USA > Massachusetts > Middlesex County > Waltham > Waltham as a precinct of Watertown and as a town, 1630-1884 > Part 2
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In the third squadron Lots 1 to 27 have been satisfactorily located. Lot 28 of 20 acres, granted to William Palmer was the property of John Knights at the time of the Inventories and a 20 acre dividend lot "that was one Palmers" was mentioned by Knights in a deed of March 1651-2. Lot 29 of 35 acres was granted to Widow Esther Pickram, sold to John Stubs and Abigail Benjamin in 1646 and by them sold to Joseph Underwood in 1654. At a town meeting held Jan. 18, 1663(-4), it was agreed that Pickram's and Palmer's dividends shall be laid out on the Rocks. (Fourth squadron) This explains why the west bound of Lot 27 was in March 1702-3 the Heirs of Richard Saltonstall (Lot 30) and when Lot 30 was sold in the same year the east bound was Finch. John Finch was the original grantee of Lot 27.
On account of Rock Meadow, West Meadow and the meadows around the Great Pond the fourth squadron was the longest. The east boundary of Lot 1 was near the center of Belmont. Lots 1 to 8 inclusive extended westward in regular order as far as Beaver Brook. These lots were nearly all on high rocky land and were usually referred to on old deeds and inventories as "woodland on the Rocks." This description was also used for adjoining land in Cambridge. The lots granted to Pickram and Palmer, voted to be laid out here have not been located. Lot 9 was in the vicinity of Mackerell Hill about three quarters of a mile distant. Between Lots 8 and 9 extended Rock, Patch and West Meadows,
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EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT
partially in Cambridge, a part of them lying in common and un- divided. On account of the considerable amount of meadow land west of the Great Pond the division lines between the pond and Smith Street are difficult to locate but all of the lots granted seem to have been taken up. The last one No. 29 was bounded west by the Weston, now the Lincoln line.
On February 28, 1636-7 "A Grant of the Plowlands at Bever- broke Planes" was made to the 106 Townsmen then inhabiting. They included all the land between the Great Dividends and the river, extending as far west as the head of the plain. East of Beaver Brook on the Little or Hither Plain a cartway was laid out parallel to the Great Road represented now by Grove Street except that as it approached the brook it curved north across the meadow joining the Great Road near the place that it crossed the brook. The lots were marked by lines approximately per- pendicular to this "cartway betwixt the lots," those next to the river bearing numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, etc. while those extending to the Great Road, the southern boundary of the Dividends, were numbered 2, 4, 6, 8, etc. The Great or Further Plain beyond the brook was similarly divided but the Great Road was the dividing line. The western boundary of the lots north of the Road was the eastern line of the part of Prospect Hill Road that is in line with Prentice Street and continued with Prentice Street to the south squadron line of the Dividends. South of the Road the line closely followed the northern part of South Street.
An examination of the three Watertown Inventories shows that at the time they were made the numbers of many of the lots were changed, some had been omitted and Nos. 107 to 116 inclusive had been added. This indicates that a re-grant had been made of which there is now no record. The lots ranged in size from one acre to thirty. More than half of them were of five acres or less. But little value was attached to them and many were promptly sold. Some of the prosperous inhabitants bought many lots and when they were surveyed had them joined to- gether regardless of their original location. For instance, Chris- topher Grant was given Lot 89 on the north side of the Road. He bought Lot 97 granted to William Gutterig (Goodrich) on the same side but considerably further west. He sold both lots to John Harrington in 1683, locating them side by side on the south of the Road where Harrington was purchasing the land that
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HISTORY OF WALTHAM
later made up his 42 acre farm. Lots 65, 67 and 69 originally granted on the north side and still there at the time of the Inven- tories but numbered 72, 74 and 76 are later found to be located on the south side. The City Common is a part of these three lots. For these reasons the locations of but few of the smaller lots are known. Dea. Edward Child owned 108 acres in the Hither Plain that included the larger part of the lots next to the river.
