USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Concord > The history of Concord, Massachusetts > Part 25
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"I was now invited to take dinner at the tavern with a number of gentlemen. The conversation at dinner was respecting the Regulars at Boston which they expected out." After relating further conversation he continued as follows : "By this time we had got through dinner. After dinner we walked up to the storehouse to examine some guns. I told them I could make any they wished. Here I found a quantity of flour, arms, and ammunition. After examining the gates and doors attached to yard and store- house, I returned to the tavern, where, after taking some brandy and water I took leave of them."
The Colonial House is situated at Concord center front- ing the Public Square, and the proprietor is William E. Rand.
It is resorted to by tourists at all seasons ; and in sum- mer especially, because of its abundant foliage and pleasant southerly outlook upon the town's common land, the soldier's monument and the old burying ground.
Of the other houses in this list we have too limited a knowledge to make more than a passing mention.
The Heyward, Alcott, Brown, Bull, Beal and Meriam houses are all situated on Lexington street and probably antedate 1750. On the Bull estate the Concord Grape was originated.
Besides the history of old houses in Concord there are several sites that merit especial notice. One of these is on Lowell street and marked by a tablet designating it as the place where the house of the town's first minis- ter stood. Great care was taken by the committee on erecting tablets in Concord, that there should be no mis- take as to the identity of the spot marked.
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Tradition has always asserted it, and according to a statement of one of the oldest inhabitants there was visible at this place an ancient earth dent ; but the evidence does not rest wholly with these things. Several years ago when workmen were engaged in this immediate locality making excavations for a public purpose they came upon the remnant of an old cellar wall just where one might be expected to be found provided the conclusions of the committee were correct. There has also been collected about the premises, building material of an antique pattern in the shape of brick or tile. The brick or tile, for it is stated that neither term will hardly describe them, were made of lime obtained from clam shells, and were evidently manufactured many years ago.
The Major Simon Willard house site is near the Con- cord School for Boys just beyond the South Bridge and is also marked by a tablet. The identity of this spot is unmistakable; and there is no question but that there the daring and energetic major made his early home which was probably the farthest westward of any in the Bay colony ; and when the wigwam of his Indian neighbor that stood near Egg rock, and the homes of his fellow townsmen on the "Little Strate Strete" were about equidistant from him.
Probably the house when erected ended the road towards the wilderness and was literally "out west" and when the floods swelled the Musketequid or thin ice covered it, he and his household were completely isolated from the settle- ment.
It may be the location of this pioneer homestead on the west bank of the Musketequid that occasioned the erection of the first "town bridge" near there, of which Walcott writes :
"The first bridge over the South River is said to have been placed a short distance below the bend in the stream against Mr. Hurd's land, a location afterwards abandoned
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for the present one, in order to obtain a more direct course for the road to Lancaster."
The first neighbor to live at the westward beyond Mr. Willard was perhaps James Hosmer.
Of the road that may have been extended westward for his accommodation, the writer just referred to says :
"The earliest way from the South Bridge to the Derby place ran in a curved line, between Nashawtuck Hill and the house of Charles H. Hurd, to the old Colburn house- lot, and then turning more to the westward, reached the Hosmer's, and crossed the river by a ford-way near the railroad bridge. When, however, a bridge was thrown over the river, where it is now crossed, at this point, the commmonly travelled way to and from the town was by the John Hosmer place."
Thus step by step the various ways as they radiated into the deep woods from the little hamlet that gathered and grew at Concord's geographical center might be traced by the sites of old homesteads, were it not that time with its "ever effacing finger" has almost obliterated them.
As it is difficult to ascertain where many of the early house sites are, for the same reason it is hard to determine what of a town's outlying portion may at different periods have been the most populous.
There are in more or less of the New England town- ships districts now abandoned to a wild vegetable growth, which may once have resounded with the activities of busy life.
