USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Brookline > History of the town of Brookline, Massachusetts > Part 2
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 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31
3
BEGINNINGS AT MUDDY RIVER
Into the heart of the harbor at the innermost part of the bay jutted the peninsula of Boston, hemmed on the south by the bay of Roxbury, on the north by the Charles River, and inland by narrow marshes extending across a slender 'neck' hardly an eighth of a mile wide, which led to the mainland 'so that a little fencing will secure their cattle from the woolves.' Surrounding it was the 'Countrie of the Massachusetts' described by John Smith as 'the Paradise of all those parts.' Rocky it was, and even mountainous in spots, profusely wooded, with valleys in which flowed clear streams filling lovely lakes 'ten, twenty even sixty miles in compass.'
Within this area lay Muddy River, Boston's first suburb to the southwest, partaking of the general characteristics of the country and breaking into the records of the day on occasions perhaps of little historical importance, but often of marked local interest. Winthrop refers to the drowning of two men and two boys on a trip to Noddle's Island, and adds, 'Three days after the boat was found at Muddy River, overturned.' A few years later a great light in the night that flamed and faded into the figure of a hog and flew with appalling rapidity over the marshes to the south of the peninsula aroused wide comment, and in descriptions of the phenomenon the area is again mentioned.
John Josselyn, a cultured and observant visitor, came to America in the late thirties and after the lapse of a quarter cen- tury made a more extended visit, his account of which includes one of the very few early descriptions of the region. 'Two miles from the town,' he writes, 'at a place called Muddy River, the Inhabitants have Farms, to which belong rich arable grounds, and meadows where they keep their Cattle in the Summer, and bring them to Boston in the Winter; the Harbour before the Town is filled with Ships and other Vessels for most part of the year.'
Thus the initial significance of Muddy River was simply as Boston's back cow pasture. When the land available for the pasturage of Boston cattle proved inadequate, prominent citi- zens sought additional allotments in the most convenient avail- able place. This happened to be Muddy River. That they established homes there, and within the space of a compara- tively few years had developed a measure of community con-
4
HISTORY OF BROOKLINE
sciousness, were due far more to the circumstances of colonial life in New England than to any special advantages of the region. How those forces operated from the initial chartering of the Company in New England is deserving of brief inquiry.
THE GREAT COLONIAL SCHEME
During the early years of the seventeenth century, when no one had more than the vaguest notion of the extent of continen- tal North America, it was possible for royalty to indulge a fairly lavish sense of generosity without actually giving away anything very tangible. The controlling idea, of course, was that the individuals who formed the private corporations that were in turn the beneficiaries of this generosity, would in various ways advance the interests of the realm. There was always a great deal of talk about the necessity of Christianizing the sav- ages, which usually amounted to the provision of a plausible excuse for taking anything away that the savages had that the worthy Christianizers wanted. There is a quaint conceit in evidence of this in the seal of the colony of Massachusetts Bay, which represents a highly improbable Indian exclaiming, 'Come over and help us.'
James I it was, then, who authorized forty persons of dis- tinction to form 'the Council established at Plymouth in the County of Devon, for the planting, ruling, ordering, and govern- ing of New England in America.' Thirteen of the grantees were members of the English peerage, and their influence appears to have dominated the Council at the outset, with the result that a highly feudal system of administration was originally contem- plated. The extremely fanciful plans, however, led to little in the way of practical results, beyond the assignment of various grants of land to certain groups of adventurers.
One of these grants was made to six gentlemen living in the vicinity of Dorchester, England, who enlisted the interest of still other persons, and obtained from Charles I a charter con- firming their patent, granting them certain powers and declar- ing them the Governor and Company of Massachusetts Bay in New England. Their grant extended from three miles north of the Merrimac River to three miles south of the Charles, and was said to stretch westward to the Pacific Ocean. Immediate
5
BEGINNINGS AT MUDDY RIVER
steps were taken to put emigrants in active possession of at least the eastern shore of this promising property.
SETTLERS IN THE NEW WORLD
Some fifty or sixty persons came over first with John Endicott as their governor, and settled at Naumkeag, now Salem. The Company in England evidently felt some concern lest parts of its grant should come under unwelcome influences, and urged Endicott to see that some practical steps were taken to obtain a foothold on Massachusetts Bay. Following these instructions, the people of Naumkeag established a permanent settlement at Mishawum, which came to be known as Charlestown, because of its location on the Charles River.
