USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Newton > History of the early settlement of Newton, county of Middlesex, Massachusetts, from 1639-1800. With a genealogical register of its inhabitants, prior to 1800 > Part 7
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Judge Tucker, of Virginia, wrote to Rev. Dr. Belknap, of Boston, in 1795, stating that, "he considered the intro- duction of slavery into this country, as among its greatest misfortunes." "He had observed, with much pleasure, that slavery was exterminated in Massachusetts ; that it was the object of his inquiry to know how it had been accomplished, and to learn what methods would be most likely to remove the same evil from Virginia;" and he adds, "that the question of general emancipation had never been brought before the Legislature of Virginia; but he cherished the hope that the example of Massachusetts would do much to remove the same evil front his own State."
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SLAVERY.
Dr. Belknap's reply to Judge Tucker's letter of inquiry, contains many important facts relative to the introduction and abolition of slavery in Massachusetts, which, together with Judge Tucker's letter, may be found in the fourth volume of the Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, first series, from which the following extracts are taken.
After alluding to the early introduction of negroes from the West Indies, he says, "No other slaves were known here, excepting some of the aboriginals of the country, who had, at various times, submitted themselves to the Govern- ment, and received its protection ; some of these joined with King Philip in the war of 1675. Such as were taken in arms against the country, were adjudged guilty of rebellion, and a few of them were put to death; but the greater part were sold into slavery in foreign countries. Some of these latter found their way home, and joined with the hostile Indians, in a severe revenge on the English, in succeeding wars.
" By inquiries which I have made of our oldest merchants now living, I cannot find that more than three ships in a year, belonging to Boston, were ever employed in the African trade. The rum distilled here was the mainspring of this traffic. The slaves purchased in Africa were chiefly sold in the West Indies, or in the southern colonies ; but when those markets were glutted, and the prices low, some of them were brought hither. Very few whole cargoes ever came to this port. One gentleman says he remembers two or three; I remember one, between thirty and forty years ago, which consisted almost wholly of children.
"In 1703, a duty of four pounds was laid on every negro imported, for the payment of which, both vessel and master were answerable. How long this duty was exacted, I know not.
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EARLY HISTORY OF NEWTON.
"A few only of our merchants were engaged in this kind of traffic. It required a large capital, and was considered as peculiarly hazardous, though gainful. It was never sup- ported by popular opinion,-the voice of conscience was against it. A degree of infamy was attached to the char- acter of those who were employed in it; several of them, in their last hours, bitterly lamented their concern in it; and the friends of seamen who had perished by the climate of Guinea, or in the contests with the natives, became seriously prejudiced against the business.
" Reflecting persons were divided in their opinions, on the lawfulness of the traffic in slaves. Chief Justice Sewall publicly protested against it, and wrote a pamphlet, entitled "Joseph Sold, a Memorial." (The Judge endeavored to prevent Negroes and Indians being rated with horses and cattle, but did not succeed.) Others disliked it from pru- dential considerations. Many conscientious persons, who would by no means have engaged directly in the trade to Africa, yet, when negroes were brought hither, had no scruple to buy them, because they supposed that an educa- tion in 'a land of gospel light,' was preferable to one in ' heathenish darkness.' They contended that the buying and holding them in servitude, might be justified by the example of Abraham and other good men of antiquity ; and as his servants were circumcised, theirs were baptised.
" Laboring people, of white complexion, complained of the blacks as intruders ; and the vulgar reprobated them as the 'seed of Cain,' and wished them back to their own country. Not much, however, was said in a public and formal man- ner, till we began to feel the weight of oppression from 'our mother country,' as Britain was then called.
"The inconsistency of pleading for our own rights and liberties, while we encouraged the subjugation of others, was very apparent; and from that time, both slavery and
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SLAVERY.
the slave trade began to be discountenanced. The principal cause was public opinion. Pamphlets and newspaper essays appeared on the subject, and it often entered into the conversation of reflecting people; and many who had, with- out remorse, been purchasers of slaves, condemned them- selves, and retracted their former opinions, so glaring was the inconsistency of contending for their own liberty, and at the same time depriving other people of theirs.
" The Quakers were zealous against slavery and the slave trade. Nathaniel Appleton, James Swan, merchants of Boston, and others, distinguished themselves as writers on the side of liberty, while the writers on the other side gen- erally concealed their names.