Illustrative of this is what Thoreau says of Walden pond. He informs us that in that vicinity were dwellings which in his day were nearly obliterated. Among those who lived there as he gives them were Cato Ingraham, Zilpha, Brister, Freeman, Stratton, Breed, Gondibert, Nut- ting, Le Grosse and Hugh Quoil. Of the homes in which they lived he says :
"Now only a dent in the earth marks the site of these dwellings, with buried cellar stones, and strawberries, rasp-
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berries, thimble-berries, hazel-bushes, and sumachs growing in the sunny sward there; some pitch-pine or gnarled oak occupies what was the chimney nook, and a sweet-scented black-birch, perhaps, waves where the door-stone was.
"Still grows the vivacious lilac a generation after the door and lintel and the sill are gone, unfolding its sweet-scented flowers each spring, to be plucked by the musing traveller ; planted and tended once by children's hands, in front-yard plots, - now standing by wall-sides in retired pastures, and giving place to new-rising forests ; - the last of that stirp, sole survivor of that family. Little did the dusky chil- dren think that the puny slip with its two eyes only, which they stuck in the ground in the shadow of the house and daily watered, would root itself so, and outlive them, and house itself in the rear that shaded it, and grown man's garden and orchard, and tell their story faintly to the lone wanderer a half century after they had grown up and died, - blossoming as fair, and smelling as sweet, as in that first spring."
CHAPTER XXXII.
Development of the Settlement - Indications of Progress - Various Hindrances - Discouraging Report - Unsatisfactory Condition of the River Meadows - Measures taken for a Betterment of the Meadows - Unproductive Uplands - Emigration to Connecticut - The Towns Recupera- tive Energy - Condition in 1654.
A BOUT the time of an adjustment of matters relat- ing to the town's territory, rules and regulations were made and adopted regarding its municipal management. As the town was divided into several districts termed quarters, the work of constructing and maintaining highways and bridges was also provided for and apportioned.
These things together with the usual town meeting enactments in matters pertaining to public convenience are indications that the town steadily kept pace with its sis- ter settlements. But any prosperity whether of township or individuals in those strenuous times was only obtained by dint of great and persevering effort. We judge from a paper presented to the General Court within ten years after the settlement began that there were grave doubts as to the ability to survive the hindrances that beset them on every hand. In a petition, presented May 14, 1645 the signers stated : "Many homes in the Towne stand voyde of Inhab- itants and more are likely to be : and we are confidente that if conscience had not restrained, fearing the disolution of the Towne by their removal, very many had departed to one place or other where Providence should have hopefully promised a livelihood."
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A. Bronson alcott
(In his eighty-second year, travelling in Iowa, 1882.,
PERMISSION OF OF LITTI ITTLE, BROWN A
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After this plain statement of fact which set forth the state of temporal affairs in Concord and at the same time almost in a single sentence showed the devout and worthy character of the signers there is a pathetic explanation of their atti- tude in words as follows :
"This our condition we thought it oure duty to informe you of, fearing least if more go from us we shall neither remayne as a congregation nor a towne, and then such as are most unwilling to depart, whiles there remayne any hopes of ordinance amongst us, will be enforced to leave the place, which if it should come to pass, wee desire this may testify on the behalf of such, it was not a mynd unsatisfyed with what was convenient, which occasioned them to depart, but meerly to attaine a subsistence for themselves and such as depend on them, and to enjoy ordinances."
One great cause of discouragement was the condition of the river meadows in times of high water. Sept. 8, 1636 an order was passed by the Court which is supposed to be a response to a petition for river betterments.
"Whereas the inhabitants of Concord are purposed to abate the falls in the ryver upon wch their towne standeth. whearby they conceive such townes as shalbeee hereafter planted above them vpon the said ryver shall receive bene- fit by reason of their charge & labor, it is therefore ordered, that such townes and ffarms as shalbee planted above them shall contribute to the inhabitants of Concord portionable both to their charge & adventure, and according to the bene- fit that the said townes or ffarms shall receive by the drean- ing of their medows." Mass. Records Vol. I page 178.
