USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sudbury > The history of Sudbury, Massachusetts, 1638-1889 > Part 17
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THE THIRTY-ROD HIGHWAY.
But, while these new lands proved so beneficial to the town, the " Thirty-Rod Highway " in time caused considera- ble trouble. It was laid out for the accommodation of the owners of lots, and, as the name indicates, was thirty rods wide. The unnecessary width may be accounted for as we account for other wide roads of that day : land was plentiful, and the timber of so large a tract would be serviceable to the town.
But the width tended to cause disturbance. The land was sought for by various parties, - by abuttors on one or both sides, it may be; by those dwelling within the near neigh- borhood ; and by such as desired it for an addition to their outlying lands, or a convenient annex to their farms. The result was that to protect it required considerable vigilance. Encroachments were made upon it, wood and timber were
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
taken away, and at successive town-meetings what to do with this Thirty-Rod Highway was an important matter of business. But at length it largely ceased to be public property. Piece after piece had been disposed of; some of it had been purchased by private parties, some of it exchanged for lands used for other highways, and some of it may have been gained by right of possession.
But, though so much of this road has ceased to be used by the public, there are parts still retained by the town and open to public use. The Dudley Road, about a quarter of a mile from the William Stone place, and which passes a small pond called the Horse Pond, tradition says is a part of this way. From near the junction of this with the county road, a part of the Thirty-Rod Way runs south, and is still used as a way to Nobscot. On it, tradition also says, is the Small- Pox Burying-Ground at Nobscot. A part of this road, as it runs east and west, is probably the present Boston and Ber- lin Road, or what was the "Old Lancaster Road." Other parts of this way may be old wood-paths that the Sudbury farmers still use and speak of as being a part of this ancient landmark.
"OLD LANCASTER ROAD."
This road, which was at first called the " Road to Nashu- way," probably followed an ancient trail. In 1653 it was "agreed by the town that Lieutenant Goodenow and Ensign Noyes shall lay out the way with Nashuway men so far as it goes within our town bound." A record of this road is on the Town Book, and just following is this statement : --
" This is a true copy of the commissioners appointed by the town taken from the original and examined by me.
" HUGH GRIFFIN."
This record, which is among those for 1646, by the lapse of time has become so worn that parts are entirely gone. It is supposed, however, that some of the lost parts have been restored or supplied by the late Dr. Stearns. We will give the record, so far as it can be obtained from the Town Book, and insert in brackets the words that have been supplied from other sources : -
.
RESIDENCE OF JOSEPH C. HOWE.
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
We whose names are hereunto subscribed appoint[ed by] Sudbury and the town of Lancaster to lay out the high[way over the] river meadow in Sudbury near Lancaster to the [town] bound according to the Court order, have agreed as follows [viz.] That the highway beginning at the great river meadow [at the gravel] pitt shall run from thence [to the northwest side of] Thomas Plympton's house, [and from thence] to timber swa[mp as] marked by us and so on to Hart Pond leaving the [rock] on the north side of the way and from thence to the extreme [Sudbury bounds] as we have now marked it the breadth of the way is to be the gravel pitt to the west end of Thomas Plympton's lot and . . . rods wide all the way to the utmost of Sudbury bound and thence upon the common highway towards Lancaster through Sud[bury] therefore we have hereunto set our hand the 22nd day of this pres[ent month] EDMUND GOODENOW
Date 1653
THOMAS NOYES WILLIAM KERLEY
This road has for many years been a landmark in Sud- bury; but the oldest inhabitant cannot remember when, in its entire length, it was used as a highway. Parts of it were long since discontinued, and were either sold or reverted to the estates of former owners. In 1806, an article was in the warrant " to see if the town would take any measures for opening the road called 'Lancaster Old Road ' at a gate a little north of Curtis Moore's dwelling house thence running southerly till it comes into the road leading from the mills to the meeting house." The road here referred to is probably that which comes out by the present Horatio Hunt place, about midway of the two villages. This record shows the track of the road from its intersection with the present meeting-house road to the point referred to as being "a little north of Curtis Moore's dwelling house; " and, from that point, it probably continued along the present travelled way to the Berlin road. Its course east of the Hunt place, so far as we can judge from tradition, record, visible traces, and the lay of the land, took the following course: Going east- erly a few rods, it goes southerly, and at a point about a quarter of a mile easterly of the Wadsworth Monument it takes a southeasterly course, and intersects the present Graves Road at the junction of two roads, near the William Jones place. It then, we believe, ran northeasterly over the length of the ridge, by what is still a rude wood-path, and
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
came out on the eastern slope of the hill, near the Albert Haynes place, where Mr. Plympton once kept a grocery store. A little east of this, and south of the Elbridge Bent place, there are traces of a road, that for a little distance has a stone- wall on either side, and which comes out a little south of the western end of the northern causeway, or at a point a little south of where the Water-row Road intersects the road going from Sudbury Centre to Wayland. Some have placed that part of this road which is east of the Graves Road a little further south, - that is, along the south side of the hill, rather than upon it, - but we believe the nature of the meadow at the east, and the absence of all trace of the road in the valley, together with traces of an ancient road through the woods on the hill and also near the Elbridge Bent place, are evidences that it took the course first described. Prob- ably mistakes have been made relative to the course of this road west of Sudbury Centre, from the fact that formerly there were two Lancaster roads. (See map of 1794.)
