USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sudbury > The history of Sudbury, Massachusetts, 1638-1889 > Part 37
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May, 1799, the town-meeting adjourned to allow its com- mittee on building stables to go out and view the land ; on their return they reported that they had "set up a stake and stone at the south east corner of Lt Willis stables to the North east corner of the meeting house. Sd line being about 35 ft back of sd meeting house." "Report was accepted."
In 1796, the town-meetings were held at the house of Col. Benjamin Sawin, innholder. This was during the building
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of the new meeting-house. The same year the town appointed Col. Sawin's new barn and yard adjoining the same for a pound for a year.
October, 1797, " The Committee previously appointed to select a suitable place whereon to erect a pound reported that said pound be erected upon the East end of the Burying yard, the south side to be erected about ten feet north of L' Reuben Rices Stone wall, the wall of sd pound to be 5} ft in Height with a Hewn stick of chestnut, or white pine Timber 10 inches in Height upon the top thereof, the Bury- ing yard wall to form one side. Sd pound to be thirty feet square within the walls." The report was accepted, and twenty dollars was granted for the purpose. The committee appointed for letting out the building of the pound were to " have the privilege of all the stones on the common round the meeting house, excepting so many as shall be necessary for horse blocks." At the same meeting forty dollars was granted for rebuilding Lanham Bridge.
April, 1797, voted " to provide a carriage for the town's use Suitable for the conveyance of Corps to the Burying yard." October, 1797, granted thirty dollars for the pur- pose of teaching a singing school for one month. In 1798, " Chose a Committee to let out the building of a school house in the north east district in place of the one which was burnt." Also appropriated two hundred dollars for the building. At the same meeting appropriated two hundred and fifty-five dollars for building a school-house in the centre district. Also at the same meeting, granted " for a harness for the town carriage to carry corps upon 15 : 75" In 1799, voted " that the Committee that was appointed to build a shelter for the funeral carriage, if they think it can conven- iently be done, to build a place in it for storing of the towns stock of ammunition."
CHAPTER XXIV.
1800-1825.
Early Families Residing in Sudbury about the Beginning of the Present Century. - Families Who Came into Sudbury during the Interval between the Formation of the Town and about the Middle of the Present Century. - Biographical Sketches.
Happy he whom neither wealth nor fashion, Nor the march of the encroaching city, Drives an exile From the hearth of his ancestral homestead.
LONGFELLOW.
IN entering upon the history of the nineteenth century, we may, with propriety, pause in our narrative to notice the condition of the community at the beginning of this new period, and compare it with the condition of things in for- mer and distant years. We have arrived at a point when this can be done to advantage. We have chronicled the events of more than a century and a half, and considered the character, customs and conduct of the earlier inhabitants, and the town when in its formative state. We have seen influences gather and grow from sources small and remote, and men come in, act their part, and go out. Before pro- ceeding to consider new facts, let us notice the results of those already set forth and their relations to what is to come. Let us notice to what extent early names and families were familiar at the beginning of the nineteenth century, what new inhabitants had come into town, and how far there had been a transmission of customs, traits and manners of living and doing in the home, the church and the town.
