USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Waltham > Waltham as a precinct of Watertown and as a town, 1630-1884 > Part 13
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that he received from his father's estate. His oldest son, Isaac, Jr. purchased the shares of the other heirs and secured the whole estate.
Charles Stearns was a kinsman, probably nephew, of Isaac Stearns, Sr. His grandson George moved from Cambridge to Watertown West Precinct and was living in Waltham at the time of its incorporation.
George Stearns was a son of John and Judith (Lawrence) Stearns and grandson of Charles and Rebecca (Gibson) Stearns. He was living in Cambridge Farms in 1712 when he married Hannah Sanderson. Some seven months before he had bought of Daniel Galushia a house and 50 acres in the West Precinct on what is now Winter Street. This included Lots Nos. 28 and 29 in the first squadron granted to James Cutler and John Grigs respec- tively. His father-in-law, Jonathan Sanderson, gave his wife one- third of a 50 acre lot in the second squadron just north of the house. This house was probably built by John Coolidge about the time he married Margaret Bond in January 1699-1700. He sold to Galushia only two months before the latter sold to George Stearns. In 1714 Stearns sold the place to his brother-in-law Thomas Sanderson but probably continued to live there, for six years later he re-purchased it. He was precinct collector for one year and surveyor of highways for the town one year. He died in 1760, age 72, leaving his real estate to his son Daniel after the death of his wife. She died in 1770 at the age of eighty-one. Daniel was succeeded in 1780 by his son Elisha. The latter died in 1789 leaving only one son Elisha, Jr. then five years old. The widow, Judith (Peirce) managed the place until he grew up. When he came of age in 1805 the estate was distributed. The larger part including the dwelling house was set off to the widow and Elisha. In 1806 Elisha sold his part to his uncle David Stearns and he in 1810 sold to Prentiss Childs, thus bringing to close nearly a century of family ownership.
Isaac Stearns inherited in 1737 his father's homestead on Bow Street which was the old location of Trapelo Road. He was selectman of Waltham for thirteen years and assessor for two years. Feb. 10, 1756, he was chosen deacon in the place of Thomas Livermore who had served since 1718. He married Elizabeth
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Child in 1729 and they had seven sons and four daughters. He died in 1779 in his seventieth year and his widow in 1791 in her eighty-fifth year. His will, signed in 1772, mentions only five sons and one daughter. By this will he left the homestead to his sons Isaac and Joshua. In December 1780 Isaac sold his share to Joshua and made his home in Lexington. Joshua and his wife Lois Peirce had eleven children, the youngest, Ephraim, being the only son. To him in 1819 Joshua deeded a large part of the farm reserving a life occupancy. He died in 1822. In order to carry out the obligations to his sisters he was obliged eventually to dispose of the farm and in 1829 it came into the possession of Richard Wellington after having been in the family for nearly two hundred years.
Nathaniel Stearns, son of Isaac and Mary (Bemis) Stearns was only twenty years old in 1738. The position of his name on the tax list would indicate that he was living either with William Hagar on the farm of Anthony Caverly, later the College Farm, or with Thomas Hammond, Jr. Perhaps the latter is more probable as he married Hammond's sister Grace in 1747. They moved to Holden, Massachusetts.
Lt. Samuel Stearns was son of Samuel and Hannah (Manning) Stearns. He married Mary Hawkins in March 1697-8 and in 1700 acquired possession of the house and land of Timothy Hawkins, Mary's father. This included Lot. No. 1 in the third squadron, 30 acres, granted to Thomas Arnold, subsequently owned by Thomas Boyden and William Clarke and sold by the latter to Hawkins' father Timothy in 1651. It also included Lot No. 2 next west, 20 acres, the homestead of Thomas Smith, purchased by Hawkins, Jr. in 1697.
Lt. Stearns was not very active in the precinct but very prom- inent in the town. He was clerk for seven years, treasurer for seven years, selectman sixteen years and representative for nine years and refused election for one year. He died in 1746, seventy- three years old and his widow in 1759 age eighty-two years. Previous to his father's death Samuel, Jr. bought the interests of his brother's and sisters in all the property of their father and mother. This is probably the reason that the name of Samuel Stearns, Sr. does not appear on the Province list.
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Samuel Stearns, Jr. was owner of his father's homestead on Trapelo Road near Beaver Brook in 1738. The estate included a 20 acre lot along the brook now in the Beaver Brook Reserva- tion purchased by his father in 1717. It is due to this family that the Waverley Oaks have been preserved.
