USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Woburn > The history of Woburn, Middlesex County, Mass. from the grant of its territory to Charlestown, in 1640, to the year 1680 > Part 5
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By this arrangement, another serious obstacle in the way of
12 Woburn Records, Vol. I., p. 4. Sce Appendix, No. II.
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
the commissioners was removed; but their difficulties and trials were not yet terminated. (They were still doomed to suffer repeated and grievous disappointments in their efforts to obtain an able minister for the town, whose foundations they were laying.) This, with our Puritan ancestors, was a point of paramount importance to secure. Their main errand in coming to this country was of a religious, not a secular nature; and hence, as Capt. Johnson, one of the principal founders of Woburn, observes, " it was as unnatural for a right New England man to live without an able ministry, as for a smith to work his iron without a fire." 13 The stated and able ministration of the word and ordinances of the gospel was a privilege for which the first settlers of this land, generally speak- ing, were ready to make any, even the most costly sacrifices ; and scarcely any of them felt willing to seat themselves down in a place where there was not, at least, a comfortable prospect of speedily enjoying it. Of all this, the commissioners for building up Woburn were fully aware. The acquisition of a good and faithful minister of Jesus Christ was not only their own hearts' most earnest desire, but, in their view, it was a matter of essential importance to the prosperity of their infant plantation. Hence the question, Whom should they get for a minister ? had been a subject of serious discussion at their meetings in Charlestown the preceding winter. And now, at the present stage of their enterprise, they determined, without delay, to commence vigor- ous exertions to procure some one, on whom they could rely for the faithful discharge of the sacred office among them. And yet the repeated failure of these exertions was long a cause to them of sore mortification, and at times, to some of their number, almost of despair.
The person to whom they first applied to become their minis- ter was Rev. Jonathan Burr. This gentleman, who came to this country in 1639, had been a clergyman of high repute in Eng- land for piety and learning, and had just now received a call to settle over the church in Dorchester, as colleague with Rev.
13 Wonder Working Providence, B. II., Chap. 22.
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Richard Mather. 14 But from certain reported differences between him and Mr. Mather, the first settlers in Woburn seem to have imbibed an opinion that he was disposed to quit Dor- chester, and might be induced, upon application, to come and be settled over them. Accordingly, " divers " (commissioners and others,) went from here March 17, 1640-1, to speak to him on the subject, to whom he gave " good incorridgment to go one [on]; God would prouid " [provide]; and withal, led them to expect that he might ultimately comply with their wishes.ª But the differences which had existed between him and his senior colleague, Rev. Mr. Mather, were soon healed; 14 and his friends at Dorchester, after repeated visits to this incipient plantation, being dissatisfied with its local advantages,15 probably advised him not to remove from where he then was. Influenced doubt- less in some measure by their feelings and views in this matter, Mr. Burr returned, May 10, 1641, a negative answer to the invitation given him from this place; 16 and, though afterwards urged anew, 16 he could not be persuaded to revoke it. He remained at Dorchester, and died there, deeply lamented, August 9th of the same year, 1641.14
At Mr. Burr's declining a settlement in this place, " most harts grew fainte," 16 and even a majority of the commissioners began to be discouraged.17 But there were three, at least, of the seven, whose resolution no adverse occurrences could shake, no obstacles turn from their purpose.17 Conscious of the rectitude
14 Allen's Biography. · Woburn Records, Vol. I., p. 4.
15 " The 20th of I. mo. 1641, Mr. Burr's ffriends came againe, and brought men with them to vew the land, espetially the medow." Wob. Rec. I., p. 4. " 24 of 3d mo. [May] 1641, Mr. Burr's ffreinds came againe with fresh men, whos minds were much for medow, and their jugments short in what they saw." Town Records, Vol. I., p. 4.
16 " 10 : 3d mo. Meeting at Thomas Richison's : Mr. Burr declined; and most harts grew fainte."
" 29 : 3d mo. Mr. Thomas Granes and Edward Johnson were sent to Mr. Burr, who was loth to giue a full answer." T. Records, Vol. I., p. 4.