"The controversy began about 1766, and was renewed at various times, till 1773, when it was very warmly agitated, and became a subject of forensic disputation, at the public Commencement in Harvard College.
"In 1767, a bill was brought into the House of Represen- tatives, ' to prevent the unnatural and unwarrantable cus- tom of enslaving mankind, and the importation of slaves into this Province.'
" In its progress, it was changed to 'an Act for laying an impost on negroes imported.' But the Council were opposed to it.
"In 1773, another attempt of the same kind was made, grounded on the petition of the negroes; and again in 1774, when it passed both Houses, but failed for lack of Governor Hutchinson's consent, because, as he alleged, his instructions forbade it.
"The negroes had better success in the judicial Courts. A pamphlet, containing the case of a negro who had accom- panied his master from the West Indies to England, there sued for and obtained his freedom, was reprinted here,*
* The celebrated " Somerset case," decided by Lord Mansfield, in 1772.
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EARLY HISTORY OF NEWTON.
which encouraged several negroes to sue their masters for their freedom ; and for their services after they had attained the age of twenty-one years. The first trial of this kind was in 1770, and it terminated favorably for them. Other suits were instituted, between that time and the Revolution, and the juries invariably gave their verdict in favor of liberty.
" During the war of the Revolution, public opinion was so strongly in favor of the abolition of slavery, that in some of the country towns, votes were passed in town-meetings, that they would have no slaves among them.
"In New Hampshire, (where I then resided,) those blacks who enlisted into the army for three years, were entitled to the same bounty as the whites.
" The bounty their masters received, as the price of their liberty, and then delivered up their bills of sale, and gave a certificate of manumission ; several of those bills and cer- tificates were deposited in my hands.
"The present Constitution of Massachusetts was estab- lished in 1780. The first article of the Declaration of Rights asserts that 'ALL MEN ARE BORN FREE AND EQUAL.'
"This was inserted, not merely as a moral and political truth, but with a particular view to establish the liberation of the negroes on a general principle, and so it was understood by the people at large; but some doubted whether this were sufficient.
"Many of the blacks, taking the advantage of the public opinion, and of this general assertion in the Bill of Rights, asked for their freedom, and obtained it. Others took it without leave. Some of the aged and infirm thought it most prudent to continue in the families where they had always lived.
"In 1781, at the Court in Worcester County, an indict- ment was found against a white man for assaulting, beat- ing, and imprisoning a black man. He was tried at the
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SLAVERY.
Supreme Judicial Court, in 1783. His defence was, that the black man was his slave, and that the beating was the necessary restraint and correction by the master.
" This was answered by citing the aforesaid clause, in the Declaration of Rights. The judges and jury were of opin- ion that he had no right to beat or imprison the negro. He was found guilty, and fined forty shillings. THIS DECIS- ION WAS THE MORTAL WOUND TO SLAVERY IN MASSA- CHUSETTS.
"In the next census, no slaves were set down in Massa- chusetts, but the number of black persons was four thousand three hundred and seventy-seven. This return, made by the Marshal of the District, may be considered as the for- mal evidence of the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts, especially as no person has appeared to contest the legality of the return.
"In 1788, the slave trade was abolished by law. The peo- ple of New Hampshire established their Constitution in 1783. The first article of their Declaration of Rights asserted that 'ALL MEN WERE BORN EQUALLY FREE AND INDE- PENDENT.' The construction which their Courts put upon this declaration, was, 'that all who have been born since the adoption of the Constitution, are free,' but those who were in slavery before its adoption, are not liberated by it. And the census of that State continued to return slaves."
Such, in brief, was the origin and character of slavery, as it existed in the early history of New England, and such its final termination in Massachusetts.
It was never congenial with New England society, or New England character, and consequently never took root, or acquired permanency, among the Puritans or their descendants.
That a people so eminently religious and conscientious, according to their light, as were the Puritan ancestors of
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EARLY HISTORY OF NEWTON.
New England, should have been so far blinded to the evil and wickedness of slavery, as to have tolerated it at all, or in any shape, may naturally excite surprise, and lead to the . inquiry as to what were the circumstances that influenced them, and how far they may justly be held responsible in this matter.
The introduction of slavery into New England, appears to have occurred about the middle of the seventeenth century.
If we consider the condition of society at that time, in old England, and also in New England, we shall perceive, even among the more intelligent, that no very liberal or definite notions obtained, regarding religious toleration, or individual liberty.
