USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Concord > The history of Concord, Massachusetts > Part 15
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The earliest inland villages of the Massachusetts Bay Colony were created by necessity; inasmuch as the court
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compelled the first settlers to keep within a circumscribed area ; as soon however as restraint was removed, a portion of them bounded away, as if their nature was more centri- fugal than centripetal. After bounding off they again cen- tralized; the result of which was the formation of new villages which became the centers of new towns. That this tendency affected the people of Concord in common with those of other places is indicated by the establishment of the various villages which became the nucleuses of prospective townships, as that of Concord village (Acton), the Blood farms (Carlisle), the Flint estate (Lincoln). There was left however, in almost every instance, about the first spot of settlement, a faithful home guard of houses that never for- sook it, and which by common consent was ever his- torically considered "the middle of the town," whether the geographical center or not. Exceptions there are, notable among which are Londonderry, N. H., Groton, and Sud- bury of this state. It is true that a village was sometimes deflected slightly from its original site, but it seldom went far, and like a stream the waters of which change but the identity of whose channel is not disputed, so the first "middle of a town" usually keeps its prestige as the origi- nal center.
In the equipment of the early village there was a com- pleteness which assured to every inhabitant all that was necessary for a comfortable living. There was the doctor, the squire or justice of the peace who was sometimes a lawyer, a blacksmith, shoemaker, carpenter, wheelwright, and sometimes a gunsmith, tailor, tanner, brewer and cooper these, with a store, tavern, meeting house, and school, constituted the mechanical, mercantile and professional make-up of the average village. The representatives of these several crafts and callings made or kept in stock everything essential to personal attire, and house and farm furnishing ; in short, to life and death, to birth and burial.
The doctor acted as druggist, and obtained his herbs from his own garden or from the neighboring fields and
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forest. Some of these herbs were black hellebore, great bryony root, clown's all-heal, jalap, scammony and snake root. He obtained his leeches from the pond. His pills, powders and other compounds he prepared with mortar and pestle. He rode horseback with saddle bags in which he carried his medicines; and there was usually about him a strong odor of the "study," as he called his office. In this "study" and arrayed on shelves were various jars, vials, and crude instruments for cupping, surgery, and extracting teeth ; for he was dentist as well as doctor. Some early practitioners, supposed to be skilled in surgery, were styled "chirurgions," and sometimes served as barbers as well as bone setters, in which case they were sometimes called "barber surgeons."
Among the earlier remedies prescribed were "A Wild Catt's skin on ye place grieved ;" this for pain in the heart or limbs; and charcoal made from burnt toads as a pre- ventive of small-pox and fevers. Cotton Mather mentions the efficacy of a dead hand for scattering wens; he also speaks of the healing virtue of sowbugs. Prescription : "Half a pound putt 'em alive into a quart or two of wine ; dose - two ounces taken twice a day." Such remedies were in accord with the practice of physicians in England at that day ; for it is stated that there was forced upon Charles the Second when upon his deathbed a volatile salt extracted from human skulls. Almost, if not quite, within the mem- ory of the present generation, in a town adjacent to Con- cord, pills made from ashes obtained from burning a human heart have repeatedly been administered as a cure for con- sumption.
The price charged for medical service may be seen from the following bill charged to the town of Sudbury by its physician in 1755 :
"For medicine and attendance for the French Neutrals from Nova Scotia.
"1755, Dec. 11 - To Sundry Medicines for French young woman - 27 - To Do for girl 6d.
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1756, Mar. 22 -To Sundry Medicines and Journey in the night west side the River-0-5-8.
To Sundry Medicines Journey west side 0-4-0."
The doctor was careful about his attire; and is described as going forth, when not on horseback, in a sulky or calash dressed in a long coat with full skirts above a low-setting waist-coat; his small clothes met at the knees silken stock- ings which were secured with brightly burnished buckles. He wore a cocked hat above a powdered wig. It was con- ducive to his success to be a man of wealth or influence. He obtained his knowledge of medicine by riding with an old physician ; and though he might only brush off his horse or pound his herbs, he could obtain a license and practice medicine. The indications are that the town of Concord was more favored in its physicians than most towns, in that for the most part they were educated men. The following are some of the physicians of Concord in the first century :
Dr. Philip Read, who, the historian Wolcott says, wrote himself: "Physition," married the daughter of Richard Rice and settled in the east part of the town. He prac- ticed in Cambridge, Watertown and Sudbury. In 1670, he was fined twenty pounds because he compared Rev. Peter Bulkeley as a preacher with the Rev. Joseph Esta- brook in a manner which was thought to be unwarranted.
