USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Brookline > Proceedings of the Brookline Historical Society at the annual meeting > Part 17
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The whole territory was flowed in consequence of the construction of the dam, which had been valuable only for a trifling quantity of salt grass, and could have been purchased for a few hundred dol- lars. It was supposed that an immense water power could thus be obtained of fabulous value, and that all kinds of manufacturing and mechanical business would be established and carried on by its means, and that the individual owners of the land flowed, and of
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the surrounding region, would be benefitted and enriched. The calculation as to the value of the water power was erroneous, and the results obtained were out of all proportion to its cost. Grist- mills and iron works were erected, machine shops, manufactories and rope-walks were built, but owing to the error in calculation its success was a failure and many persons were financially ruined. All plans devised togive value to the property failed until 1859, when the Boston Water Power Company, by legislative enactment, was given permission to fill the territory and convert it into dry land.
Before the Mill-dam road was built there stood on the corner of what is now Brookline avenue and Washington street, says Miss Woods, in " Historical Sketches of Brookline," in the rear of the Gas Company's office, a dwelling house with a large yard in front ; and east of where the avenue now is was a small schoolhouse be- longing to "Roxbury Precinct." The grounds sloped from the grassy upland to the brook on the north, and to the marsh at Muddy River, which was then forty or fifty feet wide. In the rear of that dwelling house was a garden or orchard with grounds slop- ing to the brook and marsh, the latter being overflowed at high tide. That dwelling, with the lands on both sides of Muddy River, in ancient time, was the property of the Griggs family, early settlers in Roxbury. George Griggs of Launden, Buckinghamshire, Eng- land, came over to this country in the ship "Hopewell," with Alyce his wife and five children in 1635.
Dr. George Griggs, early in the 18th century, built the old house next to the gas works, now falling to decay, known at one time as the "Tontine," but now better known as the " Long House." The western half of that house was added by Dr. Downer. Dr. Griggs had a daughter Mary, a beautiful woman and something of an heiress for that time, who married, against her parents' wishes, Capt. William Wyman, with whom she lived an unhappy life. The old house and land, afterwards owned by the gas company, with other land in the vicinity was long known as the Wyman property.
When the Mill-dam road, now Brookline avenue, was built and extended to the "Punch Bowl Village," it changed the condition and appearance of the estate and cut off a large part of Captain Wyman's yard. Afterwards a blacksmith shop was built and occupied upon the eastern corner of the Mill-dam road, which later was removed across Washington street to a lot now bordering on Pond avenue. After the death of Captain Wyman and the sale
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of his estate, the old house, later owned by the Gas Company, was kept for some years as a tavern, with the sign of the "Punch Bowl "; but as it had little except local patronage, and that of the lower order, it was given up. Drake, in "Sketches of Roxbury," says : "In the rear of the gas works, at the corner of Brookline avenue, stood an old house, which after many years' neglect was blown down, probably by the great gale of September, 1816." That must have been another house and not the Wyman house above described.
The houses of Captain Wyman and Dr. Downer both originally set back farther from the street than at present ; the widenings that have taken place from time to time have cut off the yards. It was by marriage to Captain Wyman's daughter that Dr. Downer be- came connected with the family and its possessions. The Downer or " Long House " had a broad green yard shaded by buttonwoods and two Lombardy poplars, and between the two houses stood a beautiful elm.
Dr. Downer, who was active in town affairs as appears by the Roxbury records, and who was the grandfather of Samuel Downer, Esq., of Boston, left his house early on the morning of the Battle of Lexington, and on his way to the front came in sight of the retreating Britons and encountered one of their flankers, who had stopped to pillage a house. Both leveled their guns at the same instant, and both missed. Closing in deadly struggle, they crossed bayonets, and Downer found he was no match for his adversary in the use of that weapon. The main body was every moment coming nearer. Gathering himself for a desperate effort, Downer quickly reversed his musket and dealt his foe a blow with the butt which brought him to the ground. Although the blow had shattered to pieces the wooden breech of his gun, it disabled his enemy, whom he finished with his bayonet. Then possessing himself of his antagonist's arms as the spoil of victory, he hastily withdrew. When the battle was over he found that his forehead had been grazed by a musket bullet.
