USA > Massachusetts > Norfolk County > Medway > The history of Medway, Mass., 1713-1885 > Part 4
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But to render the situation still more trying, death was in their midst. During the attack upon Medfield, Jonathan Wood was killed on the east side of the river, near Death's Bridge, and his brother Eleazar who was with him was struck down, scalped and left for dead, though he afterward recovered. When the tragic news was brought to the Stone House the wife of Jona- than Wood was immediately seized with the pains of labor and soon after delivered of a daughter, her only child, and a few hours later died. This doubly-orphaned daughter, born under such peculiar circumstances, after- ward became the wife of John Holbrook, who was an infant of between two and three years old, and in the same place of safety at the time.
The savages, in the morning, still bent upon the work of destruction,
33
pressed on towards the stronghold. They apparently followed the highway, and when they came to Jonathan Adams' house set it on fire, and John Fussell, then nearly a hundred years old, was burned in it. It seems probable that the family fled at the approach of the Indians and escaped, but were un- able to take the old man with them. Tradition says that Joseph Daniell was at home that morning looking after his cattle, but with his eyes open to the dangers around him. Looking toward the south across the fields, he saw the heads of Indians rising out of a hollow and rapidly approaching. He left his cattle and fled to the Stone House, where his family were already in safety. The Indians came up and burned his buildings. The house of Wil- liam Allen was also burned; and it seems probable that Peter Calley's shared the same fate. We hear no more of his house, nor indeed of him. The perils of the situation, together with his losses, may have induced him to remove about this time to some more secure place.
The Stone House did not readily yield to the attack of the savages. Mus- ket balls had little effect, and the keen fire of the defenders kept the assailants at a safe distance. How early the attack commenced, how long it continued, or how persistently it was pressed, there are no means of knowing. Nor do we hear anything of the killed and wounded. Probably the thick stone walls fully protected those within, and the Indians only were sufferers, of whose losses little could be known. Their own exposure and want of success soon disheartened them. But, not content with this repulse, they came again two months later, on the 6th of May, and with no better suc- cess. On one of these occasions, unable to take the place by direct assault, they resorted to stratagem, which had been tried in other cases. They filled a farmer's cart with burning combustibles, hay, flax, and similar material, and pushed it down the hill at the foot of which the house stood, with the expectation that it would set the thatched roof on fire. After being well started on its way, it was left to its own direction, and with that per- versity of disposition always apparent in wheeled carriages when left to them- selves, instead of going directly to accomplish the mischief for which it was designed, it turned aside and rested against a friendly rock on the hill-side. An Indian more heroic than the rest volunteered to turn it away from the obstacle, and give it a fresh impulse. But a good Providence watched over the imperiled, and "the poor Indian" never returned to his comrades. He had not calculated the danger, and paid the forfeit with his life.
On the 2d of July following, a band of savages were found in the woods near the same place. They were attacked by the men from Medfield with such vigor and success that they met with another "notorious repulse." This was the last hostile attempt in the vicinity.
Though Philip's war broke the power of the Indians, yet the people along the frontier lived long after in a state of feverish anxiety which nat- urally resulted from their many and narrow escapes from danger, and from the proximity of savages, who, though subdued, were still hostile in feeling, and noted for their treachery and for the little value they set upon human life. There were occasions for alarm for many years, when the Stone House was found a place of refuge. On one of these occasions, when the neigh- bors were gathered within its friendly walls, the wife of John Richardson, who lived where Silas Richardson, Esq., lives, was, by the absence of her
34
husband, alone in the house till evening stole upon her. In the dusk she was afraid to traverse the lonely mile and a half of mingled forest and clearing that lay between her and safety. After arranging the things in her house so as to give the impression that no one was at home, she descended into the cellar, shut the trap-door overhead, and sat upon the stairs, with her babe in her arms, all night. Who can imagine the agony of that long night, when imagination magnified every sough of the wind into a distant war-whoop, and every movement of the cattle into the stealthy tread of a savage.
At a still later period, the daughter-in-law of Mrs. John Richardson, the wife of that very infant which was held in the arms during that fearful night, and who was a daughter of Thomas Breck, when almost ninety-six years of age could remember having fled in her childhood to the Stone House for safety.
