USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sudbury > The history of Sudbury, Massachusetts, 1638-1889 > Part 5
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
was married Nov. 15, 1641, to Mary, daughter of Thomas Berbeck or Bisby. (See sketch of Thomas Bisby. ) He had seven children, Mary, Thomas, William, Edmund, Hopestill, Susanna and Elizabeth. His son Thomas, born May 22, 1645, known as Maj. Thomas Brown, was a man of consid- erable prominence, because of his public position and ser- vices. He married, in 1667, Patience Foster, who died August, 1706, aged fifty-two. He married for his second wife Mary Phipps of Cambridge, widow of Solomon Phipps, Jr., and daughter of Dep .- Gov. Thomas Danforth. His daughter Mary married, Jan. 8, 1691, Jonathan Willard of Roxbury. Major Brown was a man much engaged in town business, a representative for successive years, and com- manded a company of horse in the Indian war. In 1701 he was allowed by the General Court compensation for a horse lost in pursuit of the Indians in 1697. He died May 7, 1709, and the following note is found concerning him in the diary of Judge Sewall : " Maj. Thomas Brown, Esq., of Sudbury, was buried in the Old Burying-place." We con- sider it quite probable that the " Old Brown Garrison " in Sudbury was built by Major Brown. (See chapter on Philip's War. ) Hopestill, another son, married for his first wife Abigail Haynes, and for his second wife Dorothy, the widow of Rev. Samuel Paris of Salem withcraft notoriety. (See period 1675-1700.) The original William Brown homestead at Sudbury was probably at, or not far from, the spot where the house now occupied by Hubbard Brown formerly stood, which was by a large buttonwood tree on the hillside, a short distance to the westward of its present location. A short distance southerly, at or near the edge of the plain, is still visible the site of another building. Either of these may be the spot where William Brown erected the first house on his grant of two hundred acres at Nobscot. The Brown family has been numerous in Sudbury, living for the most part on the west side of the river. Members of the family have never ceased to dwell, and occupy land, in the neighborhood of Nobscot. In the old homestead located there the three brothers, John, Israel How and Edward, were born ; and on the ancestral estate Everett and Hub-
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
bard, two sons of Edward, still live. A third son is Dr. Frank Brown of Reading, a graduate. of Amherst College, and surgeon in the Union army in the civil war.
THOMAS GOODNOW was a brother of John and Edmund, and became a freeman in 1643. He was twice married, and had seven children by his first wife, Jane. In his will, bear- ing date 1664, he mentions his brother Edmund and John Ruddocke. He was petitioner for the Marlboro Plantation, and moved there at its settlement. In 1661, '62 and '64, he was one of its selectmen. At least two of his children were born in Sudbury, Thomas, and Mary, who was born Aug. 25, 1640. The house of his son Samuel, who was born in 1646, was one of the Marlboro garrison houses. Mary was killed and scalped by the Indians in 1707.
JOHN FREEMAN. We have received but few facts relating to this early grantee of Sudbury. His wife's name was Eliza- beth, and he had one child, Joseph, who was born March 29, 1645, and who was a freeman in 1678.
SOLOMON JOHNSON became a freeman in 1651. He was twice married, his first wife, Hannah, dying in 1651. By this marriage he had three children, Joseph or Joshua and Nathaniel, who were twins (born Feb. 3, 1640), and Mary (born Jan. 23, 1644). He married for his second wife Elinor Crafts, by whom he had four children, Caleb, who died young, Samuel (born March 5, 1654), Hannah (born April 27, 1656), and Caleb, again (born Oct. 1, 1658). He assisted in the formation of the Marlboro Plantatation, and was assigned a house-lot of twenty-three acres there. He was selectman from 1651 to 1666. His son Caleb purchased, with Thomas Brown and Thomas Drury, the Glover farm near Cochituate Pond, of John Appleton, Jr. Upon this land Caleb erected a house near Dudley Pond, Wayland, and died there in 1777. In the inventory of his real estate one piece of land was " Beaver-hole meadow."