When God-fearing, upright, and conscientious men, some of the most intelligent of their time, believed it to be their solemn and bounden duty, to publicly scourge women at the cart-tail, and hang Quakers for theological heresies, we should not experience much surprise, that any other atrocity, however enormous, should prevail, and find favor at their hands, by the supposed command of the Deity, or for the advancement of their present interests and opinions.
Indeed, when we reflect that the religious theory of the Puritans, and their immediate descendants, was almost entirely derived from the Old Testament, and their moral code exclusively based upon their theological notions, and the laws of Moses, we should be more inclined to think slavery a natural deduction from such premises, than to wonder at its existence, in the early days of New England.
Let us be just, however, to the character of the men, and of their times. Under the incubus we have spoken of, which cast its deep and baleful shadow over the whole social, religious, and moral world, they saw but dimly and were blind to much of moral truth and Christian charity, that is now plainly recognized and universally admitted.
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SLAVERY.
Their crowning glory, and strongest trait of character, and in which they far surpassed their descendants of the present time, consisted, not in their clearness of moral vision, or the purity of their theology, but in their inflexible devo- tion to principle, as they understood it, and the require- ments of conscience ; and however darkened that conscience might be, it was the only lawful guide, the rule and measure of duty to them.
In regard to slavery, however, we should not confound things essentially different, by classing them under the same name, as is always done by the modern apologists and sup- porters of this abominable system.
Thus the bond service of the Jews, so wholly different in many and essential particulars, is placed in the same cate- gory with the plantation slavery of the present time, and so the mildest type of servitude is, by a forced construction, made to justify all the 'enormities of the modern system.
Although the worst feature of slavery, ownership, which destroys moral responsibility in the slave, is everywhere and always similar, yet in other and essential respects, it differs widely and almost wholly. As, for example, no one could fail to mark the extreme difference in the lot of two slaves, who might pertain to the same owner,-one the body servant of the wealthy planter, the other one of a numerous gang who continually toil under the lash of his brutal overseer ; - so, too, where but one or two slaves are owned by an individual, they are in some sense members of his household, with whom more or less of social equality pertains.
In this state, slavery may not inaptly be termed patri- archal ; and such we are constrained, from the circumstances, to believe was the slavery that existed with the Puritans, to compare with which, the grosser type of the slave-breed- ing, slave extending, and slave trading system of the present
9
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EARLY HISTORY OF NEWTON.
time, would be to substitute darkness for light, and false- hood for truth.
CHARLES RIVER.
The Indian name of this river was " Quinobequin." * It rises in Hopkinton and Milford, thence flows through Bellingham, Franklin, Medway, Medfield, Sherburne, Na- tick, Dover, Dedham, Needham, Newton, Weston, Wal- tham, Watertown, Brighton, Brookline, Cambridge, and Charlestown, to Boston harbor.
This beautiful river encircles a very large part of New- ton ; the centre of its channel forms the northerly, westerly, and southerly boundary line of the town, being a continuous curving line of upwards of fifteen miles in length. The first mill upon its banks, in Newton, was erected by John Clark, about 1688, at the place called the
UPPER FALLS,
where the waters of the river fall twenty feet perpendicular, and then descend thirty-five feet, in the course of half a mile. John Clark was the son of Hugh and Elizabeth Clark, of Watertown; born October, 1641.
Hugh Clark removed from Watertown to Roxbury, and died there, in 1693. His son John settled at Muddy River (Brookline). His father conveyed to him, by deed of gift, sixty-seven acres of land in New Cambridge, in April, 1681, and he probably removed from Muddy River to New Cam- bridge same year. This land was on the easterly side of the Dedham road, at the training field adjoining Joseph Bartlett's ; his house was on the spot where the house now
* Hayward's Gazetteer.
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MILLS AND FACTORIES AT UPPER FALLS.
stands, which was many years occupied by Deacon Ebene- zer White. He built a saw mill at the Upper Falls, about 1688, and died in 1695, leaving a Will, and bequeathing to his sons, John and William, his saw mill upon the river, and the land adjoining. In his Inventory, the mill and eight acres of land was appraised by John Ward and John Spring, at £180.
In May, 1708, John Clark conveyed to Nathaniel Parker one-quarter part of the saw mill, stream, dam, and eel wear, and half an acre of land, for £12, with an open highway from the County road to the mill and eel wear.
