USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Maynard > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 21
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sudbury > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 21
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wayland > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 21
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sudbury > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland, and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 21
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wayland > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland, and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 21
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Maynard > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland, and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 21
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 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
83
MAYNARD.
In 1888 there were registered in town fifty deaths, seventy-eight births and thirty marriages. Of those who died, eight were at the time of death seventy years old or upwards, the oldest being seventy-eight, while ten were less than ten years of age.
CEMETERIES .- The town has a well-kept cemetery, called Glenwood Cemetery. It is situated at the junction of the Acton and Fitchburg highways. The first burial was of the body of Thomas H. Brooks in 1871, in which year the ground was laid out. At var- ious times the place has been beautified by the plant- ing of trees and shubbery.
Adjoining the cemetery, at the northerly corner, is a substantial tomb owned by A. Maynard. It is situ- ated upon a piece of land of about one-half acre in extent, which is surrounded with an iron fence.
A little easterly of the town's cemetery is the Cath- olic burying-ground. It is situated on the Fitchburg highway, and contains many substantial monuments and stones.
The Marlboro' Branch of the Fitchburg Railroad passes through the town, and affords good facilities for travelling and the conveyance of freight.
In Maynard are the following organizations: Ma- sonic Lodge, Good Templars' Lodge, Grand Army Post, I. O. O. F. American, I. O. O. F. Manchester Unity, Royal Society of Good Fellows, Iron Hall, Royal Arcanum, and Royal Arc.
BIOGRAPHICAL .- Amory Maynard, from whom the town took its name, was a son of Isaac and Lydia (Howe) Mayuard, and was born in the northeasterly part of Marlboro' Feb. 28, 1804. The education which he obtained in the public schools was quite limited, he having ceased attendance upon them at the age of fourteen.
For a time in early life he worked on his father's farm, but was more largely occupied in his saw-mill, which was situated on a stream that it is said " forms the channel of that basin of water known as Fort Meadow, in Marlboro', at a point where the road front Rockbottom to said town crosses the stream."
When Amory was sixteen years old his father died, and the son took charge of the property. Instead of selling the saw-mill, he did that which, perhaps, few lads of his years would have undertaken, or could have so successfully carried out, which was to take the responsibility of conducting the business alone.
This he did in a way to do credit to an older and more experienced person. So successfully did he manage the property that it increased in value, and the business gradually developed. For about a quar- ter of a century he carried on the lumber business con- nected with the mill. During this period he became widely known as a builder. He erected various houses in the neighboring towns, and at one time employed over fifty workmen.
Under his supervisiou were erected the New Eng- land Carpet-Mills.
In 1846 an act was passed by the Legislature
authorizing the city of Boston to take water from Long Pond in Wayland aud Natick, and the act con- ferred the right to construct a dam at the outlet. This action prevented the further use of the waters of Long Pond as an unlimited or unobstructed mill-power at the carpet factories of Saxonville, in the town of Framingham, and work at these places ceased. Mr. W. H. Knight, the owner, conveyed by deed to the city of Boston all his right and title to Long and Dug Ponds, and the land about them, which he had pur- chased of the Framingham Manufacturing Company, and others, which consisted, besides the water privi- lege and several dwelling-houses, of three factory buildings, all which property amounted to $150,000. Two of the factories were burned March 20, 1847.
A joint partnership was then formed between W. H. Knight and Amory Maynard for carrying on the carpet business at what is now Maynard. The com- pany was formed in 1846, and the same year Mr. Maynard went to reside in the place, and occupied the dwelling-house of Asa Smith. A factory was soon erected, which was one hundred feet long by fifty feet wide, and supplied with machinery for the manufacture of carpets and carpet yarn. Success attended the new partnership, and by the vigilance and thrift of such ownership, the business increased and became firmly established.
In 1861 and 1862 the first brick factory was erected, and there was commenced at the same time the manufacture of flannel blankets of about fifty kinds. From that time the business has steadily developed.
When Mr. Maynard went to the Assabet territory there were but few houses in the locality, among which were those of Wm. Smith, Benjamin Smith, Abram Smith, Dexter Smith, Aaron Thompson, Wm. Parker, Paul Litchfield, Ephraim Randall, Silas Brooks and Isaac Maynard. About the time of his arrival in the place as a permanant resident he began to purchase land, and from time to time added to his purchases until he became the owner of several hundred acres. For twenty years Mr. Maynard lived on Main Street, in a house opposite the main entrance to the factory. His last residence was at the home- stead on the hill, to which he moved in 1873. Such is the business career of this prominent manu- facturer.