WILLIAM WARD came to this country about the time of the settlement of Sudbury, bringing with him, it is supposed, five children, John (born 1626), Joanna (born 1628), Oba- diah (born 1632), Richard (born 1635), and Deborah (born 1637). He became a freeman in 1643. By his second wife,
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
Elizabeth, he had eight children born in America, Hannah (born 1639), William (born Jan. 22, 1640). Samuel (born Sept. 24, 1641), Elizabeth (born April 14, 1643), Increase (born Feb. 22 1645), Hopestill (born Feb. 24, 1646), Elea- zer (born 1649), and Bethia (born 1658). In 1643 Mr. Ward represented the town as deputy to the General Court. He was prominent in helping to establish a plantation at Marlboro, and moved there in 1660. He was made deacon of the church at its organization, and was sent as representa- tive of the town in 1666. He died there Aug. 10, 1687, leaving a will made April 6, 1686. His wife died Dec. 9, 1700, at the age of eighty-six.
RICHARD NEWTON came from England, and was a freeman of the colony in 1645. He was a petitioner for the Marlboro Plantation, and settled in that part of the place now South- boro. It is supposed he was twice married, and that Han- nah, his last wife, died Dec. 5, 1697. He died Aug. 24, 1701, at the age of about one hundred years. He had six children, the first of whom, John, was born in 1641. The second son was Moses, who, when the Indians attacked Marlboro, in 1676, causing the inhabitants who were at church to suddenly disperse, nobly remained to assist in the escape of an aged woman. He received a ball in his arm, but succeeded in removing the woman to a place of safety.
JOHN HOW (or Howe) was a son of John How, whom it is supposed came from Warwickshire. Eng., and was de- scended from John How, the son of John of Hodinhull, who was connected with the family of Sir Charles How of Lan- caster, Eng. John How was admitted a freeman in 1641, and two years later was one of the town's selectmen. In 1655 he was appointed to see that the youth were well behaved on the Sabbath. He was said to be the first white settler on the new grant land. He was petitioner for the Marlboro Plantation in 1657, and moved to that place about the same year. He was located east of the Indian "planting field," and was the first tavern-keeper in Marlboro, having kept a public house there as early, at least, as 1670. At this ordinary his grandson, who afterwards kept the Sudbury
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
" Red Horse Tavern," may have been favorably struck with the occupation of an innholder, and thus led to establish the business at Sudbury. Mr. How was a man of kindly feeling and uprightness of character, and both Sudbury and Marl- boro were favored with the presence of successive genera- tions of the family. John How died at Marlboro in 1687, at which place and about which time his wife also died. (See chapter on Wayside Inn. )
GEORGE MUNNINGS (or Mullings), aged thirty-seven, came from Ipswich, County of Suffolk, Eng., in the ship " Elizabeth," in 1634. He was accompanied by his wife, Elizabeth, aged forty-one, and two children, Elizabeth and Abigail, aged respectively twelve and seven, and perhaps a daughter Rebecca. He was for a time at Watertown, and became a freeman March 4, 1635. He was an active man, and prominent in public affairs, both of church and state. He was in the Pequot war, and lost an eye in the service. In 1845 he resided at Boston, at which place he died Aug. 24, 1658. By a will, made the day before his death, he gave his estate to his wife.
ANTHONY WHYTE (or White), aged twenty-seven, came from Ipswich, County of Suffolk, Eng., in 1634. He came to this country in the " Francis," went to Watertown, and subsequently engaged in the enterprise of a settlement at Sudbury. Afterwards he returned to Watertown. He mar- ried Grace Hall, Sept. 8, 1645, and had three children, all born in Watertown, Abigail, John and Mary. He died March 8, 1686, leaving a will, of which Rebecca, widow of his son John, was named executrix. .