As evidence that the agitation of this subject was con- tinued at times during subsequent years we have the follow- ing record bearing date Nov. 13, 1644, which relates to commissioners appointed at that time "to the better sur- veying, improving and draining of the meadows and sav- ing and preserving of the hay there gathered either by draining the same or otherwise and to proportion the charges laid about it as equally and justly (only upon them
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that own lands) as they in their wisdom shall see meete."
Johnson says that in 1654, "The falles causeth their meadows to be much covered with water, the while these people together with their neighbor towne (Sudbury) here several times essayed to cut through but cannot ; yet it may be turned another way with an hundred pound charge." The way proposed was a channel across the country to Watertown or Cambridge.
It may be difficult at this distant day to conceive of the inconvenience and deprivation occasioned by the river floods, for conditions are different. Then, the farmers depended largely upon the hay produced on these marsh lands not only for their dairy products but also for fertilizer for their upland. This latter was a very important matter.
The settlers could raise their corn at the first by placing in the hill a single alewife yet later when the ground had become partially exhausted by successive crops, something more substantial was needed as a plant stimulant so that considering the circumstances there is little wonder that the people complained and called for meadow betterments. Neither may we doubt as to the results of these disad- vantages. Johnson says the people "were forced to cut their bread very thin for a season" and Walcott, writing of the first year, states :
"It cannot be wondered at that some sickened and died by reason of the unaccustomed hardships and severity of the winter weather, while others lost all faith in the success of the enterprise, sold their estates for a little, and departed. The cattle died, wolves preyed upon the herds ; homesickness and fear of an Indian attack increased the burden of their lives, so that it became well-nigh greater than they could bear."
Besides the loss occasioned by the wetness of the mead- ows, some of the uplands were considered poor, for we find the following records concerning them: "Finding the lands about the town very barren." "Neither have we
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found any special hand of God gone out against us only the povertie and meannesse of the place."
Again we find in a petition presented about 1655, "and our land much of it being pine land which affords very little feeding for cattle."
It is hardly to be supposed that the soil was very unlike much of the uncleared land of Concord at the present. The Indians had not exhausted much of the land, for it was not in accord with Indian nature to work much, and we believe their corn fields were comparatively few and small ; and perhaps the lands earliest cleared were the pine lands because it would be an easier task to effect the clear- ing and the planting of them and these lands might have had lighter soil than the hardwood lands.
But in addition to these adverse circumstances in the natural world, the people of Concord early encountered obstacles in the little social and religious world in which they lived. As has been already stated, some friction existed early between the minister and the elder. Whether it was of an ecclesiastical or of a financial nature, we do not judge. It may have been both, as is indicated by the fol- lowing statement of Winthrop in his history :
"Some of the elders went to Concord, being sent for by the church there to advise with them about the maintenance of the elders &c. They found them wavering about removal not finding their plantations answerable to their expecta- tion, and the maintainence of two elders too heavy a bur- den for them. The Elders advice was that they should continue and wait upon God, and be helpful to their elders in labor and what they could, and all to be ordered by the deacons, (whose office had not formerly been improved this way amongst them,) and that the elders should be content with what means the church was able at present to afford them, and if either of them should be called to some other place, then to advise with other churches about removal."
By the combination of these untoward circumstances dur- ing the first decade, was the going forth of a large company
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of the inhabitants to Connecticut. The movement was doubtless led by Elder Jones; and those who went with him were some of the staunch men of the settlement.
Among them are supposed to have been Dagget, Evarts, Mitchell, Odell, Barron, Tomkins, Jenney, Middlebrook, Bennet, Coslinor Costin, Ephraim and Thomas Wheeler. John Evarts of the foregoing list is said to be the ances- tor of Secretary of State William Evarts of President Grant's cabinet.
As to the scene when the company set forth tradition is silent, but it doubtless was a sad one. Mutual services associated with days of danger and deprivation in which there was a sharing together of a common lot would natu- rally create friendship and endearment.
The route taken by the emigrants it is not unlikely was the "Old Connecticut Path" which they could enter at a point about four miles southerly in the part of Sudbury now Wayland. Once on this trail of the Nipnet Indians, the party would probably have a fairly beaten track for a long distance towards the place they sought which was the territory of the present town of Fairfield, Long Island.
