96
Incidentals (including salaries)
2,817.04
All other expenditures
8,361.65
Total
$57,289.99
GENERAL CONDITIONS IN 1917
In 1910 the United States census reported the population of Millis as 1,399, only two towns in the county (Dover and Norfolk) showing a smaller number of inhabitants. The state census of 1915 gave Millis a population of 1,442, a gain of only 43 in five years. Besides the division of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad above mentioned, Millis is connected with Dedham on the east, and Milford on the west by an electric railway. Electric railways that connect with this line afford easy transportation to a number of the adjacent towns. The principal manufacturing concerns are a large boot and shoe factory and the Clicquot Club ginger ale works, one of the largest of the kind in the country. Near this factory the railroad company has established a station to which has been given the name of "Clicquot." Both station and factory are about half a mile northeast of the Village of Millis.
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The principal town officers at the beginning of the year 1917 were: Michael H. Clancy, Horace M. Cushman and George G. Hoff, selectmen ; Louis LaCroix, clerk; Evan F. Richardson, treasurer ; J. A. Cole, Frank S. Harding and Moses C. Adams, assessors ; Ernest L. Hill, Herbert H. Thorne and Frank S. Harding, overseers of the poor; Charles LaCroix, George G. Hoff and Michael H. Clancy, water commissioners : J. Clarence Thorne, tax collector; Lawrence J. Reardon, auditor ; Edward LaCroix, J. A. Cole and J. C. Thorne, school committee ; Cor- nelius J. Erisman and William H. Thorne, constables.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE TOWN OF MILTON
LOCATION AND BOUNDARIES-TOPOGRAPHY-WHITE OCCUPATION-THE TOWN IN- CORPORATED-THE TOWN NAME-EARLY TAVERNS-TOWN HALL-POSTOFFICES- WATERWORKS-FIRE DEPARTMENT-FINANCIAL HISTORY-A FEW FIRST THINGS -OLD FAMILIES-MILTON IN 1917-TOWN OFFICERS.
Milton, the sixth town to be incorporated within the present limits of Nor- folk County, is situated northeast of the center of the county and extends north- ward to the Suffolk County line. It is bounded on the north by the City of Boston; on the east by Quincy; on the south and southwest by Randolph and Canton ; and on the west by the Town of Hyde Park, which is now within the Boston city limits.
TOPOGRAPHY
Of all the towns of Norfolk County, Milton is preeminently the "town of hills." The Blue Hill range, composed of the highest elevations in Eastern Massachusetts, passes through the town. Except small patches, interspersed here and there among the hills, there is practically no level land. The soil of these small level tracts is a deep, heavy loam, quite fertile and productive. The Blue Hill Reservation, comprising the principal elevations of the Blue Hill range, has been set apart by the state as a tract for the recreation and edification of the people, and is under the control of the Metropolitan Park Commission.
The Neponset is the principal watercourse connected with the drainage system of the town. Its largest tributary in Milton is the Pine Tree Brook, which has its source in a pond fed by several small streams in the western part of the town. Its general course is easterly until it empties into the Neponset, not far from. the Central Avenue bridge. Balster's and Cook's brooks flow into the Pine Tree Brook.
Unquaty or Gulliver's Brook rises near the Milton Cemetery and flows east- wardly to the harbor. It derives its name from Anthony Gulliver, who was born in England in 1619 and died in Milton in 1706. It is said that Dean Swift got the suggestion of his "Gulliver's Travels" from a member of this family. Jonathan Gulliver, a son of Anthony, was a member of the Massachusetts General Court in 1727.
Blue Hill River, a branch of the Monatiquot, a small, crooked stream, forms the boundary line between Milton and Randolph. On some maps this river is called the Monatiquot. It receives the waters of Silver Brook, which rises on the east side of the Great Blue Hill and flows in a southerly direction, draining Houghton's Pond in the course of its meanderings.
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WHITE OCCUPATION
In 1630 Gov. John Winthrop arrived in the Massachusetts Bay colony with the charter. During the next three years there was a heavy emigration from England to the New World. In 1633 the name of Israel Stoughton first appears in the Dorchester records as a grantee of lands lying within the present Town of Milton. For his residence tract he selected IO1 acres on the south side of the Neponset River, described as the "Indian Fields." His tract included nearly the whole of Milton Hill, extending along the river from the lower falls to the bend where Briggs' shipyard was afterward located. In 1656 this land was sold by the heirs of Israel Stoughton to John Gill.
Associated with Mr. Stoughton (doubtless stockholders of the company before leaving England) were John Glover and William Hutchinson. Mr. Glover selected a tract of 180 acres directly south of Milton Hill, bordered on the north- west by the brook. His land was occupied by his agent or tenant, Nicholas Wood, until it was sold by the Glover heirs in 1654 to Robert Vose.
Mr. Hutchinson laid out a large tract, which included a portion of Milton, though the greater part of it was in Braintree. In 1656 his son, Capt. Edward Hutchinson, sold the land to Anthony Gulliver, Henry Crane and Stephen Kingsley.
In 1636 the Town of Dorchester obtained a grant of land which embraced nearly the entire present Town of Milton. At that time it was customary, in occupying a new territory, to obtain a release of the Indian title. Accordingly, on October 8, 1636, Chief Kitchamakin of the Massachusett Indians, a brother of Chickatabot, granted and sold to Richard Collicott of Dorchester, "all that tract beyond the Mill within ye bounds of Dorchester for them and their heirs for ever-only reserving for my own use and for my men forty acres where I like best & in case I & they leave it the same alsoe to belong untoe Dorchester, giving some consideration for the paines Bestowed upon it," etc.
