USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Melrose > The history of Melrose, County of Middlesex, Massachusetts > Part 5
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SPOT POND-1902.
Showing Old Pepe's Cove, Pond Street, Saddleback Hill, with "Cheese Rock," 110W Bear Hill, in the distance.
Ell Pond Brook, the outlet of that pond, runs through the centre of the town as far as Wyoming, where it is joined by the Spot Pond Brook, the former outlet of Spot Pond, but now of Doleful and Dark Hollow Ponds, and a little lower down the valley "Shilly-Shally Brook," from the neighboring cas- cade, unites its waters thereto. These brooks, thus united, continue on through Melrose and Malden, flowing into and forming the Malden River; the "Three Myle Brooke" of "je olden time." Another brook in the northeastern part of the city runs into Bennett's Pond.
Melrose is divided into several distinct villages, or settle-
17 Considerable damage has been caused to owners of lands abutting 01 Spot Pond Brook, from the drainage of these two ponds, by an extra overflow of water ; three of
our citizens brought snit on this account against the Commonwealth and recovered $109.56. $27.39 and $100.79, a total of $237.74, besides interest and costs.
36
HISTORY OF MELROSE.
ments: the Middlesex Fells,-generally shortened into Fells,- and Wyoming in the southern part of the city; the Centre; the Melrose Highlands, in the north,-each of these having a station on the Boston and Maine Railroad ;- Norrisville in the northeast; and East Side. These two are reached by the electric cars of the Lynn and Boston Street Railway Com- pany; the main line of which, through the centre of the city, running from Chelsea to Woburn, superceded the Malden and Melrose Horse Railroad in 1892, and the East Side branch commenced running in 1897.
These lines are now met by the Wakefield Railway Com- pany, at the junction of Main, Franklin and Green Streets, which runs through Main Street to Greenwood and Wakefield, and thence on to other connections. Many different lines of street railroads have now been consolidated under the name of the Boston and Northern Street Railway Company.
Our name, Melrose, was adopted by the advocacy of the late William Bogle, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, who had been a resident several years before our incorporation, and before the Boston and Maine Railroad was built, in 1845, and when he had to go back and forth to his business in Boston by the stage-coach line which ran between Boston and Reading; and which was established in 1798. Mr. Bogle evidently had at least two objects in view in offering us our name: one, a sweet sounding one, that had not been in common use, we being the n. Bogle first to adopt it in our country; an- other, as a memory of his native land. 1x
18 The name was adopted by a committee, consisting of the late Hon. Daniel W. Gooch, William Bogle, David L. Webster and John Shelton, which met at Mr. Shel- ton's house, No. 75 Lake Avenue.
In this connection an extract from Mr. Bogle's will, dated Dec. 10, 1890, is of interest as showing his interest in Melrose, and indicat- ing a future possible benefit to be derived by the Melrose Public Library. Item 5. "Should all my children die, leaving no issue of mine surviving, or should all issue
of mine die before my youngest living grandchild arrives at the age of twenty-one years, then said Trustees shall pay, make over, and convey the whole of said Trust Fund, whether consisting of real estate, or personal property, or both, to the Town of Melrose, a municipal corporation in said Massachusetts, and to which the testator gave the name of Melrose, to which Town of Melrose under the circumstances above named to occur, I give, devise and begneath said Trust Fund, whether consist-
37
TERRITORY.
The derivation of the Scottish Melrose is variously defined by different authorities. The Gasettcer of Scotland gives its meaning as follows: from either the Irish " Moal Ross"-a bold promontory, or from the British "Mell Ross" -a projec- tion of meadow. Sharp's Gazetteer of the British Islands, has it "Moel" or "Mull Rhos" -- a point. The late Prof. Herbert B. Adams, in a letter to the writer says:
JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY, BALTIMORE, FEB. 14, 1883.
DEAR SIR: - I have taken my first leisure to find out the origin of the name Melrose. At the Peabody Library I looked in vain through a dozen or more books of names of places. But at last I think I have struck the truth. The word Melrose is Gaelic. It has nothing what- ever to do with the Latin Mel and Rosa. as one might suppose. It comes from the Gaelic Maol, meaning " the brow of a rock: a cape or promontory," (see Macleod and Dewar's Dictionary of the Gaelic Language), and from Ros, signifying "a promontory: an isthmus, a peninsular," (see same Dictionary.) The two words together appear to mean a headland, or highland projecting into water. Considering the fact that " Old Melrose " stood upon a promontory upon the south bank of the Tweed, two miles below the modern Abbey, the above etymology would seem to cover the, ground. This view is further substantiated by the Latin name of the old cloister annals "Chronica de Mailros," (731-1275 A. D.) If the word Melrose had any connec- tion with the Latin Mel, this form Mailros would be inexplicable. I have seen the form Moel used in the same sense as Maol. In all probability the rocky island of Mull, which William Black has made so interesting in his novels, derived its name from the same physical idea of a promontory as may be seen in the geography of " Old Melrose."