In the Grants, Inventories and early deeds the river is given as the south bound of all the lots south of the Great Road. The Watertown Proprietors were either ignorant of or purposefully forgetful of a grant made by the General Court of the Massachu- setts Bay Colony, April 1, 1634, to John Oldham, perhaps to recompense him for his loss of land leased to him under the Gorgas grant, of 500 acres in Watertown on the north bank of Charles River near to Mount Feake. This grant was not laid out until June 2, 1641, five years after his death, when the Court confirmed it to Matthew Craddock of London to whom Oldham was indebted. It was mortgaged then sold to Thomas Mayhew and then confirmed to Richard Dummer on an execution against Mayhew, Nov. 19, 1662. The Town did not recognize this grant until Jan. 30, 1647-8, when it agreed that the farm granted to Mr. Oldham be laid out by Mr. Mayhew and Mr. Cook who were chosen by the Court. At the same meeting it was ordered that those who had their land in the Lieu of Township cut off by Mr. Oldham's farm or the Great Dividends should have satisfaction beyond Stony Brook if they could not on this side and also that those who had their Plowland Lots so cut off should have satis- faction - but did not mention where.
July 17, 1638, it was ordered that all those Freemen that have no lots at the Township shall have 12 acre lots beyond Beaver Plain and all other Townsmen shall have 6 acre lots in the said place. These were usually called the Lots in Lieu of Township but in the Inventories the Lots beyond the Further Plain. They were not laid out until after Feb. 7, 1658-9, when it was ordered that they be laid out in four squadrons one half mile wide with an allowance of four rods in each for a highway. Number one lot was to be in the first squadron. Investigation has shown that the squadron lines were parallel to those of the Great Dividends. Nearly all of these lots were in Waltham territory although some on the south and west extended beyond Stony Brook into Weston.
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EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT
There is no existing record of the original grant but in the Mis- cellaneous Papers filed at the Waltham City Hall there is a copy taken from the Old Book of Records (now evidently lost) giving the names of the original grantees and the size of the lots Num- bers 1 to 18 inclusive with the statement that they were given to the several persons and heads of great cattle one acre and half. That is, one and one half acres for each person and one and one half additional for each cow that he owned. The date of the grant is Feb. 23, 1640-1, and it is evident that a change had been made in the method of allotment. Jan. 30, 1647-8, it was ordered that all that have not twelve acres it shall be made twelve acres. By tracing the subsequent ownership of these eighteen lots it has been found that this order was carried out as the smallest lot became 12 acres. A careful search of the Inventories shows that there were sixty-seven of these lots and that their sizes as origi- nally granted ranged between one and one half acres and thirty eight and one half, Jeremiah Norcross owning the largest. The location and original bounds of most of them have been ascer- tained. Lot 30 was in Weston and Lots 59, 62 and 67 were either never laid out or located elsewhere. The natural meadows lying within or adjoining these grants were probably distributed by an early allotment of which there is no existing record. The principal ones were named and located as follows: Beaver Brook Meadows, extending along the lower course of the brook. Rock Meadow, near the source of Beaver Brook and extending over the line into Cambridge, is said to have derived its name from a large rock on its eastern surface. (Phinehas Lawrence) Patch Meadow, south of Rock Meadow, west of Beaver Brook and north of Trapelo Road. West Meadow, located east and north of Mackerell Hill. Plaine Meadow, lying north of the Great Plain and perhaps including Chester Meadows along Chester Brook. Pond Meadow was north of Beaver Street and west of Waverly Oaks Road. In one instance at least this name was applied to the meadow near the Great Pond.
The Remote or Westpine Meadows were granted June 26, 1637, to 113 inhabitants. This is the only meadow grant of which a record has been preserved. They began next to Plaine Meadow and the division was made on the basis of one acre for each person and one for each cow. Robert Feake was granted 40 acres and Edward How 24 acres and their lots were not numbered. Of the
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HISTORY OF WALTHAM
numbered lots Sir Richard Saltonstall's was the largest, 30 acres. Some of these meadows are now covered by the Cambridge Basin, others were probably west of the Great Pond and many of them were in Weston. Sir Richard's meadow came to his son Samuel and was frequently referred to as "Mr. Samuel's Farm Meadow." Later many of the individual grants were called by the name of the original grantee or of one who had owned them for a long time. On account of their irregular shape and the con- flicting bounds given on many of the early deeds of these meadow grants but few of them have been definitely located. These lots have been found that are not included in the above mentioned grants. One included 93 acres and lay southwest of Bear Hill. It appears in the inventory of the possessions of Edward Garfield, 1672. Another was one of 30 acres sold by Samuel Thatcher to John Warren, Jr. in 1695 that lay north of the Garfield lot. A third was owned by Joseph Bemis and lay between the Plowlands of the Further Plaine and the Great Dividends. The latter is the only one mentioned in the Watertown Inventories. It was des- cribed as "Nine acres of upland by estimation beyond the Plow- land & lying nigh to Plaine Meddow bounded with the Common land in his possession." These lots were possibly parcels of land left over when the grants were surveyed that were sold, not granted, to those townsmen. With the exception of these lots and a few homestalls and lots in the Town Plot that fringed the eastern edge of the Great Dividends and a small part of the Hither Plain that was not included in the Plowland Grants all of the land now in Waltham north of the Charles River was in- cluded in the allotments above described.