ANDREW BELCHER married Elizabeth, daughter of Nicho- las Danforth of Cambridge, Oct. 1, 1639. His occupation at one time was that of taverner. He had six children, Eliza- beth (born Aug. 17, 1640), Jemina (born April 5, 1642), Martha (born July 26, 1644), Mary (born -), Andrew . (born Jan. 1, 1647), and Ann (born Jan. 1, 1649). He died June 26, 1680, leaving a widow.
JOHN GOODNOWE was a brother of Edmund, and came with him in the ship " Confidence," at the age of forty-two. He was a freeman June 2, 1641, and a selectman of Sudbury
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
in 1644. His danghters Lydia and Jane came with him. He died March 28, 1554.
JOHN REDDOCKE (Ruddocke or Reddick) became a free- man of the colony in 1640. He was actively engaged in forming the plantation at Marlboro, and in the assignment of house-lots he received fifty acres of land. His home- stead was northwesterly of the Marlboro meeting-house. He was three times married, his second wife, Jane, being sister of Rev. Mr. Brimsmead, pastor of the Marlboro church. He built one of the first frame houses in Marlboro, was one of its first selectmen, first town clerk, and deacon of the church.
THOMAS WHITE was a freeman May 13, 1640. He was a selectman in 1642, and shared in the first three divisions of land.
JOHN KNIGHT came from Watertown, where he lived in 1636. He was a freeman in 1642, and was by trade a maulster.
WILLIAM PARKER came from Watertown. He became a freeman June 2, 1641. The name of his wife was Elizabeth, and he had two children, Ephraim (who died in 1640, aged five months ) and Ruhamah (born Sept. 19, 1641). He had land assigned him in the first and second division of meadow lands, which amounted to five and one- half acres. The house-lot assigned him was on Bridle Point Road, adjacent to Peter Noyes. None of the Parker family bearing the name now live in Sudbury.
JOHN PARMENTER, SR., (Parmeter or Permenter) came from England to Watertown, and from there to Sudbury, and was made a freeman May 13, 1640. He was accom- panied to America by his wife Bridget and his son John, who became a freeman May, 1642. Other children may have come from England with them. His wife died April 6, 1660, after which he removed to Roxbury, Mass., where he mar- ried Aug. 9, 1660, Annie Dane, widow of John Dane. He died May 1, 1671, aged eighty-three. Mr. Parmenter was one of the early selectmen, and second deacon of the church, to which office he was chosen in 1658. Sept. 4, 1639, he was appointed one of the commission to lay out the land.
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
EDMUND RICE was born in 1594, and came to this country from Barkhamstead, Hertfordshire, Eng. He was twice mar- ried. His first wife, Tamazine, died at Sudbury, where she was buried June 18, 1654. His second wife, whom he mar- ried March 1, 1655, was Mercie (Hurd) Brigham, widow of Thomas Brigham of Cambridge. He had twelve children, nine of whom were born in England, and the others in Sud- bury: Henry (born 1616), Edward (born 1618), Edmund, Thomas, Mary, Lydia (born 1627), Matthew (born 1629), Daniel (born 1632), Samuel (born 1634), Joseph (born 1637), Benjamin (born 1640), Ruth (born 1659), and Ann (born 1661). Mr. Rice died May 3, 1663, at Marl; boro, aged about sixty-nine, and was buried in Sudbury. His widow married William Hunt of Marlboro. Mr. Rice was a prominent man in the settlement. He early owned lands in and out of the town, some of which came by grant of the General Court. His first dwelling - place at Sudbury was on the old north street. Sept. 1, 1642, he sold this place to John Moore, and Sept. 13 of the same year leased, for six years, the Dunster Farm, which lay just east of Cochituate Pond. He bought of the widow Mary Axdell six acres of land and her dwelling-house, which were in the south part of the town, and some years afterwards he bought of Philemon Whale his house and nine acres of land near " the spring " and adjacent to the Axdell place ; and these taken together, in part at least, formed the old Rice homestead, not far from the " Five Paths " (Way- land). This old homestead remained in the Rice family for generations. Edmund sold it to Edmund, his son, who passed it to his sons John and Edmund, and afterwards John transferred his share of it to his brother Edmund, by whom it passed to others of the family, who occupied it till within the last half century. On Sept. 26, 1647, Mr. Rice leased the " Glover Farm " for ten years, and April 8, 1657, he pur- chased the " Jennison Farm," which comprised two hundred acres, situated by the town's southerly boundary, and be- tween the " Dunster Farm " and what is now Weston ; and June 24, 1659, the " Dunster Farm " was purchased by Mr. Rice and his son. Mr. Rice was one of the substantial men
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
of the Sudbury plantation. He was a freeman May 13, 1640, and was one of the committee appointed by the Colonial Court, Sept. 4, 1639, to apportion land to the inhabitants. He served as selectman from 1639 to 1644, and was deputy to the General Court several successive years. He was promi- nent in the settlement of Marlboro, for which he was a peti- tioner in 1656. The Rice family in Sudbury have been numerous, and the name has been frequently mentioned on the town books.
HENRY RICE was the son of Edmund (see sketch of Edmund Rice), and was born in England, 1616. He was assigned a house-lot on the south street of the settlement, adjacent to that of John Maynard on the east, and his father, Edmund, on the west.
WIDOW BUFFUMTHYTE (or Buffumthrope). We have received no facts concerning this early grantee, except that she received early allotments of land.
HENRY CURTIS (or Curtice) had his homestead on the north street of the settlement, probably about where, until within nearly a half century, an old house called the Curtis House stood. His descendants have been conspicuous, not only in town history, but also in that of the county and colony. Ephraim, his son, was a famous Indian scout. (See chapter on Philip's War. ) Major Curtis, whose grave is in the west part of the " Old Burying-ground," Wayland, was a distinguished citizen. (See chapter on Cemeteries.)
JOHN STONE came to Sudbury from Cambridge, and was son of Dea. Gregory Stone of that place. He was born in England, and accompanied his father to America. He mar- ried Ann, daughter of Elder Edward Howe of Watertown, and had ten children, most of whom were born in Sudbury. He was at one time an elder in the church, and in 1655 was town clerk. He was an early settler on land now in Framing- ham, and at one time owned the land that is now included in Saxonville. It is supposed when the Indian war began he removed to Cambridge. He was representative of that town in 1682-83. He died May 5, 1683, aged sixty-four.
JOHN PARMENTER, JR., was also an early proprietor, and kept a tavern or ordinary, at which the committee of the
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
Colonial Court and Ecclesiastical Council for the settlement of difficulties in Sudbury, in 1655, were entertained. The old ordinary was situated on the south street of the settle- ment (Wayland), on the house-lot assigned at the general allotment of 1639. And until near the beginning of the present century the "Old Parmenter Tavern " was continued at the same spot, a little westerly of the house occupied by the late Dana Parmenter. John Parmenter, Jr., had six children, among whom was one named John. His wife, Amy, died 1681. The Parmenter family has been numerous in Sudbury; they have lived in various parts of the town, and been a people of industry and thrift.
RUTTER.
Armes. - GULES, THREE GARBS AND CHIEF, A LION PASSANT ARGENT, OR MULLET FOR DIFFERENCE.
Nicholas Rutter descended from Kinsley Hall in Com. Chester, who came first and lived at Hilcot in Com. Glouc.
