USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Melrose > The history of Melrose, County of Middlesex, Massachusetts > Part 9
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John Sprague died June 25, 1692, aged 68, and by his will bequeathed his farm to his sons John and Phineas; John living on the old Maple Street place; and for Phineas a homestead was built out of the estate. This house stood where now stands the residence of L. Frank Hinckley, on West Foster Street, near the junction of Florence, Vinton and Maple Streets. The old well belonging to this homestead, with its ancient well-sweep, was on the opposite side of the street, near where now stands the beautiful and symmetrical elm tree; the spot is now covered by Florence Street, then only a pathway. This well was in use as late as 1850.
John Sprague was Captain in the Military Company of Mal- den, and Phineas, Ensign, in 1689; and their previous military record is given by Corey in his History of Malden, p. 327, as follows: "John was with Maj. Willard in 1676;" and Phineas "was with Lieut. Hasey in the Three County Troop in 1675 and 1676; was with Maj. Williard in 1676; and with Capt. Wheeler in 1676; John was at different times, Ensign, Lieuten- ant and Captain in the Military Company of Malden. Both John and Phineas were of the seventy-four proprietors and freeholders who shared in the allotment of the Commons.
His brother, Phineas, was a Representative to the General Court in 1691; and there is a record of his pay as such mem- ber. He received £10, 18s, 7d for eighteen weeks and two
29 MMiddlesex Registry Deeds, Book 3, p. 207.
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days service; about two shillings per day. Quite a contrast this, to the amount paid the present members of our Legis- lature.30
As did Capt. John Lynde, so did Phineas Sprague, keep, not as a store, but in a limited way, a certain line of goods, which he bought in considerable quantities and " bartered " with his neighbors.31
John Sprague, son of Capt. John, was a constable of Malden, and during his term of service it became his duty to serve, among others, the following warning, duly recorded in the Town records of 1745:
To mr John Sprague, constable of the town of Malden, GREETING. In his magestys name you are required forthwith to warn Thankfull Burden that she forthwith depart out of this town, and that she take her child with her. and that they be not resident longer any in said town : and make return of this warrant with your doings herein to me the Subscriber. Dated in Malden august the 26 day, 1745. By order of the Selectmen. JOHN SHUTE, Town Clerk.
thankfull Burden above mentioned, is warned according to the tenor of the warrant per me. JOHN SPRAGUE, Constable.32
Phineas Sprague, brother of John, died in 1736. He left two sons, Phineas and Samuel, to whom he bequeathed his two farms; and for Phineas hebuilt, in 1720, a homestead on the spot where now stands the residence of the late Mrs. Liberty Bigelow, on West Foster Street, and to Samuel he gave the old homestead, which he afterwards deeded to his brother Phineas, in 1761. Middlesex Deeds, book 63, p. 198. This Phineas died in 1775; and by his will the property passed into the possession of his son Phineas, the fourth of the name, who was born in
30 Sixty years later the compen- sation had not much increased as is witnessed by the following vote passed in Town Meeting in May, 1753: "Voted That the person or persons that shall be chose at this meeting to represent the town in General Court shall manifest to the town at sd meeting that he or they will draw out of the treasury the money that may become due by law to him or them for Sitting in said Court and then immediately deliver it to the town to be for the towns use excepting two shillings and eight
pence per day to a man to be at his or their own dispose and if any person or persons refuse to serve upon said condition the town to proceed to another choyce or choyces." Joses Bueknam was chosen Representative for that year and upon those ternis.
31 Bucknam, letter of July 10, I899.
$2 The practice of warning all new comers was followed in order that no one might become a "town charge."
-
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1725, in this West Foster Street house, where he lived and died. He had several sons, to one of whom, Jonathan, he gave the old homestead built for Phineas, the first of the name; which, having stood a hundred years, he demolished, and built the house now occupied by Mr. Hinckley. Another son was also named Phineas, the fifth of that name; but at the death of the father, Phineas, in 1805,33 at the age of eighty years, his homestead passed into the possession of another son, Cotton Sprague, who owned it until 1830, when it was sold, and was no longer owned by the Spragues. Cotton Sprague was a prom- inent and influential citizen. He was a member of the Legis- lature for the years 1823, '24, '25 and '26. In 1828 this place was bought by William Foster of Boston, who demolished the old house, and built the one now standing and owned by the estate of the late Mrs. Bigelow. The very large, magnifi- cent elms in front of this estate are more than a century old. The eighteen acres in front of the house were purchased in 1845, by Jeremiah Martin, cut up into house lots, and are now entirely covered with buildings.