MAKING USE OF THE "WASTE LANDS"
The land west of Beaver Brook, referred to in some instances as "waste lands" was used for many years according to the first intent as a summer grazing land for cattle. Until 1669 no orderly way was provided. On April 2 of that year the selectmen ordered that there be but three herds kept in the town. The first or Mill Herd was to cross Beaver Brook at the bridge and was to range between the river on the south and Prospect Hill (Called "Knop's
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EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT
Garden") on the north. The second, later called the Town Herd, was to cross Beaver Brook at old Father Page's and to range from Prospect Hill to the south side of the Great Pond, while the third, or Pond Herd, was to go by Thomas Smith's and to range between the south side of the pond and the Cambridge line. The next year there were four herds provided for, the dividing line between the first and second being the south bound of the Great Dividends, that between the second and third the path that goes to White Horse and between the third and fourth a line through the middle of the Great Pond. In 1672 Richard Gale's farm, a part of the Oldham Grant, was excepted from the range.
The descriptions of these ranges are interesting because the routes prescribed were the beginnings of some of our oldest high- ways. The first herd naturally followed the Sudbury Path or Cartway, later the Great Country Road. The path to White Horse is now called Winter Street. White Horse Meadow is the one the road passes across when at the top of the first hill beyond the schoolhouse. How the name came to be applied is unknown. This path later became a part of the highway to Mr. Samuel's farm (Samuel Saltonstall). The first part of this way was ordered to be laid out as a way to Chester Brook, Feb. 7, 1658-9. It left the Great Road by the way of Pleasant Street, crossed Lyman Field to the squadron line a little north of the railroad, followed the line westward for several hundred feet then turned north- westerly across the brook and the Lyman lawn to enter Beaver Street on the south side of the triangle where the old Meeting- house Common used to be. It then followed Beaver Street, skirting Chester Meadow until nearly to the brook when it turned northerly, crossed the brook then passed through the yard of the Waltham School for Girls into Lexington Street. It followed this street to Lincoln Street, then by Lincoln into Winter Street and so through Straight's Mouth just beyond the schoolhouse, then up the hill and across White Horse Meadow. It then deviated somewhat from the present Winter Street but followed its general direction to the Saltonstall farm grant in Weston.
The trail that crossed the brook at Pages followed Beaver Street until near the Cedar Hill estate it turned to the right and followed Pigeon Lane as far as old Forest Street. It then turned northwest over the hill to Cape Fare. This place was on the
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HISTORY OF WALTHAM
hill nearly opposite to the corner of Lexington and Lake Streets. Although its location has been determined the reason for the name is obscure. The term cape is usually applied to a projection of land into water but its derivation (Latin, caput - head or summit) makes it applicable to a hill. Every mention that has been found spells the name Fare although the index in the printed Water- town Records spells the name Fear. Perhaps this indicates that the compiler thought it referred to the cape of that name in North Carolina. The first reference in these Records relates that in November, 1664, Jonathan Whitney and Daniel Meddup made known their intention of going to Cape Fare and the Town, fearing that their wives and children might be in want during their absence, called them before a magistrate and ar- ranged for them to make a deposit of money, cattle and Indian corn to sustain their families while they were away. Possibly an all winter hunting and trapping expedition was planned, other- wise it would seem to be taking undue precautions for so short a trip.
The route that passed Thomas Smith's followed the general course of Trapelo Road and terminated in the meadows north of the Great Pond.
The crowded condition of the eastern part of the town forced many of the sons of the original settlers to make their homes elsewhere. Some of the more adventurous went to the newer settlements but others were content to stay nearer home so the Plowlands and Dividends ceased to be waste places and began to be dotted with clearings and dwelling houses. Possibly the young men and boys who accompanied the herds used the opportunity to select the best locations for their future homes.
