USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wakefield > History of Wakefield (Middlesex County) Massachusetts, compiled by William E. Eaton and History Committee > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20
The financial affairs of the town as of the year 1730 showed expendi- tures of £77:8:2, with credits of £99:17:4 and a cash balance of £22:9:2- a healthy condition for the young town.
In 1735 the widow of Thomas Hodgman died in her 96th year. It was Hodgman who built the old Hartshorne house on Church Street in 1693.
The year 1741 was one of great importance to the townspeople as envisioning the future development of the town, and of greater importance to later generations, even up to the present day. It was a town vote "to lay out in perpetuate, as Common land, the present Main Street to the Great Pond (Quannapowitt) and so up the Pond as far as the J. G. Aborn Shoe factory (foot of Aborn Avenue) ; all the land west of the old first cemetery and beyond the First Parish Meeting house and up Cowdrey's hill and up Elm Street for the use of the Old Parish, for highways, a Train- ing Field and Burying Place, and to accommodate the neighbors that live bordering on said land for their more convenient coming to and improving their own land and buildings; to the use of the Old Parish and neighbor- hood above said FOREVER, never to be disposed of for any other use whatsoever." It was a vision with action that has proved of untold value, for this and future generations.
[ 35 ]
SOUTH READING AS IT WAS,
W
R
A
E
1750
-
H
A
.La: Capl.Goodwin James Boyant!
-
3
D
N
:D Wil. Lambert,
I
WEbem Damon
---
N
T
S
T
0
N
E
H
Capt Greens OldHouse
ESCapl Greens
Smith's Pond
The Greens
EThos Nichols
Noak Eaton
William Could
Joseph Gould
Joseph Emerson John Bacheller
John Bacheller
Benjamin Brown
OH Grond.
& Lt. John Weston
ES CaptBancroft
BUThe Bernap
E Joseph Underwood
O Tho Parker
T
FEREns John Smith
i Anes Boardman
The Wiley
Nath. Sivain D
E
Naik.Wiley
Capt John Susuz! John Swain
I
A A
Jeremiah Brown !
·U
1
Nath Brown John Wallen
¢
EFT Jotham Watton
N
N
Y
L
Zyniswung De Jane Smith
ch
Saml Poole
Perl'me Heby
Sont Condrey
Redding Pond
Der. Brown
John Pratt
Emerson
Michal Sweetser.
Jona Podle Ir
James Smith
Miu
Dr. Oliver Swain
L
CHE
Smiths Rond River
My Tho Emerson
MA.L.DEN İ
On Ephraim Heston
GD. Win Stimpson.
Thos. Nichols
Joseph Brown
urych required: DWm. Green
S
· Ebra Gently
Dr. Www. Hay .
& Berg Hartshor The Damon
Jer Bryant
O
is JamesEmerson
Being a Copy of an old Map of the First Parifh of Reading supposed to bave been drawn about the year 1750 repesenting the roads, houses and their respective owners or occupants
Wm Estony.
DEni Hopkins
PUS
S'
North Wily's OU Have
Saugus River
OLD MAP: "SOUTH READING AS IT WAS - 1750"
READING-1644 TO 1812
Reading men gave service in the expedition to Nova Scotia in the French and Indian war of 1745. The contingent was made up of eighty- two men under Col. Eben Nichols and seventy men as a troop of horse under Capt. Jonathan Eaton.
For many years the town had been forced to pay fairly large sums for the care and support of the Mystic Bridge at Medford. This was the only way that Reading men could go to Boston, to Cambridge and over the ferry, or by the long over-the-road via Roxbury Neck. After long liti- gation the town in 1760 paid £16 and was relieved of any further pay- ments.
About 1767 a Young Men's Christian Association was formed and it is probable that this was one of the first in the Colony. The constitution and by-laws afford interesting and instructive reading in these more recent times.
