USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Stoneham > History of Stoneham, Massachusetts > Part 6
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Our ancestors in many respects were men of great virtue and were stern in their religious convictions, but in the amenities of life, Christian graces and gentleness of manners. great changes have taken place in one hundred years. Nothing illustrates this more aptly than' the treatment accorded to the minis- ter, John Cleaveland. He was a man of talent. No insinuations were made against his moral character. From the correspondence he appears to have been a person of great self-possession, forbearance and dignity of character, and yet after the death of his wife, because he married a girl who had been a member, perhaps a domestic in his family, he was treated by the town like a thief and a pick-pocket. At one time they nailed up the door of the min- ister's pew, at another, covered the seat and chairs and the seat of the pulpit with tar. Not content with these indignities against the pastor, some one vented the general spite by inflicting an injury upon his horse, probably by cutting off his tail. The church stood by him, but the town voted to lock and fasten up the meeting-house against him, so that for a time public wor- ship was held at the house of Deacon Edward Bucknam. They refused to raise his salary, requested him to relinquish his ministry and leave the town, .declined to furnish any reason, and rejected his proposition to call a council ; but one was finally convened at the parsonage on the 30th of September, 1794, and they found :
" J. That Mr. Cleaveland's influence among this people is lost, and irrecoverably lost, and that it has become necessary that his ministerial connection with them be dissolved, and it is the advice of this council that he ask a dismission from his pastoral relations to them. 2. It appears from the fullest and they trust from the most impartial examination of the subject of which they are capable, that Mr. Cleaveland has given no just cause for that aversion and op- position to him which in so violent, and very unprecedented a manner they have displayed. 3. It appears to this council that Mr. Cleaveland's moral, Christian and ministerial character stands fairly and firmly supported, and they cordially recommend him to the church and people of God wherever in the Providence of God he may be cast. 4. As Mr. Cleaveland has given to this people no just cause for that opposition to him which they discover, and which renders his re moval from them necessary, and as his removal must be attended by great inconvenience and . expense to him, it is the opinion of this council that he ought to receive a compensation, and they recommend it to the parties concerned to choose mutually three judicious, impartial char- acters from some of the neighboring towns to estimate the damage to which Mr. Cleaveland is subjected by his removal. 5. That the select men of the town be seasonably furnished with an attested copy of this result. Finally the council deeply impressed with the singular sacrifice
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which Mr. Cleaveland's friends make in parting with their valuable and beloved pastor beg leave to exhort them to acknowledge the hand of God in this afflicting Providence as becomes Christians; to maintain the order of Christ's house, and with unremitting ardor promote the interest of His kingdom. And now brethren we recommend you to God and to the word of His grace, who is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified. Voted unanimously.
"ELIJAH PARISH, Scribe. "Stoneham, 30th September, 1794."
Mr. Cleaveland was afterwards settled in Rehobeth, and finally in Dunbar- ton, New Hampshire, where he died. At this council, it was necessary for the church to raise funds with which to furnish a suitable entertainment, and it is rather amusing to read that they pledged two silver communion cups "to Deacon Edward Bucknam and brother Abraham Gould," as security for the money which they advanced for this purpose. Mr. Cleaveland was succeeded by Rev. John H. Stevens, who came from Methuen to Stoneham, and was installed November 11, 1795. The council met at Captain David Hay's tavern, and afterwards proceeded to the meeting-house, where the exercises took place. Rev. Mr. Prentiss, of the First Church of Reading, delivered the charge. Rev. Mr. Bradford, of the First Church of Rowley, preached the sermon. Rev. Mr. Litchfield, pastor of the church at Carlisle, made the consecrating prayer. Rev. Mr. Spalding, of the Tabernacle Church, Salem, made the introductory prayer. Mr. Green gave the right hand of fellowship, and Rev. Mr. Aiken, of Dracut, made the concluding prayer.
