USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Maynard > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 9
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sudbury > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 9
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wayland > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 9
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sudbury > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland, and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 9
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Wayland > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland, and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 9
USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Maynard > The annals of Sudbury, Wayland, and Maynard, Middlesex County, Massachusetts > Part 9
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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
Killed or mortally wounded in battle .- Horace Sanderson, John For- syth, Edwin S. Parmenter.
Died in service of disease or hardship incident to army life .- John P. Ind- son, Curtis Smith, George T. Dickey, Abel HI. Dakin, Thomas Corcoran, Hartson D. Sinclair, Thomas Smith, Cyrus E. Barker.
SUMMARY OF SERVICE .- According to Schouler, in his " History of Massachusetts in the Civil War," Sudbury furnished 168 men, which was eleven over and above all demands. He states that " four were commissioned officers. The whole amount of money appropriated and expended by the town on account of the war, exclusive of State aid, was $17,575. The amount of money raised and expended by the town during the war for State aid to soldiers' families, and repaid by the Commonwealth, was $6,199.18."
"The population of Sudbury in 1860 was 1691; the valuation, $1,043,091. The population in 1865 was 1703; the valuation, $1,052,778. The selectmen in 1861 and 1862 were James Moore, John H. Dakin, George Parmenter; in 1863, A. B. Jones, George Goodnow, H. H. Goodnough; in 1864 and 1865, Thomas P. Hurlbut, Charles Hunt, Walter Rogers. The town clerk during all the years of the war was J. S. Hunt. The town treasurer during the years 1861, 1862 and 1863 was Edwin Harrington; in 1864 and 1865, S. A. Jones.
1A sketch of Sudbury soldiers, and of the regiments in which they enlisted is given in Hudson's "History of Sudbury."
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SONANT-10 BOSTON
RESIDENCE OF Hon. C F. GERRY,
Sudbury Centre.
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Shortly after the war Sudbury's rank among the towns of the county in population was the thirty- uinth. In 1776 it was the only town in Middlesex County having a population of 2000.
BI-CENTENNIAL .- April 18, 1876, the town celc- brated what was supposed to be the two hundredth anniversary of Wadsworth's Fight at Green Hill. At early dawn a salute was fired, and a procession of " Antiques and Horribles " paraded, making a trip to South Sudbury. Later iu the day a procession of the citizens, including the school children, was formed and marched to Wadsworth Monument, which was deco- rated with the national colors. Services were held at the Unitarian Church. The oration was delivered by Professor Edward A. Young, of Harvard College.
THE GEORGE GOODNOW BEQUEST .- In November, 1884, it was voted to "accept of a donation of Ten Thousand Dollars offered the Town of Sudbury, by George Goodnow, of Boston, for the purpose of es- tablishing a fund, the income of which he desires to be used by the selectmen of said Town for the time being, to assist such citizens of the Town who are not, at the time of receiving the assistance, paupers, but who may for any cause be in need of temporary or private assistance. By motion of Rev. George A. Oviatt, the town voted that, " we do now as a town by vote express our hearty thanks to the donor of this generons Fund, assuring him of our apprecia- tion of his love of his native town, and equally of his noble desire to render aid to the needy therein. And may his sunset of life be bright to the last, and ter- minate in the day of endless light and blessedness."
March, 1885, a committee consisting of Capt. James Moore, Jonas S. Hunt, Esq., and Horatio Hunt was appointed "to confer with Rev. A. S. Hudson in re- gard to a publication of the History of Sudbury." April 6th, of the same year, the committee reported to the town the result of their interview. This was in part that the work be devoted to the annals of the town, but not any part of it to genealogy as it is usu- ally inserted in books of this kind.
April 2, 1888, the town "voted to publish not less than 750 copies of the History as written and com- piled by Rev. A. S. Hudson, and to pay him $1500 for his services in writing and superintending the publication of the work ; and that the Trustces of the Goodnow Library be a committee associated with him to have charge of the publication of the work." The town also voted at the same meeting $1500 for the publication.
ARRANGEMENTS FOR THE 250TH ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION .- At a meeting held November, 1888, the town voted to petition the Legislature for permis- sion to grant money to be expended in the observ- ance of the 250th Anniversary of the Incorporation of Sudbury. Permission having been obtained, at a subsequent meeting the sum of $300 was appropriated, and a committee was appointed to make and carry out such arrangements as would be appropriate to
the proposed celebration. The committee consisted of Jonas S. Hunt, Rufus H. Hurlbut and Edwin A. Powers, who were to co-operate with a committee from Wayland, and the joint committee were to act for the two towns.