Phineas seems to have been a favorite name in the Sprague families; and Phineas, the fourth, was the father of the late Captain Phineas Sprague, who was born in 1777, during the Revolution, and who built the house now standing, in 1812, on Main Street, opposite Ell Pond, in which he spent a long life, dying in 1869, at the age of ninety-two years. He was a shoe manufacturer, and continued to make and carry his shoes to Boston until within the last year of his life. "He was a worthy citizen, highly esteemed and respected by all who knew him." The old homestead is now the property of Samuel H. Nowell.
Samuel Sprague, one of the veterans of the Civil War, and who lost a leg at Antietam, is also a descendant of the Revo- lutionary Phineas Sprague.
Phineas, the fourth, who lived on West Foster Street, was the Revolutionary patriot, of whom many interesting anec-
33 His epitaph ran as follows: "In memory of Mr Phinehas Sprague who died this life Decem- ber the 28 aged So years andomy 1805.
His alms with liberal heart he gave unto the Sons of need
Ilis memory will to ages Live though he be gone in deed."
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dotes are told. He kept a diary. One record therein gives . some details concerning the old couplet :
In 1780, the nineteenth day of May, Will ever be remembered as being the dark day.
FRIDAY, MAY THE 19TH 1780.
This day was the most Remarkable day that ever my eyes beheld the air had bin full of smoak to an uncommon degree So that wee could scairce see a mountain at two miles distance for 3 or 4 days Past till this day after Noon the smoak all went off to the South at sunset a very black bank of a cloud appeared in the south and west the Nex morning cloudey and thundered in the west about ten oclock it began to Rain and grew vere dark and at 12 it was allmost as dark as Nite so that wee was obliged to lite our candels and Eate our dinner by candel lite at Noon day but between 1 and 2 oclock it grew lite again but in the Evening the cloud caim over us again the moon was about the full it was the darkest Nite that ever was seen by us in the world.
During one of the intercolonial wars between the French and English Colonies, this same Sprague furnished a substi- tute.
JAN. 13, 1761.
Received of Phinehas Sprague june'r eight Pounds lawful money it being for my going a Solger to forte cumberland and I had a promes. not of Six Pounds be fore.
Pr me
JOHN BATTS.
When slavery existed in Massachusetts some of these old families in Melrose were slave-holders, as is witnessed by fre- quent items in the history of these old familes, and by the fol- lowing document given to this same Sprague. Although it existed in a "mild and patriarchal form," it was real slavery, nevertheless, and human beings had a money value, and were bought and sold like cattle or real estate:
Know all men by these present that I, Thomas Nickels, of Reding, In the County of middlesex, gentilman for and in Consideration of the sum of thirty three pounds six shillings and Eight pence lawfull money of New England to me in hand paid by piniash Sprague, Jun of Malden in the same County above sd Cordwinder whereof I do hereby acknowledge the Receipt and my selfe therewith fuly and entirely satisfied have bargened sold set over and Deliverd, and by these present in plain and open markit acording to the due fourm of law in that case mad and provided do bargain set over and Deliver unto the said phinas Spraigue Jun a negro woman namd pidge with one negro boy to have and to hold to his proper use and behoofe of
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him the said phinas Spraigue his heirs, executors administrators and assigns for ever and I Thomas nickles for my self my heirs executors administrators and asigns ganst all in all manner of person I shall warrant and for ever Defend by these presents In witness whereof with the Deliver of the bargained persons I have set to my hand and seal the twenty-five Day of april in the 17 fifty-three year of ye Raign of oure Souerign lord gorg the Second ouer grate Britton.
THOMAS NICHOLS [seal].
Signed and our Seal 1753 and Delever in the present of us.
JONA KIDDER. EDWARD LAMBERT.
And the following anecdote is told concerning one of his slaves:
He (Phineas 3d ) owned a number of Negroes, and made the credu- lous darkies believe that he could find out by arithmetic any mischief they had been up to. So when a neighbor made a complaint that he had reason to believe a certain negro had stolen a cart chain, he called the negro up and told him he suspected he had been doing wrong, and unless he owned up. he (Phineas 3d ) should figure it out. There being no confession, he would then take his chalk and board and sit down to cipher. In a few moments he would musingly say. "links three inches long ; links three inches long, what does that mean ?" Then turning to his "boy" he would say, "Pomp," or whatever his name might be, "Pomp, you have been stealing sausages." Pomp, astonished at such arithmetic, would say, " no, Massa, me no steal sassage, me steal cart chain. " 34
Concerning his military life we have the following:
Although somewhat advanced in life, and being quite deaf, when the Revolutionary War broke out, and the call was made for the "minute-men," he joined the Malden Company, under Captain Nayler Hatch, which went first to Beacham's Point, and then in the night, to Concord and Lexington. Mr. Sprague's " heart was as impervious to fear, as his ears were to sound: " and when the rest of his comrades were flying from the view of the enemy, he was seen upon a piece of rising ground swinging his hat, and shouting victory.35
In the Centenial year, 1875, an anonymous communication in the Melrose Journal, " Melrose in the Concord Fight," gave this additional item concerning his Revolutionary history:
That day was made glorious by the courage and patriotism of the yeomanry of old Middlesex, and it is fit and proper that Concord and
3+ Letter to Artemas Barrett from Samuel Poor, June 1876.