The two-mile grant was hardly disposed of, and the Lan- caster Road laid out, before there was a plan for the forma- tion of a new plantation. The result was the settlement of the town of Marlboro. (See Chapter IX.) But the loss of population did not materially affect the prosperity of the town or delay the progress on the west side.
THE HOP-BROOK MILL.
In 1659 a mill was put up, where the present Parmen- ter Mill stands in South Sudbury. This mill was erected by Thomas and Peter Noyes. In recognition of the servicea- bleness of their work to the community, the town made them a land grant, and favored them with such privileges as are set forth in the following record : -
Jan. 7th 1659. Granted unto Mr Thomas Noyes and to Mr Peter Noyes for and in consideration of building a mill at Hop brook laying and being on the west side of Sudbury great river below the cart way that leads to Ridge meadow viz : fifty acres of upland and fifteen acres of meadow without commonadge to the said meadow four acres of the said fifteen acres of meadow lying and being within the demised tracts of uplands ; Also, granted to the above named parties timber of any of Sud-
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bury's common land, to build and maintain the said mill. Also the said Thomas and Peter Noyes do covenant with the town for the foregoing consideration, to build a sufficient mill to grind the town of Sudbury's corn; the mill to be built below the cart way that now is leading to Ridge meadow, the said Grantees, their heirs and successors are to have nothing to do with the stream above four rods above the aforementioned cartway of said mill to be ready to grind the corn by the first of Decem- ber next ensueing, and if the said grantees, their heirs or assigns shall damage the highway over the brook, by building the said mill, they are to make the way as good as now it is, from time to time, that is to say, the above specified way, over the Mill brook of said Thomas Noyes and Peter are also to leave a highway six rods wide joining to the brook from the east way that now is to the Widow Loker's meadow. (Town Records, Vol. I.)
While the new mill was being built, a way was being made to it from the causeway, as we are informed by the following record, dated Feb. 7, 1659 : -
We the Selectmen of Sudbury, finding sundry inconveniences, by rea- son of bad and ill highways not being passable to meadow lands and other towns, and finding the law doth commit the stating of the highways to the prudence of the selectmen of towns, we therefore being met the day and year above written, on purpose to view the highways in the west side of Sudbury river, and having taken pains to view them, do we say, conclude and jointly agree that the highway from the Gravel pits shall go through the land newly purchased of Lieut. Goodenow to that end, and from thence down the brow of the hill the now passed highway, unto the place where the new mill is building, that is to say, the way that is now in occupation, we mean the way that goeth to the south and Mr Beisbeich his house, we conclude and jointly agree, that the way to the meadows, as namely, the meadow of John Grout, Widow Goodenow, John Maynard, Lieut. Goodenow, shall go as now it doth, that is to say, in the hollow to the said meadows, the highway to be six rods wide all along by the side of the said meadows.