The new communities flourished and within a few months there were perhaps two hundred settlers at Salem, and over half as many at Charlestown. This was promising, but the prosperity of the settlements received a really substantial im- petus when the governing body of the Company decided (with- out any definite legal authority for the move) to shift its center of activities to the New World.
Being governed by absentee officials was very different from having the responsible authorities present on the ground and subject to local influences. This, perhaps, more than anything else, was responsible for the achievement of a success by Mas- sachusetts Bay which was never enjoyed by the somewhat abor- tive colonial enterprises of those men who preferred to remain promoters in England, while they sought to deal with properties and conditions of which they knew nothing. Thus, before the end of the summer of 1629, some seventeen shiploads of emi- grants had arrived in Massachusetts.
OFFSHOOT COMMUNITIES
Most of these landed first at Salem, but did not remain there long. For one thing, the place was thought unsuited as a 'capital town.' Another factor which must be considered in viewing the expansion of the frontier was the domestic and social economy of the village communities of that time.
They were, first of all, self-sufficient communities. With the exception of a very few luxuries, the colonists were accustomed
6
HISTORY OF BROOKLINE
to providing all of their own needs. They built their homes, grew their food or gathered it in the wild state, and prepared their own clothing. This meant that their settlements must be in a large measure agricultural, and of course it is impossible to have a successful agricultural community without adequate tillable land and pasture.
On that account it was no unusual thing for the settlers of a new town to agree that the families to be allotted grants should not exceed a certain number. Within limitations it was possible to have a group of house lots in a fairly compact area with lots for tillage and pasture not too far away. If the settlement ex- ceeded a reasonable size, outlying lots would be too far away for convenience, and perhaps also too far for safety in the event of hostile Indian attacks.
This state of affairs explains in some measure then, why it was that the influx of immigration in 1629 did not result in the immediate establishment of a large commercial or industrial community, but in the setting up rather of a group of smaller settlements.
The site of one of the most important of these was selected on the recommendation of William Blaxton, who was living at the time alone in a little cottage on the south side of the Charles River, at the foot of Beacon Hill. At this place, which the Indians called Shawmut, Blaxton told Winthrop there was an excellent spring and this good water, coupled with the easy defensibility of the peninsula, induced a large part of the com- pany to settle there.
The community first covered merely the narrow peninsula known as 'the Neck.' The settlement extended from Winnisim- met Ferryways, which marked the water route to the present Chelsea, to Roxbury, the only contiguous settlement - a dis- tance of about three miles. The area, however, was soon found insufficient for the requirements of citizens and 'enlargements' were sought from the General Court. Grants were consequently had at Noddle's Island, now East Boston, Mount Wollaston, now Braintree, Pullen Point and Rumney Marsh, now parts of Chelsea; but no grant seems to have been thought necessary for that useful tract of marsh, meadow, and woodland lying to the southwest of the peninsula, and known as Muddy River.
AMORY ESTATE ON POWELL STREET, LOOKING TOWARD BEACON STREET .On this place until 1845 could be seen the ruins of an Indian fort
7
BEGINNINGS AT MUDDY RIVER
FIRST MENTIONS OF MUDDY RIVER
Thus, by simple appropriation, the colonial frontier was ex- tended to include the region of Muddy River. There is no rec- ord to indicate who first explored that area or who first settled there. Samuel Maverick's account of early Boston, which he wrote in his capacity as an 'old settler' in 1660, makes no men- tion of Muddy River. So far as appears, the first dwelling in the vicinity was that occupied in 1630 by Griffin Craft, the first known white settler in Roxbury, who lived close to the point where the first bridge was later built over Muddy River. Some construction must shortly have taken place, for the grant of land to William Colborne in 1635 describes the land as being 'near unto and about his house which he hath built.'
There were plenty of signs of Indian settlement at Muddy River, notably on what became the Ackers farm. Recognizing a prior Indian claim, perhaps not very valuable because the Indian population was small and actually used only a little fraction of the land, the colonists arranged a treaty with Chief Chicatabut of the Massachusetts tribe, numbering about three thousand, for land at and around Boston. This was confirmed half a century later by Chicatabut's grandson, Chief Josias Wampatuck. Probably this fair treatment taken with the influ- ence of the missionary John Eliot, accounted for the freedom of Boston and nearby areas from Indian troubles.