Mr. Stevens was born in Canterbury, Conn., in 1766, and remembered when he was a boy nine years old seeing his brother, Darius, join the Con- necticut troops as they were about to march to Massachusetts in the early season of 1775. This Darius Stevens was killed at the battle of Bunker Hill. Tradition says he was wounded and shot so that he could not stand, but kept firing at the British till he was finally despatched. Mr. Stevens filled the longest pastorate of any minister who was ever settled in Stoneham, having had charge of the church here for thirty-two years, after which he preached a few years at the East Parish, Haverhill, and then returned, pur- chased the parsonage, and spent the last years of his life in the home he loved so well, dying in 1851, at the age of eighty-five. Some of the pleasantest recollections of the writer's early boyhood are the times when he used to call with his father at the old house in the evening, hitch the horse and pass in through the shed and back hall to the sitting-room where his grandfather and grandmother were generally seated in front of an open fire, presenting an ideal picture of beautiful old age. He was settled on a salary of two hundred and sixty-six dollars, with fifteen cords of wood and the use of the parson- age, and must have been a wonderfully good manager, when it is remembered that on his meagre salary he reared a large family of children, lived well for those days, accumulated a competency sufficient to support him in the last years of his life, and left at the end quite a little property to his children. He was tall, had a fine and dignified presence, was a man of quick feelings,
,
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and at times preached with marked eloquence. Some of his sermons were printed and obtained a wide circulation. In the war of 1812 he was an ardent republican and preached a vigorous and patriotic sermon which formed part of the war literature of the time. It was delivered on Fast Day, 1813, and the text was Judges 5 : 23. "Curse ye Meroz," said the angel of the Lord, "curse ye bitterly the inhabitants thereof; because they came not to the help of the Lord ; to the help of the Lord against the mighty."
Stoneham has to-day a splendid system of public schools in which every citizen may justly be proud, but the educational facilities during the first hundred years were very limited, and the people could make no pretensions to literary attainments. Indeed, till the middle of the present century, the only college graduates outside of the ministers were David and Samuel Green. One of the most distinguished offspring of the old stock was Judge Fletcher, of the Supreme Court, who was not born here, but, on his mother's side, was descended from Jonathan Green.
In 1702 an organization was formed, which deserves to be remembered, and which flourished for about seventy years. It was known as the Stoneham Circulating Library, and was finally merged into the Stoneham Public Library. The first librarian was the Rev. Mr. Cleaveland, and for many years the books were kept at the parsonage. There were some histories, a very few novels, books of a miscellaneous character and several theological works, which seem to have been the kind of literature best adapted to the serious minds of our pious forefathers. There was Brown's Christian Journal, Dodd- ridge's Sermons, Whitfield's Sermons, Hand of Providence, Remedies against the Fears of Death, The Death of Abel, Henry on Prayer, etc.
Coming down now to the late years of the eighteenth and to the early years of the nineteenth century, we are reaching comparatively recent times. The early settlers and the soldiers of King Philip's War are almost forgotten. The heroes of the French and Indian Wars are either old men or else repose in the silence of the grave. The patriots of the Revolution are still the active men of the town. The heroic age in America is a memory of the past, des- tined, however, to be revived again by the pugle blast of union and freedom in 1861.
The independence of the nation had been achieved, but the long an.t ex- hausting struggle of the Revolution had drained the country of its resources and left the people little better than bankrupts. The continental money had become so inflated that it was finally redeemed one dollar for a hundred. The towns and individuals were overwhelmed with debt. General dissatisfaction prevailed. Attempts were made to obstruct the proceedings of the courts. The government was blamed and civil war threatened, which culminated in Shays' Rebellion. Conventions were held in the summer and autumn of 1786 under the pretence of setting forth the grievances of the people, and mobs gathered at the county seats from the various towns. One of these conven-
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tions was held at Concord on the 11th of September at which Captain Jona- than Green was sent as a delegate from Stoneham, having been instructed, however, that he should do nothing contrary to the Constitution. During the autumn and winter of 1786 and '87 an insurrection was threatened and the town was called upon again to furnish soldiers to protect the law and de- fend the State government. The insurgents were led by Luke Day of West Springfield and Daniel Shays of Pelham. Governor Bowdoin ordered Mid- dlesex to raise eight hundred men, out of forty-four hundred from the State, to protect the courts and suppress the insurrection, under the command of Major-General Benjamin Lincoln. "On the 25th of January, Shays, at the head of one thousand men, made an attempt to seize the arsenal at Spring- field, but upon a discharge of cannon from the State troops under the com- mand of Gen. Shepard, which killed four of the insurgents, the assailants fled in great haste and confusion and the rebellion was not long after com- pletely suppressed." Stoneham with her accustomed public spirit in times of threatened war, voted to pay the men of her quota three shillings per day during the time of their service. The military company in Stoneham at that time was commanded by Captain David Hay. The first men went under charge of Lieutenant David Geary, followed on the 30th of January by another squad, and a few days later, it would appear, the town was called upon to furnish six additional men and a sergeant.