Very cordially yours,
HERBERT B. ADAMS.
ing of real estate or personal property, or both, the same to be held by said town, as a perpetual Trust Fund, and to be called the Bogle Fund, to invest the same and keep the same invested as a Trust Fund, and collect the income and profits thereof and therefrom, and pay quarterly one-half of the net income thereof to and for the nses of the Public Library of said town, to be expended yearly in aid of said Public Library of the said Town of Melrose, the other half of said net income to be paid yearly
by said Town of Melrose to the Scots Charitable Society of Boston, Massachusetts, for the general uses and purposes of said society ; al- ways giving to said town all and the same powers from time to time to sell any or all property, real or personal, at any time constituting a part or the whole of said Trust Fund as is hereinafter given to my Trustees, and the right to rein- vest the proceeds of such sales in such manner as said town shall deem best and determine."
38
HISTORY OF MELROSE.
John Bower, in his Description of the Abbeys of Melrose ; and old Melrose, with their Traditions, confirms Prof. Adams' view:
Old Melrose, or Malerose, which is a mile and a half from Melrose Abbey to the east. was originally called Mull-ross, signifying a bare promintory, Ross, in the ancient language, signifying a peninsular, and Mull, bare.
But in his description of the ruined Abbey, he gives a more poetic signification :
Upon the other buttress is a pedestal, supported by the thistle, having the mallet and rose upon the shield, for Melrose, of which the derivation may be this-the mell is intended to represent the instrument by which this beautiful fabric was erected; and by the rose, which signifies sweet, it may well be termed sweet and pleasant to the eye, for the lightness and elegance with which it is finished.
The earliest local name applied to our territory, before it came to be known as " Malden North End," and " North Mal- den," was "Pond Field;" so called when describing the posses- sions of Ralph and Richard Sprague, around Ell Pond, in the Charlestown Book of Possessions, 1638; it is there written "Pond feilde."
Although Melrose is one of the younger municipalities of this Commonwealth, its territory had been occupied, at the time of its incorporation, for a period of over two hundred years. There are at least seven families whose ancestors made their abode in this beautiful valley, a part of them nearly, and a part over two centuries and a half ago. These are the Spragues, the Greens, the Barretts, the Lyndes, the Uphams, the Vintons and the Howards. Descendants of all of them are among its citizens today.
These early settlers left their homes, many of them from over the sea, and came into this then unsettled wilderness, in- habited only by the wild Indian, and still wilder beasts, and amid trials and sufferings, built their homesteads and founded their families. Long, cold and dreary winters must have been theirs. No sound of church bell greeted their ears, summon- ing them to the worship of God. Many were the deprivations experienced, many the hardships endured. Today we realize only to a limited degree what these hardy pioneers passed through.19 But they possessed noble spirits, persevering and
19 They were possessed of iron met those early dangers with com- posure ; their life of privation and
wills and iron nerve; and they
39
TERRITORY.
upright characters. They came determined to succeed, and succeed they did. Would that we had a minute chronicle of many of the events that took place in the lives of these early settlers of Melrose. A few years ago, many of the past gener- ation were living, who could have related much pertaining to the early history of the town, which they had received from their ancestors. But they have passed away, and with them many local incidents, events and anecdotes that would now be interesting, and which they could have rehearsed, are no longer attainable.
In those early days, besides the prowling and savage Indian, our surrounding forests, many of which have not yet wholly disappeared, were full of wild animals; wolves, deer, bears, foxes, and wildcats. So plentiful were they that laws were passed concerning them, and bounties offered to aid in the extermination of the most obnoxious and destructive of them. A law was passed by the Colony, in 1630, giving bounty for the killing of wolves ; one in 1635 for wolves and foxes; and in 1640, the following law was passed:
Ordered, that every man that kills a wolfe wth hounds shall have 405 alowed him. & whosoever kils a wolfe wth trap, peece, or other engine, shall have los alowed him, to bee paid by that towne where the wolfe is killed, & if hee bee kiled out of any towne bounds it shall bee paid by the Treasurer.
