USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Quincy > History of old Braintree and Quincy : with a sketch of Randolph and Holbrook > Part 31
USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Braintree > History of old Braintree and Quincy : with a sketch of Randolph and Holbrook > Part 31
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may obtain a patent thereof. Which granted, I shall owne yr Excellency the Great Mæcenas and rebuilder of my decaying family. And as it is my duty myself, teaching my children for- ever to pray our dread sovereign's subject.
Your Excellency's Faithful Servant,
BENJAMIN TOMPSON.
"9 Junis, Calendas. 1688.
" Annoq Regni Regis Jacobis Secundi tertio,
Mag, Brit, Angl, Scot, Franc and Hib, fidei defensoris, &c."
Mass. Arch., Vol. CXXVIII, p. 247.
"HONOURED SR :-
"I cannot, unlesse I relinquish my employ, which is meane and Incouragements meaner, prosecute my petition as I ought to doe; But it would bee the highest incivility and ingratitude not to owne his Exc'k Indulgencey therein. If my petition bee arrived yr hands, I begge of you a writt to the Surveyr, and I hope to obtaine the disireable hand usual to soulifie it, and In all other things intend a full and Customary prosecution as far as purse and my small interests amounts unto. Meane time I most humbly kiss yr hand.
His Majesty's Faithfull Subject and Yr Honor's Friend and Servant, BENJAMIN TOMPSON.
" April 4, 1689.
"The petition I hereby intend is my last petition." Mass. Arch., Vol. CXXIX, p. 357.
Mr. Tompson's chirography was superior to the majority of school-teachers of the present day. Although able to teach others to write, he appears to have been unable to educate his wife in this useful art, as she signs her name with a cross.
Mr. Benjamin Tompson was born in Braintree, July 14th, 1642, and graduated at Harvard College, in 1662. The town records make the following mention of his decease :- " Mr. Tompson was a practitioner of physic for about thirty years ; during which time he kept a Grammar school in Boston, Charlestown and Braintree ; having left behind him an uneasy world, eight chil-
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dren, twenty-eight grandchildren. Deceased 13th of April, 1714, and lieth buried in Roxbury, aged 72 years.1"'
During the intervals, or when Mr. Tompson had his eccentric turns, other teachers taught here. Aug. 18th, 1699, Mr. Nathan- iel Eells came to Braintree as the town's school-master. May 13th, 1700, " Voted that the Selectmen be appointed and empow- ered a committee to treat and agree with Mr. Eells, and if he refuse, some other person for the school-master the year ensu- ing." He however, does not seem to have remained long, as we find on the records that Mr. Jeremiah Wise began to keep school in Braintree, Sept. 5th, 1700, according to an agreement with the Selectmen for thirty pounds per year. The agitation of the construction of a new school-house so exasperated the inhab- itants of the town, that they turned the school teacher off, and made a change of all the town officers. Nov. 10th, 1701, Mr. John Veasey was selected to take charge of the school. It ap- pears that their old teacher, Mr. Tompson, with all his eccentrici- ties and peculiarities was most acceptable to the people, as he was recalled in May, 1704, and served until 1710, when all traces of him seem to have disappeared. All we know is that he died in 1714.
1. The following is an epitaph to be found on Mr. Tompson's tomb-stone in Roxbury, District of Boston :-
"Sub Spe Immortali ye Herse of Mr. Benj. Tompson, Learned Schoolmaster and Physician, and ye Renouned Poet of N. Engl. Obiit, Aprilis 13, Anno Dom 1714, and Atatis Sua 72, Mortuus Sid Immortalis. He that would try What is True Happiness Indeed Must Die."
The following is the genealogy of Mr. Tompson's family :--
Mr. Tompson married Susanna, daughter of Philip Kirtland. His children were as follows, viz: "1st, Abigail, B. at Boston, 25-9-1670; 2d, Susanna, B. in Boston, 10-4-1673-married John Sanders, 24th May, 1698; 3d, Ann, B. in Charlestown, 10th Feb., 1676-married Joseph Beleher of Dedham, 9th Jan., 1694; 4th, Ellenor, B. at Braintree, 29-9-1679, baptized 30th September-she was the third wife to the Rev. Thomas Symmes of Bradford; 5th, Benjamin, B. at Braintree, 8-9-1682, baptized 12th September-married Hannah Ellis of Bos- ton; 6th, Elizabeth, B. at Braintree, 14-11-1684, baptized 18th November- married the Rev. Joseph Parsons of Lebanon, Conn., afterwards of Salis- bury, Mass., and was also the mother of the Rev. Samuel Parsons of Rye, N. H .; 7th, Philip, B. at Braintree, 26th May, 1687, married Mary, daughter of George, son of Geo. Mountjoy of Falmouth, Me .- she died 25th Jan., 1739. Mr. Tompson was a physician in Roxbury." Hist, and Gen. Reg., Vol. XV, p. 114.