Soon after, William Clark conveyed to Nathaniel Long- ley one-quarter part of the same; and John and William Clark, Nathaniel Parker, and Nathaniel Longley, became the equal owners of the mill, stream, and eel wear, and they added thereto a grist mill and fulling mill. In 1717, John Clark conveyed his quarter of the mills to Nathaniel Parker. In 1720, William Clark conveyed to Noah Par- ker, son of Nathaniel Parker, one-quarter part of the saw mill, fulling mill, grist mill, and eel wear, with the stream and dam, for £95. Same year, Nathaniel Longley con- veyed his quarter part of the same to Noah Parker.
Nathaniel Parker conveyed to his son, Noah Parker, all his interest in said mills, being one-half part of the same, valued at £150.
Noah Parker, therefore, became the sole owner of the mills and appurtenances, in 1720; and he conveyed the fulling mill to Samuel Stowell, of Watertown, in 1725.
Nathaniel Parker died in 1747, and his son, Noah Par- ker, died in 1768, and his mills and appurtenances passed into the hands of his son, Thomas Parker, Esq., his admin- istrator ; and he sold the same to Simon Elliot, of Boston, tobacconist, and about thirty-five acres of land, dwelling house, barn, malt house, &c., for £1,700, in 1778 and
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EARLY HISTORY OF NEWTON.
1782. Elliot erected snuff mills; and that business, with the grist mill, was carried on by him and his son, General Simon Elliot, to the year 1814, when the screw factory, wire mill, four snuff mills, annealing shop, dwelling house, &c., were sold to the Elliot Manufacturing Company, Fred- erick Cabot, Agent.
" This Company removed the old grist mill, and erected on its site a cotton factory, with the assistance of Mr. Otis Pettee, who remained with them about five years, when he erected extensive work shops, for making machinery for cotton mills.
" About the year 1841, Mr. Pettee purchased all the prop- erty of the Elliot Manufacturing Company, including cotton factory, dwelling houses, lands, &c., to which he made im- provements, and carried on the business to the time of his death, in February, 1853.
"In the sale of his property to Elliot, Thomas Parker, Esq. reserved about four acres of land below the Falls, to which he added, by purchase in 1781, about one-quarter of an acre, on the Needham side of the river, opposite the small island which he sold to his son in law, Jonathan Bixby, at which place another dam and saw mill was erected, in 1783. In 1799, Mr. Bixby sold this estate and its appurtenances to the Newton Iron Work Company, and they built a rolling mill, and commenced operations in 1800, in charge of Rufus Ellis, as Agent.
"In 1809, a new factory was erected for the purpose of manufacturing cut nails. The same year the Worcester Turnpike was constructed, passing through the southerly part of the town, and through this estate, and erecting a bridge over the river.
"In 1813, this Company erected a cotton factory upon the same dam, on the Needham side of the river.
" In 1821, Mr. Rufus Ellis bought out this Company and
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MILLS AND FACTORIES AT UPPER FALLS.
became the sole owner. In 1823 a new Company was formed, consisting of seven persons, who obtained an act of incorporation, by the name of the "Newton Factories," Rufus Ellis being the Agent. In 1835, Rufus Ellis and David Ellis became the sole owners of this property.
" Previous to 1800, the business carried on at the Upper Falls, by water power, was small; being three snuff mills, a grist mill, and saw mill; and only about six families resided in the place.
" In 1850, there were at the upper dam, one cotton factory with about nine thousand spindles, machine shops sufficient to accommodate three hundred workmen, and a steam fur- nace for iron castings, employing about fifteen workmen. At the lower dam, a rolling mill, working about fifteen hun- dred tons bar iron into various shapes ; a nail factory, mak- ing about five hundred tons cut nails ; a cotton factory, (on Needham side,) with about two thousand spindles, and manufacturing about five hundred thousand yards cotton cloth annually. There were about thirteen hundred inhabi- tants in the village." *
The first purchase of John Clark, Sen., at the Upper Falls, does not appear upon the record of Deeds.
