The annals of Sudbury, Wayland and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts , Part 10

Author: Hudson, Alfred Sereno, 1839-1907
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: A. S. Hudson
Number of Pages: 504


USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Maynard > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 10
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sudbury > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 10
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wayland > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 10
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sudbury > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland, and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 10
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wayland > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland, and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 10
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Maynard > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland, and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 10


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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 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39


BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH.


of a somewhat retiring nature, and quite unassum-


INCORPORATION OF THE UNION EVANGELICAL ing in her ways. In conduct she was an exemp- CHURCH, AND ERECTION OF A MEETING-HOUSE, AT SOUTH SUDBURY. lary Christian, and one of those persons about whom nothing but good was said. She was indus- trious and prudent, and in her later life seldom went from her home. She was exceedingly gentle in her disposition, and usually wore a smile when on the street, and the influence of her quiet pres- ence, like the bright sunlight, tended to illume the object that it touched. Before the infirmities of age and the weakness of disease came upon her, she was habitually present at the religious gatherings of her church, and endeavored. by her good words and works, to assist in the maintenance of the Master's cause.


Truly it may be said of her. " Tho' dead she yet speaketh."


NEW SCHOOL-HOUSE.


In 1890, the town voted to build a new school- house. The land selected for the building was upon the " Wheeler-Haynes estate," situated on the road from Sudbury Centre to Wayland. The land was so disposed of by the will of Elisha W. Haynes that it was with some delay that a legal right to appropriate it for a school building was obtained. The right was at length secured, and during the year work was commenced, and a com- modious building for either high or grammar- school purposes has been erected. One of the con- tractors was Fitz Auburn Robinson, of Weston, Mass., a native of Sudbury. About $9,000 were appropriated for the building. The same year the town voted to place a copy of the " History of Sudbury " in each of the public schools, and, by recommendation of the committee, classes were formed for the study of it. The town also voted to give to each person in town, who had been a resident and paid taxes for three years, one copy of the " History of Sudbury." The work of erecting the school building was entrusted to the Board of School Committee, which was composed of Jonas S. Hunt, Frank M. Bowker and George E. Har- rington.


Miss Mary Wheeler was a daughter of Wm. Wheeler, and a native of Sudbury. The " Wheeler Place," where her father formerly lived, is situated near the South Sudbury and Marlboro' road, at a point a short distance west of the Old Colony R. R. There for years Miss Wheeler resided, but in her later life she lived in a cottage just south of the grounds of the Congregational Chapel, with her brother Willard and an elder sister. She was the last surviving member of a family of nine children, seven of whom were boys She died at VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT SOCIETY. her home at South Sudbury, and was buried at . April 22, 1890, the " Goodman Village Improve- " Mt. Wadsworth Cemetery." Miss Wheeler was ment Society " was organized at Sudbury Centre, for many years a member of the " Union Evangeli- the object of which was to beautify the streets, and cal Church of Sudbury. She was a quiet person introduce and promote such improvements as the


36


SUDBURY.


good of the community might require and the The society was incorporated soon after its means of the society would admit of. A variety formation. of work was undertaken and accomplished ; trees


According to the town records, of the eighteen were set out by the wayside ; a " band-stand " was deaths recorded for the year ending March 3d. erected on the common, and a watering-trough was 1890, eight of the deceased persons were over 70 placed at the corner of the roads. The watering- years of age, five were over 80, and two were over trough is of stone, and erected by James Luman 90. Willis, a Sudbury citizen. Its cost was about $100.


In 1890, a Board of Trade was organized at Sonth Sudbury.


ORTHODOX MEETING-HOUSE,


SUDBURY CENTRE.


See page 27.


PART II.


UNITARIAN CHURCH. Built 1815.


THE ANNALS


OF


WAYLAND, MASS.


The history of thy hills and dells Is quaint and grand; Each careless sod or mantling turf On some old grave Is greener, for the memories fond That round it wreathe.


Thy woody pathways wind among The silent sites of ancient homes, Where mosses gray, and ashes cold, Are relics of the days of old, When on the hearthstones of our sires Were blazing forth their cheerful fires.


THE AUTHOR.


WAYLAND. 1835.


WAYLAND was formerly a part of Sudbury. It where he may have been a lawyer, was a friend of was set apart as a town in 1780, under the name of the colony. East Sudbury, and took its present name in 1835.