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Mr. Tompson was succeeded by Mr. Adams. The following vote was passed by the town, in November, 1710 :- " That Mr. Adams, the present school-master, be empowered to demand a load of wood of each boy that comes to school this winter." Mr. John Cleverly followed Mr. Adams, Sept. 26th, 1715. " Voted, that the present Selectmen agree with Lieut. John Cleverly, for his son John's keeping school the present year for thirty-four pounds, to be paid him out of the school lands and the remainder to be made up out of the town's stock."
The schools of old Braintree at this period, apparently com- pared favorably with those of other towns, for Neal in his his- tory, says :- " Roxbury and Braintree are distinguished for their schools." On account of their reputation, admission to these seems to have been sought after by scholars from other towns, as on the 26th of September, 1701, we find the following vote :- " That any person or persons living out of the town, who shall send any scholar or scholars to the aforesaid school, shall pay twenty shillings a year to the town treasury and proportionably for any part of it."
Mr. Samuel Veasey, of Boston, a mariner, died at sea in 1695, and left a fund1 for the schools of Quincy, or Braintree, as it was then. Although there are several votes to be found on the records, even as long after the will was administered upon as May 10th, 1717, when the town voted if need be, to sue Mr. Marshall, of Boston, the executor of the will. We have no
1. Mr. Veasey made his will in 1690, from which we take the following :- "I do hereby give and bequeath the sum of twenty pounds money, for and towards the maintenance and use of the schools of Braintree, aforesaid. Approved Jan. 7th, 1796." By the inventory of Mr. Veasey's estate it appears he left £454 18s. 1-2d. Nov. 1st, 1714, the question of the collection of this money came up before the town meeting. It was "voted that the money former- ly given to this town by Mr. Samuel Veasey, deceased, now in some person's hands, be demanded, and forthwith sued for by the Town Treasurer for the use of the schools. Not being successful at this time, the town thought they would make another effort to secure this just demand. May 10th, 1717, it was " voted that Deacon Moses Paine, the present Town Treasurer, should demand, (and if need be sue for, ) the money remaining in Mr. Samuel Marshall's hands, (of Boston, ) which was given by Mr. Samuel Veasey to the free schools of this town, in and by his last will and testimony, and that according to the tenor of his will."
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means of knowing whether the town recovered this money or not.
The first school-house stood on the town's land, about one hundred and fifty feet north, from the corner of Hancock and Canal streets, on the easterly side of the road, near Mrs. John A. Green's house, as will be seen by the bounds of the land granted by the town in 1679, and purchased July 18th, 1700, of Mr. Thomas Bass, by Mr. Tompson.
At a town meeting held Oct. 7th, 1679, it was voted, "that the aere and a half of land formerly granted by the town condi- tionally to Mr. Benjamin Tompson, for the time of his abode, shall be to him and his heirs forever absolute. Secondly, that in case Mr. Benjamin Tompson purchase Thomas Bass's land by the meeting-house, then he shall have a small gore of land, from the stile that leads to Samuel Tompson's land, straight to the backside of the school-house and to the highway."
July 18th, 1700. " Thomas Bass hereby doth give, bargain, sell, convey and confirm unto Benjamin Tompson a parcel of upland and meadow, containing one acre and a half, be it more or less, bounded northerly on the town brook, in the heart of Braintree, easterly on land of James Brackett, southerly with the town's land adjoining to the old school-house, westerly with the town road."
It appears by the following vote of the town that the old school-house was discontinued and sold some sixteen years after :- "1716, upon a motion of Mr. Benjamin Webb to the town, whether he might have the use of the school-house near him, (excepting the stone and brick,) for the securing of his hay till ye first of May next, and it passed in the affirmative." After which the said old school-house was sold by the committee to the said Benjamin Webb, for three pounds paid into the treas- nry.
