USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sudbury > The history of Sudbury, Massachusetts, 1638-1889 > Part 49
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" The place within which the corporation is established or located is the town of Sudbury, within said Commonwealth.
" In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands this twelfth day of January, in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-seven."
SAMUEL B. ROGERS, JONAS S. HUNT,
JOHN B. GOODNOW,
EDWARD E. BROWN,
NAHUM GOODNOW,
HIRAM G. BURR,
HUBBARD H. BROWN,
JAMES P. CARPENTER,
RUFUS H. HURLBUT,
WILLIAM L. STONE,
ATHERTON W. ROGERS,
EDWARD N. EATON,
LUTHER S. CUTTING,
W. A. AMES,
JOSEPH C. HOWE,
STEPHEN MOORE,
WALTER ROGERS,
HOMER ROGERS,
CHARLES L. GOODNOW, GEO. A. OVIATT,
FRED. C. FISHER,
MRS. JOHN A. GOODWIN,
GEORGE W. HUNT, MRS. J. D. GOODENOUGH.
"That the first meeting of the subscribers to said agreement was held on the thirty-first day of January, in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-seven, and by adjournment on the fourteenth day of February, in said year.
" In witness whereof, we have hereunto signed our names this four- teenth day of February, in the year eighteen hundred and eighty-seven."
RUFUS H. HURLBUT, HUBBARD H. BROWN,
JOHN B. GOODNOW,
JOSEPH C. HOWE, NAHUM GOODNOW.
COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS.
MIDDLESEX SS.
Feb. 14, 1887.
Then personally appeared the above-named Rufus H. Hurlbut, Hub- .
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
bard H. Brown, John B. Goodnow, Joseph C. Howe and Nahum Good- now, and severally made oath that the foregoing certificate, by them subscribed, is true to the best of their knowledge and belief.
Before me, JONAS S. HUNT, Justice of the Peace.
TOWN CLERK'S OFFICE, SUDBURY, March 1, 1887.
The above certificate received and recorded with " Sudbury Records of Organization of Corporations."
ATTEST :
JONAS S. HUNT, Town Clerk.
PROCEEDINGS OF FIRST MEETING.
Jan. 31, 1887.
Pursuant to a warrant issued by Jonas S. Hunt, justice of the peace, dated Jan. 12, 1887, on petition of Samuel B. Rogers and others inter- ested in the Mount Wadsworth Cemetery, so called, a meeting was held in the chapel at South Sudbury, for the purpose of organizing a corpora- tion under the Public Statutes of Massachusetts.
Said meeting was called to order and the warrant read by Hubbard H. Brown, to whom said warrant was directed, and the several articles were acted upon as follows :
ARTICLE 1. Chose Rufus H. Hurlbut moderator.
ART. 2. Chose Jonas S. Hunt clerk.
ART. 3. Voted to proceed to organize a corporation to be called the Mount Wadsworth Cemetery.
ART. 4. Voted to choose necessary officers for said corporation by ballot ; said officers to consist of the following, viz. : a President, Clerk, Treasurer, three Trustees and five Directors, and the following were chosen : Rufus H. Hurlbut, President ; Jonas S. Hunt, Clerk ; Hubbard H. Brown, Treasurer ; John B. Goodnow, Nahum Goodnow and Joseph C. Howe, Trustees; Rufus H. Hurlbut, John B. Goodnow, Nahum Goodnow, Joseph C. Howe and Hiram G. Burr, Directors.
Soon after the death of Mr. Israel H. Browne, the former owner of the cemetery grounds, his heirs sold their interest in the property to five persons, who conveyed it to the Mount Wadsworth Corporation soon after its organization. On the southerly side of the cemetery is the grave of Hon. John Goodwin, once Speaker of the House of Representa- tives. In the north-easterly corner, as it was about 1850, was the original Wadsworth grave. Because of the former existence of that grave and the present Wadsworth monu- ment, this cemetery is of more than ordinary importance,
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
and will long be visited by those interested in the history of Captain Wadsworth and his men.