Dr. Jonathan Prescott, who was born Apr. 5, 1677, and died Oct. 28, 1729. His epitaph says of him : "A gentle- man of virtue and merit. An accomplished physition, but excelling in chirurgery. Of uncommon sagacity, penetration and success in practise, and so of very extensive service."
Dr. Joseph Lee, born in Concord Oct. 16, 1680 ; died Oct. 5, 1736. He lived on the estate formerly occupied by Joseph Barrett, Esq.
Dr. Alexander Cummings, who came to Concord about 1726.
Dr. John Prescott, who was a son of Dr. Jonathan Pres- cott. He was greatly esteemed for his professional skill.
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Dr. James Minot who was at Concord about 1680, and died Sept. 2, 1735. Shattuck says : "He practised physic." His epitaph states among other things : "Excelling Gram- marian. Enriched with the Gift of Prayer and Preaching. A Commanding Officer. A Physician of Great Value." Shattuck also says he married Rebecca, daughter of Tim- othy Wheeler, and lived on the estate left by his father-in- law near Capt. Stacy's. They had ten children, the eighth and ninth being twins and named Love and Mercy.
Dr. Able Prescott, who was a brother of John Prescott was born April 7th, 1718, and died October 24, 1805. His practice at Concord was large and extended to adjoin- ing towns. He lived, says Shattuck, in a house formerly occupied by Capt. Moore.
Dr. Abiel Heywood who was a son of Jonathan Hey- wood and began practice in Concord in 1790. He was prominent not only as a physician, but as a citizen, being appointed as a justice of the peace, a special judge of the court of common pleas and an associate justice of the court of assistants.
As it is not our design to publish the more modern his- tory we pause here in our list of distinguished names, ob- serving as we do so, that in the medical as well as in the legal profession, as we shall see, Concord in later times has had associated with it names that are illustrous not only locally but in history at large.
The early magistrate was a justice of the peace, but not usually an "attorney at law" after the modern acceptance of the term. He was authority in legal matters, a convey- ancer, settled estates and was sometimes "appointed to join persons in marriage."
He wrote wills and read them on the return from the grave after a funeral. He was a legal advisor, and was looked up to as a man next to the minister. The very early magistrates are to be distinguished from those who came later; for the law was but poorly represented by practitioners in Massachusetts as far down as into the Pro-
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vincial period. Even the judges were not all learned, and any person though a layman could plead in the courts with- out a license ; for licenses setting forth one's competence were not then issued. Common law pleadings were ignored through ignorance and there were few or no specific statutes on the subject of practice. Court sessions were many of them farces and the jury system was not infrequently a mere mockery. In short there was little to correspond to the exact and orderly manner of conducting the courts at the present day. It is said that Judge Lynde, who was appointed to the Superior Court in 1712, was the first judge trained for the bench. History also informs us that English barristers who had been fitted for that profession found little favor in this country, because here any one might plead the cause of another.
In process of time however the light of greater learning shone upon both the bench and bar; and it may perhaps be said with truthfulness that the progress of medicine from a low art to a masterful science is no more pronounced than the strides forward in the profession of law. In passing, it may be proper to state, that the low condition of the bar- rister's calling was not due wholly to the absence of any desire for litigation, for dissention and the spirit of strife were then it may be more rife than now, and cases were commenced and continued in bitterness that today per- haps would be settled by easy compromise ; all of which shows that a learned legal profession tends to discourage rather than promote law suits.
The first lawyer whom we hear of as being a practitioner at Concord is John Hoar. As his character was some- what unique and perhaps sometimes picturesque and as he was connected with an important event in King Philip's In- dian war, we will give more than a passing mention of him.