The simple story is that the business commenced by Knight & Maynard in 1846, on the quiet banks of the Assabet River has in less than a half century developed from a property value of $150,000 to a corporation holding property to the amount of $1,500, 000. As a result of this enterprise there has arisen a new town with thrifty commercial, social and moral influence, and affording the means of a livelihood to hundreds of people. A few years ago the follow- ing statement of Mr. Amory Mayuard was pub- lished in the Boston Herald :
"Among the guests who registered at Thayer's hotel, Littleton, N. H.,
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MAYNARD.
Saturday afternoon, is the name of Amory Maynard, Esq., the widely known agent of the Assabet woolen mills at Maynard. The only peculiar fact connected with this gentleman is that the vacation he is now enjoying is the second one only that he has taken for over half a century, his first and only other one being spent in this same vicinity, the second week in Angnsl, 1822, when he drove in a wagon, alone, from his native town of Marlboro' The distance being some two hundred miles, and the time consumed in the journey being four days. At the time Mr. Maynard was eighteen years of age, Since then he has estab- lished the largest strictly woolen mill in the country. Nearly all of his time has been spent in travelling in the capacity of purchasing agent and salesman."
Mr. Maynard was not so absorbed in his mercantile business as to be unmindful of matters of a moral and religious concern. He and his wife were original members of the Evangelical Union Church of May- nard, and gave liberally for its support. Mr. Maynard died at his home March 5, 1890. He retained full possession of his faculties until his eightieth year, when he became enfeebled by a stroke of paralysis, from which he never wholly recovercd. His death was the result of an accident which occurred a short time before his death, when he was found in an nn- conscious condition at the foot of a stairway. Being left for a short time by himself, it is supposed that he attempted to go up-stairs, when his limbs failed him and he fell. The funeral took place March 8th, and the following description of the event was published in the Boston Herald of that date :
" MAYNARD IN MOURNING. "Funeral of Its Founder and Most Prominent Citizen.
" MAYNARD, March 8, 1890. This thriving village has to-day worn a funeral aspect, and well it might, for all that is mortal of Amory May- nard, the founder of the town, as well as ils! most conspicuous local tig- ure for a long period of years, has beon consigned to mother earth. Everywhere about the town emblems of mourning have been noticed. In fact, the praises of Amory Maynard are in every one's month, und nowhere were more evidences of esteem shown than among the hun- elreds of operatives who have for many years had reason to regard this venerable and worthy citizen as their friend. The mills of the Assabet Manufacturing Company, which were started by Mr. Maynard, and at the head of which concern he had so long been placed, were closed during the afternoon. All the places of business wore a Sabbath as- pect from 1 till 4 o'clock, out of the respect entertained for the de- ceased. The private service occurred at the family residence on Beech- mont, where prayers were offered. In the Congregational Church, with which Amory Maynard had been identified ever since its organiza. tion, the public funeral services occurred, and the structure was filled to overflowing. Among those who came to offer the last tribute to their friend's memory were a great many of the employes of the mills. As the funeral procession entered the church, Rev. David II. Brewer, the Congregationalist pastor of Maynard, read passages of scripture. In his remarks he traced the career of this remarkable man from the time when he started, a poor boy, in the neighboring town of Marlboro', until he had obtained that degree of success in a business way which had enabled him to found one of the leading towns of this commonwealth. The singing was by a selected quartet, composed of local talent. The closing selection was 'God be with us till we meet again.'"
Old business associates from New York, Boston and other localities were present at the funeral services. The remains were taken for their last rest- ing-place to the beautiful family tomb at Glenwood, which Mr. Maynard constructed years ago.
NATURAL FEATURES .- The scenery of Maynard is beautiful, and perhaps unsurpassed in this part of the State. It has a good variety of objects, each of which
adds a charm to the diversified surface, and con- tributes something to the beauty of the landscape.
There are tlie streams, hills, forests and dales ; while here and there the little brooklets sparkle and flash as they speed on their way.