Wood, in New Englands Prospect, speaks of the "three great annoyances, of wolves, rattle-snakes and mosquitoes."
The former were nightly visitors among the unprotected herds and flocks. In the time of deep snows they hung around the settlements in great packs, and their fierce barking was a terror to man as well as beast. They infested the Saugus woods as late as 1753 and were not entirely extirpated until many years after. Bounties were offered for their scalps, and the grisly trophies were sometimes nailed on the meeting-houses. "For Beares," says Wood, " they be common being a great blacke kind of Beare, which be most feirce in Strawberry time." They are said to have been seen in Malden woods within this century, and they yet prowl along sequestered roads in the traditions of old families.20
hardship and toil, was encountered with cheerfulness for the praise- worthy object of securing for them- selves and their posterity, civil and religious liberty; and their
lives were yielded a willing sacri- fice to the cause of freedom. MISS. of Artemas Barrett.
20 Corey, History of Malden, 25.
40
HISTORY OF MELROSE.
In 1669, wolves had become so plentiful and destructive that our neighboring town of Reading ordered "that a bounty of twenty shillings be offered for every wolf killed in Reading for the ensuing seven years;" and in 1685, a "bounty of 15s. for the killing of an old bear, and Ios. for the killing of a sucking cub." Charlestown offered a bounty of 10 shillings for each wolf killed. In 1687, Samuel Sprague, Jr., of Malden, was paid forty shillings for killing two grown wolves. The same year the records of Reading state that
the town paid James Stimpson 15, shillings for killing an old bear ; paid John Eaton of ye plain, and some others. 2 £. for killing three young bears; paid John Upton, Jr., George Flint, and Steven Fish for killing one old bear and two young ones, 1 £. & 15 shillings; and paid Richard Harnden 15 shillings for killing one old bear.
In 1631, when Gov. John Winthrop was at his Ten Hill farm, he entered the following item in his Journal:
Oct. 11. The governour, being at his farm house at Mistick walked out after supper, and took a piece in his hand. supposing he might see a wolf. (for they came daily about the house, and killed swine and calves, etc.)
This proved quite an adventure. It grew suddenly dark, he mistook his path, and coming across the empty little house of Sagamore John, passed the night therein; "Sometimes walking by the fire, sometimes singing psalms, and sometimes getting wood, but could not sleep;" meanwhile his servants "having been much perplexed for him, and having walked about, and shot off pieces, and hallooed in the night, but he heard them not."
Concerning the topographical features of our territory, geologists have made the statement that the Merrimack River once flowed through this valley to the sea; but that by some upheaval of nature its course was changed to its present channel. Had that been so, and such a change had not taken place, how different would have been the his- tory of this region. But such is not the case. In place of a wide flowing river occupying nearly all of the level lands, we have the City of Melrose, most beautfully situated, with its charming and diversified scenery, of valley, hill and wild- wood.
CHAPTER III.
ROADS, STREETS AND HIGHWAYS.
T HE first road, and the only one for many years which passed through Melrose, was laid out by order of the General Court, two hundred and forty-nine years ago, at a session held Sept. 10, 1653. Some of the names of persons and places herein mentioned will be recognized as belonging to Melrose:
Thomas Marshall, John Smyth, & John Sprague, beinge chosen to lay out the country highway betweene Reddinge & Winnesemett, [Chelsea,] do lay it out as follows: from Reddinge towne, through Maldon bounds, betwixt] the pond & John Smyths land. [Smith's Pond, in Wakefield; Malden bounds extended thus far until what is now Greenwood was set off in 1727 to Reading.] & so by the east side of Mr Joseph Hills land, to New Hockley Hole, & so in the old way by the Cow Pen, [probably in our present Highlands.] & thence along on the east side of Thomas Coytmores lott, by Ele Pond. in the old way, to Thomas Lynds land, then through the first field, & so by the field by his howse, from thence, on the old way, by Maldon meeting howse, through the stony swampe, from the road there vpp betwixt Richard ;Addams & John Uphams lottes, into Charlestowne bounds. through Wm Johnsons & Richard Dexters land into ye way by the South Springe. & so on the south side of Tho Whitamores howse into Mr Bellinghams land, [Governor Bellingham] into the way that goeth to the fferry; the sd way to be fower pole broade, in good ground. & six or eight where need requires.1
A report had been previously submitted, "Ye act of which commissioners the Court approved of," on June 30, 1653, by this same committee wherein they recommended substantially this same route beginning their report as follows.