It is situated on the Central Massachusetts Rail- to, alias Goodman, whose wigwam was at Goodman's road, about fifteen miles from Boston, and lies Ilill. about a mile west of Sudbury River. The mostly on the east side of Sudbury River. It is territory was especially attractive to the settlers bounded on the north by Lincoln, east by Weston, because of the broad meadow lands along the river. south by Natick and west by Sudbury. It has two villages - Wayland Centre and Cochituate.


The town is pleasantly situated, and its rural quiet, beautiful drives and varied scenery render it peculiarly attractive as a summer residence. Ilere the settlers of Sudbury first located, and nearly two-thirds of the land first granted them by the General Court for the township of Sudbury was within the territory now Wayland. As the acts relative to the obtaining of the land have been given in connection with the history of Sudbury in another part of this work, it is only necessary to say that on petition of those proposing the set- tlement, the Court allowed them a grant of land. which was purchased of the aboriginal owners, and for which a deed was given in due form. Besides the large tract of land granted the settlers collec- tively, there were several sınaller tracts allowed to individuals. This is true of some of the land about Cochituate Pond, which was a part of the tract granted the widow of Rev. Jesse Glover. Another grant was that of the " Dunster Farm," sometimes called the " Pond Farm." This was a tract of 600 acres granted, in 1640, to Henry Dunster, the first president of Harvard College, who, in 1641, mar- ried Mrs. Elizabeth Glover. This land was sit- uated southeast of the "Glover Farm," and had Cochituate Lake for its western boundary. Be- yond this farm, easterly, was a tract of 200 acres extending towards the Weston town bound, and called the "Jennison Farm." This was granted, in 1638, to Capt. William Jennison, of Watertown, for service that he rendered in the Pequot War. It was laid out in 1646.


Another grant was to Mr. Herbert Pelham, Sept. 4, 1639. This land grant was situated in the pres- ent territory of Wayland, and was what is called " The Island." For many years it was mostly owned and occupied by the Heards. Mr. Pelham came to America in 1638, and for a time lived at Cambridge. Savage states that he was a gentleman from the county of Lincoln, and when in London,


The Indian owner of all these land tracts was Kar-


These in early times afforded bountiful crops of hay, which were so serviceable to the possessors that " they took in cattle for wintering." The up- lands were more or less covered with heavy timber growth. " Pine Plain " and " Pine Brook," early names of localities easterly of Wayland Centre, prob- ably derived their names from the heavy growth of pine forest about there ; and " Timber Neck," just south of Mill Brook, is suggestive of what the soil there produced.


At the time of English occupation the Indian population was scant : there are, however, indica- tions that at some time considerable numbers dwelt in the neighborhood of Cochituate Pond.


Tradition locates an Indian burial-place near the old graveyard northwesterly of the centre of the town. Probably the pestilence that occurred among the Massachusetts Bay tribes, in the early part of the seventeenth century, largely depopulated the country. A noted Indian trail, at the time of English occupation, passed through the southeast- erly part of the territory. This was part of an ancient way to Connecticut. It passed from Water- town at what is now known as Wayland and Wes- ton Corner, and passed into what was then the wil- derness land near Framingham on the north side of Cochituate Pond. The strip now in Wayland was called " the road from Watertown to the Dunster Farm." The town's early grantees were English- men. Some of them came to the place of settle- ment directly from England, and some after a brief sojourn at Watertown, which was then the town next adjacent on the east. These settlers proba- bly arrived at the place of their future home by the fall of 1638. Some of those who names appear upon the " records" at a very early date, and whose descendants long lived there, are Noyes, Griffin, Johnson, Ward. Parmenter, Rice, Curtis, Stone, Rutter, Loker, Bent, Maynard, Grout, King and Woodward.


The first dwellings were erected along three roads, which afterwards became the common high- way. The principal one of these roads, called " the


38


WAYLAND.


1


North " or " East Street," and also the "Old Watertown Trail," started at what is now " Weston and Wayland Corner," and probably followed the course of the present road over " The Plain " and Clay-pit Hill to a point near the Abel Gleason es- tate ; from this place it is supposed to have made its way a little northerly of Mr. Gleason's house, and winding southwesterly, passed just soutlt of Baldwin's Pond, and thence to the river at the bridge. The road originally called " Northwest Row " ran from this street to what is called " Com- mon Swamp," and by the spot designated as the house-lot of Walter Haynes. This spot still bears the traces of having, long years ago, been the site of a house. The cart-path which ran from it to the ineadow is still used.