John Hoar, tradition states, was the son of a wealthy banker of London, who came to Boston where it is sup- posed he died not later than about the middle of the 17th century, his wife, Joanna, dying at Braintree about 1661.
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He was the youngest of five children and we first hear of him in Scituate, where he "bore arms" as early as 1643.
While in Scituate he owned land on the west side of Musquashcut pond, which land in 1658, adjoined the farm of Gen. Cudworth. That John Hoar practiced law before going to Concord is indicated by the fact that while in Scit- uate he not only actively engaged in town business, but drew legal documents for the people, as deeds, bonds, etc. His father's family was substantial and gifted, as is shown in the career of John, Jr., in the marriage of his daughters and in the appointment of his son Leonard to the presi- dency of Harvard College.
While John Hoar was at Concord he owned over three hundred acres of land situated beyond the Assabet river and near Annursnuc in the west part of the town. The greater part of this property he conveyed about 1671, to Edward Wright, and received as a consideration land in the East quarter and also "all the right, title and interest which Edward Wright of Concord aforesaid, husbandman, has or shall have in and to certain houses, lands and heredita- ments, etc.," in the Lordship of a Castle in the county of Warwick in the kingdom of England. As a lawyer he was distinguished for bold and independent action and his outspoken opinions sometimes got him into trouble. His conduct in defending the Christian Indians and protesting against their unjustifiable exile to Deer island in Boston harbor in 1675-6, furnishes strong ground for the supposition that his purposes were philanthropic, and that he would assert them even if persecuted therefor.
The following is an abstract of Leonard Hoar's will :
"To daughter Bridget £200 at 21 or nonage with her mother's consent. To my brother Daniel, whose real and perpetual kindness I can never remunerate, my stone signet and my watch. To my dear brother John a black suit. To my dear sisters Flint and Quinsey each a black serge gown. To Cousin Josiah Flint out of my Library, Roua- nelli Bibleotheca. To my Cousin Noah Newman, Aquina's
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sermons, and to them both the use of books of mine to return them on demand, my medical writings to my wife's custody, till some of my kindred addicted to those studies shall desire them, and especially John Hoar's or any other of my brothers or sisters' sons and grandsons."
It had been arranged that upon leaving the home of Goodman Heywood we should return to William Hart- well's to finish our visit; and as he had sent us word the day previous that he would meet us at the mill we were there early.
We found Miller Buss quite busy that morning tending the "bolter," a rude sifting wheel that was separating the bran from some guinea wheat; and also looking after the corn grist that was slowly jolting from the hopper.
Not caring to interrupt the miller, we strolled out by the willows and reviewed the events of the previous day and also recalled the facts which our late host had given us con- cerning his family history.
As the Heywood family is a conspicuous one in the his- tory of Concord, we will leave our story for a little time to give some facts relating to it.
Shattuck says of the Hayward family: "The name has been written Heaward, Heywood and Howard, and although several now (1835) bear the last name, they all originated from a common ancestor. Heywood is a dis- tinct name. George Hayward came here in 1635; died March 29, 1671; his wife died in 1693; estate £506; children, Mary, married Richard Griffin; John, Joseph, Sarah, Hannah, Simeon, George, and perhaps others." The same writer says of the Heywood family : "John was here before 1659; married Rebecca Atkinson in 1656, and had John and Benoni. His wife died in 1665 and he mar- red again Mary Simonds. He died Jan. 11, 1707." John Heywood was the ancestor in this country of distinguished descendants. John, Jr., was an early deacon in the Con- cord church, and one of his sons, Samuel, who married Elizabeth Hubbard in 1710, was a deacon and town clerk.
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John Heywood, Sr., died Jan. 2, 1718, and Samuel, Oct. 28, 1750.
The only records preserved among the vital statistics of Concord down to 1654, relating to the name as spelled either way are the following: "John the sonne of George Heyward was borne 20-10-1640. Joseph the sonne of George Heyward was born the 26-1-1643. Sara the daughter of Georg & Mary Heywood (this it is said should be Hayward) borne 22-3-1645. Hannath the daughter of George & Mary Hayward the 20-2-1647. Simon the sonne of George & Mary Hayward the 22d-11-1648."