17 See the several statements in this paragraph, and others connected with it, concerning " a majority of the commissioners," and respecting " three " of their number, illustrated and confirmed in certain Lines in verse, com- posed by one of them, Captain Edward Johnson, prefixed by him to the Town Records, Vol. I., p. 1, and copied in Appendix, No. II., of this work 2*
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of their motives and aims, they repaired again, in that dark and gloomy day, to the Lord, and in return obtained light and encouragement from above. Under date of the 25 of 6 mo. [25 August] 1641, we read in the Records, " Things going heavily one [on], and many Blocks in the waye, espetially sum of their own Company disheartening, this day was set apart for humble seeking the Lord by fasting and prayer : whom they found gratious in keping upp the sperits of sum to the worke."18 And now, strengthened by the pious exercises of this solemnity, three at least of the commissioners 18 proceeded with their enterprise with fresh resolution and courage. The next day, they built a bridge over Horn Pond River, - a work, at that time, attended with great labor and difficulty. " The place was soe boggy," say the records, " that it swallowed up much wood before it cold [could] bee mad pasable," [passable] and yet they finished the bridge the same day, and called it "Long Bridge." 18
Shortly after, they made a new effort to procure a minister. Two messengers went to Rowley, October 25, 1641, to make pro- posals to Rev. John Miller,18 a clergyman recently from England, and then an assistant to Rev. Mr. Rogers, pastor of the church in that town ; but finding Mr. Rogers "loth to part with him," they forbore urging him any further. 18
In less than a fortnight after, the commissioners spake on the same design to Mr. Thomas Carter, a candidate for the ministry from England, and then a resident at Watertown., And receiv- ing some encouragement of help from him, they proposed to the
18 Woburn Records, Vol. I., p. 4.
Rev. John Miller had been an ordained minister in England. Upon coming to this country, he was admitted as a member into the Church of Roxbury. After leaving Rowley, about 1642, he was ordained the pastor of the Church of Yarmouth, on Cape Cod, and continued there as late as 1651. Subsequently, he became a preacher of the gospel at Groton; but died, while the people there were taking measures to settle him over them. The following notlee of his death is from the Records of Ist Church, Rox- bury : " 1663, June 14, Mr. John Miller, Preacher of the Gospel at Groyton, sometime pastor of the Church at Yarmouth, rested from his labors." See also Johnson's Wonder Working Providence, Book 11, chap. XI., Butler's History of Groton, p. 155, and American Quarterly Register, Vol. XI., p. 250.
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church of Charlestown (of which several of them were members), that they might hold public worship at the village.19 The church granted their request, and also lent them for one Sabbath the aid of their pastor, Rev. Mr. Symmes; who accordingly, November 21, 1641, preached here the first gospel sermon probably, that had ever been delivered in this portion of the New England wilderness. His text was from those appropriate words, Jeremiah iv. 3. " Thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem, Break up your fallow ground, and sow not among thorns." 19 Mr. Carter likewise, in fulfilment of the expectations he had raised, preached, December 5th, at this place for the first time, out of Genesis xxii., " incorridging to trust in the Lord for the means." 19 From this time, the people here, by the commissioners, frequently renewed their applications to him to become their minister. And as a pledge of their good will, and of their earnest purpose to sustain him in his work, they set about building a house for the ministry.20 But it was long before he could be persuaded to enter into any permanent engagement with them. Though solicited again and again, he was for months unwilling to promise anything more than occa- sional help; and this, the records observe, " was uery [very] seldom." 20 At length their importunity prevailing with him to spend with them a day of humiliation, April 14, 1642, he after- wards gave them good encouragement to hope for his constant services, and passed two Sabbaths with them in succession. Thenceforth their expectations of attaining the great object, which they had so long sought, and labored and prayed for, began to brighten, and with some short interruption 21 continued to increase. At last, hoping to enjoy Mr. Carter's permanent services in the ministry, those among them who were connected by covenant with the church of Charlestown requested, June 5, 1642, that they might be dismissed. That church received their request at first with reluctance, and put them off for a fortnight. Then, after much agitation, she voted them a dismission, and her consent that they might be gathered into a church.20