Down to about the year 1800, quite a share of the old families remained, and, to an extent, kept their former prestige. Such were the Goodnows, Bents, Parmenters,
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Maynards and Reeds, the Hunts, Browns and Hows, also, the Haynes family, the Rices and Plymptons. In East Sudbury there were the Rutters, Curtises and Lokers, the Johnsons, Noyeses, Grouts and Wards. But, while so many of the old families remained, they no longer, as at the town's beginning, bore all the responsibility of its management, nor were their names alone prominent upon the records. Some of these families had begun to decline. Their ranks were decimated, their power was on the wane. So it was with the Hows, the Plymptons, the Maynards, the Rices, the Reeds ; and in East Sudbury with the Curtises, Noyeses and Grouts. Indeed, the decline of some of these families, which began before the century set in, has to such an extent gone on that some of them have not a member in Sudbury who bears the family name ; when it is called, no one is left to respond .. Their history is but a tradition for others to tell, or found in fragmentary records on the town book, or inscribed on the tombstones of Sudbury's old-time burying grounds. But the decadence of old families is not the only reason why, at the beginning of the present century, town business was not wholly done by the descendants of the early grantees. There had been, in the process of years, the introduction of new families into Sudbury, many of which took a prominent part in its affairs. Among those of this class who came before or about the beginning of the eighteenth century, there are the following names of per- sons on the west side of the river: Balcom, Bogle, Bowker, Brigham, Brintnal, Bush, Clapp, Cutler, Cutter, Dakin, Gibbs, Hayden, Jones, Mossman, Perry, Puffer, Richardson, Stanhope, Stevens, Taylor, Thompson, Tower, Walker, Wedge, Wheeler, Willis ; on the east side, Abbott, Allen, Baldwin, Brewer, Bryant, Cutting, Damon, Drury, Frink, Gleason, Graves, Heard, Jennison, Long, Paris, Reeves, Roby, Ross, Sherman and Wellington. The following are names of families who settled in the present territory of Sudbury between about the years 1800 and 1850: Adams, Allen, Arnold, Bacon, Barton, Burr, Carr, Clark, Conant, Dwyer, Eames, Eaton, Fairbanks, Garfield, Gerry, Harring- ton, Horr, Hudson, Hurlbut, Lyon, O'Neil, Powers, Pratt,
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Robinson, Rogers and Shaw. We will give a few facts con- cerning such of these families as have a member still living in town who bears the family name, or is in some way still identified with the place. The object of these sketches is not to give anything like a complete genealogy, but, as in the case of the early grantees (Chapter III.), only to give a brief outline of family history, mainly as it has been con- nected with the town.
ADAMS. - At an early date the name of Adams is upon the town records, and the indications are that one of the name was living near the Sudbury and Concord boundary not long after the settlement began. In 1671, James Adams was to have liberty to feed his cattle on Sudbury bounds, and "to take old and dry wood that shall be upon the ground, the said Adams to prevent any trespass by Concord herds or cattle also in our wood and timber, forthwith to give notice to the town." (Sudbury Records.) This James Adams is probably the one referred to in the genealogy of Concord inhabitants (Concord History) as belonging to a family said to have been banished from Scotland by Oliver Cromwell, and who married Priscilla Ramsden of Concord in 1662, and died Dec. 2, 1707. James had seven children, - Priscilla, Elizabeth, James, Hannah, John, Nathaniel and Dorcas. Descendants of these have lived in Acton and Carlisle, which places were formerly in Concord. A John Adams of Sudbury was wounded at the Swamp Fight, R. I., in 1675. (See period 1675-1700.) The Adams family of Sudbury descended from the Acton branch. John Adams was born at Acton, Sept. 27, 1746, and had six children, - Lydia, Paul, John, Josiah H., Mercy, Mary. Josiah H. was born Aug. 4, 1780, and lived about twenty years on the place now occupied by the American Powder Company ; he then moved about a mile south to the present John Adams place. He had five children, - two of them sons, Joseph B. and John. John Adams, the present superintendent of the Fitchburg Railroad, was born at and now owns the place formerly occupied by his father in Sudbury.
ALLEN or ALLIN. - The Allen family was early in Sud- bury. The name of John Allen is on the "Old Petition "
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of 1676; on another, of 1690 are the names of John and Thomas, Jr., and Zebediah, Jr., and on a paper of 1707, sub- scribed to by the East Side inhabitants protesting against a parochial precinct on the West Side, are the names of John and Samuel Allen. The first Allen of the present century in Sudbury was John Plympton, who moved from Wayland to South Sudbury, where he carried on the blacksmith's trade for nearly fifty years. He married Sibel Read who was born in Sudbury in 1800. He had four children, - Francis, Franklin S., Margaret M., Abby A. Margaret M. Allen is at present a resident of South Sudbury.