The new road here mentioned is, probably, mainly the same as that leading from the old causeway, or Gravel Pit, to South Sudbury to-day. Until within about a century it passed round the southern brow of Green Hill. This road was probably part of a path or trail that had been travelled before. This is indicated both by the circumstances and the language of the record. It is not improbable, that, before the formal recognition or laying out of this road, a part of it was a way from the Gravel Pit, or end of the long cause-
-
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
way, to Lieutenant Goodenow's, southeasterly of the present Coolidge place, and extended from that point to Lanham, and was the road travelled by Thomas Read and others of Lan- ham to the meeting-house. There is still an old lane easterly of the Cooledge Farm, marked by fragments of wall, which may have been a part of the way to the old Goodenow Gar- rison. It is not improbable that this lane extended as a path- way along the margin of Lanham Meadows to Lanham. If this was the case, then the land spoken of as purchased of Lieutenant Goodenow, for the " new mill " road, may have extended, from the point where this lane leaves the present county road, along towards Green Hill ; and the " now passed highway " mentioned may have been the road in South Sud- bury called the " old road," which, it is conjectured, was a part of the path leading from South Sudbury to the old Lan- caster trail. (See period 1675-1700.) Or, in other words, two ways may be referred to in the records as making a part of this new road ; one, a portion of the path leading from the old Lancaster trail to the southwest part of the town, which was probably travelled by those living in the vicinity of Nob- scot, as they passed to the east part of the town ; the other, an early path by the Goodenow Garrison to Lanham.
NEW MEETING-HOUSE.
While the town was making improvements on the west side of the river, it was active on the east side also ; and one of the important works there, in this period, was the erection of a new meeting-house. Whether the people had outgrown the old one, or desired a better, is not stated ; but it is a mark of thrift, or of increase, that they proposed to build anew. That more room was wanted, is indicated by this record, in 1651 : " It was agreed by the town that Edmd Rice Senior, William Browne, John Reddicke and Henry Rice that they four shall desire the Pastor's approbation to build galleries in the old meeting-house, and if the Pastor do consent, then the town doth hereby give full power to the Pastor and these four men to continue the work, and to let it out to work- men."
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
Probably these galleries were never put in, as they soon afterwards commenced building a new meeting-house. Be- fore, however, it was decided to build anew, various plans were suggested relative to the, enlargment and improvement of the old one. In 1650 it was ordered that the deacons should " mend the meeting house and make it comfortable." One plan was to enlarge it by the addition of "13 foote at the end of it," and that the committee should " finish the back side which enlargement is for a watchouse." A plan a little later was that the meeting-house " be enlarged by building 10 foote on the foreside of it all the length of the meeting house to be built with two gable ends in the front ; and Mr. Brown the Pastor doth promise to give twenty shil- lings toward the work; the former order for enlarging the meeting house at the north west end is hereby repealed. It is also ordered that the back side of the meeting house be made hansom."
On Dec. 10, 1651, the town succeeded in passing a vote for the erection of a new meeting-house, the vote standing twenty-five for and fourteen against it. But this vote was repealed at a meeting January 23 of the same year (Old Style), together with all orders for the repairing or altera- tion of the old one. The following year it was " agreed that the meeting house shall be made use of for a watch house until some further course be taken by the town." At length it was again decided to build a new meeting-house; and in 1652 a contract was made for the work.
This contract is on the Town Records, but has become considerably worn and defaced, so that parts are almost or quite unintelligible. There is, however, a copy in the "Stearns Collection," which, with some slight immaterial alterations, is as follows : -
The town agreed with Thomas Plympton Peter King & Hugh Griffin to build a new meeting house which was to be forty feet long & twenty feet wide measuring from outside to outside, the studds were to be 6 inches by 4 to stand for a four foot clapboard. There were to be 4 tran- som windows five feet wide & 6 feet high, and in each gable end a clear- story window, each window was to be 4 feet wide and 3 feet high. There were to be sufficient dorments across the house for galleries if there
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
should afterward be a desire for galleries the beams to be 12 inches by 14 and the ground sills were to be of white oak 8 inches square. The posts were to be a foot square, and the 2 middle beams to be smoothed on three sides and the lower corners to be run with a bowkell. They the said Plympton King & Griffin are to find timber to fell, hew, saw, cart, frame, carry to place & they are to level the ground and to find them sufficient help to raise the house, they are to inclose the house with clap boards and to lyne the inside with cedar boards or otherwise with good spruce boards, & to be smoothed & over lapped and to be lyned up the windows, & they are to hang the doors so as to bolt. One of the doors on the inside is to be sett with a lock. They are to lay the sleepers of the doors with white oak or good swamp pine, & to floor the house with plank. They are to finish all the works but the seats, for which the town do covenant to give them * * * * 5 pound 20 to be paid in march next in Indyan [corn] or cattle, 30 more to be paid in Sep' next to be paid in wheat, butter, or money & the rest to be paid as soon as the work is done in Indyan corn or cattle the corn to [be] merchanta- ble at the price current.