MOUNT PLEASANT CEMETERY.
" In that village on the hill Never is sound of smithy or mill ; The houses are thatched with grass and flowers, Never a clock to tell the hours ;
All the village lie asleep; Never again to sow or reap ; Never in dreams to moan or sigh, Silent and idle and low they lie."
The third cemetery laid out in Sudbury is at the Centre and is called Mount Pleasant. As its name suggests, it is pleasantly situated on a hill and is just north of the common. The original name was " Pine Hill," and later, it took the name of "Pendleton Hill." In the second book of Town Records is the following, referring to land near it, " laid out to the right of Briant Pendleton sixteen acres and one hun- dred and forty rods on and adjoining to the Pine Hill near to and north-westerly of the meeting house on Rocky Plane (Sudbury Centre) in the West Precinct in said Sudbury." (See page 292.) This cemetery contains about four acres, which were bought of Mrs. Reuben Rice, afterwards Mrs. Thomas Bent, by a company of proprietors, the original members of which were Aaron Hunt, Cyrus Hunt, Charles Gerry, William Maynard, Abel B. Jones, Thomas Stearns, Samuel Jones, Asa Jones. The land cost one hundred dollars, and the proprietors paid twelve dollars and a half apiece. After the original purchase, a small three-cornered strip was bought of William Maynard for a passage-way to the town graveyard. It was set apart for burial purposes soon after 1840. The first proprietor's meeting was held May 24, 1845, and the following officers were elected : Abel B. Jones, Moderator ; Charles Stearns, Clerk ; Aaron Hunt, Treasurer; Aaron Hunt, Abel B. Jones, Charles Stearns, Directors. The first body buried there was that of Capt. Samuel Jones, and about the same time that of Dr. Thomas
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
Stearns. There is a fine view from the hill to the north- ward, and, though the place is so near a much travelled highway, it is so situated as to be quite secluded.
THE NEW CEMETERY.
Near Mount Pleasant is a new cemetery that is owned by the town. It was purchased a few years ago, and has an entrance on the south to the county road, near the tomb of John Goodnow.
NORTH SUDBURY CEMETERY.
It knew the glow of eventide, The sunrise and the noon, And glorified and sanctified It slept beneath the moon. WHITTIER.
The North Sudbury Cemetery is situated upon a sunny knoll and consists of one and six-tenths acres of land, for- merly owned by Reuben Haynes, and purchased by a com- pany for a cemetery in 1843. It is about one-eighth of a mile from North Sudbury village on the county road lead- ing from Framingham to Concord. It is quite regularly laid out in paths, with a carriage-way extending about it. The lots are in area twenty-four by thirty feet; there are about two hundred and eleven persons buried in the yard and tombs. The first person buried there was Sumner Haynes, son of Josiah, Jr., and Mary Haynes, who died Aug. 6, 1843.
Soon after, the bodies of the following persons were re- moved from the old cemetery at Sudbury Centre and interred here.
LYDIA, WIFE OF JOSIAH HAYNES, Died Mar. 3, 1843. Aged 66. Gone from earth to bloom in heaven.
HARRIET AMELIA, DAUGHTER OF LEANDER AND HARRIET HAYNES, Died Nov. 28, 1839.
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
SUSAN HUNT, DAUGHTER OF ISRAEL AND RUTH HUNT. Died Jan. 2, 1817.
In this yard lie buried Capt. Israel Haynes, Nahum Thompson, Esq., and Deacon Levi Dakin. Among the aged people are John Hunt, born Aug. 16, 1777, died April 1, 1873; Willard Maynard, died June 29, 1879, aged ninety- two, and Josiah Haynes, died Sept. 6, 1857, aged eighty-nine years, five months. Two soldiers who died during the Civil War are buried here.