According to an entry of August 30, 1632, in John Winthrop's Journal, a considerable body of Indians had assembled at Muddy River and 'the governor sent Capt. Underhill with twenty musketeers to discover, etc.' It is logical that if there had been any outlying settlers at that time, there would have been some mention of the need for their protection. However, whether there was formal settlement or not, there was evidently a cer- tain amount of travel in the direction of Muddy River, because an order of the General Court in the summer of 1633 provided for the appointment of a committee to arrange the construction of a cartbridge over the river. It may have been that the com- mittee found other more pressing things to do, or it may have been that the demand for the bridge was not very urgent. At any rate, it was not built until some six years later.
During this time, however, the lands around Muddy River
8
HISTORY OF BROOKLINE
were obviously regarded as valuable by the settlers on the pen- insula. From the hillsides timber and wood supplies were to be had, and during the summer months when the land on the Neck was under cultivation, the marsh land and meadow provided very necessary cattle pastures. In fact, this section was the most accessible auxiliary pasture and source of wood; and its everyday importance was recognized by the Boston town meeting when in the fall of 1634 it voted the first funds for administrative services in the growing suburb - 'a rate for the young cattle and cows keeper at Muddy River.'
THE SUBURB NEARLY LOST
Apparently the useful Muddy River area was still regarded not as a settlement but as a convenient outlying territory in 1634. When the Reverend Thomas Hooker and his followers were removed from Mount Wollaston to Newtowne under an order of the General Court it appeared that the new location af- forded them insufficient room. Their petitions for more land brought relief, but inadequate relief, and in 1634 Hooker's congregation was seeking permission to remove to Connecticut, listing first among their grievances, 'Their want of accommoda- tion for their cattle.'
The General Court was not in favor of the removal of settlers to another colony and strong representations were therefore made to Boston and Watertown that it would be a gracious and proper thing for them to surrender certain tracts of their own land which were not at the time occupied. Boston acceded to this request, and assigned for the purpose land which included practically all of the Muddy River area. This was done, how- ever, with the understanding that if Hooker and his congrega- tion did not remain, the land should revert to the grantor com- munity. When at last, therefore, the restless minister and his followers went off to found Hartford, Connecticut, in the early summer of 1636, Muddy River brought to an end its connection of nearly two years with Newtowne, and became once more a part of Boston.
Something in the way of settlement must have gone on during this brief period, for William Wood in New England's Prospect, mentioned the place as 'one of the towns begun when I came for
9
BEGINNINGS AT MUDDY RIVER
England,' and Wood had sailed back to the old country on August 15, 1633, only twelve months after Winthrop's mention of the Indian menace. Furthermore, in the spring of 1634, there was new agitation for the cartbridge over Muddy River, and it was ordered to be built 'before the nexte Generall Court.' The need for the bridge was probably to make accessible more distant pasture lands, since a regulation of the town of Boston now compelled removal of cattle and swine from the Neck. By this time, too, it may have been necessary to go farther afield for firewood and building timber, and perhaps the demand was already being felt for communication with the region be- yond the boundaries of Muddy River.
FIRST PRINCIPAL PROPRIETORS
Certain it is that citizens of Boston were beginning to feel the desire to reduce to their personal possession parts of the marsh land and meadow of what is now known as Brookline. That several of the principal men among the earliest grantees did not themselves take up residence in the new community is scarcely to be viewed as an indication of its unimportance. They were, after all, Boston men with a perfectly natural disposition to maintain their homes in the parent community, and an equally natural inclination to take to themselves whatever of value might be had for the asking. Since they promptly moved to get as much acreage at Muddy River as they could, it is rea- sonable to suppose that the property was regarded as really worth while.
According to the Boston town records the first land grants by the town of Boston were under the supervision of a local com- mittee of five members comprising 'William Coleborne, William Aspynwall, John Sampsford, William Balstone, and Richard Wright.' Although they were appointed primarily to lay out certain farms in the vicinity of Mount Wollaston, they were also instructed to set aside an adequate allotment at Muddy River to provide a farm for 'our Teacher, Mr. John Cotton.' The same town meeting agreed that it would be all right for William Col- borne to have his portion laid out for him by the other four members of the committee, and that Thomas Oliver and Thomas Leveritt might also be promised lands within the area.
