USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Sudbury > The history of Sudbury, Massachusetts, 1638-1889 > Part 6
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marriage Zachery (born June 7, 1647), Elizabeth, Lydia, Hannah, and Mary who married Daniel Hudson. Mr. May- nard was one of the petitioners for Marlboro, and died at Sud- bury, Dec. 10, 1672. The Maynard family has been promi- nent in the town, and honorably connected with its annals. Nathaniel Maynard was captain of a company in the Rev- olutionary War.
JOSEPH TAINTER (or Tayntor) was born in England in 1613. He sailed for America in 1638. He was at Sudbury for a short time, where he married Mary Guy (or Gray) about 1640, and where for a time he was a selectman. He died in 1690, aged eighty-six; and his wife in 1705, also aged eighty-six. He had nine children, four of whom were sons.
ROBERT FORDUM (or Fordham) was from Southampton, L. I., and may have come to this country about 1640. He was for a short time at Cambridge. His wife's name was Elizabeth, and he had two children. He died September, 1674.
THOMAS JOSLIN (Joslyn or Jslyn) came from London, in 1635, on the ship " Increase." He was aged forty-three, and by occupation a husbandman. His wife's name was Rebecca, and her age was forty-three. He had five children, Rebecca, Dorothy, Nathaniel, Elizabeth and Mary. He was for a time at Hingham, and in 1654 at Lancaster.
RICHARD SANGER came to America in the " Confidence." He was by occupation a blacksmith. In 1649 he went to Watertown. He married Mary, daughter of Robert Rey- nold of Boston. He was twice married, and had several children.
RICHARD BILDCOME came in the "Confidence," in 1638. He was sixteen years of age, and, according to the ship's passenger-list, came in the employ of Walter Haynes.
ROBERT DAVIS (or Davies) came to America in the ship "Confidence," with Margaret Davis, who was perhaps his sister. His wife's name was Bridget. He had two daugh- ters, Sarah (born April 10, 1646) and Rebecca.
HENRY PRENTICE came from Cambridge. He was a free- man in 1650, and died June 9, 1654. His wife Elizabeth
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died May 13, 1643 ; and by his second wife, Joanna, he had six children.
WILLIAM KERLEY (Carsley or Carlsly) came in the ship " Confidence," in 1638, and was a freeman in 1666. He was a man of some prominence in the colony, having land assigned him at Pedock's Island, Nantasket, in 1642. He was a proprietor of Marlboro in 1657, and a selectman for years. At one time, also, he was sent as representative. In 1667 he was appointed by the General Court to lay out land between Concord, Lancaster, and Groton. His wife's name, as mentioned in his will, was Anna, daughter of Thomas King. He had three children, Mary, Sarah and Hannah. By his will he gave his brother Henry " his sword, belt and other arms ; and also his military books."
THOMAS FLYN. This name is found among the early pro- prietors, on the town books, but we conjecture it may have been written by mistake for Thomas Joslyn, or Jslyn.
THOMAS AXTELL (or Axdell) came to this country about 1642. He was born at Burkhamstead, Eng., in 1619. A brother was Col. Daniel Axtell, a soldier and officer under Oliver Cromwell. He commanded the guard at the trial of Charles I .; for which he was put to death as a regicide, when Charles II. was restored. Thomas Axtell settled in Sudbury, and died there in 1646, at the age of twenty-seven. His son had land in Marlboro in 1660, married in 1665, and had several children. He was killed by the Indians, April 21, 1676. His descendants were early settlers of Grafton.