Money and the value of money of early days is intriguing. Just be- fore the Revolution one hundred pounds, old tenor, was in reality £13:6 shillings and 8 pence. During the Revolution some of the draft records read "£2340 or 130 bushels Indian corn, £900 or 50 bu. Indian corn," etc.
The town records for a great many years showed that the town made frequent protests or petitions for relief, etc., to the General Court, on many questions of the day. If the town happened to be quiet then the Court promptly got busy with its surveys and orders for this or that thing that must be done-always with threat of a penalty.
In Rev. Caleb Prentiss' almanac of 1771 there is recorded a short story of the parade of his parishioners in Reading, on the occasion of his marriage: they met at Lexington, 24 of the parish, and were joined by many more at Woburn, five chaises and thirty-two horses.
On March 8, 1775, a month before the British marched to Concord and Lexington, an old Reading document recites:
"Whereas the late Provincial Congress, on October ye 26th 1774 Recommended that one-fourth Part at Least of the Several Companys of ye melitia of the Province be enlifted; equip'd and hold themselves in Reddinefs to march on the Shortest Notice, we, the Subfcribers Being Defirous of conforming to the aforementioned advice of the Congrefs as far as our Circumftances will Admit Do Volentarily Enlist our Selves for Six months, do Promise to equip ourselves Respectively with an Effective fire arm, Bayonet, Pouch, Knapfact, thirty Rounds of Cartridge and Ball and all other Nefessary Warlike Implements & to ufe our Endeavors to learn the art of Military By faithfully exercifiing our Selves twice a week at Leaft for three months next ensuing & that we will hold our Selves
[ 37 ]
HISTORY OF WAKEFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS
in Readiness to march instantly on Receiving notice from the Provincial Congrefs or our Officers.
Reading, March ye 8th 1775.
Signed : Abraham Foster
Timothy Wakefield
James Bancroft
William Eaton
William Johnson
Joseph Parker, Junr
Nathan Parker, Junr
Simon Nichols
Joseph Hill, Junr
Daniel Pratt, Junr
Joshua Eaton
Joseph Burnap
Thomas Eaton
John Hartshorne
James Hill"
On April 19, 1775, the First Parish (Wakefield) Company com- manded by Captain John Walton had 86 enrolled members; the Second Parish (North Reading) Company commanded by Captain John Flint had 79 enrolled members; the Third Parish (Reading) Company com- manded by Captain Thomas Eaton had 63 enrolled members.
Who will tell of the thrilling ride of Dr. John Brooks, afterwards Governor of the State, (upon learning at Boston of the threatened move- ments of British troops to Concord) who rode his horse to Reading, spread- ing the alarm? He was Reading's Paul Revere.
THE REVOLUTION
The greatest event between 1644 and 1812 was the Revolution of 1775 in which the town of Reading took an active part with men, money and influence. Her men were in the actual fighting at Merriam's Corner with the retreating British in 1775. Parson Prentice was there in Lexington with his gun. Into the army went more than 400 men, for longer. or shorter terms, among them being Col. John Brooks on horseback from Boston, later Governor of Massachusetts, and the man who brought to Reading the first news that the British were to march to Lexington and Concord. An eminent historian relates: "Into the spirit of that war, in defense of American liberty against the growing encroachments of British tyranny, the people of Reading entered with great unanimity and with all their heart; to its support they not only pledged, but they frequently paid with their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor."
Reading contributed one man to the famous Boston Tea Party, Andrew Oliver of Greenwood, who died in 1817.
She had few men at the Battle of Bunker Hill, since the local company was on guard duty at headquarters in Cambridge.
[ 38 ]
READING-1644 TO 1812
Reading's part in the Revolution of 1775-1782 is a story yet to be written-an opportunity for some historically-minded citizen of the pres- ent generation to collect and transcribe already recorded data, and to bring together a wealth of material awaiting the magic hand of an enthusiastic and patient researcher.
