USA > Massachusetts > Suffolk County > Boston > The memorial history of Boston : including Suffolk County, Massachusetts, 1630-1880. Vol. I > Part 57
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The departure of the emigrants was facilitated by the fact that a vessel arrived in 1635 from England with Richard Mather and a large company, many of whom were prepared to buy the places of those who were going away. Notwithstanding the efforts of the colonial government to discour- age it, emigration did not finally cease till 1637.
The original boundaries of Dorchester were of the most roving and all- embracing nature. From various grants of the Court, and the reports of committees appointed to adjust boundaries, we learn that by the year 1637 Dorchester occupied not only all the ground within its present limits, but also extended over the present towns of Milton, Canton, Stoughton, Sharon, Foxboro, and a part of Wrentham, - a district some thirty-five miles long, and running, as computed by a careful historian, to within one hundred and sixty rods of the Rhode Island line. In the year 1657, at the request of John Eliot, the town of Dorchester, warmly supporting his mission
1 [Cf. George E. Ellis's Life of John Mason. - ED.]
431
DORCHESTER IN THE COLONIAL PERIOD.
to the Indians, set apart six thousand acres at Ponkapog for an Indian res- ervation. In the year 1713, when a new line was run, Dorchester lost, through the mistake of the surveyors, six thousand more acres of its cx- tensive territory.
Johnson seems to have been struck by the form of the town, and thus mentions it in his Wonder-working Providence. published in 1654: -
" The form of this town is almost like a serpent, turning her head to the northward, over against Tompson's Island and the Castle ; her body and wings, being chiefly built on, are filled somewhat thick of houses, only that one of her wings is clipped, her tail being of such a large extent that she can hardly draw it after her. Her houses for dwell- ings are about one hundred and forty, orchards and gardens full of fruit-trees, plenty of corn-land, although much of it hath been long in tillage, yet hath it ordinarily good crops. The number of trees are near upon 1,500. Cows and other cattle of that kind about 450."
Wood, in 1633, in his New England's Prospect, describes Dorchester as " the greatest town in New England, well wooded and watered; very good arable grounds and hay-ground ; fair cornfields and pleasant gardens, with
THE PIERCE HOUSE.1
kitchen gardens. In this plantation is a great many cattle, as kine, goats, and swine. This plantation hath a reasonable harbor for ships, but here is no alewife river, which is a great inconvenience. The inhabitants of this
1 [This house was built by Robert Pierce in over on the voyage, which were exhibited when 1640. This Robert Pierce was the ancestor of
Mr. Everett delivered an oration in Dorches- the late Rev. Dr. Pierce of Brookline. The ter in 1855. Edward Everett, Works, iii. 325. emigrant preserved two sea - biscuit, brought - ED.]
432
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
town were the first that set upon the trade of fishing in the Bay, who re- ceived so much fruit of their labors that they encouraged others to the same undertakings."
The description of Josselyn, made in his second voyage to New England, in 1663, confirms that of the other writers: -
" Six miles beyond Braintree lieth Dorchester, a frontier town pleasantly seated, and of large extent into the main land, well watered with two small rivers, her body and wings filled somewhat thick with houses to the number of two hundred and more, beau- tified with fair orchards and gardens, having also plenty of corn-land and store of cattle, counted the greatest town heretofore in New England, but now gives way to Boston. It hath a harbor to the north for ships."
Of the one hundred and forty houses described by Josselyn in 1663 a few are now standing. The oldest of these is supposed to be the Minot house, on Chickataubut Street. The first houses of the settlers were probably
THE MINOT HOUSE. 1
simple log cabins covered with thatch. As the colony grew, these soon gave way to more comfortable and pretentious structures, but still char- acterized by what we should consider to-day a barn-like simplicity. The
1 [This house stands in that part of the town called Neponset. A cut showing its present condition is given in Bryant and Gay's United States, ii. 55. The date of its erection is put by some as far back as 1633, and it is called the old- est wooden house standing on the continent. Hist.
Mag., September, 1867, p. 169; Appleton's Four- nal, 1874 ; Harper's Weekly, June 26, ISSo, where the view is an erroneous one. The family cradle, which has come down from the days of Elder George Minot, is in the possession of Miss Ra- chel Minot, of Neponset. - ED.]