THOMAS READ (or Reed) was in Sudbury as early as 1654. He was the son of Thomas Reed of Colchester, Essex Co., Eng., a carpenter; a memorandum of whose will, dated July, 1665, and probated 1666, was published in the "New England Historical and Genealogical Register," Vol. XXI., p. 369, August, 1867, by Mr. William S. Appleton of Boston, who copied it in London. By the will of Rev. Edmund Brown, and depositions taken in court, Thomas Read was his nephew ; the term cousin being used for nephew (Waters). In the will of Thomas Read of Colchester, his son Thomas in America is mentioned ; also there is mention of his son-in- law, Daniel Bacon, who married his daughter Mary, who
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were also living in America. Other relations are also men- tioned, but not as being in this country. Thomas Read set- tled at Sudbury, in the Lanham district, on land which he purchased of his uncle, Rev. Edmund Brown, while he (Mr. Read) was in England. This locality was probably called Lan- ham by Rev. Edmund Brown, from a little place in England spelled Lavenham, but pronounced Lannam, near Sudbury, or between Sudbury and Bury St. Edmunds, about which locality Mr. Brown and Mr. Read are supposed to have come from, and from which place Mary Goodrich, the wife of Thomas Read, the son of Thomas Read of Lanham, came. Thomas Read, the older in this country, married for his first wife Catherine, and for his second wife Arrabella. He had one son, whose name was Thomas; and in the two following generations there were but two children, both sons, and both also named Thomas, the last being born in 1678. Thomas of this latter date had five children, Nathaniel (born 1762), Thomas (born -), Isaac (born 1704), Daniel (born 1714), and Joseph (born 1722). Nathaniel settled in War- ren ; Thomas and Daniel settled in Rutland, Mass .; Isaac and Joseph remained in Sudbury. Joseph had one son named Joseph (born 1773), who married Olive Mossman of Sudbury, who died there March 9, 1877, at the age of ninety- seven, being at the time of her death the oldest person in town. By the death of Joseph Read the last of the descend- ants bearing the family name ceased to be residents of Sud- bury; but descendants bearing other names have long lived there, among whom were his daughters Sybel, wife of J. P. Allen ; Almira, wife of George Heard ; Sarah, wife of D. L. Willis ; and Maria, wife of Martin N. Hudson. Mr. Joseph Read and wife are buried in Wadsworth Cemetery, in the family lot of A. S. Hudson, a grandson. Thomas Read was a prominent citizen of Sudbury. He was early appointed one of the tything-men, and in 1677 he was one of the per- sons to whom the town gave leave to build a saw-mill upon Hop Brook. (See period 1675-1700.) His place at Lan- ham was for many years in the family, and his descendants have been widely scattered and useful citizens. (See chapter on Lanham District.) Says the historian of Rutland of the
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descendants of the Sudbury Reads, who settled there: "This family of Reads have been useful and industrious inhabitants of Rutland for one hundred and twenty years." Asahel Read was one of the two Sudbury soldiers who were killed at the battle of Concord and Lexington. (See Revolution- ary Period.) For the space of about two centuries the name of Read is connected with the annals of Sudbury. One of the descendants of Nathaniel Read who settled at Warren is Alanson Read, Jr., a well-known citizen of Chicago, and one of the proprietors of Read's "Temple of Music." He has been lately engaged in preparing a history of the Read family.
JOHN MOORE was at Sudbury by 1643, and may have come to America from London in the " Planter," in 1635, at the age of twenty-four, or he may have arrived in 1638. He was twice married, his first wife's name being Elizabeth, and he had several children. His second wife was Ann, daugh- ter of John Smith. His daughter Mary married Richard Ward, and Lydia (born June 24, 1643) married, in 1664, Samuel Wright. In 1642 he bought the house-lot of Edmund Rice. In 1645 he bought of John Stone "his house-lot, with all other land belonging to the said John Stone that shall hereafter be due to the said John Stone by virtue of his first right in the beginning of the plantation of Sudbury; and also all the fences that is now standing about any part of the said land, and also all the board and shelves that are now about the house, whether fast or loose, and now belonging to the said house." (Town Records, Vol.I ., p. 54. ) The Moore family have long been numerous in Sudbury, members of it living on both sides of the river, and at times taking prominent part in the affairs of the town. Ephraim Moore, who lived in the west part, was major of the Second Battalion of Rifles, M. V. M.
THOMAS BISBIG Besbedge (or Bessbeck) came to America in the ship " Hercules, in 1635, with six children and three servants. He embarked at Sandwich, County of Kent. He went to Sudbury, joined the church there, and afterwards went to Duxbury. He subsequently came back to Sudbury, where he died March 9, 1674. He left a will, which was
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4
dated Nov. 25, 1672, and probated April 1, 1674. In this will he directed that his body be buried "at the east end of the church ; " and he gives to his grandson, Thomas Brown, the eldest son of his daughter Mary, wife of William Brown, all the houses and lands in the parishes of Hedcorn and Frit- tenden, County of Kent, Eng .; and he mentions his great- grandchildren, Mary, Patience and Thankful, daughters of the said Thomas Brown, also other children of this daughter Mary, of whom there were seven.