George Fairbanks was drowned in 1682. His son Jonathan appears to have inherited the northern and eastern part of his farm, including the Stone House. He, too, was drowned in attempting to cross the river from Medfield in 1719. The farm then fell into the hands of his two sons, Samuel and Jonathan, a part of which was sold to their uncle George, who occupied the southwestern portion of the original homestead, the place now owned by Mr. Frank E. Cook, and another part to Benjamin Bullard. Thus it is believed the site of the Stone House was transferred to Mr. Bullard, who afterward sold it to Abner Mason, of Medfield, in whose family it remained for three generations. It ceased to be necessary for safety and went to ruins. Its fallen walls were still to be seen within the memory of some who were living less than fifty years ago. But the last stone has since been carried away, so that there is nothing left to mark the exact spot where it stood. The ancient boulder that stayed the burning cart still lifts its head up on the hill-side, but it bears no mark to distinguish it from its numerous brethren crouching around ; so among the combatants, we have at this day no means of knowing whose heroism was especially instrumental in saving the little community. So peaceful is the scene, that no one looking upon it can realize the privations, anxieties, and dangers of those early days, or the sufferings that have hallowed this quiet and charming spot.
After the close of the war the population on the west side increased, but slowly. There are no means of ascertaining the exact date of arrivals, but from hints in the records the following may be considered approximately true :
ABRAHAM HARDING was building his house at the time of the burning of Medfield. It stood where the old " Country Road " is crossed by the Turn- pike, the place occupied recently by the late Theodore Harding, Esq., a descendant. The frame was raised, though uncovered. It escaped the fury of the savages, and tradition says it was the first framed house erected on the west side of the river.
JOSIAH ROCKWOOD, in 1677, settled on the place known as Oak Grove Farm. William Burgess married Bethiah Rockwood, and inherited the place. It was afterwards sold and remained in the Lovell family for one hundred years, and was purchased in 1880, by the late Lansing Millis, Esq.
JOHN ROCKWOOD, about the same time, built a house at the corner of the roads, nearly in front of the house of Mr. John M. Crane. He gave it to his son Hezekiah, who divided it at his death between his widow Esther and
1
35
1204250
his sons, Josiah and Seth. The sons died soon after, without heirs. The widow Esther's estate was settled in 1681, when the place was sold to John Harding and Oliver Adams.
JOHN RICHARDSON is first mentioned in 1678. He settled where Silas Richardson, Esq., lives. His son John afterwards settled where Mr. Moses Richardson lives. These farms have remained in the family ever since.
DEACON PETER ADAMS was probably on the west side before 1680. His house was near where Mrs. Appleton Foster's house now stands. Joseph, a son of Deacon Peter, gave it by deed to his nephew, Nathan Daniels, who sold it to Jonathan Adams. It was here the first public wor- ship was held after the incorporation of the town.
SAMUEL DANIELL, a brother of Joseph Daniell, settled in 1680 where Mr. Richard Richardson lived. After his death, in 1695, the farm was sold to Jasper Adams, a brother of Jonathan Adams, to whom it afterwards fell, and in whose family it remained until purchased by Mr. Richardson.
VINCENT SHUTTLEWORTH came in 1681. His house stood forty or fifty rods to the southeast of that of the late Deacon Paul Daniell. Mr. Shuttle- worth was a deserter in the Indian war, for which he was fined £5. He afterwards became chargeable to the town, being Medfield's first pauper.
JOHN PARTRIDGE, JOHN ADAMS, and JOHN CLARK also came in 1681.
JOHN PARTRIDGE was the first settler on the farm which has long been known as the home of the late Oliver Phillips. A grand-daughter of his married Abner Ellis, who came in possession of the farm, which was after- wards sold, before they removed to Ohio, then the far-off West. This place was the home of the Rev. Luther Wright during his pastorate in Medway.
JONATHAN ADAMS, son of Edward, in 1688, had settled on the turnpike near the Medfield meadows, where Mr. William Adams now lives.
SAMUEL HILL is first mentioned as being at town-meeting in 1693. He settled on The Neck, upon the farm lately owned by Lyman Adams, which remained in the family until purchased by Mr. Adams.
'JONATHAN FISHER, in 1693, was living upon the farm now owned by Mr. John M. Crane. John Anderson married a daughter of Jonathan Fisher, and was the next owner. From him it passed by sale into the hands of Jeremiah Daniell, who gave it to his grandson Jeremiah Daniell.
JOSEPH DANIELL, JR., in 1693, was living at the upper mill, at the place now occupied by Mr. Michael Hagerty, which remained in the ownership of his family until recently.
JOHN ADAMS, a son of Edward Adams, of Medfield, settled near the Med- way pound, which at that date must have been not far from The Neck.
THE MILLS.