19 Woburn Records, Vol. I., p. 4.
20 Woburn Records, Vol. I., p. 5.
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
The First Congregational Church in Woburn was gathered with much solemnity August 14, O. S. or August 24, N. S., 1642, (Appendix III.) :The proceedings in this interest- ing transaction are minutely related by Capt. Edward Johnson, one of the principal founders of this church, and clerk of the town at that time, both in the Town Records 21 and in his celebrated history of New England, entitled " The Wonder- working Providence of Zion's Saviour." 22 From these au- thorities, we learn that there were present, on the occasion, the elders and messengers of several of the neighboring churches and others; particularly Rev. Messrs. Symmes and Allen of Charlestown, Wilson and Cotton of Boston, Shepard of Cambridge, Dunster, President of Harvard College, Knowles of Watertown, Allin of Dedham, Eliot of Roxbury, and Mather of Dorchester, -ministers, whose praise is still in all the churches of our land. Mr. Increase Nowell of Charlestown, likewise one of the magistrates of the colony, was there, agreeably to an opinion then and long afterwards prevalent, which deemed it a duty for one or more of the magistrates to be present on such occasions, for the prevention of errors and proceedings that might breed disturbance in the Commonwealth; and also for giving countenance and encouragement to so good a work. 22 These all being assembled, about 8 o'clock of the morning on the day just mentioned, Mr. Symmes " continued in prayer and preaching about the space of four or five houres." Then the persons to be embodied in a church state, viz : Jolin Mousall, Edward Johnson, Edward Convers, William Learned, Ezekiel Richardson, Samuel Richardson and Thomas Richardson, stood forth, and made declaration, one by one, of their religious faith and Christian experience ; confessing " what the Lord had done for their poor souls by the work of his Spirit in the preaching of his Word and Providences." 22 And here the elders and messengers present had liberty to propound any question to them for their better understanding of them in any point they
21 " 16 of 3 mo. [16 May] 1642. They [the Commissioners] were dishar- tened by too [two] of their company taking of Councill." Town Records. 21 Woburn Records, Vol. I., p. 5. 2 W. W. Prov. B. II., Chap. XXII., p. 175-181.
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
doubted of; and all at length being satisfied, the persons to be gathered, manifested their consent to their covenant in words expressed in writing to this purpose.
" We that do assemble ourselves this day before God and his people, in an unfeigned desire to be accepted of him as a Church of the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the Rule of the New Testament, do acknowledge ourselves to be the most unworthy of all others, that we should attain such a high grace, and the most unable of ourselves to the performance of any thing that is good, abhorring ourselves for all our former defilements in the worship of God, and other wayes, and resting only upon the Lord Jesus Christ for attonement, and upon the power of his grace for the guidance of our whole after course, do here, in the name of Christ Jesus, as in the presence of the Lord, from the bottom of our hearts, agree together through his grace to give up ourselves, first unto the Lord Jesus, as our only King, Priest, and Prophet, wholly to be subject unto him in all things, and therewith one unto another, as in a Church Body, to walk together in all the Ordinances of the Gospel, and in all such mutual love and offices thereof, as toward one another in the Lord; and all this, both according to the present light that the Lord hath given us, as also according to all further light, which he shall be pleased at any time to reach out unto us out of the Word by the goodness of his grace : renouncing also in the same Covenant all errors and schismes, and whatsoever by-wayes that are contrary to the blessed rules revealed in the Gospel, and in particular, the inordinate love and seeking after the things of the world." "Every Church hath not the same for words ; for they are not for a form of words."
And now having entered into covenant, the elders present extended to them the right hand of fellowship, in the name of the churches to which they respectively belonged; thereby acknowledging them to be a true and regularly gathered church of Christ.