Along this road the indications of homesteads are unmistakable ; old building material has been unearthed, and depressions in the ground are still to be seen. Mr. J. S. Draper, a little east of his house, by the brook, unearthed the stones of a fire- place, with fragments of coals still upon them. Between this and Clay-pit Bridge (the second bridge or culvert from the mill-pond, or the first above " Whale's Bridge ") there are, north of the road, several depressions indicating the sites of old honses. Just beyond Clay-pit Bridge the writer, with Mr. Draper, weut to look for traces of houses on the lots assigned to Bryan Pendleton and Thomas Noyes : and there, in the exact locality, were distinct depressions, just where they were looked for. The Curtis homestead, until within a very few years, was standing in about the place assigned for the house-lot. Thus strong is the probability that the lots on this street were largely built upon.


Another of the principal streets was that which, starting from a point on the North Street near the town bridge, ran southeasterly along what is now the common highway, to the head of the mill-pond, and tlen to the mill. Upon this street was the first meeting-house at a spot in the old burying-ground, and the Parmenter Tavern. The house-lots were mainly at the northwest end of this street, and the road was probably extended easterly to give access to the mill. Ilere tradition confirms the record of house-lots, and shows that the lots were more or less built upon. The John Maynard and John Loker estates were kept for years in their fam- ilies, and the Parmenter estate is still retained in the family. In later years the descendants of John Rutter built on that street.


The third road was called the " Bridle Point


Road." This started at a point a little south- westerly of the old Dr. Roby house, and ran along the ridge of " Braman's Hill " for about two-thirds of its length, when it turned southerly, and, crossing Mill Brook, ran towards the town's southern limits. While tradition positively locates this road, it points to but one homestead upon it, and that the residence of Rev. Edmund Brown, which it undoubtedly declares was at the spot desig- nated by the house-lot data. Along this street are no visible marks of ancient dwelling-places north of Mill Brook ; but beyond, various depressions in the ground and remnants of building material in- dicate that at one time this street had houses upon it. With the exception of those on the south street, the dwellings were about equally distant from the meeting-house, and all within easy access to the River Meadows and the mill. Probably they set- tled largely in groups, that they might more easily defend themselves in case of danger. They were in a new country, and as yet had had little experience with the Indians ; hence we should not expect they would scatter very widely. In the early times so essential was it considered by the Colonial Court that the people should not widely scatter, that, three years before Sudbury was settled, it ordered that, for the greater safety of towns, " hereafter no dwelling-house should be built above half a mile from the meeting-house in any new plautation." (Colony Records, Vol. I.)


It will be noticed that the positions selected for these streets were, to an extent, where the shelter of upland could be obtained for the house. The sandy slope of Bridle Point Hill would afford a protection from the rough winds of winter; so of the uplauds just north of South Street. It was also best to settle in groups, to lessen the amount of road-breaking in winter. It will, moreover, be noticed that these groups of house-lots were near, not only meadow land, but light upland, which would be easy of cultivation. Various things indi- cate that the most serviceable spots were selected for homesteads, that roads were constructed to con- nect them as best they could, and that afterwards the roads were extended to the mill. Probably the people on North Street made the short way to South Street, that comes out at Mr. Jude Damon's, in order to shorten the way to church. Those midway of that street, for a short cut to the mill, the church and the tavern, would naturally open a path from the turn of the road by the clay-pits to the mill. To accommodate the people on "The Plain," a road was opened to the mill in a southwest-


Common


Swamp


-1)


CONCORD


.


.Wm. Ilham (50


To


· Walter Hayne


ORIGINAL TRAIL OR WAY FROM WATERTOWN THROUGH SUDBURY. NOW DISCONTINUED FOR PUBLIC TRAVEL.


CART -PATH TO MEADOW


. John Freeman (4.4)


·John Knight.


. N. Treadway


+John Stone


. Henry' Curtis


John Herdick


. MAP .OF. THE FIRST ROADS & HOUSE-LIS IN SUDBURY


J. Manford


.Jos Taynter · Tho Wir'te


. Hugh Griffin


Edmun | Rice


. Henry Rice


Robert Darneil


. Robert Best ETING-HOUSE LOT


Pond


· Win. Brown · John Toll-


· Widow Wright . John Bent . John Wood


John Goodnow


. Henry Loker


PINE


SWAMP


.


MILL ROAD


Www. Kerley


,Richand Sanger


Pine


SUDBURY


TO


WATERTOWN


MILL


HIGHWAY TO BRIDIE POINT


· Thos Bien


· Pler Noyes


· l'in. Parker


. Anthony Witte


Thus Goodnow


.


Brook


Miul


TO CUTCHITUATT


& DUNSTER'S FARM


Herbert Pelham


Pine


Rev Edmund Brown


· John Parmenter St.


