USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Concord > The history of Concord, Massachusetts > Part 23
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It is forther agreed that every pson shall have som, quantity of upland adioyning to his medow, where it is in Comon except som more then ordenary ocation may hen- der it, and in Case any defarence be therein ; it is to be ended by indeferent men ; and this is to be pt of there second devition ;
It is agreed that second devitiones shall not hender, heighwayes to menes propriaties that they have in pticolers, but they shall be inioyed without charge of purchies to be layed out by indeferent men ;
It is agreed that all those that have grants of lands given them, shall have three acres for one as others have."
Of the second division, Shattuck says,
"The town met several times to consider in what new manner this division should be made. On the 2nd of Jan. 1654, it was voted to divide the town into three parts or quarters, and to have the lands first divided into the quar- ters; but this was not entirely satisfactory to the inhabi- tants. "Much uneasiness," say the Records, "took place before the system was matured." On the 8th of March, 1654, "at a publique training", nine men were chosen, "three out of each quarter, empowered by the town to hear and end former debate, according to their best light, and discretion, and conscience : only eight of the nine must agree to what is determined, or else nothing be of force ; and none voted to the contrarie, but Georg Wheeler, Henry Woodis, Joshua Edmands, William Buttrick, and Thomas Stow." The labors of this committee resulted in the following agreement :
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"We whoes names are under written conclude that 20 acres of meadow shall be reserved for a minister in the Hogepen-walke about Annursnake, and 20 acres of plow- land out of the south quarter, and 20 acres of woodland in the east quarter. We agree also that 20 acres of woodland shall be reserved for the public good of the towne lying neer the old hogepen, at each side of the townes bounds line. - That some particular persons shall have some inlargement, who are short in lands, paying 12 d. per acre, as others have don, and 6d. per acre, if the towne consent thereto :- the persons are as follow : Georg Wheeler 20 acres; Obadiah Wheeler 20 acres; Michel Wood 12 acres ; Thomas Daken 10 acres; Thomas Bat- man 15 acres ; Bapties Smedly 14 acres. These to have second divition as others have had. That all pooremen in the towne that have not commons to the number of four, shall be allowed so many as amounts to foure with what they have already, till they be able to purchase for them- selves, or untill the townsmen shall see cause to take it from them, and bestow it on others that want: and we mean those poore men, that at the present are household- ers. And upon these conditions and those that follow, the Hogepen-walke is resigned up to the north quarter."
By the several divisions and allotments a large part of the towns territory was early disposed of. Some however remained for years undivided, and of this latter were several large strips which belonged to each of the Quarters, the Great Fields; and a tract in the vicinity of the Bate- man Pond containing about four hundred acres and formerly known as the "Twenty Score", a name derived from the area of the reservation.
Years after land matters had largely been adjusted, here and there was found remaining a lone parcel that might be considered the property of the public, several of these being determined by actual survey reported upon as late as 1845, to contain about two hundred and twenty-six acres.
One of these parcels was a small island in the crotch of
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the River below Mr. Woodis's Rock where the Rivers meet ; another, a plot of a little less than an acre, reaching up stream from where the Minute Man statue is situated.
Besides the grants and allowances in which the inhabi- tants in general shared, there were allotments to individuals concerning which Walcott states :
"James Blood, father and son, received as part of their second division five hundred acres in one parcel, extending southward from the town line. Henry Woodis and Thom- as Stow jointly owned a tract of six hundred and sixty-six acres, situated south of Fairhaven and east of the river, which was sold in 1660 to Thomas Gobble and Daniel Dane for £72, and was afterwards occupied by them.
Large tracts were held for a long time afterwards by the Quarters, or by joint proprietors, in common and undi- vided ; as for instance, the "Great Fields" adjoining the Great Meadow ; and the "Twenty Score," which extended to the southward from Bateman's Pond and contained, as the name would imply, four hundred acres, and many other parcels besides, in various parts of the town."
There was also, as stated in an earlier chapter, a tract of thirty-one acres of land situated at the center of the town, granted to Rev. Peter Bulkeley in consideration of his erecting a mill "to grind the town's corn."
It would be interesting to know where all the lands thus allotted and divided were situated. To determine this, however, in every instance would be a difficult matter, for time, in many cases has left little or no trace of their boun- dary lines : but there has been preserved in the public rec- ords sufficient to determine their general location.