The establishment of a church in Woburn was soon followed by the ordination of its first pastor. For some time before the church was gathered, Mr. Thomas Carter had been " exercising his gifts of preaching and prayer among them;" and continuing afterwards to do so with acceptance, the church called him to
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the pastoral office, and he was ordained over them November 22, O. S. or December 2d, N. S., 1642.22 On this occasion, the same churches appear to have been sent to for their presence and aid, as at the gathering of the church, and the same pastors to have attended that did then, except Rev. Mr. Knowles of Watertown, who was absent on a special mission to preach the gospel in Virginia.23 This ordination has long been celebrated from the circumstance, that "imposition of hands," the dis- tinctive ceremony of such solemnities, was performed by laymen. Congregational principles, as afterward set forth in the Cambridge Platform, recognize the right of a church to ordain its pastors by the hand of its ruling elders, or other members duly appointed thereto. But they likewise allow the propriety of imposition of hands on the candidate by the elders of other churches present, at the request of the ordaining church, when it has no elders of its own to do it, as was the case in this instance at Woburn.24 And this latter method of ordination, a little varied, soon became, and still continues to be, the common custom of the country. It was recommended to Woburn church, at the ordination of Mr. Carter. "Some difference there was," observes Gov. Winthrop in his History, concerning this transac- tion : "Some difference there was about his ordination. Some advised, in regard they had no elder of their own, nor any members very fit to solemnize such an ordinance, they would desire some of the elders of the other churches to have per- formed it; but others, supposing it might be an occasion of introducing a dependency of churches, and so a presbytery, would not allow it. So it was performed by one of their own members, but not so well and orderly as it ought."25 Johnson's account of it is, that after Mr. Carter had exercised in preach- ing and prayer the greater part of the day, " two persons" (of , whom he himself was doubtless one) " in the name of the church, laid their hands upon his head, and said, ' We ordain
22 W. W. Prov., Book II., Chap. XXII., p. 175-181. For the present Articles of Falth and Covenant In the First Church of Woburn, see Appendix, No. IV.
23 Woburn T. Records, Vol. I., p. 5. Allen's Blog. under Knowles.
"4 l'latformn, Chap. I.X., § 3, 4, 5. 25 Savage's Winthrop, Vol. II., p. 109, 110.
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
thee, Thomas Carter, to be Pastor unto this Church of Christ.'" " Then one of the elders present being desired of the church, continued in prayer unto the Lord for his more especial assist- ance of this his servant in his work;"22 and the others held out the right hand of fellowship to him.20
In the interval between the gathering of the church, and the ordination of its first pastor, Woburn was incorporated as a town. Its territory was granted originally to Charlestown, on condition that it should be built on within two years.5 This condition had been fulfilled. And now that a church had been embodied among its inhabitants, and there was a fair prospect of the speedy settlement of a minister over them, (provisions, to which paramount importance was attached by the early legisla- tion of Massachusetts, in their establishment of towns and parishes) the way was fully prepared for granting this people the privileges of a town. Accordingly, at a session of the Gen- eral Court, which commenced the " Sth of 7 mo." or September 8th, 1642, and was continued by adjournment to the 27th of the same month, the town was incorporated. The Act of Court for this purpose is contained in these five words : "Charlestowne Village is called Wooborne." 26 And as the record of this Act of Incorporation is subsequent to the record of the above adjournment, the earliest date that can be assigned to that Act is September 27th, O. S., or October 6th, N. S., 1642.
Thus the permanent settlement of this place, which had been undertaken by the Commissioners for the work, under circum- stances of great discouragement, and perseveringly carried on by them and others through the midst of oppressive labors and disheartening difficulties and trials, was at length happily accom- plished. By the date of its incorporation, Woburn was the twentieth town in the Massachusetts Colony, as distinct from that of Plymouth; and the twenty-ninth of those three hundred and thirty-one cities and towns which constituted the State of Massachusetts in 1855. At the time it was first legally recog- nized as a town, not one of those which now immediately border
26 Mass. Col. Records, Vol. II., p. 28. Why this name was given to Woburn at its ineor- poration, see Appendix, No. V.
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
upon it, had received a corporate existence. Even Reading, the plantation of which was commenced earlier than that of Woburn, was still known only as Lynn Village. Then, the incorporated towns nearest to Woburn were Rowley and Ipswich on the north, Salem and Lynn on the northeast, Charlestown on the cast, Cambridge on the southicast and south, and Concord on the southwest. On the west and northwest, all within the present bounds of Massachusetts, saving Newbury and Salisbury, was as yet a wilderness, uninhabited by man, except by Indians dwelling in scattered wigwams, or in a few denser settlements, such as Nashoba, now Littleton, and Pawtucket, now Lowell.