433
DORCHESTER IN THE COLONIAL PERIOD.
picture of the Minot house will be recognized by all old residents of Dor- chester as a faithful representation of this venerable building before it took fire in November, 1874. The exact date of its erection is unknown. It is placed by the descendants of the Minot family as early as 1640. Though to all external appearance nothing but a wooden house, its frame is filled in solidly with brick, either for greater durability or perhaps to render the walls bullet-proof. The house has undergone a few modifications since it was first built. At present it is a mere shell, charred and blackened by the flames ; but its heavy brick-lined frame is still an interesting memorial of the early New England architects, who in more than one sense "builded better than they knew." Most conspicuous in the history of the house is the legend of a maiden's heroism during the war with Philip in 1675. One Sunday in July of that year, when the house was occupied by the family of John Minot, the maid-servant and two young children were left in the house without protection. An Indian straggler from one of Philip's bands suddenly
8
THE BLAKE HOUSE. 1
appeared and sought to gain an entrance. He was promptly discovered by the maid, who hastily put the children under two brass kettles, and ran up- stairs for a musket. The Indian fired his gun, but without effect. The courageous young woman returned the fire with more success, wounding
1 [A view of this house is given in A Geneal- and his Descendants, by Samuel Blake, Boston, ogical Ilistory of William Blake, of Dorchester, 1857 .- ED.]
VOL. I .- 55.
434
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
the Indian in the shoulder ; and when, with a desperate indiscretion, he tried to enter through the window, she quickly seized a shovel of hot coals and threw them in his face. The assailant then beat a retreat, and was after- wards found dead in the woods about five miles away.
The Blake house, illustrated on another page, is said to have been built by Elder James Blake prior to 1650. It stands on Cottage Street, near the Five Corners. It remained in the Blake family until 1825. As in nearly all of the old houses, the rooms are very low.
THE TOLMAN HOUSE.
The Bridgham house, so named from the long occupancy of Jonathan Bridgham, who lived in it his whole life of ninety-one years, stood on Cot- tage Street, at the junction of Humphreys and Franklin, until May, 1873, when it was removed to widen the street. It was probably built prior to 1637, as Robert Pond, who died in that year, appears to have been its owner.
The Tolman house stood on Washington Street, and was also built during the colonial period. It was taken down a few years ago.
Although special attention has been paid in this article to the civil his- tory of the town, it would not be complete without some reference to its early religious history. In those days church and town were closely united, and their interests were identical. It is to be remembered, also, that the Dor- chester settlers laid so much emphasis upon the religious aims of their enterprise that they organized themselves into a church before leaving England. The establishment of a church in Dorchester is therefore coin-
435
DORCHESTER IN THE COLONIAL PERIOD.
cident with the settlement of the town itself. Dorchester had also the first meeting-house in the Bay. It was built in 1631 on the plain near the corner of Cottage and Pleasant streets. The building was palisadocd and guarded against Indian attack, and was used as a depot for military stores. Its use as an arsenal was nearly fatal to its use as a meeting-house. While drying a little powder, which took fire by the heat of the pan and set off a small keg near
北北
THE BRIDGHAM HOUSE.
by, Mr. Maverick, the senior pastor, had his clothes singed, and the thatch of the meeting-house was blackened. Winthrop, who relates this fact, has re- corded another which shows that the Dorchester people were rather unfor- tunate in trying to keep their powder dry. "One Glover, of Dorchester, having laid 60 pounds of gunpowder in bags to dry in the end of his chimney, it took fire, and some of it went up the chimney, other of it filled the room and past out at a door into another room, and blew up a gable
+36
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
end." The house was not destroyed, but a maid was badly burned and died soon after, and two men and a child were slightly scorched.
Though tried as by fire, the first meeting-house stood for fourteen years. During the first year of its existence the people of Roxbury, then without a church, joined with those in Dorchester in public worship. In 1645 it was agreed, "for peace and love's sake, that there should be a new meeting-house." I'wo hundred and fifty pounds were appropriated for this purpose. In 1670 this building was removed to Meeting-house Hill, which has remained the church site for two hundred and ten years.
The first ministers, Maverick and Warham, as already mentioned, were chosen pastors on the organization of the church in England. Winthrop tells us that Maverick was " a man of a very humble spirit, faithful in fur- thering the work of the Lord here, both in the churches and civil state." He died in February, 1636. Mr. Warham, the junior pastor, a man of strong influence and ability, removed to Windsor and remained there as pastor for thirty-four years.