As about one eighth of the entire population of the Concord township were included in this company, it doubt- less was a great blow to the settlement. Yet so great was the recuperative energy of the plantation that within ten years after the exodus, the inhabitants had extended their homesteads to the territorial limits of the town, and asked for additional land grants. The lands already possessed were being developed and the resources of the town increasing generally. In 1653 a subscription of five pounds a year for seven years was ordered for the benefit of Harvard College, and Johnson informs us as follows relative to the condition of the town a year later : "The number of families at present are about 50, their head of great cattell are 300, the church of Christ here consists of about 50 souls."
LOUISA MAY ALCOTT.
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Death of Mr. Thomas Flint and the Rev. Peter Bulkeley - Departure from Concord of Major Simon Willard - Walcott's description of the Nat- ure and Value of Major Willard's Public Ser- vices - Biographical Sketches of Thomas Flint Esquire and the Rev. Peter Bulkeley.
H ARDLY had the little colony at Concord fairly recovered itself and entered upon a period of renewed prosperity after the dissention and discontent of the first two decades, when it lost three of its most prominent citizens each of whom had more than a local reputation, Thomas Flint, Rev. Peter Bulkeley and Major Simon Willard. Of these three Con- cord worthies the historian Walcott writes :
"On October 8, 1655, the town lost one of its foremost men by the death of Thomas Flint. Two years later, Major Willard received, as a reward for his distinguished services to the country, a grant of five hundred acres of land, which he selected and laid out in the southerly part of Groton. Rev. Peter Bulkeley died March 9, 1659; and in November following, Major Willard sold his estate in Concord to Captain Thomas Marshall, of Lynn, and removed to Lancaster, whither he had previously been urged to go, and where he filled a high position. Subse- quently he removed to Groton, where his son Samuel was settled as minister ; and after the destruction of the town by the Indians, he took up his abode at Charlestown, where he died April 24, 1676, at the age of seventy-one years."
The departure of these men was doubtless severely felt and greatly deplored not only on account of the loss of
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material and moral support but because of the severance of kindred ties and associated experiences. Mr. Bul- keley had been under God, their chief spiritual guide. Mr. Willard had surveyed their lands and represented them in places of legislation and served them as civic counselor at a time when the town needed strong men to lean upon ; and Mr. Flint had doubtless long enough "ended small causes" and joined young men and maidens in marriage to endear himself to the whole community, and make his name a household word. Mr. Bulkeley and Mr. Flint were taken away by death. Major Willard moved to other places to be as bold a pioneer there as he had been in Con- cord town.
As a biographical sketch of Mr. Willard has been given in a former chapter we will here only quote the following relative to him from the history of Walcott :
"Knowledge of men, skill in surveying lands, experience gained by trading with the natives, were qualities that fitted him in a peculiar manner to take the lead in locating the land granted by the colonial government, and fortifying the title by peaceful negotiations with the Indian occupants. As deputy and assistant he was well known in the colony, and by the aid of his influence with those in power, the controversy with Watertown about the eastern boundary was brought to a favorable termination.
"As captain of the train-band, Willard directed the military spirit of his neighbors when military distinction was second only to that of the church. He surveyed the lands allotted to the settlers, made their deeds, was arbitra- tor in their controversies, kept their records, and, last office of all, settled their estates after they were dead. A person like this, - useful in any community, at any stage of its history, - was indispensable to the plantation at Musketa- quid.'
The lack of space prevents a very extended statement as to the place that was occupied by Mr. Thomas Flint in both the township of Concord and the Colony of Massa-
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chusetts Bay, but it may be said of him as of Mr. Willard and the Rev. Peter Bulkeley that a complete history of either could not be written without giving him prominent notice.
Thomas Flint, Esq., came from Matlock in Derbyshire, England, to the township of Concord in 1638. We are informed that his native place was beautifully situated and had a rare attractiveness ; but, presumably, like many another English worthy of the non-conformist class, he pre- ferred the great outer world in which to act as his conscience dictated, to an ecclesiastical restraint in his native land.