The first general meeting held in Woburn after the grant to it of corporate privileges was on November 9, 1643. Then an order was passed, imposing a fine of eighteen pence, for the use of the town, upon every one who should absent himself from any public meeting without a reasonable excuse. Committees also were appointed to look after fences, to parcel out meadows, and to lay out a common field, to be afterwards divided by lot among them that should have share therein.27 But for reasons that can now be only conjectured, there was no general choice of town officers till April 13, 1644, above a year and a half from the Act of Incorporation. At a public meeting on that day, it was voted, with the general consent of all the freemen and other inhabitants then present, that a choice should be made annually, from among the freemen of the town, of seven men (or of a less number in after time, when the town should be more settled), who should have power to order the prudential affairs of the town, and who should continue in office till " the first third day of the wecke in the first month " (that is, till the first Tuesday in March) in the next year, when a new choice should be made. The following Orders likewise were agreed upon for the future direction of their Seleetmen :
1. They should always give public notice when any rate or assessment was to be made upon the inhabitants, " to the end, men "may shew their grevance if any bee ; and mutual love and agree- " ment may be continued, by takeing ofe [off ] the burden from " the opressed."
" Woburn Records, Vol. I., p. 5.
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
2. When any scruples should arise in their minds, in the trans- action of the affairs of the town, they should repair to the elder or elders of the church in the said town for advice.
3. They should alter no man's propriety in the town without his free consent.
4. They should meet once a month, at the least, upon the town's business ; and keep a record of all orders concluded by the major part of them for the good of the town ; and that they should give an account in public at the year's end of their disbursements and disposal of the town's stock and land.28
On the same day, they chose Edward Johnson, Edward Convers, John Mousall, William Learned, Ezekiel Richardson, Samuel Richardson and James Thompson for their first Board of Selectmen ; William Learned, Constable; and Michael Bacon, Ralph Hill and Thomas Richardson for Surveyors of High- ways.28
Though Woburn had now acquired the name and privileges of a town, yet much remained to be done to redeem it from its for- mer wilderness condition. House lots had been marked out in the centre and some other places, a house for their minister and a few other scattered dwellings had been built, and a meeting house was either then, or shortly after, erected. But no streets lead- ing to and by their respective places of abode had been completed, no roads for intercourse with other towns had been established, and their territory as yet lay in great measure common. Hence as soon as the incorporation of the town and the settlement of its minister were over, the laying out of streets and highways, and the distribution of the lands, were necessarily among the first subjects of attention to the people. Accordingly, in Novem- ber, 1645, three streets or highways were laid out, one called Upstreet23 and the other two running into Upstreet, called Sawpit
28 Woburn Records, Vol. I., pp. 5, 6.
29 It would be exceedingly difficult at the present day to determine with certainty the position of the several streets or highways that were first laid out in Woburn.
Upstreet is described in the Records (vol. I, p. 7) as "leading to Shaw- shiu," and there are strong reasons for supposing that it ran from the cen- tre of the town northerly towards Wilmington, and southwesterly from 3
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HISTORY OF WOBURN.
Lane 30 and Military Lane.31 In April of the next year, 1646, two other highways were laid out, viz., Plain Street and Driver's Lane. Plain Street is described in the Records 32 as " leading to Cambridg mill and towne the one way and to Upstreet and Shawshin the other waye," and seems evidently to be the road which now goes over the plain in the west side of the town to Cutter's mill (formerly so called) in West Cambridge, and which, in coming in the direction towards Woburn, divides near Kendall's mill, into two branches, the easterly branch passing the late Capt. Joseph Gardiner's house, and leading to Upstreet, and the west- erly branch into the road towards the Shawshin in Burlington.
the same point into Pleasant Street by the house formerly occupied by General Thompson to the George Richardson house, and thence to the house formerly of Benjamin Simonds, now owned by Jesse Cutler, and thence by Mr. John Cummings, jr.'s house to the Shawshin or Ilodge Hole meadows in Burlington. But the late Dr. Benjamin Cutter (a gentleman very thoroughly acquainted with Woburn localities) was of opinion that Upstreet, in coming from Wilmington, entered Bedford Street at Mr. George Flagg's, and proceeding thence to the house of Mr. George Rich- ardson, went from there to the houses of Messrs. Jesse Cutler and John Cummings, jr., towards Shawshin as mentioned above.
30 Sawpit Lane, running into Upstreet, according to the Records, appears to have been a highway diverging from the northerly part of Upstreet to- wards Wilmington through or near what are still called, it is said, the Sawpit Woods, toward Reading.
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