The historian Walcott states ; "The location of the first house lots of George Hayward and Michael Wood I have been unable to fix, but am inclined to believe that they were on the north and west sides of the Common."
"George Hayward at an early date sold his house, barn and land near the mill pond to Mr. Bulkeley and built a house and corn mill at the southwest. John Heywood bought Thomas Dakin's house and barn."
In 1676, John Heywood was a constable, and in 167- the selectmen requested that John Heywood might be allowed "to keep a house of entertainment for strangers for nights' lodgings, beer and sider," and two years later "John Haywood ordinary keeper at Concord renewed his license" and was allowed "to retaile strong water to travellers & sick persons upon giving bond."
As we left the village it was with regret that we could stay no longer, for its sweet savor and its pleasant people made us reluctant to depart, notwithstanding our desire to visit other places. When however we saw the cheery countenance of Goodman William Hartwell we bounded buoyantly on the ox cart with the cleverness of an athlete, for the farm fare was beginning to make us feel boyish. He had been to mill the week before and the pond being low he had left his grist : he was now taking it home to- gether with some belonging to his neighbors, and the bags piled high behind us formed a back : but as we rode on a
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"dead ex" and the East quarter road was stumpy it was at a slow pace and with much jolting that we got over the ground.
So uneven was the way that one of the bags fell off and the string becoming untied the contents were spilled. As the meal lay strewn over the road, the importance of this staple commodity to the people of Concord in the earlier stages of its settlement was suggested, and when Goodman Hartwell was reseated we plied him with questions concern- ing the corn crop. Since corn culture was of consid- erable consequence to the New England colonists we will pause in our story and state a few facts relating to it as we have found them in record or history.
To an extent the early corn fields were cultivated by neighborhoods and were termed "common plant- ing fields." A tract of land was set apart and the work of tilling it apportioned to a certain number of the inhabitants living near; but the principle upon which the planters proceeded in the work we have not ascertained. It might have varied. Perhaps in some cases the fence was made in common, and each man had space assigned him in the enclosure proportionate to his original investment in the town's territory ; this space he may have cultivated and had exclusive ownership of the crop. In another case all might have shared equally in the work and in the crop : but as to the manner of distribution of the corn and the fodder in the latter case and where and when it took place, we know not. Some of the planting places were old Indian fields, which had long been used, some were virgin soil which had been newly cleared and burnt over. Tradi- tion or record have located some of these fields in Con- cord, Shattuck describes them as "The Great fields extend- ing from the Great meadows on the North to the Boston road on the South and down the river considerably into the present limit of Bedford, and up the river beyond Deacon Hubbard's and the extensive tract between the two rivers contained large quantities of open land, which bore some
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resemblance to the prairies of the western country. These plains were annually burned or dug over for the pur- pose of hunting and the rude culture of corn."
It is perhaps hardly to be supposed that more than a comparatively small portion of the above described terri- tory was used for planting purposes either by the Indians or whites at any one time, but that here or there small patches such as were most available were selected for culti- vation. The following is a record concerning the "com- mon planting fields" as late as 1672, and is given as one of seventeen articles of instruction to the selectmen of Con- cord, of whom William Hartwell was one :
"7-To take order that all corne fields be sufficently fenced in season - the crane field and brick'll field espe- cially."
"8-that incougement be given for the destruction of blackbirds and jays."
A paper dated March Ist, 1690-91, which was signed by forty-one persons who were owners of the "Great Fields," contained an agreement that these fields should be enclosed with one fence and cultivated upon equitable con- ditions. The soil of these fields was at first largely broken up by hoes and of this and the use of corn by the settlers, Johnson in his "Wonder Working Providence" wrote as follows in 1654: "Standing stoutly to their labors and tare up the roots and bushes which the first yeare bears them a very thin crop till the soard of the earth be rotten and therefore they have been forced to cut their bread very thin for a long season * but the Lord is pleased to provide for them a great store of fish in the spring time and especially Alewives about the bignesses of a herring. Many thousands of these they used to put under their Indian corn which they plant in hill five foot assunder, which assuredly when the Lord created this corn he had a speacell eye to supply these his peoples wants with - ordi- nary five or six grains doth produce six hundred." That Indian corn was the main staple is evident from what John-
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son still farther states : "The want of English graine, wheate, barley and rie proved a sore affliction to some stomaks, who could not live upon Indian bread and water, yet were they compelled to till cattell increased and the plows could but goe."