OLIVER M. RICHARDS, MEMBER OF CO. G. 47TH REG'T MASS. VOLS. Died Sept. 5, 1863. Aet. 36 yrs. 5 m.
The grave has claimed our cherished one. Father, teach us to say, " Thy will be done." On those bright plains, that ever blessed shore, We hope to meet thee there, to part no more.
HENRY L. HAYNES, KILLED AT THE BATTLE OF BERRYVILLE VA. Sept. 19, 1864. Aet. 36 yrs. A MEMBER OF COMPANY C, 14 REG. N. H. VOLS.
Here are two tombs, severally inscribed : -
ISRAEL HUNT'S TOMB 1845.
ELISHA MOORE 1861.
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
BURIAL CUSTOMS.
For thus our fathers testified - That he might read who ran The emptiness of human pride, The nothingness of man.
WHITTIER.
The piety of our ancestors left little room for customs that were senseless or uninstructive. If they were severely sol- emn, they were devoutly so; and, if they employed some curious devices, it was for the promotion of good. The position of their gravestones shows that the dead were laid with the feet toward the east, or, as it was termed, " facing the east." Whence and why this custom, we know not. It might have had reference to the star of the east that an- nounced the birthplace of Christ; but, whatever the cause, it doubtless was suggested by some religious idea. To us it is a strong reminder of the words of John Bunyan : "The pilgrim they laid in a large upper chamber whose window opened towards the sun rising, the name of the chamber was Peace, where he slept till break of day, and then he awoke and sang."
The character of the gravestones was another peculiarity of those primitive times. It would seem the object was to impart to these mementos of the departed the most sombre aspect imaginable. As no flowers but those that were strewn by God's pitying hand were ever suffered to intrude their gay, sweet presence within the solemn enclosure, so the nearest approach to anything like sympathetic embellishment on those dark slabs was the weeping willow, which drooped its long branches over a funeral urn. But the more common ornament was the "skull and cross -bones," under which were uncouth markings and strange inscriptions. Sometimes the stones were placed in groups, sometimes in irregular rows. Some were placed upright and others horizontal on the ground ; but, as the latter are few and of very early date, we infer that this mode was exceptional or that it soon passed out of use. Perhaps it was a wise precaution in those far-off times to protect the grave from the wild beasts which were
586
HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
prowling about through the adjacent forests in search of prey. Another peculiarity is the fewness of the stones in our old graveyards. A casual glance might lead one to think they were full of slate-stone slabs, but actual count gives only a few hundred for all who died in the first century and a half. Indeed, in the older portion of the East Sudbury grave yard there are only two or three scores of stones, yet the yard contains the remains of a large portion of the town's early inhabitants. Indeed, a new grave can hardly be dug without intruding upon an old one. This seems to show that the practice of marking graves in old times was the exception and not the rule. Still another characteristic feature of these ancient grounds was their barren and neg- lected aspect. The graves were gradually levelled by the touch of time, the ground became uneven and rough and covered over with briars and wild grass. Yet we may be- lieve these spots were not in reality neglected nor forsaken, for, though the floral and decorative offering was a thing unknown, many an irregular, beaten path testified that the place of their dead was an oft frequented spot.
In early times the dead were carried to the place of burial by the hands of friends. No hearse was used till about 1800, when one was purchased at a cost of fifty dollars. In process of time a bier was used, and, as late as the beginning of this century, the body was carried on the shoulders of the bearers. In 1715, the town granted " three pounds for pro- viding a burying cloth for ye town's use." In 1792, it voted to provide two burying cloths; these were to throw over the remains in their transit to the grave. This is indicated by the following record : -
" Lieut. Thomas Rutter is chosen to dig graves, to carry the bier and the cloth to the place where the deceased person hath need of the use thereof, and shall be paid two shillings and six pence in money for every individual person."