At a town meeting supposed to have been held at the suggestion of the selectmen and Rev. Edward Bulkeley, Thomas Brooks and Joseph Wheeler, Jan. 26, 1663, measures were taken taken for the purchase of a new town book.
The book was purchased and it was decided that "what is in the old book that is useful shall be transcribed into
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the new with all lands which men now hold" "that every man that hath not his proportion of lands laid out to him, that is due him shall gitt it laid out by artis." This was to be done by 1655 and each one was to give the town clerk a description of his land approved at a meeting of the inhabitants of the quarter in which he lived, and certified by the quarter clerk.
Referring to data afforded by the foregoing measure, Shattuck, in his History which was written in 1835, states : "From these records I have compiled the following table which gives the greater part though not all the names of the proprietors of the town at that time. The places of their residence, when known, are indicated by the names under which they now pass."
The following is the list with a change of arrangement. The estates with the names of their owners in each quarter, we have grouped together and the names of the owners at the time of Shattuck's writing are in parentheses.
NORTH QUARTER.
Widow Heald, 6 lots, 161 acres (Joshua Buttrick,) John Heald, 4 lots, 86 acres (North of Joshua But- trick). William Buttrick, 12 lots, 215 acres (Jonas Buttrick). John Flint, 9 lots, 534 Acres (John Flint). James Blood Sr. and James Blood Jr., 12 lots, 660 acres (Rev. Dr. Ripley). John Smedly, 17 lot, 668 acres (South of J. Jones). Thomas Bateman, 7 lots, 246 acres (Near R. French.) Baptise Smedly, 10 lots, 186 acres (Ephraim Brown). Humphry Barrett, II lots, 316 acres (Abel B. Heywood.) Richard Temple, 5 lots, 291 acres (Barretts Mills). John Blood, I lot, 61 acres (Near Thomas Blood). John Jones, 9 lots, 351 acres (James Jones'). Samuel Hunt, 13 lots, 277 acres. Boaz Brown, 6 lots, 86 acres (The Dakin House). Thomas Brown 14 lots, 186 acres (Reuben French.)
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SOUTH QUARTER
Joseph Dean, I lot, 22 acres (Wm. Heyden). Luke Pot- ter, 22 lots, 249 acres. John Heywood, 13 lots, 385 acres. George Haywood, 10 lots, 505 acres. Daniel Dean and Thomas Gobble, I lot, 600 acres (Jones Tavern). Henry Woodhouse, I lot, 360 acres. Joseph Barrett and Joshua Wheeler, IT lots, 77 acres (John Vose). Nathaniel Billings Jr. 7 lots, 54 acres (Amos Baker.) John Billings, 6 lots John Wheeler, I lot, 67 acres. George Wheeler, 24 lots, 434 acres (near James Adams). Edward Bulkeley, II lots, 183 acres (near Meeting House.) Samuel Stratten, 6 lots, 254 acres. ( Alms-House). Edmund Wigley 4 lots, 3 1 acres. John Miles, 23 lots, 459 acres (Josiah Davis). William Buss, 19 lots, 319 acres (Elijah Woods). Thomas Dakin, 4 lots, 87 acres. James Hosmer, 4 lots, 164 acres. Samuel Wheeler, 2 lots, 21 acres. James Smedley, 9 lots, 287 acres. John Scotchford, 10 lots, 120 acres (near Cyrus Stow) Michael Wood, 13 lots, 230 acres. (Samuel Dennis.
EAST QUARTER.
Thomas Wheeler, Sr. 16 lot, 373 acres. (Jonathan Wheeler). Francis Fletcher, 17 lots, 437 acres. Richard Rice, 3 lots, 189 acres. George Meriam, 16 lots, 239 acres (near Alms-house). Moses Wheat, 22 lots, 339 acres, (Bedford Road). Robert Meriam, 16 lots, 595 acres, (Eb. Hubbard). Ephraim Flint, 750 acres (Lincoln). Grace Bulkeley, I lot, 750 acres. Thomas Pellet and Joseph Dean, 7 lots, 244 acres. Joseph Wheeler, 29 lots, 357 acres. Joshua Brooks, II lots, 195 acres (Isaac Brooks). Caleb Brooks, 12 lots, 150 acres. Eliphalet Fox, 14 lots, 106 acres (Bedford Road). John Meriam, 8 lots, 262 acres, (Virginia Road). William Hartwell, 20 lots, 241 acres, (Bedford Road). John Hartwell, 3 lots, 17 acres, (Bedford Road). Nathaniel Ball, IT lots, 137 acres, (Bedford Road). William Taylor, 14 lots, 117 acres, (Bed- ford Road). James Farwell, 18 lots, 280 acres. Joseph
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Wheeler, 29 lots, 357 acres. William Baker, 5 lots, 43 acres.