The men of Wakefield, as the First Parish of Revolutionary days, have much of which to-be proud, as contributing to the establishment of these United States of America. Individual achievement deserves not only recognition but to be forever preserved as an illuminating part of Wakefield's long, enviable military history.
When on July 4, 1776, there was adopted that immortal document, the Declaration of Independence, the town of Reading voted unanimously "to adhere to its sentiments and stand by it to the last with their lives and their fortunes."
The census of 1776 placed Reading second in population of the towns in Middlesex County; and thirty-third in the State proper, with its popu- lation of 2000. Boston then had only 2700 inhabitants. Of these 2000 inhabitants of Reading it is estimated that 500 were refugees from Boston, Charlestown and other places.
In 1803 Reading Selectmen were directed by the town to oppose all turnpike roads going through the town. Two years later the town chose a committee to use their influence "that the Turnpike Road shall be made from Essex Turnpike to the Malden Bridge."
Daniel Webster in his autobiography, said that in 1804 he hired a seat in a country sleigh that had come down to the Boston market for a journey to his home in New Hampshire, further stating that "stage coaches no more ran into the centre of New Hampshire at this time than they ran to Baffin's Bay."
THE ANDOVER TURNPIKE
The Andover and Medford Turnpike Corporation was chartered, June 15, 1805. This new road was of great interest to Reading people. Tolls were taken up to 1835 when the roads were surrendered to the several towns. For a few years the Corporation took an annual fee instead of tolls. No tolls were taken from persons going to church, on foot or with horse and carriage, or to any grist mill. Toll fees were established as follows:
"For each coach chariot, phaeton and other 4-wheel spring carriage, drawn by 2 horses, 25c: if drawn by more than 2 horses 2c for each ad. horse.
[ 39 ]
HISTORY OF = MASSACHUSETTS
"For every wagon drawn by 2 horses, 10c: by more than 2, 2c for each ad. horse.
"For every cart and wagon drawn by 2 oxen, 10c: more than 2, 121/2c.
"For each curricle, 15c.
"For every chaise, choir, fulkey or other carriage for pleasure, drawn by one horse, 121/2c.
"For every cart, wagon or truck, drawn by 1 horse 614c for each.
"For every man and horse, 4c.
"For every sleigh or sled drawn by 2 horses or oxen, 8c: by one horse, 4c.
"For all horses, mules or neat cattle, led or driven, besides those in teams or carriages, one cent each. Sheep and swine, 3c a dozen.
"Carts and wagon with tires 6 inches or more wide, 1/2 toll price.
"No gate on any country or town road already in use."
SEPARATION OF PARISHES
The approach of the separation of the three Parishes was not sudden. It was the result of many years of contention of geographical conditions, of church needs, and later because of a political issue. As one writer has expressed it, "On the triple foundation of congregational, town govern- ment and the village school, a liberty-loving, self-improving, God-fearing, but fiercely competitive society was formed."
In the separation of the parishes in 1812, the legislative act gave South Reading more land on Elm Street, including the old Eaton farm, than the town of Reading was willing to grant. Protests followed and the fol- lowing year (1813) a corrective legislative act was passed, bringing the town line in this locality more to the south and as it exists today.
The growth of population, up to 1812, in the Second and Third Parishes had advanced beyond that of the First or South Parish which had been deprived of its rightful share of representatives to the General Court.
This situation rankled and was brought to a climax, when war with England was declared. The South Parish, strong for the Democratic Republican Party, favored the war. The other Parishes, strongly Federal- ists, were opposed. The two sections were politically unbalanced. The record indicates that "party spirits ran high and prejudices were strong." The break came, and by legislative decision, the First Parish became, in 1812, a town named South Reading, and so remained for 56 years.
[ 40 ]
READING-1644 TO 1812
It has long been a disputed topic, but many have held the opinion, that by all rights of occupation, possession and sentiment, the South Parish was entitled to a priority claim to the old and ancient name of Reading as that part of the town first settled.
