USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Stoneham > History of Stoneham, Massachusetts > Part 7
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In 1810 Spring Street was also laid out and was known as Captain Daniel Green's road. This year for the first time a bell was placed on the meeting- house, having been purchased by subscription, the committee to purchase it consisting of Thaddeus Richardson, Benjamin Geary and Lieut. John Buck- nam. In the early days Stoneham and its people seemed to be rather fond
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of indulging in law-suits. In building William Street the road passed through the land and near or over the upper dam of Captain David Hay. They could not agree upon the damages, so the Captain sued the town, recovered judg- ment, and obtained execution. The Richardsons also had a good deal of trouble about their damages, and finally the town was indicted for not open- ing that part of the road lying between the meeting-house and the houses of Aaron and Peter Hay through the land of Lieut. John Bucknam, now from Pleasant to Central Street.
On the 18th day of June, 1812, war was declared by the Congress of the United States against Great Britain. This war was generally unpopular in New England, though there was a minority strongly in favor of it. The. people of the town supported the government, and cheerfully met the demands that were made upon them. At the May meeting they voted "to make up the pay of the soldiers who have volunteered or shall volunteer their services or who shall be drafted out of the militia in Stoneham in pursuance of the recent general orders of the Governor for raising ten thousand men out of the militia of the Commonwealth, to the sum of fifteen dollars the month, includ- ing the United States pay, when they shall be called into the actual service." Again, in August, Captain Caleb Richardson, Lieut. John Bucknam, Deacon Jabez Lynde, Captain Nathaniel Cowdrey and Mr. James Hill were chosen a committee to draw up resolutions upon the national affairs. About this time a famous company of riflemen was organized, known as the Washington Rifle Greens. Most of the men came from Stoneham and South Reading, though the first commissioned officers were all from Stoneham. It was for a long time the crack company of the vicinity, and was called out in 1814 from Sep- tember 22d to October 31st, and stationed on Dorchester Heights. Its first commander, Captain Jonathan Hay, is said to have been a very efficient of- ficer. Some of the old-time captains whose names were familiar thirty or forty years ago, such as Captain Wright, Captain William Richardson and Captain Steele graduated from this company. The following is a roll of the company while in camp on Dorchester Heights : "Inspection and muster roll of Captain Jonathan Hay's company of riflemen, of Maj. William Ward's battalion in Gen. Maltby's brigade, of the detached corps under Major-Gen. Whiton (October 25, 1814.) Jonathan Hay, Captain; John H. Wright, Lieutenant ; William Richardson, Ensign; Sergeants-William Deadman, Benjamin Geary, Jr., Samuel Richardson, William Bryant. Corporals- Abraham Marshall, Ephraim Pierce, Samuel Wiley, Jesse Converse. Musi- cians-Jedde Brown, William Holden, Joseph Matthews, Thomas Parker, Nathaniel Richardson. Privates-James Brown, Jeremiah Converse, Samuel Evans, James Emerson, Joseph Eaton, Benjamin Flint, Samuel Geary, Amos Howard, Pierpont Hay, Simon Jones, Henry Knight, Charles Lewis, Jas. Lathe, Asahel Porter, Timothy Pierce, Alpha Richardson, Jonas M. Rowe, Frederick Slocumb and Samuel Sweetser."
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One of the curious relics of bygone days was the office of tythingman, a part of whose duty it was to preserve order in the church. The sense of propriety and decency which exists among the young people of to-day must be greater than that which prevailed seventy-five years ago, In 1816 it was necessary to instruct the tythingmen to "clear the stairway of the meeting- house so that the people can have a free passage into the gallery, and the people when they leave the house will turn to the right hand or the left hand as soon as they get out of doors, so that others may have a free passage through the porch, and to keep the boys and girls from whispering and laugh- ing in the gallery. , The tythingmen will post up these instructions at the Meeting-House."