This company did not go as an organization, though they furnished men for the quota. At least during a portion of the time while the trouble existed one of the regiments was commanded by Colonel Joseph Bryant. At that time Colonel Bryant was the chief military personage of the town, and it may be interesting here to refer to one or two stories that are told of him, though the writer is unable to vouch for their truth ; but they were related to him in his youth. He was grandson of Deacon Daniel Gould, who gave to him the Captain Buck farm. He was a man of considerable influence, was interested in military matters, and doubtless was an ardent patriot. A short time prior to the outbreak of the Revolution he had occasion to go to the marsh, as was customary in those days, for a load of salt hay. On his return he met some of the king's officers on horseback, who ordered him to turn out of the road and make room for them. Twisting the whip lash about his hand, straightening himself to his full height, and menacing defiance in his attitude, he thundered out to them he should neither turn out for them nor all the king's army.
Another story is, that on a certain occasion, the governor called to the house to see him. He was at work in the field and his good wife somewhat awed by the presence of official greatness, and desirous that her husband should appear to good advantage, took his Sunday clothes and ran out to him with them; but the doughty colonel was possessed of good sense, and scout-
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ing false appearances, marched up to the governor with his working clothes on his back an'd as we may suppose his Sunday clothes over his arm.
In 1788 Captain Jonathan Green was sent as a delegate to the convention in Boston, which was called to ratify the constitution. This same year "Jon- athan Green and others petitioned the selectmen to lay out a town-way from Ezra Vinton's barn to the southeast corner of the town, needed by them for the purpose of going to market and to mill," stating that for more than sev- enty years they and their predecessors had maintained such road at their own expense. The road was laid out and accepted the next year. It is the old road now in Melrose Highlands leading from Franklin Street near the Per- kins place, southerly towards the centre of the town, and into it ran a private way from Green Lane. In 1793 the school-house which had probably grown old and dilapidated, was sold, and the town either in this or the succeeding year, built a new one twenty feet square and located it a little north of the meeting-house and east of the road. On the 25th of August, 1795, died Captain Jonathan Green, who for fifty years had been the most active man of the town in public affairs. He was the son of Jonathan and the grandson of Samuel Green, of Malden. He was born in Malden, November 23, 1719, and when a young boy removed with his father to Stoneham where he lived " the rest of his life, except from 1769 to 1786 when he resided in Chelsea. With the exception of one year he was town clerk and town treasurer from 1748 to 1769, also from March 1789 till his death, except two years ; twenty- five years in all. In these days there was no alms-house, and the custom prevailed at the annual town-meeting in March of putting up the paupers at public auction, and striking them off for board to the lowest bidder, a prac- tice perhaps, insuring economy to the town, but not always cheering to the victim. William Street was laid out in 1798 but not built till 1805.
During the first seventy-five years of the town's history, the growth was small, and it must have presented very much the same appearance in 1800 as in 1725. Going back to the first years of the present century, let us look upon the town as it then appeared, the picture perhaps not perfectly accurate in all its details, but nevertheless substantially correct. It must be remem- bered that it was long subsequent to this period, when Stoneham became a manufacturing town. If one of our ancestors who was alive at that time should return today, and mingle with us, hardly a familiar object would be presented to his view. Imagine him, in the first place, turning his footsteps towards the old meeting-house, and picture the amazement with which he would be overcome. Astonished and bewildered, he would wander about in search of the pound, the James Hay house, the school-house and the chucch, for in those days all these objects were taken in at a single glance. They have long since disappeared from human sight. Turning his face to the west, he would see that a magic power had felled the trees of the forest and reared in its place a large and prosperous town, presenting an appearance of
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wealth and prosperity almost beyond the conception of one accustomed to the simplicity of colonial days. On every side the farms which he remembers scattered here and there are covered with houses and factories and chimneys. The quiet rest of country life has given place to the buzz of machinery and the whistle of the engine. Broad and numerous avenues replace the crooked country roads, and the old houses are almost gone. Commencing at North Street and going from Reading (now Wakefield) towards Woburn, the first house on the north side of the street was one recently known as the Deacon Dunlap house, where formerly lived one Simonds who kept a store. There lived Ephraim Pierce the younger.