ROBERT HINSDELL was one of the earliest proprietors of Medfield. In 1659 he received a grant on Long Plain, and in 1660 a lot of one hundred and fifty acres in the New Grant. But that which is most interesting at present is a grant of forty-six acres "lying on the other side of Boggastow Brook," made to him in payment for "the Bell." This lot, which was after- ward called the " bell land," is described as being divided by the highway
36
leading over the brook, " forty acres being on the northwest side of the way and six acres on the southeast side, over against the forty acres." These facts prove that Robert Hinsdell was a man of remarkable public spirit and unusual enterprise. We are told that the early congregations were called to worship by the roll of the drum, or the firing of a gun. But Robert Hins- dell's ears were wounded, perhaps, by the use of such warlike sounds to preface the proclamation of " Peace on earth, good will toward men," so he procured for the Medfield meeting-house, the silver-tongued bell, for which he paid some foreign manufacturer, no doubt, the hard cash, and received as recompense wild land on the other side of Boggastow Brook.
He certainly showed sagacity in choosing his land alongside the most im- portant mill site on this little stream. In 1659 the highway had been laid out across the Long Plain lots to the only convenient fording-place in the vicinity, but at the time this grant was made, December 11, 1661, it could have been little more than indicated by marked trees, and a very vague description in the records, for there were no inhabitants on the west side of the brook but In- dians, and on the east side none nearer than George Fairbanks at the Boggas- tow Pond and the farms that lay beyond. The highway on that side was an Indian trail used by the inhabitants of the farms, leading up from Natick at no great distance from the river, across Pauset or Pocasset hill, as the eleva- tion of land was called where the farms were situated north of the pond, thence crossing the brook it run westward to Mucksquit on the border of Winthrop Pond. The " bell land " lay on both sides of this highway.
Although there is no proof that Hinsdell ever lived on this side the river, yet we are assured that his love of enterprise did not expend itself in merely choosing an elegible farm lot, for in 1663 the ancient record speaks of the Boggastow mill dam, and two years later a committee was chosen to con- sider the complaint of George Fairbanks and view the cartway over Boggas- tow Brook, at Robert Hinsdell's mill. The mill was then built ; the Indian trail had become a cartway ; George Fairbanks' daughter had married and settled on the south side of the brook, and he, like a kind-hearted parent, desired to have a good cartway between their homes.
In 1669 Hinsdell sold his property in Medfield and removed to Hatfield, or Hadley, on the Connecticut River, where his sons were already established. In 1670 Joseph Daniell and Peter Calley were "desired and empowered to build a bridge over the southward most branch of the brook at Peter Wood- ward's mill." The same year the town granted Peter Calley "a parcel of rocky land that lyeth between his house and the mill of Peter Woodward." Three interesting facts are established by this record : that Peter Woodward had become owner of the mill ; that the mill stood where the brook is still divided into two channels by a long narrow island, and that Peter Calley, who is first mentioned as attending town-meeting in 1669, had a house in this vicinity. But it is difficult to determine on which side of the brook.
We hear nothing more of the mill until June 10, 1675, when a committee was chosen "to clear out the way formerly laid out on the north side of what was Peter Woodward's mill, to George Fairbanks' line and to see all incum- brances and annoyances by any person or persons removed." Some mali- cious persons had obstructed the road, and the language seems to imply that the mill had been destroyed. The letter of the Rev. Mr. Wilson to the gov-
37
ernor of Massachusetts immediately after the destruction of Medfield speaks of two mills being destroyed by the Indians. As only one is known to have existed on the east side of the river, the other must have been Woodward's, the only one on the west side. The record already quoted seems to imply that the mill was destroyed some months before the burning of Medfield, and indeed before the outbreak of Philip's war, which seems not improbable, as the enmity of the Indians had long been gathering force, and depredations upon property were not infrequent. The temptation was great, the risk of detection small, and the annoyance of their enemy very considerable, who depended upon the mill to prepare material for their daily bread. There is little doubt the Indians burned the mill and obstructed the road. But once destroyed it was not soon rebuilt. In 1677, in a grant of land to William Allen, the highway is spoken of as leading from the place of Robert Hins- dell's mill, the name of the original owner being still sometimes associated with it, and nearly thirty years after, in 1705, when the road north of Bog- gastow Brook needed repairing again, it was described as leading from the place where Peter Woodward's mill stood, to the line between Medfield, and Sherborn.
At first there was, perhaps, no one bold enough to invest in such hazard- ous property in those troublous times. The inhabitants were few and the profits of the mill must have been small, but the inconvenience of being without a mill was very great.
At length, in 1680, the town voted "to give fifty acres of land where it may be most convenient for the encouragement of any that would adventure to build a grist mill upon Charles River, the mill to be builded and main- tained every way sufficient for the town's use." The town promised on its part " not to build or suffer any other mill to the damage of this mill"; and also to " acquit said mill for seven years next after it is set to work of all town charges." The persons who accepted this offer were John Metcalf, Sen., John Partridge, Sen., Samuel Morse, Edward Adams, Joseph Allen, John Metcalf, Jr., Nathaniel Allen, George Barber, Ephraim Wight, Sam- uel Barber, John Plimpton, and Benjamin Wheelock.