Witness EDMD. GOODNOW
THOMAS NOYES
The new building was to be erected on the site of the old one. The town ordered " that the carpenters should provide 12 men to help them raise the meeting house," for which they were to be allowed half a crown a day. The roof was to be covered with thatch, and the workmen were to have " the meadow afterwards the minister's to get their thatch upon." In 1654 a committee was appointed "to agree with some- body to fill the walls of the meeting house with tempered clay provided they do not exceed the sum of 5 pounds 10 shillings." The parties who were to build the house were employed " to build seats after the same fashion as in the old meeting house," and they were to have for every seat one shilling eight pence. The seats were to be made of white oak, " both posts and rails and benches." In 1655 the pas- tor and Mr. Noyes were empowered " to appoint a man to remove the pulpit and the deacons' seat out of the old meet- ing house into the new meeting house." Hugh Griffin was appointed for the work, and was ' to have 18 shillings for the work if the work is done this week or next according to the pastor's approbation."
The records also state that " upon the pastor's request the town hath granted that he shall have liberty for to set up
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the seat for his wife in the new meeting house under the window by the pulpit."
Dec. 27, 1655, it was voted that the meeting-house should be seated with new seats, "that the seats now brought into the meeting house shall be carried out again and the select men shall have power to place men in the seats when they are built."
The new building being brought to completion, the people probably left the little first meeting-house that the deft hands of John Rutter had reared, and went into this with hearts thankful for new comforts and conveniences. It may, however, have been with some reluctance that they left the old meeting-house, as around it doubtless clustered memories both glad and sad; for it had sheltered them in times of united worship in their earlier experience in Sudbury ; when they had special need of divine support as strangers in a wilderness country, there they met, and together found strength for their trials and toils, and grace which brought patience and faith. Surely the old meeting- house was a place only to be exchanged for another, as that other brought new comforts and was better adapted to meet their needs. Thus at the beginning of this period the town was in a thrifty condition, and had a fair prospect of speedy development and future prosperity. Civilized life was cast- ing its brightness over the hills and along the valleys, and the scattered corn and wheat fields were gladdening the plains, which were being dotted on both sides of the river with pleasant homesteads. The young people who early came to the settlement were now coming into the full strength of sturdy manhood and womanhood; and all had been sufficiently long in the country to know what it re- quired of them and what they might expect from it. No outbreak had as yet occurred between the white man and his copper-colored brother of the woods, and both Nature and her children worked together in harmonious relations to bring plenty and peace. There are various small matters on record which indicate that the town looked well to its minor relations or interests, and exercised a vigilant watch- fulness in making provision for whatever called for its
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care. The following are the records of some of these mat- ters.
March 6, 1650, it was ordered " that the town rate of & now to be raised for the payment of the town debt shall be paid in corn." The same year it "ordered, a rate for the town pound to the value of 10 pound shall be leved to be paid in wheat 5 bush butter 6ª, and & shall pay as much as a bushel of wheat."
A controversy was going on about this time with regard to the Sudbury and Watertown bounds, and the town made "provision to prevent the encroachments of Watertown; " and a committee was appointed "to seek for the stopping of Watertown proceedings in coming too near our bound." The same year it was ordered that " a part of the town rate should be appropriated for the drum and halberd," and a rate was assessed "for repairing the Bridge, and Hugh Grif- fin was to have some pine poles for the staying of the same." In March, 1654, the controversy about the territorial bounds between Sudbury and Watertown was ended by the estab- lishment of a boundary line between the two towns, by agents appointed from both places. In 1655, "the line of the New Grant was run by John Ruddock, Thomas Noyes, and John Howe."