The joint committee met at Sudbury and organ- ized with J. S. Hunt for chairman, and R. T. Lom- bard, Esq., of Wayland for secretary. The following outline of a plan was proposed, and left open, subject to change if deemed expedient before the day arrived. 1. A gathering of the children of the two towns at Wayland on the morning of September 4th, when entertainment and a collation would be furnished.
2. A return by railroad at noon to South Sudbury, when a procession will form and march to Sudbury Centre.
3. Dinner in the Town Hall.
4. Speaking from a platforn on the Common, if the day is fair, and if not, in the Unitarian Church.
5. Fireworks and music in both towns, with ring- ing of belis morning and night.
It was voted to extend an invitation to Hon. Homer Rogers, of Boston, to act as president of the day; to Richard T. Lombard, Esq., of Wayland, to serve as chief marshal, and to Rev. Alfred S. Hudson, of Ayer, to deliver the oration.
Ample opportunity was to be provided for addresses by speakers from abroad, who are expected to be present and assist at the celebration.
The programme as thus outlined was carried out. A large company gathered in the morning at Wayland, where the school children listened to addresses in the Town Hall by Rev. Robert Gordon and William Baldwin, Esq. A collation was then served to the children, after which a part of the large company went to South Sudbury, at which place a procession was formed which moved about one o'clock to Sud- bury Centre. The following is a description of the exercises at Sudbury as given in a report by a Boston daily newspaper dated September 5, 1889 :
The procession from South Sudbury to Sudbury Centre was quite an imposing one ; in fact, the occa- sion quite outgrew the expectation of its originators. The houses all along the way and through the town generally were profusely decorated.
"R. T. Lombard, chief marshal ; E. H. Atwood and A. D. Rogers, aids. Drum Major, Cyrus Roak. Fitchburg brass band, 23 pieces J. A. Patz leader Detachment of the Grand Army Post, under E. A. Carter. Boody Hook and Ladder Company of Cochiitnate, L. Dumphy com- manding.
J. M. Bent Hose Company of Cochitnate, D. W. Mitchell commanding. Capt. D. W. Ricker, with 45 mounted men. Mounted Pequot Indians from Wayland, "Spotted Thunder" command- ing.
Carriages containing invited guests, Hon. G. A. Marden, State Treas- urer ; Hon. Homer Rogers, Presideut Boston Board of Aldermen and president of the day.
Ex-Gov. George S. Boutwell.
Rev. Alfred F. S. Hudson, historian of the town. Hon. C. F. Gerry, Edward B. McIntyre, Hon. Levi Wallace, Judge
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North, Middlesex District Court, Hon. E. Dana Bancroft, Hon James T. Joslin of Hudson, Rev. Brooke Herford.
Wadsworth Guards. Thirty carriages containing citizens and guests."
Arriving at Sudbury, a balf an hour was given for rest, the Unitarian Church being decorated very handsomely and turned over to the people as a rest- ing and fraternizing spot.
The dinner was gotten up by Elgin R. James, of Waltham, who expected to feed about 500 people, but found 600 hungry ones demanding admission. The dinner was first-class in every respect, and after doing justice to it the party repaired to the green in front of the Town Hall, upon which seats bad been ar- ranged aud a very tasty stage erected, covered with bunting and surmounted by banners and glory flags and bearing the inscription " 1639 Quarter Millennial 1889."
Ou the desk was the original Bible presented to the First Church and printed at Edinburgh by James Watson, printer to the King's most excellent majesty, in the year MDCCXXII.
After music by the band, Rev. D. W. Richardson, ot Sudbury, invoked diviue blessing.
Jonas S. Hunt, chairman of the Executive Cou- mittee, welcomed fathers, mothicrs, sisterz, brothers, not forgetting " cousins and aunts," and took great pleasure in introducing a Sudbury boy as president of the day-Hon. Homer Rogers, of Boston.
After some very appropriate remarks, Mr. Rogers introduced the orator of the day, Rev. A. S. Hudson. Following the oration a poem was read by a young lady, which was written for the occasion by James Sumner Draper, of Wayland. Short addresses fol- lowed by George A Marden, of Lowell, the State Treasurer, who spoke for the United States and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Hon. William N. Davenport, of Marlboro'; James T. Joslin, of Hud- son ; Ex-Governor George S. Boutwell ; Rev. Edward J. Young, formerly a professor at Harvard College, who spoke for the clergy of 1639; Rev. Brooke Her- ford, of Boston, who spoke for "Old England," and W. H. Baldwin, who spoke for Wayland. The day closed with a concert on the Common by the Maynard Brass Band, and fireworks in the evening.