IO
HISTORY OF BROOKLINE
Thus grants had been issued to four important citizens when an order was promulgated providing that the poorer inhabit- ants - 'such as are members [i.e., of the church] or likely to be, and have noe cattell' - should likewise be allotted their por- tion of land at Muddy River. This provision, passed in the fall of 1635, seems to have halted the making of further grants until some general program could be worked out. No further as- signments are recorded for several months, but a general per- mission was given the so-called poorer inhabitants to utilize for a period of three years any unplanted portion of the land at Muddy River, with the understanding that they would not cut wood or timber, and would leave by way of compensation what- ever fencing they found it necessary to erect.
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE LAND
But the spring meeting of the town of Boston in March, 1636, resulted in a change in the manner of allotting lands. Respon- sibility was taken from the special committee previously ap- pointed, and entrusted to the selectmen as a body. Their only immediate act affecting the situation at Muddy River was to define the lands which had been promised to John Cotton. But in December of the same year the selectmen promised 'great allotments' to six citizens of no special prominence; and by February of 1637 Captain John Underhill had been assured of eighty acres of upland and twenty of marsh, Isaac Grosse and Thomas Alcock each a 'great allotment,' and Thomas Sav- age seven acres of marsh. Finally, in June, Thomas Flint was told that he might have twenty-four acres at the mouth of Muddy River.
If, to modern readers, some of these 'great allotments' seem of surprisingly small extent, perhaps it ought to be explained that they were 'great' only by contrast to house lots. They represented, generally, farming acreage rather than mere dwelling sites.
The sixteen grants or promises of grants thus far described are all preliminary to the wholesale distribution of great allot- ments on June 8, 1638. Even so small a number provide, how- ever, a kind of introduction to the understanding of motives, methods and personnel in one of the earliest pioneer movements
I.
Thomas When Apr. 16, 16
Theodore Atkinson, Au
Isaac Parry; 10 a. Feb
Ralph Mason Feb. 19,163
William Hud Apr. 2, 163
CHARLES-
Jane Parker- 42 ( Book of Pos!
sly
-RIVER/
?
Boysen
4000
1636.
Marshes
1
10
HISTORY OF BROOKLINE
Thus grants had been issued to four important citizens when an order was promulgated providing that the poorer inhabit- ants - 'such as are members [i.e., of the church] or likely to be, and have noe cattell' - should likewise be allotted their por- tion of land at Muddy River. This provision, passed in the fall of 1635, seems to have halted the making of further grants until some general program could be worked out. No further as- signments are recorded for several months, but a general per- mission was given the so-called poorer inhabitants to utilize for a period of three years any unplanted portion of the land at Muddy River, with the understanding that they would not cut wood or timber, and would leave by way of compensation what- ever fencing they found it necessary to erect.
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE LAND
But the spring meeting of the town of Boston in March, 1636, resulted in a change in the manner of allotting lands. Respon- sibility was taken from the special committee previously ap- pointed, and entrusted to the selectmen as a body. Their only immediate act affecting the situation at Muddy River was to define the lands which had been promised to John Cotton. But in December of the same year the selectmen promised 'great allotments' to six citizens of no special prominence; and by February of 1637 Captain John Underhill had been assured of eighty acres of upland and twenty of marsh, Isaac Grosse and Thomas Alcock each a 'great allotment,' and Thomas Sav- age seven acres of marsh. Finally, in June, Thomas Flint was told that he might have twenty-four acres at the mouth of Muddy River.
If, to modern readers, some of these 'great allotments' seem of surprisingly small extent, perhaps it ought to be explained that they were 'great' only by contrast to house lots. They represented, generally, farming acreage rather than mere dwelling sites.
The sixteen grants or promises of grants thus far described are all preliminary to the wholesale distribution of great allot- ments on June 8, 1638. Even so small a number provide, how- ever, a kind of introduction to the understanding of motives, methods and personnel in one of the earliest pioneer movements
I.
CAMBRIDGE
Thomas Wheeler Apr. 16, 1638
William Hibbins
Robert Hull Dec. 10, 1636
Robert Turner Jan.8,1638 and May 31, 1641
Robert Reynolds 1638
Reynolds
James Davis 1638
Thomas Oliver Jan.11, 1640
300 acres Sept. 28, 1640
Theodore Atkinson, Aug. 31, 1640
Isaac Pary; 10 a. Feb.12, 1638
Henry Burchall 1638
George Bates 1638
John Cranwell-1638
William Pell 1638
Richard Tappin
See muddy River Records weg. ple,
James and Richard Fitch
1638
Ralph' Mason 30 a. Feb. 19, 1638
Edward Belcher Dec. 10, 1636
Alexander 1 Winchester 1638
John Mylam 1638
Thomas' Alcock Feb. 7, 1637
William Courser 1638
Richard Fairbank
William Hudson Apr. 2, 1638
Robert Tytus 1638
Henry Elkyn
1638
John Leverett
William Blackstone 1638
Francis Bushnell
Wm. Townsend- 1638
Alex. Beck 1636
CAMBRIDGE
William Tyng 600 acres Oct. 31, 1640
William Tolnage 15 acres 1678
Edward Bendall
1638
Thomas Leverett
Capt.
