USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Middlesex County manual, history from 1878 > Part 5
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Thousands of dollars, which had accumu- lated in the hands of Trial Justices and Clerks of Courts for unclaimed witness fees, were paid into the County Treasury in consequence of this investigation ; and moneys from this scource are still coming in constantly, which, but for that investigation, would never have been accounted for.
Two years after these investigations were made, Mr. Adams concocted and published in
89
THE COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX.
the Boston Herald an excuse or explanation of the discrepancies in the books of the House of Correction, which the Herald" treated with the small respect it deserved. He would have us believe (as a friend of mine puts it,) "that just before the Legislative Committee began this investigation, his own vigilance was "quick- ened" (like Mrs. Tilton's conscience) and he began a thorough investigation of himself by himself, and had pretty much concluded the work when the Committee called upon him."
Since the probing of the management of the Middlesex House of Correction in 1874, the County Treasury has received about 130 per cent. more from convict labor than the average receipts of the ten preceding years ; and it is to be noted that those ten preceding years were years of extraordinary general prosperity, which ever since 1874 the county has groaned under "hard times."
Mr. Stevens, the present District Attorney, has effected several wholesome reforms in the administration of his office. The successors of Mr. Huntress have also shown good sense by a marked departure from his works and ways, and have evinced a disposition to follow the footsteps of Josiah B. French and Daniel S.
*See Boston Herald, October 17, 21, and 26, 1877.
90
FINANCIAL REFORMS IN
Richardson, who tolerated no abuses while they were County Commissioners. But my complaint is, that the system is wrong, and that similar abuses may at any time revive.
One of the recommendations of this Com- mittee was a law-which I hope to see enacted- as follows :-
"In all cases in which there has been here- tofore, or is hereafter, any failure on the part of any trial justice, sheriff, deputy sheriff, jailer, constable, or any other officer, to pay into the county treasury any money which by law ought to be paid, it shall be the duty of the connty treasurer to take appropriate legal steps to compel such payment; and it shall be the duty of the several district attorneys within their districts, if applied to for this purpose, to take charge of such legal proceedings as may be appropriate."
Among the good points of this report, I quote the following :---
"The accounts of the House of Correction, at Cambridge, have been kept in an astonishingly imperfect manner. The manufacture of brushes has been carried on there, the help consisting of the prisoners confined. The jail and house of correction are two institutions in one. There has been but one bank account for both, and that
1
91
THE COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX.
kept in the name of Mr. Harrington, the keeper of accounts. This account has been wholly a private one, and his own personal relations with the bank have been identical with those of the institutions. If, when he made returns, and paid over all moneys which, according to his accounts, were due the treasurer, a balance remained in the bank, it is plain Mr. Harrington must have considered it as belonging to him. So that, if any discrepancy occurred in the returns, Mr. Harrington was enriched by the amount of such discrepancy. From the books, it is impossible to ascertain whether the manu- facturing department has been run at a profit or at a loss to the county."
The subject of convict labor in this and other similar institutions in this State is to be further investigated, under the following resolve :
"Resolved, That the Bureau of Statistics of Labor is hereby authorized to make a full investigation as to the kind and amount of work performed at the penal institutions of this State, and as to all the facts pertaining to the same." [Approved April 6, 1878.
In the days of our fathers, when inter-State trade was carried on by post-roads, it may have been a matter of public convenience to have a board of County Commissioners to direct and
92
FINANCIAL REFORMS IN
manage the County highways. But no such board is now required. The interests of the County demand that the Commissioners be abolished. They are absolutely irresponsible for their acts, upon which there is no check whatever. There is no other body like them in our republican system. They are petty Kings. In a County like this with its large expenditures, the people owe it to themselves that they should at least provide the safeguard of an Auditor of Accounts. I would suggest, in lieu of these Commissioners, the establishment of a County Committee consisting of (say) twelve men chosen annually by a convention consisting of the mayors of all the cities and the chairmen of the selectmen of all the towns in the County. This would seem to render "ring rule" impossible and secure a prudent management of our affairs.
I desire to record my hearty appreciation of the manner in which County Treasurer Stone aided this work of investigation, as well as of his general high merit as a public officer.