35 Thanksgiving discourse at Mal- den, Dec. 1, 1831, by Rev. S. Osgood Wright, p. 24.
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Lexington should send greetings to the other towns of Middlesex County, and invite them to be represented on the occasion of the one- hundredth anniversary of the most creditable events of American history. Melrose (at that time known as North Malden) was but a small hamlet of a score or two of dwellings, and perhaps but a score or two of men capable of bearing arms; but some of them, on hearing of the march of the British to Concord, left their work, took their arms, went across to intercept them, and did noble service to the cause of freedom. Among others was Sprague, a grandfather of the late Capt. Phineas Sprague of Melrose, and a worthy by the name of Edmunds, whose names have come down to the writer by tradition. Sprague, owning a gun, took it with him. Edmunds had no arms; but when they arrived at the scene of the conflict, Edmunds, having recon- noitered, discovered a British soldier prowling away from the main body of his comrades, and borrowed the gun from his neighbor Sprague and went for him. When he encountered the soldier they both fired at each other at the same time, and both remained unhurt. They then reloaded their pieces ; but the Britisher, having a cartridge, was the first to load and fire, and missing his opponent took to his heels. Edmunds, loading his piece from a powder horn, required more time, but when his flying opponent mounted a stone wall in his retreat, he, with a well directed shot, brought him to the ground, securing as trophies a good king's arm and his other accoutrements, also, what was undoubtedly very acceptable, the rations the soldier brought from Boston. Thus were two of our country's heroes well armed, and from the accounts that tradition has brought to us, they bore them- selves bravely through the day, being in the thickest of the fray.
This same communication relates the following concerning a later experience of Mr. Sprague, when he and others made an effort to cross Mystic River during the progress of the battle of Bunker Hill, but were prevented by an English vessel in the river:
At low water there was a foot-way to the channel and a boat to cross with. Mr. Sprague, who was quite deaf but very courageous, was determined to go over, and when on his way he was shot at from the vessel. He several times dared them to fire, and they shot several nine-pound balls at him, which missed and were lodged in the bank of the river. He afterward dug one of them out and said he wanted to keep it to remember the devils by. That ball was in the possession of the writer for a long time but it has disappeared.
One of the sons of this Phineas, was Dr. John Sprague, who was born January 13, 1754, in the old Foster Street homestead, but became a resident of Malden Centre, where he practiced
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medicine for thirty years.36 He served as surgeon's mate in Col. Ebenezer Bridge's Regiment, in the early part of the Revolutionary War; entered the naval service as surgeon, was taken prisoner in 1777. After being exchanged, he again became a surgeon in the navy, was again taken prisoner, carried to Kinsale, on the coast of Ireland, detained until the winter of 1781-2, when he was released. The following is a copy of his discharge, the original of which is in the possession of his grandson, Charles H. Sprague, of Malden:
To all Whom it may Concern. These are to certify That the Bearer. John Sprague an American Prisoner of War, late Surgeon on board the Thomas Merchant Vessel, is set at Liberty Pursuant to an Order from the Hon'ble Commissioners for Sick and Wounded Seamen and for Exchanging Prisoners of War. Dated at Their Office on Tower Hill London, The Thirteenth Day of November Instant. Given under my hand this Twenty Second Day of November 1781
JNO HOWE Agent for Prisoners of War, at Kinsale.