This was the first mill built at Rockville, and the land, which was for many years after called the "New-mill-land" is described in the grant as " up stream of the mill, bounded with the river southward according to the various turnings thereof, by common land westward and northward by a varying line and with the land of George Barber, eastward." The road now called Green Street crossed this land.
It was not long before this mill, too, was burned, for in 1685 " Gama- liel Hinsdell was appointed by the selectmen to prosecute John Suncha- maug, an Indian, upon suspicion of firing the new mill." There is some other evidence pointing to the same fact. Exactly when the mill on Boggas- tow Brook was rebuilt does not appear. But in the records of Medfield mention is made of a meeting of the freeholders, as follows :
" 1689. At a general meeting of ye Freeholders of Medfield on ye 7th day of February, 1686, the following action was taken : -
" VOTED- That there shall be five men, and but five chosen Selectmen for ye man- agement of ye prudential affairs of ye Town for the year ensuing.
" VOTED - That the Selectmen to be chosen for ye prudential affairs of ye Town
38
for ye year ensuing, shall have the whole power of ye Town, excepting in ye cases restrained in ye year 1684 viz. granting lands- receiving inhabitants - granting lib- erty to any person to sel wood and timber out of town, taken off ye common lands.
" GRANTED to Joseph Daniell the stream of Boggastow Brook so far as shall be needful for ye advantage of his mill, and not to endanger any prprietee on the sd Brook, provided he maintain a good mill on ye said stream for ye supply of ye Town."
The year following there was a meeting of the freeholders, whose names were as they appear in the following record :
" 168} At a general meeting of the Freeholders of Medfield, on the 6th day of February, Anno Dom. 168}, assembled the persons whose names are under written :
Mr. John Wilson, Sen.,
John Metcalf, Sen.,
John Turner, Sen.,
Ens. Edward Adams,
Jos. Clark, Sen.,
Samuel Smith, Sen.,
Sergt. John Harding,
Gam'l Hinsdale,
John Plimpton,
Sergt. Samuel Barber,
Jno. Thurston, John Bullin,
Benj. Clark,
Joseph Allin,
Jos. Cheney,
Peter Adams, Sen.,
Benj. Fisk,
Jos. Plimpton,
Tho. Ellice,
John Fisher, Sen.,
Mich. Metcalf,
Elea. Adams,
Peter Adams, Jr.,
Jona. Adams, Jr.,
Jos. Mors,
Jos. Warren,
Jos. Daniels,
Samuel Wheelock,
Jos. Bullin,
John Metcalf, Jr.,
John Barber,
Jona. Boyden,
John Fisher, Jr.,
Samuel Bullin,
Ephr. Clark,
Jos. Ellice, Sen.,
Samuel Rockett,
Benj. Wheelock,
John Partridge, Sen.,
Ephr. Wight,
John Turner, Jr.,
Jer. Mors,
Elish. Bullin,
Samuel Smith, Jr.,
John Partridge, Jr.,
Will'm Allin,
Jos. Ellice,
Elea. Ellice."
At this meeting were granted further privileges, as appears in the follow- ing attested copy of the record made, in 1744, by Nathan Plimpton, Town Clerk of Medfield. The following is a fac-simile of the copy :
At a General Meeting of the Tree holders of Medfield on the Sixth day of February Anno Domini 1682
Granted to Joseph Daniels Liberty to Lana Dam On the Common Land on Soggettow brook where. we intend to set a mill and also liberty to Flood the Coman. Lan there so Far as shall be Con ivenient For a mill at all times for ever A True Coppy taken Out of Medfield Town Book Me feld June Alleit- Nathan Plimpton Town Clerk of Medfield
1744
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After obtaining these grants, Joseph Daniell formed a partnership with Zachariah Buckminster, who resided in Sherborn, not very far away, and built the grist mill, which was afterwards owned by Joseph Daniell, Jr.
In 1692 Joseph Daniell gave to his son Joseph, who was about twenty-six years of age and recently married, one-half of the grist mill, and as appears not long after, in 1694, Joseph Daniell, Jr., came into possession of the other half by purchase of Zachariah Buckminster, of Sherborn. He subse- quently erected a saw mill near the upper dam.