Wee, whose names are vnderwritten, being legally chosen by our towns, by virtue of a Court order, to lay out the countrie way betwixt Redding and Winnesemett. and having vejwed the sajd wajes, wee aphend it most convenient to be as followes.
1 Mass. Colony Records, iii. 330.
42
HISTORY OF MELROSE.
In this preliminary report our Pond is rightly spelled " Ell," instead of "Ele." Both documents show that Malden had a meeting-house as early as four years after its incorporation, in 1653. "The old way," so often referred to, means the old, crooked, devious Indian or bridle path, or trail, in use before this date, winding hither and thither, going around this hill, shunning that swamp or bog, and over which the traveller wended his way between Chelsea and Reading. Some parts of this old original road are being traversed by the streets of today; but a large part is discontinued, although traces of it in some places, particularly in Melrose, are quite distinct.
Several attempts to lay out this road had been previously made. The first one was by the town of Charlestown, when action was taken to build a road from Mystic Side up by Wayte's Mount, through the "Commons," and beyond Ell Pond; and the following committee was appointed:
[24. 12. 1644/5.]
It is agreed yt Tho: Line, Robt Hale & Tho: Pearce should lay out A convenient Highway on Mistickside from ye Woods to the head of the North River & to allow for ye Highway & to bound the Meadows from ye Mount to Ell Pond, & to allow them ye Highway in bound- ing ye Meadow.2
But May 26, 1647, the General Court took action, and Lieut. Ralph Sprague and Francis Smith were appointed " to lay out ye way from Winnetsemet to Reading." This was a part of a general plan by which a continuous highway was opened to the settlements in New Hampshire, passing through Reading, Andover, and Haverhill; and its survey brought forth the first of that long series of humble petitions in which are preserved much of the history of Mystic Side and Malden.3
In 1648, five years before the road was finally established in 1653, it had been laid out in such a manner as to meet with opposition from the residents of Mystic Side and others, which seems to have been successful, and Ensign Thomas Lynde and Joseph Hills were added to act with the committee in select- ing a new route for this road, as will be seen by the following petition :
16=3=48=
To the How'd Court.
The humble peticon of seurel the Inhabitants of Mestick side & others Jn Charles Towne. May Jt please you to understand, that there
2 Charlestown Archives, xx., in 3 Corey, History of Malden, 95. loco.
43
ROADS, STREETS AND HIGHWAYS.
hath beene lately layd out A highway from winesemet to Redding by Appointment of the genrll court, whose orders in all things, wee most willingly as dutie binds vs submit vnto, Assuring ourselves that their principall Ayme is the publ. good : wch vnder fauour we concr is not consistent with the Lying of that way as now it is done=soe that it thwarts neere twentie small Lotts & Allso many other Lotts = wch if by means thereof, the owners be forced to fence out the way A great part of the Land must be sould to make the fence. the owners being many of them pore & not able to beare the charge thereof. some of them hauing foure fences Allreadie Against comon & highway ground, Wherefore or humble request is that the said Act may be recalled & that the way vnto wenesemet from Redding may be in the highway Leading toward the penie ferrie, vnto the house of James Barritt & so by the towne way leading directly into winesemet. Lying on the head of the five Acre Lotts, by the South-spring, wch is Allso AA playne, firme, trodd way & but litle about, the wch they now stand charged to fence Against & cannot secure their planting without it. So shall wee be bound to pray as wee desire dayly to doe for ye psptie & peace temporall & Eternall.
Jo GREENLAND RICHR DEXTER FRANCIS WHEELER GEORGE FFELT. In th name of the rest.
The magr consider it meet (wh Reference to the Concurrence of it with the Deptys) that Tho=Line & Mr Jos=Hills may be ioyned wh the former Comittee to take a new survey of the most convenient place for the way in the petition mentioned, & to make certifi- cate to the Court of their apprehensions therebout.
go : wiat hop: Love
The Depties Consent to or honord magists in answer to this pet= I'M TORREY by order & S +
The committee thus enlarged made report to the General Court, May 9, 1649:
Mr Joseph Hill, Left Sprauge, Tho Lyne, & Frauncis Smith, as a comittee, bringing in their retourne of a highway laid out by them from Redding to Winisemett, information was given that this was lesse behoofefull to ye country then the formr; wherevpon the Courte. considering yt it is and willbe of great concernement to the publicke that the best high wayes be layd out from toune to toune for publicke vse, wch concernes posterity aswell as ourselves, and that no private interest should hinder it, have ordered, that Mr Cleoments, John
+ Mass. Archives, cxxi, 21.