ARNOLD. - The name of William Arnold is on an old petition among a list of inhabitants on the west side the river in 1707 ; but for an interval of years there were none by the name in town. Edwin, first Sudbury resident of the name in the present century, is grandson of Winslow and Abigail (Hagar) Arnold, who were born, married and lived in Marlboro. His father was Joel who married Ruth, daughter of Israel and Susanna (Stone) Parmenter of Sud- bury, April 25, 1843. Edwin married Abby Hunt, daughter of Abel and Sally Smith of Sudbury. They have had one child, Frances A. Edwin Arnold resides at South Sudbury.
BACON. - The Sudbury ancestor of the Bacon family, which in the present century has resided in town, was Jonathan who came from Natick in 1835. His father, whose name was Jonathan, was born in Natick in 1756, married Zipporah (Goulding) Mann and had two children, Jonathan and Ebenezer. Jonathan, Jr., married Lydia Hammond of Natick, born Oct. 11, 1778, and had six children, - Zippo- rah, Asa, Samuel, Edward and Lydia, all born in Natick, and Adoniram born in Sudbury. He lived on the South Sudbury and Marlboro road in a house built and once occu- pied by Joel Jones, and at present occupied by Adoniram. Jonathan died several years ago, but his widow, Lydia Bacon, is still living at the age of one hundred and one.
BALCOM. - The Sudbury Balcoms are descended from Henry Balcom of Charlestown, Mass., a blacksmith. He married Elizabeth Haynes of Sudbury, August 12, 1666, and died April 29, 1683. Soon after his death, the family moved
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to Sudbury and settled in the northwesterly part in what is now Maynard, where his descendants still live. Among the children of Henry was Joseph, who was born Dec. 17, 1674, and died Sept. 17, 1745, at Sudbury. He married Tabitha Mossman. Among their children was John who was born March 13, 1713 (or 1715), and married Susanna Haynes, August 23, 1737. Among the children of John and Susanna was Asahel, born June 5, 1741, who married Jerusha Wil- lis. Their children were Asa who married Adah Balcom, Jerusha who married Adam Howe, Rebecca who married Daniel Puffer. Asa was the father of Hollis and Asahel, two well-known citizens of the present century living in that part of Sudbury now Maynard.
BARTON. - George Barton was born in Concord, and came into town April 1, 1851. He married for his first wife Mary Susan, youngest daughter of Israel Hunt of Sudbury, and occupies the Israel Hunt farm in the Pantry district. His children are George H., born 1852; Frank P., 1857 and Alice M., 1859.
BOGLE. - Thomas was the first of the Bogle family who lived in Sudbury. He came from Scotland to Boston, and, after remaining there a short time, went to Sudbury, where he purchased the farm now occupied by Deacon Francis Walker. He had seven children, one of whom was Rowand who married Elizabeth Goodenow and occupied the old homestead. Rowand and Elizabeth had five children, - Hannah, Francis, Elizabeth, Submit and Polly. Francis married Patty Hemenway of Framingham, and had four children, - Miranda, Sarah HI., Lucy and Nancy E. Mi- randa married Azariah Walker of Framingham, who pur- chased the Bogle farm in 1826, which he occupied till his death. Lucy and Nancy Bogle reside at South Sudbury.
BOWKER. - The Bowker family was in town as early as 1707 ; the name Widow Sarah Bowker being upon a paper of that date. A prominent member of the family was Capt. Daniel Bowker, who served in the Revolutionary War, and died early in the Nineteenth Century. He went with his wife from Hopkinton before 1756, and settled on what has
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since been known as the Bowker place in North Sudbury. He had ten children, two of whom were sons named Daniel and Joseph. He died Jan. 31, 1822, aged ninety-two, and his wife died June 28, 1813, aged seventy-nine. Daniel Jr., born Sept. 13, 1772, married Ruth Brown of Hubbardston and had fourteen children. He died Oct. 18, 1853, aged eighty-one, and his wife died Jan. 15, 1846, aged sixty- eight. Two sons of Daniel Jr. were Daniel and Samuel N. Daniel died May 19, 1880, leaving no children. Samuel N. was born June 16, 1799, and died Oct. 9, 1872. He married Mary Earle of Berwick, Me., and had seven children, one of whom is Frank M., born in 1850. Frank M. married for his first wife Anna Hunt of Morenci, Mich., and for his second Carrie Conley of Halifax, Nova Scotia, and has had five chil- dren. He lives on the old homestead, and his children are the fifth generation who have lived there.