The second school-house was built at the foot of Penn's Hill, on the easterly side of Franklin street, near the old house which Mr. Henry Hardwick has recently occupied. It caused a great many town meetings to be held. The town records contain the following votes concerning the construction of this school- house :- Oct. 22d, 1697, "voted, that the new school-honse,
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should be built in the road between Clement Cox's and Gregory Belcher's, hard by the white oak tree.1 The dimensions of the house to be twenty feet long, the width sixteen feet, and seven feet between joints." The new school-house that was ordered to be built does not appear to have differed materially in size from the old one. The town this year not being in a mood to build the house, passed a vote the 7th of March, 1698, to remove the old school-house to the foot of Penn's Hill instead of build- ing. A year passes by and they decided to build the new school- house, and not to remove the old one.2
The next school-house erected in Quincy was on Hancock street, opposite the ten-mile post in the wall of the estate of the late Lemuel Brackett. It was to be built on this site if the fol- lowing provision was complied with :- " Provided Mr. John Beal will allow a piece of land in exchange for the land where the old Pound stood." This house was constructed in 1763. Tradition states that this school-house stood partly in the road, and was kept by a Mr. Fisher, who made it a practice, as it was then the custom in these semi-parochial schools, to hear his scholars recite on Saturday morning in the Assembly Catechism. Mr. Joseph Bass was then a boy, and one morning among the rest was questioned to recite. But he refused, saying that his father wished him not to recite in the catechism. He was excused
1. Mr. Whitney in his history says :- " This white oak tree seems to have been ne of note, for it is often referred to, and made of as much importance as if it had been a mountain, never to be removed."
2. It is said that Mrs. Belcher kept this school for many years. Mr. Whit- ney, relates "that it was customary with her to carry her corn to mill herself, excepting when some one of her scholars lent her a helping hand. John Adams, afterwards President of the United States, was a favorite among the rest, and when he carried the corn she gave him as a reward three coppers, and charged him at the same time to keep his money to buy land with. It is unnec- essary to add how well he profited by early instruction. This school-house was a very fine one for those days. It had a bell attached to it for the use of the scholars. But a bell was so novel a thing that, when the master or mistress was not in the school, it was kept incessantly ringing. This was not found so agreeable to those who lived near, and who would oftentimes have preferred to have been spared what the scholars considered so delightful a treat. One morn- ing the scholars came to their bell rope with the accustomed earnestness, but most unfortunately for them the bell had been taken away in the night, and was never afterwards heard of."
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by the master, but the matter was the cause of some excitement. Afterwards, reconciliation was effected by the invitation of Mr. Fisher to dine with the father.
As early as 1716, we find that it was voted by the town that a "reading and writing" school shall be kept one-half of the year in the South Precinct; this it appears was the first school estab- lished in what is now the town of Braintree.
May 14th, 1716. "Voted by the inhabitants of Braintree regn- larly assembled, that there should be a school kept at the sonth end of the town, for one half of the year, each year yearly, beginning the first day of October for reading and writing, besides the present Grammar school, and that to be at the charge of the town."
Now begins the contentions in building and locating the school-houses in the several precincts. "Then voted that a house be erected for the accommodation of a Grammar school in this town, which shall be in some convenient place, as soon as may be, between the North Meeting-house and Mr. Benjamin Webb's land, by the committee hereafter named and appointed, as they shall see meet." Against this vote Capt. John Mills entered his dissent. "Then voted, that a convenient school-house for writ- ing and reading, be built and set up in some convenient place in the south end of this town, near the meeting-house as soon as may be, and as the committee hereafter appointed shall see meet at the charge of the town."
Sept. 17th, 1716. " The moderator moved to the town wheth- er the old school-house by Deacon Belcher's should be disposed of as the committee hereafter appointed shall see meet. It passed in the affirmative. It was then likewise motioned by the moderator, whether the old school-house near Mr. Benjamin Webb's should be disposed of as the committee hereafter appointed shall see meet. It passed in the affirmative."
December, 1719, began the movement of the schools in a southerly direction.
May 17th, 1725. It was " voted, that there shall be a writing and reading school annually, for the whole year, to be kept in the South Precinct, in such place or places, as a committee now to be chosen, to join with the major part of the Selectmen, Mr.
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Joseph Crosby, Lt. Samuel Allen, Mr. Epraim Thayer, shall agree, and to agree with the school-master."
May 15th, 1728. . " The moderator then put the question to the town whether the Middle Precinct in the town should have lib- erty to move the school now kept in that precinct to two other places, to be kept at each place a third part of the year, (or half a year at each if the said precinct see cause ;) provided the said precinet will be at the whole charge of such removal, the place nominated being one at the south-east corner of the little pond, where the ways part, and the other near the house of Nathaniel Wales. And it was voted in the affirmative."