Samuel Stearns, Jr. married Sarah Bowman in 1732. They had four children but only two, a daughter Sarah and son Samuel lived to maturity. He died in 1764, age nearly sixty-one years, leaving the homestead by will to his son Samuel and another farm to his daughter Sarah who had married Col. Abijah Brown, ownership to both to take effect after his Wife's death. A Mrs. Sarah Stearns married Joseph Hastings in 1769 and Widow Sarah Hastings died in 1788 age seventy-nine years. If she was the widow of Samuel Stearns her age should have been eighty-one but ages are not always correctly given in death records. Samuel Stearns is called Quartermaster in his death record. The son Samuel married Mary Bigelow in 1760 and they had thirteen children. He died intestate in 1817 and the division of the estate was very complicated. His son Thomas built a house at the corner of Waverley Oaks Road and Trapelo Road about 1805 or 1806. Later his youngest brother James lived there until his death in 1857 and he was the last one of the family to own any part of the estate. The southern parts of the two dividend lots owned by the first Isaac Stearns were owned by this branch of the family for many years. This is the "Sam Stearns woodlot" referred to as a "sportsman's paradise" by Nelson in "Waltham, Past and Present" (page 81).
STRATTON FAMILY. There were three Strattons paying taxes in Waltham in 1738, Joseph, Thomas and the latter's son David. The Stratton Genealogy states that Joseph was without doubt a descendant of Samuel Stratton who was in Watertown as early as 1647 but his ancestry has not been traced. From his age, born in 1690, he would be a great grandson. Thomas a son of John and Mary (Smith) Stratton may have been related to others of the name in Watertown but no connection has been established. John's first appearance in the records is at the time of his marriage to the daughter of Thomas Smith in 1667. In 1672 he was living on Trapelo Road across the road from his brother-in-law John Smith. The road at that time followed the
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course of Woburn Street and their houses were probably just beyond the turn. He was sometimes referred to as John Stratton "in the woods" to distinguish him from another John Stratton and son John who lived in the eastern part of the town. He died in 1791 but his widow Mary lived until 1719. There is some un- certainty about the location of his 10 acre homestead but it was probably a strip on the eastern side of Lot No. 13 in the fourth squadron of dividends. There is no record of a deed to him of the 10 acres but in 1698 John Smith sold to his nephew John Stratton, oldest son of John, Sr., 10 acres of woodland west of his own lot which was No. 12. There is no mention of a house but this lot became the homestead of John, Jr. and its position is such that it would include the site of his father's house. It seems probable that John Smith purchased the lot in the settlement of the estate of John Stratton, Sr. and then sold it to the son. John Stratton, Jr. died in March 1707-8 leaving a widow Bethshuah (Applin), who died the next year, and several minor children. The estate was settled by his father-in-law John Applin who probably sold the homestead, deed not recorded, for in February 1723-4 Joseph Wait of Weston sold it to David Whitney (See Whitney.)
Thomas Stratton was the second son of John and Mary (Smith).
David Stratton was the third son of Thomas and Dorcas (Maxwell) Stratton and was born in 1708. January 1729-30 he married Hannah Smith and they made their home on the Stratton home- place. In January 1734-5 he bought it, then comprising 100 acres, and lived there some thirty-four years longer. By two deeds dated 1764 and 1768 he sold the homestead still including 100 acres to his son David reserving a life interest for himself and wife. A year later it seemed better to sell so David, Jr. returned the title to his father and was relieved of his own obligations to his parents. David, Sr. then sold the place to John Lawrence and the families moved to Stow then to Bolton where David, Sr. died in 1783 seventy-four years old.
Joseph Stratton. In 1716 Joseph Stratton bought from Joseph Shattuck a house and 20 acres of land and two other small lots. The house stood north of the so-called Lyman's Field, possibly on or just north of the site of the railroad. It was built by Richard
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Cutting for his son James perhaps about the time of the latter's marriage in 1679. It was mentioned in Richard's will of 1694.
In 1717 Joseph Stratton married Sarah Hager. They had five daughters and two sons. Joseph, Jr. the elder of the two died in 1750 at the age of twenty-one. He was a young man of much promise having been chosen town clerk in March of that year. In 1754 Benjamin bought one-half of the homestead then in- cluding 35 acres and 313/4 acres of woodland. In 1758 bis father gave him the other half as his share in the estate. Joseph, Sr. died in 1776 in his eighty-sixth year and his wife Sarah in 1771 in his eightieth year.