A little further on, lived Ephraim Pierce the father, on the spot where Jas. H. Pierce lately resided. 'The next was a small one story house occupied by Captain Nathaniel Cowdrey, and stood on the south side of the road, a little east of the present farm house of John B. Tidd. The next house was on the right occupied by Phineas Wiley, and stood where Caleb Wiley lived at the time of his death. Coming from North Street onto High Street the first building was an old one on the east side of the street occupied by John Geary. South of him was Benjamin Geary where Mr. Sargent now resides. Near the top of Farm Hill also on the east side of the road, Stephen Lynde lived in a house owned by Mrs. Reuben Geary. In the old office lived Jas. Willy. Thirty or forty yards south was the residence of Captain Peter Hay. Next came the Hay Tavern, occupied by Captain Peter Hay, on the west side of the street, then the Aaron Hay house and afterwards the parsonage. Where Wm. H. Richardson now lives stood the house of Captain David Geary. Going south on what is now Warren Street was the house of Mr. Wright, father of Captain John H. Wright, which stood on a lane running westerly from the road. This lane followed about the course of Hancock Street. A little further south on the east side was the residence of James Hill. The Lot Sweetser house on the north side of Marble Street was then owned by James Hill, called James Hill, Jr. The last house in Stoneham which stood partly in Woburn was the Jesse Dike house then occupied by
William Holden. Returning east over Summer Street, the first house on the north was that of Ebenezer Bucknam. Then came the dwelling of the late Zac. Geary which was torn down a short time since. A little further north on the east side was Deacon Jabez Lynde. No other building intervened till the meeting-house was reached. A few rods north of the meeting-house and westerly from the highway was Thomas Gould, who had bought the James Hay farm. In the Osgood house lived Mrs. Dalton, a daughter of Rev. James Osgood. In the Oakes Green house lived Eben Bryant and north of him Elias Bryant. Daniel Hay lived where Horace Tilton now resides. On the Captain Buck place was the house of Col. Bryant. Col. Bryant's next neigh- bor was John Noble where Aaron Paine afterwards lived. On the Jenkins place lived Captain Abraham Gould, and further on Daniel Gould, Esq. The
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four latter houses were situated on territory which has been annexed to Wake- field. Returning to Spring Street and going east over what was then a priv- ate way there was an old house on the south where lived William A. Rowe. Where the Chapman house ncw stands lived Ephraim Brown, and in the Sturtevant house Captain Daniel Green. Continuing on towards Melrose Highlands near the town line and just beyond it standing back from the street on the north side in a lot owned by the town, was a small house or hut occu- pied by Clamrod, a Prussian, whose wife was a mulatto. The first house on Franklin Street, now owned by Mr. Outram, was that of Thomas Green. He was the father of Rev. Samuel Green, born in Stoneham in 1792, afterwards pastor of the Essex Street church, Boston, and although he died in compar- atively early life, in his forty-third year, he was a man of marked distinction and great promise. Rev. David Green, a brother of Samuel, was born in 1797, and for twenty years was secretary of the American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions. In the next house on the north side of the street at present occupied by Mr. Walsh lived Captain Josiah Green. Jona- than and Peter Green resided on Green Lane; near the foot of Vinton's Hill now in Melrose Highlands was the house of Ezra Vinton. Between Ezra Vinton's and the Reading road on the' south side lived his two brothers, Thomas and Timothy, and on the north side, the last house in Stoneham was that of John, nicknamed Sopus, Green.