He once more entered the service as surgeon and remained until the close of the war. He practiced medicine in Malden until his death, October 21, 1803. He was a man of strong passion, and quite a wag, withal. The late Artemas Barrett, whose grandmother was a sister of Dr. Sprague, relates the following:
Several years ago the writer met with Capt. John Smith, a retired gentleman in Boston, a native of Malden, who remembered Dr. Sprague very well and said he was a highly esteemed citizen and a very skillful physician, that when he was born Dr. Sprague attended his mother and said in a merry way if she would name the boy for him he wouid give him a sheet of gingerbread, so his mother in a merry mood named him John. Capt. Smith further said that Dr. Sprague had such a lucrative practice it brought a rival to Malden. a Dr. Goss from Cape Cod to compete with him for the patronage. The mode of traveling in those times was on horseback with a pillion behind the saddle on which the wife could ride. Dr. Goss staid awhile and not succeeding was obliged to leave the town or starve. Soon John Sprague after his departure Dr. Sprague wrote a poem which he posted in the
36 The name Phineas is still in evidence in the Sprague family!
Dr. John Sprague's son John, born in 1781, was Town Treasurer of
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public places in Malden. Capt. Smith repeated the poem, but the following verse is all that I remember :
Doctor Goss mounted his horse And took his wife behind him He's gone to Cape Cod so far from God It would puzzle the devil to find him.
It is characteristic of the Sprague's to abound with wit, humor and good nature.
Mr. Barrett also relates the following concerning two sons of Dr. John Sprague:
A few years ago the writer had occasion to write a letter to one of Phineas Sprague's grandsons, Peter S. Sprague, an old gentleman nearly ninety years of age, living in Greenfield, Mass., and received a reply through the mail directing it with the following superscription covering the whole of one side of the envelope :
To the Postmaster. Now this letter I wish to have Go down (before it stops) unto my native town Where once I counted my good friends by dozens Besides some thirty yea some forty cousins And now then I'll direct yon further still Its five or six miles north of Bunker Hill If yet you cannot see Sir where this goes Send to ARTEMAS BARRETT OF MELROSE.
On the other side of the envelope was written the following :
You see that I am far from being green Though of this fact the public's not aware Well many a flower's born to blush uuseen And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
Here is exhibited the peculiar bent of mind running in his father's family. John Sprague, his brother, lived and died in Malden. In early life he was a shoemaker, afterwards a merchant, and became one of Malden's most substantial, wealthy and honored citizens, holding many offices of trust. Early in the present century he connected him- self with the Baptist church. Difficulties soon arose in that church about settling a minister, who bore the title of Elder, in which he took part. In 1812 he wrote a brief history of the trouble and published it in pamphlet form which is now extant bearing this title : The | History | of \ Wars and Fightings | [ Without Shedding of Blood.] in the | Bap- tist Church, \ in Malden. \ Written by | John Sprague. Sh., Mak .. | One of the Members. \ Together With Some Poetry Never \ Before Published.
Malden many years, and father of Charles Hill Sprague, born in 1827, still living. His son, Phineas War-
ren, born in 1860, has a son Phineas Shaw Sprague, born in 1901.
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HISTORY OF MELROSE.
This title indicates the style of the work. He commences with the following original :
My heart's desire is, and I'll pray The elder and the deacon may Have all their wickedness forgiven And cease to sin, and seek for Heaven.
And when their lines they do look over, And see they've sinn'd against Jehovah O may they on their knees fall down,
Confess to God, lest he should frown.
Now may the Lord, who dwells on high Forgive their sins, and pass them by, That through the Saviour's love and merit, They may eternal life inherit.
Dr. John Sprague's brother William, also served in the Revolutionary War. He was in the
Lexington alarm, 1775 ; in eight months' service with Capt. N. Hatch, Lieut .- Col. Bond, 1775 ; with Capt. B. Blaney in Point Shirley exp., June, 1776; drafted and marched for Horse Neck, with Capt. John Walton, Col. Brooks, Sept. 26. 1776; in Rhode Island service with Capt. Stephen Dana, Col. Whitney, May-July, 1775; lost on armed brigantine " Massachusetts," 1770. How he went from home with " his maits " and never returned may best be told in the quaint words of his father, Phineas Sprague : 37
William Sprague being in the twenty seacon year of his age Shiped himself with a number more of his maits on board the massachuset Brig so called Bound to France with 14 carige gunes and a Hundred men -the Nex Nite after She Sailed a Voilent Storm of Snow caim on and Nothing of them could wee ever Hear of them Since tho it is Now above three years Since he took his leive of us and Bid us Fair well. 38
The original way of travelling from these Sprague houses to Malden Centre, was in a pathway which was nearly on a line of the present Cleveland Street, crossing Spot Pond Brook, thence over the Lynde farm to what is now Wash- ington Street, the present " backroad " to Malden.