THOMAS PLYMPTON (or Plimpton) was at Sudbury by 1643. He may have come to America in the ship " Jona- than," which sailed from London, for Boston, April 12, 1639, bringing among its passengers Elizabeth Plympton and Peter Noyes. Sometime before 1649 he was in the employ of Mr. Noyes, as is shown by the following record: "Peter Noyes, Sr., did give unto Thomas Plympton, once his servant, the , sum of six acres of meadow, of his third addition of meadow lying on the meadow called Gulf Meadow, with the com- monage unto the same belonging. Sept. 26, 1649." (Town Records, p. 89.) He married Abigail, daughter of Peter Noyes, and had seven children, Abigail, Jane, Mary, Eliza- beth, Thomas, Dorothy and Peter. Thomas Plympton and Elizabeth, who married John Rutter, were probably brother and sister, as both were legatees of Agnes Bent, a grand- mother of Elizabeth. He was killed by the Indians, April 20, 1676, the day before the Wadsworth fight, while he was engaged, tradition says, in endeavoring to bring a Mr. Boone and son to a garrison house. The Plympton family has been numerous, and members of it have been prominent in the an- nals of Sudbury. Thomas Plympton was a tower of strength to the town in the Revolutionary War, being a member of the Provincial Congress, and the one to whom the news of the ap- proach of the British to Concord was first brought. He was at Concord the 19th of April, and had a bullet put through his clothing. (See Revolutionary period.) The old Plymp- ton house, a large unpainted structure, was about a mile from Sudbury centre, and was demolished a few years since.
HUGH DRURY was in Sudbury as early as 1641, and was by trade a carpenter. He married Lydia, daughter of Edmund.
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Rice, for his first wife, who died April 5, 1675; and for his second wife, Mary, the widow of Rev. Edward Fletcher. He had two children, John and Hugh. After dwelling in Sudbury for a time, where he bought a house and land of William Swift, he removed to Boston, and died July 6, 1689, and was buried in the Chapel Burying-ground with his wife, Lydia.
PHILEMON WHALE was in Sudbury in 1646. He was a freeman May 10, 1688, and Nov. 7, 1649, married Sarah, the daughter of Thomas Cakebread. His wife died Dec. 28, 1656; and Nov. 9, 1657, he married Elizabeth Griffin. He owned land in various parts of the town, but his early home is supposed to have been not far from the head of the mill- pond (Wayland), perhaps by the present Concord road. He afterwards built a house in the neighborhood of the " Rice Spring." A culvert or bridge at the head of the mill-pond is still called Whale's Bridge ; but the name, except as it is thus perpetuated, is now seldom heard within the limits of the town.
JOHN SMITH was at Sudbury in 1647. He may have been John Smith, an early settler of Watertown, or a relative of his. His wife's name was Sarah. He had assigned him lot No. 29 in the second squadron of the two-mile grant. The name Smith has been a common one in town. Capt. Joseph Smith commanded a company from Sudbury on the 19th of April, 1775. The Smiths have lived in various parts of the town, and were early settlers of what is now Maynard, the names of Amos and Thomas Smith being prominent among the pioneers of that part of Sudbury territory. A descend- ant of the Smiths on the east side of the river is Mr. Elbridge Smith, formerly principal of the Norwich Free Academy and present master of the Dorchester High School.
THOMAS BUCKMASTER (or Buckminster) it is supposed was of the family of John of Peterborough, Northampton- shire, Eng. He was a freeman in 1646, and was at one time at Scituate and afterwards at Boston. His wife's name was Joanna, and he had several children. He died Sept. 28, 1656. Descendants of the family early went to Framing- ham, and have been numerous and prominent. One was
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Col. Joseph, an officer in the French and Indian War period. Another was Major Lawson, who was in the Revolutionary War. A third, and one well known, was Thomas, a tavern- keeper. deacon and selectman; and another was William, who was publisher and editor of "The Boston Cultivator " in 1839-41, and who established "The Massachusetts Plough- man."
JOHN GROUT came from Watertown to Sudbury about 1643, and about the same time came into possession of the Cakebread mill, and was allowed by the town "to pen water for the use of the mill " on land adjacent to the stream above. The name of his first wife was Mary, and for his second wife he married the widow of Thomas Cakebread. He had ten children, two of them by his first marriage, John (born Aug. 8, 1641) and Mary (born Dec. 11, 1643). His children by his second marriage were John, Sarah (who married John Loker, Jr.), Joseph, Abigail (who married, in 1678, Joseph Curtis), Jonathan, Elizabeth (who married Samuel Allen), Mary (who married Thomas Knapp), and Susanna (who married John Woodward).
THOMAS CAKEBREAD was from Watertown, and became a freeman May 14, 1634. In 1637 he married Sarah, daughter of Nicholas Busby. He was for a while at Dedham, and subsequently at Sudbury, where he died Jan. 4, 1643. He erected the first mill at Sudbury, for which the town granted him lands. (See chapter on First Church, Meeting-house, Mill, etc.) The Colony Records state that, in 1642, "Ensign Cakebread was to lead the Sudbury company." His widow married Capt. John Grout, and his daughter Mary married Philemon Whale, at Sudbury, Nov. 1, 1649.