In early times, gloves were provided for funeral occasions. We are informed of this repeatedly by the records of the town. About 1773, " To James Brown, for 6 pairs of gloves for Isaac Allen's child's funeral - 11 -"
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
" To Col. Noyes for 7 pairs gloves for Isaac Allen's burial -13-"
" To Cornelius Wood for 3 pairs gloves for John Goode- now's funeral." This was about 1673.
Almost down to the present time the good old custom pre- vailed of ringing the bell on the occasion of a death. How it used to break into the monotony of our daily toil to have the silence suddenly broken by the slow tolling bell, that said plainer than words that another soul had dropped into eternity. Now a pause -listen ! three times three - a man, or, three times two -a woman. Another pause, and then strokes corresponding in number to the years of the deceased. On the morning of the funeral the bell tolled again, and also when the procession moved to the grave.
As late as 1860, it was common to have a note read, "put up " the phrase was, in church on the Sabbath following a death, in which the nearest relatives asked " the prayers of the church that the death be sanctified to them for their spiritual good."
The grounds early used for burial were owned by the town and set apart for its common use. No private parties possessed "God's acre " then. Proprietary lots were un- known in Sudbury one hundred years ago. Every citizen had a right to a spot for burial wherever in the town's bury- ing-ground the friends might choose to take it. The rich and poor were alike borne to this common spot; caste was laid aside, and nothing save the slab at the grave's head might indicate the former position of the silent occupant of the old-time burial place. The graves of households were often in groups, reminding one of our present family lots, but this was by common consent, and not by any titled right to the spot.
The expense of funerals in those early days was much less than at present. The coffin was made by the village carpen- ter of common pine boards, and was usually colored red. The following are bills for coffins about a hundred years ago :
" Aug. 21st, 1781, Isaac Hunt Dr to James Thompson ' to a coffin for his Father, 0:10:0.'"
" 1800, 'For making a coffin for a woman, 1.67.'"
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
" 1806, ' To Peter Willard for a coffin for Elizabeth Good- now, 1.30.'"'
" The coffin of Rev. Jacob Bryelow cost $10.00, and dig- ging the grave and attending his funeral was $2.00."
CHAPTER XXXII.
TAVERNS.
Early Names. - Character and Importance. - First Tavern. - Others on the East Side. - Taverns in the South Part of the Town. - De- scription of the South Sudbury Tavern. - " Howe's Tavern," or the " Wayside Inn."- Mr. Longfellow's Connection with it. - Location and Early History. - Description. - The Last Landlord. - Tradi- tions Concerning it. - Taverns on the Central Road of the Town. - Taverns at North Sudbury.
Whoe'er has travelled life's dull round, Where'er his stages may have been, May sigh to think that he has found His warmest welcome at an inn.
SHENSTONE.
THE Public House was from an early date considered in Sudbury an important place. In 1653 or 1654 we find it on record that "John Parmenter, senior, shall keep a house of common entertainment, and that the court shall be moved on his behalf to grant a license to him." (Town Records, page 115.) From this early period for the space of more than two centuries public houses were kept here and there. At first they were called "Ordinaries," at other times Public Houses, but generally the term Tavern was used. In one prominent instance has the term Inn been applied, and that in connection with Howe's Tavern, which Mr. Longfellow called the " Wayside Inn."
589
HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
The business of these places was to provide travelers with lodging and food, or to furnish " entertainment for man and beast." They were to an extent under the control of the town, as is indicated in a record of Oct. 4, 1684, when it was ordered that upon the " uncomfortable representations and reports concerning the miscarriage of things at the Ordinary : : : : three or four of the selectmen, in the name of the rest, do particularly inquire into all matters relating thereto." In all of these taverns strong drink was probably sold. Licenses were granted by the Provincial or Colonial Court, and the landlords were usually men of some prominence. Taverns were considered useful places in the early times, and laws existed relating to the rights of both landlord and guest. In the period of the Revolutionary War, when a price-list was determined at Sudbury for various common commodities, the following was established for taverns : ---
1779 - Mugg West India Phlip 15 New England Do 12 Toddy in proportion A Good Dinner 20 Common Do 12 Best Supper & Breakfast 15 Each. Common Do 12, Lodging 4.