JOHN RUTTER came to America in the ship "Confidence," in 1638, at the age of twenty-two. He married Elizabeth Plympton, who came to this country in the ship "Jonathan," in 1639, having as fellow-passengers Peter Noyes, who was
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
on his second voyage to America, and also the mother and sister of John Bent, both of whom were named Agnes. (See sketch of John Bent.) John Rutter had a house-lot assigned him on the north street, a little westerly of Clay-pit Hill. He was by trade a carpenter, and engaged with the town to build the first meeting-house. (See chapter on First Meeting-house.) He had three children, Elizabeth, John and Joseph. About the time of the settlement several acres of land were given him by the town, in acknowledgment of some public service. He was selectman in 1675. His descendants for many years lived on the south street, Way- land ; and the old homestead of Joseph Rutter, which name has been in the family almost from the very first, still stands, being occupied at present by Mr. James A. Draper. At this spot Gen. Micah Maynard Rutter, son of Joseph, was born in 1779. Gen. Rutter was a prominent man in Middlesex County. For years he held the position of sheriff, and re- ceived the commission of General from Gov. Lincoln. He was energetic and public spirited, and interested in all that pertained to the well being of the community. He died in 1837. Another descendant was Dr. Joseph Rutter Draper. He was a graduate of Williams College, principal of the high schools in Saxonville and Milford, surgeon in the Union army in the Civil War, and a practising physician in South Boston, where he died in 1885. His mother's name was Eunice, daughter of the last Joseph Rutter. Until her mar- riage with Mr. Ira Draper she lived at the old homestead. Dr. Draper well represented the John Rutter family, which as a race was noted for purity and uprightness of character. He was buried in the Old Burying-ground, in Wayland, where generation after generation of this ancient family were laid. Another grandchild of Joseph Rutter is Mrs. A. S. Hudson (L. R. Draper), formerly principal of Wadsworth Academy, South Sudbury, and of the high schools of Lin- coln, Wayland, and Marlboro. The accompanying fac simile of the Coat of Arms was that of Nicholas Rutter, from whom John Rutter is supposed to have descended.
JOHN TOLL. We have received but little information relative to this early grantee. His wife was named Cath-
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erine, and they had three children, John (born Nov. 20, 1641, died Jan. 31, 1643), Mary (born Dec. 31, 1643), and John who died Jan. 8, 1657. As the male issue all died, the family name was not continued in Sudbury. There is still a place by the river meadows, between the old causeway and Sherman's Bridge, called " Toll's Island."
JOHN WOOD (or Woods) was one of the petitioners for the township of Marlboro, and a prominent man of that place, being one of its selectmen in 1663-5, and one of the early members of the church. He had several children; and his wife, who it is supposed ivas Mary Parmenter, died Aug. 17, 1690, aged eighty years.
JOHN LOKER was assigned a house-lot just west of the meeting-house, where he lived in a house with his mother as late as 1678. The town purchased of him at that date, for a parsonage, the east end of his house, together with an orchard and four acres of land, and the reversion due to him of the western end of the house, which his mother then occu- pied. (See period 1675-1700.) It is said that before 1652 he married Mary Draper. Families by the name of Loker have lived within the ancient limits of Sudbury since the days of its settlement, dwelling for the most part in the territory now Wayland, and more especially in the southerly portion. Isaac Loker was captain of a troop of Sudbury men on the memorable 19th of April, members of his com- pany coming from both sides of the river. (See Revolution- ary Period.)
HENRY LOKER was perhaps brother of John.
WIDOW WRIGHT (or Mrs. Dorothy Wright) early had land at Sudbury. She was assigned a house-lot on the south street, east of the meeting-house, between that of John Toll and John Bent. She married John Blandford, whose wife Mary died December, 1641. She was perhaps the mother of Edward Wright.