There is a deposition of Ebenezer Ware, an aged man of Needham, dated October, 1763, which states, that seventy years ago, (1693,) he knew the eel wear, just above the Falls, and that John Clark, Sen. told him that he (Clark, Sen.) bought all the Indians' rights to build mills there ; and, also, that John Clark, Jr. told him that his father, John Clark, Sen., bought the eel wear of the Indians, for three pounds, and that the stone walls of the wear were about three feet high from the bottom of the river, when in repair. Also, the deposition of Sarah Tray, an Indian
·
* MS. letter of Rufus Ellis, Esq., stating the facts after Elliot's purchase. 9*
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EARLY HISTORY OF NEWTON.
woman, aged about fifty years, dated in May, 1748, which states that she often heard her husband's grandmother say that her husband, John Maugus, once owned that piece of land on the west side of Charles river, at the Upper Falls, and the rock house, which the Indians improved; and that her husband Maugus, had a wigwam there, and knew it had been used for forty years, for drying fish and eels ; and that the Englishman that built the mills, purchased the land.
In 1636, the General Court granted to the proprietors of Dedham, the land on the west side of Charles river, now Needham, Natick, and part of Sherburne. The same year, the proprietors of New Town, (Cambridge,) obtained a grant of the Court, of what is now Newton and Brighton. These two grants covered all the land at the westerly curve of Charles river, on both sides, subject, however, to the Indian title ; and the grantees were bound by a law of the Colony, and by the " higher law," to pay them an equitable consideration for their title.
In April, 1680, the proprietors of Dedham agreed to give William Nehoiden, a Sachem, £10 in money, forty shillings in Indian Corn, and forty acres of land, one hun- dred and twenty rods long and fifty-three wide, at the Upper Falls, on Charles river, in exchange for a tract of land seven miles long from east to west, and five miles wide, (now the township of Deerfield.) The same year, they gave Magus, another Sachem, eight pounds, for his lands at Magus hill. Thus was the Indian title to Natick, Needham, and Dedham Island acquired. How or when the Indian title to Newton and Brighton was acquired, is uncertain. In March, 1639, the General Court appointed Edward Gibbons one of the Boston Deputies, to agree with the Indians for their lands within the bounds of Cambridge, Watertown and Boston. It is probable that Mr. Gibbons
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INDIAN TITLES.
succeeded in obtaining their title, although we have seen no report or record of his doings in that mission.
In January, 1701, "William Nahaton, an Indian of Punkapoag, for twelve pounds, conveyed to Robert Cooke, of Dorchester, horn breaker, the surviving son of Robert Cooke, late of Dorchester, horn breaker, forty acres of land on the west side of Charles river, just above the Upper Falls, one hundred and twenty rods long and fifty-three rods wide."* This is the same land which the inhabitants of Dedham conveyed to William Nehoiden, in April, 1680, and no doubt the same Indian, whose name is differently spelt, William Nehoiden, William Ahawton, and William Nahaton, Nahanton, &c. In the body of the Deed of the Indians to the inhabitants of Braintree, 1665, this Indian's name is spelt " Nahanton," his signature to the same Deed, " Hahatun." In the Indian Deed of the peninsula of Boston, 1685, his name is signed " Hahaton." In his Deed to Robert Cooke, 1701, he signed his name " Nahaton."
Cooke's purchase of Nahaton, on the west side of the river, was ten or fifteen years later than Clarke's purchase on the east side. It is probable that Clarke bought his eight acre lot, at the Upper Falls, of some of the Cam- bridge proprietors, or their assigns, and neglected to record his Deed.
THE LOWER FALLS
are upwards of two miles below the Upper Falls, by the road, and less than two miles by the river.
At this place there are two bridges and two dams ; the first fall of water is about sixteen feet, and the second about six feet.
The first business commenced here, by water power, was the erection of iron works, forge and trip hammer, in 1704.
* Nahaton's Deed to Cooke.
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EARLY HISTORY OF NEWTON.
June, 1703. "John Leverett, Esq. conveyed to John Hubbard, of Roxbury, four acres of land upon Charles river, at the Lower Falls, bounded east by a forty acre lot, belonging to Harvard College; west by the old path that leads to the wading place, formerly the Natick path, and south by Charles river," being the same land which the proprietors of the common and undivided lands in Cam- brige granted to him, and the same which is now occupied by all the mills upon the Newton side of the river.
1705. "John Hubbard, merchant, of Boston, conveyed to his son, Nathaniel Hubbard, clerk, one moiety of the four acre lot, bounded north by the highway and south by the river, together with half of the iron works thereon, with two fire hearths and a hammer wheel, which said John Hubbard and Caleb Church, of Watertown, are now build- ing in partnership upon said land, with as much of the stream as may be necessary for said works, with half the dam, flume, head wares, running and going gear, utensils, and appurtenances, to the forge belonging." John Hubbard died in 1717.
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