But while the town was growing and increasing in strength, a controversy occurred which was of a somewhat serious char- acter. Questions arose relating to the division of the "two- mile grant," to the title of parties to certain lands, and to rights in the east side cow common. The controversy con- cerning this latter subject was in relation to " sizing" or "stinting " the common. It was specified when this land was reserved, that it " should never be ceded or laid down, without the consent of every inhabitant and townsman that hath right in commonage; " and the rule for pasturing cat- tle upon it was, " The inhabitants are to be limited in the putting in of cattle upon the said common, according to the quantity of meadow the said inhabitants are rated in upon the division of the meadows." The rule of allowance on this basis was as follows : "For every two acres of meadow one beast, that is either cow, ox, bull or steer, or heifer
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above a year old, and every horse or mare above a year old to go as one beast and a half, and every six sheep to go for one beast, and that all cattle under a year old shall go with- out sizing." The endeavor to define rights of commonage, or the relation of the individual to this piece of town prop- erty, proved a difficult task. As might be expected among a people of positive natures, stroug opinions were enter- tained, and decided attitudes were taken concerning a mat- ter of individual rights. The affair was not wholly confined to the town in its social and civil relations, but the church became connected with it. The result was that a council was called to adjust ecclesiastical matters, and advice was also sought and obtained of the General Court.
It is not our purpose to give all the details of this once memorable case. We will, however, state a few facts that may suggest something of its general character. The case came before the people by a call in town-meeting for a vote as to whether they considered " the act of the selectmen in sizing the commons a righteous act." The affair not being satisfactorily adjusted in town-meeting, all the issues con- cerning the controversy, whether related to the cow com- mons or other matters in dispute, were laid before a com- mittee of the Colonial Court. In answer to a petition of Edmund Brown, Peter Noyes, Jr., Walter Haynes, and divers others of Sudbury, the Court ordered that Maj. Simon Willard, Ensign Jnº Sherman and Mr. Thomas Danforth should be a committee " to hear and determine the differ- ence between all or any of the inhabitants of Sudbury in reference to what is mentioned in the petition which petition is on file." (Colonial Records, Vol. IV., p. 228, date 1655. ) The committee met at the ordinary kept by John Parmen- ter, and the questions which came before them were as fol- lows : first, as to the right or title of certain individuals to certain lands, and specifically as to some held by Rev. Ed- mund Brown and Hugh Griffin; second, as regarding the right of suffrage exercised by some not considered town inhabitants ; third, as regarding the right of sizing or stint- ing the common; fourth, as regarding the act of defacing the town records. The committee appointed by the Court
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to adjust matters rendered this report: "Concerning the title of lands appropriated to several inhabitants . . . we do not find just cause to make valid their claims ; " and as concerns the land held by Mr. Brown the pastor of the Church there touching a part thereof some objection has been made and clamoring report laid against him, we do not find any just ground for the same." The committee concluded his titles were good, and confirmed them. Concerning the stinting of the common within the compass of the five miles, the com- mittee concluded that the rule was " not as clear as desira- ble ; " and they made the following recommendations, which are given mainly in their own words: That, in the rule for stinting the common, respect should be had for both those whose estates had been weakened and those which had been prospered, that those of the former class should be consid- ered and proportioned according to their several allotments of meadow, which gave them their right in the other part of the common already determined, the rule for which was in the Town Book, folio 27, and there was no disagree- ment about, and those of the latter class, namely, whose estate had been prospered, should be considered and propor- tioned according to the invoice of their estates given in for the county rate last past, without any respect had to their meadow formerly allotted them. The committee also de- clared that no person should have power to vote about the common " but such as have been allowed as free inhabitants of the town or have come upon the right of some that were so allowed." Since the committee found that the records, folio 58, touching the case, had been " crossed and defaced, they censured the act, and recommended that they be kept by the recorder of the court until there be a loving com- posure and agreement for former differences and a mutual choice of a fit person to keep the same." As some com- plaint had been made in reference to the title of Hugh Grif- fin's land, they stated that they considered his title valid. They finally concluded that every "allowed inhabitant of the town should have his commonage according to his meadow or invoice of his estate at his pleasure ; " and that no person who is not an allowed inhabitant, or had meadow, in case of
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