In 1778 Benjamin sold the homeplace to Leonard Williams, Esq. and moved to Newton.
Thomas Stratton, son of John and Mary (Smith) Stratton was born in 1670. In 1690 he was member of a company in service against the French. In April 1694 he, then of Cambridge, bought from Ephraim Cutter Lot. No. 26 (then called No. 25), 30 acres, in the first squadron of dividends granted to Edmund Lewis but sold by his widow in 1652 to William Page. In 1698 he, then of Watertown, bought a small meadow adjoining. The next year he married Dorcas Maxwell and presumably he built his house on the south side of Locust Street at that time. Subsequently he bought the lot next west of 25 acres and 10 acres of meadow south of the two lots. There must have been other purchases not recorded for in January 1734-5 he sold his home then in- cluding 100 acres to his son David. His wife was living at that time. Their deaths are not recorded but his name is on the tax list of 1748 but does not appear on the one dated September 20, 1749, and so probably died previous to that date. This would make his age about seventy-eight years. (See David Stratton.)
JOHN VILES. According to family tradition John Viles, while yet a boy, was brought from Boston by Thomas Smith to work for him on his farm on Lincoln Street. He was born about 1707. The first recorded mention of him is in July 1729 when he bought a small piece of meadow land. On July 2, 1731, he married Sus- anna Bemis and on June 16 of the same year Thomas Smith, who had no living children, "for a satisfactory consideration," deeded him his homestead of 40 acres. This 40 acres was a part
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of Lot No. 25, 60 acres, in the third squadron of which Smith had received 50 acres from his father Thomas of Lexington who was a son of Thomas and Mary (Knapp) Smith. The house which stood some distance north of the one now on this estate was probably built soon after the gift was received. John Viles held no high town office but in 1732 Zechariah Smith, his next door neighbor, obtained his consent to serve as constable, an office to which Smith had been elected. The Town had refused to accept his refusal of the office but consented when he brought forward a substitute. In 1734 he was elected surveyor of highways and in 1736 the West Precinct chose him for assessor. John and Susanna Viles had thirteen children. In 1760 he sold the farm to his oldest son Nathan for £300 and the latter's agreement to make certain payments to his brothers and sisters and to his parents. John Viles died in 1774, age sixty-seven, and his wife in 1785, age given as seventy-two but really not quite seventy- one.
Nathan Viles died, childless, in 1788 and by his will left the estate to his brother Jonas who was to make payments to the remaining brothers and sisters. From Jonas the farm passed first to his son Jonas then to grandson Jonas and to the latter's son Charles L. Viles. The latter died in 1913 and his heirs in 1920 sold the place to John E. Moran. The farm had been in the possession of the family for nearly one hundred and eighty-nine years.
WARD FAMILY. William Ward was one of the early settlers of Sudbury, arriving there in 1638. Later he was one of the first to found the town of Marlborough. He was ancestor of General Artemas Ward, the first commander-in-chief of the American Army in the siege of Boston in 1775. His oldest son John married Hannah Jackson of Newton and settled there. John's son William also lived there and had a son John born in 1691. He had another son Caleb whose birth is not recorded and whose name does not appear in the Ward Genealogy by Charles Martyn published in 1925 but his identity is made certain by deeds given by William Ward of Newton to his sons John and Caleb in 1722. By these deeds he sold to his sons his homestead in Newton on the high- way from Newton to Boston through Roxbury and near to the Roxbury meeting house. A year later John sold his part to Caleb
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and moved to Grafton. William seems to have lived with Caleb and to have moved with him to Watertown West Precinct when the latter purchased the Child farm there in 1736. Previous to that (1734) William and Caleb had sold the 173 acre homestead with two houses in Newton. It has not been ascertained where they lived during the two intervening years.