The " Parmenter Tavern " was the first one kept in town, and was in what is now Wayland, on the late Dana Par- menter estate, a little westerly of the present Parmenter house. The building was standing about eighty years since, and was looking old then. It was a large square house, and in the bar-room was a high bar. There the council was en- tertained which the court appointed to settle the famous " cow common controversy." Subsequently, taverns at East Sudbury were kept as follows : one a little easterly of Wil- liam Baldwin's, one at the Centre, now called the " Pequod House," one west of Reeves' hill, at the Reeves' place, one at the Corner, and one at the end of the old causeway, near the gravel pit. The tavern at the East Sudbury Centre was kept nearly a hundred years ago by John Stone, father of William who afterwards kept one at Sudbury.
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
The taverns that were on the west side the river, or within the present town limits, were on the three principal highways that passed easterly and westerly through the town. At the south part they were on the Boston and Worcester road. The first beyond that by the gravel pit, was on the John Taylor place, and kept by Mr. Wheeler at the time of the Revolutionary War. The next was that at South Sudbury. This house was of medium size, had two stories and a small porch in front. It stood at the corner of the Sudbury Centre and Boston and Worcester roads, and at a point south or south-east of the Goodnow Library. To the right and left of it were large barns and driveways, with numerous stalls, and between them and the house was a line of sheds, one of which had feeding troughs for horses. It could probably put up from twenty-five to fifty horses, and in the old days of staging and teaming it was a lively place. At the beginning of this century the tavern looked old, and was at about that time occupied by a Mr. Sawin. Subse- quently, it had several landlords. One of the last whose sign swung there was S. G. Fessenden, who occupied the place about forty years ago. There was formerly a bowling alley and ball-room attached to the place. A stable was kept there, and it was the terminus of the stage route from Stony Brook to Sudbury. This place was formerly a landmark in the village of South Sudbury, and when removed made a great change in the old-time look of the place. It was in appearance a typical tavern. Facing southward, it looked smilingly upon the approaching traveler, with its little roofed porch around which the clustering woodbine clung, while just in front and beyond the short circular drive which gently curved from the country road, was the "sign post " and "martin box" to which the martins annually came. Besides these, was the old ash-tree that still stands, and all taken together made pleasant surroundings that were quite appropriate to a country inn. A tavern was kept for a while at the Stone place, about a mile west of Mill Village. Mr. William Stone was its only proprietor, and it years ago ceased to be used as a public house. Beyond the bridge a tavern was early kept on the George Pitts place. (See page 493.)
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
THE WAYSIDE INN.
The scroll reads by the name of Howe.
LONGFELLOW.
The fifth tavern on the Boston road through Sudbury, or the last toward Marlboro, is the old " Howe Tavern," or the famous " Wayside Inn" of Longfellow. This well- known hostelry scarcely needs any description by us. Pictures of it by pencil and pen have been many times made, and have variously portrayed its quaint characteris- tics. But a few facts here will be proper; and, first, as to the poet Longfellow's connection with it. It is supposed that he never visited the spot more than twice, and that then his visits were short. Once, in his youth, it is believed that he stopped there while on his way to New York, to take passage for Europe, and once, years later, at which time the writer saw him at South Sudbury with his friend J. T. Fields, as they stopped at the house of a relative of the Howe family to inquire about the Howe coat-of-arms. Thus limited was Mr. Longfellow's personal knowledge of the place, and even when on the premises it is said that he re- ceived legends and traditions from a source somewhat ques- tionable. The truth is, the place was early brought into notoriety by summer boarders, who came from the suburban towns, prominent among whom were Dr. Parsons and Prof. Treadwell of Cambridge. The former of these first men- tioned " Howe's Tavern " in verse, and from his writings, and from information obtained from others, Mr. Longfellow doubtless derived much of his material; and about these facts he arranged such a setting of romance and legendary . lore as his ready mind knew how to employ.