The death of Mr. Maverick, the removal of a large part of the church members to Connecticut, and the arrival of a fresh load of emigrants, occa- sioned the reorganization of the church in 1636. A written covenant was then adopted. Whether one had existed before is not known. It was the good fortune of Dorchester, among several claimants, to secure the services of Richard Mather as pastor a few months after the death of Mr. Maverick. The influence in Boston and New England of that distinguished family of which Richard Mather was the first is treated in another chapter of this book; but, as with John White, the eminent services of this man to Dorchester deserve a special recognition in the Dorchester section. Mr. Mather was born at Lowton, in the parish of Winwick, county of Lancaster, England, in 1596. He very early displayed a great capacity for scholarship, and at fifteen years of age was master in a school at Toxteth Park, near Liverpool. He subse- quently entered Brazenose College, Oxford, and, after receiving ordination, preached for sixteen years at Toxteth, until suspended for non-conformity in 1633 and again in 1634. The increasing severity of the hierarchy decided him to remove to New England. He travelled to Bristol in disguise, sailed for America, encountering a terrible gale, which he described at length in his interesting journal of the voyage, and arrived in Boston Harbor Aug. 17, 1635. His rare abilities and scholarship were at onee recognized in the colony. After his settlement in Dorchester he became a prominent leader in all ecclesiastical affairs. He was one of a committee appointed by the Cambridge council in 1646 to draft a model of church discipline and polity. Among the several models proposed, that drafted by Mr. Mather was sub- stantially adopted. He was an influential member of the council which met at Boston June 4, 1657, and of nearly all other councils held during his ministry. The brethren of Connecticut sought his personal aid in settling the differences of the church at Hartford. Mr. Mather's theological and controversial writings in print and manuscript furnish additional
437
DORCHESTER IN THE COLONIAL PERIOD.
evidence of his industry, ability, and zcal. His great interest in the political condition of England and the colony appears in the days of thanksgiving and prayer which were held by the Dorchester Church
RICHARD MATHER.1
1 [This cut follows a photograph taken from the original picture in the collection of the American Antiquarian Society at Worcester, which, with others of the later Mathers, was given to that Society by Mrs. Hannah Mather Crocker, of Boston. Nathaniel Paine, Portraits and Busts in Public Buildings at Worcester, Bos- ton, 1876, reprinted from the N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., January, 1876. A note on Mather's English ancestry is given in the Register, Janu- ary, 1879, p. 102. The will of Richard Mather is
in the same, July, 1866. The Mather pedigree is followed in Drake's edition of Increase Mather's Philip's War. A Genealogy of the Mather Family was printed at Hartford in 1848, -- quite inade- quate, however. There is an account of Richard Mather's tomb in Shurtleff's Boston, p. 285. W. B. Trask printed the inscriptions from the old burial-ground in the N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., April, IS50, &c. Some of the inscriptions, with the armorial bearings, are given in the Heraldic Journal, i. - ED.]
438
TIIE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
at his instigation. The important petition made by the town of Dorchester to the General Court in 1664, signed by the principal inhabitants of the town, and praying that the liberties and privileges granted by the charter might still be continued, is in the handwriting of Mr. Mather. Ilis farewell exhortation to the church and people of Dorchester was printed, and a copy given to each family. Mr. Mather's death, in the seventy-third year of his age, which occurred April 6, 1669, is thus entered in the church records : " The Rev. Richard Mather, teacher of the church of Dorchester, rested from his labors." The following anagram appears on the church records: -
you Roving breuken in DE LoEd Richard MathEr Trongo minutt Esmuy withington JosipEtor quay of IRE 23? mon ,660
" Third in New England's Dorchester Was this ordained minister. Second to none for fruitfulness, Abilities, and usefulness.
" Divine his charms, years seven times seven,
Wise to win souls from earth to heaven; Prophet's reward he gains above, But great 's our loss by his remove."
An epitaph, different from the one inscribed on his tombstone, is also written in the church records: -
"Sacred to God his servant Richard Mather, Sons like him, good and great, did call him father, Hard to discern a difference in degree, 'Twixt his bright learning and high piety. Short time his sleeping dust lies covered down,
So can't his soul or his deserved renown. From's birth six lustres and a jubilee To his repose : but laboured hard in thee, O Dorchester ! four more than thirty years His sacred dust with thee thine honour rears."