JOHN REDIAT lived at Sudbury for a time. He became an original proprietor at Marlboro, and at the assignment of house-lots he received twenty-two and one-half acres. He had one child born in Sudbury, in 1652. He died April 7, 1687.
JOHN WATERMAN came to this country in the ship "Jona- than," and landed at Boston, 1639. His passage was paid by Mr. Peter Noyes, and hence it is supposed he was in his employ. No descendants of this name live in Sudbury, and
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we have found nothing to designate the former dwelling- place of this early inhabitant.
GOODMAN WITHERELL early received land in the town. His name is mentioned in the list of those who received land in one of the divisions of meadow.
JOHN GEORGE. We have found no facts relative to the genealogy of this early grantee, and the name is not familiar . in Sudbury. He was in the town as early as 1644.
THOMAS KING was at Sudbury near 1650. In 1655 he married Bridget Davis. He owned land in the fourth squad- ron of the two-mile grant, his lot being No. 50, and adjoining the cow-pen in the southwest part of Sudbury. (See chapter on periods 1650-75.) He was one of the petitioners for the plantation of Marlboro, in 1656, and was on the first board .of selectmen of that town.
PETER KING was at Sudbury not far from 1650. He was a man of some prominence in the town, being a deacon of the church, and a representative to the Colonial Court in 1689-90. He was one of the contracting parties for the erection of the second meeting-house. Peter King's home- stead was probably not far from the town bridge, on the east side of the river, a place on the river not far from this point being still called " King's Pond." The name King was often spoken in earlier times in the town ; but perhaps not in the memory of any now living have any descendants of these early inhabitants, of this name, lived there. .
JAMES PENDLETON was a son of Brian, and came from Watertown. His wife, whose name was Mary, died Nov. 7, 1655, and he married for a second wife Hannah, daughter of Edmund Goodnow, at Sudbury, April 29, 1656. By his first marriage he had one son, James (born Nov. 1, 1650), and by his second marriage he had Brian, Joseph, Edmund, Ann, Caleb and James. He was one of the founders of the first church at Portsmouth, in 1671. He lived at Stoning- ton in 1674-8, and at Westerly in 1586-1700. He acquired the title of captain, and served in Philip's war.
JOHN WOODWARD, at the age of thirteen, came to this country in the ship " Elizabeth," in 1634. He was accom- panied by his father, and was for a time at Watertown. His
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wife's name was Mary, and they had a son, born March 20, 1650, who it is supposed died young. He went to Sudbury, where his wife died July 8, 1654. He afterwards moved to Charlestown, and there married Abigail, daughter of John Benjamin, widow of Joshua Stubbs. He returned to Sud- bury, and by his second marriage he had three children, Rose (born Aug. 18, 1659), John (born Dee. 12, 1661), and Abigail. He was a freeman 1690, and died at Watertown, Feb. 17, 1696. John Woodward received in the division of the two-mile grant lot No. 41, adjoining that of John Moore, in the fourth squadron. The name appeared from time to time in the earlier annals of Sudbury, but has for many years ceased to be as familiar to the town's people as formerly. Daniel Woodward, who died in 1760, built a mill on Hop or Wash Brook in 1740, and about one hundred and fifty years ago he also erected the house occupied by Capt. James Moore, who is one of his descendants.
SHADRACH (or Sydrach) HAPGOOD, at the age of fourteen, embarked at Gravesend, Eng., for America, May 30, 1656, on the ship "Speed well," Robert Locke, master. He settled in Sudbury, and married Elizabeth Treadway, Oct. 21, 1664. He was killed in the Nipnet country, near Brookfield, in an expedition against the Indians under the command of Capt. Hutchinson. (See chapter on Philip's War. ) He left three or more children, one of whom, Thomas, was born in Sud- bury, Oct. 1, 1669. He settled in the northeast part of Marlboro, at which place he died Oct. 4, 1765, aged ninety- five. He left nine children, ninety-two grandchildren, two hundred and eight great-grandchildren, and four great-great- grandchildren.
EDWARD WRIGHT was perhaps a son of the Widow Doro- thy Wright, and may have come to Sudbury with her. He married Hannah Axtell (or Adell), June 18, 1659, who died May 18, 1708. He had eight children, one of whom was Capt. Samuel Wright, one of the prominent settlers of Rut- land, and conspicuous in one of the Indian wars, having charge of a company of rangers, and doing good service on the frontier. Edward Wright died at Sudbury, Aug. 7, 1703.
CHAPTER IV.