For this tract of land James M. Robbins, in an address delivered on the occasion of Milton's two hundredth anniversary, June 11, 1862, says Kitchamakin received "twenty-eight fathoms of wampum." He and his men continued to occupy the reservation until 1657, when they removed to the country about Ponkapog Pond, now in the Town of Canton.
An old map or plan of the purchase, made by John Oliver, shows the names of the landowners at the time it was prepared. The map bears no date, but as John Oliver died in 1646, it must have been made prior to that time. Upon it appear the names of Israel Stoughton, Richard Collicott, John Glover, William Hutchinson, John Holman, Robert Badcock, Nehemiah Bourne, William Daniels, Nicholas Ellen, Thomas Lewis, Anthony Newton, Andrew Pitcher, Bray Wilkins and William Salsbury.
Among these early settlers or landowners (a few of them did not occupy their holdings) the names of Richard Collicott and John Holman appear most frequently in the records, indicating that they were active in shaping the destinies of the new plantation. Collicott was "a licensed fur dealer," an occupation which brought him into intimate commercial relations with the Indians and doubtless explains why he was selected to negotiate the deal with the chief for possession of the land. He built his house on what is now Adams Street in 1634. It was of the style known as a "garrisoned house" and was used later by the
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Town of Dorchester as a "guard house." Mr. Collicott served on the board of selectmen in Dorchester from 1637 to 1641; was a deputy to the General Court in 1637 ; was first sergeant of the Dorchester Artillery Company, and was other- wise prominent in town affairs. He died at Boston in 1686.
John Holman received a grant of 110 acres adjoining that of Collicott and settled there soon afterward, the property remaining in his family for nearly a century. He served several terms as one of Dorchester's selectmen; was one of the original members of the "Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company"; ensign of the first Artillery Company of Dorchester, and identified with many of the early events in Milton. His death occurred in 1652.
THE TOWN INCORPORATED
For a little more than a quarter of a century after Dorchester received the grant of land south of the Neponset River and Mr. Collicott obtained the relin- quishment of the Indian title, the region now embraced within the Town of Mil- ton remained a part of Dorchester. By that time a number of families had gone into the new grant and developed farms, and in the autumn of 1661 a movement was started for the organization of a new town. It seems that Dorchester offered no opposition and the following petition was presented to the General Court :
"To the Honod Gene" Court now assembled att Boston 7th May 1662: The humble petition of us who are Inhabitants of that parte of ye Towne of Dor- chester which is sittuated on the south side of ye Naponsett River commonly called Unquatiquisset Humbly showeth that ffor as much as it hath pleased God for to cast the bounds of our habitations in ye more remote partes of Dorchester Town as that we stand in a more remote capacitie unto a constant & comfortable attendance upon such administrations as doe respect sivill and ecclesiasticall con- munion in ye sayde Towne of Dorchester.
"Yet notwithstanding ye difficulties & allmost impossibilityes of ye constant attendance of us & our familyes have compelled not only our selves but allsoe ye Towne of Dorchester to acknowledge some necessitie of providing & settling a public ministry amongst our selves. And to that Purpose ye Towne of Dor- chester (divers years since) granted us Libertie by our own contribution to , maintayne our own Ministry. But we finding by experience that the orderly managing of such an Affair as Settlement hath some dependence upon ye exer- cise of Sivill Power unto ye effectual exercise of Which (as to ye attaynement of such an end) we find our selves alltogether out of a capacitie as now we stand therefore we have obtayned from ye Towne of Dorchester a second graunt lib- ertie to become a Township of our selves-a coppie of which graunt we here withall present to the view of the Honble Court.
"Our humble petition to this Honble Court therefore is that (If according to ye terms & tenor of this graunt you shall in your wisdom judge us capable of being a Township) you would please by your authoritie to confirm the sd graunt unto us. And it beeing a more than ordinarie juncture of affaires with us as to our present Settlement we doe allsoe humbly crave our freedom from country rates according to the accustomed graunt to new Plantations we beeing (by Reason of our slowness & ye strait limitts of our place as unable ffor Publick Affayres as if we were a new Plantation).
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"This our humble petition is-If it shall bee by this Honord Court accepted wee hope wee shall doe what in us lyes to mannage affayres in our comunitie according to the laws of God & this Goverment out present design beeing the promotion of ye Public weale which that it may bee the period of your Consul- tations. So pray your humble petitioners.
"STEPHEN KINGSLEY "ROBERT VOSE "JOHN GILL
"In the names of all ye rest of ye Inhabitants."
No time was lost by the Court in the consideration of the petition, for on the very day it was presented (May 7, 1662) the township was incorporated. The original petition in the state archives bears the indorsment: "The deputyes think- meet to graunt this petition, viz. so far as it concernes ye Township but do not think meet to exempt them from rates."
In merely granting the petition the town was left without a name. To rectify this oversight the following action was taken later by the Court: "There having been granted to the inhabitants of Unketyquisset within ye Township of Dor- chester to become a Township of themselves upon motion of your inhabitants it is ordered that ye said Town shallbee called Milton."
Stephen Kingsley, whose name appears as the first of the signers of the peti- tion, was ordained a ruling elder of the church in Braintree in 1653. About three years later, after he, Henry Crane and Anthony Gulliver had purchased the, William Hutchinson grant, he removed to Unketyquisset, where it is stated he conducted the first religious services. He quickly became active in local affairs and drew up the petition which was signed by himself, Robert Vose and John Gill as a committee of the inhabitants, which petition resulted in the incorporation of the town as above noted.
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