Green pastures stretch out in acres of luxuriant grass, verging in some places to the broad, smiling meadow-lands, and in others reaching up the hill slopes to the very top. Upon these fields hierds of cattle find bountiful feed, and by them the town is supplied with rich dairy products. About 100,000 cans of milk have been raised in Maynard in a single year. A large share of this is consumed in the place ; but within a few years as many as 40,000 cans have been sent to the Boston market. Not only is the country suited for grazing, but for farming purposes in general.
The near proximity of a central village, whose population is so given to mill interests, affords oppor- tunity for the market gardener to vend his produce to ready and substantial customers, and furnishes, on the other hand, safe patrons to the Maynard shop- keepers for the disposal of their dry-goods and groce- ries. Maynard has thus become a small commercial community of itself, dependent to an extent upon its own resources for thrift; and combines in an excel- lent measure those substantial elements that make up the thriving mannfacturing town of New England.
THE ASSABET RIVER .- A prominent feature of the town's scenery is the Assabet River, which takes a winding course through the territory. It enters May- nard by the Dr. Wood's Bridge, and passes along what may be termed the smaller Pompositticut Hill to the mill dam. At this point its waters are turned from their original course into an artificial channel, and conducted to the mill pond, where they afford power for the factories.
The pond helps make a fine village scenery. Like a little lake in a park, it is alike for the benefit of rich and poor, as they gaze on its surface on a hot summer day, or watch it sparkle and flash in the sun's rays in the early spring or late fall.
In winter it is a place of amusement for the many merry school children as they skim over its frozen surface with skate or sled. Beyond the factories, the waters speed on their unrestrained course to the now unused paper-mill, and from thence pass on to be again turned for a mill purpose.
Perhaps few streams of its size have in so short a dis- tance furnished power for purposes more dissimilar in character than this. Near its entrance to the town it turns aside for the manufacture of cloth; and by the aid of the highly-improved machinery of the " Assa- bet Manufacturing Company " and the skilled work- men who use it, some of the best woolen fabrics of America are produced. A little easterly it once moved the machinery of a paper-mill, which at one time furnished the material for one of the leading daily newspapers of New England, while just beyond
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MAYNARD.
its exit from the town it affords power for the manu- facture of gunpowder.
POMPOSITTICUT HILL .- Another prominent fea- ture of its scenery is Pompositticut Hill. This, like the river along one of whose spurs it flows, is a well- known landmark. As before noticed, it was a promi- nent place of rendezvous for the Indians in the early times, and it is to-day a favorite resort for lovers of fine views, and much frequented both by the towns- people and others.
'The hill is about 250 feet above the river, and situ- ated westerly of the village. It is mainly used for pasturage. On one portion are a few acres which have a young wood growth, and scattered over other parts are still standing a few specimens of the old " pasture oak," which may have stood there when the place was the " town's common land," or when possessed by "ye ancient hereditary Indian proprietors." . The " Reservoir " is on the summit ; and from this bint extends a magnificent view, dotted by a great variety of objects, and in some directions uninterrupted for several scores of miles. To the northwestward are the far-off hills of New Hampshire. Old "Monadnock " towers upward with its massive rock-crowned summit as a lone sentinel above its fellows.
In this State " Watatie," in Ashby, and " Wachu- set," in Princeton, stand out as familiar hill-tops, which are first to whiten with the early snows. To the easterly are the hills of Wayland and Waltham, prominent among which, in the latter place, is " Prospect Hill." To the southerly, in Sudbury and Framingham, is " Nobseot." The view of the inter- mediate country is grand. It outstretches in places like acres of vast intervale covered with herbage and
forest. Interspersed over the beautiful prospect are villages, hamlets and fruitful farms, threading among which are winding highways and streams.
Southwesterly is Marlboro', Westboro' and South- boro'; southeasterly, Sudbury Centre, South Sudbury and Wayland; while Lineoln is near by on the east ; to the northeasterly is Concord; and to the northerly is Acton with its Davis monument, and various vil- lages.
Nearer, and almost at the very hill's foot, is the smiling and busy village of Maynard.
Prominent in the place is the tall factory chimney and factory buildings, while about them are scattered clusters of comfortable cottages and tenement-houses, and upon the high land adjacent is the former resi- denee of Mr. Amory Maynard, the chief founder of the village, and his son, Lorenzo, the present agent of the Assabet Mills. These latter residences, are beautifully situated, surrounded by a grove of beeeh, oak and maple trees, while upon the grounds are a choice variety of shrubs and flower-bearing plants.