We now come to the first vote to establish a school in that part of the town, now Randolph. Nov. 2d, 1730. " A memo- rial of the new South Precinct was then laid before the town, which was presented at the last town meeting, concerning a school there, and the question being put whether the new South Precinct shall have eight pounds paid out of the town's treasury toward supporting a school in that precinct yearly, until the town take further order, the first year to be understood to com- mence from March last. It passed in the affirmative."
For thirty years matters went on in this manner, or until the population had become so large in the various precincts, that it was found to have become necessary to establish permanent school-houses in each of the precincts.
March, 1763. "Voted, that there be a school-house built in each precinct of said town, at the town's expense; that the school-house in the Middle Precinct be erected on the south-east corner of Mr. Benjamin Hayden's land, at the lane leading to Mr. Lemuel Thayer's ; that the school-house in the North Pre- cinet be erected opposite the ten-mile stake; that the South Precinct have liberty to provide a place upon which to erect a school-house."
We have given all the material history of the schools of the three towns, nearly to the time when they became distinct and independent townships.
After the separation of the town, it became necessary for its inhabitants to reorganize their school system. In 1792, the first action taken by the town was to appoint the Selectmen to in-
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spect the schools, and seventy-five pounds were appropriated, to be raised by taxation for their support.
April 11th, 1793, the town voted to build a school-house1 on the training field, which embraced all the land where the First Church now stands, a part of Washington street and a large share of Temple street. This building was a plain, two-story house, and stood about one hundred feet north of the church.
1. This school-house stood nearly opposite the Granite National Bank, on what then was called the training field. The school-room was about twenty by twenty-eight feet, and not very conveniently arranged for the accommodation of the scholars. The estimated cost of this school-house was ninety pounds. The writing desks and seats were long, and constructed for the use of from four to eight pupils. No paint, blackboards, maps or mottoes adorned its walls. The proclivity of the New England youth in the use of the jack-knife was fully exemplified by the various carvings on its blackened walls. Its heating appara- tus was a fire-place, and a small box stove, in which wood, instead of coal was used for warming the room. In cold winter days the pupils would, on coming to school, burst into a furor of indignation because their ink was frozen, and they were obliged to stand around the fire for half a day to thaw their ink, and limber up their digital extremities so that they could write their exercises. For some three months of the year the school was divided, and the advanced pupils were sent to the upper room, which was called the " ciphering school." About 1806, Alphens Cary taught this school two years, and Mr. John Whitney three years; Mr. Josiah Brigham from 1811 to 1814, when he was succeeded by Mr. William Seaver, the veteran school-master of Quincy, who for twenty-eight years taught school in the centre and south parts of the town, and was instructor for its youth and adult pupils for a longer time than any other person. Mr. Eliot Valentine and Ibrahim Bartlett, also taught the "ciphering school." All these teachers, with the exception of Mr. Alpheus Cary, were from North- boro', in Worcester County, of this State. The raw-hide securely locked in the master's desk was the great discipliner of that period. At this time Mrs. Bass, widow of Deacon Jonathan Bass, kept a dame school in a dwelling-house on Poverty street, so called, now Franklin, near the southerly junction of Pearl. Why the street was called Poverty, was on account of a weed by that name growing in abundance in it, and not from the poverty of its residents. This weed has long since disappeared.
A horse block was located on the training field. This relic of antiquity was on the southeasterly part of this field, nearly opposite Mr. G. F. Wilson's store, Temple street, where the lamp-post now stands. "It consisted of a granite block about seven feet long and three and one-half feet wide. It was supported at either end by small blocks, projecting beyond the upper blocks, so as to form steps. Its use was to enable persons who came to church, town meeting or for other purposes, to mount their horses with greater case and con- venience. At this period horse-back riding was very common, as carriages were expensive, and not generally in use.
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The upper story was used as a town hall, and in the winter a "ciphering school" was kept in the same room; on the lower floor the Grammar school was taught. The first town meeting held in this hall was on Thursday, Dec. 8th, 1796. This build- ing was burnt Dec. 29th, 1815, and until a new school-house could be constructed, the school was kept in the hall of the house, near the easterly corner of Franklin and School streets, next building south of the Tiger engine-house.
After considerable contention upon selecting a site for the rebuilding of the town hall and school-house, it was finally decided to erect one on land contiguons to the southerly part of the Hancock Cemetery, and the building was constructed in 1817. It remained in this locality until 1841, when it was moved to near the site where the Coddington school-house now stands. After remaining there some fourteen years, it was moved again to nearly its old site, where it was remodeled and additions made. It is now used as the District Court-room.