Besides the foregoing list Mr. Walcott has also located some of the allotments, a part of which we gave in the chap- ter on early streets, and the remainder are the following together with the names of the occupants at the time of Mr. Walcott's writing, given in parentheses.
On the west side of the highway of Monument street in the direction of the North Bridge was the carly home of Humphrey Barrett, his lot containing twelve acres. (D. G. Langs.) On the same street John Jones had eight acres. (Sarah J. Prescott.) John Smedley owned ten acres to the easterly. (John S. Keyes). And James Blood and son had twelve acres at what was afterward the Old Manse estate. (Dr. Ripley).
The tract of land early granted to Rev. Peter Bulkeley which contained thirty-one acres, was situated at Concord Center and on its southerly side extended in a straight line from a point where now stands the publishing house of Albert Lane, which is the site of the Bulkeley Mill, beyond which Mill the west end of the Milldam began, and going to the corner of the Lexington highway and Bedford street, to nearly the spot where the Catholic Church stands.
On the south side of this line was a public reservation or a portion of the town's common land.
In connection with the grant of this land it was agreed that Mr. Bulkeley for the purpose of repairing his milldam should be permitted to take sand or clay from the parcel reserved for the town's use.
To the northerly the thirty-one acre grant extended in the direction of what are now Lowell and Monument streets, the latter, or a portion of it at least being then perhaps but a mere path to the home of Mr. Bulkeley and the river meadow beyond.
The strip extended westerly to the Millbrook, and east- erly to the hill.
Soon after the death of Rev. Peter Bulkeley which
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occurred March 9, 1659, his widow conveyed the entire tract to Capt. Timothy and George Wheeler; and in 1687, the former by bequest left to the town a large portion of the land for schools and a training field.
By this gift the town's common land at the center was made to comprise, with the exception of the mill privilege, and perhaps here and there a small strip, all the territory intermediate between the brook and the top of the hill east and west ; north to the present Colonial House; and to the south as far as the premises now owned by the First Parish.
Thus by the accession of the newly acquired territory by the Wheeler bequest, the town obtained an unin- terrupted space for public purposes, and the place already occupied by the meeting house, the burying ground, the pound, the whipping post and the stocks was made a part of a large tract which was afterwards to contain the schoolhouse and training field and still later the pres- ent public square upon or about which have been erected the Middlesex Hotel, the Catholic Parsonage, the Masonic Hall, and the Soldier's Monument. The collateral events connected with this combination of public property are of much interest.
The town, after the acquisition of its new territory had ample encouragement to improve it. Soon the "Little Strate Strete" of which mention has been made so often was no longer to have the land between it and the milldam disfigured by the gaping gravel or clay pit, but by some adjustment or exchange of rights, the work of removing earth from the place near the meeting house for mill repairs ceased, and gravel was taken from the hillside at a point between the town house and the Catholic church until the hill was dug through, and by the continuation of the way so opened the present Bedford street was made. Nor was this all the alteration of the central village in the vicinity of its prospective public square. Gradually the old foot-path over the milldam by the south west corner became a nec-
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cessary way to the tavern, the store, and the road westerly beyond the mill brook. From a foot-path it became a cart- way, and from this it developed into a county road; so that perhaps soon after the middle of the 18th century the town folks from the East Quarter were no longer obliged to drive their vehicles around by way of Potter's bridge at the head of the millpond an eighth or a quarter of a mile south, but could pass over a convenient causeway at the dam, while those from the opposite Quarter could drive direct to the meeting house without any detention at the milldam, at which place it is said, the west side people for- merly dismounted from their wagons on Sunday that they might walk to the house of worship while the team drove around over Potter's bridge.
CHAPTER XXX
Successive Ownership of Land Grants - Historic Sketch of the Major Simon Willard Farm at Nashawtuc - Change of Occupants of Old Estates.
N EXT in point of interest to a knowledge of the location of the allotments is a knowledge of their successive ownership ; but to obtain this in every case would not be easy if indeed it were possible. Some of them probably changed ownership in a very few years and some were doubtless soon divided up between several owners.