In passing from Stoneham towards Spot Pond over Pond Street, the trav- eller notices on the right about one-fourth of a mile below the junction of South Street, the well-kept buildings of what was formerly known as the Tom Gould Farm. For generations it had been the home of a branch of this old family. David, a grandson of the original settler, John Gould, had bought it in 1714. The present dwelling occupies the site of the old house. On this spot, and during the night of November 25, 1819, occurred the brutal murder of Jacob Gould, which produced a profounder sensation in the town than any other local event in its history. The family at that time consisted of two brothers, David and Jacob, and a maiden sister, Polly Gould, together with one Mrs. Winship, who was hired to help do the work. David and Polly were supposed, for those times, to have considerable money. On the evening of the 25th, between eight and nine o'clock, they were sitting in the kitchen, when three men rushed in with disguised faces, armed with dirks, and demanded of Jacob his money. He attempted to defend himself with a chair, but was overcome, and fell pierced with several wounds, one of which, in the region of the heart, proved fatal. David also received two wounds. The hands of David and Polly were then bound, and each one of the three was in turn taken up stairs to produce the money. From Jacob was obtained five dollars, from David two hundred dollars, and from Polly six hundred dollars, hers being deposited in six deer-skin bags, in Jacob's chest. In going up stairs the light went out. In the scuffle that ensued Polly's fingers were badly cut and a finger of one of the robbers. Daniels was afterwards detect- ed partly by means of this wound. A fourth man stood at the door to keep watch, supposed by some to have b en one Clifton, who had formerly resided in the town. After the robbery the members of the family were all put down cellar, a feather-bed thrown down for them to lie upon, a table placed against the door, and warning given that one of the robbers would be left to guard them for two hours. About eleven o'clock, however, David was impelled by the dying groans of his brother to venture up-stairs and give the alarm to their next-door neighbor, Stephen Lynde.
THE LYNDE HOMESTEAD, BUILT PREVIOUS TO 1730. (See Page 41 ).
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By daylight the whole town was aroused, and scouring the country far and near. Jacob died at three o'clock on the morning of the 26th. A reward of five hundred dollars was offered by David for the detection of the murderers, and five hundred more by the Governor of the Commonwealth. Several men were arrested, but no one was convicted, though Daniels was probably one of the guilty parties. He hung himself while in jail before the trial.
From the early settlement of the town the school-house had been located near the spot where the first meeting-house was built. This was about the geographical centre of the inhabitants. During the period of a century or more, one building followed another. The town-meetings were sometimes held in the meeting-house, and sometimes in the school. house.
In 1820 the town "voted to build a school-house on or near the spot where the o'd meeting-house stood, large enough to be convenient for the whole town for school and town meetings, by excluding small children under a cer- tain age." But it was not built till 1826. The first story was used for a school, and the second for a town hall.
The structure which was erected in accordance with this vote remained where it was built until 1833, when it was moved to the corner of Pleasant and Central Streets where it now stands, known as the Old Town House. As has been said, the practice prevailed for many years of putting up the town's paupers, for support, at public auction, an occasion attended, very likely, at times, with some festivity, judging fiom the fact that the meeting adjourned for the sale, sometimes to the tavern, and sometimes to Alpheus Richardson's Hall, neither of which places in those days was surrounded by an atmosphere of total abstinence. The last auction of this character occurred in 1825, when Benjamin Blodgett was struck off to Col. Eldridge Geary at seven shillings per week; Phineas Blodgett to the same person at fifty-three cents per week; Thomas L. Knight to Captain Daniel Green at one dollar and twelve cents per week; Daniel G. Brown to Col. Geary at forty cents per week ; Chloe and Nancy Freeman (colored) to Daniel Gould, Esq., at one dollar and ninety-eight cents for both; John Crocker to Joseph W. Noble at eighteen cents per week, and John Green to Benjamin Geary at one dollar per week.
In 1826 the town bought the old Poor Farm, and this cheerful and econ- omical custom has become a relic of by-gone times. It is a pleasant reflec- tion that the number of paupers is much less at the present time, in propor- tion to the population, than it was seventy years ago. With the progress and development of the nineteenth century poverty is greatly diminished. The laboring man of today enjoys comforts and luxuries almost beyond the conception of our grandfathers.
During the first century of our history one of the principal burdens imposed upon the town had been the support of the minister. The last appropriation
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for this purpose was made in 1826, when three hundred and forty-six dollars was raised for the minister's salary and wood. After this a parish was organ- ized, and the town in its corporate capacity exercised no further 'control in ecclesiastical matters. The rigor of the laws had been gradually modified in the interest of dissenters, so that every man was allowed the privilege of withdrawing from one religious society provided he connected himself with some other, so that he could be taxed somewhere for the support of preach- ing. It has been only since 1834 that the support of public worship has been entirely voluntary.