Mr. Mather was assisted for a year and a half by Rev. Jonathan Burr, who was installed as colleague in 1640 and died in 1641. Governor Win- throp has recorded his piety and learning, and Cotton Mather his charity, sympathy, meekness, and humility. Rev. John Wilson, Jun., was ordained as " coadjutor of Mr. Mather, the Teacher," in 1649. After serving for two years he removed to Medfield, where he was pastor for forty years.
S. f. Barrow
CHAPTER XIV.
BRIGHTON IN THE COLONIAL PERIOD.
BY FRANCIS S. DRAKE."
"THAT part of ancient Cambridge lying south of Charles River, formerly bearing the various designations of "The south side of the river," "The third parish," "The third precinct," "South Cambridge," or " Little Cam- bridge," and afterwards of Brighton, was set off as a separate parish April 2, 1779; was incorporated as the town of Brighton Feb. 24, 1807; and was annexed to Boston, of which it now constitutes the 25th ward, by an Act of the Legislature approved May 21, 1873, and which took effect Jan. 5, 1874.
It is bounded north and east by Watertown and Cambridge, from which it is separated by the Charles River; southeast and south by Brookline; and west by Newton. The dividing line between Brighton and Newton was established in 1662 substantially as at present, in consequence of a petition of the inhabitants of Cambridge Village (Newton) to be released from paying church rates to Cambridge, they having built a house of worship for themselves on account of their great distance from that at Cambridge. In 1688 they were set off and made an independent town. The Brookline boundary was settled in 1640.
The eastern portion of Brighton is low and marshy, but towards the south and west it rises into beautiful eminences which command delightful views of Boston and its environs. The soil is naturally fertile, much of it having of late years been devoted to market-gardening and to extensive nurseries. Its small area comprises only 2,6601/2 acres. The Charles River is here navigable its entire distance for sloops and schooners of several hundred tons burden. This stream, anciently called Quineboquin, was the natural boundary between two hostile tribes of Indians. It rises in Hop- kinton and, flowing in a circuitous course, enters Boston Harbor at Charlestown.
Properly speaking, the history of Brighton dates from its formation into a parish in 1779. Its earlier history is included in the following brief sketch of that of Cambridge, of which it was for a century and a half a mere outlying suburb. Its settlement dates from 1635, when the farm
440
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
lands on the south side of the river were granted to such persons as desired them. The early inhabitants of Cambridge were clustered together in the district bounded north by Harvard street and square, west by Brattle Square and Eliot Street, south by Eliot and South streets, and east by Holyoke Strect; so that their brethren across the river were socially and geographically an isolated and distinct community. Spiritually and politi- cally they were one, and for more than a century the same schoolhouse and the same place of worship sufficed for both. So gradual was the growth of Brighton that in 1688, more than half a century after its settle- ment, it held but twenty-eight families and thirty-five ratable polls. Farming was the sole occupation of her people.
Among the pioneers in its settlement we find in Rev. Thomas Shepard's company the names of Champney and Sparhawk, two of the earliest families established on the south side of the river. Then came Richard Dana; and before 1639 John Jackson, Samuel Holly, Randolph Bush, William Redfen, and William Clements had homes here. Elder Richard Champney, who with Edward Oakes was in February, 1669, appointed to " catechise the youth of the town on the south side of the bridge," died in that year. Deacon Nathaniel Sparhawk, admitted a freeman in 1639, represented Cambridge in the General Court from 1642 until his death, June 28, 1647. Sparhawk, Champney, and Dana are all represented in Brighton by their descendants to-day. The descendants of Lieutenant Edward Winship, who settled on the college side in 1635, were early and largely represented here also in the succeeding generations.
Cambridge, the mother town, - whose original limits included also Brighton, Newton, Arlington, Lexington, Bradford, and Billerica, - owes her origin to an agreement between Governor Winthrop and most of the Assistants and others, made Dec. 6, 1630, to build a fortified town for the seat of government upon the neck between Roxbury and Boston. Finding this location unsuitable, they resolved on the 28th, after examining else- where, to build " at a place a mile east from Watertown, near Charles River." Here they began the " newe towne," in the spring of 1631, Deputy- Governor Dudley and his son-in-law Bradstreet being the only members of the Government to fulfil their agreement to build themselves houses therein. Governor Winthrop did indeed build a house, but very soon removed it to Boston. A sharp controversy between Winthrop and Dudley, growing out of this apparent breach of faith, was decided by the elders in favor of the latter.