Joseph Daniel, Jr., in 1728, distributed to his three sons, Samuel, Joseph, and Ezra, his mill property, reserving to himself one-half of the grist mill. Both mills remained in the family for several generations, though the ownership was generally divided between two or more members of it, until both became the property of Amos Daniels, who died in 1823. His father, Moses Daniels, for the name had now changed from Daniell to Dan- iels, owned the upper mill, and was drowned October 20, 1800, in the flume while attempting to shut the gate.
Joseph Daniell, in 1693, appears to have owned "the place where Peter Woodward's mill stood," for in the deed to his son he conveyed half the grist mill ; he gave also " the land where the old mill stood being two acres more or less a highway to lie through the same." Many years after, in 1729, Joseph Daniel, the son of Joseph, gave to his son Samuel one-half the saw mill and the ancient mill site, with what appears to have been the same "two acres of land." Joseph Daniell, Jr., appears to have had certain rights in lands granted by the General Court to a company of soldiers who went on an expedition to Canada under Captain Gardner. These rights are men- tioned in his will. He died May 23, 1751. Vid. GENEALOGIES.
Timothy Daniell, who was the son of Samuel and the grandfather of Deacon Timothy Daniels, of Holliston, Mass., sold to Thaddeus Broad, in 1751, "two acres of land more or less with a grist mill thereon." This mill undoubtedly occupied the site of the first mill, built by Robert Hinsdell. Thaddeus Broad, June 23, 1781, deeds the mill to Adam Bullard, which was called Bullard's Mill.
Samuel Daniell, son of Joseph Daniell, Jr., sold out, in 1742, his home- stead and real estate received from his father, to Jonathan Fuller, and re- moved to that part of Holliston which afterward became Medway. He owned the farm and lived where Cyrus Hill, Esq., now resides. He erected a mill on the stream passing near his house. He was called in ancient deeds, " Samuel Daniell, the miller."
At the close of the seventeenth century the population within the prov- ince afterward Medway, must have been quite small, as may be judged from the tax-list, which embraces the names of the householders who occupied lands at that time on the west side of the river Charles which afterward were within the limits of the town of Medway.
THE TAX-LIST OF 1693.
John Adams,
Jonathan Adams, Sen.,
Jonathan Adams, Jun., Peter Adams,
John Clark, Joseph Daniell,
George Fairbanks, John Partridge,
Jonathan Fisher, John Richardson,
Joseph Daniell, Jun., Abraham Harding, John Rockett, John Ellis, Samuel Hill,
Josiah Rockett.
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BLACK SWAMP LAID OUT IN 1702.
MARCH, 1702 .- " Voted that the Black Swamp shall be laid out with such necks of upland and Ilands as shall make it formable by our former Rules of laying ont Lands." The Black Swamp lots were laid out long and narrow ; the lines ran east and west.
On the "west end of all the lots" a way two rods wide was reserved. This cartway is said in the records " to lie parallel to and adjoining to the line of the new Grant, or great grant." There were also two rods in width ' reserved on the east end of the lots, to lie common forever.
The division of Black Swamp began at the southerly part, near land of Theophilus Clark. All the lots were bounded by the highway at the west end. The width of each lot is here given :
NO.
NAMES.
RDS. FT.
NO.
NAMES.
RDS, FT.
I. GEO. FAIRBANKS, .
8
3
42.
Heirs Michael Metcalf, 5 0
2. John Thurston,
17
9
43.
TIMOTHY CLARK,
I I2
3. JOSEPH DANIELL, SEN.,
19
5
44. Joshua Morse,
3
O
4. JONATHAN FISHER,
9
4
45. Eleazar Wheelock,
8
9
5. Eleazar Adams, 9
8
Samuel Clark, .
I
8
6. SAMUEL PARTRIDGE,
5
6
Heirs Joseph Clark,
8
8
7. Joshua Wight, .
3
6
48.
Samuel Adams,
15
8. John Hamant,
3
5
49. Joseph Clark, 6
O
9. Solomon Clark,
8
01 50. John Turner, Jr.,
5
8
IO. BENJ. ALLEN, SEN., .
51. Ichabod Harding, 3
9
II. Jonathan Boyden, Sen.,
16
IO
52. John Bullen,
7
4
I2. Sarah Smith, 6
9
53.
EBENEZER THOMPSON, 3
O
13. VINCENT SHUTTLEWORTH, I
O
54. Isaac Wheeler,
5
0
15. Joseph Ellis,
IO
II 56. John Fisher, Jr.,
7
S
16. JOHN ROCKETT,
9
11
57. REBECCA RICHARDSON,
2
9
17. Ephraim Wight, Jr.,
2
58.
THEOPHILUS CLARK,
4
14
19. Priscilla Morse, 7
IO
60.
JOHN PARTRIDGE,
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