BURYING-GROUNDS .- Sudbury has at present five cemeteries within its limits-one at South Sudbury, one at North Sudbury. and three at the centre. The oldest one is at the centre. It is situated in the nortb- easterly part of the village, along the Concord Road, east of the Methodist Church. In this old graveyard for more than a century and a half what was mortal of many of the west side inhabitants was laid. Here are the names of Haynes, Hunt, Parmenter, Goode- now, Browne, Moore, Howe, Bent, Rice, Richardson, Willis, Wheeler, Joues, Puffer, Hayden, Walker and a host of others long familiar in Sudbury. Unlike some other old graveyards, the stones here are numer- ous; but though many, they do not mark all tbe
graves, which nearly cover the entire space of that "thickly-peopled ground." The enclosure is encom- passed by a substantial stone wall, which within a few years has been well repaired. The place has but little shrubbery and few trecs. Just beyond the road was the pound, near by or on the site of which the hearsc-house uow stands. Within the past few years this yard has been but little used. Now and thien the ground has been broken as the fragment of somne ancient family has found its resting-place among a group of old graves ; but these instances are fewer and farther between as time passes by, and it will probably soon ccase to be used for new burials, but remain with unbroken turf until the morning of the resurrection. It is a place of sacred associatiou, and as such has been regarded by the town's people ; es- pecially was it much visited by them during the inter- mission between the Sabbath services, when two ser- mons were preached in one day. Theu they visited tbis quiet spot, read epitapbs, talked of the past, and derived, it may be, such lessons from the suggestive scenes as were a moral and spiritual help. Along the northerly side of the yard is the Sudbury and Con- cord highway ; and ranged beside this are family tomba. One of these is that of Mr. Jolin Goodnow, the donor of the Goodnow Library. Upon others are names of old Sudbury families. Within the vard is only one tomb and that is underground and about westerly of the Plympton monument, and surmounted with a small brick-work upon which lies a slate stone, with these words :
HOPESTILL BROWN, ESQ., TOMBE, 1731.
This tomb contains the remains of descendants of Dea. William Brown, an early grantee, who once re- sided near Nobscot. The tomb was years ago ncarly full, the last burial being about 1852. This burying- ground contains several marble monuments of some considerable size. The first one was erected in 1835, and is commemorative of the Plympton famity.
Mount Wadsworth Cemetery .- This cemetery is at South Sudbury, aud formerly belonged to the Israel Howe Browne estate. It was originally quite small, and has been enlarged several times. The entrance was formerly south of Dr. Levi Goodenough's house and joined his grounds, but it was changed about the time the Wadsworth monument was erected, and now leads from the avenue that goes to the monument.
The oldest graves are near the centre of the yard. Probably for the first few years after the lot was laid out burials were less numerous than a little later, as the associations connected with the more ancient church-yard in the east part of the town would nat- urally lead to its somewhat continued use by the west side inhabitants.
A few years ago there was a small growth of trees along the avenues and about more or less of the lots, but they were recently removed lest they should de-
G. Ballard
.
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face the stones. The arch at present over the east entrance to the cemetery was erected in 1879, by Mr. Israel H. Browne over the west entrance. It was completed July, 1879.
Soon after the death of Mr. Israel H. Browne, the former owner of the cemetery grounds, his heirs sold their interest in the property to five persons, who conveyed it to the present Mount Wadsworth Cor- poration soon after its organization.
In the northeasterly corner, as it was about 1850, was the original Wadsworth grave. Because of the former existence of that grave and the present Wads- worth monument, this cemetery is of more than ordi- nary importance, and will long be visited by those interested in the history of Captain Wadsworth and his men.
Mount Pleasant Cemetery .-- The third cemetery laid out in Sudbury is at the Centre, and called Mount Pleasant. As its name suggests, it is pleasantly situ- ated on a hill, and is just north of the Common. The original name was " Pine Hill," and later it took the name of " Pendleton Hill."
The New Cemetery .- Near Mount Pleasant is a new cemetery that is owned by the town. It was pur- chased a few years ago, and has an entrance on the south to the county road, near the tomb of John Goodnow.
North Sudbury Cemetery .-- The North Sudbury Cemetery is situated upon a sunny knoll, and con- sists of one and six-tenths acres of land, formerly owned by Reuben Haynes, and purchased by a com- pany for a cemetery in 1843. It is about one-eighth of a mile from North Sudbury Village, on the country road leading from Framingham to Concord.