Plain


· Widow Hunt.


· John Howe,


Thes Colebread


ROAD


MILL


BRIDLE : POINT


· Andrew' Belcher


John Prumenter . JE.


· Richand Nonton


.Henry Prentiss


John Rutter


Brook


Drawn by . J. S. DRAPER


.. John Loker


Thumas Fhrin . . John Haynes


. Edmond Goodnow


EAST


Thus. Noyes


Bryan Pendleton


Geo Munnings


.


(* Mr.AGleason's Ho in 1887


NORTH . WEST ROW


Solanon Johnson(6 A)


. Wm Want (20 A )


. Solomon Johnson (7 A )


to the Imbtic rond neur Mr Gro Gleason's bam


Note. This cart puth is still useet, comino ouf


.John Maynard


Great River Meadow


• бачкат хорне боя динітибую WON


JAT 1- 9A14


مع


39


WAYLAND.


erly course, which is in part the present highway, but has in part been abandoned-the latter part being that which formerly came out directly east of the mill.


These several sections of road probably formed what was called the "Highway." A large share of it is in use at the present time, and is very suggestive of historic reminiscences. By it the settlers went to the Cakebread Mill, to the little hillside meeting- house, and to the John Parmenter ordinary. By these ways came the messenger with fresh news from the seaboard settlements, or with tidings from the tribes of the woods. In short, these formed the one great road of the settlement, the one forest pathway along which every one more or less trod.


The erection of dwelling-places along these first streets probably began in 1638; but we have no tra- dition or record of the week or month when the in- habitants arrived at the spot, nor as to how many went at any one time. They may have gone in small companies at different dates ; and the entire removal from Watertown may have occurred in the process of months. It is quite probable, however, that they went mainly together, or in considerable companies, for both the sake of convenience and safety; and that they were largely there by the autumn of 1638.


We have found no record of the dimensions of any of the first dwelling-places, but we may judge some- thing of their size by that of the first house of wor- ship, and by the specifications in a lease of a house to be built by Edmund Rice prior to the year 1655. This house was to be very small-"30 foot long, 10 foot high, 1 foot sill from the ground, 16 foot wide, with two rooms, both below or one above the other, all the doors, walls and staires with convenient fix- tures, and well planked under foot and boored suffi- ciently to lay corn in the story above head." But it is doubtful if this small, low structure fitly repre- sents the settler's first forest home; very likely that was a still more simple building, that would serve as a mere shelter for a few months or years, till a more serviceable one could be built.


Very early after their arrival, the people began to provide means for more easy and rapid transit. In- dian trails and the paths of wild animals would not long suffice for their practical needs. Hay was to be drawn from the meadows, and for this a road must be made. Another was to be made to Concord, and paths were to be opened to the outlying lands. The first highway-work was done on the principal street, which was, doubtless, at first a mere wood-path or trail. An early rule for this labor, as it is recorded on the town records, February 20, 1639, is as fol- lows: "Ordered by the commissioners of the town, that every inhabitant shall come forth to the mend- ing of the highway upon a summons by the survey- ors." In case of failure, five shillings were to be for- feited for every default. The amount of labor re- quired was as follows :


" lat. The poorest man shall work one day.


"2nd. For every six acres of meadow land a man hath he shall work one day.


"3d. Every man who shall neglect to make all fences appertaining to his fields by the 24th of April shall forfeit five shillings (Nov. 19th, 1639)."


An important road, laid out in 1648, was that from Watertown to the Dunster Farm, or, the " Old Con- necticut path." The records state : "Edmund Rice and Edmd Goodenow, John Bent and John Grout are appointed to lay out a way from Watertown bound to the Dunster Farm."


Another important road laid out in the first decade was that which went to Concord. In 1648, " Edmund Goodenowe is desired to treat with Concord men, and to agree with them about the laying out of the way between Concord and Sudbury." The term "laying out," as it was employed at that period, might not al- ways imply the opening of a new path, but, perhaps, the acceptance or formal recognition of an old one, which hitherto had been only a bridle-way, or mere forest foot-trail, that had been used as the most avail- able track to a town, hamlet or homestead.


Bridge-building was early attended to, and a con- tract was made with Ambrose Leech, and another with Timothy Hawkins, of Watertown, for structures to span the river at the site of the present stone bridge by the William Baldwin estate.