From dissatisfaction with the minister, with the creed, and from a variety of causes, many withdrew from the meeting in Stoneham, and joined socie- ties in other towns. A Universalist Society was organized, embracing some of the most substantial citizens ; but did not meet, it would seem, at first, great popular favor ; for in 1826 we find the town voting "not to allow the Universalist Society the privilege of holding meetings for preaching in the hall or in the school-house."
Stoneham's record as a temperance town in recent years is consistent with the opinions entertained by our fathers, who chose, in 1832, the selectmen, "Levi Hill and Charles E. Walker, a committee to see that the law for regu- lating licensed houses is regarded in this town." And they furthermore voted that the "selectmen use all lawful measures to prevent any person or persons procuring license to retail ardent spirits."
Prior to 1833 the town-meetings had been held either in the meeting- house or the school-house, but after the town-house was built, the bulk of the population gradually settled near the present centre of the village, leaving the public buildings on the outskirts; so it was desired that the town-house should be moved to a location that would better accommodate the popula- tion. Opinion was divided, but at the annual meeting in March, 1833, the friends of the movement rallied in force and voted "to move the Town House to some convenient place near the Andover and Medford turnpike, and chose Charles E. Walker, Benjamin F. Richardson and Alpha Richardson a com- mittee to purchase a suitable piece of land, and superintend the moving of the building." This was the 4th of March. The movers had been victori- ous, but the contest was not yet ended. On the next day the anti-movers had out a warraut for another town-meeting called for the 12th, the earliest possible day, hoping to reverse the action of the town. And now the com- mittee proved themselves equal to the emergency. Only seven days remained in which to purchase the land and make the removal. A lot was bought, the country was scoured for oxen, and forty or fifty yoke were collected together for the important occasion. The ground was frozen and covered with snow and ice. The building was put on runners. A great concourse of people had assembled. Rum was distributed from the interior of the building to
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stimulate the zeal of the excited crowd. The chains were secured and the oxen attached. The apple-trees of Thomas Gould had been cut so as to make a bee line, near as possible over tbe meadow to the new location. The signal was given, the great team started, but after a while the chains broke. Delay followed. The broken links were again replaced, or new ones sub- stituted. Time was precious. The loss of a single day accompanied by a thaw might leave the edifice a helpless wreck, anchored in meadow mud ; but steam was up, and with a yell of triumph they again started and this time no halt was made till the house was landed near the spot that had been pur- chased for its location. The victory was won and the anti's were whipped. On the meeting of the 12th there was nothing for them to do but meet and dissolve.' Boys who stood about and sat on steps enjoying the fun, are now old men and love to look back and recall the events of that exciting day. In 1834 the first fire-engine was bought, known as the "Phoenix."
In 1836 the town was divided in six school districts. The school-house, district number one, was located at the corner of Main Street and Captain Rufus Richardson's Lane ; in number two on Cobble Hill, not far from the present standpipe ; in number three on Vinton's Hill; in number four on Pond Street ; in number five on Warren Street; and in number six at the centre, near the corner of Pine and Pleasant Streets. In 1833 the County Commissioners laid out the highway now known as Elm Street from the old road towards South Reading. Old people look back to the period between 1830 and '40 as one of great public interest and . xcitement. Moral and po- litical questions which were destined to agitate the country during the com- ing years were then beginning to crystallize. Public opinion was divided ; one element was aggressive, and the other intolerant. The question of Afri- can slavery was cleaving asunder the community. Political fervor ivas red hot. Some opinion may be formed of the temper of the town in 1837 when it is remembered that Captain Rufus Richardson, Joseph W. Noble, John Hill and Darius Stevens were added as a committee to the Selectmen to take charge of the town-house, and were instructed not to let any meeting be held there "which they shall have reason to think will produce a disturbance or endanger the house." On May 9th it was voted, sixty-two in the affirma- tive and thirty-three in the negative "that the town will not allow anti-sla- very lectures, and discussions to be held in the town-house." It is difficult to realize to what an extreme limit some of the good men of that time allowed their zeal to carry them in opposition to anti-slavery agitation. Meetings were held, others w re broken up, and finally the excitement culminating in mob violence, concluded with the homicide of Timothy Wheeler. Some of the doggerel verse and sure stic rhyme in which hard epithets were hurled by one side against the other. and received back in turn. now lie hidden away in old houses and att st the violent birth-thross of the great reform, which in a little more than a qi rier of century fron th it time was destined to shake a
THE OLD PARSONAGE, BUILT 1747. (See Page 62.)