THE GREENS. As were the Lyndes, almost the sole pro- prietors of what is now the southern territory of Melrose, so were the Greens, for a long while during the early years, settlers and owners of what is now the Melrose Highlands,
37 Corey, History of Malden, So5, 829.
38 From Diary of Phineas Sprague now lost.
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and a large part of Greenwood, in Wakefield, which, doubt- less, received its name from that family; their land also ex- tended westerly into Stoneham as far as Doleful Pond. Then came another of the older families, the Vintons, who, inter- marrying with the Greens, in process of time came to possess a large part of the Highlands territory; holding it until about the time the Boston and Maine Railroad was built, in 1845, when, during the next few years, the land ownership almost wholly passed from both families into the possession of the fast growing population of that part of Melrose. Only a small portion of the original Green land is now owned by any one of that name. The family of the late Aaron Vinton, a great-great-grandson of the original settler, Thomas Vinton, still owns and cultivates a small farm, situated on the north- erly side of Howard Street, near the Saugus line.
The first settler in these Highlands was Thomas Green;39 who was born in England about 1606, came to America in 1635, and to Malden as early as October 28, 1651, when his wife Elizabeth, and daughter bearing the same name, together with thirty-four others signed a petition to the General Court, in be- half of Malden's minister, Rev. Marmaduke Matthews, praying for an excuse for some of his errors and failings. He was one of the Selectmen of Malden in 1653 and 1658, and served many times on the Grand Jury of the County of Middlesex. He came into possession of his farm at the Highlands in the following manner: Thomas Coytmore, who first settled in Charlestown, where he became quite an extensive land-owner, and where he was a Selectman, and Representative to the General Court, and who built the mill at Mystic Side in 1640, before spoken of, came into possession of one hundred and fifty acres of land lying north of Ell Pond. The following order gives the only instance known where the name of our
39 " In view of our recent rapid growth, and the evidences of youth on every hand, it is hard to believe that in the days when Oliver Crom- well was marching at the head of his victorious legions, and all Europe trembled at his voice, with- in the sound of your curfew, and upon this very street, [Franklin]
Thomas Green was living in peace and in comparative security, saving from the ever present danger of the lurking and wily savage." Address of Hon. Levi S. Gould, at the Annual Banquet of the High- lands Congregational Church ju 1897.
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Pond is given as Elme, as it is here in the margin, but not in the body of the order:
1648
Ordered to lay out young Thos. Coitmore's The 20th day of the 3d of March it was agreed two lots by Elme Pond. to entreat of Bros. Robt. Hale and Thomas Lind to lay out young Thos. Coitmore's two lots by Ell pond, he to send one to go with them to help them.
Coytmore died in 1648. His widow married first, Gov. John Winthrop; and after his death in 1649, she married John Cogan, of Boston, and they came into possession of these one hundred and fifty acres. Four years later, in 1653, John and Martha Cogan sold and deeded one-half of this farm to Thomas Green.40 He built his homestead, a block house, on
THE OLD JOHN GREEN PLACE.
what is now the centre of Pratt Street, halfway between the present Franklin Street and Highland Avenue. It was built strongly, and used as a garrison and place of refuge in times of trouble between the early settlers of that region and the Indians. This old house was demolished about the year 1800, and a new one built nearby, on the old County road, now the
# I have in my possession the tains some curiously expressed original, quaintly spelled, and conditions. time-stained indenture. It con-
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corner of Franklin and Sargent Streets, where now stands the house of Mrs. R. M. Taylor.
This house was moved a few rods back and now stands on Howie Court. It has received alterations and improvements.
This group of two large pewter platters and two wine glasses, belonged to the original Thomas Green, and were brought by him from Eng- land. He was a passenger on the ship Paull, which sailed from London, and arrived in Virginia, July 6, 1635. There were originally four of these platters. These two have descended from generation to generation, ... and were the property of the late Mrs. Dexter Pratt, PLATTERS AND WINE GLASSES. of Melrose Highlands, a de- scendant of the eighth gen- eration. Mrs. Pratt, (neć Abigail Southwick) was born on the old Green farm, about a dozen rods from where she resided at the time of her death. Thomas Green bequeathed his farm to his sons, Capt. William and Henry, one-half each. William was made freeman in 1668; was member of the Malden Church, Captain of a Military Company, and Selectman of Malden for the years 1678, 1683 and 1702. William sold his half to his brother Samuel in 1670, and from that time Samuel occupied " the old mansion house." In 1684, he bought the other half of the farm of his brother Henry. When "The Commons " were about to be divided among the freeholders of Malden the following vote concerning this property was passed at a Town Meeting held May 18, 1694: "That Samuel Green shall Injoy his hous and ye land yt stands on, and so much land about It as ye Commite shall se cause to lay to It;" and when the divi- sion was made the next year, another reference to it was made when describing lot No. 64, of "The Commons:" "Part east against Redding Rhode and part on ye west of ye Green's farm."
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