THE FIRST SETTLERS AND THEIR HOMES
The honor of being the first settler in Waltham territory be- longs either to Edward Garfield or John Page. The former's homestall, granted to him in April, 1638, was at the northeast corner of Warren Street and Hagar's Lane. He was in Watertown as early as 1635 when he was made freeman. He may have been there a few years earlier. The date of his building has not been
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EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT
found but it was previous to the date of the Inventory of Grants made in the first part of 1642.
John Page mortgaged his "now dwelling house near Beaver Brook," Mar. 25, 1643. This house was east of the brook and on or near Beaver Street. It had probably just been built for the Inventory of 1642 gives his homestall in another location. This homestall was not included in Inventories of 1643 and 1644. The latter mention the Beaver Brook location as a homestall. May 3, 1650, John Stowers sold to Thomas Hammond his house, barn and 60 acres of Dividend land. This house is supposed to have been near the corner of Beaver and Linden Streets where the later Hammond house was situated. It must have been built after 1644 for Stowers had a homestall in the eastern part of the town at that time.
Thomas Smith built on the north side of Trapelo Road, west of the brook in 1650 or the early part of 1651 for he sold his home- stall in the eastern part in May of the latter year. Possibly about the same time Nicholas Cady, who had married a younger sister of Smith's wife about 1649, built his house on the opposite side a little further west. This house was bought by Joseph Wellington in 1670. Thomas Tarboll made his home on the north side of the Road between 1650, the time he purchased the land and 1663 when he sold it with a dwelling house to Thomas Hastings. As he had sold a house to John Fleming previous to 1657 (mentioned in the latter's probate of that year) it seems probable that he built on Trapelo Road soon after his purchase of the land. Another settler in that vicinity was George Lawrence who built west of Cady's house perhaps as early as 1659.
Daniel Warren was married in 1655 and probably built his house on land owned by his father about that time. This was on Warren Street where the homestead of his descendants, the Barnes family, was situated. Richard Child, married in 1662, made his home on land given him by his uncle, Dea. Ephraim Child, at that time. His house or its successor was on Grove Street just west of the Watertown line.
It is hard to determine who was the first to build on or near the Sudbury or Great Country Road (Main and Weston Streets). Richard Gale bought the east half of the Oldham Grant in 1661 and was living on it in 1671 or earlier. His house probably stood near the northwest corner of Harvard and Charles Streets. He
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HISTORY OF WALTHAM
built in 1673 a house for his son Abraham on the west side of South Street near the Bicycle Park. Joseph Garfield, son of Edward, married in 1663 Sarah, daughter of Richard Gale, and in 1668 his father willed him a house and 29 acres of land west of Beaver Brook and south of the Great Road. Edward Sanderson probably lived on his lot south of Fisk Pinnacle after selling his home in the eastern part of the town in 1664. John Ball was a large land owner near the head of the Great Plain and in the Township Lots and his house on Weston Street just east of Masters Brook may have been the earliest built on the Great Road, although the first mention of it was in 1684. There are some indications that he was living there before 1674. It may be noticed that but very few of the early houses were any great distance from the present east boundary of Waltham. It has been suggested that fear of Indian outbreaks kept all but the boldest from making remote settlements. It is not known that hostile Indians ever came into any part of Watertown but cer- tainly after the death of King Philip in 1676 the western part of the town became rapidly settled.
Trapelo Road seems to have been a favorite location and we find the pioneers moving westward even before 1676. Timothy Hawkins built near Beaver Brook perhaps as early as 1667. Richard Sawtel settled on the brook above the mill ponds about 1665 and Philip Shattuck further up near the Cambridge line five or six years after. John Smith, son of Thomas, and John Stratton, his brother-in-law, were on opposite sides of the road, near Woburn Street, when it was accepted by the town in 1672. They were married in 1665 and 1667. John Dix probably did not build his house on the north side of the Road east of the Hastings home before 1697 but Thomas Rider, a son-in-law of George Lawrence, had a mill and probably a house on Chester Brook near Lexington Street, a short distance south of Trapelo Road before 1690. Isaac Stearns presumably did not build on Bow Street, the old location of Trapelo Road, before his marriage in 1708.