BRIGHAM. - The ancestor of this family in New England was Thomas, who embarked from London for America in 1635, and settled in Watertown. He had several sons, the eldest of whom, named Thomas, lived in Marlboro, and mar- ried the granddaughter of Edmund Rice, one of Sudbury's original grantees. It is conjectured that the Sudbury Brig- ham's are descended from this branch of the family. The name of John Brigham is in the Indian Deed of the Two Mile Grant, and also (page 65) on the petition to Governor Dudley by the West Side people for a new precinct in 1706-7. One of the same name early settled in the territory of Maynard. The name of Samuel is found on the roll of the 2nd Foot Company in 1757. A prominent member of the family in the present century was Capt. William Brig- ham. His farm was that now occupied by Elisha Goodenow. Rufus, a son of William, resides at Sudbury Centre. The Brigham family have lived mostly in the north and north- west parts of the town.
BURR. - Hiram Burr, son of Daniel, came from Derby, Vt., in 1845, when a young man. His first wife was Ellen, daughter of Deacon Gardner Hunt. His second wife was Nancy J., daughter of Deacon Thomas Dakin. He owns
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and lives on the Gardner Hunt farm, South Sudbury. He has had four children, - Frank G., Arthur H., Clifford B., Howard C., Nellie May.
BUTTERFIELD. - Luther Butterfield was born at Antrim, N. H. He came to Sudbury in 1841, and settled in the Lanham district on the road from Sudbury to Saxonville. He has six children, - Ebenezer S., James B., George F., Sarah, Jerome, Edward C.
CARR. - The Sudbury ancestor of the Carr family now living in town was Ezra, who went to Sudbury in 1810 and resided on the old Carr homestead, then occupied by his brother John and since owned by his son Crosby. Abiathar, another son, was born in Wilmington, Vt. He married Rebecca, daughter of Israel and Rebecca (Rice) Wheeler, and had six children, four of whom are living, - Lucinda J., Charlotte M., Frederick E. and Merrick. Lucinda and Merrick are residents of Sudbury. The old homestead passed out of the family about 1850.
CONANT. - Silas Conant was born in Stow, May 31, 1747. He moved to North Sudbury in 1782, and lived until his death, Sept. 20, 1836, on the farm since owned and occu- pied, until his death in 1859, by Emory, his grandson. The father of Emory was Amos, who had four sons, - Emory, Dexter, Silas and Amos. John M., son of Amos, Jr., and present resident of Sudbury, is of the tenth generation from Roger, who came from England to Plymouth, New England, about 1623. John M. has served as selectman and assessor for several years. He married Lucretia A. Richards of Concord, Vt., and has had four children, - Clara J., Lillian, Edwin A. and Louisa.
CLARK. - Isaac Clark was born April 18, 1806, in Wind- ham, N. Y., and moved to Hopkinton in 1816. He married Almira Osborn of Sudbury, Sept. 26, 1833. In April, 1837, he purchased and settled upon the Osborn place where he now resides. He has had six children, - Everett O., Eliza S., Almira A., Ellen O., Frederic P. and Franklin P.
CUTLER. - The name of Thomas Cutler is found on a petition of 1707, and that of Elisha on a muster-roll of 1755. The family have resided mostly at the south part of the
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town. Asher, grandfather of the late C. G. Cutler, Esq., once owned the mill at South Sudbury, which he left jointly to his sons Asher and Abel. In the early part of the century, Abel, the father of Christopher, kept a tavern near the Gravel Pit. C. G. Cutler, a well-known citizen, died at his residence in South Sudbury a few years since at the advanced age of ninety. He had four children, - Jo- seph, Mary, Emeline and Caroline.