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continent to its foundations and crown a race with human freedom. Refer- ence has been made to the laying out or building of most of the early roads. Only a few others will be mentioned, as the limit of this article forbids it.
In 1837 the county commissioners laid out a continuation of Elm Street from near the house of the late John Paine to the centre of what is now Wakefield, making this the direct and usual thoroughfare between the two towns. The population this year was a little over 900. During the year ending April 1, 1837, there were manufactured 380, 100 pairs of shoes, valued at $184,717. Montvale Avenue was laid out by the county commissioners in 1840. After a life of 115 years, Stoneham had made but little material progress. In fact, during the first century the growth had been hardly per- ceptable and the changes slight. Outside of agriculture, the principle occu- pation was the manufacture of shoes, though carried on in a small way, in comparison with the expensive plants and large capital invested in this busi- ness during the last thirty years. The country was dotted here and there with little shoemaker's shops, where most of the work was done. The manu- facturers themselves required no large amount of room, only a sufficient space to hold the goods, cut up the stock, and deliver it to the men who made the shoes. . The largest manufacturers usually kept a general store in connection with their business, which enabled them to pay their workmen partially in supplies, and thus secure to themselves a double profit. In those days shoe- making was a trade ; one shoemaker could make the entire shoe, and labor was not sub-divided as at present, giving to each man a specific part, and having a tendency to make of him a mere machine. Then manufacturing was the slow and simple process of hand labor, now the magic product of complicated machinery. Something may be said in favor of each process. Those of us who can look back to the little shop where the workmen labored inside in winter, and outside in summer, the proprietors of their own estates, anchored to the soil by a sense of ownership, each one personally interested in the welfare of the town. no large fortunes and no expensive living we are inclined to think the common citizen leveled up to a rather higher standard than now. On the other hand, with the introduction of machinery, modern inventions, the results of recent scientific research, material prosperity has rapidly increased, fortunes have multiplied, and what were luxuries to our fathers are necessities to us. During the twenty-five years succeeding 1840 great changes took place, new roads were built, great factories sprung up, and a few scattered houses grew into a compact and thrifty town. New business methods prevailed, and the workmen of a single concern, instead of being scattered over the whole town, were collected together under one. In 1844 Franklin Street from Main Street to Noble's Corner was built. The present town-house was originally built in 1847, though it was subsequently enlarged. The committee who built it were Benjamin F. Richardson, Reu- ben Locke, Jr., Luther Hill, Daniel Hill and Elbridge Gerry, and the ex-
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1
pense of the building exclusive of land was between $;500 and $6000. The lower story was used for the accommodation of the High School, till a short time before the erection of the present high and grammar school-house, and here it may be well to refer briefly to the history of our public-school system. An allusion has already been made to the single school kept near the meet- ing-house and to the six district school-houses that were subsequently erected in the different localities of the town. The High School was first thoroughly organized with a regular course of study and a system of graduation in 1856, although nominally established in 1854, and was the heritage of the Centre Union School, k pt by Caleb Oliver in the winter of 1846-47. Let us go back for a moment to the school of Master Oliver, which was taught in the old red school-house, located on Pine near Pleasant Street, and commenced November 30th, 1846, and closed February 27th, 1847.
George W. Dike, Silas Dean and Ira Gerry were committee, and George W. and Solon Dike, prudential committee. The list of books prescribed were the Bible, Porter's Rhetorical Reader, Emerson's Second and Third Class Readers, Webster's Dictionary, New National Spelling Book, Worces- ter's Primer, Emerson's Arithmetic, Leonard's Arithmetic, Brown's Grammar, Smith's Anatomy, Oliver's Geography, Burrit's Geography of the Heavens, Willard's History of the United States, Towne's Gradual Reader, Thompson's Seasons, Sherwin's Algebra and Comstock's Philosophy, Chemistry and ยท Physiology. The whole number of scholars was seventy. The teacher was paid thirty-five dollars per month and his board was valued at eight dollars
per month. In age the scholars ranged from twelve to twenty. Afterwards
the school was kept winters in the old town-house till the new one was built. In 1850 the number of scholars between four and sixteen was 377. Prior to 1851 the prevailing style of school architecture in Stoneham had been that of the old red school-house, which was so common in New England fifty years ago, but this year the town expended about $16,000 in the erection of three large, fine grammar school-houses and two smaller mixed ones, one of them at Spot Pond and one of them at what is now Melrose Highlands. These were among the finest and best appointed of any in the neighboring towns, and they at once placed Stoneham in the front rank, at least as a supporter of the public schools.