JONATHAN JOHNSON.
+
RECONSTRUCTION
OF THE
COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX.
On October 20th, 1877, a convention was held in Lowell, of citizens of Middlesex favor- able to the reconstruction of the county lines. Charles Cowley presided, an informal discus- sion took place, and a committee was appointed to take steps to agitate the subject, and to call another and larger convention thereafter. The following is the substance of the remarks of the Chairman :-
When this county was first established in 1643, it had no definite boundaries. Essex had Norfolk on the North, and Suffolk on the South, while Middlesex included all those towns between Essex and the Connecticut River. Hampshire, which was established in 1662, and
96
RECONSTRUCTION OF
which originally included Hampden, Franklin and Berkshire, took from ' Middlesex by far the greater part of her original territory. The sep- aration of the Colony of New Hampshire from the Colony of Massachusetts, in 1680, took from Middlesex the larger part of the territory which remained to her upon the incorporation of Hampshire. The adjustment of the boundary line between these two colonies, in 1743, took off another large slice of the " sacred soil." Finally the incorporation of Worcester in 1731, cut off the greater part of all that then remained of ancient Middlesex, after the successive mutilations just mentioned. Should the project to establish the County of Lincoln, which has from time to time been urged ever since the separation of Worcester, succeed, the limits of Middlesex would be further curtailed ; and in be- half of that project, there is much to be said .**
Old Middlesex has thus so often been mu- tilated, that it is but a fragment of what it was ; yet it seems to me emienently desirable that it should be materially abridged still further. What, for example, have Ashby, Holliston, Malden and North Reading in common with Lowell or with Newton, which they have not
*See Shattuck's History of Concord, pp. 144-147; Mass. House Document, No. 324, 1874.
97
THE COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX.
with Worcester, Dedham, Salem and Lawrence? Holliston's contiguity to Dedham plainly indi- cates her true place as in Norfolk, if that- County is to remain as it is. Malden should go to Boston for her judicial business, and North Reading to Lawrence. Several other towns of Middlesex would be benefited by a reconstruc- tion of the county system.
If I had the power, I would make Boston the county seat of a great Metropolitan County, which should include all the municipalties as far North as Woburn, as far West as Newton, and other municipalities within the same dis- tance from Boston ; and in Boston all their jury trials should be held.
The completion of our system of railroads involves the expediency,-nay, even the neces- sity,-of such a reconstruction of county lines as will group municipalities into counties with special reference to their facilities for intercom- munication by rail.
Such a reconstruction of Middlesex would leave Lowell as the sole county seat." The Court House at East Cambridge would furnish ample accommodations for the Superior Crim- inal Courts of Suffolk ; and to Suffolk the other
*See Judge Ames' Letter, House Doc. No. 324, 1874.
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RECONSTRUCTION OF
County buildings in Cambridge should be trans- ferred. Suffolk needs them all.
Were Lowell made the centre and sole seat of our county life and business, no such abuses as those brought to light in 1874 could long exist undiscovered, or unchecked. Well compacted together as the different parts of the county would be, a sense of county pride would be created. County affairs would be better discussed and cared for. All county transac- tions would be more certain to be known, re- ported and understood, and the best security would be obtained for prudence and economy in county government.
Mr. A. P. Bonney, of this city, suggested, many years ago, that the County Commissioners be abolished ; that all County institutions in the State be place under one Board ; and that highways be laid out or discontinued by com- misioners appointed by the Superior Court, upon petition of parties interested, and at the expense of the towns concerned.
That suggestion I think was a good one. And I think there should be a County Auditor ; the worthlessness of the present system of auditing county bills being too palpable for discussion.
99
THE COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX.
But I have no very sanguine hope for any immediate reform. Much discussion will be necessary, and the work will require time. Now that the abnormal or revolutionary period of our national political history has passed, atten- tion will ere long be given to State and County affairs, -too long sadly neglected. I trust the effort here and now begun will lead to wider and larger efforts hereafter, until such changes shall have been effected in our county affairs as shall enable us to recall with satisfaction the initiatory work of this day.