A grist-mill was erected by Thomas Cakebread in the spring of 1639. The following is the record con- cerning it :


" Granted to Thomas Cakebread, for and in consideration of build- ing a mill, 40 a. of upland or thereabout now adjoining to the mill, and a little piece of meadow downwards, and a piece of meadow upwards, and which may be 16 or 20 a. or thereabout. Also, there is given for his accommodation for his estate 30 a. of meadow and 40 a. of upland."


Mr. Cakebread did not long live to make use of his mill. His widow married Sergeant John Grout, who took charge of the property. "In 1643 the Cranberry swamp, formerly granted' to Antient Ensign Cake- bread, was confirmed to John Grout, and there was granted to Sargent John Grout a swamp lying by the house of Philemon Whale, to pen water for the use of the mill, and of preparing it to remain for the use of the town."


Probably the house of Philemon Whale was not far from the present Concord Road, near Wayland Cen- tre, and possibly stood on the old cellar-hole at the right of the road, north of the Dana Parmenter house. The bridge at the head of the mill-pond long bore the name of Whale's Bridge. This mill stood on the spot where the present grist-mill stands, and which has been known as Reeves', Grout's and, more recently, Wight's Mill. Some of the original timber of the Cakebread Mill is supposed to be in the pres- ent structure. The stream by which it is run is now small, but in early times it was probably somewhat larger. The dimensions of the mill are larger than formerly, it having been lengthened toward the west.


In 1640 a church was organized, which was Congre- gational in government and Calvinistic in creed. A


40


WAYLAND.


copy of its covenant is still preserved. The church called to its pastorate the Rev. Edmund Brown, aud elected Mr. William Brown deacon. It is supposed that the installation of Rev. Mr. Brown was at the time of the formation of the church. The parscuage was by the south bank of Mill Brook, on what was called " Timber Neck." The house was called in the will of Mr. Brown " Brunswick," which means "man- sion by the stream," and stood near the junction of Mill Brook with the river, a little southeast of Farm Bridge, and nearly opposite the Richard Heard place. Nothing now visible marks the spot, but both record and undisputed tradition give its whereabouts. The salary of Mr. Brown the first year was to be £40, one half to be paid in money, the other half in some or all of these commodities, viz., " wheate, pees, butter, cheese, porke, beefe, hemp and flax at every quarter's end."


Shortly after the formation of the church and the settlement of a pastor a meeting-house was built. The spot selected was at what is now the "Old Burying- ground." The building stood in its westerly part, and the site is marked by a slight embankment and a row of evergreen trees set by Mr. J. S. Draper. The house was built by John Rutter, aud the contract was as follows :


" FEBRUARY 7th, 1642.


" It is agreed between the townsmen of this town on the one part, and John Rutter on the other part, that the said John Rutter for his part shall fell, saw, hew and frame a house for a meeting house, thirty foot long, twenty foot wide, eight foot between joint, three foot between sude, two cross dormants in the house, six clear story windows, two with four lights apiece, and four with three lights apiece, and to ententise between the etude, which frame is to be made ready to raise the first week in May next. JOHN RUTTER."


"And the town for their part do covenant to draw all the timber to place, and to help to raise the house being framed, and also to pay to the said John Rutter for the said work six pounds; that is to say, three pound to be paid in corn at three shillings a bushel, or in money, in and upon this twenty seventh day of this present month, and the other three pounds to be paid in money, corn and cattle to be prized by two men of the town, one to be chosen by the town and the other to be chosen by John Rutter, and to be paid at the time that the frame is by the said John Rutter finished.


" PETER NOYSE, " BRIAN PENDLETON, " WILLIAM WARD, " WALTER HAYNES, " JOHN How, "THOMAS WHYTE."


("Town Book," p. 27.)


An act relative to the raising and locating of the building is the following, dated May, 1643: The town " agreed that the meeting-house shall stand upon the hillside, before the house-lot of John Loker, on the other side of the way; also, that every inhab- itant that hath a house-lot shall attend [the raising of] the new meeting-house, or send a sufficient man to help raise the meeting-house." The year after the contract was made a rate was ordered for the finish- ing of the house, to be raised on " meadow and upland and all manner of cattle above a quarter old, to be prized as they were formerly-Shoates at 6 shillings 8 pence apiece, kids at 4 shillings apiece."


A further record of the meeting-house is as fol- lows :


" Nov. 5th, 1645.


"It is ordered that all those who are appointed to have seats in the meeting-house that they shall bring in their first payment for their seats to llugh Gritlin, or agree with him between this and the 14th day of this month, which is on Friday next week, and those that are (deficient) we do hereby give power to the Marshall to distrain both for their pay- ment for their seats and also for the Marshall's own labor according to a former order twelve pence.




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