CUTTER. - An early resident of this name was Nathanael, who was a soldier in Captain Nixon's Company in 1761. (See period 1750-1775.) Joseph Cutter was born in 1761, and married Prudence, daughter of James Thompson of Sudbury. He was a drum major in the Revolutionary War, and died in Sudbury in 1807. He left several children. A daughter married William Stone, who formerly kept tavern about a mile west of South Sudbury on the Boston and Worcester road (William Stone place). A son, Joseph, Jr., lived on the present Hiram Goodnow farm until his death. Joseph, Jr., married Lucy, daughter of Gideon Richardson. They had five children, - Dana, Augustus, Dexter, Caroline and Lucy Ann. Augustus married Abby A., daughter of John and Sibel (Read) Allen, and has four children, - Harry C., Howard A., Joseph, Mary Sibel. Lucy A. married Hiram Goodenough.
DAKIN. - The first Sudbury ancestor of this family was Captain Samuel who was killed in the last French and Indian War. (See period 1750-1775.) Thomas, the father of Deacon Joseph the father of Samuel, went to Concord prior to 1650. The family lived in North Sudbury near the northern boundary. Three of them have been deacons, - Samuel, June 30, 1775; Levi, March 24, 1817; and Thomas L., son of Levi, in 1838.
DWYER. - Richard Dwyer emigrated to America in 1845. He purchased the place in North Sudbury on which he still resides. He has seven children, - John, Richard, Thomas, Maria, Kate, Mary and Lizzie.
EATON. - The Eaton family descended from Jonas who was in Reading in 1642. He had eight children, among whom was Jonas, whose son John had eleven children,
.
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among whom was Jonas, born May 18, 1680. Jonas was a carpenter and bricklayer, and settled in Framingham in 1705-6, where he bought eighty acres of land and erected a house on the present John M. Harrington place, near the Sudbury and Framingham boundary. He had ten children, among whom was Noah, born July 22, 1708. Noah was known as Cornet Eaton. He had eight children, among whom was John, born July 30, 1740. John lived on the old homestead. He married Olive Conant and had twelve chil- dren, among whom were Reuben and Sally. Reuben, born May 14, 1769, married Betsy Hunt, and Sally, born Nov. 8, 1770, married Elisha Hunt of Sudbury. Reuben went to Sudbury in 1799. He lived on the Loring Eaton place (near Heard's Pond). Among his children were Loring and John. Loring lived until his death on the old homestead, and had five children. John lived on the present John Eaton place at Lanham. He had three children, - Edward, John, Sarah. The sons live on the old farm.
EAMES. - This family is descended from Thomas Eames, whose house, in what is now Framingham, was destroyed by the Indians, Feb. 1, 1675-76. He came to America by 1634, served in the Pequot war in 1637, lived for a time in Cam- bridge, and moved to Sudbury where he leased " the Pelham Farm " (Heard's Island, Wayland), and lived until he leased land, in 1669, at Mt. Wayte, Framingham. (See page 154.) He was twice married; the second wife, whom he married in 1662 and who was killed by the Indians, was Mary, a daughter of John Blandford of Sudbury. It is supposed he had twelve children, three of whom were born in Sudbury. John, one of the children of Thomas, born Oct. 6, 1642, built a house in Framingham, and had ten children, among whom was Henry, born April 28, 1698. Henry married Ruth Newton of Marlboro in 1722, and had eleven children, among whom was Timothy. Timothy was twice married ; his first wife was Sarah Stone, who died April 25, 1763, at the age of twenty-three ; his second wife, Hannah, widow of Dr. Hills, died in 1795. He lived on the Sewall Hunt place, south of Lowance Brook. He had six children, among whom was Phinehas, born May 14, 1766, who married in 1788
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Jane, daughter of Col. Ezekiel How, and had eight children, among whom was Fisher, who married Laura H., daughter of Benjamin Dudley. In 1835, Fisher settled at Lanham on the place now occupied by his son, Addison E.