In 1859 the public library was established, a nucleus having been formed from the old Social Library, the Young Ladies' Library and the High School Library. The present Congregational meeting-house was built in 1840, the second one having been burned, as previously stated. The same year the Universalist meeting-house was also erected, which was subsequently sold to the Catholics in 1868, at the time of the erection of the Christian Union, now the Unitarian Church.
The pastors of the Congregational Society of the First Parish subsequent to Jos. Searle, who preached from 1828 to 1832 were Rev. Jonas Colburn
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from 1832 to 1837 ; Rev. John Le Bosquett, from 1837 to 1838 ; Rev. John A. Vinton, 1839; Rev. Edward Cleaveland, from 1839 to 1840; Rev. John Haven, from 1841 to 1849; Rev. William C. Whitcomb, from 1850 to 1855 ; Rev. Chas. P. Grovesnor, from 1856 to 1858; Rev. J. E. Swallow, from 1858 to 1859; Rev. W. J. Batt, from 1859 to 1861, and again from 1875 to 1885 ; Rev. Swift Byington, from 1864 to 1871; Rev. Webster Hazelwood, from 1872 to 1874; Rev. D. Augustine Newton, from 1885 to 1889, and at present the Rev. W. W. Sleeper. Of these, Mr. Le Bosquett, Mr. Vinton, Mr. Cleaveland, Mr. Grosvenor, Mr. Swallow and Mr. Hazelwood were not settled.
The Universalist Society remained an independent organization till it united with the Unitarian Society and became the Christian Union Church. Its first minister was Rev. J. P. Atkinson, followed by Rev. A. G. Fay, 1840-41 ; Rev. Woodbury M. Fernald, from 1842 to 1845; James M. Usher, 1845 ; Rev. Mr. Marvin, Rev. Henry Jewel, from 1852 to 1855; Rev. S. W. Squires, from 1859 to 1862, and Edward Eaton in 1863.
The Unitarian Society was organized in 1858, and employed Rev. Fiske Barrett, who remained with them till 1861. Mr. Barrett was followed by Rev. Geo. M. Skinner, who resigned September 1, 1867. During the pas- torate of Mr. Skinner the Universalist and Unitarian Societies united under the name of "The Christian Union Church," and for a time worshipped in the Universalist meeting-house. The Universalist meeting-house was sold to the Catholics in 1868, and the Christian Union Church was erected and ded- icated on January 1, 1869. Mr. Skinner was succeeded by Rev. E. B. Fair- child, who came in November, 1867, and remained the pastor of the church till January, 1876. The clergymen connected with this society subsequent to Mr. Fairchild have been Rev. D. M. Wilson, from May, 1876, to December, 1878; Rev. Daniel Rowen, from April, 1879, to April, 1883; Rev. C. J. Staples, from May, 1884, to June, 1887, and Rev. J. H. Whitmore, from January, 1888. In 1889 the Christian Union Church reorganized as the First Unitarian Society.
The Methodist Society was first organized in 1856, the first pastor having been Rev. J. W. F. Barnes, at present chaplain of the Massachusetts State Prison. Its ministers have been Mr. Barnes, 1857 and a part of 1858 ; Mr. Little, a part of 1858 ; Henry V. Degen, a part of 1859; Linus Fish, 1860 ; H. P. Andrews, 1861 ; L. Frost (local), 1862 ; Mr. Wheeler (local), 1863 and 1864; B. W. Gorham, 1865 ; Steven A. Cushing, 1866; A. D. Sar- gent, 1867 and 1868; M. M. Parkhurst, 1869 and 1870; W. F. Crafts, 1871 and 1872 ; Geo. L. Collier. 1873-4-5; L. O. Knowls, 1876-7; Chas. W. Wilder, 1878-9; John M. Short, 1880-1-2; Henry Lummis, 1883-4-5 ; Charles T. Johnson, 1886-7 ; J. Weare Dearborn, 1888-9 ; W. H. Meredith, 1890. The corner-stone of their present church edifice was laid June, 1868, the vestry dedicated in October of the same year, and the main audience-
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