The corn fields had many enemies both beasts and birds ; more prominent among the former being perhaps the bear, raccoon, wolf and squirrel. The bear may have been attracted by the sugar in the corn ; the wolf dug for the alewives ; the raccoon relished the young and tender ker- nels, and in its maturer stages the squirrel sought it to lay away for winter use. The birds that partook of the crop were principally the crows, jays and blackbirds.
The Colonial towns passed laws for the protection of the cornfields. An order in a town adjacent to Concord was as follows dated 1651 : "That whoso shall take pains by nets, guns, line or otherwise to destroy common offensive blackbirds * * * shall be paid for every dozen of heads that are brought to any public town meeting six pence in the next town rate."
In 1654, in the same town it was enacted that a person who killed a woodpecker or jay might receive one penny, for killing a fox within the town's precincts one shilling and six pence, and for a wolf ten shillings.
Laws were passed early by the towns with regard to the fencing of these cornfields. Fence viewers or surveyors were appointed who among other things, were to judge of the sufficiency in case of damage and difference ; and the time was sometimes specified at which the fence must be cared for. In one instance mention is made "of good rails well set three feet and one-half high or otherwise good hedge well staked or such fences as would be an equiva- lent ; the fences to be attended to by April Ist if the frost give leave if not ten days' after."
It was also ordered by the same town that all the fences that were in general fields should be shut up by the tenth of May "or else to forfeit for every rod unfenced five shil-
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lings." Ditches were sometimes made use of for fencing purposes ; and there are now or were until recently in ter- ritory about Concord vestiges of old ditches upon uplands where ditches for draining purposes were unnecessary. It is not improbable that upon the ditch banks stakes were set for additional protection.
But notwithstanding the difficulties attendant upon corn culture, there remained for the farmer rich results and he was greatly cheered as he patiently plodded through the long, warm days of May and June, seeding, weeding and hilling as he thought of the plenteous October harvest, of its merry huskings and of well filled bins.
CHAPTER XX.
Goodman Baker's Husking Party - Colonial Corn Fields - Invitations - Culinary Preparations - Red Ears - Social Sports - Fireside Talk of the Old Folks -Sign Seen by Betsey Billings - Origin of New England witchcraft - Recital of Strange Event by Simeon Slowgo -Story of Tilly Temple - The Surprise - Early Judicial Attitude Toward Witchcraft - Efforts of the Clergy for its Aboli- tion.
A S these huskings were great occasions let us suppose that we attended one of them, and that the follow- ing description fairly represents one of these Fall festivals.
It is in the East quarter, and the Great fields lie warm in the dry October atmosphere. Partridges in full flocks are shyly basking on their outskirts, and occasionally a red deer ranges by the fence side as if furtively to snatch a stray stalk.
The plaintive call of the quail is here and there heard, coaxing together its scared bood, which has become scat- tered by the swoop of a hen hawk. Over the meadows the ducks fly. Nuts drop in the woods. Upon the nearer tree-tops the crows caw as if prematurely lamenting the loss of their feeding grounds, and the falling foliage of a thou- sand forest trees announces that the time has come for the ingathering of the corn crop.
For several days the farmer has been busily at work gathering in those concomitants of the corn fields, which in his estimation almost as surely go with them as the husk with the corn. There were the stooks of tall, tasseled
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stalks, as fragrant when he cut them as flowers on a June morning, and which have stood for weeks at the sides and corners of the field like kind sentinels to guard things within it; the plump pumpkins with bright, golden rinds giving promise of many pies; and the dry bean heaps whose pods bursting with their grinning contents bespeak the Saturday supper and Sunday breakfast.
Besides these things that grew in and about the planting field there were divers loads of white turnips, called also English turnips whose green, outspreading leaves and purple tops were still untinged by the frost, and which pro- fusely scattered throughout the whole cornfield indicated how well the ground was utilized.
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