5
The Gift
To the fact Church In Reading 1746
ANCIENT COMMUNION CUP
In possession of the First Parish (Con- gregational) Meeting-House, being one of seven other ancient Communion pieces.
EARLY NAMES
In reviewing the progress of the old town of Reading, and particularly of the First Parish, it is incumbent upon the historian to indicate those individuals, who by their sound judgment and civic endeavors, made possible such progress.
In the early days, the deacons of the First Parish had great influence over many years: Zachariah Fitch, John Pearson, Thomas Kendall,
[ 41 ]
HISTORY OF WAKEFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS
Thomas Parker, William Cowdrey, Thomas Bancroft, John Damon, Thomas Boutwell, Thomas Nichols, John Goodwin, Kendall Parker, Brown Emerson, and others.
Giving the town their services as officials were Robert Dunton, Francis Smith, William Cowdrey, Thomas Marshall, Henry Felch, William Martin, Richard Walker, Zachariah Fitch, Thomas Kendall, Jonas Eaton, John Smith, John Batchelder, John Pearson, Robert Burnap, Nicholas Brown, George Davis, Thomas Clark, Thomas Parker, Thomas Hartshorne, Jon- athan Poole, Nathaniel Cowdrey, Robert Burnap, Jr., and many others. From 1700 to 1812 this list of officials and representatives of the town contains old familiar family names: Taylor, Smith, Goodwin, Browne, Burnap, Pratt, Emerson, Poole, Parker, Bryant, Eaton, Weston, Nichols, Damon, Hutchinson, Swain, Foster, Hay, Sawyer, Boutwell, Flint Batchelder, Townsends, Hopkins, Wiley, Hart, Green, Gould, and Weston.
During the Revolutionary days, those officials in town office were: John Temple, John Batchelder, Joseph Parker, Benjamin Flint, Benjamin Brown, Captain James Bancroft, Ebenezer Nichols, Jacob Emerson, Tim- othy Pratt, Benjamin Foster.
On important committees were Benjamin Brown, Samuel Bancroft, Esq., Lt. John Walton, Capt. Thomas Flint, Dea. Amos Upton, Capt. Daniel Green, John Temple, William Sawyer, Andrew Beard, Ebenezer Parker, Ebenezer Flint, Thomas Eaton, Edward Hircom, Ebenezer Nichols, George Flint, David Damon, Jabez Damon, Nathan Bancroft, Jonathan Flint, Capt. Abraham Foster, Thomas Damon, Dea. Jacob Emerson, Capt. John Goodwin.
[ 42 ]
SOUTH READING
1812 1868
LEGISLATIVE ACT FEBRUARY 25, 1812
"Be it enacted, etc.
"Section 1. That all that tract or parcel of land, with the inhabitants thereon, which is within the bounds of, and known by the name of the First, or South Parish in Reading in the County of Middle- sex **** is hereby incorporated and established as a town by the name of South Reading."
WESTERLY SIDE OF MAIN STREET ABOUT 1872
This is a picture of the westerly side of Main Street as it appeared about 1872. The dwelling at the left was the Stearns- White homestead where now stands the new post office. The Emerson shoe factory lot is now occupied by the Y. M. C. A. Beyond the Baptist Church is the second high school, remodeled and now known as the Lafayette Building. The third First Parish meeting-house is seen in the distance.
,
CHAPTER TWO
South Reading
Name Change - Town Life - War of 1812 - South Reading Stage Coach Company - Sale of Pew in Baptist Church -First Town House First High School - Stoneham-Wakefield Bounds Two Hundredth Anniversary - Civil War A Second Change of Name
South Reading, clothed in her municipal robes of local grandeur and General Court authority, was at best a small Massachusetts town. The name-change was accomplished with dignity and with a true sense of new responsibilities. An efficient town government was set up. Her venerable historian gave freely of his early and mature years to the study of local events and actively participated in its political life.