Pompositticut Hill has the more gradual slope to the north and west, and upon these sides are ex- cellent orchard and plow-lands. On the south side is a fertile valley and many broad aeres of fine pas- turage.
Beside the prominent landmarks now mentioned there are lesser objeets of interest and beauty, and all together give a pleasing variety, which makes May- nard and the vicinity one attractive alike to the man of business, to those seeking the retirement of a quiet rural retreat, and to the farmer and transient trav- eler.
PART IV.
Built 1878.
WAYLAND TOWN HALL AND LIBRARY
-
-
APPENDIX TO THE
ANNALS OF WAYLAND.
APPENDIX
TO
THE ANNALS OF WAYLAND.
INDIAN OCCUPATION.
BESIDES what has been stated in the historic narrative relating to Indian occupation of the Wayland territory, we would further add that various things indicate that the land lying along the Sudbury River was a favorite locality for Indian homes and hunting grounds. The river afforded an abundance and variety of fish at all seasons, and in the spring the Indians took salmon with the spear and weir. The " Rocky Falls," at Saxonville, contributed to render the stream a fine fishing resort. The low lands in the vicinity, on account of the dense thicket which would naturally cover them, would be likely to abound in game. The uplands were kept more or less free from underbrush by forest fires which were set in the fall ; but these fires did not penetrate the low, swampy places, so the game would tend to resort to them for protection, and thus furnish a favorite hunting ground. The region was adapted to afford subsistence to water-fowl. pigeons, wild turkeys and grouse, also to deer and beaver; all of which game abounded.
In various parts of Wayland evidences of Indian occupation have been found, as the collection of relics in the library, before referred to. will indicate. This collection, it may be observed, is probably but a small part of what has been gathered from within the town limits, as it is stated that many relics have been disposed of. Some of these specimens were found near the " Rice Spring" and the farm of Deacon Johnson ; some were found on the Island and on the land easterly of Farm Bridge. Relics have also been found to some extent about Bridle Point and the Old Town Bridge ; and on the Moore farm, adjoining the Abel Gleason place, a spot is shown where an Indian wigwam stood. The homes of some of the natives have been designated on pages 1, 66, and 67. It is said that Netus, in 1662, lived at Nipnax Hill, about three miles north of the plantation of Natick. He was a large land owner, and Mr. Corlett, an early school teacher of Cambridge, who instructed his son, is said to have obtained leave of the General Court " to purchase of Netus, the Indian, so much land as the said Netus is possessed of according to law ; " and, by order of the Court, Edmund Rice, Sr., and Thomas Noyes laid out to Mr. Corlett three hundred and twenty (320) acres of his land.
The "Indian Burying Ground," which was in existence before the English occupation of Sudbury, is indicative of Indian habitation about there, and perhaps of a cluster of wig- wams in that vicinity. "Indian Bridge," at West Brook (see p. 1), was early a familiar landmark, and perhaps a notable Indian crossing. At Cochituate the Indians lived probably in large numbers, as it is supposed they had a village and a fort on the westerly side of the pond. Mr. Temple. in his "History of Framingham," quotes as follows from Mr. Joseph Brown, who was born in that locality : " I have been in the old Indian fort, which stood on the highest point of the hill south of the outlet of Long Pond, a great many times. It used
.
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APPENDIX TO THE ANNALS OF WAYLAND.
to include about an acre and a half of land. A circular bank of earth with ditch outside, the whole about four feet high, enclosed it; and there was a raised mound in the centre, made, I suppose, for a lookont. There were several cellar-holes - granaries -inside the bank. It was woods all around, but this place was always bare."
Besides the Indians who were dwellers in the territory of Sudbury, doubtless there were many - especially before the great pestilence - who were accustomed to traverse these lands, drawn thither by the unusual facilities for hunting and fishing along the Musk- quetahquid.
"THE OLD INDIAN BURYING GROUND."