Jan. 8, 1638 and Mar. 29, 1641
Marshes
OY RIVER
Mi
?
Peter Oliver 60 beres Sept.20,1612
Griffith Bowen 150 acres Mar. 1, 1639 |
10 acres
1638
1638 William Denning 10 acres
MUDDY RIVER ALLOTMENTS BY THE TOWN OF BOSTON 1636-1641 THEODORE F. JONES, DEL. NEW YORK - 1920 BROOKLINE HISTORICAL SOCIETY 1923
SCALE OF FEET
1000 500
0
1000 1
2000
3000
4000
1636.
Edward Fletcher
Robert Wing
Feb. 24, 1640
Feb . 24 , 1640
Feb . 24, 1640
Thomas Painter
?
Boyfen
80 acres Jan. 18, 1638 Granted Jang. 1636
Robert Mears
Jan. 8,1638
Thomas Oliver Jan 8,1638 and Mar 29, 1641
Benjamin Ward
John Cranny
Robert Houlton
1636
Garrett
Bourne
1638
John Underhill
IS acres
Leonard Buttles
William Blanton
20 acres. Nov.27,1639
Thomas Wordall 1638
Thomas Snow 10 acres 1638
Rev. John' Cotton 250 acres Jan 8. 1638
1638
William Dinely
Anne Ormsby Nat. Woodard James Johnson Nat: Heaton Edmund Jackson 1638
John Pemberton 1638
Anthony Harker
Matthewe Ines
1638
Robert Read 1638
Ralph Route 1638
David Offley 75 acres Sept. 30, 1639 July 29, 1639
Jane Parker - 40 acres ( Book of Possessions)
Isaac Grosse 50 acres 1638
1638
CHARLES
1630
1638
1638
George Griggs 1638
Thomasinc Scottow 1638
Wm Wilson 1638 Wm. Salter . 1638 Eliz. Purton
Swamp
Cedar
William Beamsly 1638
Richard Bulgar 1638
John 61995
Brown
1616
1638
1638
-RIVER
William Coleborne 150 acres Jan. 8,1638
Sept. 28, K
Marshes
John Acratt
Before
James Oliver 40 acres Sept.28, 1640
ROXBURY
Robert Walker 1638
II
BEGINNINGS AT MUDDY RIVER
in American life. These were the first people to concern them- selves with actual participation in the affairs of Muddy River.
There is significance, too, in the ultimate decision of the townspeople of Boston as to the manner in which this common property of theirs should be distributed. The original special committee on allotments had been done away with, and the possibility of dealing with the matter in the town meeting, as was the case in some communities, had not been accepted. The sense of the town dictated that the selectmen, comprising the chief ecclesiastical and political officers of the community, were best fitted to parcel out the land to persons who were deserving, and whose employment of their grants would re- dound to the benefit of the group as a whole.
The selectmen had virtually a free hand, at least so far as the selection of the lands was concerned. True, they were instructed to set aside certain pastures for the possible use of newcomers, and the townsmen of Boston had thought that prospective land owners should be in line for membership in the church. It had also been suggested that an average of five acres per head of cattle owned was a reasonable basis for the granting of pas- turage; and for simplicity in the laying out of the allotments, they were to begin 'next Muddy Ryver side.'
Important as evidence of the weight which frontier society attached to having the right sort of neighbors, was the provision that grantees were not to be free to sell houses or allotments without permission from the allotting authorities. And the necessity of getting these properties put promptly to use was in- dicated by the requirement that those who received lands should build upon them before the first of March, 1637.I
EMINENT FOUNDERS
Six of the really distinguished citizens of Boston were among the earliest grantees of property at Muddy River, and it may be assumed that their names and influence lent a measure of prestige to the young community and helped to get it under way.
John Cotton ranked, perhaps after Winthrop, as the most
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.