Caleb Ward. In March 1736 Caleb Ward of Newton bought of James Townsend a farm of 80 acres lying in the southeast corner of the West Precinct, south of Grove Street and extending to the river. The nucleus of this farm was a lot of 40 acres that Dea. Ephraim Child gave to his nephew Richard Child at the time of the latters marriage to Mehitabel Dimmick in 1662. It" probably included the 16 acre lot of plowland on the hither plain granted to Dea. Child. Richard obtained additional land by the will of his uncle, probably adjacent to his own, for when he died in 1694 his homestall consisted of 56 acres. His son Joshua bought from his brothers and sisters their rights in their father's estate. When on Dec. 13, 1720, Col. Thaxter surveyed the line to separate the two precincts he reported that the line passed five rods east of Joshua Child's house. (A small portion of the land was in the East Precinct.) In 1732 Joshua sold his homestead of 80 acres (he had bought 20 acres lying west of his farm from Samuel Garfield in 1727) to Gershom Keyes of Boston and the next February Keyes sold to James Townsend mentioned above. Caleb Ward was a son of William and Abigail (Spring) Ward. His birth is not recorded neither is that of his marriage to Sarah - -. They had two sons born in Newton and baptized in the Roxbury meeting house. Thaddeus in 1721 and Caleb in 1722. The latter died before his father for Thaddeus in a mortgage deed of 1750 describes himself as son and only heir of Caleb Ward. The deaths of Caleb and Sarah are not recorded but his name does not appear on the tax list of 1748. (The lists from 1743 to 1747 inclusive are not preserved.)
Thaddeus Ward in 1758 sold the farm, then said to consist of 82 acres, to Daniel Benjamin, father of his wife Lydia. Nine years after Benjamin sold back to Thaddeus the house, barn and 20 acres on the east end of the farm. It is probable that Thad- deus had been living there all the time. His first home was in Watertown on a small farm given to him and his wife by their
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respective fathers. This farm they sold in 1753 but the tax lists show that they were living in Waltham from 1747 on. Thaddeus died in November 1770 and in June 1771 Lydia his widow and administratrix sold to Thaddeus Jr. the house, barn and 20 acres where, according to the inventory his father had last dwelt. Daniel Benjamin died in 1768 and his grandson Benjamin Ward, another son of Thaddeus and Lydia, was executor of his estate. He in 1788 sold 62 acres, the west end of the Ward farm, to Samuel Hager. Hager had, ten years earlier, acquired the 20 acres with the house and barn from Peter Ball who had pur- chased from Thaddeus, Jr. in 1772. Samuel and Moses Hager sold both lots, called the Ward farm, to Christopher Gore, Esq. The Waltham Country Club now includes a considerable portion of this farm. The two farms of Ward and Benjamin included all of the land in Waltham between Grove Street and the river as far as Beaver Brook.
William Ward was son of John and Hannah (Jackson) Ward and was born in Newton in 1664. He married Abigail Spring of Water- town in 1689. She was born in 1667 and died in 1722. He was selectman of Newton for three years. In 1722 he sold his home- stead there to his sons John and Caleb and retired from active life. He and his wife probably continued to live on the home- place until 1736 when they moved to Caleb's new home in the West Precinct. In December 1737 William Ward, his wife Abigail and Sarah the wife of Caleb Ward were dismissed from the Rox- bury Church to Watertown. He seems to have moved to Newton before 1748, perhaps at the time of Caleb's death. He, said to be of Waltham, died in Newton in 1752.
JOSHUA WARREN lived on Warren Street just west of the Watertown line. He was born in 1668 the son of Daniel and Mary (Barron) Warren and grandson of John Warren who came to Watertown in 1630. The latter was selectman in 1636 and 1640. He was granted by the town about 290 acres and purchased other lots. One of these purchases was a lot of 16 acres upon which his son Daniel was living when John made his will in 1667. Daniel was married in 1650 so may have built in that year. By five deeds between 1700 and 1704 he sold or gave to his son Joshua nearly all his land including his homestead of 20 acres occupying the
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same site as the 16 acres he had received from his father. About 1695 Joshua married Rebecca Church a granddaughter of Richard Church of the Mayflower. They had twelve children of whom the youngest was Phinehas and to him in 1745 they deeded "for a satisfactory and valuable consideration" the same homestead of 20 acres and two other lots. He had in the course of his life- time purchased and sold several other tracts of land. Rebecca died in 1757 nearly seventy-nine years old and he in 1760 in his ninety-second year.
Phinehas Warren and his wife Grace Hastings had thirteen children. In 1768 he sold the homestead, then containing 30 acres to David Bemis but probably continued to live there for in 1781 his sons Josiah and William and Samuel Barnes, husband of his daughter Grace, bought the place from Bemis at the same time granting to their aged father and mother Phinehas and Grace Warren the use of the farm for their own benefit and that of their children. Phinehas died in 1797 in his eighty-first year and his widow Grace in 1805 a few months over eighty-five years old.