The Wayside Inn .-- On the Boston road through Sud- bury is the old " Howe Tavern," or the famous " Way- side Inn" of Longfellow. It was built about the be- ginning of the eighteenth century by David Howe, who, in 1702, received of his father, Samuel Howe, a son of John, one of the early grantees, a tract of 130 acres in the "New Grant" territory. During the process of constructing the house, tradition says, the workmen resorted for safety at night to the Parmenter Garrison, a place about a half-mile away. The safety sought was probably from the raids of Indians, who, long after Philip's War closed, made occasional incursions upon the borders of the frontier towns. At or about the time of its erection it was opened as a public-house, and in 1846, Colonel Ezekiel Howe, of Revolutionary fame, put up the sign of the "Red Horse," which gave it the name that it went by for years, namely, the " Red Horse Tavern." In 1796, Colonel Ezekiel Howe died, and his son Adam took the place and kept the tavern for forty years. At the death of Adam it went into the hands of Lyman, who contin- ued it as an inn until near 1866, about which time it passed out of the hands of an owner by the nanie of Howe. In the earlier times this house was of consid- erable consequence to travelers. It was quite capa-
cious for either the colonial or the provincial period, and was within about an easy day's journey to Mas- sachusetts Bay. The road by it was a grand thorough- fare westward. Sudbury, in those years, was one of the foremost towns of Middlesex County in popula- tion, influence and wealth, while the Howe family took rank among the first families of the country about. The seclusion of this quiet spot to-day is not indicative of what it was in the days of the old stage period, and when places since made prominent by the passage of a railroad through them were almost wholly or quite unknown. In the times of the wars against the Indians and French it was a common halting-place for troops as they marched to the front or returned to their homes in the Bay towns. It was largely patronized by the up-country marketers, who, by their frequent coming and going, with their large, canvas-topped wagons, made the highway past this ordinary look like the outlet of a busy mart. Stages also enlivened the scene. The sound of the post- horn, as it announced the near approach of the coach, was the signal for the hostler and housemaid to pre- pare refreshment for man and beast. In short, few country taverns were better situated than this to gain patronage in the days when few towns of the province were better known than old Sudbury. This place, noted, capacious and thickly mantled with years, is thus fitly described by Mr. Longfellow,-
" As ancient is this hostelry As any in the land may be, Built in the old Colonial day, When men lived in a grander way With ampler hospitality ; A kind of old HobgobHn Hall, Now somewhat fallen to decay."
There is now about the place an aspect of vacancy, as if something mighty were gone, and very appropri- ate are still further words of the poet Longfellow :
" Round this old-fashioned, quaint abode Deep silence reigned, save when a gust Went rushing down the country road, And skeletons of leaves and dust, A moment quickened by its breath, Shuddered, and danced their dance of death, And, through the ancient oaks o'erhead, Mysterious voices moaned and fled. With weather-stains upon the wall, And stairways worn, and crazy doors, And creaking and uneven floors, And chimneys buge and tiled and tall."
The region about this old ordinary corresponds to the building itself, reminding one of the Sleepy Hol- low among the highlands of the Hudson described by Washington Irving. It is on the edge of the plain lands of the Peakham District, just at the foot of the northernmost spur of Nobscot Hill. To the west- ward, a few rods, is the upper branch of Hop Brook, with its faint fringe of meadow lands, over which the county road gently curves. In the near neighbor- hood are patches of old forest growth, whose tall
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trees tower upward like sentinels in the view of passers along the county road. Indeed, so aptly does Mr. Longfellow describe the place where the house is situated that we quote further from his beautiful verse :
" A region of repose it seems, A place of slumber and of dreams, Remote among the wooded hills ! For there no noisy railroad speeds Its torch-race, scattering smoke and gleeds."
Along the highway to the eastward, in the direction of South Sudbury, which from this place is about two miles distant, are still standing several ancient oaks. These trees were, doubtless, standing and had consid- erable growth when lot number forty-eight was of the towu's common land, and owned by Tantamous and others who signed the Indian deed in 1684, by which the new grant lands were conveyed. Beneath them Washington and his retinue passed, and perhaps Wadsworth and Brocklebank when they sped in haste to save Sudbury from Philip, aud a long procession of travelers, since the opening of the way to Marlboro' from the Hop Brook mill, has passed under their venerable shade. Soldiers to Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and the various expeditions to the west and north in the Revolutionary and French and Indian Wars, have halted in their march as they approached this picket-line of ancient oaks that were deployed at the approach to the inn.