Walcott informs us that both Mr. Flint and Rev. Peter Bulkeley had sufficient property to bring them within the degree of subsidy men, and therefore it is supposed that embarkation from England was achieved by obtaining a special license or through the connivance of the authori- ties.
Mr. Flint brought to America, as a genealogy of the family states, £4000, and hence would be considered wealthy, since all the other settlers, with the exception of Messrs. Willard and Bulkeley, were, as has been said, "mere plain people with small means."
In 1639, he was made "Commissioner to hear and end small causes," having with his colleagues Simon Willard and Richard Griffin, judicial authority corresponding in modern times to a trial justice, or judge of a district court.
He was representative of the town four years, and was an "Assistant" eleven years. When Assistant in 1649, he joined Governor Endicott in protesting against the wearing of long hair, taking the stand doubtless as did Mr. Bul- keley, by his example "that it was a thing unmanly."
Mr. Flint assisted in drawing up a code of simple rules and regulations for the Indians, restraining and constrain- ing them in a wholesome manner.
He possessed one of the largest land tracts of any indi- vidual in Concord, and the fact that a way was early laid
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out to his farm indicates that his estate was an important one.
His real estate was mostly in what is now the town of Lincoln, and extended from "Flint's Pond to Beaver Pond and the town bounds." The area contained about seven hundred and fifty acres and included the land now com- prising Lincoln Center.
For many years the "Flint Farm" was occupied by descendants of the family or by their lessees.
His character, we infer was a very worthy one. John- son calls him "a most sincere servant of Christ, who had a fair revenue in England, but having improved it for Christ by casting it into the common treasury, he waits on the Lord for doubling his talent if it shall seem good unto him so to do, and in the meantime spending his person for the good of his people in the office of magistate." In verse, he says of him as follows :
"At Christ's command thou leavest thy land and native habitation,
His folks to aid in desert-straid for Gospel exultation. Flint, hardy thou, wilt not allow the undermining fox With Subtile skill, Christ's vines to spoil : thy sword shall give them knocks ;
Yet thou, base dust and all thou hast is Christ's, and by him thou
Art made to be, such as we see: hold fast forever- more."
The will of Mr. Thomas Flint is the first one recorded in Middlesex Probate Records. His brother Rev. Henry Flint of Braintree, and his uncle William Woods were his executors. His sons were John and Ephraim, who lived in Concord and perhaps Edward and Thomas, and William of Salem. John married Mary, daughter of Urian Oakes, President of Harvard College in 1667. In 1680-1, he was one of a committee to seat the meeting house. He is men-
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tioned in the Indian deed of 1684 as one of those who paid for the township, and who were spoken of in the deed as "agents of the town of Concord." In 1660, he was town clerk. His children were Abigail, John, Mary, Hannah, and Jane. John Jr. married Mary Prescott and died Oct. 23, 1725, leaving an estate of £1708, and for children, John, Jonathan, a graduate of Harvard College, Mary, Elizabeth, James and Benjamin.
As in the case of Mr. Thomas Flint space for- bids a complete account of the character and services of Rev. Peter Bulkeley, but enough has been stated on the foregoing pages to convince the reader that the beginning of Concord history is identified with him, and that perhaps it might be said that its success and his per- sonal impress are inseparable. Although his later life was spent in a wilderness, by his gentle birth he was fitted for the most cultured environment and by his scholarly attainments he might have adorned any position.
Rev. Peter Bulkeley descended in the tenth generation from Robert Bulkeley, Esq., an English Baron, who, in the reign of King John, was Lord of Bulkeley in the County palatine of Chester.
As we get our starting point in that stormy period of English history, 1200-1300, when liberty was wrenched from a wicked monarch and crystalized in Magna Charta under circumstances that called forth much valor, we need not be surprised that such illustrious stock showed itself long afterwards in one whose life has elicited unusual praise and reverence.
He was born at Odell, Bedfordshire, Jan. 31, 1582, O.S and when about eighteen years old became a member of St. John's College, Cambridge, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Divinity, which title his brother Edward also possessed.
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