During the town's second decade many new settlers arrived, and as fresh ships entered the ports of Massachu- setts Bay and the passengers found the older townships largely occupied, they pushed back into the interior. As Concord had meadows and was the first settlement beyond tide water, so it would naturally receive its due share of the new comers, and would sell them portions of their estates.
It is true there are instances where farms descended from sire to son with all the apparent precision of the English law of primogeniture, and if the children bounded off it was not to go far, but to settle about the paternal estate by the occupation of a part of it or of lands contiguous to it ; for this reason some of the first estates were for generations identified with their first owners but these were doubtless exceptions, and in many instances a Jones place may soon have become a Smith place and the Smith place become identified by some other name. Illustrative of this pro- cess, we have in a manuscript work entitled "Homes and
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THE ANTIQUARIAN HOUSE
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People of Concord," written by Mr. Edward Jarvis, and now in Concord Public Library, the following compilation of facts namely : There were in Concord by 1654, eight families, who in the first quarter of the last century were "the most numerous families of farmers in the town," who yet by the last quarter had largely parted with their estates. The names of these families were Buttrick, Barrett, Brown, Hunt, Hosmer, Dakin, Flint and Wood.
Of five farms owned by the Buttricks; four went out of the family while there were five voters by the name in town.
Of eight farms owned by the Barretts only two were left in their name, with ten voters in town.
Two generations ago four farms belonged to the Browns; in 1881, they held the same number in their possession while the voters had increased to eleven.
Of three farms owned by the Hunts only one was known by this name in 1881, notwithstanding there were seven voters of the name.
The Hosmers owned six farms early in the first quarter f the nineteenth century while only three remained in the family name in the last quarter, with eleven voters of the name in town.
The Flints occupied and owned three farms in the first quarter of the nineteenth century while in 1881, all were sold and four voters remained.
As against these instances of change, Mr. Jarvis gives several where estates have been conspicously retained in the family ; among these is the Derby estate. This family have held their farm from the first, the property descending in a single line until as late as least as 1881, at which time eight of the name are on the voting list. The Wheelers who have been among the most numerous families in Con- cord have also kept their estates.
Thus farms have changed owners and persons their occupation in the last quarter century and so presumably in the century preceeding. A farm which has had many
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owners but whose title may be traced through them all is the Major Simon Willard or Lee farm at Nashawtuc.
As the successive owners have been celebrated and the History of Concord would not be complete without a description of this farm we will give it; taking our data from Dr. Grindall Reynolds.
The first English owner was Major Simon Willard before spoken of as one of the progenitors and principal promoters of the plantation of Concord. His house was situated at about the spot where now stands the Abbott House, and the lands connected with it probably included those upon the hill and immediately about it.
The successor of Major Willard was Thomas Marshall, formerly a soldier in the army of Oliver Cromwell, and living, before he went to Concord, in Lynn from which place he was sent to the General Court.
Mr. Marshall was something of a military man having attained to the rank of Captain in the service of Crom- well and having had command of some soldiers in America during one of the Indian wars.
He bought the Willard farm Nov. 19, 1659, for two hundred and ten pounds.
Shortly after the purchase he received a licence to sell "strong water" to travelers and others.
After a sojourn of sixteen months on the farm at Nashawtuc, Capt. Marshall sold the place to Henry Woodis or Woodhouse for the sum of two hundred and forty pounds.
At this time the farm was said to contain three hundred and fifty acres.
Five years later the house was destroyed by fire and the only son of the owner, an infant, perished in the flames.
The building which was burned at this time, it has been supposed, was not the one erected by Major Willard, but the one erected by Mr. Woodis.
Before his ownership of the Nashawtuc farm or prior to 1661, Mr. Woodis was a land owner and a man of considerable prominence. He was an officer in King
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Philip's war and for several years represented the town at the general court.
In 1699, the farm, excepting one fifth, was sold to Joseph Lee, son in law of Henry Woodis.
The property was kept in the Lee family for the space of one hundred and thirteen years. During this period the town of Concord passed through many and eventful changes, some of which were conspicuously connected with the Lee farm.
Joseph, the first Lee who lived on the farm was from Ipswich and married Mary Woodis in 1678, going to Concord from that town, the records state, in 1696.