Samuel Barnes, a mariner, bought out his brothers-in-law and his descendants owned the place for many years, the title passing to his son Thomas then to his grandson Phinehas Law- rence Barnes and from him to his brothers and sister. The latter, Miss Mary F. Barnes, was the last of the family to live on the old farm. She died in 1922 and in 1923 the heirs sold it outside the family thus ending an occupancy of the descendants of John Warren of possibly two hundred and seventy-five years.
Widow Mehitabel Warren lived on the west side of West Street near the Weston line. For some unexplained reason her name does not appear on either of the 1738 tax lists. John and Daniel, sons of Ensign John Warren, bought in 1710 from John Coolidge 56 acres, the southern parts of Lots 29 and 30 in the first squadron. Daniel seemingly bought his brother's half although the trans- action is not recorded. The Daniel Warren who lived at this place is stated by Bond to have been the son of Daniel and Elizabeth (Whitney) Warren, born in 1686. This is an evident mistake for that Daniel was the one who married Rebecca Gar- field, moved to Marlborough and then to Westboro where he was living when he was made administrator of his father's estate
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in Weston near Kendall Green. Daniel of the West Precinct was great grandson of John the pioneer, grandson of Daniel and son of Ensign John. He married Hannah Biglow in 1711 and second, in 1717, Mehitabel Garfield. He died early in 1731 but his widow lived on the homestead until her death in 1782, age ninety-three. John Viles, a son-in-law, acquired a considerable part of the estate, buying from Daniel Warren, Jr. in 1786. In 1800 he sold the place to Solomon Harrington.
WELLINGTON FAMILY. Roger Wellington was granted land in Watertown in 1636. It is not known when he first came to this country. He married Mary, daughter of Dr. Richard Palgrave who settled in Charlestown in 1629 and he may have lived first in that town and have come to this country with them. He would have been nineteen or twenty years old in 1629. His first home was in the extreme eastern part of the town and is mostly included in Mount Auburn Cemetery. The present Cam- bridge line passes through his first homestall. In 1659 he bought a house and 12 acres of land in the northern part of the town now in Belmont. He was a large land owner possessing between 250 and 300 acres in many lots, some in Cambridge but most of them in Watertown. He was selectman of Watertown for seven years and was otherwise prominent in town affairs although as he did not join the church until 1690 he could not become a freeman until that date. He died in March 1697-8, age eighty- eight years, leaving five sons and one daughter. His son Joseph was the only one to settle in the West Precinct. His house was on the south side of Trapelo Road near the northeast corner of the land now owned by the Walter E. Fernald State School. It was built on the 4 acres that he bought there in 1670 and was probably erected by Nicholas Cady at an early date, possibly at about the same time (1651) as his brother-in-law Thomas Smith who lived on the north side only a short distance away. Joseph Wellington inherited from his father Lot No. 14 in the fourth squadron of dividends. He died in 1724 but previous to that time he had sold or given his only son Thomas the northern half of this lot, deed not recorded. In April 1725 his heirs sold the homestead and other land to Ebenezer Brown of Cambridge. Thomas received from his uncle John Wellington the latter's homestead in the part of Cambridge now Belmont. He made
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his home there but retained ownership of the north part of Lot 14. In 1718 he bought a house, barn and 29 acres of land in Water- town. The house had been built by John Smith between 1668 and 1672 on Lot 12 a little east of Lot 14. As Thomas Wellington was elected surveyor of highways of Watertown in 1719 he may have lived there at that time. If so he soon returned to Cam- bridge where he died in 1759 leaving his land in Cambridge and Watertown to his son Joseph and his land in Waltham to Thomas, Jr. who was at that time living there. This land included the house and Lot 12 and the part of Lot 14 above mentioned. Thomas Wellington was the only one of the name on the tax lists of 1738.
Thomas Wellington, son of Thomas and Rebecca (Simonds) Wellington was born in 1714 and married Margaret Stone in March 1734-5 and it is presumed that they then went to live on the farm on Trapelo Road near Woburn Street that his father purchased in 1718. They were surely there in 1738 al- though they were married by the East Precinct minister and five of their fourteen children were baptized by him. (See John Smith for the early history of this house.)
He is said to have kept an inn at his home on Trapelo Road but when this business was started has not been ascertained. He died in 1783, age sixty-nine years, and wife in 1800 eighty- two years old. The farm was awarded to their son William who was at that time owner and living on the David Whitney farm lying between the two parts of the home place. He had married Mary Whitney in 1764 and bought her father's farm in 1777. About 1789 he built the house now standing on the property of the Middlesex Tuberculosis Hospital.
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