But stripped of every feature of romance which may prop- erly have been given it by the great poet's pen, the Wayside Inn is a grand old landmark. It was built about the begin- ning of the eighteenth century by David Howe, who in 1702 received of his father, Samuel Howe, a son of John one of the town's early grantees, a tract of one hundred and thirty acres of land in the "New Grant " territory. (See Chapter X.) The land upon which this ancient ordinary was built
592
HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
is situated in what was called the fourth squadron of the New Grants, and was probably either lot No. 48, which was assigned in the land apportionment in 1651 to Mr. William Pelham, or lot No. 49, which was just south of Mr. Pel- ham's, and was assigned at the same time to Mr. John Par- menter, Jr. Beyond these two lots, southerly, was that assigned to Thomas King, and adjacent to this, on the south, was the "Cowpen Land," which, like the others, was a one hundred and thirty acre lot, and joined the then " wilderness lands," or the territory of what is now Framingham. These lots abutted easterly, on the thirty-rod highway which ran north and south through the town, and westerly, on what is now Marlboro. The lot of land upon which the tavern was built was not the lot formerly assigned to John Howe, the grandfather of David, in the apportionment of 1651. That tract was lot No. 16, and situated in the second squadron, which was the north-easterly one of the " New Grants." But Mr. John Howe may have exchanged that lot for another, or, if it passed by inheritance to Samuel, his son, it might by him have been exchanged or sold, and No. 48 of the fourth squadron bought, or it may be that David, the grandson, made the change. As the "New Grant," though allowed in 1649, and laid out and apportioned by lot in 1651, was not purchased of the Indians until 1684, great changes doubt- less took place in the ownership. But, however the change in this case came about, David selected this spot for his home, and at about the time of the gift began to build. During the process of constructing the house, tradition says, the work- men resorted for safety at night to the Parmenter garrison, a place about a half-mile away. (See Chapter XI.) The safety sought was probably from the raids of Indians, who, long after Philip's War closed, made occasional incursions upon the borders of the frontier towns. At or about the time of its erection, it was opened as a public house, and, in 1746, Col. Ezekiel Howe, of Revolutionary fame, put up the sign of the " Red Horse," which gave it the name that it went by for years, namely, the " Red Horse Tavern." In 1796, Col. Ezekiel Howe died, and his son Adam took the place and kept the tavern for forty years. At the death
THE WAYSIDE INN.
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
of Adam it went into the hands of Lyman, who continued it as an inn until near 1866, about which time it passed out of the hands of an owner by the name of Howe. Thus, for more than a century and a half, and by representatives of four generations of the Howe family, was this place kept as an inn. In the earlier times this house was of considerable consequence to travelers. It was quite capacious for either the colonial or the provincial period, and was within about an easy day's journey to Massachusetts Bay. The road by it was a grand thoroughfare westward. Sudbury, in those years, was one of the foremost towns of Middlesex County in population, influence and wealth, while the Howe family took rank among the first families of the country about. The seclusion of this quiet spot to-day is not indicative of what it was in the days of the old stage period, and when places since made prominent by the passage of a railroad through them were almost wholly or quite unknown. In the times of the wars against the Indians and French it was a common halting place for troops, as they marched to the front or returned to their homes in the Bay towns. It was largely patronized by the up-country marketers, who, by their frequent coming and going, with their large canvas- topped wagons, made the highway past this ordinary look like the outlet of a busy mart. Stages also enlivened the scene. The sound of the post-horn, as it announced the near approach of the coach, was the signal for the hostler and housemaid to prepare refreshment for man and beast. In short, few country taverns were better situated than this to gain patronage in the days when few towns of the province were better known than old Sudbury. This place, noted, capacious and thickly mantled with years, is thus fitly de- scribed by Mr. Longfellow : -
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