Method of Acquiring Territory. - Character and Jurisdiction of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. - Colonial Court. - Response to the Petition for a Plantation at Sudbury. - Successive Land Grants. - Purchase of Territory. - Indian Deeds. - Incorporation of the Town. - Name. - Sketch of Sudbury, Eng. - Town Boundaries.
We have no title-deeds to house or lands ; Owners and occupants of earlier dates From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands, And hold in mortmain still their old estates.
LONGFELLOW.
BEFORE considering the successive steps in the settlement of the town, we will notice the methods by which the set- tlers became possessed of the territory. There were two parties with which contracts were to be made, namely, the Colonial Court and the Indian owners of the land. To ignore either would invalidate their claim. From the former it was essential to obtain a permit to make a settlement, to sell out and remove from Watertown, to secure the appointment of a committee to measure and lay out the land; and from the Indians they were to purchase the territory.
In order to obtain a right knowledge of the matter before us, it is important to consider, first, the authority and nature of the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay. King James of England claimed by right of discovery all the continent of North America. In the eighteenth year of his reign, he transferred a portion of this to a company called "The Colony of Plymouth in the County of Devon, for the plant- ing, ruling, ordering and governing of New England in America." "The territory conveyed was all that part of America lying and being in breadth from forty degrees to forty-eight degrees of north latitude, and in length of and
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within all the breadth aforesaid through the mainland from sea to sea." And a condition upon which the conveyance was made was, that "the grantees should yield and pay therefor the fifth part of the ore of gold and silver which should happen to be found in any of the said lands." From this " Council of Plymouth in the County of Devon " a com- pany, in 1628, purchased a tract of territory defined as being "three miles north of any and every part of the Merrimac River," and " three miles north of any and every part of the Charles River," and extending westward to the Pacific Ocean. Some of the chief men of this company were John Humphry, John Endicott, Sir Henry Roswell, Sir George Young, Thomas Southcoote, Simon Whitcomb, John Win- thrope, Thomas Dudley and Sir Richard Saltonstall.
The proprietors received a charter from the King, March 14, 1629, and were incorporated by the name of " the Gov- ernor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay in New Eng- land." The government of this company was vested in a governor, deputy governor and eighteen assistants, who were to be elected annually by the stockholders of the corporation. A general assembly of the freemen of the colony (see chap- ter on Town-meetings) was to be held once in four years at the least, for purposes of legislation. The king claimed no jurisdiction, since he regarded the affair, not as the founding of a nation or state, but as the incorporation of a trading establishment. But, although the common rights of British subjects were conferred upon these Massachusetts Bay colo- nists, a broader and better basis was soon to be adopted. In September, 1629, the members of the new company, at a meeting in Cambridge, Eng., signed an agreement to trans- fer the charter and government to the colonists. Upon this desirable change, enterprising men set sail for this country, and soon that portion of it now Salem and Boston was smiling with settlements that were founded by persons of marked character and intelligence. In May, 1631, it was decided, at an assembly of the people, that all the officers of the government should thereafter be chosen by the freemen of the colony ; and in 1634 the government was changed to a representative government, the second of the kind in
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America. This government had its court, to which dele- gates were sent by the people, called " The Great and Gen- eral Court of the Massachusetts Colony."
By the authority of a Court thus established, land grants were allowed the New England colonists. Some of these grants were to companies who designed to establish towns, and some to individuals, for considerations that the court saw fit to recognize. In the former case, certain conditions were imposed, namely, that the place sought should be settled within a specified time, that a certain number of settlers should go there, and that a church should be established and the gospel ministry maintained. These land grants were usually preceded by a petition, stating the object for which the land tract was sought, and perhaps reasons why the court should allow it. The territory of Sudbury was in part granted to the people collectively who formed the plan- tation and established the town, and in part to individuals. The grants to the former were allowed at three different times, and were preceded by three different petitions. The first petition met with a response Nov. 20, 1637, of which the following is a copy : -
" Whereas a great part of the chief inhabitants of Water- town have petitioned this Court, that in regard to their straitness of accommodation, and want of meadow, they might have leave to remove and settle a plantation upon the river, which runs to Concord, this Court, having respect to their necessity, doth grant their petition, and it is hereby ordered, that Lieut. (Simon) Willard, Mr. (William) Spen- cer, Mr. Joseph Weld and Mr. (Richard) Jackson shall take view of the places upon said river, and shall set out a place for them by marks and bounds sufficient for fifty or sixty families, taking care that it be so set out as it may not hinder the settling of some other plantation upon the same river, if there be meadow, and other accommodations sufficient for the same. And it is ordered, further, that if the said inhabi- tants of Watertown, or any of them, shall not have removed their dwellings to their said new plantation, before one year after the plantation shall be sot out, that then the interest of
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