The first recorded appropriations for the establishment of the Primary Departments, in the various local neighborhoods, was in 1800. That year there were appropriated 8400 for the several school districts, and the man's school in the centre of the town, which were divided as follows: - The man's school, $270.00; Farms District, $27.50; Squantum District, $10.00; Hough's Neck District, $22.50 ; Old Field's District, $11.00; Penn's Hill District, $22.50; Wood's District, $22.50; North District, $14.00.1 This appropriation was made in accordance with the number of pupils in each locality. The meets and bounds were not run for the school districts until 1809, viz :-
1. Thinking it may be of use to those who are interested in the progress of the schools of the town, we give the town appropriations for the public schools, for every fifth year np to 1855. Since that period they can be found in the pub- lished reports of the committees :--
1805,-Man's school at the school-house, $400 ; woman's school at the school- house, $40; North District, $40 ; Farms District, $40 ; Wood's District, $40 ; Hongh's Neck and Germantown, $40; Old Field's District, $40; Squantum, $16.
1810,-Man's school at Centre District, $420 ; woman's school at the Centre District, $40 ; North District, $40 ; Wood's District, $40 ; Farms District, $40 ; Hongh's Neck and Germantown, $40; Old Field's District, $40 ; Penn's Hill District, $40; Squantum, $18; Joseph Hunt, Jr., $4.
1815,-Man's school at Centre, $470 ; woman's at Centre, $44 ; North District,
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Hough's Neck and Germantown, to include all easterly of the causeway near Half Moon, so called, to be one district.
Old Field's District, or what is now called the Point, to begin at and include Nedebiah Bent's, Jr .; also, to begin at and in- clude Edward Miller's, Esq., and to include all easterly of said place.
Penn's Hill, to begin at Braintree line and extend northerly as far as the church. (This church was the Episcopal, then located at the corner of School and what is now Phipps streets.) Also, to include Deacon Veazie's Mill.
Wood's District, to begin at and include the house lately oc- cupied by Benjamin Pray, deceased, and also to include Richard Dexter's house, and all southerly of said place to the Braintree line.
North District, to begin at and include Capt. Benjamin Beal's dwelling house, and run to Milton line, and southerly as far as
$44 ; Farms District, $44 ; Squantum, $18 ; Hough's Neck and Germantown, $44 ; Old Field's District, $41 ; South District, $44; Wood's District, $44 ; Joseph Hunt, Jr., $4.
1820,- Man's school at Centre, including ink and fuel, $635 ; woman's school at Centre, $57 ; man's school at Farms, $66 ; Nortli District, $60 ; Hough's Neck and Germantown, $60 ; Old Field's District, $60 ; South District, $60 ; Wood's District, $60 ; Squantum, $27 ; Joseph Hunt, Jr., $5.
1825,-Man's school at Centre, $685 ; woman's at Centre, $60 ; man's school at the Farms, $71 ; woman's, $60; North District, $60 ; Hough's Neck and Germantown, $60 ; Old Field's District, $60 ; South District, $60 ; Wood's Dis- trict, $60 ; Squantum, $24.
1830,-Master's school at Centre, $425 ; wood and ink, $50 ; Master's school in South District, $425 ; wood and ink, $30 ; Master at the Point, $140 ; Master at the Farms, $120 ; Centre Primary, $60; South Primary, $60 ; North Primary, $60 ; Farms Primary, $60; Wood's, $60 ; Point, $60.
1835,-At this period, the town made a general appropriation, and the com- mittee divided the money according to the wants of the several districts. The amount to be raised this year by taxation for the schools was $2,000.
1840,-The amount to be assessed for schools was $2450.
1845,-There were assessed and collected at this time for schools $3100. The town increased their appropriations nine hundred for the year 1850, making the amount $4000. In 1855, the appropriation was increased to nearly double what it was the year previous, or thirty-five hundred dollars, making the whole amount $7500. The whole number of children between the ages of five and fifteen for the year 1855, were 1159.
For further investigations, see School Committees' reports, the first publi- cation in pamphlet form, was in 1851.
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to include Neddy Curtis's farm. The school-house for this dis- triet was located near the junction of Common and Adams streets. This district was afterwards organized as the West School District which included at that time the greater part of the West Quincy village, it being principally settled on or towards Adams street.
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