Dr. Downer was a surgeon on board the privateer " Yankee." and was taken prisoner and carried to England, from whence he escaped to France. On the passage home he was again captured after being wounded, and taken to Portsea Prison, where he and his companions were harshly treated. He escaped by tunneling under the walls of the prison and the adjacent street, was aided
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THE EDWARD DEVOTION HOUSE, WASHINGTON STREET, 1744-1892.
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by friends, and after three years' absence made his way back to Boston.
He afterwards served as surgeon-general on the ill-fated Penob- scot Expedition for the recapture of Castine from the British under command of Saltonstall, which resulted so disastrously for the American cause. He was a skillful surgeon, though said to have been a hard and rough man.
For several years there was a brewery in one end of the old "Long House," it is said, with a malt-house on the opposite side of the street. After the death of Dr. Downer, a Dr. Silvan came to the house, took up his residence and began the practice of what was termed " the rainwater cure." He professed to cure all mala- dies that flesh is heir to by the use of rain water. He flourished for a time upon the credulity of his patients, but public opinion was aroused against him and he left the town.
The old "Long House" still stands in a dilapidated condition, as a landmark of the past, and this account of it, gathered chiefly from the "Historical Sketches of Brookline," by Miss Woods, and from Francis S. Drake's "Sketches of Roxbury," has been written for preservation 'in the archives of the Brookline Historical Society.
THE EDWARD DEVOTION HOUSE
stood west of the "Long House" between the two blacksmith shops, and probably on the land once owned by Griggs, Wyman and Downer, until its demolition some twenty years ago, then known as the Lemuel Foster place.
The house was said to have been built by Edward Devotion, Jr., who died in it in 1744, and was buried in Walnut street burying ground, where a stone marks his grave. Edward Devotion moved to this house from the old Devotion house standing on its original site on Harvard street between the Devotion Schoolhouses, where it was erected in about 1680, and is the oldest building in the town.
Edward Devotion sold the old house, in which he had lived the greater part of his life, with the farm belonging with it, to Solomon Hill, said to have been an adopted son, about 1740, and moved to the "Punch Bowl Village," and it is supposed that the village house was built at that time for his occupancy.
The house after the death of Edward Devotion was occupied by Mr. Thomas Brewer, who was a blacksmith and built the brick shop some time before the Revolution. Mr. Brewer lived in that
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house for many years, and his children intermarried with other Brookline families, although the name has become extinct in the town. When the Brewers ceased to occupy the old house, it passed into the ownership of Mr. Lemuel Foster, who also was a blacksmith and worked at his trade in the shop adjoining. He later built a house on Walnut street opposite the present Whyte's Block, where he resided in the last years of his life.
The late J. Anson Guild married a daughter of Lemuel Foster for his first wife, through whom, at her death, the Devotion house and land descended to Mrs. Guild's only daughter and child, now Mrs. George Rogers. The old house stood unoccupied for some years, fell into decay and was torn down. The brick blacksmith shop and lot, extending from Washington street back to Pearl, are all now left of the Devotion estate in the lower village.
The writer, however, has a photograph of the old house as it appeared just prior to its demolition, which he hopes will be printed with this address, and thus preserve the outline of the house and last earthly home of Edward Devotion. Everything in the town connected with him and his name ought to be held in lasting re- membrance by the citizens of Brookline on account of his gift to the town for its schools and the cause of education. The sum devised by his will would not seem large at this time, but from his moderate estate the town received about $3,500, the use of which it has had for a hundred and fifty years, more or less. Had it been kept at interest and intact, it would now amount to a sum the interest of which would pay more than all the town's annual expenses and still leave a handsome balance to be added to the principal.
For many years his legacy and name were nearly lost to the sight and knowledge of the majority of the residents of the town, and only within a few years has his name been honored by bestow- ing it upon the schoolhouses on the Devotion lot, Harvard street. The money received from his estate was kept at interest, a part was lost by loaning it to the Commonwealth during the Revolu- tionary War, which was paid back in depreciated Continental paper money; the interest on the balance was used for the benefit of the town schools until 1844, when by vote of the town the principal was used in building the Town Hall, dedicated in 1845, in which one room or floor was set apart for school purposes. When the school in that building ceased, the Devotion legacy was lost sight of, and from that time to the present no measures have been taken
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by the town to place the sum back into the fund to which it originally belonged, or in any way to honor its donor, except as above stated.