Of the town, as it was 132 years past, he writes: "In the first place, in endeavoring to show how the place looked, and what it then was, let us say how it did NOT look, and how it was NOT.
"It had no post office, letters being received and mailed at the Boston post office. It received no daily papers, weekly and semi-weekly only. It had no stage to Boston, but the first came along in 1817. Papers were left by publishers at the toll-house on Charlestown Bridge, and it was the duty of the first person returning from Boston, to take the South Reading papers and leave them at one of the stores for distribution.
"There were but about sixteen public roads, and these were generally narrow, crooked and poorly graded. There was no town hall, town meet- ing being held in the Centre school house (erected in 1789 on Church Street Common). There was no public library.
"Yet it had established a responsible and capable town government, a population of 800; about 125 dwelling houses with a valuation of real and personal property of $100,000. The heaviest taxpayer was Dr. John Hart, whose tax was $50."
The Common was unfenced, with only three trees for shade. The First Parish meeting house, erected in 1768, stood on the site of the modern edifice. The Baptist meeting house, erected in 1800, was on Salem Street. The old burying ground was there on the northerly side of Church Street,
[ 45 ]
HISTORY OF · WAKEFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS
the gravestones badly broken. A little west of the burying ground gate was a small engine house. The town pound was on the site of the present Uni- versalist Church.
With this humble beginning, and following the close of the War of 1812, the town renewed its growth and became one of the most enlightened and progressive towns in the Commonwealth. Great attention was given to its schools and teachers and new school houses; to its physical develop- ment and its political progress. The town sent able representatives, sena- tors and councilors to the General Court, and also delegates to the Con- stitutional conventions.
WAR OF 1812
Sometime in 1814, during the War of 1812, our Government wished to strengthen and improve the fortresses in Boston Harbor, and invited nearby people to aid by voluntary labor. To this invitation South Reading citi- zens responded and here is the story about it (as a boy of ten years saw the incident when he accompanied his father to Boston and later wrote this account) :
"It was a glorious day for me and never will be forgotten. We were to be at Long Wharf in Boston at Sunrise. No railroads or stages were then available-horses and carriages must be provided-and it was agreed to meet at the Common in front of Hale's Tavern at two o'clock A.M. and all start together.
"Some 200 men, including some boys, were on hand betimes. Every- one furnished himself with some implement of labor-a shovel, hoe or pickaxe, together with a box of rations, solid and liquid, and long before the sun rose our procession of 50 carriages were enroute.
"On our arrival at Malden Bridge, Sergeant, the toll gatherer, an illiteral and surly old publican, having got a hint of our early coming was at the gate to exact his tribute but our heroes, justly feeling that their public, voluntary service entitled them to a free passage, were not disposed to respond to the old man's demands; they accordingly opened the gate and told Mr. Sergeant to get out of the way.
"I remember that my father, one of the most conscientious and honor- able of men, accompanied by his good brother, the Deacon, despising the parsimony of the tollman, when he presented himself at our carriage for a ninepence, cracked up the old mare and nearly ran down the old fellow. (He paid his morning's toll, however, on his return in the evening-not so the majority, I think.)
"Arriving at Charlestown Square at about daybreak, we stabled our steeds and assembling around the grocery store of Horn & Ball, we sent
[ 46 ]
SOUTH READING-1812 TO 1868
for the. proprietors, who soon appeared and threw open their doors; and in the spirit of '76 and 1812 and their spirits -- red, white and blue of Horn & Ball formed a glorious union.
"We then formed ourselves into a company, with platoons and sec- tions, armed with shovel, spade and pick, under the command of our gal- lant Col. Amos Boardman, one of the most patriotic and public-spirited men of the day, with old Jeremiah Green, of Revolutionary service, on the drum, and old Fife Major Caleb Green on the fife and other musicians, and with the stars and stripes gaily flying, we took up our line of march for the Town of Boston.