44
HISTORY OF MELROSE.
Osgood, and Frauncis Smith, as a comittee, shall have power to lay out the most convenient way for a country roade betweene Redding and Winnisemett.5
But for some reason this committee did not perform this duty; the road still remained undesignated; and the following order was passed May 31, 1652 :
Whereas this Court did long since appoynt sundry psons to lay out the way from Reding to Winesemett, which is not yet determined, & some of the psons mentioned in the sd order are dead, and forasmuch as it was ordered by Cambridge Court. that it should forthwith be done by the townes of Redding & Malden. it is now ordered by this Court, that the laying out of the sd highway shalbe done by the townes of Redding & Malden, according to the law in that case provided, any act of this Court to the contrary notwthstanding.6
Then, as we have seen, but not until over a year and three months had passed, the new committee consisting of Thomas Marshall, John Smyth and John Sprague, laid out the long contemplated road in a manner apparently satisfactory to all concerned.
The various windings of this original road through Melrose may be traced as follows: Beginning at the boundary line between Wakefield and Melrose, it followed the present Main Street a short distance, crossing it twice, and leaving it just before reaching the brow of Reading Hill on the easterly side; thence in the rear of the residence of the late Asa Church, and of the new houses recently built and parallel with the present Main street to Green street, a portion of the road being still clearly defined; thence through the whole length of Green Street, by the eastern end of Ell Pond, through Lebanon Street as far as Louisburg Square, where still stands the old John Lynde mansion, but now without its once umbrageous elm; then down Lynde Street to near where the "Dolly Upham" house now stands, when it left that street and skirted along the east side of Boston Rock, following somewhat nearly the course of the present Lin- wood Avenue, almost to Sylvan Street, crossing the field just before reaching the latter street; a short section of this cross-cut is still preserved, although the new stone-crusher, established in 1897, has nearly crushed it out of existence; thence diagonally across Wyoming Cemetery to its south-
5 Mass. Colony Records, iii, 159. 6 Mass. Colony Records, iii, 274.
45
ROADS, STREETS AND HIGHWAYS.
west corner; thence over hill and dale, through the woods, by the Forest Dale Cemetery, to Forest Street; entering that street near the old Jacob Pratt house; thence it followed the old "Salem Path" to the present Main Street, skirting Wayte's Mount, which has been known as " Mount Pros- pect," and "Captain's Hill."
That part of the old road from Wyoming Cemetery to Forest Street was remarkably well preserved and clearly defined, easily driven over, showing the wheel-rut abrasion of the old-time usage very distinctly, until the time when the Lynde farm was bought by Hon. Elisha S. Converse, and the Forest Dale Cemetery established in Malden; then the new road which was built between the two cemeteries entirely obliterated all traces of the old road of 1653.
The original Ensign Thomns Lynde farm was large, em- bracing what is now the Wyoming Cemetery, Pine Banks Park, and extended to and beyond Forest Street; and this portion was referred to in the order laying out the road in 1653; and in 1695, when the " Commons " were divided, his son Joseph Lynde, lived on Forest Street, and his house and land were exempted by the committee in the division of those lands, as per report in Malden records of March 26, 1694, and as given on page 17.7
Parts of the old road in Malden, Everett and Chelsea still exist; sections of Madison, Forest and Main Streets in Malden, Buckman and Chelsea Streets in Everett, and Washington Avenue in Chelsea traverse portions of it.
In the course of time, as will be seen by the following peti- tion of Ensign Thomas Lynde, a part of the road running through Melrose, just described, was somewhat changed:
To the Honord County Court at Charls Towne. 20. 4: 71 [April 20, 1671]
The petition of Thomas Lynde of Malden Humbly showeth : That whereas formerly a certaine Highway for the Country's use was laid out through a fielde of mine commonly called my further field which if so continued and made use of will be very prejudicial to my self and postrty by reason I have so litle land Improveable to corne.
And inasmuch as there may be a way wiht [without] my said fielde
7 This house was built by Deacon present Pratt house built near the entrance to Forest Dale Cemetery. Corey, History of Malden, 368.
Thomas Lynde for his son Joseph. It was demolished in 1828, and the
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