This Society and other societies and organizations of the town have used their influence to have the Devotion house renovated for their meetings and for a museum of antiquities. They succeeded a few years ago in getting it partially restored by the town, since which time it has stood unoccupied. At the last annual meeting of the town, a committee consisting of the Chairmen of the Select- men, Park Commissioners and School Board was appointed to look into the subject of its retention and repair, give one or more public hearings and report their findings in print to the town at its next meeting.
They held two public hearings, at which representatives of this and other societies appeared and advocated its retention upon its original site; to put it in repair for their use by the town, then to have it placed under their control at a nominal rental, as above out- lined; and there the matter rests at this moment. It is probable, however, that the committee will make a printed report to be acted upon at the special town meeting called for a week from tonight.
If the house were to be demolished, I feel sure that the time will come when the citizens will deeply regret it. It is not only the Devotion House in which Edward Devotion spent the major part of his life, but it is the oldest structure in town, and ought to be preserved as a landmark; as an example of the style of dwelling our ancestors built and occupied, two and a quarter centuries ago; as an historical monument of Colonial times and for the purposes already set forth. The members of this Society and all other citi- zens should carefully consider the subject, and not only be ready to act, but to act wisely.
The Committee having the subject of the Devotion house and its disposition to consider, reported to the town at its special meet- ing held January 31, 1906, and recommended that it be placed under the care of the Board of Selectmen; and the town accepted and adopted the recommendation.
In the report the Committee said : " Edward Devotion was born in 1668 ; he spent his life in Brookline and was buried in the old Walnut Street Cemetery in 1744. He occupied several public
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positions in the town, as did his father before him, and in 1743 made a will containing the following provision :-
"'In case my estate prove to be sufficient to pay my just debts, funeral charges and the aforementioned legacies, and there should be an overplus left, then my will is and I hereby give the said sur- plus to the town of Brooklyn towards building or maintaining a School as near the centre of the said Town as shall be agreed upon by the Town. But if the said Town can not agree upon a place to set said school upon, then my will is that the said surplus be laid out in purchasing a wood lot for the use of the school and the minister of said Town forever.'
" From this will the town originally received the sum of £739 4S., constituting a school fund which was administered 1762-1845 by a committee of the town. The complete records of this trust are contained in two MS. volumes bound in vellum and now in pos- session of the town. The fund thus established was ultimately disposed of by the town in the erection of the town house, which contained some accommodations for school purposes.
"The Edward Devotion house was probably built about 1680 by Edward's older brother, John, who afterwards removed to Suffield. It is probable that Edward Devotion lived in the house until his removal to a house in the village where he was living at the time of his death. The Devotion house is the oldest structure remain- ing in Brookline, and it has been adopted by the Brookline His- torical Society as its seal. Prior to Edward Devotion's death he sold the house to Solomon Hill, taking a mortgage back, which was included in the residue of his estate given to Brookline. The town finally came into possession of the house when the land was bought in 1891, for school and other purposes.
" There is undoubtedly a strong sentiment existing in favor of preserving the Edward Devotion house and using it as an object lesson for coming generations. That there is excellent ground for this sentiment is apparent to the Committee. Edward Devotion was an inhabitant of the town when it was a hamlet. He was prominent in public affairs. He held several offices and was devoted to the church and state. He was the earliest citizen of the town to leave a sum of money for the benefit of the public, and that his interest in education was deep and far reaching is evident from the provisions of his will. He was one of the petitioners for the incorporation of the Town of Brookline. He was an active and public spirited citizen. The town has already honored his
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memory by attaching his name to one of the largest of the schools of Brookline, and it would not be inappropriate to place perma- nently upon the Devotion School an enduring tablet to his memory.