This is an elongated strip of land lying adjacent to the old North Burying Ground on the east, and extending several rods beyond it to the north and south. It consists of abont two acres, more or less, covered with a growth of pine and oak. Its northerly limit extends beyond the northern brow of the hill to the lower part of the glen beyond. The southern part is a narrow projection generally following the brow of the hill, skirting on the west the land of Richard Lombard. This land, from the settlement of Sudbury, has been known by tradition as the " Old Indian Burying Ground." That it was used for burial purposes at a very early date is shown by the discovery of human remains that were buried there before the memory of the oldest inhabitant, and the date of which has not been preserved. Nearly three-quarters of a century ago bones, which it is supposed belonged to several skeletons, were exhumed by some workmen who were digging gravel for repairing the road at the cause- way. They were found about four feet below the surface, by the bank on the westerly side of the southern projection. They were reinterred by order of Mr. James Draper, who, as one of the selectmen, was called to view them. It is supposed they were the remains of Indians. Nearly a quarter of a century later Mr. J. S. Draper discovered portions of a skeleton buried a few fect northerly of those just referred to. These were supposed to be the remains of a white person below middle life. Upon examination of the grave, pieces of decayed wood were found with marks upon them as of nails or screws, which indicated that the body was buried in a coffin. About midway of the southern projection are three rude, flat stones. They are placed in a horizontal position, and lie side by side. Two of them are long, as if marking the grave of adults, and one is short as if for a child. It is supposed they mark the graves of three of a family group who died about the time of the settlement. Various depressions here and there indicate that if the leaves were raked off, and the forest mold removed, a rough and uneven surface might be revealed, which would still further strengthen the tradi- tion that the whole ulot was at the time of Indian occupation a place of graves. It is also considered probable that as the settlers for some years had no church, and consequently no church-yard in which to bury their dead according to the English custom, in place of a better, they made use of the burying ground of the Indians.
"CONNECTICUT PATH."
An ancient landmark of Wayland is the "Old Connecticut Path." The probable direc- tion of this way lay along the present road from " Wayland and Weston Corner " to the " Five Paths," and from thence, northerly of Cochituate Pond, through Saxonville and South Framingham, on to Connecticut. This path was originally an old Indian trail which the natives followed in their journeyings to the Massachusetts Bay towns from Connecticut.
* By a mistake in the exact points of the compass, the writer has elsewhere made an error in the lay of the land in this cemetery. The delineation here given has been verified by the compass.
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APPENDIX TO THE ANNALS OF WAYLAND.
The English received information of it about 1630, from an expedition of Nipnet Indians who lived at what is now Woodstock, Conn. These Nipnet natives, who were called the Wabbaquassets, learning that the English living on the Massachusetts Bay shores were in want of corn, and would purchase it at a good price, there being a scarcity of that crop, carried heavy sacks of it to Boston. They probably followed a path which had long been travelled, as it is said there were several Indian villages upon it. In 1633, four Englishmen, among whom was John Oldham, of Watertown, took this trail to Connecticut in search of a suitable spot for settlement. Other Watertown people went to Connecticut, without doubt, by this same way : and they were followed, in 1635, by about sixty men, women, and chil- dren, with their horses and cattle, who took this course to reach the Connecticut valley. Some of this company fared hard ; on their return they lost their way, and must all have per- ished but for supplies obtained of the Indians. In 1636, Rev. Mr. Hooker, of Newton, and a party of about a hundred, started on this path to go from Cambridge to Hartford. They took with them cattle, upon whose milk the company to a large extent subsisted, and slept at night under the open sky. After a two weeks' journey they arrived at their destination. This path went northerly of the Charles River, through what is now Waltham Centre, to the western boundary of Watertown (Weston and Wayland Corner), from which point it was afterwards known as " the road to the Dunster Farm," which was situated east of Cochituate Pond. It is mentioned in the Sudbury Records as a way in 1643; and it was probably form- ally laid out and accepted as a town road in 1648, when, as the Records state, " Edmund Goodenow. John Bent and John Grout are appointed to lay out a way from Watertown bound to the Dunster Farm." About the time of the laying out of this road it is supposed there was an extension of the Bridle Point road along the flat easterly of Sudbury River in its course by the island (see p. 56). The existence of this rude forest trail in Sudbury terri- tory is interesting, as it may have had considerable to do with the settlement of this town ; for the lands along the Musquetaquid probably first became known to the English by travel- lers along this path. It is also interesting as being an important thoroughfare of the Indians who lived near Cochituate Pond, Rocky Falls (Saxonville), Washakamaug (South Framing- ham), and Magunkook (Ashland). The first road the Sudbury settlers made was probably the one that branched off from this path where it crossed the old Watertown boundary, and went around over the Plain; and since that time branch after branch has been made from this old forest trail.
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