Since the foregoing remarks were made, two terms of the Supreme Court, and two terms of the Superior (Criminal) Court, have been held in Middlesex. The expenses incurred, by parties residing in Northern Middlesex, in divorce suits alone, in travelling day after day, ' with counsel and witnesses, to and from Cam- bridge, in December, 1877, must have exceeded six hundred dollars. These are cases which could and should be heard near where the parties reside ; and the parties are the least able to bear unnecessary expense. The April term of the Supreme Court involved searcely less un-
217051
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RECONSTRUCTION OF
necessary expense ; although this term was meant by law to have been held in Lowell exclusively.
The deserted and abused wives who come to Lowell to eke out a subsistence for them- selves and their children by working in the factories, deserve the sympathy of Courts as well as of all right-feeling people, and their path to freedom from the (to them) oppressive bonds of matrimony ought to be made easier rather than harder, in everv practicable way.
The oppression (I use that word advisedly) endured by defendants residing in Northern Middlesex, whose causes were heard at the terms of the Superior Court above mentioned, was even greater than that endured by parties to causes of divorce at the above-mentioned terms of the Supreme Court. It is high time these Courts were required to sit at Lowell for the transaction of such business as belongs to " the people in that large region of which Lowell is the natural centre. Transfer Cambridge to Suffolk, and you can cure this evil by making Lowell the sole shire town or city of the County.
CIVIL LIST
OF THE
COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX.
The functions of Register of Deeds, originally called "Recorder for Sales of Lands and Mortgages," were originally combined with those now performed by Registers of Probate, and by the Clerks of the County Courts : and to find the record of any particular fact during the early years of the County, one may now have to examine the books in these three different offices.
According to Massachusetts Colony Rec- ords,# Thomas Danforth, (afterwards Assistant and Deputy Governor,) was appointed by the General Court as Recorder for Sales of Lands and Mortgages in Middlesex, May 26, 1652.
*Compare volume 3, p. 276, with volume 4, p. 90.
104
CIVIL LIST OF THE
But the first certificate on the records reads, "Recorded by me, Thomas Danforth ; Recorded ye 20th of ye 6th mo. 1651.""
REGISTERS OF DEEDS.
The following are the names of Mr. Dan- forth's successors, with the dates of the first certificates signed by them.
Lawrence Hammond
July 27, 1686.
Samuel Phipps
April 10, 1693.
Francis Foxcroft
April 14, 1721.
John Foxcroft
Ebenezer Bridge
March 22, 1766. April 3, 1776. March 31, 1781.
Thadeus Mason
William Winthrop December 28, 1784.
Samuel Bartlett
June 12, 1795.
William F. Stone September 13, 1821,
Caleb Hayden April 1, 1846.
Mr. Hayden died April 6, 1865, and was succeeded by Charles B. Stevens, the present incumbent. The records of this office now fill 1477 volumes.
In 1855, a special registry was established for the city of Lowell and the towns of Northern Middlesex. The Registers for this Northern
*Although the letter y was used as the equivalent of th, the words in which it was so used were always pro- nounced in the usual way. "Ye" was pronounced as "the," "ym" as "them," etc.
105
COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX.
District have been-A. B. Wright, 1855 ; Itha- mar A. Beard, 1868, and Joseph P. Thompson, 1874. These records now fill 130 volumes.
JUDGES OF PROBATE.
James Russell, appointed June 18, 1692 .**
John Leverett,
October 23, 1702 .**
Francis Foxcroft,
July 8, 1708.“
Jonathan Remington,
September 30, 1725."
Samuel Danforth, December 20, 1745.4
John Winthrop, September 6, 1775.
Oliver Prescott,
1779.
James Prescott, ;-
February 7, 1805.
Samuel P. P. Fay,
May 9, 1821.
W. A. Richardson,
April 7, 1856.
The office of Judge of Probate was super- seded, in 1858, by that of Judge of Probate and Insolvency. William A. Richardson was ap- pointed to the latter office July 1, 1858. He resigned, and was succeeded by George M. Brooks, the present incumbent, May 13, 1872.
*These five dates are "old style."