. Going from Summer Street down the present Pond Street towards Spot Pond, Nathan Bucknam lived in the James Hadley house and John Bucknam in an old house on the south side of the street torn down some years ago. On the Dyer farm lived Jesse Green. Where the Ames house now stands there was a building then owned and occupied by Jacob and David Gould, the former of whom was murdered in 1819. On the opposite side of the street and a little further south lived a second David Gould, commonly called Pepe Gould. At the northeast corner of the Pond lived Matthew Whipple Sprague. Further down towards the Red Mills were the houses of Ebenezer Bucknam and Jabez Kendall. Returning and taking the road to the south on the east side of the Pond, Daniel Bryant's house was located where Charles Copeland afterwards lived. On the east side of the road, on or near the location of the Butterfield house, lived Mr. Willy.
The last house in Stoneham on the west side of the road was that of Cap- tain Samuel Sprague. Retracing our way to the Hay Tavern in the north part of the town, and going thirty or forty rods a little north of west, we should have come to the Fosdick house, in which Captain Caleb Richardson lived. In the northwest part of the town on the private way leading from the Hay Tavern to Woburn, were the houses of Captain Rufus, Elijah, Oliver and Thaddeus Richardson. At the old Poor Farm lived the widow Elizabeth Cutler, the last survivor of that family. Holden lived east of Bear Hill. A few other buildings there were, but these were substantially all the dwelling-
NKINS
VIEW FROM THE INDEPENDENT CUPOLA LOOKING SOUTH.
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houses of the town, with one church and one. school-house. The principal change that had taken place during the last three-quarters of the eighteenth century had been a mere succession of generations, even the same names being very generally preserved.
In 1802 the town voted to build a new meeting-house, and chose Mr. . Daniel Gould, Captain Daniel Green and Captain David Geary a committee for that purpose. It was also voted to build the new meeting-house on the slope of the hill that is east of the Burying Hill Brook on the north side of the road." The committee were instructed to make all necessary provision for the entertainment and refreshment of the men to be employed, and a gen- eral invitation was extended to the inhabitants to be present at the raising, which occupied Wednesday, the 29th, and Thursday the 30th day of June, 1803, and it was dedicated on the 14th day of December, the same year. This was the second house of public worship erected in the town. This second house remained till the first Sabbath in January, 1840, when it was destroyed by fire which accidentally caught from a stove during morning ser- vice. The older residents will remember this edifice with the common about it, about one acre and a quarter on the north side of the road and three- quarters of an acre on the south side, which was used as the training field. The following description of the church has been left by Mr. Stevens :
"A. D., 1803. The inhabitants of the town of Stoneham built this new Meeting House. Captain David Geary, Captain Daniel Green, Mr. Daniel Gould were the committee to build the meeting-house. They agreed with carpenters to do all the work for seventeen hundred and eighty one dollars. The house was raised the two last days in June, 1803, and finished about the middle of November following It is forty-six feet by fifty-six. The entry is ten feet mak - ing the body of the house square. It cost about 5500 dollars, including the common which cost about 120 dollars. The pews sold for several hundred dollars more than enough to pay for the house. The highest pew sold for 172 dollars. On the 14th of December we assembled in the new Meeting House to dedicate it to God. There was a vast concourse of people. Rev. Mr. San- born, Rev. Mr. Reynolds, Rev. Mr. Nelson, and Mr. M- attended with myself- Mr. Reynolds read and made the first prayer. Mr. Sanborn made the consecrating prayer. I preached on Haggai, 2, 7, 'I will fill this house with glory,' and made the concluding prayer. The choir concluded with a dedicating anthem. Great order and solemnity marked all the proceedings. Onthe Sabbath before I preached a farewell sermon at the Old Meeting House, and the day after dedication the people took it down. I have written this that after generations might know about it, especially my successors in the ministry." (Signed), JOHN H. STEVENS.
In 1803 it was voted to request the Selectmen to lay out a new road from the road south of the Old Meeting House by the corner of Deacon Jabez Lynde's house straight to the New Meeting House." In 1805 William Street was built. and the Medford and Andover Turnpike the next year. In 1806, also, Daniel Gould was elected to represent the town in the General Court.
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