" We believe it to be the wisest policy for the town to retain the house in nearly its present condition until the objects for which its permanent preservation is desired may be more fully developed. The house should now be thoroughly cleaned and painted when necessary, but no special apppropriation is needed for that pur- pose, as the work can be done by the Selectmen out of the regular funds at their disposal for the care of public buildings.
" The Committee do not recommend any appropriation at the present time, but do recommend that the house be placed under the care of the Selectmen and recommend the passage of the following vote :-
"' Voted, That the Edward Devotion house be placed under the care of the Board of Selectmen.'"
That vote was passed without opposition.
In Memory of
aged 33 years
The montarent in the foreground stands in. the Shurt- leff lot, and in the background is the tomb of Rev. John Pierce and Dea. John Robinson .
SEM EDWARD
2015US ATD 76
7
ie Dod: of Here lies Furied MISS SARA !! GOT Dengater of
Mrs Elizabeth Grices Wife of Mr Hoses Grices who died Augt 9th 1784
OF HAR ANI VHITE DAUGHTER AOS-
HERE LYES Y BODY
DID OCT 18 9th
1 7 2 5
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THE OLD BURYING GROUND.
Read before the Society, December 18, 1901, by E. W. Baker.
At the town meeting November 20th, 1901, the town adopted a by-law by which the powers and duties of the Trustees of Walnut Hills Cemetery shall also embrace and pertain to the old Town Burying Ground on Walnut street.
This action was the outcome of a petition presented to the Selectmen which was accompanied by the following memoran- dum : -
" It is respectfully submitted that the Old Burying Ground is prac- tically a public heirloom. In many instances, the descendants of the original proprietors have moved out of town, or are extinct, and the lots no longer receive the proper individual attention. In con- sideration of its venerable relics, its natural beauties, and its bene- ficial influence upon future generations, systematic and skillful control should be now inaugurated. The natural and obvious custodians seem to be the Trustees of the new cemetery of Walnut Hills."
This memorandum states the facts clearly and concisely and it has seemed fitting, at this time, when the question of the control and care of the old burying ground is before the town, that the Brookline Historical Society should interest itself in the matter.
The Old Burying Ground, or, as we know it, "The Brookline Cemetery on Walnut Street," contains a great store of information for those interested in the history of Brookline and its families, too great indeed, to be exhausted without much time and careful search.
Serving as it did as the only burial ground of the town for over 150 years, or from 1717 to 1875, when Walnut Hills Cemetery was opened, in it have reposed the representatives of nearly if not quite all of the old families of the town both humble and prominent.
It is the present purpose to sketch the history of the burying ground itself rather than bring together a collection of names, dates
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and epitaphs, or to attempt to give any detailed account of any particular individual or family whose name may appear on tomb or stone. In regard to some of such names we have reliable historical information of great interest, but of many more it can only be said -
"Their memories are overgrown As graves with grasses are, and at the head The stone with moss and lichens so o'erspread Nothing is visible but the name alone."
The petition of the freeholders of the Hamlet of Muddy River for separation from Boston, which resulted in the incorporation of the town of Brookline, November 13th, 1705, contains thirty-two signatures, but only fifteen family names; which warrants the statement that the population at that time did not exceed forty or fifty families. To meet the needs of this small population, at the first meeting of the inhabitants of the new town, March, 1706, the first business transacted after the choice of town officers was-
" Voted, That there should be a Burying place in this town of Brookline."
" Voted, That the Burying place should be on a spot of Land on the south side of the Hill in Mr. Cotton's farm pointing between the two Roads if it can be so attained."
To Rev. John Cotton, the second minister of Boston, there was granted in 1635, a "sufficient allotment for a farm " in Muddy River. This allotment is described as follows :--
" All the ground lying between the two brooks, next to Mr. Col- bournes allotment, and so to the other end, unto the shortest cutting over beyond the hill towards the northwest, containing two hundred and fifty acres (be it more or less), bounded on the north by the said fresh brook, on the west by John Cramme and George Baytes, on the South by a fresh brook running between him and Mr. Leveritt, and on the East by Muddy River."
This allotment, probably, would approximate the area bounded by the brook running along the B. & A. R. R., the parkway, the brook (now covered) through the land of T. B. Griggs and along the valley between School street and Harvard avenue, and follow- ing the direction of Aspinwall avenue into what was formerly Muddy River, and the hill "toward the northwest " was probably what is now known as Aspinwall Hill.