See Volume 193, General Records, in the Registry of Probate, pp. 1-5.
tHe was removed from office iu 1821 by impeachment for acts which, though proper to be prohibited by law in a Judge of Probate, involved no moral turpitude. Pres- cott was Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas from June 3rd, 1805, until that Court was abolished in 1811.
106
CIVIL LIST OF THE
REGISTERS OF PROBATE.
Samuel Phipps, appointed June 18, 1692.
Thomas Swan,
October 23, 1702.
Nicholas Fessenden,
" September 15, 1705.
Daniel Foxcroft,
" December 28, 1709.
Thomas Foxcroft,
" December 9, 1715.
Francis Foxcroft,*
July 3, 1729.
Samuel Danforth, t
July 9, 1731.
Andrew Boardman,
" December 20, 1745.
Wm. Kneeland, May 29, 1769
James Winthrop, September 6, 1775.
James Foster,
May 26, 1817.
Isaac Fiske,
October 29, 1817.
Alonzo V. Lynde,
July 1, 1851.
Alfred A. Prescott,
March 10, 1853.
Joseph H. Tyler was elected Register of Probate and Insolvency, November 10, 1858, and reelected in 1863, 1868, and 1873, for the term of five years.
ASSISTANT REGISTERS.
The office of Assistant Register of Probate and Insolvency, created in 1858, has been filled as follows :- By Isaac F. Jones from January I, 1859, till his death July 13, 1873; by Charles F. Brooks, from July 14, 1873, to Jan-
*Son of the Judge of that name.
+Afterwards Judge of Probate.
107
COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX.
uary 21, 1874 ; and from thence by Samuel H. Folsom, the present incumbent.
SHERIFFS.
Timothy Phillips, appointed May 27, 1692.
Samuel Gookin,
October 23, 1702.
Edmund Goffe,
December 9, 1715.
Samuel Gookin,
December 12, 1728.
Samuel Dummer,
September 27, 1729,
Richard Foster,
July 9, 1731.
Richard Foster,
November 20, 1761.
David Phips,
March 7, 1764.
Loammi Baldwin,
1780.
Joseph Hosmer,
I794.
William Hildreth,
I SOS.
Nathaniel Austin,
1813.
Benjamin F. Varnum,
1831.
Samuel Chandler,
1841.
Fisher A. Hildreth,
1852.
John S. Keyes,
1854.
Charles Kimball,
I 860.
COUNTY TREASURERS,
Ebenezer Bridge, appointed
1787.
John L. Tuttle,
..
I SOS.
John Keyes, ISI4.
Stedman Buttrick,
IS38.
Amos Stone,
.
1855.
IOS
CIVIL LIST OF THE
CLERKS OF COURTS.
Prior to 1790, Thadeus Mason held the office of Clerk of the Courts of Common Pleas and Quarter Sessions, together with the office of Register of Deeds. But in that year, these offices were wisely separated. Since then the Clerks of Courts have been as follows :- Abraham Biglow, I790. -
Elias Phinney,
1832.
Seth Ames, - 1850.
John Q. A Griffin,
1859.
James Dana, -
- -
1859.
Benjamin F. Ham,
-
1860. 1871.
Theodore C. Hurd,
In 1863, Marshall Preston, who had filled the office of Assistant Clerk ever since it was created, resigned, and John J. Sawyer succeed- ed him. John L. Ambrose was added as Sec- ond Assistant Clerk in 1874.
DISTRICT ATTORNEYS.
The office of prosecuting attorney is of modern origin. Why a public defender was not provided at the same time, it is dificult to understand. The Law, it is said, favors the accused; and there would seem to be even stronger reasons for the employment of a pub- lic defender, than for the employment of an
109
COUNTY OF MIDDLESEX.
official prosecutor. It was, (naturally enough,) not without considerable opposition that the latter office became a fixed part of our judicial machinery.
On October 7th, 1807, Samuel Dana was appointed Attorney for the State in Middlesex, and he resigned October 14th, ISII, to take the place of Chief Justice of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas, then "newly established in lieu of the old Court of Common Pleas.
The successors. of Mr. Dana have been as follows :-
Timothy Fuller, -
-
-
- ISII.