In 1719, the first Joseph Lee, gave his son Joseph one hundred and fifty acres, and his other children the remainder, except the one fifth before referred to which was given to the fourth daughter who married Elmer Dakin.
The second Joseph Lee was a physician.
He bought of each of his brothers and sisters their portion ; and in 1730 increased the acreage of the old farm by the purchase of two additional plots.
The next owner was Joseph Lee, the third of the name and he also was a physician, but practised his profession, as is supposed, quite inconstantly. He was considered wealthy ; and it is conjectured that he dealt somewhat in real estate. He took part in several important church quarrels and was one of a number who left the First Par- ish church and formed what has been termed the Black Horse Church, because its meetings were held in the hall of the tavern that once stood near the present Public Library.
He was a tory, and that probably of the rankest kind, for he was not only in sympathy with England, but, it is stated, conveyed the secrets of the Patriots to the officials at Cambridge, even after the Revolution had set in. For this misdemeanor he was confined to his Nashawtuc farm fourteen months.
He died at the age of eighty.
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While Joseph Lee was confined at his farm in the Rev- olutionary war, Harvard College found an abiding place at Concord for a short time and about a dozen of the stu- dents made their home at his house.
The last owner of the entire farm of the name of Lee is supposed to be Silas who obtained it from his brother John who had previously owned it jointly with his brother Joseph.
In 1814, the widow of Silas sold her right of dower to William Gray for $1,000, and the place passed out of the possession of the family of Lee.
William Gray, well known in his day as "Billy Gray," was a noted Boston merchant, born in Lynn in 1750.
About the time of the conveyance of the Willard or Lee farm to William Gray, the war broke out between the United States and Great Britain, and it is stated that it was the gold of Mr. Gray that fitted out the Constitution which captured the Guerriere in that noted fight which showed the supremacy of American Seamen over the Brit- ish. It has been stated also that it was with timber from Nashawtuc that the Constitution was built. A large growth of wood covered the hill at that time, and one who itis asserted worked for Mr. Gray lumbering, said that one winter fourteen or fifteen teams were employed hauling to the river logs of pine and oak, some of which were from three to four feet in diameter. These logs were floated down and taken to Boston to be used partly at least in ship building.
In 1821, the farm was sold by Mr. Gray for $3,000 less than it cost him and passed into the possession of Samuel Phillips Prescott Fay, a native of Concord and son of Jonathan Fay.
Samuel Fay was Judge of the Probate Court from 1821 to 1856. But his possession of the property was said to be only nominal, he only holding it for Joseph Barrett the husband of his sister.
Joseph Barrett the twelfth owner of the Nashawtuc farm
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was a man perhaps no less noted for his personal character- istics than his predecessors. He was familiarly known in Concord as Squire Joe Barrett, and conspicuous both for his social and physical qualities. He had a powerful phy- sique, being, it is said, over six feet tall and weighing over two hundred and fifty pounds. He carried on the farm himself for some years and then placed it in charge of his son Richard only working on it when he wished. Like other owners of this remarkable farm, Mr. Barrett was extensively connected with public life, being for some years and until his death in 1848, Treasurer and Receiver- General of the Commonwealth.
From 1844 to 1852 the property belonged to Captain Richard Barrett, son of General Richard, and was sold by him in the latter year to Samuel G. Wheeler, Mr. Barrett serving as Treasurer of the Middlesex Fire Insurance Company. Mr. Wheeler was an energetic business man of New York. He made many improvements in the farm house, built a barn and planted a row of elms on the road to Acton.
After an ownership of four years he sold the place to David Elwell, a sea captain. The new owner like his im- mediate predecessor was a person of thrift and one who had been prominent in his calling, being the first American ship master to sail through the straits of Magellan. He was about sixty-eight years old when he took the farm and he gathered at his Concord home a collection of curious arti- cles which he had collected in his voyages to various parts of the world.
The building with its contents was burned in the winter of 1856-7, and upon the chimney, which for a time was left standing, it is said, was inscribed a half effaced date which indicated that the house was erected in 1646 or '56.
From Elwell the farm passed successively into the pos- session of Joseph L., and Charles H. Hurd, gandsons of Dr. Isaac Hurd. In 1891, the property was sold by the heirs to Mr. William Wheeler.
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The lands once composing this famous farm are now more or less made use of for residential purposes and vari- ous elegant buildings with finely kept lawns are now situ- ated upon it, and afford a fine lookout over the river.
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