"Upon our approach to Charlestown Bridge, its toll gatherer, more generously spirited than he of Malden, threw open his gate and welcomed us with a free passage thereover.
"On we marched along Prince Street in Boston, on our way to the place of embarkation, our Band playing 'Yankee Doodle' in animating strains, we roused the still slumbering inhabitants; and it was an amusing sight to see the upraising of bed chamber windows, and the presentation thereat of uncombed heads and half-opened eyes.
"On our way, we passed the house of Mrs. Barber, whose family was on terms of intimacy with my father's family, and as we marched along under her chamber windows, we looked up and saw her daughter, a fair, middle-aged maiden lady, with her hair disheveled; ringlets loose and all unruffled, reaching out from a window just over us to get a good view of the coming gang, just then my father looked up and called out in tones all could hear: 'Good morning, Aunt Dolly, how is your mother?' I guess she went to see, for she quickly withdrew her head from the window.
"Upon reaching the wharf, we found the Revenue Cutter alongside and soon were sailing down the harbor. On the way our venerable citizen, Timothy Poole, Esq., lost his best beaver overboard, but was later pre- sented with a fine tarpaulin, which he retained as long as he lived, as a memento of the occasion.
"At the fortress we went immediately to work in the moat, where we worked diligently through the day. At noon, under the polite escort of General Dearborn, the Commander of the Port, we saw the huge 32 and 44 pounders, the great mortars, the shells and balls, the magazine, the fur- naces for heating shot, and the other paraphernalia of the Castle.
"In plain view were British warships, cruising round the entrance to the harbor and threatening to make a descent upon the town, occasionally letting off a discharge from their great guns.
"The labors of the day were ended, we returned in safety to Boston
[ 47 ]
HISTORY OF WAKEFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS
and thence home, all well pleased with our excursion-and proud I was of having devoted one day to the service of our country."
At the termination of the War with England in 1814, South Reading celebrated the event in a grand and glorious manner. There was a parade and speeches, and had one been in the party at Hale's Tavern, where the Baptist Church now stands, he would have been refreshed from the "ten quart pails of grog and punch, gingerbread, crackers and cheese."
From 1812 to 1868 there were many minor events: The town began in 1813, printing its annual receipts and expenditures. In 1835, the South Reading Stage Coach Company was organized by citizens of the town. On July 25, the company purchased the equipment of the existing company. Capital stock was $1,000. In 1838, the company ceased operations.
Old-timers remember the Benjamin F. Abbott house that stood at the lower end of Lake Quannapowitt, between Main Street and the lake. South of his house was more land but being in the "open lands of the town" by its vote in 1741, was leased to Mr. Abbott for 50 years at a total rental of $30 in advance.
There were occasional family disputes among town officials. There was one in 1827 when members of the school committee disagreed over a teacher for the Centre School. The first result was the appointment of two teachers. This did not end the trouble for, on Writs, three of the Committee were imprisoned in the county jail charged with trespass. The defendants won; the town paid the costs, then sued the Chairman of the Committee and made him take on the costs.
An early town vote was "that no theological catechism shall be taught in any schools supported by the town." The South Reading Academy was established on Crescent Street, where the Lincoln School now stands. Some years later, 1847, the town purchased the Academy building as its first High School.
The year 1831 two law cases locally known as "Emerson versus Wiley" were decided, after being in court for six years. The town had become divided into two excited parties during the lengthy trials in the Massachusetts Supreme Court. The trial was one that was of great inter- est throughout the state, and among the townspeople there was "a high amount of anxiety, prejudice, rancor and party feeling." .
It appears that Benjamin B. Wiley, who lived on the south shore of Reading Pond persisted'in crossing Rev. Reuben Emerson's parsonage lot which he had fenced in violation of the town vote of 1741. The Parson sued for trespass. After a long trial, with able lawyers contesting, the court decision was against the Parson. Then Wiley sued the Parson for
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.