Asahel Stearns, -
1813.
Asahel Huntington,
1830.
Albert H. Nelson, - 1845.
Charles R. Train,“
IS48.
Asa W. Farr, -
1851.
Charles R. Train,
-
-
-
I853.
Isaac S. Morse, -
-
-
-
1855.
John B. Goodrich,
-
-
-
1872.
George Stevens, -
1874.
-
- -
-
-
-
The Province of Massachusetts had no sooner become a State than a reorganization took place in its judiciary. The Court of Com-
*Train was twice removed from this office: first by Governor Boutwell; and afterwards (having been reap- pointed by Governor Washburn) by Governor Gardner.
IIO
CIVIL LIST OF THE
mon Pleas was deprived of its criminal juris- diction in 1782, was reconstructed in 1811, and again in 1821 and finally superseded in 1859 by the Superior Court.
The General Sessions of the Peace, of which, from 1782 to 1811, all the Justices of the Peace in the County were members , exer- cised the criminal jurisdiction previously be- longing to the Common Pleas, as well as the functions now performed by the County Com- missioners. It was reconstructed in ISII, when Joseph B. Varnum of Dracut became its Chief Justice,« with four Associate Justices. Its
criminal jurisdiction was taken from it in 1821; and in 1828 it was superseded by the County Commissioners, which board, it is to be hoped, is destined, at no distant day, to be abolished in its turn.
*He was succeeded in 1819 by Joseph Locke, after wards Judge of the Police Court of Lowell.
ADVERTISEMENTS.
PRINTING !
Local Histories, Historical Sermons, Orations and Addresses, Town Reports, Books and Pamphlets, of all kinds, are printed by the
Penhallow Printing Co, 12 MIDDLE ST., LOWELL,
In the best style and at moderate prices. Also, Commercial and Financial Printing of every kind, Lawyers' Briefs, Blanks, and Legal Documents of every description.
CHARLES COWLEY, COUNSELLOR AT LAW, 12 MIDDLE ST., LOWELL.
I18
ADVERTISEMENTS.
Army & Navy Claims,
Including Pensions for all surviving sol- diers of the War of 1812, or their Widows, Pensions for soldiers disabled in the War of the Rebellion, Pensions for the Widows of Soldiers who died in the service, Bounties, Additional Bounties, Arrears of Pay, Prize Money, etc., etc., collected at the Army and Navy Claims Agency,
NO, 12 MIDDLE STREET, LOWELL, MASS.
THE LOWELL BOILER WORKS,
Which, for many years, were located on Dutton Street, have been removed to WALDO STREET, on the FRAMINGHAM RAILROAD, under the management of the subscriber.
New and second-hand Boilers, Heaters, Shells, Flues, Tubes, etc., built, bought, sold or exchanged on liberal terms.
Address,-JOHN COWLEY,
No. 178 Lawrence Street, Lowell, Mass.
119
ADVERTISEMENTS.
HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY.
BY
SAMUEL ADAMS DRAKE.
If a sufficient number of subscribers are obtained to guarantee the publication without loss, we propose to issue at an early day, A HISTORY OF MIDDLESEX COUNTY, from the earliest times to the present day. It will con- tain a general history of the county from the first set- tlement, and will show the rise, growth, and progress of its Religious, Educational, Agricultural and Manufactur- ing interests ; its participation in the stirring scenes at the outbreak of the Revolution, and its literary and intellectual life.
The work will also contain a carefully prepared epito- me of the HISTORY OF EVERY TOWN IN THE COUNTY, compiled from original sources by the best informed persons, who have made an especial study of local history ; the whole to be under the supervision of Mr. Drake. The Town Histories will form an especially valuable feature of the work.
The work will be published in two large royal octavo volumes, of about 500 double column pages each. The type will be clear long primer size. It will be printed on fine tinted paper at the celebrated University Press, of Cambridge, and will contain many fine illustrations en- graved on wood and steel, and a full and carefully prepared index.
Price, Cloth, Bevelled, $7.60 per volume. Half Morocco, Marbled Edges, $10.00 per vol. Estes & Lauriat, 301 Washington St. Boston.