FAIRBANK. - This family descended from early inhabi- tants of Framingham, Holliston and Sherborn, who it is supposed were descendants of Jonathan Fairbank of the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, and settled in Dedham previous to 1641. The first who came to Sudbury was Jonathan, who came from Holliston or Sherborn prior to 1783. He was twice married, his first wife being Hannah Morse of Northboro, who died leaving two children, and his second wife, Bridget Parmenter, who had ten children. He settled in the south-west part of the town on what is known as the Abijah Walker place. Among Jonathan's children was Drury, who was born July 17, 1793, and married, Oct. 26, 1817, Mary Spring of Hubbardston. He lived in the west part of Sudbury on the farm now occupied by Charles Whitney, on the road from Sudbury to Hudson. He was colonel of militia, justice of the peace, and held various town offices. He had six children, - Nelson, Nancy, Winthrop, J. Parker, Hannah, Mary S., all of whom were born in Sudbury except Nelson who was born in Boston. Nelson is at present a town resident and has held various town offices. He married Susan, daughter of Aaron and Lois Hunt of Sudbury, Dec. 24, 1844, and has had four children, - Albert G., Hattie S., Sarah A. and Mary L. The latter was born Dec. 12, 1858, and married William H. Goodnow of Sudbury, Oct. 17, 1888. J. Parker married Emily, daughter of Loring Wheeler of Sudbury. His son, Winthrop H., lives on the Tilly Smith farm and has held the office of selectman.
FISHER. - The Sudbury ancestor of the Fisher family was Edward, who moved into town from Newton in the early part of the century. His wife was Mary Norcross, and they had nine children, - Emily, Mary, Edward, Fanny, Caroline, Joseph, Charles, Martha and Lyman. Six of these children were born in Newton. Charles married Harriet Brown of Sudbury, and had one child, Julia, wife of Hubbard H. Brown.
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Martha married John Goodwin, an ex-speaker of the Massa- chusetts House of Representatives and editor of a Lowell newspaper. Lyman married Dolly Conant, and his son Fred, who resides in Sudbury, married Emma H., daughter of Everett and Mary (Dakin) Brown. Edward Fisher, Sen., was a wheelwright, and carried on business at the old shop, South Sudbury, where his son Charles also followed the same trade until his death.
GARFIELD. - A near ancestor of the Garfield families in Sudbury was Enoch. He was born in New Hampshire and his wife was from Lincoln. His sons, Francis and John, were born in Lincoln, and went to Sudbury from Concord, the former in 1860 and the latter about 1854. Francis married Sarah, daughter of Thomas B. Battles, and has four children, - Emma F., Thomas F., Henry C. and William E. John has been twice married ; his first wife was Louisa Rice of Marlboro, married in 1853; and his second is Harriett M. Flagg of Lincoln, married in 1858. He has two children, Mary L. and John W. Francis is a farmer and John is in the grocery business, and both reside at Sudbury Centre.
GERRY. - According to sketches of Stoneham, by Silas Dean, Thomas Gerry came to America as boatswain on a war vessel sometime in the seventeenth century and settled at Stoneham ; and, after remaining there several years, he entered the service of his country and was killed in battle. The same authority speaks of him as a man of great courage, and narrates the following incident : One day, when on his way home about dusk, he came in contact with a number of wolves. Armed with an axe, he braced himself against a tree and pitched battle with his antagonists. The next morning, on returning to the spot, he found he had killed four wolves and wounded a fifth. Elbridge Gerry, formerly governor of this State and vice-president under Mr. Madi- son's administration, is said to have been a member of this family. Thomas, another descendant, was born in Stone- ham, March 15, 1732. He married for his first wife Jane Wilder, and for his second, Priscilla Jewett. He struck the first blow towards settling the town of Royalston by building a. log-house for another party, being guided to the spot des- ignated by marked trees. David Jewett, fourth child of
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