THE SUDBURY RIVER .- The Indian name of this stream was " Musketahquid," meaning grassy mead- ows or grassy brook. It was also called the "Great River." It takes its rise in Hopkinton and Westboro', the branch from the latter towu having its source in a large cedar swamp. Passing through Framingham, it enters Sudbury on the southeast, and forms the boundary line between it and Wayland. After leav- ing the town, it runs through Concord and borders on Lincoln, Carlisle and Bedford, and empties into the Merrimack River at Lowell. It is made use of for mill purposes at Framingham and Billerica.
Within the present century iron ore dug in town was laden in boats at the Old Town Bridge and taken to Chelmsford.
The width of this river where it enters the town is about fifty feet; where it leaves the town it is about two hundred feet ; at the latter place it is one hun- dred and fourteen feet above low water-mark at Bos- ton. Its course is very crooked, seldom running far in one direction, but having many sharp curves. The banks are quite bare of shubbery, except the occasion- al bunches of water brush that here and there assist in tracing its course. Fish abound in this river, of which the more useful and commonly sought are the pickerel ( Esox reticulatus), perch (Perca flavescens), bream or sunfish (Pomotis vulgaris), horned (Pime lo- duscatus), and common eel (Anguilla tenuirostris). The kind most sought for the sport in taking is the pickerel. Indeed, Sudbury River has become some-
what noted for the pastime it affords in pickerel fish- ing. Specimens weighing a half dozen pounds are sometimes caught.
There is an old tradition in connection with the river meadows given as follows by an old inhabitant : " An old tinker used to go about the country with his kit of tools, mending brass and other wares, and wassup- posed to have accumulated some money, and, the say- ing was, turned up missing, and no one seemed to know what had become of him. Very soon afterwards per- sons passing near the meadows could distinctly hear the old tinker busy at his work tinkering, and the sound would follow along beside them in the evening, but would not pass beyond the meadows, and my grandmother used to tell many stories to the younger ones of the family how bevies of young people would go down to the meadows to hear the old tinker-per- haps he would not be at work, and some one would say, 'I guess the old tinker isn't at work to-night,' and in an iustant, very like, he would strike up, and then they would surround him-but no-he would strike up in another place and so forth and so on. Sometimes they would ask or suggest that he had got out of brass, and the sound would come as if he had thrown a whole apronful. This thing lasted for years, at last an old lady died near the meadows, and the sound followed along beside the funeral procession as long as it went beside the meadows, and this was the only instance of his working in the day-time, and no tinkering was heard afterward."
The horned pout may be caught almost at the rate of a peck in an evening, when the water and season are right. The fisherman simply ties his boat to a stake in a suitable place, perhaps some quiet, snug nook where the waters are still, and on a warm night in late spring or summer, between the mosquitoes and pouts his time will be fully occupied.
In early times the river abounded in fish now un- known in its waters. Of these were the alewives, sal- mon and shad. The obstructions caused by the dam at Billerica long ago prevented these valuable fishes from ascending the stream, and petitions were early presented to the General Court to have the obstruc- tion removed on account of the fisheries. Shattuck informs us that at certain seasons fish officers of Con- cord went to the dam at Billerica to see that the sluice- ways were properly opened to permit the fish to pass, and he states that the exclusive right to the fisheries was often sold by the town; the purchasing party having a right by his purchase to erect what is called a weir across the river to assist in fish-taking.
A chief characteristic of this river is its slow-mov- ing current, which in places is scarcely perceptible at a casual glance. The slowness of the current is supposed to be occasioned by various causes, any one of which may, perhaps, be sufficient, but all of which at present doubtless contribute something to it. The chief reason is its very small fall, which may be occasioned by both natural and artificial causes.
MEMORIAL CHURCH,
South Sudbury.
See page 35.
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IN 1889 the Union Evangelical Church received a legacy from the estate of Miss Mary Wheeler, of South Sudbury, and on May 14th, 1890, it be- came an incorporated organization, taking the name of " The Memorial Church," in memory of the donor of the legacy. Soon after the incorpora- tion of the church, the "society " or " parish " transferred to it the Congregational Chapel at South Sudbury, and the land upon which it stood, together with the Moses Hurlbut estate adjoining to it, which had been used as a parsonage. On the 19th of May, the church voted to build a new meeting-house on the land lately conveyed to it by the parish. A contract for the building was made with Wells & Tuttle, of South Framingham, and work was commenced on the structure the same year, and so far completed that, by the middle of the following December, the bell and organ were moved from the old meeting-house and placed in the new one. The money appropriated for the work was the "Wheeler Fund," together with several thousand dollars that were raised by sub- scription. The amount of money received from the Mary Wheeler legacy was $4,500. The sum actually donated, or specified in the will, was $5,- 000. The reduction of $500 was occasioned by some complications that occurred in the settlement of the estate.
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