There were many houses built along Main Street and its branches before 1700. Joseph Grout had a house on or near the site of the Bowker homestead, Warrendale, on land that he in- herited from his father, Capt. John, but the date of its erection is uncertain. He was married in 1670. Some distance north of the
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EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT
Great Road in the low land opposite Willow Street was the Park- hurst homestead. The house probably stood on land that came to George Parkhurst, Jr. through his wife, a daughter of Robert Veazey, to whom the lot was granted. Whether the first house was built by George who was married in 1653 or by his son John who was married in 1680 has not been ascertained. In the fol- lowing list of early settlers when two dates are given the first is the earliest probable being that of marriage or acquisition of the land. The second is that of the first recorded mention of the house that has been found. On the south side of Grove Street near Bright Street, Nathaniel Bond, 1685-1694. On the north side of Main Street just west of Beaver Brook, Joshua Biglow, 1676-1707. On the south side near Appleton Street, James Morse, 1699-1702. On the north side near Liberty Street, John Flagg, 1670-1689. At the southwest corner of Main and Moody Streets Jonathan Livermore had a house and tannery in 1700. Near the Public Library John Cutting, 1672-1689. Near Harvard Street, Nathaniel Fiske, 1677-1731. Just east of Bacon Street, James Ball, son of John, 1694-1695. On the other side of Bacon Street, Joseph or John Sherman, 1673-1701. A short distance beyond, David Fiske, 1675-1727. In the vicinity of Wellington Street, Elnathan Beers, 1680-1696. Between Prospect and South Streets, John Harrington, 1681-1732. On Weston Street just west of Masters Brook, on the north side, Michael Flagg, about 1681. Opposite but a little further west, Samuel Biglow, about 1674. Just over the hill on the north side, Joseph Ball, about 1701. On the Concord Road (Stow Street) John Ball, Jr., 1699-1708. On the west side of South Street and near the present Harrington house in the Roberts district, Samuel Harrington, 1692. Still on the west side and near the railroad crossing, Edward, son of Joseph Garfield, 1694.
The section lying west of Beaver Brook and between the Great Road and Trapelo Road although containing the most fertile land was not so early occupied probably because it was heavily wooded and the few natural meadows were small except in the remote meadows around the Great Pond in the Woods and where is now the Cambridge Water Basin. Richard Cutting by his will written in 1694 gave his son James a house and 20 acres of land in Watertown Great Plain "where he now liveth." He may have lived there since his marriage in 1679, if so, he
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HISTORY OF WALTHAM
was the first to build in the interior after John Stowers. His house was a little south of Chester Brook and east of Lyman Street. The railroad is only a little south of the site. Nathaniel Liver- more was living somewhat west of the present Lyman mansion in 1682 so he may have ante-dated Cutting. In 1689 Jonathan Sanderson, son of Edward, moved to his new home at the corner of Lexington and Lincoln Streets, then called Hosier's Corner. The vicinity is now Piety Corner. Allen Flagg settled at the cor- ner of Lexington and Bacon Streets at about the same time and Jonathan Sanderson, Jr. nearby about 1699. Jonathan Smith, son of Thomas, was probably the first to settle at Pond End. He purchased land where his house was built on College Farm Road in 1696. William and John Fiske, Edward Sherman, Thomas Smith, grandson of the pioneer, Eleazer Whitney and Joseph Peirce all settled on or near Lincoln Street about 1700 or a few years later.
Thomas Stratton seems to have been the first to build on Winter Street, about 1700. He was closely followed by John Child and Thomas Sanderson, son of Jonathan. Daniel Child settled on Brook Street (now covered by the Basin) about 1702. His house was on the Dividend granted to Sir Richard Saltonstall.
It will thus be seen that by 1700 or thereabouts there were homes established on nearly all the arable land now included in Waltham, north of the Charles River.
THE BEGINNINGS OF A TOWN
The Beaver Brook plowlands and the Great Dividends were, near the close of the seventeenth century, comfortably occupied by farmers, called in the language of the times planters or hus- bandmen. All appear to call themselves yeomen as soon as they became landowners. There was one physician or chirurgeon, Philip Shattuck, but no clergyman or meeting-house and no schoolhouse.
Meeting-houses were at that time used not only for the Sunday religious services but for town meetings and other public gather- ings, hence the name. In nearly all old New England towns the location of the meeting-house was of great interest and in Water- town this was particularly true. Spirited and sometimes ac- rimonious were the meetings at which this subject was debated.
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