JOHN BENT came to America from Penton, Eng., in the ship " Confidence," in 1638, at the age of thirty-five. He was by occupation a husbandman. He was accompanied by his wife Martha, and by five children, all of whom were under twelve years of age, whose names are as follows: Rob-
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
ert, William, Peter, John, Ann (or Agnes) who married Edward Rice, Joseph, and Martha who married Samuel How in 1668. The same year of his arrival in this country he returned to England for others of his family, and came back. in the ship "Jonathan" the next year. His sister Agnes Blanchard and her infant child died on the voyage; and his mother Agnes also died on the voyage or soon after the ship reached our shores. He was a freeman May 13, 1640. He was one of the proprietors of the Marlboro Plantation, but died Sept. 27, 1672, at Sudbury. His wife died May 15, 1679. His son Joseph was born at Sudbury, May 16, 1641. The Bent family has from the first been quite numerous in Sudbury. Some of them have long been residents of Cochit- uate, formerly a part of the town. John, Jr., purchased land of Henry Rice near Cochituate Brook, where he built a house ; and it is said that he was the fourth person to erect a dwelling in the territory of Framingham. The Bents have lived on both sides of the river, and the name is still familiar within the present limits of the town.
NATHANIEL TREADWAY (Tredway or Treadaway) was a weaver by trade. He married Suffrance, daughter of Elder Edward How, and was brother-in-law of John Stone, eldest son of Dea. Gregory Stone of Cambridge. He had seven children, three of whom were born in Sudbury : Jonathan (born Nov. 11, 1640), Mary (born Aug. 1, 1642), and per- haps James (born about 1644). On the death of his father- in-law he removed to Watertown. There he was appointed selectman. He inherited property from Dea. Stone's estate. His wife died July 22, 1682.
ROBERT HUNT came from Charlestown, where he was in 1638, and shared in the meadow divisions of Sudbury.
The WIDOW HUNT, one of the original proprietors, might have been the mother or the sister-in-law of Robert. She had a house-lot assigned on the south street, between those of John Wood and John Goodnow; but it is supposed she sold this, and took one at "Pine Plain." (See map of house- lots.) The name of Hunt has long been familiar in Sudbury, but more or less of this name probably descended from the Concord Hunts. The first of the name in Concord was
1
yours Truly
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
William, who was there as early as 1640, became a freeman in 1641, and died in Marlboro, October, 1667, leaving an estate of £596, and the children Nehemiah, Isaac, William, Eliza- beth, Hannah and Samuel. William Hunt was born in 1605, and married Elizabeth Best, who died in 1661. He after- wards married, while at Marlboro, Mercie [Hurd] Rice, widow of Edmund Rice, in 1664. The descendants of William Hunt have, for more than fifty consecutive years. kept a store at South Sudbury. One of the descendants was Mr. Sewall Hunt, who died in 1888, at which time he was the oldest inhabitant of the town, and the last of a family of ten children. "Mr. Hunt was for more than fifty years a member of the Congregational Church of Sudbury. In polit- ical matters he was always in advance of the times, being an ' Abolitionist ' when to be such required strong convictions and great moral courage. He was the first, and for two years the only, voter in Sudbury of the old ' Liberty party,' and for two years a candidate of the 'Free Soilers ' for rep- resentative to the General Court." His farm was called the " Hunt place," situated a short distance from " Hunt's bridge," which crosses Lowance Brook not far from the southerly limit of the town. He had five children, Sereno D., Jonas S., Samuel M., Edwin and Clara J. The eldest. Sereno D., has been principal of the high schools at Con- cord, Brockton and Milton. Edwin, a graduate of Amherst College, was assistant principal of the high school in Utica, N. Y. Jonas S., the second son, has for many years occu- pied official positions in Sudbury, having been representative to the General Court in 1876, one of its selectmen and asses- sors for successive years, and its postmaster and town clerk for more than a quarter of a century, which positions he still holds. Clara, the only daughter, married Rev. John White- hill, a Congregational clergyman. Samuel for a time lived on the old homestead, and died some years since.
JOHN MAYNARD was a freeman in 1644. It is supposed he was married when he came to this country, and that he brought with him his son John, who was then about eight years old. Perhaps there were other children. He married for his second wife Mary Axdell, in 1646. He had by this
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HISTORY OF SUDBURY.
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