In pursuance of its original design, the Court, in February, 1631-32, ordered a levy of £60, in the several plantations " towards the makeing of a pallysadoe about the newe towne." This defensive work was erected and a fosse dug, enclosing upwards of one thousand acres "paled in with one general fence " about one and one-half miles in length. It was to the opposition of Watertown to the tax levied for this purpose that our House of Representatives owes its origin.
44I
BRIGHTON IN THE COLONIAL PERIOD.
Quite an accession was made to the small population of Newtown in August, 1632, when, by order of the General Court, the Braintree Company (Rev. Mr. Hooker's), which had begun a settlement at Mount Wollaston, removed hither. Its numbers so increased that one year later it contained nearly one hundred families. In May, 1634, when Dudley was elected gov- ernor, it was made the seat of government as was originally intended, and the courts were held here until May, 1636, and again from April, 1637, un- til September, 1638. When, in the latter year, Harvard College was estab- lished, the name of Newtown was changed to Cambridge, out of regard for the place where so many of the chief men of New England had been educated.
At the Court held May 14, 1634, leave was granted to the inhabitants of Newtown who complained of " straitness for want of land," to seek out some " convenient place for them, with promise that it shalbe confirmed unto them, to which they may remove their habitations or have as an addition to that which already they have, provided they do not take it in any place to prejudice a plantation already settled." After examining several places, "the congregation of Newtown came and accepted such enlargement as had been formerly offered them by Boston and Watertown." This " enlargement," which was on the south side of the Charles River, embraced the territory since known as Brookline, Brighton, and Newton. Still there was dissatisfaction, and the inhabitants continuing to have "a strong bent of their spirits to remove," a large number of them went to Connecticut before Sept. 3, 1635, and Mr. Hooker, with most of his con- gregation, followed in May, 1636. Their possessions in Newtown were purchased by Mr. Shepard and his company, who opportunely arrived in the autumn of 1635, and early in 1636. The grant of Brookline had been forfeited in consequence of Mr. Hooker's removal; that of Brighton and Newton held good.
The few Indians in Cambridge were subject to the Squaw-Sachem, formerly the wife of Nanepashemit, and maintained friendly relations with the whites. Those of Nonantum, at the western extremity of Brighton, were under Cutshamokin, who resided at Neponset. These, with other Indian rulers. in March, 1644, voluntarily placed themselves under the government of Massachusetts, having previously sold to her all right and title to their land. This had been done "to avoid the least scruple of intrusion," in accordance with the instructions of the Massachusetts Com- pany in England, dated April 17, 1629.
Cambridge men actively participated in the civil, military, and religious events of the colonial epoch ; in the Indian war of 1675-76 which threat- ened the colonists with destruction, and called forth their utmost exertions ; in the fruitless efforts of twenty years' duration to preserve the colonial charter which the home government sought to annul; and finally, in the revolutionary movement by which the obnoxious government of Andros was overturned.
VOL. I. -- 56.
442
THE MEMORIAL HISTORY OF BOSTON.
The religious life of the town was formally begun Oet. 11, 1633, when the First Church was organized, over which Mr. Hooker and Mr. Samuel Stone, who had accompanied Hooker to New England, were respectively ordained pastor and teacher. A new church was organized Feb. 1, 1635-36, to take the place of Mr. Hooker's, which had emigrated to Connecticut. Of this congregation, Rev. Thomas Shepard was pastor until his death August 25, 1649; Rev. Jonathan Mitchell from Aug. 21, 1650, to July 9, 1668; Rev. Urian Oakes, Nov. 8, 1671, to July 25, 1681 ; and Rev. Nathaniel Gookin from Nov. 15, 1682, to Aug. 7, 1692.
llooker, Shepard, and Mitchell were bright and shining lights of the New England pulpit, and were remarkable alike for learning, eloquence, and piety. The notable events in the annals of the Cambridge Church at this period were, the building of a new house of worship in 1650; the perse- cution of the Quakers in 1663 ; the division caused by the organization of a separate parish at Newton in 1664; and the strong opposition of Rev. Mr. Dunster to the ordinance of infant baptism, which caused his removal from the presidency of the college and from Cambridge. The inhabitants of Brighton formed a part of this congregation for more than a century.
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