-
120
ADVERTISEMENT.
IN PRESS. "TWO MONTHS IN
LOWELL JAIL
FOR
WANT OF BAIL."
BY NATHANIEL ALLEN.
Containing the Experiences of an Inno- cent Man who was falsely accused of setting Fire to the Elevator Building in Lowell, January 20th, 1878, and held to bail by Judge Crosby upon the testimony of perjured witnesses : with Sketches of the Jail, the Jailer, and the Jail-Birds.
The Author is not content to tell the Story of his own Wrongs merely, but he seeks the Reformation of the entire Jail System.
I2I
ADVERTISEMENTS.
ZION'S WATCHMAN
Is the title of a new evangelical undenomina- tional monthly just started in Lowell by the Rev. C. E. Preston. It is printed by the Penhallow Printing Company in the usual handsome style of that establishment. It is long since Middlesex County could boast of a religious journal, and Zion's Watchman promises to be of historical as well as of religious interest. Parish histories are to be one feature of it. Office, 342 Middlesex St. Lowell. Terms, 50 cents per annum.
BOILERS FOR SALE.
One new 4 feet, horizontal cylinder boiler 16 1-2 feet long, with 50 tubes ; one new 24 inch upright boiler, 5 feet long, with 24 tubes ; one 30 inch, upright boiler, 7 feet long, with 35 new tubes ; one 24 inch boiler, 10 feet long, with cast-iron heads ; one 30 inch fire box boiler, 8 feet long, with 26 tubes.
Also, two 7 feet boiler shells, one 25, the other 17 feet long Also, one 30 inch heater, S feet long. Also, one large soap kettle, and two jacket kettles. Also, one double screw press, with 13 plates. Address John Cowley, 178 Lawrence Street, Lowell, Mass.
122
ADVERTISEMENTS.
PENHALLOW PRINTING COMPANY, 12 MIDDLE STREET, LOWELL, MASS.
Benjamin H. Penhallow, the founder of this establishment, was born in Portsmouth, and was the descendant in the fourth generation from Samuel Penhallow who was born in Corn- wall, England, in 1665, who immigrated to Charlestown, Mass., in 1686 ; who afterwards set- tled in Portsmouth, N. H .; who held the office of Chief Justice of the Superior Court of Judi- cature and other conspicuous public trusts, and who died in 1726. In the same year in which he died, his "History of the Wars of New Eng- land with the Eastern Indians," was published. It was republished in 1824, in the first volume of the N. H. Historical Collections, with a memoir of Judge Penhallow.«
Several of the early years of Mr. Penhallow's life were spent in the Sandwich Islands, and he established the first printing office in that Kingdom. In 1846, when thirty years old, he founded the PENHALLOW PRINTING ESTABLISH- MENT in Lowell, which his skill and industry raised to a high place among the Book and Job Offices of New England.
*For the history and genealogy of the Penhallow Family see N. E. Historical and Genealogical Register, January 1878. pp. 21-35.
NEW COUNTY PUBLICATIONS.
LEAVES FROM A LAWYER'S LIFE AFLOAT AND ASHORE. By Charles Cowley. [In press.]
Among the many matters touched upon, more or less fully, in this book, are the Southern Blockade ; Lord Nelson; Steamships; the Blockade-Runners; our Blockading Fleets in general ; the South Atlantic Blockading Squadron in particular ; Admiral Dupont ; Admiral Dahlgren ; Operations under their commands respectively ;- Battle of Port Royal ; Capture of the Sea Islands ; Captain Small ; Battle of Secessionville ; General Stevens ; General Hawley ; General Pember- ton ; Colonel Lamar ; Bombardment of Fort Pulaski ; Capture of the Ram Atlanta ; Commodore Ingraham's attempt to raise the Blockade of Charleston ;-- General Vogdes; Occupation of Folly Island ; Battle between Dupont's Iron-Clads and the forts at Charles- ton ; Storming of Fort Wagner; General Strong ; Bombardment of Fort Sumter; Life in the Monitors ; the Naval Pickets ; Legal Questions growing out of the Blockade; Attempt to capture Fort Johnson, (which has not hitherto found a place in history.)
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