The Cotton Allotment descended to the two sons, Rowland Cot-
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ton and Thomas Cotton, the dividing line between whose estates was a road, laid out in 1719, and described as follows : -
"It begins at wattertown road & so runs between ye farms of Mr. Rowland Cotton & Mr. Thomas Cotton, all ye way in said Thomas Cottons land & so to ye land of Caleb Gardner late of Brooklyn &c. to Sherborn road."
This road was named Cypress street in 1841 but for the previous 130 years it was called the " new lane."
The town allowed land damages for this " new lane," according to the following :-
" Voted, To allow Mr. Thomas Cotton 20 pounds for a way across his land for ye north end inhabitants to goe to ye meeting to be an open road for ye towns use."
It is a far cry from the present population of Coolidge's Corner, Babcock Hill, Corey Hill and the Boulevard, to the "north end inhabitants " of two hundred years ago.
The two roads referred to (in the vote of 1706) were the Sher- born Road (now Walnut street) and the Newtown or Watertown Road (now Washington street) both of which appear on a map of the town made in 1728; but the site described as "the north side of the hill pointing between the two roads" is difficult to identify.
The particular site so described was not secured from Mr. Cotton, and nothing further appears to have been done in relation to any other site for seven years, or until the town meeting of December 2, 1713, when it was, -
" Voted, That Mr. Samuel Sewall, Junr., Mr. John Winchester Senr. and Mr. Samuel Aspinwall, be a Com'te for the town to agree With Mr. Cotton for a burying place."
" Voted, That Mr. Samuel Sewall & Mr. Peter Boylston should Procure a Pall or Burying Cloth to Cover the Corps, at the Towns Cost, and that six Pounds be added to and Collected with the rate of twenty pounds Granted by the Town to be Levied on the Inhabitants in this present yeare 1713, for the defraying the charge of sd cloth."
The committee failed to make any agreement with Mr. Cotton and the attempt to secure the desired site was abandoned, as appears from the action four years later at the town meeting of November 17, 1717 : -
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" Voted, That whereas at a meeting of the inhabitants of Brook- lyn Legally Assembled on the Thirtieth of April 1717 at which meeting a committee was chosen viz: Erosaman Drew John Druce Josiah Winchester sen'r Benj White jun'r Caleb Gardner · Samuel Clark sen'r and Wm Sharp to procure a burying place to Inter the dead in.
" Accordingly brought their report that they had agreed with Samuel Clark Jun'r for half an acre of his land near the meeting house for eight pounds to be paid by the town for sd half an acre of land. Also agreed with sd Clark that he should have the herbage of sd land provided he maintain the front fence against it, but in case the town see cause to fence the sd burying place intire, sd Clark shall be quit from any charge of fencing about sd land either front or division."
Until the building of the first meeting house in 1714 the Brook- line people worshipped in Roxbury under Rev. Nehemiah Walter, as set forth in the petition of the Selectmen, November 2, 1710, to " His Excellency Joseph Dudley," asking further time for the erec- tion of the meeting house.
This petition recites, " And there are none of our people now complaining for want of a Minister or Meeting House in Our Town nor the Inhabitants of Roxbury of Our being burthensome to them. Our most remote family resorting to the new Meeting house lately erected at the south end of the town of Roxbury aforesaid where they were entertained without any inconvenience to the Church who are few in number at present and willin to receive them."
The burial place of the Roxbury Church was therefore the natural accommodation of Brookline until 1717, when, according to the vote already quoted, the " half acre " was purchased of Samuel Clark, Jun'r.
Samuel Clark was the carpenter who built the Meeting House in 1713-1714 and was afterward one of the first deacons of the Church, and when, in 1840, 123 years afterwards, additional land was purchased to increase the area of the Burying Ground, it was from Caleb Clark, one of the descendants of Deacon Samuel Clark.
The burial ground having been purchased on the conditions stated, it is further mentioned in the old records from time to time, some of the references indicating that "perpetual care " did not, in those days, appear to be so important a factor in cemetery
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